Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous flow cytometric analysis of two cell surface markers, telomere length, and DNA content.

BACKGROUND Various protocols for estimation of telomere length in individual cells by flow cytometry using fluorescence in situ hybridization of fluorescently labeled peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probes (Flow-FISH) have been described. Combined analysis of telomere length and cell phenotype, however, remains difficult because few fluorochromes with suitable emission spectra tolerate the harsh conditions needed for DNA denaturation during hybridization of the telomere-specific PNA probe. We overcame these problems and developed a method for measuring telomere length in cell subsets characterized by the expression of two surface antigens. METHODS Alexa Fluor 488 and Alexa Fluor 546 were used for cell surface staining. Antigen-antibody complexes were covalently cross-linked onto the cell membrane before Flow-FISH. Cells were hybridized with a PNA probe conjugated to cyanine 5 (Cy5). Hoechst 33342 (HO342) was added for determination of cellular DNA content. For assay standardization, we added an aliquot of a single batch of 1,301 cells to each sample as an internal control before hybridization with the PNA probe. Samples were prepared in duplicate and analyzed on a standard three-laser BD LSR flow cytometer. For assay validation, the same samples were analyzed in parallel to correlate the percentage of telomere length of the sample versus 1,301 control cells to the mean size of terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) of DNA as determined by Southern gel analysis. RESULTS The method permitted clear identification of lymphocyte subsets in samples hybridized for Flow-FISH, with subset frequencies comparable to those of untreated samples. At a concentration of 10 nM, the Cy5-labeled telomere-specific PNA probe produced a bright fluorescence signal well separated from background. Addition of HO342 in low concentration did not interfere with Cy5 telomere fluorescence, produced adequate DNA histograms, and permitted clear identification of cell phenotype. The probe concentration of 10 nM also proved optimal for inclusion of 1,301 control cells for assay standardization. Telomere length estimations by the current method correlated highly with TRF calculations by Southern gel hybridization (r(2)= 0.9, P = 0.0003). Application of our protocol to the analysis of human CD8CD28 lymphocyte subsets showed that CD8(+bright)CD28(-) lymphocytes generally exhibit shorter telomeres than CD8(+bright)CD28(+) cells. These data concurred with previous results of telomere shortening in CD8(+)CD28(-) T cells that were obtained by using different techniques. CONCLUSIONS The multiparameter Flow-FISH protocol permitted rapid determination of differences in telomere length in subpopulations characterized by two surface markers without prior cell separation.
Trade union membership, tenure and the level of job insecurity

Recently there have been suggestions that job insecurity is on the increase. Two factors which may explain this are the reduced role of the trade unions and increasing flexibility in the labour market with an associated reduction in the proportion of workers in permanent fulltime employment. For the first time the relationship between trade union membership, tenure and the workers perception of job insecurity is examined using British data (drawn from the 1986/7 Social Change and Economic Life Initiative). Econometric evidence supports in part the view that while job insecurity encourages workers to join trade unions, overall trade unions tend to increase job security and also suggests that there is a strong relationship between tenure and job insecurity.
In Pursuit of Social Justice: Collaborative Research and Practice in Teacher Education

Abstract Recent demographic trends in American education have reaffirmed the need to teach prospective teachers about social justice issues such as race, class, and disability. With this goal in mind, fourteen members of the Boston College of Teacher Education faculty and three administrators engaged in a year-long series of conversations over the meaning of social justice. The goal of these “social justice conversations” was to investigate individual understandings of the meaning of social justice and find the commonality necessary to “teach for social justice” A sub-group of faculty, including the authors, studied these conversations. The authors found that participants unanimously embraced the goal of teaching for social justice but that their definitions of social justice ranged along a “continuum of beliefs” They identify three categories of divergence around the meaning of social justice: Definitions of fairness and equity; institutional vs. individual understandings of injustice; and the responsibility of individuals to advocate for social justice. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these discussions for the Teacher Education faculty and individual faculty members.
Interaction of Candida albicans with Adherent Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Increases C. albicans Biofilm Formation and Results in Differential Expression of Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Cytokines

ABSTRACT Monocytes and macrophages are the cell types most commonly associated with the innate immune response against Candida albicans infection. Interactions between the host immune system and Candida organisms have been investigated for planktonic Candida cells, but no studies have addressed these interactions in a biofilm environment. In this study, for the first time, we evaluated the ability of C. albicans to form biofilms in the presence or absence of adherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs; enriched for monocytes and macrophages by adherence). Our analyses using scanning electron and confocal scanning laser microscopy showed that the presence of PBMCs enhanced the ability of C. albicans to form biofilms and that the majority of PBMCs were localized to the basal and middle layers of the biofilm. In contrast to the interactions of PBMCs with planktonic C. albicans, where PBMCs phagocytose fungal cells, PBMCs did not appear to phagocytose fungal cells in biofilms. Furthermore, time-lapse laser microscopy revealed dynamic interactions between C. albicans and PBMCs in a biofilm. Additionally, we found that (i) only viable PBMCs influence Candida biofilm formation, (ii) cell surface components of PBMCs did not contribute to the enhancement of C. albicans biofilm, (iii) the biofilm-enhancing effect of PBMCs is mediated by a soluble factor released into the coculture medium of PBMCs with C. albicans, and (iv) supernatant collected from this coculture contained differential levels of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Our studies provide new insight into the interaction between Candida biofilm and host immune cells and demonstrate that immunocytes may influence the ability of C. albicans to form biofilms.
INTEGRAÇÃO ESPACIAL DO MERCADO BRASILEIRO DE BOI GORDO: UMA ANÁLISE DE CO-INTEGRAÇÃO COM THRESHOLD

The traditional studies of market integration, based on the cointegration methodology, consider that there are no discontinuities in the process of price transmission between spatially separated localities. However , the existence of transaction costs may create asymmetries or even block the process of integration. The main objective of this paper was to analyze the possible effects of transaction costs in the price adjustment mechanism of market integration of beef cattle in Brazil using models of cointegration with threshold, namely, TAR and M-TAR. It was used data on prices received by producers in the most important states during the period of august of 1994 through august 2008. Results indicated state market integration but with significant effect of transaction costs since negative shocks or shocks of low magnitude are eliminated distinctly from positive shocks. In these cases the benefits for transaction coming from prices variations are lower than the adjustment costs resulting in impediment of the market integration process.
Online Communities of Practice and Professional 
Change: a Three-Tier View of the Knowledge 
Embedding Process

This interpretivist study, in the field of information Systems, investigates the process of transformative professional change using a knowledge management lens. The goal of the research was to understand how online communities of practice (CoPs) facilitate the transfer and embedding of professional knowledge. It was guided by the question: How do online CoPs facilitate the transfer and embedding of professional knowledge? This topic was of contemporary and strategic significance in New Zealand: The government had embarked on a strategy to transform teaching in NZ schools, aiming to leverage a major investment in IT infrastructure, using online CoPs to help embed a new paradigm of studentcentred, ICT-enriched learning at system level. There was, however, no research to suggest how this might occur. Despite the increasing use of online CoPs by organisations, and an expansion in the number of tools available for this purpose, there is little understanding of how online CoPs can facilitate knowledge transfer. The way in which knowledge embedding (deep transfer) occurs, and the role online CoPs may play in supporting this process, is particularly poorly understood. This is significant issue in this internet-rich era, when developing nations are aiming to cultivate knowledge economies. I conducted the research using a case research strategy, qualitative methods and an inductive process of theory generation. The research case was a national professional development programme for schools, with five CoP subunits: Four were regionally based school cluster CoPs and one was a distributed blogging community. (Membership of this community overlapped with three of the cluster CoPs.) Based on my analysis of data, and on feedback from participants, I found that three complementary mechanisms were operating simultaneously, facilitating the embedding of knowledge at meso, micro and macro levels. The result of my study is a threelevel explanatory theory. At the meso (school) level, knowledge embedding followed a six-stage cycle, with different activities and issues characterising each stage. Online CoPs played a different role at each stage. At the micro (individual) level, knowledge embedding was driven by teachers' crossings of multiple engagement spaces (communication contexts) in a polycontextual environment. Crossings drove personalisation and facilitated the linking of theory and practice, leading to deep individual understanding. At the macro level, the embedding of knowledge was driven by the brokering function of a middle layer community in a system of overlapping, tiered CoPs. Key roles were played by two kinds of knowledge brokers: connector-leaders and follower-feeders. All three embedding-facilitating mechanisms promoted five fundamental knowledge embedding processes: focusing, persuading, aligning, adapting, and owning (developing ownership).
La prévention des troubles musculo-squelettiques et des rachialgies par un entraînement physique adapté : enquête comparative auprès d'une population de militaires

Le sport dans l'Armee de terre a longtemps ete neglige, mal prepare et effectue sans tenir compte des consequences sur la sante de nos militaires engages dans une Armee devenue professionnelle. Il induit notamment des troubles musculo-squelettiques (entorses, luxations, fractures et fractures de fatigue, contusions osseuses, tendinites, syndromes rotulien ou syndrome de l'essuie glace, lesions musculaires ou meniscales) et des dorsalgies provoquant des arrets de travail et un cout de la sante eleve, jouant a moyen terme sur la capacite operationnelle. Dans une population de 117 parachutistes jeunes (âge moyen de 25,3 ans), sportifs (volume hebdomadaire moyen de 7h) du 8eRPIMa, nous avons instaure un nouveau programme d'entrainement base sur des principes de progressivite, regularite, adaptation et diversite des sports pratiques (course a pied, renforcement musculaire axiale et natation). Nous avons realise un recueil dans les dossiers medicaux concernant seulement les blessures induites par le sport sur deux periodes : une premiere du 1er janvier au 31 juin 2012 puis une seconde apres la mise en place du nouveau programme du 1er janvier au 31 juin 2013. Cette etude montre une reduction du taux de blessures de 65% en 2012 a 21,7% en 2013. Elle montre notamment une diminution globale des TMS avec des resultats significatifs sur les tendinites (de 14,5% a 1,7%, p < 0,05), les contusions osseuses (de 6,8% a 1,7%, p=0,053) et les rachialgies (de 14,5% a 3,4%, p < 0,05). Ce programme a donc une efficacite sur les TMS et les dorsalgies et peut etre etendu a l'ensemble des parachutistes de l'Armee de terre voire a l'infanterie.
Developmental stages in experimental liver metastases: Relation to invasiveness

We have previously reported that an invasive morphotype can be evoked in a rat colon carcinoma by transplanting it into pre‐induced subcutaneous granulation tissue. We have now studied the interaction of the same tumor with liver tissue, which is extremely poor in connective tissue in comparison with the subcutaneous site. Tumor cells were injected into the portal system and the resulting experimental liver metastases were examined by electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. Early metastases consisted of well‐differentiated acini, fully surrounded by connective tissue that was derived from the periportal stroma. In a later stage, this connective tissue was overgrown by tumor cells and, almost immediately, acinar differentiation was lost. Most metastases eventually reached the liver capsule, which reacted by forming a layer of granulation tissue. Only in this layer, we observed invasion by thin tumor cell strands, which were often intimately associated with fibroblasts or with blood capillaries. The tumor cells remained smooth and rounded during this process. After fully penetrating the granulation tissue, the tumor cell strands reached the liver surface, where they formed poorly structured papillary masses that were nearly devoid of stroma. Our observations indicate that, even in a relatively homogeneous organ like the liver, the tumor‐host interaction is highly complex and dynamic. They also confirm the notion that granulation tissue stimulates tumor invasiveness. Finally, they show that tumor cells can actively invade host tissues without exhibiting a “fibroblastic” morphology. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Application of implantable wireless biomicrosystem for monitoring electrode-nerve impedance of animal after sciatic nerve injury

In neural prosthetic applications, it is imperative to monitor the impedance of implantable cuff electrode for the effective sensing and stimulating schemes. With the development of an implantable biomicrosystem, this study was conducted to monitor the time-course changes of electrode-nerve impedance as well as to elicit constant stimulation current for aiding nerve repair in an experimental sciatic nerve injury animal model. For continuous in vivo impedance monitoring, a transcutaneous magnetic coupling technique was adopted for transmitting power and command into the internal module and sending outwards the impedance measurement. The two-terminal and four-terminal methods were adopted for measuring the electrode-tissue interfacing impedance and tissue impedance. To avoid high sampling rate required, a gain-phase detector was utilized for direct output of the magnitude and phase shift of the impedance measurement. Validation tests of impedance measurement and microstimulation function were first performed in an in-vitro impedance model. The differences of measured impedance were less than 10 % in comparison with those measured by precision LCR meter. A self-sizing spiral cuff electrode was fabricated and wrapped around the injured sciatic nerve of New Zealand rabbit for monitoring the changes of electrode-nerve impedance when the animal was awake but partly constrained in a restrainer. In addition, commands for varied level of constant current can be delivered via the magnetic coupling in an attempt to assist the nerve repair.
Bacterial Community Composition and Potential Driving Factors in Different Reef Habitats of the Spermonde Archipelago, Indonesia

Coastal eutrophication is a key driver of shifts in bacterial communities on coral reefs. With fringing and patch reefs at varying distances from the coast the Spermonde Archipelago in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia offers ideal conditions to study the effects of coastal eutrophication along a spatially defined gradient. The present study investigated bacterial community composition of three coral reef habitats: the water column, sediments, and mucus of the hard coral genus Fungia, along that cross-shelf environmental and water quality gradient. The main research questions were: (1) How do water quality and bacterial community composition change along a coastal shelf gradient? (2) Which water quality parameters influence bacterial community composition? (3) Is there a difference in bacterial community composition among the investigated habitats? For this purpose, a range of key water parameters were measured at eight stations in distances from 2 to 55 km from urban Makassar. This was supplemented by sampling of bacterial communities of important microbial habitats using 454 pyrosequencing. Findings revealed that the population center Makassar had a strong effect on the concentrations of Chlorophyll a, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP), which were all significantly elevated at the inshore compared the other seven sites. Shifts in the bacterial communities were specific to each sampled habitat. Two OTUs, belonging to the genera Escherichia/Shigella (Gammaproteobacteria) and Ralstonia (Betaproteobacteria), respectively, both dominated the bacterial community composition of the both size fractions of the water column and coral mucus. The sampled reef sediments were more diverse, and no single OTUs was dominant. There was no gradual shift in bacterial classes or OTUs within the sampled habitats. In addition, we observed very distinct communities between the investigated habitats. Our data show strong changes in the bacterial community composition at the inshore site for water column and sediment samples. Alarmingly, there was generally a high prevalence of potentially pathogenic bacteria across the entire gradient.
Power-Aware Testing and Test Strategies for Low Power Devices

Managing the power consumption of circuits and systems is now considered one of the most important challenges for the semiconductor industry. Elaborate power management strategies, such as dynamic voltage scaling, clock gating or power gating techniques, are used today to control the power dissipation during functional operation. The usage of these strategies has various implications on manufacturing test, and power-aware test is therefore increasingly becoming a major consideration during design-for-test and test preparation for low power devices. This book explores existing solutions for power-aware test and design-for-test of conventional circuits and systems, and surveys test strategies and EDA solutions for testing low power devices.
The actual implementation of accruals accounting: Caveats from a case within the UK public sector

Purpose – To ascertain the principal benefits and drawbacks that have been experienced in implementing accruals-based resource accounting in the UK public sector. Design/methodology/approach – In a unique study, which presents case research of the Northern Ireland experience within the wider UK context, semi-structured interviews were held with key actors involved in the implementation, maintenance or oversight of resource accounting in Northern Ireland. This paper looks at the operation of a newly introduced system through the eyes of those who are in a position to understand and evaluate the impacts (accountants). Findings – It finds that the actual implementation of accruals accounting is very different, in effect, in cost and in terms of timing, to that presented in pre-implementation government publications. The result is a complex, expensive system that has provided few benefits to date. What is found is a story of overoptimistic claims and obfuscation of costs. The very best that could be suggested from this research is that a lengthy continuum of accounting change is underway. Research limitations/implications – This research is a case study within the wider UK public sector and therefore any generalizing of the conclusions beyond the Northern Ireland context should be undertaken with care. However, although Northern Ireland departments are relatively small compared with Westminster departments, there are significant similarities between the modes of operation of all departments within the UK (whether in Westminster, Scotland or Wales). Furthermore, both the implementation of resource accounting and the challenges that it presents are common to all public sector bodies in the UK. Originality/value – Gives some thought-provoking arguments into the benefits and drawbacks of implementing accruals-based resource accounting in the UK public sector which will provide interest to those in the field.
Characterization of rpsL Gene Mutations in Streptomycin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates

The worldwide emergence and spread of drug - resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has adverse effects on tuberculosis (TB) control programs. The goal of this paper is to describe the advances made in the understanding of the molecular basis of M. tuberculosis resistance to streptomycin and to discuss the potential of molecular methods in early diagnosis of streptomycin resistant TB.Molecular methods such as DNA sequencing, polymerase chain reaction have been used to identify/detect mutations in rpsL gene-encoding proteins.Of the 77 SM resistant isolates, 22 (28.6%) exhibited mutation at codon 43 Lys→Arg, 11 (14.3%) isolates exhibited mutation at codon 83 Arg→Gln, 9(%) isolates exhibited mutation at codon 95 Tyr→His,whereas remaining 23 (40.8%) SM resistant isolates showed no mutation in rpsL gene. Among the 77 SM resistant isolates, 31(40.2%) were SM mono resistant and 46(59.8%) strains were poly resistant. All the 23 SM susceptible isolates as well as reference strain M.tuberculosis H37Rv exhibited wild type sequences of rpsL gene. Molecular methods to detect the most frequent mutations in the gene encoding functions that are targets for streptomycin drug have provided encouraging results for early diagnosis of resistance nature.
Ethnic Minority Representation in Counselor Education

Chairpersons of the counselor education programs listed in Counselor Preparation, 1980 were surveyed to determine ethnic minority representation among students and faculty. Compared to population statistics, Asian Americans were found to be underrepresented as faculty and Blacks and Hispanics were found to be underrepresented as both students and faculty. Compared to nonminorities in counselor education, minorities (particularly Blacks and Hispanics) are more likely to be enrolled in part-time and master's degree programs and less likely to be enrolled in full-time and doctoral degree programs. Minority faculty are more likely to hold nonacademic, nontenured, and part-time appointments than are nonminority faculty. For the most part, minority faculty are distributed regionally in the same proportion as are minority students. The difficulty in achieving parity on counselor education faculties in a period of no growth is discussed.