Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SELECCIÓN DE PERSONAL EN LA EMPRESA Y LAS AAPP: DE LA VISIÓN TRADICIONAL A LA VISIÓN ESTRATÉGICA

This article presents a review of research on personnel selection carried out in the last years. Two selection models are examined: traditional model and strategic model. Also, it is reviewed empirical research on procedures and predictors typically used in selection processes. It is showed the predictive validity of every single predictor, when combined with a second predictor and when combined with two additional predictors, showing the maximal operative validity. It was observed that the best combination of predictors is formed by a general cognitive ability test supplemented by a structured behavioural interview plus a personality questionnaire which assesses conscientiousness. New challengers due to the new Spanish laws are discussed and suggestions for practitioners are given.
Experimental evidence that corticosterone affects offspring sex ratios in quail

Recent studies have shown that some species of birds have a remarkable degree of control over the sex ratio of offspring they produce. However, the mechanism by which they achieve this feat is unknown. Hormones circulating in the breeding female are particularly sensitive to environmental perturbations, and so could provide a mechanism for her to bias the sex ratio of her offspring in favour of the sex that would derive greatest benefit from the prevailing environmental conditions. Here, we present details of an experiment in which we manipulated levels of testosterone, 17β-oestradiol and corticosterone in breeding female Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) using Silastic implants and looked for effects on the sex ratio of offspring produced. Offspring sex ratio in this species was significantly correlated with faecal concentrations of the principal avian stress hormone, corticosterone, and artificially elevated levels of corticosterone resulted in significantly female-biased sex ratios at laying. Varying testosterone and 17β-oestradiol had no effect on sex ratio alone, and faecal levels of these hormones did not vary in response to corticosterone. Our results suggest that corticosterone may be part of the sex-biasing process in birds.
Protein-protein Interaction: Network Alignment

In the last few years the amount of available data on protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks have increased rapidly, spanning different species such as yeast, bacteria, fly, worm and Human. The rapid growth is shown in Figure 1. Besides the availability of the data, other incentives to analyze several PPI networks at once are validation of our conclusions over several networks and prediction of unknown protein function and interactions. The scribe is organized as follows: In section 2 we describe the network alignment and network querying problems. In section 3 we describe network pairwise alignment, and its usage in finding conserved protein paths and complexes in PPI networks. The comparative analysis approach, which allows us for detecting similar functionality by looking at multiple highly conserved interactions between similar proteins from different species, is presented in section 4 using QPath, an efficient algorithm for path queries, based on dynamic programming. In section 5 we show PPI networks can be used to predict functional orthologous genes. In section 6 we describe a model that extends the pairwise alignment model to a multiple alignments. Finally, section 7 contains a brief summary.
Proteomic Analysis of Trypanosoma cruzi Epimastigotes Subjected to Heat Shock

Trypanosoma cruzi is exposed to sudden temperature changes during its life cycle. Adaptation to these variations is crucial for parasite survival, reproduction, and transmission. Some of these conditions may change the pattern of genetic expression of proteins involved in homeostasis in the course of stress treatment. In the present study, the proteome of T. cruzi epimastigotes subjected to heat shock and epimastigotes grow normally was compared by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry for protein identification. Twenty-four spots differing in abundance were identified. Of the twenty-four changed spots, nineteen showed a greater intensity and five a lower intensity relative to the control. Several functional categories of the identified proteins were determined: metabolism, cell defense, hypothetical proteins, protein fate, protein synthesis, cellular transport, and cell cycle. Proteins involved in the interaction with the cellular environment were also identified, and the implications of these changes are discussed.
Brain-stem modulation of the response properties of cells in the cat's perigeniculate nucleus

Abstract Transmission through the lateral geniculate nucleus is facilitated following activation of the cholinergic input from the brain stem, which is thought to reflect activity patterns seen during arousal. One of the underlying mechanisms is the suppression of inhibitory circuits local to the lateral geniculate nucleus. However, evidence exists that some visually driven inhibitory inputs to geniculate relay cells may be preserved or even enhanced under conditions of arousal, and during electrical activation of the parabrachial region of the brain stem. We have therefore reexamined the effect of brain-stem activation on the visual responses of one group of local inhibitory inputs to geniculate relay cells, those emanating from the adjacent perigeniculate nucleus. We recorded single perigeniculate cells in anesthetized, paralyzed cats. Axons innervating the lateral geniculate and perigeniculate nuclei from the parabrachial region of the brain stem were electrically activated, and the effect of this activation was assessed on both spontaneous and visually evoked responses. Visual stimulation consisted of sinusoidally modulated sine–wave gratings of varying spatial and temporal frequency. For the great majority of perigeniculate cells (32 of 40), brain-stem activation inhibited spontaneous activity, while one cell was excited, three showed a mixed effect and four were unaffected. Nevertheless, the responses of most cells (30 of 40) were facilitated when brain-stem activation was paired with certain spatio-temporal patterns of visual stimulation. Spatial tuning curves were constructed for 17 cells and temporal tuning curves for 14, before and during parabrachial activation. The responses of any one cell could be facilitated, unchanged, or suppressed, depending on the visual stimulus used. In some cases, this substantially modified the cell’s spatial and temporal tuning properties. We conclude that activation of the brain stem disinhibits geniculate relay cells in the absence of visual stimulation, but it has the potential to enhance either the magnitude or specificity of visually driven inhibition arising from the perigeniculate nucleus.
Perceived family stress as a predictor of health-related outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To measure the predictive effect of patient-perceived family stress for health-related outcomes. DESIGN Prospective study of patients whose social stress and support were measured by self-report at baseline with the Duke Social Support and Stress Scale and used as predictors of outcomes during an 18-month follow-up period. SETTING Rural primary care community health clinic. PATIENTS Convenience sample of ambulatory adults. INTERVENTION None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Follow-up (one or more follow-up visits), frequent follow-up (more than six visits), referral and/or hospitalization (one or more), high follow-up severity of illness (upper-tertile mean Duke Severity of Illness Checklist scores), and high follow-up total charges (> or = $268). RESULTS There were 413 patients with a mean age of 40.4 years. Of these, 58.6% were women; 47.2%, African American; 52.8%, white; 56.7%, married; 77.2%, wage earners or housekeepers; and 52.3% had more than one health problem. At baseline, patients with high self-reported family stress (upper-tertile Duke Social Support and Stress Scale scores) had lower quality of life, functional health, and social support scores and higher dysfunctional health and social stress scores than other patients. High baseline family stress scores (scale of 0 to 100) predicted follow-up (odds ratio [OR] = 1.014), frequent follow-up (OR = 1.021), referral and/or hospitalization (OR = 1.018), high severity of illness at follow-up (OR = 1.016), and high follow-up charges (OR = 1.018) after controlling for the effects of social support, age, gender, and race. Family stress scores were stronger predictors of these outcomes than the other social stress and support variables. CONCLUSION The finding of patient-perceived family stress as a risk factor for unfavorable health-related outcomes suggests the need for early detection and treatment of family stress by family physicians.
Unclean fathers, responsible men: Smoking, stigma and fatherhood

Abstract In this article, we report on the experiences of men who are smokers in the context of new fatherhood and explore the intersections of stigma, masculinities, and contemporary fathering. The men in this ethnographic study reveal both internalised and externalised stigma and describe situations and feelings when they became aware of the stigmatising qualities of smoking as new fathers. Fathers, expectant and new, are beginning to experience the focus of a punitive gaze previously reserved for expectant and new mothers. This gaze is gendered, and fathers who smoke are viewed as disrupting their responsibilities of protector and provider. The findings provide detail for understanding men’s experiences of smoking-related stigma in Canada where smoking prevalence is relatively low, tobacco is denormalised, and smokers are increasingly stigmatised. To develop effective programming for this underserved group, health professionals must become aware of the unintended consequences of tobacco reduction pressures on new fathers, increasing negative public attitudes, and tobacco policies that have the potential to produce stigmabased psychological harm.
Shame Resilience: A Strategy for Empowering Women in Treatment for Substance Abuse

Shame resilience theory (SRT) proposes that a woman who experiences shame can reduce the sense of feeling trapped, isolated, and powerless by implementing specific strategies and processes that increase awareness and understanding about shame and the sociocultural expectations that trigger it. SRT also promotes reaching out to others who can offer empathy and support and building skills in conveying what she feels and needs. This article reports on a pilot study of Connections, a 12-week psychoeducational curriculum based on SRT and piloted with 19 women from predominantly Hispanic backgrounds in 3 residential substance abuse treatment programs in central California. The results indicate statistically significant differences on measures of general health, depressive symptoms, internalized shame, self-conscious affect, and shame resilience.
Characterisation of genotype VII Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolated from NDV vaccinated chickens, and the efficacy of LaSota and recombinant genotype VII vaccines against challenge with velogenic NDV

A Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolate designated IBS002 was isolated from a commercial broiler farm in Malaysia. The virus was characterised as a virulent strain based on the multiple basic amino acid motif of the fusion (F) cleavage site 112RRRKGF117 and length of the C-terminus extension of the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) gene. Furthermore, IBS002 was classified as a velogenic NDV with mean death time (MDT) of 51.2 h and intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) of 1.76. A genetic distance analysis based on the full-length F and HN genes showed that both velogenic viruses used in this study, genotype VII NDV isolate IBS002 and genotype VIII NDV isolate AF2240-I, had high genetic variations with genotype II LaSota vaccine. In this study, the protection efficacy of the recombinant genotype VII NDV inactivated vaccine was also evaluated when added to an existing commercial vaccination program against challenge with velogenic NDV IBS002 and NDV AF2240-I in commercial broilers. The results indicated that both LaSota and recombinant genotype VII vaccines offered full protection against challenge with AF2240-I. However, the LaSota vaccine only conferred partial protection against IBS002. In addition, significantly reduced viral shedding was observed in the recombinant genotype VII-vaccinated chickens compared to LaSota-vaccinated chickens.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypertension: An Update

There is growing evidence of a causal relationship between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and hypertension. Untreated OSA may have direct and deleterious effects on cardiovascular function and structure through several mechanisms, including sympathetic activation, oxidative stress, inflammation, and endothelial dysfunction. OSA may contribute to or augment elevated blood pressure levels in a large proportion of the hypertensive patient population. It is important to consider OSA in the differential diagnosis of hypertensive patients who are obese. OSA should be especially considered in those hypertensive patients who respond poorly to combination therapy with antihypertensive medications.
Leadership and Identity Construction: Reframing the Leader-Follower Interaction from an Identity Theory Perspective

In this Research Note we will explore the role of identity development for the efficiency of leadership relationships. We will hold that identity theory provides a useful theoretical basis from which to gain deeper insights into leadership processes. After briefly reviewing the usage of the identity concept within the field of leadership we will draw on an interactive perspective for explaining the dynamics of identity building and maintaining it. Against this background we will pose research questions on the consequences for effective leadership.
Pseudorabies Virus UL3 Gene Codes for a Nuclear Protein Which Is Dispensable for Viral Replication

ABSTRACT Many of the products of the ca. 80 genes encoded by alphaherpesviruses have already been identified and, at least tentatively, functionally characterized. Among the least characterized proteins are the products of the genes homologous to herpes simplex virus UL3, which are present only in the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae. To identify the UL3 protein of the porcine alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus (PrV), the complete PrV UL3 open reading frame was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli as a glutathione S-transferase fusion protein, and used for immunization of a rabbit. In Western blots, the generated antiserum specifically detected a 34-kDa protein in PrV-infected cells, which was absent from purified virus preparations, indicating that PrV UL3 encodes a nonstructural protein. In indirect immunofluorescence analysis, the anti-UL3 serum produced predominantly nuclear staining in transfected as well as in infected cells, which was not altered in the absence of other virus-encoded nuclear proteins such as the UL31 and UL34 gene products. To investigate UL3 function, a deletion mutant, PrV-ΔUL3F2, was constructed and characterized. This mutant replicated and formed plaques on noncomplementing cells indistinguishable from wild-type PrV, demonstrating that PrV UL3 is not required for virus propagation in cultured cells. Moreover, ultrastructural examinations revealed no impairment of capsid formation in the nucleus, nuclear egress of capsids, virion maturation in the cytoplasm, or virus release. Thus, the overall properties of PrV UL3 are similar to those described for the homologous herpes simplex virus proteins which may be indicative of a common, yet hitherto unknown, function in alphaherpesvirus replication. However, based on our studies, an involvement of the UL3 homologs in virion formation appears unlikely.
UWB wireless link design and implementation challenges in broadband frequency modulated fNIR biomedical imaging

Functional spectroscopic measurements of brain matter using near IR wavelengths are characterized by absorption coefficient μa and scattering coefficient μs. To increase the accuracy of parameter extraction, a broadband frequency modulated system is proposed and design and implementation challenges of a completely untethered and field deployable unit and a high speed wireless communication system is considered to complement a free space optical communication system.
Text mining and ontologies in biomedicine: Making sense of raw text

The volume of biomedical literature is increasing at such a rate that it is becoming difficult to locate, retrieve and manage the reported information without text mining, which aims to automatically distill information, extract facts, discover implicit links and generate hypotheses relevant to user needs. Ontologies, as conceptual models, provide the necessary framework for semantic representation of textual information. The principal link between text and an ontology is terminology, which maps terms to domain-specific concepts. This paper summarises different approaches in which ontologies have been used for text-mining applications in biomedicine.
Constraining the Matter Power Spectrum Normalization Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey/ROSAT All-Sky Survey and REFLEX Cluster Surveys

We describe a new approach to constraining the amplitude of the power spectrum of matter perturbations in the universe, parameterized by σ8 as a function of the matter density Ω0. We compare the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity function of the ROSAT-ESO Flux-Limited X-Ray (REFLEX) survey with the theoretical mass function of Jenkins et al., using the mass-luminosity relationship obtained from weak lensing data for a sample of galaxy clusters identified in Sloan Digital Sky Survey commissioning data and confirmed through cross-correlation with the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. We find σ8 = 0. 38Ω, which is significantly different from most previous results derived from comparable calculations that used the X-ray temperature function. We discuss possible sources of systematic error that may cause such a discrepancy and in the process uncover a possible inconsistency between the REFLEX luminosity function and the relation between cluster X-ray luminosity and mass obtained by Reiprich & Böhringer.
A developed method of tuning PID controllers with fuzzy rules for integrating processes

The proportional integral derivative (PID) controllers are widely applied in industrial process, and the tuning method of PID controller parameters is still a hot research area. A fuzzy tuning scheme for PID controller settings is developed for integrator plus time delay processes in this paper, in which a fuzzy rule base reasoning method are utilized on-line to determine a tuning parameter /spl alpha/ based on the error and the first change of the error of the process. Then this tuning parameter /spl alpha/ is used to calculate the PID controller parameters. Computer simulations are performed for an example of integrating plants. Comparing to some reported methods, the performance of the presented approach is shown to be satisfying.
JESTER : Joke Entertainment System with Trivia-Emitted Responses

1 The Stony Brook Robot Design Team has focused on three main areas of research in the creation of JESTER (The Joke Entertainment System with Trivia-Emitted Responses), our new robot created for the American Association of Artifici al Intelligence's (AAAI) Open Interaction Event competition, including navigation, computer vision and user interface / human interaction. The purpose is to create an intelligent machine to entertain people at the AAAI conference in San Jose, California.
DEVELOPMENT OF GENETIC ALGORITHM FOR SOLVING SCHEDULING TASKS IN FMS WITH COLOURED PETRI NETS

The paper describes the algorithm, which is developed to solve scheduling tasks in Flexible Manufacturing Systems. The algorithm is a combination of Genetic Algorithm and Coloured Petri Nets. It is proposed to use Coloured Petri Nets to tackle the encoding problem in Genetic Algorithm. The objective is to minimize the total make-span subject to different constraints obtained in Flexible Manufacturing Systems.
The effect of thermal injury and melatonin on incisional wound healing.

BACKGROUND Oxygen - free radicals are generated during inflammatory reactions and cause tissue damage when overproduced. The wounds, especially burn injuries which comprise several events, result in generation of reactive oxygen species and impairment of cellular functions as in wound healing process. This experimental study was done in order to investigate whether 20% body surface area, third degree burn injury creates systemic impairment in wound healing. Additionally, our aim was to evaluate the effects of melatonin on incisional cutaneous wound healing. METHODS Fifty adult Wistar-Albino rats were included in the study. A group of animals were subjected to dorsal burn injury followed by full-thickness midline skin incision, 2 cm in length on the abdominal region which was primarily sutured. Melatonin was administered on incisional wounds and breaking strength, hydroxyproline, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance values and antioxidant enzyme activities in the wounded tissue were determined at day 7; to examine firstly the influence of thermal injury on systemic wound healing and secondly, whether melatonin possesses improving effects. RESULTS No detrimental effect of 20% burn injury on unburned cutaneous incisional wound healing was determined. There was not any difference in breaking strength, hydroxyproline, thiobarbituric acid reactive substance and glutathione peroxidase values, except for significantly elevated catalase and superoxide dismutase activities in melatonin-treated animals comparing to the control group. CONCLUSION This preliminary study disclosed that exogenous melatonin, at a dose of 10mg/kg for two days, exerted few variation in antioxidant status during wound repair. Nevertheless, half-life of melatonin is short and further studies are required, to investigate longer duration or higher dosage of administration which may be beneficial for cutaneous wound healing.
Comparison of Two Methodologies for CD4+ T Lymphocytes Relative Counting on Immune Monitoring of Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Considering that counting the percentage of CD4 T lymphocytes can add prognostic information regarding patients infected with HIV, the aim of this study was to evaluate the percentage values of CD4+ T lymphocytes from 81 patients determined by flow cytometry and estimated by flow cytometry in conjunction with a hematology counter. Means were compared through the Student's t-test. Pearson's correlation was determined, and the agreement between results was tested by Bland-Altman. The level of significance was P < 0.05. It was found a significantly higher mean difference between the relative values of CD4+ T lymphocytes to the hematologic counter (P < 0.05), for all strata studied. Positive and significant correlations (P < 0.01) were found between the strata CD4 < 200 cells/mL (r = 0.93), between 200 and 500 cells/mL (r = 0.65), and >500 cells/mL (r = 0.81). The limits of agreement were 1.0 ± 3.8% for the stratum of CD4 < 200 cells/mL, approximately 2.2 ± 13.5% for the stratum of CD4 between 200 and 500 cells/mL, and approximately 6.2 ± 20.4% for the stratum > 500 cells/mL. The differences in the percentages of CD4+ T lymphocytes obtained by different methodologies could lead to conflict when used in clinical decisions related to the treatment and care of people infected with HIV.