Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Methionine synthase polymorphisms (MTR 2756 A>G and MTR 2758 C>G) frequencies and distribution in the Jordanian population and their correlation with neural tube defects in the population of the northern part of Jordan

BACKGROUND: The human methionine synthase gene (MTR) is located on chromosome 1q43; it is of 105.24 kb and is made up of 33 exons. Methionine synthase is a cytoplasmic enzyme that requires methylcobalamin for activity and catalyzes the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. In this reaction, the methyl group of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate is transferred to the enzyme bond cob(I) alamin to generate methylcobalamin, followed by the transfer of the methyl group to homocysteine to reform methionine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The frequencies of the polymorphisms of MTR 2756A>G and MTR 2758C>G have been determined in this study in a sample of 491 individuals collected from all regions of Jordan and representing the Jordanian population. The different alleles and genotypes at the two polymorphic sites were identified using the Polymerase Chain Reaction - Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. RESULTS: Showed that the percentages of the polymorphic alleles at the MTR 2756 position in the north, middle and south regions were 90.38, 92.65 and 83.69%, respectively, for the MTR 2756A allele, and were 9.61, 7.34 and 16.30%, respectively, for the MTR 2756G allele, with overall percentages in the whole Jordanian population of 90.73 and 9.27% for the MTR 2756A and MTR 2756G alleles, respectively. The percentages of the genotype MTR 2756AA were 82.90% in the northern region, 86.72% in the middle region and 71.73% in the southern region, and an overall percentage of MTR 2756AA in the whole Jordanian population was 83.50%. The frequencies of MTR 2756AG genotype in the northern, middle and southern regions were 14.95, 11.84 and 23.91%, respectively, with an overall percentage of 14.46% in the whole Jordanian population. The percentages of the genotype MTR 2756GG in the northern, middle and southern regions were 2.13, 1.42 and 4.34%, respectively, with an overall percentage of 2.04% in the whole Jordanian population. Only the wild type allele (C) of the MTR 2758C>G polymorphism was detected in this study. In addition, the association of MTR 2756A>G and MTR 2758C>G polymorphisms with the development of neural tube defects (NTDs) was examined using 17 cases of mothers from the northern part of Jordan, who gave birth to NTD affected children during the period of this study. Results showed no association between these two examined polymorphisms and the increase in maternal risk for giving birth to NTD children. CONCLUSION: results of this study recommend that examination should be done on larger populations to arrive at better conclusions. Also, more studies on gene–gene interaction should be done to examine the associations with NTDs.
Sub-Federal Tax Exemptions and Their Efficiency for the Attraction of Investment Empirical Analysis Evgenia Kolomak

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not those of the Economics Education and Research Consortium. Research dissemination by the EERC may include views on policy, but the EERC itself takes no institutional policy positions The federal structure of Russia allows local authorities to determine independently some business taxes, thus opening up the opportunity to influence the business climate in order to attract mobile factors in economic development. This paper reveals the trends in the granting of regional tax exemptions and estimates their effects on the attraction of investment. The panel data embraces the characteristics of regional legislation and the indices of regional economic development for 72 regions over the period 1992–1998. The main conclusions of the study are: 1) regional investment legislation has an essential and positive impact on investment attraction, but can not itself be an engine of regional economic development; 2) the interregional diffusion of investment-related sub-federal laws has a tendency to increase the level of tax reliefs, as well as their period and flexibility; 3) more active in the adoption of investment legislation are those regional authorities that have higher estimations of the lack of investment and risk. for their comments and recommendations. The author also thanks Sergey Kokovin for helpful advice.
Você, ocê e cê em curitiba, Paraná

Neste trabalho, efetuamos a an alise da variacao no uso do pronome de segunda pessoa voce(s) e suas variantes oce(s) e ce(s) na cidade de Curitiba, Parana. Para tanto, adotamos os pressupostos teorico-metodologicos da Sociolinguistica Variacionista para descrever e demonstrar se a alternância no uso das variantes analisadas e influenciada por fatores linguisticos e sociais. A amostra compreende a analise de 44 informantes (banco Varsul), estratificados de acordo com o sexo ; a escolaridade e a idade. Alem da analise das entrevistas formais do Varsul, fizemos, tambem, com o suporte de Labov (1972; edicao de 2008, p. 32), observacoes em muitas situacoes espontâneas: nos onibus de Curitiba; em reunioes de escola; em lanchonetes; em restaurantes e em outros locais publicos nos quais o som da conversa publica pudesse ser ouvido e anotado (e, eventualmente, gravado). Da mesma forma como procedeu Labov, nao nos valemos dessas anotacoes para a analise propriamente dita: elas serviram como amostra de controle para se checar a vitalidade das variantes de voce ( s ) em uso e a sua distribuicao. Os dados foram submetidos ao tratamento estatistico do Programa Goldvarb 2001.
The relationship between job satisfaction and health: a meta-analysis

Background: A vast number of published studies have suggested a link between job satisfaction levels and health. The sizes of the relationships reported vary widely. Narrative overviews of this relationship have been published, but no systematic meta-analysis review has been conducted. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 485 studies with a combined sample size of 267 995 individuals was conducted, evaluating the research evidence linking self-report measures of job satisfaction to measures of physical and mental wellbeing. Results: The overall correlation combined across all health measures was r = 0.312 (0.370 after Schmidt-Hunter adjustment). Job satisfaction was most strongly associated with mental/psychological problems; strongest relationships were found for burnout (corrected r = 0.478), self-esteem(r = 0.429), depression (r = 0.428), and anxiety(r = 0.420). The correlation with subjective physical illness was more modest (r = 0.287). Conclusions: Correlations in excess of 0.3 are rare in this context. The relationships found suggest that job satisfaction level is an important factor influencing the health of workers. Organisations should include the development of stress management policies to identify and eradicate work practices that cause most job dissatisfaction as part of any exercise aimed at improving employee health. Occupational health clinicians should consider counselling employees diagnosed as having psychological problems to critically evaluate their work—and help them to explore ways of gaining greater satisfaction from this important aspect of their life.
Factor Analytic Models: Viewing the Structure of an Assessment Instrument From Three Perspectives

The overarching purpose of this article is to present a nonmathematical introduction to the application of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) within the framework of structural equation modeling as it applies to psychological assessment instruments. In the interest of clarity and ease of understanding, I model exploratory factor analysis (EFA) structure in addition to first- and second-order CFA structures. All factor analytic structures are based on the same measuring instrument, the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI–II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). Following a "walk" through the general process of CFA modeling, I identify several common misconceptions and improper application practices with respect to both EFA and CFA and tender caveats with a view to preventing further proliferation of these pervasive practices.
Decoding task and stimulus representations in face-responsive cortex

ABSTRACT Observers can deliberately attend to some aspects of a face (e.g. emotional expression) while ignoring others. How do internal goals influence representational geometry in face-responsive cortex? Participants watched videos of naturalistic dynamic faces during MRI scanning. We measured multivariate neural response patterns while participants formed an intention to attend to a facial aspect (age, or emotional valence), and then attended to that aspect, and responses to the face's emotional valence, independent of attention. Distinct patterns of response to the two tasks were found while forming the intention, in left fronto-lateral but not face-responsive regions, and while attending to the face, in almost all face-responsive regions. Emotional valence was represented in right posterior superior temporal sulcus and medial prefrontal cortex, but could not be decoded when unattended. Shifting the focus of attention thus alters cortical representation of social information, probably reflecting neural flexibility to optimally integrate goals and perceptual input.
Thresholds of Rotation.

Reports experiment made to determine the liminal values of different kinds of stimuli to the perception of rotation. The apparatus for securing rotation of S, described by Dodge was used with modifications initiating three kinds of stimulus-forms to rotation: a succession of five and ten degree movements with sudden onset and constant angular velocity, ten degree rotary movements approximating in angular acceleration and deceleration a true sine wave, and a succession of movements of greater angular extent in which the arithmetical acceleration was approximately constant for twenty degrees of rotation.The sensory data which enter into the perception of rotation is derived not only from the mechanism of the vestibule, but also from vision, audition, kinaesthesis, muscular strains, articular and dermal sensations, eye-movements, and changing configuration of pressures. In preliminary experiments it was possible to single out certain factors in the auditory receptor-field well enough to make sure that the illusion of rotation may be produced by movement of the auditory field when S is kept stationary.In the main series of experiments the stimulus-form of even rotation with sudden onset yielded a threshold value of approximately two degrees per second. The stimulus form of harmonic oscillations in sine waves of acceleration and deceleration tended to reduce the threshold below that required for direct rotation. Except for one unusually sensitive S, uniform arithmetical acceleration presented unfavorable conditions for the perception of rotation. From Psych Bulletin 20:09:00889. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Efficacy of supplemental phonics-based instruction for low-skilled kindergarteners in the context of language minority status and classroom phonics instruction.

This study tested the efficacy of supplemental phonics instruction for 84 low-skilled language minority (LM) kindergarteners and 64 non-LM kindergarteners at 10 urban public schools. Paraeducators were trained to provide the 18-week (January--May) intervention. Students performing in the bottom half of their classroom language group (LM and non-LM) were randomly assigned either to individual supplemental instruction (treatment) or to classroom instruction only (control). Irrespective of their language status, treatment students (n = 67) significantly outperformed controls (n = 81) at posttest in alphabetics, word reading, spelling, passage reading fluency, and comprehension (average treatment d = 0.83); nevertheless, LM students tended to have lower posttest performance than non-LM students (average LM d = -0.30) and were significantly less responsive to treatment on word reading. When we examined the contribution of classroom phonics time to student outcomes, we found that the treatment effect on spelling was greater for students in lower phonics classrooms, whereas the treatment effect on comprehension was greater for those in higher phonics classrooms. Finally, when we examined LM students alone, we found that pretest English receptive vocabulary positively predicted most posttests and interacted with treatment only on phonological awareness. In general, pretest vocabulary did not moderate kindergarten LM treatment response. Supplemental materials: http://supp.apa. org/psycarticles/supplemental/a0019639/EDU-Vadasy20090606-RRR-F1.doc
Gestational Protein Restriction in Mice Has Pronounced Effects on Gene Expression in Newborn Offspring's Liver and Skeletal Muscle; Protective Effect of Taurine

We examined gene expression changes in liver and skeletal muscle of newborn mice subjected to a maternal low protein (LP) or normal protein (NP) diet during pregnancy, with or without taurine supplementation in the drinking water. LP offspring had a 40% lower birthweight than NP offspring, whereas it was reduced by only 20% with taurine supplementation. Microarray gene expression analysis revealed significant changes in 2012 genes in liver and 967 genes in skeletal muscle of LP offspring. By unknown mechanisms, taurine partially or fully prevented 30 and 46% of these expression changes, respectively. Mitochondrial genes, in particular genes associated with oxidative phosphorylation, were more abundantly changed in LP offspring, with primarily up-regulation in liver but down-regulation in skeletal muscle. In both tissues, citrate synthase activity remained unchanged. Taurine preferentially rescued changes in genes concerned with fatty acid metabolism in liver and with oxidative phoshorylation and tri carboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in skeletal muscle. Conclusion: Gestational protein restriction resulted in lower birthweight associated with significant gene expression changes, which was different in liver and muscle of offspring. However, a major part of the birthweight decrease and the expression changes were prevented by maternal taurine supplementation, implying taurine is a key component in metabolic fetal programming.
XLF-Cernunnos promotes DNA ligase IV–XRCC4 re-adenylation following ligation

XLF-Cernunnos (XLF) is a component of the DNA ligase IV–XRCC4 (LX) complex, which functions during DNA non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Here, we use biochemical and cellular approaches to probe the impact of XLF on LX activities. We show that XLF stimulates adenylation of LX complexes de-adenylated by pyrophosphate or following LX decharging during ligation. XLF enhances LX ligation activity in an ATP-independent and dependent manner. ATP-independent stimulation can be attributed to enhanced end-bridging. Whilst ATP alone fails to stimulate LX ligation activity, addition of XLF and ATP promotes ligation in a manner consistent with XLF-stimulated readenylation linked to ligation. We show that XLF is a weakly bound partner of the tightly associated LX complex and, unlike XRCC4, is dispensable for LX stability. 2BN cells, which have little, if any, residual XLF activity, show a 3-fold decreased ability to repair DNA double strand breaks covering a range of complexity. These findings strongly suggest that XLF is not essential for NHEJ but promotes LX adenylation and hence ligation. We propose a model in which XLF, by in situ recharging DNA ligase IV after the first ligation event, promotes double stranded ligation by a single LX complex.
Enhanced large intestinal potassium permeability in end‐stage renal disease

The capacity of the colon for potassium (K+) secretion increases in end‐stage renal disease (ESRD), to the extent that it makes a substantial contribution to K+ homeostasis. This colonic K+ adaptive response may reflect enhanced active K+ secretion, and be associated with an increase in apical membrane K+ permeability. In this study, this hypothesis was tested in patients with normal renal function or ESRD, by evaluating the effect of barium ions (a K+ channel inhibitor) on rectal K+ secretion using a rectal dialysis technique, and the expression of high conductance (BK) K+ channel protein in colonic mucosa by immunohistochemistry. Under basal conditions, rectal K+ secretion was almost threefold greater (p < 0.02) in ESRD patients (n = 8) than in patients with normal renal function (n = 10). Intraluminal barium (5 mmol/l) decreased K+ secretion in the ESRD patients by 45% (p < 0.05), but had no effect on K+ transport in patients with normal renal function. Immunostaining using a specific antibody to the BK channel α‐subunit revealed greater (p < 0.001) levels of BK channel protein expression in surface colonocytes and crypt cells in ESRD patients (n = 9) than in patients with normal renal function (n = 9), in whom low levels of expression were mainly restricted to surface colonocytes. In conclusion, these results suggest that enhanced colonic K+ secretion in ESRD involves an increase in the apical K+ permeability of the large intestinal epithelium, which most likely reflects increased expression of apical BK channels. Copyright © 2005 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DAILY WORK STRESS AND ALCOHOL USE: TESTING THE CROSS‐LEVEL MODERATION EFFECTS OF NEUROTICISM AND JOB INVOLVEMENT

Employee alcohol use has been shown to be prevalent and have potential detrimental effects for both employees' health and work outcomes. In this study, we used a daily telephone interview to investigate the relationships between work stress and alcohol use in a sample of Chinese workers. The results from multilevel modeling showed that daily work stress was significantly related to daily alcohol use and desire to drink. Further, there were significant interindividual variations in the work stress–alcohol use/desire to drink relationships that were predicted by neuroticism and job involvement. Both theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.
Protective effects of gallic acid on hepatic lipid peroxide metabolism, glycoprotein components and lipids in streptozotocin‐induced type II diabetic wistar rats

We evaluated the protective effects of gallic acid (3,4,5‐trihydroxybenzoic acid) on hepatic lipid peroxidation products, antioxidants, glycoprotein components, and lipids in streptozotocin‐induced type II diabetic rats. To induce type II diabetes, rats were injected with streptozotocin intraperitoneally at a single dose of 40 mg/kg. Gallic acid (10 and 20 mg/kg) treatment was given to diabetic rats orally using an intragastric tube daily for 21 days. Streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats showed a significant increase in the levels of blood glucose, hepatic lipid peroxidation products, glycoprotein components, lipids, and the activity of HMG‐CoA reductase and a significant decrease in the levels of plasma insulin and liver glycogen. In addition to this, the activities/levels of hepatic antioxidants were decreased in diabetic rats. Gallic acid (10 and 20 mg/kg) treatment showed significant protective effects on all the biochemical parameters studied in diabetic rats. Thus, our study shows the antihyperglycemic, antilipid peroxidative, antioxidant, and antilipidemic effects of gallic acid in streptozotocin‐induced type II diabetic rats. A diet containing gallic acid may be beneficial to type II diabetic patients. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 25:68–76 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/jbt.20360
Bulk Segregation in Rotated Granular Material Measured by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Many mixtures of granular materials tend to segregate when tumbled in a rotating horizontal cylinder, with the different components separating into bands of relatively pure single concentration along the rotational axis. The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study concentration variations within a mixture of different sized spheres segregated in this manner indicates a more complicated structure within the bulk than can be observed or even inferred from surface measurements. Moreover, when the rotation speed is reduced and the homogeneous mixed state appears to be restored on the surface, the MRI data reveals that the radially segregated state persists. {copyright} {ital 1996} {ital The American Physical Society}
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AFFECT AND BOTH HEALTH AND LIFESTYLE

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between affect and both health and lifestyle factors. Japanese undergraduates (223 men and 302 women) completed the Positive and Negative Affect (PA and NA) Schedule scales, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Health Behavior Questionnaire in order to measure affect, mental and physical health, and lifestyle, respectively. These three measures were administered twice (T1 and T2), five or six weeks apart. Hierarchical regression analyses of the data showed that better T2 health status was significantly associated with lower T1 NA in men and both higher T1 PA and lower T1 NA in women. Meanwhile, lifestyle factors at T2 had few significant associations with PA and NA at T1. A number of significant interactions of PA × NA suggested that higher T1 PA was only associated with better health and lifestyle factors at T2 when T1 NA was low. The findings indicate that both PA and NA, including PA × NA interactions and gender differences, have important health implications.
Both RAD5-dependent and independent pathways are involved in DNA damage-associated sister chromatid exchange in budding yeast

Abstract Sister chromatids are preferred substrates for recombinational repair after cells are exposed to DNA damage. While some agents directly cause double-strand breaks (DSBs), others form DNA base adducts which stall or impede the DNA replication fork. We asked which types of DNA damage can stimulate SCE in budding yeast mutants defective in template switch mechanisms and whether PCNA polyubiquitination functions are required for DNA damage-associated SCE after exposure to potent recombinagens. We measured spontaneous and DNA damage-associated unequal sister chromatid exchange (uSCE) in yeast strains containing two fragments of his3 after exposure to MMS, 4-NQO, UV, X rays, and HO endonuclease-induced DSBs. We determined whether other genes in the pathway for template switching, including UBC13, MMS2, SGS1, and SRS2 were required for DNA damage-associated SCE. RAD5 was required for DNA damage-associated SCE after exposure to UV, MMS, and 4-NQO, but not for spontaneous, X-ray-associated, or HO endonuclease-induced SCE. While UBC13, MMS2, and SGS1 were required for MMS and 4NQO-associated SCE, they were not required for UV-associated SCE. DNA damage-associated recombination between his3 recombination substrates on non-homologous recombination was enhanced in rad5 mutants. These results demonstrate that DNA damaging agents that cause DSBs stimulate SCE by RAD5-independent mechanisms, while several potent agents that generate bulky DNA adducts stimulate SCE by multiple RAD5-dependent mechanisms. We suggest that DSB-associated recombination that occurs in G2 is RAD5-independent.