Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heme biosynthesis in Friend erythroleukemia cells: control by ferrochelatase.

The activities of the enzymes of heme biosynthesis (except protoporphyrin oxidase) have been followed during the induction of Friend cells in culture. All the enzyme activities increased after induction with dimethyl sulfoxide. The activities of the intermediate enzymes were much higher than those of delta-aminolevulinate synthase [succinyl-CoA:glycine C-succinyltransferase (decarboxylating), EC 2.3. 1.37], the initial enzyme, or ferrochelatase (protoheme ferro-lyase, EC 4.99.1.1), the final enzyme of the pathway. Ferrochelatase activity was not detectable in the uninduced cell. delta-Aminolevulinate synthase activity increased during the first 24 hr of induction; porphobilinogen deaminase activity began to increase after 48 hr and ferrochelatase activity, after 72 hr. However, the induction of heme synthesis followed the same time course as that of ferrochelatase activity, not that of delta-aminolevulinate synthase activity. The cellular growth medium was found to contain traces of protoporphyrins. Thus, ferrochelatase is shown to be rate limiting for heme synthesis during early stages of Friend cell induction. A Friend cell variant (Fw), which is not inducible except in the presence of exogenous hemin, was also studied. All the enzymes of heme synthesis except ferrochelatase were inducible by butyric acid. Ferrochelatase was not inducible by butyric acid or hemin plus butyric acid. These cells also excrete protoporphyrin, The failure to induce ferrochelatase activity is believed to be the cause of, not a consequence of, the noninducibility of this cell line.
A New Approach to Pricing Double-Barrier Options with Arbitrary Payoffs and Exponential Boundaries

Abstract We consider in this article the arbitrage free pricing of double knock-out barrier options with payoffs that are arbitrary functions of the underlying asset, where we allow exponentially time-varying barrier levels in an otherwise standard Black–Scholes model. Our approach, reminiscent of the method of images of electromagnetics, considerably simplifies the derivation of analytical formulae for this class of exotics by reducing the pricing of any double-barrier problem to that of pricing a related European option. We illustrate the method by reproducing the well-known formulae of Kunitomo and Ikeda (1992) for the standard knock-out double-barrier call and put options. We give an explanation for the rapid rate of convergence of the doubly infinite sums for affine payoffs in the stock price, as encountered in the pricing of double-barrier call and put options first observed by Kunitomo and Ikeda (1992).
Anticandidal activity of bioinspired ZnO NPs: effect on growth, cell morphology and key virulence attributes of Candida species

Abstract The pathogenicity of Candida species in human is dependent on a variety of virulence factor such as adhesion factors, germ tube and hyphal formation, secretion of hydrolytic phospholipases and proteinases and drug resistance biofilm. ZnO NPs have been synthesized by using leaf extract of Crinum latifolium and were characterized by UV–Vis spectrophotometer, FTIR, SEM, EDX and TEM. In this study for the first time, potent inhibitory effects of ZnO NPs on principal virulence factors of Candida albicans and non-albicans such as germ tube formation, secretion of hydrolytic phospholipases and proteinases and biofilm formation has been investigated. ZnO NPs remarkably reduced the germ tube formation of C. albicans at 1 (86.4%), 0.5 (75.0%), 0.25 (61.4%), 0.125 (34.1%) and 0.062 mg/ml (11.4%). ZnO NPs significantly lowered the phospholipase and proteinase secretion by 58.8 and 95.2% at 0.25 mg/ml, respectively. CSLM results showed that ZnO NPs suppressed biofilm formation up to 85% at 0.25 mg/ml. SEM and TEM micrograph showed that ZnO NPs penetrated inside the cell and causes extensive damaged in cell wall and cell membrane. Inhibition of Candida growth and various virulent factors by ZnO NPs provides an insight towards their therapeutic application for the treatment of Candida-associated infections.
Do managers perform better under EVA bonus schemes?

Economic Value Added (EVA) is a performance measure that is being used by an increasing number of companies, but academic research on EVA is limited. In addition, all prior empirical academic studies on EVA have used the firm as the unit of analysis. In this study, we examine the effect of EVA on the performance of individual managers. Specifically, we examine whether managers on EVA-based bonus plans outperform managers on traditional accounting-based bonus plans. We are able to test this because we have access to an EVA-focused company that has managers on both EVA and traditional bonus plans. Our results suggest that managers on EVA bonus plans who understand the EVA concept perform better than managers on traditional bonus plans. However, we find some evidence that the increase in performance results from increased consistency or congruence in the manager's evaluation–reward process rather than from superiority of EVA as a performance measure. Also, we find that the effect of EVA bonuses and EVA understanding differs depending on the area of the firm in which the manager is employed. This suggests that EVA may not be a universally appropriate base for reward systems. *Mohan Lal passed away 24 July 2002. This paper is dedicated to him.
The Moral Foundations of Trust

The Moral Foundations of Trust seeks to explain why people place their faith in strangers, and why doing so matters. Trust is a moral value that does not depend upon personal experience or on interacting with people in civic groups or informal socializing. Instead, we learn to trust from our parents, and trust is stable over long periods of time. Trust depends on an optimistic world view: the world is a good place and we can make it better. Trusting people are more likely to give through charity and volunteering. Trusting societies are more likely to redistribute resources from the rich to the poor. Trust has been in decline in the United States for over 30 years. The roots of this decline are traceable to declining optimism and increasing economic inequality, which Uslaner supports by aggregate time series in the United States and cross-sectional data across market economies.
Anti-myeloperoxidase antibodies attenuate the monocyte response to LPS and shape macrophage development

Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) vasculitis is characterized by the presence of autoantibodies to myeloperoxidase and proteinase-3, which bind monocytes in addition to neutrophils. While a pathological effect on neutrophils is acknowledged, the impact of ANCA on monocyte function is less well understood. Using IgG from patients we investigated the effect of these autoantibodies on monocytes and found that anti-myeloperoxidase antibodies (MPO-ANCA) reduced both IL-10 and IL-6 secretion in response to LPS. This reduction in IL-10 and IL-6 depended on Fc receptors and enzymatic myeloperoxidase and was accompanied by a significant reduction in TLR-driven signaling pathways. Aligning with changes in TLR signals, oxidized phospholipids, which function as TLR4 antagonists, were increased in monocytes in the presence of MPO-ANCA. We further observed that MPO-ANCA increased monocyte survival and differentiation to macrophages by stimulating CSF-1 production. However, this was independent of myeloperoxidase enzymatic activity and TLR signaling. Macrophages differentiated in the presence of MPO-ANCA secreted more TGF-β and further promoted the development of IL-10– and TGF-β–secreting CD4+ T cells. Thus, MPO-ANCA may promote inflammation by reducing the secretion of antiinflammatory IL-10 from monocytes, and MPO-ANCA can alter the development of macrophages and T cells to potentially promote fibrosis.
Workers' Compensation and Outcomes of Upper Extremity Surgery

&NA; Clinical outcomes following upper extremity surgery among workers' compensation patients have traditionally been found to be worse than those of non‐workers' compensation patients. In addition, workers' compensation patients take significantly longer to return to their jobs, and they return to their preinjury levels of employment at a lower overall rate. These unfavorable prognoses may stem from the strenuous physical demands placed on the upper extremity in this group of patients. Further, there is a potential financial benefit within this patient population to report severe functional disability following surgery. Orthopaedic upper extremity surgeons who treat workers' compensation patients should be aware of the potentially prolonged period before return to work after surgical intervention and should counsel this group of patients accordingly. Vocational training should be considered if a patient's clinical progress begins to plateau.
Coping with Peripheralization: Governance Response in Two German Small Cities

Abstract Urban governance processes and strategies in small cities in times of an integrated global economy have received little attention in urban research. However, in Germany as elsewhere they form the backbone of the urban system. On the basis of research in two small German cities—Pirmasens and Völklingen—this paper discusses local governance approaches in reaction to peripheralization. Peripheralization here is defined as a process of out-migration, dis-connection, dependency and stigmatization. The two case studies show quite different patterns of political governance. Pirmasens demonstrates a collective local project on how to deal with structural change, while Völklingen shows a more fragmented approach to overcoming peripheralization. These different political reactions are analysed and related to aspects of specific local settings. It is to be hoped that in future cohesion policy at the European level, but also on the respective national levels, more active policies will be targeted towards nurturing place-based opportunities for small cities.
Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM‐1) and cytokine gene variants in complicated and uncomplicated malaria

Malaria elicits inflammatory responses, which, if not well regulated, may exert detrimental effects. When activated, triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 (TREM‐1) enhances inflammatory responses by increasing secretion of IL‐8 and other Th1 cytokines. In contrast, TREM‐like transcript 1 (TREML‐1) promotes anti‐inflammatory responses by binding to TREM‐1 ligands and competing with TREM‐1, thus antagonizing TREM‐1 activation to reduce inflammation. Endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) also mediates anti‐inflammatory responses by activating endothelial protein C (PC). Upon microbial stimulation, soluble forms of TREM‐1 (sTREM‐1) and soluble EPCR (sEPCR) are released. Their plasma levels reflect the degree of inflammation and the severity of infection.
Dendritic and synaptic plasticity of neurons in the human age-related macular degeneration retina.

PURPOSE To determine whether structural plasticity is evident in human retinal tissues in response to age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Remodeling events such as sprouting of neuronal processes and the reconnection of synapses are essential elements in repairing any damage to adult nervous tissues such as might occur in response to insults such as strokes or in AMD. METHODS The anatomic architecture of normal and AMD-affected human retinas was examined in the central, midperipheral, and far-peripheral regions. The retina, by virtue of its well-organized laminar structure, allows the identification and analysis of abnormal projections or connections of neuronal elements. RESULTS In AMD-afflicted retinas, but not in normal aged human retinas, a large number of photoreceptor synapses across the entire retina retract into the outer nuclear layer. This event evokes the subsequent outgrowth of dendrites from the postsynaptic bipolar cells, again across the entire retina, and the subsequent reformation of synaptic contacts between photoreceptor and bipolar cells. CONCLUSIONS These findings illustrate that there are anatomic changes in the AMD retina at all eccentricities, not just in the macular region. Aged human retinal neurons have the capacity to form new synapses, and this finding may be important when investigating possible means of repairing the damaged human retina.
Anticipated Unemployment, Temporary Layoffs, and Compensating Wage Differentials

This paper models the competitive equilibrium wage rate when employment offers vary according to the amount of anticipated unemployment and unemployment risk. The competitive wage reflects a compensating differential which includes a certainty equivalent compensation proportional to the squared expected unemployment rate and a risk compensation proportional to the coefficient of unemployment variation. The factors of proportionality are half the inverse compensated labor supply elasticity and half the relative risk aversion, respectively. we use panel data to construct a model of anticipated unemployment and unemployment variance which depends on personal employment history, industry and economy-wide factors. Compensating wage differentials ranging from less than 1% to more than l4% are estimated for a two-digit industry classification over the years 1970 to 1975.
Eva®*: An integrated financial management system**

Both the rise of hostile takeovers and the phenomenal success of LBOs in the 1980s can be explained in part as capital market responses to the shortcomings of the top-down, EPS-based model of financial management that has long dominated corporate America. the EVA financial management system, which presents the 1990s most serious challenge to the dominance of the EPS model, borrows important aspects from the LBO movement, particularly its focus on capital efficiency and ownership incentives. Unlike the LBO movement, however, the EVA system accomplishes such goals without the high leverage and concentration of risk that limit LBOs to the mature sector of the US economy. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1996.
The Paradox of Diversity Management, Creativity and Innovation

This conceptual and discursive paper argues that diversity is a recognizable source of creativity and innovation that can provide a basis for competitive advantage. On the other hand, diversity is also a cause of misunderstanding, suspicion and conflict in the workplace that can result in absenteeism, poor quality, low morale and loss of competitiveness. Firms seeking competitive advantage therefore face a paradoxical situation. If they embrace diversity, they risk workplace conflict, and if they avoid diversity, they risk loss of competitiveness. The advantages and disadvantages associated with workforce diversity put organizations in a position of managing a paradoxical situation. To give support to this assertion, the paper considers what is meant by diversity, how it is best managed, what its relationship with creativity and innovation might be and how the problems created by the management of diversity, creativity and innovation might be resolved.
Autoregressive Models with Sample Selectivity for Panel Data

The purpose of this paper is to formulate procedures for the analysis of the time series behaviour of micro panel data subject to censoring. We assume an autoregressive model with random effects for a latent variable which is only partly observed due to a selection mechanism. Our methods are based on the observation that the subsamples which only include individuals without censored past observations are exogenously selected for the purpose conditional on its past. We apply these methods to analyze the dynamics of female labour supply and wages using PSID data.
Analysis of Time Pressure and Value Perception: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Travel Fair

ABSTRACT The consumer travel fair is a well-known vacation marketing event in Singapore. Travel product/package promotions at the Singapore travel fair are only available for 3 days. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between time pressure and consumer value of travel fair products through their perceptions of scarcity, price, and quality. These constructs were examined using two types of mediation models. A random sample survey of 251 travel fair visitors were collected to verify the conceptual model proposed to integrate these constructs. The study found the mediated relationship between time pressure and consumer value was significant. Additionally, the signs for the total indirect effects were consistent with the proposed mediation models. The results are important from managerial and personal selling perspectives.
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease with PRNP G114V mutation in a Chinese family

Liu Z, Jia L, Piao Y, Lu D, Wang F, Lv H, Lu Y, Jia J. Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease with PRNP G114V mutation in a Chinese family. Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 121: 377–383. © 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard.
Transforming the UK energy system: public values, attitudes and acceptability: synthesis report

Current policy debates and energy scenarios for the UK highlight the different possible ways of transforming the energy system in order to meet long-term national policy goals, including those of building a low carbon economy, achieving energy security and affordability, and mitigating environmental impacts. Although there has been much previous research on what publics think about specific ways of producing or consuming energy, we know far less about public perceptions, attitudes and values when elicited in relation to whole energy system change as an interconnected set of transformations in the systems of supply, demand, infrastructure and human behaviour. Greater understanding of public acceptability of whole energy system change will present both opportunities, and also highlight challenges, for the delivery of UK energy policy and transitions. The research had three empirical phases: interviews with key stakeholders, a series of six in-depth deliberative workshops held with publics in England, Scotland and Wales, and a nationally representative survey (Great Britain, n=2,441). This report represents a synthesis of key findings drawn from the two core datasets relating to public perceptions and preferences i.e. the workshops and the survey. The core conclusion from the research is that the British public wants and expects change with regard to how energy is supplied, used and governed. Members of the public are positive about the need for energy system change and they do not prioritise the demand side over the supply side, or vice versa, as being in greater need of change. Within this, the research has illuminated a wide range of novel insights on public attitudes regarding: energy policy drivers; elements of energy system change; and the underlying values and principles that people draw on when engaging with this issue.
Property of Corrections: The Experience of Incarceration for Female Inmates in a New Zealand Prison

This thesis examines what it means to be an inmate as experienced by female inmates serving sentences at Christchurch Women’s Prison. Using an auto-ethnographic methodology, combined with a mixed-methods approach, 82 female inmates completed a questionnaire and 10 were interviewed via semi-structured conversations. The data from the questionnaire are presented and analysed within the context of research from overseas studies. The conversations are further analysed and complemented by my own insider knowledge of prison life. This study was undertaken when I was a serving inmate and I made the decision to situate myself in this body of research. Excerpts from my prison journal entries, consisting of shared personal reflections from my years of imprisonment, are interspersed throughout the thesis. Three primary motivations drove this research. The first was to discover and interrogate what it means to be a prisoner from the prisoner’s perspective. The second was to explore how the prison experience relates to the possibility of future successful reintegration and, finally, I wanted to give women inmates a platform to share their stories in the hope that it would empower them. It achieves all three. The stories that the women shared, and their understandings of lived prison life, illustrate the ineffectiveness of incarceration and its inability to serve as a foundation for successful future reintegration. The findings provide a preliminary platform for further studies in this area and contribute to the extant academic understanding of an often misunderstood population.
Hedging versus not hedging: strategies for managing foreign exchange transaction exposure, Discussion Paper No 162

This paper compares a number of strategies for managing foreign exchange exposures. The strategies are never hedging, hedging every exposure using a forward exchange contract, and hedging on selective occasions using a forward exchange contract. With regard to the selective hedging, the decision as to whether to hedge or not depends on the future spot exchange rate as determined by a number of forecasting techniques. The techniques include the random walk, the large premia model and a volatility model. The paper considers the USD vis a vis the AUD, SGD and JPY. The results are mixed and show that for the period 1992 to 2003 the Australian exporter is better off always hedging while the Singapore and Japanese exporters are better off never hedging. The various management strategies are compared using Sharpe’s model and the minimum variance model though it seems the results are not sensitive to use of either.
Rebound burst firing in the reticular thalamus is not essential for pharmacological absence seizures in mice

Significance Intrinsic bursts and rhythmic burst discharges are elicited by activation of T-type Ca2+ channels in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). TRN bursts are believed to be critical for generation and maintenance of thalamocortical oscillations, leading to spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs) on the cortical electroencephalogram, which are the hallmarks of absence seizures. Using knockout mice for T-type Ca2+ channels that completely lack TRN bursts, however, we show that increased tonic firing in the TRN seems sufficient for drug-induced SWD generation. These results call into question the role of burst firing in TRN neurons in the genesis of SWDs, calling for a rethinking of the mechanism for absence seizure induction. Intrinsic burst and rhythmic burst discharges (RBDs) are elicited by activation of T-type Ca2+ channels in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). TRN bursts are believed to be critical for generation and maintenance of thalamocortical oscillations, leading to the spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs), which are the hallmarks of absence seizures. We observed that the RBDs were completely abolished, whereas tonic firing was significantly increased, in TRN neurons from mice in which the gene for the T-type Ca2+ channel, CaV3.3, was deleted (CaV3.3−/−). Contrary to expectations, there was an increased susceptibility to drug-induced SWDs both in CaV3.3−/− mice and in mice in which the CaV3.3 gene was silenced predominantly in the TRN. CaV3.3−/− mice also showed enhanced inhibitory synaptic drive onto TC neurons. Finally, a double knockout of both CaV3.3 and CaV3.2, which showed complete elimination of burst firing and RBDs in TRN neurons, also displayed enhanced drug-induced SWDs and absence seizures. On the other hand, tonic firing in the TRN was increased in these mice, suggesting that increased tonic firing in the TRN may be sufficient for drug-induced SWD generation in the absence of burst firing. These results call into question the role of burst firing in TRN neurons in the genesis of SWDs, calling for a rethinking of the mechanism for absence seizure induction.