Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ovarian follicular cells have innate immune capabilities that modulate their endocrine function

Oestrogens are pivotal in ovarian follicular growth, development and function, with fundamental roles in steroidogenesis, nurturing the oocyte and ovulation. Infections with bacteria such as Escherichia coli cause infertility in mammals at least in part by perturbing ovarian follicle function, characterised by suppression of oestradiol production. Ovarian follicle granulosa cells produce oestradiol by aromatisation of androstenedione from the theca cells, under the regulation of gonadotrophins such as FSH. Many of the effects of E. coli are mediated by its surface molecule lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binding to the Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), CD14, MD-2 receptor complex on immune cells, but immune cells are not present inside ovarian follicles. The present study tested the hypothesis that granulosa cells express the TLR4 complex and LPS directly perturbs their secretion of oestradiol. Granulosa cells from recruited or dominant follicles are exposed to LPS in vivo and when they were cultured in the absence of immune cell contamination in vitro they produced less oestradiol when challenged with LPS, although theca cell androstenedione production was unchanged. The suppression of oestradiol production by LPS was associated with down-regulation of transcripts for aromatase in granulosa cells, and did not affect cell survival. Furthermore, these cells expressed TLR4, CD14 and MD-2 transcripts throughout the key stages of follicle growth and development. It appears that granulosa cells have an immune capability to detect bacterial infection, which perturbs follicle steroidogenesis, and this is a likely mechanism by which ovarian follicle growth and function is perturbed during bacterial infection.
Immunohistochemical Expression of E-cadherin Does Not Distinguish Canine Cutaneous Histiocytoma From Other Canine Round Cell Tumors

Immunohistochemistry for E-cadherin (ECAD) has been used to distinguish canine cutaneous histiocytoma from other leukocytic neoplasms (“round cell tumors”). To determine the specificity of this test, 5 types of canine cutaneous round cell tumors were evaluated for immunohistochemical expression of ECAD. Tumors of all 5 types had variable cytoplasmic, plasma membrane, and/or paranuclear ECAD expression: All 13 cutaneous histiocytomas were ECAD+; all but 1 of 14 mast cell tumors expressed ECAD; 10 of 12 epitheliotropic lymphomas reacted with E-cadherin antibody; of 72 plasmacytomas, 54 were ECAD+; and 5 of 5 histiocytic sarcomas were positive. Conclusions based on these results include the following: First, immunoreactivity for ECAD is not limited to leukocytes of cutaneous histiocytoma; second, antibody to ECAD also labels neoplastic cells in most mast cell tumors, plasmacytomas, cutaneous histiocytic sarcomas, and epitheliotropic lymphomas; third, although most histiocytomas have membranous ECAD expression, the immunoreactivity varies among round cell tumors and is frequently concurrent in different cellular compartments; fourth, the distinctively paranuclear ECAD expression pattern in epitheliotropic lymphomas might distinguish them from other round cell tumors; and, fifth, ECAD should be used with other markers (eg, MUM1 for plasmacytomas, KIT for mast cell tumors, CD3 and CD79a for lymphomas) to distinguish among canine round cell tumors.
Models of rehabilitation – commonalities of interventions that work and of those that do not

Purpose. To review models of rehabilitation and to consider factors that influence a models effectiveness or ineffectiveness. Methods. Narrative review, with consultation with researchers. Results. Whether rehabilitation works is arguably best considered from the perspective of the person with disability. Rehabilitation models can generally be considered as ‘complex interventions’ for which specific research approaches have been defined. It is more likely to be accepted by the people involved, and be more likely to work, if the complex intervention paradigm is used and if rehabilitation operates at the level of activity and participation, as defined by the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Reasons for apparent ‘non-effectiveness’ of rehabilitation models are protean and can range from inadequately conceptualised health conditions, or interventions, to interference from ‘active’ control interventions, inappropriate outcome measures and, inadequate sample sizes. Conclusion. Many opportunities remain for future research into the effectiveness of models of rehabilitation and detection of what constitutes the crucial components.
GA-SVM wrapper approach for feature subset selection in keystroke dynamics identity verification

Password is the most widely used identity verification method in computer security domain. However, due to its simplicity, it is vulnerable to imposter attacks. Keystroke dynamics adds a shield to password. Password typing patterns or timing vectors of a user are measured and used to train a novelty detector model. However, without manual pre-processing to remove noises and outliers resulting from typing inconsistencies, a poor detection accuracy results. Thus, in this paper, we propose an automatic feature subset selection process that can automatically selects a relevant subset of features and ignores the rest, thus producing a better accuracy. Genetic algorithm is employed to implement a randomized search and SVM, an excellent novelty detector with fast learning speed, is employed as a base learner. Preliminary experiments show a promising result.
Consistency of Response Style across Types of Response Formats

Effects of response style on various commonly used fixed-response formats are examined. Data suggest that Likert-type formats are relatively consistently affected by response style regardless of the number of categories in the format. Non-anchored numbers were less affected by stylistic responses, while linear formats and various forms of human faces are the most problematic. Across types, strongest correlations were obtained for the various forms of linear formats and human faces making their use problematic.
Transmission electron microscopy for elucidating the impact of silver-based treatments (ionic silver versus nanosilver-containing coating) on the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae

After exposure to ionic silver or nanosilver-containing plasma coating, the same visual aspect of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images was observed for the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The main common feature was the presence of electron-dense nodules all over the cell. However, high resolution TEM (HRTEM), STEM, energy dispersive x-ray microanalysis spectroscopy (EDS) and electron microdiffraction revealed some striking differences. Regarding ionic silver exposure, the formation of electron-dense nodules was related to the Ag + reactivity towards sulfur-containing compounds to form clusters with Ag2S-like structures, together with the production of a few silver nanocrystals, mainly at the cell wall periphery. For nanosilver-based treatment, some sulfur-containing silver clusters preferentially located at the cell wall periphery were detected, together with nodules composed of silver, sulfur and phosphorus all over the cell. In both silver-based treatments, nitrogen and silver signals overlapped, confirming the affinity of silver entities for proteinaceous compounds. Moreover, in the case of nanosilver, interactions of silver with phosphorus-containing subcellular structures were indicated.
MST-16, a novel bis-dioxopiperazine anticancer agent, ameliorates doxorubicin-induced acute toxicity while maintaining antitumor efficacy.

MST-16 [4,4-1,2-(ethanediyl)bis(1-isobutoxycarbonyl-oxy-methyl-2,6-pipera zinedione)], recently approved as an oral anticancer drug for clinical use in Japan, was evaluated as a chemotherapeutic agent in combination with doxorubicin (DOX) in vitro and in vivo. Cytotoxicity was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, and murine Colon 26 and human KATO III adenocarcinoma cells were used. The combination index derived from these cytotoxic values indicated a synergistic interaction between DOX and MST-16 or its active metabolite, ICRF-154 (1,1'-ethylenedi-3,5-dioxopiperazine). A maximal tolerated dose of DOX administered to female BALB/c mice bearing a solid Colon 26 tumor resulted in severe body weight loss and diarrhea, but a limited tumor growth delay (1.8 days). However, when combined with an oral dose of MST-16, DOX-induced body weight loss and diarrhea were significantly ameliorated, and an additive tumor growth delay (8.7 days) was obtained. The LD50 of DOX administered i.p. to control female BALB/c mice increased more than 1.5-fold when combined with MST-16. Thus, MST-16 ameliorates DOX-induced acute toxicity while maintaining antitumor efficacy. These results indicate that MST-16 may be effective chemotherapy for cancer patients when combined with DOX.
Worldviews and Individual Vulnerability to Suicide: The Role of Social Axioms

Research investigating the role of generalized beliefs about the world or worldviews is relatively scarce in the suicide literature. Two studies, using Hong Kong Chinese samples, examined how worldviews, as assessed by the Social Axioms Survey (SAS), were linked with individual vulnerability to suicide. In Study 1, we investigated the relationships of social axioms with various suicide indicators in cognitive, emotional and interpersonal domains, viz., suicidal ideation, negative self–esteem, psychache, burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Results from canonical correlation analysis showed that beliefs along the axiom dimensions of social cynicism, reward for application, and social complexity were linked to these suicide indicators. In Study 2, we tested the interplay of worldviews and personality traits in the prediction of suicidal thoughts. Hierarchical regression results demonstrated the predictive power of social axioms over and above that provided by the Big Five personality dimensions. Moreover, a significant interaction was observed between belief in reward for application and negative life events in predicting suicidal ideation, showing that reward for application buffered the effect of negative life events on suicidal ideation. Based on these results, we discussed the significance of worldviews as a consideration in suicide research and their implications for clinical assessment and intervention. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Validation of a tactical analysis methodology for the study of pick and roll in basketball

This study examines the design and validation of a tactical analysis methodology proposal for the study of pick and roll in basketball, applying the principles of observational methodology and the recording of actions in their natural context. We have developed three phases: Phase 1) Identification and selection of analysis variables, in which behavioral variables have been identified and cataloged (pick and roll), contextual analysis variables (court area, time of possession and period of play) and evaluative analysis variables (result of the action); Phase 2) Ad hoc creation of recording instruments, in which a computer tool was adapted (VA-Sports Software: Basketball) to address the particularities and specific needs of the study of the pick and roll situations. ; and Phase 3) Quality control of the data, in which selection criteria were set for the sample, the training process of the observers was carried out, and the level of internal agreement and intraobserver concordance were verified in order to assess the reliability of the methodological approach. A total of 192 pick and roll situations corresponding to 6 games of the Spanish ACB League were analyzed in this study. The results suggest a high level of reliability of the methodology designed; as a whole it earned a high average Kappa value (.994), leading to the conclusion that the proposed analysis variables are precise in their definition and categorization in order to study pick and roll situations. The analysis variables; time of possession, period of play and results of the action showed a maximum level of agreement (Kappa value 1.000), while the analysis variables; pick and roll and court area also show a high degree of objectivity (Kappa values of .990 and .981 respectively).
Gist processing in free recall and recognition: Latent variable modelling of children's and adults' true and false memories

The present study was conducted to assess an important prediction of the fuzzy trace theory that both true and false memories should increase with gist processing, but that this positive correlation should be stronger when free recall is used as a memory measure than when recognition is used. Children from Grades 3 to 5 and college students learned two sets of six Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) lists and after a set they received a free recall test or a yes/no recognition test. Instead of employing the traditional analysis of variance approach, a latent class analysis technique was used to investigate the relationship between gist processing and true and false free recall and recognition. The results showed that gist trace processing was positively related to true memories, and to false memories. Moreover, for true memories, this positive relationship was stronger for free recall than for recognition.
Task Visibility, Free Riding, and Shirking: Explaining the Effect of Structure and Technology on Employee Behavior

The properties of organized or team production affect three phenomena--free riding, shirking, and task visibility--that mediate the relationship between organizational structure and technology, on the one hand, and employee performance and satisfaction, on the other. Using transaction cost theory, a model of the expected effects of the mediating variables on organizational behavior is presented, and a set of derived hypotheses concerning the structure-technology-behavior relationship is developed.
The Research of Word Sense Disambiguation Method Based on Co-occurrence Frequency of Hownet

Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is a difficult problem in natural language processing. In this paper, a sememe co-occurrence frequency based WSD method was introduced. In this method, Hownet was used as our information source, and a co-occurrence frequency database of sememes was constructed and then used for WSD. The experimental result showed that this method is successful.
Procedure for calculating loudnesss of temporally variable sounds.

Data on loundness comparisons are complemented by additional measurements. Thus, temporal effects in loudness with respect to four parameters can be summarized: (a) phase effects of complex tones and the influence of physiological noise, both in the low‐frequency range, (b) effects of amplitude modulation, (c) frequency modulation, and (d) bandwidth in the high‐frequency range. Additionally, transient masking patterns and the corresponding specific loudness patterns produced by strongly time‐varying sounds are discussed. A model for the loudness development of such sounds is designed and realized electronically as a loudness measuring device. The usefulness of this equipment is demonstrated for measuring loudness of the following six types of sounds that vary both temporally and spectrally: (a) single tone bursts as a function of duration, (b) sinusoidally amplitude modulated tones as a function of repetition rate, (c) bandpass noise with constant rms value as a function of bandwidth within the critical b.
Intra-Tumoral Heterogeneity in Metastatic Potential and Survival Signaling between Iso-Clonal HCT116 and HCT116b Human Colon Carcinoma Cell Lines

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. The molecular mechanisms underlying this complex, multi-step pathway are yet to be completely elucidated. Recent reports have stressed the importance of intra-tumoral heterogeneity in the development of a metastatic phenotype. The purpose of this study was to characterize the intra-tumoral phenotypic heterogeneity between two iso-clonal human colon cancer sublines HCT116 and HCT116b on their ability to undergo metastatic colonization and survive under growth factor deprivation stress (GFDS). Materials and Methods HCT116 and HCT116b cells were transfected with green fluorescence protein and subcutaneously injected into BALB/c nude male mice. Once xenografts were established, they were excised and orthotopically implanted into other male BALB/c nude mice using microsurgical techniques. Animal tissues were studied for metastases using histochemical techniques. Microarray analysis was performed to generate gene signatures associated with each subline. In vitro assessment of growth factor signaling pathway was performed under GFDS for 3 and 5 days. Results Both HCT116 and HCT116b iso-clonal variants demonstrated 100% primary tumor growth, invasion and peritoneal spread. However, HCT116 was highly metastatic with 68% metastasis observed in liver and/or lungs compared to 4% in HCT116b. Microarray analysis revealed an upregulation of survival and metastatic genes in HCT116 cells compared to HCT116b cells. In vitro analysis showed that HCT116 upregulated survival and migratory signaling proteins and downregulated apoptotic agents under GFDS. However, HCT116b cells effectively showed the opposite response under stress inducing cell death. Conclusions We demonstrate the importance of clonal variation in determining metastatic potential of colorectal cancer cells using the HCT116/HCT116b iso-clonal variants in an orthotopic metastatic mouse model. Determination of clonal heterogeneity in patient tumors can serve as useful tools to identify clinically relevant biomarkers for diagnostic and therapeutic assessment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
Acquisition Decision-Making Processes: The Central Role of Risk

This paper builds upon the work of organizational and strategic management scholars who have conceptualized acquisitions as decision-making processes, We suggest that behavioral concepts of risk, specifically decision-maker risk perceptions and propensities, are key to understanding the process by which acquisition candidates are selected, the characteristics of pre-acquisition evaluation and negotiations, and approaches to post-acquisition integration. By drawing upon past work concerning the effects of these risk-related variables in other decision-making contexts, we develop propositions that conceptualize their impact on acquisition decision processes. Incorporation of risk as a key variable in process theories of acquisitions provides a stronger theoretical grounding for these theories, and suggests some important practical implications for managers.
Isolation of phosphorylated calmodulin from rat liver and identification of the in vivo phosphorylation sites.

A procedure is described for the isolation of calmodulin (CaM) from rat liver which produces a fraction containing non-phosphorylated, mono-, di-, and triphosphocalmodulin as determined by mass spectrometric analysis. The distribution of CaM between the various phospho-species varies from preparation to preparation even though the isolation procedure is rigidly defined, suggesting that CaM phosphorylation may be a very labile phenomenon dependent on the state of the liver as it is removed from the animal. Approximately 15% of CaM in the cell is phosphorylated. The in vivo phosphorylation sites were determined by mass spectrometric analysis of a combined CNBr and trypsin digestion of the phosphocalmodulin (phospho-CaM)-containing fractions. Phosphorylated peptides were sequenced using two mass scanning devices linked together for collisionally activated fragmentation studies to determine peptide sequences, and the phosphorylation sites were determined as Thr-79, Ser-81, and Ser-101. These correspond to three of the four in vitro target sites of calmodulin phosphorylation by casein kinase II, which indicates that this may be the enzyme responsible for the phosphorylation in vivo. A preliminary study on the modulatory activity of phosphorylated calmodulin using a sample extensively phosphorylated in vitro with casein kinase II confirmed that phospho-CaM has an altered biological activity, i.e. reduced activation of the erythrocyte plasma membrane Ca2+ pump.
Relationships with other Formalisms

In this chapter, we are concerned with the relationship between Description Logics and other formalisms, regardless of whether they were designed for knowledge representation issues or not. We concentrate on those representation formalisms that either (1) had or have a strong influence on Description Logics (e.g., modal logics), (2) are closely related to Description Logics for historical reasons (e.g., semantic networks and structured inheritance networks), or (3) have similar expressive power (e.g., semantic data models). There are far more knowledge representation formalisms than those mentioned in this chapter. For example, "verb-centered" graphical formalisms like those introduced by Simmons [1973] are not mentioned since we believe that their relationship with Description Logics is too weak.
Multi-Level Approach for the Discriminative Generalized Hough Transform

The Discriminative Generalized Hough Transform (DGHT) is a method for object localization, which combines the standard GHT with a discriminative training technique. Thereby the aim of the discriminativetraining is to equip the models used in the GHT with individual model point weights such that the localization error in the GHT becomesminimal. In this paper we want to introduce an extension of the DGHTusing a multi-level approach to reduce processing time and to improve localization accuracy. The approach searches for the target object on multiple resolution levels and combines this information for faster and better results. The advantage of the approach is demonstrated on low-resolution, whole-body MR images, which are intended for PET attenuation correction.
Changing the Legacy of Divorce: Evidence From Prevention Programs and Future Directions*

This paper has two primary objectives. The first is to assess the current status of efforts to prevent mental health problems in children of divorce by highlighting the importance of using theory in the design and evaluation of prevention programs and by reviewing the empirical research on the efficacy of programs to improve outcomes for children of divorce. The second objective is to propose two future directions for advancing theory-based preventive interventions for children of divorce: (a) improving our understanding of the theoretical mechanisms underlying prevention program effects, and (b) bridging the gap between the current evidence of program efficacy and the development of a public health strategy to reduce the negative outcomes experienced by children of divorce.
Cytomegalovirus Expresses the Chemokine Homologue vXCL1 Capable of Attracting XCR1+ CD4− Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Cytomegaloviruses (CMV) have developed various strategies to escape the immune system of the host. One strategy involves the expression of virus-encoded chemokines to modulate the host chemokine network. We have identified in the English isolate of rat CMV (murid herpesvirus 8 [MuHV8]) an open reading frame encoding a protein homologous to the chemokine XCL1, the only known C chemokine. Viral XCL1 (vXCL1), a glycosylated protein of 96 amino acids, can be detected 13 h postinfection in the supernatant of MuHV8-infected rat embryo fibroblasts. vXCL1 exclusively binds to CD4− rat dendritic cells (DC), a subset of DC that express the corresponding chemokine receptor XCR1. Like endogenous rat XCL1, vXCL1 selectively chemoattracts XCR1+ CD4− DC. Since XCR1+ DC in mice and humans have been shown to excel in antigen cross-presentation and thus in the induction of cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes, the virus has apparently hijacked this gene to subvert cytotoxic immune responses. The biology of vXCL1 offers an interesting opportunity to study the role of XCL1 and XCR1+ DC in the cross-presentation of viral antigens.