Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ezrin Interacts with the SARS Coronavirus Spike Protein and Restrains Infection at the Entry Stage

Background Entry of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and its envelope fusion with host cell membrane are controlled by a series of complex molecular mechanisms, largely dependent on the viral envelope glycoprotein Spike (S). There are still many unknowns on the implication of cellular factors that regulate the entry process. Methodology/Principal Findings We performed a yeast two-hybrid screen using as bait the carboxy-terminal endodomain of S, which faces the cytosol during and after opening of the fusion pore at early stages of the virus life cycle. Here we show that the ezrin membrane-actin linker interacts with S endodomain through the F1 lobe of its FERM domain and that both the eight carboxy-terminal amino-acids and a membrane-proximal cysteine cluster of S endodomain are important for this interaction in vitro. Interestingly, we found that ezrin is present at the site of entry of S-pseudotyped lentiviral particles in Vero E6 cells. Targeting ezrin function by small interfering RNA increased S-mediated entry of pseudotyped particles in epithelial cells. Furthermore, deletion of the eight carboxy-terminal amino acids of S enhanced S-pseudotyped particles infection. Expression of the ezrin dominant negative FERM domain enhanced cell susceptibility to infection by SARS-CoV and S-pseudotyped particles and potentiated S-dependent membrane fusion. Conclusions/Significance Ezrin interacts with SARS-CoV S endodomain and limits virus entry and fusion. Our data present a novel mechanism involving a cellular factor in the regulation of S-dependent early events of infection.
Pregnancy Intentions and Folic Acid Supplementation Exemplars: Findings from the Central Pennsylvania Women's Health Study

One Healthy People 2010 objective is that 80% of women in the United States start a pregnancy with optimal levels of folic acid. This often requires women to use folic acid supplements preconceptionally to get adequate levels. Efforts to achieve the objective have resulted in a suboptimal floor effect at less than 50% of women. We advance a framework based on exemplification theory, identifying supplementation as an additive action in which two role models exemplify folic acid supplementation among women of reproductive age able to become pregnant (n = 1,258). The women were participants in Phase I of the Central Pennsylvania Women's Health Study (CePAWHS). One exemplar identified represents the positive habits aligned with supplementers considering a pregnancy sometime in their future, while the other resides in the exemplification of positive habits aligned with supplementers not considering a pregnancy sometime in their future but still able to become pregnant. Among women not considering a future pregnancy, daily green salad consumption, weekly fish consumption, having had a health care visit in the past year, and having had any ob/gyn visit in the past 2 years resulted in increased odds of folic acid supplement use in a multivariable model. In the same model, an increase in age resulted in increased odds of folic acid supplement use. Among women considering a future pregnancy, not smoking cigarettes, having higher levels of psychosocial stress, and having higher levels of interaction social support resulted in increased odds of folic acid supplement use in a multivariable model. In the same model, those who have had a health care visit in the past year, as well as those who have received pregnancy planning counseling, were also more likely to use a folic acid supplement. Implications for strategic communication are considered.
The Valuation of Long-Term Exchange Options in the German Electricity Market

This paper analyzes the valuation of monthly Physical Transmission Rights (PTRs) on the German-Dutch interconnector. From a financial perspective, PTRs are exchange options written on the German and Dutch day-ahead electricity price. We extend the famous exchange option model by Margrabe (1978) and include jumps in the underlying prices. We develop a quasi closed-form solution for our exchange option model and compare its pricing performance to the basic model without jumps for all monthly PTRs between 2001 and 2008. Our results show that the inclusion of jumps significantly reduces the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) between model and market prices. We further show that the inclusion of de-spiked prices into both models also improves their pricing performance. Overall, the empirical results show that monthly PTR options are clearly undervalued compared to model prices and even strictly cheaper than the corresponding futures contracts.
The paradox of China's international stock market co‐movement: Evidence from volatility spillover effects between China and G5 stock markets

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the daily and overnight volatility spillover effects in common stock prices between China and G5 countries and explain their implications on the basis of empirical results. Design/methodology/approach - The analysis utilizes the exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model, the cross-correlation function approach, and realized volatility for daily and intraday stock price data that cover the period from January 5, 2004 to December 31, 2007. Findings - Principally, the paper concludes the following: strong evidence of short-run one-way volatility spillover effects from China to the US, UK, German and French stock markets is observed and the test results indicate that Chinese investors were not rational and China's stock market entered a speculative bubble period after the second half of 2006. Originality/value - Contrary to widespread belief, the empirical results suggest that a small (China) stock market has significant influence on a large (G5) stock market but not vice versa. This paradox is interpreted as a particular phenomenon existing together with the rapid economic development and severe capital regulation in China.
Renda e despesa familiar no Brasil segundo a Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF) 2002-2003

The aim of this article was to make a desegregated analyze of socioeconomic profile of the families from Household Budget Survey (POF) in 2002-2003. Secondly, using the logit model, investigated the probability of consumption by two distinct families, one with elderly and another without elder people. The results have showed strong inequalities in the cost of life not only among the richest and poorest regions but also among different income classes. By the econometric analyze, the consumption behaviors are differently significant between two family typologies controlling socioeconomic and demographical characteristics, mainly, the expenditures to health services, medicine and transportation. Thus, it is believed that the current research can provide subsidies not only to entrepreneurs set up their marketing strategies, production systems, but also to governments direct their social policies considering the main characteristic of cost of life from each region in Brazil and from each family typologies.
Effects of Duration of Immersion in a Virtual Reality Environment on Postural Stability

Few studies have been carried out to examine the relation between postural stability and subjective reports or feelings of motion sickness. Two views seem to exist on the relation between immersion in a virtual reality (VR) environment and subjective feelings of motion sickness. One predicts that the immersion induces both postural instability and motion sickness. Another view is that preimmersion postural instability predisposes people to motion sickness. However, these views are not supported by empirical research. Longer immersions in a VR environment may induce higher levels of postural instability and symptoms of motion sickness. In this study, effects of long-hours immersion in a VR environment on postural stability were examined to approach the underlying mechanism of postural instability and motion sickness using force platform measurement and self-reported questionnaire on motion sickness. As a result, it was suggested that longer immersion in a VR environment induced postural instability and symptoms of motion sickness.
Evidence for a common mechanism for spontaneous rhythmic contraction and myogenic contraction induced by quick stretch in detrusor smooth muscle

Detrusor smooth muscle exhibits myogenic contraction in response to a quick stretch (QS) as well as spontaneous rhythmic contraction (SRC); however, whether the same population of actomyosin crossbridges with a common regulatory mechanism is responsible for these two types of contraction has not been determined. Detrusor strips from New Zealand white rabbit bladders were allowed to develop SRC at a reference muscle length (Lref), or rhythmic contraction (RC) was induced with tetraethylammonium (TEA). Multiple 10‐msec stretches of 15% Lref were then imposed at Lref randomly during the rhythm cycle, and the nadir‐to‐peak (NTP) tension amplitude of the resulting myogenic contraction was measured. The amplitude and period of the rhythm cycle were measured prior to each QS. NTP was larger when a QS was imposed during a portion the cycle when tension was smaller (n = 3 each SRC and TEA‐induced RC). These data suggest that when the rhythmic mechanism was mostly inactive and tension was near a minimum, a larger portion of a shared population of crossbridges was available to produce a myogenic response to a QS. Rho kinase, cyclooxygenase‐1, and cyclooxygenase‐2 inhibitors (H‐1152, SC‐560, and NS‐398) affected SRC amplitude and NTP amplitude following a QS to the same degree (n = 3 each drug), providing additional evidence to support the hypothesis that a common mechanism is responsible for SRC and myogenic contraction due to QS. If a common mechanism exists, then QS is a potential mechanical probe to study SRC regulation and its alteration in overactive bladder.
The theory of economic policy: from a theory of control to a theory of conflict (resolutions)

The theory of economic policy has its roots in the contributions of Tinbergen and Theil, who solved the problem of a policymaker aiming to achieve certain values for his policy targets, or to minimize a loss function defined on those targets, by using the available policy instruments. After Lucas raised the issue that the private sector could react to the policymaker’s decisions the theory developed by Tinbergen and Theil lost its appeal and most policy problems have been discussed in terms of policy games, thus introducing the possibility of conflicts among different players. The new theory of economic policies revisits the Tinbergen and Theil approach, by applying some concepts and tools introduced by them in order to develop a theory of conflicts, able to assert conditions under which policy neutrality, game equilibrium existence, and policy uniqueness or multiplicity appear.
M1 Receptors Mediate Cholinergic Modulation of Excitability in Neocortical Pyramidal Neurons

ACh release into the rodent prefrontal cortex is predictive of successful performance of cue detection tasks, yet the cellular mechanisms underlying cholinergic modulation of cortical function are not fully understood. Prolonged (“tonic”) muscarinic ACh receptor (mAChR) activation increases the excitability of cortical pyramidal neurons, whereas transient (“phasic”) mAChR activation generates inhibitory and/or excitatory responses, depending on neuron subtype. These cholinergic effects result from activation of “M1-like” mAChRs (M1, M3, and M5 receptors), but the specific receptor subtypes involved are not known. We recorded from cortical pyramidal neurons from wild-type mice and mice lacking M1, M3, and/or M5 receptors to determine the relative contribution of M1-like mAChRs to cholinergic signaling in the mouse prefrontal cortex. Wild-type neurons in layer 5 were excited by tonic mAChR stimulation, and had biphasic inhibitory followed by excitatory, responses to phasic ACh application. Pyramidal neurons in layer 2/3 were substantially less responsive to tonic and phasic cholinergic input. Cholinergic effects were largely absent in neurons from mice lacking M1 receptors, but most were robust in neurons lacking M3, M5, or both M3 and M5 receptors. The exception was tonic cholinergic suppression of the afterhyperpolarization in layer 5 neurons, which was absent in cells lacking either M1 or M3 receptors. Finally, we confirm a role for M1 receptors in behavior by demonstrating cue detection deficits in M1-lacking mice. Together, our results demonstrate that M1 receptors facilitate cue detection behaviors and are both necessary and sufficient for most direct effects of ACh on pyramidal neuron excitability.
Observation of a Flowing Duct in the Abdominal Wall by Using Nanoparticles

The primo vascular system (PVS) is being established as a circulatory system that corresponds to acupuncture meridians. There have been two critical questions in making the PVS accepted as a novel liquid flowing system. The first one was directly to show the flow of liquid in PVS and the second one was to explain why it was not observed in the conventional histological study of animal tissues. Flow in the PVS in the abdominal cavity was previously verified by injecting Alcian blue into a primo node. However, the tracing of the dye to other subsystems of the PVS has not been done. In the current work we injected fluorescent nanoparticles (FNPs) into a primo node and traced them along a primo vessel which was inside a fat tissue in the abdominal wall. Linea alba is a white middle line in the abdominal skin of a mammal and a band of fat tissue is located in parallel to the linea alba in the parietal side of the abdominal wall of a rat. In this fat band a primo vessel runs parallel to the prominent blood vessels in the fat band and is located just inside the parietal peritoneum. About the second question on the reason why the PVS was not in conventional histological study the current work provided the answer. Histological analysis with hematoxyline and eosine, Masson’s trichrome, and Toluidine blue could not discriminate the primo vessel even when we knew the location of the PVS by the trace of the FNPs. This clearly explains why the PVS is hard to observe in conventional histology: it is not a matter of resolution but the contrast. The PVS has very similar structure to the connective tissues that surround the PVS. In the current work we propose a method to find the PVS: Observation of mast cell distribution with toluidine blue staining and the PN has a high density of mast cells, while the lymph node has low density.
Field Effect Deep Networks for Image Recognition with Incomplete Data

Image recognition with incomplete data is a well-known hard problem in computer vision and machine learning. This article proposes a novel deep learning technique called Field Effect Bilinear Deep Networks (FEBDN) for this problem. To address the difficulties of recognizing incomplete data, we design a novel second-order deep architecture with the Field Effect Restricted Boltzmann Machine, which models the reliability of the delivered information according to the availability of the features. Based on this new architecture, we propose a new three-stage learning procedure with field effect bilinear initialization, field effect abstraction and estimation, and global fine-tuning with missing features adjustment. By integrating the reliability of features into the new learning procedure, the proposed FEBDN can jointly determine the classification boundary and estimate the missing features. FEBDN has demonstrated impressive performance on recognition and estimation tasks in various standard datasets.
Predicting LD on the Basis of Motivation, Metacognition, and Psychopathology

We examined how strongly motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology acted as predictors of learning disabilities (LD). The results from five studies suggested that level of motivation (as shown through self-efficacy, motivational force, task avoidance, goal commitment, or self-concept) was highly accurate in classifying students with or at risk for LD. Metacognition and psychopathology were also strong predictors. Classification accuracy using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves ranged between 77% and 96%. These rates were much higher than the chance-level (i.e., 50%—55%) rates sometimes yielded by cognitive indices. Linear discriminant function (LDF) analysis substantiated classification accuracy. These results suggest that motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology are strong predictors of LD. Understanding the influence of these characteristics may help researchers and practitioners more accurately screen and treat students with LD.
Giant oral lipoma: a rare entity*

Lipomas are very common benign slow-growing soft tissue neoplasms composed of mature adipose tissue mostly diagnosed in the fifth decade of life. These tumors rarely present in the oral cavity, representing less than approximately 5% of all benign mouth tumors. They are usually less than 2cm in size and etiology remains unclear. We report a young male patient presenting with a giant lipoma in the buccal mucosa. Histopathology revealed a large area of mature fat cells consistent with conventional lipoma and an area of the mucosal lining of the lesion suggestive of morsicatio buccarum. In the present article, we emphasize the clinicopathological features and differential diagnosis of the disease.
The modelling of infrared dark cloud cores

This paper presents results from modelling 450 µm and 850 µm continuum and HCO + line observations of three distinct cores of an infrared dark cloud (IRDC) directed toward the W51 GMC. In the sub-mm continuum these cores appear as bright, isolated emission features. One of them coincides with the peak of 8.3 µm extinction as measured by the Midcourse Space Experiment satellite. Detailed radiative transfer c odes are applied to constrain the cores' physical condition s to address the key question: Do these IRDC-cores harbour luminous sources? The results of the continuum model, expressed in the � 2 quality-of-fit parameter, are also constrained by the absen ce of 100 µm emission from IRAS. For the sub-mm emission peaks this shows that sources of∼ 300 L⊙ are embedded within the cores. For the extinction peak, the combination of continuum and HCO + line modelling indicates that a heating source is present as well. Furthermore, the line model provides constraints on the clumpiness of the medium. All three cores have similar masses of about 70− 150 M⊙ and similar density structures. The extinction peak differs from the other two cores by hosting a much weaker heating source, and the sub-mm emission core at the edge of the IRDC deviates from the other cores by a higher internal clumpiness.
Wage Differentials in Italy: Market Forces, Institutions, and Inflation

During the 1970s, Italy experienced an extreme compression of wage differentials, similar to the better-known situation in Sweden. Most evidence suggests that this compression came to a stop around 1982-83, coincident with a major institutional change (in the form of the escalator clause in Italian union contracts), a major economic change (the slowdown in inflation), a major technological change (industrial restructuring and the computer revolution), and a major political change (the loss of support for unions and their egalitarian pay policies). While we cannot definitively distinguish among the relative influences of institutions, market forces, technology and politics on the evolution of earnings inequality in Italy, our analysis of skill level wage differentials and our comparisons at the individual level with the more laissez-faire system of the United States suggest that both inflation and egalitarian wage-setting institutions have importantly influenced Italian wage compression in the regular sector of the economy. Yet, this very compression may well have contributed to the flight away from the regular sector of the economy at both ends of the skill distribution, plausibly leading to a greater overall degree of inequality for the whole economy than is apparent from our analysis of wage differentials in the regular sector.
Market Liberalization at the Firm Level: Spillovers from ADRs and Implications for Local Markets

This paper studies the cross-sectional properties of market liberalizations by decomposing the channels through which financial market liberalization affects firms from segmented markets. Using data on 27emerging markets and 1000 firms, we show that the first ADR issuance in a country produces a positive spillover effect across other firms in the local market, and can thus be interpreted as a market liberalization event. The first ADR leads to a strong revaluation effect, a decrease in expected returns and average volatility; in addition, exposure to international factors increases. Overall, the cross-section of gains across firms is consistent with improved risk sharing after the cross-listing, in that firms whose returns are highly correlated with those of the issuing firm benefit the most. We also examine the dynamics of the integration process. The positive spillover effect is not limited to the first ADR introduction. Each additional cross-listing further integrates the market, although as expected, early cross-listings have stronger impact than later ones. The results also suggest that despite the negative impact on liquidity, the net effect of cross-listings on home market firms is positive, as the improved risk-sharing effect dominates the trade-diversion effect.
Usefulness of magnetic resonance sialography in patients with juvenile Sjögren's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Sialography is an important means for evaluating parotid gland damage in patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS). However, 'conventional' X-ray sialography is invasive and sometimes difficult to perform and repeat, especially for young patients. Recently, magnetic resonance (MR) sialography has been used in adult SS patients. In this study, we investigated the usefulness of MR sialography for evaluating parotid gland damage in juvenile SS. METHODS Eight young patients suffering from SS were studied. MR sialography and X-ray sialography were performed simultaneously in the same patients. The images obtained by both methods were assessed with Rubin-Holt staging. RESULTS MR sialography detected ductal dilatation in 5 of 8 patients, while it was detected in 7 of 8 patients by X-ray sialography. The stages were the same in 4 patients by both methods. In 3 patients, the stages on X-ray sialography were higher than those on MR sialography; in 1 patient, the stage on MR sialography was higher. The correlation between the stages determined by the 2 methods was 0.85. There were no side effects in MR sialography, whereas 3 patients complained of pain during X-ray sialography. CONCLUSION MR sialography can evaluate Stage II approximately III parotid gland damage in juvenile SS. Although MR sialography cannot detect subtle changes in the duct, it has no side effects and can be performed repeatedly in young patients. We propose that MR sialography be chosen as the first tool for diagnosing and during follow-up of the status of the glands in juvenile SS.