Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sperm competition drives the evolution of suicidal reproduction in mammals

Significance In some marsupial genera but in no other mammals, escalating stress hormones during the breeding season cause immune system collapse and synchronized death after mating in all males (suicidal reproduction). In this paper, we resolve the environmental drivers and adaptive mechanism of sexual selection responsible for the repeated evolution of this surprising and extreme life history strategy in mammals. The strategy of synchronized suicidal reproduction in mammals resulting in male death before offspring are born has often been attributed to altruistic or kin-selected paternal suicide to avoid food depletion. We show that rather than altruism or kin-selection, individual sexual selection leads to apparent self-sacrifice in these genera. Suicidal reproduction (semelparity) has evolved in only four genera of mammals. In these insectivorous marsupials, all males die after mating, when failure of the corticosteroid feedback mechanism elevates stress hormone levels during the mating season and causes lethal immune system collapse (die-off). We quantitatively test and resolve the evolutionary causes of this surprising and extreme life history strategy. We show that as marsupial predators in Australia, South America, and Papua New Guinea diversified into higher latitudes, seasonal predictability in abundance of their arthropod prey increased in multiple habitats. More-predictable prey peaks were associated with shorter annual breeding seasons, consistent with the suggestion that females accrue fitness benefits by timing peak energy demands of reproduction to coincide with maximum food abundance. We demonstrate that short mating seasons intensified reproductive competition between males, increasing male energy investment in copulations and reducing male postmating survival. However, predictability of annual prey cycles alone does not explain suicidal reproduction, because unlike insect abundance, peak ovulation dates in semelparous species are often synchronized to the day among years, triggered by a species-specific rate of change of photoperiod. Among species with low postmating male survival, we show that those with suicidal reproduction have shorter mating seasons and larger testes relative to body size. This indicates that lethal effort is adaptive in males because females escalate sperm competition by further shortening and synchronizing the annual mating period and mating promiscuously. We conclude that precopulatory sexual selection by females favored the evolution of suicidal reproduction in mammals.
Characterization of neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM) expressed by ewing and neuroblastoma cell lines

The status of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM gene which is mapped to human chromosome 11q23–24 has been investigated in Ewing‐tumor‐derived cell lines which present the t(11;22)(q23–24;q12) translocation characteristic of this malignancy. No rearrangement was detected when 2 different non‐overlapping probes to mouse NCAM were used. The expression of the NCAM gene was analysed at both the protein and messenger levels in material extracted from Ewing cell lines, human neuroblastoma cell line and fetal mouse brain. Immune blot and immunoprecipitation studies showed that the neuroblastoma cell line contained more NCAM material than the Ewing lines. In neuroblastoma but not in Ewing, the NCAM material had the electrophoretic characteristics of molecules with long polysialic acid chains. After treatment with endosialidase, the diffusely migrating neuroblastoma material was resolved into 3 discrete bands of 120, 140 and 180 kDa. In Ewing extract, high‐molecular‐weight NCAM species were also detected with a 3‐band pattern more reminiscent of mature brain. Endoglycosidase F treatment of Ewing NCAM indicated that all 3 species were largely N‐ glycosylated. Northern blot analysis confirmed that NCAM was expressed more abundantly in neuroblastoma than in Ewing cell lines. Among the 4 NCAM messengers (7.0, 6.5, 4.3 and 4.1 kb) detected in the neuroblastoma, the 6.5 kb species was largely predominant. The Ewing messenger RNA pattern was clearly different as the largest 7.0‐kb species was virtually absent and the other bands were of similar intensities.
Endophenotypes in bipolar disorder.

The search for genes in bipolar disorder has provided numerous genetic loci that have been linked to susceptibility to developing the disorder. However, because of the genetic heterogeneity inherent in bipolar disorder, additional strategies may need to be employed to fully dissect the genetic underpinnings. One such strategy involves reducing complex behaviors into their component parts (endophenotypes). Abnormal neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrinological, neuroanatomical, cognitive, and neuropsychological findings are characteristics that often accompany psychiatric illness. It is possible that some of these may eventually be useful in subdefining complex genetic disorders, allowing for improvements in diagnostic assessment, genetic linkage studies, and development of animal models. Findings in patients with bipolar disorder that may eventually be useful as endophenotypes include abnormal regulation of circadian rhythms (the sleep/wake cycle, hormonal rhythms, etc.), response to sleep deprivation, P300 event-related potentials, behavioral responses to psychostimulants and other medications, response to cholinergics, increase in white matter hyperintensities (WHIs), and biochemical observations in peripheral mononuclear cells. Targeting circadian rhythm abnormalities may be a particularly useful strategy because circadian cycles appear to be an inherent evolutionarily conserved function in all organisms and have been implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder. Furthermore, lithium has been shown to regulate circadian cycles in diverse species, including humans, possibly through inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta (GSK-3beta), a known target of lithium.
Essential role of CCR2 in neutrophil tissue infiltration and multiple organ dysfunction in sepsis.

RATIONALE Sepsis is defined as a systemic inflammatory response to infection, which in its severe form is associated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). The precise mechanisms by which MODS develops remain unclear. Neutrophils have a pivotal role in the defense against infections; however, overwhelming activation of neutrophils is known to elicit tissue damage. OBJECTIVES We investigated the role of the chemokine receptor CCR2 in driving neutrophil infiltration and eliciting tissue damage in remote organs during sepsis. METHODS Sepsis was induced in wild-type mice treated with CCR2 antagonist (RS504393) or CCR2(-/-) mice by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model. Neutrophil infiltration into the organs was measured by myeloperoxidase activity and fluorescence-activated cell sorter. CCR2 expression and chemotaxis were determined in neutrophils stimulated with Toll-like receptor agonists or isolated from septic mice and patients. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS CCR2 expression and responsiveness to its ligands was induced in circulating neutrophils during CLP-induced sepsis by a mechanism dependent on Toll-like receptor/nuclear factor-κB pathway. Genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of CCR2 protected mice from CLP-induced mortality. This protection was associated with lower infiltration of neutrophils into the lungs, heart, and kidneys and reduced serum biochemical indicators of organ injury and dysfunction. Importantly, neutrophils from septic patients express high levels of CCR2, and the severity of patient illness correlated positively with increasing neutrophil chemotaxis to CCR2 ligands. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, these data identify CCR2 as a key receptor that drives the inappropriate infiltration of neutrophils into remote organs during sepsis. Therefore, CCR2 blockade is a novel potential therapeutic target for treatment of sepsis-induced MODS.
Twist-grain-boundary phases near the nematic-smectic-A-smectic-C point in liquid crystals.

We generalize the Chen-Lubensky model for the point where the nematic, smectic-A, and smectic-C liquid-crystalline phases meet (the NAC point) to include the effects of molecular chirality. We calculate the phase diagram for this model when the possibility of a twist-grain-boundary (TGB) phase is included and when it is not. In the latter case, we find that the NAC multicritical point becomes a critical end point where first-order cholesteric to smectic-A and cholesteric to chiral-smectic-C phase boundaries meet a second-order smectic-A to chiral-smectic-C phase boundary. In the former case, we find that the TGB phase always intervenes between the cholesteric and smectic-A phases near the NAC multicritical point of the nonchiral system. The connection between these results and the recent observations of a chiral smectic phase near the NAC point by Goodby and co-workers [Nature 337, 449 (1988); J. Am. Chem. Soc. 111, 8119 (1989)] is discussed briefly.
The Relationship among Perceived Organizational Support, Trust, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention: A Study of Banking Sector in Pakistan

This research inspects the impact of POS on trust, job satisfaction and turnover intention and observe the mediating effect of job satisfaction between POS, trust and turnover intention. A sample of 281 is taken from the banking sector. Convenience Sampling is used. The scales are taken from earlier research and confirmed for validity & reliability. Eight hypotheses are explored. Data is analyzed through descriptive statistics and multiple regression. Results indicated that POS positively affected trust and job satisfaction, so did trust on job satisfaction. POS, trust and job satisfaction negatively affected turnover intention and the results are consistent with previous researches. Job satisfaction performed as partial mediator between POS and turnover intention; trust and turnover intention. The study is useful but also suffers from some limitations. This study was done on banking sector so it can only apply to banking sector. Other sector like education and health sector were missing. Time was limited, sample size was not too big. The findings of this study shows the importance of POS, trust and job satisfaction in affecting turnover intention in banking sector. For minimizing turnover intention mangers in this sector must consider these indicators. The research for the relation among said variables has been abundant in past, but in this area the research is still lacking so the gap is still there.
Dominated Options in Health-Insurance Plans

Recent studies have found that many people select into health plans with higher coverage (e.g., lower deductibles) even when those plans are financially dominated by other options. We explore whether having dominated options is common by analyzing data on plan designs from the Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey for firms that offered employees both a high-deductible (HD) health plan and a lower-deductible (LD) option. In 65% of firms the high-deductible option would result in lower maximum possible health spending for the employee for the year. We estimate that the HD plan financially dominates the LD plan at roughly half of firms across a wide range of possible health spending needs employees might anticipate. The expected savings from selecting the HD plan are typically over $500 per year, often with no increase in financial risk. We present evidence that these patterns may arise naturally from employers passing through large average-cost differences between HD and LD plans to their employees. We discuss the implications of those dynamics for the nature of transfers between employees and the efficiency of health spending.
NUCLEAR DIVISION IN ESCHERICHIA COLI AS REVEALED BY ACID FUCHSIN

It has long been known that acid dyes may be used to stain bacteria provided the pH of the staining solution is lower than that of the isoelectric point of the protoplasm of the organism. According to Dubos (1946) "acid dyes present over basic dyes the advantage of giving better differentiation and of showing less tendency to stain debris, etc." Given these advantages it was desired to develop a staining procedure for showing internal structure in bacteria by the use of acid stains. Escherichia coli was used as the test organism.
Transparency Should Trump Trust: Rejoinder to McConnell and Leibold (2009) and Ziegert and Hanges (2009)

The rebuttals offered by the authors whose data we reanalyzed (A. R. McConnell & J. M. Leibold, 2001;J. C. Ziegert & P. J. Hanges, 2005) address secondary issues that do not alter our primary message: Theevidence for the predictive validity of the race Implicit Association Test is too fragile to support thestrong claims that have been made about the pervasiveness of prejudice and the linkages between ImplicitAssociation Test scores and discriminatory behavior. Greater caution in both the legal and scientificcommunities is warranted. Most importantly, scientific research on implicit bias needs greater transpar-ency and willingness to open raw data to critical scrutiny, not greater trust and deference amongresearchers.Keywords: Implicit Association Test, implicit bias, predictive validity, discrimination, replication
Postconcussional Disorder: Are the DSM-IV Criteria an Improvement Over the ICD-10?

Little is known about the characteristics and outcomes of patients diagnosed with postconcussional disorder (PCD) under the provisionally proposed criteria in the DSM-IV and how they differ from patients diagnosed with postconcussional syndrome (PCS) under the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition clinical (ICD-10) criteria. This study investigated differences in outcome based on a diagnosis of PCD (DSM-IV) versus PCS (ICD-10 clinical criteria) as to which criteria set might be preferred for clinical practice. A consecutive series of adult patients with mild (N = 319) to moderate (N = 21) traumatic brain injury was assessed at 3 months postinjury with a brief neuropsychological battery and measures of specific outcome domains. In two separate series of analyses, patients with PCD were compared with those without PCD, and those with PCS were compared with those without PCS. Although the two criteria sets resulted in markedly different incidence rates, there was no substantial pattern of differences between the DSM-IV and ICD-10 in the outcome domains of psychiatric symptoms and disorders, social and community integration, health-related quality of life, or global outcome as measured by the Glasgow Outcome Scale—Extended. In spite of significant differences between the two diagnostic criteria sets and different incidence rates for PCD/PCS, outcome in all measured domains was very similar at 3 months postinjury. There is no compelling evidence, based on these outcome domains, to suggest which of the two diagnostic criteria sets should be clinically preferred.
Do Leaders Affect Ethical Conduct?

We study whether leaders influence the unethical conduct of followers. To avoid selection issues present in natural environments, we use a laboratory experiment in which we form groups and assign leadership roles at random. We study an environment in which groups compete, with dishonest behavior enhancing group earnings to the detriment of social welfare. We vary, by treatment, two instruments through which leaders can influence follower conduct—prominent statements to the group and the allocation of monetary incentives. In general, the presence of active group leaders gives rise to significantly more dishonest behavior. Moreover, appointing leaders who are likely to have acted dishonestly in a preliminary stage of the experiment yields groups with significantly more unethical conduct. The analysis of leaders’ strategies reveals that leaders’ statements have a stronger effect on follower behavior than the ability to distribute financial rewards, and that leaders’ propensity to act dishonestly correlates with their use of statements or incentives as a means for encouraging dishonest follower conduct.
On MIMO waveform design for non-Gaussian target detection

We consider a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detection problem with M widely-spaced transmit antennas and L widely-spaced receive antennas (not necessarily co-located), and we study the problem of designing the signal waveforms transmitted by each source node under non-Gaussian target scattering and temporally-correlated Gaussian clutter. Two figures of merit are investigated for space-time code optimization under a semi-definite rank constraint and a received signal-to-clutter ratio constraint: 1) the lower Chernoff bound (LCB) to the detection probability for fixed probability of false alarm, and 2) the mutual information (MI) between the observations available at the receive nodes and the M×L “channel matrix” generated by a target, assumed present tout court. If the scattering distribution possesses some suitably defined properties of exchangeability and unitary invariance, we show that MI-optimal and LCB-optimal space-time coding admit a simple closed-form solution. Finally, a case study of relevant practical interest is examined in depth so as to compare the proposed design criteria and to assess the impact of signal non-Gaussianity on the detection performances.
The Mediator Complex Subunit PFT1 Interferes with COP1 and HY5 in the Regulation of Arabidopsis Light Signaling1[C][W][OA]

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants hypersensitive to far-red light were isolated under a light program of alternating red and far-red light pulses and were named eid (for empfindlicher im dunkelroten Licht). The dominant eid3 mutant carries a missense mutation in a conserved domain of PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME1 (PFT1), an important component of the plant mediator coactivator complex, which links promoter-bound transcriptional regulators to RNA polymerase II complexes. Epistatic analyses were performed to obtain information about the coaction between the mutated PFT1eid3 and positively and negatively acting components of light signaling cascades. The data presented here provide clear evidence that the mutation mainly enhances light sensitivity downstream of phytochrome A (phyA) and modulates phyB function. Our results demonstrate that the Mediator component cooperates with CONSTITUTIVE PHOTORMORPHOGENIC1 in the regulation of light responses and that the hypersensitive phenotype strictly depends on the presence of the ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 transcription factor, an important positive regulator of light-dependent gene expression. Expression profile analyses revealed that PFT1eid3 alters the transcript accumulation of light-regulated genes even in darkness. Our data further indicate that PFT1 regulates the floral transition downstream of phyA. The PFT1 missense mutation seems to create a constitutively active transcription factor by mimicking an early step in light signaling.
Exogenous and autocrine growth factors stimulate human intervertebral disc cell proliferation via the ERK and Akt pathways

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is accompanied by growth factor‐overexpression and increased cell proliferation, probably representing a tissue repair process. Accordingly, we studied the effect of exogenous and autocrine growth factors on the proliferation of human IVD cells. We observed that Platelet‐Derived Growth Factor (PDGF), basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF), and Insulin‐like Growth Factor‐I (IGF‐I) stimulate DNA synthesis of human IVD cells, through the activation of the MEK/ERK and the PI‐3K/Akt signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, medium conditioned (CM) by IVD cells induced DNA synthesis in the same cells, indicating the secretion of autocrine growth factors. The MEK/ERK and PI‐3K/Akt pathways were also induced by CM, while their inhibition reversed in large part the DNA synthesis induction by CM. These responses to the exogenous and autocrine growth factors were qualitatively similar in both nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF) cell cultures. Immunohistochemical studies in human biopsies showed significant activation of both signaling pathways, which was most prominent in the clusters of proliferating cells. These in vitro and in vivo data indicate that the proliferation of human IVD cells is regulated by exogenous and autocrine growth factors mainly via the MEK/ERK and PI‐3K/Akt pathways; this may contribute to the design of future interventional approaches. © 2011 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 30:958–964, 2012
Factors Contributing to Mental and Physical Health Care in a Disaster-Prone Environment

Environment as a contextual factor plays an important role in southeastern Louisiana, as this area represents a major economic hub for the United States port, petroleum, and fishing industries. The location also exposes the population to both natural and technological disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill. This study explored associations among hurricane loss, oil spill disruption, and environmental quality of life on mental and physical health on over 1,000 residents (N = 1,225) using structural equation modeling techniques. Results showed that oil spill distress was associated with increased symptoms of mental and physical health; Hurricane Katrina loss; and decreased environmental quality of life. Findings also indicate that mental health symptoms explain the association among oil spill distress and physical health symptoms—specifically, those that overlap with somatic complaints. These findings provide important support of the need for mental health assessment and service availability for disaster recovery.
Molecular approaches for the identification of novel egg components

The avian egg is a nutritious food and also a major source of biologically active compounds that are beneficial for human health. These biologically active molecules are widely used by pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Egg proteins were previously studied using classical biochemical techniques such as chromatographic and electrophoretic separation and Edman sequence analysis. The development of molecular biology in the late 80′s and the recent publication of the chicken genome sequence are major scientific advances leading to identification and characterization of a number of minor egg components that were not previously identified. Using recent data on the characterization of egg white and eggshell matrix proteins, we illustrate in this review recent developments in the biochemistry of the egg (proteomics) and in the molecular biology of the egg (cDNA and ESTs libraries, bioinformatic analysis of the chicken genome, transcriptomics). These methods have allowed the identification of hundreds of minor egg protein components with potential applications for industry. Functional studies to identify the biological activities of these novel egg protein components and to exploit their potential will form the next frontier of egg science.