Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apolipoprotein E polymorphism influences lipid phenotypes in Chinese families with familial combined hyperlipidemia.

BACKGROUND Apolipoprotein E (apoE) polymorphism is associated with changes in the lipoprotein profile of individuals with familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCHL), but its effects on the lipoprotein profiles of members of Chinese families with FCHL remain uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS 43 FCHL families (n=449) and 9 normolipidemic families (n=73) were recruited to assess the influence of apoE polymorphism on plasma lipids. The relative frequency of the epsilon4 allele in affected and unaffected FCHL relatives, spouses and normolipidemic members was 13.8%, 5.3%, 9.1% and 6.8%, respectively, with a significantly higher frequency in affected FCHL relatives, compared with unaffected FCHL relatives or normolipidemic members (p=0.0002 or p=0.029). In FCHL relatives, the apoE4 subset (E4/4 and E4/3) exhibited significantly higher levels of apoB, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) than did the apoE3 (E3/3) subset, especially in women (all p<0.05), and there was significant elevation of LDL-C concentrations in men only (p<0.05). In men, the apoE2 (E3/2) subset indicated a decreased level of apoB and increased apoA1 compared with those in the apoE3 subset (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS ApoE polymorphism appears to be associated with variance of the lipoprotein phenotype in Chinese families with FCHL.
Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I, MHC Class I Chain-Related Molecule A, and CD8+/Regulatory T-Cell Ratio: Which Variable Determines Survival of Cervical Cancer Patients?

Purpose: To investigate the effect of intraepithelial tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (ieTIL) and their ligands expressed by cervical tumor cells on the outcome of cervical cancer patients. Experimental Design: The prognostic value of ieTILs was investigated in 115 cases of cervical cancer. T-cell subsets, CD57+ cells, and regulatory T cells (Treg) were enumerated. The associations of these different ieTIL subtypes with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and MHC class I chain-related molecule A (MICA) expression were determined in relation to clinical variables and patient survival. Results: Survival analysis showed that a high number of intraepithelial Treg (FoxP3+), a low CD8+/regulatory T-cell ratio, and a weak HLA-A expression were all associated with worse survival (P = 0.034, 0.025, and 0.033, respectively, log-rank test). Further stratification of patient groups based on HLA-A-MICA expression and HLA-A-MICA-CD8+/Treg ratio revealed an even poorer survival (P = 0.005). In a multivariate Cox analysis, low CD8+/Treg ratio (P = 0.047), weak HLA-A-MICA expression (P = 0.003), and weak HLA-A-MICA expression combined with low CD8+/Treg ratio (P = 0.002) were all found to be independent unfavorable prognostic predictors in cervical carcinoma (hazard ratios, 2.7, 4.0, and 4.9, respectively). Conclusion: Weak HLA-A-MICA expression combined with low CD8+/Treg ratio reveals a patient group with the poorest survival in cervical cancer. As a single variable, low CD8+/Treg ratio was a significant independent unfavorable prognostic factor.
ALS mutations in FUS cause neuronal dysfunction and death in Caenorhabditis elegans by a dominant gain-of-function mechanism

It is unclear whether mutations in fused in sarcoma (FUS) cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis via a loss-of-function effect due to titrating FUS from the nucleus or a gain-of-function effect from cytoplasmic overabundance. To investigate this question, we generated a series of independent Caenorhabditis elegans lines expressing mutant or wild-type (WT) human FUS. We show that mutant FUS, but not WT-FUS, causes cytoplasmic mislocalization associated with progressive motor dysfunction and reduced lifespan. The severity of the mutant phenotype in C. elegans was directly correlated with the severity of the illness caused by the same mutation in humans, arguing that this model closely replicates key features of the human illness. Importantly, the mutant phenotype could not be rescued by overexpression of WT-FUS, even though WT-FUS had physiological intracellular localization, and was not recruited to the cytoplasmic mutant FUS aggregates. Our data suggest that FUS mutants cause neuronal dysfunction by a dominant gain-of-function effect related either to neurotoxic aggregates of mutant FUS in the cytoplasm or to dysfunction in its RNA-binding functions.
Fluorescent Property of Chitosan Oligomer and Its Application as a Metal Ion Sensor

An aqueous solution was successfully prepared using a low-molecular-weight chitosan oligomer and FITC, and its structural and fluorescent properties were observed by using 1H NMR, 13C NMR, FT-IR, XRD, UV-Vis, and PL spectrometry. Its application as a metal ion sensor was also evaluated. The fluorescence in the water-soluble chitosan oligomer was a result of the carbamato anion (NHCOO-), and a synthesized FITC-labeled chitosan oligomer exhibited an effective detection effect for copper ion as well as energy transfer by the ion near FITC that caused a fluorescence decrease (quenching). The chitosan oligomer was confirmed to be applicable as a selective and sensitive colorimetric sensor to detect Cu2+.
Induction of NRF2‐mediated gene expression by dietary phytochemical flavones apigenin and luteolin

Apigenin (API) and luteolin (LUT) have been used as therapeutic agents in folk medicine for thousands of years. These compounds exert a variety of biological activities, including anticancer, antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities. This study investigated whether API and LUT could activate Nrf2‐antioxidant response element (ARE)‐mediated gene expression and induce antiinflammatory activities in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. The compounds did not exhibit any substantial toxicity at low doses (1.56–6.25 µm). The induction of ARE activity was assessed in HepG2‐C8 cells after treatment with low doses of API and LUT for 6 and 12 h. It was found that the induction of ARE activity by these compounds at the higher doses was comparable to the effects of the positive control, SFN at a dose of 6.25 µm. Exposure to the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 abolished ARE activation by both API and LUT, whereas the ERK‐1/2 inhibitor PD98059 only decreased ARE activity induced by API. Both compounds significantly increased the endogenous mRNA and protein levels of Nrf2 and Nrf2 target genes with important effects on heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) expression. API and LUT significantly and dose‐dependently decreased the production of nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2), which were induced by the treatment of HepG2 cells with 1 µg/ml of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 h. The results indicate that API and LUT significantly activate the PI3K/Nrf2/ARE system, and this activation may be responsible for their antiinflammatory effects, as demonstrated by the suppression of LPS‐induced NO, iNOS and cPLA2. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Implementation, Sustainability, and Scaling Up of Social-Emotional and Academic Innovations in Public Schools

Abstract Many attempts at bringing successful educational programs and products “to scale” as part of school reform, particularly in urban districts, have been disappointing. Based on the experiences of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and reviews of literature addressing implementation failures, observations about failures to “scale up” are presented. These include persistent structural features in educational settings that are too often unrecognized, the perpetuation of a narrow and decontextualized “programs and packages” perspective, poor management of time and other resources, and inadequate attention to characteristics of the adults who must carry out planned reforms. Several assumptions essential for success are identified, including the need to incorporate social and emotional learning as an integral part of academics and the ways in which diversity provides an ever-changing context for implementation. Concluding thoughts center around three points: the need to prepare professionals with the array of skills needed to lead efforts at scaling up school reform, the importance of an action-research perspective, and the need to better document the stories of educational innovation and scaling up efforts so that contextual details can enrich an understanding of what is required for success.
Arrhythmogenic marker for the sudden unexplained death syndrome in Thai men.

BACKGROUND Between 1981 and 1988, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a very high incidence of sudden death among young male Southeast Asians who died unexpectedly during sleep. The pattern of death has long been prevalent in Southeast Asia. We carried out a study to identify the clinical markers for patients at high risk of developing sudden unexplained death syndrome (SUDS) and long-term outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 27 Thai men (mean age, 39.7+/-11 years) referred because they had cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, usually occurring at night while asleep (n=17), or were suspected to have had symptoms similar to the clinical presentation of SUDS (n=10). We performed cardiac testing, including EPS and cardiac catheterization. The patients were then followed at approximately 3-month intervals; our primary end points were death, ventricular fibrillation, or cardiac arrest. A distinct ECG abnormality divided our patients who had no structural heart disease (except 3 patients with mild left ventricular hypertrophy) into two groups: group 1 (n=16) patients had right bundle-branch block and ST-segment elevation in V1 through V3, and group 2 (n=11) had a normal ECG. Group 1 patients had well-defined electrophysiological abnormalities: group 1 had an abnormally prolonged His-Purkinje conduction time (HV interval, 63+/-11 versus 49+/-6 ms; P=.007). Group 1 had a higher incidence of inducible ventricular fibrillation (93% for group 1 versus 11% for group 2; P=.0002) and a positive signal-averaged ECG (92% for group 1 versus 11% for group 2; P=.002), which was associated with a higher incidence of ventricular fibrillation or death (P=.047). The life-table analysis showed that the group 1 patients had a much greater risk of dying suddenly (P=.05). CONCLUSIONS Right bundle-branch block and precordial injury pattern in V1 through V3 is common in SUDS patients and represents an arrhythmogenic marker that identifies patients who face an inordinate risk of ventricular fibrillation or sudden death.
A Classification Framework and Assessment Model for Automated Web Site Evaluation

This paper describes a neurofuzzy-based approach to automatically classify publicly accessible World Wide Web sites. The suggested methodology appears most relevant investigating corporate Web sites for advertising and customer support purposes but is equally valuable for analysing the hypertext structures of educational or non-profit organisations. Future efforts will focus on extending the framework from preand after-sales functions to customizable electronic transactions. A taxonomy is proposed based on "hard" criteria for classifying Web sites. Research methods and phases for a validated model are outlined and the most relevant attributes of such a system are defined. The described Web site analysis tool supports the automated data gathering and assures the necessary "critical mass" of training cases. The gathered data and the Web site taxonomy are fed into a neurofuzzy system which uses supervised learning in the assessment tool and unsupervised learning (fuzzy clustering) for validation.
The pattern of sensory processing abnormalities in autism

The study was undertaken to evaluate the nature of sensory dysfunction in persons with autism. The cross-sectional study examined auditory, visual, oral, and touch sensory processing, as measured by the Sensory Profile, in 104 persons with a diagnosis of autism, 3–56 years of age, gender-and age-matched to community controls. Persons with autism had abnormal auditory, visual, touch, and oral sensory processing that was significantly different from controls. This finding was also apparent when the high and low thresholds of these modalities were examined separately. At later ages for the group with autism, lower levels of abnormal sensory processing were found, except for low threshold touch, which did not improve significantly. There was a significant interaction in low threshold auditory and low threshold visual, suggesting that the two groups change differently over time on these variables. These results suggest that sensory abnormalities in autism are global in nature (involving several modalities) but have the potential to improve with age.
Making Sense of “Informal Logic”

This paper is an exercise in intellectual history, an attempt to understand how a specific term—”informal logic”— came to be interpreted in so many different ways. I trace the emergence and development of “informal logic” to help explain the many different meanings, how they emerged and how they are related. This paper is also, to some degree, an account of a movement that developed outside the mainstream of philosophy, whose origins lie in a desire to make logic useful (echoing Dewey).
Dynamique locales de production collective des oranisations de producteurs cotonniers : étude de cas dans le département des Collines au Bénin

Au Benin, depuis le debut des annees 90, la creation des groupements villageois (GV) et des unions sous-prefectorales de producteurs (ancienne appellation des unions communales de producteurs, UCP) s’est generalisee notamment autour des activites de production et de commercialisation du coton-graine. Les GV ont pour missions d’assurer l’approvisionnement des membres en intrants, en equipements agricoles et autres facteurs de production, ainsi que l’organisation de la collecte primaire et l’ecoulement de la production des membres, et de permettre a ces derniers l’acces au credit. Mais les GV s’affirment egalement comme des acteurs determinants dans la mise en place des biens collectifs au profit de la communaute locale. Les activites du GV mettent en jeu une relation de cooperation entre les producteurs cotonniers. La legislation beninoise confere a ces groupements ainsi qu’a leurs organisations laitieres un statut d’associations a caractere cooperatif. Le dynamisme de ces organisations cotonnieres de base a suscite l’organisation d’autres communautes et reseaux de producteurs.
Guest editorial: organisational change as shifting conversation, narratives and stories

PURPOSE - This paper aims to review property and valuation education within the university context, using the experience of program re-development at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, as a case study. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH - The paper utilises a literature review, comparing and contrasting the program renewal process within the university to experiences elsewhere and their inherent values. In critically examining some of the difficulties found within the program renewal process, issues symptomatic of the wider valuation profession and tertiary education system have been revealed. It provides the genesis of a wider study linking tertiary education and the valuation profession's needs in the mid-term. FINDINGS - Valuation education is often subsumed within a generalist property curriculum. As part of their resource allocation models universities are now paying close attention to teaching quality, research output, and graduate outcomes, often favouring generalist curricula rather than discipline-specific. There needs to be a careful analysis of the university experience of property and valuation students to ensure that graduate capabilities meet industry expectations, and that graduates themselves are able to adapt to future change. There also needs to be greater attention paid to the quality of teaching within universities and more evidence that mainstream tertiary teaching pedagogy is properly applied within the programs offered. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS - As a case study this paper chronicles the experiences at one university. It indicates a need for a wider, systematic study of how greater engagement by property and valuation academic and teaching staff can be more actively engaged in mainstream university.
Ground Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Populations in Commercial Organic and Conventional Potato Production

Abstract In 2 consecutive years, ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) were sampled in commercial organic and conventional potato fields, using pit fall traps. Four conventional and 3 organic potato fields were surveyed to determine ground beetle taxa composition. In a related study, potato fields were assigned to 1 of 4 transitional systems to include: organic, no spray (usually referred to as no control and/or only OMRI certified control), IPM-conventional (directed control, after sampling) and conventional (broad spectrum pesticides) systems. Seven taxa of ground beetles were identified: Anisodactylus kerbyi Lindroth 1953, Amara sp. , Bembidion sp. , Calosoma cancellatum Eschscholtz 1833, Calathus ruficollis Casey 1920, Calathus ingratus Dejean 1828, and Pterostichus adstrictus Eschscholtz 1823. With the exception of C. cancellatum, which was not identified from organic fields in the first yr of this study, all taxa were collected in both organic and conventional potato fields both yr. Based on total number of specimens collected, Bembidion sp. , P. adstrictus and Amara sp. represented 42.8% of the total specimens collected. The smallest number of ground beetles was collected from no spray and IPM-conventional systems. This study provides basic valuable information regarding beetles populations for growers making transition from conventional to organic potato production.
Towards a conceptual model of youth leadership development

Youth leadership development is a growing area of research and practice in recent years. This paper will present a conceptual model highlighting the key components necessary in cultivating young leaders including skills development, environmental factors and commitment to action. In each of these categories, a number of aspects, supported by international literature known to be important in developing leaders, are presented. In the skills section, important factors include social and emotional intelligence, the ability to collaborate with others (including problem solving and conflict resolution), the ability to articulate a vision and finally the ability to gain insight or knowledge into the particular subject area. Environmental conditions include having authentic opportunities that enable young people to practise and hone their skills. In terms of action, both the ability to inspire and motivate followers through high expectations and role modelling pave the way to having a good team on which to build youth leadership. This, together with mastery as developed through the ability to persist and endeavour, is critical to any successful youth leader.
Volunteer work in youth organizations: predicting distinct aspects of volunteering behavior from self‐ and other‐oriented motives

This study examined the impact of motivational underpinnings of volunteerism on self-reported volunteer behaviors and satisfaction. Data from 153 volunteers in youth organizations supported a two-dimensional structure of self- and other-oriented motives. Self-oriented motives were more important in explaining in-role volunteer behavior, while other-oriented concerns were also important in predicting extra-role volunteer behavior and satisfaction. These findings are discussed in the context of a functional approach to volunteerism and linked to recent findings regarding the role of self- and other-oriented motives from the organizational literature. Suggestions for recruiting and motivating young volunteers in youth development organizations are presented.
Loki: A privacy-conscious platform for crowdsourced surveys

Emerging platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Google Consumer Surveys are increasingly being used by researchers and market analysts to crowdsource large-scale survey data from on-line populations at extremely low-cost. However, by participating in successive surveys, users risk being profiled and targeted, both by surveyors and by the platform itself. In this paper we propose, develop, and evaluate the design of a crowdsourcing platform, called Loki, that is privacy conscious. Our contributions are three-fold: (a) We propose Loki, a system that allows users to obfuscate their (ratings-based or multiple-choice) responses at-source based on their chosen privacy level, and gives surveyors aggregated population averages with known statistical confidence. (b) We develop a novel selection mechanism, which the platform can use to give surveyors accurate population estimates within a cost budget, while ensuring fairness in privacy loss amongst users. (c) We evaluate our scheme both off-line using a large dataset of movie ratings, and on-line via experimentation with 131 real users using a prototype implementation on mobile devices. Our work represents a first step towards incorporating privacy protection in emerging platforms for crowdsourced survey data.
Robust adaptive control of a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with time-varying output constraints

In this paper, a robust adaptive controller for single input uncertain nonlinear systems by taking parametric uncertainties and external disturbance into consideration is proposed, in which the adaptive law is synthesized to handle parametric uncertainty and a novel robust term is incorporated to attenuate lumped disturbance such as unconsidered dynamics as well as external disturbances. An asymmetric time-varying Barrier Lyapunov Function (BLF) is employed to ensure that the initial output can start from anywhere within the pre-set output constrained space. Moreover, the developed controller does not require a priori knowledge on the bound of the lumped disturbance. In addition to the stability of the whole closed-loop system is obtained, the asymptotic output tracking (i.e. the output tracking error converges to zero as time limits to infinity) can also be guaranteed. An illustrative example is provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.
Mechanisms by which amphetamine redistributes dopamine out of vesicles: A computational study

Computer simulations of dopamine (DA) and amphetamine interactions associated with dopaminergic storage vesicles were developed in order to better explain how amphetamine causes redistribution of DA out of the vesicles. In the model, DA can be transported into vesicles via the vesicular monoamine transporter. Amphetamine competitively inhibits DA uptake either as a substrate for the transporter or by interference with DA binding to the transporter. Both of the amines can passively diffuse across the membrane in both directions, but only the neutral species can cross the membrane in this manner. The abundance of neutral and positive moieties of the amines is governed by the Henderson‐Hasselbalch equation. The model reproduces experimentally observed steady‐state DA levels in vesicles, vesicles emptying faster after a change of pH inside the vesicle than after a change in access of DA for the vesicular monoamine transporter, and the impact of amphetamine on DA uptake and efflux in a variety of experimental paradigms. The simulations indicate that a small percentage of DA is constantly diffusing out of vesicles and is replaced by DA entering the vesicle by the vesicular monoamine transporter. Low doses of amphetamine cause DA redistribution out of vesicles primarily by inhibiting DA storage while an enhancement of efflux rates as a result of a change in vesicle pH is added at higher concentrations of amphetamine. Synapse 62:370–378, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.