Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human peritoneal mesothelial cells synthesize interleukin-6: induction by IL-1 beta and TNF alpha.

Recent studies have demonstrated increased levels of IL-6 in the peritoneal cavity during CAPD peritonitis. The current investigation was initiated (i) to examine the human peritoneal mesothelial cell (HPMC) as a possible source of this secreted IL-6 and (ii) to characterize the released product and examine its regulation by other cytokines. Unstimulated HPMC under growth arrested conditions released IL-6 in a time dependent manner. After 24-hour HPMC IL-6 release (mean +/- SEM, N = 13) (expressed as pg/micrograms cell protein) was 1.67 +/- 0.33. Stimulation of HPMC with IL-1 beta or TNF alpha resulted in a time (increasing up to 48 hr) and dose dependent IL-6 generation. After 24 hours the levels induced by IL-1 beta and TNF alpha (both at 1000 pg/ml) were (mean +/- SEM, N = 13) 19.08 +/- 2.98 and 6.62 +/- 1.72, respectively. Stimulation with combinations of IL-1 beta and TNF alpha resulted in additive increases in IL-6 release. This release could be inhibited by co-incubation with anti-IL-1 beta and/or anti-TNF alpha antibodies. The level of released HPMC IL-6 measured by immunometric assay (ELISA) correlated directly with that detected in the 7TD1 IL-6 bioassay (r = 0.63; P < 0.001). Western blot analysis of concentrated HPMC supernatants using specific anti-IL-6 antibody demonstrated immunoreactive bands at 23 and 28 Kd following IL-1 beta or TNF alpha treatment. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Measuring the agreement between brain connectivity networks

Investigating the level of similarity between two brain networks, resulting from measures of effective connectivity in the brain, can be of interest from many respects. In this study, we propose and test the idea to borrow measures of association used in machine learning to provide a measure of similarity between the structure of (un-weighted) brain connectivity networks. The measures here explored are the accuracy, Cohen's Kappa (K) and Area Under Curve (AUC). We implemented two simulation studies, reproducing two contexts of application that can be particularly interesting for practical applications, namely: i) in methodological studies, performed on surrogate data, aiming at comparing the estimated network with the corresponding ground-truth network; ii) in applications to real data, when it is necessary to compare the structure of a network obtained in a specific subject with a reference (e.g. a baseline condition or normative data). In the simulations, the level of similarity between two networks was manipulated through different factors. We then investigated the effect of such manipulations on the measures of association. Results showed how the three parameters modulated their values according to the level of similarity between the two networks. In particular, the AUC provided the better performances in terms of its capability to synthetize the similarity between two networks, showing high dynamic and sensitivity.
Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee

* All the Kings Horses and the Kings Men: the Royal Army * Libert, Egalit, Fraternit: The Armies of the Revolution * Enter la Grand Arme * The Imperial Way * Grand Quartier-Gnral * Tall in the Saddle and Under the Rose * Much High Brass and Some Low Brows * They Also Served * Garde Impriale * Poor Bloody Infantry * The High Horsemen * It Is with Artillery That One Makes War * Gnie: The Jesuits of the Army * Wherever a Comrade May Need My Help * Matters Nautical: La Marine * Remounts and Replacements * Trumpets and Drums and Cuckoos * Rgiments Etrangers * Allies and Auxilliaries * Law and Order: La Force Publique and LArme de LIntrieur * Discipline and Disciplinary Units * Dressed to Kill * Marches and Bivouacs * Haut les Armes! : Weapons and Ammunition * Voici lEnnemi! * Strategy and Tactics * Logistics * Soupe, Prt, et Comptbilit * Men, Morale, Loot and Baubles * Vivandires, Blanchisseuses, Enfants, et Bric--Brac * Legitimacy ReturnsTemporarily * Les Cent Jours * Tout Est Fini
Coupling between variations in strength and baroreflex latency of sympathetic discharges in human muscle nerves.

1. Pulse‐synchronous multiunit muscle nerve sympathetic activity was recorded simultaneously from two nerves together with ECG in eleven healthy subjects; seven recordings were made from the two peroneal nerves during prolonged expiratory apnoeas and four from a radial and a peroneal nerve during lower body negative pressure of 10‐40 mmHg. The neural records were displayed in mean voltage neurograms (time constant 0.1 s) and for each mean voltage burst the following measures were taken and related to each other: amplitude, duration, rise time, decay time and baroreflex latency (from the appropriate R‐wave of the ECG to the peak of the burst). 2. Average baroreflex latencies were 1.3 s in the peroneal nerves and 0.9 s in the radial nerve. There were significant positive correlations between both the amplitudes and the baroreflex latencies of corresponding bursts in peroneal‐peroneal recordings and in radial‐peroneal recordings. 3. In all nerves baroreflex latency shortened significantly when burst amplitude increased. The correlation between burst amplitude and baroreflex latency was weaker in the radial than in the peroneal nerve. The average variation of baroreflex latency in peroneal‐peroneal recordings was 0.20 +/‐ 0.02 s in both legs, and in radial‐peroneal recordings the variation was 0.09 +/‐ 0.01 s in the radial nerve and 0.12 +/‐ 0.02 s in the peroneal nerve. 4. When peroneal burst amplitudes increased, burst duration increased. This was due to increases of both the rise time and the decay time of the burst, the latter being the greater. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Entorhinal axons exhibit sprouting in CA1 subfield of the adult hippocampus in a rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy

Intracerebroventricular kainic acid administration in rat, a model of temporal lobe epilepsy, results in CA3 pyramidal neuron degeneration leading to deafferentation of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Denervation in CA1 shows a near‐complete recovery of synaptic density over 2–3 months, but the source of axons participating in the reinnervation is not clear. This study investigated the contribution of the entorhinal cortex in this reinnervation by comparing the distribution of the entorhinal axons in the CA1 subfield between the intact hippocampus and the CA3‐lesioned hippocampus at 3 months after administration of kainic acid. Entorhinal axons were visualized by anterograde tracing using injections of the biotinylated dextran amine into the entorhinal cortex. In the CA1 subfield of the intact hippocampus, entorhinal axons were conspicuous in the alveus and the stratum lacunosum moleculare. The distribution in the strata oriens, pyramidale, and radiatum was sparse and was characterized by isolated entorhinal fibers of the alvear pathway crossing these strata to the stratum lacunosum moleculare. However, after kainic acid‐induced CA3 lesion, the density of entorhinal axons increased significantly in the CA1 stratum radiatum (375% of the intact hippocampus), as a large number of axons emanating from the entorhinal fiber plexus in the stratum lacunosum moleculare invaded the stratum radiatum. The stratum radiatum also exhibited wavy entorhinal axons filled with boutons and oriented parallel to the stratum pyramidale, suggesting collateral sprouting from entorhinal axons traversing the stratum radiatum. Thus, a significant aberrant sprouting of entorhinal axons occurs into the CA1 stratum radiatum after CA3 lesion. The sprouted fibers appear to come from both entorhinal fiber plexus in the stratum lacunosum moleculare (translaminar sprouting) and entorhinal axons traversing the stratum radiatum (intralaminar sprouting). However, the major contribution appears to be from the entorhinal plexus in the stratum lacunosum moleculare. This aberrant sprouting may lead to altered afferent excitatory connectivity in the CA1 subfield and contribute to the persistent CA1 hyperexcitability that occurs after the CA3 lesion. Hippocampus 2002;12:534–542. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Energy expenditure and insulin sensitivity evaluation in obese children affected by hepatosteatosis

The aim of our study was to evaluate the physical and sedentary activities and energy expenditure (EE) in a group of children affected by non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), compared with normal and obese subjects, using a physical activity questionnaire (PAQ) and a SenseWear armband (SWA).
Operational Risk Measurement: A Loss Distribution Approach with Segmented Dependence

In the loss distribution approach (LDA), the most widely used approach of operational risk measurement, the modeling dependencies across different risk cells have been extensively studied. However, it has not been recognized that the dependencies between high-frequency, low-impact (HFLI) and low-frequency, high-impact (LFHI) operational risk losses are naturally different. This paper proposes an approach, called the loss distribution approach with segmented dependence (LDA-SD), which can model the different dependencies of HFLI and LFHI losses in the framework of LDA. LDA-SD divides the losses into two parts for HFLI and LFHI, fits their frequency and severity distributions separately and models the segmented dependencies with a copula. In our empirical study, the proposed LDA-SD is applied to measure the operational risk of the overall Chinese banking sector based on the Chinese Operational Loss Database data set, the largest operational risk data set in China. The empirical results reveal that the dependencies are indeed different between HFLI and LFHI losses. The operational risk capital calculated by the LDA-SD is significantly smaller than that calculated by the LDA and considering the holistic dependence, but larger than that simply considering tail dependence.
Frame analysis of the New York Times coverage of presidental elections and the "Orange" revolution in Ukraine in 2004

Before the Orange revolution, Ukraine did not enjoy much world media attention. Although the situation changed with the outbreak of the revolution, only a few attempts to analyze its media coverage in the foreign mass media were made. This study focuses on the New York Times coverage of the presidential elections and the Orange revolution in Ukraine and compares the differences in portraying various parties of the conflict. Frame analysis provides methodological background for the study and critical theory serves as a theoreti­ cal framework.
Induction of antioxidant enzyme activity by hyperoxia (60 % O2) in the developing chick embryo

1 At premature birth, man and animals are exposed to relatively high oxygen levels, compared with intra‐uterine conditions, at a time when their antioxidant enzyme (AOE) system is still immature. Using the chick embryo as a study model, we investigated changes in the AOE system in response to hyperoxia applied at different time points during the incubation period. Relations between hyperoxia and AOE activity were studied in selected organs (brain, heart, liver, intestine and lungs) of developing chick embryos (during the second half of the incubation period). 2 Incubated White Leghorn eggs were divided into four groups: control (n= 100) and three test groups exposed for 48 h to 60 % O2 on day 10 (test group 1, n= 80), day 14 (test group 2, n= 60) and day 18 (test group 3, n= 30). Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme activities were measured in homogenates of the brain, heart, liver, intestine and lungs. 3 Exposure to hyperoxia at different time points during incubation resulted in a 2‐ to 10‐fold increase in SOD activity in all organs except the brain. Catalase and GPx enzyme activities were only induced in test group 1, 48 h after initiation of hyperoxia. 4 In the developing chick embryo, hyperoxia can produce a temporary induction of AOE activity, which is dependent on the AOE, organ, incubation time and time point of exposure.
Grid reliability enhancement by peak load forecasting with a PSO hybridized ANN model

Raised complexity levels of conventional grids, ever increasing load demands, elevated reliability issues, limitations of conventional power generating units and quality issues associated with sustainable energy resources all highlight the need to adapt specific demand management techniques to augment grid reliability. The stability of grids is hampered by varying loads, intermittent supply of the renewable resources and the inability of conventional plants to deal with them making the grids extremely vulnerable during peak load times. In this study we propose the utilization of a hybrid load forecasting tool based on Artificial Neural Network and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) as the solution. The tool would forecast futuristic load and would be specifically effective for the peak load times enabling utilities to optimize grid performance.
Decomposition of life expectancy and expected life‐years lost by disease

Life expectancy is commonly used to summarize the life‐time mortality experience of a population. Differences in life expectancy are well‐known across different levels of socioeconomic status such as income and education. A recent simulation study of potential life‐years lost has shown the effects that major diseases contribute to differences in life expectancy at birth. We propose a general methodology to decompose life expectancy and expected life‐years lost by disease in order to determine the contribution of diseases to differences in life expectancy at each given age. We show that the estimates for the life expectancy, expected life‐years lost and their variances at each age can be computed backward recursively from an old age. The difference in life expectancy between groups will be shown to include contributions from diseases and life‐year differences which occur after an old age cut‐off beyond which the contribution of diseases cannot be easily determined. Diseases will be grouped into 14 major disease categories. Data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study will be used for demonstration purposes. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Activated Apoptotic Cells Induce Dendritic Cell Maturation via Engagement of Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4), Dendritic Cell-specific Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 3 (ICAM-3)-grabbing Nonintegrin (DC-SIGN), and β2 Integrins*

Background: Activated apoptotic lymphocytes provide activation/maturation signals to human monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DCs). Results: Cell-cell contact-dependent signaling involved β2 integrins, DC-SIGN, and TLR4, which resulted in activation of multiple signaling pathways. Conclusion: These studies provide mechanistic insight into DC responses during encounter with cells undergoing immunogenic cell death. Significance: Learning how DCs respond to certain cell death has implications for vaccine design. Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen-presenting cells playing a central role in connecting innate and adaptive immunity. Maturation signals are, however, required for DCs to undergo phenotypic and functional changes to acquire a fully competent antigen-presenting capacity. We previously reported that activated apoptotic peripheral lymphocytes (ActApo) provide activation/maturation signals to human monocyte-derived DCs. In this paper, we have characterized the signaling pathways and molecules involved in ActApo-mediated DC maturation. We found that both cellular and supernatant fractions from ActApo are required for DC maturation signaling. ActApoSup-induced CD80 and CD86 expression was significantly blocked in the presence of neutralizing antibodies against tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Cell-cell contact-dependent signaling involved β2 integrins, dendritic cell-specific ICAM-3-grabbing nonintegrin (DC-SIGN), and TLR4 because ActApo-induced up-regulation of the maturation markers CD80 and CD86 was significantly inhibited in the presence of neutralizing antibodies against CD18, CD11a, CD11b, and DC-SIGN as well as TLR4. The role of TLR4 was further confirmed by silencing of TLR4 in DCs. In addition, the endogenous adjuvant effect exerted by activated apoptotic splenocytes (ActApoSp) was reduced after immunization with human serum albumin in TLR4−/− mice. We detected activation of multiple signaling pathways and transcription factors in DCs upon co-culture with ActApo, including p38, JNK, PI3K-Akt, Src family kinases, NFκB p65, and AP1 transcription factor family members c-Jun and c-Fos, demonstrating the complex interactions occurring between ActApo and DCs. These studies provide important mechanistic insight into the responses of DCs during encounter with cells undergoing immunogenic cell death.
Exopolysaccharides from extremophiles: from fundamentals to biotechnology

Exopolysaccharides (EPSs) make up a substantial component of the extracellular polymers surrounding most microbial cells in extreme environments like Antarctic ecosystems, saline lakes, geothermal springs or deep sea hydrothermal vents. The extremophiles have developed various adaptations, enabling them to compensate for the deleterious effects of extreme conditions, e.g. high temperatures, salt, low pH or temperature, high radiation. Among these adaptation strategies, EPS biosynthesis is one of the most common protective mechanisms. The unusual metabolic pathways revealed in some extremophiles raised interest in extremophilic microorganisms as potential producers of EPSs with novel and unusual characteristics and functional activities under extreme conditions. Even though the accumulated knowledge on the structural and rheological properties of EPSs from extremophiles is still very limited, it reveals a variety in properties, which may not be found in more traditional polymers. Both extremophilic microorganisms and their EPSs suggest several biotechnological advantages, like short fermentation processes for thermophiles and easily formed and stable emulsions of EPSs from psychrophiles. Unlike mesophilic producers of EPSs, many of them being pathogenic, extremophilic microorganisms provide non‐pathogenic products, appropriate for applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries as emulsifiers, stabilizers, gel agents, coagulants, thickeners and suspending agents. The commercial value of EPSs synthesized by microorganisms from extreme habitats has been established recently.
Participative leadership: A study of faculty and administrators in a Lutheran liberal arts college

Despite the numerous reference to and importance of the term “participative leadership” in various leadership and organizational theories and practices, the term itself remains ambiguous. While it is often used synonymously with terms such as collaborative, autonomy, influence, participative decision making, colegialty, and team, many people questioned whether these terms are truly synonymous. Moreover, because those who advocate this approach to leadership have many purposes in mind, the practice of participative leadership manifest itself in different forms. Hence, a need exist to clarify as to what practices are actually participative. This study examines the meaning of the concept in theory and practice. The focus is on clarifying the concept in higher education by eliciting faculty and administrators’ understandings of the concept, their rationales for accepting it, and the conditions and ways they desire to see this approach practiced in their organization. This examination involves an intensive review of the literature, an analysis of institutional documents, and a series of in-depth interviews with six faculty and seven administrators at a Lutheran liberal arts college. The literature review indicated that the complexities of the terms leadership and participation contributed to the different understandings of the concepts. The work of different scholars, based on different paradigms, and different leadership and organizational theories, along with an emphasis of different issues revealed that in certain cases certain Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. characteristics of participation are concealed, while in other instances other characteristics are emphasized. By studying “participative leadership” from the different participants’ perspectives a more holistic understanding emerged of the concept and its implications for administrators, faculty, and the college. Although gender, status, position, and the type of issues raised determine how participants understand and intend to apply the concept, every participant gave different labels, rationales, metaphors, and ways of interpreting and evaluating the concept. The findings, in general, confirm that many individuals and groups can have many labels, definitions, rationales, and ideals of participative leadership. The factors such as institutional history, mission, and structure and individual differences with respect to gender, position, status, background, interest, beliefs, and values determine the interpretation and implementation of “participative leadership. ” Theorists and practitioners must consider these factors when they study and attempt to implement participative leadership. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Agency-communion and interest in prosocial behavior: social motives for assimilation and contrast explain sociocultural inconsistencies.

Identifying the "prosocial personality" is a classic project in personality psychology. However, personality traits have been elusive predictors of prosocial behavior, with personality-prosociality relations varying widely across sociocultural contexts. We propose the social motives perspective to account for such sociocultural inconsistencies. According to this perspective, a focal quality of agency (e.g., competence, independence, openness) is the motive to swim against the social tide-agentic social contrast. Conversely, a focal quality of communion (e.g., warmth, interdependence, agreeableness) is the motive to swim with the social tide-communal social assimilation. We report two cross-sectional studies. Study 1 (N = 131,562) defined social context at the country level (11 European countries), whereas Study 2 (N = 56,395) defined it at the country level (11 European countries) and the city level (296 cities within these countries). Communion predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was common and comparatively weakly where such interest was uncommon. Agency predicted interest in prosocial behavior comparatively strongly in sociocultural contexts where such interest was uncommon and comparatively weakly where such interest was common. The results supported the social motives perspective. Also, the findings help to reestablish the importance of personality for understanding prosociality.