Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNA-322 protects hypoxia-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes via BDNF gene.

BACKGROUND Cardiomyocytes apoptosis under hypoxia condition contributes significantly to various cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated the role of microRNA-322 (miR-322) in regulating hypoxia-induced apoptosis in neonatal murine cardiomyocytes in vitro. METHOD Cardiomyocytes of C57BL/6J mice were treated with hypoxia condition in vitro. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was measured by TUNEL assay. Gene expression pattern of miR-322 was measured by qRT-PCR. Stable downregulation of miR-322 in cardiomyocytes were achieved by lentiviral transduction, and the effect of miR-322 downregulation on hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis was investigated. Possible regulation of miR-322 on its downstream target gene, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was investigated in cardiomyocytes. BDNF was then genetically silenced by siRNA to evaluate its role in miR-137 mediated cardiomyocyte apoptosis protection under hypoxia condition. RESULTS Under hypoxia condition, significant apoptosis was induced and miR-322 was significantly upregulated in cardiomyocytes in vitro. Through lentiviral transduction, miR-322 was efficiently knocked down in cardiomyocytes. Downregulation of miR-322 protected hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Luciferase assay showed BDNF was the target gene of miR-322. QRT-PCR showed BDNF expression was associated with miR-322 regulation on hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Silencing BDNF in cardiomyocyte through siRNA transfection reversed the protective effect of miR-322 downregulation on hypoxia-induced apoptosis. CONCLUSION Our study revealed that miR-322, in association with BDNF, played important role in regulating hypoxia-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocyte.
Protein Kinase Cε Regulates Proliferation and Cell Sensitivity to TGF-1β of CD4+ T Lymphocytes: Implications for Hashimoto Thyroiditis

We have studied the functional role of protein kinase Cε (PKCε) in the control of human CD4+ T cell proliferation and in their response to TGF-1β. We demonstrate that PKCε sustains CD4+ T cell proliferation triggered in vitro by CD3 stimulation. Transient knockdown of PKCε expression decreases IL-2R chain transcription, and consequently cell surface expression levels of CD25. PKCε silencing in CD4 T cells potentiates the inhibitory effects of TGF-1β, whereas in contrast, the forced expression of PKCε virtually abrogates the inhibitory effects of TGF-1β. Being that PKCε is therefore implicated in the response of CD4 T cells to both CD3-mediated proliferative stimuli and TGF-1β antiproliferative signals, we studied it in Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT), a pathology characterized by abnormal lymphocyte proliferation and activation. When we analyzed CD4 T cells from HT patients, we found a significant increase of PKCε expression, accounting for their enhanced survival, proliferation, and decreased sensitivity to TGF-1β. The increased expression of PKCε in CD4+ T cells of HT patients, which is described for the first time, to our knowledge, in this article, viewed in the perspective of the physiological role of PKCε in normal Th lymphocytes, adds knowledge to the molecular pathophysiology of HT and creates potentially new pharmacological targets for the therapy of this disease.
Virtual reality based training to resolve visio-motor conflicts in surgical environments

An issue that complicates movement training, specifically in minimally invasive surgery, is that often there is no one to one correlation between the visual feedback provided on a screen and the movement required to perform the given task. This paper presents a simulator that specifically addresses the intermodal conflict between motor actuation and visual feedback. We developed a virtual reality visio-haptic simulator to assist surgical residents in training to resolve visio-motor conflict. The developed simulator offers individuals the flexibility to train in various scenarios with different levels of visio-motor conflicts. The levels of conflict were simulated by creating a linear functional relation between movement in the real environment and the virtual environment. The haptic rendering was consistent with the visual feedback. Experiments were conducted with expert pediatric surgeons and general surgery residents. Baseline data on performance in conditions of visio-motor conflict were assimilated from expert surgeons. Residents were divided into experimental group that was exposed to visio-motor conflict and the control group which wasnpsilat exposed to visio-motor conflict training. When the performance was compared on a standard surgical suturing task, the residents with inter-modal conflict training performed better than the control group suggesting the construct validity of the training and that visio-motor training can accelerate learning.
Limited evolutionary rescue of locally adapted populations facing climate change

Dispersal is a key determinant of a population's evolutionary potential. It facilitates the propagation of beneficial alleles throughout the distributional range of spatially outspread populations and increases the speed of adaptation. However, when habitat is heterogeneous and individuals are locally adapted, dispersal may, at the same time, reduce fitness through increasing maladaptation. Here, we use a spatially explicit, allelic simulation model to quantify how these equivocal effects of dispersal affect a population's evolutionary response to changing climate. Individuals carry a diploid set of chromosomes, with alleles coding for adaptation to non-climatic environmental conditions and climatic conditions, respectively. Our model results demonstrate that the interplay between gene flow and habitat heterogeneity may decrease effective dispersal and population size to such an extent that substantially reduces the likelihood of evolutionary rescue. Importantly, even when evolutionary rescue saves a population from extinction, its spatial range following climate change may be strongly narrowed, that is, the rescue is only partial. These findings emphasize that neglecting the impact of non-climatic, local adaptation might lead to a considerable overestimation of a population's evolvability under rapid environmental change.
Population Differences in Dysmorphic Features Among Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Objective: To examine the variation in significant dysmorphic features in children from 3 different populations with the most dysmorphic forms of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), and partial fetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS). Method: Advanced multiple regression techniques are used to determine the discriminating physical features in the diagnosis of FAS and PFAS among children from Northern Plains Indian communities, South Africa, and Italy. Results: Within the range of physical features used to identify children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, specifically FAS and PFAS, there is some significant variation in salient diagnostic features from one population to the next. Intraclass correlations in diagnostic features between these 3 populations is 0.20, indicating that about 20% of the variability in dysmorphology core features is associated with location and, therefore, specific racial/ethnic population. The highly significant diagnostic indicators present in each population are identified for the full samples of FAS, PFAS, and normals and also among children with FAS only. A multilevel model for these populations combined indicates that these variables predict dysmorphology unambiguously: small palpebral fissures, narrow vermillion, smooth philtrum, flat nasal bridge, and fifth finger clinodactyly. Long philtrum varies substantially as a predictor in the 3 populations. Predictors not significantly related to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders dysmorphology across the 3 populations are centile of height (except in Italy) strabismus, interpupilary distance, intercanthal distance, and heart murmurs. Conclusion: The dysmorphology associated with FAS and PFAS vary across populations, yet a particular array of common features occurs in each population, which permits a consistent diagnosis across populations.
Estrategias de aprendizaje, motivación y rendimiento académico en alumnos universitarios

En el presente trabajo se estima la consistencia interna del MSLQ (autoreporte de estrategias de aprendizaje y motivacion) en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios de Pedagogia de la Universidad de Barcelona y la correlacion entre las estrategias autorreportadas y la calificacion definitiva en una asignatura especifica. Participan 182 estudiantes de 1er. curso de Pedagogia, la mayoria de sexo femenino (88%) y con una edad promedio de 19,63 anos. Para el area de motivacion (alpha =.65), un analisis factorial confirmatorio determina que las subescalas de: valor de la tarea, autoeficacia, orientacion extrinseca, ansiedad y control de creencias son consistentes para su constructo. En cuanto a las estrategias de aprendizaje (alpha =.73), destacan las subescalas de: elaboracion, organizacion, tiempo y ambiente de estudio, y autorregulacion. En relacion con la calificacion definitiva no se evidencia relacion significativa entre esta y las creencias del sujeto sobre su motivacion y sus estrategias de aprendizaje. El hecho de no hallar relacion lineal entre las estrategias autoreportadas por el alumno y su calificacion definitiva en la asignatura, puede estar explicado por: (1) deficiencias en la practica instruccional, (2)deficiencias en la evaluacion final de la asignatura (tipo test de seleccion multiple), y / o (3) problemas de validez externa del MSLQ en esta muestra de universitarios espanoles. Se discuten estas posibles explicaciones
Mood after Various Brief Exercise and Sport Modes: Aerobics, Hip-Hop Dancing, ICE Skating, and Body Conditioning

To investigate the potential psychological benefits of brief exercise and sport activities on positive mood alterations, 45 Korean high school and 232 undergraduate students enrolled in physical education and stress management classes voluntarily participated and were randomly assigned to one of four activities: aerobic exercise, body conditioning, hip-hop dancing, and ice skating. Mood changes from before to after exercise (2 pm to 3 pm) were measured based on a Korean translation of the Subjective Exercise Experiences Scale. The findings suggested that the aerobics and hip-hop dancing groups rated positive well-being higher than the body conditioning and ice skating groups. Immediately after exercise, psychological distress was rated lower in the aerobics and hip-hop dancing groups, as was fatigue.
A 1.9GHz RF Transmit Beacon using Environmentally Scavenged Energy

The design and implementation of a 1.9GHz radio frequency transmit beacon is presented. The beacon is completely selfcontained, and all necessary energy is scavenged through solar and vibrational energy sources. Custom RF integrated circuitry and energy scavenging devices are used to create a highly integrated and efficient beacon. The 1.9GHz direct modulated transmitter uses a micromachined resonator and requires no other external components, inductors, or crystals. The beacon achieves duty cycles up to 100% for typical ambient solar conditions and 2.6% for typical ambient vibrational conditions.
Using Parallel Texts and Lexicons for Verbal Word Sense Disambiguation

We present a system for verbal Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) that is able to exploit additional information from parallel texts and lexicons. It is an extension of our previous WSD method (Dusek et al., 2014), which gave promising results but used only monolingual features. In the follow-up work described here, we have explored two additional ideas: using English-Czech bilingual resources (as features only – the task itself remains a monolingual WSD task), and using a “hybrid” approach, adding features extracted both from a parallel corpus and from manually aligned bilingual valency lexicon entries, which contain subcategorization information. Albeit not all types of features proved useful, both ideas and additions have led to significant improvements for both languages explored.
How We Design Interfaces, and How to Assess It

Interfaces are widely used in Java applications as central design elements for modular programming to increase program reusability and to ease maintainability of software systems. Despite the importance of interfaces and a considerable research effort that has investigated code quality and concrete classes' design, few works have investigated interfaces' design. In this paper, we empirically study interfaces' design and its impact on the design quality of implementing classes (i.e., class cohesion) analyzing twelve Java object-oriented applications. In this study we propose the "Interface-Implementations Model" that we use to adapt class cohesion metrics to assess the cohesion of interfaces based on their implementations. Moreover, we use other metrics that evaluate the conformance of interfaces to the well-known design principles "Program to an Interface, not an implementation" and "Interface Segregation Principle". The results show that software developers abide well by the interface design principles cited above, but they neglect the cohesion property. The results also show that such design practices of interfaces lead to a degraded cohesion of implementing classes, where these latter would be characterized by a worse cohesion than other classes.
Heart and spirit

In qualitative interview research with 25 psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists in London, Sydney and Melbourne, the author explored how these clinicians experienced, conceptualised and worked with spiritual issues. Bringing to bear their experience on both sides of the couch, this ‘information‐rich’ sample of mainly senior practitioners reflected on a psychoanalytically informed view of spirituality, and its understanding in clinical practice. Two methods of analysis were used. The technique of ‘narrative finding’ was followed by coding of core ideas, themes and concepts expressed. Participants noted that spirit may be the ‘blind spot’ of psychoanalysis, and reflected that what they had wanted in their own analyses‐and consider that what patients want‐is to be able to have spiritual issues addressed in a similar manner to other matters, not prejudged as infantile or pathological. In participants' concepts and experience of spirit, a comfort/challenge dimension was identified. Comfort was taken in having a ‘wider view’, a more inclusive sense of inter‐relatedness, with challenge involving a heightened sense of the unknown and a greater degree of uncertainty.
Modeling perceived difficulty in game levels

The recent interest in procedural content generation for video games has created the need to establish techniques for assessment of generated content. We present an investigation into the factors determining perceived difficulty in procedurally generated game levels. In doing so, an approach to identify relevant factors pertaining to player experience is established, which is subsequently used in the development of predictive difficulty models. In this paper, we apply our methodology to the genre of 2D platformers, presenting an investigation into factors related to difficulty, the development of a test-bed that can be used to collect the data, data collection and subsequent analysis. We investigate the contribution of the identified game and player metrics towards predicting difficulty using Multi-Layer Perceptron, J48 and Random Forest classifiers from WEKA. This work is presented as a preliminary investigation into modeling difficulty from procedural content. Significantly, this investigation provides a preliminary insight into metrics that can be used for developing a classification model for perceived difficulty.
Building and Using a Corpus of Shallow Dialogue Annotated Meetings

In this paper we provide a framework for shallow dialog annotations (SDA), and for their use in the context of the processing and retrieval of multimodal meeting recordings. The SDA model groups the following elements: dialog segmentation into utterances and episodes, detection of dialog acts and adjacency pairs, and detection of referring expressions and coreference links, including references to documents. An instantiated XML annotation model based on boundaries, labels and links, is provided. The use of SDA data in a meeting retrieval interface is also described.
Orientation and Workspace Analysis of the Multifingered Metamorphic Hand—Metahand

This paper introduces for the first time a metamorphic palm and presents a novel multifingered hand, known as Matahand, with a foldable and flexible palm that makes the hand adaptable and reconfigurable. The orientation and pose of the new robotic hand are enhanced by additional motion of the palm, and workspace of the robotic fingers is complemented with the palm motion. To analyze this enhanced workspace, this paper introduces finger-orientation planes to relate the finger orientation to palm various configurations. Normals of these orientation planes are used to construct a Gauss map. Adding an additional dimension, a 4-D ruled surface is generated to illustrate orientation and pose change of the hand, and an orientation-pose manifold is developed from the orientation-pose ruled surface. The orientation and workspace analysis are further developed by introducing a triangular palm workspace that evolves into a helical surface and is further developed into a 4-D representation. Simulations are presented to illustrate the characteristics of this new dexterous hand.
Predictors of Frequency of Drinking to Cope in Socially Anxious Men and Women

Abstract Objectives: Frequent drinking to relieve anxiety increases the risk of alcohol problems. It is hypothesized that the high rate of comorbidity of alcohol-use disorders and anxiety disorders may be due, in part, to the practice of self-medication with alcohol. Of interest to researchers and clinicians are individual variables that predict the practice of frequent drinking to cope in individuals with marked anxiety. The present pilot study was conducted to examine this issue in men and women with social anxiety. Methods: Twenty individuals with high social anxiety (11 women) were included in the investigation. All participants endorsed using alcohol to relieve social discomfort. Participants completed a standardized assessment battery and a study-specific questionnaire regarding the practice (and frequency) of drinking for anxiety relief in social situations. Regression analyses were conducted to examine variables that predicted frequency of drinking to cope, including severity of social anxiety, alcohol expectancies, and degree of anxiety relief afforded by alcohol. Results: Results suggest that individuals who experience alcohol as a powerful anxiolytic most frequently use alcohol to “self-medicate. ” In addition, tension reduction expectancies also predicted more frequent drinking to cope, though only for men. Conclusions: The results of this investigation suggest that follow-up studies be conducted to specifically examine the degree of anxiety relief from alcohol, and tension reduction expectancies as potentially important variables that may help identify who is at greatest risk for developing alcohol problems in this at-risk group.
Labour out of Control: The Political Economy of Capitalist and Ethical Organizations

Digitally networked voluntary associations such as free software projects and Wikipedia can be distinguished from capitalist firms in two respects. First, their predominant logic is ‘ethical’. Participation is primarily motivated by self-fulfilment and validated by a community of peers, rather than by earning wages. Second, their governance is ‘modular’, understood in a design sense (decomposable blocks sharing a common interface), but also in political economy terms: participants oppose restricted ownership and control by individually socializing their works into commons. In recent years capitalist-centralized firms have increasingly engaged with ethical-modular organizations, in some cases paying wages to participants (such labour is thus both ‘alienated’ or sold, and ‘communal’, as workers freely cooperate to produce commons). This article reviews the literature dealing with the relationship of these two organizational types. It argues that the manner in which scholars approach a central characteristic of ethical-modular organizations – participants relinquish exclusive property rights over the resource they have created – leads to highly diverse interpretations. Four hypotheses are presented. A ‘panoptic’ view overlooks the abjuration of exclusive property rights, so that ethical-modular organizations can be defined as a variant of the evolution of capitalist firms into post-bureaucratic networks. ‘Skeptics’ view this abjuration as irrelevant, and ethical-modular organizations as increasing worker exploitation. In contrast, ‘activists’ celebrate the abjuration of exclusive property rights, and present ethical-modular organizations as key actors in a historical process leading to the disappearance of capitalism and hierarchy. Finally ‘reformists’ suggest that the co-optation of communal labour by firms will benefit business practices and society. The article examines the analytical focus of each hypothesis in terms of labour, loss of control by firms over workers, and societal impact. Where appropriate, it raises questions and objections. The conclusion addresses communal labour’s effective dependence on capitalist-centralized firms and suggests factors which may contribute to its emancipation.
Draft Genome Sequence of Endocarpon pusillum Strain KoLRILF000583

ABSTRACT Lichen Endocarpon pusillum is a highly desiccation-tolerant and dominant species in biological soil crusts in arid and semi-arid regions. We report the draft genome sequence of a lichen-forming fungus, E. pusillum strain KoLRILF000583. The draft genome assembly has a size of 37,173,200 bp with a GC content of 49.71%, consisting of 40 scaffolds.
A Central Role for SSB in Escherichia coli RecQ DNA Helicase Function*

RecQ DNA helicases are critical components of DNA replication, recombination, and repair machinery in all eukaryotes and bacteria. Eukaryotic RecQ helicases are known to associate with numerous genome maintenance proteins that modulate their cellular functions, but there is little information regarding protein complexes involving the prototypical bacterial RecQ proteins. Here we use an affinity purification scheme to identify three heterologous proteins that associate with Escherichia coli RecQ: SSB (single-stranded DNA-binding protein), exonuclease I, and RecJ exonuclease. The RecQ-SSB interaction is direct and is mediated by the RecQ winged helix subdomain and the C terminus of SSB. Interaction with SSB has important functional consequences for RecQ. SSB stimulates RecQ-mediated DNA unwinding, whereas deletion of the C-terminal RecQ-binding site from SSB produces a variant that blocks RecQ DNA binding and unwinding activities, suggesting that RecQ recognizes both the SSB C terminus and DNA in SSB·DNA nucleoprotein complexes. These findings, together with the noted interactions between human RecQ proteins and Replication Protein A, identify SSB as a broadly conserved RecQ-binding protein. These results also provide a simple model that explains RecQ integration into genome maintenance processes in E. coli through its association with SSB.
The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science

1. Introduction: Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, and Phenomenology 2. Methodology 3. Consciousness/Self-consciousness 4. Time 5. Intentionality 6. The Embodied Mind 7. Action 8. How we Know Others 9. Situated and Extended Minds 10. Self and Person