Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Src SH2 Arginine 175 Is Required for Cell Motility: Specific Focal Adhesion Kinase Targeting and Focal Adhesion Assembly Function

ABSTRACT Src kinase is a crucial mediator of adhesion-related signaling and motility. Src binds to focal adhesion kinase (FAK) through its SH2 domain and subsequently activates it for phosphorylation of downstream substrates. In addition to this binding function, data suggested that the SH2 domain might also perform an important role in targeting Src to focal adhesions (FAs) to enable further substrate phosphorylations. To examine this, we engineered an R175L mutation in cSrc to prevent the interaction with FAK pY397. This constitutively open Src kinase mediated up-regulated substrate phosphorylation in SYF cells but was unable to promote malignant transformation. Significantly, SrcR175L cells also had a profound motility defect and an impaired FA generation capacity. Importantly, we were able to recapitulate wild-type motile behavior and FA formation by directing the kinase to FAs, clearly implicating the SH2 domain in recruitment to FAK and indicating that this targeting capacity, and not simply Src-FAK scaffolding, was critical for normal Src function.
CEO pay-performance and board independence: the impact of earnings management in China

This paper examines the impact of board characteristics and CEO compensation on firm performance when firm performance is adjusted for the effect of earnings management. Results from regression analysis indicates that the CEO pay-performance relation is substantially lower when firm performance is adjusted for the effect of earnings management than when firm performance is measured as reported performance. That is, the positive effect of executive compensation on firm performance disappears when firm performance is measured as adjusted firm performance excluding earnings management in Chinese listed firms, and as a result, we can identify that the evident executive pay-performance relation is largely cosmetic. We also find that the proportion of independent directors on board is significantly positively associated with firm performance only when the firm performance is adjusted for the effect of earnings management. Similar results are found in ownership concentration too. These results suggest that independent directors are shown as more effective governance mechanism in Chinese listed firms when true firm performance is considered while the positive effect of CEO compensation disappears concerning true firm performance.
Membrane‐delimited coupling between sigma receptors and K+ channels in rat neurohypophysial terminals requires neither G‐protein nor ATP

1 Receptor‐mediated modulation of ion channels generally involves G‐proteins, phosphorylation, or both in combination. The sigma receptor, which modulates voltage‐gated K+ channels, is a novel protein with no homology to other receptors known to modulate ion channels. In the present study patch clamp and photolabelling techniques were used to investigate the mechanism by which sigma receptors modulate K+ channels in peptidergic nerve terminals. 2 The sigma receptor photoprobe iodoazidococaine labelled a protein with the same molecular mass (26 kDa) as the sigma receptor protein identified by cloning. 3 The sigma receptor ligands pentazocine and SKF10047 modulated K+ channels, despite intra‐terminal perfusion with GTP‐free solutions, a G‐protein inhibitor (GDPβS), a G‐protein activator (GTPγS) or a non‐hydrolysable ATP analogue (AMPPcP). 4 Channels in excised outside‐out patches were modulated by ligand, indicating that soluble cytoplasmic factors are not required. In contrast, channels within cell‐attached patches were not modulated by ligand outside a patch, indicating that receptors and channels must be in close proximity for functional interactions. Channels expressed in oocytes without receptors were unresponsive to sigma receptor agonists, ruling out inhibition through a direct drug interaction with channels. 5 These experiments indicate that sigma receptor‐mediated signal transduction is membrane delimited, and requires neither G‐protein activation nor protein phosphorylation. This novel transduction mechanism is mediated by membrane proteins in close proximity, possibly through direct interactions between the receptor and channel. This would allow for more rapid signal transduction than other ion channel modulation mechanisms, which in the present case of neurohypophysial nerve terminals would lead to the enhancement of neuropeptide release.
Bacteriophage production by doubly lysogenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae

Parental and recombinant phage production by tandem, double lysogens of Corynebacterium diphtheriae was studied in strains in which the coupling of prophage markers and the order of prophage was established. The results from studies of mass lysates and single bursts showed that the recombinant class of phage, designated R1, was predominant in UV-induced lysates followed by the parental, P1 class and to a lesser extent the P2 and R2 classes. Single bursts of UV-treated cells contained phage from one to all four of the phage classes, and this appeared to reflect the action of two excision processes. The data indicate that recombinant phages R1 and R2 are formed by a process of general recombinational excision and that this is the primary event leading to phage production in both UV-irradiated and spontaneously induced double lysogens. This process, which depends on exchange between homologous genes and is reciprocal, accounts for the excision of R1 phage from the host chromosome. A second excision process, probably site-specific excision, also occurs in many of the same cells and accounts for the excision of P1, P2, and R2 phages. The significance of these results for the spread of toxinogenicity in strains of C. diphtheriae is discussed.
The Market Equity Risk Premium

The New Zealand Superannuation Act 2001 requires the Treasury to state each year the required capital contribution of the New Zealand Government to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. This paper examines a key assumption made in that calculation - the level of expected long-term premium of return on equity market investments over return on long-term government bonds. Over the past seventy-five years, US capital markets have provided an equity risk premium over long-term bonds in the region of 7%. The traditional view has been that these historical results provide an unbiased estimate of the expected future long-term equity risk premium. This view has given way over the past few years to a consensus that the future expected risk premium is actually somewhat lower. This consensus rests on a range of recent empirical evidence and theoretical analysis. It draws on both the historical records of market returns, dividends and reported earnings, and on forward-looking information through surveys of market experts and from the expectations implicit in analysts' earnings forecasts. On the basis of this analysis, we believe that the long-term annual (arithmetic) expected equity risk premium sits in the range of 3% to 5%. For the purpose of calculating the required capital contribution to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, the Treasury is adopting the assumption of a long-term expected future equity risk premium of 4%.
Therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest in a real-life setting.

INTRODUCTION In 2002, two landmark studies concluded that therapeutic hypothermia (TH) improves survival and neurologic outcome in patients with shockable rhythms and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). However, the evidence on whether TH also improves the prognosis in patients with non-shockable rhythms or in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is sparse. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and prognosis of patients with non-shockable rhythms or IHCA after implementation of TH in a real-life setting. METHODS The study included 72 consecutive, unconscious patients that were admitted to Holbaek Hospital after cardiac arrest and successful resuscitation. Patients were included regardless of initial cardiac rhythms and location of the cardiac arrest. All patients were cooled to a temperature of 32-34 °C. The primary outcome was survival with a favourable neurologic outcome within six months. RESULTS Almost two thirds (63%) of the included patients had non-shockable rhythms or IHCA and only 8.7% of these patients survived with a favourable neurologic outcome. Nearly a third (29%) of the included patients had OHCA with an initial non-shockable rhythm and none (0%) of these patients survived with a favourable neurologic outcome. CONCLUSIONS In a real-life setting, the majority of resuscitated patients receiving TH do not fulfil the criteria of the original studies upon which the current guidelines are based. Furthermore, these patients have a poor outcome, indicating that not all patients may benefit from TH. FUNDING none. TRIAL REGISTRATION not relevant.
Synaptic Bombardment Modulates Muscarinic Effects in Forelimb Motor Cortex

Neocortical neurons in vivo exist in an environment of continuous synaptic bombardment, receiving a complex barrage of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. This background activity (by depolarizing neurons, increasing membrane conductance, and introducing fluctuations) strongly alters many aspects of neuronal responsiveness. In this study, we asked how it shapes neuromodulation of postsynaptic responses. Specifically, we examined muscarinic modulation of forelimb motor cortex, a brain area in which cholinergic stimulation is known to be necessary for modifications during motor skill learning. Using a dynamic clamp system to inject simulated conductances into pyramidal neurons in motor cortical slices, we mimicked in vivo-like activity by introducing a random background of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. When muscarinic receptors were stimulated with the agonist oxotremorine-M, several previously described currents were modified, and excitability was increased. However, the presence of the background conductances strongly attenuated most muscarinic agonist effects, with the notable exception that sustained firing responses to trains of inputs were well preserved. This may be important for promoting plasticity in vivo.
Health state utilities and quality of life in patients with hepatitis B.

BACKGROUND The effect of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and health state utilities has not been well characterized. OBJECTIVE To measure utility scores and HRQoL across disease states associated with CHB infection. METHODS Patients attending four tertiary care clinics for CHB were approached between July 2007 and March 2009. Respondents completed version 2 of the Short-Form 36 Health Survey, the EQ5D, a visual analogue scale, the Health Utilities Index Mark 3, standard gamble, and demographics and risk factor surveys in English, Cantonese or Mandarin. Charts were reviewed to determine disease stage and comorbidities. RESULTS A total of 433 patients were studied: 294 had no cirrhosis; 79 had compensated cirrhosis; seven had decompensated cirrhosis; 23 had hepatocellular carcinoma; and 30 had received a liver transplant. The mean standard gamble utilities for these disease states were 0.89, 0.87, 0.82, 0.84 and 0.86, respectively. HRQoL scores in noncirrhotic patients were similar to those of the general population. Scores of patients with compensated cirrhosis were not significantly lower; however, patients with decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma had significantly lower HRQoL scores compared with noncirrhotic patients (P<0.05). Similar scores were observed among patients on and off oral antiviral treatment. Post-liver transplant patients had a higher HRQoL than patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Age, number of comorbidities and relationship status were significantly associated with HRQoL scores. CONCLUSIONS HRQoL in CHB patients is only impaired in the later stages of liver disease. Neither CHB infection nor antiviral treatment is associated with a lower quality of life.
Long‐term substitution therapy of hypogonadal men with transscrotal testosterone over 7–10 years

Testosterone (T) substitution of hypogonadal men by conventional intramuscular injection of T esters is not considered optimal because it induces unphysiologically fluctuating serum T levels. In contrast, scrotal T patches produce normal serum (T) levels mimicking diurnal variations. In order to assess the quality of this new form of T substitution we followed hypogonadal men treated by transdermal T up to 10 years.
Security Returns Around Earnings Announcements

SYNOPSIS AND INTRODUCTION: We examine risk, return, and abnormal return behavior in the days around quarterly earnings announcements, using a research design that allows risk to vary daily in event time. We test several hypotheses concerning the effect on security prices of earnings announcements per se (i.e., ignoring both the sign and the magnitude of earnings). The first hypothesis concerns the resolution of uncertainty over time. By conveying information about firms' activities, earnings announcements resolve some uncertainty about future cash flows, but the concurrent price reactions increase the variability and covariability of securities' returns during the announcements. Thus, it is hypothesized that return variances and betas, and therefore expected returns, increase during earnings announcement periods (Stapleton and Subrahmanyam 1979; Epstein and Turnbull 1980; Choi and Salamon 1989). Previous research has demonstrated anomalous positive abnormal returns during earnings announcements (Chambers and Penman 1984; Penman 1984, 1987; Chari et al. 1988). Because risk was not allowed to vary in event time in this research, it does not adequately distinguish between increased expected returns and true abnormal returns. We report that abnormal returns remain after controlling for risk increases at earnings announcements. The abnormal returns are not related to any overor under-reaction by the market to earnings news (see, e.g., DeBondt and Thaler 1985, 1987; Bernard and Thomas 1989) because we do not condition on the earnings realization.
Predictors of functional decline in hospitalized elderly patients: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND This article will systematically review the methodological characteristics and results of studies of variables and indices that predict functional decline in older hospitalized patients. METHODS We restricted this review to original longitudinal studies of predictors of either physical functional decline or nursing home admission among patients aged 60 and older. Two reviewers independently abstracted information on methodological characteristics and substantive results. RESULTS Thirty articles were identified, derived from 27 different studies, reporting on 33 substudies. Substantial variability was found with respect to study design, outcomes measured, period of follow-up, predictors investigated, and analytic methods. Multivariable predictive indices were significantly associated with adverse outcomes in the majority of studies that investigated them, as were the following variables: age, diagnosis, activities of daily living, cognitive impairment (including delirium), and residence. CONCLUSIONS The methodological heterogeneity of the studies identified limits quantitative synthesis of the results. Predictive indices for hospitalized elders appear to have moderate short-term predictive ability.
Nonlinear dynamics in experimental devices with compressed/expanded surfactant monolayers

A theory is provided for a common experimental set up that is used to measure surface properties in surfactant monolayers. The set up consists of a surfactant monolayer (over a shallow liquid layer) that is compressed/expanded in a periodic fashion by moving in counter-phase two parallel, slightly immersed solid barriers, which vary the free surface area and thus the surfactant concentration. The simplest theory ignores the fluid dynamics in the bulk fluid, assuming spatially uniform surfactant concentration, which requires quite small forcing frequencies and provides reversible dynamics in the compression/expansion cycles. In this paper, we present a long-wave theory for not so slow oscillations that assumes local equilibrium but takes the fluid dynamics into account. This simple theory uncovers the physical mechanisms involved in the surfactant behavior and allows for extracting more information from each experimental run. The conclusion is that the fluid dynamics cannot be ignored, and that some irreversible dynamics could well have a fluid dynamic origin.
Bank Capital Buffer and Liquidity: Evidence from US and European Publicly Traded Banks

The theory of financial intermediation highlights various channels through which capital and liquidity are interrelated. Using a simultaneous-equations framework, we investigate the relationship between bank capital buffer and liquidity for European and US publicly traded commercial banks from 2000 to 2008. Previous research studying the determinants of bank capital buffer has neglected the role of liquidity. On the whole, we find that banks do not strengthen their capital buffer when they face higher illiquidity as defined in the Basel III accords or when they create more liquidity as measured by Berger and Bouwman (2009). However, considering other measures of illiquidity that focus more closely on core deposits in the US, our results show that, except for very large institutions, banks do actually build larger capital buffers when they are exposed to higher illiquidity. Our empirical investigation supports the need to implement minimum liquidity ratios concomitantly to capital ratios, as stressed by the Basel Committee; but, our findings also shed light on the need to further clarify how to define and measure illiquidity and also on how to consider very large banking institutions which behave differently than smaller ones.
The tagGH operon of Bacillus subtilis 168 encodes a two‐component ABC transporter involved in the metabolism of two wall teichoic acids

We report the nucleotide sequence and the characterization of the Bacillus subtilis tagGH operon. The latter is controlled by a σA‐dependent promoter and situated in the 308° chromosomal region which contains genes involved in teichoic acid biosynthesis. TagG is a hydrophobic 32.2 kDa protein which resembles integral membrane proteins belonging to polymerexport systems of Gram‐negative bacteria. Gene tagH encodes a 59.9 kDa protein whose N‐moiety contains the ATP‐binding motif and shares extensive homology with a number of ATP‐binding proteins, particularly with those associated with the transport of capsular polysaccharides and O‐antigens. That the tagGH operon is essential for cell growth was established by the failure to inactivate tagG and the 5′ ‐moiety of tagH by insertional mutagenesis. During limited tagGH expression, cells exhibited a cocoid morphology while their walls contained reduced amounts of phosphate as well as galactosamine. These observations, revealing impaired metabolism of both wall teichoic acids of B. subtilis 168, i.e. poly(glycerol phosphate), and poly(glucose galactosamine phosphate), combined with sequence homologies, suggest that TagG and TagH are involved in the translocation through the cytoplasmic membrane of the latter teichoic acids or their precursors.
Intracoronary Brachytherapy and Drug-Eluting Coronary Stents

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was introduced in the 1970s and its use has increased dramatically, being performed in over 1.5 million patients worldwide and approximately 650,000 patients in the United States in 1999. A continuing challenge with PCI has been the problem of restenosis of the target coronary artery; immediate periprocedural myocardial injury or infarction is estimated to occur in 1% to 10%. Periprocedural ischemic complications have been reduced by use of platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitors such as abciximab, eptifibatide, and tirofiban. In the immediate periprocedural period, elastic recoil of the angioplastied vessel is primarily responsible for restenosis. This has been shown to be reduced by use of a stent (eg, the STRESS [STent REStenosis Study] trial and the Benestent study) and stents are now used in approximately 80% of all PCIs. Subacutely within the first 30 days, theremay be thrombotic occlusion of the coronary stent. The contact of blood with bare metal of the stent or with the subendothelial tissue can lead to platelet activation, aggregation, and thrombosis. Should such a thrombotic complication occur, the mortality is approximately 20% and the incidence of death ormyocardial infarction (MI) is approximately 70% at 30 days. However, patients are usually treated with a platelet ADP receptor antagonist such as clopidogrel for 4 weeks as well as aspirin indefinitely and, with appropriate antiplatelet therapy, the incidence of subacute thrombosis may be kept <1%. The long-term restenosis rate remains at approximately 20%evenwith use of a stent (vs. 30%–60%without a stent) and may be higher with small stent diameters (<2.5 mm), long stent lengths, multiple stents, and in patients with diabetes mellitus. Longterm restenosis occurs as a result of 1) gradual formation of a neointima composed of smoothmuscle cells andmacrophages within the stent and 2) inward remodeling of external elastic lamina (EEL) in response to injury and peaks between 6 and 8 months after stent placement. Various pharmacomechanical measures have been introduced in an attempt to reduce periprocedural and long-term restenosis of the
Cómo ser un buen jefe cuando la economía va mal

Incluso en los tiempos de crecimiento economico, ser un buen jefe es un desafio. La investigacion muestra que las personas que ocupan cargos de autoridad a menudo se tornan menos cuidadosas respecto de los sentimientos y las necesidades de los demas. En tanto, las personas que desempenan un rol subordinado dedican una cantidad enorme de energia a observar e interpretar las acciones de los lideres. Estas tendencias generan un tandem toxico que se exacerba durante una crisis. Sutton, un profesor de Stanford, ofrece un marco util para que los jefes se enfoquen en aquello que su gente mas requiere de ellos. En una situacion en la cual las personas se sienten amenazadas, un buen jefe encuentra las formas de proporcionar mas predictibilidad, comprension de la situacion, sensacion de control y compasion. Predictibilidad. Proporcione a las personas la mayor cantidad de informacion posible respecto de lo que les ocurrira y cuando. Prepararse les ayudara a reducir su sufrimiento y pueden relajarse durante la espera, tal como lo hicieron los habitantes de Londres durante el bombardeo de la ciudad cuando no sonaban las sirenas de alerta. Comprension. Acompane cualquier cambio importante con una explicacion de por que es necesario y como afectara las rutinas. La comunicacion interna debe ser simple, concreta y repetitiva. Control. No presente un obstaculo como algo grande, complejo o dificil de superar; las personas se sentiran abrumadas y se paralizaran. Cuando un obstaculo se descompone en partes menos abrumadoras, las personas pueden abordarlo con confianza. Compasion. Atienda las necesidades emocionales de las personas que estan siendo despedidas, y ayudeles a conservar su dignidad. Esto es esencial tanto para ellos como para sus colegas que han sobrevivido los recortes. Humillar a aquellos que se han tenido que marchar desmoralizara a los que permanecen en sus puestos y podria impulsar a los mejores de ellos a abandonar la empresa. Un ejecutivo capaz de brindar estos cuatro elementos sera percibido como uno que cuenta con el apoyo de sus subordinados y podra cosechar las recompensas de la profunda lealtad de los empleados durante anos.