Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HDAC5 controls the functions of Foxp3+ T‐regulatory and CD8+ T cells

Histone/protein deacetylases (HDACs) are frequently upregulated in human malignancies and have therefore become therapeutic targets in cancer therapy. However, inhibiting certain HDAC isoforms can have protolerogenic effects on the immune system, which could make it easier for tumor cells to evade the host immune system. Therefore, a better understanding of how each HDAC isoform affects immune biology is needed to develop targeted cancer therapy. Here, we studied the immune phenotype of HDAC5–/– mice on a C57BL/6 background. While HDAC5–/– mice replicate at expected Mendelian ratios and do not develop overt autoimmune disease, their T‐regulatory (Treg) cells show reduced suppressive function in vitro and in vivo. Likewise, CD4+ T‐cells lacking HDAC5 convert poorly to Tregs under appropriately polarizing conditions. To test if this attenuated Treg formation and suppressive function translated into improved anticancer immunity, we inoculated HDAC5–/– mice and littermate controls with a lung adenocarcinoma cell line. Cumulatively, lack of HDAC5 did not lead to better anticancer immunity. We found that CD8+ T cells missing HDAC5 had a reduced ability to produce the cytokine, IFN‐γ, in vitro and in vivo, which may offset the benefit of weakened Treg function and formation. Taken together, targeting HDAC5 weakens suppressive function and de‐novo induction of Tregs, but also reduces the ability of CD8+ T cells to produce IFN‐γ.
The impact of information technology on the efficacy of tuition fee collection: a case in Jamaica

Abstract Most governments in both developed and developing countries are reducing their financial support to universities. This condition is further compounded in Jamaica because the Jamaican government has shifted its focus and support from tertiary to early childhood education. As a result, both students and universities in Jamaica are experiencing financial difficulties. In an effort to overcome the challenges, one major university in the country has embarked upon a series of initiatives. These initiatives include, as a central element, the use of information technology (IT). Hence, this research seeks to answer the pivotal question, ‘How does the use of information technology enable a Jamaican university to manage tuition fee collection in a manner that is effective yet sensitive to students’ financial situation? ’ The survey found a significant relationship between the IT system and students being financially cleared at the release of examination results. In addition, the majority of students paid their tuition fees each semester via multiple payment options, and 64% of the Billing and Receivables staff believed that the IT system was effective in collecting tuition fees. These insights should assist universities’ decision makers in identifying the best suite of financial strategies to enhance tuition fee collection.
Stigma, Disclosure, and Psychological Functioning Among HIV-Infected and Non-Infected African-American Women

ABSTRACT HIV is on the rise among African-American women. AIDS-related stigma plays an important role in the lives of HIV-infected and non-infected African-American women. Among HIV-infected women, the decision to disclose HIV seropositive status is likely affected by perceived stigma. The first purpose of the study is to examine perceived AIDS-related stigma over a six year period and across two groups of African-American women: HIV-infected and non-infected. The second purpose of the study examines whether disclosure of HIV seropositive status moderates the relationship between stigma and psychological functioning. Participants were 98 HIV-infected and 146 non-infected African-American women, between the ages of 18 and 50. Data were collected at four points across six years. Results indicated that HIV-infected women perceived a significantly higher level of AIDS-related stigma than non-infected women at all four assessments. Perceptions of stigma did not significantly change over time for the entire sample or within either HIV group. Among HIV-infected women, as the level of perceived stigma increased, the level of disclosure and psychological functioning decreased. Regarding the hypothesized moderating relationship, at high, but not low, levels of disclosure, the relationship between stigma and distress was significant. Implications for health professionals' work with HIV-infected African-American women around the issue of disclosure and stigma are discussed.
The effect of atropine administered in the medial septum or hippocampus on high‐ and low‐frequency theta rhythms in the hippocampus of urethane anesthetized rats

Cholinergic mechanisms are critical for the generation of hippocampal theta rhythm. Cholinergic innervation of the hippocampus originates from the medial septum (MS) and cholinergic receptors are expressed in both the MS and hippocampus. In this study, we compared the effects of the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine in the MS and the hippocampus on theta generation. Hippocampal theta rhythm was elicited by electrical stimulation of the pontine reticular formation using series of stimuli with varying intensities. Atropine was administered either systemically (50 mg/kg i.p.) or locally in the MS (microdialysis; 25 and 75 mM for 30 or 90 min) or in the hippocampus on one side (microinjection; 20 or 40 ug). The relative power at the peak theta frequency was calculated and averaged over episodes of low‐intensity and high‐intensity stimulations. We found that atropine drastically reduced theta rhythmic synchronization when injected in either location. After MS administration of atropine, however, high‐frequency theta elicited by high‐intensity stimuli was more resistant (58% and 67% decrease after 25 mM and 75 mM atropine, respectively) than slow theta elicited by low‐intensity stimuli (86% and 91% decrease). There was no significant difference between the powers of the two oscillations after hippocampal injections (70–75% decrease). We conclude that the theta suppressing effect of atropine involves both hippocampal and septal mechanisms and that low‐frequency theta as compared with fast theta rhythm is more sensitive to muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonism in the MS but not in the hippocampus. Synapse 61:412‐419, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Smoking effects on quality of life of allergic rhinitis patients after sublingual immunotherapy.

BACKGROUND Although tobacco smoking is of great concern, there is no evidence for the effects of smoking on quality of life (QoL) results after sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). OBJECTIVE This study aims tο explore any association between smoking habits (duration and quantity) and QoL results after SLIT in allergic rhinitis (AR). METHODOLOGY One hundred and sixty three patients following SLIT for AR were participated. SLIT efficacy related to smoking was prospectively evaluated by means of validated widely used QoL questionnaires, either for assessing psychology (Zung Anxiety Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Zung Depression Scale and Beck Depression Inventory) or generic (Short Form-36) ones, pre- and immediately upon cessation of SLIT. Smoking habits were expressed in pack-years. RESULTS Significant improvement of total symptoms score (T5SS) and of all QoL questionnaires' results were observed in our patients' group, both for smokers and non smokers. The comparison of changes between smokers and non smokers, controlling for the effect of all patients' characteristics, showed that there was no significant differences on improvement values. Additionally multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that the effect of pack-years on the QoL scales was not significant. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that smoking habits (quantity of daily smoking and duration) do not influence the success of SLIT with regards to QoL outcomes.
Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Compartmentation in Rat Cardiac Myocytes

Background— Cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is the common second messenger for the cardiovascular effects of nitric oxide (NO) and natriuretic peptides, such as atrial or brain natriuretic peptide, which activate the soluble and particulate forms of guanylyl cyclase, respectively. However, natriuretic peptides and NO donors exert different effects on cardiac and vascular smooth muscle function. We therefore tested whether these differences are due to an intracellular compartmentation of cGMP and evaluated the role of phosphodiesterase (PDE) subtypes in this process. Methods and Results— Subsarcolemmal cGMP signals were monitored in adult rat cardiomyocytes by expression of the rat olfactory cyclic nucleotide–gated (CNG) channel α-subunit and recording of the associated cGMP-gated current (ICNG). Atrial natriuretic peptide (10 nmol/L) or brain natriuretic peptide (10 nmol/L) induced a clear activation of ICNG, whereas NO donors (S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine, diethylamine NONOate, 3-morpholinosydnonimine, and spermine NO, all at 100 &mgr;mol/L) had little effect. The ICNG current was strongly potentiated by nonselective PDE inhibition with isobutyl methylxanthine (100 &mgr;mol/L) and by the PDE2 inhibitors erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine (10 &mgr;mol/L) and Bay 60-7550 (50 nmol/L). Surprisingly, sildenafil, a PDE5 inhibitor, produced a dose-dependent increase of ICNG activated by NO donors but had no effect (at 100 nmol/L) on the current elicited by atrial natriuretic peptide. Conclusions— These results indicate that in rat cardiomyocytes (1) the particulate cGMP pool is readily accessible at the plasma membrane, whereas the soluble pool is not; and (2) PDE5 controls the soluble but not the particulate pool, whereas the latter is under the exclusive control of PDE2. Differential spatiotemporal distributions of cGMP may therefore contribute to the specific effects of natriuretic peptides and NO donors on cardiac function.
Improving the secrecy of cooperative transmissions using unshared jamming

In this paper, two methods to improve the secrecy of cooperative transmissions using unshared jamming are investigated in which only the source and destination nodes know the jamming signals. The jamming signals are based on unique cipher keys obtained on the high layers. In the first proposed method (SJ protocol), a source combines its secrecy signal with its jamming signal using the power allocation strategy before broadcasting to the relay, destination and even eavesdropper nodes. In the second proposed method (DJ protocol), a source transmits its secrecy signal at the same time a destination transmits its jamming signal. For the secrecy performance evaluation, the asymptotic secrecy outage probability of the end-to-end achievable secrecy rate over flat and block Rayleigh fading channels are studied. Monte-Carlo results are presented to verify the theoretical analyses.
Analysis on the Operation of Negative Differential Resistance FinFET With Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 Threshold Selector

A negative differential resistance fin-shaped field-effect transistor (NDR-FinFET) using a Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 threshold selector (TS) is investigated. From the measured input transfer characteristic of NDR-FinFET, the following results are demonstrated: 1) superior reduction of off current by a factor of 350 (as compared to a baseline FinFET); 2) on current of NDR-FinFET comparable to that of the baseline FinFET; and 3) subthreshold slope of 3 mV/decade at 300 K. The operating principle of NDR-FinFET is demonstrated using MATLAB simulation. In the on-to-off and off-to-on switching processes, the existence of an unstable resistive switching region is verified through the comparison between simulation data and experimental results. The major device parameters that affect the formation of the unstable resistive switching region are revealed. Finally, it is proposed that: 1) lowering the hold voltage of the TS and 2) applying the drain voltage comparable to the threshold voltage can have the NDR-FinFET to work appropriately (i.e., not in unstable region).
Cultural distance, political risk and location decisions of emerging-market multinationals: a comparison between Chinese and Indian firms

ABSTRACT The international expansion of emerging-market multinational enterprises (MNEs) is becoming a research topic of increasing interest among international business scholars. One of the specific research questions arising is whether conventional theoretical arguments originated in studies on developed-country MNEs are still valid for explaining the international behavior of emerging-market MNEs. Drawing on the institutional theory, this paper argues that the influence of host country institutional factors on location decisions differs between Chinese and Indian MNEs. We hypothesize that the negative impact of both cultural distance and political risk on location decisions is lower for Chinese MNEs as compared to Indian MNEs. From a sample of 832 outward foreign direct investments (OFDIs) we obtain empirical support for these hypotheses.
REAL OPTIONS APPROACH AND STOCHASTIC PROGRAMMING IN FARM LEVEL ANALYSIS: THE CASE OF SHORT-ROTATION COPPICE CULTIVATION

The Real Options Approach (ROA) is often considered as being more plausible compared to the Classical Investment Approach, since the latter ignores the possibility to postpone investments and, more generally, state contingent decisions. At the same time, simulation approaches based on stochastic programming (SP) are convenient instruments for solving the ROA, when no closed-form solution is available. The combination of both can be applied for many different investment problems, though has been hardly used in agricultural economics. Our paper aims to fill that gap by illustrating the application of a multi-stage ROA and SP to model investment decisions with respect to short-rotation coppice (SRC) plantation in the context of competition for different farm endowments. Beyond the methodological contribution, we show that farm-level constraints, often being ignored in the literature on SRC, can substantially influence results. Furthermore, we consider flexibility in harvesting in our analysis.
Prefrontal cortex activation mediates cognitive reserve alertness and attention in the Virtual Classroom: preliminary fMRI findings and clinical implications

The Virtual Classroom is an interactive virtual reality simulation of a classroom-learning task, allowing continuous performance assessment in the context of sleep and attention research. Audiovisual distractions can be incrementally manipulated to assess cognitive workload and performance vigilance. In this feasibility study, we sought to establish a neuroimaging correlate of previous pilot work using the Virtual Classroom paradigm to study performance decrements in alertness and sustained attention. We hypothesized a thalamocortical (TLC) network subserving alertness, primarily mediated by activation of prefrontal cortex under differing distraction levels. In a block design of alternating 1-minute blocks of high and low visual distraction during the Go-No-Go task embedded in the Virtual Classroom program we studied a single healthy adult subject, with whole brain analysis used to assess regional activations. Differential activation between low and high distraction load conditions was noted while performing the task. Specific regions displaying increased activation during high distraction included bilateral frontal polar cortex and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Differential bilateral Area-V5 activation was also noted during "high distraction" condition due to increased visual monitoring of distracters. This implies a probable neural mechanism of action for this and other "virtual" tasks requiring effortful cognition and vigilance which involves prefrontal cortex activation. Given the numerous CNS psychopathologies involving PFC dysregulation, this implies that the Virtual Classroom task may be useful as a "broad-spectrum" assessment tool of frontal lobe function.
Thermodynamical properties of an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin system on a fractal lattice of dimension between one and two.

The Suzuki-Takano quantum decimation technique is applied to the antiferromagnetic, nearest-neighbor, frustrated Heisenberg spin-\textonehalf{} system attached to a lattice with dimension $d=\frac{\mathrm{ln}3}{\mathrm{ln}2}$. Some thermodynamical functions are calculated. The temperature dependence of the specific heat is very similar to that obtained for the Heisenberg spin system on a kagom\'e lattice.
Effects of Aloe vera on gap junctional intercellular communication and proliferation of human diabetic and nondiabetic skin fibroblasts.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of Aloe vera on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) and proliferation of human skin fibroblasts in the presence or absence of basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). DESIGN In vitro study using human type II diabetic and nondiabetic skin fibroblast cell lines. SETTING AND SUBJECTS Diabetic (n = 4) and nondiabetic (n = 4) human skin fibroblast cell lines were purchased from Coriell Institute for Medical Research (Camden, NJ). The cells were cultured with or without Aloe vera extract in increasing concentrations (0%, 0.625%, 1.25%, 2.5%, 5%, 10%, and 20%; v/v) in culture medium and with or without FGF-2 (30 ng/mL). MEASUREMENTS GJIC was evaluated after 48-hour incubation with treatments by laser cytometry. Cells were counted after 72-hour incubation with treatments by using a Coulter counter. RESULTS The rate of GJIC was greater (p < 0.01) for diabetic than for nondiabetic fibroblasts (3.5 +/- 0.1 versus 3.0 +/- 0.1% per minute during the first 4 minutes after photobleaching). GJIC was increased ( p < 0.05) for diabetic fibroblasts in the presence of 2.5% and 5% of Aloe vera extract (4.2 +/- 0.1 and 4.0 +/- 0.2 versus 3.5 +/- 0.1% per minute for control, respectively). FGF-2 stimulated (p < 0.01) GJIC for diabetic (4.0 +/- 0.1 versus 3.5 +/- 0.1% per minute for control) and nondiabetic (3.5 +/- 0.1 versus 3.0 +/- 0.1% per minute for control) fibroblasts. Aloe vera extract did not affect GJIC of nondiabetic fibroblast cultured without FGF-2. However, Aloe vera extract decreased (p < 0.05) FGF-2 stimulatory effects on GJIC of diabetic and nondiabetic fibroblasts. Proliferation of diabetic fibroblasts was increased (p < 0.05) by 1.25% and 2.5% Aloe vera extract in medium. Proliferation of nondiabetic fibroblasts was not affected by Aloe vera extract. FGF-2 increased (p < 0.05) proliferation of nondiabetic fibroblasts and FGF-2 did not affect proliferation of diabetic fibroblasts. Aloe vera extract decreased (p < 0.05) FGF-2 stimulatory effects on proliferation of nondiabetic fibroblasts. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that Aloe vera has the ability to stimulate GJIC and proliferation of human skin fibroblasts in diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, these results indicate that Aloe vera contains a compound(s) that neutralizes, binds with FGF-2 receptor, or otherwise alters signaling pathways for FGF-2. By affecting both GJIC and proliferation of diabetic fibroblasts, Aloe vera may improve wound healing in diabetes mellitus.
Use and interpretation of HbA1c testing in general practice. Implications for quality of care

We evaluate the interpretation and use of HbA1c results in general practice in relation to diabetes follow-up and case-finding. As part of an external quality assurance scheme for laboratory analyses, two case histories were mailed to all Norwegian GPs with equipment for HbA1c analysis in their office laboratory (n=566) and to a random sample of GPs without such instruments (n=419). Patient A represented a monitoring situation and the GPs were asked to state changes in HbA1c signifying any improvement or deterioration of metabolic control. The initial HbA1c value stemmed from analysis of quality control material in the instrument group and was a preset value for the other group. In patient B, we focused on the use of HbA1c and other laboratory tests in diabetes case-finding. In the monitoring situation, 22% of GPs in the instrument group misclassified changes in HbA1c values, since these were less than the analytical uncertainty. Further, when interpreting HbA1c results, 64-93% of GPs (i) assumed that analytical quality was better than it really was, (ii) did not appreciate biological variation of HbA1c, or (iii) acted on small differences to be on the safe side. In case-finding, HbA1c was deemed important by 29% of GPs; doctors choosing not to perform a glucose tolerance test relied more on HbA1c. GPs have to be aware of analytical quality and biological variation when interpreting HbA1c results. The present limitations of HbA1c in the diagnosis of diabetes are not properly understood.
An analysis of the influence of acoustical adverse conditions on speaker gender identification

Speaker gender as a biometric feature plays an important role in numerous voice-based services. In this work we perform an accuracy analysis of a gender recognition system in different acoustical environments (indoor and outdoor auditory scenes). At the evaluation stage, each sentence has been mixed with several types of background noise using various signal-to-noise ratio levels. Then a voiced parts of speech have been extracted and parametrized using features based on filter banks and vocal-tract properties. The obtained feature trajectories have been non-linearly smoothed in order to minimize the influence of adverse conditions on the spoken sentences. The observed accuracy is acceptable for voice-based tasks where the gender information can improve their performance.
Co-Attention with Answer-Pointer for SQuAD Reading Comprehension Task

The recently published Stanford Question Answering Dataset (SQuAD) dataset provides NLP researchers an interface to evaluate machine reading comprehension models. We explore a variety of previously proposed architectures and implement our own in an attempt to maximize performance on the SQuAD dataset. Our most successful architecture combined ideas from two research papers, Machine Comprehension Using Match-LSTM and Answer Pointer and Dynamic Coattention for Question Answering. We use the encoding and coattention layers from Dynamic Coattention Networks and the Pointer Net layer from Match-LSTM for prediction. Our model achieved 60.096% FM and 47.131% EM.