Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustained Autophagy Contributes to Measles Virus Infectivity

The interplay between autophagy and intracellular pathogens is intricate as autophagy is an essential cellular response to fight against infections, whereas numerous microbes have developed strategies to escape this process or even exploit it to their own benefit. The fine tuned timing and/or selective molecular pathways involved in the induction of autophagy upon infections could be the cornerstone allowing cells to either control intracellular pathogens, or be invaded by them. We report here that measles virus infection induces successive autophagy signallings in permissive cells, via distinct and uncoupled molecular pathways. Immediately upon infection, attenuated measles virus induces a first transient wave of autophagy, via a pathway involving its cellular receptor CD46 and the scaffold protein GOPC. Soon after infection, a new autophagy signalling is initiated which requires viral replication and the expression of the non-structural measles virus protein C. Strikingly, this second autophagy signalling can be sustained overtime within infected cells, independently of the expression of C, but via a third autophagy input resulting from cell-cell fusion and the formation of syncytia. Whereas this sustained autophagy signalling leads to the autophagy degradation of cellular contents, viral proteins escape from degradation. Furthermore, this autophagy flux is ultimately exploited by measles virus to limit the death of infected cells and to improve viral particle formation. Whereas CD150 dependent virulent strains of measles virus are unable to induce the early CD46/GOPC dependent autophagy wave, they induce and exploit the late and sustained autophagy. Overall, our work describes distinct molecular pathways for an induction of self-beneficial sustained autophagy by measles virus.
Formation of Scientific Fields as a Universal Topological Transition

Scientific fields differ in terms of their subject matter, research techniques, collaboration sizes, rates of growth, and so on. We investigate whether common dynamics might lurk beneath these differences, affecting how scientific fields form and evolve over time. Particularly important in any field's history is the moment at which shared concepts and techniques allow widespread exchange of ideas and collaboration. At that moment, co-authorship networks show the analog of a percolation phenomenon, developing a giant connected component containing most authors. We develop a general theoretical framework for analyzing finite, evolving networks in which each scientific field is an instantiation of the same large-scale topological critical phenomenon. We estimate critical exponents associated with the transition and find evidence for universality near criticality implying that, as various fields approach the topological transition, they do so with the same set of critical exponents consistent with an effective dimensionality $d \simeq 1$. These results indicate that a common dynamics is at play in all scientific fields, which in turn may hold policy implications for ways to encourage and accelerate the creation of scientific and technological knowledge.
Differential Effects of Allergen Challenge on Large and Small Airway Reactivity in Mice

The relative contributions of large and small airways to hyperresponsiveness in asthma have yet to be fully assessed. This study used a mouse model of chronic allergic airways disease to induce inflammation and remodelling and determine whether in vivo hyperresponsiveness to methacholine is consistent with in vitro reactivity of trachea and small airways. Balb/C mice were sensitised (days 0, 14) and challenged (3 times/week, 6 weeks) with ovalbumin. Airway reactivity was compared with saline-challenged controls in vivo assessing whole lung resistance, and in vitro measuring the force of tracheal contraction and the magnitude/rate of small airway narrowing within lung slices. Increased airway inflammation, epithelial remodelling and fibrosis were evident following allergen challenge. In vivo hyperresponsiveness to methacholine was maintained in isolated trachea. In contrast, methacholine induced slower narrowing, with reduced potency in small airways compared to controls. In vitro incubation with IL-1/TNFα did not alter reactivity. The hyporesponsiveness to methacholine in small airways within lung slices following chronic ovalbumin challenge was unexpected, given hyperresponsiveness to the same agonist both in vivo and in vitro in tracheal preparations. This finding may reflect the altered interactions of small airways with surrounding parenchymal tissue after allergen challenge to oppose airway narrowing and closure.
Multi-Resolution Modelling Of Topic Relationships In Semantic Space

Recent techniques for document modelling provide means for transforming document representation in high dimensional word space to low dimensional semantic space. The representation with coarse resolution is often regarded as being able to capture intrinsic semantic structure of the original documents. Probabilistic topic models for document modelling attempt to search for richer representations of the structure of linguistic stimuli and as such support the process of human cognition. The topics inferred by the probabilistic topic models (latent topics) are represented as probability distributions over words. Although they are interpretable, the interpretation is not sufficiently straightforward for human understanding. Also, perhaps more importantly, relationships between the topics are difficult, if not impossible to interpret. Instead of directly operating on the latent topics, we extract topics with labels from a document collection and represent them using fictitious documents. Having trained the probabilistic topic models, we propose a method for deriving relationships (more general or more specific) between the extracted topics in the semantic space. To ensure a reasonable accuracy of modeling in a given semantic space we have conducted experiments with various dimensionality of the semantic space to identify optimal parameter settings in this context. Evaluation and comparison show that our method outperforms the existing methods for learning concept or topic relationships using same dataset.
The Challenge of Dual and Radical Theories of the Labor Market to Orthodox Theory

Ideally, a paper that attempts to evaluate a challenge to established theory should accomplish the following objectives: 1. Present the theoretical substance of the challenging theory, which is here called the dual and radical theories, and indicate how it differs from the existing theory, which I will refer to as neoclassical or orthodox theory; 2. Point out the empirical implications of the new theories and explain their differences with the existing theory; 3. Assess the empirical basis for discriminating between the competing hypotheses or, if this is lacking, provide the theoretical or evidential counterarguments of the neoclassical response to the dual and radical challenge; and, finally, 4. Spell out the policy implications of the competing theories. Meeting these objectives is an impossible task for a short paper. The space constraint is compounded by the fact that in my judgment the dual and radical theories are too varied, incomplete, and amorphous to present concisely. The strategy I adopt to describe these theories in the longer paper consists of, first, discussing their linkages to historical criticisms of classical and neoclassical theory; second, developing their empirical challenges to orthodox theory. Only the second part is emphasized below. To establish the context of the challenge, let us begin with the observation of Leo Rogin (p. 13) that: "new systems (of economic doctrines) first emerge in the guise of arguments in the context of social reform. " The dual and radical (or D-R, for short) theories began to emerge in the 1960's when the movement for social reform mainly involved the war on poverty and the drive for full participation in the economy by minority groups, including women. Dissatisfaction with the pace and progress of reform in these areas and dissatisfaction with the conventional analysis of the problems and their remedies have led to arguments within the economics profession, especially on the part of the younger labor economists. Let me simply assert, without defending the proposition as I do in the longer paper, that the neoclassical school does dominate * Department of economics and Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin. This is an abbreviated version of a longer paper, which is available from the Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. The longer version contains a bibliography, which is omitted here. I am indebted to a number of people at the U.S. Department of Labor, especially Fred Siskind, and at the Institute for Research on Poverty for their support. They are not responsible for errors, nor do they necessarily agree with the interpretations expressed in the report. I am grateful to Marc P. Freiman for his extensive assistance.
Islamic insurance prospects in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine revolution

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to examine the willingness (or otherwise) of the Tunisian customers to adopt Islamic insurance services (takaful) and to determine the factors that influence their decisions. Design/methodology/approach – Hundred questionnaires are randomly distributed to Tunisian customers, and the data are subsequently analysed using SEM as well as one sample t-test. Findings – Overall, the results indicate that the Tunisian customers are willing to adopt Islamic insurance services. Furthermore, compatibility of these services is a determinant factor of their decision. Originality/value – This is one of the few studies of customers' behaviour towards Islamic insurance services, and the first to be conducted in the context of Tunisia. Furthermore, the study extends theory of innovations diffusions to a different area of study and a different context, i.e. Islamic insurance and Tunisia, respectively.
Three essays on welfare implications of R&D policies in the presence of spillovers

This dissertation consists of three essays investigating welfare implications of RDThe first essay examines the policy implications of a research joint venture (RJV) while introducing endogenous spillovers and costly RJV. The research joint venture is costly in the sense that the firms incur two kinds of costs when they join in an RJV: RJV formation costs and spillover costs. RJV formation costs are modeled as fixed while spillover costs increase with the amounts of information sharing within an RJV. We derive the condition under which firms do not have an incentive to form an RJV, and identify when firms within an RJV share information completely. This essay also finds that private interests with an RJV are not consistent with public interests for a wide range of RJV formation costs, which suggests the potential need for active government intervention with respect to RJV formation. ;The second essay investigates the welfare effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in terms of north-south trade. It asks which southern countries, if any, should provide more IPR protection, assuming that the differentiated IPR protection among southern countries can be made through a WTO (World Trade Organization) agreement. Only the northern country innovates, and n-1 southern countries have different capacities to absorb knowledge from the northern innovations. The outcome of innovations reduces the unit production cost of the northern firm, and also provides benefits to the southern firms through spillovers. This essay shows that the southern countries can be classified into three groups in terms of the welfare effects of spillovers. The countries in the first group are better off from relaxed IPR protection both in their own countries and in the other countries. The countries in the second group are better off from spillovers in their country, but worse off from spillovers in the other group. The third group suffers from welfare loss whenever IPR protection is relaxed in any southern country. The northern country is worse off by relaxed IPR protection in any southern country for wide ranges of RDThe last essay combines the analysis of the R&D cooperation with the strategic trade policy theory. Endogenizing spillovers (information sharing) within an RJV, it identifies when the RJV works as a tool of strategic trade policy, and provides its welfare implications. Many results obtained in the third market structure become reversed in the integrated market structure. In the situation where only the home country allows an RJV formation while the foreign country does not, allowing an RJV benefits the home country in the third market structure, but it hurts the home country in the case of integrated market structure if spillover costs are sufficiently high. We also identify the Nash equilibria of the policy game in which both the home and the foreign countries simultaneously decide whether to allow an RJV or not, and investigate the welfare implications when both the home and the foreign countries allow an RJV formation in each country. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
Functional Maturation of the First Synapse in Olfaction: Development and Adult Neurogenesis

The first synapse in olfaction undergoes considerable anatomical plasticity in both early postnatal development and adult neurogenesis, yet we know very little concerning its functional maturation at these times. Here, we used whole-cell recordings in olfactory bulb slices to describe olfactory nerve inputs to developing postnatal neurons and to maturing adult-born cells labeled with a GFP-encoding lentivirus. In both postnatal development and adult neurogenesis, the maturation of olfactory nerve synapses involved an increase in the relative contribution of AMPA over NMDA receptors, and a decrease in the contribution of NMDA receptors containing the NR2B subunit. These postsynaptic transformations, however, were not mirrored by presynaptic changes: in all cell groups, paired-pulse depression remained constant as olfactory nerve synapses matured. Although maturing cells may therefore offer, transiently, a functionally distinct connection for inputs from the nose, presynaptic function at the first olfactory connection remains remarkably constant in the face of considerable anatomical plasticity.
Capital Structure: The Italian Market Perspective

This article first investigates the determinants of ”capital structure” and the extent to which financial structure policy contributes to the creation of shareholder value in Italian companies through a survey of 76 CFOs of Italian listed non-financial companies, and revealed that the key driver is the quest for financial flexibility, necessary to combine effectively capital structure policy with the other two levers of value creation, investment policy and payout policy. These three value creation drivers are autonomous, but this empirical study reveals a clear hierarchy that links liability policy (capital structure and payout) to asset policy (investments) leading companies to make sub-optimal financial structure decisions that may not minimize the weighted average cost of capital, though ensuring the financial flexibility necessary to activate their principal lever of value creation, investment policy, effectively and without excessive constraints. A major finding in a subsequent benchmarking exercise is that Italian ”family capitalism” affects corporate governance and therefore capital structure decisions. This finding may not be restricted to the Italian market, but could apply to all countries in which ownership structures are centered on very few shareholders with weak financial market control and where banks often play a crucial role in the governance of companies.
Two level precoding scheme for out of band radiation reduction in multiuser OFDM based cognitive radio

In this paper, we propose an out of band radiation (OOBR) suppression scheme for multiuser cognitive radio (CR), where secondary users employ orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as a transmission technique. Our proposed method comprises of a spectral precoder followed by an optimization scheme for reducing the OOBR caused by secondary users. The proposed scheme can be viewed as a two level precoding in the sense that the second level precoding is designed to optimize the first one. The first level precoder for the CR user is designed by selecting the notched frequencies from the out of band region that are very close to temporarily allocated spectrum for the CR user. In the second level, an optimization onto the first level precoded data is performed by using a precoder designed with notched frequencies which are spaced far away from the CR user band. Results of extensive simulation studies demonstrate that the proposed technique can suppress the OOBR significantly at a cost of very small degradation in bit error rate (BER) performance of secondary users.
Control of the Rescue and Replication of Semliki Forest Virus Recombinants by the Insertion of miRNA Target Sequences

Due to their broad cell- and tissue-tropism, alphavirus-based replication-competent vectors are of particular interest for anti-cancer therapy. These properties may, however, be potentially hazardous unless the virus infection is controlled. While the RNA genome of alphaviruses precludes the standard control techniques, host miRNAs can be used to down-regulate viral replication. In this study, target sites from ubiquitous miRNAs and those of miRNAs under-represented in cervical cancer cells were inserted into replication-competent DNA/RNA layered vectors of Semliki Forest virus. It was found that in order to achieve the most efficient suppression of recombinant virus rescue, the introduced target sequences must be fully complementary to those of the corresponding miRNAs. Target sites of ubiquitous miRNAs, introduced into the 3′ untranslated region of the viral vector, profoundly reduced the rescue of recombinant viruses. Insertion of the same miRNA targets into coding region of the viral vector was approximately 300-fold less effective. Viruses carrying these miRNAs were genetically unstable and rapidly lost the target sequences. This process was delayed, but not completely prevented, by miRNA inhibitors. Target sites of miRNA under-represented in cervical cancer cells had much smaller but still significant effects on recombinant virus rescue in cervical cancer-derived HeLa cells. Over-expression of miR-214, one of these miRNAs, reduced replication of the targeted virus. Though the majority of rescued viruses maintained the introduced miRNA target sequences, genomes with deletions of these sequences were also detected. Thus, the low-level repression of rescue and replication of targeted virus in HeLa cells was still sufficient to cause genetic instability.
Quality Control of Structural MRI Images Applied Using FreeSurfer—A Hands-On Workflow to Rate Motion Artifacts

In structural magnetic resonance imaging motion artifacts are common, especially when not scanning healthy young adults. It has been shown that motion affects the analysis with automated image-processing techniques (e.g., FreeSurfer). This can bias results. Several developmental and adult studies have found reduced volume and thickness of gray matter due to motion artifacts. Thus, quality control is necessary in order to ensure an acceptable level of quality and to define exclusion criteria of images (i.e., determine participants with most severe artifacts). However, information about the quality control workflow and image exclusion procedure is largely lacking in the current literature and the existing rating systems differ. Here, we propose a stringent workflow of quality control steps during and after acquisition of T1-weighted images, which enables researchers dealing with populations that are typically affected by motion artifacts to enhance data quality and maximize sample sizes. As an underlying aim we established a thorough quality control rating system for T1-weighted images and applied it to the analysis of developmental clinical data using the automated processing pipeline FreeSurfer. This hands-on workflow and quality control rating system will aid researchers in minimizing motion artifacts in the final data set, and therefore enhance the quality of structural magnetic resonance imaging studies.
Six-year outcome of cognitive behavior therapy for prevention of recurrent depression.

OBJECTIVE A paucity of studies use nonpharmacological strategies for preventing recurrence in depression. Cognitive behavior treatment of residual symptoms was found to yield a significantly lower relapse rate than clinical management in recurrent depression at a 2-year follow-up. The objective of this investigation was to provide a 6-year follow-up of cognitive behavior treatment versus clinical management. METHOD Forty patients with recurrent major depression who had been successfully treated with antidepressant drugs were randomly assigned to either cognitive behavior treatment of residual symptoms (supplemented by lifestyle modification and well-being therapy) or clinical management. In both groups, antidepressant drugs were tapered and discontinued. A 6-year follow-up was undertaken. During this period, no antidepressant drugs were used unless a relapse ensued. RESULTS Cognitive behavior treatment resulted in a significantly lower relapse rate (40%) at a 6-year follow-up than did clinical management (90%). When multiple recurrences were considered, the group that received cognitive behavior treatment had a significantly lower number of relapses in comparison with the clinical management group. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the sequential use of cognitive behavior treatment after pharmacotherapy may improve the long-term outcome in recurrent depression. A significant proportion of patients with recurrent depression might be able to withdraw from medication successfully and to stay well for at least 6 years with a focused course of psychotherapy.
Centrilobular zonal necrosis as a hallmark of a distinctive subtype of autoimmune hepatitis

Background and aim Centrilobular zonal necrosis (CZN) is a known histological variant of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). However, the significance of CZN is yet to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to determine whether CZN is a hallmark of a distinctive subtype of AIH. Methods Histological changes in the centrilobular zones of liver biopsies from 113 AIH patients were assessed by a single pathologist and classified into three categories: typical zonal necrosis defined as CZN (15 patients); other necroinflammatory change (NIC; 24 patients); and absence of necrosis (non-NIC; 74 patients). The clinicopathological features and immunogenetic background of CZN patients were then assessed. Results The clinicopathological features of AIH with CZN were distinct from other types of AIH, including a higher frequency of acute onset, lower frequency of antinuclear antibodies, lower antinuclear antibody titers, lower serum immunoglobulin G levels, lower grade interface hepatitis, less prominent lymphoplasmacytic infiltration, and lower AIH score. Increased and decreased frequencies of HLA-DR9 and HLA-DR4, respectively, were identified as immunogenetic features of AIH with CZN. Conversely, the clinicopathological characteristics of AIH with NIC were similar to those of non-NIC AIH, including the majority of the AIH patients. The therapeutic outcomes of AIH with CZN were excellent when precise diagnoses were made without delay. Conclusion The clinicopathological features and immunogenetic background of AIH with CZN differed from AIH without CZN. CZN may be a hallmark of a distinct subtype of AIH.