Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regulation of p53 by macrophage migration inhibitory factor in inflammatory arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To study the capacity of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) to regulate proliferation, apoptosis, and p53 in an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from humans with RA. METHODS Antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) was induced in MIF(-/-) mice and littermate controls. FLS were obtained from patients with RA. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to measure p53 in cells and tissues. Apoptosis was detected in cells by flow cytometry using TUNEL and annexin V/propidium iodide labeling. Apoptosis in tissue was detected using TUNEL. Proliferation was assessed in cultured cells and tissue by (3)H-thymidine incorporation and Ki-67 immunostaining, respectively. RESULTS MIF inhibited p53 expression in human RA FLS. Levels of p53 were correspondingly increased in MIF(-/-) mouse tissues and cells. Spontaneous and sodium nitroprusside-induced apoptosis were significantly increased in MIF(-/-) cells. In vitro exposure of FLS to MIF reduced apoptosis and significantly induced FLS proliferation. Synoviocyte proliferation in MIF(-/-) mice was correspondingly reduced. A decrease in the severity of AIA in MIF(-/-) mice was associated with an increase in p53 and apoptosis in synovium. Evidence of in situ proliferation was scant in this model, and no difference in in situ proliferation was detectable in MIF(-/-) mice compared with wild-type mice. CONCLUSION These results indicate a role for MIF in the regulation of p53 expression and p53-mediated events in the inflamed synovium and support the hypothesis that MIF is of critical importance in the pathogenesis of RA.
On the Assessment of Segmentation Methods for Images of Mosaics

The present paper deals with automatic segmentation of mosaics, whose aim is obtaining a digital representation of the mosaic where the shape of each tile is recovered. This is an important step, for instance, for preserving ancient mosaics. By using a ground-truth consisting of a set of manually annotated mosaics, we objectively compare the performance of some existing recent segmentation methods, based on a simple error metric taking into account precision, recall and the error on the number of tiles. Moreover, we introduce some mosaic-specific hardness estimators (namely some indexes of how difficult is the task of segmenting a particular mosaic image). The results show that the only segmentation algorithm specifically designed for mosaics performs better than the general purpose algorithms. However, the problem of segmentation of mosaics appears still partially unresolved and further work is needed for exploiting the specificity of mosaics in designing new segmentation algorithms.
Analysis of the Gull Fecal Microbial Community Reveals the Dominance of Catellicoccus marimammalium in Relation to Culturable Enterococci

ABSTRACT Gulls are prevalent in beach environments and can be a major source of fecal contamination. Gulls have been shown to harbor a high abundance of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as Escherichia coli and enterococci, which can be readily detected as part of routine beach monitoring. Despite the ubiquitous presence of gull fecal material in beach environments, the associated microbial community is relatively poorly characterized. We generated comprehensive microbial community profiles of gull fecal samples using Roche 454 and Illumina MiSeq platforms to investigate the composition and variability of the gull fecal microbial community and to measure the proportion of FIB. Enterococcaceae and Enterobacteriaceae were the two most abundant families in our gull samples. Sequence comparisons between short-read data and nearly full-length 16S rRNA gene clones generated from the same samples revealed Catellicoccus marimammalium as the most numerous taxon among all samples. The identification of bacteria from gull fecal pellets cultured on membrane-Enterococcus indoxyl-β-d-glucoside (mEI) plates showed that the dominant sequences recovered in our sequence libraries did not represent organisms culturable on mEI. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing of gull fecal isolates cultured on mEI plates, 98.8% were identified as Enterococcus spp. , 1.2% were identified as Streptococcus spp. , and none were identified as C. marimammalium. Illumina deep sequencing indicated that gull fecal samples harbor significantly higher proportions of C. marimammalium 16S rRNA gene sequences (>50-fold) relative to typical mEI culturable Enterococcus spp. C. marimammalium therefore can be confidently utilized as a genetic marker to identify gull fecal pollution in the beach environment.
A New Compact Wideband MIMO Antenna—The Double-Sided Tapered Self-Grounded Monopole Array

We present a new compact wideband multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna-the double-sided 4-port arm-tapered self-grounded monopole array, briefly referred to as the butterfly antenna, in the communication. The antenna is very compact with low correlation between ports and high diversity gain. The genetic algorithm optimization scheme has been employed in the design. Simulation results have been verified against measurements. The measured reflection coefficients at all ports are below -7 dB over 0.5-9 GHz and below -4.5 dB over 0.4-0.5 GHz and 9-15 GHz. The measured correlation coefficients are below 0.4 over 0.4-15 GHz and lower than 0.1 in most of the frequency band. This new MIMO antenna is developed as a transmit antenna in reverberation chambers, and we believe that it will find more applications in other systems, such as micro base station antennas in wireless communication systems.
‘ A stitch in time ... may save nine ’ : A systematic synthesis of the evidence for domestic violence management and prevention in Emergency Care

The aim of this policy brief is to provide an evidence-informed answer to the question: ‘What is the role and scope of pre-hospital emergency care providers to domestic violence (DV) intervention as a form of gender-based violence prevention? ’ The answer is intended to determine the theoretical and clinical best practice to inform the emergency care community and policy development by critically appraising the evidence that considers the responsiveness of Emergency Medical Services to the health needs of DV victims. Evidence-informed Decision Making methods are employed. The evidence appraised was based on electronic searches using the Cape Peninsula University of Technology database. Research and non-research publications were considered with publication dates mostly from 1999 to 2011. Upon screening 164 articles for content relevance, 53 were critically appraised against predetermined criteria for relevance of the evidence, robust nature of the evidence and presence of bias. A thematic/ 1 Please direct all correspondence to: Mr Navindhra Naidoo, Department of Emergency Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, PO Box 1906, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa, 7534; Email: naidoon@cput.ac. za
Design of a compact rotary series elastic actuator for improved actuation transparency and mechanical safety

Actuators for human-interactive robot systems require transparency and guaranteed safety. An actuation system is called transparent, when it is able to generate an actuation force as desired without any actuator dynamics. The requirements for the transparent actuation include high precision and large frequency bandwidth in actuation force generation, zero mechanical impedance, and so on. In this paper, a compact rotary series elastic actuator (cRSEA) is designed considering the actuation transparency and the mechanical safety; the mechanical parameters of a cRSEA are optimally selected for the controllability, the input and output torque transmissibility, and the mechanical impedance. A mechanical clutch that automatically disengages the transmission is devised such that the human is mechanically protected from an excessive actuation torque due to any possible controller malfunction or any external impact from a collision. The proposed cRSEA with a mechanical clutch is applied to develop a wearable robot for incomplete paraplegic patients. Experimental results of a manufactured cRSEA system are introduced in this paper also.
Effects on I-V characteristics of RTD due to different parametric variations

In this paper, novel features offered by Resonant Tunneling Diode (RTD) are reviewed by simulating it under different conditions. The commonly used GaAs/AlGaAs RTD is used as the reference one. The effects of variations of different parameters on RTD's characteristics are mainly focused in this work. A simple model of resonant electronic transport through a double-barrier structure is developed and it is simulated in Silvaco-Atlas software. I-V characteristics are studied by varying barrier parameters and well width. Different peak and valley currents are measured under these conditions. For the same set of parameters both symmetric and asymmetric cases are considered.
Using social media to measure labour market flows in Greece

Στην παρούσα διπλωματική eργασία, μeλeτάται το κατά πόσο eίναι δυνατό να χρησιμοποιηθούν δeδομένα από Μέσα Κοινωνικής Δικτύωσης για να μeτρηθούν οι μeταβάσeις μeταξύ των καταστάσeων της eλληνικής αγοράς eργασίας. Χρησιμοποιούμe δeδομένα από τον ιστοχώρο κοινωνικής δικτύωσης, Twitter, για να δημιουργήσουμe δeίκτeς για την Απώλeια Eργασίας & την Ανeργία και την Eύρeση & Αναζήτηση Eργασίας. Για να κατασκeυάσουμe αυτούς τους δeίκτeς, μeτράμe τις σχeτικές μe την απώλeια eργασίας eκφράσeις που βρίσκουμe σe όλα τα δημόσια eλληνικά tweets, και αποτeλούν τα signals μας. Οι κύριeς συνιστώσeς αυτών των signals eίναι οι Δeίκτeς Μέσων Κοινωνικής Δικτύωσης. Eπικeντρωνόμαστe κυρίως στις μeταβάσeις προς την ανeργία, καθώς έχουμe στη διάθeσή μας μια ποιοτική χρονοσeιρά, τις νέeς αιτήσeις για το eπίδομα ανeργίας, μe την οποία μπορούμe να συγκρίνουμe το δeίκτη μας. Η βάση δeδομένων μας αποτeλeίται από 129.304 tweets, τα οποία δημοσιeύθηκαν από τον Ιανουάριο του 2009 έως και το Δeκέμβρη του 2015. Αναλύουμe τις μηνιαίeς eκτιμήσeις των μeταβάσeων μέσα στην αγορά eργασίας, για τους 84 μήνeς που προαναφέρθηκαν και eπιπρόσθeτα υλοποιούμe μια eπιπλέον ανάλυση για να προσδιορίσουμe τους παράγοντeς που μπορeί να οδηγούν σe ένα σχeτικό μe τον δeίκτη απώλeιας eργασίας, tweet.
Assessing the Constraints of HR Implementation: Development and Validation of a Research Instrument

The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument for measuring the constraints of implementing HR practices by line managers, based on the ideas of devolution. This research stream identifies constraints but lacks an instrument to measure them. We developed such an instrument for the five constraints: desire, capacity, competencies, support and policy & procedures. They are measured by constructs based on reliable and validated scales in nonHR literature. As we apply these scales in a different domain, we re-assess their reliability and validity after collecting data from 174 line managers. Some modifications appeared necessary in the new domain.
A Qualitative Exploratory Investigation on the Purchase Intention of Consumers Affected by Long-term Negative Advertising: A Case from the Chinese Milk Sector

Although China has a short history of dairy products consumption (Xiu & Klein, 2010), the landscape of China’s dairy industry has dramatically changed over the past two decades. From 1995 to 2015, per capita consumption of dairy products for urban residents increased from 4.6 kg to 30 kg. Rapid income growth gave China’s urban residents access to refrigerators and pushed up the purchase of luxury items such as ice-cream. Income growth also started providing access to imported infant formula milk powder (Fuller, Huang, Ma, & Rozelle, 2006). In spite of increasing year-to-year production, dairy sales stagnated in 2008 after a milk contamination scandal. Our study qualitatively explores consumers’ post-event perceptions of dairy products to explore the long-term effects of negative advertising and how this affects consumers’ long-term purchase intention. Our results from ten focus groups with different demographics indicate that the negative effects of food scares are reduced over time and, in spite of initial drops in sales, time itself heals drops in consumers’ demand. While demand for the product does not drop ad libitum, preferences seem to shift from local products to imported products, hampering the growth of local industries but favouring FDI.
Regulation of the tinman homologues in Xenopus embryos.

Vertebrate homologues of the Drosophila tinman transcription factor have been implicated in the processes of specification and differentiation of cardiac mesoderm. In Xenopus three members of this family have been isolated to date. Here we show that the XNkx2-3, Xnkx2-5, and XNkx2-10 genes are expressed in increasingly distinctive patterns in endodermal and mesodermal germ layers through early development, suggesting that their protein products (either individually or in different combinations) perform distinct functions. Using amphibian transgenesis, we find that the expression pattern of one of these genes, XNkx2-5, can be reproduced using transgenes containing only 4.3 kb of promoter sequence. Sequence analysis reveals remarkable conservation between the distalmost 300 bp of the Xenopus promoter and a portion of the AR2 element upstream of the mouse and human Nkx2-5 genes. Interestingly, only the 3' half of this evolutionarily conserved sequence element is required for correct transgene expression in frog embryos. Mutation of conserved GATA sites or a motif resembling the dpp-response element in the Drosophila tinman tinD enhancer dramatically reduces the levels of transgene expression. Finally we show that, despite its activity in Xenopus embryos, in transgenic mice the Xenopus Nkx2-5 promoter is able to drive reporter gene expression only in a limited subset of cells expressing the endogenous gene. This intriguing result suggests that despite evolutionary conservation of some cis-regulatory sequences, the regulatory controls on Nkx2-5 expression have diverged between mammals and amphibians.
The pathogenicity of strains of Salmonella paratyphi B and Salmonella java.

AIMS To relate the diseases caused by strains of Salmonella paratyphi B and S. java to pathogenic mechanisms expressed by these bacteria for the purpose of organism discrimination. METHODS AND RESULTS Epidemiological data relating to cases of disease caused by strains of S. paratyphi B and S. java, isolated over a 10-year period, were analysed with respect to patients' symptoms, particularly those involving enteric fever. Strains of S. paratyphi B and S. java were also examined for a range of known pathogenic mechanisms. Infection with S. paratyphi B involved pyrexia in 12.5% of patients compared with 2.2% of patients infected with S. java. These organisms could not be differentiated based on the pathogenic properties examined. CONCLUSIONS Strains of S. paratyphi B appear not to be a major cause of enteric fever but primarily a cause of gastroenteritis, in common with S. java. Both organisms express similar pathogenic mechanisms, and strains of S. java are probably d-tartrate utilizing variants of S. paratyphi B. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY Strains of S. paratyphi B are very closely related organisms, primarily causing gastroenteritis. From this study it would appear that strains of S. paratyphi B are not a major cause of enteric fever.
Response to: ‘Performance of the 2017 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for adult and juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies in clinical practice’ by Hočevar et al

We read with interest the letter titled ‘Performance of the 2017 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for adult and juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies in clinical practice’ by Hocevar et al published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases . 1 In the letter the authors report the sensitivity and specificity of the recently published ‘ 2017 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for adult and juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and their major subgroups ’2 observed in a retrospective cohort of 95 patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) collected between 2010 and 2017 in a Slovenian rheumatology centre. As comparators, they used 72 subjects who had had a work-up for …
A Reliable Hybrid Wireless Network Architecture for Smart Grid Neighbourhood Area Networks

Smart grid neighbourhood area networks (NANs), supporting the communications for the power distribution system, involve high density of devices and massive volume of dates. A valid communication architecture for NANs has to guarantee the required date delivery for smart grid applications. In this paper, we propose a hybrid multi channel wireless network, combining wireless local area network and wireless mesh network, for smart grid NANs. The proposed architecture divides the NANs into two layers with different communication technologies that are connected by data aggregation points. A simulation study was carried out by using the ns-3 simulator, and the results indicate that the proposed network architecture fulfils the requirements of most applications in the smart grid with proper configurations. The simulation also provides quantitative analysis into the tradeoff between the number of data aggregation points and performance of the proposed architecture.
What Affects Users to Click on Display Ads on Social Media? The Roles of Message Values, Involvement, and Security

ABSTRACT This project represents one of the few efforts in studying the effectiveness of social media advertising (ads). Specifically, the effects of three major communication components—message, channel/media, and receiver/audience—on ad clicks are examined. The message component includes perceived informativeness, entertainment, and intrusiveness of the ad; the media component focuses on social media security and the audience component focuses on their involvement. The effects of ad clicks on product evaluations and then on intentions to spread positive word-of-mouth are also investigated. A research model is developed and tested with online-survey data from 572 social media users. The contributions, practical implications, and future research directions are discussed in the context of social media.
Detection of depression in older adults by family and friends: distinguishing mood disorder signals from the noise of personality and everyday life

ABSTRACT Background: The capacity of friends and family member informants to make judgments about the presence of a mood disorder history in an older primary care patient has theoretical, clinical, and public health significance. This study examined the accuracy of informant-reported mood disorder diagnoses in a sample of primary care patients aged 65 years or older. We hypothesized that the accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of informant reports would vary with the patient's personality. Methods: Hypotheses were tested in 191 dyads consisting of patients and their friends or relatives (informants) recruited from primary care settings. Gold-standard mood disorder diagnoses were established at consensus conferences based on a review of medical charts and data collected in a structured interview with the patient. Patients completed an assessment battery that included the NEO-Five Factor Inventory. Results: Sensitivity and specificity of informant-derived mood disorder diagnoses were related to patient personality. Sensitivity of informant-derived lifetime mood disorder diagnoses was compromised by higher Extraversion and higher Agreeableness. Specificity of informant-derived lifetime mood disorder diagnoses was compromised by lower Agreeableness and higher Conscientiousness. Conclusion: Patient personality has implications for the accuracy of mood disorder histories provided by friends and family members. Given that false negatives can have grave consequences, we recommend that practitioners be particularly vigilant when interpreting collateral information about their extraverted, agreeable patients.
Social media as a means to access millennial wine consumers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gain insights of the use of social media (SM) in the wine industry. The theoretical viewpoint is to analyse wineries’ SM segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) to help the wine industry to improve the effectiveness of SM communication. Design/methodology/approach An observational study of Spanish wineries’ SM presence and traffic was carried out during a three-month period in 2013 and repeated in 2016. During this period, a questionnaire was distributed to 196 wineries. Logistic regression was used to model the dichotomous outcome variable of whether a winery “does” or “does not” utilise SM. Additionally, leader wineries were interviewed in April/May 2016 about SM STP. Findings The results show that most wineries are starting in SM without a well-defined strategy. The presence of a webpage is significantly related to the use of SM. SM wineries do not segment and can take advantage of digital targeting strategies. Practical implications Segmentation and targeting SM can improve the effectiveness of the winery SM activities as well as the winery competitiveness in the wine industry. Originality/value This paper is a first step in understanding the value of segmentation SM to reach millennial consumers and the importance of targeting to improve the effectiveness of winery on SM.
The Development of Sex Differences in Infantile Autism

Summary Seventy-five autistic children, 52 males and 23 females, were admitted to the Iowa Autism Programme over a 3-year period. An overall male-female ratio of 2.26:1 was found, but in the patients with IQs less than 50, the ratio was 1.31:1. When IQ and receptive language functioning were considered together, significantly more females than males showed a more deviant form of autism. Autistic females were more seriously affected than autistic males; and more autistic females than males had IQs of less than 50 and evidence of cerebral dysfunction. However, when autistic males and females were closely matched in chronological age and receptive language functioning, the males and females were equally impaired in cognitive and perceptual-motor abilities. The findings suggest that the overall greater degree of morbidity in autistic females was accounted for by a significantly greater proportion of autistic males affected with a mild form of autism, whereas a significantly greater proportion of autistic females were affected with a more deviant form of autism. The findings were linked to the hypothesis of differential genetic loading in males and females.