Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phototransformation of the Red Light Sensor Cyanobacterial Phytochrome 2 from Synechocystis Species Depends on Its Tongue Motifs*

Background: Phytochromes are bilin-dependent red/far red photoreceptors. Results: Late processes of the Pr → Pfr photoconversion involve large scale conformational changes within the tongue region. Conclusion: Early intermediates lumi-R and R1 affect only the chromophore and its nearest surroundings, whereas late R2 formation recruits the Trp motifs in the peripheral tongue. Significance: The conserved motifs of the tongue region are important for photoconversion and presumably for signaling. Phytochromes are photoreceptors using a bilin tetrapyrrole as chromophore, which switch in canonical phytochromes between red (Pr) and far red (Pfr) light-absorbing states. Cph2 from Synechocystis sp. , a noncanonical phytochrome, harbors besides a cyanobacteriochrome domain a second photosensory module, a Pr/Pfr-interconverting GAF-GAF bidomain (SynCph2(1-2)). As in the canonical phytochromes, a unique motif of the second GAF domain, the tongue region, seals the bilin-binding site in the GAF1 domain from solvent access. Time-resolved spectroscopy of the SynCph2(1-2) module shows four intermediates during Pr → Pfr phototransformation and three intermediates during Pfr → Pr back-conversion. A mutation in the tongue's conserved PRXSF motif, S385A, affects the formation of late intermediate R3 and of a Pfr-like state but not the back-conversion to Pr via a lumi-F-like state. In contrast, a mutation in the likewise conserved WXE motif, W389A, changes the photocycle at intermediate R2 and causes an alternative red light-adapted state. Here, back-conversion to Pr proceeds via intermediates differing from SynCph2(1-2). Replacement of this tryptophan that is ∼15 Å distant from the chromophore by another aromatic amino acid, W389F, restores native Pr → Pfr phototransformation. These results indicate large scale conformational changes within the tongue region of GAF2 during the final processes of phototransformation. We propose that in early intermediates only the chromophore and its nearest surroundings are altered, whereas late changes during R2 formation depend on the distant WXE motifs of the tongue region. Ser-385 within the PRXSF motif affects only late intermediate R3, when refolding of the tongue and docking to the GAF1 domain are almost completed.
Collection of peripheral-blood diploid cells from chronic myelogenous leukemia patients early in the recovery phase from myelosuppression induced by intensive-dose chemotherapy.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether intensive chemotherapy followed by peripheral stem-cell (PSC) collections during early hematopoietic recovery results in a higher percentage of diploid cell collections in patients with Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). PATIENTS AND METHODS Fifty-five adults with Ph-positive CML received intensive chemotherapy with daunorubicin and high-dose cytarabine (ara-C) (DAUNO-HDAC; 26 patients) or fludarabine, high-dose ara-C, and mitoxantrone (FAM; 29 patients). Collections of the peripheral mononuclear cells were initiated when the WBC count was > or = 0.8 x 10(3)/microL. Simultaneous peripheral and marrow samples were subjected to cytogenetic studies. RESULTS Thirty-eight of 55 patients (69%) were able to undergo the PSC collections. The rate of collection was higher in chronic phase (26 of 30 patients; 87%) than in accelerated (11 of 17; 65%) and blastic phases (1 of 8; 12%). Among the 30 patients in chronic phase, cytogenetic analyses of PSC showed cytogenetic responses (Ph-positive < 95%) in 60%, which were major (Ph < 35%) in 43% and complete (Ph = 0%) in 27%. Seven of 19 patients with simultaneous studies (37%; 23% of total) had a significantly lower percentage of Ph-positive cells in the peripheral collection compared with the marrow collection; one had the reverse phenomenon (5%; 3% of total). Cytogenetic responses were modest in both peripheral and marrow collections in CML accelerated and blastic phases. Myelosuppression-associated complications were frequent, resulting in febrile episodes in 76% of patients. CONCLUSION PSC collection during early hematopoietic recovery from intensive chemotherapy allowed the collection of diploid-rich stem cells, mostly in chronic-phase CML. The approach could be used for in vivo purging before autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT).
Does Corporate Governance Matter after All? Quality of Governance and the Value of Canadian Firms after 2008

Canadian firms listed in the TSX/S&P index are ranked according to its governance standards by a leading Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail Report on Business every year. The objective of the present study is to investigate what are the determinants of governance in the case of Canadian firms and to assess the relationship between governance and firm value after the shift in the governance regulation occurred in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. We estimate the effect of governance on stock return by using different econometric approaches in order to control for the endogeneity of governance structures. The results show that larger firms and firms with higher market value (measured by the Tobin’s q ratio) adopt better standards of governance. However, the results also show a negative significant impact of governance on stock return. The evidence provided by our study offers important insights, especially for policy makers that have recently changed the Canadian governance system from a “comply or explain approach” to a “principles approach”. Our results indicate a lack of evidence of market enforcement for the adoption of better standards of governance. With a more lenient regulation, like occurred in other countries, self-enforcement is unlikely to be an effective mechanism for implementation of best practices of governance.
Radiation dose-reduction techniques in North American dental schools.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to describe the extent to which dental schools use materials, equipment, and quality-assurance protocols that reduce radiation exposure to patients. STUDY DESIGN Questionnaires soliciting information regarding intraoral and extraoral radiographic practices and quality-assurance procedures were sent to the directors of oral and maxillofacial radiology (OMR) at the 65 schools of dentistry in the United States and Canada. RESULTS The response rate was 100%. E-speed film is used at 86% of institutions. Direct digital radiography is used at 58% of institutions for intraoral imaging and 11% for extraoral radiography. Other dose-reducing techniques include long source-film distances (88%), rectangular beam limitation (47%), leaded aprons (95% for extraoral films; 85% with thyroid collars for intraoral films), and rare earth intensifying screens (100%). The most commonly used tube potential is 70 kVp (88%). The director of OMR is solely responsible for radiographic policies at approximately 75% of institutions. Regular tests for film fog, speed, and contrast are done at roughly 75% of schools, while over 90% test darkroom lighting and x-ray equipment. CONCLUSIONS Some dose-reducing strategies are commonly used in dental schools, while others have not gained wide acceptance.
Impact of Traumatic and Violent Victimization Experiences in Individuals With Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder

Individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) experience more violent victimization and noninterpersonal traumatic experiences than the general population. Earlier studies, however, have generally excluded one or grouped together victimization and trauma experiences into single outcome variables, which may obscure their contributory role to SZ symptoms. This issue is important because there is some evidence that intentionally induced violence produces higher rates of psychopathology than nonintentional traumatic experiences. We examined the independent contribution of both types of victimization experiences on SZ patients' symptomatology. We were also interested in determining whether SZ patients' pattern of acute symptom presentation could discriminate between SZ patients with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comorbidity. SZ inpatients (n = 70) were assessed for the presence of comorbid PTSD diagnosis, violent victimization, and noninterpersonal traumatic experiences. Patients were also rated on SZ symptom severity and general psychopathology measures. Past violent victimization experiences predicted severity of dysphoria and anxiety in SZ. Past traumatic experiences, however, predicted severity of psychosis. Victimization predicted severity of patients' autistic/cognitive symptoms. SZ patients with comorbid PTSD presented with significantly more anxiety and dysphoria symptoms and SZ illness chronicity than their non-PTSD counterparts. Discriminant function analysis revealed that the severity of positive, dysphoric, autistic/cognitive, and anxiety symptoms differentiated comorbid PTSD patients from their non-PTSD counterparts, with an overall 72.9% classification rate. Past traumatic and victimization experiences are significantly associated with SZ patients' symptom severity and illness course in partially overlapping domains. Use of common assessment strategies may be employed to increase detection of PTSD in SZ patients presenting for acute treatment.
COPRENEURSHIP AND ITS IMPACT ON FINANCIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPANIES

Family businesses are generally considered to be d iff rent from nonfamily firms. Couple-run companies represent a subset of f amily business but are often excluded from comparative analyses since they lack one of the basic attributes of family businesses – the intention for succession. T he goal of this study is to explore the financial differences between copreneuria l firms and other firms where spousal relationships are not involved. We tested t h differences between couplerun and non-couple-run companies using the matchedpair investigation. The sample was composed of 130 pairs of companies from the period 2007 – 2012. We used the Student’s t-test to explore the differe nces in profitability, labor productivity, level of debt, liquidity, and asset m anagement. While copreneurial companies seemed to perform better in terms of oper ating efficiency (profit margin), they performed worse in terms of labor produc tivity and asset use efficiency (asset turnover), carried less debt and were comfor table with a lower liquidity.
Voluntary IFRS Adoption and Stock Price Synchronicity: Do Analyst Following and Institutional Infrastructure Matter?

This study investigates whether and how a firm’s voluntary adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) influences stock price synchronicity or the extent to which firm-specific information is capitalized into stock prices. We also study the role of analyst following and institutional infrastructure in determining the relation between IFRS adoption and synchronicity. Using firm-level data from 34 countries, we find that synchronicity is significantly lower for IFRS adopters than for non-adopters across all regression specifications, and that for IFRS adopters, it decreases from the pre-adoption period to the post-adoption period.This finding supports the view that voluntary IFRS adoption facilitates the incorporation of firm-specific information into stock prices. We also find that the synchronicity-reducing effect of IFRS adoption is attenuated (accentuated) for firms with high (low) analyst following, and is stronger (weaker) for firms in countries with poor (good) institutional infrastructures. The above results are robust to a variety of sensitivity checks.
Sexual dimorphism of pelvic morphology variation in live humans

This study represents the comparison of the morphology variation in different planes of female and male pelvis. Anthropological literature represents two different views of the pelvic morphology variation. On the one hand, the variation is considered lower in females than in males. On the other hand, some empirical findings demonstrated no differences in the pelvic morphology variation between sexes. Moreover, some measures of female pelvis demonstrate higher coefficients of variation. Taking into account that previous findings were based on linear measures, it seems important to analyze pelvic proportions and the variation of the inlet, middle, and outlet planes. The study was based on the retrospective pelvimetry of threedimensional computer tomography of 176 live males and 212 females. Anterioposterior diameters and transverse diameters were measured in four planes, and their ratios were calculated in order to evaluate proportions and variances. The Levene’s test for the equality of variances was used to evaluate the observed variation in male and female pelvis morphology. The results confirmed well established sexual dimorphism in the pelvic linear measures – the anteroposterior diameters of the midplane and the outlet. In addition, this study identified higher variation in the transverse diameter of the inlet in females. The proportions demonstrated no differences in variation in all the planes but the midplane including bispinous diameter (F=11.34; p<.01). It seems important that the female pelvis cavity demonstrated lower variance than the male pelvis cavity in the midplane including bispinous. This finding supports the view of selective pressure on the female pelvis and its intensity in the midplane.
Brucella melitensis Cyclic di-GMP Phosphodiesterase BpdA Controls Expression of Flagellar Genes

ABSTRACT Brucella melitensis encounters a variety of conditions and stimuli during its life cycle—including environmental growth, intracellular infection, and extracellular dissemination—which necessitates flexibility of bacterial signaling to promote virulence. Cyclic-di-GMP is a bacterial secondary signaling molecule that plays an important role in adaptation to changing environments and altering virulence in a number of bacteria. To investigate the role of cyclic-di-GMP in B. melitensis, all 11 predicted cyclic-di-GMP-metabolizing proteins were separately deleted and the effect on virulence was determined. Three of these cyclic-di-GMP-metabolizing proteins were found to alter virulence. Deletion of the bpdA and bpdB genes resulted in attenuation of virulence of the bacterium, while deletion of the cgsB gene produced a hypervirulent strain. In a Vibrio reporter system to monitor apparent alteration in levels of cyclic-di-GMP, both BpdA and BpdB displayed a phenotype consistent with cyclic-di-GMP-specific phosphodiesterases, while CgsB displayed a cyclic-di-GMP synthase phenotype. Further analysis found that deletion of bpdA resulted in a dramatic decrease in flagellar promoter activities, and a flagellar mutant showed similar phenotypes to the bpdA and bpdB mutant strains in mouse models of infection. These data indicate a potential role for regulation of flagella in Brucella melitensis via cyclic-di-GMP.
Combined therapeutic application of botulinum toxin type A, low-frequency rTMS, and intensive occupational therapy for post-stroke spastic upper limb hemiparesis.

BACKGROUND For spastic upper limb hemiparesis after stroke, we developed triple-element protocol of botulinum toxin type A (BoNTA) injection, low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LF-rTMS), and intensive occupational therapy (OT). Aim. To investigate the safety and feasibility of the protocol. Design. A preliminary study. Setting. At a university hospital. Population. Fourteen post-stroke patients with spastic upper limb hemiparesis (mean age: 54.9±9.2 years, time after onset: 87.1±48.2 months, ±SD). METHODS In all patients, BoNTA was injected into spastic muscles of the affected upper limb (maximum total dose: 240 units). Four weeks later, they were hospitalized to receive 22 sessions of 20-min LF-rTMS and 120-min intensive OT daily over 15 days. Motor function of the affected upper limb was evaluated mainly using Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA), Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), motor activity log (MAL), and the severity of spasticity was measured with modified Ashworth scale (MAS) at BoNTA injection, discharge and four weeks post-discharge. RESULTS All patients completed the protocol without any adverse effects. The FMA score and MAL scores, but not WMFT performance time, improved significantly at discharge. The MAS score of all examined muscles decreased significantly between BoNTA and discharge. The beneficial effect of the protocol on motor function and spasticity was almost maintained until four weeks after discharge. CONCLUSION The protocol is safe and feasible, although further larger studies are needed to confirm its efficacy. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT The protocol is a potentially useful neurorehabilitative approach for this patient population.
Longitudinal attitude surveys in consumer research: A case study from the agrifood sector

Purpose – The aim of this article is to consolidate the theory relating to longitudinal attitude surveys, and supplement it with knowledge gained from the execution of an annual attitude survey of consumers.Design/methodology/approach – First, the article presents a distillation of current knowledge concerning longitudinal research; attitudes and behaviour; measurement of attitudes; and conduct of attitude surveys. Following that, a case study is carried out to survey consumer attitudes. This survey, which is intended to predict future behaviour and monitor changes in consumers' attitudes in response to socio‐political and economic changes in the food and agricultural market environment, is then discussed.Findings – The findings of a series of annual surveys of consumers' attitudes first conducted in 1997 and continued annually to 2004 include: British farmers are viewed as “good food producers”; farms are businesses, which whilst forming the financial backbone of the rural community are at present member.
Access Selection Methods in Cooperative Multi-operator Environments to Improve End-user and Operator Satisfaction

This dissertation introduces two new access selection strategies called the network-centric and the terminal-centric strategies. These strategies are based on a distributed access selection algorithm, which is designed to exploit the network cooperation to support handovers between access networks and operators. The algorithm development was motivated by the fact that the network cooperation hides the network boundaries and through information dissemination it enables more intelligent decision-making practices to ensure better utilization of the access resources resulting in enhanced capabilities serving end users. In addition, the network cooperation hides technology boundaries that could otherwise result in increased complexity of functionalities that are visible to the end users. A richer set of information representing both end-user and operator incentives is taken into account in the access selection process compared to how it is done nowadays. This ensures enhanced end-user experience because end users are also able to influence the access selection process by expressing their preferences such as a willingness to switch access network, which could add some delay and interrupt application sessions. For Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), this provides additional means to implement load balancing at radio cell and access network levels, which could increase the utilization rate of the network resources. In practice, this means that an operator is able to serve a higher number of users with the same resources. In order to evaluate the potential performance gains of these access se-
Financial, Gender and Continuity Issues in Regional Small Business: Management and Policy Implications Derived from Canadian and New Zealand Survey Evidence

Globalization and urbanization are making the employment-and-wealth-distribution roles of regional small businesses (SBs) increasingly important to regional-socio-economic-and-political stability. This study in contrasting the outcomes of a survey of 220 regional SBs in Canada and New Zealand (NZ) found that: regional SB continuity is significantly higher than commonly presumed; tax-and-life-style differences may have skewed continuity in NZ SBs; female NZ SB entrepreneurs tend to have under half the sales of their male counterparts (a relationship not found in Canada); SB entrepreneurs are slow in adopting the internet for marketing. These findings should interest policy makers, creditors, and the general business community.
Complementarities in Corporate Governance. A Survey of the Literature with Special Emphasis on Japan

The present paper uses a comparison of Japan and the US to argue that the debate about corporate governance reform is best framed in terms of systems of complementary instruments and institutions. It argues that the Japanese and US systems of corporate governance differ along many dimensions, yet can both be understood as efficient combinations of complementary instruments adapted to a particular institutional and regulatory environment. The paper also shows how exogenous shocks and piecemeal regulatory reforms have undermined the internal consistency of the Japanese system in the recent past.
Exploring trust vis‐à‐vis reliance in business relationships: A qualitative analysis in the UK construction industry

Purpose – To overcome the limitations of applying trust in interorganizational relationships, this paper aims to investigate the significant role of interorganizational reliance in business relationships and develop an original scale to measure this new construct. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 20 in‐depth interviews with buying firms were conducted in the UK construction industry. The contents of the interviews were analyzed with NVivo to examine the rational standards underlying the buyer‐supplier exchange relationship. Findings – Trust is a relevant but not in itself a sufficient condition for the development and sustaining of buyer‐supplier relationships. The objective rationality requires that business relationships are centred on organizational needs and benefits which necessitate the rational standard of interorganizational reliance. Reliance remains to be central in business relationships despite low or lack of trust. Research limitations/implications – Focusing on the construction industry, this paper evaluates the current status of trust and develops an understanding of interorganizational reliance in business relationships. Practical implications – The generic use of the term of trust has obscured the meaning and significance of reliance in business relationships. Marketing researchers should put necessary attention and efforts to explore the distinct features and effects of reliance in exchange relationships between organizations. Originality/value – The paper empirically examines the deficiencies in trust, and demonstrates the significance of reliance in buyer‐supplier relationships. An original measure for the new construct of reliance is also developed through interviews with key informants.
Morphodynamic classification of sandy beaches in a microtidal, low energy marine environment

Morphodynamic classification of beaches has achieved widespread acceptance in the coastal geological and geomorphological literature. This paper classifies twelve Mediterranean low energy beaches according to the Wright and Short parameter. The propagation to the beach of 44 years of wave data, and a detailed sediment study allow calculating the probabilities for morphodynamical beach state on annual and seasonal basis. According to that beaches in Mallorca fail between three major categories which are truly reflective, reflective skewed to intermediate and intermediate beaches which close related to the physiographical framework of the beaches. Comparison of observed values and diagnostic morphological features showed that for gross beach classification there is in agreement between predicted and real state. Nevertheless in seasonal classifications, mainly in summer predictions, as the model does not incorporates the role of summer sea breezes, then the reflective states are highlighted when the real configurations correspond to more dynamic conditions.