Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate Social and Financial Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based indicators, and CSP reputation indices are more highly correlated with CFP than are other indicators of CSP. This meta-analysis establishes a greater degree of certainty with respect to the CSP-CFP relationship than is currently assumed to exist by many business scholars.
Celecoxib Decreases Ki-67 Proliferative Index in Active Smokers

Purpose: This study evaluated the feasibility of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition for lung cancer chemoprevention. We hypothesized that treatment with oral Celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, would favorably alter the biomarkers of lung cancer risk as measured by the Ki-67 proliferative labeling index (Ki-67 LI). Experimental Design: Twenty active heavy smokers were enrolled into a pilot study and treated with Celecoxib for 6 months. Bronchoscopies with bronchial biopsies were done before and after 6 months of Celecoxib treatment. H&E stain for histologic grading and immunohistochemical examination for Ki-67 LI, COX-2, and survivin were carried out on serially matched biopsy samples to determine responses to treatment. Results: Treatment with Celecoxib significantly reduced Ki-67 LI in smokers by 35% (P = 0.016), and increased the expression of nuclear survivin by 23% (P = 0.036) without significantly changing that of cytoplasmic survivin. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that oral Celecoxib may be capable of modulating the proliferation indices and apoptotic balance in bronchial tissue of active smokers.
Diagnostic Utility of the Pediatric Attention Disorders Diagnostic Screener

Objective: The Pediatric Attention Disorders Diagnostic Screener (PADDS) is an evidence-based screener of attention and executive functioning that combines computer-based Target Tests of Executive Function (TTEFs; Target Recognition, Target Sequencing, and Target Tracking) with parent and teacher behavioral reports to efficiently screen children ages 6 to 12 for ADHD. The present study is the first to examine the utility of the TTEFs in predicting ADHD status. Method: The PADDS TTEFs were administered to 76 children (age = 6-12) with ADHD and 76 matched controls. Logistic regression and diagnostic efficiency statistics were used to evaluate the ability of the three TTEFs to predicted ADHD status. Results: All three TTEFs significantly discriminated ADHD participants from controls, but each had a different diagnostic efficiency profile. Classification accuracy was improved when results of all three TTEFs were combined. Conclusion: The PADDS is a promising tool for quickly and reliably screening for ADHD in clinic and school settings.
Supporting Online Material Materials and Methods Som Text Figs. S1 to S5 Tables S1 to S3 References Neuronal Competition and Selection during Memory Formation

for their guidance and critical discussions during the course of this work, and J. C. Nix for technical assistance in data collection. GM24689. We are grateful for beam time and assistance with x-ray data collection at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Advanced Light Source (ALS), and for facilities and computer support from the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Coordinates have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) [www.rcsb. org/pdb] as entries 2IG9 (full-length enzyme) and 2IGA (enzyme reacted with 4NC and O 2). Competition between neurons is necessary for refining neural circuits during development and may be important for selecting the neurons that participate in encoding memories in the adult brain. To examine neuronal competition during memory formation, we conducted experiments with mice in which we manipulated the function of CREB (adenosine 3´,5´-monophosphate response element–binding protein) in subsets of neurons. Changes in CREB function influenced the probability that individual lateral amygdala neurons were recruited into a fear memory trace. Our results suggest a competitive model underlying memory formation, in which eligible neurons are selected to participate in a memory trace as a function of their relative CREB activity at the time of learning. C ompetition is a fundamental property of many biological systems and creates selective pressure between individual elements. For example, competition between bilateral monocular neural inputs mediates ocu-lar dominance plasticity (1, 2). The transcription factor CREB (adenosine 3´,5´-monophosphate response element–binding protein) has been implicated in this competition in the developing brain (3, 4). The finding that only a portion of eligible neurons participate in a given memory (5–8) suggests that competition between neurons may also underlie plasticity in adult brain. Plasticity within the lateral amygdala (LA) is required for auditory conditioned-fear memories (7, 9–11). Although ~70% of LA neurons receive the necessary sensory input, only one-quarter exhibit auditory fear conditioning–induced plasticity (6, 7). We found that a similar proportion of LA cells show activated CREB (phosphoryl-ation at Ser 133) after auditory fear conditioning (Fig. 1A), which suggests a role for CREB in determining which neurons are recruited into the fear memory trace. To examine this result, we manipulated CREB function in a similar portion of LA neurons by microinjecting replication-defective herpes simplex viral vectors expressing endogenous or dominant-negative CREB (CREB WT and CREB S133A , respectively) fused with green fluorescent protein (GFP) (12). To maximize the relative difference in CREB function between neurons, we first increased CREB levels in a subset …
The Dissociation of Location and Object Working Memory using fMRI and MEG

This Dissertation (PhD) is brought to you for free and open access by theGraduate School of Biomedical Sciences at DigitalCommons@The TexasMedical Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in UT GSBSDissertations and Theses (Open Access) by an authorized administrator ofDigitalCommons@The Texas Medical Center. For more information,please contactkathryn.krause@exch.library. tmc.edu.
Contribution of Endocytic Motifs in the Cytoplasmic Tail of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Glycoprotein B to Virus Replication and Cell-Cell Fusion

ABSTRACT The use of endocytic pathways by viral glycoproteins is thought to play various functions during viral infection. We previously showed in transfection assays that herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) glycoprotein B (gB) is transported from the cell surface back to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and that two motifs of gB cytoplasmic tail, YTQV and LL, function distinctly in this process. To investigate the role of each of these gB trafficking signals in HSV-1 infection, we constructed recombinant viruses in which each motif was rendered nonfunctional by alanine mutagenesis. In infected cells, wild-type gB was internalized from the cell surface and concentrated in the TGN. Disruption of YTQV abolished internalization of gB during infection, whereas disruption of LL induced accumulation of internalized gB in early recycling endosomes and impaired its return to the TGN. The growth of both recombinants was moderately diminished. Moreover, the fusion phenotype of cells infected with the gB recombinants differed from that of cells infected with the wild-type virus. Cells infected with the YTQV-mutated virus displayed reduced cell-cell fusion, whereas giant syncytia were observed in cells infected with the LL-mutated virus. Furthermore, blocking gB internalization or impairing gB recycling to the cell surface, using drugs or a transdominant negative form of Rab11, significantly reduced cell-cell fusion. These results favor a role for endocytosis in virus replication and suggest that gB intracellular trafficking is involved in the regulation of cell-cell fusion.
Different patterns of pfcrt and pfmdr1 polymorphism in Plasmodium falciparum isolates from Tehama region, Yemen

Introduction. Despite the efforts of the malaria control programme, malaria morbidity is still a common health problem in Yemen, with 60% of the population at risk. Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for 99% of malaria cases. The emergence in Yemen of parasite resistance to chloroquine (CQ) prompted the adoption of artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) in 2009, which involves the use of artesunate plus sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (AS + SP). However, CQ was retained as the drug of choice for vivax malaria. To assess the impact of the change in the malaria treatment policy five years after its introduction, the present study investigated the mutations in the CQ resistance transporter (pfcrt) and multidrug resistance 1 (pfmdr1) genes. Method. A molecular investigation of 10 codons of pfcrt (72–76, 220, 271, 326, 356, and 371) and five codons of pfmdr1 (86, 184, 1034, 1042, and 1246) was conducted on P. falciparum isolates from districts with the highest malaria endemicity in the Hodeidah and Al-Mahwit governorates in Tehama region, Yemen. A total of 86 positive cases of falciparum monoinfection were investigated for the presence of mutations related to CQ and other antimalarials using a PCR-RFLP assay. Results. There was a wide prevalence of pfcrt gene mutations with the pfcrt 76T CQ resistance marker being predominant (97.7%). The prevalence of other pfcrt mutations varied from high (75E: 88%) to moderate (74I: 79.1%, 220S: 69.8%, 271E and 371I: 53.5%) or low (326S: 36%, 72S: 10.5%). Mutated pfcrt 72–76 amino acids haplotypes were highly prevalent (98.8%). Among these, the CVIET classic, old-world African/Southeast Asian haplotype was the most predominant, and was mostly found in the isolates from the Khamis Bani Saad district of Al-Mahwit (93.1%) and the AdDahi district of Hodeidah (88.9%). However, it was only found in 26.3% of the isolates from the Bajil district of Hodeidah. Surprisingly, the SVMNT new-world South American haplotype was exclusively detected in 9.3% of the isolates from the Bajil district of Hodeidah. Mutations at Y184F of pfmdr1 were found in all isolates (100%) from all districts. The mutation for codons 1034C and 86Y were found only in the isolates from the AdDahi and Khamis Bani Saad districts. Overall, the AdDahi and Khamis Bani Saad districts were similar in terms of carrying most of the mutations in the pfcrt and pfmdr1 genes, while there was a lower prevalence of mutation in the isolates from the Bajil district. Conclusion. The high prevalence of mutations in pfcrt 5 years after the official cessation of CQ use against P. falciparum suggests that there is sustained CQ pressure on P. falciparum isolates in the study area. Moreover, the low prevalence of mutations in the pfmdr1 gene could be a good indicator of the high susceptibility of P. falciparum isolates to antimalarials other than CQ. A new strategy to ensure the complete nationwide withdrawal of CQ from the private drug market is recommended.
Self-construal and exposure to American entertainment and news programs among Malaysian youths.

This study examined self-construal (self-independence/self-interdependence) of Malaysian youths, and its relationship with the exposure to American entertainment and news programs. A total of 401 Malay, Chinese and Indian youths participated in the survey by completing the self-administered questionnaires. The results revealed that the respondents exhibited fairly balanced levels of self- interdependence and self-independence. The Malay respondents showed somewhat a higher level of self-interdependence than that of the Chinese and Indians. The respondents who described self primarily in independent, rather than interdependent term, were more likely to have a higher level of exposure to American movies and music. Nevertheless, no significant difference was observed in the exposure to American news programs. The findings supported the contention on the role of self-construal in explaining the variation in the consumption of American movies and music among the youth in a non-western country.
Navigating tomorrow's web: From searching and browsing to visual exploration

We propose a new way of navigating the Web using interactive information visualizations, and present encouraging results from a large-scale Web study of a visual exploration system. While the Web has become an immense, diverse information space, it has also evolved into a powerful software platform. We believe that the established interaction techniques of searching and browsing do not sufficiently utilize these advances, since information seekers have to transform their information needs into specific, text-based search queries resulting in mostly text-based lists of resources. In contrast, we foresee a new type of information seeking that is high-level and more engaging, by providing the information seeker with interactive visualizations that give graphical overviews and enable query formulation. Building on recent work on faceted navigation, information visualization, and exploratory search, we conceptualize this type of information navigation as visual exploration and evaluate a prototype Web-based system that implements it. We discuss the results of a large-scale, mixed-method Web study that provides a better understanding of the potential benefits of visual exploration on the Web, and its particular performance challenges.
Boosting products of base classifiers

In this paper we show how to boost products of simple base learners. Similarly to trees, we call the base learner as a subroutine but in an iterative rather than recursive fashion. The main advantage of the proposed method is its simplicity and computational efficiency. On benchmark datasets, our boosted products of decision stumps clearly outperform boosted trees, and on the MNIST dataset the algorithm achieves the second best result among no-domain-knowledge algorithms after deep belief nets. As a second contribution, we present an improved base learner for nominal features and show that boosting the product of two of these new subset indicator base learners solves the maximum margin matrix factorization problem used to formalize the collaborative filtering task. On a small benchmark dataset, we get experimental results comparable to the semi-definite-programming-based solution but at a much lower computational cost.
Endogenous Expression of Matriptase in Neural Progenitor Cells Promotes Cell Migration and Neuron Differentiation*

Recent studies show that type II transmembrane serine proteases play important roles in diverse cellular activities and pathological processes. Their expression and functions in the central nervous system, however, are largely unexplored. In this study, we show that the expression of one such member, matriptase (MTP), was cell type-restricted and primarily expressed in neural progenitor (NP) cells and neurons. Blocking MTP expression or MTP activity prevented NP cell traverse of reconstituted basement membrane, whereas overexpression of MTP promoted it. The NP cell mobilization induced by either vascular endothelial growth factor or hepatocyte growth factor was also impaired by knocking down MTP expression. MTP acts upstream of matrix metalloproteinase 2 in promoting NP cell mobility. In embryonic stem cell differentiation to neural cells, MTP knockdown had no effect on entry of embryonic stem cells into the neural lineage. High MTP expression or activity, however, shifts the population dynamics from NP cells toward neurons to favor neuronal differentiation. This is the first report to demonstrate the direct involvement of type II transmembrane serine protease in NP cell function.
Characterization of reconnecting vortices in superfluid helium

When two vortices cross, each of them breaks into two parts and exchanges part of itself for part of the other. This process, called vortex reconnection, occurs in classical and superfluids, and in magnetized plasmas and superconductors. We present the first experimental observations of reconnection between quantized vortices in superfluid helium. We do so by imaging micrometer-sized solid hydrogen particles trapped on quantized vortex cores and by inferring the occurrence of reconnection from the motions of groups of recoiling particles. We show that the distance separating particles on the just-reconnected vortex lines grows as a power law in time. The average value of the scaling exponent is approximately ½, consistent with the self-similar evolution of the vortices.
Cilostazol therapy attenuates monocrotaline-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension in rat model.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance caused by a proliferation of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells, resulting in occlusion of the lumen of small pulmonary arteries. Cilostazol, with its antiproliferative effects on vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells, may ameliorate monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH in rats. METHODS AND RESULTS Male Sprague - Dawley rats (n=10/each group) were randomized to receive MCT (75 mg/kg) only (group 1), MCT plus cilostazol (20 mg .kg(-1 ). day(-1)) (group 2) and saline injection only (group 3). Hemodynamic measurement on day 28 following MCT treatment indicated the development of significant PAH on MCT-treated groups (p<0.0001). Cilostazol was given to group 2 orally on days 28-90. By day 90 following MCT treatment, the right ventricular (RV) systolic blood pressure and RV hypertrophy were significantly higher in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (all values of p<0.01). Additionally, connexin43 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene expressions of lung and RV, and Bcl-2 protein expression of RV, were significantly lower in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (all values of p<0.01). Furthermore, the number of alveolar sac and small arterioles of the lung were significantly lower in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3 (all values of p<0.01). CONCLUSION Cilostazol therapy effectively attenuates of MCT-induced PAH.
First X-ray observations of the polar CE Gru

We report the detection of the polar CE Gru in X-rays for the first time. We find evidence for a dip seen in the hard X-ray light curve which we attribute to the accretion stream obscuring the accretion region in the lower hemisphere of the white dwarf. The X-ray spectrum can be fitted using only a shock model: there is no distinct soft X-ray component. We suggest that this is because the reprocessed component is so cool that it is shifted into the ultraviolet. We determine a mass for the white dwarf of similar to1.0 M.
Selective human endothelial cell activation by chemokines as a guide to cell homing

An original model of organo‐specific, immortalized and stabilized endothelial cell lines was used to delineate the part played by some chemokines (CCL21, CX3CL1, CCL5 and CXCL12) and their receptors in endothelium organo‐specificity. Chemokine receptor expression and chemokine presentation were investigated on organo‐specific human endothelial cell lines. Although the chemokines showed distinct binding patterns for the various endothelial cell lines, these were not correlated with the expression of the corresponding receptors (CX3CR1, CXCR4, CCR5 and CCR7). Experiments with CCL21 on peripheral lymph node endothelial cells demonstrated that the chemokine did not co‐localize with its receptor but was associated with extracellular matrix components. The specific activity of chemokines was clearly shown to be related to the endothelial cell origin. Indeed, CX3CL1 and CCL21 promoted lymphocyte recruitment by endothelial cells from the appendix and peripheral lymph nodes, respectively, while CX3CL1 pro‐angiogenic activity was restricted to endothelial cells from the appendix and skin. The high specificity of the chemokine/endothelium interaction allowed the design of a direct in vitro endothelial cell targeting assay. This unique cellular model demonstrated a fundamental role for chemokines in conferring on the endothelium its organo‐specificity and its potential for tissue targeting through the selective binding, presentation and activation properties of chemokines.
Pulmonary Toxocariasis: Initial and Follow-Up CT Findings in 63 Patients.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to describe the characteristic radiologic findings of pulmonary toxocariasis on initial and follow-up chest CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between June 2010 and May 2014, 63 patients with serologically proven, clinically diagnosed pulmonary toxocariasis and chest CT examinations performed within 2 months of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for toxocariasis were identified. Two chest radiologists retrospectively analyzed the chest CT examinations in consensus; they focused on the distribution, location, number, and internal characteristics of the pulmonary lesions. RESULTS The pulmonary lesions tended to involve three or more lobes (49% [31/63]) on the initial CT; predominance of the abnormalities in a subpleural location (81% [51/63]) and in the lower lung zone (98% [62/63]) was noted. The number of pulmonary lesions per patient were from two to five (46% [29/63]), more than five (32% [20/63]), or one (22% [14/63]). The radiologic findings of pulmonary toxocariasis could be categorized into four different patterns: ground-glass opacities (GGOs), solid nodules, consolidations, and linear opacities. The most common pattern was ill-defined GGOs with or without solid portions (84% [53/63]). The solid nodule and patchy consolidation patterns were found in 29% (18/63) and 21% (13/63) of patients, respectively. In addition, linear opacities (1-2 mm thick and 8-25 mm long) were present in 19% of patients (12/63); this finding is a subtle, yet novel, finding. On follow-up CT, the pulmonary lesions had either disappeared or migrated; when they had migrated, they revealed radiologic manifestations similar to the findings on the initial CT. CONCLUSION Pulmonary toxocariasis manifested as multiple lesions in four radiologic patterns with subpleural and lower lung predominance on initial and follow-up CT. A linear opacity may be one of many clues in the diagnosis of pulmonary toxocariasis on CT.