Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correct Coordination of Neuronal Differentiation Events in Ventral Forebrain Requires the bHLH Factor MASH1

MASH1 is a bHLH transcription factor specifically expressed in the developing nervous system that has an essential role in the formation of multiple neuronal lineages in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Here we demonstrate the requirement for MASH1 for normal development of ventral forebrain structures. MASH1 is expressed at high levels in the ventral telencephalon and specific regions within the ventral diencepharon. In the absence of MASH1, tissue morphology, proliferation, and gene expression within these forebrain regions is disrupted. The decreased incorporation of BrdU in the neuro-epithelium and the enlargement of the ventricles demonstrate a reduction in cell proliferation. A loss of anatomically distinct lateral and medial ganglionic eminences, and a disruption of axons traversing this region, indicate abnormalities in cell-type specification. The aberrant expression of Tuj-1, a marker of neuronal differentiation in the neuroepithelium, and Dlx, a marker of regional cell identity, in the ventricular zone in the MASH1 mutant brains suggest coordination of differentiation events is disrupted. In addition, the involvement of MASH1 in lateral inhibition processes that affect the development of these forebrain regions is implicated. Taken together, an essential role for MASH1 in the coordination of events required for correct cell-type specification and timing of differentiation during neural development in ventral forebrain regions is demonstrated.
The Growing Importance of Issue Competition: The Changing Nature of Party Competition in Western Europe

Changes in Western European political parties in general have attracted considerable scholarly interest, whereas changes in party competition have been almost overlooked in an otherwise extensive literature. Using the party manifesto data set, this article documents that party competition in Western Europe is increasingly characterised by issue competition, i.e. competition for the content of the party political agenda. What should be the most salient issues for voters: unemployment, the environment, refugees and immigrants, law and order, the welfare state or foreign policy? This change is crucial because it raises a question about the factors determining the outcome of issue competition. Is it the structure of party competition itself or more unpredictable factors, such as media attention, focusing events or skilful political communication? The two answers to this question have very different implications for the understanding of the role of political parties in today's Western European democracies.
Danger Signals From ATP and Adenosine in Pregnancy and Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a multisystem pregnancy complication, which affects 2% to 8% of all pregnancies.1 It is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria in the second half of pregnancy.2 Although the complete pathophysiology is still unknown, it is thought to consist of 2 phases. The first phase is poor placentation, which may result in hypoxia of the placenta.3,4 The second phase is characterized by the release of proinflammatory factors from the hypoxic placenta, resulting in systemic inflammation and endothelial cell dysfunction. As a result, hypertension and proteinuria associated with potential damage to multiple organs may develop.3,4 Delivery of the placenta and the fetus is the only effective treatment option for the maternal symptoms. High levels of ATP, which is now recognized as a danger signal, are found in preeclampsia.5,6 ATP is released by hypoxic and necrotic tissue, for instance by the hypoxic placenta.7,8 Release into the circulation causes activation of immune and endothelial cells,5,9 which in turn can also produce ATP, resulting in a cascade of activation.5,10 As a protective mechanism, ATP can be hydrolyzed into adenosine by various extracellular enzymes present in multiple cells including endothelial cells and placental trophoblast cells.11,12 Adenosine is also increased in preeclampsia and has opposite effects from ATP.13 Hence, the final effect of ATP and adenosine in preeclampsia depends on the balance between the 2 molecules. In the current review, we will discuss the role of ATP and adenosine in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. We will first discuss the current knowledge on the biology of the 2 molecules in vascular function and the immune system, followed by an overview of how ATP and adenosine can play a role in pregnancy and preeclampsia. …
Sex differences in bladder cancer pathology and survival: analysis of a population-based cancer registry

Sex differences in bladder cancer pathology and epidemiology have been the focus of recent research. We investigated the epidemiological characteristics and compared bladder cancer pathology and survival between men and women in Japan. A total of 13,184 patients with primary bladder cancer diagnosed from 1954 to 2010 were identified in a large‐scale cancer registry database in Kanagawa Prefecture. Using this database, we compared the odds ratios (ORs) for nonurothelial carcinoma (non‐UC) using a multiple logistic regression model adjusted for age and diagnosis periods. We also compared hazard ratios (HRs) for overall death and cancer‐specific death using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for non‐UC, age, and diagnosis period. The proportion of non‐UC was significantly higher in female compared with male patients (OR = 2.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.81–2.52). Furthermore, survival was significantly poorer in female patients than in male patients after adjusting for UC or non‐UC (HR for overall death = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.06–1.23; HR for cancer‐specific death = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.28–1.52). Sex differences exist in the epidemiological characteristics of bladder cancer in Japan, with female patients having less favorable pathology and poorer survival compared with male patients.
Frequency Effects on the Processing of Ambiguous Words in Sentence Contexts

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the processing of ambiguous words that varied in frequency of use of their multiple interpretations. Biasing sentential contexts were used in a cross-modal priming paradigm in which targets were presented for lexical decision at two different intervals relative to the occurrence of the ambiguous word. The results replicate previous work showing that both interpretations of an ambiguous word are accessed and that there arc no differences in amount of priming due to frequency. During selection of the appropriate interpretation, however, there is evidence of sensitivity to information about frequency and context. The results indicate that, whereas lexical access is an autonomous process, selection of the appropriate interpretation is a post-lexical process that is influenced by frequency information and context. Recent challenges to the use of the lexical decision task and to the autonomy view of lexical access are also considered.
Symbol-level network coding for wireless mesh networks

This paper describes MIXIT, a system that improves the throughput of wireless mesh networks. MIXIT exploits a basic property of mesh networks: even when no node receives a packet correctly, any given bit is likely to be received by some node correctly. Instead of insisting on forwarding only correct packets, MIXIT routers use physical layer hints to make their best guess about which bits in a corrupted packet are likely to be correct and forward them to the destination. Even though this approach inevitably lets erroneous bits through, we find that it can achieve high throughput without compromising end-to-end reliability. The core component of MIXIT is a novel network code that operates on small groups of bits, called symbols. It allows the nodes to opportunistically route groups of bits to their destination with low overhead. MIXIT's network code also incorporates an end-to-end error correction component that the destination uses to correct any errors that might seep through. We have implemented MIXIT on a software radio platform running the Zigbee radio protocol. Our experiments on a 25-node indoor testbed show that MIXIT has a throughput gain of 2.8x over MORE, a state-of-the-art opportunistic routing scheme, and about 3.9x over traditional routing using the ETX metric.
How Humanism Can Contribute to the Development and Uniqueness of Service Management

Since the early 1980s, service management representatives have made an effort to distinguish service from manufacturing industries and highlight specific traits that characterize service industries. However, others have claimed that there is no need for such a distinction, and service would benefit from a clear technocratic thinking and standardization in order to improve quality, productivity and profitability. Service businesses are though personnel-intense and many encounters occur between managers, employees and customers. Using standards is not enough for this endeavour and managers are important as role models. Instead, it is argued that managers need ‘proper’ education to be able to meet that which does not follow patterns of rational reasoning and action. Humanism is introduced as an important aspect of future management education. Humanism can prepare managers to meet with those unique conditions and demands characterizing the personnel- and encounter-intense service sector.
Stimulated nuclear import by β-like importins

Classic nuclear shuttling is mediated by an importin-α∙β heterodimer that binds to cargoes containing a nuclear localization signal, and shuttles most nuclear proteins immediately after their translation. Aside from this canonical mechanism, kariopheryn-βs or β-like importins operate by binding to non-canonical nuclear localization signals to mediate translocation without the assistance of importin-α. The mechanism by which these components operate is much less understood and is currently under investigation. Recently, several β-like importins have been implicated in the stimulated nuclear translocation of signaling proteins. Here, we propose that this group of importins might be responsible for the swift nuclear shuttling of many proteins following various stimuli.
Self-Defeating Personality Disorder: Diagnostic Accuracy and Overlap with Dependent Personality Disorder

This study was designed to determine: (1) whether self-defeating personality disorder can be accurately diagnosed by psychologists from written case studies and (2) the extent of overlap between ratings of self-defeating personality disorder and dependent personality disorder. Participants were 118 psychologists recruited from a state psychological association. The psychologists were asked to assign an Axis II diagnosis, if warranted, to each of six case studies. Three of the four self-defeating cases were accurately diagnosed at a rate significantly greater than chance, with female psychologists more accurately diagnosing self-defeating personality disorder than male psychologists. Psychologists also were asked to rate each case along several personality dimensions, including self-defeating and dependent. Four of the six cases had nonsignificant correlations between ratings of self-defeating and dependent personality dimensions. These results suggest that psychologists can accurately diagnose self-defeat.
Personality Traits Increasingly Important for Male Fertility: Evidence from Norway

We study the relationship between personality traits and fertility using a survey of Norwegian men and women born from 1927 to 1968 (N = 7017 individuals). We found that personality relates to men's and women's fertility differently; conscientiousness decreases female fertility, openness decreases male fertility and extraversion raises the fertility of both sexes. Neuroticism depresses fertility for men, but only for those born after 1956. The lower male fertility in younger cohorts high in neuroticism cannot be explained by partnership status, income or education. The proportion of childless men (at age 40 years) has increased rapidly for Norwegian male cohorts from 1940 to 1970 (from about 15 to 25 per cent). For women, it has only increased marginally (from 10 to 13 per cent). Our findings suggest that this could be partly explained by the increasing importance of personality characteristics for men's probability of becoming fathers. Men that have certain personality traits may increasingly be avoiding the long–term commitment of having children, or their female partners are shunning entering this type of commitment with them. Childbearing in contemporary richer countries may be less likely to be influenced by economic necessities and more by individual partner characteristics, such as personality. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology
Modeling habits as self-sustaining patterns of sensorimotor behavior

In the recent history of psychology and cognitive neuroscience, the notion of habit has been reduced to a stimulus-triggered response probability correlation. In this paper we use a computational model to present an alternative theoretical view (with some philosophical implications), where habits are seen as self-maintaining patterns of behavior that share properties in common with self-maintaining biological processes, and that inhabit a complex ecological context, including the presence and influence of other habits. Far from mechanical automatisms, this organismic and self-organizing concept of habit can overcome the dominating atomistic and statistical conceptions, and the high temporal resolution effects of situatedness, embodiment and sensorimotor loops emerge as playing a more central, subtle and complex role in the organization of behavior. The model is based on a novel “iterant deformable sensorimotor medium (IDSM),” designed such that trajectories taken through sensorimotor-space increase the likelihood that in the future, similar trajectories will be taken. We couple the IDSM to sensors and motors of a simulated robot, and show that under certain conditions, the IDSM conditions, the IDSM forms self-maintaining patterns of activity that operate across the IDSM, the robot's body, and the environment. We present various environments and the resulting habits that form in them. The model acts as an abstraction of habits at a much needed sensorimotor “meso-scale” between microscopic neuron-based models and macroscopic descriptions of behavior. Finally, we discuss how this model and extensions of it can help us understand aspects of behavioral self-organization, historicity and autonomy that remain out of the scope of contemporary representationalist frameworks.
Identification of lentivirus tat functional domains through generation of equine infectious anemia virus/human immunodeficiency virus type 1 tat gene chimeras

The structural regions that comprise the functional domains of lentivirus Tat proteins were examined. Chimeric tat genes and chimeric viral promoters were constructed between the distantly related human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). These exchange experiments revealed that the EIAV Tat-responsive element recognition domain is formed by two distinct structural regions. Activation domains of both HIV-1 and EIAV Tat contain a conserved core element, but at least HIV-1 Tat requires the presence of additional structural regions. The interchangeable nature of Tat activation domains suggests that these domains act through a common or ubiquitous cellular transcription factor.
The Atypical Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Dock4 Regulates Neurite Differentiation through Modulation of Rac1 GTPase and Actin Dynamics*

Background: Dock4, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rac1, is associated with neuropsychiatric diseases. Results: Dock4 regulates neurite differentiation in neuroblastoma cells and hippocampal neurons. Conclusion: Dock4 is an important regulator during neural differentiation. Significance: This study contributes to a better understanding of the molecular and cellular events during neural differentiation and may provide new insights into the molecular pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric diseases. Precise regulation of neurite growth and differentiation determines accurate formation of synaptic connections, whose disruptions are frequently associated with neurological disorders. Dedicator of cytokinesis 4 (Dock4), an atypical guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rac1, is found to be associated with neuropsychiatric diseases, including autism and schizophrenia. Nonetheless, the neuronal function of Dock4 is only beginning to be understood. Using mouse neuroblastoma (Neuro-2a) cells as a model, this study identifies that Dock4 is critical for neurite differentiation and extension. This regulation is through activation of Rac1 and modulation of the dynamics of actin-enriched protrusions on the neurites. In cultured hippocampal neurons, Dock4 regulates the establishment of the axon-dendrite polarity and the arborization of dendrites, two critical processes during neural differentiation. Importantly, a microdeletion Dock4 mutant linked to autism and dyslexia that lacks the GEF domain leads to defective neurite outgrowth and neuronal polarization. Further analysis reveals that the SH3 domain-mediated interaction of Dock4 is required for its activity toward neurite differentiation, whereas its proline-rich C terminus is not essential for this regulation. Together, our findings reveal an important role of Dock4 for neurite differentiation during early neuronal development.
Testing DSP cores based on self-test programs

This paper presents a new method for the testing of the datapath of DSP cores based on self-test program. During the test, random patterns are loaded into the core, exercise different components of the core, and then are loaded out of the core for observation under the control of the self-test programs. We propose a systematic approach to generate the self-test program based on two metrics. One is the structural coverage and the other is the testability metric. Experimental results show the self-test program obtained by this approach con reach very high fault coverage in programmable core testing.
Uses of expertise: sources, quotes, and voice in the reporting of genetics in the news

Science journalists call upon experts for background and for clarification and comment on scientific findings. This paper examines how science writers choose and use experts, and it focuses on several cases of reporting about genetics and behavior. Our research included two sources of data: interviews with 15 science reporters and three print media samples of coverage of genetics and behavior—alcoholism (between 1980-1995), homosexuality (in 1993 and 1995), and mental illness (between 1970-1995). Science reporters seek relevant and specific experts for nearly every story. Good sources are knowledgeable, are connected to prestigious institutions, are direct and articulate and don't overqualify statements, and they return phone calls. The mean number of experts quoted was 2.8 per story, differing for alcoholism (3.5), homosexuality (2.8), and mental illness (2.6). Researchers and scientists predominated among experts quoted. Quotes were used to provide context, give legitimization, as explication, to provide a kind of balance, and to outline implications. For the homosexuality sample, a significantly greater percentage of activists and advocates were quoted (21 percent compared with 5 percent and 1 percent in other samples, X 2 < 0.0001). “Lay” quotes for alcoholism and mental illness were minimal. Except for homosexuality, whose advocates are organized, those “affected” do not have a voice in genetics news stories.
Inhibition by tramadol of muscarinic receptor-induced responses in cultured adrenal medullary cells and in Xenopus laevis oocytes expressing cloned M1 receptors.

Tramadol is a widely used, centrally acting analgesic, but its mechanisms of action are not completely understood. Muscarinic receptors are known to be involved in neuronal function in the brain and autonomic nervous system, and much attention has been paid to these receptors as targets of analgesic drugs in the central nervous system. This study investigated the effects of tramadol on muscarinic receptors by using two different systems, i.e., a Xenopus laevis oocyte expression system and cultured bovine adrenal medullary cells. Tramadol (10 nM-100 microM) inhibited acetylcholine-induced currents in oocytes expressing the M1 receptor. Although GF109203X, a protein kinase C inhibitor, increased the basal current, it had little effect on the inhibition of acetylcholine-induced currents by tramadol. On the other hand, tramadol did not inhibit the current induced by AlF4-, a direct activator of GTP-binding protein. In cultured bovine adrenal medullary cells, tramadol (100 nM-100 microM) suppressed muscarine-induced cyclic GMP accumulation. Moreover, tramadol inhibited the specific binding of [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate (QNB). Scatchard analysis showed that tramadol increases the apparent dissociation constant (Kd) value without changing the maximal binding (Bmax), indicating competitive inhibition. These findings suggest that tramadol at clinically relevant concentrations inhibits muscarinic receptor function via QNB-binding sites. This may explain the neuronal function and anticholinergic effect of tramadol.
Efficacy of stereotactic radiotherapy as salvage treatment for recurrent malignant gliomas.

PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of CyberKnife stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for recurrent glial tumors previously treated with high-dose radiotherapy. METHODS CyberKnife SRT was performed in 37 patients with recurrent glial tumors who presented to our hospital between January 2007 and March 2012. The patients were subjected to a dose ranging from 20 to 28 Gy using the CyberKnife system with an average of two fractions. The median follow-up duration after SRT was 14 months (range 1.8-57). RESULTS The median survival time of the patients after recurrence was 22.3 months (95% confidence interval/95% Cl 12.5-32). The median survival times of the high- and low-grade patients were 29 and 19 months, respectively. No significant toxicity due to radiation was noticed during the follow-up period. No factor influencing mortality was found in either the univariate or multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION SRT using CyberKnife is an effective and safe treatment choice for recurrent glial tumors. SRT achieves a more favorable outcome in the treatment of recurrent tumors, particularly in high-grade ones.
A Nash Stackelberg approach for network pricing, revenue maximization and vertical handover decision making

Radio resource and mobility managements are becoming more and more complex within nowadays rich and heterogeneous wireless access networking systems. Multiple requirements, challenges and constraints, at both technical and economical perspectives have to be considered. While the main objective remains guaranteeing the best Quality of Service and optimal radio resource utilization, economical aspects have also to be considered including cost minimization for users and revenue maximization for network providers. In this paper, we propose a game theoretic scheme where each available network plays a Stackelberg game with a finite set of users, while users are playing a Nash game among themselves to share the limited radio resources. A Nash equilibrium point is found and used for vertical handover decision making and admission control. We also introduce in the proposed model the user's requirements in terms of quality of service according to its running application and the network reputation that is conducted from the users' quality of experience and we study the effect of these parameters on the network pricing and revenue maximization problems.