Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-Molecular Weight Caldesmon as a Potential Serum Marker for Glioma

Purpose: Testing the feasibility of using the serum low-molecular weight caldesmon (l-CaD) level as a serum marker for the presence of glioma. Experimental Design: Within a total of 230 serum samples, the l-CaD level was measured in healthy volunteers (30), patients with gliomas (57), nonglial intracranial tumors (107), and nontumor neurologic diseases (36) by ELISA. The specificity of the assay was monitored by combination of immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting. Results: The serum level of l-CaD is significantly higher in the group of glioma patients as compared with any of the other groups (P < 0.001). The cutoff value of 45 yields optimal sensitivity and specificity of the assay (91% and 84%, respectively; area under the curve score = 0.91). The specificity of ELISA was confirmed by the immunoprecipitation/immunoblotting control experiments. There were no significant differences in serum l-CaD levels between patients with low- or high-grade gliomas. Conclusions: The serum l-CaD level as determined by ELISA is a good discriminator between glioma patients versus patients with other intracranial tumors, other neurologic diseases, and healthy people. Prospective studies are required to test the contribution of the assay in making the diagnosis of glioma, or its feasibility for monitoring the tumor during treatment.
On the Relation Between Discharge Zone and Subliminal Fringe in a Motoneuron Pool Supplied by a Homogeneous Presynaptic Pathway *

This note is concerned with a description of the growth, in a motoneuron pool, of a discharge zone within and from the subliminal fringe, as excitation by a homogeneous afferent system is progressively increased. On being subjected to an afferent influx, a motoneuron pool, previously considered to be in the "resting" state, may be divided into two zones, one resting, the other excited (Sherrington8). Once reflex threshold is reached, the excited zone, in turn, contains a discharge zone and a subliminal fringe (Denny-Brown and Sherrington'). It seems certain that discharge from a neuron pool in the central nervous system demands summation of the action of a number of synaptic knobs (cf. Eccles and Sherrington2) and the conditions, for such summation are: (1) virtually synchronous arrival of impulses at the motoneuron (Lorente de No5'6); (2) sufficiency in number of impulses impinging upon the motoneuron (Ecdes and Sherrington2); and (3) immediate proximity of the active synapses (Lorente de No5 8). Of most immediate concern to the present account is the last of these conditions. Lorente de No has shown that activation of a very large number of synapses belonging to a given presynaptic path may remain ineffective in the sense of securing a postsynaptic discharge, yet a few of these same synapses active in concert with others of different origin, themselves of subliminal effect in isolation, may evoke a large postsynaptic discharge.5 6, Obviously the spatial decrement of subliminal stimulation must be great and the location of active synapses of prime importance in securing transmission. Anatomical studies on the distribution of synaptic knobs on motoneuroris of the spinal cord (Lorente de No6) shows (1) that each presynap~tic fiber has on anv neuron but a small number of knobs
GENERALIZED 'PROBE' MODEL FOR ARBITRARY DEPHASING MECHANISMS

It has been shown earlier that in the linear response regime, dephasing by point scatterers (within the self-consistent Born approximation) can be visualized in terms of point voltage probes attached to each space and energy coordinate (r,E). In this paper we derive a generalized linear response equation starting from the non-equilibrium Green function formalism that can be used to describe any dephasing process in any approximation. The dephasing is characterized by a 'reservoir function' which can be evaluated from the self-energy. The linear response equation can be visualized in terms of voltage probes but with individual probes connected to each pair of spatial coordinates and to each energy (r,r',E). Unlike point scatteren, this generalized 'probe' model allows us to introduce phase relaxation without necessarily introducing momentum relaxation. We obtain explicit expressions for the transmission 'fij from terminal 'j' to terminal 'i' by eliminating the 'floating probes' inside the device. These expressions for 'fij clearly show the role of the exclusion principle in determining the transmission. Proof of reciprocity in multiterminal conductors is provided. We also present a simple illustrative example calculating 'fij for a short single-moded electron waveguide with electron-phonon interactions. An important difference between the present formulation and usual linear response theory is that the electrochemical potential difference is treated as the driving force; however, we do not neglect the self-consistent fields that appear in an interacting system when a small bias is applied.
Developmental and evolutionary considerations on numerical cognition: A review

Abstract It has been 150 years since the publication of Darwin's 1859 On the Origins of Species. Darwin proposed that human intelligence was a product of the evolutionary process, and that it would be interesting to investigate human faculties in light of those of other animals. Here we review some ideas that bring together the fields of evolutionary psychology and comparative psychology, and we present developmental and comparative evidence to show that Darwin's vision, 150 years on, has come to fruition.
Global relationships of total alkalinity with salinity and temperature in surface waters of the world's oceans

A simple function of sea surface salinity (SSS) and temperature (SST) in the form AT = a + b (SSS − 35) + c (SSS − 35)2 + d (SST − 20) + e (SST − 20)2 fits surface total alkalinity (AT) data for each of five oceanographic regimes within an area‐weighted uncertainty of ±8.1 μmol kg−1 (1σ). Globally coherent surface AT data (n = 5,692) used to derive regional correlations of AT with SSS and SST were collected during the global carbon survey in the 1990s. Such region‐specific AT algorithms presented herein enable the estimation of the global distribution of surface AT when observations of SSS and SST are available.
Identification of the target self-antigens in reperfusion injury

Reperfusion injury (RI), a potential life-threatening disorder, represents an acute inflammatory response after periods of ischemia resulting from myocardial infarction, stroke, surgery, or trauma. The recent identification of a monoclonal natural IgM that initiates RI led to the identification of nonmuscle myosin heavy chain type II A and C as the self-targets in two different tissues. These results identify a novel pathway in which the innate response to a highly conserved self-antigen expressed as a result of hypoxic stress results in tissue destruction.
Fruit and vegetable consumption is inversely associated with blood pressure in a Mediterranean population with a high vegetable-fat intake: the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Study

There is evidence that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables reduces blood pressure (BP). Characteristically, the Mediterranean diet is rich in plant-derived foods and also in fat, but studies conducted in Mediterranean countries to relate diet to BP are scarce. We studied the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and BP in a cross-sectional analysis of 4393 participants in the Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra (SUN) Study, an ongoing dynamic cohort study in Spain. Diet was measured using a food-frequency questionnaire previously validated in Spain. Fat represented more than 37% total energy intake. Subjects were considered to have undiagnosed hypertension if they reported systolic BP ≥140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg, and not a medical diagnosis of hypertension. The adjusted prevalence odds ratio of undiagnosed hypertension (upper v. lowest quintile) was 0·58 (95% CI 0·36, 0·91; P for trend 0·01) for vegetable consumption and 0·68 (95% CI 0·43, 1·09; P for trend 0·10) for fruit consumption. Comparing those in the highest quintile of both fruit and vegetable consumption with those in the lowest quintile of both food groups, the prevalence odds ratio was 0·23 (95% CI 0·10, 0·55; P=0·001), after adjusting for risk factors for hypertension and other dietary exposures. In a Mediterranean population with an elevated fat consumption, a high fruit and vegetable intake is inversely associated with BP levels.
Understanding Leadership Strategies for Addressing the Politics of Diversity

Given the importance of moving diversity agendas forward nationally and the lack of understanding about how to address the politics that almost always emerge when institutionalizing a diversity initiative, I endeavored to examine the method by which presidents handled the politics related to moving a diversity agenda forward. I address two research questions: How and in what ways do presidents find that moving a diversity agenda forward is a political process, and what is the nature of the politics? What strategies do presidents use to negotiate a political environment and create change? The results reveal that college presidents found the process of moving a diversity agenda forward to be an extremely political process (mentioning three distinctive types of politics). Presidents mentioned six strategies as most important for addressing politics: develop coalitions and advocates, take the political pulse regularly, anticipate resistance, use data to neutralize politics and rationalize the process, ensure public relations and showcase success, and capitalize on controversy for learning and unearth interest groups.
Disseminating Authorized Content in Interest-Centric Opportunistic Social Networks

The authorized content is the content which can only be generated by the content provider (CP). The content copies delivered to a user may bring some reward to the CP if the content is adopted by the user. The overall reward obtained by the CP depends on how much the user is interested in the content and how the user may help disseminate the content copies. Hence, to maximize the reward obtained, the content provider are motivated to disseminate the authorized content to the most interested users. In this paper, we study how to effectively disseminate the authorized content in interest-centric opportunistic social networks (IOSNs) such that the reward is maximized. We first derive the Social Connection Pattern (SCP) to statistically describe the interest distribution of the users contacted or connected. The SCP is used to predict the interests of possible contactors and connectors. We then propose our Social Connection Pattern based Dissemination algorithm (SCPD) to calculate the best number of content copies to disseminate when two users meet. Our dataset based simulation shows that our SCPD algorithm is effective and efficient to disseminate the authorized content in IOSNs
Speech Perception Ability in Noise is Correlated with Auditory Brainstem Response Wave I Amplitude.

BACKGROUND Difficulty understanding speech in background noise is a common complaint of individuals with sensorineural hearing loss. Recent animal studies suggest this difficulty may be due, in part, to spiral ganglion cell degeneration related to aging or noise exposure. Although auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds and standard clinical audiometric tests are minimally affected by neuronal degeneration, the amplitude of wave I of the ABR is correlated to spiral ganglion cell density. PURPOSE This study hypothesized that wave I amplitude was correlated to speech-in-noise performance. To test this, the relationships between wave I amplitude, age, and speech perception ability were analyzed in human participants. RESEARCH DESIGN This is a correlational study. STUDY SAMPLE A total of 101 ears from 57 adults ranging in age from 19 to 90 yr with a pure-tone average of 45 dB HL or better were examined in this study. Only individuals with no history of neurological disease and ears without any evidence of conductive involvement were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Speech perception was measured in quiet using NU-6 word lists and in background noise using the QuickSIN. Ear canal electrodes were used to obtain ABR waveforms from each ear and the amplitude of wave I was measured as the absolute difference in voltage between the peak of the wave and the following trough. Speech perception performance in quiet and in background noise were both modeled using a linear mixed model with the covariates age, four-frequency pure-tone average (4fPTA), wave I amplitude, and the interaction between 4fPTA and wave I amplitude. ABR wave I amplitudes were modeled using a linear mixed model with age and 4fPTA as the covariates. The correlation between the right and left ears of the same participant were modeled using random effects. RESULTS The results indicate that reduced ABR wave I amplitudes are (1) related to increased age, (2) associated with decreased speech-in-noise performance, with the greatest effects in individuals with poorer pure-tone thresholds, and (3) not correlated to speech perception in quiet. CONCLUSIONS Reduced ABR wave I amplitude, an indicator of cochlear neuronal degeneration, is associated with decreased speech perception ability in noise, with a more pronounced effect in ears with poorer pure-tone thresholds, but does not appear to contribute to decreased speech perception in quiet.
Efficacy of the Brain Injury Family Intervention: Impact on Family Members

Objective:Examine the effectiveness of an intervention (Brain Injury Family Intervention) for family caregivers after acquired brain injury. Research Design:Prospective, controlled repeated-measures design. Methods:The Brain Injury Family Intervention was designed as a whole family approach to addressing needs, emphasizing education, skill building, and psychological support. One hundred eight families of outpatients were assigned to either a treatment or wait list control group. The manualized treatment focused on highly relevant topics (eg, common injury effects, coping with loss and change, communication, and stress management) and was composed of five 2-hour sessions with outcome measurement pretreatment, posttreatment, and at 3 months following. Outcome measures included the Family Needs Questionnaire, the Service Obstacles Scale, and the Zarit Burden Interview. Results:Treatment group caregivers showed an increase in met needs, greater satisfaction with services, and reduced burden relative to pretesting, whereas controls did not. Between-group differences for Professional Support needs were identified. Conclusions:Investigation provided evidence that a curriculum-based education, skill-building, and support intervention can benefit caregivers for up to 3 months. Additional research is needed to ascertain the longer-term benefits of intervention and the efficacy of alternative delivery methods (eg, via telephone and the Internet).
Comparison of the reliability and validity of scores from two concept‐mapping techniques*

This paper reports the results of a study that compared two concept-mapping techniques, one high-directed, ''fill-in-the-map,'' and one low-directed, ''construct-a-map-from-scratch. '' We examined whether: (1) skeleton map scores were sensitive to the sample of nodes or linking lines to be filled in; (2) the two types of skeleton maps were equivalent; and (3) the two mapping techniques provided similar infor- mation about students' connected understanding. Results indicated that fill-in-the-map scores were not sensitive to the sample of concepts or linking lines to be filled in. Nevertheless, the fill-in-the-nodes and fill- in-the-lines techniques were not equivalent forms of fill-in-the-map. Finally, high-directed and low-directed maps led to different interpretations about students' knowledge structure. Whereas scores obtained under the high-directed technique indicated that students' performance was close to the maximum possible, the scores obtained with the low-directed technique revealed that students' knowledge was incomplete com- pared to a criterion map. We concluded that the construct-a-map technique better reflected differences among students' knowledge structure. fl 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 260 - 278, 2001 Concept maps have been used to assess students' knowledge structure, especially in science education (Novak, 1990). The justification for assessing students' knowledge structures is based on the idea that relating concepts that belong to the same domain is an important characteristic of scientific literacy (e.g., Bybee, 1996; Moore, 1995). Theory and research have shown that understanding a subject domain such as science is associated with a rich set of relations among important concepts in the domain (Novak, 1998; Novak & Gowin, 1984; Novak, Gowin, & Johansen, 1983; Novak & Ridley, 1988). We know, for example, that successful learners develop elaborate and highly integrated frameworks of related concepts (Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1997), just as experts do (Chi, Glaser, & Farr, 1988; Glaser, 1991). Research has shown that highly organized structures facilitate problem solving and other cognitive activities (e.g., generating explanations or rapidly recognizing meaningful patterns; Baxter, Elder, & Glaser,
Intracellular Assembly and Secretion of Recombinant Subviral Particles from Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus

ABSTRACT It is believed that flavivirus assembly occurs by intracellular budding of the nucleocapsid into the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Recombinant expression of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus envelope proteins prM and E in mammalian cells leads to their incorporation into enveloped recombinant subviral particles (RSPs), which have been used as a model system for studying assembly and entry processes and are also promising vaccine candidates. In this study, we analyzed the formation and secretion of TBE virus RSPs and of a membrane anchor-free E homodimer in mammalian cells. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed that E was accumulated in the lumen of the ER. RSPs were observed by electron microscopy in the rough and smooth ER and in downstream compartments of the secretory pathway. About 75% of the particles appeared to be of the size expected for RSPs (about 30 nm in diameter), but a number of larger particles and tubular structures were also observed in these compartments. Secretion of membrane anchor-free E dimers was detected 30 min after synthesis of prM and E, and secretion of RSPs was detected 1 h after synthesis of prM and E. We also found that the presence of the single N-linked oligosaccharide side chain on the E protein and its trimming by glucosidases was necessary for secretion of RSPs and truncated E dimers. Our results suggest that incorporation of prM and E into RSPs occurs at the ER membrane without other viral elements being required, followed by rapid transport along the compartments of the secretory pathway and secretion. Moreover, the carbohydrate side chain of E is involved in at least one assembly or transport step.
Playing Symbolically with Death in Extreme Sports

Many amateur sportsmen in the West, have today started undertaking long and intensive ordeals where their personal capacity to withstand increasing suffering is the prime objective. Running, jogging, the triathlon and trekking are the sorts of ordeal where people without any particular ability are not pitting themselves against others but are committed to testing their own capacity to withstand increasing pain. Constantly called upon to prove themselves in a society where reference points are both countless and contradictory and where values are in crisis, people are now seeking a one-to-one relationship by redical means, testing their strength of character, their courage and their personal resources. Going right on to the end of a self-imposed ordeal gives a legitimacy to life and provides a symbolic plank that supports them. Performance itself is of secondary significance; it has a value only to the individual. There is no struggle against a third party, only a method for reinforcing personal will-power and over-coming suffering by going right to the limit of a personally imposed demand. The physical limit has come to replace the moral limit that present-day society is failing to provide. Overcoming suffering tempers the individual, providing a renewed significance and value to his life.
THE ACQUISITION OF LEXICAL BOUNDARIES IN ENGLISH BY NATIVE SPEAKERS OF SPANISH

Dieser Artikel untersucht den Erwerb von lexikalischen Grenzen (lexical boundaries) in einer Fremdsprache am Beispiel spanischer Muttersprachler, die Englisch lernen. Dazu wurden 133 englischen Muttersprachlern und 40 spanischen Muttersprachlern Zeichnungen gezeigt, die alltägliche Gegenstände darstellen wie Stühle, Tassen oder Schuhe. Die Gegenstände einer jeden Klasse wurden in verschiedenen Größen und Formen dargestellt und die Versuchspersonen wurden gebeten, jede einzelne Zeichnung zu benennen. Auf diese Weise wurden z.B. lexikalische Grenzen zwischen Stuhl (chair) und Hocker (stool) ermittelt.
A review of studies on maternal occupational exposures and birth defects, and the limitations associated with these studies.

The proportion of pregnant women who work during pregnancy is increasing as more women move into previously male-dominated occupations. With this move, occupational exposure to chemical or physical factors during pregnancy could be further increased. In the last decade, there have been many reports on the causes of birth defects. Unfortunately, most reported associations between occupational exposures and adverse reproductive outcomes in epidemiological studies are equivocal and often controversial. Many reported associations are only suggestive. More information is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn. The major reasons for ambiguous findings are due to limitations of study methodology, e.g. inappropriate endpoints, multiple confounders, low study power and inadequate analysis methods. It must also be noted that maternal work, and therefore exposure, may also differ greatly from country to country.
Data filtering in wireless sensor networks using neural networks for storage in cloud

In this paper, wireless sensor networks are integrated with the cloud environment to aid in the storage and easier processing of data. The concept of gateways is introduced for linking wireless sensor networks and cloud. The sensor gateway collects information from the sensor nodes, compresses it and transmits it to the cloud gateway which in-turn decompresses it and stores in the cloud server. The gateway monitors all the sensors in its cluster and gets data from them. The paper uses neural networks for filtering at the sensor gateway to find anomalies in the values sensed. The proposed architecture reduces the power consumption as the major portion of data processing is done at the gateways and also since the data is periodically updated in the cloud, the storage requirements of the gateway and the sensors is minimal.
A Study of Path-Goal Relations between Leaders of College Principals and Their Subordinates in Pakistan.

This study was designed to investigate the relationship among leadership behavior of degree college principals, selected organizational and personal characteristics, and faculty job satisfaction, acceptance of leader and job expectancies. The moderators included task structure, role ambiguity, stress, need for autonomy, need for achievement, perception about ability and locus of control. Responses were received from 854 college faculty members. Correlation analysis indicated that leadership styles were positively related to job expectancies and negatively related to acceptance of leader and job satisfaction. There were no differences between male and female respondents on any dependent measure. Majority was satisfied with their work on the job, supervision, coworkers and job in general and were dissatisfied with their pay and the promotion policy. Regression analysis indicated that only experience and length of service under current principal had significant affect on acceptance and satisfaction.