Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Oxidized LDL/β2-glycoprotein I complexes: new aspects in atherosclerosis

β2-glycoprotein I (β2GPI) is a major antigenic target for antiphospholipid antibodies. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) is the principal lipoprotein found in atherosclerotic lesions, and it colocalizes with β2GPI and immunoreactive lymphocytes. oxLDL/β2GPI complexes appeared in the blood circulation of patients with diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), systemic sclerosis, diabetes mellitus and chronic renal diseases. Thus, the complexes may be associated with systemic and chronic inflammation of the vasculature. IgG anti-oxLDL/β2GPI complexes autoantibodies and their immune complexes were detected only in SLE/APS patients and in its animal model and were strongly associated with arterial thrombosis. The oxLDL/β2GPI complexes were internalized by macrophages via IgG anti-β2GPI antibody-mediated phagocytosis. In contrast, IgM anti-oxLDL antibodies derived from hyperlipidemic mice reduced the incidence of atherosclerosis. The distribution patterns of IgG and IgM anti-oxLDL antibodies in patients suggest the different roles of these antibodies.
A SIGNIFICANT POPULATION OF CANDIDATE NEW MEMBERS OF THE ρ OPHIUCHI CLUSTER

We present a general method for identifying the pre-main-sequence population of any star-forming region, unbiased with respect to the presence or absence of disks, in contrast to samples selected primarily via their mid-infrared emission from Spitzer surveys. We have applied this technique to a new, deep, wide-field, near-infrared imaging survey of the ρ Ophiuchi cloud core to search for candidate low-mass members. In conjunction with published Spitzer IRAC photometry and least-squares fits of model spectra (COND, DUSTY, NextGen, and blackbody) to the observed spectral energy distributions, we have identified 948 candidate cloud members within our 90% completeness limits of J = 20.0, H = 20.0, and Ks = 18.50. This population represents a factor of ∼3 increase in the number of known young stellar objects in the ρ Ophiuchi cloud. A large fraction of the candidate cluster members (81% ± 3%) exhibit infrared excess emission consistent with the presence of disks, thus strengthening the possibility of their being bona fide cloud members. Spectroscopic follow-up will confirm the nature of individual objects, better constrain their parameters, and allow an initial mass function to be derived.
The Effect of Computer-Based Intervention on Enhancing Visual Perception of Preschool Children with Autism: A Single-Subject Design Study

The purpose of the study is to examine the effectiveness of a computer-based intervention program for enhancing visual perceptual skills of preschool children with autism. The participants were recruited from a convenience sample including two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders and between the age of 4 and 5 years. The study was undertaken in the participants' homes. The instruments used to collect data include computer software programs, non-standardized two-dimensional tests, and a standardized test: The Developmental Test of Visual Perception-2 (DTVP-2). A singlesubject ABAB design was used to measure changes in the participants' visual perceptual skills. The results suggest that computer-based intervention is effective in improving the motor-reduced visual-perceptual skills in preschool children with autism. Both participants demonstrated an increase in the motor-reduced visual-perception composite score of the DTVP-2. The results from this study can add to the growing body of evidence in regards to the effect of computer-based interventions on improving motor-reduced visual perceptual skills in children with autism.
Control of mobile robot actions

The authors present a control system architecture for mobile robots able to execute missions specified by a user and having reactivity and error recovery capacities. The architecture is based on three types of entities: modules that accomplish basic computations on data from sensors; processes that establish dynamic links between perception and action to achieve closed-loop behavior; and functional units providing specific functionalities. These modules are organized hierarchically and are considered to be the robot's resources. The authors introduce and discuss a generic control system structure, which is based on a decomposition of its functions mainly into an executive for managing robot resources and a surveillance manager for detecting and reacting to asynchronous events. The control system enables the robot to execute missions (plans) expressed in a command language. Several running examples are given. <<ETX>>
Boredom: An Emotional Experience Distinct from Apathy, Anhedonia, or Depression

Boredom is a universal human experience which has received little empirical attention. Researchers have yet to agree on a unified definition of boredom and many see it as a secondary symptom to other psychological states (e.g., apathy depression). We explored the relationship between boredom and three phenomenologically related states; apathy, anhedonia and depression. Structural equation modeling revealed that although related to each state to varying degrees, boredom is empirically distinct. Establishing boredom as an independent construct provides an important step in bringing the field closer to a universally accepted definition of the experience, which will ultimately facilitate more effective assessment and treatment of boredom.
Foucault, space and primary school dining rooms

This paper takes up recent debates within Children's Geographies as to the ‘usefulness’ of theory and its application to school dining rooms. The paper argues that in particular, Foucault's notions of governmentality have the potential to advance theoretical understandings of the spatiality of school dining rooms, the social relationships that occur within them and that in addition this can have relevant practical and policy implications that could impact upon the everyday lives of children that are both constituted by and constitutive of this space.
Effect of ph and temperature on the activity of phytase products used in broiler nutrition

The activity of three commercial microbial phytase (Aspergillus oryzae, A. niger, and Saccharomyces cerevisae) products used in broiler nutrition was determined at different pH (2.0 to 9.0) and temperature (20 to 90°C) values. Enzymatic activity was determined according to the reaction of the phytase with its substrate (sodium phytate), in four replicates, and was expressed in units of phytase activity (FTU). A. oryzae phytase exhibited optimal activity at pH 4.0 and 40°C, but its absolute activity was the lowest of the three phytases evaluated. A. niger phytase exhibited maximal activity close to pH 5.0 and 45 o C, whereas S. cerevisae phytase presented its highest activity at pH close to 4.5 and temperatures ranging between 50 and 60°C. It was concluded that A. niger and S. cerevisae phytase products exhibited the highest absolute activities in vitro at pH and temperature values (pH lower than 5.0 and 41 o C) corresponding to the ideal physiological conditions of broilers, which would theoretically allow high hydrolysis rate of the phytate contained in the feed.
Sequential Modification and the Identification of Instructional Components Occasioning Self-Injurious Behavior

The present study describes a case of a 9-year-old girl diagnosed on the autism spectrum who averaged nearly 1200 hand-to-head self-injuries (+attempts) per school day. Given the resources of the school and the significance of the self-injurious behavior (SIB), analog functional analysis is not possible. Moreover, functional assessment results were inconclusive. Subsequent analyses suggested a relationship between SIB and instructional conditions, which we evaluated in an alternating treatments design that manipulated task difficulty, rate, interspersal, novelty, and order of presentation. This sequential modification of instructional components ultimately produced a methodology that is associated with an approximately 90% reduction in SIB. The study illustrates a strategy for treatment decision making in cases of serious problem behavior and when traditional functional behavioral assessment and functional analysis are inconclusive.
Internet addiction? Potentially problematic use of the Internet in a population of 12–18 year-old adolescents

On-line surveys indicate harmful excessive use of the Internet resulting in psychosocial problems (Internet addiction). Population studies are scarce, particularly on adolescents who are a vulnerable group in the middle of their personality development. The prevalence of features suggesting harmful use of the Internet is studied in a representative sample of 12–18 year-old Finns (N = 7292) in a postal survey in 2001. Criteria were tailored analogously to the criteria of pathological gambling, fulfilling four of the seven criteria operationalised as Internet addiction. Eighty five percent used the Internet. Among daily users 4.6% of boys and 4.7% of girls fulfilled the four criteria, infrequent users 0.3 and 0.5%, and all respondents 1.7 and 1.4%, respectively. The “addicts” spent more hours (mean = 2.7) in the Internet daily than the “non-addicts” (mean = 1.3). Some adolescents reported a potentially harmful relationship with the Internet comparable to addictive disorders. Although not common now, it will most likely increase with the increasing Internet use.
Do Certain Readings of Freud Constitute “Pathological Science”? A Comment on Boag (2006)

Boag (2006) holds that many psychologists misinterpret Freud's concept of repression as chiefly concerning motivated forgetting of trauma. He characterizes the persistence of this alleged error as an instance of “pathological science” whereby the field's self-correcting mechanisms fail to function properly. The purpose of this comment is to provide an alternative, nonpathological account situated within the context of the recovered memory debate.
Defining College Readiness for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Delphi Study

A Delphi study was used to examine the construct of college readiness for students with learning disabilities. An expert panel of 29 individuals with backgrounds in special education, postsecondary transitions, higher education, and/or counseling identified and rated the importance of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and other factors they believe to be important for students with learning disabilities to be successful in college. Suggestions for how school counselors can use the results to guide postsecondary transition planning interventions are provided.
The Uses of History in Studies of Science, Technology & Society

Man as we know him probably could not have evolved or survived without tools; he is too weak and puny a creature to fight nature with only his hands and teeth. The lion is stronger, the horse is faster, the giraffe can reach higher; but tools served as extensions of man’s hands and amplifiers of human muscle power, enabling him to adjust his hereditary organic equipment to an almost infinite number of operations in virtually any environment. It is not surprising, therefore, that some anthropologists define our species on the basis of tool-using and tool-making or, to be more exact, tool-dependency. Modern physiology, psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology all combine to demonstrate that homo sapiens (Man the Thinker) cannot be distinguished from homo faber (Man the Maker). Indeed, we now realize that man could not have become a thinker had he not at the same time been a maker. And our anthropologists find evidence that as soon as man began
A New Method for Specification of Parameters to Path Delay Faults Testing

Technology scaling and manufacturing process affect the performance of digital circuits, making them more vulnerable to environmental influences. Some defects are shown as delay faults therefore their testing is very important, mainly path delay faults. Such faults are tested over critical paths which have to be specified in a digital circuit. A problem of the critical paths selection is discussed in this paper. Some various factors have impact to signal propagation delay. A new method is presented for determining the measurement of the parameters impact on the path delay in the digital circuit. The method is focused to find the best weights of parameters for system PaCGen (Parameterized Critical Path Generator). The PaCGen is system for critical paths selection based on static timing analysis data with impact of factors to propagation delay. Accordingly, the critical paths are selected to be used for simulating fault coverage of path delay faults on transition delay fault model. Experimental results are provided using the ISCAS’89 benchmark circuits.
Tumor cell traffic through the extracellular matrix is controlled by the membrane-anchored collagenase MT1-MMP

As cancer cells traverse collagen-rich extracellular matrix (ECM) barriers and intravasate, they adopt a fibroblast-like phenotype and engage undefined proteolytic cascades that mediate invasive activity. Herein, we find that fibroblasts and cancer cells express an indistinguishable pericellular collagenolytic activity that allows them to traverse the ECM. Using fibroblasts isolated from gene-targeted mice, a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)–dependent activity is identified that drives invasion independently of plasminogen, the gelatinase A/TIMP-2 axis, gelatinase B, collagenase-3, collagenase-2, or stromelysin-1. In contrast, deleting or suppressing expression of the membrane-tethered MMP, MT1-MMP, in fibroblasts or tumor cells results in a loss of collagenolytic and invasive activity in vitro or in vivo. Thus, MT1-MMP serves as the major cell-associated proteinase necessary to confer normal or neoplastic cells with invasive activity.
Carbon Nanotube based Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor for Wide Range Pressure Sensing Applications - A Review

Pressure Sensors are very essential, and are used in various fields such as aerospace, barometry, industries, automobiles, medical, etc. There has been a great deal of developments in the design of pressure sensor beginning with metal strain gauges, square silicon diaphragm to recent pressure sensors developed using materials like nano wires, Carbon Nanotubes (CNT), etc. Due to its high gauge factor (200 to 1000), high sensitivity, temperature independency and many other advantages, CNT serves as a highly effective material to be used as a piezoresistive element in piezoresistive pressure sensors. This article provides a review of CNT based piezoresistive pressure sensors including their evolution, challenges, sensing mechanism, materials, applications, advantages and
Further results on binaural unmasking and the EC model. II. Noise band width and interaural phase.

Data are presented on binaural unmasking of tones masked by noise as a function of the interaural phases of the tone and noise and the bandwidth of the noise. It is found that (1) for a tone of 250 Hz, the binaural unmasking increases by 10 dB as the bandwidth is reduced from 250 Hz to 4.2 Hz; (2) the functional form of the dependence on interaural phase is independent of bandwidth; (3) reducing the bandwidth increases the amount of unmasking at all frequencies; (4) previous versions of the EC model are inadequate for describing the results; and (5) the data can be described by assuming that the error factor k in the EC model depends on the bandwidth W and interaural phase θn of the noise according to a relation of the form k = 1 + K1(W)K2(φn).
Reported Hearing Impairment in Essential Tremor: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

In a population-based sample, we determined whether a larger proportion of essential tremor (ET) cases reported hearing impairment compared with controls. Ninety-six (38.7%) of 248 ET cases versus 1,371 (29.4%) of 4,669 controls (p = 0.002) reported hearing impairment. In a logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, educational level, depressive symptoms, and dementia, participants who reported hearing impairment were 30% more likely to suffer from ET than were controls (odds ratio 1.3; 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.7; p = 0.04). ET seemed to be associated with reported hearing impairment. The basis for this finding, which has been noted in several studies, deserves further exploration.
Supervised Hashing based on Energy Minimization

Recently, supervised hashing methods have attracted much attention since they can optimize retrieval speed and storage cost while preserving semantic information. Because hashing codes learning is NP-hard, many methods resort to some form of relaxation technique. But the performance of these methods can easily deteriorate due to the relaxation. Luckily, many supervised hashing formulations can be viewed as energy functions, hence solving hashing codes is equivalent to learning marginals in the corresponding conditional random field (CRF). By minimizing the KL divergence between a fully factorized distribution and the Gibbs distribution of this CRF, a set of consistency equations can be obtained, but updating them in parallel may not yield a local optimum since the variational lower bound is not guaranteed to increase. In this paper, we use a linear approximation of the sigmoid function to convert these consistency equations to linear systems, which have a closed-form solution. By applying this novel technique to two classical hashing formulations KSH and SPLH, we obtain two new methods called EM (energy minimizing based)-KSH and EM-SPLH. Experimental results on three datasets show the superiority of our methods.
Steroid Control of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Secretion: Associated Changes in Pro-Opiomelanocortin and Preproenkephalin Messenger RNA Expression in the Ovine Hypothalamus1

Abstract The endogenous opioid peptides have been implicated in mediating the actions of estrogen and progesterone on GnRH release. We used in situ hybridization histochemistry to determine whether steroid-induced changes in GnRH/LH release in the female sheep are associated with changes in the cellular mRNA content of the precursors for beta-endorphin (pro-opiomelanocortin; POMC) and met-enkephalin (pre-proenkephalin; PENK). Two specific hypotheses were tested. First, that the inhibitory actions of progesterone are associated with an increase in opioid gene expression in specific hypothalamic nuclei. Our data support this hypothesis. Thus, an increase in progesterone was associated with increased POMC gene expression in the arcuate nucleus and PENK in the paraventricular nucleus. Further, the increase in POMC was restricted to regions of the arcuate nucleus that contain steroid sensitive beta-endorphin neurons. Our second hypothesis, that gene expression for the two opioid precursors would decrease prior to the start of the estradiol-stimulated GnRH surge, was not supported. Rather, POMC (but not PENK) gene expression in the arcuate nucleus was significantly higher in estradiol-treated animals than controls at the peak of the GnRH surge. These data suggest that beta-endorphin neurons in subdivisions of the arcuate nucleus and enkephalin neurons in the paraventricular nucleus are part of the neural network by which progesterone inhibits LH release. While enkephalin neurons may not play a role in estrogen positive feedback, increases in POMC mRNA in the arcuate nucleus at the time of the GnRH peak may be important for replenishing beta-endorphin stores and terminating estrous behavior.
Girls in Detention

This study examined the risk factors related to delinquency in an effort to describe the problem of rising female juvenile delinquency. It also examined the context of family environments in which female juvenile delinquents live. Using a triangulated methods approach, the data collected via focus group discussions with 30 female residents in a Regional Detention Center and 100 official intake records revealed that childhood maltreatment, parental incarceration, and school discipline problems were significant risk factors associated with delinquency. Focus group results also indicated that most female delinquents were victims of sexual and physical abuse. Many had family members who engaged in violence and alcohol and other substance use, and the girls themselves engaged in these activities at a young age. To address the growing problem of female delinquency and develop more effective intervention and prevention programs for girls, it is necessary to understand the importance of the family environment in which girls grow. Prevention and intervention programs should provide gender-specific services for girls as well as adequate services for their families.
An Interlingual-based Approach to Reference Resolution

In this paper we outline an interlingual-based procedure for resolving reference and suggest a practical approach to implementing it. We assume a two-stage language analysis system. First, a syntactic analysis of an input text results in a functional structure in which certain cases of pronominal reference are resolved. Second, the f-structure is mapped onto an interlingual representation. As part of this mapping, the reference of the various f-structure elements is resolved resulting in the addition of information to certain existing IL objects (coreference) or in the creation of new IL objects which are added to the domain of discourse (initial reference). For this effort, we adopt Text Meaning Representation for our IL and rely on the ONTOS ontology (Mahesh & Nirenburg, 1995) as a general knowledge base. Since the central barrier to developing such a system today is the incompleteness of the knowledge base, we outline a strategy starting with the implementation of a series of form-based resolution algorithms that are applied directly to the referring expressions of the input text. These are initially supplemented by a knowledge-based resolution procedure which, as the knowledge base grows and the adequacy of the f-structure and IL-representation increases, takes on more and more of the processing load.We examine the operation of the form-based algorithms on a sample Spanish text and show their limitations. We then demonstrate how an IL-based approach can be used to resolve the problematic cases of reference. This research effort is part of the CREST project at the CRL funded by DARPA.
Animal models for the effective development of atrophic vaginitis therapies: possibilities and limitations

Introduction: Vaginal atrophy (VA) is an inflammation of the vagina that develops when there is a significant decrease in levels of the estrogen. Prolonged periods of hypoestrogenism may induce severe VA and treatment is essential. This is a significant problem which requires more focused attention for the development of existing and future therapies. Areas covered: This review evaluates the suitable animal models of VA, including: mice, rodents and non-human primates. It focuses particularly on the possibilities and limitations of these in vivo models for the effective development of VA therapies. Expert opinion: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been prescribed and successfully used for VA. However, some studies have shown that HRT may be linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, coronary heart diseases and others risks. Thus, there is a growing interest in effective and safe alternatives to VA symptoms. There are, however, a number of things that must be considered for future drug discovery efforts. One major consideration is what animal model should be used and whether the model is appropriate for the study aim. Similarly, research studies must also consider the influencing factors on these animal models, so that these models can effectively mimic the actual disease. The authors also highlight the need to standardize research parameters to produce more reliable and reproducible data.