Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Analysis of Amino Acid Residues Constituting the dNTP Binding Pocket of HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase*

In order to understand the functional implication of residues constituting the dNTP-binding pocket of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase, we performed site-directed mutagenesis at positions 65, 72, 113, 115, 151, 183, 184, and 219, and the resulting mutant enzymes were examined for their biochemical properties and nucleotide selectivity on RNA and DNA templates. Mutations at positions 65, 115, 183, 184, and 219 had negligible to moderate influence on the polymerase activity, while Ala substitution at positions 72 and 151 as well as substitution with Ala or Glu at position 113 severely impaired the polymerase function of the enzyme. The K219A, Y115F, and Q151M mutants had no influence on the fidelity; Y183A, Y183F, K65A, and Q151N mutants exhibited higher fidelity on both RNA and DNA templates, while Y115A was less error-prone selectively on a DNA template. Analysis of the three-dimensional model of the enzyme-template primer-dNTP ternary complex suggests that residues Tyr-183, Lys-65, and Gln-151 may have impact on the flexibility of the dNTP-binding pocket by virtue of their multiple interactions with the dNTP, template, primer, and other neighboring residues constituting the pocket. Recruitment of the correct versus incorrect nucleotides may be a function of the flexibility of this pocket. A relatively rigid pocket would provide greater stringency, resulting in higher fidelity of DNA synthesis in contrast to a flexible pocket. Substitution of a residue having multiple interactions with a residue having reduced interaction capability will alter the internal geometry of the pocket, thus directly influencing the fidelity.
Econometric Analysis of Factors Influencing Fuel Wood Demand in Rural and Peri-Urban Farm Households of Kogi State

This study was designed to determine variables influencing fuelwood demand in rural areas of Kogi State. Eighty households were randomly sampled from all the Agricultural Zones of the state. A 2SLS method was then used for estimation of the coefficients of the simultaneous equation model. The most significant determinants of fuelwood demand in the study area are the price of fuelwood, kerosene’s price, household size and personal incomes of the household heads. In light of this study’s findings, recommendations included reduction of kerosene prices, investment in renewable energy, cooking gas and electricity and use of agricultural extension agents to educate farmers on sustainable farming. Author’s Note
Application of Recovering Wastewater from Eucalyptus Oil by Pyrolysis Treatment

The production of noble Eucalyptus oil from Eucalyptus leaves brings a mass of extracting wastewater pollutive to water environment. In order to better utilize and recover the productive wastewater from the Eucalyptus oil, we used pyrolysis-GC/MS to analyze the possible top value-added components of benzene/ethanol extractives of leaves of two Eucalyptus cultivars, i.e. E. dunnii and E. grandis . Relative content of each component was determined by area normalization. 22 compounds representing 92.12% of the benzene/ethanol extractive of E. dunnii leaves were identified, and the main constituents were 5-(acetylaminomethyl)-4-amino-2-methyl-(15.40%), hexadecanoic acid (10.25%), benzaldehyde,4-hydroxy-(8.64%), xylitol (7.57%), cyclopentanol (7.10%), 2-propenoic acid,3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-(4.41%), eucalyptol (1.38%), etc. 28 compounds representing 98.41% of the benzene/ethanol extractive of E. grandis leaves were also identified, and the main constituents were ethanol,2-butoxy-(21.70%), benzene,methyl(1-methylethyl)-(15.61%), 17-octadecenal (15.25%), 1-hexacosanal (9.45%), 1-eicosanol (6.92%), cyclotetracosane (6.67%), . alpha. -phellandrene (3.75%), etc. The results of function analyses showed that the benzene/ethanol extractives of leaves of both E. dunnii and E. grandis are abundant in materials of noble natural medicines, and also contains constituents which can be developed into top value-added materials of cosmetic, biofuel and industrial solvent.
Cytological criteria to predict basal phenotype of breast carcinomas

Breast carcinoma is a heterogeneous disease. It can be classified into phenotypes based on the expression of certain proteins, with distinct differences in prognosis. The basal phenotype is associated with worse prognosis and it still remains without specific treatment. However, there is currently no international consensus on the cytological criteria that could predict this phenotype. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the cytological criteria in fine‐needle aspiration biopsy and to identify their association with the basal phenotype of breast carcinoma. Fine‐needle aspiration biopsy specimens and tissue sections (mastectomy specimen) from 74 cases of high‐grade invasive ductal breast carcinomas were consecutively retrieved from the files of three institutions. Breast carcinomas were studied using the tissue microarray technique, being classified into phenotypes: luminal A, luminal B, HER2 overexpression, and basal. The cytological criteria for all cases were reviewed blindly by two pathologists according to five cytological criteria: cellularity, cell pattern, presence of necrosis, nucleoli, and nuclear atypia. Exact Fisher test was used to test the association between cytological criteria and the phenotypes of breast carcinoma. Necrosis was present in 64.7% of basal breast carcinomas, and 31.1% of nonbasal breast carcinomas, and that result was statistically significant, showing an odds ratio (OR) of 3.80. The basal phenotype, compared with the luminal A, showed more necrosis (OR = 6.97), present/prominent nucleoli (OR = 8.18), and cellularity more frequently (OR = 18.03). Necrosis, as well as present/prominent nucleoli and abundant cellularity are criteria more frequently associated to the basal phenotype of breast carcinoma. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Off-Line Handwritten Chinese Character Recognition as a Compound Bayes Decision Problem

A handwritten Chinese character off-line recognizer based on contextual vector quantization (CVQ) of every pixel of an unknown character image has been constructed. Each template character is represented by a codebook. When an unknown image is matched against a template character, each pixel of the image is quantized according to the associated codebook by considering not just the feature vector observed at each pixel, but those observed at its neighbors and their quantization as well. Structural information such as stroke counts observed at each pixel are captured to form a cellular feature vector. Supporting a vocabulary of 4616 simplified Chinese characters and alphanumeric and punctuation symbols, the writer-independent recognizer has an average recognition rate of 77.2 percent. Three statistical language models for postprocessing have been studied for their effectiveness in upgrading the recognition rate of the system. Among them, the CVQ-based language model is the most effective one upgrading the recognition rate by 10.4 percent on the average.
Counting processes with Bernštein intertimes and random jumps

In this paper we consider point processes Nf (t), t > 0, with independent increments and integer-valued jumps whose distribution is expressed in terms of Bernštein functions f with Lévy measure v. We obtain the general expression of the probability generating functions Gf of Nf , the equations governing the state probabilities pk f of Nf , and their corresponding explicit forms. We also give the distribution of the first-passage times Tk f of Nf , and the related governing equation. We study in detail the cases of the fractional Poisson process, the relativistic Poisson process, and the gamma-Poisson process whose state probabilities have the form of a negative binomial. The distribution of the times of jumps with height lj () under the condition N(t) = k for all these special processes is investigated in detail.
The modulatory effects of lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated B cells on differential T‐cell polarization

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a major component of environmental microbial products. Studies have defined the LPS dose as a critical determining factor in driving differential T‐cell polarization but the direct effects of LPS on individual antigen‐presenting cells is unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of LPS doses on naive B cells and the subsequent modulatory effects of these LPS‐activated B cells on T‐cell polarization. The LPS was able to induce a proliferative response starting at a dose of 100 ng/ml and was capable of enhancing antigen internalization at a dose of 1 μg/ml in naive B cells. Following LPS stimulation, up‐regulation of the surface markers CD40, CD86, I‐Ad, immunoglobulin M, CD54 and interleukin‐10 production, accompanied by down‐regulation of CD5 and CD184 (CXCR4) were observed in a LPS dose‐dependent manner. Low doses (< 10 ng/ml) of LPS‐activated B cells drove T helper type 2 polarization whereas high doses (> 0·1 μg/ml) of LPS‐activated B cells resulted in T regulatory type 1 cell polarization. In conclusion, LPS‐activated B cells acquire differential modulatory effects on T‐cell polarization. Such modulatory effects of B cells are dependent on the stimulation with LPS in a dose‐dependent manner. These observations may provide one of the mechanistic explanations for the influence of environmental microbes on the development of allergic diseases.
An Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Dividend Policy - Evidence from the UAE Companies

Dividend decision is one of the most important decisions and well researched areas of Financial Management but still very little research has been conducted in the GCC, particularly in the UAE. This paper adds to the existing body of knowledge by empirically chalking out the important factors which affect the dividend payout decisions of UAE firms. This paper investigates the determinants of dividend payout for all firms in the areas of real estate, energy sector, construction sector, telecommunications sector, health care and industrial sectors (except bank and investment concerns) listed on the Abu Dhabi Stock exchange for a period of 5 years from 20052009. This study analyses a range of determinants of dividend policy: Profitability, Risk,, Liquidity, Size and Leverage of the firm The correlation and the multiple regression techniques have been applied to find out the most significant variables used by the UAE firms in making the dividend decisions. The study provides evidence that profitability and size are the most important considerations of dividend payout decisions by UAE firms.
Categorical Perception of Happiness and Fear Facial Expressions: An ERP Study

Behavioral studies have shown that two different morphed faces perceived as reflecting the same emotional expression are harder to discriminate than two faces considered as two different ones. This advantage of between-categorical differences compared with within-categorical ones is classically referred as the categorical perception effect. The temporal course of this effect on fear and happiness facial expressions has been explored through event-related potentials (ERPs). Three kinds of pairs were presented in a delayed samedifferent matching task: (1) two different morphed faces perceived as the same emotional expression (within-categorical differences), (2) two other ones reflecting two different emotions (between-categorical differences), and (3) two identical morphed faces (same faces for methodological purpose). Following the second face onset in the pair, the amplitude of the bilateral occipito-temporal negativities (N170) and of the vertex positive potential (P150 or VPP) was reduced for within and same pairs relative to between pairs. This suggests a repetition priming effect. We also observed a modulation of the P3b wave, as the amplitude of the responses for the between pairs was higher than for the within and same pairs. These results indicate that the categorical perception of human facial emotional expressions has a perceptual origin in the bilateral occipito-temporal regions, while typical prior studies found emotion-modulated ERP components considerably later.
The Role of Orbitofrontal Cortex in Decision Making

Abstract: Clinical accounts of the effects of damage to orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) have provided important clues about the functions of this region in humans. Patients with OFC injury can demonstrate relatively isolated difficulties with decision making, and the development of laboratory tasks that captured these difficulties was an important advance. However, much of the work to date has been limited by the use of a single, complex decision‐making task and by a narrow focus on risky decisions. A fuller understanding of the neural basis of decision making requires identification of the simpler components that underlie this complex behavior. Here, I review evidence that OFC lesions disrupt reversal learning in humans, as in animals, and show that this deficit in reversal learning is an important mechanism underlying the difficulties of such patients in the Iowa gambling task. Reversal learning, in turn, can be decomposed into simpler processes: a failure to rapidly learn from negative feedback may be the critical difficulty for OFC patients. OFC damage can also affect forms of decision making that do not require trial‐by‐trial learning. Preference judgment is a simple form of decision making that requires comparing the relative value of options. Humans with OFC lesions are more inconsistent in their choices, even in very simple preference judgment tasks. These results are broadly consistent with the view that OFC is critically involved in representing the relative value of stimuli, but also raise the possibility that this region plays distinct roles in reinforcement learning and value‐based judgment.
Combination of interferon and ribavirin in chronic hepatitis C: Re‐treatment of nonresponders to interferon

Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) may result in cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. A minority of patients have a sustained response to antiviral therapy, and nonresponders remain at risk of developing progressive liver disease. We conducted a randomized, controlled trial of therapy with the combination of interferon (IFN) and ribavirin in patients with chronic hepatitis C who had not responded to an initial course of therapy with IFN alone. A total of 124 patients were randomized to receive the combination of IFN and ribavirin for either 24 or 48 weeks and followed for an additional 24 weeks after stopping therapy. Thirty‐eight treated patients (30.6%) achieved a sustained virologic response (undetectable HCV RNA at the 24‐week follow‐up point). This was associated with significant improvement in necroinflammatory activity noted on liver biopsy. Interestingly, there was not a statistically significant difference in response rates based on the duration of treatment; HCV genotype was the strongest predictor of a sustained response. Sustained responses were noted even in patients with poor predictive factors, including those with advanced hepatic fibrosis or cirrhosis, high levels of HCV RNA in serum, and those infected with HCV genotype 1. The study included 24 patients with normal serum alanine transaminase (ALT) values before therapy who had similar responses to those with initially elevated transaminase values. This study suggests that the combination of IFN and ribavirin is a useful modality of therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C who did not respond to IFN alone.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for fatigue in multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND The debilitating fatigue that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly experience during day-to-day living activities responds poorly to current therapeutic options. Direct currents (DC) delivered through the scalp (transcranial DC stimulation or tDCS) at weak intensities induce changes in motor cortical excitability that persist for almost an hour after current offset and depend on current polarity. tDCS successfully modulates cortical excitability in various clinical disorders but no information is available for MS related fatigue. OBJECTIVE In this study we aimed to assess fatigue symptom after five consecutive sessions of anodal tDCS applied over the motor cortex in patients with MS. METHODS We enrolled 25 patients with MS all of whom experienced fatigue. We delivered anodal and sham tDCS in random order in two separate experimental sessions at least 1 month apart. The stimulating current was delivered for 15 minutes once a day for 5 consecutive days. In each session the Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS) and the Back Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered before the treatment (baseline), immediately after treatment on day five (T1), one week (T2) and three weeks (T3) after the last tDCS session. RESULTS All patients tolerated tDCS well without adverse events. The fatigue score significantly decreased after anodal tDCS in 65% of the patients (responders). After patients received tDCS for 5 days their FIS scores improved by about 30% and the tDCS-induced benefits persisted at T2 and T3. CONCLUSION Our preliminary findings suggest that anodal tDCS applied over the motor cortex, could improve fatigue in most patients with MS.
The Importance of Sleep for Athletic Performance

ABSTRACT ENSURING THAT ATHLETES FUNCTION OPTIMALLY THROUGHOUT TRAINING IS AN IMPORTANT FOCUS FOR THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH. SLEEP IS AN INFLUENTIAL FACTOR THAT AFFECTS THE QUALITY OF TRAINING, GIVEN ITS IMPLICATIONS ON THE RECOVERY PROCESS. INTENSE TRAINING MAY PREDISPOSE ATHLETES TO RISK FACTORS SURROUNDING DISTURBED SLEEP PATTERNS. THESE MAY BE DUE TO INHERENT PHYSICAL EXERTION, COMMITMENT TO EXTENSIVE TRAINING SCHEDULES, THE EFFECTS OF TRAVEL, DOMESTIC OR INTERNATIONAL, AND THE PRESSURES THAT COMPETITION EVOKES. EDUCATING ATHLETES ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF SLEEP SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED BY STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACHES TO OPTIMIZE ATHLETE RECOVERY, PROMOTE CONSISTENT SLEEP ROUTINES, AND SLEEP LENGTH.
Evidence of Hepatic Glucagon Resistance Associated with Hepatic Steatosis: Reversal Effect of Training

The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that a high-fat diet-induced hepatic steatosis is associated with a reduction in hepatic glucose output (HGO) in response to a hyperglucagonemic infusion, and that this postulated state of hepatic glucagon resistance in high-fat fed rats is attenuated by concurrent exercise training. In four groups of anesthetized rats, glucagon (2 ug/kg/min iv) was infused over a period of 60 min to measure HGO. Two groups of rats were either fed a standard (SD) or a high-fat (HF; 42 % kcal) diet for eight weeks and were assigned either to a Sedentary (Sed) or a treadmill-trained (TR) group. Training was initiated two weeks after the beginning of the diet protocol and was progressively increased over a period of 6 weeks reaching 60 min at 26 m/min, 10 % grade, for the last 3 weeks. The HF compared to the SD diet resulted in approximately 28 % higher (p < 0.01) liver triglyceride levels in Sed rats. This increase was completely prevented by the exercise training program in the HF-TR group. Plasma glucagon ( approximately 90,000 pg/ml) and insulin ( approximately 500 pmol/l) levels were increased to a similar extent in all four groups, with the exception of higher (p<0.05) insulin levels in SD-Sed group. Glucagon induced-hyperglycemia ( approximately 300 mg/dl) was higher (p<0.05) in the SD-Sed than in HF-Sed and SD-TR groups. Glucagon infusion resulted in a significantly (p<0.05) lower increase ( approximately 35 %) in HGO in HF-Sed compared to SD-Sed group. The lower level of HGO in HF-Sed compared to SD-Sed rats was observed whether HGO was measured after 25, 40, or 60 min of glucagon infusion. Exercise training in HF fed rats resulted in a significant (p<0.05) attenuation (50 %) of the state of HF-induced glucagon resistance. Comparisons of all individual liver triglyceride and 60-min HGO values revealed that liver triglyceride values were highly (p<0.001) predictive of the decreased glucagon action on HGO (R= -0.849). The present results indicate that the feeding of a high-fat diet induces a state of hepatic glucagon resistance, which is partially attenuated by concurrent exercise training. It is suggested that liver lipid infiltration may interfere with the action of glucagon, thus inducing glucagon resistance in liver.
Three investigations of the utility of Textbook Technology Supplements

In three separate introductory psychology classes over a three-year period, I tested whether over 600 students’ exam scores were associated with the use of textbook technology supplements (TTSs). Each class used a different textbook and a different TTS (Learnsmart, PsychPortal, and Aplia). In general, students who used TTSs more, performed better on their exams (controlling for GPA). Additionally, higher scores on assignments on TTSs also correlated with higher scores (controlling for GPA). Students reported not having enough time or adequate motivation as the top reasons for why they did not use TTSs. I present suggestions for the use of such systems based on how I required the aids over the years.
A sequence of decidable finitely axiomatizable intermediate logics with the disjunction property

The intuitionistic propositional logic I has the following (disjunction) property . We are interested in extensions of the intuitionistic logic which are both decidable and have the disjunction property. Systems with the disjunction property are known, for example the Kreisel-Putnam system [1] which is I + (∼ϕ → (ψ ∨ α))→ ((∼ϕ→ψ) ∨ (∼ϕ→α)) and Scott's system I + ((∼ ∼ϕ→ϕ)→(ϕ ∨ ∼ϕ))→ (∼∼ϕ ∨ ∼ϕ). It was shown in [3c] that the first system has the finite-model property. In this note we shall construct a sequence of intermediate logics Dn with the following properties: These systems are presented both semantically and syntactically, using the remarkable correspondence between properties of partially ordered sets and axiom schemata of intuitionistic logic. This correspondence, apart from being interesting in itself (for giving geometric meaning to intuitionistic axioms), is also useful in giving independence proofs and obtaining proof theoretic results for intuitionistic systems (see for example, C. Smorynski, Thesis, University of Illinois, 1972, for independence and proof theoretic results in Heyting arithmetic).
On Sufficiently Diffused Information and Finite-Player Games with Private Information

This paper takes as its point of departure a 1999 (KRS) example on the non-existence of a pure-strategy Bayesian-Nash equilibrium in one-shot finite-player games with private information, and shows: (i) an equilibrium does exist in the KRS example if the information spaces are upgraded from the unit Lebesgue interval (LI) to the extended LI of Khan-Zhang (2012), (ii) there exists an upgraded KRS-type (counter)example of a game modeled on the extended LI, (iii) if an equilibrium exists in a KRS-type game on an n-fold extended LI, a (counter)example can be constructed on an (n + 1)-fold extended LI, (iv) for any given uncountable compact metric action space, there exists a KRS-type counterexample if information is modeled on spaces identified as satisfying the d-property, (v) the saturation property introduced by Hoover-Keisler (1984) is sufficient for the existence of equilibrium in a general class of games, and furthermore, (vi) this property is necessary if each player’s action set is an uncountable compact metric space. (162 words) JEL Classification Numbers: C62, D50, D82, G13.