Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Different Modes of Transactivation of Bacteriophage Mu Late Promoters by Transcription Factor C

Transactivator protein C is required for the expression of bacteriophage Mu late genes from lys, I, P and mom promoters during lytic life cycle of the phage. The mechanism of transcription activation of mom gene by C protein is well understood. C activates transcription at Pmom by initial unwinding of the promoter DNA, thereby facilitating RNA polymerase (RNAP) recruitment. Subsequently, C interacts with the ß' subunit of RNAP to enhance promoter clearance. The mechanism by which C activates other late genes of the phage is not known. We carried out promoter-polymerase interaction studies with all the late gene promoters to determine the individual step of C mediated activation. Unlike at Pmom, at the other three promoters, RNAP recruitment and closed complex formation are not C dependent. Instead, the action of C at Plys, PI, and PP is during the isomerization from closed complex to open complex with no apparent effect at other steps of initiation pathway. The mechanism of transcription activation of mom and other late promoters by their common activator is different. This distinction in the mode of activation (promoter recruitment and escape versus isomerization) by the same activator at different promoters appears to be important for optimized expression of each of the late genes.
Bridging Developmental Boundaries: Lifelong Dietary Patterns Modulate Life Histories in a Parthenogenetic Insect

Determining the effects of lifelong intake patterns on performance is challenging for many species, primarily because of methodological constraints. Here, we used a parthenogenetic insect (Carausius morosus) to determine the effects of limited and unlimited food availability across multiple life-history stages. Using a parthenogen allowed us to quantify intake by juvenile and adult females and to evaluate the morphological, physiological, and life-history responses to intake, all without the confounding influences of pair-housing, mating, and male behavior. In our study, growth rate prior to reproductive maturity was positively correlated with both adult and reproductive lifespans but negatively correlated with total lifespan. Food limitation had opposing effects on lifespan depending on when it was imposed, as it protracted development in juveniles but hastened death in adults. Food limitation also constrained reproduction regardless of when food was limited, although decreased fecundity was especially pronounced in individuals that were food-limited as late juveniles and adults. Additional carry-over effects of juvenile food limitation included smaller adult size and decreased body condition at the adult molt, but these effects were largely mitigated in insects that were switched to ad libitum feeding as late juveniles. Our data provide little support for the existence of a trade-off between longevity and fecundity, perhaps because these functions were fueled by different nutrient pools. However, insects that experienced a switch to the limited diet at reproductive maturity seem to have fueled egg production by drawing down body stores, thus providing some evidence for a life-history trade-off. Our results provide important insights into the effects of food limitation and indicate that performance is modulated by intake both within and across life-history stages.
A Better Reduction Theorem for Store Buffers

When verifying a concurrent program, it is usual to assume that memory is sequentially consistent. However, most modern multiprocessors depend on store buffering for efficiency, and provide native sequential consistency only at a substantial performance penalty. To regain sequential consistency, a programmer has to follow an appropriate programming discipline. However, na\"ive disciplines, such as protecting all shared accesses with locks, are not flexible enough for building high-performance multiprocessor software. We present a new discipline for concurrent programming under TSO (total store order, with store buffer forwarding). It does not depend on concurrency primitives, such as locks. Instead, threads use ghost operations to acquire and release ownership of memory addresses. A thread can write to an address only if no other thread owns it, and can read from an address only if it owns it or it is shared and the thread has flushed its store buffer since it last wrote to an address it did not own. This discipline covers both coarse-grained concurrency (where data is protected by locks) as well as fine-grained concurrency (where atomic operations race to memory). We formalize this discipline in Isabelle/HOL, and prove that if every execution of a program in a system without store buffers follows the discipline, then every execution of the program with store buffers is sequentially consistent. Thus, we can show sequential consistency under TSO by ordinary assertional reasoning about the program, without having to consider store buffers at all.
Endosomes: A legitimate platform for the signaling train

Although long regarded as a conduit for the degradation or recycling of cell surface receptors, the endosomal system is also an essential site of signal transduction. Activated receptors accumulate in endosomes, and certain signaling components are exclusively localized to endosomes. Receptors can continue to transmit signals from endosomes that are different from those that arise from the plasma membrane, resulting in distinct physiological responses. Endosomal signaling is widespread in metazoans and plants, where it transmits signals for diverse receptor families that regulate essential processes including growth, differentiation and survival. Receptor signaling at endosomal membranes is tightly regulated by mechanisms that control agonist availability, receptor coupling to signaling machinery, and the subcellular localization of signaling components. Drugs that target mechanisms that initiate and terminate receptor signaling at the plasma membrane are widespread and effective treatments for disease. Selective disruption of receptor signaling in endosomes, which can be accomplished by targeting endosomal-specific signaling pathways or by selective delivery of drugs to the endosomal network, may provide novel therapies for disease.
Shp2 Plays an Important Role in Acute Cigarette Smoke-Mediated Lung Inflammation

Cigarette smoke (CS), the major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, contains a variety of oxidative components that were implicated in the regulation of Src homology domain 2-containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 2 (Shp2) activity. However, the contribution of Shp2 enzyme to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease pathogenesis remains unclear. We investigated the role of Shp2 enzyme in blockading CS-induced pulmonary inflammation. Shp2 levels were assessed in vivo and in vitro. Mice (C57BL/6) or pulmonary epithelial cells (NCI-H292) were exposed to CS or cigarette smoke extract (CSE) to induce acute injury and inflammation. Lungs of smoking mice showed increased levels of Shp2, compared with those of controls. Treatment of lung epithelial cells with CSE showed elevated levels of Shp2 associated with the increased release of IL-8. Selective inhibition or knockdown of Shp2 resulted in decreased IL-8 release in response to CSE treatment in pulmonary epithelial cells. In comparison with CS-exposed wild-type mice, selective inhibition or conditional knockout of Shp2 in lung epithelia reduced IL-8 release and pulmonary inflammation in CS-exposed mice. In vitro biochemical data correlate CSE-mediated IL-8 release with Shp2-regulated epidermal growth factor receptor/Grb-2–associated binders/MAPK signaling. Our data suggest an important role for Shp2 in the pathological alteration associated with CS-mediated inflammation. Shp2 may be a potential target for therapeutic intervention for inflammation in CS-induced pulmonary diseases.
Migration, development and remittances in rural Mexico.

The argument is that remittances to Mexico from migrants in the US contribute to household prosperity and lessen the balance of payments problem. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the incentives and constraints to development and individual economic well-being in rural Mexico. Examination is made of the financial amount of remittances, the use of remittances, the impact on development of remittances, models of migration, and migration historically. The viewpoint is that migration satisfies labor needs in developed countries to the detriment of underdeveloped countries. $2 billion a year are sent by illegal migrants from the US to Mexico. This sum is 4 times the net earning of Mexico's tourist trade. 21.1% of the Mexican population depend in part on money sent from the US. 79% of illegal migrants remitted money to relatives in Jalisco state. 70% of migrant families receive $170/month. In Guadalupe, 73% of families depended on migrant income. In Villa Guerrero, 50% of households depended on migrant income. Migrant income supported 1 out of 5 households in Mexico. Money is usually spent of household subsistence items. Sometimes money is also spent on community religious festivals, marriage ceremonies, and education of children or improved living conditions. Examples are given of money being used for investment in land and livestock. Migration affects community solidarity, and comparative ethic, and the influence on others to migrate. Employment opportunities are not expanded and cottage and community industries are threatened. Land purchases did not result in land improvements. Migration models are deficient. There is a macro/micro dichotomy. The push-and-pull system is not controllable by individual migrants. The migration remittance model is a product of unequal development and a mechanism feeding migration. Mexican migration has occurred since the 1880's; seasonal migration was encouraged. There was coercion to return to Mexico after the economic recession of World War I; the door was firmly closely during the Great Depression of 1929-35. The 1980 estimates of illegal Mexican migrants totaled 2-9 million, which is the largest flow in the world. US industrial presence and Mexican development have reinforced migration flows. Regional and international capitalist requirements govern migration.
Association between the Hemoglobin Level and Cardiothoracic Ratio in Patients on Incident Dialysis

Background/Aim: The present study explores associations between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and patients with cardiac enlargement in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) to help prevent cardiac remodeling during the predialysis phase of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: This cross-sectional study included 2,249 patients with ESKD (age, 67 w 13 years; male, 67%; diabetic kidney disease, 41%) who started hemodialysis (HD) between January 2006 and October 2013 at eight participating hospitals. We examined associations between Hb levels immediately before the first HD session and cardiothoracic ratios (CTRs). Clinical factors associated with the CTR were also assessed. Results: The mean Hb level was 8.7 w 1.6 g/dl, and the mean and median CTRs were 55.0 and 54.7%, respectively. The correlation between the Hb level and the CTR was linear and negative (r = -0.129, p < 0.001). The mean CTR and the prevalence of patients with a CTR >50% obviously decreased with increasing Hb levels (both p < 0.001 for trend). Univariate logistic regression analysis revealed an approximately 20% reduction in the odds ratio for complicating CTRs >50% per 1 g/dl increase in Hb. Hb levels of <9 g/dl were significantly associated with CTRs >50%. Numerical and categorical Hb remained significantly associated with CTRs >50% after adjusting for confounding variables. Conclusions: Lower Hb levels participate in progressive CTR enlargement in patients with ESKD, and maintaining Hb levels of >9 g/dl might help prevent cardiac remodeling during the predialysis phase of CKD. i 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel
The National Adult Reading Test: restandardisation against the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Fourth edition

ABSTRACT Since publication in 1982, the 50-item National Adult Reading Test (NART; Nelson, 1982; NART–R; Nelson & Willison, 1991) has remained a widely adopted method for estimating premorbid intelligence both for clinical and research purposes. However, the NART has not been standardised against the most recent revisions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III; Wechsler, 1997, and WAIS-IV; Wechsler, 2008). Our objective, therefore, was to produce reliable standardised estimates of WAIS-IV IQ from the NART. Ninety-two neurologically healthy British adults were assessed and regression equations calculated to produce population estimates of WAIS-IV full-scale IQ (FSIQ) and constituent index scores. Results showed strong NART/WAIS-IV FSIQ correlations with more moderate correlations observed between NART error and constituent index scores. FSIQ estimates were closely similar to the published WAIS and WAIS-R estimates at the high end of the distribution, but at the lower end were approximately equidistant from the highly discrepant WAIS (low) and WAIS-R (high) values. We conclude that the NART is likely to remain an important tool for estimating the impact of neurological damage on general cognitive ability. We advise caution in the use of older published WAIS and/or WAIS-R estimates for estimating premorbid WAIS-IV FSIQ, particularly for those with low NART scores.
A novel approach for communication among Blind, Deaf and Dumb people

Science and Technology have made Human life addictive to comfort but still there exists an underprivileged group of people who are fighting for finding an innovative way that can make the process of communication easier for them. According to the World Health Organization, about 285 million people in the world are blind, 300 million are deaf and 1 million are dumb. In this project, we are going to propose a new system-prototype called the SHAROJAN BRIDGE in an effort to bridge the gap in the process of communication between the Blind, Deaf and Dumb people. The SHAROJAN BRIDGE will make use of the Wearable Technology, Texas Instrumentation Circuitry and Arduino Circuit Boards to provide a means of communication to differently-abled people having one or all of the above mention disabilities. It is assumed that a person who is deaf is also dumb but vice versa is not true.
FEN BİLGİSİ ÖĞRETMEN ADAYLARININ BİLİMİN DOĞASI KONUSUNDAKİ GÖRÜŞLERİNİN TESPİT EDİLMESİ INVESTIGATING THE VIEWS OF THE PRE-SERVICE SCIENCE TEACHERS ABOUT THE NATURE OF SCIENCE

The aim of this study is to investigate the views of pre-service science teachers about the Nature of Science (NOS). The sample consisted of total of 172 first year students enrolled in the Science Teacher Training Department. In order to assess the views of pre-service teachers on NOS, a questionnaire was used. The questionnaire was developed by Bell et al. (2000) and consisted of five open-ended questions. Content-analysis was applied in analyzing the data. Results of this study revealed that the majority of pre-service science teachers have contemporary views on some aspects of NOS, but have common misconceptions related to theory and law.
Compliance With Universal Precautions In A Medical Practice With A High Rate Of HIV Infection

Background: Universal precautions have been recommended to limit occupational exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other infectious agents, but whether these recommendations have been incorporated into routine practice has not been demonstrated. Methods: Using a one-group, before-after design, we assessed the knowledge and attitudes concerning universal precautions and the level of compliance with these recommendations. The health care professionals had various levels of training and worked in an ambulatory practice with a high rate of HIV. A total of 195 procedures involving potential exposure to various body fluids were observed. Results: No improvement in compliance with recommended precautions was observed following a didactic educational program for either latex glove use (44 percent versus 49 percent, χ2 < 1, P > 0.2) or appropriate use of hand washing (34 percent versus 47 percent, χ2 = 3.38, P = 0.07). Faculty demonstrated the lowest levels of adherence to universal precautions. While knowledge of precautions was high, staff members at all levels overestimated their own compliance with these recommendations. Conclusions: Although the number of observations limits the conclusions, the results suggest that the basic protective measures included in universal precautions are not being routinely applied in ambulatory medical practice. Furthermore, didactic educational programs might not be sufficient to improve compliance. Finally, faculty in training programs should monitor their own compliance with universal precautions because of their responsibilities as role models for physicians in training.
Pitfalls in constraining attenuation from ambient seismic noise

We numerically investigate the ability of ambient noise surface wave interferometry to invert for anelastic attenuation. Shorter correlation time windows leads to higher signal-to-noise ratio of empirical Green’s functions (EGF’s). We show, however, that it is necessary to correct for the window length and that this is especially important if short time windows are employed. Furthermore, we show how source distribution varying with azimuth can severely affect the estimation of attenuation from ambient-noise surface waves.
Effects of Midgut-Protein-Preparative and Ligand Binding Procedures on the Toxin Binding Characteristics of BT-R1, a Common High-Affinity Receptor in Manduca sexta for Cry1A Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins

ABSTRACT The identity of the physiologically important Cry1A receptor protein(s) in the lepidopteran Manduca sexta has been a matter of dispute due to the multiple proteins which bind the Cry1Ac toxin. Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1Ac exhibit essentially identical toxicities toward M. sexta larvae and show a high degree of sequence and presumed structural identities. These similarities make it likely that there is a common mechanism of toxicity in these lepidopteran-specific toxins in terms of both mode of action and the receptor proteins through which these toxins exert their lepidopteran-specific toxicity. Investigators in our laboratory previously demonstrated that the cloned 210-kDa glycoprotein BT-R1 binds all three Cry1A toxins (T. P. Keeton and L. A. Bulla, Jr., Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63:3419–3425, 1997). This protein remains a common binding protein even after being subjected to various midgut membrane preparation and processing protocols. The method used to isolate proteins from the M. sexta larval midgut in no significant way affects the results of ligand binding and vacuum blotting experiments, and we have been unable to detect specific, high-affinity binding of any Cry1A toxin to Cry1Ac binding proteins other than BT-R1. Alterations in blot substrate and blocking, hybridization, and washing buffers support these conclusions. Collectively, these results indicate that inM. sexta the cadherin-like BT-R1 protein is a common high-affinity receptor protein for the Cry1A family of toxins.
Using a supportive second interviewer to elicit cues to deceit

Two interviewers are often used by police and intelligence agencies, yet very little is known about the benefits of this approach or the best way to employ it. This thesis tested a two interviewer protocol to determine how the second interviewer should behave in order to elicit cues to deceit. Over four experiments, a second interviewer was employed (in various ways) in mock forensic interviews before examining the amount of detail and/or repetition in interviewees’ responses. The results offered four key findings: First, that a supportive second interviewer can elicit cues to deceit, notably by encouraging truth tellers to say more. Second, the impact of a second interviewer can be influenced by other factors, such as unexpected questions and the behaviour of both interviewers. Third, the results supported previous research by highlighting that consistency between two accounts is an unreliable cue to deceit. Finally, this thesis also suggests that deliberately mimicking interviewees may encourage truth tellers to provide more detailed and accurate responses. One explanation for the observed findings is that a supportive second interviewer provides a source of positive feedback, reinforcing and encouraging interviewees’ default response strategy. The results enabled a recommendation that forensic interviewers adopt a supportive demeanour. More research is needed before a supportive second interviewer should be introduced in real life interviews. Future research should seek to replicate the findings presented here and test a speaking second interviewer. While it was not clear that a supportive second interviewer generated rapport, overall, this thesis provides support for a rapport based approach to investigative interviewing.
Comparaison des outils optique et radar en polarimétrie bistatique

L'information polarimetrique des ondes electromagnetiques est fondamentalement semblable pour les micros ondes (radar), l'infrarouge et le visible (optique). Cependant, les echelles et les moyens de mesures impliques varient tres fortement ce qui explique que les divers outils developpes (etalonnage, configuration geometrique, filtrage du bruit) divergent entre les differentes communautes. Different notamment : la geometrie d'acquisition, classiquement bistatique en optique et majoritairement monostatique en radar, la nature de la mesure, coherente pour le radar (intensite et phase) et en energie pour l'optique ; les traitements. Cette these exploite l'utilisation transverse des outils appartenant a ces deux mondes afin d'ameliorer notre comprehension globale de la polarimetrie et son exploitation. Nous avons d'abord adapte une methode de calibration inspiree de l'optique au cas du radar bistatique. Ensuite nous avons analyse l'impact des geometries bistatiques et des choix de reference, pour proposer le choix du plan de diffusion dans l'analyse des images radar. Puis nous nous sommes penches sur l'estimation de la matrice de covariance polarimetrique dans le cadre du radar. Ceci a permis de proposer une methode originale de segmentation des images SAR ainsi que de nouveaux types de detecteurs. Enfin, nous presentons les differents "traitements polarimetriques" a proprement parler, et diverses applications auxquelles ces traitements peuvent servir : caracterisation de milieux depolarisants en optique (tissus) ou radar (foret), aide a la restitution 3D.