Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct binding of triglyceride to fat storage-inducing transmembrane proteins 1 and 2 is important for lipid droplet formation

The process of lipid droplet (LD) formation is an evolutionarily conserved process among all eukaryotes and plays an important role in both cellular physiology and disease. Recently, fat storage-inducing transmembrane proteins 1 and 2 (FIT1/FITM1 and FIT2/FITM2) were discovered as an evolutionarily conserved family of proteins involved in fat storage. In mammals, FIT1 is expressed primarily in skeletal muscle and FIT2 is expressed primarily in adipose, raising the possibility that FIT1 and FIT2 have unique functions. These proteins are exclusively localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mediate triglyceride-rich LD accumulation when overexpressed in cells, mouse liver, or muscle. Unlike the ER-resident diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase family of triglyceride-synthesizing enzymes, FITs do not synthesize triglyceride, but rather partition triglyceride into LDs. The mechanism by which FIT proteins mediate this process has not been determined. A simple hypothesis was tested that FIT proteins bind to triglyceride to mediate LD formation. Here, it is shown that FIT proteins purified in detergent micelles directly bind triolein with specificity and saturation-binding kinetics. A FIT2 gain-of-function mutant that formed larger LDs, FLL(157–9)AAA, showed increased binding to triolein relative to wild-type FIT2, whereas FIT1 and a FIT2 partial loss-of-function mutant, N80A, had significantly lower triolein binding and produced smaller LDs. In summary, FIT proteins are transmembrane domain-containing proteins shown to bind triglyceride. These findings indicate that FITs have a unique biochemical mechanism in mediating LD formation and implicates triglyceride binding as important for FIT-mediated LD formation.
An Empirical Analysis of Free Cash Flow and Dividend Policy in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector

The paper is to determine the impact of free cash flow on dividend policy of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The data was collected from annual reports and accounts of the sampled companies for the period of twelve years from 2003 to 2014. Data is analyzed by means of descriptive statistics to provide summary statistics for the variables and correlation analysis is also carried out using Pearson correlation technique for the correlation between the dependent and explanatory variables. Multiple regression technique was used to analyze the data using STATA software version 12.00. The study found that free cash flow and earnings per share have positive effects on the dividend policy while a negative significant relationship is found between leverage and dividend policy of listed oil and gas companies Nigeria. Companies in which high proportion of shares are held by managers are more reluctant in paying a higher dividend. Hence, The study recommends that companies in the oil and gas sector should endeavor to improve the level of free cash and profitability while reducing the level of leverage thereby paying a higher dividend payout policy. Keywords : Free cash flow, Dividend policy, Earning per share, Leverage
Is the Market Being Fooled? An Error-Based Screen for Manipulation

In this paper, we develop a new screen to detect manipulation in commodities markets. If manipulation is occurring, not all of the relevant information is being filtered through the market, which means that the market is being "fooled" and its ability to forecast future prices is impaired. If futures prices are the market's estimates of future spot prices, manipulation can be expected, therefore, to result in larger first and second moments of the forecast error in those prices, controlling for other factors (not related to manipulation) that could affect risk premium. We apply our technique to the Hunt Brothers' silver manipulation episode of 1979-80. After controlling for market and macroeconomic fundamentals not affected by manipulation (but which could explain variations in risk premium), we find that the variance of the bias is significantly larger under manipulation, and the mean reverses sign consistent with backwardation.
A Longitudinal Metric Analysis of Course-subjects to reveal the Evolution of a Discipline: Changes in the Teaching Frequency and Ratio of Courses in Law Schools in the United States over 80 years

This article is a longitudinal, metric analysis of law school course-subjects in the United States. Its data source is the lists of “teachers by subject” contained in the annual directories of the American Association of Law Schools for a total of 57,915 data points. The number of faculty teaching the various course-subjects is compared for three time periods: (1) 1931–1932, (2) 1972–1973, and (3) 2010–2011. The course-subjects are a controlled vocabulary. In addition, the mergence and divergence of course-subjects are noted based on the timing of changes, “includes” statements, and “see also” references. This allows meaningful comparisons across time to reveal which coursesubjects and groups of related course-subjects are rising and falling in importance in the legal academy in the United States. Topics such as International Law, Constitutional Law, and Legal Research and Writing have gained the most in terms of the percentage number of teachers teaching these topics. Topics such as Estate Planning, Commercial Law, and Business Associations have lost the most in terms of the percentage number of teachers teaching these topics. In addition, the course-subjects with the highest and lowest average of the length of time they have been taught are reported for each period.
Monoclonal antiprothrombinase (3D4.3) prevents mortality from murine hepatitis virus (MHV-3) infection

The induction of monocyte/macrophage procoagulant activity (PCA) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of murine hepatitis virus strain 3 (MHV-3) infection and disease. Previously, we have shown that induction of PCA by MHV-3 correlated with resistance/susceptibility to infection in different mouse strains. In this study, all BALB/cJ mice that were infected with 10(3) plaque-forming units of MHV-3 developed severe liver disease and died within 96-120 h. Examination of the livers of these animals showed marked hepatic necrosis, deposition of fibrin, and cellular expression of PCA by direct immunofluorescence staining in areas of necrosis as well as in hepatic sinusoids. Splenic mononuclear cells recovered from these mice expressed high concentrations of PCA with time after infection. Infusion into mice of a high-titered monoclonal antibody that neutralized PCA (3D4.3) attenuated the development of hepatic necrosis and enhanced survival in a dose- dependent manner. All of the animals receiving 100 micrograms, and 44% and 22% of the animals that received 50 and 25 micrograms per day, respectively, survived for 10 d and made a full recovery. Administration of the antibody resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in fibrin deposition, PCA expression as detected by direct immunofluorescence staining and by a functional assay. In animals treated with high concentrations of antibody, titers of antibody to PCA fell from 87 +/- 15 micrograms/ml to 100 +/- 7 ng/ml during the active phase of the disease, consistent with sequestration due to binding of the immunoglobulin to cells expressing PCA. Surviving animals, when rechallenged with MHV-3, had a 40% mortality, consistent with the known rates of metabolism of immunoglobulin. This further suggested that protection was by a passive mechanism. The results reported here demonstrate that a neutralizing antibody to PCA protects animals from fulminant hepatitis and death associated with MHV-3 infection, and supports the notion that PCA is a potent inflammatory mediator that plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of liver injury resulting from MHV-3 infection.
Assimilation of MODIS snow cover through the Data Assimilation Research Testbed and the Community Land Model version 4

To improve snowpack estimates in Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow cover fraction (SCF) was assimilated into the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) via the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART). The interface between CLM4 and DART is a flexible, extensible approach to land surface data assimilation. This data assimilation system has a large ensemble (80‐member) atmospheric forcing that facilitates ensemble‐based land data assimilation. We use 40 randomly chosen forcing members to drive 40 CLM members as a compromise between computational cost and the data assimilation performance. The localization distance, a parameter in DART, was tuned to optimize the data assimilation performance at the global scale. Snow water equivalent (SWE) and snow depth are adjusted via the ensemble adjustment Kalman filter, particularly in regions with large SCF variability. The root‐mean‐square error of the forecast SCF against MODIS SCF is largely reduced. In DJF (December‐January‐February), the discrepancy between MODIS and CLM4 is broadly ameliorated in the lower‐middle latitudes (23°–45°N). Only minimal modifications are made in the higher‐middle (45°–66°N) and high latitudes, part of which is due to the agreement between model and observation when snow cover is nearly 100%. In some regions it also reveals that CLM4‐modeled snow cover lacks heterogeneous features compared to MODIS. In MAM (March‐April‐May), adjustments to snow move poleward mainly due to the northward movement of the snowline (i.e., where largest SCF uncertainty is and SCF assimilation has the greatest impact). The effectiveness of data assimilation also varies with vegetation types, with mixed performance over forest regions and consistently good performance over grass, which can partly be explained by the linearity of the relationship between SCF and SWE in the model ensembles. The updated snow depth was compared to the Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC) data. Differences between CMC and CLM4 are generally reduced in densely monitored regions.
[Quality of life and patient satisfaction after breast reconstruction].

BACKGROUND Nowadays, the array of methods for reconstruction of the female breast following mastectomy is vast. In this study, we investigate and compare quality of life after breast reconstruction and satisfaction with the results of two commonly used techniques (autologous tissue vs. expander/implant). METHODS Ninety-one consecutive patients who underwent breast reconstruction at a German clinic between 1996 and 2001 were included in the study. Patient satisfaction and quality of life were assessed retrospectively using self-evaluation questionnaires. RESULTS Patients were generally more satisfied with the outcome of the operation when autologous tissue was used. This was significant in the following areas: breast size, form, definition of the lower breast fold, softness of the breast, and symmetry of the breasts. In both groups the quality of life following breast reconstruction at least 2 years after the operation was equal to that of healthy women of the same age group. CONCLUSION Although patients were more satisfied with the results of autologous breast reconstruction, procedure choice did not affect quality of life.
Compensating Pixel Circuit Driving AMOLED Display With a-IGZO TFTs

This letter presents a novel active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) pixel circuit that uses amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a bottom-gate structure to compensate for the threshold voltage shift of the TFT. An a-IGZO TFT driven AMOLED display (70 × 70 pixels) on a glass substrate is fabricated and its reliability is evaluated under electrical stress.
[Random sample survey on the prevalence of smoking in the major cities of Brazil].

OBJECTIVE To provide access to the results of a randomized cross-sectional study conducted by the Brazilian Center for Information on Psychotropic Drugs in 2001. METHODS This survey involved a random sample of individuals ranging from 12 to 65 years of age and residing in the 107 largest cities (over 200,000 inhabitants) in Brazil, which represented 27.7% of the Brazilian population, estimated to be 169,799,170 inhabitants at the time. A total of 8,589 interviews were conducted. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration questionnaire, translated and adapted for use in Brazil, was used in the interviews. RESULTS Of the sample as a whole, 41.1% of the interviewees reported having experimented with tobacco products. The prevalence of daily smokers was 17.4% (20.3% among males and 14.8% among females). We found that 9% of the sample (10.1% of the men and 7.9% of the women) were nicotine-dependent, according to the criteria of the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of current smoking in the 107 largest cities of Brazil is significantly lower in this decade than was the national prevalence at the end of last century.
A prospective study of pancreatic cancer in the elderly

Risk factors for pancreatic cancer were examined in a cohort study of 13,979 residents of a retirement community. After 9 years of follow‐up, 65 incident cases of pancreatic cancer were identified. An increased risk of pancreatic cancer was associated with a history of diabetes and cholecystectomy. Higher intake of vegetables, fruits, dietary beta‐carotene, and vitamin C were each associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic cancer, although none of these associations was statistically significant. Risk of pancreatic cancer decreased with increasing tea consumption but was unrelated to coffee consumption. No strong or consistent association was seen between either smoking or alcohol consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer, but a consistent and significant increase in risk followed cholecystectomy. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
PAPER Special Section on Formal Approach A Framework for Verifying the Conformance of Design to Its Formal Specifications ∗

Verification of a design with respect to its requirement specification is important to prevent errors before constructing an actual implementation. The existing works focus on verifications where the specifications are described using temporal logics or using the same languages as that used to describe the designs. Our work considers cases where the specifications and the designs are described using different languages. To verify such cases, we propose a framework to check if a design conforms to its specification based on their simulation relation. Specifically, we define the semantics of the specifications and the designs commonly as labelled transition systems (LTSs). We appreciate LTSs since they could interpret information about the system and actions that the system may perform as well as the effect of these actions. Then, we check whether a design conforms to its specification based on the simulation relation of their LTS. In this paper, we present our framework for the verification of reactive systems, and we present the case where the specifications and the designs are described in Event-B and Promela/Spin, respectively. We also present two case studies with the results of several experiments to illustrate the applicability of our framework on practical systems. key words: formal specification, design model, formal verification, model checking, simulation relation
Structure-activity relationship of anthracycline-induced genotoxicity in vitro.

Anthracycline antitumor antibiotics, such as Adriamycin and daunomycin, are potent genotoxic agents and carcinogens. A variety of anthracycline derivatives was investigated in various in vitro short-term tests, i.e., mutagenesis in Salmonella typhimurium and V79 Chinese hamster cells and induction of unscheduled DNA synthesis in primary rat hepatocytes. Compounds containing a daunosamine sugar moiety (Adriamycin, daunomycin, 4-demethoxydaunomycin, 4-demethoxyadriamycin, and carminomycin) were highly active in both mutagenesis assays. Addition of S9 to the bacteria and cocultivation of V79 cells with rat hepatocytes, in general, decreased the mutagenicity of these compounds. In contrast, anthracyclines with N-alkylated sugar moieties (aclacinomycin A, marcellomycin, musettamycin, pyrromycin, rudolfomycin, N,N-dimethyladriamycin, N,N-dimethyldaunomycin, N-benzyldaunomycin, N,N-dibenzyldaunomycin, 3'-deamino-3'-methoxypiperidinodaunomycin, morpholinodaunomycin, cyanomorpholinodaunomycin, and cyanomorpholinoadriamycin) were weakly mutagenic or not mutagenic at all in both bacterial and mammalian cells. The two latter compounds were weakly active in the Salmonella/microsome assay only after addition of S9. Results obtained in the DNA repair studies did not correlate to these mutagenicity data; while most compounds, including Adriamycin and daunomycin, were either weakly active or inactive at inducing unscheduled DNA synthesis in primary rat hepatocytes, morpholinodaunomycin, cyanomorpholinodaunomycin, and cyanomorpholinoadriamycin were extremely active. The results indicate that the mutagenicity of anthracyclines is related more to differences in their sugar moiety than to differences in the chemical structure of their aglycones; N-alkylation of the sugar moiety can abolish or greatly reduce their mutagenic activity. Moreover, induction of unscheduled DNA synthesis, although considered to be due to DNA damage, is not correlated to anthracycline-induced mutations but may possibly indicate covalent DNA interaction.
Odor tracking in sharks is reduced under future ocean acidification conditions

Recent studies show that ocean acidification impairs sensory functions and alters the behavior of teleost fishes. If sharks and other elasmobranchs are similarly affected, this could have significant consequences for marine ecosystems globally. Here, we show that projected future CO2 levels impair odor tracking behavior of the smooth dogfish (Mustelus canis). Adult M. canis were held for 5 days in a current‐day control (405 ± 26 μatm) and mid (741 ± 22 μatm) or high CO2 (1064 ± 17 μatm) treatments consistent with the projections for the year 2100 on a ‘business as usual’ scenario. Both control and mid CO2‐treated individuals maintained normal odor tracking behavior, whereas high CO2‐treated sharks significantly avoided the odor cues indicative of food. Control sharks spent >60% of their time in the water stream containing the food stimulus, but this value fell below 15% in high CO2‐treated sharks. In addition, sharks treated under mid and high CO2 conditions reduced attack behavior compared to the control individuals. Our findings show that shark feeding could be affected by changes in seawater chemistry projected for the end of this century. Understanding the effects of ocean acidification on critical behaviors, such as prey tracking in large predators, can help determine the potential impacts of future ocean acidification on ecosystem function.
Distribution of blood pressures in Gemlik District, north-west Turkey.

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the prevalence, awareness and control of hypertension among individuals over 30 years of age and to plan a follow-up programme for the same age group. A community-based sample of 1992 individuals (952 men and 1,040 women) was selected randomly. Out of the total study population, 1,388 (69.7%) individuals had normal blood pressure according to World Health Organisation criteria (systolic blood pressure < 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg), and the rest (n = 604, 30.3%) had hypertension to varying degrees. Since 61 individuals with normal blood pressure were using antihypertensive medication, the overall hypertension prevalence was 33.4%. Among the study subjects with hypertension, 44.4% were aware of their condition, 37.7% were using medication and 9.2% had controlled hypertension. One out of five individuals (n = 399, 20.0%) had never had their blood pressure measured before. Females had a higher hypertension prevalence than males (36.7% and 29.7%, respectively). Hypertension prevalence increased with age and individuals with a body mass index > 25 were at greater risk. The present findings suggest that there is a need to implement an effective, community-based and low-cost management programme.
Mental state references in psychosis: A pilot study of prompted implicit mentalising during dialogue and its relationship with social functioning

Introduction. Few studies of psychosis have examined dialogue-based implicit mentalising even though this is likely to reflect the skills required in everyday life better than more typical mentalising tasks. Using a semistructured dialogue task, we predicted that a psychosis sample would be impaired in “prompted” online mentalising (i.e., the frequency and variety of mental and emotional state words as well as references to own mental state) and that performance would relate to social functioning. Methods. Eighteen adults with psychosis and nine healthy adults were each recorded during four semistructured dialogues, which were transcribed, coded, scored, and quantitatively analysed. The patients also completed a measure of social functioning. Results. Compared to controls, the psychosis participants referred to others’ mental and emotional states significantly less and with a lower variety of words. These findings were all large effects with sufficient observed power. There was no significant difference in references to own mental state. The relationships between mentalising and social functioning were mostly modest. Conclusions. Although prompted implicit mentalising is impoverished in psychosis, self-knowledge appears to be intact. Simulation-based mentalising may be spared in the context of impoverished theory-based mentalising. Also, implicit mentalising contributes to social functioning, corroborating the results of previous work.
Re‐emerging chikungunya fever: some lessons from Asia

Chikungunya is an arboviral infection that re‐emerged in several Asian countries during 2005–2006 after a long period of quiescence. Several microbial, climatic, social and economic factors influenced the occurrence of this disease as well as the rapidity with which it swept across many countries resulting in significant morbidity. Prevention and control of such diseases require not only a strong public health infrastructure but also a precise understanding of the factors that provide a conducive environment for the virus to propagate and infect a large number of people in a short time period. A multipronged response with an active role by the communities is critical for combating chikungunya and other emerging infectious diseases. The paper discusses important lessons that can be learned from the recent outbreaks of chikungunya fever in Asia.