Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of nitric oxide in gastric hyperemia induced by central vagal stimulation.

The effects of N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, on the vagal cholinergic increase in gastric mucosal blood flow (GMBF) and acid secretion induced by intracisternal injection of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) analogue, RX 77368, were studied. GMBF and acid secretion were measured simultaneously by the hydrogen gas clearance technique and titration of gastric perfusate in urethan-anesthetized rats. RX 77368 (30 ng) injected intracisternally stimulated gastric acid secretion and GMBF for 90 and 180 min respectively. GMBF was increased from basal 63 +/- 4 to 166 +/- 14 ml.min-1.100 g-1 at 60 min postinjection. L-NAME (3 mg/kg) injected intravenously 15 min before RX 77368 completely prevented the increase in GMBF induced by the TRH analogue, whereas the acid response was not modified. The effect of L-NAME was reversed by L-arginine but not by the stereoisomer D-arginine. These results show that the increase in GMBF, but not the stimulation of acid secretion, induced by central vagal activation is mediated through a product of L-arginine-NO pathway.
Mutual Fund Performance, Management Teams, and Boards

The recent surge in the use of team-managed funds in the mutual fund industry suggests that the benefits of team management might outweigh its costs. However, extant empirical evidence is not consistent with the view that team-managed funds generate superior returns relative to individual-managed funds. We argue that the benefits of team management are likely to be manifested in the presence of strong board monitoring because the potential free-rider problems within team-managed funds are alleviated. Our findings, that smaller boards and boards with a higher proportion of independent directors are positively associated with performance in team but not individual-managed funds, are consistent with this view. Our results suggest that in team-managed fund structures, where the potential free-riding problems exist, the presence of strong board monitoring improves fund performance.
Substrate Fate in Activated Macrophages: A Comparison between Innate, Classic, and Alternative Activation

Macrophages play a relevant role in innate and adaptive immunity depending on the balance of the stimuli received. From an analytical and functional point of view, macrophage stimulation can be segregated into three main modes, as follows: innate, classic, and alternative pathways. These differential activations result in the expression of specific sets of genes involved in the release of pro- or anti-inflammatory stimuli. In the present work, we have analyzed whether specific metabolic patterns depend on the signaling pathway activated. A [1,2-13C2]glucose tracer-based metabolomics approach has been used to characterize the metabolic flux distributions in macrophages stimulated through the classic, innate, and alternative pathways. Using this methodology combined with mass isotopomer distribution analysis of the new formed metabolites, the data show that activated macrophages are essentially glycolytic cells, and a clear cutoff between the classic/innate activation and the alternative pathway exists. Interestingly, macrophage activation through LPS/IFN-γ or TLR-2, -3, -4, and -9 results in similar flux distribution patterns regardless of the pathway activated. However, stimulation through the alternative pathway has minor metabolic effects. The molecular basis of the differences between these two types of behavior involves a switch in the expression of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase (PFK2) from the liver type-PFK2 to the more active ubiquitous PFK2 isoenzyme, which responds to Hif-1α activation and increases fructose-2,6-bisphosphate concentration and the glycolytic flux. However, using macrophages targeted for Hif-1α, the switch of PFK2 isoenzymes still occurs in LPS/IFN-γ–activated macrophages, suggesting that this pathway regulates ubiquitous PFK2 expression through Hif-1α-independent mechanisms.
Mitigating the Tragedy of the Commons

It is well known that a common property resource such as the fisheries leads to internal technological diseconomies. See Worcester [22] and Bell [2] as well as the classic articles by Gordon [7] and Scott [19] dealing with property rights and the fisheries. That is, the structure of property rights leads to social welfare losses or what Hardin [9] called the "tragedy of the commons. " The purpose of this paper is to illustrate and quantify how social welfare losses have been mitigated as the private property sector has emerged. An excellent test case is the growth in pond reared crawfish on private property and its impact in mitigating social welfare losses resulting from the harvesting of common property Louisiana wild crawfish. The demand for crawfish will be examined first, followed by an analysis of the yield function for wild crawfish. We shall see that the empirical results are consistent with the North and Thomas [15] thesis on the role of property rights in economic growth and the more recent theory of contracting advanced by Johnson and Libecap [10] to explain the persistence of common property.
Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group 2-2004 Oak forest carbon and water simulations : model intercomparisons and evaluations against independent data

Models represent our primary method for integration o f small-scale, processlevel phenomena into a comprehensive description of forest-stand or ecosystem function. They also represent a key method for testing hypotheses about the response of forest ecosystems to multiple changing environmental conditions. This paper describes the eval­ uation of 13 stand-level models varying in their spatial, mechanistic, and temporal com­ plexity for their ability to capture intraand interannuai components o f the water and carbon cycle for an upland, oak-dominated forest o f eastern Tennessee. Comparisons between model simulations and observations were conducted for hourly, daily, and annual time steps. Data for the comparisons were obtained from a wide range o f methods including: eddy covariance, sapfiow, chamber-based soil respiration, biometric estimates o f stand-level net primary production and growth, and soil water content by time or frequency domain refiectometry. Response surfaces of carbon and water flux as a function of environmental drivers, and a variety of goodness-of-ht statistics (bias, absolute bias, and model efhciency) were used to judge model performance. A single model did not consistently perform the best at ail time steps or for ail variables considered, interm odei comparisons showed good agreement for water cycle fluxes, but considerable disagreem ent among models for predicted carbon fluxes. The mean o f ail model outputs, however, was nearly always the best h t to the observations. Not surprisingly, models missing key forest components or processes, such as roots or m odeled soil water content, were unable to provide accurate predictions of ecosystem responses to short-term drought phenomenon. Nevertheless, an inability to correctly capture short-term physiolog­ ical processes under drought was not necessarily an indicator o f poor annual water and carbon budget simulations. This is possible because droughts in the subject ecosystem were o f short duration and therefore had a small cumulative impact. Models using hourly time steps and detailed mechanistic processes, and having a realistic spatial representation of the forest ecosystem provided the best predictions of observed data. Predictive ability of ail models deteriorated under drought conditions, suggesting that further work is needed to evaluate and improve ecosystem model perform ance under unusual conditions, such as drought, that are a common focus o f environmental change discussions.
Crime, Police Corruption and Development: Evidence from Victimization Data

Recently economists have begun to study various aspects of public sector institutions (with their behavioral neighborhoods) and their effects on the long run economic development. Degrees of corruption, rule of law and protection of property rights have all apparently significant economic impact. These results are all based on the construction of indicators for these difficult-to-observe explanatory variable complexes. In most cases the indicators applied have been developed for most countries and have on the one hand ‘nice’ statistical properties when embedded in regression equations, but on the other hand are conceptually fuzzy with unclear relationships to basic observations. In this paper we go through many of the same relationships, but based on international efforts to collect questionnaire information about citizens’ experience with crime and police corruption. This information is more conceptually distinct and likely to be more closely related to relevant experience, but proves on the other hand less amenable to econometric analysis. Despite the latter weakness we have found it worthwhile to pursue it in order to complement the indicator- based approaches.
Recent Developments in the Use of Sodium Bicarbonate as an Ergogenic Aid

This review examines the current status of sodium bicarbonate as an ergogenic aid. It builds on previous reviews in the area. Current research would suggest that as an ergogenic aid, a 300 mg·kg−1 dose of NaHCO3 can improve high-intensity exercise, within a range of exercise modalities, such as a single bout of supramaximal exercise, high-intensity intermittent activity, and skill-based sports. In particular, these benefits seem to be present to a greater extent within trained individuals. Despite this, there appears to exist a high intraindividual variability in response to NaHCO3, and therefore, the ergogenic benefits may not be induced during every exercise bout. Current thinking also suggests that athletes need to individualize their ingestion timings to maximize peak pH or blood bicarbonate to effectively maximize the performance effect, and this may allow individuals to attain the ergogenic benefits of NaHCO3 more consistently.
Tracing the Origin and Northward Dissemination Dynamics of HIV-1 Subtype C in Brazil

Previous studies indicate that the HIV-1 subtype C epidemic in southern Brazil was initiated by the introduction of a single founder strain probably originating from east Africa. However, the exact country of origin of such a founder strain as well as the origin of the subtype C viruses detected outside the Brazilian southern region remains unknown. HIV-1 subtype C pol sequences isolated in the southern, southeastern and central-western Brazilian regions (n = 209) were compared with a large number (n ~ 2,000) of subtype C pol sequences of African origin. Maximum-likelihood analyses revealed that most HIV-1 subtype C Brazilian sequences branched in a single monophyletic clade (CBR-I), nested within a larger monophyletic lineage characteristic of east Africa. Bayesian analyses indicate that the CBR-I clade most probably originated in Burundi and was introduced into the Paraná state (southern region) around the middle 1970s, after which it rapidly disseminated to neighboring regions. The states of Paraná and Santa Catarina have been the most important hubs of subtype C dissemination, and routine travel and spatial accessibility seems to have been the major driving forces of this process. Five additional introductions of HIV-1 subtype C strains probably originated in eastern (n = 2), southern (n = 2) and central (n = 1) African countries were detected in the Rio de Janeiro state (southeastern region). These results indicate a continuous influx of HIV-1 subtype C strains of African origin into Brazil and also unveil the existence of unrecognized transmission networks linking this country to east Africa.
Multisite Light-Induced Phosphorylation of the Transcription Factor PIF3 Is Necessary for Both Its Rapid Degradation and Concomitant Negative Feedback Modulation of Photoreceptor phyB Levels in Arabidopsis[C][W]

This work demonstrates the functional necessity of multisite light-induced phosphorylation of a bHLH transcription factor to signal propagation. It also identifies a novel signal attenuation mechanism whereby the act of forward signal transfer to the receiver is intrinsically linked to a direct, molecular feedback signal that triggers a reduction of overall sensory capacity, via a reduction in abundance of the signal donor. Plants constantly monitor informational light signals using sensory photoreceptors, which include the phytochrome (phy) family (phyA to phyE), and adjust their growth and development accordingly. Following light-induced nuclear translocation, photoactivated phy molecules bind to and induce rapid phosphorylation and degradation of phy-interacting basic Helix Loop Helix (bHLH) transcription factors (PIFs), such as PIF3, thereby regulating the expression of target genes. However, the mechanisms underlying the signal-relay process are still not fully understood. Here, using mass spectrometry, we identify multiple, in vivo, light-induced Ser/Thr phosphorylation sites in PIF3. Using transgenic expression of site-directed mutants of PIF3, we provide evidence that a set of these phosphorylation events acts collectively to trigger rapid degradation of the PIF3 protein in response to initial exposure of dark-grown seedlings to light. In addition, we show that phyB-induced PIF3 phosphorylation is also required for the known negative feedback modulation of phyB levels in prolonged light, potentially through codegradation of phyB and PIF3. This mutually regulatory intermolecular transaction thus provides a mechanism with the dual capacity to promote early, graded, or threshold regulation of the primary, PIF3-controlled transcriptional network in response to initial light exposure, and later, to attenuate global sensitivity to the light signal through reductions in photoreceptor levels upon prolonged exposure.
Osteoblasts Generate Harder, Stiffer, and More Delamination‐Resistant Mineralized Tissue on Titanium Than on Polystyrene, Associated With Distinct Tissue Micro‐ and Ultrastructure

This study revealed that osteoblasts generate harder, stiffer, and more delamination‐resistant mineralized tissue on titanium than on the tissue culture polystyrene, associated with modulated gene expression, uniform mineralization, well‐crystallized interfacial calcium‐phosphate layer, and intensive collagen deposition. Knowledge of this titanium‐induced alteration of osteogenic potential leading to enhanced intrinsic biomechanical properties of mineralized tissue provides novel opportunities and implications for understanding and improving bone‐titanium integration and engineering physiomechanically tolerant bone.
Unusual Organization for Lactose and Galactose Gene Clusters in Lactobacillus helveticus

ABSTRACT The nucleotide sequences of the Lactobacillus helveticus lactose utilization genes were determined, and these genes were located and oriented relative to one another. The lacLM genes (encoding the β-galactosidase protein) were in a divergent orientation compared to lacR (regulatory gene) and lacS (lactose transporter). Downstream from lacM was an open reading frame (galE) encoding a UDP-galactose 4 epimerase, and the open reading frame had the same orientation as lacM. The lacR gene was separated from the downstream lacS gene by 2.0 kb of DNA containing several open reading frames that were derived from fragmentation of another permease gene (lacS′). Northern blot analysis revealed that lacL, lacM, and galE made up an operon that was transcribed in the presence of lactose from an upstream lacL promoter. The inducible genes lacL and lacM were regulated at the transcriptional level by the LacR repressor. In the presence of glucose and galactose galE was transcribed from its promoter, suggesting that the corresponding enzyme can be expressed constitutively. Lactose transport was inducible by addition of lactose to the growth medium.
Neurobehavioral functioning and quality of life in patients treated for cancer of the central nervous system

There are relatively few studies that systematically address the cognitive and emotional functioning of brain tumor patients. Several conclusions, however, can be made from these studies. First, performance status measures and neurologic examinations do not adequately address cognitive functioning and quality of life in these patients. Second, global measures of cognitive functioning such as IQ scores can be relatively insensitive, and tests of specific cognitive functions need to be performed. There will soon be an increasing focus on neurobehavioral functioning and quality of life in new therapeutic trials as the simple reporting of survival becomes an increasingly inadequate outcome measure. In addition, the information gained from neurobehavioral and quality of life studies will be used to guide intervention techniques to improve the functioning of the survivors of brain tumors.
Effect of Strategy Training on Self-Awareness of Deficits After Stroke.

IMPORTANCE Self-awareness of deficits, or the ability to understand the effects of impairments on daily life, is often diminished after a stroke. Diminished self-awareness influences participation in rehabilitation and functional outcomes. OBJECTIVE To examine whether self-awareness of deficits changed over time after a stroke (N = 43) and whether metacognitive strategy training (n = 21) resulted in improved self-awareness compared with direct skill training (n = 22). DESIGN Secondary analysis of data collected from a randomized controlled trial. SETTING Inpatient stroke rehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS Adults with cognitive impairments after an acute stroke. INTERVENTION Metacognitive strategy training is an approach in which clients are guided through a process of self-assessment and develop solutions for barriers to task performance. This approach was compared with direct skill training, in which the therapist provides specific instructions for task completion, removing the client-initiated assessment and problem-solving components. OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Self-awareness measures included the Self-Regulation Skills Interview and Self-Awareness of Deficits Interview at baseline and 3 mo and 6 mo after the intervention. We used a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze change in self-awareness and a two-way ANOVA to examine differences between groups over time. RESULTS There was a statistically significant and potentially meaningful difference over time in the self-awareness domain of strategy behavior, F(2) = 3.35, p = . 039, but there were no differences in improvements between the metacognitive strategy and direct skill training groups. Conclusions and Relevance Self-awareness warrants further investigation to determine whether it improves naturally over time or through both interventions after stroke. WHAT THIS ARTICLE ADDS Self-awareness of deficits, and the use of strategies in particular, may improve in the early stages of stroke recovery, but the optimal approach for intervention remains unclear.
Analysis of amino acid substitutions in AraC variants that respond to triacetic acid lactone

The Escherichia coli regulatory protein AraC regulates expression of ara genes in response to l‐arabinose. In efforts to develop genetically encoded molecular reporters, we previously engineered an AraC variant that responds to the compound triacetic acid lactone (TAL). This variant (named “AraC‐TAL1”) was isolated by screening a library of AraC variants, in which five amino acid positions in the ligand‐binding pocket were simultaneously randomized. Screening was carried out through multiple rounds of alternating positive and negative fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. Here we show that changing the screening protocol results in the identification of different TAL‐responsive variants (nine new variants). Individual substituted residues within these variants were found to primarily act cooperatively toward the gene expression response. Finally, X‐ray diffraction was used to solve the crystal structure of the apo AraC‐TAL1 ligand‐binding domain. The resolved crystal structure confirms that this variant takes on a structure nearly identical to the apo wild‐type AraC ligand‐binding domain (root‐mean‐square deviation 0.93 Å), suggesting that AraC‐TAL1 behaves similar to wild‐type with regard to ligand recognition and gene regulation. Our results provide amino acid sequence–function data sets for training and validating AraC modeling studies, and contribute to our understanding of how to design new biosensors based on AraC.
IL‐15 and RANKL Play a Synergistically Important Role in Osteoclastogenesis

Interleukin‐15 (IL‐15), a cytokine secreted by several cell types, has important physiological roles in the activity, proliferation, and viability of immune cells. It has both chemoattractant and proinflammatory properties, and may promote bone destruction. A previous study has shown that IL‐15 alone exerts no effect on osteoclastogenesis. Therefore, the current study addressed the synergistic effect of IL‐15 on osteoclast formation using RAW264.7 (RAW) cells by co‐stimulation with receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)‐κB ligand (RANKL) that has a major role in osteoclastogenesis involving the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and periodontal disease. Co‐stimulation of RAW cells by IL‐15 and RANKL significantly increased the gene expression of osteoclast differentiation and osteoclastogenesis markers compared with stimulation by RANKL or IL‐15 independently as evaluated by tartrate‐resistant acid phosphate‐positive cell numbers, the fusion index, a pit formation assay with Alizarin red staining (calcification estimation), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Phosphorylation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK), c‐jun N‐terminal kinase, p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase, and NF‐κB was significantly increased by RANKL and IL‐15 (P < 0.05) compared with RANKL alone. In addition, these differentiation activities induced by RANKL and IL‐15 were comparatively suppressed by inhibition of ERK, suggesting that this synergistic effect on osteoclastogenesis is mainly mediated by ERK. Taken together, our results demonstrate that IL‐15 and RANKL induce osteoclastogenesis synergistically, and IL‐15 might play a novel and major role in destructive inflammatory bone diseases. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 739–747, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Problem-Solving Ability and Stress Mediate the Relationship Between Creativity and Happiness

Many studies have found that creativity tends to promote happiness, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study proposed and tested a serial mediation model to investigate the relationships among creativity, problem solving, stress, and happiness on emerging adults and adolescents (N = 1,146). It is hypothesized that creativity is conducive to happiness indirectly through (a) problem-solving ability, (b) stress, and (c) problem-solving ability and then stress (i.e., serial mediating effect). Undergraduate students and secondary school students self-reported their creativity, social problem-solving ability, stress, happiness, and life satisfaction. The mediating role of problem-solving ability and the serial mediating effect were found statistically significant while controlling the effect of life satisfaction. The mediating role of stress, however, was not supported. The findings not only lend further support to the beneficial effect of self-perceived creativity on happiness, but also extend our understanding on the relationship by revealing the underlying process.