Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Purification , Characterization , and Toxicity of the Sulfhydryl-Activated Hemolysin Listeriolysin 0 from Listeria monocytogenes

We purified and characterized an extracellular hemolysin produced by Listeria monocytogenes. Hemolysin production was greatly enhanced by growing bacteria in resin (Chelex)-treated medium. This hemolysin was separated as a homogeneous protein of 60,000 daltons by using thiol-disulfide exchange affinity chromatography. This protein was a sulflydryl-activated toxin, termed listeriolysin 0, which shared the classical properties of other bacterial sulfhydryl-activated toxins: (i) inhibition by very low amounts of cholesterol; (ii) activation by reducing agents and suppression of the lytic activity by oxidation; (iii) antigenic cross-reactivity with streptolysin 0. However, listeriolysin 0 differed remarkably from the other sulfhydryl-activated toxins in that its cytolytic activity towards erythrocytes from various animal species was maximum at low pH (-5.5) and was undetectable at pH 7.0. This suggests that the lytic activity of the toxin in host tissues might be better expressed in the acidic microenvironment, including macrophage phagosomes where bacteria presumably replicate. Listeriolysin 0 was lethal to mice (50% lethal dose of ca. 0.8 ,ug) and induced a rapid inflammatory reaction when injected intradermally. These results favor the view that listeriolysin 0 might play a major role during intracellular replication of L. monocytogenes, ultimately promoting death of infected macrophages.
Lifetime-Sensitive Modulo Scheduling in a Production Environment

This paper presents a novel software pipelining approach, which is called Swing Modulo Scheduling (SMS). It generates schedules that are near optimal in terms of initiation interval, register requirements, and stage count. Swing Modulo Scheduling is a heuristic approach that has a low computational cost. This paper first describes the technique and evaluates it for the Perfect Club benchmark suite on a generic VLIW architecture. SMS is compared with other heuristic methods, showing that it outperforms them in terms of the quality of the obtained schedules and compilation time. To further explore the effectiveness of SMS, the experience of incorporating it into a production quality compiler for the Equator MAP1000 processor is described; implementation issues are discussed, as well as modifications and improvements to the original algorithm. Finally, experimental results from using a set of industrial multimedia applications are presented.
Pediatric Medullary Carcinoma of the Thyroid with Point Mutation of RET Proto-oncogene Associated with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia and Initially Diagnosed by Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy

A 7-year-old girl presented with a thyroid mass, elevated serum levels of calcitonin and carcinoembryonic antigen, as well as multiple mucosal nodules in the upper lip and tongue. Cytologic material obtained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy from the thyroid mass was diagnosed as medullary carcinoma and confirmed by immunohistochemical studies in the cell-block sections. Subsequent histopathologic examination showed involvement of both thyroid lobes by medullary carcinoma, and electron microscopic studies further confirmed the diagnosis. Molecular studies showed a point mutation in amino acid 918 in exon 16 of the RET proto-oncogene. Biopsies from the upper lip and tongue showed mucosal neuromas. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy is frequently used in the initial evaluation of thyroid nodules. This case illustrates the value of fine-needle aspiration biopsy as a safe and accurate diagnostic modality in the workup of pediatric thyroid nodules. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy should always be considered for the investigation of thyroid nodules in pediatric patients.
Uses of Music in Everyday Life

The value of music in people9s everyday lives depends on the uses they make of it and the degree to which they engage with it, which are in turn dependent on the contexts in which they hear it. Very few studies have investigated people9s experiences of music in naturalistic, everyday circumstances, and this exploratory study provides some initial normative data on who people listen with, what they listen to (and what their emotional responses to this music are), when they listen, where they listen, and why they listen. A total of 346 people who owned a mobile phone were sent one text message per day for 14 days. On receiving this message, participants were required to complete a questionnaire about any music they could hear, or had heard since their previous message. Responses indicated a high compliance rate; a high incidence of exposure to music; that the greatest number of musical episodes occurred while participants were on their own; that pop music was heard most frequently; that liking for the music varied depending on who the participant was with, where they were, and whether they had chosen to be able to hear music; that music was usually experienced during the course of some activity other than deliberate music listening; that exposure to music occurred most frequently in the evening, particularly between 10 pm and 11 pm, and on weekends; that music was heard most frequently at home, with only a small number of incidences occurring in public places; that the importance of several functions of music varied according to temporal factors, the place where the music was heard, and the person or people the participant was with. Further research should include participants from a greater range of sociodemographic backgrounds and should develop context-specific theoretical explanations of the different ways in which people use music as a resource.
Influence Modes, Schema Change, and Organizational Transformation

This article reports research in which an ethnographic approach was employed to study a bank in the northeastern U.S. that underwent organizational change and transformation in response to the demands of a federal regulatory agency. The resesearchers investigated the top management's efforts to alter the firm's existing organizational schemas so as to meet the requirements of a new organizational vision. Data were obtained from field observation over a J0-month period, organization documents, and surveys and interviews. A first-order analysis using informant categories revealed themes relevant to changing organizational schemes. A second-order analysis revealed the influence modes top management used to effect organizational change. The authors conclude that the modes they label "Enforcement" and "Manipulation" unexpectedly proved most successful in bringing about the bank's transformation.
Closed-Loop Antenna Selection for Wireless LANs with Directional & Omni-Directional Elements

Throughput and packet error rate are analysed in a home environment for two different 3x3 wireless LAN solutions. A 3x3 EBF approach (using three radio chains) is compared with a reduced cost 2x2 architecture (using two radio chains). In the 2x2 solution the optimum antenna pair is selected from the same set of three antennas at the AP and client. The impact of directional, as well as omni- directional, antenna elements is considered. The spatial and temporal characteristics of the in-home channels are modelled using 3D ray tracing and combined with appropriately orientated complex polarmetric patterns for each antenna element. Physical layer throughput is calculated for all modulation and coding schemes and (for the 2x2 case) all possible antenna combinations using a novel received bit mutual information rate abstraction technique. Results show that antenna number, pattern and orientation all play a key role in determining the performance of an 802.11n system. As expected, 3x3 EBF outperforms the 2x2 solution; however, with optimum antenna selection the performance of 2x2 EBF is competitive, especially when directional antennas are used at low signal to noise ratios. For distant rooms, 3x3 EBF is only 15% better (in terms of throughput) than 2x2 EBF when directional antennas and dynamic antenna selection are applied. 2x2 EBF with omni antennas results in a 45% reduction in throughput (compared with 3x3 EBF).
The clinical course of late diagnosed fatal cases of A (H1N1) influenza in Poland.

INTRODUCTION The most frequent complication of A (H1N1) influenza and the leading cause of death was pneumonia with a primary viral or mixed viral and bacterial etiology. 182 patients had died because of a pandemic influenza in Poland by 31st July 2010. MATERIAL AND METHODS A retrospective study of 6 fatal cases of pandemic influenza, aged 23-41, including 3 women, hospitalised between November 2009 and February 2011 in different Polish medical centres. RESULTS We present the clinical course of 6 late diagnosed cases of A (H1N1) influenza. All patients presented typical flu-like symptoms in the beginning. 4/6 patients had severe disease risk factors: pregnancy, arthritis, Wegener granulomatosis and obesity. All patients were seen by doctors, no one had received antiviral therapy, 4/5 were treated with antibiotics before they were hospitalized. One patient had nosocomial infection. Patients were admitted to the hospital on the 3rd to 8th day of the disease. They received oseltamivir treatment on the 4th to 9th day. All patients developed pneumonia complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome. Death appeared between the 4th and 27th day after the onset of symptoms. Autopsies were performed in 5 cases and revealed haemorrhagic pneumonia in 2 patients. CONCLUSION Delayed diagnosis and antiviral treatment initiation has a significant impact on mortality in A (H1N1) influenza. During the influenza epidemic, patients presenting typical symptoms should always be suspected of having influenza. Antiviral treatment has to be initiated immediately, especially if there are risk factors of severe disease.
The Effect of Planning on Teaching

Probably no idea in education is more widely accepted than the idea that specific, thorough planning for a lesson makes the teaching-learning encounter valuable and productive. Conversely, no planning, or general and haphazard planning, leads to a wasteful, unproductive lesson. The notion pervades education at all levels and in all subject areas. There appears to be widespread agreement not only on the value of planning, but also on the substance and the format of plans. The plan that has enlisted universal support contains the elements suggested by Tyler: purposes, experiences and their organization, and evaluation (1). If a lesson is to be effective, the teacher needs to make decisions in these areas before
Sorafenib Action in Hepatitis B Virus X-Activated Oncogenic Androgen Pathway in Liver through SHP-1.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows a higher incidence in men, mainly because of hepatitis B X (HBx)-mediated enhancement of androgen receptor (AR) activity. We aimed to examine this pathway in hepatocarcinogenesis and to identify drug(s) specifically blocking this carcinogenic event in the liver. METHODS HBx transgenic mice that spontaneously develop HCC (n = 28-34 per group) were used, either by knockout of hepatic AR or by castration. Efficacy of several HCC-targeted drugs in suppressing HBx-induced AR activity was evaluated, and cellular factors mediating suppression were investigated in cultured cells. Tissue specificity of the candidate drug was validated using mouse tissues. Data were analyzed with Chi-square and Student's t tests. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS The androgen pathway was shown to be important in early stage hepatocarcinogenesis of HBx transgenic mice. The tumor incidence was decreased from 80% to 32% by AR knockout (P < .001) and from 90% to 25% by early castration (P < .001). Sorafenib markedly inhibited the HBx-enhanced AR activity through activating the SHP-1 phosphatase, which antagonized the activation of Akt/GSK3β and c-Src by HBx. Moreover, SHP-1 protein level was much higher in the liver than in testis, which enabled sorafenib to inhibit aberrant AR activity in the HBx-expressing liver, while not affecting the physiological AR function in normal liver or testis. CONCLUSIONS The androgen pathway may be a druggable target for the chemoprevention of HBV-related HCC, and sorafenib might be used as a tissue- and disease-specific regimen for the chemoprevention of HBV-related HCC.
Crime, Punishment and the Halo Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility

Three reasons are often cited for the value of corporate social responsibility: product quality signalling, delegated giving, and the halo effect. Previous tests cannot separate these channels because they focus on consumers, who value all three. We focus on prosecutors, who are only susceptible to the halo effect. Using Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcements, we find that social responsibility is associated with 2 million dollars less in fines, though it is uncorrelated with bribe characteristics and cooperation, which should entirely determine sanctions following Becker (1974). We show that this bias is likely a halo effect and not prosecutorial conflict of interest.
Evolutionary and Developmental Modules

The identification of biological modules at the systems level often follows top-down decomposition of a task goal, or bottom-up decomposition of multidimensional data arrays into basic elements or patterns representing shared features. These approaches traditionally have been applied to mature, fully developed systems. Here we review some results from two other perspectives on modularity, namely the developmental and evolutionary perspective. There is growing evidence that modular units of development were highly preserved and recombined during evolution. We first consider a few examples of modules well identifiable from morphology. Next we consider the more difficult issue of identifying functional developmental modules. We dwell especially on modular control of locomotion to argue that the building blocks used to construct different locomotor behaviors are similar across several animal species, presumably related to ancestral neural networks of command. A recurrent theme from comparative studies is that the developmental addition of new premotor modules underlies the postnatal acquisition and refinement of several different motor behaviors in vertebrates.
Family carers’ views of services for people with learning disabilities from Black and minority ethnic groups: a qualitative study of 30 families in a south London borough

In 2001, the UK Government identified the widespread neglect of the needs of people with learning disabilities from Black and minority ethnic communities. In this qualitative study informal interviews were held with 30 family carers of adults with learning disabilities from Black and minority ethnic communities. Their views were sought regarding services received and services needed, and cultural or communication barriers faced in accessing appropriate services. The study showed that although carers were largely satisfied with services actually received, service provision was highly inadequate and ineffective. Even very elderly and ill carers and those caring for people with severe disabilities received little support. Social worker support was negligible, and future planning rare. It is clear that the needs of carers from Black and minority ethnic communities are not being met. The situation would be considerably eased by adequate social worker support. Stereotypes of supportive family networks, (especially regarding south Asian families) proved to be unfounded.
Should We Be Concerned About Age Segregation?

With its complex links to the division of labor and culture, age is also related to social integration. It can form a basis for social integration and form contrasts, chasms, and conflicts in society. After providing a brief history of how social scientists have viewed age as an integrative and a segregative force in society, the authors consider dimensions of age segregation in contemporary Western societies, which are marked by widespread institutional, spatial, and cultural age segregation, with only the family surviving as an age-integrated institution. For older adults, ties to children and grandchildren represent possibilities for learning and the development of generativity: investment in the lives of others and in the future of human communities. The link between cross-generational ties and generativity appears to be particularly clear for men. Can we rely on families to counter the potentially negative consequences of societal age segregation, or should we be concerned about family change, such as rising rates of childlessness?
EFFECT OF ALLOTYPE SPECIFIC ANTI‐IgD ON THE IMMUNE RESPONSES OF HETEROZYGOUS MICE

With the use of allotype-specific antibody to IgD, some of the effects observed in homozygous mice can be characterized more definitively in allotype heterozygotes, since these mice serve, in a sense, as their own control with respect to the untreated allotype. In our initial studies, we examined the effect of chronic exposure to anti-IgD on the secondary immune response to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). The experimental procedure has been previously described. ' Briefly, the mice were treated from birth to 11 weeks of age with weekly injections of anti-IgD. All of the mice were injected with antigen on week 6 and were boosted on week 11, in each case one day after an anti-IgD injection. PFC assays were done six days after boosting and one week after the last anti-IgD injection. As shown in TABLE 1.control mice, given two injections of antigen, made a 7s PFC response that was essentially equivalent with respect to allotype distribution. In mice injected with anti-5a or anti-5b. the IgG PFC response linked to the relevant IgD allotype was markedly reduced, while, in each case, a moderate compensatory increase was seen in the alternate allotype. However, if the mice were injected with both anti-5a and anti-5b. using the same injection schedule and the same amounts of each antibody, there was no suppression of the IgG response of either allotype. In fact, there was a slight increase over control levels. The latter results were in complete agreement with those obtained in homozygous BALB/c mice injected from birth with anti-5a. We concluded from these results, since the mice were able to make a normal immune response in the absence of 6+ cells, that an alternate pathway exists in which IgD' cells are not required for a secondary in vivo response. A similar conclusion has been reported by Metcalf et al. using heterologous anti-IgD (this volume]. However, in heterozygous mice treated with antibody directed against one allotype, the alternate pathway is not used, and a profound suppression of the linked IgG allotype is seen. Cells producing IgG of the untreated allotype respond well, suggesting that if IgD' cells are present, they may be preferentially used.
Surrogacy, gay male couples and the significance of biogenetic paternity

Intentionally planned parenthood by gay male couples through commercial and altruistic surrogacy is gaining momentum in Australia and abroad. Very little is known about this group of male parents, including the relational considerations important to them in forming families through surrogacy. This paper, based on in-depth interviews with six Australian gay male couples who utilized altruistic surrogacy in the state of Victoria, and commercial surrogacy arrangements in the US, considers the meaning and management of biogenetic paternity in the creation of their family relationships. Despite the extent to which participants underplayed the importance of paternal biological connections in creating or defining the meaning of family, biogenetic paternity remains an important kinship resource that must be carefully managed – emotionally and socially – in creating and maintaining couple, parent–child and extended family relationships. First, there was a keen emotional significance attributed to the biogenetic connection for some men in the context of their own family history and lineage. Second, the careful management of information and sharing or alternating sperm provision constituted an attempt by couples to thwart speculation among friends, family members and acquaintances about the identity of the biogenetic father. Third, despite some interest in sharing sperm provision in the interests of symbolically establishing shared parenthood, explicit knowledge of biogenetic paternity through DNA paternity testing was regarded as an important kinship and identity resource for children as they grow up. The paper concludes that when gay male couples form families through commercial or altruistic surrogacy, a range of symbols and metaphors conventional to heteronormative nuclear family formation are in play in this ostensibly unconventional context.
Assessing the Capacity of Pension Institutions to Build and Sustain Trust: A Multidimensional Conceptual Framework

As policy makers have sought to reconfigure the public–private boundaries of their pension systems, trust has become an increasingly salient issue. At stake is the attainment of desired policy outcomes regarding retirement. By what criteria, then, should the capacity of pension institutions to build and sustain trust be assessed? This article emphasises the strategic importance of institutional design in the trust process. Building on Sztompka's seminal analysis of the institutional foundations of trust, and a substantial review of the literature and survey evidence regarding public confidence in pensions, we identify, justify and give indicative operational content to six trust benchmarks. This provides a conceptual foundation for future empirical research on the capacity of pension institutions to build and sustain trust.
Spatial Relationship between Transcription Sites and Chromosome Territories

We have investigated the spatial relationship between transcription sites and chromosome territories in the interphase nucleus of human female fibroblasts. Immunolabeling of nascent RNA was combined with visualization of chromosome territories by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). Transcription sites were found scattered throughout the territory of one of the two X chromosomes, most likely the active X chromosome, and that of both territories of chromosome 19. The other X chromosome territory, probably the inactive X chromosome, was devoid of transcription sites. A distinct substructure was observed in interphase chromosome territories. Intensely labeled subchromosomal domains are surrounded by less strongly labeled areas. The intensely labeled domains had a diameter in the range of 300–450 nm and were sometimes interconnected, forming thread-like structures. Similar large scale chromatin structures were observed in HeLa cells expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged histone H2B. Strikingly, nascent RNA was almost exclusively found in the interchromatin areas in chromosome territories and in between strongly GFP-labeled chromatin domains. These observations support a model in which transcriptionally active chromatin in chromosome territories is markedly compartmentalized. Active loci are located predominantly at or near the surface of compact chromatin domains, depositing newly synthesized RNA directly into the interchromatin space.