Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Homeobox HOXA7 Regulates KeratinocyteTransglutaminase Type 1 and Inhibits Differentiation*

Keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation result from expression of specific groups of genes regulated by unique combinations of transcription factors. To better understand these regulatory processes, we studied HOXA7expression and its regulation of differentiation-specific keratinocyte genes. We isolated the homeobox transcription factor HOXA7 from keratinocytes through binding to a differentiation-dependent viral enhancer and analyzed its effect on endogenous differentiation-dependent genes, primarily transglutaminase 1. HOXA7 overexpression repressed transglutaminase 1-reporter activity. HOXA7 message markedly decreased, and transglutaminase RNA increased, upon phorbol ester-induced differentiation, in a protein kinase C-dependent manner. Overexpression of HOXA7 attenuated thetransglutaminase 1 induction by phorbol ester, demonstrating that HOXA7 expression is inversely related to keratinocyte differentiation, and to transglutaminase 1expression. Antisense HOXA7 expression activated transglutaminase 1, involucrin, and keratin 10 message and protein levels, demonstrating that endogenous HOXA7 down-regulates multiple differentiation-specific keratinocyte genes. In keeping with these observations, epidermal growth factor receptor activation stimulated HOXA7expression. HOX genes function in groups, and we found thatHOXA5 and HOXB7 were also down-regulated by phorbol ester. These results provide the first example of protein kinase C-mediated homeobox gene regulation in keratinocytes, and new evidence that HOXA7, potentially in conjunction with HOXA5 and HOXAB7, silences differentiation-specific genes during keratinocyte proliferation, that are then released from inhibition in response to differentiation signals.
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES AND PAW PREFERENCES IN MONGREL CATS: SEX-RELATED DIFFERENCES

This study was performed on 30 female and 18 male mongrel cats, of which 36 appeared to be right- and 12 left-pawed, respectively. The physical features of the brain hemispheres and the paw preferences in cats were investigated related to both functional and morphological asymmetry. Right-pawed cats were more prevalent, with scores ranging from + 60 to + 80%, as compared with the left-pawed ones scoring from 40 to 60%. However, females were found to be more right-pawed than males, but the differences were not considered significant (p >. 05). After half-open ether anes thesia, the whole brain was excised by craniotomy under deep-anesthesia (Ketalar : 40 50 mg/kg). The brains excised were kept in formaldehyde (10%) for three days, and then the weight, volume, density, and the morphological dimensions of left and right hemispheres and whole brain bodies were measured. There were no significant sex-related differences in body weights and paw preferences; nor was there any relation among the weights, volumes, and lengths of right and left hemispheres in either sex. There was, however, a significant sex-related difference between the mean heights of the left hemispheres of both male and female cats (p
Minimum Wages and Firm Value

How does firm value change in response to a minimum wage hike? This paper exploits the announcement of a big change in the UK minimum wage that was both totally unanticipated and free of uncertainty. The stock market response to this is examined in an event study setting. The analysis uncovers significant falls in the stock market value of low-wage firms. In light of this finding, the paper concludes by discussing magnitudes of response, including longer-term modes of firm adjustment to the cost shock induced by the minimum wage hike.
Effect of obesity on airway inflammation: a cross‐sectional analysis of body mass index and sputum cell counts

Background Several observational studies have demonstrated an association between obesity and asthma. Studies evaluating exhaled nitric oxide levels and obesity have revealed that a higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with elevated exhaled nitric oxide levels. Airway inflammation using sputum cell counts has not been assessed in obese patients with airway diseases.
Consumption of fish and meats and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).

BACKGROUND While higher intake of fish and lower consumption of red/processed meats have been suggested to play a protective role in the etiology of several cancers, prospective evidence for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is limited, particularly in Western European populations. METHODS The associations of fish and meats with HCC risk were analyzed in the EPIC cohort. Between 1992 and 2010, 191 incident HCC were identified among 477 206 participants. Baseline diet was assessed using validated dietary questionnaires. A single 24-h diet recall from a cohort subsample was used for calibration. Multivariable proportional hazard regression was utilized to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). In a nested case-control subset (HCC = 122), HBV/HCV status and liver function biomarkers were measured. RESULTS HCC risk was inversely associated with intake of total fish (per 20 g/day increase, HR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.95 and HR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.69-0.97 before and after calibration, respectively). This inverse association was also suggested after adjusting for HBV/HCV status and liver function score (per 20-g/day increase, RR = 0.86, 95% CI 0.66-1.11 and RR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.50-1.09, respectively) in a nested case-control subset. Intakes of total meats or subgroups of red/processed meats, and poultry were not associated with HCC risk. CONCLUSIONS In this large European cohort, total fish intake is associated with lower HCC risk.
The challenge of predicting financial crises : modelling and evaluating early warning systems

The main purpose of constructing "Early Warning Systems" (EWSs) for financial crises is to provide policy makers with some lead time to take pre-emptive actions that would help avoid, or at least mitigate, the damages of an approaching crisis. Accordingly, this study empirically evaluates and compares the effectiveness of the econometric models developed so far to construct EWSs. In addition, a more accurate (dynamic-recursive) forecasting technique is developed to generate better out-of-sample warning signals for currency, banking, and sovereign debt crises in the different regions of the world. The empirical analysis shows that the predictive performance of the EWS is significantly improved when using simple pooled models that account for the heterogeneity of the signalling indicators across the different regions. Moreover, including the entire crisis period in the sample outperforms the more common practice of dropping post-crisis-onset periods or using a multinomial specification of the crisis variable. In addition, the findings reveal that our dynamic-recursive technique provides more accurate out-of-sample forecasts for logit models. Finally, the dynamic signal extraction approach is recommended for policy makers who value avoiding financial crises at all costs, while the binomial logit model is more suitable for less conservative policy makers who consider the economic and social costs of false alarms.
Capital Adequacy Regulations in Hungary: Did It Really Matter?

The main purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it aims to estimate the effect of the tightening of regulatory capital requirements on the real economy during a credit upswing. Second, it intends to show whether applying a countercyclical capital buffer measure, as per the Basel III rules, could have helped decelerate FX lending growth in Hungary, mitigating the build-up of vulnerabilities in the run-up to the global financial crisis. To answer these questions, we use a Vector Autoregression-based approach to understand how shocks affected to capital adequacy in the pre-crisis period. Our results suggest that regulatory authorities could have slowed the increase in lending temporarily. They would not, however, have been able to avoid the upswing in FX lending by requiring countercyclical capital buffers even if such a tool had been available and they had reacted quickly to accelerating credit growth. Our results also suggest that a more pronounced tightening might have reduced FX lending substantially, but at the expense of real GDP growth. The reason is that an unsustainable fiscal policy led to a trade-off between economic growth and the build-up of new vulnerabilities in the form of FX lending.
EFFECTS OF EXPECTED DEMAND, TECHNOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITY, APPROPRIABILITY AND COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS ON INVENTION COMMERCIALIZATION

The structure of expected demand, technological opportunity, appropriability conditions and competitive effects that may determine, at an early stage, the expected profits and thus the probability that inventions are commercialized are examined. User need is completely mediated by expected sales that is, in turn, partially mediated by expected profitability. Technological opportunity is neither mediated by expected costs nor price, but partially by expected profitability. Technological opportunity explains about 1.5 times more of the variance in commercialization than expected demand. Results also point to the importance of expected profitability in conditioning entrepreneurial activities.
Does Media Coverage of a Celebrity Suicide Trigger Copycat Suicides?: Evidence from Korean Cases

ABSTRACT This article investigates the link between media coverage of celebrity suicides and the nation’s suicide rate. The instrumental variable regression is applied to suicide data from Statistics Korea and the media coverage data on celebrity suicides from Mediagaon of the Korea Press Foundation during the period from 1997 to 2009. The estimation results demonstrate that Korean celebrity suicides have significantly increased suicide rates, whereas non-Korean celebrity suicides have not. Moreover, greater media coverage of Korean celebrity suicides is associated with an increase in suicide rates. These findings shed light on the importance of media policy in the prevention of copycat suicides.
Fuzzy matching of edge and curvature based features from range images for 3D face recognition

AbstractAutomatic human face recognition is already in research from some decades due to its application in different fields. But there is no unique technique that is very much worthwhile for robust automatic human face recognition, suitable for all possible situations. In this paper, a new technique is proposed, which is a holistic approach, and it is based on ‘one to all’ comparison method. Along with the edge, four different types of curvatures are computed from face image profile to capture both the local features and surface features from 3D face image. Then, a new feature space, EC (Edge_Curvature) image, is generated for feature estimation during final recognition purpose. The similarities among intra-class members are carried out using fuzzy rule derived from the computed distance vectors by Hausdorff, distance that is used to match the probe images for the classification purpose automatically. For the validation of the algorithm, the algorithm is experimented on Frav3D and GavabDB databases with .
Small Bend Structures Using Trenches Filled With Low-Refractive Index Material for Miniaturizing Silica Planar Lightwave Circuits

We have proposed the fabrication of small bend structures using trenches along both sides of the core, filled with low-refractive index material, in order to miniaturise silica planar lightwave circuits. The minimum bending radius of a silica waveguide was reduced from 2 mm to 200 mum by filling the trenches with low-refractive index material. The local lateral relative refractive index difference (Delta) was increased to 8.64%. We fabricated cascade S-shaped waveguides to estimate a bend loss of the proposed structure. Moreover, we applied those structures to arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWG)s. Both 8-channel, 100-GHz channel-spacing and 8-channel, 12.5-GHz channel-spacing AWGs were successfully fabricated. Compared with conventional AWGs, sizes of these devices were reduced by factors of about 2 and 4, respectively.
Intramural platelet deposition in cerebral vasculopathy of systemic lupus erythematosus.

AIMS: To test the hypothesis that fragments of platelet thrombi and vascular endothelium are incorporated into the walls of small cerebral vessels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS: Six varied necropsy cases of central nervous system (CNS) SLE and 15 controls were studied. The controls were selected to represent a wide range of diseases in which the cerebral circulation is compromised. Tissue sections were stained by standard histochemical and immunocytochemical methods, the latter using antibodies to platelet membrane glycoprotein IIIa (CD61), and vascular endothelium (CD31). RESULTS: In four of six cases of CNS SLE characterised by small vessel hyalinization and thickening, fragments of platelet membrane were found in the walls of small cortical and meningeal vessels. Similar findings were not evident in two other SLE cases that were characterised by relatively short clinical histories and an acute vasculitis. One control case of severe polyarteritis nodosa showed platelet fragment deposition in arteries larger than the vessels so affected in SLE. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies have suggested that neuropsychiatric symptoms in SLE may be related to repeated episodes of vasculitis in small cerebral vessels that are triggered by antiphospholipid antibodies. Concurrent thrombus formation might facilitate the incorporation of platelet fragments into small vessel walls. This process contributes to the thickening and irregularity of small vessels, a major feature of longstanding cases of CNS SLE.
The conundrum of vanishing early decelerations in British obstetrics, a step backwards? Detailed appraisal of British and American classifications of fetal heart rate decelerations - Fallacies of emphasis on waveform and putative aetiology

A recent opinion survey of British Obstetricians revealed ‘early’ fetal heart rate (FHR) decelerations as the commonest type in their practice. This contrasts with the guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, UK (NICE 2007) that ‘true uniform early decelerations are rare and most decelerations are variable’. This analytical review suggests that the emphasis on putative aetiology and ‘waveform’ of decelerations by NICE and other national guidelines leads to fundamental inconsistencies. ‘Uniform shape’ is misinterpretation of the description by Hon and Quilligan (1968). Truly ‘uniform’ (identical)) decelerations do not occur and no examples can be found. Gradual (‘bell’) or rapid shape has no correlation to putative causation or fetal condition. Obstetricians and midwives should seek clarification of these fallacies. The previous British practice of classifying decelerations based solely on time relationship to contractions seems most scientifically robust leading to more consistent interpretation and better discrimination of fetal status.
Cutaneous Diphtheria in the Urban Poor Population of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: a 10-Year Review

ABSTRACT Between 1998 and 2007, records from 33 patients with cutaneous diphtheria from Vancouver's inner city were reviewed. Cases were associated with injection drug use and poverty. Coinfections with Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Arcanobacterium haemolyticum occurred. Corynebacterium diphtheriae is endemic in Vancouver's urban core, with strains of multilocus sequence type (MLST) 76 predominating.
Essays on the economic consequences of remittances

This thesis examines three issues relating to the role of remittances in the process of economic development: the impact on economic growth, the implications of remittances on the real exchange compared to other forms of financial inflows, and the impact of remittances on expenditure patterns of households in a major remittancedependent country, Nepal. The issues are addressed in three self-contained essays, with a stage-setting introductory chapter and a concluding chapter which summarises the key findings. The essays are mainly empirical, but well informed by the relevant analytical literature. The empirical analysis makes use of the latest econometric techniques. Chapter 2 examines the debate on the impact of remittances on economic growth using a new panel dataset covering 74 developing countries over the period 1976– 2010.The novelty of the analysis is that it probes possible nonlinearity and lagged effect of the hypothesized impact of remittances on economic growth using alternative specifications. The results suggest that remittances have a positive impact on growth, with the magnitude of the impact declining beyond a remittance-GDP ratio of 7 to 9 percent. But the marginal impact is not statistically significant. There is also no evidence to suggest that the impact of remittances on growth depends on financial deepening as some previous studies have suggested. Chapter 3 examines the impact of remittances on real exchange rate (RER) using the standard dependent economy model to derive the estimation equation. The analysis is based on a new panel dataset covering 105developing countries during 1980-2011. A key novelty of the paper is the use of a theoretically consistent new real effective rate (REER) index as the dependent variable. The index uses the wholesale price index (WPI) to measure foreign prices and the GDP deflator as the measure of domestic prices whereas the REER index of the IMF, which has been commonly used in in the previous studies, uses CPI to measure both prices. The results reveal that remittances lead to significant appreciation of RER, and the magnitude of appreciation depends on the nature of the exchange rate policy regime. One percentage point increase in the remittance to GDP ratio leads to an appreciation of RER by 0.5 percent and 1.08 percent in the countries with the fixed
EDUCATION, DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH EXPENDITURE IN AFRICA: A CROSS-SECTION MODEL OF 39 COUNTRIES IN 2000-2005

This article analyzes the evolution of education, health expenditure and economic development in 39 African countries for the period 2000-2005, which shows that the low levels of health expenditure in many Africa countries are far from evolving to the necessary speed to meet the social demand. We find that the main causes of this bad situation are the low levels of economic development and the low levels of international cooperation to increase average years of schooling of population. We estimate a crosssection model which shows the important positive effect of the educational level of population on economic development and the highly positive effect of economic development on health expenditure in those countries. The main conclusion is that international cooperation addressed to improve health expenditure in Africa should devote a particular attention to human capital and help to increase the average years of schooling of adult population in the poorest countries. JEL classification:
A journal is a club: a new economic model for scholarly publishing

Abstract A new economic model for the analysis of scholarly publishing – journal publishing in particular – is proposed that draws on club theory. The standard approach builds on market failure in the private production (by research scholars) of a public good (new scholarly knowledge). In this model, publishing is communication, as the dissemination of information. But a club model views publishing differently: namely as group formation, where members form groups in order to confer externalities on each other, subject to congestion. A journal is a self-constituted group, endeavouring to create new knowledge. In this sense, a journal is a club. The knowledge club model of a journal seeks to balance the positive externalities of a shared resource (readers, citations, referees) against the negative externalities of crowding (decreased prospect of publishing in that journal). A new economic model of a journal as a knowledge club is elaborated. We suggest some consequences for the management of journals and financial models that might be developed to support them.
Novel thyrotropin-releasing hormone analogs: a patent review

Introduction: The potential therapeutic applications of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) have attracted attention, based on its broad-spectrum neuropharmacological action rather than its endocrine properties. These central nervous system (CNS)-mediated effects provide the rationale for use of TRH and its analogs in the treatment of brain and spinal injury, and CNS disorders like schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, depression, shock and ischemia. Areas covered: This review summarizes the patent literature and advances in the discovery and development of novel TRH analogs over the past 20 years. It provides a comprehensive overview of the development of new TRH analogs, giving emphasis to their pharmaceutical profile. Expert opinion: The use of TRH in the treatment of various CNS disorders has been proven clinically. However, TRH itself is a poor drug candidate due to its short plasma half-life (5 min), poor biopharmaceutical properties (low intestinal and CNS permeability) and endocrine side effect. Nevertheless, researchers have come up with metabolically stable, more potent and selective TRH analogs and prodrugs. Taltirelin, one of the TRH analogs, has been approved under the trade name of Ceredist® in Japan for the treatment of spinocerebellar degeneration. Several other TRH analogs are in various stages of preclinical or clinical development.
Transcellular biosynthesis of cysteinyl leukotrienes in vivo during mouse peritoneal inflammation

Leukotrienes (LTs) are lipid mediators of inflammation formed by enzymatic oxidation of arachidonic acid. One intriguing aspect of LT production is transcellular biosynthesis: cells expressing 5-lipoxygenase (5LO) form LTA4 and transfer it to cells expressing LTA4 hydrolase (LTA4H) or LTC4 synthase (LTC4S) to produce LTB4 or LTC4. This process has been demonstrated in vivo for LTB4, but not for cysteinyl LTs (cysLTs). We examined transcellular cysLT synthesis during zymosan-induced peritonitis, using bone marrow transplants with transgenic mice deficient in key enzymes of LT synthesis and analyzing all eicosanoids by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. WT mice time-dependently produced LTB4 and cysLTs (LTC4, LTD4, and LTE4). 5LO−/− mice were incapable of producing LTs. WT bone marrow cells restored this biosynthetic ability, but 5LO−/− bone marrow did not rescue LT synthesis in irradiated WT mice, demonstrating that bone marrow-derived cells are the ultimate source of all LTs in this model. Total levels of 5LO-derived products were comparable in LTA4H−/− and WT mice, but were reduced in LTC4S−/− animals. No differences in prostaglandin production were observed between these transgenic or chimeric mice. Bone marrow cells from LTA4H−/− or LTC4S−/− mice injected into 5LO−/− mice restored the ability to synthesize LTB4 and cysLTs, providing unequivocal evidence of efficient transcellular biosynthesis of cysLTs. These results highlight the potential relevance of transcellular exchange of LTA4 for the synthesis of LTs mediating biological activities during inflammatory events in vivo.