Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac troponin T in serum as marker for myocardial injury in newborns.

In neonates, acute perinatal asphyxia may lead to ischemic myocardial damage (1). In some cases, subendocardial infarction has been documented (2). Generally, diagnosis of the myocardial injury (MI) is based on clinical findings, suggestive electrocardiographic and echocardiographic patterns (3), decrease in myocardial uptake of thallium (4), and classical creatine kinase (CK)-MB isoenzyme measurement (5). However, CK-MB in serum cannot be regarded as a cardiac-specific marker in the neonate, and extreme caution should be used in the interpretation of increased CK-MB activity during this period (6). Cardiac troponin T (cTnT), the structural protein that binds the troponin complex to the tropomyosin molecular strand, has recently been proposed as a more specific biochemical marker for diagnosis of myocardial infarction in the adult population (7). Here we evaluated the use of cTnT measurement in serum in the diagnosis of MI in newborns, as well as that of the determination of CK-MB mass concentration by a sensitive and specific monoclonal anti-CK-MB antibody-based immunoassay. Three groups of infants were studied. Group I consisted of 27 preterm infants (gestational age ranging from 28 to 36 weeks) without major respiratory and cardiovascular dysfunctions. Group II was 27 healthy full-term newborns (15 born by vaginal delivery and 12 by cesarean section) with a mean gestational age of 39.7 weeks. Group III was composed of seven infants (four preterm and three term) who demonstrated, during the first 3 days after birth, clinical, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic signs of MI. In particular, in electrocardiogram (ECG) evaluation, MI was considered to be present when inversion of T waves or ST-segment depression ≥1 mm in more than two precordial leads was noted. Groups I and II underwent a clinical examination, ECG, echocardiogram, and blood collection for the measurement of total CK, CK-MB, and cTnT on day 2 after birth. Group III was evaluated …
Why FDI helps China’s environment but exports do not

FDI helps improve China’s environmental quality but exporting worsens it, according to the author’s panel data analysis. Developed countries transfer pollution to China through trade. The time series analysis reveals a positive U-shaped relationship between environmental pollution and per-capita GDP in China. These results do not conform to the EKC hypothesis, though the results of panel data do. Such results are inconsistent with those of previous empirical studies. In this regard, we attempt to provide reasonable explanations and offer policy proposals.
Effect of Pyridine on the Mesophase of Teraryl Liquid Crystals: A New Series of Nematic Liquid Crystals Named 2-(4-Alkoxybiphen-4′-yl)-5-methylpyridines

A new series of teraryl 2-(4-alkoxybiphen-4′-yl)-5-methylpyridines (nO-PPPyMe, n = 3–8) nematic liquid crystal compounds, bearing a biphenylene core and a picoline terminus, were synthesized using a short two-step reaction, and overall yields between 34% and 38% were obtained. Spectral analysis results were in accordance with the expected structures. The thermotropic behavior of the teraryl liquid crystal compounds was investigated through polarized optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. All compounds exhibited a solely enantiotropic nematic phase at the medium–high temperature range of 162.4–234.2 °C. Furthermore, the results for the nO-PPPyMe series were analyzed relative to three other compound series, mO-PPPyCN (m = 2–8), iO-PPQMe (i = 3–8) and xO-PPyPMe (x = 1–10). Consequently, the effect of pyridine on the mesophase of teraryl liquid crystals was demonstrated.
Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1282 Exploring Cellular Dynamics From Vesicle Tethering to Cell Migration

Ashrafzadeh, P. 2016. Exploring Cellular Dynamics. From Vesicle Tethering to Cell Migration. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1282. 46 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9768-2. Cells in the body communicate with each other in order to cooperate efficiently. This communication is in part achieved by regulated secretion of signaling molecules, which when released from a cell may activate receptors present at the plasma membrane of an adjacent cell. Such signals affect both cell fate and behavior. Dysregulated signaling may lead to disease, including cancer. This thesis is focused on how exocytosis and subsequent activation and trafficking of receptors can be regulated, and what the consequences of this regulation may be for cell migration. Actin filaments are important transport structures for secretory vesicle trafficking. In Paper 1, actin polymerization was shown to induce formation of ordered lipid domains in the plasma membrane. Accordingly, actin filaments may thus create and stabilize specific membrane domains that enable docking of vesicles containing secretory cargo. The RhoGEF FGD5 regulates Cdc42 which can result in cytoskeletal rearrangements. In Paper II, FGD5 was shown to be selectively expressed in blood vessels and required for normal VEGFR2 signaling. FGD5 protected VEGFR2 from proteasome-mediated degradation and was essential for endothelial cells to efficiently respond to chemotactic gradients of VEGFA. The exocyst component EXOC7 is essential for tethering secretory vesicles to the plasma membrane prior to SNARE-mediated fusion. In Paper III, EXOC7 was required for trafficking of VEGFR2-containing vesicles to the inner plasma membrane and VEGFR2 presentation at the cell surface. The ability of tumor cells to escape the primary tumor and establish metastasis is in part dependent on their capacity to migrate. In Paper IV, a method based on time-lapse microscopy and fluorescent dyes was created to analyze single cancer cell migration in mixed cancer cell cultures, and in particular the influence of different types on neighboring cells was assessed. In conclusion, these studies have enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms behind cellular trafficking, and may be applied in the future to develop more specific therapeutics to treat cancer and other diseases associated with abnormal angiogenesis and cellular migration.
The Sustainability of Chinese Growth and the Aggregate Factor Substitution Elasticity

We discuss the sustainability of Chinese high growth relative to growth experience elsewhere, and specifically Soviet Russia in the 1950s to the 1960s by asking if the aggregate technology can eventually similarly constrain high growth performance in the Chinese case as argued by Weitzman in a paper in 1970 discussing the Soviet case. We note in the Chinese case, in contrast to Russia, the declining labor share in GDP over time, which suggests a substitution elasticity above rather than below one. We use time series data on labor’s share in GDP to estimate a substitution elasticity for China, finding that the substitution elasticity is greater than one. We then discuss how sub aggregate high growth can occur when there are three sectors, and large outflows of labor occurring from rural to urban areas over time with implications for the role of factor substitution in future Chinese growth. We argue that high growth in China can be supported in such a framework by a rural to urban labor outflows even if the substitution elasticities in both the urban and rural sectors are less than one. We estimate these two production functions using share data and these indicate substitution elasticities less than one. As such we suggest that aggregate substitution elasticities do not necessarily provide a clear guide as to the sustainability of high Chinese growth.
A review-based comparative study of bad smell detection tools

Bad smells are symptoms that something may be wrong in the system design or code. There are many bad smells defined in the literature and detecting them is far from trivial. Therefore, several tools have been proposed to automate bad smell detection aiming to improve software maintainability. However, we lack a detailed study for summarizing and comparing the wide range of available tools. In this paper, we first present the findings of a systematic literature review of bad smell detection tools. As results of this review, we found 84 tools; 29 of them available online for download. Altogether, these tools aim to detect 61 bad smells by relying on at least six different detection techniques. They also target different programming languages, such as Java, C, C++, and C#. Following up the systematic review, we present a comparative study of four detection tools with respect to two bad smells: Large Class and Long Method. This study relies on two software systems and three metrics for comparison: agreement, recall, and precision. Our findings support that tools provide redundant detection results for the same bad smell. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, we also discuss relevant usability issues and propose guidelines for developers of detection tools.
Growth effects of public expenditure on the state and local level: evidence from a sample of rich governments

There is a vast empirical literature investigating the relationship between government size and economic growth. But the empirical evidence of growth effects of public expenditure using cross-country regressions is still inconclusive. According to a number of authors this is not surprising since the negative relationship only applies for rich countries with a large public sector. Restricting their analysis on rich countries only they can show the predicted negative impact. Naturally, a selection of a sub-sample of rich countries is always somewhat arbitrary. Another possibility is to concentrate on governments within a rich country. However, only few studies investigate the effect of state and local spending on economic growth. This study concentrates on the relationship between public expenditure and economic growth within a rich country using the full sample of state and local governments from Switzerland over the 1981–2001 period. The general finding is a fairly robust negative relationship between government size and economic growth. However, in contrast to public spending from operating budgets there is no significant impact on economic growth by expenditure from capital budgets.
The Orexin OX1 Receptor Regulates Ca2+ Entry via Diacylglycerol-Activated Channels in Differentiated Neuroblastoma Cells

We studied the cellular response to orexin type 1 receptor (OX1R) stimulation in differentiated IMR-32 neuroblastoma cells. In vitro differentiation of IMR-32 cells with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine leads to a neuronal phenotype with long neurite extensions and an upregulation of mainly N-type voltage-gated calcium channels. Transduction of differentiated IMR-32 cells with baculovirus harboring an OX1R–green fluorescent protein cDNA fusion construct resulted in appearance of fluorescence that was confined mainly to the plasma membrane in the cell body and to neurites. Application of orexin-A to fluorescent cells led to an increase in intracellular free Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]i. At low nanomolar concentrations of orexin-A, the response was reversibly attenuated by removal of extracellular Ca2+, by application of a high concentration (10 mm) of Mg2+, and by the pharmacological channel blocker dextromethorphan. A diacylglycerol, dioctanoylglycerol, but not thapsigargin or depolarization with potassium, mimicked the OX1R response with regard to Mg2+ sensitivity. A reverse transcription-PCR screening identified mRNAs for all transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels, including TRPC3, TRPC6, and TRPC7, which are known to be activated by diacylglycerol. Expression of a dominant-negative TRPC6 channel subunit blunted the responses to both dioctanoylglycerol and OX1R stimulation. The results suggest that the OX1R activates a Ca2+ entry pathway that involves diacylglycerol-activated TRPC channels in neuronal cells.
Violence, Security and Democracy: Perverse Interfaces and their Implications for States and Citizens in the Global South. IDS Working Paper No. 357.

Summary How does violence affect the everyday lives of citizens in the global South? Researching this theme under the aegis of the Violence, Participation and Citizenship group of the Citizenship DRC coordinated by IDS, we generated some answers, but also more questions, which this paper starts to explore. Why have democratisation processes failed to fulfil expectations of violence reduction in the global South? How does violence affect democracy and vice versa? Why does security practice in much of the global South not build secure environments? When examined empirically from the perspectives of poor Southern citizens, the interfaces between violence, security and democracy – assumed in conventional state and democratisation theory to be positive or benign – are often, in fact, perverse. Empirically-based reflection on these questions leads us to two propositions, which the paper then explores through the use of secondary literature. In essence: Proposition 1: Violence interacts perversely with democratic institutions, eroding their legitimacy and effectiveness. Democracy fails to deliver its promise of replacing the violence with accommodation and compromise, and democratic process is compromised, with citizens reacting by withdrawing from public spaces, accepting the authority of non-state actors, or supporting hard-line responses. Proposition 2: Security provision is not making people feel more secure. State responses to rising violence can strengthen state and non-state security actors committed to reproducing violence, disproportionately affecting the poorest communities. These ‘perverse interfaces’, we argue, warrant research in themselves, rather than minimal or tangential consideration in research on democracy, as tends to be the case. Further research needs to adopt fresh epistemological, methodological and analytical perspectives and seek to re-think and re-frame categories and concepts, rather than working within the received wisdoms of state and democratisation theory.
Activin Is a Local Regulator of Human Cytotrophoblast Cell Differentiation *

Cytotrophoblast cells of the first trimester placenta are highly invasive when removed from villi and cultured in vitro. In vivo, however, only selected cytotrophoblast cells break through the overlying syncytiotrophoblast to form cytotrophoblast columns and ultimately invade the endometrium. To explore the role of paracrine growth factors in regulating cytotrophoblast development, we cultured explants of first trimester chorionic villi in vitro. Both activin and inhibin, as well as the activin binding protein follistatin, are produced by various trophoblast cells throughout pregnancy. We found that addition of activin-A, but not inhibin-A, stimulated the outgrowth of cytotrophoblast cells into the surrounding matrix. This outgrowth was characteristic of that observed in extravillous cytotrophoblast cells in vivo; it was accompanied by cell division within the proximal region of the cytotrophoblast outgrowth, synthesis of fibronectin, as well as the expression of markers characteristic of invasive cytotrophoblast cells, human leukocyte antigen-G and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9. Activin also specifically induced the early expression of MMP-2 within villous cytotrophoblast cells. Addition of the activin binding protein, follistatin, blocked all of the effects of exogenous activin. The morphological and biochemical effects of activin were similar to those observed when signaling of endogenous transforming growth factor-b was blocked. Interestingly, the latter effects were also reversed by the addition of follistatin. These data suggest that activin plays a local role in promoting cytotrophoblast column formation, likely by regulating the differentiation of villous cytotrophoblast into extravillous cytotrophoblast cells. (Endocrinology 138: 3976–3986, 1997) T BULK OF the human placenta consists of branching chorionic villi with an outer syncytiotrophoblast, underlying cytotrophoblasts, and a stromal core (1). These villi float within the intervillous space that is filled with maternal blood, providing the primary surface area for nutrient and gas transport to the developing fetus. Other structures, called anchoring villi, are attached to the uterine wall by virtue of cytotrophoblast cell columns that contain several cell types that represent the stepwise transition from basement membrane-associated, villous cytotrophoblast cells to invasive extravillous cytotrophoblast cells that migrate into the decidua and invade the maternal arterioles of the myometrium. Normal development of the placenta depends on the orchestrated balance of cytotrophoblast cell proliferation and differentiation into either one of the differentiated cell types, syncytiotrophoblast or invasive cytotrophoblasts (2). Abnormalities in these processes may lead to gestational abnormalities such as miscarriage, fetal growth restriction, and preeclampsia (3, 4). Preeclampsia is an interesting disease of pregnancy in which there is an excess of cytotrophoblast cell proliferation (5, 6) as well as an interruption in the progression from villous to invasive extravillous cytotrophoblast
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy in the prediction of early conversion from amnestic mild cognitive impairment to dementia: a prospective cohort study

Background Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) of an amnestic type is a common condition in older people and highly predictive of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To date, there is no clear consensus regarding the best antecedent biomarker to predict early conversion to AD. Objective The aim of the study is to demonstrate that 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the brain in MCI patients may predict early conversion to dementia within the 2-year period after baseline assessment. Methods A cohort of patients fulfilling the criteria of amnestic MCI were enrolled consecutively. At baseline the patients underwent neuropsychological examination, standard blood tests and APOE genotype. 1H-MRS (1.5 T) of the brain was carried out by exploring two areas: the posteromedial bilateral parietal lobe and left medial occipital lobe. The patients were followed up to detect conversion to probable AD according to the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association group criteria. Results After a 2-year follow-up, 27 (38%) patients converted to AD. The mean N-acetyl-aspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr) ratio in the posteromedial bilateral parietal cortex was 1.38 in converters versus 1.49 in non-converters (p<0.0001). An NAA/Cr ratio equal to or lower than 1.43 in this area predicted conversion to probable AD at 74.1% sensitivity and 83.7% specificity (area under the curve: 0.84; 95% CI 0.73 to 0.92). The cross-validated accuracy of classification was 82%, which reaches 85% when the APOE4 genotype and memory test are included in the analysis. In the left medial occipital lobe, the predictive value was somewhat lower with 85.2% sensitivity and 61.4% specificity (area under the curve: 0.8; 95% CI 0.69 to 0.89). Neither the APOE4 genotype nor leuco-araiosis was predictive of conversion to dementia. Conclusion MRS is a valuable biomarker to predict early conversion to dementia in patients with amnestic MCI.
Numerical Solution of the Problem of the Computational Time Reversal in the Quadrant

Abstract : The problem of the computational time reversal is posed as the inverse problem of the determination of an unknown initial condition with a finite support in a hyperbolic equation, given the Cauchy data at the lateral surface. A stability estimate for this ill-posed problem implies refocusing of the time reversed wave field. Two such two-dimensional inverse problems are solved numerically in the case when the domain is quadrant and the Cauchy data are given at finite parts of coordinate axis. The previously obtained Lipschitz stability estimate (if proven) rigorously explains and numerical results confirm the experimentally observed phenomenon of refocusing of time reversed wave fields.
DNA Self-Assembly: From Chirality to Evolution

Transient or long-term DNA self-assembly participates in essential genetic functions. The present review focuses on tight DNA-DNA interactions that have recently been found to play important roles in both controlling DNA higher-order structures and their topology. Due to their chirality, double helices are tightly packed into stable right-handed crossovers. Simple packing rules that are imposed by DNA geometry and sequence dictate the overall architecture of higher order DNA structures. Close DNA-DNA interactions also provide the missing link between local interactions and DNA topology, thus explaining how type II DNA topoisomerases may sense locally the global topology. Finally this paper proposes that through its influence on DNA self-assembled structures, DNA chirality played a critical role during the early steps of evolution.
Real Investments Under Knightian Uncertainty

In a model of real investments with Knightian uncertainty, decision makers deviate from expected utility theory by showing excessive risk aversion and focusing on no regret moves. Within the model, a positive net present value is no longer sufficient to ensure that a real investment is undertaken. Furthermore, the value of being able to hedge increases drastically. The model could explain deviations from the net present value rule in industries where Knightian uncertainty is high.
Amino acid substitutions in the non-structural proteins 4A or 4B modulate the induction of autophagy in West Nile virus infected cells independently of the activation of the unfolded protein response

West Nile virus (WNV) is a neurotropic mosquito-borne flavivirus responsible for outbreaks of meningitis and encephalitis. Whereas the activation of autophagy in cells infected with other flaviviruses is well known, the interaction of WNV with the autophagic pathway still remains unclear and there are reports describing opposite findings obtained even analyzing the same viral strain. To clarify this controversy, we first analyzed the induction of autophagic features in cells infected with a panel of WNV strains. WNV was determined to induce autophagy in a strain dependent manner. We observed that all WNV strains or isolates analyzed, except for the WNV NY99 used, upregulated the autophagic pathway in infected cells. Interestingly, a variant derived from this WNV NY99 isolated from a persistently infected mouse increased LC3 modification and aggregation. Genome sequencing of this variant revealed only two non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions when compared to parental NY99 strain. These nucleotide substitutions introduced one amino acid replacement in NS4A and other in NS4B. Using genetically engineered viruses we showed that introduction of only one of these replacements was sufficient to upregulate the autophagic pathway. Thus, in this work we have shown that naturally occurring point mutations in the viral non-structural proteins NS4A and NS4B confer WNV with the ability to induce the hallmarks of autophagy such as LC3 modification and aggregation. Even more, the differences on the induction of an autophagic response observed among WNV variants in infected cells did not correlate with alterations on the activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR), suggesting an uncoupling of UPR and autophagy during flavivirus infection. The findings here reported could help to improve the knowledge of the cellular processes involved on flavivirus–host cell interactions and contribute to the design of effective strategies to combat these pathogens.