Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Genetic Defect in Mice That Impairs Missing Self Recognition Despite Evidence for Normal Maturation and MHC Class I–Dependent Education of NK Cells

In studies of a CD1d1-deficient mouse strain, we unexpectedly observed a severely impaired capacity for NK cell–mediated rejection of MHC class I–deficient (spleen or tumor) cells. Studies of another CD1-defective strain, as well as intercrosses with C57BL/6 mice, indicated that the impaired missing self rejection (IMSR) NK cell defect was a recessive trait, independent from the targeted CD1 locus. Studies with mixed bone marrow chimeras indicated that the defect is intrinsic to NK cells. The IMSR mice had normal proportions of NK cells, displaying a typical cell surface phenotype, as evaluated using a panel of Abs to developmental markers and known receptors. The impaired missing self recognition could not be overcome through cytokine stimulation. There was also an impaired capacity with respect to NKG2D-dependent cytotoxicity, whereas the mice exhibited normal Ly49D/DAP12-dependent responses in vivo and in vitro. The NK cell system of IMSR mice showed two hallmarks of MHC-dependent education: skewing of the Ly49 receptor repertoire and differential in vitro responsiveness between NK cells with and without inhibitory receptors for self-MHC (“licensing”). We conclude that these mice have a recessive trait that perturbs the missing self reaction, as well as NKG2D-dependent responses, whereas other aspects of the NK system, such as development, capacity to sense MHC molecules during education, and Ly49D/DAP12-dependent responses, are largely intact.
Implementing Teams in a Patient-Centered Medical Home Residency Practice: Lessons Learned

Introduction: The “new model of care” calls for a new approach for primary care delivery that focuses on patient centeredness, quality, safety, effective and efficient care, and interdisciplinary teamwork. Medical education needs to parallel this health care reorganization. Implementing a team approach in a residency practice, especially in ambulatory settings, poses unique challenges. Methods: We introduced interdisciplinary teams in a family medicine residency site, integrating clinical and educational objectives. Results: We report our challenges and successes in the transformational journey to a patient-centered medical home, for which a team approach is critical to achieving high quality care. Conclusion: Establishing high-functioning interdisciplinary teams takes leadership commitment; the engagement of everyone in the practice; investment in staff, resident, and faculty development; and clear communication of vision and goals. Integration of clinical and educational objectives can be powerfully synergistic. Clinical, organizational, and educational outcomes are needed to evaluate impact.
Combined Histamine H1 and H3 Receptor Blockade Produces Nasal Decongestion in an Experimental Model of Nasal Congestion

We studied the pharmacological actions of combined histamine H1/H3 receptor blockade on the increase in nasal airway resistance (NAR) and decrease in nasal cavity volume produced by nasal exposure to compound 48/80, a mast cell degranulator. In the anesthetized cat compound 48/80 (1%) produced a maximum increase in NAR of 9.1 ± 0.7 cmH20·L/minute. The increase in NAR in animals pretreated with a combination of the H1 antagonist, chlorpheniramine (CTM; 0.8 mg/kg i.v.) and increasing doses of the H3 antagonist, thioperamide (THIO; 1.0, 3.0, and 10.0 mg/kg i.v.) were 6.1 ± 2.1, 4.2 ± 1.0 and 2.2 ± 0.7 cmH20·L/minute, respectively. A second H3 antagonist, clobenpropit (CLOB; 0.03, 0.3, and 1.0 mg/kg i.v.) combined with CTM (0.8 mg/kg i.v.) also inhibited the nasal effects of compound 48/80. When the nonsedating H1 antihistamine, loratadine (3.0 mg/kg i.v.), was substituted for CTM, it also reduced nasal congestion when given in combination with THIO (10 mg/kg i.v.). In contrast, treatment with CTM (1.0 mg/kg i.v.) and the H2 antagonist, ranitidine (RAN; 1.0 mg/kg i.v.) were without activity. Loratadine, CTM, CLOB, RAN, or THIO administered alone were inactive. The α-adrenergic agonist, phenylpropanolamine (PPA; 1.0 mg/kg i.v.) demonstrated decongestant effects, but in contrast to H1/H3 blockade, PPA produced a significant hypertensive effect. Using acoustic rhinometry (AcR) we found that combined i.v. CTM (1.0 mg/kg) and THIO (10 mg/kg) and combined oral CTM (10 mg/kg) and THIO (30 mg/kg) blocked the decrease in nasal cavity volume produced by intranasal compound 48/80 (1%, 50 μL). We conclude that combined H1/H3 histamine receptor blockade enhances the efficacy of an H1 antagonist by conferring decongestant activity to the H1 antihistamine. We propose that the decongestant activity of combined H1/H3 blockade may provide a novel approach for the treatment of allergic nasal congestion without the hypertensive liability of current therapies.
Simulation of sparse neural networks on a CNAPS SIMD neurocomputer

Neuroanatomical aspects of the mammalian cerebral cortex can be modeled by n ural networks with a sparse and random connection scheme. This paper presents such sparse network model s and appropriate algorithms, data structures and optimization for an efficient parall el simulation on a CNAPS SIMD neurocomputer. Using these methods a considerable speedup in comparison to seque ntial computation is achieved.
Retargeting transposon insertions by the adeno-associated virus Rep protein

The Sleeping Beauty (SB), piggyBac (PB) and Tol2 transposons are promising instruments for genome engineering. Integration site profiling of SB, PB and Tol2 in human cells showed that PB and Tol2 insertions were enriched in genes, whereas SB insertions were randomly distributed. We aimed to introduce a bias into the target site selection properties of the transposon systems by taking advantage of the locus-specific integration system of adeno-associated virus (AAV). The AAV Rep protein binds to Rep recognition sequences (RRSs) in the human genome, and mediates viral integration into nearby sites. A series of fusion constructs consisting of the N-terminal DNA-binding domain of Rep and the transposases or the N57 domain of SB were generated. A plasmid-based transposition assay showed that Rep/SB yielded a 15-fold enrichment of transposition at a particular site near a targeted RRS. Genome-wide insertion site analysis indicated that an approach based on interactions between the SB transposase and Rep/N57 enriched transgene insertions at RRSs. We also provide evidence of biased insertion of the PB and Tol2 transposons. This study provides a comparative insight into target site selection properties of transposons, as well as proof-of-principle for targeted chromosomal transposition by composite protein–protein and protein–DNA interactions.
Traditional saliency reloaded: A good old model in new shape

In this paper, we show that the seminal, biologically-inspired saliency model by Itti et al. [21] is still competitive with current state-of-the-art methods for salient object segmentation if some important adaptions are made. We show which changes are necessary to achieve high performance, with special emphasis on the scale-space: we introduce a twin pyramid for computing Difference-of-Gaussians, which enables a flexible center-surround ratio. The resulting system, called VOCUS2, is elegant and coherent in structure, fast, and computes saliency at the pixel level. It is not only suitable for images with few objects, but also for complex scenes as captured by mobile devices. Furthermore, we integrate the saliency system into an object proposal generation framework to obtain segment-based saliency maps and boost the results for salient object segmentation. We show that our system achieves state-of-the-art performance on a large collection of benchmark data.
A further look at semantic context effects in language production: The role of response congruency

Most current models of speech production predict interference from related context words in picture-naming tasks. However, Glaser and Düngelhoff (1984) reported semantic facilitation when the task was changed from basic-level naming to category-level naming. The authors explore two proposals to account for this change in polarity of the semantic context effect: the semantic selection account by Costa, Mahon, Savova, and Caramazza (2003) and a response-congruency account. Experiments 1a and 1b show that category names induce semantic interference in basic-level naming, a finding that disproves the semantic selection account and is in line with the response-congruency account. Experiment 2 reveals that response congruency is probably a major contributor to the overall facilitation effect in categorisation tasks. Finally, Experiment 3 tests and confirms a prediction of the response-congruency account in basic-level naming with subordinate-level distractors. The authors conclude that the available evidence support the response-congruency account and suggest that this congruency effect is localised at the stage of constructing a preverbal message.
Privacy Risk in Graph Stream Publishing for Social Network Data

To understand how social networks evolve over time, graphs representing the networks need to be published periodically or on-demand. The identity of the participants (nodes) must be anonymized to protect the privacy of the individuals and their relationships (edges) to the other members in the social network. We identify a new form of privacy attack, which we name the degree-trail attack. This attack re-identifies the nodes belonging to a target participant from a sequence of published graphs by comparing the degree of the nodes in the published graphs with the degree evolution of a target. The power of this attack is that the adversary can actively influence the degree of the target individual by interacting with the social network. We show that the adversary can succeed with a high probability even if published graphs are anonymized by strongest known privacy preserving techniques in the literature. Moreover, this success does not depend on the distinctiveness of the target nodes nor require the adversary to behave differently from a normal participant. One of our contributions is a formal method to assess the privacy risk of this type of attacks and empirically study the severity on real social network data.
Muscle invasive and metastatic bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is the second most common cancer of the genitourinary tract with approximately 350 000 new cases worldwide [1]. It is an aggressive epithelial tumor with a high rate of early systemic dissemination. One third of patients develop locally invasive or metastatic disease. In patients with locally advanced bladder cancer (infiltrating the musculature) 5-year survival is dependent upon pathologic stage, grade and nodal status. With increasing tumor (T) stage, especially when cancer extends outside of the bladder wall, prognosis worsens. Failure is usually due to occult metastatic disease present at the time of initial diagnosis. Cystectomy is the gold standard of treatment for muscle invasive bladder cancer in most countries, although definitive radiotherapy (RT) is another suitable alternative. Five-year survival after cystectomy is at best 50%. In large series from the University of Padua, Memorial Sloan Cancer Center and the University of Southern California survival varies between 36% and 48% [2–5]. High-risk patients with pathologic stage pT3–pT4 and/or pN+ M0 bladder cancer have inferior 5-year survival between 25–35%.
Hepatoblastoma in the Nordic countries

Little is known about the etiology of hepatoblastoma. Because of the young age at diagnosis, several studies have looked at various birth characteristics. The purpose of our study was to investigate the incidence of hepatoblastoma in the Nordic countries and the association between selected birth characteristics and hepatoblastoma. Data from national cancer registries and birth registries in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland 1985–2006 was used. Overall, 155 children with hepatoblastoma aged 0–14 years were included and individually matched to five controls drawn randomly from national population registries. The incidence rate of hepatoblastoma was 1.7 per million person‐years with a predominance of boys (1.5:1). Incidence rate was highest before the age of 1 year (8.3 per million person‐years). A higher risk of hepatoblastoma was found in children with birth weight <1,500 g [odds ratio (OR) = 9.5; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.3–38.2], born preterm in week 22–32 (OR = 4.5; CI: 1.8–11.5) and Apgar scores <7 after 1 min (OR = 3.1; CI: 1.3–7.1) and 5 min (OR = 7.5; CI: 1.8–32.4). A doubling in risk was found in children who were large for gestational age (OR = 2.3; CI: 1.0–5.3). No associations were found with birth order, maternal age or maternal smoking. Our study indicates that intrauterine and/or neonatal factors are associated with increased risk of hepatoblastoma. These may include low birth weight and asphyxia leading to neonatal intensive care. Alternatively, the factors may be a consequence of hepatoblastoma developing in utero.
The association of psychiatric disorders with suicide attempts in a juvenile delinquent sample

The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which psychiatric disorders (current and lifetime) are associated with a history of suicide attempt in a sample of juvenile delinquents. Sixty adolescents in a secure detention facility participated in diagnostic interviews assessing most psychiatric disorders according to DSM-III-R criteria. Although this population appears to have numerous psychiatric problems, suicide attempts were primarily associated with the internalising problems of depression (major depression and dysthymia) and anxiety disorders. Suicide attempt rates were approximately twice as high for adolescents with these disorders compared with adolescents who had not experienced the disorder. Cannabis use disorders were associated with a trend (p = 0.051) for lower lifetime suicidal behaviour. Conduct and oppositional defiant disorders were associated with higher rates of suicide attempts in boys but lower rates of attempts in girls. The co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders did not significantly increase the likelihood of suicide attempt, although the pattern of results was in the predicted direction. Understanding the determinants of suicidal behaviour in detained adolescents has important clinical and theoretical implications. Efforts are clearly needed to treat depression actively in this population. Copyright © 1997 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
Restenosis After Coronary Angioplasty: Potential Biologic Determinants and Role of Intimal Hyperplasia

R estenosis after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) remains the major problem limiting the long-term efficacy of the procedure. Despite an extensive number of studies examining the clinical, morphologic, and technical factors associated with an increased risk of restenosis, our understanding of the problem remains incomplete. It is not possible to predict with a high degree of certainty which patients, vessels, or lesions will undergo restenosis. Despite many attempts, no controlled trial has proved successful in establishing an effective technical or pharmacologic solution to the problem. In general, these clinical trials have been flawed by a simplistic approach to what we are coming to appreciate as a very complex process. A remarkable but constant observation has been that despite the unavoidable intimal and medial injury, only the minority of dilated segments (approximately 30%) develop clinically important restenosis. The mechanisms responsible for some dilated lesions undergoing restenosis and for others remaining patent are central to understanding the problem. This review focuses on the biologic mechanisms involved in the process of lesion restenosis. An attempt is made to relate the many theoretical concepts and observations in laboratory studies to results of clinical investigations and explain these clinical findings from the standpoint of the potential underlying biologic mechanism.
Oroesophageal candidiasis is lethal for transgenic mice with combined natural killer and T-cell defects.

Germfree transgenic epsilon 26 (Tgepsilon26) mice, which express the full-length human CD3epsilon gene, have combined defects in natural killer (NK) cells and T cells were found to be extremely susceptible to oroesophageal (palate, tongue, esophagus) and gastric (cardia-antrum section) candidiasis. The gnotobiotic Tgepsilon26 mice die, apparently from severe oroesophageal candidiasis, within 2-4 weeks after their alimentary tracts are colonized with Candida albicans. The Tgepsilon26 mice manifest resistance to acute systemic candidiasis (intravenous injection) and to systemic candidiasis of endogenous origin for the first 2 weeks after their alimentary tracts are colonized with C. albicans. Granulocyte depletion data suggest that granulocytes, in the absence of functional NK cells and T cells, can protect Tgepsilon26 mice from acute systemic candidiasis and from systemic candidiasis of endogenous origin, for at least 14 days after alimentary tract colonization. Granulocytes and macrophages, in the absence of NK cells and T cells, are unable to protect Tgepsilon26 mice from lethal oroesophageal candidiasis and systemic candidiasis of endogenous origin which was evident in moribund Tgepsilon26 mice 2-4 weeks after colonization. Thus, non-T cells (i.e., NK cells) and T cells play important roles in resistance to oroesophageal and systemic (acute and of endogenous origin) candidiasis.
Moderating Effects of Processing Objective, Question Order and Delay on Memory and Judgement

The performance appraisal process makes many demands on a manager's cognitive abilities as there are a number of competing requirements. For instance, recalling performance information after a long period of time, determining training needs, ascertaining future objectives, etc. The processing objective present at the time of observation may also influence whether evaluations are made ‘on‐line’ or are ‘memory‐based’. Some research has found that the rating instrument may moderate memory and judgement by making certain information salient (Ilgen, Barnes‐Farrell, and McKellin 1993; Lichtenstein and Srull 1987; Woehr and Feldman 1993). While some studies have investigated both rating and recall order and processing objective, none have investigated both of these factors in relationship to time delay and the influence of impressions that were not directly related to performance. It has been suggested that the tendency to recall impressions of others rather than specific behaviour that lead to these impressions increase over time (DeNisi, Cafferty and Meglino 1984; Kozlowski and Ford 1991; Murphy and Balzer 1986). This study sets out to examine the influence of three variables, information processing objective, order of recall and rating and time delay on the relationship between memory and judgement and the various models important to these processes (DeNisi, Cafferty and Meglino 1984; Woehr and Feldman 1993; Hastie, Park and Weber 1984; Williams, Cafferty and DeNisi 1990). The experiment was a 2 × 2 × 2 between subjects factorial design with three independent variables with 187 students from various disciplines. Support was found for the model of performance appraisal by DeNisi et al. (1984) in that overall evaluations influenced dimensional ratings when a time delay was introduced. However, the hypothesized effect of recall/rating order was in the opposite direction to that expected, indicating that there were additional factors that influenced the relationship between memory and judgement.
Behavioural flexibility predicts species richness in birds, but not extinction risk

The number of species varies greatly among taxa. In birds, for example, the parvorder Passerida contains 3556 species while the Odontophorida contains only six species. This uneven distribution of species among bird groups is not a consequence of random branching patterns and therefore warrants an explanation. According to the behavioural drive hypothesis, behavioural innovation coupled with social transmission of the new skill to other members of the population may lead to accelerated rates of evolution, and could therefore account for differences in species richness. In this paper, we test the behavioural drive hypothesis by examining the link between behavioural flexibility and the number of species per taxon. We estimate flexibility with relative brain size and feeding innovation rate and predict that both will be positively associated with the number of species per taxon. Since the number of species at any given time results from a balance between speciation and extinction rates, we also examine the link between flexibility and the number of species threatened with extinction. We predict that the two flexibility correlates will be negatively associated with the number of species at risk. In simple regressions, both flexibility correlates were significantly associated with species number per taxon. However, only innovation rate remained in the final model. Relative brain weight dropped out of the multiple regression due to its association with innovation rate. Relative brain weight, innovation rate and species number per taxon were all significantly correlated with the number of threatened species in the simple regression, but only the latter remained significant in the final model. The same results were obtained on independent contrasts, indicating that behavioural flexibility predicts richness but not extinction risk in birds.  2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
Classification of Artist Genre through Supervised Learning

The goal of this paper is to classify the genre of an artist given a set of quantitative measures for each of their associated songs. We utilized supervised learning in this task, and relied upon a dataset composed of quantitative song data that Spotify provides for the majority of the songs that they stream. We collected data for 14 different features for over 35 million songs, which spanned over 100 thousand artists and over 12 hundred genres. Before applying classification methods to this data, we collapsed our set of genres by a factor of ten, and collapsed our song data by applied different statistical measures to reduce to a set of features for every artist. Then, we applied Stochastic Gradient Descent, Gaussian SVM, and Nearest-Neighbors as classifiers, and results were somewhat successful.
Towards an Applied Gamification Model for Tracking, Managing, & Encouraging Sustainable Travel Behaviours

In this paper we introduce a gamification model for encouraging sustainable multi-modal urban travel in modern European cities. Our aim is to provide a mechanism that encourages users to reflect on their current travel behaviours and to engage in more environmentally friendly activities that lead to the formation of sus- tainable, long-term travel behaviours. To achieve this our users track their own be- haviours, set goals, manage their progress towards those goals, and respond to chal- lenges. Our approach uses a point accumulation and level achievement metaphor to abstract from the underlying specifics of individual behaviours and goals to allow an extensible and flexible platform for behaviour management. We present our model within the context of the SUPERHUB project and platform.