Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Caveolin-1 and Caveolin-2 Expression in Mouse Macrophages

Evidence for caveolin expression in macrophages is scarce and conflicting. We therefore examined caveolin-1 and caveolin-2 expression in resident and thioglycollate-elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages (tg-MPM) and in the J774 mouse macrophage cell line by RT-PCR, ribonuclease protection assay, immunoblotting, and immunofluorescence. We found that relative to 3T3 cells, resident MPM and tg-MPM express low amounts of caveolin-1 (45 and 15% of those in 3T3 fibroblasts, respectively), while J774.A1 cells do not express any. Caveolin-2, on the other hand, is expressed in all cells examined, with highest expression in tg-MPM and the lowest in J774 cells. The relative levels of caveolin expression in the various cells correspond well with their respective mRNA levels, as measured by ribonuclease protection assay. Caveolin-1, present primarily on the cell surface, does not co-localize significantly with caveolin-2, which is present primarily in the Golgi compartment in all macrophages studied. Loading of tg-MPM with cholesterol or variations in unesterified cholesterol content appear to have little effect on the level of caveolin-1 or -2 expression or their distribution. Stimulation of cholesterol efflux by HDL3 leads to caveolin-1 and caveolin-2 secretion to the cell culture medium, a process not detected in the absence of HDL3. The lack of significant co-localization of the two caveolin isoforms in primary macrophages and their secretion in the presence of HDL3 provides an interesting and physiologically relevant model system to study additional aspects of caveolin function.
A comparitive cross‐cultural study of the frequencies of hallucination in schizophrenia

ABSTRACT– The frequencies of auditory, visual and olfactory hallucinations as defined by Wing et a! , were studied in schizophrenic patients of various groups treated in the same hospital. The diagnosis of schizophrenia was made by the use of the Syndrome Check List. It was found that there were some cultural differences in the frequencies of hallucinations, these being higher in the African, West Indian and Asian culture groups than in the English and other groups. The possible clinical significance of these variations are discussed.
Myocardial interstitial levels of serotonin and its major metabolite 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid during ischemia-reperfusion.

The aim of this study was to examine the accumulation of serotonin (5-HT) and degradation of 5-HT taken up into cells in the ischemic region during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion. Using microdialysis technique in anesthetized rats, we monitored myocardial interstitial levels of 5-HT and its metabolite produced by monoamine oxidase (MAO), 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA), during 30-min coronary occlusion followed by 45-min reperfusion, and investigated the effects of local administration of the MAO inhibitor pargyline and the 5-HT uptake inhibitor fluoxetine. In the vehicle group, the dialysate 5-HT concentration increased from 1.3 ± 0.2 nM at baseline to 29.6 ± 2.8 nM at 22.5-30 min of occlusion, but the dialysate 5-HIAA concentration did not change from baseline (9.9 ± 1.1 nM). Upon reperfusion, the dialysate 5-HT concentration increased further to a peak (34.2 ± 4.2 nM) at 0-7.5 min and then declined. The dialysate 5-HIAA concentration increased to 31.9 ± 5.2 nM at 7.5-15 min of reperfusion and maintained this high level until 45 min. Pargyline markedly suppressed the increase in dialysate 5-HIAA concentration after reperfusion and increased the averaged dialysate 5-HT concentration during the reperfusion period. Fluoxetine suppressed the increase in dialysate 5-HT concentration during occlusion but did not change dialysate 5-HT or 5-HIAA concentration after reperfusion. During ischemia, 5-HT secreted from ischemic tissues accumulates but 5-HT degradation by MAO is suppressed. After reperfusion, degradation of 5-HT taken up into cells is enhanced and contributes to the clearance of accumulated 5-HT. This degradation following cellular uptake is dependent on MAO activity but not the fluoxetine-sensitive uptake transporter. NEW & NOTEWORTHY By monitoring myocardial interstitial levels of 5-HT and its metabolite, 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid, we investigated 5-HT kinetics during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion. 5-HT accumulates but 5-HT degradation is suppressed during ischemia. After reperfusion, 5-HT degradation is enhanced and this degradation is dependent on monoamine oxidase activity but not fluoxetine-sensitive uptake transporter.
The antiquity of rheumatoid arthritis: a reappraisal.

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate the existence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before the 19th century. METHODS Survey of primary and secondary references on the history of rheumatic diseases. RESULTS Paleopathological evidence suggests the existence of RA in America since 8000 BC and in Europe since the 7th century. Descriptions and representations of a symmetric chronic polyarthritis producing characteristic deformities can be found in Rome since 100 BC and India since 500 BC. The first clinical distinction between RA and gout was published in Mexico in 1578. Different historical conditions contributed to lack of recognition of RA by official medicine before 1800. The recognition of RA as a distinct entity in the 19th century was influenced by socioeconomic circumstances. CONCLUSION RA is not a recent disease. Historical investigation can provide useful clues on its pathogeny.
Reassessing the insurance effect: A qualitative analysis of fertility behavior in Senegal and Zimbabwe

A number of prominent demographers have recently reiterated the argument that a lasting mortality decline is a key determinant of the fertility transition. Of the main hypothesized pathways linking fertility to mortality, the one least studied is the insurance hypothesis: the notion that, in high-mortality contexts, people decide to have more children in order to anticipate possible future child deaths and lessen the risks of having too few surviving offspring. In-depth interviews and focus groups from Zimbabwe and Senegal are used to examine this hypothesis and to extend it into a broader theory of reproductive decision making under uncertainty. Whereas insurance strategies are frequent in Zimbabwe and occur in urban Senegal, in the higher-mortality settings-the rural Senegalese site and the recent past described by respondents in Zimbabwe and urban Senegal-deliberate fertility-limitation strategies are rare. The data depict fundamental changes in attitudes, strategies, and behaviors concerning family size over time and, in Senegal, over space. Important reproductive goals and risks extend far beyond numbers of children and mortality. Parents seek to have healthy, successful children for many reasons including companionship, descendants, and old-age support. Diverse investments in child quality (their education, health, etc.) and quantity (numbers of births) are the main means to attain these goals and, less recognized by demographers, are also important ways for parents to manage uncertainty in family-building outcomes; the "classic" insurance mechanism is only one, often minor, aspect of the quantity option. Copyright 2003 by The Population Council, Inc.
Panel reviews health effects data for assisted reproductive technologies.

TORONTO—Twenty-five years after the first baby was conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and nearing the birth of the 2 millionth IVF baby, the longterm health consequences of assisted reproductive technologies have yet to be determined. “There’s been a host of often incomplete and, frankly, very confusing data published on the health of these children,” said Kathy Hudson, PhD, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at the Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, DC. Hudson helped enlist a panel of experts to review all of the available data on the health of children conceived through assisted reproductive technologies “to get a better idea of what we know and what we don’t know and to make recommendations for where we need to go next,” she said. The effort was undertaken by Johns Hopkins University in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Most of the panel’s findings, presented by Hudson at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), provide reassurance that these procedures are safe, although there were some areas of concern.
Negative-Aware Influence Maximization on Social Networks

How to minimize the impact of negative users within the maximal set of influenced users? The Influenced Maximization (IM) is important for various applications. However, few studies consider the negative impact of some of the influenced users.We propose a negative-aware influence maximization problem by considering users' negative impact. A novel algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. Experiments on real-world datasets show the proposed algorithm can achieve 70% improvement on average in expected influence compared with rivals.
A beneficial effect of oxandrolone in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

We treated 10 boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy with oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, for 3 months. The mean of the changes in the average muscle score was an improvement of 0.315 ± 0.097. The expected mean change in muscle score after 3 months from natural history data is a loss of 0.1. The difference of 0.415 between the actual and expected values is significant at p < 0.01. This preliminary evidence suggests that oxandrolone treatment may provide a degree of functional benefit for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy that is similar to that after prednisone administration.
The Influence of Hotel Attributes on the Selection of a Conference Venue

The study reported here focuses on the world of professional conference managers and hotel managers and tests for a degree of consensus between them as to what attributes are salient to the selection of a hotel as a conference venue. Both a strong consensus and an operational rather than a facilities focus emerges. The suspicion is raised that re‐occurring operational problems lie behind the consensus.
Statistical inference using SGD

We present a novel method for frequentist statistical inference in M-estimation problems, based on stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with a fixed step size: we demonstrate that the average of such SGD sequences can be used for statistical inference, after proper scaling. An intuitive analysis using the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process suggests that such averages are asymptotically normal. To show the merits of our scheme, we apply it to both synthetic and real data sets, and demonstrate that its accuracy is comparable to classical statistical methods, while requiring potentially far less computation.
UK: precautionary commercialization?

As genetically modified (GM) products approach the market stage, the UK government and agro-food industry have faced a suspicious or hostile public. Since 1998 many retail chains have undertaken to exclude any GM-derived ingredients from their own-brand lines. This commercial blockage has intensified pressures for greater precaution, even for a moratorium on cultivating GM crops. Political protest has led to strategies for precautionary commercialization. Government and industry have cooperated to plan a ‘managed development’ of GM crops. Across the agricultural supply chain, industry has devised voluntary guidelines to ensure segregation of GM crops and to limit the spread of GM herbicide-tolerance. In particular UK regulators seek to test the risk that broad-spectrum herbicide sprays could damage wildlife habitats; they have broadened the advisory expertise accordingly. These measures open up the precautionary content to further debate, at both national and EU levels. Market-stage precautions establish a means to test claims that GM crops are environmentally-friendly products. By translating public concerns into broader risk-assessment criteria, the UK procedure involves critics in potentially influencing standards of scientific evidence and environmental harm. This social process has become a prerequisite for legitimizing commercial use.
Export Platform FDI as a Concept for Growth - Selected Global Experiences

Objective: The main idea presented in the paper is based on the research devoted to interrelations between foreign direct investments (FDI) and export activities that result in the development of the specific form of foreign direct investment – Export Platform (EPFDI). Research Design & Methods: The paper is based on literature review. The main body of the paper constitutes the geographical review and the listing of the determinants that influence the decision to launch an EPFDI. Findings: The research brings the working hypothesis that the role of the EPFDI is increasing and free trade zone is a determinant for EPFDI creation. Implications & Recommendations: As exports are a GDP component, the issue of export platforms is important from macroeconomic and microeconomic perspective, for politicians and entrepreneurs respectively. The existing literature about EPFDI is limited and calls for growth. Contribution & Value Added: The paper constitutes the first review of the EPFDI from a Polish perspective.
Olfactory Impairment in Presymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) impairs olfaction, but it is uncertain how early this occurs in the disease process and whether the effect can be accounted for by other behavioral or genetic markers of the disease. We administered the Brief Smell Identification Test (BSIT) to 471 older people without dementia or cognitive impairment who then completed annual clinical evaluations and brain autopsy at death. BSIT score was associated with more rapid decline in episodic memory and with increased risk of developing incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI), even after controlling for baseline level of episodic memory and possession of an apolipoprotein E ɛ4 allele. In 34 people who died without evidence of cognitive impairment, lower BSIT score was associated with higher level of AD pathology, even after controlling for ɛ4 and for level of episodic memory function when olfaction was assessed. These analyses suggest that among older people without clinical manifestations of AD or MCI, olfactory dysfunction is related to both the level of AD pathology in the brain and the risk of subsequently developing prodromal symptoms of the disease, and that these associations persist after accounting for the effects of other recognized behavioral and genetic markers of the disease.
Sustainable Communities: Affordable Housing and Socio-economic Relations

Recent UK government objectives are focused on creating sustainable communities to improve quality of life. Housing is a key issue to consider in delivering healthy and attractive communities. In certain areas of housing, lack of supply and consequent problems of affordability have created persistent social and economic pressure. For sustainable communities, housing should be easily available, high-quality, economic, ecological, aesthetically designed and comfortable, thus better suiting the needs of a person. Moreover, the housing must be affordable according to the local and national situation. This article addresses the issue of sustainable communities from the perspectives of housing markets and socio-economics. The study focuses on key factors that are believed to contribute to the currently existing housing situation, assessing the impact of regulated socio-economics upon the sustainable housing and communities. The study also reviews past and current government initiatives and policies relevant to housing and regeneration in the UK. The article finishes with the interview-based study carried out in the Northwest with a reflection on the notion of the sustainable communities plan and its eight key components, the housing market and its dependence on the economic, the social and political environment and it offers recommendations for the further sustainable communities' development within the UK.
Knowledge management and value creation in service firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of knowledge management (KM) on value creation in Icelandic service firms. The aim is to examine how KM contributes to value creation, and measure the ways in which KM affects intangible assets, such as customer capital, innovation, and human capital.Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a survey approach conducted in 2007 among 222 firms (46.1 percent response rate). Of these firms 97 had KM programmes in place and this paper is based on these firms. Service firms were 60 percent of the firms that had implemented KM.Findings – The findings of the study show that firms with KM report more value creation in the fields of customer capital, innovation and human capital compared to firms that have not introduced KM. This indicates that KM has a positive impact on intangible assets in firms, but given the few firms involved in the survey, findings need to be interpreted with care.Practical implications – The findings of the study have hig.
Merkel cell carcinoma expresses the immunoregulatory ligand CD200 and induces immunosuppressive macrophages and regulatory T cells

ABSTRACT Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare and aggressive skin cancer that responds to PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors. CD200 is another checkpoint modulator whose receptor is found on tumor-promoting myeloid cells, including M2 macrophages. We found high CD200 mRNA expression in MCC tumors, and CD200 immunostaining was demonstrated on 95.5% of MCC tumors. CD200R-expressing myeloid cells were present in the MCC tumor microenvironment. MCC-associated macrophages had a higher average CD163:CD68 staining ratio (2.67) than controls (1.13), indicating an immunosuppressive M2 phenotype. Accordingly, MCC tumors contained increased densities of FOXP3+ regulatory T-cells. Intravenous administration of blocking anti-CD200 antibody to MCC xenograft mice revealed specific targeting of drug to tumor. In conclusion, MCC are highly CD200 positive and associated with immunosuppressive M2 macrophages and regulatory T-cells. As anti-CD200 antibody effectively targets CD200 on MCC tumor cells in vivo, this treatment may provide a novel immunotherapy for MCC independent of PD-1/PD-L1 blockade.
More on the estimation of the human capital depreciation rate

This study formulates an alternative empirical model to that of Groot (Applied Economics Letters, 5, 535–8, 1998) to estimate the rate of depreciation of human capital, in which the post-schooling investment and the difference between the potential and the observed earnings of the individuals are taken into account. As an illustration, the model has been estimated for a sample of Spanish men and women. The results show depreciation rates of human capital of around 1–1.5% per year.
Energising the TTIP: Political economy of the trade policy rationale. Paper No. 9 in the CEPS-CTR project “TTIP in the Balance’’and CEPS Special Report No. 113/July 2015

Despite accounting for a significant share of global trade and the resulting interdependencies from it, energy governance remains largely fragmented and there is no global framework or agreement defining the rules of energy trade. This paper, after presenting the main global and regional energy market developments, discusses the opportunities to ‘energise the TTIP’, i.e. to include a chapter dedicated to trade and cooperation in the sphere of energy. The shale revolution in the US, the ever-rising interconnectedness of energy markets (recently proven by the disappearance of the ‘Asian gas premium’) and the EU’s quest to diversify its energy supplies generally sets favourable conditions to reinforce energy relations between the EU and the US. The question, as is often the case, is whether there is sufficient political will to tighten relations in a strategic sphere with connotations for national security and sovereignty.
Exploring a successful magazine web site

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide a multifaceted exploration of the motives and success factors of a magazine web site.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an explorative single case study of a Finnish magazine web site. The analysis is based on triangulated data (semi‐structured interviews, observation, statistics, and documents provided by the magazine publisher). Findings – The case illustrates that a magazine web site supports all the three functions (editorial, circulation, and advertising) that are vital to a magazine's success. Moreover, virtual community activities seem to have enhanced customer loyalty and added a more lifelike dimension to the magazine concept.Practical implications – Media managers should look at internet presence from a more multifaceted perspective rather than merely focus on the revenue streams. Operating online services should be valued and exploited alongside the development of the print product.Originality/value – The value of this research lies in .
Guided Growth: The Importance of a Single Tether. An Experimental Study

Background: During the last few years, the use of the 8-plate as a technique for hemiepiphysiodesis has gained wide acceptance, as it has been shown that it works in a more physiological way than other methods such as staples or transphyseal screws. It has mechanically been compared with a tension band plate, and for this reason, only a single plate is needed. The following study was undertaken to test the 8-plate against the staples and assess factors that can influence the difference in results. Methods: A prospective experimental study was designed to compare the ability of 2 hemiepiphysiodesis methods, the 8-plate and the double staple, to produce angular deformity in the rabbit’s tibia (group I). The variable studied was the variations in the articular line-diaphysis angle at 6 weeks. As the results showed that the 8-plate produced a bigger deformity, a second group was designed (group II) comparing single against double staple, under the hypothesis that the differences observed in the first group could be related to the number of anchors put across the physis and consequently depend on the volume of physis involved by the staples. Results: In group I, the 8-plate produced a bigger angulation at 6 weeks’ time than the 2 staples (a difference of 6.5 degrees, P=0.03). Similarly, in group II, the single staple produced a greater angulation than the 2 staples (difference 6 degrees, P=0.08). When both groups were compared, no differences in the angulation produced by the 8-plate and the single staple with respect to the 2 staples were found. Conclusions: These results suggest that one of the reasons why the 8-plate may act in a more “physiological way” (vs. the traditional 2-staple or 3-staple hemiepiphysiodesis) could be the fact that the growth plate is tethered only at a single point. Therefore, the physis retains a major potential for growth and deformity. Clinical relevance: The 8-plate is superior in producing/correcting angular deformity when compared with the traditionally used staples (2 or more) but not when compared with a single staple.