Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Schisandrin B Attenuates Cancer Invasion and Metastasis Via Inhibiting Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Background Metastasis is the major cause of cancer related death and targeting the process of metastasis has been proposed as a strategy to combat cancer. Therefore, to develop candidate drugs that target the process of metastasis is very important. In the preliminary studies, we found that schisandrin B (Sch B), a naturally-occurring dibenzocyclooctadiene lignan with very low toxicity, could suppress cancer metastasis. Methodology BALB/c mice were inoculated subcutaneously or injected via tail vein with murine breast cancer 4T1 cells. Mice were divided into Sch B-treated and control groups. The primary tumor growth, local invasion, lung and bone metastasis, and survival time were monitored. Tumor biopsies were examined immuno- and histo-pathologically. The inhibitory activity of Sch B on TGF-β induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of 4T1 and primary human breast cancer cells was assayed. Principal Findings Sch B significantly suppressed the spontaneous lung and bone metastasis of 4T1 cells inoculated s.c. without significant effect on primary tumor growth and significantly extended the survival time of these mice. Sch B did not inhibit lung metastasis of 4T1 cells that were injected via tail vein. Delayed start of treatment with Sch B in mice with pre-existing tumors did not reduce lung metastasis. These results suggested that Sch B acted at the step of local invasion. Histopathological evidences demonstrated that the primary tumors in Sch B group were significantly less locally invasive than control tumors. In vitro assays demonstrated that Sch B could inhibit TGF-β induced EMT of 4T1 cells and of primary human breast cancer cells. Conclusions Sch B significantly suppresses the lung and bone metastasis of 4T1 cells via inhibiting EMT, suggesting its potential application in targeting the process of cancer metastasis.
Stop Talking and Listen: Discourse Ethics and Feminist Care Ethics in International Political Theory

This article seeks to extend feminist critiques of Habermasian discourse ethics in International Relations by engaging with the feminist ethics of care. Using the work of Andrew Linklater as a starting point, it argues that neither the existing critiques nor the responses have adequately addressed the key features of care ethics. The article critiques the idea of ethics as dialogue among ‘human beings as equals’ through an elaboration of several features of the ethics of care: firstly, the importance in care ethics of ‘dependency’ and ‘vulnerability’ not as conditions to be overcome, but rather as ways of being for normal human subjects; secondly, the focus on the responsibilities for listening attentively to the voices of others rather than on rights of individuals to be included in dialogue; thirdly, the need for patience and commitment in the recognition that responsibilities to others are fulfilled over the long, rather than the short, term; and, finally, the idea of care ethics as a substantive, democratic ethic of responsibility. These arguments emerge out of the basic ideas of care ethics — that relations and responsibilities of care are central to human life, and that care is a public value that must be negotiated at a variety of levels, from the household to the international community.
Hierarchical method for brain MRI segmentation based on using atlas information and least square support vector machine

In this paper, an automatic method for segmentation of cerebral magnetic resonance (MR) images based on using a hierarchical approach is proposed. In this study, a combination of brain probabilistic atlas as a priori information and support vector machines (SV M) is employed. Here, least-square SV M (LS-SV M) as a powerful supervised learning method with high generalization characteristics is used to generate brain tissue probabilities. The proposed method is applied to BrainW eb simulated data and IBSR real data. Quantitative and qualitative results obtained from simulations demonstrate excellent performance of the applied method in segmenting brain tissues into three categories of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), white matter (W M) and grey matter (GM).
Multiple Outbreaks of Nosocomial Salmonellosis in Russia and Belarus Caused by a Single Clone of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Producing an Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase

ABSTRACT Thirty-four cefotaxime-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium isolates representative of the isolates that caused outbreaks of gastroenteritis in 10 hospitals in seven regions of Russia and Belarus from 1994 to 2003 were analyzed. All isolates produced the CTX-M-5-like extended-spectrum β-lactamase, which confers high-level resistance to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone and decreased susceptibility to ceftazidime. The blaCTX-M genes were located on small (7.4- to 12-kb) non-self-transferable plasmids approximately 20 bp downstream of the ISEcp1 insertion sequences. Some isolates carried additional conjugative plasmids mediating resistance to penicillin-inhibitor combinations and various non-β-lactam agents, including tetracycline, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, tobramycin, and co-trimoxazole. Despite the minor differences in susceptibility patterns, all isolates were considered clonally related on the basis of arbitrarily primed PCR and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis. The similarities of the restriction profiles of the CTX-M-coding plasmids further supported the clonal origin of these isolates.
Hippuric acid nanocomposite enhances doxorubicin and oxaliplatin-induced cytotoxicity in MDA-MB231, MCF-7 and Caco2 cell lines

Background The aim of the current study is to design a new nanocomposite for inducing cytotoxicity of doxorubicin and oxaliplatin toward MDA-MB231, MCF-7, and Caco2 cell lines. A hippuric acid (HA) zinc layered hydroxide (ZLH) nanocomposite was synthesized under an aqueous environment using HA and zinc oxide (ZnO) as the precursors. Methods The hippuric acid nanocomposite (HAN) was prepared by the direct reaction of a HA solution with an aqueous suspension of ZnO. Results The basal spacing of the nanocomposite was 21.3 Å, which is average of four harmonics at 2θ = 8.32°, 12.50°, 16.68°, and 20.84°. This result indicates that the hippurate anion was successfully intercalated into the interlayer space of ZLH. The combinations of HAN with chemotherapy (drugs) has inhibited the cell growth of the MDA-MB231, MCF-7, and Caco2 cancer cells when compared to drugs alone. An IC50 value for the combination of HAN with doxorubicin toward MCF-7 is 0.19 ± 0.15 μg/mL and toward MDA-MB231 is 0.13 ± 0.10 μg/mL. Similarly, the IC50 for the combination of HAN with oxaliplatin toward Caco2 is 0.24 ± 0.11 μg/mL. In the antiproliferative results, the equal combination of HAN (0.5 μg/mL) with doxorubicin (0.5 μg/mL) has reduced the cell proliferation in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells into 37.3% and 17.6%, respectively after 24 hours. Similarly, the antiproliferation percentage for equal combination HAN with oxaliplatin (5.00 μg/mL) toward Caco2 is 72.7% after 24 hours. Conclusion The resulting combination HAN with drugs has exhibited higher inhibition in cells growth in all cancer cell lines.
Religious Group Identification and Inter-Religious Relations: A Study Among Turkish-Dutch Muslims

Following social identity theory, this research examines the relationship between group identification and intergroup relations by focusing on religion. Religious as well as Dutch national group identification was examined among Turkish-Dutch Muslims. Identification was studied in relation to general affective ratings of multiple religious groups (Muslims, Christians, Hindustanis, Jews and non-believers) and the endorsement of Islamic group rights. The results show that Muslim identification was more like a nominal (high or `total' identification) than a continuous variable, and that many participants showed low identification with the national group. The affective ratings of religious out-groups were quite negative, particularly of the Jews and non-believers. Muslim identification was positively and strongly related to feelings toward the religious in-group and to the endorsement of Islamic group rights. National identification was positively related to feelings toward the religious out-groups, but only for `total' Muslim identifiers, supporting the mutual intergroup differentiation model. The findings are discussed in relation to social psychological thinking about group identification and the importance of religion for intergroup relations.
Apparent resolution enhancement for motion videos

In this work we increase the apparent resolution of videos when viewed on a high-refresh rate display by making use of perceptual properties of the visual system. We achieve this enhancement by exploiting the viewer's natural tendency to track moving objects in videos which causes the screen pixels to be projected at different sub-pixel offsets onto the retina. We estimate the eye motion using optical flow and use it to compute multiple low-resolution frames for each input frame. By watching these new frames at a high frame-rate, the viewer's eyes integrate them over time and merges them into a single perceived frame with a denser pixel layout. In this work we also advance the existing approaches for resolution enhancement in the following ways. We combine current display resolution enhancement with super-resolution methods to enhance input videos that are at the display resolution. We derive a new perceived video model that accounts for actual camera sensor and display pixel shapes in order to achieve optimal enhancement. We analyze the degeneracies that certain motion velocities introduce to super-resolution and resolution enhancement, and offer algorithmic solutions for handling these scenarios as well as other difficulties that arise when dealing with the optical flow of natural videos. A user study finds that our approach achieves a noticeable increase in the apparent resolution for videos even when viewed on regular hardware (60Hz), and further enhances resolution when viewed on higher refresh rate displays (120Hz).
On the relationship between interdisciplinarity and scientific impact

This paper analyzes the effect of interdisciplinarity on the scientific impact of individual papers. Using all the papers published in Web of Science in 2000, we define the degree of interdisciplinarity of a given paper as the percentage of its cited references made to journals of other disciplines. We show that, although for all disciplines combined there is no clear correlation between the level of interdisciplinarity of papers and their citation rates, there are nonetheless some disciplines in which a higher level of interdisciplinarity is related to a higher citation rates. For other disciplines, citations decline as interdisciplinarity grows. One characteristic is visible in all disciplines: highly disciplinary and highly interdisciplinary papers have a low scientific impact. This suggests that there might be an optimum of interdisciplinarity beyond which the research is too dispersed to find its niche and under which it is too mainstream to have high impact. Finally, the relationship between interdisciplinarity and scientific impact is highly determined by the citation characteristics of the disciplines involved: papers citing citation intensive disciplines are more likely to be cited by those disciplines and, hence, obtain higher citation scores than papers citing non citation intensive disciplines.
MARITAL ATTRIBUTIONS AS MODERATORS OF THE MARITAL DISCORD-DEPRESSION LINK

Abstract Past research has indicated that attributions play a role in the development and maintenance of both depression and marital discord separately; however, few studies have examined how this construct may play a role in the robust relation between depression and marital discord. This study examined three models that may explain this link. First, this study tested two mediational models. One model examined whether attributions mediate the relation between marital distress and depression. The second model examined whether marital distress mediates the relation between marital attributions and depression. The third model examined whether marital attributions moderate the link between marital distress and depressive symptoms. 113 individuals from the community were administered measures of depression and marital functioning as part of a larger study on depression and marriage. Results supported the hypothesis that marital distress mediated the relationship between marital attributions and depression. Th.
Drivers and moderators of consumer behaviour in the multiple use of mobile phones

This research aims at not only expanding the research contexts from technology adoption but also encompasses the uses of technologies and services on converged mobile phones. An empirical model is verified through a survey of 249 mobile users in Australia. Findings indicate that enjoyment has a greater impact than usefulness in the use of mobile phones for personal information management, entertainment and e-mail communication. Risk is the major consideration for consumers using mobile phones for commercial transactions. Gender, PC ownership, and device capacity are identified to moderate the individual perceptions toward the use of mobile phones for these purposes.
Order Quantity and Timing Flexibility in Supply Chains: The Role of Demand Characteristics

We study how differences in product demand characteristics affect the strategic value of different types of supply chain flexibility for accurate response. We propose a single-period inventory modelling framework with two ordering opportunities. The second order reflects updated demand information and potentially capitalizes on supply chain flexibility. We consider two complementary forms of flexibility: quantity flexibility in production and timing flexibility in scheduling. In this framework, we analyze the total inventory cost of a firm for alternate demand types. We model functional products through the standard assumption of independent demand over the period, fashion-driven innovative products through a Bayesian model, and innovative products with evolving demand through a Martingale process. The three demand processes exhibit very different behavior with respect to the value of the alternate forms of flexibility. We observe that quantity flexibility is of moderate value for functional goods and of high value for fashion-driven products for all lead times. Quantity flexibility is of low value for goods with evolving demand with long lead times but of high value for short lead times. Alternately, we observe timing flexibility is of highest value for functional goods, especially for cases of high holding cost, and is of lesser value for fashion-driven goods. It is of least value for goods with evolving demand. Both quantity and timing flexibility capabilities are required to significantly reduce the relevant supply chain costs for evolving-demand innovative goods when the lead times are long.
Neutrophils are essential for early anti-Listeria defense in the liver, but not in the spleen or peritoneal cavity, as revealed by a granulocyte-depleting monoclonal antibody

This study shows that in mice selectively depleted of neutrophils by treatment with a monoclonal antibody, RB6-8C5, listeriosis is severely exacerbated in the liver, but not in the spleen or peritoneal cavity during the crucial first day of infection. At sites of infection in the livers of neutrophil-depleted mice, Listeria monocytogenes grew to large numbers inside hepatocytes. By contrast, in the livers of normal mice neutrophils rapidly accumulated at infectious foci and this was associated with the lysis of infected hepatocytes that served to abort infection in these permissive cells. In the spleen the situation was different, in that depletion of neutrophils did not result in appreciable exacerbation of infection. In this organ intact infected cells, many of which appeared to be fibroblast-like stromal cells, were found at foci of infection in the presence or absence of large numbers of neutrophils. This suggests that neutrophils are less effective at destroying L. monocytogenes-infected target cells in the spleen than in the liver. Consequently, at least during the first day, the organism remained free to multiply intracellularly in the spleen in cells that are permissive for its growth. Presumably, the same situation exists in the peritoneal cavity, because depleting neutrophils did not severely exacerbate infection initiated at this site.
Effect of methomyl and oxamyl soil applications on early control of nematodes and insects.

BACKGROUND Methomyl is a widely used carbamate insecticide that has traditionally been applied as a foliar spray. More recently, methomyl has been labeled as a soil application via drip chemigation. Not much is known about the insecticidal and nematicidal potential of soil-applied methomyl. Methomyl soil applications were evaluated for their potential to control soil nematodes and foliar insect pests in a series of lab and greenhouse tests. RESULTS Methomyl showed rapid knockdown of Meloidogyne incognita (Kof. & White) Chitwood in aqueous assays, with EC50 and EC90 values that were similar to oxamyl and averaged 4.9 and 15.2 mg L(−1). In the greenhouse, soil applications of methomyl ranging from 0.56 to 4.0 kg ha(−1) provided significant M. incognita control similar to oxamyl during early growth (up to 25 days after planting) of pea and bean. Higher application rates and split applications improved nematode control, but also increased the risk of phytotoxicity. Methomyl soil applications were highly effective on several insects including Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Aphis gossypii (Glover), Frankliniella occidentalis Perg. and Spodoptera exigua (Hübner). Methomyl was about 5–9-fold more potent on M. persicae and A. gossypii when applied via soil drench as opposed to foliar spray. Potency on Bemisia tabaci Genn. , S. exigua and Trichoplusia ni Hübner was about the same with the two application methods. CONCLUSION Methomyl soil applications showed good potential for early control of various insect and nematode pests. Further testing is required to verify activity under field conditions.
Voronoi-based range query for trajectory data in spatial networks

Query processing for trajectory data is very important to spatio-temporal databases. Most of the research work in this field is based on the Euclidean space. However, in many applications, the spatio-temporal trajectories of moving objects are distributed in spatial network environment intensively, and the movements of moving objects are constrained by given network segments. Under such circumstances, existing Euclidean-based methods are ineffective. In this paper, we present a Network Voronoi Diagram (NVD) based method, to solve range query problem on a huge amount of spatio-temporal trajectories in spatial networks. The experiments demonstrated that our method is very efficient even when the trajectory datasets are huge.
Metric Analysis and Data Validation Across Fortran Projects

The desire to predict the effort in developing or explain the quality of software has led to the proposal of several metrics in the literature. As a step toward validating these metrics, the Software Engineering Laboratory has analyzed the Software Science metrics, cyclomatic complexity, and various standard program measures for their relation to 1) effort (including design through acceptance testing), 2) development errors (both discrete and weighted according to the amount of time to locate and frix), and 3) one another. The data investigated are collected from a production Fortran environment and examined across several projects at once, within individual projects and by individual programmers across projects, with three effort reporting accuracy checks demonstrating the need to validate a database. When the data come from individual programmers or certain validated projects, the metrics' correlations with actual effort seem to be strongest. For modules developed entirely by individual programmers, the validity ratios induce a statistically significant ordering of several of the metrics' correlations. When comparing the strongest correlations, neither Software Science's E metric, cyclomatic complexity nor source lines of code appears to relate convincingly better with effort than the others
Research news and Comment: Reflections on Statistical and Substantive Significance, With a Slice of Replication

In this comment, we propose some modifications to Thompson’s (1996) recent suggestions for AERA editorial policy on statistical significance testing. First, we discuss the potential problems, both procedural and conceptual, that could arise from professional journals mandating the addition of the modifier “statistically” to “significant. ” If language remains an issue of consequence, however, findings stemming from rejected null hypotheses could be termed “nonchance” to communicate simply and more precisely what it is that a statistical test reveals. Second, although asking authors to provide explicit effect-size information is both sensible and useful, we illustrate how effect sizes (like p values) can be misinterpreted and misused. Finally, in accord with Thompson, we argue that greater attention to replication should be encouraged in educational research. At the same time, we believe that internal replication analyses do not represent adequate substitutes for (or even close approximations to) external replication studies based on new, independent participants. With journals welcoming both constructed and literal replication studies, consumers of the educational research literature can concentrate less on the limited believability of one-time findings and more on the enhanced believability of repeatable and generalizable ones.
Networks of Emotion Concepts

The aim of this work was to study the similarity network and hierarchical clustering of Finnish emotion concepts. Native speakers of Finnish evaluated similarity between the 50 most frequently used Finnish words describing emotional experiences. We hypothesized that methods developed within network theory, such as identifying clusters and specific local network structures, can reveal structures that would be difficult to discover using traditional methods such as multidimensional scaling (MDS) and ordinary cluster analysis. The concepts divided into three main clusters, which can be described as negative, positive, and surprise. Negative and positive clusters divided further into meaningful sub-clusters, corresponding to those found in previous studies. Importantly, this method allowed the same concept to be a member in more than one cluster. Our results suggest that studying particular network structures that do not fit into a low-dimensional description can shed additional light on why subjects evaluate certain concepts as similar. To encourage the use of network methods in analyzing similarity data, we provide the analysis software for free use (http://www.becs.tkk.fi/similaritynets/).
Proactive People Are Morning People1

Proactivity is the willingness and ability to take action to change a situation to one's advantage and has been studied in a wide range of contexts. The role of chronotype on proactivity has not been assessed. Individual differences in circadian rhythms have been widely acknowledged and are accepted as an interesting facet of human personality. Morning people were more proactive than evening types, and people with small differences in rise time between weekdays and free days were also more proactive persons. Sleep length (on weekdays and on free days) and total time spent in weekend oversleep did not show any relationship with proactivity. These results suggest that morning people are more proactive than are evening types.