Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feedback connections to ferret striate cortex: Direct evidence for visuotopic convergence of feedback inputs

Interareal feedback connections are a fundamental aspect of cortical architecture, yet many aspects of their organization and functional relevance remain poorly understood. Previous studies have investigated the topography of feedback projections from extrastriate cortex to macaque area 17. We have extended this analysis to the ferret. We made restricted injections of cholera toxin B (CTb) into ferret area 17 and mapped the distribution of retrogradely labeled cells in extrastriate cortex. In addition to extensive label spreading within area 17, we found dense cell label in areas 18, 19, and 21 and the suprasylvian cortex and sparser connections from the lateral temporal and posterior parietal cortex. We made extensive physiological assessments of magnification factors in the extrastriate visual cortex and used these measures to convert the spread of labeled cortex in millimeters into a span in degrees of visual field. We also directly measured the visuotopic extents of receptive fields in the regions containing labeled cells in cases in which we made both CTb injections and physiological recordings in the same animals; we then compared the aggregate receptive field (ARF) of the labeled region in each extrastriate area with that of the injection site. In areas 18, 19, and 21, receptive fields of cells in regions containing labeled neurons overlapped those at the injection site but spanned a greater distance in visual space than the ARF of the injection site. The broad visuotopic extent of feedback connections is consistent with the suggestion that they contribute to response modulation by stimuli beyond the classical receptive field. J. Comp. Neurol. 487:312–331, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Long-term follow-up of plasma cells in bone marrow and serum free light chains in primary systemic AL amyloidosis.

OBJECTIVE Primary systemic AL amyloidosis arises from immunoglobulin light chains produced by plasma cell dyscrasia. To prospectively investigate the production of M-protein and plasma cells in bone marrow before and after chemotherapy, we performed flow cytometry and analysis of serum free light chains (FLCs). PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty-nine patients with primary systemic AL amyloidosis (mean age, 59.9+/-8.8 years) were enrolled in this study, and of these 31 were serially studied before and after chemotherapy. Complete hematological remission was defined as normalization of the FLC kappa/lambda ratio. RESULTS MPC-1(-)CD45(-) (p<0.05) and MPC-1(+)CD45(-)CD49e(-) (p<0.005) were significantly higher, and MPC-1(-)-CD45(+) (p<0.05), MPC-1(+)CD45(+)CD49e(-) (p<0.0001) and MPC-1(+)CD45(+)CD49e(+) (p<0.0005) were significantly lower in the patients with AL amyloidosis than in controls. There was a significantly positive correlation between the serum predominant FLC/serum creatinine ratio and MPC-1(+)CD45(-)CD49e(-) (p<0.05). After chemotherapies, such as high-dose melphalan with autologous stem cell support, 20 of 31 patients with AL amyloidosis achieved complete hematological remission. There were no significant differences in any subtype of plasma cells before treatment between the remission and non-remission groups, but in the former group MPC-1(+)CD45(-)CD49e(-) and MPC-1(-)CD45(+) were significantly decreased and increased after chemotherapy compared with before, respectively. CONCLUSION Abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow, particularly the MPC-1(+)CD45(-)CD49e(-) subset, may be important as a follow-up marker before and after chemotherapy in primary systemic AL amyloidosis. These cells maintain low levels as long as no relapse occurs.
Immunotherapy and immunoprevention of cancer: where do we stand?

Although evolution has shaped the immune system to control microbial in-vasions, this does not necessarily mean that the immune system can not be triggered to eliminate tumour cells. The exploitation of the terrific potential of the immune system to recognise cell alterations and to selectively destroy large populations of neoplastic cells is a possibility made even more attractive by the advances in our understanding of the immune mechanisms and our ability to manipulate them. This review summarises the state of the different immunotherapy strategies available or in development today, and examines the future developments that hold out the promise of an effective control of cancer growth.
Characterization of a Novel Member of the DOK Family That Binds and Modulates Abl Signaling

ABSTRACT A novel member of the p62 dok family of proteins, termed DOKL, is described. DOKL contains features of intracellular signaling molecules, including an N-terminal PH (pleckstrin homology) domain, a central PTB (phosphotyrosine binding) domain, and a C-terminal domain with multiple potential tyrosine phosphorylation sites and proline-rich regions, which might serve as docking sites for SH2- and SH3-containing proteins. The DOKL gene is predominantly expressed in bone marrow, spleen, and lung, although low-level expression of the RNA can also be detected in other tissues. DOKL and p62 dok bind through their PTB domains to the Abelson tyrosine kinase in a kinase-dependent manner in both yeast and mammalian cells. DOKL is phosphorylated by the Abl tyrosine kinase in vivo. In contrast to p62 dok , DOKL lacks YxxP motifs in the C terminus and does not bind to Ras GTPase-activating protein (RasGAP) upon phosphorylation. Overexpression of DOKL, but not p62 dok , suppresses v-Abl-induced mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation but has no effect on constitutively activated Ras- and epidermal growth factor-induced MAP kinase activation. The inhibitory effect requires the PTB domain of DOKL. Finally, overexpression of DOKL in NIH 3T3 cells inhibits the transforming activity of v-Abl. These results suggest that DOKL may modulate Abl function.
A REVIEW OF NOVICE TEACHERS' RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THEIR COLLEAGUES, PEERS AND ADMINISTRATORS STUDIES: AIMS, METHODOLOGIES, GENERAL KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS AND SUGGESTIONS

Beginning teachers face many challenges and often have many problems and areas of concern. All of these factors affect the teacher induction programs and by this means beginning teachers adjust sooner to induction process. As a result of this, both social and personal challenges and problems ease. This situation increases beginning teachers’ self-efficiency and thus it reflects educational-instructional process and students. Consequently, with overcoming lacks of the teachers, school environment and learning will be more effective. In this paper, it is tried to make a thematic review by using a previously constructed matrix with aims, methodologies, general knowledge claims and suggestions. The databases were searched. 28 studies containing these words are analyzed in this research. This analyses includes following titles; aims, methods, results, suggestions of the studies about novice teachers’ relationships among their colleagues, peers and administrators. It has been seen that there are various conceptions at this topic. So, it is wanted to classify these notions in order to provide a contribution at literature. It is thought that this review can be helpful for researchers in terms of gathering the beginning teachers’ relationships with other school staffs researches together.
The Causal Dynamics in Indian Agriculture Commodity Prices and Macro-Economic Variables in the Presence of a Structural Break

Agriculture commodity prices have been quite volatile in India. The proposed study explores the effect of structural change on the flow of information between the spot and futures market of agriculture commodities and select macro-economic factors. The volatility in agriculture commodity prices is studied with respect to three dominant macro-economic factors—movement in crude price which serves as an input to agriculture sector, movement in INR/USD exchange rate and movement in Sensex which is considered as a barometer of investment in India. The study uses non-linear cointegration and causality test to understand the direction of causality in volatility of commodities and impact of macro-economic factors. The study observed the agriculture commodities spot and futures prices to be co-integrated with crude, forex and Sensex for majority of the break periods. We find robust evidence that futures market played a leading role in the price discovery function and information processing. Breaks in agriculture commodity prices are attributed to fundamentals of demand and supply in the market and global financial turmoil of 2007. We observed mixed results of influence of the exchange rate, Sensex and crude on agriculture prices in different sub-periods.
T‐cell interleukin‐6 receptor binding in interferon‐β‐1b‐treated multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a T‐cell‐mediated autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, associated with an altered cytokine network. We previously assayed peripheral blood T‐lymphocyte binding for two prototypic cytokines, tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), and found that T cells from MS patients had significantly more TNF‐α and IL‐6 receptors than those from healthy controls. In the present work, paralleling a previous one on T‐cell TNF‐α binding, we studied the effect of interferon (IFN)‐β‐1b treatment on T‐lymphocyte IL‐6 binding in patients with relapsing–remitting MS. T cells from MS patients had significantly (P < 0.001) higher amounts of IL‐6 receptors than those from controls [292 ± 6 vs. 228 ± 8 (mean ± SEM) receptors per cell, respectively], whereas the ligand‐receptor affinity values were similar in the two groups [26.2 ± 0.7 and 25.7 ± 0.4 (mean ± SEM) pmoles/l, respectively]. After a 3‐month IFN‐β‐1b treatment, they showed a significant decrease in IL‐6 binding [266 ± 7 (mean ± SEM) receptors per cell]. After 6 and 9 months, T‐cell IL‐6 Bmax values were even lower [258 ± 8 and 251 ± 8 (mean ± SEM) receptors per cell]. Since an increased IL‐6 binding might be linked to a lymphocyte activation, our data give further support for an enhanced immune response in patients with MS. Our data seem to demonstrate that the major effects of IFN‐β‐1b treatment result in a decrease of T‐cell activation.
Treatment of vascular dementia. Recommendations of the Scientific Department of Cognitive Neurology and Aging of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology

Scientific Department of Cognitive Neurology and Aging of ABN had a consensus meeting to write recommendations on treatment of vascular dementia, there was no previous issue. This disease has numerous particularities and can be considered a preventable dementia. Prevention treatment is primary care of vascular risk factors or a secondary prevention of factors that could cause recurrence of ischemic or hemorrhagic brain modifications. In these guidelines we suggested only symptomatic treatment, pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic. We have reviewed current publications on MEDLINE (PubMed), LILACS e Cochrane Library databases. Recommendations are concern to the following factors and their prevention evidences, association, or treatment of vascular dementia: physical activity, tobacco use, diet and food supplements, arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, statins, cardiac failure, atrial fibrillation, antithrombotics, sleep apnea, carotid revascularization, symptomatic pharmacological treatment.
Reflecting the Now: Project Management and Contemporary Collecting in a Multi-disciplinary Museum

Nearly two million visitors a year will pass through the new permanent galleries of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. This article reflects on the planning and collecting that presaged their redevelopment in the context of twenty-first century museum practice in the UK. We focus in particular on two elements: firstly, the fundamental project management work that underpins any development of this kind. Were established methodologies and practices conducive to open-ended, outcomes-based objectives such as research? Secondly, we ask this question specifically in relation to contemporary collecting in art, and in science. How can the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns of contemporary collecting be mainstreamed in project management workflows? What boundaries endure in museum processes and products?
Alterations in Procoagulant, Anticoagulant, and Fibrinolytic Systems Before and After Start of Induction Chemotherapy in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Induction chemotherapy is associated with increased thrombosis risk in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). In this prospective study, we explored the effects of ALL and induction chemotherapy on the procoagulant, anticoagulant, and fibrinolytic systems in 20 children with ALL. The levels of d-dimer, factor VIII, von Willebrand factor, protein C, antithrombin III, and thrombin-activated fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) were elevated at diagnosis. These changes were not related with peripheral blast count. The levels of fibrinogen, d-dimer, coagulation inhibitors, and plasminogen decreased, whereas the levels of tissue factor pathway inhibitor and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 increased progressively following prednisolone monotherapy, administration of vincristine plus daunorubicin, and l-asparaginase. The levels of factor VIII, d-dimer, and TAFI remained elevated during the study period. In conclusion, coagulation activation and impaired fibrinolysis already exist at diagnosis, whereas induction chemotherapy leads to reactivation of coagulation and progressive impairment in fibrinolytic and anticoagulant capacities in childhood ALL.
Negative Priming 1985 to 2015: A Measure of Inhibition, the Emergence of Alternative Accounts, and the Multiple Process Challenge

In this article, three generations of authors describe the background to the original article; the subsequent emergence of vigorous debates concerning what negative priming actually reflects, where radically different accounts based on memory retrieval were proposed; and a re-casting of the conceptual issues underlying studies of negative priming. What started as a simple observation (slowed reaction times) and mechanism (distractor inhibition) appears now to be best explained by a multiple mechanism account involving both episodic binding and retrieval processes as well as an inhibitory process. Emerging evidence from converging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and especially electroencephalography (EEG), is beginning to identify these different processes. The past 30 years of negative priming experiments has revealed the dynamic and complex cognitive processes that mediate what appear to be apparently simple behavioural effects.
Periodontal Pathogens Directly Promote Autoimmune Experimental Arthritis by Inducing a TLR2- and IL-1–Driven Th17 Response

Increasing epidemiologic evidence supports a link between periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis. The actual involvement of periodontitis in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and the underlying mechanisms remain, however, poorly understood. We investigated the influence of concomitant periodontitis on clinical and histopathologic characteristics of T cell–mediated experimental arthritis and evaluated modulation of type II collagen (CII)–reactive Th cell phenotype as a potential mechanism. Repeated oral inoculations of periodontal pathogens Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella nigrescens induced periodontitis in mice, as evidenced by alveolar bone resorption. Interestingly, concurrent periodontitis induced by both bacteria significantly aggravated the severity of collagen-induced arthritis. Exacerbation of arthritis was characterized by increased arthritic bone erosion, whereas cartilage damage remained unaffected. Both P. gingivalis and P. nigrescens skewed the CII-specific T cell response in lymph nodes draining arthritic joints toward the Th17 phenotype without affecting Th1. Importantly, the levels of IL-17 induced by periodontal pathogens in CII-specific T cells directly correlated with the intensity of arthritic bone erosion, suggesting relevance in pathology. Furthermore, IL-17 production was significantly correlated with periodontal disease–induced IL-6 in lymph node cell cultures. The effects of the two bacteria diverged in that P. nigrescens, in contrast to P. gingivalis, suppressed the joint-protective type 2 cytokines, including IL-4. Further in vitro studies showed that the Th17 induction strongly depended on TLR2 expression on APCs and was highly promoted by IL-1. Our data provide evidence of the involvement of periodontitis in the pathogenesis of T cell–driven arthritis through induction of Ag-specific Th17 response.
Dispersion pre‐compensation of 15 femtosecond optical pulses for high‐numerical‐aperture objectives

The excitation efficiency in two‐photon absorption (TPA) microscopy depends strongly — owing to the square dependence of the TPA fluorescence on the excitation intensity — on the temporal width of the excitation pulse. Because of their inherently large frequency bandwidth, ultrashort optical pulses tend to broaden substantially because of dispersion from propagation through the dispersive elements in the microscope. In this paper, the dispersion characteristics of a wide range of microscope objectives are investigated. It is shown that the induced dispersion can be pre‐compensated in all cases for pulses as short as 15 fs. Because of the excellent agreement between the results from theoretical modelling and the experimental data, predictions of the possibility of dispersion control for microscope objectives in general, as well as for even shorter pulses, can be inferred. Since for TPA imaging the background due to single photon absorption processes and scattering is independent of the pulse width, proper dispersion pre‐compensation — which minimizes the pulse duration at the focal point and hence maximizes the excitation efficiency — provides optimal image contrast in TPA microscopy.
Enhancement of substrate solubilization and hydrogen production from kitchen wastes by pH pretreatment

Pretreatment at different pHs was adopted in this study to enhance the substance solubilization and hydrogen production from kitchen wastes through anaerobic digestion. After a pretreatment set at pH = 13, solubilization of kitchen wastes improved substantially as the concentration of soluble carbohydrate, soluble protein, lipids and soluble chemical oxygen demand increased by 283.1%, 203.2%, 259.1% and 108.2%, respectively, as compared with those of the control. The maximum hydrogen production potential reached 105.38 mL/g VS after the pretreatment, which was 2.66 times that of the control. Furthermore, butyric acid and acetic acid were the major components in the total metabolites after fermentation, while propionic acid had a relatively low concentration. Finally, the concentration of exoprotein and exopolysaccharide within extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) kept increasing during the initial 14 and 9 hours, respectively, then decreased afterwards. However, the concentration of DNA increased throughout the whole stage. The total EPS might indirectly indicate the anaerobic digestion process. These findings may represent a feasible method for high‐quality treatment of kitchen wastes.
Student politics: between representation and activism

This chapter reviews and offers directions for future research on student politics in higher education in different parts of the world. The concept of student politics refers to the activities related to the power relations between students and other social actors in and out the higher education systems; more specifically, it pertains to the relationships between students and university authorities, as well as the interactions between students and state officials. In analyzing the various forms of student politics, we draw the distinction between representation and activism, as two distinct yet interrelated activities. The first pertains to students organizing into representative student associations, such as student governments, graduate student employee unions, party-affiliated student organizations, or other student interest groups. Activism, on the other hand, denotes practices of student collective action through various forms of political engagement, whereby students act in support of or in opposition to a specific cause and/or hold the authority accountable. The analysis is guided by questions on how the various forms of student politics emerge and how they develop their organizational characteristics and their respective strategic repertoires.
Estimating the Unknown Parameters of the Natural History of Metachronous Colorectal Cancer Using Discrete-Event Simulation

Objectives. Some aspects of the natural history of metachronous colorectal cancer (MCRC), such as the rate of progression from adenomatous polyp to MCRC, are unknown. The objective of this study is to estimate a set of parameters revealing some of these unknown characteristics of MCRC. Methods. The authors developed a computer simulation model that mimics the progression of MCRC for a 5-year period following the treatment of primary colorectal cancer (CRC). They obtained the inputs of the simulation model using longitudinal data for 284 CRC patients from the Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Results. Five-year MCRC incidence and all-cause mortality were 7.4% and 12.7% in the patient cohort, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that 5-year MCRC incidence was associated with gender (P = 0.05), whereas both all-cause and CRC-related mortalities were associated with age (P < 0.001 and P = 0.01). Estimated annual probabilities of progression from adenomatous polyp to MCRC and from MCRC to metastatic MCRC were 0.14 and 0.28, respectively. Annual probabilities of mortality after MCRC and metastatic MCRC treatments were estimated to be 0.06 and 0.26, respectively. The estimated annual probability of mortality due to undetected MCRC was 0.16. Conclusions. The results imply that MCRC, especially in women, may be more common than suggested by previous studies. In addition, statistics derived from the clinical data and results of the simulation model indicate that gender and age affect the progression of MCRC.
The effect of diversification on firm value : publicly listed firms in the Netherlands and Germany post-financial crisis

This thesis investigates the influence diversification on firm value of publicly listed firms in Germany and the Netherlands. This influence is investigated by examining the relation between the number of industries a firm is active in and its Tobin’s Q, EV and Adjusted Q. Diversification was found to have a statistically negative influence on EV and the adjusted Q valuation measures. For Tobin’s Q a statistically insignificant diversification premium was found when using a diversification dummy and a statistically insignificant diversification discount was found when looking at the number of segments in which a firm is active.