VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Mechanism of binding and activation in the cardiac muscarinic receptor

M2 muscarinic receptors have been probed for two phenomena that have been implicated in the mechanism of G protein-mediated signaling: conformational equilibria between different states of the receptor and cooperativity between interacting sites. The approach has been based on binding studies and mechanistic modeling, which together offer a unique window on function in such systems. Receptors affinity-purified from porcine atria showed decreased affinity for muscarinic antagonists upon treatment with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM); the affinity for agonists was unchanged. Conversely, antagonists but not agonists decreased the rate of alkylation by NEM. Alkylated receptors underwent a rapid and spontaneous inactivation that was prevented by muscarinic ligands. The inactivation was not accompanied by any gross change in oligomeric status, as indicated by co-immunoprecipitation of differently tagged receptors, or in secondary structure, as indicated by circular dichroism spectroscopy. All of the effects could be described quantitatively in terms of an equilibrium between two states that appear to correspond to the inactive (R) and active (R*) states identified previously. The comparatively unstable R* state predominates in the purified receptor and is favored by agonists and NEM, while the R state is favored by antagonists. Since the preparation was devoid of G protein, the multiple states are intrinsic to the receptor alone. M2 receptors extracted in cholate-NaCl or Lubrol-PX have been shown previously to exhibit a pattern of effects that can be described quantitatively in terms of cooperative interactions within a receptor that is at least tetravalent, presumably a tetramer. A difference in the apparent capacity for two radiolabeled antagonists can be attributed to negative homotropic cooperativity in the binding of one. Related non-competitive effects arise from concerted positive and negative heterotropic cooperativity between the unlabeled and radiolabeled ligands. The net effect is a leveraged inhibition in which one equivalent of the former blocks two or more equivalents of the latter. It was noted during the investigation that some batches of radioligand received from commercial sources were contaminated with the unlabeled precursor. An unrecognized impurity is akin to an error in the specific radioactivity, and the effect was shown to mimic the effect of cooperativity, asymmetry within an oligomer, sequestration, and multiple populations of distinct and independent sites. Procedures have been developed whereby the artifact can be identified and accommodated within a particular model.
The forest filter effect for semi-volatile organic compounds and implications for their long range transport

Semi-volatile organic compounds (SOCs), such as the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), can undergo long range transport and accumulation in arctic regions. Because of differences in their partitioning and degradation properties, PCB congeners differ in their transport behaviour leading to compositional changes with latitude. The global transport model Globo-POP has been used to reproduce these fractionation patterns in atmosphere and soils, to identify the major factors controlling their appearance, and to understand their spatial and temporal variability. The same model has been modified and used to quantify the effect of forests on the ability of SOCs to reach and accumulate in the Arctic. The model suggests that the concentrations of some highly persistent SOCs in the Arctic would be higher by as much as a factor of 2 were it not for the filter effect of global forests, especially boreal deciduous forests. Degradability in the canopy could further enhance this effect. Forests also increase the overall persistence of SOCs by enhancing their transfer to soil with slow degradation rates. The calculations identified the dry gaseous deposition velocity to boreal deciduous forest as one of the most important parameters. A value of 2.8 ł 0.46cmʺs -1 for this velocity, derived from measurements of PCBs and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in air and bulk deposition in a forest in Southern Canada, is very similar to the only other reported value for a deciduous canopy, as is the relationship between the canopy/air partition coefficient and the octanol/air partition coefficient K OA . Particle-bound deposition velocities to the canopy due to diffusion/impaction are 0.77 cmʺs -1 for PBDEs and 0.12 ł 0.020 cmʺs -1 for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The remarkable similarity between the forests studied here and in Germany lends credibility to the suggestion that high SOC uptake in deciduous forest is wide-spread. The air concentration measurements further provide insight into the temporal variability and gas/particle partitioning behaviour of PAHs, and can serve to calibrate an XAD-based passive air sampling system under field conditions. Determination of K OA -values for numerous polychlorinated naphthalenes from gas chromatographic retention times allows the prediction of their uptake behaviour in forest canopies and passive air samplers.
User mobility for opportunistic ad-hoc networking

As mobile devices become increasingly pervasive and commonly equipped with short-range radio capabilities, we observe that it might be possible to build a network based only on pair-wise contact of users. By using user mobility as a network transport mechanism, devices can intelligently route latency-insensitive packets using power-efficient short-range radio. Such a network could provide communication capability where no network infrastructure exists, or extend the reach of established infrastructure. To collect user mobility data, we ran two user studies by giving instrumented PDA devices to groups of students to carry for several weeks. We evaluate our work by providing empirical data that suggests that it is possible to make intelligent routing decisions based on only pair-wise contact, without previous knowledge of the mobility model or location information.
Toward a feminist ethics of identity in technoscience

In this thesis I explore the ways in which gender and identity are represented by various feminist critiques of technoscience. In so doing, I trouble how the rational political subject has appeared in scientific thinking over time. I outline, in preliminary fashion, a feminist ethics of identity in technoscience which brings together the intersubjective turn of ethics in Hannah Arendt's work with feminist theories of socially located gender identity. I review the work of feminist theorists of science (e.g. Helen Longino and Evelyn Fox Keller), and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, to explore gendered forms of social exclusion in technoscience. I argue that a feminist praxis of technoscience must involve intersubjective engagement between scientists and lay actors, responding to the need for both scientific and social justification. Keeping pedagogy in mind throughout, I posit a feminist ethical praxis in technoscience that could trouble current considerations of useful knowledge and influence how scientific decisions are made, through a model of intersubjective action informed by the work of feminist philosophers and political theorists.

Keywords: Feminist ethics
Feminism
Sex differences
Gender identity
Science, Social aspects
Technology, Social aspects
Molecular genetic investigation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in childhood-onset mood disorder

Childhood-onset mood disorder (COMD) is a condition with pronounced morbidity. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has antidepressant-like effects at cellular and molecular levels in animals; variants of the BDNF gene have been associated with bipolar disorder. Two BDNF polymorphisms, a dinucleotide repeat, (GT)n, and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), Val66 Met, were genotyped in 99 adults with COMD and matched controls. The BDNF (GT)n marker was associated with COMD (168 bp OR = 3.94, CI = 1.72 to 9.04). Alleles of Va166Met were not associated with COMD. The haplotype val/short contributes to risk. Studies in several species have implicated BDNF and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in memory. In 63 young adults with a history of COMD, we genotyped three BDNF polymorphisms and the COMT Val108/158 Met SNP. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to test hypotheses of association. We found no evidence of association between the two loci and declarative memory phenotypes.
Cryo-electron microscopy of membrane proteins ; lipid bilayer supports and vacuum-cryo-transfer

Unsupported lipid bilayers for use as near-native supports for electron microscopy (EM) of membrane proteins have been formed by immersing EM grids coated with fenestrated plastic through a lipid monolayer on a Langmuir-Blodgett trough. After insertion of membrane proteins by proteoliposome fusion, quick freezing and freeze-drying, these fragile proteo-bilayers can be stabilized for EM by evaporating a thin layer of carbon onto the lipid surface. A system was designed for transfer of carbon stabilized lipid bilayers from the carbon evaporator into a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), while the specimen remains under vacuum at liquid nitrogen temperatures. The system consists of a vacuum transfer shuttle, a spring-loaded specimen gripping device, and a gated STEM adapter unit. With this system membrane proteins can be imaged in the EM, with the molecules remaining immobilized in the form they had while in aqueous media, for subsequent 3D structure determination by single particle analysis.
"Have you ever looked into a professor's soul?": professoriate identities and academic cultures in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Toronto, 1935-1945

University histories have covered many aspects of social and institutional development, but they have rarely focussed on the professoriate. As intellectual engines of the university, professors held considerable authority in the creation, handling, and dissemination of knowledge-an extraordinarily important and powerful commodity in society. The professoriate is a unique group of people, often referred to as a community-but very hard to define individually and collectively-that carry with it ascribed characteristics, self- and imposed identities, particular social and intellectual cultures and understandings, and even stereotypes and mythologies. As historical agents, the professors shaped intellectualism on university campuses, and in local communities and provincial and national jurisdictions and institutions. Using socio-historical analysis and argument, this thesis focuses on a selected sample of the Faculty of Arts professoriate at the University of Toronto 1935-1945. This group of professors constructed its cultures and identities in various, historically-contextual ways, negotiating the academic and intellectual surroundings that they themselves created. Within a complex social environment of multiple academic methodologies, democratic and undemocratic bureaucratic cultures, formal and informal interrelations, and the relationship of large intellectual cloisters on campus with surrounding communities and the state, the Faculty of Arts offers a rich historical laboratory for study into a collective of advanced teachers and researchers. The time frame adds nuance to the study, as the university was undergoing a fundamental change from what many contemporary agents thought to be collegial and paternal to the more formal, bureaucratic multi-university of today. Driving this was the growing belief in the efficacy of research over teaching as the sine qua non of the experience of a professor. This thesis invites debate on the contested roles and nature of the professoriate, and based on subjective narratives, interpretations, and perspectives, a single, overriding definition of the professoriate in this space and time in Canadian history remained largely non-consentient and elusive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
The accuracy of the clinical examination in the diagnosis of chronic obstructive airways diseaseuse of an internet-based research network

Background. There are few rigorous studies on the accuracy of the clinical examination. It may be feasible to conduct Internet-based studies to determine the accuracy of the clinical examination in the diagnosis of obstructive airways disease (OAD). Methods. An independent blind comparison of standard clinical examination elements (including the accuracy of history, wheezing, and forced expiratory time) with spirometry was conducted. Results. 161 consecutive patients (mean age 65 years, 39% female) were recruited over 5 weeks. Three elements of the clinical examination were associated with the diagnosis of OAD on multivariable analysis: self-reported history of chronic OAD (adjusted likelihood ratio 4.4); wheezing (adjusted likelihood ratio 2.9); and forced expiratory time >9 seconds (adjusted likelihood ratio 4.6). Conclusions. Three elements of the clinical examination can be used in the diagnosis of OAD. An Internet-based research network can be used in studies of the clinical examination.
Ankylosing spondylitis: the role of infection in etiology and the role of TNF-alpha blockade in therapy

Cytokines such as TNF-α play an important beneficial role in host defense against pathogens, yet play an important pathogenic role in chronic inflammatory joint diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis (AS). This biologic paradox has raised concerns about the safety of therapeutic blockade of TNF-α in this disease. We approached the question of occult infection in the pathogenesis of AS using a case-control study where immune responses of affected and unaffected family members in familial AS were compared. Following this a prospective study of 22 AS patients treated with infliximab was used to evaluate safety and efficacy. No difference in immune responses between affected and unaffected family members was detected thus, providing no evidence supporting K. pneumoniae in the aetiopathogenesis of AS. Infliximab was associated with a significant reduction in AS disease activity. Furthermore, baseline C-reactive protein (CRP) and TNF-α levels were identified as important markers of response to treatment with infliximab.
Reported stress, personality, and mental health in parents of children with pervasive developmental disorders

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the nature of reported stress, personality characteristics, and mental health of parents of children (from 6 to 18 years of age) who have been diagnosed with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). This study used a survey design. Parents from organizations across Ontario that served children with PDD were contacted by regular mail, e-mail, newsletter, and Internet advertisement. In total, 167 parents completed 7 measures that assessed parent depression, anxiety, personality, stress, marital functioning, child functioning, and collected demographic and mental health information. Measures were mailed and were completed independently. The current paper reports on two sub-samples of this investigation: 52 matched (married) mothers and fathers of children with PDD, and 110 mothers of children with PDD. Mothers scored significantly higher than fathers on measures of depression, anxiety, neuroticism and stress. Of the 52 couples, 8 (15.4%) males and 16 (30.8%) females scored at or above the clinical cutoff for depression. Using cut-off scores for anxiety, 12 males (23.1%) and 20 females (38.5%) were in the mild to severe range of anxiety. Significant differences between mothers and fathers in the rates of depression, anxiety, and neuroticism scores, were discovered when examining the parent scores based on child functioning. There were only significant differences between the high-and low-functioning groups for the extroversion scale (NEO-FFI), with fathers of the high-functioning child group being less extroverted than those of the low-functioning group. The intent of the second set of analyses (using 110 mothers) was to build regression equations for depression, anxiety and stress. The factors of lower level of parent education, pre-existing mental health diagnosis prior to the birth of the child with PDD, and a high level of neuroticism were significant positive contributors to both the depression and anxiety equations. The variance explained for these equations was 46% and 54% respectively. In the stress model, significant predictors were reported parent social phobia and child stereotyped behaviours, accounting for 38% of the variance. The findings of mental health issues and specific personality traits in parents of children with PDD have significant implications for service delivery, and should be sensitively assessed in clinical interventions with this group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Elite female athletes' experiences of emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship

The purpose of this study was to investigate elite, female athletes' experiences of emotional abuse. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen retired, elite, female swimmers and data were analyzed inductively using a grounded theory approach. Results revealed that the athletes experienced emotional abuse in the coach-athlete relationship and that these experiences were embedded in and therefore influenced by the culture of elite sport. The emotionally abusive behaviours of the coach occurred in three ways; through physical behaviours, verbal behaviours, and the denial of attention and support. Emotional abuse was experienced differently throughout an athlete's career and a model of the process by which athletes experience emotional abuse over time is proposed. Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations are made for future study.
You had to be there: Reading Kierkegaard and Heidegger from a comic possibility to the necessity of love

There is an odd and enduring gap in the history of Continental philosophy between the work of Soren Kierkegaard and that of Martin Heidegger. I attempt in what follows to read the two together, by comparing their philosophies relative to their shared practice of existential interpretation. I propose that where Heidegger moves within the ironic circularity of my existence and general ontology, Kierkegaard moves within a "divine comedy" in which my existence can never fully ground itself, but rather requires ethical and religious relationships. In order to establish this thesis I explicate, over the course of four chapters, four central concepts shared by Kierkegaard and Heidegger. Both philosophers have in common an attempt to expose the appropriate existential sense of the totality, unity, determination and relation. I conclude that, when read together, Kierkegaard and Heidegger present a fundamental dilemma for the interpretation of existence. Kierkegaard interprets the phenomena of human life for the sake of maximizing the significance of my existence as a relation of contradiction, where the "existing individual" is existentially unified with the divine but ontologically distinct. Heidegger constructs and enriches the category of authentic existence for the sake of demonstrating the primacy of a non-relational conception of my existence, wherein Dasein is ontologically unified with being in general despite being existentially distinct. In the final chapter, I claim that the source of this dilemma lies in the interpretation of death. Death is the central structural feature shared by Kierkegaard and Heidegger, and yet is also their greatest point of difference. Heidegger claims that death is the non-relational basis for any possible understanding of existence, insofar as it is "in each and every case my own." This stands in direct conflict with Kierkegaard's claim that death is the site of maximal ethical obligation---the remembrance of the dead is his principal example of what it is to love what is not my own. By presenting a critical re-evaluation of Heidegger's thesis on death from Kierkegaardian sources, I ultimately seek to raise the question whether ethics or ontology is primary for existential interpretation.
Learning to be a teacher: a life history exploration

This life history study explores how individuals learn to be teachers. Specifically, the investigation examines how two novice practitioners learned to be teachers before, during, and after their teacher education programs. It does this by analyzing four domains of teacher learning, that is, the participants' respective autobiographical foundations, teacher education programs, field practica and early inservice experiences. These four domains portray the significant events and individuals that shaped the two participants' teacher knowledge and beliefs. The study, therefore, argues that learning to be a teacher is both a temporal and contextual process that encompasses knowledge gleaned from childhood to the day one leaves the profession. The study's findings imply that there are several means to augment teacher learning such as: a thorough investigation of the contextual, personal, and practical aspects of teacher learning as well as the promotion of collegial and theme-directed learning.

Keywords: Teachers, Training of
Teaching
The role of CD8+ T cells in the regulation of recipient immune responses induced by allogeneic platelet transfusions

The immune mechanisms resulting in platelet-induced alloimmunization are incompletely understood. Using a murine model of platelet transfusion, previous studies suggest allogeneic platelets stimulate early NO-dependent cytotoxicity, while repeated transfusions induce alloantibody production and late cytotoxic responses. To further understand how recipient anti-platelet responses are modulated, the effects of CD8+T cell depletion on cell-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody responsiveness were investigated. Cytotoxicity within BALB/c mice transfused with allogeneic platelets was measured via 6-hour chromium-release assays. Recipient sera was tested for antibody production. Splenic lymphocytes were analyzed, via intracellular staining, for cytokine production. Depletion of CD8+T cells enhanced NO-dependent cytotoxicities. CD8+ depleted recipients exhibited increased alloantibody production, primarily of the IgG2a isotype. Non-depleted recipients produced IgG1 and IgG3. Cytokine analysis revealed the effects of CD8+T cell depletion on recipient responses may be related to cytokine production. These results suggest that CD8+T cells regulate NO-dependent cytotoxic and humoral responses to allogeneic platelet transfusions.
A phenomenological approach towards understanding the nature and meaning of engagement in religious ritual activity: perspectives from persons with dementia and their caregivers

This qualitative study describes the nature and meaning of engagement in the religious ritual activities of the Jewish Sabbath from the perspectives of nine residents with mild to moderate dementia, five family members, and six staff involved in the residents' care. As well, it provides insights into the social, environmental, and occupational factors that sustained, enabled, or obstructed engagement. Data were gathered via in-depth interviews and participant observation, and a constant comparative approach was used to guide the analysis. For the person with dementia, the findings address the facilitative role of meaningful religious ritual activities (embedded in preserved long term memories) in sustaining personhood and enabling engagement in meaningful occupation. These findings have implications in the areas of staff and family caregiver education and the planning of care environments.