Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does SMS text messaging help or harm adults' knowledge of standard spelling?

The recent increase in short messaging system (SMS) text messaging, often using abbreviated, non-conventional ‘textisms’ (e.g. ‘2nite’), in school-aged children has raised fears of negative consequences of such technology for literacy. The current research used a paradigm developed by Dixon and Kaminska, who showed that exposure to phonetically plausible misspellings (e.g. ‘recieve’) negatively affected subsequent spelling performance, though this was true only with adults, not children. The current research extends this work to directly investigate the effects of exposure to textisms, misspellings and correctly spelled words on adults' spelling. Spelling of a set of key words was assessed both before and after an exposure phase where participants read the same key words, presented either as textisms (e.g. ‘2nite’), correctly spelled (e.g. ‘tonight’) or misspelled (e.g. ‘tonite’) words. Analysis showed that scores decreased from pre- to post-test following exposure to misspellings, whereas performance improved following exposure to correctly spelled words and, interestingly, to textisms. Data suggest that exposure to textisms, unlike misspellings, had a positive effect on adults' spelling. These findings are interpreted in light of other recent research suggesting a positive relationship between texting and some literacy measures in school-aged children.
Radiological Findings of Extensively Drug-Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Non-AIDS Adults: Comparisons with Findings of Multidrug-Resistant and Drug-Sensitive Tuberculosis

Objective This study was designed to describe the radiological findings of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and to compare the observed findings with findings of drug-sensitive (DS) and non-XDR multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB in non-AIDS patients. Materials and Methods From September 1994 to December 2007, 53 MDR TB patients (M:F = 32:21; mean age, 38 years) and 15 XDR TB non-AIDS patients (M:F = 8:7; mean age, 36 years) were enrolled in the study. All of the MDR TB patients had received no treatment or less than one month of anti-TB treatment. In addition, all XDR TB patients received either no anti-TB treatment or only first-line anti-TB drugs. In addition, 141 consecutive DS TB patients (M:F = 79:62; mean age, 51 years) were also enrolled in the study for comparison. Chest radiograph, CT and demographic findings were reviewed and were compared among the three patient groups. Results For patients with XDR TB, the most frequent radiographic abnormalities were nodules (15 of 15 patients, 100%), reticulo-nodular densities (11 of 15, 73%), consolidation (9 of 15, 60%) and cavities (7 of 15, 47%) that were located mainly in the upper and middle lung zones. As seen on radiographs, significant differences were found for the frequency of nodules and ground-glass opacity lesions (all p < 0.001) (more frequent in DS TB patients than in MDR and XDR TB patients). For the use of CT, significant differences (more frequent in MDR and XDR TB patients) were found for the frequency of multiple cavities, nodules and bronchial dilatation (p = 0.001 or p < 0.001). Patients with MDR TB and XDR TB were younger as compared to patients with DS TB (p < 0.001). Imaging findings were not different between patients with MDR TB and XDR TB. Conclusion By observation of multiple cavities, nodules and bronchial dilatation as depicted on CT in young patients with acid-fast bacilli (AFB) positive sputum, the presence of MDR TB or XDR TB rather than DS TB can be suggested. There is no significant difference in imaging findings between patients with XDR TB and MDR TB.
Arabidopsis RGL1 Encodes a Negative Regulator of Gibberellin Responses Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010325.

In Arabidopsis, the DELLA subfamily of GRAS regulatory genes consists of GAI, RGA, RGA-LIKE1 (RGL1), RGL2, and RGL3. GAI and RGA are known to be negative regulators of gibberellin (GA) responses. We found that RGL1 is a similar repressor of GA responses, as revealed by RGL1 gain-of-function and loss-of-function phenotypes. Repression of GA responses in Arabidopsis was conferred by a dominant 35S-rgl1 transgene carrying a DELLA domain deletion analogous to the GA-insensitive gai-1 mutation. As in GA-deficient Arabidopsis, the transgenic plants were dark green dwarfs with underdeveloped trichomes and flowers. Expression levels of GA4, a feedback-regulated GA biosynthetic gene, were increased correspondingly. Conversely, a loss-of-function rgl1 line had reduced GA4 expression and exhibited GA-independent activation of seed germination, leaf expansion, flowering, stem elongation, and floral development, as detected by resistance to the GA biosynthesis inhibitor paclobutrazol. RGL1 plays a greater role in seed germination than do GAI and RGA. The expression profile of RGL1 differed from those of the four other DELLA homologs. RGL1 message levels were predominant in flowers, with transcripts detected in developing ovules and anthers. As with RGA, green fluorescent protein (GFP)–tagged RGL1 protein was localized to the nucleus, but unlike GFP-RGA, there was no degradation after GA treatment. These findings indicate that RGL1 is a partially redundant, but distinct, negative regulator of GA responses and suggest that all DELLA subfamily members might possess separate as well as overlapping roles in GA signaling.
Disparity between physical capacity and participation in seniors with chronic disease.

UNLABELLED Consistently low rates of physical activity are reported for older adults, and there is even lower participation if a chronic disease is present. PURPOSE To explore the predictors of physical capacity and participation in older community-dwelling individuals living with multiple chronic diseases. METHODS This was a descriptive cross-sectional investigation of physical capacity (physiological potential) and physical activity participation (recorded engagement in physical activity). Multiple regression and odds ratios were used to investigate determinants of physical capacity (6-min walk test) and physical activity participation (Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities Questionnaire; pedometer steps per day). RESULTS Two hundred community-dwelling ambulatory participants living with two or more chronic diseases were assessed. Sixty-five percent (65%) were women, and the mean age was 74 +/- 6 yr (range 65-90 yr). Mobility (timed up and go) was a consistent determinant across all three primary outcomes. For the 6-min walk test, determinants included mobility, BMI, grip strength, number of medications, leg strength, balance, and Chronic Disease Management Self-Efficacy Scale (r2 = 0.58; P = 0.000). The determinants for the self-reported participation measure (Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities Questionnaire) was mobility (r2 = 0.04; P = 0.007). For the mean daily pedometer steps, the determinants included mobility, body mass index (BMI), age, and Chronic Disease Management Self-Efficacy Scale (r2 = 0.27; P = 0.000). There were higher risks for inactivity associated with impairments compared with the presence of a chronic disease. In addition, more than a third of participants had sufficient physical capacity but did not meet minimal recommendations of physical activity. CONCLUSION This study suggests that it is easier to predict an individual's physical capacity than their actual physical participation.
Leaky Buffer: A Novel Abstraction for Relieving Memory Pressure from Cluster Data Processing Frameworks

The shift to the in-memory data processing paradigm has had a major influence on the development of cluster data processing frameworks. Numerous frameworks from the industry, open source community and academia are adopting the in-memory paradigm to achieve functionalities and performance breakthroughs. However, despite the advantages of these in-memory frameworks, in practice they are susceptible to memory-pressure related performance collapse and failures. The contributions of this paper are twofold. First, we conduct a detailed diagnosis of the memory pressure problem and identify three preconditions for the performance collapse. These preconditions not only explain the problem but also shed light on the possible solution strategies. Second, we propose a novel programming abstraction called the leaky bufferthat eliminates one of the preconditions, thereby addressing the underlying problem. We have implemented a leaky buffer enabled hashtable in Spark, and we believe it is also able to substitute the hashtable that performs similar hash aggregation operations in any other programs or data processing frameworks. Experiments on a range of memory intensive aggregation operations show that the leaky buffer abstraction can drastically reduce the occurrence of memoryrelated failures, improve performance by up to 507 percent and reduce memory usage by up to 87.5 percent.
Multiplication With $m$ :2 and $m$ :3 Compressors—A Comparative Review

Compressors are widely used in multipliers to accumulate and reduce partial products in a parallel manner. This paper conducts a comparative review for high-order <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula>:2 and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula>:3 compressors within a 16-bit <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times16$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-bit multiplier cell as a benchmark. Furthermore, some of the compressors are slightly modified with the aim of reducing interconnections and logical gates. Four well-known adders are also employed to perform the final addition of partial products. They are ripple-carry adder, carry-lookahead adder (CLA), carry-bypass adder, and carry-select adder. These adders are initially demonstrated by a sequence of unmodified identical blocks. Then, they are simplified in order to decrease hardware components. Their simplification and the use of reduced compressors lead to high speed and considerable power and area savings. Synthesizable structural VHDL code is used to simulate and implement different multipliers. Our investigations show that the design with the reduced <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula>:2 compressors and multilevel CLA is the most efficient multiplier. This paper also includes further comparisons with multipliers containing other structures and arrangements.
VEGF: once regarded as a specific angiogenic factor, now implicated in neuroprotection

Both blood vessels and nerves are guided to their target. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)A is a key signal in the induction of vessel growth (a process termed angiogenesis). Though initial studies, now a decade ago, indicated that VEGF is an endothelial cell‐specific factor, more recent findings revealed that VEGF also has direct effects on neural cells. Genetic studies showed that mice with reduced VEGF levels develop adult‐onset motor neuron degeneration, reminiscent of the human neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Additional genetic studies confirmed that VEGF is a modifier of motor neuron degeneration in humans and in SOD1G93A mice—a model of ALS. Reduced VEGF levels may promote motor neuron degeneration by limiting neural tissue perfusion and VEGF‐dependent neuroprotection. VEGF also affects neuron death after acute spinal cord or cerebral ischemia, and has also been implicated in other neurological disorders such as diabetic and ischemic neuropathy, nerve regeneration, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. These findings have raised growing interest in assessing the therapeutic potential of VEGF for neurodegenerative disorders. BioEssays 26:943–954, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Biased decision-making processes in aggressive boys.

Recent evidence has suggested that aggressive boys demonstrate a bias toward attributing hostility to peers in unwarranted circumstances. This study explored two aspects of cognitive processing that might be related to attributional bias: speed of decision making and selective recall of hostile cues. Groups of aggressive and nonaggressive boys at three age levels participated in a detective game in which the task was to accumulate evidence in order to decide whether or not a peer had acted with benevolence or hostility. Aggressive boys were found to respond more quickly and with less attention to available social cues than nonaggressive boys. Aggressive boys also overattributed hostility to peers in unwarranted circumstances, but only when they responded quickly. This restriction suggested that training aggressive boys to respond more slowly could lead to fewer biased attributions on their part. Selective recall was also related to biased attributions, for both groups of boys. This suggested that training boys to recall all cues nonselectively could reduce the frequency of their biased attributions. The results are discussed in terms of a cognitive model of aggressive behavior. Because of the correlational nature of this study, the conclusions are stated as tentative. Recently, researchers have suggested that biases in children's social perceptions may act as mediators of deviant interpersonal aggressive behavior. Nasby, Hayden, and DePaulo (1980), for example, found that institutionalized aggressive boys display an attributional bias toward interpreting social cues from others as displays of hostility, even when the cues were meant to be benign. Similarly, Dodge (1980) found that in reaction to an ambiguously intended frustrating event, aggressive boys responded behaviorally as if the peer instigator had malevolently intended the act, whereas nonaggressive boys responded as if the peer had acted benignly. In a second study, Dodge also found that aggressive boys were more likely to attribute hostility to peers in ambiguous situations than nonaggressive boys were. The importance of this attributional bias in understanding interpersonal behavior is reflected in the work of Kelley and Stahelski (1970), who demonstrated in a different context that such attributional biases could lead to interpersonal conflicts that perpetuate the biased judgments. Support for this research was provided by a grant from the Spencer Foundation. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of administrators and teachers of the Monroe County Community School Corporation and the individual contributions of Cynthia Frame, Bryan Burke, and Scott Robbins.
Bioinformatics Applications Note Integrative Array Analyzer: a Software Package for Analysis of Cross-platform and Cross-species Microarray Data

The rapid accumulation of microarray data translates into an urgent need for tools to perform integrative microarray analysis. Integrative Array Analyzer is a comprehensive analysis and visualiza-tion software toolkit, which aims to facilitate the reuse of the large amount of cross-platform and cross-species microarray data. It is composed of the data preprocess module, the co-expression analysis module, the differential expression analysis module, the functional and transcriptional annotation module and the graph visualization module.
Cache conscious data layout organization for embedded multimedia applications

Cache misses form a major bottleneck for real-time multimedia applications due to the off-chip accesses to the main memory. This results in both a major access bandwidth overhead (and related power consumption) as well as performance penalties. In this paper, we propose a new technique for organizing data in the main memory for data dominated multimedia applications so as to reduce majority of the conflict cache misses. The focus of this paper is on the formal and heuristic algorithms we use to steer the data layout decisions and the experimental results obtained using a prototype tool. Experiments on real-life demonstrators illustrate that we are able to reduce up to 82% of the conflict misses for applications that are already aggressively transformed at the source-level. At the same time, we also reduce the off-chip data accesses by up to 78% and combined with address optimizations we are able to reduce the execution time. Thus our approach is complimentary to the more conventional way of reducing misses by reorganizing the execution order.
Do water-limiting conditions predispose Norway spruce to bark beetle attack?

Drought is considered to enhance susceptibility of Norway spruce (Picea abies) to infestations by the Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus, Coleoptera: Curculionidae), although empirical evidence is scarce. We studied the impact of experimentally induced drought on tree water status and constitutive resin flow, and how physiological stress affects host acceptance and resistance. We established rain-out shelters to induce both severe (two full-cover plots) and moderate (two semi-cover plots) drought stress. In total, 18 sample trees, which were divided equally between the above treatment plots and two control plots, were investigated. Infestation was controlled experimentally using a novel ‘attack box’ method. Treatments influenced the ratios of successful and defended attacks, but predisposition of trees to infestation appeared to be mainly driven by variations in stress status of the individual trees over time. With increasingly negative twig water potentials and decreasing resin exudation, the defence capability of the spruce trees decreased. We provide empirical evidence that water-limiting conditions impair Norway spruce resistance to bark beetle attack. Yet, at the same time our data point to reduced host acceptance byI. typographus with more extreme drought stress, indicated by strongly negative pre-dawn twig water potentials.
Human Herpesvirus 6 Infects Dendritic Cells and Suppresses Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication in Coinfected Cultures

ABSTRACT Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) has been implicated as a cofactor in the progressive loss of CD4+ T cells observed in AIDS patients. Because dendritic cells (DC) play an important role in the immunopathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, we studied the infection of DC by HHV-6 and coinfection of DC by HHV-6 and HIV. Purified immature DC (derived from adherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and interleukin-4) could be infected with HHV-6, as determined by PCR analyses, intracellular monoclonal antibody staining, and presence of virus in culture supernatants. However, HHV-6-infected DC demonstrated neither cytopathic changes nor functional defects. Interestingly, HHV-6 markedly suppressed HIV replication and syncytium formation in coinfected DC cultures. This HHV-6-mediated anti-HIV effect was DC specific, occurred when HHV-6 was added either before or after HIV, and was not due to decreased surface expression or function of CD4, CXCR4, or CCR5. Conversely, HIV had no demonstrable effect on HHV-6 replication. These findings suggest that HHV-6 may protect DC from HIV-induced cytopathicity in AIDS patients. We also demonstrate that interactions between HIV and herpesviruses are complex and that the observable outcome of dual infection is dependent on the target cell type.
Suppression of erythro-megakaryocytopoiesis and the induction of reversible thrombocytopenia in mice transgenic for the thymidine kinase gene targeted by the platelet glycoprotein alpha IIb promoter [published erratum appears in J Exp Med 1995 Oct 1;182(4):1177]

The mechanisms that regulate the commitment of a totipotent stem cell to the megakaryocytic lineage are largely unknown. Using a molecular approach to the study of megakaryocytopoiesis and platelet production, mice in which thrombocytopoiesis could be controlled were produced by targeting the expression of the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase toxigene to megakaryocytes using the regulatory region of the gene encoding the alpha subunit of the platelet integrin alpha IIb beta 3. The programmed eradication of the megakaryocytic lineage was induced by treating transgenic mice bearing the hybrid construct (alpha IIbtk) with the antiherpetic drug ganciclovir (GCV). After 10 d of treatment, the platelet number was reduced by > 94.6%. After discontinuing GCV, the bone marrow was repopulated with megakaryocytes and the platelet count was restored within 7 d. Prolonged GCV treatment induced erythropenia in the transgenic mice. Assays of myeloid progenitor cells in vitro demonstrated that the transgene was expressed in early erythro- megakaryocytic progenitor cells. The reversibility and facility of this system provides a powerful model to determine both the critical events in megakaryocytic and erythroid lineage development and for evaluating the precise role that platelets play in the pathogenesis of a number of vascular occlusive disorders.
Regulation of Cell Survival by Secreted Proneurotrophins

Neurotrophins are growth factors that promote cell survival, differentiation, and cell death. They are synthesized as proforms that can be cleaved intracellularly to release mature, secreted ligands. Although proneurotrophins have been considered inactive precursors, we show here that the proforms of nerve growth factor (NGF) and the proforms of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are secreted and cleaved extracellularly by the serine protease plasmin and by selective matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). ProNGF is a high-affinity ligand for p75NTR with high affinity and induced p75NTR-dependent apoptosis in cultured neurons with minimal activation of TrkA-mediated differentiation or survival. The biological action of neurotrophins is thus regulated by proteolytic cleavage, with proforms preferentially activating p75NTR to mediate apoptosis and mature forms activating Trk receptors to promote survival.
MR microscopy of multicomponent diffusion in single neurons

This study examines multicomponent diffusion in isolated single neurons and discusses the implications of the results for macroscopic water diffusion in tissues. L7 Aplysia neurons were isolated and analyzed using a 600 MHz Bruker wide‐bore instrument with a magnetic susceptibility‐matched radiofrequency microcoil. Using a biexponential fit, the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) from the cytoplasm (with relative fraction) were 0.48 ± 0.14 × 10−3 mm2s−1 (61 ± 11%) for the fast component, and 0.034 ± 0.017 × 10−3 mm2s−1 (32 ± 11%) for the slow component (N = 10). Diffusion in the nucleus appears to be primarily monoexponential, but with biexponential analysis it yields 1.31 ± 0.32 × 10−3 mm2s−1 (89 ± 6%) for the fast component and 0.057 ± 0.073 × 10−3 mm2s−1 (11 ± 6%) for the slow (N = 5). The slow component in the nucleus may be explained by cytoplasmic volume averaging. These data demonstrate that water diffusion in the cytoplasm of isolated single Aplysia neurons supports a multiexponential model. The ADCs are consistent with previous measurements in the cytoplasm of single neurons and with the slow ADC measurement in perfused brain slices. These distributions may explain the multiple compartments observed in tissues, greatly aiding the development of quantitative models of MRI in whole tissues. Magn Reson Med 46:1107–1112, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.