Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of homogenates and excretory/secretory products of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and of acetylcholinesterase on the amplitude and frequency of contraction of uninfected rat intestine in vitro

SUMMARY Whole worm homogenates and excretory/secretory (E/S) products of adult Nippostrongylus brasiliensis significantly decreased the amplitude of contractions of segments of uninfected rat intestine maintained in an organ bath, with significantly larger volumes of E/S products being required to bring about a similar decrease to that caused by the whole worm homogenate. Boiled samples of homogenate and E/S products significantly decreased the amplitude of contractions of uninfected rat intestine, but larger volumes were needed than with unboiled samples. Frequency of contraction was unaltered by homogenates or E/S products. When electric eel AChE was injected into the lumen of segments of uninfected rat intestine maintained in an organ bath there was no significant decrease in the amplitude of contractions. These results suggest that substances present in the E/S products of N. brasiliensis significantly reduce the amplitude of contractions of uninfected rat intestine in vitro and that the biochemical holdfast responsible for this phenomenon may not be AChE.
Telomere Length in Preterm Infants: A Promising Biomarker of Early Adversity and Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?

Preterm infants present an immature neurobehavioral profile at birth, even in absence of severe brain injuries and perinatal complications. As such, they require a long-lasting hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), which is thought to grant at-risk newborns’ survival, but still entails a number of physical, painful, and socio-emotional stressors. Hence, preterm birth and NICU stay represent an early adverse experience, which has been linked to detrimental consequences for neurological, neuro-endocrinal, behavioral, and socio-emotional development, as well as to disease later in life. Recent advances in the behavioral epigenetic field are helping us to unveil the potential mechanisms through which early NICU-related stress may lead to negative developmental outcomes. From this perspective, telomere regulation might be a key programming mechanism. Telomeres are the terminal portion of chromosomes and are known to get shorter with age. Moreover, telomere length (TL) is affected by the exposure to stress during early development. As such, TL might be an innovative biomarker of early adverse exposures in young infants and children. Unfortunately, there is paucity of studies investigating TL in populations of preterm infants and its association with known NICU-related stressors remains unexplored. In the present paper, the potential relevance of TL for research and clinical work with preterm infants will be underlined in the light of recent contributions linking progressive telomere shortening and early exposure to adverse experiences and stressful environments in humans. Finally, insights will be provided to guide clinically relevant translational research on TL in the field of VPT birth and NICU stay.
National brands and store brands: Competition through public quality labels

In this article the authors study one aspect of the proliferation of quality labels in the agro-food sector: the coexistence of two signs on one same product and its consequences on the value of each sign. The context is that of the competition between national brands and private labels on a certain number of goods carrying a public quality label. The authors show that the value of a sign decreases when it is combined with another one on the same product. This result is verified for six products involving four quality labels. This allows for an interpretation of retailers' strategy concerning their private labels. lEconLit Classification: D120r. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 21-30, 2006.
Burn or rot: leaf traits explain why flammability and decomposability are decoupled across species

Summary In fireprone ecosystems, two important alternative fates for leaves are burning in a wildfire (when alive or as litter) or they get consumed (as litter) by decomposers. The influence of leaf traits on litter decomposition rate is reasonably well understood. In contrast, less is known about the influence of leaf traits on leaf and litter flammability. The aim of this study was twofold: (i) to determine which morphological and chemical leaf traits drive flammability and (ii) to determine whether different (combinations of) morphological and chemical leaf traits drive interspecific variation in decomposition and litter flammability and, in turn, help us understand the relationship between decomposability and flammability. To explore the relationships between leaf traits and flammability of individual leaves, we used 32 evergreen perennial plant species from eastern Australia in standardized experimental burns on three types of leaf material (i.e. fresh, dried and senesced). Next, we compared these trait–flammability relationships to trait–decomposability relationships as obtained from a previous decomposition experiment (focusing on senesced leaves only). Within the three parameters of leaf flammability that we measured, interspecific variation in time to ignition was mainly explained by specific leaf area and moisture content. Flame duration and smoulder duration were mostly explained by leaf dry mass and to a lesser degree by leaf chemistry, namely, nitrogen, phosphorus and tannin concentrations. The variation in the decomposition constant across species was unrelated to our measures of flammability. Moreover, different combinations of morphological and chemical leaf properties underpinned the interspecific variation in decomposability and flammability. In contrast to litter flammability, decomposability was driven by lignin and phosphorus concentrations. The decoupling of flammability and decomposability leads to three possible scenarios for species’ influence on litter fates: (i) fast-decomposing species for which flammability is irrelevant because there will not be enough litter to support a fire; (ii) species with slow-decomposing leaves and a high flammability; and (iii) species with slow-decomposing leaves and a low flammability. We see potential for making use of the decoupled trait–decomposition–flammability relationships when modelling carbon and nutrient fluxes. Including information on leaf traits in models can improve the prediction of fire behaviour. We note that herbivory is another key fate for leaves, but this study was focused on fire and decomposition.
Language Control in Different Contexts: The Behavioral Ecology of Bilingual Speakers

This paper proposes that different experimental contexts (single or dual language contexts) permit different neural loci at which words in the target language can be selected. However, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the neural circuit mediating language control we need to consider the community context in which bilingual speakers typically use their two languages (the behavioral ecology of bilingual speakers). The contrast between speakers from code-switching and non-code-switching communities offers a way to increase our understanding of the cortical, subcortical and, in particular, cerebellar structures involved in language control. It will also help us identify the non-verbal behavioral correlates associated with these control processes
Human leukocyte antigen matching and fetal loss: results of a 10 year prospective study.

The role that maternal and fetal human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes play in pregnancy is unknown, but it has been suggested that fetuses whose HLA alleles do not differ from maternal alleles (i.e. histocompatible fetuses) are more likely to be aborted than fetuses with HLA alleles that differ from maternal alleles (i.e. histoincompatible fetuses). To elucidate the role of HLA compatibility in pregnancy, we tested the hypothesis that couples who match for HLA alleles or haplotypes would have reduced fertility because only these couples could produce histocompatible fetuses. We conducted a 10 year prospective study of HLA matching and pregnancy outcome in 111 Hutterite couples, providing information on 251 pregnancies. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the effects of HLA matching at HLA regions and loci on pregnancy outcome (fetal loss versus delivery). Significantly increased fetal loss rates were observed among couples matching for the entire 16-locus haplotype (P = 0.002). Among the individual loci, loss rates were increased among couples matching for HLA-B (P = 0.019), HLA-C (P = 0.033) and the complement component, C4 (P = 0.043). We interpret these results as evidence that matching for the entire 16-locus haplotype and/or alleles at an HLA-B-linked locus confers significant risk for fetal loss.
STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELS FOR THE HIERARCHIZATION OF ACTIVITIES IN THE SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION OF ORIGIN-CERTIFIED FOODS

A quality differentiation strategy for agrifood products based on geographical origin and production method has become a viable alternative for certain firms in the internationalized food markets, if it could be considered as a rural development instrument. This method of adding value to their products nevertheless requires them to take into account not only objective factors, which tend to be related to product characteristics, but also subjective factors that are more closely linked to consumers’ assessment of their differentiating features and the factors that influence that assessment. The study confirms using various structural equation models the key impact of consumers’ attitudes towards these products (image) on final purchase behaviour. The experiment was conducted both inside and outside the production region of two selected food items and in all markets it will be necessary to act upon both attitudinal components, that is, product image in its various dimensions and consumer attitude toward the region of origin, in order to develop these markets, where, currently, product characteristics are found to have the stronger influence.
Silicon Filled Integrated Waveguides

In this letter, we report, for the first time, a silicon-filled integrated waveguide based on a two mask integrated circuit (IC) process and substrate transfer technique. The fabrication process offers a high degree of control and repeatability on the device geometrical dimensions. Waveguide structures with cutoff frequencies of 35, 50, and 77 GHz were designed and fabricated. In the fundamental TE10-like operating mode, average losses as low as 0.10 dB/mm with a slow-wave factor of 2.5 were observed. The measurement results are in excellent agreement with HFSS simulations, validating the usability of these structures as a new component in mm-wave IC-designs.
Normative Power Europe, Once Again: A Conceptual Analysis of an Ideal Type

The concept of ‘Normative Power Europe’ (NPE) has become very popular for analysing the foreign policy and external relations of the European Union (EU). There is, however, confusion about what ‘normative power’ actually means, which is why the debate over whether the EU actually is or is not a normative power has not always been as fruitful as it could be. This article proposes two necessary starting points for more constructive discussion: a distinction between ‘normative’ and ‘normal’, and a distinction between ‘power as a powerful actor’ and ‘power as ability to cause effects’. Furthermore, the article distinguishes between ‘normative identity’, ‘normative interests’, ‘normative behaviour’, ‘normative means of power’ and ‘normative outcomes’ as separate features of a normative power. There are also at least four different mechanisms through which normative power is exercised: by persuasion, by invoking norms, by shaping the discourse and by leading through example. The article concludes that normative power is best seen as an ideal type – one which the EU approximates more closely than other great powers.
Single mothers in Ontario: sociodemographic, physical and mental health characteristics.

OBJECTIVE To examine the sociodemographic, physical and mental health characteristics of single mothers in Ontario. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Ontario. PARTICIPANTS Ontario residents aged 15 years or older who participated in the Ontario Health Supplement survey conducted between December 1990 and April 1991; of 9953 eligible participants, 1540 were mothers with at least 1 dependent child (less than 16 years of age). OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalence rates of sociodemographic, physical and mental health characteristics. RESULTS Single mothers were significantly more likely than the mothers in 2-parent families to be poor, to be 25 years of age or less, to have mental health problems (dissatisfaction with multiple aspects of life, affective disorder ever and 1 or more psychiatric disorders in the past year or ever) and to use mental health services. When compared by income level, poor single mothers had a higher prevalence of all mental health outcomes measured; the difference was significant for anxiety disorder in the past year or ever and for 1 or more psychiatric disorders in the past year or ever. In a logistic regression analysis, single-mother status was found to have the strongest independent effect on predicting mental health morbidity and utilization of mental health services; the next strongest was low income. CONCLUSIONS Single mothers are more likely to be poor, to have an affective disorder and to use mental health services than mothers in 2-parent families. The risk of mental health problems is especially pronounced among poor single mothers. Further studies are needed to determine which aspects of single motherhood, apart from economic status, affect mental health outcomes.
To Evaluate the Efficacy of an Innovative Irrigant on Smear Layer Removal - SEM Analysis.

INTRODUCTION The goal of endodontic therapy is to completely eliminate the microorganisms and the smear layer from the root canal in order to provide a good seal of the root filling materials. AIM The aim of this study was to find a viable alternative irrigant, which is easily available with less erosion and clinically acceptable smear layer removal by comparing the efficacy of EDTA and commercially available super-oxidized water, named Oxum, as a final rinse on smear layer removal and erosion in relation to coronal, middle and apical thirds of radicular dentin using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Freshly extracted 30 human lower second premolar teeth with straight roots and type I canal anatomy were selected. The root canals were cleaned and shaped using Universal Protaper Rotary System. Irrigation was performed with 1 ml of 2.5% of NaOCl solution after each instrument change. The final irrigation (5 ml) sequence was as follows: Group I- 17% EDTA, Group II - OXUM, and Group III - 0.9% saline (control) for one minute. Then, the root canals were finally irrigated with 5ml of distilled water to remove any precipitate. The roots were then gently split into two halves using a chisel and subjected to SEM analysis. RESULTS The SEM photomicrographs were evaluated by two independent examiners and Mann Whitney results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the two examiners. Non-parametric statistical analysis of all experimental groups showed significant difference between coronal, middle and apical third for smear layer removal with p-value<0.05. For erosion, in group II (oxum) showed statistically significant difference between coronal, middle and apical third and it showed significantly less dentine erosion when compared to EDTA. CONCLUSION Within the limitations of the present study, Oxum the commercially available super-oxidized water proved to be equally effective in smear layer removal with less erosion when compared to EDTA.
Drosophila E-cadherin is essential for proper germ cell-soma interaction during gonad morphogenesis

In most animal species, germ cells require intimate contact with specialized somatic cells in the gonad for their proper development. We have analyzed the establishment of germ cell-soma interaction during embryonic gonad formation in Drosophila melanogaster, and find that somatic cells undergo dramatic changes in cell shape and individually ensheath germ cells as the gonad coalesces. Germ cell ensheathment is independent of other aspects of gonad formation, indicating that separate morphogenic processes are at work during gonadogenesis. The cell-cell adhesion molecule Drosophila E-cadherin is essential both for germ cell ensheathment and gonad compaction, and is upregulated in the somatic gonad at the time of gonad formation. Our data indicate that differential cell adhesion contributes to cell sorting and the formation of proper gonad architecture. In addition, we find that Fear of Intimacy, a novel transmembrane protein, is also required for both germ cell ensheathment and gonad compaction. E-cadherin expression in the gonad is dramatically decreased in fear of intimacy mutants, indicating that Fear of Intimacy may be a regulator of E-cadherin expression or function.
The effects of propofol anesthesia on local cerebral glucose utilization in the rat.

The autoradiographic 14C-2-deoxy-D-glucose method was used to determine local cerebral glucose utilization (LCGU) during propofol anesthesia and recovery in 52 regions of the rat brain. Control rats intravenously received 5 ml.kg-1.h-1 of the egg-oil-glycerol emulsion that constitutes the vehicle for propofol. Anesthetized animals received an iv bolus of propofol (20 mg/kg) followed by continuous infusion of the anesthetic at 12.5, 25, or 50 mg.kg-1.h-1 for 1 h prior to injection of 14C-2-deoxy-D-glucose and for the following 45 min. In addition, a fifth group of animals were studied immediately after awakening from a 20 mg/kg bolus of propofol as indicated by the first reappearance of head lift. All rats were spontaneously breathing room air throughout the experimental procedure. The general pattern of the cerebral metabolic response to propofol anesthesia was a dose-related, widespread depression of LCGU. At the three infusion rates of propofol tested, overall mean LCGU was reduced by 33%, 49%, and 55%, respectively, and significant decreases were observed in 60%, 85%, and 90% of the regions assayed. These effects were rapidly reversible, since in the recovery group, LCGU returned to near control values in the majority of the brain areas. Although all of the anatomofunctional systems (sensorimotor, extrapyramidal, limbic, and reticular) were involved, forebrain structures showed a greater sensitivity to the depressant action of propofol than did hindbrain regions. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Still working for the man? Women's employment experiences in Australia since 1950

This article tackles the question of what is the 'good life' for women in employment in Australia through an examination of national legislation and policies. Since 1950 what has been seen as the good life has changed dramatically. The article outlines three phases of change: in the 1950s and 1960s men were regarded as the wage earners and women the homemakers, with women barred from some jobs and paid less than men; in the 1970s legislation and equal pay cases removed overt discrimination against women; from the mid 1980s the complexity of achieving equality for women at work was recognised through equal opportunity legislation, work and family policies and equal pay inquiries. In 2010 the 'good life' for women is having the same opportunities and outcomes in employment as men. While policy provisions support this, the reality of achieving this is difficult. So in 2010 many women are still 'working for the man' in the context that most managers are men.
Ecopreneurship – a new approach to managing the triple bottom line

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extend research into social and ecological entrepreneurship. It aims to examine how ecopreneurs can create an economically viable business whilst retaining their core environmental and social values.Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory approach within the phenomenological research paradigm. Single case study of Green‐Works triangulating data collection – semi structured interviews, micro‐ethnography and document analysis. Inductive approach.Findings – A strong link is identified between entrepreneurialism and environmentalism. The entrepreneurial flair of the CEO enables the pursuit of environmental, social and economic goals. The success of the Green‐Works business model stems from the business's symbiotic relationships: firstly with large corporate bodies, which are keen to quantify their CSR efforts; secondly, with the community and social partners, who provide employment and training for disadvantaged people and a route to relatively risk free growth; .
Relative roles of inhibin B and sex steroids in the negative feedback regulation of follicle-stimulating hormone in men across the full spectrum of seminiferous epithelium function.

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE Our aim was to explore the relative roles of gonadal sex steroids and inhibin B in the regulation of FSH across a spectrum of seminiferous epithelium function. SUBJECTS The study included three groups: group I, healthy men (n = 31); group II, men with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism receiving pulsatile GnRH (n = 12) selected to represent a spectrum of seminiferous tubular development, testicular size, and baseline inhibin B levels; and group III, men with functional anorchia (n = 3) receiving testosterone replacement. DESIGN Subjects were studied before and after 3 d of acute sex steroid withdrawal. SETTING The study was conducted at the Mallinckrodt General Clinical Research Center of Massachusetts General Hospital. INTERVENTIONS Acute biochemical castration was achieved using high-dose ketoconazole (groups I and II) or withdrawal of androgen therapy (group III). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The relationship between FSH and inhibin B in both normal and castrate sex steroid milieu was measured. RESULTS In both normal and castrate sex steroid milieus, there was a negative relationship between inhibin B and FSH, best described by a logarithmic model. Acute biochemical castration resulted in the most dramatic increases in FSH in men with the lowest baseline inhibin B levels. CONCLUSIONS We came to the following conclusions: 1) in the human male, inhibin B is the principal gonadal feedback regulator of FSH secretion unless seminiferous tubular function is severely compromised, and a logarithmic model best describes this relationship; and 2) sex steroid inhibition of FSH secretion is most apparent when serum inhibin B levels fall well below the normal range.
Injuries sustained by users and non-users of gum shields in local rugby union.

This study was undertaken because of the high number of orofacial injuries and the complacent attitude of local rugby union players to the wearing of gum shields in spite of encouragement and advice to do so. Amongst non-users there seemed to be an attitude that injuries are inevitable. This apathy and cavalier attitude to unnecessary injury needs to be changed. These injuries can be almost totally avoided by the use of protective apparatus'. An attempt was also made to determine if youngsters were well informed about the benefits of gum shields and if they were in fact wearing them. As it has been found in contact sports that the higher the grade of competition, the greater the risk of a player sustaining injury, a comparison has been made with other studies on elite players. The incidence of injury is thought to increase with age and playing level.