Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
β‐Cell regeneration through the transdifferentiation of pancreatic cells: Pancreatic progenitor cells in the pancreas

Pancreatic progenitor cell research has been in the spotlight, as these cells have the potential to replace pancreatic β‐cells for the treatment of type 1 and 2 diabetic patients with the absence or reduction of pancreatic β‐cells. During the past few decades, the successful treatment of diabetes through transplantation of the whole pancreas or isolated islets has nearly been achieved. However, novel sources of pancreatic islets or insulin‐producing cells are required to provide sufficient amounts of donor tissues. To overcome this limitation, the use of pancreatic progenitor cells is gaining more attention. In particular, pancreatic exocrine cells, such as duct epithelial cells and acinar cells, are attractive candidates for β‐cell regeneration because of their differentiation potential and pancreatic lineage characteristics. It has been assumed that β‐cell neogenesis from pancreatic progenitor cells could occur in pancreatic ducts in the postnatal stage. Several studies have shown that insulin‐producing cells can arise in the duct tissue of the adult pancreas. Acinar cells also might have the potential to differentiate into insulin‐producing cells. The present review summarizes recent progress in research on the transdifferentiation of pancreatic exocrine cells into insulin‐producing cells, especially duct and acinar cells.
HR Professionals' Beliefs About, and Knowledge of, Assessment Techniques and Psychometric Tests

In all 255 adult professionals concerned with selection, assessment and training completed a questionnaire which asked their beliefs about the validity, cost, practicality and legality of different assessment techniques (i.e., Assessment Centres, Biodata, Interviews) and their knowledge and use of both personality and ability tests. Participants tended to be positive about the tests themselves, how they were used and about test publishers. They rated Assessment Centres, Cognitive ability tests and Work Samples as the most valid, while Interviews were rated as most practical. Results from knowledge of personality and intelligence tests indicated that only a few tests were widely known, more so in personality/motivation than intelligence. Implications of these results for educating and informing practitioners are considered.
Sialic Acid Metabolism and Systemic Pasteurellosis

ABSTRACT Pasteurella multocida subsp. multocida is a commensal and opportunistic pathogen of food animals, wildlife, and pets and a zoonotic cause of human infection arising from contacts with these animals. Here, an investigation of multiple serotype A strains demonstrated the occurrence of membrane sialyltransferase. Although P. multocida lacks the genes for the two earliest steps in de novo sialic acid synthesis, adding sialic acid to the growth medium resulted in uptake, activation, and subsequent transfer of sialic acid to a membrane acceptor resembling lipooligosaccharide. Two candidate-activating enzymes with homology to Escherichia coli cytidine 5′-monophospho-N-acetylneuraminate synthetase were overproduced as histidine-tagged polypeptides. The synthetase encoded by pm0187 was at least 37 times more active than the pm1710 gene product, suggesting pm0187 encodes the primary sialic acid cytidylyltransferase in P. multocida. A sialate aldolase (pm1715) mutant unable to initiate dissimilation of internalized sialic acid was not attenuated in the CD-1 mouse model of systemic pasteurellosis, indicating that the nutritional function of sialate catabolism is not required for systemic disease. In contrast, the attenuation of a sialate uptake-deficient mutant supports the essential role in pathogenesis of a sialylation mechanism that is dependent on an environmental (host) supply of sialic acid. The combined results provide the first direct evidence of sialylation by a precursor scavenging mechanism in pasteurellae and of a potential tripartite ATP-independent periplasmic sialate transporter in any species.
Contextual Conditions of Ecological Consumerism

This study seeks to develop an ecological consumption measure based on the Rasch model. At the same time, it also intends to detect contextual conditions that constrain specific food purchases recognized as environmentally significant behaviors. Moreover, it provides information about the environmental impact and consequences of the behaviors that constitute the proposed measure. Questionnaire data from 547 Swiss residents are used to test three classes of contextual conditions: consumer’s socioeconomic characteristics, consumer’s living circumstances, and store characteristics. With differential performance probabilities as the source of information to detect effective contextual influences on ecological behavior, the findings suggest that ecological consumption is rather susceptible to store and household characteristics but not to socioeconomic features. Furthermore, the conditions under consideration are not uniformly supporting or inhibiting. Instead, they appear to inhibit some behaviors while facilitating others.
Quantification of proliferative activity in colorectal adenomas by mitotic counts: relationship to degree of dysplasia and histological type.

AIM--Proliferative activity of tumours reflects their malignant potential. In colorectal adenomas, a subjective impression of the number of mitoses is a criterion often used to assess the degree of dysplasia. Since these subjective impressions of mitotic activity may lack reproducibility, the aim of this study was to perform an objective analysis. METHODS--Mitotic counts were conducted in tissue sections of 59 colorectal adenomas. Of these, 20 showed mild, 20 moderate, and 19 severe dysplasia, according to blind duplicate assessments by two pathologists. Forty three were classified as tubular adenomas and 16 as "villous" adenomas (tubulo-villous and villous). The number of mitoses, both per unit area of epithelium (area weighted mitotic counts, AWMC) and per colonic crypt (mitotic counts per colonic crypt MCCC), was scored in the most dysplastic area within the adenoma. Mitotic figures were counted using a light microscope (ocular x 10, objective x 40, NA 0.75), and the area of the glandular epithelium was measured using an interactive video overlay measurement system. Twenty glands per specimen were assessed. In the intra-observer reproducibility tests, the coefficients of error for the AWMC and MCCC were 4.5% and 7.4% respectively. RESULTS--For the AWMC a significant difference was found between mild and moderate as well as between mild and severe dysplasia, but not between moderate and severe dysplasia. The results of the MCCC showed the same trend, but the differences did not reach a significant level. Furthermore, cases classified as mild dysplasia were found that showed numerous mitoses, while cases classified as severe dysplasia were found with only very few mitoses. No significant difference in AWMC was found between tubular and villous adenomas. Thus the different malignant potential of tubular and villous adenomas was not reflected by a difference in AWMC. A seemingly strong difference for MCCC between tubular and "villous" adenomas appeared to depend completely on the difference in crypt size between these two groups. CONCLUSIONS--The area weighted mitotic count, rather than the mitotic count per colonic crypt, may be useful for assessing the proliferation rate in colorectal adenomas.
Pigeonpea Hybrid-Proline-Rich Protein (CcHyPRP) Confers Biotic and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Transgenic Rice

In this study, we report the overexpression of Cajanus cajan hybrid-proline-rich protein encoding gene (CcHyPRP) in rice which resulted in increased tolerance to both abiotic and biotic stresses. Compared to the control plants, the transgenic rice lines, expressing CcHyPRP, exhibited high-level tolerance against major abiotic stresses, viz., drought, salinity, and heat, as evidenced by increased biomass, chlorophyll content, survival rate, root, and shoot growth. Further, transgenic rice lines showed increased panicle size and grain number compared to the control plants under different stress conditions. The CcHyPRP transgenics, as compared to the control, revealed enhanced activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes and reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Expression pattern of CcHyPRP::GFP fusion-protein confirmed its predominant localization in cell walls. Moreover, the CcHyPRP transgenics, as compared to the control, exhibited increased resistance to the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe grisea which causes blast disease in rice. Higher levels of bZIP and endochitinase transcripts as well as endochitinase activity were observed in transgenic rice compared to the control plants. The overall results demonstrate the intrinsic role of CcHyPRP in conferring multiple stress tolerance at the whole-plant level. The multipotent CcHyPRP seems promising as a prime candidate gene to fortify crop plants for enhanced tolerance/resistance to different stress factors.
Transient latch-up using an improved bi-polar trigger

This paper reports the results of initiating transient latch-up (TLU) using a new improved trigger. The trigger produced by capacitive discharge has a high energy, under-damped bi-polar waveform similar in shape to the machine model (MM) but of lower voltage and frequency. High pin count parts from advanced deep sub-micron technologies were stimulated by combining V/sub cc/ supply pin excitation with dynamic component operation using active vectors at low clock frequency. Weak product that appears extremely robust to an over-damped uni-polar trigger was confirmed to be very susceptible to negative-going, under-damped bi-polar transients. The trigger avoids the risk of MM electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage; but combines elements of voltage over-stress, current injection, and slew rate into one stress application. The low resonant frequency facilitates straightforward integration into very high pin count testers.
Clinical relevance of tag single nucleotide polymorphisms within the CAT gene in patients with PTSD in the Chongqing Han population.

BACKGROUND Free radical-induced oxidative damage of the brain has been implicated in a number of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Catalase (CAT) is a major antioxidant enzyme and a number of polymorphisms in CAT have been shown to be associated with several diseases, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, and vitiligo. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of CAT gene polymorphisms with PTSD in a case-control study. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 460 unrelated adult Chinese Han adults, including 287 healthy volunteers and 173 patients with PTSD. Six tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) were selected from the entire CAT gene through construction of haplotype bins, and they were genotyped using an improved multiplex ligation detection reaction (iMLDR) technique. Allelic frequencies and clinical characteristics were compared in two independent Chinese Han populations. RESULTS Six tag SNPs were identified in the Chinese Han population and all were common SNPs. However, we could detect no evidence of genetic association between six tag SNPs in the CAT gene and PTSD in the Chinese Han population. CONCLUSIONS This result suggests that six tag SNPs of the CAT gene may not be associated with PTSD, and that CAT gene might not influence the development of PTSD in patients following exposure to a traumatic event, also may be the sample sizes too small to allow a meaningful test.
Responsiveness to affective stimuli by obese and normal individuals.

The hypothesis that the obese are more responsive than normals to both positive and negative affective stimuli was tested in two experiments. In the first, obese and normal high school males gave ratings of positively and negatively arousing slides. In the second, the behavior of obese and normal children in a positively and a negatively arousing situation was observed. Obese subjects in both studies responded more strongly than normals to the positive affective stimuli; obese subjects in the first study responded more strongly than normals to the negative emotional stimulus. A possible reason for the failure of obese subjects in the second study to respond more strongly than normals to the negative affective stimulus was discussed.
A method for placing traceroute-like topology discovery instrumentation

An accurate map of the Internet is very important for studying the network¿s internal structure and network management. The main approach to map the Internet is to collect information from a set of sources by using traceroute-like probes. In a typical mapping project, active measurement sources are relatively scarce while traceroute destinations are plentiful, which makes the sampled graph quite different from the original one. So, it becomes very important to determine how to place these sources such that the sampled graph can be closer to the original one, especially in the case that the number of sources is limited. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between the placement of traceroute sources and their sampled result, which, to our knowledge, has not been systematically studied before. Based on the relationship, we propose a method on how to place the traceroute sources. We show that the graph sampled from sources selected by our method is more accurate than the ones randomly selected. We also validate our conclusion using the raw trace data of skitter project.
Bilingualism and Psychometrics

The empirical literature on test bias with ethnic children has been at odds with much of the case law on testing and overrepresentation in special education classes. This article reviews some of the literature that asserts that the legal mandates may have actually hurt minority children and argues that for bilingual children such a position is specious insofar as it ignores the cognitive dimensions of bilingualism and the impact of bilingualism on psychometric tests. It is proposed that the case law may actually be inadequate to protect bilingual children from misdiagnosis and that the most prudent position may well be to exclude psychometric tests from any aspect of decision making with bilingual populations.
Why Nouns Are Learned before Verbs: Linguistic Relativity Versus Natural Partitioning. Technical Report No. 257.

ABSTRACT There is overwhelming evidence that children's first words are primarily nouns even across languages. These data are interpreted as evidence of a "Natural Partitions Theory," one that holds that the concepts referred to by nouns are conceptually more basic than those referred to by verbs or prepositions. Analysis of data from cross-linguistic studies designed to eliminate Inonconceptual differences between words in a language that might account for the Larlier acquisition of nouns--such as the position of a word in the sentence, morphological transparency (the ease with which the root can be heard in various uses of the word), and patterns of language teaching strategies--leaves some version of the Natural Partitions hypothesis as the most reasonable view of early vocabulary acquisition. A cross-linguistic examination of a single sentence suggests that if objecthood is created by spatial relations among perceptual elements, then good concrete objects are particularly cohesive collections of percepts. These highly cohesive collections of perceptual information tend to be lexicalized as nouns by almost every language. Object concepts are given to language users by the world and can be learned one at a time, while predicate concepts form a system in each language. , that, from a child's point of view, must be discovered. (HTE)
Valued Outcomes of Service Coordination, Early Intervention, and Natural Environments

A national survey of Part C early intervention program providers (practitioners and program directors) and participants (parents of young children with disabilities) was used to discern the desired outcomes of service coordination, early intervention, and natural environment practices. Survey participants judged from among 69 outcome indicators those that they considered to be the most valued benefits of each IDEA Part C service. Results indicated that certain categories of outcomes were more likely to be judged as the desired benefits of a specific Part C service, and that only two outcome categories (family satisfaction and improved family quality of life) were considered to be valued outcomes for all three services. Implications for practice and research are described.
Gender, anger expression style, and opportunity for anger release determine cardiovascular reaction to and recovery from anger provocation.

&NA; This study represents an extension of Hokanson's research, which showed that for men anger release after provocation tends to accelerate cardiovascular recovery. The objective of this study was to investigate how gender and habitual style for anger‐in or anger‐out behavior modulate the effect of anger provocation and release. Male and female subjects (N = 105) were classified as anger‐in/anger‐out only when a double criterion (i.e., self‐report and peer evaluation) was satisfied. Following a state anger rating at pre‐test, subjects were harassed during the performance of a 12‐minute math task. After task completion, subjects were randomly assigned to one of two 10‐minute recovery protocols a) having an opportunity to release negative affect, and b) not not having such an opportunity. All groups (including the anger‐ins) that had an opportunity to express negative affect did in fact express similar levels of anger. Men reacted more strongly to the math task performed under anger provocation on all cardiovascular indices. Anger expression style as a trait‐type disposition was important for the recovery process in women whereas the situational manipulation (i.e., the opportunity to release anger) had specific effects on the recovery process of men. Opportunity to release anger facilitated heart rate recovery (and to a lesser degree diastolic pressure recovery) in men but not in women. Women with anger‐in tendencies on the other hand displayed better systolic pressure recovery than female anger‐outs whereas no such effects were observed in men.
Effect of reduced energy, protein and entire substitution of inorganic phosphorus by phytase on performance and bone mineralisation of laying hens

1. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of total removal of dietary inorganic phosphorus and reduced energy and protein, without and with phytase supplementation, on the performance, egg quality and bone composition of laying hens. 2. Lohmann pink-shell hens were randomly assigned at 56 weeks of age to 5 treatments for 20 weeks as follows: (1) a positive control (PC) with 155 g CP/kg, 11·09 MJ ME/kg, calcium (Ca) 3·40% and non-phytic phosphorus (NPP) 0·26%, (2) a negative control (NC1) diet based on PC diet with Ca decreased to 3·30% and NPP to 0·14%, (3) NC2 diet was formulated on the basis of NC1 diet with 152·7 g CP/kg, 10·90 MJ/kg, (4) NC1 and (5) NC2 supplemented with phytase (300 FTU/kg) each. 3. Feed intake, hen-day or hen-housed egg production, egg number per hen-housed, and final body weight were depressed with NC1 and NC2 diets, but restored by phytase inclusion. There were no significant differences between the dietary treatments for feed conversion efficiency, rates of cracked and broken eggs, egg-shell thickness or egg-shell strength. Mortality was significantly increased by NC2 diet without phytase. Tibia ash was significantly decreased by both NC1 and NC2 diets. Bone strength, and Ca and P contents in tibia ash were significantly increased by phytase inclusion in the NC1 diet. 4. In conclusion, the NC1 and NC2 diets significantly depressed performance and tibia quality, but the addition of phytase (300 FTU/kg) significantly improved performance and tibia integrity.
Massive assembly of ZnO nanowire-based integrated devices

Although a directed assembly strategy has been utilized for the massive assembly of various nanowires and nanotubes (NWs/NTs), its application has usually been limited to rather small-diameter NWs/NTs prepared in solution. We report two complementary methods for the massive assembly of large-size ZnO nanowires (NWs). In the solution-phase method, ZnO NWs were assembled and aligned selectively onto negatively charged surface patterns in solution. In addition, the substrate bias voltage and capillary forces can be used to further enhance the adsorption rate and degree of alignment of ZnO NWs, respectively. In the direct-transfer method, a NW film grown on a solid substrate was placed in close proximity to a molecule-patterned substrate, and ultrasonic vibration was applied so that the NWs were directly transferred and aligned onto the patterned substrate. The solution-phase and direct-transfer methods are complementary to each other and suitable for the assembly of NWs prepared in solution and on solid substrates, respectively.
THE FATE OF HIGH-VELOCITY CLOUDS: WARM OR COLD COSMIC RAIN?

We present two sets of grid-based hydrodynamical simulations of high-velocity clouds (HVCs) traveling through the diffuse, hot Galactic halo. These H i clouds have been suggested to provide fuel for ongoing star formation in the Galactic disk. The first set of models is best described as a wind-tunnel experiment in which the HVC is exposed to a wind of constant density and velocity. In the second set of models, we follow the trajectory of the HVC on its way through an isothermal hydrostatic halo toward the disk. Thus, we cover the two extremes of possible HVC trajectories. The resulting cloud morphologies exhibit a pronounced head–tail structure, with a leading dense cold core and a warm diffuse tail. Morphologies and velocity differences between head and tail are consistent with observations. For typical cloud velocities and halo densities, clouds with H i masses <104.5 M☉ will lose their H i content within 10 kpc or less. Their remnants may contribute to a population of warm ionized gas clouds in the hot coronal gas, and they may eventually be integrated in the warm ionized Galactic disk. Some of the (still overdense, but now slow) material might recool, forming intermediate or low-velocity clouds close to the Galactic disk. Given our simulation parameters and the limitation set by numerical resolution, we argue that the derived disruption distances are strong upper limits.
Person-specific behavioural features for automatic stress detection

This paper introduces behavioural features for automatic stress detection, and a person-specific normalization to enhance the performance of our system. The presented features are all visual cues automatically extracted using video processing and depth data. In order to collect the necessary data, we conducted a lab study for stress elicitation using a time constrained arithmetic mental test. Then, we propose a set of body language features for stress detection. Experimental results using a SVM show that our model can detect stress with high accuracy (77%). Moreover, person specific normalization significantly improves classification results (from 67% to 77%). Also, the performance of each of the presented features is discussed.