Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Platelet GP IIIa Pl(A) polymorphisms display different sensitivities to agonists.

BACKGROUND Both inherited predisposition and platelet hyperreactivity have been associated with ischemic coronary events, but mechanisms that support genetic differences among platelets from different subjects are generally lacking. Associations between the platelet Pl(A2) polymorphism of GP IIIa and coronary syndromes raise the question as to whether this inherited variation may contribute to platelet hyperreactivity. METHODS AND RESULTS In this study, we characterized functional parameters in platelets from healthy donors with the Pl(A) (HPA-1) polymorphism, a Leu (Pl(A1)) to Pro (Pl(A2)) substitution at position 33 of the GP IIIa subunit of the platelet GP IIb/IIIa receptor (integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3)). We studied 56 normal donors (20 Pl(A1,A1), 20 Pl(A1,A2), and 16 Pl(A2,A2)). Compared with Pl(A1,A1) platelets, Pl(A2)-positive platelets showed a gene dosage effect for significantly greater surface-expressed P-selectin, GP IIb/IIIa-bound fibrinogen, and activated GP IIb/IIIa in response to low-dose ADP. Surface expression of GP IIb/IIIa was similar in resting platelets of all 3 genotypes but was significantly greater on Pl(A2,A2) platelets after ADP stimulation (P=0.003 versus Pl(A1,A1); P=0.03 versus Pl(A1,A2)). Pl(A1,A2) platelets were more sensitive to inhibition of aggregation by pharmacologically relevant concentrations of aspirin and abciximab. CONCLUSIONS Pl(A2)-positive platelets displayed a lower threshold for activation, and platelets heterozygous for Pl(A) alleles showed increased sensitivity to 2 antiplatelet drugs. These in vitro platelet studies may have relevance for in vivo thrombotic conditions.
Protein Tyrosine Phosphorylation Influences Adhesive Junction Assembly and Follicular Organization of Cultured Thyroid Epithelial Cells*

The follicular histoarchitecture of the thyroid forms the anatomical basis for thyroid physiology and is commonly disturbed in diseases of the thyroid. We have used cultured porcine thyroid cells to study thyroid epithelial morphogenesis and its regulation. When cultured in the presence of TSH, freshly isolated thyroid cells reorganize to form follicles within three-dimensional cell aggregates. However, when established follicles are washed into TSH-free medium, thyroid cells spread and migrate to convert follicles into confluent epithelioid monolayers, activating morphogenetic mechanisms, such as cell lo-comotility, that may be relevant to thyroid inflammation and tumor invasiveness. The phenomenon of follicle to monolayer conversion, therefore, provides an opportunity to identify morphogenetic mechanisms that 1) must be tonically inhibited to maintain follicular organization and 2) may contribute to pathogenetic disturbances of follicular architecture when functioning aberrantly. In this study we found that follicle to monolayer conversion is associated with an increase in cellular phosphotyrosine. This was particularly evident at nascent focal adhesions (cell-substrate adhesive junctions) and later at cell-cell junctions. Focal adhesion assembly was accompanied by reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton, with the appearance of prominent stress fibers. Genistein, a potent inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinases, inhibited the accumulation of phosphotyrosine, focal adhesion assembly, and follicle to monolayer conversion. We conclude that tyrosine phosphorylation exerts an important influence on thyroid epithelial organization in culture, at least partly mediated through regulation of focal adhesion assembly. T HE FOLLICULAR histoarchitecture of the thyroid constitutes the anatomical basis of thyroid physiology (1). Organization of thyroid epithelial cells into cysts enclosing colloid-filled lumena allows the synthesis, processing, and secretion of thyroid hormones to be coupled to a store of hormonal precursors (2). To create functional follicles, cells must aggregate, polarize, and establish selective permeabil-ity barriers between the lumenal and blood compartments. Based on studies in other epithelia, these morphogenetic events are likely to entail the coordinated action of processes such as cellular adhesion (3–7), directed intracellular trafficking (8), assembly of specialized cell-cell junctions (9), and precisely regulated morphogenetic cell movements (10). In-asmuch as disturbances in these cellular processes have been implicated in inflammatory (11) and neoplastic diseases of other epithelia (12), elucidation of their role in thyroid fol-licular morphogenesis is likely to have important implications for common endocrine diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis and thyroid neoplasia, which are characterized by disturbed follicular architecture. Primary porcine thyroid cell cultures provide a particularly useful model system to study the cellular …
Attentional Focus, Dispositional Reinvestment, and Skilled Motor Performance under Pressure

Attentional processes governing skilled motor behavior were examined in two studies. In Experiment 1, fi eld hockey players performed a dribbling task under single-task, dual-task, and skill-focused conditions under both low and high pressure situations. In Experiment 2, skilled soccer players performed a dribbling task under single-task, skill-focused, and process-goal conditions, again under low and high pressure situations. Results replicated recent fi regarding the detrimental effect of skill-focused attention and the facilitative effect of dual-task conditions on skilled performance. In addition, focusing on movement related process goals was found to adversely affect performance. Support for the predictive validity of the Reinvestment Scale was also found, with high reinvesters displaying greater susceptibility to skill failure under pressure. Results were consistent with explicit monitoring theories of choking and are further discussed in light of the conceptual distinction between explicit monitoring and reinvestment of conscious control.
Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems ( PACIS ) 7-15-2012 Reflecting Attitude In It Adoption Research – Theoretical Considerations And Scientometric Evaluations

Users’ attitudes depict one of the main determinant s, why individuals use information systems. However, in the basic theoretical understanding of s cial psychology research attitude could be shaped in two different ways; attitude formation an d attitude change. Within this paper, both attitude research streams are theoretically reflected as wel l as observed in IT adoption literature using data of a scientometric analysis of the following 14 top jo urnals of the IS field according to several journal rankings. The results represent a domination of att itude formation and show that 90% of the articles applied this form. Additionally, it could be reveal d that the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior are the most applied underlyings for attit ude formation. Furthermore, two interesting aspects could be outlined. Concerning attitude change, besi des being by definition a construct to describe dynamic structures with a process-based measurement , 44% of the articles found used underlying theories for static structures with a moment-based m asurement.
A Gb/s one-fourth-rate CMOS CDR circuit without external reference clock

A 1-2.25 Gb/s clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit using 1/4th-rate digital quadricorrelator frequency detector and skew-calibrated multi-phase voltage-controlled oscillator is presented. With 1/4th-rate clock architecture, the coil-free oscillator can have lower operation frequency providing sufficient low-jitter operation. Moreover, it is inherent 1-to-4 DEMUX. The skew calibration scheme is applied to reduce phase offset in multi-phase clock generator. The CDR with frequency detector can have small loop bandwidth but wide pull-in range and can operate without the need for a local reference clock. This 1/4th-rate CDR is implemented in standard 0.18mum CMOS technology. It has an active area of 0.7 mm2 and consumes 100mW at 1.8V supply. The CDR has low jitter operation in a wide frequency range from 1-2.25 Gb/s. Measurement of bit-error rate is less than 10-12 for 2.25 Gb/s incoming data 27-1 PRBS, jitter peak-to-peak of 0.7 UI modulation at 10 MHz
Enhancing the Drag Reduction Phenomenon within a Rotating Disk Apparatus Using Polymer-Surfactant Additives

Pipelines and tubes play important roles in transporting economic liquids, such as water, petroleum derivatives, and crude oil. However, turbulence reduces the initial flow rate at which liquids are pumped, thereby making liquid transportation through pipelines inefficient. This study focuses on enhancing the drag reduction (DR) phenomenon within a rotating disk apparatus (RDA) using polymer-surfactant additives. The complex mixture of polyisobutylene (PIB) and sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (SDS) was used. These materials were tested individually and as a complex mixture in RDA at various concentrations and rotational speeds (rpm). The morphology of this complex was investigated using transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The reduction of the degradation level caused by the continuous circulation of surfactant additives in RDA could improve the long-term DR level. Experimental result shows that the maximum %DR of the complex mixture was 21.455% at 3000 rpm, while the PIB and SDS were 19.197% and 8.03%, respectively. Therefore, the complex mixture had better performance than these substances alone and were highly dependent on the alkyl chain of the surfactant.
Dynamic Bargaining for Relay-Based Cooperative Spectrum Sharing

Cooperative spectrum sharing can effectively improve the spectrum usage by allowing secondary users (SUs) to dynamically and opportunistically share the licensed bands with primary users (PUs). In return, an SU will relay a PU's traffic to improve the PU's effective data rate. In this paper, we study how one PU and one SU achieve an efficient spectrum sharing through dynamic noncooperative bargaining. The key challenge is that the PU does not have complete information of the SU's energy cost. We model the dynamic bargaining with incomplete information as a dynamic Bayesian game, and investigate the equilibria under both single-slot and multi-slot bargaining models. Theoretical analysis and numerical results indicate that our proposed scheme can lead to a win-win situation, where both the PU and the SU obtain data rate improvements via the bargaining-based CSS mechanism. Furthermore, the SU can take advantage of the incomplete information to improve its bargaining power (also called reputation effect), and thus gain a higher data rate.
A Comparison between Compounding Techniques using Large Beam-Steered Plane Wave Imaging for Blood Vector Velocity Imaging in a Carotid Artery Model.

Conventional color Doppler imaging is limited, since it only provides velocity estimates along the ultrasound beam direction for a restricted field of view at a limited frame rate. High frame rate speckle tracking, using plane wave transmits, has shown potential for 2D blood velocity estimation. However, due to the lack of focusing in transmit, image quality gets reduced, which hampers speckle tracking. Although ultrafast imaging facilitates improved clutter filtering, it still remains a major challenge in blood velocity estimation. Signal drop-outs and poor velocity estimates are still present for high beam-to-flow angles and low blood flow velocities. In this work, ultrafast plane wave imaging was combined with multi-scale speckle tracking to assess the 2D blood velocity vector in a common carotid artery (CCA) flow field. A multi-angled plane wave imaging sequence was used to compare the performance of displacement compounding, coherent compounding and compound speckle tracking. Zero-degree plane wave imaging was also evaluated. The performance of the methods was evaluated before and after clutter filtering for the large range of velocities (0 to 1.5 m/s) that are normally present in a healthy CCA during the cardiac cycle. An extensive simulation study was performed, based on a sophisticated model of the CCA, to investigate and evaluate the performance of the methods at different pulse repetition frequencies and signal-to-noise levels. In vivo data were acquired of a healthy carotid artery bifurcation to support the simulation results. In general, methods utilizing compounding after speckle tracking, i.e., displacement compounding and compound speckle tracking, were least affected by clutter filtering and provided the most robust and accurate estimates for the entire velocity range. Displacement compounding, which uses solely axial information to estimate the velocity vector, provided most accurate velocity estimates, although it required sufficiently high pulse repetition frequencies in high blood velocity phases and reliable estimates for all acquisition angles. When this latter requirement was not met, compound speckle tracking was most accurate, because it uses the possibility to discarded angular velocity estimates corrupted by clutter filtering. Similar effects were observed for in vivo data obtained at the carotid artery bifurcation. Investigating a combination of these two compounding techniques is recommended for future research.
Transported into a story world: The role of the protagonist

Narratives can create an experience that is both intense and impactful. Readers can become deeply engaged with a narrative and its characters, as they focus specially on the events that are described and experience emotions in response to these events. Green and Brock's research has shown that transportation, or the feeling that one is being carried into a narrative world, can make readers' beliefs become more consistent with the beliefs implicitly implied by the story. Based on Zillmann's Affective Disposition Theory, the different portrayals of the protagonists' behaviour and personality in eliciting transportation is tested. This chapter discusses the Transportation-Imagery Model of Green and Brock and presents the Affective Disposition Theory. The term transportation is used by Gerrig as a metaphor for the experience that readers of a story can have during reading. The Transportation-Imagery Model provides a testable theory of the antecedents and consequences of transportation. Keywords: Green and Brock's research; narratives; protagonist; Transportation-Imagery Model; Zillmann's Affective Disposition Theory
Diet and asthma: an update

Purpose of reviewOur objective was to provide an overview and discussion of recent experimental studies, epidemiologic studies, and clinical trials of diet and asthma. We focus on dietary sources and vitamins with antioxidant properties [vitamins (A, C, and E), folate, and omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 and n-6 PUFAs)]. Recent findingsCurrent evidence does not support the use of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, or PUFAs for the prevention or treatment of asthma or allergies. Current guidelines for prenatal use of folate to prevent neural tube defects should be followed, as there is no evidence of major effects of this practice on asthma or allergies. Consumption of a balanced diet that is rich in sources of antioxidants (e.g. fruits and vegetables) may be beneficial in the primary prevention of asthma. SummaryNone of the vitamins or nutrients examined is consistently associated with asthma or allergies. In some cases, further studies of the effects of a vitamin or nutrient on specific asthma phenotypes (e.g. vitamin C to prevent viral-induced exacerbations) are warranted. Clinical trials of ‘whole diet’ interventions to prevent asthma are advisable on the basis of existing evidence.
Mentalizing as a Mechanism of Change in the Treatment of Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder: A Parallel Process Growth Modeling Approach

Although a number of effective psychotherapeutic treatments have been developed for borderline personality disorder (BPD), little is known about the mechanisms of change explaining the effects of these treatments. There is increasing evidence that impairments in mentalizing or reflective functioning—the capacity to reflect on the internal mental states of the self and others—are a central feature of BPD. To date, no study has directly investigated the core assumption of the mentalization-based approach to BPD, that changes in this capacity are associated with treatment outcome in BPD patients. This study is the first to directly investigate this assumption in a sample of 175 patients with BPD who received long-term hospitalization-based psychodynamic treatment. Using a parallel process growth modeling approach, this study investigated whether (a) treatment was related to changes in mentalizing capacity as measured with the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire; (b) these changes could be explained by pretreatment levels of mentalizing and/or symptomatic distress; and (c) changes in mentalizing capacity over time were associated with symptomatic improvement. Mentalizing and symptomatic distress were assessed at admission, 12 and 24 weeks into treatment, and at discharge. Results showed that treatment was associated with significant decreases in mentalizing impairments (i.e., uncertainty about mental states) and symptomatic distress. Pretreatment levels of mentalizing and symptomatic distress did not predict these changes. However, improvements in mentalizing were strongly associated with the rate of decrease in symptomatic distress over time (r = .89). These findings suggest that increases in mentalizing may indeed in part explain therapeutic change in the treatment of BPD, but more research is needed to further substantiate these conclusions.
A Family of Experiments to Investigate the Influence of Context on the Effect of Inspection Techniques

Abstract For a growing population of researchers in software engineering, empirical studies have become a key approach of re-search. Empirical studies may be used, for example, to evaluate technologies and help to direct further research by revealing what problems and difficulties people have in practice. Without empirical studies, we have to rely only on intuition or educated opinion. Individual empirical studies often yield interesting results for their particular context, but typically this context is not de-scribed in sufficient detail to decide whether another context is similar enough to apply the conclusions of the study also there. We argue instead that families of experiments with a common framework for collecting context data are necessary in order to abstract conclusions at a useful level of detail. This paper describes a method to plan, conduct, and analyze coordinated, or concerted, families of experiments. The goal of the method is to maximize the quality and benefit of the individual empirical studies as part of the family and to mini-mize the effort for researchers by reusing experiment know-how. This is achieved by providing, for all studies of the ex-periment family, a common framework for context measurement, study preparation, material, and analysis. We apply the method to describe the planning steps for an experiment family on the influence of context on the effec-tiveness of defect reduction techniques. We focus on a particular technology, reading techniques for inspections, to in-stantiate this work. The first step of this experiment family is a broad survey of software companies on the state of the practice of inspection process and inspection techniques. The second step is to benchmark state-of-the-art inspection techniques with the par-ticipating organization’s own documents and inspection techniques. Keywords: Empirical Software Engineering, Experiment Family, Software Inspection, Meta Analysis. 1 I
Intron definition in splicing of small Drosophila introns

Approximately half of the introns in Drosophila melanogaster are too small to function in a vertebrate and often lack the pyrimidine tract associated with vertebrate 3' splice sites. Here, we report the splicing and spliceosome assembly properties of two such introns: one with a pyrimidine-poor 3' splice site and one with a pyrimidine-rich 3' splice site. The pyrimidine-poor intron was absolutely dependent on its small size for in vivo and in vitro splicing and assembly. As such, it had properties reminiscent of those of yeast introns. The pyrimidine-rich intron had properties intermediate between those of yeasts and vertebrates. This 3' splice site directed assembly of ATP-dependent complexes when present as either an intron or exon and supported low levels of in vivo splicing of a moderate-length intron. We propose that splice sites can be recognized as pairs across either exons or introns, depending on which distance is shorter, and that a pyrimidine-rich region upstream of the 3' splice site facilitates the exon mode.
Thrombocytes Correlate with Lymphangiogenesis in Human Esophageal Cancer and Mediate Growth of Lymphatic Endothelial Cells In Vitro

Recent data provide evidence for an important role of thrombocytes in lymphangiogenesis within human malignant disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of thrombocytes in lymphangiogenesis in human esophageal cancer. Perioperative peripheral blood platelet counts (PBPC) were evaluated retrospectively in 320 patients with esophageal cancer, comprising 184 adenocarcinomas (AC), and 136 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC). Data on lymphangiogenesis evaluated by anti-podoplanin immunostaining were available from previous studies, platelets within the tumor tissue were assessed by CD61 immunostaining. For in vitro studies, human lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) were isolated and co-cultured with peripheral blood platelets. Stromal thrombocytic clusters (STC) were evident in 82 samples (25.6%), and vascular thrombocytic clusters (VTC) in 56 (17.5%). STC and VTC were associated with a significantly higher PBPC at investigation of all cases. The presence of STC was associated with higher lymphatic microvessel density (p<0.001), PBPC and STC were associated with lymphovascular invasion of tumor cells in a regression model. The presence of STCs was associated with shorter DFS of all patients (p = 0.036, Breslow test), and VTC with shorter DFS in in SCC (p = 0.025, Breslow test). In cell culture, LEC proliferation was enhanced by co-culture with human platelets in a dose- and time-dependent manner mediated by the release of PDGF-BB and VEGF-C. Platelets play an important role in lymphangiogenesis and lymphovascular invasion in esophageal cancer, influencing prognosis. So the disruption of signaling pathways between platelets, tumor cells and lymphatic endothelium might be of benefit for patients.
An approach to measuring and assessing dependability for critical software systems

Traditional software testing methods combined with probabilistic models cannot measure and assess dependability for software that requires very high reliability (failure rate<10/sup -6//hour) and availability (>0.999999). This paper proposes a novel approach, drawing on findings and methods that have been described individually but have never been combined, applied in the late testing phase or early operational phase, to quantify dependability for a category of critical software with such high requirements. The concepts that are integrated are: operational profile, rare conditions, importance sampling, stress testing, and measurement-based dependability evaluation. In the approach, importance sampling is applied on the operational profile to guide the testing of critical operations of the software, thereby accelerating the occurrence of rare conditions which have been shown to be a leading cause of failure in critical systems. The failure rates measured in the testing are then transformed to those that would occur in the normal operation by the likelihood ratio function of the importance sampling theory, and finally dependability for the tested software system is evaluated by using measurement-based dependability modeling techniques. When the acceleration factor is large (over 100), which is typical for a category of software of interest, it is possible to quantify a very high reliability or availability in a reasonable test duration. Some feasible methods to implement the approach are discussed based on real data.