Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surfing through the life-course: silver surfers’ negotiation of ageing

ABSTRACT Images of surfing have tended to reflect consumer culture’s fascination with youthfulness, simultaneously perpetuating a myth that participants are reckless, male risk-seeking hedonists. This image, however, is being challenged with increasing numbers of older male and female surfers taking to the water. Drawing on empirical research conducted in the UK, I explore the meanings that recreational surfing plays in participants’ lives and identities as they grow older. The research involved interviews with male and female British recreational surfers from ‘middle-age’ through to what the media have dubbed ‘silver surfers’. I examine both life-long surfers and those who have taken to surfing in mid-life. While ageing is often conceptualized as a phase of cognitive and physical decline, recreational surfing is being used as an identity resource in the extension of ‘mid-life’ and in the process of negotiating anxieties about ageing [Tulle 2008. Ageing, the Body and Social Change: Running in Later Life. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan]. The paper highlights ways in which older surfers reproduce, and challenge dominant discourses about ageing, physical activity and embodiment, and how they envisage their sporting futures, negotiating ageing though surfing. Lastly, it draws out some of the implications for active ageing policy agendas.
Le rendement des dépenses électorales en France

L’objet de cet article est de determiner l’influence des depenses de campagne sur les resultats electoraux en France. A partir d’une etude empirique fondee sur les elections legislatives de 1997, nous montrons que les resultats electoraux francais sont sensibles aux depenses electorales engagees par les candidats. En effet, une fois pris en compte le biais d’endogeneite de la depense du candidat sortant a l’aide de la methode des doubles moindres carres, nous montrons que les suffrages d’un depute sortant sont positivement influences par sa depense, et negativement par la depense des autres candidats. Ce resultat est a mettre en perspective de la nouvelle reglementation des campagnes electorales visant a reduire les barrieres financieres a l’entree du marche politique. Enfin, ce resultat confirme les travaux empiriques menes aux Etats-Unis sur le rendement positif de l’argent dans le processus electoral.
Rapid Detection of Fluoroquinolone-Resistant and Heteroresistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Use of Sloppy Molecular Beacons and Dual Melting-Temperature Codes in a Real-Time PCR Assay

ABSTRACT Fluoroquinolones (FQ) are important second-line drugs to treat tuberculosis; however, FQ resistance is an emerging problem. Resistance has been mainly attributed to mutations in a 21-bp region of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis gyrA gene, often called the quinolone resistance-determining region (QRDR). We have developed a simple, rapid, and specific assay to detect FQ resistance-determining QRDR mutations. The assay amplifies the M. tuberculosis gyrA QRDR in an asymmetrical PCR followed by probing with two sloppy molecular beacons (SMBs) spanning the entire QRDR. Mutations are detected by melting temperature (Tm ) shifts that occur when the SMBs bind to mismatched sequences. By testing DNA targets corresponding to all known QRDR mutations, we found that one or both of the SMBs produced a Tm shift of at least 3.6°C for each mutation, making mutation detection very robust. The assay was also able to identify mixtures of wild-type and mutant DNA, with QRDR mutants identified in samples containing as little as 5 to 10% mutant DNA. The assay was blindly validated for its ability to identify the QRDR mutations on DNA extracted from clinical M. tuberculosis strains. Fifty QRDR wild-type samples, 34 QRDR mutant samples, and 8 heteroresistant samples containing mixtures of wild-type and mutant DNA were analyzed. The results showed 100% concordance to conventional DNA sequencing, including a complete identification of all of the mixtures. This SMB Tm shift assay will be a valuable molecular tool to rapidly detect FQ resistance and to detect the emergence of FQ heteroresistance in clinical samples from tuberculosis patients.
A BAC transgenic reporter recapitulates in vivo regulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase in development and tumorigenesis

Telomerase is tightly regulated in humans relative to mice, owing to the differential regulation of TERT genes. To explore hTERT regulation in vivo,we engineered mice with a 160‐kb transgenic bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) spanning the hTERT locus with a ReniUa luciferase (Rluc) cassette downstream of its promoter. Analysis of multiple founder lines revealed that the Rluc expression profile from the transgenic hTERT reporter locus reproduced that of the native hTERT gene in all tissues and organs examined, demonstrating that genetic sequence determined the species‐specific developmental regulation of the hTERT gene and that mouse epigenetic and transcription machineries faithfully regulated hTERT transcription. Thus, these mice allowed detailed analyses of developmental hTERT regulation. Both the transgenic hTERT reporter and the endogenous mTERT locus were expressed in early embryonic stages, and their mRNA levels progressively decreased throughout embryonic and postnatal development. Whereas hTERT transcription was much lower than mTERT expression in most organs, it increased significantly during postnatal development of thymus, testis, and ovary. In testis, the Rluc mRNA was enriched in elongating spermatids of seminiferous tubules. Inaddition, the transcription of transgenic hTERT reporter, but surprisingly not the endogenous mTERT gene, was activated during Wnt1‐induced mammary tumorigenesis, allowing the monitoring of tumor development via noninvasive bioluminescent imaging. Collectively, our results demonstrate that the hTERT transgenic reporter system recapitulates the developmental regulation of the hTERT gene in a chromosomal position‐independent manner and serves as a legitimate model to explore telomerase regulation in the development of normal and neoplastic tissues in vivo. —Jia, W. , Wang, S. , Horner, J. W. , Wang, N. , Wang, H. , Gunther, E. J., DePinho, R. A. , Zhu, J. A BAC transgenic reporter recapitulates in vivo regulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase in development and tumorigenesis. FASEB J. 25, 979–989 (2011). www.fasebj. org
Advances in understanding etiology of achondroplasia and review of management

Purpose of review A summary of management and current research in achondroplasia (OMIM 100800). The most common nonlethal skeletal dysplasia, achondroplasia presents a distinct clinical picture evident at birth. Substantial information is available concerning the natural history of this dwarfing disorder. Diagnosis is made by clinical findings and radiographic features. Characteristic features include short limbs, a relatively large head with frontal bossing and midface hypoplasia, trident hands, muscular hypotonia, and thoracolumbar kyphosis. Children commonly have recurrent ear infections, delayed motor milestones, and eventually develop bowed legs and lumbar lordosis. People with achondroplasia are generally of normal intelligence. Recent findings The genetic cause of achondroplasia was discovered in 1994. Subsequent research efforts are designed to better characterize the underlying possible biochemical mechanisms responsible for the clinical findings of achondroplasia as well as to develop possible new therapies and/or improve intervention. Summary Establishing a diagnosis of achondroplasia allows families and clinicians to provide anticipatory care for affected children. Although the primary features of achondroplasia affect the skeleton, a multidisciplinary approach to care for children with achondroplasia helps families and clinicians understand the clinical findings and the natural history of achondroplasia in order to improve the outcome for each patient.
Isolation of Unique STAT5 Targets by Chromatin Immunoprecipitation-based Gene Identification*

STAT5a and STAT5b are two highly related transcription factors that control essential cellular functions. Several STAT5 targets are known, although it is likely that most remain uncharacterized. To identify a more complete set of STAT5-regulated genes, we used a modification of the chromatin immunoprecipitation procedure, which does not presuppose any information regarding these targets. Employing Ba/f3 cells in which STAT5 is activated by interleukin-3, we have identified novel STAT5 binding sites that may be regulatory regions for nearby genes. These sites are typically found far from transcription start sites, and most do not contain CpG islands, indicating that they are not in traditional promoter regions. Nonetheless, when the expression of genes near these STAT5 binding sites was examined, all were expressed in Ba/f3 cells, and most were modulated by interleukin-3. Furthermore, genes identified by this strategy show unique expression patterns in acute leukemias, tumors characterized by activated STAT5. Whereas both STAT5 isoforms bound to all promoters tested, STAT5a and STAT5b bound with different kinetics, suggesting that at least some of the differences between the functions of these two proteins are mediated by their DNA binding activity. Therefore, this method of transcription factor target identification represents an effective strategy to isolate transcription factor targets in an unbiased fashion, and it has revealed many novel STAT5-dependent regulatory regions outside of traditional promoters.
Loss of Cdc20 Causes a Securin-Dependent Metaphase Arrest in Two-Cell Mouse Embryos

ABSTRACT The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase mediating targeted proteolysis through ubiquitination of protein substrates to control the progression of mitosis. The APC/C recognizes its substrates through two adapter proteins, Cdc20 and Cdh1, which contain similar C-terminal domains composed of seven WD-40 repeats believed to be involved in interacting with their substrates. During the transition from metaphase to anaphase, APC/C-Cdc20 mediates the ubiquitination of securin and cyclin B1, allowing the activation of separase and the onset of anaphase and mitotic exit. APC/C-Cdc20 and APC/C-Cdh1 have overlapping substrates. It is unclear whether they are redundant for mitosis. Using a gene-trapping approach, we have obtained mice which lack Cdc20 function. These mice show failed embryogenesis. The embryos were arrested in metaphase at the two-cell stage with high levels of cyclin B1, indicating an essential role of Cdc20 in mitosis that is not redundant with that of Cdh1. Interestingly, Cdc20 and securin double mutant embryos could not maintain the metaphase arrest, suggesting a role of securin in preventing mitotic exit.
Handedness and Reach-to-Place Kinematics in Adults: Left-Handers Are Not Reversed Right-Handers

ABSTRACT The primary goal of this study was to examine the relations between limb control and handedness in adults. Participants were categorized as left or right handed for analyses using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. Three-dimensional recordings were made of each arm on two reach-to-place tasks: adults reached to a ball and placed it into the opening of a toy (fitting task), or reached to a Cheerio inside a cup, which they placed on a designated mark after each trial (cup task). We hypothesized that limb control and handedness were related, and we predicted that we would observe side differences favoring the dominant limb based on the dynamic dominance hypothesis of motor lateralization. Specifically, we predicted that the dominant limb would be straighter and smoother on both tasks compared with the nondominant limb (i.e., right arm in right-handers and left arm in left-handers). Our results only partially supported these predictions for right-handers, but not for left-handers. When differences between hands were observed, the right hand was favored regardless of handedness group. Our findings suggest that left-handers are not reversed right-handers when compared on interlimb kinematics for reach-to-place tasks, and reaffirm that task selection is critical when evaluating manual asymmetries.
Using Site-Specific, Ray-Tracing Channel Models to Control Wireless Testbeds

Laboratory-based multi-node wireless testbeds are essential to building and experimenting with mobile wireless networks such as MANETs, DTNs, or custom radios and protocols. Several systems based on many-to-many channel emulators have been built, however these systems rely on either a simple deterministic channel model such as free-space path loss, or a general stochastic channel model, where the only input determining channel characteristics is node distance. In order to more thoroughly test radio and protocol performance in a wider variety of scenarios, it is necessary to incorporate site-specific channel characteristics. We have experimented with using RF ray-tracing software to model site-specific real-world environments at the University of Maryland (UMD) campus. We have used these channel model predictions to drive two different types of channel emulator-based wireless testbeds, and have compared results from those testbeds to field tests in the actual locations. Finally, we have experimented with various levels of detail in our environment models to evaluate the payoff, in terms of realism, for spending extra time and resources to build highly-detailed environmental models.
The atrioventricular junctions in Ebstein malformation

OBJECTIVE To review the anatomical structure of the right atrioventricular junction, including the specialised atrioventricular conduction system, in hearts with Ebstein's malformation, to identify potential substrates for the abnormalities in conduction. METHODS Five heart specimens representing the morphological spectrum of Ebstein malformation were examined grossly and histologically. RESULTS On the endocardial surface, the atrioventricular junction was marked by a faint line in two hearts, and by a small ridge in the other three. Analysis of the right parietal junction in four hearts revealed only two accessory muscular atrioventricular connections. A plane of fibrofatty tissue separated atrial from ventricular myocardium in the right parietal junction in all hearts. The compact atrioventricular node was closer to the coronary sinus than usual. Accessory nodoventricular connections were present in four hearts, while accessory fasciculo-ventricular connections were found in one. The right bundle branch was hypoplastic or absent in four hearts. CONCLUSIONS In this small series, the parietal atrioventricular junction was better developed than previously thought. Structural abnormalities of the atrioventricular conduction system, however, were present. These may account for some of the conduction abnormalities frequently observed with the Ebstein malformation.
Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organization.

Trust in supervisor and trust in organization are argued to be distinct but related constructs, each with its own set of antecedents and outcomes. Empirical field results supported the proposition. Although trust in supervisor and trust in organization were positively and significantly correlated, trust in supervisor was more strongly associated with proximal variables (ability, benevolence, and integrity of supervisor), whereas trust in organization was more strongly correlated with global variables (perceived organizational support and justice). This conclusion held despite the inclusion of proximal variables in the regression on trust in organization and the inclusion of global variables in the regression on trust in supervisor. In addition to the differential antecedents of trust in supervisor and trust in organization, the outcomes for both variables were different. Trust in supervisor was related to increased innovative behavior and satisfaction with supervisor, and trust in organization was related to higher organizational commitment and lower intention to leave. Therefore, the authors provide clear preliminary data on the distinctiveness of trust in supervisor and trust in organization. One implication of this set of results is that organizations should adopt a more holistic approach in building trust, which can be achieved by focusing on the various constituents of the organization and the various levels (e.g., the supervisor level and the organizational level).
The Role of Financial Resources and Agency in Success and Satisfaction Regarding Developmental Tasks in Early Adulthood

Purpose – Our study focuses on the impacts of young adults’ financial situation and agency on success and satisfaction regarding developmental tasks (attainments in educational, work and social domains) in the context of economic upheavals. Methodology/approach – The study is part of the longitudinal Finnish Educational Transitions Studies (FinEdu), in which high school students (N=614 at baseline) participated once before and three times after graduation (ages 19–25) while progressing to tertiary education and employment. Findings – Agency (indicated by achievement and social approach strategies) increased, whereas achievement and social avoidance decreased from ages 19 to 25. Financial situation improved from an objective but not subjective perspective. Both high and increasing levels of agency were related to high levels of success and satisfaction regarding developmental tasks at age 25. In particular, social approach was related to educational attainment, sense of belonging, and romantic relationship satisfaction. High initial levels of agency and an improved financial situation predicted low economic pressure at age 25. Research implications – Both sociopolitical structures and individual agency are important in shaping life course transitions in early adulthood. The apparent discrepancy between the macro-level national economic recession and young adults’ relatively high economic satisfaction could be explained by high agency in a welfare state context. Social implications – The study shows important links between individuals’ life course and the societal context of Finland, a secure Nordic welfare state in the midst of global economic upheavals. Originality/value of paper – Our longitudinal study makes a significant contribution to life course research by comprehensively conceptualizing the developmental tasks and considering their individual and social determinants.
Glutamate and metabotropic glutamate receptors associated with innervation of the uterine cervix during pregnancy: Receptor antagonism inhibits c‐fos expression in rat lumbosacral spinal cord at parturition

Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons connect the spinal cord and uterine cervix, and are activated at parturition with subsequent stimulation of secondary neurons in the spinal dorsal horn and autonomic areas. Neuropeptide neurotransmitters and receptors have been studied in these areas, but amino acid transmitters, e.g., glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter involved in sensory and nociceptive processing, have not been characterized. To determine if glutamate is involved in innervation of the cervix, rats were examined for markers of glutamatergic neurons in the L6‐S1 spinal cord, DRG and cervix. Metabotropic glutamate receptors mGluR5 in the spinal dorsal horn and their expression over pregnancy were examined in pregnant rats and pregnant rats treated continuously with an antagonist of mGluR5, 2‐methyl‐6‐(phenylethynyl) pyridine (MPEP). Rats were allowed to deliver pups to determine if the antagonist altered the expression of an early response gene protein, Fos, in the L6‐S1 cord. Immunohistochemistry showed glutamate‐ and vesicular glutamate transporter1 (VGluT1)‐positive fibers in the cervix, glutamate‐ and VGluT1‐expressing neurons in the DRG, some of which also exhibited retrograde tracer from cervical injections, and VGluT1 and mGluR5 immunoreactivities in the L6‐S1 spinal dorsal horns. Expression of mGluR5 receptors increased over pregnancy. Fos‐positive neurons were present among mGluR5‐immunoreactivity in the spinal dorsal horn. Parturition‐induced Fos‐positive neurons in the spinal cords were abundant in control rats, but were reduced by 70% in MPEP‐treated animals. These results suggest that glutamate is likely involved in the transmission of sensory signals, possibly pain, from the cervix to the spinal cord at parturition. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Formalization for Specifying and Implementing Correct Pull-Stream Modules

Pull-stream is a JavaScript demand-driven functional design pattern based on callback functions that enables the creation and easy composition of independent modules that are used to create streaming applications. It is used in popular open source projects and the community around it has created over a hundred compatible modules. While the description of the pull-stream design pattern may seem simple, it does exhibit complicated termination cases. Despite the popularity and large uptake of the pull-stream design pattern, there was no existing formal specification that could help programmers reason about the correctness of their implementations. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is to provide a formalization for specifying and implementing correct pull-stream modules based on the following: (1) we show the pull-stream design pattern is a form of declarative concurrent programming; (2) we present an event-based protocol language that supports our formalization, independently of JavaScript; (3) we provide the first precise and explicit definition of the expected sequences of events that happen at the interface of two modules, which we call the pull-stream protocol; (4) we specify reference modules that exhibit the full range of behaviors of the pull-stream protocol; (5) we validate our definitions against the community expectations by testing the existing core pull-stream modules against them and identify unspecified behaviors in existing modules. Our approach helps to better understand the pull-stream protocol, to ensure interoperability of community modules, and to concisely and precisely specify new pull-stream abstractions in papers and documentation.
Development of capillary electrophoresis fingerprint for quality control of rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae.

INTRODUCTION Rhizoma Smilacis Glabrae (RSG) is a Chinese herbal medicine used for detoxication and as a diuretic. However, in some regions of China, RSG is used confusedly with some other herbs. OBJECTIVE To develop a capillary electrophoresis (CE)-DAD fingerprint method for quality evaluation, species differentiation and product identification of RSG. METHODOLOGY The CE separation conditions and extraction procedure were optimised. Eighteen batches of RSG samples were analysed and the standard fingerprint used for authentication was simulated by the average of all tested samples. RESULTS The optimal CE separation conditions were developed with running buffer of 20 mm borax containing 3 mm β-cyclodextrin at pH 9.4, voltage of 25 kV and temperature of 25°C. The separation could be completed within 8 min. Nine peaks were found in the electropherogram of RSG and five peaks were identified as astilbin, taxifolin, 5-O-caffeoylshikimic acid, shikimic acid and trans-resveratrol, respectively. Methanol and sonication were recommended for the sample preparation. All RSG samples showed similar chromatographic profile and six 'held in common' peaks were found. By the standard fingerprint, RSG could be well distinguished from its two confusable species, rhizoma Smilacis Chinae and rhizoma Heterosmilacis. CONCLUSION A CE-DAD fingerprint analysis method was developed for the quality control of RSG. The standard fingerprint could represent the chemical profile of RSG and be used for its authentication.