Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of NINJA in root jasmonate signaling

Significance Plant growth, the basis of agricultural production, is compromised when plants defend themselves against herbivores.Wound-induced growth reduction is coordinated between organs by hormones termed “jasmonates. ” We developed a sensitive assay that marks tissues where wounding activates jasmonate function in seedlings. This assay showed that a key repressor of jasmonate responses is active mainly in roots where it permits normal growth. A deeper understanding of cell-size control is crucial in successfully engineering plants that display reduced growth restriction under stress. Wound responses in plants have to be coordinated between organs so that locally reduced growth in a wounded tissue is balanced by appropriate growth elsewhere in the body. We used a JASMONATE ZIM DOMAIN 10 (JAZ10) reporter to screen for mutants affected in the organ-specific activation of jasmonate (JA) signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Wounding one cotyledon activated the reporter in both aerial and root tissues, and this was either disrupted or restricted to certain organs in mutant alleles of core components of the JA pathway including COI1, OPR3, and JAR1. In contrast, three other mutants showed constitutive activation of the reporter in the roots and hypocotyls of unwounded seedlings. All three lines harbored mutations in Novel Interactor of JAZ (NINJA), which encodes part of a repressor complex that negatively regulates JA signaling. These ninja mutants displayed shorter roots mimicking JA-mediated growth inhibition, and this was due to reduced cell elongation. Remarkably, this phenotype and the constitutive JAZ10 expression were still observed in backgrounds lacking the ability to synthesize JA or the key transcriptional activator MYC2. Therefore, JA-like responses can be recapitulated in specific tissues without changing a plant’s ability to make or perceive JA, and MYC2 either has no role or is not the only derepressed transcription factor in ninja mutants. Our results show that the role of NINJA in the root is to repress JA signaling and allow normal cell elongation. Furthermore, the regulation of the JA pathway differs between roots and aerial tissues at all levels, from JA biosynthesis to transcriptional activation.
Face analysis of aggressive moods in automobile driving using mutual subspace method

Aggressive affections of automobile drivers such as irritation often cause unpleasant experiences and ultimately road rage. Detecting their cues from drivers' behaviors and obviating undesirable consequences is the most important role of automobile navigation for future safe driving. Facial expressions have been found to be a useful indicator of the driver's affection due to the robustness in monitoring drivers compared with other sensors. Affection consists of two kinds of factors: emotion (impulsive and strong) and mood (long lasting and subtle), where mood biases what kind of emotions to come up. Although moods dominate emotions, conventional approach in facial expression analysis has focused on emotion rather than mood in this context. The technical difficulty in analyzing moods is that there is no neutral expression that has been used as the firm reference for classifying facial expressions because the neutral is the mood itself and varies over time. The proposed method parameterizes appearance changes of face image sequence using mutual subspace method, and estimates the levels of aggressive mood, i.e., irritation and tense. Experimental results that used simulated facial expressions gave the optimal configuration of the proposed method.
A new magnetic nanocapsule containing 5-fluorouracil: In vivo drug release, anti-tumor, and pro-apoptotic effects on CT26 cells allograft model

The purpose of this study was to create an optimized method for preparation of 5-fluorouracil-loaded magnetic poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanocapsules and to investigate its potential as multifunctional carriers to deliver therapeutic agents for tumor-targeted therapies. The in vitro release of the newly synthesized 5-fluorouracil-loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid magnetic nanocapsules was investigated in phosphate-buffered saline medium using the dialysis method. In vivo release studies of the magnetic nanocapsules were performed in rabbits. Finally, the targeting properties, anti-tumor, and pro-apoptotic effects of this new magnetic nanocapsule on CT26 cells allograft model were studied. The effective diameter of nanocapsules was 67.2 nm. In vivo release investigations showed that 5-fluorouracil has a sustained release profile, prolonged lifetime in the rabbit plasma, and increased tissue appetency when loaded into the magnetic nanocapsule. Magnetic resonance imaging confirmed that the magnetic nanocapsules were successfully targeted to the tumor. Additionally, the anti-tumor studies revealed that the targeted therapy with magnetic nanocapsules containing 5-fluorouracil effectively inhibits the growth of tumors compared with 5-fluorouracil alone (P < 0.01). The present study demonstrates that this new magnetic nanocapsule can be considered a new nanotechnology-based cancer chemotherapy agent in vivo.
Btcd, a mouse protein that binds to curved DNA, can substitute in Escherichia coli for H‐NS, a bacterial nucleoid protein.

In an Escherichia coli mutant devoid of H‐NS, a bacterial nucleoid protein, mouse protein Btcd was able to substitute for H‐NS in two tested functions. It restored cell motility and repression of the expression of the bgl operon. Btcd1, a mutant Btcd protein deleted of its zinc finger and thus having reduced DNA binding, failed to substitute for H‐NS. Mouse protein Btcd was shown to repress the bgl operon at the level of transcription initiation and to bind preferentially to a curved DNA fragment encompassing the bgl promoter. These effects of Btcd on bacterial gene transcription can be accounted for by the binding of Btcd or H‐NS to a curved DNA sequence near a promoter. A few mammalian proteins have been shown to substitute for their Escherichia prototypes involved in DNA and RNA transactions. The efficiency of Btcd protein in substituting for H‐NS in Escherichia suggests its possible involvement in regulating gene expression in mouse cells.
Dual effects of growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone infusion in normal men: somatotroph desensitization and increase in releasable GH.

Continuous infusion of human GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) stimulates GH secretion in normal subjects, but a single supramaximal iv dose of GHRH thereafter elicits a diminished serum GH response compared to that after a saline infusion; the response to the single dose challenge is inversely related to the dose of GHRH previously infused. To determine if this attenuated GH response is a result of depletion of available GH or desensitization of the somatotroph, a 6-h infusion of saline or GHRH (10 ng/kg . min) was administered to 10 normal men, and an iv bolus dose of either GHRH (3.3 micrograms/kg) or regular insulin (0.15 U/kg) was given after 5.5 h of infusion. On both days of GHRH infusion, there was significant stimulation of GH secretion compared to that after saline infusion. The GH response to the supramaximal dose of GHRH was greater after saline infusion than after GHRH infusion, and the GH response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia was significantly greater after GHRH infusion compared with the responses on the other 3 study days. The greatest GH secretion occurred during GHRH infusion followed by insulin administration; therefore, pituitary reserve was not decreased by prior exposure to GHRH. These studies suggest that somatotrophs become partially refractory to GHRH stimulation over time, but remain responsive to an alternate stimulus of GH secretion. We suggest that the hypoglycemia-induced GH response occurs via a reduction in hypothalamic somatostatin secretion, and the attenuated GH response to the supramaximal GHRH dose after GHRH infusion probably represents either partial desensitization or down-regulation of the GHRH receptor.
Factors Influencing Students' Choice of Accounting as a Major: Further Evidence from Kuwait

The objective of this study is to explore the factors influencing the decision of the students on two-year College education to accept the offer of accounting as a major. The study examines the influence of variables such as career opportunities, family members and friends, and earnings potential on students’ decision to accept the offer of accounting major. A survey was conducted among all students majoring in accounting at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training College. The findings reveal that career opportunities, prestige, and interesting subject have a significant influence on the students’ decision to opt for accounting as a major. The results also show no impact of gender, or the type of high school education, on the decision of students major in accounting.
Accounting units in DNA.

Chargaff's first parity rule (%A=%T and %G=%C) is explained by the Watson-Crick model for duplex DNA in which complementary base pairs form individual accounting units. Chargaff's second parity rule is that the first rule also applies to single strands of DNA. The limits of accounting units in single strands were examined by moving windows of various sizes along sequences and counting the relative proportions of A and T (the W bases), and of C and G (the S bases). Shuffled sequences account, on average, over shorter regions than the corresponding natural sequence. For an E. coli segment, S base accounting is, on average, contained within a region of 10 kb, whereas W base accounting requires regions in excess of 100 kb. Accounting requires the entire genome (190 kb) in the case of Vaccinia virus, which has an overall "Chargaff difference" of only 0.086% (i.e. only one in 1162 bases does not have a potential pairing partner in the same strand). Among the chromosomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the total Chargaff differences for the W bases and for the S bases are usually correlated. In general, Chargaff differences for a natural sequence and its shuffled counterpart diverge maximally when 1 kb sequence windows are employed. This should be the optimum window size for examining correlations between Chargaff differences and sequence features which have arisen through natural selection. We propose that Chargaff's second parity rule reflects the evolution of genome-wide stem-loop potential as part of short- and long-range accounting processes which work together to sustain the integrity of various levels of information in DNA.
Complementary or Conflictual? Formal Participation, Informal Participation, and Organizational Performance

Most studies of worker participation examine either formal participatory structures or informal participation. Yet, increasingly, works councils and other formal participatory bodies are operating in parallel with collective bargaining or are filling the void left by its decline. Moreover, these bodies are sprouting in workplaces in which workers have long held a modicum of influence, authority, and production- or service-related information. This study leverages a case from the healthcare sector to examine the interaction between formal and informal worker participation. Seeking to determine whether or not these two forces — each independently shown to benefit production or service delivery — complement or undermine one another, we find evidence for the latter. In the case of the 27 primary care departments that we study, formal structures appeared to help less participatory departments improve their performance. However, these same structures also appeared to impede those departments with previously high levels of informal participation. While we remain cautious with respect to generalizability, the case serves as a warning to those seeking to institute participation in an environment in which some workers have long felt they had the requisite authority, influence, and information necessary to perform their jobs effectively.
Novel Intracellular SbV Reducing Activity Correlates with Antimony Susceptibility in Leishmania donovani *

The standard treatment of human visceral leishmaniasis involves the use of pentavalent antimony (SbV). Its mechanism of action is unknown because of the limited information available about intracellular antimony metabolism and about the genes that regulate these processes. Herein, flow injection-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), flow injection hydride generation ICP-MS, and ion chromatography ICP-MS were used to measure antimony accumulation and intracellular metabolism in the human protozoan parasite Leishmania donovani. Amastigotes (the intracellular form) and promastigotes (the extracellular form) accumulate SbV and SbIIIvia separate transport systems. Stage-specific intracellular SbV reducing activity was apparent in amastigotes, which reduced the negligibly toxic SbV to highly toxic SbIII. This amastigote-specific reducing activity was deficient in the Pentostam-resistant mutant L. donovaniLd1S.20. These data indicate that parasite susceptibility to SbV correlates with its level of SbV reducing activity. Also, in promastigotes of both wild-type L. donovani and the Pentostam-resistant mutant L. donovani Ld1S.20, SbV inhibited the toxicity of SbIII but not of AsIII. Both SbVand SbIII were toxic to wild-type amastigotes. However, as observed in promastigotes, in mutant amastigotes SbVinhibits SbIII but not AsIII activity. Anion exchange chromatography showed that intracellular antimony metabolism occurred in both promastigotes and amastigotes. These data demonstrate that the interaction between the two antimony oxidation states occurs intracellularly, within the parasite. The results also indicate that SbV anti-leishmanial activity is dependent on its reduction to SbIII. The mechanism of this novel intracellular SbV reduction has yet to be identified, and it may or may not be enzymatic. This is the first description of intracellular SbV reducing activity in Leishmania as well as in any prokaryotic or eukaryotic cell.
Effects of the isoflavonoid biochanin A on the transport of mitoxantrone in vitro and in vivo

The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of biochanin A on the accumulation and transport of mitoxantrone in breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)‐expressing normal cells and its impact on the pharmacokinetics (PK) and tissue distribution of mitoxantrone. In accumulation studies, the intracellular level of mitoxantrone was significantly increased in the presence of 2.5 or 25 µM of biochanin A in both murine and human BCRP‐expressing Madin‐Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, with no effect in corresponding MDCK/Mock cells. In bi‐directional transport studies, the Papp,B‐A value of mitoxantrone with biochanin A co‐treatment was much lower (6.66±0.84×10−7 cm/s) than that in the absence of biochanin A (21.4±4.14×10−7 cm/s), indicating inhibition of Bcrp1‐mediated efflux. To evaluate whether our in vitro results might translate into an in vivo interaction, mitoxantrone PK and tissue distribution, with and without co‐administration of biochanin A, was investigated. In contrast to our in vitro results, biochanin A (10 mg/kg, i.v.) had no impact on the concentration of mitoxantrone in plasma and most tissues collected (brain, heart, liver and lung). Surprisingly, the concentrations of mitoxantrone in spleen and kidney were even decreased when biochanin A was co‐administered. Interestingly, it was found that the intracellular fluorescence of mitoxantrone was decreased 31.9% when co‐incubated with 10 µM biochanin A in P‐glycoprotein (P‐gp) expressing MCF‐7/ADR cells, indicating potential P‐gp stimulation. The species difference of the inhibitory effect of biochanin A on BCRP, the extensive metabolism of biochanin A, as well as the stimulation effect of biochanin A on P‐gp, may contribute to this in vitro–in vivo disconnect. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Acute lung injury in thoracic surgery

Purpose of review This review will analyze the risk factors of acute lung injury (ALI) in patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Evidence for the occurrence of lung injury following mechanical ventilation and one-lung ventilation (OLV) and the strategies to avoid it will also be discussed. Recent findings Post-thoracotomy ALI has become one of the leading causes of operative death. The pathogenesis of ALI implicates a multiple-hit sequence of various triggering factors (e.g. preoperative conditions, surgery-induced inflammation, ventilator-induced injury, fluid overload, and transfusion). Conventional ventilation during OLV is performed with high tidal volumes equal to those being used in two-lung ventilation, high FiO2, and without positive end-expiratory pressure. This practice was originally recommended to improve oxygenation and decrease shunt fraction during OLV. However, a number of recent studies using experimental models or human patients have shown low tidal volumes to be associated with a decrease in inflammatory mediators and a reduction in pulmonary postoperative complications. However, the application of such protective strategies could be harmful if not still properly used. Summary The goal of ventilation is to minimize lung trauma by avoiding overdistension and repetitive alveolar collapse, while providing adequate oxygenation. Protective ventilation is not simply synonymous of low tidal volume ventilation, but it also involves positive end-expiratory pressure, lower FiO2, recruitment maneuvers, and lower ventilatory pressures.
High-resolution lymphoscintigraphy is essential for recognition of the significance of internal mammary nodes in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND Sentinel node biopsy (SNB) of internal mammary nodes (IMNs) in breast cancer is controversial. Most centers rarely identify IMN on lymphoscintigraphy but others report up to 45% of cases. Controversy relates to the technique of lymphatic mapping, safety of IMN SNB, the significance of positive IMN, and potential to impact survival. METHODS Assessment of drainage rates from two unrelated nuclear medicine departments' databases. Review of related literature. RESULTS High-resolution lymphoscintigraphy results in IMN drainage in one-third of breast cancers. There is a learning curve for the technique. In 1754 consecutive cases, internal mammary drainage occurred in 53% of medial tumors, 37% midline tumors and 24% of lateral tumors (overall 34%). Extended radical mastectomy series also demonstrate the (approximately) 1/3 ratio when comparing IMN positivity rates to axillary node positivity rates (18.8% : 48.3%) and in node-positive patients (31% : 100%). The management altering potential of IMN assessment and potential survival impact are discussed. CONCLUSIONS IMN mapping gives information that alters management in up to one-third of cases. These rates of IMN drainage are reproducible and reflect lymphatic density and anatomy of the breast. A priority need exists to establish a collaborative clinical trial to clarify the value of IMN assessment.
Effect of Integrated Marketing Communication Components on Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty in Beverage Sector

Intense competition dictates companies to perform better by being consistent. The application of integrated marketing communication components makes firms successful as it creates brand awareness and create customers loyalty. This research has observed the effect of integrated marketing communication components on brand awareness and customer loyalty. More specifically the main objective of the research is empirically scrutinizing the effects which, IMC builds on creating customers loyal in Pakistan Beverage Sector targeting the companies which are listed at Lahore Stock Exchange. Two hypotheses were derived and tested through the scale developed by Duncan and Moriarity (1997) and Wong and Merrilees (2008). Data was collected through questionnaire, which was sent to the managers working in the beverage companies listed at LSE. The results of regression analysis provide justification of the proposed alternate hypothesis of the study. It also provides avenues for future researches.
Hispanics and Housing During the Economic Downturn

This paper focuses on how Hispanic home ownership and population growth has evolved in the Southern United States. The theme discussed is one of change and adjustment, looking closely at the 2010 U.S. Census, along with other resources, and how Hispanics have been adjusting into the local economy. The data also shows how Latino home ownership has influenced this outcome. It has been seen throughout the U.S. that the Hispanic population is growing quickly, but the two geographical areas that have seen the most immigration in recent decades have been in the West and South. With so much of U.S. population growth connected to the rise in the Hispanic immigrant population, it has become even more important for Hispanics to successfully navigate this socioeconomic and cultural environment. One of the quickest ways of doing this is through home ownership. This gives people the opportunity to settle down and create a community. One of the major obstacles for Hispanic immigrants who are building their communities and families in the U.S. is that work is often connected to seasonal agriculture or construction. These factors both vary in terms of stability and quality of available work. It is important to look into how the Hispanic population uses housing tenure towards building a stronger future for their families in the U.S. and abroad. Immigrant Hispanic population growth throughout the South has been some of the largest in the country. Home ownership rates have only slightly raised throughout this population boom. In recent months there has been an outcry from several states that feel that the immigrant population boom is negatively affecting their lives and that those who are living in these areas illegally need to leave. Many states have created anti-immigrant legislation that have left the immigrant Hispanic population concerned with discrimination, eviction or legal persecution. Some states have witnessed an exodus of immigrants which has affected some of the major commodities in agriculture and other businesses that traditionally employ immigrant laborers. As a result, houses have been foreclosed and immigrant families have left their homes in the middle of the night. Hispanics showed significant purchasing power in the U.S. and have become an example of an ethnic group specifically targeted with sub-prime lending, also known as the Foreclosure Generation. With so many different variables affecting the Hispanics in the South, how can we prepare the next generation of Hispanics to attain home ownership? First, there must be stronger A multistate conference about integration of immigrants June 13-15, 2012 in Columbia, Missouri Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference Latinos in the Heartland: At the Crossroads: ¿Incorporation of Marginalization? www.cambio. missouri.edu/Library/
Common Features of Mucosal and Peripheral Antibody Responses Elicited by Candidate HIV-1 Vaccines in Rhesus Monkeys

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccines that elicit protective antibody responses at mucosal sites would be highly desirable. Here, we report that intramuscular immunization of candidate HIV-1 vaccine vectors and purified Env proteins elicited potent and durable humoral immune responses in colorectal mucosa in rhesus monkeys. The kinetics, isotypes, functionality, and epitope specificity of these mucosal antibody responses were similar to those of peripheral responses in serum. These data suggest a close immunological relationship between mucosal and systemic antibody responses following vaccination in primates.
Features of groups and status hierarchies in girls' and boys' early adolescent peer networks.

Girls and boys were more similar than different in the structural features of their social groups and networks in early adolescence. Boys' groups were somewhat larger than girls' groups, but contrary to prominent theoretical views, there were no systematic sex differences in tight-knittedness or in the salience of status hierarchies.