Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-level parasitic worm burdens may reduce body condition in free-ranging red deer (Cervus elaphus)

Regulation of ungulate populations by parasites relies on establishing a density-dependent relationship between infection and vital demographic rates which may act through the effect of parasites on body condition. We examine evidence for parasite impacts in 285 red deer (Cervus elaphus) harvested during 1991 and 1992 on the Isle of Rum. In the abomasa, prevalence of nematodes was 100% and the most abundant genus observed were Ostertagia species, however, mean intensity of infection was low (less than 1000) relative to other studies. Additional species, also present in low numbers, included Nematodirus spp. , Capillaria spp. , Cooperia spp. , Monieza expanza, Oesophagostomum venulosum and Trichuris ovis. Lungworm (Dictyocaulus spp.) and tissue worm (Elaphostronygylus cervi) larvae were also observed in faecal samples. There was no evidence for acquired immunity to abomasal nematodes. Despite low levels of infection, both adult male and female deer showed significant negative correlation between indices of condition (kidney fat index, dressed carcass weight and larder weight) and intensity of Ostertagia spp. infection. However, there was no evidence that pregnancy rate in females was related to intensity of infection. For calves, there was no relationship between body condition and intensity of infection. The apparent subclinical effects of low-level parasite infection on red deer performance could alternatively be due to animals in poorer nutritional state being more susceptible to infection. Either way the results suggest that further studies of wild populations are justified, in particular where high local host densities exist or alternative ungulate hosts are present, and, where experimental treatments are tractable.
INTELLIGENCE DETERIORATION FOLLOWING ACUTE RADIATION SICKNESS

Objective: Cognitive impairment in the remote period of Acute Radiation Sickness (ARS) is an expected outcome. This study was performed to examine the contribution of irradiation on intelligence deterioration. Method: 14–15 years after the Chernobyl accident, a cross-sectional IQ-study on ARS-patients (n=29) and normal controls (n=24) was done. Verbal (VIQ), Performance (PIQ) and Full (FIQ) IQs were assessed by the adapted version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). Pre-exposure IQ was estimated by the regression equation developed by Dr. Beilin Gao (China). Results: VIQ and FIQ scores were lower in ARS-patients than in controls (M±SD: 103.2±13.5 vs 113.8±9.4, and 102.2±11.4 vs 110.2±8.6, correspondingly). Radiation dose of 1 Gy decreases FIQ of 4.1–6 scores at a dose range of 1–3.8 Gy. A reduction of 1 point of FIQ could be a result of exposure to 0.17–0.24 Gy. Discrepancy between preexposure and actual IQ (M±SD) in ARS-patients is dramatically severe as compared to controls: VIQ 15.8±14.4 vs 2.3±4.5, PIQ 14.2±10.8 vs 8.7±3.5, and 16.8±12.7 vs 5.9±2.6, correspondingly. Conclusions: According to pre-exposure IQ estimations, IQ deterioration in ARS-patients, especially, in verbal and full intelligence, was observed. Such cognitive impairment could be evidence of a brain organic syndrome with an important involvement of the left dominant hemisphere, in the remote period of ARS.
Alcoholic fatty liver differentially induces a neutrophil‐chemokine and hepatic necrosis after ischemia‐reperfusion in rat

Primary graft nonfunction of steatotic liver allograft is one of the factors causing shortage of donor livers. Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is an important contributory factor to primary graft nonfunction. In this study, we investigated the complex chain of events from transcription factor activation to necrosis through cytokine induction and apoptosis in steatotic rat liver after warm I/R. Rats with alcoholic or nonalcoholic fatty liver were subjected to hepatic warm I/R and compared with control rats. Rats fed an ethanol diet for 6 to 8 weeks developed severe hepatic necrosis accompanied by increased neutrophil recruitment after I/R, compared with rats with nonalcoholic fatty liver or control. Hepatic apoptosis as assessed by DNA fragmentation at 4 hours after I/R, however, increased to a similar degree in each of the 2 fatty liver models compared with the control. Alcoholic fatty liver exposed to I/R showed a rapid increase in nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) binding activity at 1 hour after I/R, which preceded an increased expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) and cytokine‐induced neutrophil chemoattractant‐1 (CINC‐1). In contrast, nonalcoholic fatty liver did not show such potentiation of either NF‐κB activation or cytokine induction after I/R. Our results have indicated that alcoholic fatty liver may differentially induce CINC‐1 production and hepatic necrosis after I/R. Furthermore, our results suggest that apoptosis per se does not always lead to necrosis in the liver following I/R.
The Association of Depressive Symptoms and Pulmonary Function in Healthy Adults

Objective Chronic lung disease is exacerbated by comorbid psychiatric issues and treatment of depression may improve disease symptoms. We sought to add to the literature as to whether depression is associated with pulmonary function in healthy adults. Methods In 2551 healthy adults from New York State, we studied the association of depression via the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) scale score and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) using general linear models and a cross-sectional design. Results We identified statistically significant inverse trends in FEV1, FVC, FEV1%, and FVC% by CES-D category, especially in ever-smokers and men. When adjusted for covariates, the difference in FEV1 and FEV1% for smokers with more than 18.5 lifetime pack-years from CES-D scores 0 to 3 to 16 or more (depressed) is approximately 0.25 l and 5.0% (adjusted p values for trend are <.001 and .019, respectively). In men, we also observed statistically significant inverse trends in pulmonary function with increasing CES-D. Conclusions We identified an inverse association of depressive symptoms and pulmonary function in healthy adults, especially in men and individuals with a heavy smoking history. Further studies of these associations are essential for the development and tailoring of interventions for the prevention and treatment of chronic lung disease.
Recognition and management of traumatic sports injuries in the skeletally immature athlete.

Over the last decade, participation in organized youth sports has risen to include over 35 million contestants. (1) The rise in participation has brought about an associated increase in both traumatic and overuse injuries in the youth athlete, which refers to both children and adolescents within a general age range of seven to 17. Exposure rates alone do not account for the increase in injuries. Societal pressures to perform at high levels affect both coaches and athletes and lead to inappropriate levels of training intensity, frequency, and duration. In this environment high physiologic stresses are applied to the immature skeleton of the youth athlete causing injury. Typically, since bone is the weakest link in the incomplete ossified skeleton, the majority of traumatic injuries result in fractures that occur both at mid-shaft and at the growth centers of bone. The following clinical commentary describes the common traumatic sports injuries that occur in youth athletes, as well as those which require rapid identification and care in order to prevent long term sequelae.
Mutations in the gag gene of Moloney murine leukemia virus: effects on production of virions and reverse transcriptase

We have constructed a series of deletion mutations in the p30 and p10 domains of the gag gene of Moloney murine leukemia virus. Mutants with deletions in P30 were completely defective in virion particle production even though an altered gag precursor protein is synthesized. This domain is apparently critical for particle formation. A mutant in P10 was able to release virion particles into the medium, and low levels of reverse transcriptase activity could be detected in these virions. To explore the effects of these mutations on the utilization of the gag-pol precursor, we have introduced these mutants into cells already releasing defective particles from an endogenous provirus which directs the synthesis of gag gene products and not pol gene products. The P10 mutant was capable of providing pol function as judged by the incorporation of high levels of reverse transcriptase into the particles and complete complementation for XC plaque formation. In contrast, the mutants in P30 were negative in this complementation test. Thus, those gag mutants which were unable on their own to assemble virion particles were also unable to contribute the gag-pol precursor to these particles. These mutations are the first to be mapped to the gag region which affect pol function, suggesting that the gag-pol precursor must be assembled before pol is functionally separated from the gag domain. The concordance of the effects of different mutations on both particle formation and gag-pol utilization suggests that similar domains of gag (namely, domains in the P30 region) are needed for these two processes.
Parental occupational exposure to engine exhausts and childhood brain tumors

Childhood brain tumors (CBT) are the leading cause of cancer death in children; their risk factors are still largely unknown. Since most CBTs are diagnosed before five years of age, prenatal exposure and early postnatal factors may be involved in their etiology. We investigated the association between CBT and parental occupational exposure to engine exhausts in an Australian population‐based case–control study. Parents of 306 cases and 950 controls completed detailed occupational histories. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated for both maternal and paternal exposure in key time periods. Increased risks were observed for maternal exposure to diesel exhaust any time before the child's birth (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.09–3.81) and paternal exposure around the time of the child's conception (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.12–2.34). No clear associations with other engine exhausts were found. Our results suggest that parental occupational exposure to diesel exhaust may increase the risk of CBT.
The Determinants of Tax Morale and Tax Compliance: Evidence from Jordan

This paper investigates how individuals determine their tax morale levels and tax compliance decisions. Using a questionnaire survey and a multivariate tests procedure, the paper revealed that tax evasion is morally acceptable in Jordan under some circumstances, indeed there could be an affirmative duty to evade taxes since the government is perceived to be highly corrupted. The findings also show that while the extent of the governmental corruption has a positive (negative) effect on tax non-compliance (tax morale), the efficient expenditure of governmental tax revenues has a negative (positive) impact on tax non-compliance (tax morale). The individuals’ tax non-compliance decisions are likewise positively affected by the tax rates and by the taxation system’s being perceived as unjust, but decline with the increase of audit rates and the subsequent penalty rates. The degree and effectiveness of these determinants are dependent on the individual’s level of risk aversion, financial constraints and the surrounding referent groups. The results also confirm that individual factors play a significant role in determining the level of tax morale. Overall, the tax morale level and the compliance decision of an individual are greatly influenced by gender, age, educational level, occupational status and religious background.
Enhancement of Fracture Toughness of Epoxy Nanocomposites by Combining Nanotubes and Nanosheets as Fillers

In this work the fracture toughness of epoxy resin has been improved through the addition of low loading of single part and hybrid nanofiller materials. Functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) was used as single filler, increased the critical strain energy release rate, GIC, by 57% compared to the neat epoxy, at only 0.1 wt% filler content. Importantly, no degradation in the tensile or thermal properties of the nanocomposite was observed compared to the neat epoxy. When two-dimensional boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) were added along with the one-dimensional f-MWCNTs, the fracture toughness increased further to 71.6% higher than that of the neat epoxy. Interestingly, when functionalised graphene nanoplatelets (f-GNPs) and boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) were used as hybrid filler, the fracture toughness of neat epoxy is improved by 91.9%. In neither of these hybrid filler systems the tensile properties were degraded, but the thermal properties of the nanocomposites containing boron nitride materials deteriorated slightly.
Equity Investment Decisions: Are Demographic Variables Really Significant?

The objective of the present study is to find out the impact of demographic variables on the equity share investment decisions of the employees. The study is done on the employees of Oil India Limited [OIL]. It is found that out of the four demographic variables namely age, gender, qualification and designation considered for the study only age is having significant influence on the equity share investment decisions in past, present and future however, gender is only having impact on the present equity investment decisions. Other than these other demographic variables are not significant for equity investment decisions.
Organizational Culture and Workplace Spirituality

Over the last decade, workplace spirituality has become a buzzword in business and organization literature. Furthermore, many studies have affirmed its significance in satisfying individuals’ inner feelings and self- actualization. As organizational culture represents the personality of any organization, it has a tremendous role in shaping current and future organizational orientation. This study explores the link between organizational culture traits and workplace spirituality dimensions by conducting a qualitative case study in Menoufia province (Egypt). Both correlation and regression analysis of collected date indicated that it is false to assume that all traits of organizational culture have a strong effect on workplace spirituality dimensions.
Antibodies to the estrogen receptor‐α modulate rapid prolactin release from rat pituitary tumor cells through plasma membrane estrogen receptors

Antibodies (Abs) raised against the estrogen receptor‐α (ERα) were used to investigate the role of ERα proteins located at the plasma membrane in mediating the rapid, estrogen‐stimulated secretion of prolactin (PRL) from rat pituitary GH3/B6/F10 cells. Exposure of the cells to 1 nM 17 β‐estradiol (E2) significantly increased PRL release after 3 or 6 min. When ERα Abs that bind specifically to ERα but are too large to diffuse into cells were tested for activity at the cell membrane, Ab R4, targeted to an ERα hinge region sequence, increased PRL release in a time‐ and concentration‐dependent fashion. Ab H151, directed against a different hinge region epitope, decreased PRL release and blocked the stimulatory action of E2. Abs raised against the DNA binding domain (H226) or the carboxyl terminus (C542) were not biologically active. When each Ab was examined for recognition of ERα on the cell surface by immunocytochemistry, all except H151 generated immunostaining in aldehyde‐fixed cells. In live cells, however, Ab H151 but not Ab R4 blocked the membrane binding of fluorescently tagged E2‐BSA. Overall, the data indicate that plasma membrane ERα proteins mediate estrogen‐stimulated PRL release from GH3/B6/F10 cells. These results may also convey information about conformationally sensitive areas of the membrane form of ERα involved in rapid, nongenomic responses to estrogens. —Norfleet, A. M. , Clarke, C. H. , Gametchu, B. , Watson, C. S. Antibodies to the estrogen receptor‐α modulate rapid prolactin release from rat pituitary tumor cells through plasma membrane estrogen receptors. FASEB J. 14, 157–165 (2000)
Imaging of intestinal fibrosis: current challenges and future methods

Crohn’s disease (CD) activity assessments are dominated by inflammatory changes without discrete measurement of the coexisting fibrotic contribution to total bowel damage. Intestinal fibrosis impacts the development of severe structural complications and the overall natural history of CD. Measuring intestinal fibrosis is challenging and existing methods of disease assessment are unable to reliably distinguish fibrosis from inflammation. Both the immediate clinical need to measure fibrosis for therapeutic decision-making and the near-future need for tools to assess pipeline anti-fibrotic medications highlight the demand for biomarkers of fibrosis in CD. Developing non-invasive technologies exploit changes in intestinal perfusion, mechanical properties, and macromolecular content to provide quantitative markers of fibrosis. In this review of existing and experimental technologies for imaging intestinal fibrosis, we discuss the expanding capabilities of quantitative MR and ultrasound imaging, encouraging developments in non-invasive elastography, and emerging novel methods including photoacoustic imaging.
Hearing and cognition in the elderly. New findings and a review of the literature.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between hearing status and cognitive status initially and at 5-year follow-up in a cohort of healthy elderly men and women and to relate the results to published reports on this topic. Volunteers older than 60 years with no major illnesses and taking no long-term prescription medications were examined. Baseline testing of hearing and cognition was performed in 224 subjects; 112 subjects underwent cognitive testing at 5-year follow-up. Hearing was measured by the Speech Perception in Noise test; cognition was measured by two parts of the Wechsler Memory Scale and by the Jacobs Cognitive Screening Test, an oral screening instrument. At baseline there were small correlations between hearing acuity and memory scores, but these disappeared after adjustment for age and gender. Analysis of follow-up memory and cognitive screening test scores in relation to baseline hearing ability showed no correlation between hearing at entry and cognitive function at 5 years. In addition, baseline hearing level did not predict change in memory or cognitive screening test scores during the follow-up period. The power of the study was 90% to detect a correlation of . 30 between measures of hearing and cognition. There was no evidence for a major effect of hearing acuity on cognitive function over time in this group of healthy elderly. Review of published studies suggests that hearing ability is related to cognitive status in demented subjects, but there is little to suggest that in the normal elderly, hearing impairment leads to cognitive decline.
Discriminate me — If you can! The disappearance of the gender pay gap among public‐contest selected employees in Italy

This paper analyzes the effect of public-contest recruitment on earnings for men and women using Italian microdata over a time period of ten years. We find that the gender pay gap vanishes, and even reverses among the young, when employees are selected through public contests. The results suggest that selection mechanisms such as public contests may offer a way for merit-based and gender-fair wage setting. However, since public contests and the public sector are highly correlated, we analyze the gender pay gap taking the interconnection between the public and private sector as well as the open contest issue into account. By decomposing our results by sector we find that public contests represent a necessary but not sufficient condition for merit-based and gender-fair recruitment. Similarly, the institutional environment of the public sector is a necessary but not sufficient condition for making public contests merit-based and gender-fair screening devices. These two factors taken together, cause the disappearance of the gender pay gap.
Extensive Antigenic Polymorphism within the Repeat Sequence of the Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Surface Protein 1 Block 2 Is Incorporated in a Minimal Polyvalent Immunogen

ABSTRACT Polymorphism in pathogen antigens presents a complex challenge for vaccine design. A prime example is the N-terminal block 2 region of the Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP1), to which allele-specific antibodies have been associated with protection from malaria. In a Zambian population studied here, 49 of 91 alleles sampled were of the K1-like type (the most common of three block 2 types in all African populations), and most of these had unique sequences due to variation in tri- and hexapeptide repetitive motifs. There were significant negative correlations between allelic sequence lengths of different regions of the repeats, so the complete repeat sequence had less length variation than its component parts, suggesting a constraint on overall length. Diverse epitopes recognized by three murine monoclonal antibodies and 24 individual human sera were then mapped by using a comprehensive panel of synthetic peptides, revealing epitopes in all regions of the repeats. To incorporate these different epitopes in a single molecule, a composite sequence of minimal overall length (78 amino acids) was then designed and expressed as a recombinant antigen. More human immune sera reacted with this “K1-like Super Repeat” antigen than with proteins consisting of single natural allelic sequences, and immunization of mice elicited antibodies that recognized a range of five cultured parasite lines with diverse K1-like MSP1 block 2 repeat sequences. Thus, complex allelic polymorphism was deconstructed and a minimal composite polyvalent antigen was engineered, delivering a designed candidate sequence for inclusion in a malaria vaccine.
Antibody i-Patch prediction of the antibody binding site improves rigid local antibody-antigen docking.

Antibodies are a class of proteins indispensable for the vertebrate immune system. The general architecture of all antibodies is very similar, but they contain a hypervariable region which allows millions of antibody variants to exist, each of which can bind to different molecules. This binding malleability means that antibodies are an increasingly important category of biopharmaceuticals and biomarkers. We present Antibody i-Patch, a method that annotates the most likely antibody residues to be in contact with the antigen. We show that our predictions correlate with energetic importance and thus we argue that they may be useful in guiding mutations in the artificial affinity maturation process. Using our predictions as constraints for a rigid-body docking algorithm, we are able to obtain high-quality results in minutes. Our annotation method and re-scoring system for docking achieve their predictive power by using antibody-specific statistics. Antibody i-Patch is available from http://www.stats. ox.ac. uk/research/proteins/resources.
Reform Support in Times of Crisis: The Role of Family Ties

We argue that an important determinant of voters' support for economic reform is the strength of family ties. While the “crisis hypothesis” predicts that crises facilitate reform, we show in a political economy model that this relation can break down, and even reverse, when agents take into account the effect of reform on their family members. Applied to southern European countries with strong family ties, the model rationalizes why the extremely high (youth) unemployment following the Great Recession has not led to more substantial labor market reforms. In such countries austerity might block rather than foster additional structural reforms.