Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antiproliferative/Cytotoxic Activity of Molecular Iodine and Iodolactones in Various Human Carcinoma Cell Lines. No Interfering with EGF-signaling, but Evidence for Apoptosis

Twelve human cancer cell lines and one non-malignant cell line were investigated with respect to a potential antiproliferative/cytotoxic activity of molecular iodine and iodolactones. Except CCL221 colon carcinoma cells, the growth of all cancer cell lines decreased if the cells were cultured in the presence of 10 microM molecular iodine (I(2)) for at least two days. delta-iodolactone (IL, 5 microM) was found to have a similar effect. SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells turned out to be most susceptible to both iodine compounds (total inhibition), followed by MCF-7 mammary carcinoma cells (60% and 77.7% inhibition in the presence of I(2) respect. IL) and HS24 lung carcinoma cells (36.3% respect. 40.3% inhibition). In contrast, MCF-10 normal mammary epithelial cells were much less affected by the iodine treatment. In both, SH-SY5Y and MCF-7 cells, I(2) and IL also abolished EGF-induced promotion of cell growth completely. This effect was, however, not due to an interfering with EGF-signaling, because I(2) and IL did not affect the phosphorylation of EGF-receptors, EGF-induced activation of MAP-kinase (Erk(1/2)), or EGF-induced lamellar actin protrusion. A disruption by molecular iodine of mitochondrial transmembrane electrical potential, which was prevented by a pre-treatment of the cells with N-acetyl-cysteine, supports a mitochondria-mediated apoptotic mechanism.
The Egg or the Chick first; saving or GDP Growth: Case for Kenya

This paper adopts the Hendry Model with a two-step method to model a saving function for Kenya. The Model uses a complex dynamic specification that includes lagged dependent and the independent variables. The paper finds that a 1% increase in GDP growth rate leads to a 0.5% increase in private saving in the long run which is consistent with the life cycle hypothesis. A striking result in the saving function is the positive effect that population growth rate seems to have on private savings which puts into question the notion of a smaller population as a mobilization tool for private saving. Even though consumption seems to have a significant negative effect on private savings in the short run, in the long run, it does not seem to have any significant effect. Causality tests support a uni-directional causality from per capita GDP to private saving and a bi-directional causality between Gross Domestic Saving and Investment.
MEMS-based direct methanol fuel cells and their stacks using a common electrolyte sandwiched by reinforced microcolumn electrodes

We present a MEMS-based portable Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (micro-DFMC), featured by a platinum sputtered microcolumn electrode and a built-in fuel chamber containing a limited amount of methanol fuel. Also presented is a micro-DMFC stack structure having a common electrolyte sandwiched by the microcolumn electrodes. Microcolumn electrode (ME16) generates the power density (3.2 times) higher than the planar electrode (PE16). The increased window frame reduces the normalized standard power deviation (standard deviation over the average power). The normalized deviation of 0.11 in ME4 cell has been reduced to 0.01 in ME16 cell due to the increased window frames. The maximum power density of 4-cell stack is 15.7 times higher than that of the single cell. 4-cell stack produces the power capacity of 20.3 mWh/g during 980 min operation at the voltage of 450 mV with the load resistance of 800/spl Omega/.
Prenatal and postnatal findings in serpentine fibula polycystic kidney syndrome and a review of the NOTCH2 spectrum disorders

Serpentine fibula polycystic kidney syndrome (SFPKS; OMIM600330) is a rare skeletal dysplasia with a characteristic phenotype that includes polycystic kidneys, S‐shaped fibulas, and abnormal craniofacial features. SFPKS shares features with Alagille (AGS; OMIM) and Hajdu–Cheney (HCS; OMIM10250) syndromes. All three syndromes result from mutations in the gene that encodes NOTCH2, one of the receptors involved in Notch signaling. Notch signaling is a major developmental signaling pathway, as well as a key regulator of numerous cellular processes. In this report, we present the prenatal ultrasound and postnatal findings in a 23‐week fetus with severe manifestations of SPKS and heterozygosity for a de novo mutation in exon 34 of NOTCH2. These findings expand the phenotypic spectrum of NOTCH2 mutations and demonstrate the findings in the prenatal period. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Human Cytomegalovirus Immediate-Early Protein IE2 Tethers a Transcriptional Repression Domain to p53 (*)

The IE2 gene of human cytomegalovirus has been implicated in the development of coronary restenosis, and the gene product appears to inhibit p53-dependent transactivation. Here we describe an analysis of the IE2-p53 interaction. Repression of p53 function by IE2 requires two separable domains of IE2. The N terminus of IE2 interacts with p53. IE2 has little effect on the ability of p53 to bind specific DNA sequences. Reduction of the transactivation activity of p53 is caused by a transcriptional repression function contributed by the C-terminal domain of IE2. These findings suggest that IE2 may function as a transcriptional repressor, which is recruited to p53's target genes by interacting with p53.
A Sensitivity Approach to Energy-Efficient Mapping of Dependable Virtual Networks

Network virtualization is a promising solution to overcome the resistance to architectural changes in Internet, and virtual network embedding (VNE) is a remarkable challenge. Virtualization makes possible resource sharing as an effective energy saving technology, but few works consider energy consumption in the mapping. In addition, important QoS metrics, such as availability, are usually neglected. In this paper, we propose a sensitivity approach to energy-efficient mapping of dependable virtual networks. Results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, and they show the trade-off between availability, energy consumption and cost.
Connectivity Estimation from the Inverse Coherence Matrix in a Complex Chaotic Oscillator Network

We present on the method of inverse coherence matrix for the estimation of network connectivity from multivariate time series of a complex system. In a model system of coupled chaotic oscillators, it is shown that the inverse coherence matrix defined as the inverse of cross coherence matrix is proportional to the network connectivity. Therefore the inverse coherence matrix could be used for the distinction between the directly connected links from indirectly connected links in a complex network. We compare the result of network estimation using the method of the inverse coherence matrix with the results obtained from the coherence matrix and the partial coherence matrix. Keywords—Chaotic oscillator, complex network, inverse coherence matrix, network estimation.
CONSUMPTION, MONEY, INTRATEMPORAL SUBSTITUTION, AND CROSS‐SECTIONAL ASSET RETURNS

When utility is specified recursively as a function of both consumption and money, real money growth becomes a common factor in addition to the market excess return and consumption growth. The risk premium on the money factor is negative because money complements consumption and is positively related to the stochastic discount factor. Growth portfolios, short-term loser portfolios, and long-term winner portfolios tend to have higher loadings on the money factor and, thus, earn lower premiums on money.
The Financial Crisis and the Behavior of S&P 500 Index Option Prices

Stronger volatility skew and smile effects accompanied by a risk-neutral distribution that is closer to the Normal seem unconventional at first thought. But that is what we find during the financial crisis, with the unconventionally high risk-neutral volatility level playing a major role. Additionally, the term structure of implied volatility became inverted (negatively sloped) during the crisis, driven by the inversion of the term structure of risk-neutral volatility and by the rise in the shorter term unconditional volatility. The term structures of risk-neutral skewness and kurtosis appear relatively flat with only negligible change during the crisis. The scale and its term structure rather than the shape factors of the unconditional risk neutral distribution to maturity thus appear more important for the structure of crisis time option prices.
Is the Response of State and Local Highway Spending Symmetric to Increases and Decreases in Federal Highway Grants?

Do states and localities, when faced with cuts in federal highway grants, attempt to maintain spending on existing highway projects with own sources of funding? Current state and local government highway spending is postulated here to respond to federal highway grants of the current fiscal year and up to 2 previous fiscal years. The results of this study provide some evidence of asymmetry. When current federal highway grants are increased, their immediate effect on state and local government highway spending is negligible; their impact on spending comes in later years. In contrast, cutbacks in current federal highway grants result in a drop in current state and local government highway spending. The response of state and local government highway spending to lagged federal highway grants is statistically significant and symmetric with respect to increases and decreases in these grants.
The Adjustment of Consumption to Changing Expectations About Future Income

The paper analyzes the role of current income in providing new information about future income and thus signalling changes in permanent income. Using time-series analysis to quantify the revision in permanent income induced by an innovation in the current income process, a structural econometric model of consumption is developed. The rejection of the joint rational expectations-permanent income hypothesis is both statistically and quantitatively significant. The paper also shows that the test of the rational expectations-permanent income hypothesis proposed by Hall is based on the reduced form of this structural model and reconciles Sargent's consumption paper with Hall's.
Global supply chains and social requirements: case studies of labour condition auditing in the People's Republic of China

The purpose of this paper is to (1) discuss the usability of labour condition auditing as a tool, (2) identify main differences between quality and environmental auditing and labour condition auditing and (3) define typical improvement areas in a high technology supply chain in the People's Republic of China (hereafter ‘China’). The increased interest in labour conditions of global supply chains has driven companies to integrate corporate social responsibility (CSR) into supply chain management (SCM) practices. Companies face legal requirements as well as voluntary social requirements. This paper focuses on the empirical part of labour condition auditing at selected factories during 2003 and 2004. Findings from these audits include non-conformances in health and safety, remuneration, working hours and disciplinary practices. Based on the experiences of the case studies, labour condition auditing is seen as a beneficial tool for inducing continuous improvement in supply chain management, but it requires a new set of skills from the auditors. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
Aero-Optical Environment Around a Conformal-Window Turret

This paper presents the aero-optical environment around a generic conformal-window turret formed from a hemisphere on a short cylindrical base. A suite of optical instruments consisting of a Malley probe, a conventional two-dimensional Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor, and a new high-bandwidth, lower-resolution Hartmann wave-front sensor were used to measure the aberrations on the wave front of a laser beam emanating from the turret at various angles in both the forward and aft direction in the turret's zenith plane. The measurements were made over a range of Mach numbers from 0.35 to 0.45. Complementary steady- and unsteady-pressure measurements over a slightly larger range of Mach numbers were also made, along with a surface-flow-visualization study of the complex flowfield over and around the turret. The use of the suite of sensors allowed for the recognition and separation of the aberrating optical environment into components associated with stationary disturbances and convecting disturbances at the frequency of the turret's separated wake and at order-of-magnitude-higher frequencies associated with structures that form in the separated shear layers, respectively. The optical data separated in this way are valuable because of the implications for adaptive optics.
Poly(A) Signals Located near the 5′ End of Genes Are Silenced by a General Mechanism That Prevents Premature 3′-End Processing

ABSTRACT Poly(A) signals located at the 3′ end of eukaryotic genes drive cleavage and polyadenylation at the same end of pre-mRNA. Although these sequences are expected only at the 3′ end of genes, we found that strong poly(A) signals are also predicted within the 5′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of many Drosophila melanogaster mRNAs. Most of these 5′ poly(A) signals have little influence on the processing of the endogenous transcripts, but they are very active when placed at the 3′ end of reporter genes. In investigating these unexpected observations, we discovered that both these novel poly(A) signals and standard poly(A) signals become functionally silent when they are positioned close to transcription start sites in either Drosophila or human cells. This indicates that the stage when the poly(A) signal emerges from the polymerase II (Pol II) transcription complex determines whether a putative poly(A) signal is recognized as functional. The data suggest that this mechanism, which probably prevents cryptic poly(A) signals from causing premature transcription termination, depends on low Ser2 phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain of Pol II and inefficient recruitment of processing factors.
Dynamic strength training improves insulin sensitivity without altering plasma levels and gene expression of adipokines in subcutaneous adipose tissue in obese men.

CONTEXT Obesity is characterized by a low-grade inflammatory state, which could play a role in insulin resistance. Dynamic strength training improves insulin sensitivity. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate, in obese subjects, whether the insulin sensitizing effect of dynamic strength training is associated with changes in plasma levels and gene expression of adipokines potentially involved in the development of insulin resistance. DESIGN Twelve obese male subjects were investigated before and at the end of 3 months of dynamic strength training. Insulin sensitivity was evaluated using euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp. Blood samples and needle biopsy samples of sc abdominal adipose tissue were obtained. The plasma levels and adipose tissue mRNA levels of adiponectin, leptin, IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha were determined. RESULTS The training induced an increase in the whole-body glucose disposal rate by 24% (P = 0.04). The body weight was not altered during the training. Plasma levels of leptin decreased during the training (16.6 +/- 6.3 vs. 13.1 +/- 5.7 ng/ml) by 21% (P < 0.02), whereas no change in plasma levels of other adipokines and C-reactive protein was observed. Gene expression of the investigated adipokines was not changed in sc adipose tissue during the training. CONCLUSIONS In obese subjects, the dynamic strength training resulted in an improvement of whole-body insulin sensitivity. The increase in insulin sensitivity was not associated with training-induced modifications of plasma levels or adipose tissue gene expression of adipokines supposedly involved in the development of insulin resistance.
Update on breast cancer risk prediction and prevention

Purpose of review Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. This review will focus on current prevention strategies for women at high risk. Recent findings The identification of women who are at high risk of developing breast cancer is key to breast cancer prevention. Recent findings have shown that the inclusion of breast density and a panel of low-penetrance genetic polymorphisms can improve risk estimation compared with previous models. Preventive therapy with aromatase inhibitors has produced large reductions in breast cancer incidence in postmenopausal women. Tamoxifen confers long-term protection and is the only proven preventive treatment for premenopausal women. Several other agents, including metformin, bisphosphonates, aspirin and statins, have been found to be effective in nonrandomized settings. Summary There are many options for the prevention of oestrogen-positive breast cancer, in postmenopausal women who can be given a selective oestrogen receptor modulator or an aromatase inhibitor. It still remains unclear how to prevent oestrogen-negative breast cancer, which occurs more often in premenopausal women. Identification of women at high risk of the disease is crucial, and the inclusion of breast density and a panel of genetic polymorphisms, which individually have low penetrance, can improve risk assessment.
Educational assessment and accountability: a New Zealand case study

This paper discusses the increasing use of assessment as a market signal and as an index of educational accountability. It is argued that assessment policies in New Zealand reflect an uneasy balance between the interests of the new right and more progressive educationists. These influences are examined using three largely contradictory models of educational accountability (professional, market and management). Each model reflects a range of epistemological and ideological assumptions. Thus student assessment serves different and largely conflicting purposes. The paper uses a recent New Zealand policy document (Tomorrow's Standards) to examine the interaction of each model. It is argued that through a failure to state clearly the purpose of assessment, educational reform in this area is overly concerned with the means rather than the ends of education. This has important implications for student motivation and learning. The paper concludes with a comment on current policy development and concludes that som.
Organisational change and innovation in small accounting practices: evidence from the field

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of context specific issues and challenges facing small accounting practices (SAPs) in Australian regional and rural centres. It is argued that these firms face a dynamic and continuously changing environment which requires strategic responses on the part of SAP owners. The paper explores how SAPs accommodate and respond to their contextual environment, and in turn, shape that environment.Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a qualitative case study research approach involving the review and analysis of the prior literature and relevant archival documents, and semi‐structured interviews with the key SAP owner/managers.Findings – The findings suggest that SAPs adopt innovative strategies and structures. The SAPs in this study were generally found to be resilient and dynamic in responding to the changes in their contextual environment. Significant differences between SAPs were also found, particularly on how they addressed contextual unc.
PERCUTANEOUS TRANSLUMINAL DILATION IN RENAL TRANSPLANT ARTERIAL STENOSIS

Twelve hypertensive patients underwent percutaneous transluminal dilation (PTD) for relief of arterial stenosis complicating renal allotransplantation. Two patients underwent repeat PTD for recurrent stenosis and hypertension. Six patients had end to end anastomosis of the donor renal artery to the recipient hypogastric artery; four of six PTDs were successful. Six patients had end to side anastomosis of the donor renal artery to the recipient external iliac artery; seven of eight PTDs, including one of two repeat PTDs, were successful. Prior to PTD, all patients were using several antihypertensive medications. Following successful PTD, the mean blood pressure dropped from 184 ± 15/118 ± 9 to 133 ± 13/89 ± 11 mm Hg (P < 0.001) and remained at that level for up to 15 months (average followup 9 months) with decreased or no antihypertensive medications. Since surgical correction of arterial stenosis occurring after renal transplantation is difficult and may endanger the graft, PTD should be the first interventional therapy.
Detection of human herpesvirus‐6 in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with encephalitis

Virus infections are the most common causes of encephalitis, a syndrome characterized by acute inflammation of the brain. More than 150 different viruses have been implicated in the pathogenesis of encephalitis; however, because of limitations with diagnostic testing, causative factors of more than half of the cases remain unknown.
Instability in Thoracolumbar Trauma: Is a New Definition Warranted?

Study Design: Review of the articles. Objective: The objective of this study was to review all articles related to spinal instability to determine a consensus statement for a contemporary, practical definition applicable to thoracolumbar injuries. Summary of Background Data: Traumatic fractures of the thoracolumbar spine are common. These injuries can result in neurological deficits, disability, deformity, pain, and represent a great economic burden to society. The determination of spinal instability is an important task for spine surgeons, as treatment strategies rely heavily on this assessment. However, a clinically applicable definition of spinal stability remains elusive. Materials and Methods: A review of the Medline database between 1930 and 2014 was performed limited to papers in English. Spinal instability, thoracolumbar, and spinal stability were used as search terms. Case reports were excluded. We reviewed listed references from pertinent search results and located relevant manuscripts from these lists as well. Results: The search produced a total of 694 published articles. Twenty-five articles were eligible after abstract screening and underwent full review. A definition for spinal instability was described in only 4 of them. Definitions were primarily based on biomechanical and classification studies. No definitive parameters were outlined to define stability. Conclusions: Thirty-six years after White and Panjabi’s original definition of instability, and many classification schemes later, there remains no practical and meaningful definition for spinal instability in thoracolumbar trauma. Surgeon expertise and experience remains an important factor in stability determination. We propose that, at an initial assessment, a distinction should be made between immediate and delayed instability. This designation should better guide surgeons in decision making and patient counseling.
Cardiovascular-CNS interactions during a self-paced, intentional attentive state: elite marksmanship performance.

Data were obtained from elite rifle marksmen during baseline and performance conditions (prior to trigger pull) to examine electroencephalographic (EEC) alpha and heart rate (Ilk) patterning. The results were discussed in terms of “response intention” because a trend was found in HR patterning during performance which paralleled that associated with Laceys' (1970) work on selfpaced “key pressing. ” Additionally, directional fractionation of the arousal response was evidenced by an increase in tonic MR from baseline to performance which was accompanied by an absence of change in EECJ, Finally, regression analyses revealed a differential relationship of temporal EEC with HR. Specifically, a cardiac “sensitivity” of the right hemisphere was shown by an association between HR and subsequent EEG during the final phase of the marksman's preparatory state. Occipital EEC also appeared to be influenced by cardiovascular activity. These findings extend the generality of the fractionated arousal construct to an intentional and well-learned motor skill paradigm and question the generality of the activation model.