Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Echocardiographic assessment of regional left ventricular wall motion abnormalities in patients with tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: comparison with anterior myocardial infarction.

AIMS The aim of this study was to assess the echocardiographic distribution of regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) in patients with tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) compared with anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction (ant-STEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-seven TTC and 37 ant-STEMI patients underwent standard echocardiographic examination at the time of hospital admission. RWMA and the involvement of the left ventricular territories supplied by each coronary artery according to the American Society of Echocardiography classification were reported. TTC patients showed a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (37.6 ± 5.1 vs. 40.9 ± 3.7%; P = 0.002) and a higher wall motion score index (WMSI; 1.98 ± 0.2 vs. 1.51 ± 0.14; P < 0.001) compared with ant-STEMI patients. No significant differences were observed between groups with regard to detection of RWMA in the territory supplied by the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) (37 vs. 37; P = 1). Conversely, in TTC patients, the territories supplied by the LAD/left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) (37 vs. 31; P = 0.011), LAD/right coronary artery (RCA) (34 vs. 13; P < 0.001), RCA (33 vs. 5; P < 0.001), and RCA/LCX (31 vs. 2; P < 0.001) were more frequently involved. A cut-off value of WMSI ≥1.75 (area under the curve 0.956) and for the number of territories with RWMA ≥4 (AUC = 0.928) predicted TTC with a sensitivity of 83 and 84% and a specificity of 100 and 97%, respectively. CONCLUSION Echocardiography revealed a distinctive pattern of contractility in TTC patients, characterized by symmetrical RWMA extending equally into the territory of distribution of all coronary arteries.
The Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test: Reliability, Validity and Reference Values Studies with Healthy Elderly People

Several dexterity tests have been developed, including the Minnesota Rate of Manipulation Test (MRMT) and a new version, the Minnesota Manual Dexterity Test (MMDT). The objectives of the study were: a) to verify the test-retest reliability of the MMDT; b) to compare the MRMT and the MMDT; c) to study the concurrent validity of the MMDT; and d) to establish reference values for elderly people with the MMDT. Two hundred and forty-seven community-living healthy elderly were evaluated with the MMDT, and two other dexterity tests, the Box and Block Test (BBT) and the Purdue Pegboard (PP). Thirty-five of them were evaluated twice with the MMDT and 44 were evaluated with both the MMDT and MRMT. The results show that the test-retest reliability of the MMDT is acceptable to high (intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.79 to 0.87, depending on the subtest) and the validity of the test is demonstrated by significant correlations between the MMDT, the BBT and the PP (0.63 to 0.67). There is a high correlation (0.85 to 0.95) between the MMDT and the MMRT in spite of different results. The reference values will help occupational therapists to differentiate better between real dexterity difficulties and those that may be attributed to normal aging.
Sentiment Analysis of Social Networks Statements for the Polish Language

The purpose of this paper is to adapt a few sentiment analysis methods to obtain sentiment value for social network statements in the Polish language. Developed methods represent different approaches. Starting with PMI-IR, expansion of dictionary through conjunctive connections method, to determining bigram sentiment by analyzing its neighborhood. Obtained results were compared to the commercial solution - brand24.pl.
Mummy's boys: sex differential maternal-offspring bonds in semi-feral horses.

In polygynous species with high reproductive skew in males, mothers often show differential investment between sons and daughters. Although consistent sex differential investment has not been found by previous studies in horses, maternal investment beyond weaning has often been overlooked. We investigated sex differences in mother-offspring relationships in nutritionally independent sub-adult feral ponies, Equus ferus caballus. Stronger affiliative bonds between mothers and their sons than with their daughters were shown by their maintenance of closer proximity, higher rates of affiliative interactions and more frequent suckling bouts. These were associated with higher aggression levels directed towards sub-adult males by other band members, particularly stallions. We suggest that aggression may serve as the proximate mechanism driving male dispersal in feral horses and that the stronger mother-son bond signals an attempt to delay dispersal, highlighting conflict within the band concerning dispersal timing. Since we used social network theory to show that males become increasingly central within the band over time, we propose that delaying colts’ dispersal allows for further development of social skills in a relatively safe environment, maximising their reproductive success. This study illustrates how social network theory can be used to quantify individuals’ social experiences, contributing to a greater understanding of the evolution of group living.
Le lobbying des ONG internationales d'environnement à Bruxelles

Cet article aborde l’intervention des groupes environnementaux sur la scene communautaire. Il procede a une comparaison de quatre organisations internationales non gouvernementales(OING) d’environnement, chacune disposant d’un bureau de permanents a Bruxelles. Ce bureau sert de point de depart pour l’analyse des facteurs de structuration d’une action collective europeenne, au sein de ces reseaux internationaux, et des changements qui les affectent. Les modes d’organisation interne revelent les solutions adaptees pour faire participer les organisations nationales membres et echanger de l’information. Les ressources d’information et de reseau, d’un moyen d’action collective, deviennent pour les organisations nationales qui les instrumentalisent, une fin en soi, confirmant la dimension strategique du lobbying communautaire.
Hypersensitivity to seizures in b-amyloid precursor protein de ® cient mice

Secreted forms of the b-amyloid precursor protein (b-APP) have neuroprotective properties in vitro and may be involved in the containment of neuronal excitation. To test whether loss of secreted forms of b-APP (sAPPs) may enhance excitotoxic responses, we injected mice homozygous for a targeted mutation of the b-APP gene (b-APP) intraperitoneally with kainic acid. We found that in these mice, kainic acid induced seizures initiated earlier, and acute mortality was enhanced compared to isogenic wild-type mice independently from the callosal agenesis phenotype observed to occur at increased frequency in APP mutant mice. Expression of c-fos in cortex and cingulate gyrus was enhanced in b-APP mice, although the amount of structural damage and apoptosis in the hippocampal pyramidal cell layer and cortex was similar to that of controls. When cerebellar granule cell cultures and cortical neuronal cultures were challenged with glutamate receptor agonists, the rates of cell death and apoptosis of b-APP mice were indistinguishable from those of controls. Therefore, deficiency of sAPPs causes facilitation of seizure activity in the absence of enhanced cell death. Since enhanced seizures were observed also in mice homozygous for a deletion of the entire b-APP gene, this phenotype results from a loss of APP rather than from a dominant effect of APP.
Rank-directed layout of UML class diagrams

UML class diagram layout is an important task in software visualization to enhance people's comprehension about the systems. In this paper, we describe a novel UML class diagram layout algorithm, called rank-directed method, which captures the difference in relationships among classes and stresses significant classes. As a layout algorithm, rank-directed method supports the clustering of classes according to the inherent characteristics of classes. To recognize the significance of classes, we applied PageRank algorithms through abstracting relationships among different classes as the link among web pages. We assume that important classes have more relationships with other classes. To emphasize the important classes, rank-directed method adopts a sub graph layout method based on clustering of classes. We have developed a UML class diagram layout platform to evaluate our method. Our evaluation shows that rank-directed method could effectively recognize the important classes and layout the class diagram with higher readability than traditional layout methods do.
N=2 Supersymmetry and de Sitter space

We present a (unique? ) possibility of de Sitter solution in the framework of N=2 supersymmetry (hypersymmetry). We show that a model with a vector and a charged hypermultiplet has a hybrid inflation type potential. It leads to a slow-roll regime in de Sitter type background with all supersymmetries broken spontaneously. Beyond the bifurcation point the waterfall stage abruptly brings the system into a ground state with 2 unbroken supersymmetries. De Sitter stage exists under condition that the superconformal SU(2,2|2) symmetry of the model is softly broken down to N=2 supersymmetry by the vev of the Killing prepotential triplet P^r. This hybrid hypersymmetry model may describe P-term inflation and/or acceleration of the universe at the present epoch.
International Journal of Special Education Let's Have Fun! Teaching Social Skills through Stories, Telecommunications, and Activities

This article concerns social skills interventions for children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Drawing on the author's teaching experience and the findings of research on social skills training in schools, and exploring effective ways to facilitate children's social skill development, the paper describes how social skills interventions can be accomplished through the use of a story-based method that employs telecommunications, cooperative learning and gaming, and various other activities. The article concludes that as teachers explore innovative ways to enhance students' social competence; they also need to consider the complexity of learning social competence and how difficult it is for students to gain mastery. Finally, researchers in the field are encouraged to carry out both theoretical and empirical studies to explore the overall efficacy of social skills training in general, the effectiveness of particular approaches, and to identify more proven strategies that promote students' social competence. Social competence is essential to the quality of life of each individual. The development of social skill allows individuals to build positive and rewarding relationships (Chen & Bullock, 2004; Dennison, 2008). Unfortunately, teachers consistently report that poor social skills and classroom discipline have been primary concerns of schools have noted that by providing formal and informal social skills training (SST), the school can become a potential optimal setting that fosters the development of social competence in students with behavioral problems. Indeed, learning to get along with people is one of the most important skills that we can teach students. However, in the United States, for example, most school curricula do not place achievement in social skills on a par with achievement in academic subjects (Janney & Snell, 2006). For students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD), social skills intervention is as critical as, if not more critical than, an academic curriculum and more effort should be devoted to improving current SST practices and to identifying more proven strategies, and exploring effective ways to facilitate children's emotional and behavioral development, this paper describes how social skills interventions can be accomplished through the use of a story-based method that employs telecommunications (which refers to communications through the international computer network via electronic mail), cooperative learning and gaming and various other activities. In a comprehensive review of research evidence on the effectiveness of SST programs, Gresham (1998) concluded that the SST programs studied did not seem to be very effective for students with E/BD. Gresham and colleagues (Gresham, Sugai, & Horner, 2001) …
SOPMA: significant improvements in protein secondary structure prediction by consensus prediction from multiple alignments

Recently a new method called the self-optimized prediction method (SOPM) has been described to improve the success rate in the prediction of the secondary structure of proteins. In this paper we report improvements brought about by predicting all the sequences of a set of aligned proteins belonging to the same family. This improved SOPM method (SOPMA) correctly predicts 69.5% of amino acids for a three-state description of the secondary structure (alpha-helix, beta-sheet and coil) in a whole database containing 126 chains of non-homologous (less than 25% identity) proteins. Joint prediction with SOPMA and a neural networks method (PHD) correctly predicts 82.2% of residues for 74% of co-predicted amino acids. Predictions are available by Email to deleage@ibcp.fr or on a Web page (http:@www.ibcp.fr/predict.html).
Contribution of Yeast Models to Neurodegeneration Research

As a model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae has greatly contributed to our understanding of many fundamental aspects of cellular biology in higher eukaryotes. More recently, engineered yeast models developed to study endogenous or heterologous proteins that lay at the root of a given disease have become powerful tools for unraveling the molecular basis of complex human diseases like neurodegeneration. Additionally, with the possibility of performing target-directed large-scale screenings, yeast models have emerged as promising first-line approaches in the discovery process of novel therapeutic opportunities against these pathologies. In this paper, several yeast models that have contributed to the uncovering of the etiology and pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases are described, including the most common forms of neurodegeneration worldwide, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases. Moreover, the potential input of these cell systems in the development of more effective therapies in neurodegeneration, through the identification of genetic and chemical suppressors, is also addressed.
THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED VIEW , NESTED HETEROGENEITY , AND NEW VALUE CREATION : PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LOCUS OF KNOWLEDGE TEPPO FELIN

At what level is new value created, or, put differently, what is the locus of knowledge? While knowledge and capabilities-based researchers argue that the locus of new value and knowledge lies at the firm level, we challenge this conceptualization and theoretically build toward more individualist foundations. We explicate the underlying philosophical assumptions of extant knowledge and capabilities-based work and discuss attributional problems. Nested (individual-level, a priori) heterogeneity may provide a better explanation of collective heterogeneity.
Does CEO Pay Dispersion Matter in an Emerging Market? Evidence from China's Listed Firms

This paper examines how the institutional features of emerging economies (i.e., government ownership, political connections, and market reform) influence CEO pay-dispersion incentives. Consistent with our expectation, we find that CEO pay dispersion generally provides a tournament incentive in China's emerging market, as it is positively associated with firm performance. In addition, tournament incentives are weaker where firms are controlled by the government and where the CEO is politically connected, but it became stronger after the China's split-share structure reforms. Further, we find that in state controlled firms the satisfaction gained by meeting multiple economic and social goals largely reduces the effectiveness of tournament incentives, while the managerial agency problems inherent in private firms might mitigate them.
Turtle Watch: Community engagement and action

Abstract Many threats face the freshwater turtle, Chelodina colliei, also known as the oblong turtle. A community education project, Turtle Watch, focused on this target species and enabled effective conservation action to be implemented. Turtle Watch was conducted in the Perth Metropolitan Area of Western Australia, as the oblong turtle inhabits the wetlands of Perth. Predation, habitat loss, road deaths and climate change are key threats to this species. Nest predation issues arose during stage 1 of Turtle Watch (2005–2008), so Turtle Watch 2 (2010–2012) aimed to identify predators and foster community partnerships, including citizen science, to promote awareness and conservation of turtles. Turtle Watch 2 focused on four eco education centres and involved collaboration between government and community groups concerned about turtles. Camera surveillance was undertaken to determine predators. Various strategies were also adopted to promote community education and participation, such as, public talks, fair stalls, media publicity, and the ‘Turtle Hotline’ and ClimateWatch website for recording turtle sightings. Project results included camera surveillance evidence of fox predation. In addition, numerous partnerships, ranging from research organizations, educational institutions, and input from community citizen scientists made valuable contributions to the project by working collaboratively on turtle conservation issues. Following completion of Turtle Watch 2 (2013), it was agreed by project stakeholders that the initiative would continue given considerable community momentum to support an ongoing Turtle Watch commitment. This strong community and school engagement continues to contribute to improved knowledge, skills and action in relation to oblong turtle conservation.
Improving fairness by carrier load balancing in relay enhanced systems

In this paper we consider joint utilization of two techniques proposed for the next generation of wireless communication systems, i.e. relaying and multi-carrier operation. Resource partitioning between user and relay links, as well as configuration of relay cells is discussed. The problem of optimum allocation of resources from the available component carriers is analyzed from the end user performance point of view. In this paper the centralized network configuration scheme is utilized, i.e. the macro station controls resource assignment for all types of stations and links within its coverage area. For this scheme several carrier load balancing methods are investigated. The methods differ in criteria included in the decision process, starting from a purely random allocation and extending to a joint signal quality and load oriented approach. The methods are evaluated first by means of theoretical estimations, and later by system level simulations. The evaluations are done in the direction of two performance metrics, namely mean user throughput and uniformity of user throughputs across network. The conclusion from the conducted analysis is that most of the advanced balancing methods (i.e. not blind random) can provided significant performance uniformity improvements in the order of 10%, as well as mean performance gains of 2%. We note that in practical implementation, the selection of a specific method should also be based on the availability of required measurements.
Transforming growth factor-beta 1 induces collagen IV gene expression in NIH-3T3 cells.

BACKGROUND While recent studies have implicated transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) in the development of glomerular scarring, extraglomerular matrix production is frequently associated with glomerulonephritis and is an important determinant of disease progression. TGF-beta 1 may be an important mediator of extracellular matrix synthesis, both by glomerular and extraglomerular mesenchymal cells. TGF-beta 1-mediated collagen IV gene expression was studied in two mesenchymal cell lines. Initial studies were performed utilizing NIH-3T3 cells, a fibroblast-like line derived from murine embryo that has been used to study regulation of fibrillar collagen (collagen I and collagen III) synthesis by TGF-beta 1. Additional studies were performed using normal rat kidney cells (NRK-49F). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Cells were grown in medium supplemented with 0.5% calf serum for 24 hours before treatment with TGF-beta 1. RNA was isolated after the addition of varying amounts of TGF-beta 1 to the cells in culture for varying periods of time, and collagen alpha 1(IV) RNA was quantitated by filter hybridization. Transcription of the alpha 1(IV) and alpha 2(IV) collagen genes was assessed by an in vitro transcription assay. Deposition of collagen IV was identified by immunoblotting. RESULTS Induction of alpha 1(IV) gene expression by NIH-3T3 cells and by NRK-49F cells was first seen 2 to 4 hours after TGF-beta 1 treatment, and was maximal after 12 to 18 hours. Maximal induction was observed following addition of 5 ng/ml TGF-beta 1 to NIH-3T3 cells, and following addition of 10 ng/ml of TGF-beta 1 to NRK-49F cells. In the presence of cycloheximide, TGF-beta 1 induction of alpha 1(IV) mRNA was markedly attenuated in both cell lines, suggesting that this effect of TGF-beta 1 requires protein synthesis. TGF-beta 1 increased transcription of both the alpha 1(IV) and alpha 2(IV) collagen genes by NIH-3T3 cells. CONCLUSIONS TGF-beta 1 induces collagen IV gene expression in both NIH-3T3 cells and normal rat kidney fibroblasts (NRK-49F cells). Further studies of cytokine-mediated transcriptional regulation of collagen IV, utilizing these cell lines, may provide important information regarding the role of extraglomerular matrix production in the progression of renal disease.