Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional comparison of RGS9 splice isoforms in a living cell

Two isoforms of the GTPase-activating protein, regulator of G protein signaling 9 (RGS9), control such fundamental functions as vision and behavior. RGS9–1 regulates phototransduction in rods and cones, and RGS9–2 regulates dopamine and opioid signaling in the basal ganglia. To determine their functional differences in the same intact cell, we replaced RGS9–1 with RGS9–2 in mouse rods. Surprisingly, RGS9–2 not only supported normal photoresponse recovery under moderate light conditions but also outperformed RGS9–1 in bright light. This versatility of RGS9–2 results from its ability to inactivate the G protein, transducin, regardless of its effector interactions, whereas RGS9–1 prefers the G protein-effector complex. Such versatility makes RGS9–2 an isoform advantageous for timely signal inactivation across a wide range of stimulus strengths and may explain its predominant representation throughout the nervous system.
Rhinovirus and the lower respiratory tract†

Human rhinoviruses (HRVs) are well‐recognised causes of common colds and associated upper respiratory tract complications such as sinusitis and otitis media. This article reviews information linking HRV infection to illness in the lower respiratory tract. HRVs are capable of efficient replication in vitro at temperatures present in the tracheobronchial tree and have been shown to cause productive infection, elaboration of cytokines and chemokines, and up‐regulation of cell surface markers in human bronchial epithelial cells. In situ hybridisation studies have proven that HRV infection occurs in the tracheobronchial tree following experimental infection. Clinical studies report that HRV infection is the second most frequently recognised agent associated with pneumonia and bronchiolitis in infants and young children and commonly causes exacerbations of pre‐existing airways disease in those with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis. HRV infection is associated with one‐third to one‐half of asthma exacerbations depending on age and is linked to asthma hospitalisations in both adults and children. Limited information implicates HRV infection as a cause of severe lower respiratory tract illness in older adults and in highly immunocompromised hosts, particularly bone marrow transplant recipients. More information is needed about the pathogenesis of HRV infection with regard to lower respiratory tract complications in these diverse patient groups. Given the large unmet medical need associated with HRV infections, safe and effective antiviral agents are needed for both prevention and treatment of these infections. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Are Women Always More Interpersonally Sensitive Than Men? Impact of Goals and Content Domain

Two studies examined motivation and content domain as possible influences on sex differences in interpersonal sensitivity. Although much research has found women to excel on tasks measuring interpersonal sensitivity, most of the tasks have measured accuracy in female-relevant domains such as emotion. The present studies measured interpersonal sensitivity, defined as accurate recall of another person, for both female-relevant and male-relevant content domains and also included motivational manipulations intended to influence men and women differently. Study 1 measured accuracy of recalling information in a written vignette about a person, and Study 2 measured accuracy of recalling details about an interaction partner. Both studies supported hypotheses about domain specificity and gender-relevant motivation. However, even for male-stereotypic content and for tasks framed to favor men's motivation to perform well, men's accuracy never exceeded women's.
Measuring values using best‐worst scaling: The LOV example

The paper discusses the way that values have been measured and suggests an alternative way to collect values data. A recently developed approach, termed Best Worst Scaling, developed by Louviere and his colleagues, offers an opportunity to collect such data in a way that may produce more desirable values estimates. Kahle's (1983) List of Values, which has been widely employed in consumer research, was used to examine differences between the new approach and traditional ratings and rankings approaches. The results suggest that the new technique may provide better outcomes and that researchers should think about its potential usefulness in future research with these and other scales. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Role of the Vasa Vasorum and Vascular Resident Stem Cells in Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is considered an “inside-out” response, that begins with the dysfunction of intimal endothelial cells and leads to neointimal plaque formation. The adventitia of large blood vessels has been recognized as an active part of the vessel wall that is involved in the process of atherosclerosis. There are characteristic changes in the adventitial vasa vasorum that are associated with the development of atheromatous plaques. However, whether vasa vasorum plays a causative or merely reactive role in the atherosclerotic process is not completely clear. Recent studies report that the vascular wall contains a number of stem/progenitor cells that may contribute to vascular remodeling. Microvessels serve as the vascular niche that maintains the resident stem/progenitor cells of the tissue. Therefore, the vasa vasorum may contribute to vascular remodeling through not only its conventional function as a blood conducting tube, but also its new conceptual function as a stem cell reservoir. This brief review highlights the recent advances contributing to our understanding of the role of the adventitial vasa vasorum in the atherosclerosis and discusses new concept that involves vascular-resident factors, the vasa vasorum and its associated vascular-resident stem cells, in the atherosclerotic process.
Relative analgesic potencies of ropivacaine and bupivacaine for epidural analgesia in labor: implications for therapeutic indexes.

BACKGROUND The minimum local analgesic concentration (MLAC) has been defined as the median effective local analgesic concentration in a 20-ml volume for epidural analgesia in the first stage of labor. The aim of this study was to assess the relative analgesic potencies of epidural bupivacaine and ropivacaine by determining their respective minimum local analgesic concentrations. METHODS Seventy-three parturients at < or = 7 cm cervical dilation who requested epidural analgesia were allocated to one of two groups in this double-blinded, randomized, prospective study. After a lumbar epidural catheter was placed, 20 ml of the test solution was given, either ropivacaine (n = 34) or bupivacaine (n = 39). The concentration of local anesthetic was determined by the response of the previous patient in that group to a higher or lower concentration using up-down sequential allocation. Analgesic efficacy was assessed using 100-mm visual analog pain scores with < or = 10 mm within 30 min defined as effective. An effective result directed a 0.01% wt/vol decrement for the next patient. An ineffective result directed a 0.01% wt/vol increment. RESULTS The minimum local analgesic concentration of ropivacaine was 0.111% wt/vol (95% confidence interval, 0.100-0.122), and the minimum local analgesic concentration of bupivacaine was 0.067% wt/vol (95% confidence interval, 0.052-0.082). Ropivacaine was significantly less potent than bupivacaine, with a potency ratio of 0.6 (95% confidence interval, 0.49-0.74). No difference in motor effects was observed. CONCLUSION Ropivacaine was significantly less potent than bupivacaine for epidural analgesia in the first stage of labor.
Modeling and multiobjective optimization of traction performance for autonomous wheeled mobile robot in rough terrain

Application of terrain-vehicle mechanics for determination and prediction of mobility performance of autonomous wheeled mobile robot (AWMR) in rough terrain is a new research area currently receiving much attention for both terrestrial and planetary missions due to its significant role in design, evaluation, optimization, and motion control of AWMRs. In this paper, decoupled closed form terramechanics considering important wheel-terrain parameters is applied to model and predict traction. Numerical analysis of traction performance in terms of drawbar pull, tractive efficiency, and driving torque is carried out for wheels of different radii, widths, and lug heights, under different wheel slips. Effects of normal forces on wheels are analyzed. Results presented in figures are discussed and used to draw some conclusions. Furthermore, a multiobjective optimization (MOO) method for achieving optimal mobility is presented. The MOO problem is formulated based on five independent variables including wheel radius r, width b, lug height h, wheel slip s, and wheel rotation angle θ with three objectives to maximize drawbar pull and tractive efficiency while minimizing the dynamic traction ratio. Genetic algorithm in MATLAB is used to obtain optimized wheel design and traction control parameters such as drawbar pull, tractive efficiency, and dynamic traction ratio required for good mobility performance. Comparison of MOO results with experimental results shows a good agreement. A method to apply the MOO results for online traction and mobility prediction and control is discussed.
CXCR4 Regulates Growth of Both Primary and Metastatic Breast Cancer

The chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its cognate ligand CXCL12 recently have been proposed to regulate the directional trafficking and invasion of breast cancer cells to sites of metastases. However, effects of CXCR4 on the growth of primary breast cancer tumors and established metastases and survival have not been determined. We used stable RNAi to reduce expression of CXCR4 in murine 4T1 cells, a highly metastatic mammary cancer cell line that is a model for stage IV human breast cancer. Using noninvasive bioluminescence and magnetic resonance imaging, we showed that knockdown of CXCR4 significantly limited the growth of orthotopically transplanted breast cancer cells. Mice in which parental 4T1 cells were implanted had progressively enlarging tumors that spontaneously metastasized, and these animals all died from metastatic disease. Remarkably, RNAi of CXCR4 prevented primary tumor formation in some mice, and all mice transplanted with CXCR RNAi cells survived without developing macroscopic metastases. To analyze effects of CXCR4 on metastases to the lung, an organ commonly affected by metastatic breast cancer, we injected tumor cells intravenously and monitored cell growth with bioluminescence imaging. Inhibiting CXCR4 with RNAi, or the specific antagonist AMD3100, substantially delayed the growth of 4T1 cells in the lung, although neither RNAi nor AMD3100 prolonged overall survival in mice with experimental lung metastases. These data indicate that CXCR4 is required to initiate proliferation and/or promote survival of breast cancer cells in vivo and suggest that CXCR4 inhibitors will improve treatment of patients with primary and metastatic breast cancer.
How to Define an Object: Evidence from the Effects of Action on Perception and Attention

Abstract: We present work demonstrating that the nature of an object for our visual system depends on the actions we are programming and on the presence of action relations between stimuli. For example, patients who show visual extinction are more likely to become aware of two objects if the objects fall in appropriate visual locations for a common action. This effect of the action relations between objects is modulated both by the familiarity of the positioning of the objects for action, and by the mere possibility of action (the ‘affordance’) between the objects. In addition, the programming of an action to a part of an object alters the representation of that object, making the ‘part’ into the object selected by the visual system. These results point to object coding being a rather flexible process, affected not only by the perceptual properties of stimuli but also by the relations between these properties and action. We discuss the implications for theories of perception as well as considering why action information, in particular, may be important for perception.
A case of local rejection of a heritage tourism policy: tourism and dynamics of change in Abondance, French Alps

Despite the opportunities offered by developing and enhancing cultural heritage in the tourism sector, this article, based on a case study of a little town in the French Alps, shows that public policy of this type may also be subject to criticism and dispute. In the town of Abondance, a small ski resort being converted to cultural tourism site built around heritage, the demonstration observed involved both a desire to keep the skiing and a questioning of the political process, but also a rejection of the alternative solution involving the development of the cultural heritage of the Gothic Court of Savoy. During the qualitative survey of the social reactions, three types of arguments have been raised. (1) As summarised by one of the local leaders ‘the people do not believe in it’. Indeed, local shopkeepers are sceptical that cultural tourism will draw numerous visitors, and fear that is not economically viable. (2) In contrast to the ski resort, heritage tourism is only attached to the imagination of old age, immobility and even death, as if seniority of places necessarily corresponds to seniority of public and images. (3) For residents of the town, setting up a localised visit site has disadvantages because of the turnover of touristic traffic to which this type of tourism is exposed.
A Mechanical Model to Interpret Cell-Scale Indentation Experiments on Plant Tissues in Terms of Cell Wall Elasticity and Turgor Pressure

Morphogenesis in plants is directly linked to the mechanical elements of growing tissues, namely cell wall and inner cell pressure. Studies of these structural elements are now often performed using indentation methods such as atomic force microscopy. In these methods, a probe applies a force to the tissue surface at a subcellular scale and its displacement is monitored, yielding force-displacement curves that reflect tissue mechanics. However, the interpretation of these curves is challenging as they may depend not only on the cell probed, but also on neighboring cells, or even on the whole tissue. Here, we build a realistic three-dimensional model of the indentation of a flower bud using SOFA (Simulation Open Framework Architecture), in order to provide a framework for the analysis of force-displacement curves obtained experimentally. We find that the shape of indentation curves mostly depends on the ratio between cell pressure and wall modulus. Hysteresis in force-displacement curves can be accounted for by a viscoelastic behavior of the cell wall. We consider differences in elastic modulus between cell layers and we show that, according to the location of indentation and to the size of the probe, force-displacement curves are sensitive with different weights to the mechanical components of the two most external cell layers. Our results confirm most of the interpretations of previous experiments and provide a guide to future experimental work.
Labial Articulation Patterns Associated with Segmental Features and Syllable Structure in English

Abstract The purpose of the work described here was to relate different types of phonological categories – like phonemic distinctive features and syllable boundaries – with articulatory parameters for lip and jaw height. The analysis is based on data for 2 talkers of American English, using the University of Tokyo X-ray microbeam system. We studied the articulatory realization of linguistic contrasts in syllable boundary location for the intervocalic labial stop consonant /p/ and the articulatory realization of intervocalic /p/ in the environment of phonemically different vowels. The /p/s in contrasts associated with the phonemic vowel environment (e. g., /p/ in /ipi/ versus /apa/) were realized in articulation by a constant lip pellet position, implemented by an inverse relation between jaw height and lip articulator height. The syllable structure contrasts (e. g., syllable-initial /p/ versus syllable-final /p/) were realized by jaw height differences, without any lip articulator difference. These results can be accounted for by describing the observable lip pellet position for /p/ as a function of two independent variables: a constant lip pellet goal, at the level of segmental vowel environment, plus a jaw height for a particular syllable structure.
Spatial Cognition & Computation: an Interdisciplinary Journal Revisiting Perspective-taking: Can People Maintain Imagined Perspectives? Revisiting Perspective-taking: Can People Maintain Imagined Perspectives?

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Abstract: Three experiments were conducted to examine whether people can adopt and maintain imagined perspectives in the absence of target information. The task used entailed providing information about an imagined perspective in advance of target information to examine whether this would facilitate perspective-taking performance and reduce or eliminate alignment effects that are commonly reported in the literature. The three experiments employed different types of spatial environments: an environment learned from navigating a computer screen (Experiment 1), and an immersive environment that was either remote (Experiment 2) or immediate (Experiment 3) at the time of retrieval. Across the three experiments, results showed that information about an imagined perspective can be utilized ahead of target information. Furthermore, they suggested that alignment effects can be reduced as a result of processing information about perspective ahead of target information, but only when reasoning about specific nonimmediate spatial relations (Experiments 1 and 2). Results are discussed in connection with previous findings on spatial updating and the organizational structure of spatial memory.
Eliciting Welfare Preferences from Behavioural Data Sets

An individual displays various preference orderings in different payoff-irrelevant circumstances. It is assumed that the variation in the observed preference orderings is the outcome of some cognitive process that distorts the underlying preferences of the individual. We introduce a framework for eliciting the individual's underlying preferences in such cases and then demonstrate it for two cognitive processes--satisficing and small assessment errors. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.
Telomere dysfunction in hypertension

Aging is a major risk factor for hypertension and associated cardiovascular disease. In most proliferative tissues, aging is characterized by shortening of the DNA component of telomeres, the specialized genetic segments that cap the end of eukaryotic chromosomes and protect them from end-to-end fusions. By inducing genomic instability, replicative senescence and apoptosis, telomere shortening is thought to contribute to organismal aging and to the development of age-related diseases. Here, we review animal and human studies that have investigated the possible links between telomere ablation and the pathogenesis of hypertension and related target organ damage. Although evidence is mounting that alterations in telomerase activity and telomere shortening may play a role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, additional studies are required to understand the molecular mechanisms by which telomere dysfunction and hypertension are functionally connected. As our knowledge on this emerging field grows, the challenge will be to ascertain whether all this information might translate into clinical applications.
Toward a white teachers' guide to playing fair: Exploring the cultural politics of multicultural teaching

Multicultural education in teacher preparation programs can emphasize the study of whiteness so as to make whiteness visible, analyze white privilege, and offer ways that white privilege can be used to combat racism. While white race consciousness has been seen as part of the multicultural education agenda for some educators, recently the efficacy of such an approach has been questioned. White race consciousness or antiracist pedagogy has not been shown to bring about teacher competence in diverse classrooms or to raise the academic performance of students of color and poverty. I suggest here that the social relations in the larger society, deeply embedded with notions of deficit thinking, are mapped onto the reality of a largely white professorate preparing a largely white public school teaching force, thereby ensuring the academic failure of certain children. To play fair, then, requires that white teachers recognize when their classroom practices assume assimilation into the dominant culture and their actions exclude the contributions of diverse individuals and groups. I argue for a multicultural education discourse that includes a recognitive view of social justice for guiding white educators in the practice of fair play in diverse classrooms.
Ruska H. Visualization of bacteriophage lysis in the hypermicroscope. Naturwissenschaften1940; 28:45–6

After attempts to obtain high-magnification pictures of bacteria in the hypermicroscope had shown that bacterial structures of sub-light-microscopical magnification could be visualized, a precondition for the observation of bacteriophage lysis and related problems was solved. Already a brief time after adding a lysate to a broth culture of E. coli, phages appear to be adsorbed to the bacteria membrane (Fig. 1). Very shortly after this, the bacterial membrane appears to be less dense, [cyto]plasma contents (Fig. 2) are extruded until, except for resistant germs (Fig. 3), complete lysis has occurred. It is remarkable that in certain stages of lysis, crystalloid elements can be observed (Fig. 4) which, alone or in groups, occur near the poles of the bacteria at the places where one locates the organization centers (nucleoids after Piekski). Fig. 1. III 133/39. Coliphages on sharply delimited bacterial surface. Electron optical : 15 000:1. Fig. 2. III 137/39. Coliphages on loosely delimited, unsharp bacterial surface. Electron optical : 14 000:1. Fig. 3. II 702/39. Coliphages on resistent germ with intact membrane. Electron optical : 14 000:1. Fig. 4. III 139/39. Germ with included and (extruded? ) crystalloid elements and phages in the vicinity. Electron optical : 14 000:1. The phage is a small round particle which, after cautious irrradiation, appears homogeneous and rather dense. The phages seem to be destroyed at higher irradiation intensity, leaving behind only annular or hollow remains. We could induce the same phenomenon in the crystalloids shown in Fig. 4, so that (Fig. 5) only the contours of these perhaps cubic bodies are visible. The similar reaction of phage bodies and crystalloid structures to electron irradiation suggests that both are of a similar substance and thus the crystalloids are perhaps linked to the centers of genesis of phage protein. Fig. 5. As Fig. 4. III 140/39. The crystalloid elements are destroyed by heavy irradiation. Electron optical : 14 000:1. For optical reasons, it cannot be conclusively decided whether phage multiplication is an exclusively endogenic or also exogenic event. This question—essential for the concept of phage nature—is the object of further investigations and will be discussed in the context of an extensive description of all observed phenomena. We also refer to the simultaneous communication of E. Pfankuch and G.A. Kausche in this issue.