Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estrogen receptor (ER) β expression in oligodendrocytes is required for attenuation of clinical disease by an ERβ ligand

Significance Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease characterized by inflammation and demyelination. Immunomodulatory agents slow, but do not prevent, disease progression and offer only indirect neuroprotection. The estrogen receptor β (ERβ) ligand diarylpropionitrile (DPN) has direct neuroprotective effects in a mouse model of MS by stimulating endogenous myelination. Here we elucidate the cell type(s) mediating DPN’s effects. Conditional knockout of ERβ in oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage cells prevented DPN-induced improvement in clinical disease and myelination, partially prevented callosal conduction improvement, and prevented activation of a pathway implicated in OL survival/axon myelination. Our results indicate that DPN-conferred neuroprotection in a mouse model of MS is mediated by ERβ in OLs and inform highly targeted pharmacotherapeutic approaches to MS treatment. Treatment of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice with the estrogen receptor (ER) β ligand diarylpropionitrile (DPN) has been shown to have neuroprotective effects via stimulation of endogenous myelination. The direct cellular mechanisms underlying the effects of this ERβ ligand on the central nervous system are uncertain because different cell types in both the peripheral immune system and central nervous system express ERs. ERβ is the target molecule of DPN because DPN treatment fails to decrease EAE clinical symptoms in global ERβ-null mice. Here we investigated the potential role of ERβ expression in cells of oligodendrocyte (OL) lineage in ERβ ligand-mediated neuroprotection. To this end, we selectively deleted ERβ in OLs using the well-characterized Cre-loxP system for conditional gene knockout (CKO) in mice. The effects of this ERβ CKO on ERβ ligand-mediated neuroprotective effects in chronic EAE mice were investigated. ERβ CKO in OLs prevented DPN-induced decrease in EAE clinical disease. DPN treatment during EAE did not attenuate demyelination, only partially improved axon conduction, and did not activate the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine-threonine-specific protein kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway in ERβ CKO mice. However, DPN treatment significantly increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in ERβ CKO mice. These findings demonstrate that signaling through ERβ in OLs is essential for the beneficial myelination effects of the ERβ ligand DPN in chronic EAE mice. Further, these findings have important implications for neuroprotective therapies that directly target OL survival and myelination.
A Preliminary Study about the Analytic Maturity of Educational Organizations

During the last years, universities, and other educational organizations, have increased the use of analytics in order to improve the efficiency of their internal management and to increase their teaching and research quality. In this paper we present the results of a survey we conducted to determine the analytical level of educational organizations and how it differs from the analytical level of non-educational organizations. In order to do so, we have used the DELTA model to measure the analytical maturity of over 100 organizations, from which around 15% are educational. The aim of the paper is to provide background information on the current state of analytics and further steps.
The Impact of Group Membership on Cooperation and Norm Enforcement: Evidence Using Random Assignment to Real Social Groups

Due to incomplete contracts, efficiency of an organization depends on willingness of individuals to take non-selfish actions, e.g., cooperate when there is no incentive to do so, or punish inefficient actions by others. Organizations also constitute a social boundary, or group. We investigate whether this social aspect of organizations has an important benefit, fostering unselfish cooperation and norm enforcement within the group, but whether there is also a dark side, in the form of hostility between groups. Our experiment provides the first evidence without the confounding effect of self-selection into groups. Individuals are randomly assigned to different platoons during a four-week portion of officer training in the Swiss Army. We conduct choice experiments – simultaneous prisoner’s dilemma games, with and without third-party punishment – in week three. Random assignment significantly increases willingness to cooperate with fellow platoon members. Assignment does not lead to hostility, in the sense of vindictive punishment of outsiders, but does affect norm enforcement, enhancing willingness to enforce a norm of cooperation towards fellow platoon members. This suggests that the social aspect of organizations motivates efficient behavior even when ordinary incentives fail, and helps explain practices designed to foster social ties or group identification within an organization.
A Mobile System for Scene Monitoring and Object Retrieval

Object retrieval in a scene is an important, but largely unsolved research problem with a wide range of practical applications in security and monitoring systems, in automatic navigation such as self-driving cars, in 3D modelling, scene understanding, etc. Although this problem has been traditionally researched using color cameras and video setups as its main sensing modality, the emergence and already big success of the real-time hybrid depth and color cameras such as the Kinect that are now available even on several laptop, tablet and smart-phone models opened this problem to new popular acquisition modalities. In this paper we present a data driven retrieval system prototype based on a depth-camera sensing technology. Our system uses a combination of local and global feature and fuses the information from different views to reliably retrieve objects in a scene in the presence of noisy data and severe occlusions. Our system does not require that the objects in the scene are in their natural up-right position and is capable of retrieving smaller object than previous depth-map methods.
Emotional Faces Processing Takes Precedence of Inhibition of Return: ERPs Study

Posner and Cohen (1984) discovered the inhibition of return (IOR) phenomenon, which refers to the individual’s response to targets that appear in previously cued location, is slower than it is to the uncued location when the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) is longer than 300ms. Psychologists agree that IOR is an adaptive and evolved mechanism that enhances the efficiency of attention during a visual search and allows people more easily to process targets that appear in novel positions. The current research uses event-related potentials (ERPs) and adopts a cue-target paradigm to investigate the IOR process during an emotion recognition task and the underlying mechanisms. We conducted a 2 (cue: valid cues, invalid cues) × 3 (target emotional: positive, negative, neutral) within-subject design, and selected the emotional face pictures (40 positive faces; 40 negative faces; 40 neutral faces) as the target stimuli of IOR. Sixteen participants of university students were instructed to complete the task of judging the target as emotional face or neutral one. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were recorded using a 64-electrode elastic cap and the Neuroscan ERP workstation. Based on the overall average map and the research literature, we divided the ERP components by the time windows in which they occurred: P1, 80～110 ms; N1, 110～140 ms; and N170, 140～180 ms. We used six electrodes (Po5, Po6, O1, O2, Poz and Oz) to detect the P1 and N1 components in the occipital region and two electrodes (P7 and P8) to detect the N170 component in the temporal occipital region. Repeated measure ANOVAs were conducted on the behavioural data and the measurements derived from ERP waveforms. The results demonstrate that the amplitude of P1 of the valid cues was smaller, while N1 amplitude was larger, compared with those of the invalid cues. N170 amplitudes for positive and negative faces were significantly larger than those for neutral ones. These results indicate that the response to the emotional stimulus are specialized and separated from IOR progress, and this separation consequently leads to the precedence of emotion processing when participants response to the valance of the targets, suggesting that IOR and emotional bias are two adaptation mechanisms which occur in two different neural pathways. Our findings also provide electrophysiological evidences for the research on the correlation of attention and emotion.
Surface Functionalization of Orthopedic Titanium Implants with Bone Sialoprotein

Orthopedic implant failure due to aseptic loosening and mechanical instability remains a major problem in total joint replacement. Improving osseointegration at the bone-implant interface may reduce micromotion and loosening. Bone sialoprotein (BSP) has been shown to enhance bone formation when coated onto titanium femoral implants and in rat calvarial defect models. However, the most appropriate method of BSP coating, the necessary level of BSP coating, and the effect of BSP coating on cell behavior remain largely unknown. In this study, BSP was covalently coupled to titanium surfaces via an aminosilane linker (APTES), and its properties were compared to BSP applied to titanium via physisorption and untreated titanium. Cell functions were examined using primary human osteoblasts (hOBs) and L929 mouse fibroblasts. Gene expression of specific bone turnover markers at the RNA level was detected at different intervals. Cell adhesion to titanium surfaces treated with BSP via physisorption was not significantly different from that of untreated titanium at any time point, whereas BSP application via covalent coupling caused reduced cell adhesion during the first few hours in culture. Cell migration was increased on titanium disks that were treated with higher concentrations of BSP solution, independent of the coating method. During the early phases of hOB proliferation, a suppressive effect of BSP was observed independent of its concentration, particularly when BSP was applied to the titanium surface via physisorption. Although alkaline phosphatase activity was reduced in the BSP-coated titanium groups after 4 days in culture, increased calcium deposition was observed after 21 days. In particular, the gene expression level of RUNX2 was upregulated by BSP. The increase in calcium deposition and the stimulation of cell differentiation induced by BSP highlight its potential as a surface modifier that could enhance the osseointegration of orthopedic implants. Both physisorption and covalent coupling of BSP are similarly effective, feasible methods, although a higher BSP concentration is recommended.
Duygudurum Bozukluklari İle Huy, Karakter ve Kişilik İlişkisi

The terms temperament, character and personality have been used almost synonymously despite their different meanings. Hippocratic physicians conceptualized illness, including melancholia, in dimensional terms as an outgrowth of premorbid characteristics. In modern times, fullscale application of this dimensional concept to psychiatric disorders led Kraepelin, Schneider and Kretschmer to hypothesize that the ‘endogenous psychoses are nothing other than marked accentuation of normal types of temperament’. Akiskal’s ‘soft-bipolarity’ and ‘affective temperaments’ concepts and Cloninger’s psychobiological model of temperament and character, which includes four temperament and three character dimensions, are examples of this dimensional approach from the last two decades. Hypotheses concerning the relationship between personality disorders and mood disorders have been described, but it is likely that a single unitary model would not adequately capture the complexity inherent in the relationship between mood and personality disorders. The DSM multiaxial approach to diagnosis encourages the clinician to distinguish state (Axis I) from trait (Axis II) features of mental disorders. Categorical systems like DSM have been criticised because of their inability to mention temperament, character and personality features. In this review, examples of dimensional approaches to mood disorders are given and discussed under the influence of temperament, character and personality disorders. For this purpose, literature from 1980 to 2004 has been reviewed through Pub/med, using the following key words.
Autism and Hypomelanosis of Ito in Twins

A pair of monozvgotic and a pair of dyzygotic twins with autism and hypomelanosis of I t 0 skinabnormalities are described. These observations are further evidence of the frequent association between these two conditions, already demonstrated in the literature, and suggest a possibly higher incidence of single gene associations among cases of autism with known genetic basis.
ATP-based modeling to represent dishwasher performance with power quality disturbances

This paper is focused on the subject of computational modelling, experimental validation and performance analysis of dishwasher submitted to non-ideal supply conditions. The model uses the time domain approach and the expressions are implemented in the ATP-MODELS platform. Concomitantly to the theoretical work, laboratory procedures have been performed in order to validate the proposal. The results described are useful to highlight the model applicability at investigating the relation between distinct non-ideal supply conditions and equipment response. The method finds application when considering the area of refunding request of damage in household devices facing anomalies in the distribution system.
Self-Compassion and Predictors of Criminality

ABSTRACT The main focus of this article is to conduct an exploratory investigation of self-compassion, a positive indicator of mental health, as a predictor of violence and criminality within a sample of prisoners. Correlation and regression analyses were used to explore the relationship that self-compassion has with self-control, self-esteem, and social connectedness. Associations between self-compassion and the subscales of self-control were also examined. Results from both correlational analysis and regression indicate that self-compassion is correlated with all 3 variables. Correlations revealed that self-compassion was related to all 6 subscales of self-control. Regression, however, revealed that impulsivity was the only predictor of self-compassion. Further analysis revealed problems with multicollinearity. Implications and limitations of these results are discussed.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis infection in HIV-1-infected women taking antiretroviral therapy: a prospective cohort study from Burkina Faso

Objectives Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) are common sexually transmitted infections (STI). We assessed the cumulative risk of NG and CT in a cohort of HIV-1-infected high-risk women taking antiretrovirals over 4 years in Burkina Faso. Methods Between March 2007 and February 2011, participants were followed every 3–6 months. At each visit, participants underwent a gynaecological examination with collection of cervical and vaginal swabs. Random-effects logistic regression models were used to analyse associations of NG and CT infection with behavioural and biological factors. Results 172 women had samples tested for NG and CT during the study period, in a total of 1135 visits. NG was detected in 6.4% of women (11/172, 95% CI 2.7 to 10.1) at a rate of 2.76 cases (95% CI 1.53 to 4.99) per 100 person-years. CT was detected in 1.7% (3/172, 95% CI 0 to 3.7) of women at a rate of 0.75 cases (95% CI 0.24 to 2.34) per 100 person-years. The majority of women were asymptomatic (9/14). In the multivariable model, the presence of NG or CT was associated with tobacco use (aOR=11.85, 95% CI 1.13 to 124.17), and concurrent genital HIV-1 RNA shedding (aOR=4.78, 95% CI 1.17 to 19.46). Higher levels of education (aOR=0.17, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.92), and age greater than 35 years (aOR=0.07, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.92) were associated with lower odds of infection. Conclusions The risk of NG or CT infection remains low among high-risk women in Bobo-Dioulasso. This provides some evidence that antiretroviral use does not contribute to behavioural disinhibition. The asymptomatic nature of most infections underscores the need for regular screening and treatment of STIs in core groups.
Crypto: Not Just for the Defensive Team

Cryptography has long been a useful, important tool for defensive computer security. Increasingly, however, attackers are using cryptographic techniques for the same reason as the defenders: to protect code's confidentiality and integrity. But in this case, the code is malicious. This paper reviews uses of encryption by writers of malicious code, through some recent examples. Malicious-code writers are using state-of-the-art cryptography, just as commercial security engineers are.
A music retrieval system using chroma and pitch features based on conditional random fields

This paper presents a new symbol-based retrieval method on a polyphonic music collection which takes a sequence data of users' performances as a query. We focus on chroma and pitch features to yield a robust retrieval with queries which are generated from different arrangements and which include some mistakes. Conditional random fields (CRFs) are used to enhance simultaneous utilization of chroma and pitch features. This is because CRFs can discriminate the correct sequence from all the other candidate sequences without independence assumptions for features of the inputs. Experimental results show that the use of multiple features based on CRFs leads to a significant improvement of retrieval accuracy and accomplishes robust music retrieval regardless of performance style of queries.
Constraints affecting the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) strategy in university courses

The aim of this study was to obtain insight into the effect of quality assurance system on the implementation of PBL teaching strategy to courses in three universities of Hong Kong. A total of nine research teams (each consisting of a few PBL-tutors) were involved. Before the implementation of PBL, the tutors attended specific orientation and training sessions on PBL. Twenty-one tutors were randomly selected for interview after the implementation. The results of the study indicate that the quality assurance system within most institutions does affect the implementation of PBL. The reliance of research output and a standardized student feedback questionnaire as indicators of staff performance do have a detrimental effect on the implementation of PBL. On the other hand, resources and class size also have a direct effect on the willingness of academic staff to adopt the PBL approach in teaching. Finally, student factor also plays an important role in the successful implementation of PBL. To implement PBL successfully, PBL tutors need to be supported by a clear message from the university quality assurance system that this is the way to go forward. Without taking this seriously into consideration, one could predict serious difficulties in promoting PBL in the education sector.
Status characteristics: degrees of task relevance and decision processes

Status characteristics theories attempt to explain the emergence of observable power and prestige hierarchies in informal task groups based on the perceived performance expectations connoted by differential ranks on status characteristics. Generally, these theories have assumed that the task performance expectation-formation processes operate similarly regardless of whether the status characteristic has been made explicitly relevant to the task or not. An alternative theoretical model is presented that predicts the corresponding decision processes to differ. Using discrete-time, discrete-state event-history techniques to reanalyze Moore's (1968) data, the prediction that the processes are not the same is supported, with characteristics made explicitly relevant being more relied on than characteristics n,ot made explicitly relevant. The implications regarding the vulnerability of the effects of characteristics of different degrees of relevance to being overridden or eliminated are discussed.
DOOMED: Direct Online Optimization of Modeling Errors in Dynamics

It has long been hoped that model-based control will improve tracking performance while maintaining or increasing compliance. This hope hinges on having or being able to estimate an accurate inverse dynamics model. As a result, substantial effort has gone into modeling and estimating dynamics (error) models. Most recent research has focused on learning the true inverse dynamics using data points mapping observed accelerations to the torques used to generate them. Unfortunately, if the initial tracking error is bad, such learning processes may train substantially off-distribution to predict well on actual observed acceleration rather than the desired accelerations. This work takes a different approach. We define a class of gradient-based online learning algorithms we term Direct Online Optimization of Modeling Errors in Dynamics (DOOMED) that directly minimize an objective measuring the divergence between actual and desired accelerations. Our objective is defined in terms of the true system's unknown dynamics and is therefore impossible to evaluate. However, we show that its gradient is observable online from system data. We develop a novel adaptive control approach based on running online learning to directly correct (inverse) dynamics errors in real time using the data stream from the robot to accurately achieve desired accelerations during execution.
Impact of Globalization and Animal Trade on Infectious Disease Ecology

The articles on rabies and Marburg virus featured in this month's Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) zoonoses issue illustrate common themes. Both discuss zoonotic diseases with serious health implications for humans, and both have a common reservoir, the bat. These articles, and the excitement generated by this year's recognition of World Rabies Day on September 8, also described in this issue, remind us how globalization has had an impact on the worldwide animal trade. This worldwide movement of animals has increased the potential for the translocation of zoonotic diseases, which pose serious risks to human and animal health.
Mechanism of the antibiotic action pyocyanine

Exposure of Escherichia coli growing in a rich medium to pyocyanine resulted in increased intracellular levels of superoxide dismutase and of catalase. When these adaptive enzyme syntheses were prevented by nutritional paucity, the toxic action of pyocyanine was augmented. The antibiotic action of pyocyanine was dependent upon oxygen and was diminished by superoxide dismutase and by catalase, added to the suspending medium. Pyocyanine slightly augmented the respiration of E. coli suspended in a rich medium, but greatly increased the cyanide-resistant respiration. Pyocyanine was able to cause the oxidation of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, with O2- production, in the absence of enzymatic catalysis. It is concluded that pyocyanine diverts electron flow and thus increases the production of O2- and H2O2 and that the antibiotic action of this pigment is largely a reflection of the toxicity of these products of oxygen reduction.