Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The chemistry and biology of unusual DNA structures adopted by oligopurine · oligopyrimidine sequences

A family of unusual DNA structures has been discovered in segments with predominantly purines in one strand (pur · pyr sequences). These sequences are overrepresented in eukaryotic DNA and have been mapped near genes and recombination hot spots. When cloned into recombinant plasmids, many pur · pyr sequences are reactive to chemical and enzymic probes that are generally specific for single‐stranded DNA. An intramolecular triplex is adopted by mirror repeats of G's and A's. Other non‐B DNA structures adopted by similar sequences remain to be fully clarified but may be a family of related conformations. It is likely that these unorthodox structures play an important role in the function of the eukaryotic genome. — Wells, R. D. ; Collier, D A. ; Hanvey, J. C. ; Shimizu, M. ; Wohlrab, F. FASEB J. 2: 2939‐2949; 1988.
Choosing a specialty during a generalist initiative: a focus group study.

BACKGROUND Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) (as part of a three-school consortium) was 1 of 12 sites awarded a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Initiative (RWJ-GPI) grant. Given the goals of this initiative--to promote a balanced output of generalists and specialists--program planners wanted to understand how medical students made career decisions in the context of this curriculum change and the larger social environment. METHODS Seven focus groups (average size: six members each) of second-year and fourth-year students were recruited. Groups were homogeneous with respect to subspecialty or primary care orientation and career trajectory. An experienced moderator conducted all groups. The discussions were taped and transcribed. Analysis proceeded concurrently with data gathering, using a template style and with assistance from the NUD*IST software program. RESULTS Students from all groups hoped for control of their practice, intellectual challenge, rewarding relationships with their patients and their own families, and fair compensation for effort. They worried about their future prospects, and specialty-oriented students felt that the emphasis on primary care production was being forced on the school. All groups saw managed care as doing more harm than good for patients, and all wished for improved career counseling. DISCUSSION The RWJ-GPI at VCU became a lightning rod for student worry and resentment at being forced into primary care specialties. The backlash phenomenon was seen at other US medical schools and is one of the postulated reasons for a decline in US student numbers matching in family practice, internal medicine, and internal medicine-pediatrics. Medical school faculty should respond with constructive, pro-student policies and programs.
A conservative region of the mercuric reductase gene (mera) as a molecular marker of bacterial mercury resistance

The most common bacterial mercury resistance mechanism is based on the reduction of Hg(II) to Hg0, which is dependent of the mercuric reductase enzyme (MerA) activity. The use of a 431 bp fragment of a conservative region of the mercuric reductase (merA) gene was applied as a molecular marker of this mechanism, allowing the identification of mercury resistant bacterial strains.
THE INDIAN MICROFINANCE CRISIS : THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL , THE SHIFT TO FOR-PROFIT LENDING AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MICROFINANCE THEORY AND PRACTICE

This paper uses India's microfinance crisis as a context for evaluating alternative theories of microfinance. By contrasting Bangladesh's highly successful Grameen model with the allegedly " universalizable " version of India's SKS Microfinance (that precipitated the crisis), we isolate trust or social capital – not just narrowly interpreted within standard economic theory, but more broadly construed – as the essential element accounting for the early success of microfinance. We show that the microfinance experience has been widely misinterpreted, both in analytical and policy terms. Our analysis suggests inherent limits in extending the model to for-profit institutions and to the pace of scaling-up. Columbia University for ongoing feedback. The generosity of interviewees in the field – without whose involvement this research would not have been possible – is gratefully acknowledged. The remaining imperfections are our own.
Intramyocardial Pressure and Strength of Left Ventricular Contraction

Intramyocardial pressure was followed with the Johnson-DiPalma method in isolated hearts and in hearts in situ. Systolic intramyocardial pressure curves from hearts in situ exhibited two pressure peaks which were believed to coincide with peak contractile tension and with myocardial fiber shortening, respectively. The following factors influenced intramyocardial pressure: ventricular cavity volume, heart rate, coronary perfusion pressure, outflow resistance, and “epicardial” compression. The contractile strength of the left ventricle varied in proportion with the intramyocardial pressure; it did not appear to be regulated primarily by diastolic volume or by metabolic support. Intramyocardial pressure was believed to determine the contractile strength of the heart by controlling the release of a potentiating substance.
A Peasant Form of Production: Wage-Dependent Agriculture in Southern Mozambique

ResumeCet article decrit les caracteristiques essentielles de l'agriculture paysanne dans le Mozambique sud et surtout montre comment les forces de production ont ete disloquees et bloquees dans leur interaction avec l'avenement de la production capitaliste en Afrique du Sud. Les systemes de recolte et les methodes de culture ont change a cause de l'emigration de la main-d'oeuvre en Afrique du Sud. Du fait de ces changements, l'agriculture paysanne a du dependre dela main-d'oeuvre migratoire pour le reproduire. Pour pouvoir continuer a faire produire leurs champs, les paysans ont ete obliges de rechercher une main-d'oeuvre salariee. Un autre consequence de la migration de la main-d'oeuvre a ete en outre une circulation accrue de l'argent dans l'agriculture paysanne. Plus tard, quand a commence la production du marche agricole, la circulation de l'argent a diminue a nouveau.
A Multiplatform Experiment to Unravel Meso- and Submesoscale Processes in an Intense Front (AlborEx)

The challenges associated with meso- and submesoscale variability (between 1-100 km) require high-resolution observations and integrated approaches. Here we describe a major oceanographic experiment designed to capture the intense but transient vertical motions associated with mesoscale and submesoscale features in an area characterized by strong fronts. Finescale processes were studied in the eastern Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) about 400 km east of the Strait of Gibraltar, a relatively sparsely sampled area. In-situ systems were coordinated with satellite data to provide a full description of the physical and biogeochemical variability. Hydrographic data confirmed the presence of an intense salinity front formed by the confluence of Atlantic Waters, entering from Gibraltar, with the local Mediterranean waters. The drifters coherently followed the northeastern limb of an anticyclonic gyre. Near real time data from acoustic current meter data profiler showed consistent patterns with currents of up to 1m/s in the southern part of the sampled domain. High-resolution glider data revealed submesoscale structures with tongues of chlorophyll-a and oxygen associated with the frontal zone. Numerical results show large vertical excursions of tracers that could explain the subducted tongues and filaments captured by ocean gliders. A unique aspect of AlborEx is the combination of high-resolution synoptic measurements of vessel-based measurements, autonomous sampling, remote sensing and modeling, enabling the evaluation of the underlying mechanisms responsible for the observed distributions and biogeochemical patchiness. The main findings point to the importance of fine-scale processes enhancing the vertical exchanges between the upper ocean and the ocean interior.
Correlations between Limbic White Matter and Cognitive Function in Temporal-Lobe Epilepsy, Preliminary Findings

The limbic system is presumed to have a central role in cognitive performance, in particular memory. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between limbic white matter microstructure and neuropsychological function in temporal-lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Twenty-one adult TLE patients, including 7 non-lesional (nlTLE) and 14 with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (uTLE), were studied with both DTI and hippocampal T2 relaxometry. Correlations were performed between fractional anisotropy (FA) of the bilateral fornix and cingulum, hippocampal T2, neuropsychological tests. Positive correlations were observed in the whole group for the left fornix and processing speed index. In contrast, memory tests did not show significant correlations with DTI findings. Subgroup analysis demonstrated an association between the left fornix and processing speed in nlTLE but not uTLE. No correlations were observed between hippocampal T2 and test scores in either the TLE group as a whole or after subgroup analysis. Our findings suggest that integrity of the left fornix specifically is an important anatomical correlate of cognitive function in TLE patients, in particular patients with nlTLE.
Culture, creativity and commerce: trajectories and tensions in the case of Beijing's 798 Art Zone

ABSTRACT The use of cultural and creative clusters to achieve a range of regeneration outcomes is now common practice in cities world-wide. However, clear evidence is lacking on the potential sustainable benefits of such approaches, particularly where they would appear to be based on planning for the primacy of short-term economic aims often linked primarily to consumption-based uses. The case of Beijing's 798 Art Zone is illustrative of a creative cluster which has achieved major outcomes in terms of city branding and tourism, but which has also suffered from the dilution of creative production activity and related effects of gentrification. This provides lessons for other cultural clusters in China and beyond.
Pornography, Alcohol, and Male Sexual Dominance

This study surveyed German heterosexual men's interest and engagement in a variety of dominant behaviors observed in recent analyses of pornography. Interest in watching popular pornographic movies or more frequent consumption of pornography was associated with men's desire to engage in or having already engaged in behaviors such as hair pulling, spanking a partner hard enough to leave a mark, facial ejaculation, confinement, double-penetration (i.e. penetrating a partner's anus or vagina simultaneously with another man), ass-to-mouth (i.e. anally penetrating a partner and then inserting the penis directly into her mouth), penile gagging, facial slapping, choking, and name-calling (e.g. “slut” or “whore”). Consistent with past experimental research on the effect of alcohol and pornography exposure on men's likelihood of sexual coercion, men who had engaged in the most dominant behaviors were those who frequently consumed pornography and regularly consumed alcohol before or during sex.
An Indicator of the Multiple Equilibria Regime of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

Recent model results have suggested that there may be a scalar indicator Σ monitoring whether the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) is in a multiple equilibrium regime. The quantity Σ is based on the net freshwater transport by the MOC into the Atlantic basin. It changes sign as soon as the steady Atlantic MOC enters the multiple equilibrium regime because of an increased freshwater input in the northern North Atlantic. This paper addresses the issue of why the sign of Σ is such a good indicator for the multiple equilibrium regime. Changes in the Atlantic freshwater budget over a complete bifurcation diagram and in finite amplitude perturbation experiments are analyzed in a global ocean circulation model. The authors show that the net anomalous freshwater transport into or out of the Atlantic, resulting from the interactions of the velocity perturbations and salinity background field, is coupled to the background (steady state) state freshwater budget and hence to Σ. The sign of Σ precisely shows whether this net anomalous freshwater transport is stabilizing or destabilizing the MOC. Therefore, it can indicate whether the MOC is in a single or multiple equilibrium regime.
Reduction of frontal‐plane hip joint reaction force via medio‐lateral foot center of pressure manipulation: A pilot study

Footwear‐generated biomechanical manipulation of lower‐limb joints has been shown to influence lower‐limb biomechanics. Numerous studies report the influence of such interventions on the knee, however little is known about the influence of these interventions on the hip. The present study analyzed kinetic and kinematic changes about the hip of 12 healthy young males who underwent biomechanical manipulation utilizing the APOS biomechanical device (APOS–Medical and Sports Technologies Ltd., Herzliya, Israel) allowing controlled foot center of pressure manipulation. Subjects underwent gait testing in four para‐sagittal device configurations: Medial, lateral, neutral, and regular shoes. In the medial configuration, subjects demonstrated no change in step width (i.e., distance between right and left foot center of pressure), however inter‐malleolar distance significantly increased. Likewise with the medial setting, greater hip abduction was recorded, while hip adduction moment and joint reaction force decreased significantly. We speculate that subjects adopt a modified gait pattern aimed to maintain constant base of support. As a result, hip abductor muscle moment arm increases and adduction moment and joint reaction force decreases. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to show this relationship. These results contribute to the understanding of lower‐limb biomechanics and warrant further investigation. © 2014 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 33:261–269, 2015.
Children’s conceptions of the word ‘disabled’: a phenomenographic study

The aim of this study was to investigate the qualitative differences in children’s conceptions of the word ‘disabled’. Two hundred and thirty children, aged 7–12 years of age, were instructed to make a drawing of what came into their minds when they heard the word ‘disabled’. A brief written commentary on their drawing was also requested. The drawings and comments showed that the children had a positive attitude towards the word ‘disabled’. They drew and commented that a disability had medical causes, a technical device was a prerequisite for disabled people, a disability had social consequences and that a disabled person needed support. The children also explained that there were obstacles which impaired disabled people’s performance of activities. Access to some environments and being an active part of society was limited for some disabled people.
Helping and hindering: perceptions of enablers and barriers to collaboration within a rural South Australian mental health network.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate clinicians' perceptions of what helps and hinders the delivery of mental health care across a service network in a rural setting. DESIGN Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 individuals who work in one rural mental health care service network. SETTING A regional centre in rural South Australia involving representatives of the mental health team, general practice, hospital, community health and nongovernment organisations. RESULTS Clinicians' perceptions of barriers and enablers to working within their mental health care network were explored. Participants showed a strong shared commitment to effective mental health care delivery and a good understanding of the services that each offers. Interview data suggested that working relationships between local services could be perceived as stronger when a personal or historical element is recognisable. Similarly, the notion of familiarity and community involvement were perceived as facilitators in this network. A perceived barrier for participants was the failure to attract staff with mental health experience, leading to dependence upon the dedication and commitment of existing service providers. CONCLUSIONS Collaboration is especially necessary in rural areas, where access to health care services is known to be difficult. The informality of relationships between service providers was shown to be the main facilitator in the network. This is both a strength as it promotes the communication between services and service providers that is essential for successful collaboration, yet is also a threat to the sustainability of the network based on the difficulties of staff recruitment and retention to rural settings.
Frontal EEG asymmetry in response to emotional vignettes in preschool age children

EEG recordings were conducted with preschool children during presentations of videotaped vignettes depicting a fictional young child experiencing happy, sad, angry, and fearful events. Significant EEG asymmetry in the frontal region (left frontal activation) occurred during all types of emotional vignettes, but not during baseline periods (a neutral star-field image presented before and after each vignette). This pattern of left frontal cortical activation during each emotional vignette may represent a generally positive and low intensity emotional “approach” response even in the case of the negative emotion vignettes. These children displayed mostly neutral facial expressions during the vignettes, with some evidence of lip movements during the negative episodes (suggesting that the stories were eliciting some mild emotional responses or empathy). There was no evidence of more intense emotional responses that have been associated with right frontal cortical activation. These EEG patterns may reflect cortical mechanisms underlying mild emotional responses and affective displays in preschool children, as well as their developing ability to regulate their affective systems.
Remembering Robert Zajonc: The Complete Psychologist

This article joins with others in the same issue to celebrate the career of Robert B. Zajonc who was a broad, as well as a deeply talented, psychologist. Beyond his well-known focus in social psychology, the work of Zajonc also involved, at one time or another, forays into nearly every other subfield of psychology. This article focuses specifically on his studies that extended into biopsychology, which deserve special highlighting in order to be recognized alongside his many major achievements in emotion and related social topics. The biopsychological focus is offered here in the hope that all his diverse contributions be savored together when celebrating the complete psychology of Robert Zajonc.
Incidence and factors associated with medication nonadherence in patients with mental illness: A cross-sectional study

Background: In spite of the progress made in the treatment of psychiatric disorders during the last few decades, nonadherence continues to be a frequent phenomenon, often associated with potentially severe clinical consequences and increased health-care costs. There are numerous factors associated with medication nonadherence in patients with mental illness. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence and factors associated with medication nonadherence among psychiatric outpatients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the outpatient psychiatric department of an Indian tertiary care private hospital over a period of 1 year. Patients aged 18 years and above who presented with mental illness as diagnosed by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 and who were receiving at least one psychotropic medication for at least 1 month were included in the study. Medication adherence was assessed using the Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS). Results: Of the 400 patients, 172 (43%) were nonadherent to their prescribed medications. There is a statistically significant association between the education (P = 0.001), number of drugs (P = 0.002), family income (P = 0.013), and nonadherence. Among the 172 patients, 33.5 % were nonadherent to their therapy due to patient-related factors followed by drug-related factors (32%) and disease-related factors (31%). Conclusion: The overall incidence of medication nonadherence in patients with mental illness was 43%. Numerous factors contributed to medication nonadherence. Strategies need to be developed and implemented to enhance medication adherence, and thereby achieve a better therapeutic outcome in patients with mental illness.
Improving SSD reliability with RAID via Elastic Striping and Anywhere Parity

While the move from SLC to MLC/TLC flash memory technology is increasing SSD capacity at lower cost, it is being done at the cost of sacrificing reliability. An approach to remedy this loss is to employ the RAID architecture with the chips that comprise SSDs. However, using the traditional RAID approach may result in negative effects as the total number of writes may increase due to the parity updates, consequently leading to increased P/E cycles and higher bit error rates. Using a technique that we call Elastic Striping and Anywhere Parity (eSAP), we develop eSAP-RAID, a RAID scheme that significantly reduces parity writes while providing reliability better than RAID-5. We derive performance and lifetime models of SSDs employing RAID-5 and eSAP-RAID that show the benefits of eSAP-RAID. We also implement these schemes in SSDs using DiskSim with SSD Extension and validate the models using realistic workloads. Our results show that eSAP-RAID improves reliability considerably, while limiting its wear. Specifically, the expected lifetime of eSAP-RAID employing SSDs may be as long as current ECC based SSDs, while its reliability level can be maintained at the level of the early stages of current ECC based SSDs throughout its entire lifetime.
Boom-bust cycles and their fundamental determinants: an empirical evidence of the Tunisian stock market

The occurrence of boom-bust cycles in emerging and developed markets has brought new attention to the linkages between macroeconomic environment and stock market cycles. This paper has identified stock market boom-bust cycles in Tunisia since 1992. Our main objective is to investigate the determinants of stock market booms and busts occurrence using the ordered logit model. Empirical evidence from quarterly data on the real BVMT index shows that the monetary and financial indicators and behaviour of investors have played a key role in explaining Tunisian stock market boom-bust cycles.
Direct contact and authoritarianism as moderators between extended contact and reduced prejudice

Using a representative sample of Dutch adults (N = 1238), we investigated the moderating influence of direct contact and authoritarianism on the potential of extended contact to reduce prejudice. As expected, direct contact and authoritarianism moderated the effect of extended contact on prejudice. Moreover, the third-order moderation effect was also significant, revealing that extended contact has the strongest effect among high authoritarians with low levels of direct contact. We identified trust and perceived threat as the mediating processes underlying these moderation effects. The present study thus attests to the theoretical and practical relevance of reducing prejudice via extended contact. The discussion focuses on the role of extended contact in relation to direct contact and authoritarianism as well as on the importance of trust in intergroup contexts.