Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analyzing Affordances of Digital Occupational Health Systems

This study adopts two distinct perspectives, employer and employee, to analyze the affordances of digital occupational health (DOH) systems and their appropriation. Data were collected in the context of a European collaborative research project that aims at developing a data integration infrastructure for con-text-aware health surveillance at the workplace. For employers the main affordance was to detect and prevent the health issues of their workforce. The main affordance from employee’s point of view was the possibility of being more self-conscious at work. However, the application of these systems might instigate several tensions, in particular those between privacy and security / wellbeing, between work and leisure activities, and between work and leisure roles. The findings of this study allow to direct future research on DOH systems to focus and eventually derive design principles that promise DOH systems to gain better acceptance and create higher added-value for all involved stake-holders.
Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins.

In Shark Bay, wild bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) apparently use marine sponges as foraging tools. We demonstrate that genetic and ecological explanations for this behavior are inadequate; thus, "sponging" classifies as the first case of an existing material culture in a marine mammal species. Using mitochondrial DNA analyses, we show that sponging shows an almost exclusive vertical social transmission within a single matriline from mother to female offspring. Moreover, significant genetic relatedness among all adult spongers at the nuclear level indicates very recent coancestry, suggesting that all spongers are descendents of one recent "Sponging Eve. " Unlike in apes, tool use in this population is almost exclusively limited to a single matriline that is part of a large albeit open social network of frequently interacting individuals, adding a new dimension to charting cultural phenomena among animals.
Personal inquiry learning trajectories in geography: technological support across contexts

Student engagement in the design and implementation of inquiries is an effective way for them to learn about the inquiry process and the domain being studied. However, inquiry learning in geography can be challenging for teachers and students due to the complexity of scientific inquiry and the diversity of pupils' and teachers' knowledge and abilities. To address this, the Personal Inquiry project has designed a tool kit that includes nQuire, a Web-based tool to support students through the inquiry process. Here, we identify when, across five lessons comprising an inquiry into microclimates, nQuire was used by a teacher and a case study group of her 12 to 13-year-old students, and the ways in which they adopted nQuire as a tool to facilitate the creation of a coherent and cumulative inquiry learning experience over time. We found that students' use of nQuire supported them in capturing and representing their evolving understanding of inquiry, in defining and supporting their progression through the process of inquiry and in resourcing their cognitive engagement in data interpretation and representation. nQuire supported the students in accumulating and integrating new understandings across contexts and over time. In this way, nQuire successfully resourced and supported the students' learning journeys or trajectories. We conclude that nQuire can be an effective tool for supporting teachers' and students' understanding of the nature of inquiry and how to design and implement inquiries of their own.
Correction for Talantova et al., Aβ induces astrocytic glutamate release, extrasynaptic NMDA receptor activation, and synaptic loss

Maria Talantova, Sara Sanz-Blasco, Xiaofei Zhang, Peng Xia, Mohd Waseem Akhtar, Shu-ichi Okamoto, Gustavo Dziewczapolski, Tomohiro Nakamura, Gang Cao, Alexander E. Pratt, Yeon-Joo Kang, Shichun Tu, Elena Molokanova, Scott R. McKercher, Samuel Andrew Hires, Hagit Sason, David G. Stouffer, Matthew W. Buczynski, James P. Solomon, Sarah Michael, Evan T. Powers, Jeffery W. Kelly, Amanda Roberts, Gary Tong, Traci Fang-Newmeyer, James Parker, Emily A. Holland, Dongxian Zhang, Nobuki Nakanishi, H. -S. Vincent Chen, Herman Wolosker, Yuqiang Wang, Loren H. Parsons, Rajesh Ambasudhan, Eliezer Masliah, Stephen F. Heinemann, Juan C. Piña-Crespo, and Stuart A. Lipton
Metabolomics in Lung Inflammation:A High-Resolution 1H NMR Study of Mice Exposedto Silica Dust

ABSTRACT Here we report the first 1H NMR metabolomics studies on excised lungs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from mice exposed to crystalline silica. High-resolution 1H NMR metabolic profiling on intact excised lungs was performed using slow magic angle sample spinning (slow-MAS) 1H PASS (phase-altered spinning sidebands) at a sample spinning rate of 80 Hz. Metabolic profiling on BALF was completed using fast magic angle spinning at 2 kHz. Major findings are that the relative concentrations of choline, phosphocholine (PC), and glycerophosphocholine (GPC) were statistically significantly increased in silica-exposed mice compared to sham controls, indicating an altered membrane choline phospholipids metabolism (MCPM). The relative concentrations of glycogen/glucose, lactate, and creatine were also statistically significantly increased in mice exposed to silica dust, suggesting that cellular energy pathways were affected by silica dust. Elevated levels of glycine, lysine, glutamate, proline, and 4-hydroxyproline were also increased in exposed mice, suggesting the activation of a collagen pathway. Furthermore, metabolic profiles in mice exposed to silica dust were found to be spatially heterogeneous, consistent with regional inflammation revealed by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Evaluation of thermal comfort of the internal environment in smart home using objective and subjective factors

In accordance with the requirements for the optimal control settings of the operating and technical functions in Smart Home (SH) in order to reduce SH operating costs, it is also necessary to provide healthy microclimate and the required quality parameters of the SH internal environment in the individual SH rooms. The article describes the basic principles and methods of evaluation of thermal comfort of the internal environment using objective and subjective factors. The experimental measurements of objective parameters of the internal environment and thermal comfort evaluation were conducted in a selected SH room in a wooden building of the passive standard located in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, VSB - TU Ostrava.
Improving the Network Performance of a Container-Based Cloud Environment for Hadoop Systems

Cloud computing has emerged as an important paradigm to improve resource utilization, efficiency, flexibility, and the pay-per-use billing structure. However, cloud platforms cause performance degradations due to their virtualization layer and may not be appropriate for the requirements of high-performance applications, such as big data. This paper tackles the problem of improving network performance in container-based cloud instances to create a viable alternative to run network intensive Hadoop applications. Our approach consists of deploying link aggregation via the IEEE 802.3ad standard to increase the available bandwidth and using LXC (Linux Container) cloud instances to create a Hadoop cluster. In order to evaluate the efficiency of our approach and the overhead added by the container-based cloud environment, we ran a set of experiments to measure throughput, latency, bandwidth utilization, and completion times. The results prove that our approach adds minimal overhead in cloud environment as well as increases throughput and reduces latency. Moreover, our approach demonstrates a suitable alternative for running Hadoop applications, reducing completion times up to 33.73%.
SYMPATHETIC OPHTHALMIA: Clinicopathologic Correlation in a Consecutive Case Series

Purpose: To correlate the clinical course of sympathetic ophthalmia with the histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of the enucleated inciting eye. Methods: A consecutive case series with baseline clinical features and subsequent histopathologic findings. Results: Evaluation of the 16 enucleated inciting eyes (blind and painful) disclosed that 9 of the 16 had typical histology, fulfilling the criteria for sympathetic ophthalmia of diffuse granulomatous inflammation. Among the 16, 11 sustained previous penetrating trauma, 4 underwent previous eye surgery, and 1 patient presented with an unknown etiology. Patients with atypical histology (7 of 7) were taking corticosteroids at the time of enucleation. Only 2 of 9 patients with typical histology were taking corticosteroids at the time of enucleation. At 6 months after enucleation of the inciting eye, 4 of the 7 patients with atypical histology had a visual acuity of ≥20/40 compared with 8 of 8 patients (100%) with typical histology. On a 4-point scale (0–3+), the choroidal infiltrate of the 9 histopathologically typical eyes showed an average of 2.5+ CD68 (macrophages), 2.5+ CD20 (B cells), and 1.5+ CD3 (T cells). Conclusion: Histopathologic findings had minimal correlation with the clinical course of sympathetic ophthalmia. Corticosteroid treatment before enucleation may influence the pathologic confirmation of sympathetic ophthalmia. The predominance of B lymphocytes and macrophages over T lymphocytes may represent different stages of the disease process.
The Microfiltrometer (MicroFM): a new filtration device for the assessment of less deformable erythrocyte subpopulations

The hardware of a new filtration device, the Microfiltrometer (MicroFM), is described. The different components of the device; impedance meter, power supply, measuring cell and its 5‐micron Oligopore filter are described and it is shown how they are interrelated and interfaced to a computer for data acquisition. The properties of the filter and the general functioning principle of the device are also elucidated. For each run, the MicroFM generates elementary signals from individual passages of many hundreds of red blood cells (RBCs) through micropores of a given 5‐micron Oligopore filter. Analysis of each elementary signal provides two complementary parameters, the transit time τ of the explored RBC and the change in electrical impedance ΔZ caused by the temporary flow of the considered RBC through a particular micropore of the filter. These two parameters can be utilized for reliable assessment of erythrocyte deformability on a cellular level.
Inferring Propp’s Functions from Semantically Annotated Text

Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale is a seminal work in folkloristics and a compelling subject of computational study. I demonstrate a technique for learning Propp’s functions from semantically annotated text. Fifteen folktales from Propp’s corpus were annotated for semantic roles, co-reference, temporal structure, event sentiment, and dramatis personae. I derived a set of merge rules from descriptions given by Propp. These rules, when coupled with a modified version of the model merging learning framework, reproduce Propp’s functions well. Three important function groups—namely A/a (villainy/lack), H/I (struggle and victory), and W (reward)—are identified with high accuracies. This is the first demonstration of a computational system learning a real theory of narrative structure.
Preemptive Scheduling with Due Dates

An 0(n log mn) algorithm is presented to preemptively schedule n tasks on m identical machines. The tasks are assumed to have due dates. All tasks are initially available. The objective is to obtain a preemptive schedule that meets all due dates (when possible). Our algorithm generates schedules with at most n − 2 preemptions. The algorithm may also be used to schedule a set of n tasks all having the same due date but having different release dates.
When will the Antarctic ozone hole recover?

The Antarctic ozone hole demonstrates large‐scale, man‐made affects on our atmosphere. Surface observations now show that human produced ozone‐depleting substances (ODSs) are declining. The ozone hole should soon start to diminish because of this decline. We demonstrate a parametric model of ozone hole area that is based upon a new algorithm for estimating chlorine and bromine levels over Antarctica and late spring Antarctic stratospheric temperatures. This model explains 95% of the ozone hole area's variance. We then use future ODS levels to predict ozone hole recovery. Full recovery to 1980 levels will occur around 2068 and the area will very slowly decline between 2001 and 2017. Detection of a statistically significant decrease of area will not occur until about 2024. We further show that nominal Antarctic stratospheric greenhouse gas forced temperature change should have a small impact on the ozone hole.
Systematic analysis reveals tumor-enhancing and -suppressing microRNAs in Drosophila epithelial tumors

Despite their emergence as an important class of noncoding RNAs involved in cancer cell transformation, invasion, and migration, the precise role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in tumorigenesis remains elusive. To gain insights into how miRNAs contribute to primary tumor formation, we conducted an RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis of Drosophila wing disc epithelial tumors induced by knockdown of a neoplastic tumor-suppressor gene (nTSG) lethal giant larvae (lgl), combined with overexpression of an active form of oncogene Ras (RasV12), and identified 51 mature miRNAs that changed significantly in tumorous discs. Followed by in vivo tumor enhancer and suppressor screens in sensitized genetic backgrounds, we identified 10 tumor-enhancing (TE) miRNAs and 11 tumor-suppressing (TS) miRNAs that contributed to the nTSG defect-induced tumorigenesis. Among these, four TE and three TS miRNAs have human homologs. From this study, we also identified 29 miRNAs that individually had no obvious role in enhancing or alleviating tumorigenesis despite their changed expression levels in nTSG tumors. This systematic analysis, which includes both RNA-Seq and in vivo functional studies, helps to categorize miRNAs into different groups based on their expression profile and functional relevance in epithelial tumorigenesis, whereas the evolutionarily conserved TE and TS miRNAs provide potential therapeutic targets for epithelial tumor treatment.
Oxidative stress in Parkinson's disease

Oxidative stress contributes to the cascade leading to dopamine cell degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, oxidative stress is intimately linked to other components of the degenerative process, such as mitochondrial dysfunction, excitotoxicity, nitric oxide toxicity and inflammation. It is therefore difficult to determine whether oxidative stress leads to, or is a consequence of, these events. Oxidative damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA occurs in PD, and toxic products of oxidative damage, such as 4‐hydroxynonenal (HNE), can react with proteins to impair cell viability. There is convincing evidence for the involvement of nitric oxide that reacts with superoxide to produce peroxynitrite and ultimately hydroxyl radical production. Recently, altered ubiquitination and degradation of proteins have been implicated as key to dopaminergic cell death in PD. Oxidative stress can impair these processes directly, and products of oxidative damage, such as HNE, can damage the 26S proteasome. Furthermore, impairment of proteasomal function leads to free radical generation and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress occurs in idiopathic PD and products of oxidative damage interfere with cellular function, but these form only part of a cascade, and it is not possible to separate them from other events involved in dopaminergic cell death. Ann Neurol 2003;53 (suppl 3):S26–S38
Nanoparticles of Zinc Oxide Reduces Acute Somatic Pain in Adult Female Wistar Rats

Article history: Received: 17 Nov 2012 Accepted: 20 Jan 2013 Available online: 9 Apr 2013 ZJRMS 2014; 16(2): 24-28 Background: With appearance of nano particles as an important component in modern medicine, and considering to new properties of these components, study of their effects on human health is essential. Since zinc components influences mechanisms of nociception, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nano zinc oxide as a new source of zinc and important components in pharmaceutical and hygienic cosmetic production on nociception in adult female rats. Materials and Methods: Female rats were divided into groups: control (receiving saline 0.9%) and receiving nano ZnO (0.5, 1, and 5 mg/kg). Hot plate and tail flick tests as models of somatic acute pain were used for evaluation of the pain. The mean of latency time in paw licking and tail withdrawal respectively recorded as nociception indexes in each test for every animal. The animal numbers in each group was seven. Results: In tail flick test, nano ZnO (0.5, 1 mg/kg) and in the hot plate test in dose of 0.5 mg/kg, induces significant analgesia (p<0.05) and with increasing of dose reduced its analgesic effect. Conclusion: It seems nano ZnO inhibit the nociception mechanisms and these analgesic properties are more efficient in the low doses. Probably by increasing dose of nano particles aggregation phenomenon prevent of anti-nociception effects of nano ZnO. Copyright © 2014 Zahedan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.
A new bang-bang phase/frequency detector for fast locking of phase-locked loops

This paper presents a new bang-bang phase detector and a new charge-pump frequency detector and their applications in dual-loop phase-locked loops. The regenerative operation of the proposed bang-bang phase detector ensures a fast acquisition of incoming clocks while the charge-pump frequency detector effectively detects the frequency difference between the reference clock and local VCO. The effectiveness of the proposed phase/frequency detectors is assessed by incorporated them in a 2 GHz dual-loop phase-locked loop implemented in UMC- 0.13 mum 1.2V CMOS technology and analyzed using Spectre with BSIM3.3v device models. Simulation results demonstrate that the PLL reaches the lock state in 600 cycles with phase noise of -125 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz frequency offset.
ABCB1 Mediates Cabazitaxel–Docetaxel Cross-Resistance in Advanced Prostate Cancer

Advancements in research have added several new therapies for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), greatly augmenting our ability to treat patients. However, CRPC remains an incurable disease due to the development of therapeutic resistance and the existence of cross-resistance between available therapies. Understanding the interplay between different treatments will lead to improved sequencing and the creation of combinations that overcome resistance and prolong survival. Whether there exists cross-resistance between docetaxel and the next-generation taxane cabazitaxel is poorly understood. In this study, we use C4-2B and DU145 derived docetaxel-resistant cell lines to test response to cabazitaxel. Our results demonstrate that docetaxel resistance confers cross-resistance to cabazitaxel. We show that increased ABCB1 expression is responsible for cross-resistance to cabazitaxel and that inhibition of ABCB1 function through the small-molecule inhibitor elacridar resensitizes taxane-resistant cells to treatment. In addition, the antiandrogens bicalutamide and enzalutamide, previously demonstrated to be able to resensitize taxane-resistant cells to docetaxel through inhibition of ABCB1 ATPase activity, are also able to resensitize resistant cells to cabazitaxel treatment. Finally, we show that resensitization using an antiandrogen is far more effective in combination with cabazitaxel than docetaxel. Collectively, these results address key concerns in the field, including that of cross-resistance between taxanes and highlighting a mechanism of cabazitaxel resistance involving ABCB1. Furthermore, these preclinical studies suggest the potential in using combinations of antiandrogens with cabazitaxel for increased effect in treating advanced CRPC. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(10); 2257–66. ©2017 AACR.
Protein Kinase Cα Phosphorylates the TRPC1 Channel and Regulates Store-operated Ca2+ Entry in Endothelial Cells*

The TRPC1 (transient receptor potential canonical-1) channel is a constituent of the nonselective cation channel that mediates Ca2+ entry through store-operated channels (SOCs) in human endothelial cells. We investigated the role of protein kinase Cα (PKCα) phosphorylation of TRPC1 in regulating the opening of SOCs. Thrombin or thapsigargin added to the external medium activated Ca2+ entry after Ca2+ store depletion, which we monitored by changes in cellular Fura 2 fluorescence. Internal application of the metabolism-resistant analog of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) activated an inward cationic current within 1 min, which we recorded using the whole cell patch clamp technique. La3+ or Gd3+ abolished the current, consistent with the known properties of SOCs. Pharmacological (Gö6976) or genetic (kinase-defective mutant) inhibition of PKCα markedly inhibited IP3-induced activation of the current. Thrombin or thapsigargin also activated La3+-sensitive Ca2+ entry in a PKCα-dependent manner. We determined the effects of a specific antibody directed against an extracellular epitope of TRPC1 to address the functional importance of TRPC1. External application of the antibody blocked thrombin- or IP3-induced Ca2+ entry. In tion, we showed that addithrombin or thapsigargin induced phosphorylation of TRPC1 within 1 min. Thrombin failed to induce TRPC1 phosphorylation in the absence of PKCα activation. Phosphorylation of TRPC1 and the resulting Ca2+ entry were essential for the increase in permeability induced by thrombin in confluent endothelial monolayers. These results demonstrate that PKCα phosphorylation of TRPC1 is an important determinant of Ca2+ entry in human endothelial cells.
Label-free analysis of microsatellite instability in colorectal carcinoma by on-chip electrophoresis

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is caused by a failure of the DNA mismatch repair system and occurs frequently in various types of cancer. Since sporadic MSI are associated with approximately 10 to 15% of colorectal, gastric or endometrial carcinoma and impact clinical prognosis, MSI analysis is an important tool in clinical research and molecular diagnostics. Given that conventional techniques used for MSI detection e.g. polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) or capillary electrophoresis turned out to be laborious or expensive, this study aimed to develop a simple and efficient procedure of MSI detection. Forty cases were selected out of a panel of 150 patients with colon carcinoma. Of the forty cases selected, 26 cases had no MSI, while 14 cases had a positive MSI. Amplicons derived from areas of non-tumor (N) and tumor (T) were analyzed by microfluidic based on-chip electrophoresis on the Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer. The results presenting a pattern of five microsatellite loci were compared with the findings obtained by fluorochrome-associated PAGE technology. In all cases, label-free microfluidic separation of the PCR amplicons resulted in highly resolved, distinct patterns for each of the five microsatellite loci. Detection of MSI was demonstrated by microsatellite loci-associated, well defined deviations in the electropherogram profiles of tumor and non-tumor material, in agreement with the classification of the MSI cases performed by conventional technology (95% concordance rate). The presented data demonstrate that microfluidic chip technology is a simple, reliable and robust technology for MSI detection, which allows label-free analyses of microsatellite amplicons within 30 minutes. Label-free analysis of microsatellite instability in colorectal carcinoma by on-chip electrophoresis Stephan E. Baldus, Nora Barta, Sezer Lammers, Hans Peter Dienes, Rüdiger Salowsky*, and Margarete Odenthal Institute for Pathology, University Clinic Cologne, Germany and *Agilent Technologies Waldbronn, Germany