Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of e-participation and open data in evidence-based policy decision making in local government

ABSTRACT The relationships between policies, their values, and outcomes are often difficult for citizens and policymakers to assess due to the complex nature of the policy lifecycle. With the opening of data by public administrations, there is now a greater opportunity for transparency, accountability, and evidence-based decision making in the policymaking process. In representative democracies, citizens rely on their elected representatives and local administrations to take policy decisions that address societal challenges and add value to their local communities. Citizens now have the opportunity to assess the impact and values of the policies introduced by their elected representatives and hold them accountable by utilizing historical open data that is publicly available. Using a qualitative case study in a UK Local Government Authority, this article examines how e-participation platforms and the use of open data can facilitate more factual, evidence-based, and transparent policy decision making and evaluation. From a theoretical stance, this article contributes to the policy lifecycle and e-participation literature. The article also offers valuable insights to public administrations on how open data can be utilized for evidence-based policy decision making and evaluation.
Arterial segment unloaded dimensions and organ culture conditions for the experimental groups Normotensive Hypertensive Straight arteries Buckled arteries Straight arteries Buckled arteries

Yangming Xiao, Danika Hayman, Seyed Saeid Khalafvand, Merry L. Lindsey, and Hai-Chao Han Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas; San Antonio Cardiovascular Proteomics Center, San Antonio, Texas; Mississippi Center for Heart Research, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi; and Research Service, G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi
Activation of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase p38 by Human Cytomegalovirus Infection through Two Distinct Pathways: a Novel Mechanism for Activation of p38

ABSTRACT Recent evidence indicates activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 has a critical function in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) viral DNA replication in infected human fibroblasts. To elucidate the mechanism of HCMV-mediated p38 activation, we have performed a detailed analysis of p38 activation and the kinases associated with this activation at different times postinfection. We demonstrate that p38 kinase activity is strongly increased following viral infection. Inhibition of this activity significantly inhibited HCMV-induced hyperphosphorylation of pRb and phosphorylation of heat shock protein 27, suggesting that p38 activation is involved in virus-mediated changes in host cell metabolism throughout the course of infection. We then provide evidence that p38 activation is mediated by different mechanisms at early times versus later times of infection. At early times of infection (8 to 14 h postinfection [hpi]), when p38 activation is first observed, no significant activation of the three kinases which can directly phosphorylate p38 (namely, MKK3, MKK6, and MKK4) is detected. Using vectors which express dominant negative proteins, we demonstrate that basal MKK6 kinase activity is necessary for HCMV-mediated p38 activation at these early times of infection (12 hpi). Then, we use ATP depletion to show that at 12 hpi, HCMV inhibits dephosphorylation of activated p38. These two experiments suggest that HCMV activates p38 by inhibition of dephosphorylation of p38. In contrast to early times of infection, at later times of infection (48 to 72 hpi), increased MKK3/6, but not MKK4, activity is observed. These results indicate that at early times of HCMV infection, increased steady-state levels of activated p38 is mediated at least in part by inhibition of dephosphorylation of p38, while at later times of infection p38 activation is due to increased activity of the upstream kinases MKK3 and MKK6. These findings indicate that HCMV has developed multiple mechanisms to ensure activation of the MAPK p38, a kinase critical to viral infection.
Immune-mediated Reactions to Anti-tumor Necrosis Factors in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

T he anti-tumor necrosis factor antibodies (anti-TNF) have had a major impact on the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) since their introduction in the late 1990s. Infliximab (IFX), adalimumab (ADA), and certolizumab pegol (CZP) are approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD) in the United States, whereas IFX, ADA, and golimumab (GLM) are all licensed for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. IFX is administered as an intravenous infusion; ADA, GLM, and CZP are self-injected subcutaneously by the patient. Initial experience with IFX in the treatment of CD highlighted the importance of regular scheduled maintenance therapy over episodic dosing, which was associated with antibody formation and secondary loss of response. Although effective in treating IBD, all the TNF agents are associated with potential adverse events. Some of the most frequent side effects associated with TNF agents are felt to be immunemediated and include infusion reactions (IRs), autoimmune reactions, and certain dermatologic reactions. This review discusses the antigenicity of the various anti-TNF but focuses on the diagnosis and management of the most common immune-mediated reactions associated with TNF therapy in patients with IBD, such as IRs, druginduced lupus erythematosus (DILE), and psoriaform reactions.
Sex differences in error-related performance monitoring

We tested competing hypotheses for sex differences in performance monitoring using the error-related negativity and the posterror positivity components of the event-related potential (ERP). High-density ERPs were acquired while 100 female and 98 male partcipants completed a flanker task. Sexes did not differ in accuracy or posterror slowing, although females showed longer overall response times. Males showed increased amplitude error-related negativity and posterror positivity components relative to females; sexes did not differ on correct-trial ERPs. Sex differences remained in subgroups matched for depression and anxiety levels. Results indicate that participant sex should be considered in understanding the cognitive and emotional correlates of performance monitoring.
IEC 61000-4-2 ESD test in display down configurationfor cell phones

During the IEC 61000-4-2 test the DUT is placed on a 0.5 mm insulating sheet, which is on the horizontal coupling plane (HCP). For discharge points on the back side of the phone this leads to a situation in which the display is facing the HCP. The phone or tablet forms a capacitance between 50 pF and 300 pF to the HCP. The capacitance value depends on the size of the phone, its screen flatness, and the flatness of the insulator which may deteriorate over time. The discharges to the phone lead to a large displacement current flowing through the display. This current has multiple paths to the body of the phone: via the touch electronics, via the display electronics, and directly to the body of the phone. As these currents can reach 30 A (at 8 kV contact mode) they can lead to upset and damage of both the display and the touch layers. This paper provides analysis of the display down test situation in order to show reproducibility problems. The effect of the capacitance variation is shown by the measurement and the PSPICE model. Full-wave model was used to help understand how much of the total current flows through the body of the phone. The Lichtenberg dust figure method was used to show the contribution of the corona discharge.
Challenges in the Endovascular Treatment of Giant Intracranial Aneurysms

OBJECTIVE:Giant intracranial aneurysms present unique therapeutic intricacies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anatomic and hemodynamic characteristics of these lesions and the current endovascular and combined surgical and endovascular techniques available for their treatment. METHODS:A review of the literature and the personal experiences of the authors with endovascular treatment of giant aneurysms are presented. This review included anatomic and hemodynamic features and analysis of the diverse endovascular techniques that have been reported for the management of these aneurysms. RESULTS:Anatomic features that create particular challenges in the therapeutic approach of giant aneurysms include size, shape (saccular, fusiform, serpentine), neck dimensions, branch involvement, intraluminal thrombosis, and location. Hemodynamic characteristics that affect endovascular treatment are lateral or terminal aneurysm type of flow and embolic material placement (inflow versus outflow aneurysmal region). The current endovascular therapeutic approaches include parent artery occlusion, trapping, endosaccular embolization with or without adjunctive techniques such as balloon-assisted or stent placement, and combined surgical and endovascular approaches, mainly with surgical revascularization and endovascular occlusion. CONCLUSION:Although there are a wide variety of endovascular therapeutic options for the treatment of giant intracranial aneurysms, none of the current techniques is completely successful and free of complications in the management of these complex lesions. A detailed and individualized analysis of each case in conjunction with sufficient understanding of the anatomy and hemodynamics of a particular aneurysm should guide the therapeutic decision. Further research advances will assist in elucidating the factors predisposing to genesis, progression, and aggressive clinical manifestations of these giant lesions.
Competitive Ability of Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard, Brassicaceae), an Invasive, Nonindigenous Forest Herb

Alliaria petiolata (Bieb.) Cavara & Grande (garlic mustard, Brassicaceae) is a Eurasian herb that is currently invading forested areas throughout portions of the northern United States and southern Canada. Alliaria petiolata enters plant communities in an aggressive fashion, often displacing resident understory species. One possible mechanism that may enable garlic mustard to successfully invade these areas is hypothesized superiority as a competitor. In order to determine the competitive potential of A. petiolata, a multiple deWit replacement series was conducted in the greenhouse between A. petiolata and three native species: Impatiens capensis, an herbaceous annual, and Acer negundo and Quercus prinus, two woody perennials. Each target species was grown in mixture with A. petiolata, and all species were grown in monoculture. After 21 wk, plants were harvested and dried. Aboveground dry‐weight biomass (yield) was then used to calculate the relative yield per plant, relative yield total, and mean aggressivity index. Impatiens capensis and A. negundo experienced greater intraspecific competition than interspecific competition with A. petiolata, while A. petiolata grown with A. negundo experienced more interspecific competition. Impatiens capensis and A. petiolata were approximately equal in aggressivity, while A. negundo was more aggressive than A. petiolata. In contrast, Q. prinus experienced more interspecific competition when grown with A. petiolata and had a lower aggressivity value. Alliaria petiolata rosettes had a greater competitive ability and aggressivity than Q. prinus, indicating that oak forest understories may be more vulnerable to A. petiolata invasion and that A. petiolata may negatively affect oak regeneration.
Temperature-dependent response of microbial communities in the meso- and bathypelagic Atlantic Ocean

Marine mikrobielle Gemeinschaften tragen seit der Fruhgeschichte der Erde wesentlich zur globalen Biomasse, dem Nahrstoffkreislauf, der Biodiversitat und ihrer Stabilitat bei und sind unmittelbar relevant fur eine Reihe von Umweltbelangen. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde die Zusammensetzung der prokaryotischen Gemeinschaft in Inkubationsexperimenten mit unterschiedlichen Wassermassen aus dem Meso- und Bathypelagial des Nordatlantik und des Ross-Meers der Antarktis mit mikrobiellem Fingerabdruck und 454 Tag Sequenzierung analysiert. Wahrend der Inkubation wurde die Temperatur auf 20°C erhoht, und dieser Temperaturanstieg fuhrte bis zu einer 230-fach hoheren Fixierung von gelostem anorganischen Kohlenstoff im Vergleich zu den Inkubationen bei in situ Temperatur. Diese Ergebnisse wurden fur den Nordatlantik erzielt, im Ross-Meer der Antarktis blieb der signifikante Anstieg der anorganischen Kohlenstofffixierung jedoch aus. Obwohl signifikante Unterschiede in den Prokaryten-Gemeinschaften zwischen der in situ Temperatur und den 20°C Inkubationen im Atlantik gemessen wurden, fuhrte der induzierte Selektionsdruck in Form der Temperaturerhohung nicht zu einer Konvergenz der Gemeinschaften bei 20°C . Sequenzierung der 16S rRNA ergab einen hohen Anteil von Gammaproteobakterien der Ordnung Oceanospirillales in der Abundanz der Sequenzen aus den 20°C Inkubationen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen eine hohe metabolische Plastizitat unter den Mitgliedern dieser Ordnung und das Potential der autotrophen anorganischen Kohlenstofffixierung durch Gene, die fur die Schwefeloxidation und die Kohlenstofffixierung kodieren. Diese Gene wurden in einigen Oceanospirillales (Swan et al. 2011) nachgewiesen. Die erhohte anorganische Kohlenstofffixierung bei erhohter Temperatur in Tiefsee-Mikroben ist im gesamten Atlantik zu messen, nicht aber in den Antarktischen Gewassern, was auf eine spezifische Biogeographie dieser Mikroorganismen hinweist.
A fuzzy approach to the flow control problem

We consider queueing systems in which arriving customers may be accepted or rejected. The objective is to determine the optimal admission policies so as to maximize the average profit (reward minus cost) over an infinite horizon. In this paper we use fuzzy logic to solve two problems for which analytical solutions exist. Fuzzy logic produces identical policies to the analytical ones and, therefore, these problems serve as benchmarks for further work. We then tackle a new problem with two arrival streams and parallel servers. The fuzzy approach is tested with simulation, and appears to be efficient and promising in areas where analysis is limited.
Speaker verification using type-2 Fuzzy Gaussian Mixture Models

This paper proposes the use of a Type-2 Fuzzy GMM (T2FGMM) speaker verification system for mobile devices in variable environments. This model is an extension of Gaussian mixture models based on the type-2 fuzzy set, which provide pertinence intervals for the trained samples. The decision process is obtained using the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) that processes the interval likelihoods. A Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm was also used to improve the speaker verification ratio. The proposed method was tested on the MIT mobile device speaker verification database which contains several different mobile devices used in different environments. The result shows the robustness of the system and the improvements in the verification ratios of the T2GMM over the classical GMM.
Relationship of plasma carotenoids, retinol and tocopherols in mothers and newborn infants.

OBJECTIVE We studied the relationship between maternal and cord plasma concentrations of carotenoids, retinol, and tocopherols in normal mother-baby pairs. METHODS Healthy pregnant women (n = 10) were recruited at a Montréal hospital. Venous blood samples were collected from the mothers at delivery and cord blood was obtained immediately post partum from the umbilical vein after clamping of the cord. All deliveries were full term deliveries and all babies had normal birth weights. Maternal and umbilical cord blood samples were handled identically. Plasma was digested with lipase and plasma carotenoids were extracted and measured using HPLC. RESULTS Cord plasma concentration of carotenoids were significantly lower than that of maternal plasma (p < 0.001). There was a high correlation of lutein (r = 0.889, p = 0.006) and cryptoxanthin (r = 0.912, p = 0.0002) between maternal plasma concentrations and cord plasma concentrations. The concentrations of the hydrocarbon carotenoids, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene, were also correlated (r = 0.779, p = 0.0133, & r = 0.782, p = 0.0076, respectively) between maternal plasma and cord plasma. Whereas the plasma concentration of the acyclic carotenoid, lycopene, showed no correlation between the two groups, after adjustment for plasma triglycerides, the lycopene correlation between maternal and cord plasma was the highest (r = 0.975, p = 0.0001) of all the carotenoids tested. Cord plasma retinol concentration, which was 50% of that of maternal plasma, was also found to have no correlation with that of maternal plasma. Plasma concentration of alpha-tocopherol showed no correlation between two groups, whereas there was high correlation between cord and maternal gamma-tocopherol concentrations (r = 0.808, p = 0.0047). CONCLUSION The nutritional status of mothers affects the nutritional status of their babies for certain fat soluble nutrients.
BRCA Mutation Carriers Do Not Have Compromised Ovarian Reserve

Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation between carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation and fertility using the level of anti-müllerian hormone (AMH), which has been previously shown to be an accurate marker of ovarian reserve and fertility potential. Patients and Methods Forty-one healthy BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, aged 26 to 40 years, attending a multidisciplinary breast and ovarian cancer surveillance clinic, were tested for AMH levels using a 2-site ELISA. Levels were compared with those of our general population and with well-established normograms of the general population. Results The mean age of carriers was 33.2 years (26–39 years; SD, 3.99 years). The mean parity of carriers was 1.97 (0–7; SD, 1.49). All women carried at least 1 Ashkenazi Jewish founder mutation. The AMH levels for most carriers were in the reference range, 2.71 ± 0.59 ng/mL (approximately 50th percentile of normograms). These levels were similar to those in the control group, in which the AMH levels were 2.02 ± 0.12 ng/mL (P = 0.27). Conclusions The AMH levels of healthy BRCA1/2 mutation carriers are similar to those of noncarrier women matched for age; therefore, their ovarian reserve is comparable. This is the only study, to the best of our knowledge, that directly examines ovarian reserve in a relatively large group of carriers with an accurate marker. The results of this study may possibly give reassurance to female carriers concerning fertility potential.
hCDC4b, a regulator of cyclin E, as a direct transcriptional target of p53

To identify p53‐target genes we have been using a cDNA‐microar‐ray system to assess gene expression in a p53‐mutated glioblas‐toma cell line (U373MG) after adenovirus‐mediated transfer of wild‐type p53 into the p53‐deficient cells. In the work reported here, expression of hCDC4b, which encodes one of the four sub‐units of the SCF (ubiquitin ligase) complex responsible for degradation of cyclin E, was dramatically up‐regulated by infection with Ad‐p53. An electrophoretic mobility‐shift assay and a chro‐matin immunoprecipitation assay indicated that a potential p53‐binding site (p53BS) present in exon 1b of the hCDC4 gene was able to bind to p53, and a reporter assay confirmed that this p53BS had p53‐dependent transcriptional activity. Expression of endogenous hCDC4b, but not the alternative transcript of this gene, hCDC4a, was induced in a p53‐dependent manner in response to genotoxic stresses caused by UV irradiation and adria‐mycin treatment, suggesting that each transcript has a different functional role. These results suggest that hCDC4b is a previously unrecognized transcriptional target of the p53 protein, and that by negatively regulating cyclin E through induction of hCDC4b, p53 might stop cell‐cycle progression at GO‐G1. This would represent a novel mechanism for p53‐dependent control of the cell cycle, in addition to the well‐known p21WAF1 machinery. (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 431–436)
Une décade prodigieuse. La crise financière entre temps court et temps long

La crise financiere, rampante depuis l’ete 2007, a connu un tournant majeur entre le dimanche 14 septembre et le vendredi 26 septembre 2008. L’acceleration brutale des evenements en a change qualitativement la nature. On est ainsi passe du stade d’un nouveau choc dans le systeme bancaire et financier americain (la faillite de Lehman Brothers) au constat public de la fin de l’hegemonie financiere americaine qui datait depuis 1945, en passant par l’evocation du spectre d’un effondrement total d.
Treating pediatric obesity in the primary care setting to prevent chronic disease: perceptions and knowledge of providers and staff.

BACKGROUND The national and international epidemic of chronic disease, including among children, is largely fueled by increasing obesity. It is recommended that primary care play a key role in the treatment of pediatric obesity. METHODS A written survey was administered to providers and staff at 13 primary care practices across North Carolina, assessing perceptions on multiple dimensions of pediatric obesity treatment and knowledge of dietitian services. RESULTS The response rate for the survey was 66.9% (n = 273). Although providers reported feeling comfortable and confident in many areas of childhood obesity, perceived effectiveness was low. Moreover, comfort and confidence were lower for non-primary care providers (PCPs) involved in obesity treatment than for PCPs, and PCP comfort and confidence levels were low for the ability to conduct motivational interviewing and for knowledge of billing for obesity as a diagnosis. Personnel perceived that there were benefits to having a registered dietitian (RD) in their practice and generally understood RD capacity. Survey results provided no evidence that integration of an RD into the practice changed perceptions or knowledge over the course of 1 year. LIMITATIONS The present study included only 13 practices, mostly rural and all of at least moderate size. CONCLUSION Significant change is required if primary care practices are to play the role envisioned for them in stemming childhood obesity and chronic disease. Change will require identifying and addressing specific knowledge and skill gaps, such as those identified in this study. Respondents' positive perceptions of the benefits of RD integration suggest the importance of exploring this clinical model.