Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor Polymorphisms with Guillain-Barré Syndrome

It has been reported that the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α promoter polymorphism is associated with autoimmune disease and inflammatory disease. It has also been claimed that this polymorphism may affect TNFα expression. We investigated the TNFα –308 polymorphism and TNFα levels in 79 unrelated Chinese patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and 78 healthy controls using PCR-RFLP and ELISA assay. Patients with GBS were divided into 2 subgroups, acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP) and acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), based on electrophysiological information. We found that the TNFα2 allele was associated with increased risk of GBS (OR = 1.876, 95% CI = 1.144–3.075, p = 0.008), particularly for AMAN, the main subtype (OR = 2.914, 95% CI = 1.412–6.015, p = 0.004), but there was no association between TNFα polymorphism and AIDP. We also found that carriers of the TNFα2 allele had significantly higher TNFα2 levels than TNFα1 homozygotes (p < 0.05). These data indicate that TNFα promoter polymorphism is responsible for susceptibility to GBS, especially to AMAN. The TNFα2 allele is associated with higher levels of TNFα.
Aspects of Pareto improving environmental tax reforms

‘Climate change is the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen’ Stern (2006 p. xvii). This vigorous description highlights one of the most important and frustrating realization of the last decades. The main reason of that market failure steams from the fact that climate change is a complex global externality. This makes the design of appropriate measures to mitigate the problem and the identification of their effects on economic activity of paramount importance. The transboundary nature of pollution combined with the skewed distribution of the origin and impact of emissions among countries reveals the need for international cooperation in the direction of multilateral agreements among countries. The characterization of Pareto-efficient environmental and trade policies has been a key issue (and continues to be) in the literature. Predominantly, however, the literature has focused on the role of taxes (trade and pollution) in achieving the first-best paying no attention to the role (if there is any) of nontradeable goods. Chapter 4 deals with this issue. A key issue in mitigating climate change is with the appropriate extent of harmonization of environmental policies. This thesis (Chapters 2) addresses this within a general equilibrium model of international trade with endogenous pollution discharges, paying particular attention to the allocation of tax revenues. It argues that there indeed exist instances in which pollution tax harmonization (that moves the initial pollution taxes towards an appropriately weighted pollution tax vector) can deliver potential Pareto improvements. The difficulty with the achievement of global environmental agreements should not be, however,
Building effective evaluation capacity : lessons from practice

In the 1960s, policy and program evaluation was used to improve government programs and enhance monitoring. In the 1970s and 1980s, evaluation was redefined as a tool of accountability, via the budgetary process, to assess government performance against standards and objectives. Building Effective Evaluation Capacity draws upon three decades of experience and observation to derive prescriptive lessons. The book consists of four parts. Part 1 focuses on setting boundaries, scope, structure, and objectives for evaluation. Part 2 links evaluation with other public sector functions such as strategic planning, budgeting, monitoring, and auditing. Part 3 explores the quality, training, and competence of evaluators and how to enhance demand and incentives for evaluation. Finally, part 4 summarizes the implications for developing countries of lessons learned from industrialized nations' experience. Findings are drawn from the experience of a range of countries and governments rather than being country-specific. A wealth of illustrative case studies of good practice highlight the book. Rather than proposing a single model for evaluation capacity development, this comparative approach allows readers to apply the findings to their own circumstances. Building Effective Evaluation Capacity will be of interest to public policy specialists, economists, and students of government and comparative politics.
A Social Recommender Based on Factorization and Distance Metric Learning

Traditional recommender systems often suffer from the problem of data sparsity, because most users rate only a few of the millions of possible items. With the development of social platforms, incorporating abundant social relationships into recommenders can help to overcome this issue, because users’ preferences can be inferred from those of their friends. Most existing social recommenders are based on matrix factorization, a collaborative filtering model that has been proven to be effective. In this paper, we introduce a novel social recommender based on the idea that distance reflects likability. Compared with matrix factorization, the proposed model enables us to obtain a spatial understanding of the latent factor space and how users and items are positioned inside the space by combining the factorization model and distance metric learning. In our method, users and items are initially mapped into a unified low-dimensional space. The positions of users and items are jointly determined by ratings and social relations, which can help to determine appropriate locations for users who have few ratings. Finally, the learned metrics and positions are used to generate understandable and reliable recommendations. Experiments conducted on real-world data sets have shown that compared with methods based on only matrix factorization, our method significantly improves the recommendation accuracy.
MBD3, a Component of the NuRD Complex, Facilitates Chromatin Alteration and Deposition of Epigenetic Marks

ABSTRACT In plants, as in mammals, mutations in SNF2-like DNA helicases/ATPases were shown to affect not only chromatin structure but also global methylation patterns, suggesting a potential functional link between chromatin structure and epigenetic marks. The SNF2-like ATPase containing nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase corepressor complex (NuRD) is involved in gene transcriptional repression and chromatin remodeling. We have previously shown that the leukemogenic protein PML-RARa represses target genes through recruitment of DNA methytransferases and Polycomb complex. Here, we demonstrate a direct role of the NuRD complex in aberrant gene repression and transmission of epigenetic repressive marks in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). We show that PML-RARa binds and recruits NuRD to target genes, including to the tumor-suppressor gene RARβ2. In turn, the NuRD complex facilitates Polycomb binding and histone methylation at lysine 27. Retinoic acid treatment, which is often used for patients at the early phase of the disease, reduced the promoter occupancy of the NuRD complex. Knockdown of the NuRD complex in leukemic cells not only prevented histone deacetylation and chromatin compaction but also impaired DNA and histone methylation, as well as stable silencing, thus favoring cellular differentiation. These results unveil an important role for NuRD in the establishment of altered epigenetic marks in APL, demonstrating an essential link between chromatin structure and epigenetics in leukemogenesis that could be exploited for therapeutic intervention.
Release of bisphenols from can coatings into canned beer in China market.

BACKGROUND The aim of this research was to understand the migration of bisphenols from can coatings into foods in the Chinese market. RESULTS The migration of bisphenols was studied in commercial cans from the Chinese market filled with four types of food simulant (FS), which were heated at 121 °C for 30 min and stored at 40 °C for 30 days. Only bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE) were found in the can coatings, and SimC (10% (v/v) ethanol/water) was the most suitable FS for their release. The levels of these bisphenols in 24 kinds of canned beer from Chinese markets were also investigated. The average concentrations of BPA and BADGE were 2.85 ± 0.79 and 0.38 ± 0.19 µg · L⁻¹ respectively, which were both lower than the EU limits, and their respective daily intakes were estimated at 0.015 and 0.0020 µg · kg⁻¹ body weight · day⁻¹. Besides, increasing storage temperature and time accelerated the release of bisphenols into FSs. CONCLUSION The present results provide some guidance to reduce the migration of bisphenols during the transport and storage of canned foods.
Randomized phase II trial of single-agent amrubicin or topotecan as second-line treatment in patients with small-cell lung cancer sensitive to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

PURPOSE This phase II study evaluated the safety and efficacy of single-agent amrubicin versus topotecan in patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) sensitive to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were randomly assigned 2:1 to amrubicin (40 mg/m(2)/d in a 5-minute intravenous [IV] infusion, days 1 through 3, every 21 days) or topotecan (1.5 mg/m(2)/d in a 30-minute IV infusion, days 1 through 5, every 21 days). The primary efficacy end point was overall response rate (ORR) for amrubicin. Secondary end points included time to progression, median progression-free survival (PFS), and median overall survival (OS). RESULTS Of 76 patients enrolled, 50 patients were randomly assigned to amrubicin, and 26 patients were randomly assigned to topotecan. Amrubicin treatment resulted in a significantly higher ORR than topotecan (44% v 15%; P = .021). Median PFS and median OS were 4.5 months and 9.2 months with amrubicin and 3.3 months and 7.6 months with topotecan, respectively. Tolerability was similar with both agents. However, grade 3 or worse neutropenia and thrombocytopenia seemed to be more frequent in the topotecan group as compared with the amrubicin group (78% and 61% v 61% and 39%, respectively). CONCLUSION Amrubicin shows promising activity, with an ORR of 44% compared with an ORR of 15% for topotecan as second-line treatment in patients with SCLC sensitive to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy. In addition, the safety profiles were comparable; however, a trend was noted for more frequent grade 3 or worse neutropenia and thrombocytopenia in the topotecan group as compared with the amrubicin group. Additional studies are ongoing.
Interaction with SP1, but not binding to the E‐box motifs, is responsible for BHLHE40/DEC1‐induced transcriptional suppression of CLDN1 and cell invasion in MCF‐7 cells

Basic helix‐loop‐helix family member e40 (BHLHE40) is located in 3p26.1 and acts as a transcriptional repressor of the circadian rhythm by suppressing the expression of the clock genes and clock‐controlled genes. Recent research indicated that BHLHE40 may be involved in regulating tumor cell progression. However the mechanism by which BHLHE40 regulates the invasion and metastasis of tumor cells is unclear. Our in vitro assays showed that BHLHE40 promoted tumor cell invasion while BHLHE40 silencing by siRNA suppressed tumor cell invasion of MCF‐7 cells. BHLHE40 suppressed the mRNA and protein expression of CLDN1 CLDN4 and CDH1 and promoted the expression of SNAI1 and SNAI2. Reporter assays demonstrated that BHLHE40 suppressed CLDN1 transcription but not through direct binding to the E‐box motifs in the CLDN1 promoter. Further studies demonstrated BHLHE40 suppressed CLDN1 transcription by preventing the interaction between SP1 and a specific motif within the promoter region of CLDN1. BHLHE40 could not further suppress CLDN1 transactivation after SP1 siRNA transfection that is, BHLHE40‐induced suppression of CLDN1 relied on SP1. Furthermore our data indicated that SP1 was a major regulator of CLDN1 transcription by binding to a specific motif that was located at −233 to −61 bp upstream of the transcription start site. Immunoprecipitation and co‐localization data revealed an interaction between BHLHE40 and SP1. By constructing deletion mutants we found that the BHLH and Orange regions are both essential for the BHLHE40‐SP1 interaction. BHLHE40 probably acts as an inhibitory nuclear cofactor or perhaps recruits other inhibitory cofactors to inhibit the SP1‐mediated CLDN1 transactivation. These results suggest that BHLHE40 facilitates cell invasion and may be used as a novel target for breast cancer prevention and treatment.
The Impact of Naturalizations on Job Mobility and Wages: Evidence from France

This paper studies the impact of naturalization on the labor market outcomes of foreign-born workers in France. Using a large panel dataset of workers employed in France over 1993-2001, I find that naturalization is associated with a sharp increase in job mobility: immigrants tend to change occupations and employers, in the same year as they naturalize. Turning to wages, I find evidence that naturalization commands a wage premium, which is associated with employment mobility. For workers initially in low-skill occupations, the wage premium is conditional on occupational mobility. For those in middle- or high-skilled occupations, there is also evidence of a wage premium, mostly for foreign women; this premium is associated with moves to a different firm. These results suggest that foreign citizenship constrains workers mobility, and are consistent with the hypothesis of a mismatch of foreign workers to their jobs.
Intramuscular lipid metabolism, insulin action, and obesity

With the increasing prevalence of obesity, research has focused on the molecular mechanism(s) linking obesity and skeletal muscle insulin resistance. Metabolic alterations within muscle, such as changes in the cellular location of fatty acid transporter proteins, decreased mitochondrial enzyme activity, and defects in mitochondrial morphology, likely contribute to obesity and insulin resistance. These defects are thought to play a role in the reduced skeletal muscle fatty acid oxidation and increased intramuscular lipid (IMCL) accumulation that is apparent with obesity and other insulin‐resistant states such as type 2 diabetes. Intramuscular triacylglycerol does not appear to be a ubiquitous marker of insulin resistance, although specific IMCL intermediates such as long‐chain fatty acyl‐CoAs, ceramide, and diacylglycerol may inhibit insulin signal transduction. In this review, we will briefly summarize the defects in skeletal muscle lipid metabolism associated with obesity, and discuss the proposed mechanisms by which these defects may contribute to insulin resistance. © 2008 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 61(1): 47–55, 2009
The adaptation and validation of the CEQ and the R-SPQ-2F to the Japanese tertiary environment.

BACKGROUND Student learning theory (SLT) has established associations between students' approaches to learning and their perceptions of the learning environment. SLT may provide a useful framework for researching student learning within the Japanese tertiary sector. AIMS The study aims to explore and validate the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and the Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) in the Japanese four-year tertiary context. SAMPLE Mixed-major students from one Japanese four-year tertiary institution voluntarily completed the CEQ (n= 370). A separate group of students completed the CEQ and R-SPQ-2F (n= 269). Methods. CEQ data from the first sample were analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). CEQ and R-SPQ-2F data from the second sample were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS EFA of the CEQ resulted in four factors: Good Teaching (GT), Generic Skills (GS), Appropriate Workload (AW), and Appropriate Assessment (AA). CFA confirmed these factors with the second sample. CFA of the R-SPQ-2F resulted in an item parcel-based, two-factor model. Correlations between some CEQ and R-SPQ-2F constructs were consistent with previous results. However, other findings from this research suggest that SLT constructs may be constituted differently in the Japanese context. CONCLUSIONS This study represents an initial investigation of key SLT constructs in the Japanese context. Results suggest some SLT constructs are meaningful in this context, but further scale development may be desirable before more advanced modeling is employed.
Fostering organizational learning: Superintendent and principal relationships

OF DISSERTATION FOSTERING ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: SUPERINTENDENT AND PRINCIPAL RELATIONSHIPS Schools have a responsibility to prepare students for the 21 century because the global economy demands a workforce that can adapt to a constantly changing and increasingly complex environment. High-stakes accountability for student learning is the United States’ strategy to ensure that schools adequately prepare students. This highstakes environment requires school leaders to make curricular and instructional decisions intended to simply prepare students for tests. Yielding to the pressure to perform on tests often neglects students’ opportunities to think critically or engage in complex problem solving, which are both important skills for today’s workplace. Some school and district leaders do not succumb to a narrow curriculum nor do they dictate tight instructional practices in response to high-stakes tests. They realize that they must adapt to external pressures while also preparing students for the challenges they will face. These schools and districts rely on organizational learning to identify problems and develop solutions. All members of the organization engage in a cycle of error detection and correction as a means to better navigate a complex and changing environment. This kind of school and school district work environment requires that the superintendent and principals lead in a way that fosters organizational learning. This case study uncovers the relationship characteristics between three former superintendents and five principals in a central Kentucky school district that fosters organizational learning. The study of this district found that key components of these relationships were (a) decisions based on what is best for kids, (b) a reliance on continuous professional learning, (c) a desire to constantly challenge the status quo, and (d) a genuine respect for each other personally and professionally.
Isolated tricuspid regurgitation: outcomes and therapeutic interventions

Isolated tricuspid regurgitation (TR) can be caused by primary valvular abnormalities such as flail leaflet or secondary annular dilation as is seen in atrial fibrillation, pulmonary hypertension and left heart disease. There is an increasing recognition of a subgroup of patients with isolated TR in the absence of other associated cardiac abnormalities. Left untreated isolated TR significantly worsens survival. Stand-alone surgery for isolated TR is rarely performed due to an average operative mortality of 8%–10% and a paucity of data demonstrating improved survival. When surgery is performed, valve repair may be preferred over replacement; however, there is a risk of significant recurrent regurgitation after repair. Existing society guidelines do not fully address the management of isolated TR. We propose that patients at low operative risk with symptomatic severe isolated TR and no reversible cause undergo surgery prior to the onset of right ventricular dysfunction and end-organ damage. For patients at increased surgical risk novel percutaneous interventions may offer an alternative treatment but further research is needed. Significant knowledge gaps remain and future research is needed to define operative outcomes and provide comparative data for medical and surgical therapy.
The Relative Importance of Different Trust Constructs for Sellers in the Online World

The paper focuses on the relative importance of different trust constructs for the seller–buyer relationship in commercial transactions over the Internet. Following the work of Rousseau et al (1998) and McKnight and Chervany (2002), we analysed the relative importance of three different trust constructs (institutional, calculative and relational trust), covering legal, technical, financial and psychological aspects. For this analysis, we used a conjoint‐analytical approach based on a survey of 1,134 companies in the German‐speaking part of Europe. Our analysis has shown that trust in the regulatory framework (institutional trust) is by far the most important component of trust for sellers in the online world, accounting for 56% of relative importance. The difference between calculative and relational trust is weaker, with relational trust being more important than the former (27% vs 17% respectively), at least for some industry sectors.
Suppression of in vitro antigen-induced lymphocyte transformation by carrageenan, a macrophage-toxic agent.

Carrageenan, a high molecular weight sulfated polygalactan with known macrophage toxic properties was added to cultures of normal and sensitized lymphocytes from human peripheral blood and guinea pig lymph nodes to determine its effect on phytohemagglutinin, and antigen-induced 3H-TdR lymphocyte incorporation. Carrageenan was not toxic for guinea pig or human lymphocytes per se and induced no lymphocyte transformation in vitro. With high doses in the range of 1000 µg/ml and above, some decrease in 3H-TdR uptake was noted. Phytohemagglutinin-induced human and guinea pig lymphocyte transformation was not affected by carrageenan but a marked dose-dependent suppression of antigen-induced 3H-TdR lymphocyte uptake was noted in both species. This suppressive effect was not due to reagent or antigen dilution. It was observed when carrageenan was added to cell cultures prior to antigen or up to 6 hr later, but not when added after 17 hr. These findings suggest that carrageenan acts at an early stage of macrophage-antigen processing and are consistent with previous reports of inhibition of antigen-induced lymphocyte transformation using anti-macrophage serum. They provide further evidence that phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte transformation is not mediated by macrophages and that macrophage-lymphocyte interaction occurs with cells from the peripheral blood as well as from lymph nodes.
Energy prices and energy intensity in China : a structural decomposition analysis and econometrics study

Since the start of its economic reforms in 1978, China's energy prices relative to other prices have increased. At the same time, its energy intensity, i.e., energy consumption per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has declined dramatically, by about 70%, in spite of increases in energy consumption. Is this just a coincidence? Or does a systematic relationship exist between energy prices and energy intensity? In this study, we examine whether and how China’s energy price changes affect its energy intensity trend during 1980-2002 at a macro level. We conduct the research by using two complementary economic models: the input-output-based structural decomposition analysis (SDA) and econometric regression models and by using a decomposition method of own-price elasticity of energy intensity. Findings include a negative own-price elasticity of energy intensity, a price-inducement effect on energyefficiency improvement, and a greater sensitivity (in terms of the reaction of energy intensity towards changes in energy prices) of the industry sector, compared to the overall economy. Analysts can use these results as a starting point for China's energy and carbon emission forecasts, which they traditionally conduct in China without accounting for energy-intensity changes. In addition, policy implications may initiate new thinking about energy policies that are needed to conserve China's energy resources and reduce carbon emissions.