VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Brain structure and function in adolescent-onset anorexia nervosa

Abnormalities in brain structure and function have been reported in acutely ill adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). Whether these abnormalities are completely reversible with recovery is still debatable. This study compared brain structure and function in healthy females and females with adolescent-onset AN at long-term follow-up. The results showed that females with adolescent-onset AN had larger lateral and third ventricles and impaired cognitive performance across various domains compared to healthy females. While low weight and hypercortisolemia may be associated with abnormalities in brain structure, menstrual function appeared to be an important correlate of cognitive performance. This is the first study to report on the relationship between menstrual function and cognitive functioning in females with adolescent-onset AN. Possible mechanisms underlying neural and cognitive deficits in AN are discussed in light of these findings. Further examination of the effects of estrogen on cognitive functioning in females with AN is necessary.
A frequency doubler and frequency divider network for quadrature LO phase generation in a 5-6 GHz WLAN transmitter

This thesis studies the design of a quadrature phase generator using a novel differential pair frequency doubler, and a quadrature regenerative frequency halver. The frequency doubler and frequency halver are cascaded to form the quadrature phase generator for a monolithic 5–6 GHz band transmitter. Details of a new differential pair frequency doubling circuit using passive loads are presented. The doubler is shown to have good harmonic suppression and a potential for low voltage/low power operation. The regenerative frequency halver incorporates an external voltage phase-tuning mechanism in its design. The halver has a wide locking range that is >80% of its free-running frequency. The cascaded doubler and halver has a wide operating range spanning 4–7 GHz. The proposed quadrature phase generation network is validated by integration in an fully differential transmitter intended for 5–6 GHz WLAN applications.
Residential eviction as a form of gentrification-induced displacement

Gentrification, a process of transforming working-class areas of a city into middle-class use, has increased in cities around the world. While researchers recognize the dangers of working class displacement in this process, the magnitude of dislocation is highly contested. In order to confront and address some aspects of this debate, a method is developed to measure gentrification-led evictions (one form of displacement), through secondary analysis of census data and previous studies of gentrification, using Toronto as a case study. This study finds that evictions happen in the beginning stages of gentrification, rather than in neighbourhoods that are fully gentrified. As neighbourhoods continue to become more gentrified, evictions decline and eventually disappear as vulnerable populations are filtered out and few of them are left in the area. A frontier of gentrification in Toronto is found in a group of contiguous census tracts with above average number of evictions that extends westward from the central city. Many neighbourhoods in this area house extensive vulnerable populations that are at risk of displacement.
A time to imitate, a time to explore: roles of performance relative to aspirations and interorganizational learning processes in diversity of Ontario hospitals, 1971--1992

Although research on organizational diversity has made significant progress in the past two decades, most studies have drawn predominantly on environmental perspectives. The role of organizational adaptive capacity in organizational diversity has been largely ignored. In my dissertation, I link the behavioral theory of the firm with interorganizational learning theories to examine whether performance relative to aspirations and interorganizational learning processes affect organizational diversity. My theoretical accounts and empirical findings reveal that the multifaceted learning processes of organizations shape the heterogeneity of organizations in a population. Specifically, two fundamental themes emerge from the empirical analysis of Ontario hospitals, 1971--1992. First, organizations, like the hospitals examined here, respond to increases in the discrepancy between their performance and aspirations by not imitating comparable, large, and successful organizations. As a result, performance relative to aspirations gives rise to interorganizational heterogeneity. Second, not until that performance feedback triggers decision makers to explore new routines can organizations rely upon the experience of other organizations to cope with environmental uncertainty and reduce exploration costs. Consequently, interorganizational learning processes increase the homogeneity of organizations. Overall, my theoretical development illustrates that performance feedback and interorganizational learning processes are important factors contributing to organizational diversity. My empirical findings highlight that interorganizational learning processes do not necessarily lead to the homogeneity of organizations, conditional upon performance feedback and the histories and experiences of other organizations.
System analysis of bacterial signaling

A system analysis of the Competence Stimulating Peptide (CSP) quorum-sensing pathway of Streptococcus mutans is presented. A stochastic model of the pathway was developed. This model successfully reproduces experimental mRNA profiles. The pathway was then decomposed into transmitting and receiving sections. Stochastic models of these sections were studied to estimate the statistical distributions of their outputs. The transmitting section was used to construct a transmitter cell using the multiple sugar metabolism promoter from S. mutans to drive the production of the CSP signaling molecules. This is the first reported inducible promoter used to regulate the expression of a cloned gene in S. mutans. Previously, the CSP receiving section was used to construct a receiver cell that responds to CSP by producing beta-galactosidase. Preliminary results showed a two-fold signal increase lasting for five minutes when the receiver was exposed to the supernatant containing CSP from the transmitter.
The role of nuclear factor of activated T-cells-c1 in the vascular smooth muscle cell response to injury

Recent studies suggest that nuclear factor of activated T-cells-c1 (NFATc1) is important during vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) migration and proliferation; however, NFATc1 regulation in SMCs is still unclear. In other cell types, glycogen synthase kinase-3-beta (GSK3beta) promotes NFATc1 nuclear export. We hypothesized that NFATc1 promotes the vascular SMC response to injury and is negatively regulated by GSK3beta during this response. NFATc1 and GSK3beta were studied using an in vitro wound assay. NFAT inhibition with CsA reduced the rate of SMC wound closure. NFATc1 levels were increased at 4 and 8 hours after injury. At 4 hours, NFATc1 nuclear levels and transcriptional activity were increased. This was preceded by GSK3beta inactivation, which peaked at 30 minutes. Overexpression of constitutively active GSK3beta reduced the rate of SMC wound closure and delayed NFATc1 nuclear accumulation. These studies provide evidence for GSK3beta as a regulator of NFATc1 during the SMC response to injury.
Discourses of literary criticism in Germany, Poland and Russia, 1700--1800: A genre perspective

This doctoral dissertation examines the emergence of modern literary-critical discourses in Germany, Poland, and Russia, between 1700 and 1800. Specifically, I compare the written forms of criticism in these three regions, taking into account such factors as pan-European intellectual currents, linguistic differences, nationalism, and social reforms. Chapter One elaborates on the general value, dimensions, and objects of a discourse history of literary criticism. I begin by arguing for the value of a genre-historical approach to such a history. I also consider the relevance of other possible approaches to writing a history of critical discourse. Drawing upon a range of twentieth-century theoretical approaches, I then trace the relationships between genre, discourse, and ideology. Lastly, I turn to the historical discursive underpinnings of literary criticism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Conclusion addresses the effect of the international dimensions of discourse on the genres of literary criticism. It notes also the historical implications of the literature-criticism continuum for critical discourse. Finally, it considers possible avenues for future research. Chapters Two, Three, and Four relate cultural and socio-political change to the formation and transformation of specific genres in German, Polish, and Russian literary criticism in the eighteenth century. Each chapter consists of two distinct parts. The first part is a general exposition delineating the emergence of literary-critical discourse and its forms of expression within the context of criticism's central concerns and the rise of the periodical press. The second part consists of formal analyses of individual texts widely regarded as emblematic of each critical tradition and representing a variety of generic forms: seven texts in the German language, five in Polish, and four in Russian.
LATCA: A library of biologically active small molecules for plant chemical genomics

Chemical genomics utilizes small molecules to alter the functions of specific target genes/proteins. To promote its use in plant research, I assembled a chemical library enriched with plant bioactive compounds, which is named Library of AcTive Compounds in Arabidopsis (LATCA). The chemicals were selected with an etiolated hypocotyl growth inhibition assay using three chemical libraries which identified sim;1100 chemicals. The collection is complemented with an additional 900 chemicals. In total LATCA contains 2080 compounds, sim;300 are known bioactive chemicals. As a new approach to classifying chemical effects, I developed a phenotype based clustering scheme. The chemicals are also clustered according to their structural similarities. In addition, potencies of the chemicals were assessed with dose curve analysis. These three datasets together enable analyses of structure-activity relationships of well defined phenotypic clusters. The LATCA collection provides integrated datasets with which future studies and other chemical genomic screens can systematically build upon.
The role of focal adhesions in myometrial mechanotransduction

This study tested the hypothesis that focal adhesion proteins in myometrial cells are important for forming stable signaling complexes capable of sensing stretch signals generated by the growing fetus. Using unilaterally pregnant, tubal ligated rats, we show that the process of pregnancy affects the protein levels of vinculin but neither pregnancy nor tension placed on the uterine wall by the fetuses affected the protein levels of paxillin, Grb2, and c-Src. However, the distribution of these proteins is regulated by pregnancy and tension imposed by fetal occupancy. These proteins redistributed to the cell periphery during pregnancy and this distribution was more pronounced in the gravid horn. Furthermore, vinculin sequestered specifically to the smooth muscle cell membrane-associated dense plaques as pregnancy progressed. These results suggest that focal adhesion proteins are regulated by pregnancy so that they may facilitate integrin-mediated myometrial mechanotransduction.
Expressions of TGF-beta receptors in human placenta and regulation of HIF-1alpha expression in cell lines

Transforming growth factor beta3 (TGF-beta3) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1alpha) are important regulators of trophoblast differentiation during human placental development. The overexpression of HIF-1alpha and TGF-beta3 has been associated with preeclampsia; a pregnancy related disease, characterized by shallow trophoblast invasion. In the present study, I have investigated the expression of two TGF-beta type I receptors (ALK-1 and ALK-5) in human placentae throughout pregnancy. During early placentation, temporal changes in ALK-1 expression but not ALK-5, parallels that of TGF-beta3. In addition, both ALK-1 and ALK-5 were overexpressed in preeclamptic placentae. In this study, I also examined oxygen regulation of HIF-1alpha expression in different cell lines. The results showed that different cell lines demonstrated different HIF-1alpha expression pattern when they were exposed to hypoxic condition. This result is important for the design of future experiments that may use these cell models to study the role of HIF-1 in oxygen-regulated TGF-beta3 transcription.
Roles of syntaxin isoforms in dense core vesicle fusion

Syntaxin-1 forms the soluble NSF attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex, along with SNAP-25 and VAMP. This complex is important for docking and fusion/exocytosis of secretory vesicles. However, there are many plasma membrane syntaxin isoforms present in neurons and neuroendocrine cells, suggesting possible functional redundancy in DCV fusion. To study the function of syntaxin isoforms in neuroendocrine secretion, we created stable pheochromocytoma 12 (PC12) cell lines in which syntaxin-1A and -1lB or -1A, -1B, and -2 expressions are strongly reduced. We then performed secretion assays using [3H]-NE (norepinephrine) and observed that secretion was deceased by 50% and 75% in syntaxin-1A/-1B KD and -1A/-1B/-2 KD cells, respectively. Therefore, syntaxin-1 and -2 are important for secretion. Furthermore, syntaxin-3 was up-regulated in syntaxin- 1A/-1B/-2 KD cells. Our results suggest that these plasma membrane syntaxins (syntaxin-1A, -1B, -2 and probably -3) are important for neuroendocrine secretion and that their function is partially overlapped.
Monolithic CMOS photoreceivers for optical storage

Key trends in optical storage include increased integration, bandwidths beyond 120 MHz for higher data rates, and progressively shorter wavelengths from 780nm and 650nm to 400nm. In this thesis, we investigate monolithic photoreceivers in a standard 0.35mum CMOS process. By adopting a spatially modulated photodiode structure to cancel diffusion carriers, the bandwidth of the photoreceivers was measured to be 375 MHz at 780nm wavelength, limited by the speed of the transimpedance amplifier and not the photodiode. Previous implementations of spatially modulated photodetectors reported low efficiency. The responsivity of the proposed photodiode is improved by 60% using a 4:1 ratio detector instead of the typical 1:1 ratio. A number of transimpedance amplifiers with gains of 11 kO 33 kO, and 44 kO were implemented to characterize the photodiodes. A 68 kO 170 MHz transimpedance amplifier suitable for high speed optical storage was also implemented and the experimental results are presented.
5-Aminosalicylic acid and colorectal carcinogenesis: an in vitro study of its chemopreventive effects

While NSAIDs are well-accepted chemopreventive agents, severe and often frequent side effects associated with their long-term use has limited their use in clinic. Epidemiological evidence suggests that 5-aninosalicyclic acid (5-ASA) is an effective and safer alternative. This has indeed been demonstrated in subjects with chronic ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory disease affecting the colon that is associated with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. The mechanism by which 5-ASA confers protection against colorectal carcinogenesis independent of its anti-inflammatory activity is not well understood. In this study, the effects of 5-ASA on cell growth was determined in two different human colonic epithelial adenocarcinoma cell lines. 5-ASA was shown to inhibit growth of colon cancer cells in vitro. This growth inhibition appeared to be attributed to a reduction in cellular proliferation, and an increase in apoptosis. This study provides evidence that 5-ASA may have modulatory effects on colorectal carcinogenesis.
Identification of novel cis-acting DNA regulatory elements involved in the tissue-specific regulation of matrix metalloproteinase 13 gene expression

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are major players in various pathological conditions including arthritis. Among numerous MMPs implicated in arthritis, MMP-13 (collagenase-3) is of particular interest. In chondrocytes, MMP-13 is involved in normal tissue turnover, although increased enzyme activity plays a pivotal role in cartilage destruction during the pathogenesis of arthritis. The pattern of MMP-13 gene expression is highly tissue-specific. In general, normal adult human tissues lack MMP-13 expression, with the exception of chondrocytes although at very low levels. In contrast, abnormal expression and activity of MMP-13 have been reported in various degenerative diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and cancer. The mechanisms leading to the activation of MMP-13 gene expression in pathological processes have, however, been elusive. To better understand the tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms for MMP-13 gene expression, a search for unknown cis-acting regulatory elements (cis-elements) in the proximal promoter of human MMP-13 gene was undertaken. Short DNA sequences that potentially function as cis-elements were extracted from the human MMP-13 promoter based on their under-representation in other human MMP promoters using a novel computational approach. Using electrophoretic mobility shift assays, two potential cis-elements (S2 and S4) were identified that may function in the regulation of MMP-13 promoter in a cell type-specific manner. Bioinformatics analyses showed that the putative cis-element sequences had homology to several known transcription factor binding site sequences; however, the molecular weights of the candidate transcription factors were substantially different from the approximated molecular weights (50 sim;55kDa) of the S2- and S4-binding proteins. Transient transfection experiments with MMP-13 promoter-luciferase reporter constructs containing mutations at S2 or S4 sequences as well as with S2 and S4 decoy oligonucleotides have demonstrated that the novel cis-elements play a role in the regulation of MMP-13 gene expression in chondrocytes. The findings in this study may present a valuable therapeutic opportunity to selectively inhibit the expression of MMP-13 in a variety of human disorders where uncontrolled degradation of the extracelluar matrix is implicated.
Memory as propaganda: The molding of official memory of the Korean War and its employment in the DPRK from 1953 to 1958

The government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sought to push forward socialism in the DPRK to rehabilitate the country after the Korean War. During the period of socialist construction, the DPRK government produced memories of the Korean War through Nodong sinmun, a daily newspaper of the Korean Workers' Party. The memories produced were that, first, the Korean War was a victorious holy defensive war for the independence and freedom of the nation. Secondly, the war was seen to be an anti-capitalist war against America---deemed the biggest capitalist threat of the time. Once memories of the war were produced, the DPRK government employed them to unite its citizens and to mobilize them to the socialist construction.
Genetic variants of the MAPK pathways: In silico characterization to breast cancer association

The MAPK pathways play a critical role in cancer development, particularly breast cancer. Only 5-10% of breast cancer cases can be explained genetically, thus leaving a large portion of cancers that may be explained by multiple variants such as SNPs; they are abundant and are known to alter breast cancer risk. Thus SNPs of the MAPK pathways may be important in breast cancer risk. In silico characterization of SNPs from the MAPK pathways revealed that more than 50% of the SNPs studied changed evolutionarily conserved amino acids or putatively altered phosphorylation patterns. A case-control study of these variants revealed SP1-A750P showed a trend towards increased breast cancer risk, however was not statistically significant, MYC N11S, previously shown to increase breast cancer risk, was not confirmed by this study and the NFkappaB1-M507V heterozygote variant was associated with a 73% decreased breast cancer risk (OR= 0.27, 95%CI= 0.08-0.95, P=0.03).
Intraoral isolation of resin composite biodegration products from human saliva

Background. Human salivary esterases have been shown to degrade composite resin restoration in vivo. Objective. The aim of this study was to develop rinse solution protocol to recover biodegradation products from composite restorations in vivo. Methods. Cervical composite restorations were placed in patients using adhesive system and composite. Saline mouth rinse with/without 20% ethanol (n=10/group) was collected after a 2 minute rinse protocol immediately and 7 days after restoration placement. Rinse samples were analyzed for biodegradation products using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Saline rinse with 20% ethanol was further used in a 4 and 8 minute (n=10/group) rinse protocol. Results and conclusions. The saline with ethanol rinse solution had greater potential than saline alone to extract a bisGMA composite matrix derived product, bishydroxypropoxyphenylpropane (BisHPPP). The 8 minute rinse protocol showed an increase in BisHPPP levels compared with the 4 minute but not with the 2 minute rinse protocol.
The activation and substrate binding regulation of the double-strand RNA protein kinase, PKR

The RNA-dependent protein kinase PKR plays an important role in the anti-viral and cellular defense system. This protein kinase is activated by the binding of double-stranded RNA, which is a common by-product of virus replication. Once activated, PKR effectively limits viral propagation by shutting down the cellular protein synthesis machinery through phosphorylation of eIF2 alpha (eIF2alpha) on residue Ser51. Due to the significant consequences of protein translation arrest, PKR activation and substrate recognition are both tightly regulated. This thesis describes investigations of the PKR-substrate recognition mechanism and the role of induced conformational change in eIF2alpha required for phosphorylation by PKR. In addition, this thesis also reports preliminary work on a baculovirus protein, PK2, that functions to inhibit PKR function.
A new subspace optimization method for aerostructural design

A new subspace optimization method for performing aerostructural design is introduced. The objective of the proposed method is to improve the overall efficiency of aerostructural optimization, by simplifying the system-level problem, and thereby reducing the number of calls to a potentially costly aerodynamics solver. To guide a gradient-based optimization algorithm, an extension of the coupled sensitivity equations is developed to include post-optimality information from the structural suboptimization. The optimization of an aircraft wing is performed using linear aerodynamic and structural analyses, and a thorough performance comparison is made between the new approach and the conventional multidisciplinary feasible method. Two conditions are found to determine when the new method is the more efficient approach: either when the simplified problem adequately reduces the number of system evaluations, or when there is a large enough discrepancy between disciplinary solution times.