Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In vitro effects of Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus on dendritic cells and the role of beta glucan in this effect.

BACKGROUND Dendritic cells (DCs) are able to initiate and regulate the immune response to fungal infections. β-glucan stimulates the immune system, modulating cellular and humoral immunity. It has a beneficial effect in fighting fungal infections. OBJECTIVES We investigated the in vitro effect of C.albicans and A.fumigatus infection on human DCs. The cytokine levels were determined by ELISA. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human PBMCs isolation was performed by Ficoll-hypaque density gradient centrifugation method. DCs maturation was analysed by using flow cytometry. The cytokine levels were determined by ELISA. RESULTS DCs stimulated by C. albicans and A. fumigatus induced DC maturation by increasing CD80 and CD86 co-stimulatory molecules. DCs stimulated by fungi produced IL-8 and IL-12p70. Whereas IL-10 production from the stimulated DCs did not differ from uninfected DCs. Also, the addition of β-glucan to the DCs stimulated by fungi promoted the activation and maturation of DCs. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that DCs are capable of initiating an innate and adaptive immune response against fungal infections. In addition, β-glucan can be used as a novel stimulator to DC-based vaccination against fungal infections.
Earning identity and respect through work: A study of children involved in fishing and farming practices in Cape Coast, Ghana

This article explores the meanings children involved in fishing and farming practices in two communities in Cape Coast, Ghana, give to their participation in work and school. Everyday work tasks are considered purposeful by the children, as they describe their own efforts as a reproduction of a traditional intergenerational order with strong moral connotations. More than anything, the moral dimension of participation is highlighted when children talk about how they earn their identity, respect, and competences through work. For their future, however, many children dream about other kinds of jobs.
Transitional Media vs. Normative Theories: Schramm, Altschull, and China

Wilbur Schramm's "Soviet" communist model and J. Herbert Altschull's "Marxist" approach have been widely used as general theoretical frameworks to examine press systems in the Marxist world in general and China in particular. Though a growing literature suggested significant changes in Chinese journalism in the past 2 decades, very few studies have sent a direct challenge to the 2 models' theoretical wisdom through the Chinese case. This article finds neither of the 2 models is sufficient in conceptualizing the Chinese case because of Chinese news media's transitional nature and the 2 models' inner theoretical flaws as normative press theories. Furthermore, realizing the growing conflict between normative media theories and accelerated post-Cold War global media transformation, the author suggests using a transitional media approach to revisit the traditional normative media approach and calls for a more systematic study of the transitional phenomenon of global media systems.
Impacts of the Arizona System Ready/Child Ready Professional Development Project on Preschool Teachers' Self-Efficacy

Funded through a No Child Left Behind of 2001 (NCLB) grant, this research examines the effects of the Arizona System Ready/Child Ready Early Childhood Professional Development Project (AzSRCR) on the self-efficacy of 256 educators who participated in AzSRCR over a 3-year period. The AzSRCR program was a federally funded, statewide higher education partnership that provided assistance for early childhood practitioners earning associate degrees in early childhood education. The program aimed to improve the professional knowledge and skills of preschool practitioners and ultimately enhance the preschool readiness of children living in low-income communities and underserved areas of the state. The data in this study were collected from AzSRCR program evaluations. Free-write and focus group data were analyzed to develop major themes common across the data set. The Lamorey-Wilcox self-efficacy scale (2003) was also administered, the results of which were triangulated with the qualitative data from the program evaluations and other quantitative data. The results showed an increase in participants' sense of self-efficacy, including expressions of confidence in their own math and reading abilities over the course of the AzSRCR program.
A Comparison between Four Analytical Methods for the Measurement of Fe(II) at Nanomolar Concentrations in Coastal Seawater

Dissolved Fe(II) in seawater is deemed an important micronutrient for microbial organisms, but its analysis is challenging due to its transient nature. We conducted a series of Fe(II) method comparison experiments, where spikes of 5 to 31 nM Fe(II) were added to manipulated seawaters with varying dissolved oxygen (37 to 156 µM) concentrations. The observed Fe(II) concentrations from four analytical methods were compared: spectrophotometry with ferrozine, stripping voltammetry, and flow injection analysis using luminol (with, and without, a pre-concentration column). Direct comparisons between the different methods were undertaken from the derived apparent Fe(II) oxidation rate constant (k1). Whilst the two luminol based methods produced the most similar concentrations throughout the experiments, k1 indicated that there was still a 20-30% discrepancy between them. Contributing factors may have included a different response to interferences from Co(II) and humic/fulvic organic material. The difference in measured Fe(II) concentrations between the luminol and ferrozine methods, from 10 min – 2 h after the Fe(II) spikes were added, was always relatively large in absolute terms (>4 nM) and relative to the spike added (>20% of the initial Fe(II) concentration). k1 derived from ferrozine observed Fe(II) concentrations was 3-80%, and 4-16%, of that derived from luminol observed Fe(II) with, and without, pre-concentration respectively. The poorest comparability of k1 was found after humic/fulvic material was added to raise dissolved organic carbon to 120 µM. A luminol method without pre-concentration then observed Fe(II) to fall below the detection limit (<0.49 nM) within 10 min of a 17 nM Fe(II) spike addition, yet other methods still observed Fe(II) concentrations of 2.7 to 3.7 nM 30 min later. k1 also diverged accordingly with the ferrozine derived value 4% of that derived from luminol without pre-concentration. These apparent inconsistencies in oxidation rates suggest that some inter-dataset differences in measured Fe(II) oxidation rates in natural waters may be attributable to differences in the analytical methods used rather than arising solely from substantial shifts in Fe(II) speciation.
Improving the Utility of Differentially Private Data Releases via k-Anonymity

A common view in some data anonymization literature is to oppose the "old'' k-anonymity model to the "new'' differential privacy model, which offers more robust privacy guarantees. However, the utility of the masked results provided by differential privacy is usually limited, due to the amount of noise that needs to be added to the output, or because utility can only be guaranteed for a restricted type of queries. This is in contrast with the general-purpose anonymized data resulting from k-anonymity mechanisms, which also focus on preserving data utility. In this paper, we show that a synergy between differential privacy and k-anonymity can be found when the objective is to release anonymized data: k-anonymity can help improving the utility of the differentially private release. Specifically, we show that the amount of noise required to fulfill ε-differential privacy can be reduced if noise is added to a k-anonymous version of the data set, where k-anonymity is reached through a specially designed microaggregation of all attributes. As a result of noise reduction, the analytical utility of the anonymized output data set is increased. The theoretical benefits of our proposal are illustrated in a practical setting with an empirical evaluation on a reference data set.
Interleukin 17-A inhibition in the treatment of psoriasis

Interleukin (IL) 17-A appears to be integral to the pathogenesis of chronic plaque psoriasis. Recent clinical trials have shown that blockade of this cytokine with the biologic therapies—secukinumab, ixekizumab and brodalumab—have led to unprecedented treatment efficacy for psoriasis. In addition, their dual efficacy towards psoriatic arthritis increases their potential clinical utility and they promise to be an important treatment option for patients who have tumour necrosis factor inhibitor resistant disease. Here, we present the evidence for the high treatment efficacy of the IL-17A inhibitors but also discuss some potential questions and areas of research needed, including the lack of evidence behind the drug survival, immunogenicity and safety profile.
Communing with the Gods: The Dreaming Brain in Cross-cultural Perspective

Abstract The most common alternative state of consciousness among human beings is dreaming. All normal humans sleep, and during sleep they dream. Still, dreaming is a phenomenon of mystery and confusion for many Westerners, and of fascination to scientists wishing to understand how the mind works, both in terms of neuropsychology and within the context of culture. The neuropsychology of dreaming is summarized and the importance of cross-cultural research emphasized. Examples of common uses to which dreaming is put by different societies is discussed. The author's phenomenological study of Tibetan Tantric dream yoga is described. Improvements of the anthropological study and account of dreaming are suggested, and the importance of the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in lucidity emphasized.
Multiplex Quantitative Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR for F+-Specific RNA Coliphages: a Method for Use in Microbial Source Tracking

ABSTRACT It is well documented that microbial contamination of coastal waters poses a significant risk to human health through recreational exposure and consumption of shellfish. Identifying the source of microbial contamination (microbial source tracking) plays a dominant role in enabling effective management and remediation strategies. One method used to determine the source of the contamination is quantification of the ratio of the four subgroups of F+-specific RNA coliphages (family Leviviridae) in impacted water samples. Because of typically low concentrations in the environment, enrichment assays are performed prior to detection, even though differential replication rates have been reported. These assays are also compromised by differential loss of phage infectivity among subgroups after release into the environment, thus obscuring the initial ratio. Here, a culture-independent multiplex real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) protocol for the simultaneous quantification of all four subgroups of F+-specific RNA coliphages using novel primer sets and molecular beacons is presented. This assay is extremely sensitive, achieving detection with as few as 10 copies of isolated coliphage RNA, and is linear for a minimum of six orders of magnitude. During survival experiments, the real-time RT-PCR technique was able to quantify coliphages in seawater when culture-based double agar layer assay failed. While infectivity was lost at different rates at the subgroup level, decay constants in seawater, calculated using the real-time RT-PCR estimates, did not vary among subgroups. The accurate determination of the in situ concentration of F+-specific RNA coliphages using this method will facilitate more effective remediation strategies for impacted environments.
Preferences for end-of-life care: A nominal group study of people with dementia and their family carers

Background: The wishes and preferences of people with dementia should inform decisions on future care. However, such decisions are often left to family carers and may not reflect those the person with dementia would have made for themselves. We know little about what influences agreement between people with dementia and their carers. Aim: To explore whether people with dementia and their carers were able to generate and prioritise preferences for end-of-life care. We examined whether carers influenced the choices made by the persons with dementia. Design: Nominal group technique. Setting/participants: People with dementia (n = 6), carers (n = 5) and dyads of people with dementia and carers (n = 6) attending memory assessment services. Methods: Three modified nominal group technique groups were conducted in five stages: (1) silent generation of ideas, (2) discussion, (3) further generation of ideas, (4) discussion and themeing and (5) ranking. The discussions were recorded, transcribed and analysed for thematic content using NVIVO8. Results: Quality of care, family contact, dignity and respect were ranked as significant themes by all groups. The analysis of transcripts revealed three main themes: quality of care, independence and control and carer burden. People with dementia had difficulty considering their future selves. Carers wanted much control at the end of life, raising issues of assisted dying and euthanasia. Conclusions: Wishes and preferences of people with dementia and their family carers may differ. To ensure the wishes of people with dementia are respected, their views should be ascertained early in the disease before their ability to consider the future is compromised.
Unlocking Learning

Welcome to the Journal of Management Education (JME) special issue on Assessment in Management Education. We have talked about the importance of this topic for years and are happy to present a special issue to help our readers think critically about the “what, why, and how” of assessment. Assessment is a reality of life for management educators, but the ideal assessment plan can be quite elusive. Historically we can identify both effective and ineffective uses of assessment. For a positive example, we turn to Alverno College (Alverno College Faculty, 1994; Mulvey, 1992). In 1973, Alverno implemented an abilitybased curriculum that employs competency assessment and faculty feedback to assess students’ performance instead of traditional testing. They focused on eight abilities, including critical thinking, social interaction, and communication, that faculty considered the foundation of liberal arts education. Instead of assessing students at the end of the program, Alverno students begin the assessment process as soon as they enroll in the College. Thus, their assessment process is not a single point in time but spans students’ entire college career. In addition, students are assessed on abilities in the context of real-life situations using specified criteria, and then they receive individualized feedback they can use for further development. These assessments are also integrated into course work and tied to a real-world professional work context (e.g., the integrated competence seminar in the middle of each program).
Association between pneumococcal vaccination and cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

Aims Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and CAP-related mortality in adults. Pneumococcal vaccination (PV) could protect subjects from cardiovascular events by reducing pneumonia severity or even preventing it. We sought to determine the ability of PV to protect from the risk of cardiovascular events. Methods and results A comprehensive search of electronic databases was conducted up to March 2014. Cohort studies that reported relative risk (RR) estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were included. Eleven studies were included (332,267 participants, mean follow-up 20.1 months). The pooled RRs for cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality were 0.86 (95% CI: 0.76–0.97) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86–0.98; fixed-effects), respectively, for subjects with PV versus without PV. Protective ability was more prominent in high cardiovascular risk populations and with older age. The protective role of PV was attenuated after 1 year (RR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.59–0.88 vs RR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.93–1.14; p = 0.002, for follow-up >1 year vs ≤1 year, respectively). It also increased as the presence of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease increased. Regarding myocardial infarction (MI) and cerebrovascular events, the protective role of PV was statistically significant only in the elderly (RR: 0.90; 95% CI: 0.817–0.999; fixed-effects and RR: 0.86; 95% CI: 0.75–0.99, respectively). Conclusion PV is associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular events and mortality. This protective effect increases at older age and in high cardiovascular risk subjects and decreases as the time elapses from PV. PV decreases the risk of MI and cerebrovascular events in the elderly.
A Windows Rootkit Detection Method Based on Cross-View

From the auto-start behavior of rootkit, this paper presented a rootkit detection mechanism based on the hidden registry information, and designed a Windows rootkit detection method based on cross-view. This method by comparing from the kernel mode and user mode enumeration of the registry information found the registry hidden items by rootkit, and then detected the rootkit. Finally, a representative example shows this method has good detection.
Geography Plays a More Important Role than Soil Composition on Structuring Genetic Variation of Pseudometallophyte Commelina communis

Pseudometallophytes are excellent models to study microevolution and local adaptation to soil pollution, as they can grow both on metalliferous and contrasting non-metalliferous soils. Although, there has been accumulating evidence for the effects of edaphic conditions and geographical isolation on the genetic structure of pesudometallophytes, it is still a difficult problem in evolutionary biology to assess their relative importance. In this study, we investigated the spatial patterns of genetic variability, population differentiation and genetic groups in pseudometallophyte Commelina communis with 12 microsatellite loci. Eight metallicolous and six non-metallicolous populations of C. communis were sampled from cupriferous sites and surrounding non-contaminated areas in China. Neither significant reduction in genetic diversity nor apparent founder and bottleneck effects were observed in metallicolous populations of C. communis. Based on Bayesian and Neighbor-Joining clustering analyses and a principal coordinates analysis, all sampled populations were found to be mainly separated into three genetic groups, corresponding well to their geographical locations rather than edaphic origins. Moreover, a significant and strong correlation between population genetic divergence and geographical distance were detected by Mantel test (r = 0.33; P < 0.05) and multiple matrix regression with randomization (MMRR; βD = 0.57, P < 0.01). However, the effect of copper concentration on genetic patterns of C. communis was not significant (MMRR; βE = -0.17, P = 0.12). Our study clearly demonstrated that the extreme edaphic conditions in metalliferous areas had limited effects on the genetic variability in C. communis. Geographic distance played a more important role in affecting the genetic structure of C. communis than soil composition did. In C. communis, the geographically disjunctive populations on metalliferous soils had multiple origins and evolved independently from nearby non-metallicolous populations.
Evaluating the impact of point‐ of‐care decision support tools in improving diagnosis of obese children in primary care

The purpose of this quasi‐experimental study was to examine the effect of a computerized point‐of‐care alert with clinical decision support on the rates of diagnosis of childhood obesity in a multisite group practice in Massachusetts; Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) which implemented an alert, relative to a separate group practice, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates (HVMA), that did not.
Hub selection for hub based clustering algorithms

Hubs are the data instances appearing frequently on the nearest neighbours lists. As the hubs of a high-dimensional dataset are close to the centres of clusters or sub-clusters, some of them are selected as the centres of clusters by hub based clustering algorithms. In the process of hub selection, these algorithms rank data instances in terms of their global hubness scores computed upon their nearest neighbours lists, ignoring cluster related information such as their labels, their and their related instances' clustering quality. As a result, some suitable hubs may be neglected. To solve this problem, we suggest evaluating instances by their relative hubness scores. Moreover, we propose a weighted relative hubness score computed upon nearest neighbours lists and silhouette information. Besides, we suggest selecting the instance of the highest silhouette information when two or more instances tie for first place. Experimental results on real datasets and synthetic datasets suggest that both the relative hubness score and the weighted relative hubness score can improve hub based clustering, and the weighted relative hubness score often plays better.
Mapping of serotonin-like immunoreactivity in the lobster nervous system

Serotonin exerts a wide range of physiological actions on many different lobster tissues. To begin the examination of the role of serotonin in lobsters at a cellular level, we have used immunohistochemical methods to search for presumptive serotonergic neurons, their central and peripheral projections, and their terminal fields of arborization. Whole mount preparations of the ventral nerve cord and various peripheral nerve structures have been used for these studies. With these tissues, more than 100 cell bodies have been found that show serotonin-like immunoreactivity. Although a few of the cell bodies are located peripherally (near the pericardial organs, a well known crustacean neurohemal organ), the vast majority are located in central ganglia. Every ganglion in the ventral nerve cord contains at least one immunoreactive cell body. The projections of many of the neurons have been traced, and we have constructed a map of the system of serotonin-immunoreactive cell bodies, fibers, and nerve endings. In addition, a dense plexus of nerve endings showing serotonin-like immunoreactivity surrounds each of the thoracic second roots in the vicinity of groups of peripheral neurosecretory neurons. These peripheral nerve plexuses originate from central neurons of the ventral nerve cord. In some cases we have been able to trace processes from particular central cell bodies directly to the peripheral nerve root plexuses; in other cases we have traced ganglionic neuropil regions to these peripheral endings.
The Transition from Experienced Teacher to Mathematics Coach: Establishing a New Identity

This study draws on the theoretical underpinnings of the research literature in identity and investigates the transition from experienced teacher to novice mathematics coach. The 4 components of a math coach's identity (coach as supporter of teachers, coach as supporter of students, coach as learner, and coach as supporter of the school-at-large) that this study highlights were enacted by the beginning coaches on their school stage and negotiated with their audience (i.e., teachers, principals) as they attempted to fulfill these roles within the school environment. By examining the roles, expectations, and interactions of first-year mathematics coaches, we deepen our understanding of the demands placed on novice mathematics coaches as they assume new roles and identities.