Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Methanogen Membrane Function : A Genetic Approach

Methanococcus voltae is a marine methanogen which derives its energy from reactions derived from the reduction of carbon dioxide by hydrogen. We are interested in elucidating basic principles of energetics in this archaebacterium and have focused on active transort, ion translocation pathways and ATP generating systems. We have made significant progress in the elucidation and characterization ot a novel P-type ATPase in this organism. The enzyme has been purified and partially characterized and the formation of an acyl phosphate intermediate demonstrated in its catalytic sequence. We have discovered an active transport system for HS-CoM, a novel methanogen coenzyme involved in a terminal step of methanogenesis. Mutants which are altered in this active transport system have been isolated and characterized.
Film Critics: Influencers or Predictors?

Critics and their reviews pervade many industries and are particularly important in the entertainment industry. Few marketing scholars, however, have considered the relationship between the market performance of entertainment services and the role of critics. The authors do so here. They show empirically that critical reviews correlate with late and cumulative box office receipts but do not have a significant correlation with early box office receipts. Although still far from any definitive conclusion, this finding suggests that critics, at least from an aggregate-level perspective, appear to act more as leading indicators than as opinion leaders.
Goal and Implementation Intentions and their Complex Transfer into Practice

1.1 Self-regulation and self-monitoring According to Grant (2006, pp. 153 f.), coaching means facilitating the coachees to set goals, develop plans of action, begin to act, monitor their performance, evaluate the results, and eventually modify their actions to better reach their goals. Grant refers to the self-regulation theory of Carver and Scheier (1998), who regard cycles of such processes as the core of all goal-directed actions. The essence of people’s conscious self-regulation is “a process of monitoring their present actions and comparing the qualities that they perceive therein with the reference values that presently are salient, making adjustments as necessary to render discrepancies minimal“ (Carver & Scheier, 1990, p. 22). Accordingly, the coach helps the coachees to define observable reference criteria or examples that can be applied in the comparison of their actions while progressing towards goal attainment. Consider the example of a key account with a scientific education whose goal is to improve the comprehensibility of his communication when presenting his company's products to customers. In order to clarify his goals and develop reference values, the coach stimulates him to define concrete goal criteria and reference examples (e.g. how to explain all of the products' features to the customer by means of illustrative examples and without technical terms). He learns to monitor improvements in his performance during role-playing exercises with feedback from the coach. Later, he applies and monitors his communication behaviour in his presentations to customers and reports his trials back to the coach. However, it is not always as easy as in the example of the key account to define goals and reference examples or criteria for desired improvements. In their self-regulation model, in addition to monitoring concrete goals and reference values in action processes, Carver and Scheier (1990, p. 32) analyse how more abstract goals and reference values are regulated, e.g. by comparison of the ideal self (from the individual's perspective) and the perceived real self or one’s 'ought' self (duty or obligation, according to the expectations of external standards or relevant people) with the real self. Examples of this are the enhancement of interpersonal skills or long-term self-development goals, such as discovery and improvement of one’s potential. Grant (2006, pp. 154 ff.) classifies such meta-cognitive processes as self-awareness and self-reflections. He assumes that the frequency of engaging with such cognitions correlates with the development of leadership skills and high-performance for managers.
Passage through bird guts causes interspecific differences in seed germination characteristics

Summary 1 Seed germination characteristics are often modified after seeds are ingested by frugivores. Factors that are intrinsic either to the plant or to the frugivore’s digestive tract are responsible for the great variation observed in germination response. 2 Our objectives were to determine whether and how the seed germination patterns of five common western Mediterranean plant species are affected by seed passage through the guts of their major dispersers, and to elucidate the mechanism by which such patterns are changed. 3 We used captive birds (Turdus merula and Sylvia melanocephala) to obtain ingested seeds and compared their germination rate (speed) and germinability (final percent germination) with those of controls (uningested, pulp-removed seeds), controlling for seed age, size and source. Germination was monitored for 2 years in an experimental garden. We evaluated the possible changes in seed traits after ingestion by measuring weight and coat thickness, and by observing seed coat sculpture. 4 Rate of seed germination, but not germinability, changed in all species after gut treatment. The greatest effect was in Osyris, in which germination was much enhanced. A great acceleration of germination, which is likely to translate into a seedling size advantage, was also found in Asparagus. In the other three species tested, germination was slower for ingested than for control seeds. 5 For Rubus and Rubia seeds, we found a different germination response depending upon the frugivore species tested. A different degree of seed coat scarification caused by differences in gut retention time, chemical and/or mechanical abrasion probably account for such responses. 6 In three of the species (Osyris, Rubia and Phillyrea), seed weight decreased after gut treatment. Such weight loss was not caused by any change in coat thickness, but may have been because of the scarification and consequent alteration of the seed coat structure. 7 The five Mediterranean species studied germinate when rains are most likely to fall (mostly autumn and spring). The different speed of germination promoted by gut treatment within frugivores may increase the probability that seeds can recruit successfully at a given time and in a given place. 8 This study suggests that frugivores contribute to the heterogeneity in germination characteristics not only within plant populations but also within plant communities, each frugivore species having a particular effect on the seeds of each plant consumed.
Decapod crustaceans from the Korytnica basin (Middle Miocene; Holy Cross Mountains, Central Poland)

The assemblage of brachyuran remains from the Korytnica basin (Middle Miocene; Holy Cross Mountains, Central Poland) contains 23 different forms belonging to 10 genera at least. Since all specimens are fragments of finger tips, the majority has been referred to higher taxonomic units such as genus or family; only in a minority an identification to the specific level was possible. According to its . composition the assemblage indicates a tropical/subtropical shallow-water environment, and it displays certain affinities to the Recent decapod fauna of the lndo-Pacific.
Despite global warnings and awareness of the detrimental effects of smoking-derived nicotine on health, 22.4% of American women of reproductive age of 18–44 years

Chronic nicotine and oral contraceptive (NOC) exposure caused significant loss of hippocampal membrane-bound estrogen receptor-beta (ER-b) in female rats compared with exposure to nicotine alone. Mitochondrial ER-b regulates estrogen-mediated mitochondrial structure and function; therefore, investigating the impact of NOC on mitochondrial ER-b and its function could help delineate the harmful synergism between nicotine and OC. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that NOC-induced loss of mitochondrial ER-b alters the oxidative phosphorylation system protein levels and mitochondrial respiratory function. This hypothesis was tested in hippocampal mitochondria isolated from female rats exposed to saline, nicotine, OC or NOC for 16 days. NOC decreased the mitochondrial ER-b protein levels and reduced oxygen consumption and complex IV (CIV) activity by 34% and 26% compared with salineor nicotine-administered groups, respectively. We also observed significantly low protein levels of all mitochondrial-encoded CIV subunits after NOC as compared with the nicotine or saline groups. Similarly, the silencing of ER-b reduced the phosphorylation of cyclic-AMP response element binding protein, and also reduced levels of CIV mitochondrial-encoded subunits after estrogen stimulation. Overall, these results suggest that mitochondrial ER-b loss is responsible for mitochondrial mal-
High-mass star formation at high luminosities: W31 at >106 L ☉

Context. High-mass star formation has been a very active field over the past decade; however, most studies have targeted regions of luminosities between 10 4 and 10 5 L� . In contrast to that, the highest mass stars reside in clusters exceeding 10 5 or even 10 6 L� . Aims. We want to study the physical conditions associated with the formation of the highest mass stars. Methods. To do this, we selected the W31 star-forming complex with a total luminosity of ∼6 × 10 6 L� (comprised of at least two subregions) for a multiwavelength spectral line and continuum study covering wavelengths from the near- and midinfrared via (sub)mm wavelength observations to radio data in the cm regime. Results. While the overall structure is similar among the multiwavelength continuum data, there are several intriguing differences. The 24 μm emission stemming largely from small dust grains tightly follows the spatial structure of the cm emission tracing the ionized free-free emission. As a result, warm dust resides in regions that are spatially associated with the ionized hot gas (∼10 4 K) of the Hii regions. Furthermore, we find several evolutionary stages within the same complexes, ranging from infrared-observable clusters, via deeply embedded regions associated with active star formation traced by 24 μm and cm emission, to at least one highmass gas clump devoid of any such signature. The 13 CO(2–1) and C 18 O(2–1) spectral line observations reveal kinematic breadth in the entire region with a total velocity range of approximately 90 km s −1 . Kinematic and turbulent structures are set into context. While the average virial mass ratio for W31 is close to unity, the line width analysis indicates large-scale evolutionary differences between the southern and northern subregions (G10.2-0.3 and G10.3-0.1) of the whole W31 complex. A color−color analysis of the IRAC data also shows that the class II sources are broadly distributed throughout the entire complex, whereas the Class 0/I sources are more tightly associated with the active high-mass star-forming regions. The clump mass function – tracing cluster scales and not scales of individual stars – derived from the 875 μm continuum data has a slope of 1.5 ± 0.3, consistent with previous cloud mass functions. Conclusions. The highest mass and luminous stars form in highly structured and complex regions with multiple events of star formation that do not always occur simultaneously but in a sequential fashion. Warm dust and ionized gas can spatially coexist, and high-mass starless cores with low-turbulence gas components can reside in the direct neighborhood of active star-forming clumps with broad linewidths.
Naturalistic Conditioned Stimuli Facilitate Sexual Conditioning Because of their Similarity with the Unconditioned Stimulus

Previous sexual conditioning studies with male Japanese quail have shown that adding taxidermic female head and neck cues to a conditioned stimulus (CS) facilitates conditioned sexual responding. The present experiment examined CS-US similarity as a possible mechanism for this facilitation. During sexual conditioning trials, artificially colored CSs with or without taxidermic female head cues were paired with copulatory access to artificially colored female quail (the unconditioned stimulus or US) to form similar and dissimilar CS-US combinations. As in previous experiments the presence of taxidermic female cues on the CS enhanced conditioned copulatory responding. Additionally, more conditioned copulatory responding developed when the CS and US colors were similar compared to when they were different. The results indicate that similarity between the CS and US strengthens the sexual conditioning of male quail, and similarity in color is more important than similarity in shape. The results also suggest that CS-US similarity may be one factor responsible for the facilitated conditioned responding that occurs when female cues are added to a CS object. The behavior systems approach is used to interpret the findings. In traditional Pavlovian conditioning experiments, an arbitrary conditioned stimulus (CS) that is initially ineffective in eliciting a behavioral response is paired with a biologically relevant unconditioned stimulus (US) that elicits behavior unconditionally. Guided by the principle of equipotentiality, early investigators of learning phenomena assumed that theories of associative learning applied equally to any combination of CSs and USs or responses and reinforcers. Experimental findings that challenged the principle of equipotentiality started appearing in the 1960’s (for a review see Domjan, 1983). In particular, it was discovered that “relevant” CSs and USs often form selective associations – they become associated more quickly, and under less optimal conditions, than do unrelated CS-US combinations. Perhaps the most familiar example was Garcia and Koelling’s (1966) discovery that rats show a predisposition to associate audiovisual cues with foot shock and taste cues with illness. Later experiments by LoLordo and his associates demonstrated that in pigeons, auditory cues are more effective than visual cues in avoidance conditioning, but visual cues are more effective than auditory cues in conditioning reinforced with food (e.g., Foree & LoLordo, 1973).
Adjusting to External Imbalances within the EMU, the Case of Portugal

From 1995 to 2010 Portugal has accumulated a negative international asset position of 110 percent of GDP. In a developed and aging economy the number is astonishing and any argument to consider it sustainable must rely on extremely favorable forecasts on growth. Portuguese policy options are reduced in number: no autonomous monetary policy, no currency to devaluate, and limited discretion in changing fiscal deficits and government debt. To start the necessary deleveraging a remaining possible policy is a budget-neutral change of the tax structure that increases private saving and net exports. An increase in the VAT and a decrease in the employer’s social security contribution tax can achieve the desired outcome in the short run if they are complemented with wage moderation. To obtain a substantial improvement in competitiveness and a large decrease in consumption, the changes in the tax rates have to be large. While a precise quantitative assessment is difficult, the initial increase in the effective VAT rate needed to allow the social security tax to decrease by 16 percentage points (pp) is approximately 10 pp. Such a large increase in the effective VAT rate could be obtained by raising most of the reduced VAT rates to the new general VAT rate of 23 percent. The empirical analysis shows that over time the suggested tax swap could generate surpluses and improve the trade balance. A temporary version of the suggested tax-swap has the attractiveness to achieve a sharper increase in the private saving rate maintaining the short run gains in competitiveness. Finally, the temporary version of the fiscal devaluation could be the basis for an automatic stabilizer to external imbalances within a monetary union.
Endothelin in the perinatal circulation 1

During the fetal period, blood is oxygenated through the placenta, and most of the cardiac output bypasses the lung through the ductus arteriosus. At birth, pulmonary vascular resistance falls with the initiation of ventilation. Coincidentally, the ductus arteriosus constricts. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) appears to play an important role during that transition period and postnatally. ET-1 can dramatically increase resistance in the placental microcirculation and may be involved in blood flow redistribution with hypoxia. At birth, the increase in oxygen tension is important in triggering ductus vasoconstriction. It is proposed that oxygen triggers closure of the ductus arteriosus by activating a specific, cytochrome P450-linked reaction, which in turn stimulates the synthesis of ET-1. On the neonatal heart, ET-1 has a positive chronotropic but negative inotropic effect. In the newborn piglet and the fetal lamb, both term and preterm, ET-1 causes a potent, long-lasting pulmonary vasoconstriction. Furthermore, a transient dilator response has been identified, and it is ascribed to nitric oxide formation. ET receptors are abundant in the piglet pulmonary vasculature. They are predominantly of the ETA constrictor subtype, though ETB2 constrictor receptors may also be present in certain species. The dilator response is linked to the ETB1 receptor, and the number of ETB1 receptors is reduced in hypoxiainduced pulmonary hypertension. ET-1 appears to be a causative agent in the pathogenesis of hypoxiaand hyperoxiainduced pulmonary hypertension as demonstrated by reversal of hemodynamic and morphological changes with treatment with an ETA receptor antagonist. Findings are amenable to practical applications in the management of infants with pulmonary hypertension or requiring persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus.
Comparative assessment of non-invasive imaging in detecting coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease (CAD) has an important impact on the morbidity and mortality in the West and health service resources worldwide. It is therefore crucial to accurately diagnose CAD early, in an attempt to limit its burden on patients and society, potentially by optimum risk stratification, accurate diagnosis and management. Invasive coronary angiography (ICA) is the conventional gold standard imaging investigation for the coronary circulation and assessment of disease severity. However, it is an invasive procedure and is associated with risks, although rare. In addition, it detects luminal stenosis but not the functional importance of those anatomical lesions. Therefore, a wide variety of non-invasive imaging developed to evaluate the presence and severity of CAD, including anatomical techniques e.g. coronary CT that assesses coronary stenosis, and quantifies coronary calcium, hence the burden of atherosclerotic plaques and functional imaging e.g. stress echocardiography, nuclear imaging by SPECT and PET and stress CMR. Selection of the most appropriate imaging, therefore, is challenging and requires knowledge of patients’ pre-test probability and prevalence of disease, their advantages and limitations, cost and availability. This review attempts to provide an overview of the current supporting evidence of the role of non-invasive imaging in diagnosing CAD, in addition to its prognostic value, limitations and advantages.
Musculoskeletal disorders in informal mining workers

Introduction: Among the segments and modalities of work, the mining activity is considered problematic with regards to the possibilities of disturbances and occupational diseases that can be of physical, biological and social order. Objective: determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in informal mining workers of the Serido region in the state of Paraiba. Methods: 371 informal workers from the Serido region participated in the study. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used for the evaluation of the musculoskeletal symptoms. Results: musculoskeletal symptomatology was reported by the majority of employees in one or more body segments (60.6%, n = 225). The lumbar region was the most affected (36.4%; n = 135). Men showed higher frequency of lumbar problems (p <0.01) than women. Workers of older age reported more musculoskeletal disorders in various body segments. The miners working more hours also reported higher prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in some regions of the body. Those miners with longer service time also reported more musculoskeletal disorders present in some body segments. Conclusion: informal workers from the Serido region in the state of Paraiba presented high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, with greater problems in the lumbar and dorsal regions. The age, the length of service in the mining and the working hours contributed to the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. It is necessary to consider the working hours, the length of service and the age of workers to propose interventional measures.
Lamellar Body Count in Diabetic Pregnancies with Good Glycemic Control

Objective: To evaluate the influence of diabetes with strict glycemic control on fetal lung maturity in pregnancies by using lamellar body counts (LBC). Methods: Twenty-two diabetic and 53 non-diabetic pregnant women were conducted to the study. The glucose levels were strictly controlled and kept within normal ranges in all the diabetic women. The mean LBC, the rate of low LBC, the rate of neonatal intensive care unit stay (ICU), the rate of respiratory need and the pregnancy outcome were compared between the diabetic and non-diabetic groups. LBC was accepted as low when it was fewer than 50,000/microl. The relation of low LBC with gestational age, presence of diabetes, administration of antenatal steroid, cord blood PH, base deficit, neonatal intensive care unit stay and need of respiratory support were analyzed. Results: The mean age of women, characteristics of pregnancy and pregnancy outcome, antenatal corticosteroid administration rate, rate of neonatal intensive care unit stay and respiratory need were similar in the groups. The mean LBC and the rate of low LBC were also similar in the groups. There was no statistically significant relation between the risk of low LBC and the presence of diabetes, antenatal corticosteroid administration, cord blood PH, base deficit and need of respiratory support. The independent predictor of low LBC was found as the low gestational age (OR=0.693, 95% CI: 0.49-0.98, P=0.038). The relation of low LBC with the increased stay in neonatal intensive care unit became insignificant when its effect was analyzed together with the gestational age (OR=9.2; 95% CI: 0.947-88.95, p=0.056). Conclusion: Lamellar body count, thus fetal lung maturity and the neonatal outcome was not altered in diabetic pregnancies with good glycemic control. The only independent predictor of low LBC was low gestational age.
Life histories of birds: clutch size, longevity, and body mass among North American game birds

Clutch size, longevity, and body mass data for 54 North American game birds were extracted from the literature to test the hypothesis that a trade-off exists between fecundity and survival among avian species. Species with larger clutch sizes live shorter lives than species with smaller clutch sizes (r = −0.38, n = 54, P 0.05) among mean values of life-history traits occur at any taxonomic level higher than genus or when species are grouped with respect to feeding habits. This might be the result of lo.