Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Selective Oxytocin-derived Agonists Discriminate between Individual G Protein Family Subtypes*

Background: The oxytocin receptor couples to multiple G proteins, leading to different physiological responses. Results: We screened for functional selective oxytocin receptor agonists and identified two analogs that activate individual Gi subunits. Conclusion: Functional selective analogs discriminate among different receptor conformations coupled to Gi proteins. Significance: These compounds will contribute to the development of selective drugs with new selectivity and therapeutic profiles. We used a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer biosensor to screen for functional selective ligands of the human oxytocin (OT) receptor. We demonstrated that OT promoted the direct engagement and activation of Gq and all the Gi/o subtypes at the OT receptor. Other peptidic analogues, chosen because of specific substitutions in key OT structural/functional residues, all showed biased activation of G protein subtypes. No ligand, except OT, activated GoA or GoB, and, with only one exception, all of the peptides that activated Gq also activated Gi2 and Gi3 but not Gi1, GoA, or GoB, indicating a strong bias toward these subunits. Two peptides (DNalOVT and atosiban) activated only Gi1 or Gi3, failed to recruit β-arrestins, and did not induce receptor internalization, providing the first clear examples of ligands differentiating individual Gi/o family members. Both analogs inhibited cell proliferation, showing that a single Gi subtype-mediated pathway is sufficient to prompt this physiological response. These analogs represent unique tools for examining the contribution of Gi/o members in complex biological responses and open the way to the development of drugs with peculiar selectivity profiles. This is of particular relevance because OT has been shown to improve symptoms in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders characterized by abnormal social behaviors, such as autism. Functional selective ligands, activating a specific G protein signaling pathway, may possess a higher efficacy and specificity on OT-based therapeutics.
Motivation for Motherhood and the Experience of Pregnancy *

It is frequently assumed that becoming a mother is an essential step in the development of female identity. Although female hormones may increase a woman's readiness to care for an infant, there is no clear cut evidence of a hormonal basis for maternal feelings. A woman's desire to have and raise children is affected by cultural expectations and opportunities. Current analytical thinking, while viewing reproductive choice as being an important component of feminine identity, does not emphasize the necessity of having a child to feel feminine. Once pregnant, the woman works through issues related to body image, relationship with mother and husband, concerns for the fetus, fears about the future and her new vision of herself.
Study of a functional polymorphism in thep53 gene in systemic lupus erythematosus: lack of replication in a Spanish population

The aim of this study was to assess the possible association between the p53 suppressor gene codon 72 polymorphism and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Our study population consisted of 513 SLE patients and 567 healthy controls. All the individuals were of Spanish Caucasian origin. Genotyping of the p53 codon 72 polymorphism was performed by allele-specific PCR. No statistically significant differences were observed between SLE patients and healthy controls when p53 codon 72 genotype and allele frequencies were compared. In addition, no evidence for association with clinical subfeatures of SLE was found. In conclusion, the p53 codon 72 polymorphism associated with SLE in a Korean population does not appear to play a major role in the susceptibility or severity of SLE in the Spanish population.
Sovereign default, terms of trade and interest rates in emerging market economies

An information storage system comprises a diazo reproducible film record card and a receptor or copying card treated with diazo-type compounds and carrying a strip of blank film also treated with diazo-type compounds. The reproducible film record card may be of the type adapted to be processed at high speeds by automatic tabulating or sorting machines and may comprise a sheet form card composed of transparentized paper stock having at least one cutout or aperture formed therein for receiving a strip of film containing a micro-image and means for retaining the film within the cutout. The transparentized paper stock has an actinic transmission percentage enabling simultaneous diazo reproduction of both data printed on the card and the micro-image contained on the film. The receptor or copying card may include a card capable of being machine processed in automatic sorting machines and has an aperture or cutout locatd coincidentally with the cutout of the reproducible card and mounts a film having a side or face surface thereof coated with diazo-type compounds and exposed.
Characterization of pUO-StVR2, a Virulence-Resistance Plasmid Evolved from the pSLT Virulence Plasmid of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

ABSTRACT pUO-StVR2 is a virulence-resistance plasmid which originated from pSLT of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium through acquisition of a complex resistance island, flanked by regions that provide a toxin-antitoxin system and an iron uptake system. The presence of resistance and virulence determinants on the same plasmid allows coselection of both properties, potentially increasing health risks.
PENGARUH KARAKTERISTIK DEWAN KOMISARIS SEBAGAI MEKANISME GOOD CORPORATE GOVENANCE TERHADAP TINGKAT KONSERVATISME AKUNTANSI PADA PERUSAHAAN MANUFAKTUR YANG TERDAFTAR DI BEI

Accounting conservatism in corporate applied in varying degrees. One of the factors that determine the level of conservatism is the commitment of management and internal party companies to provide transparent information, accurate and not misleading to investors, which is the implementation of good corporate governance. In carrying out its oversight duties, the board requires quality information, so that conservatism can help the board of directors in improving the quality of corporate financial statement information and reducing agency costs. This study aims to analyze the influence of the characteristics of the board of commissioners as corporate governance mechanisms on the level of accounting conservatism. Characteristics of the board used is the proportion of independent commissioner and the commissioner of stock ownership by affiliated. This study uses a measure of accruals to measure the level of conservatism, as well as profitability and leverage as control variables. This study used a sample of manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) of 2008 to 2010. Samples were selected using purposive sampling method, and obtained a sample of 56 companies. Hypothesis testing is done by regression methods that meet the assumptions BLUE (Best Linear Unbiased Estimate). The results of this study indicate that the proportion of independent commissioners have no influence to the level of accounting conservatism, while the ownership of shares by the commissioner affiliated significantly negative effect on the level of accounting conservatism.
Anonymous and Lightweight Authentication for Secure Vehicular Networks

Authentication is an important issue in vehicular ad hoc network. However, existing studies have not addressed some issues like efficiency and anonymity. In this paper, we propose an anonymous and lightweight authentication based on smart card (ASC) protocol to address this issue. To accomplish this goal, ASC employs low-cost cryptographic operations to authenticate the legitimacy of users (vehicles) and validation of data messages. Compared to existing methods, our protocol can reduce more than 50% of the cost in terms of communication and computational cost. A login identity, which is changed dynamically, is proposed to prevent an attacker from linking a target vehicle with the specific identity. Thus, our protocol can be anonymous. In addition, ASC provides a method for password change, which does not rely on the trusted authority. Thus, it can resist offline password guessing attack. Finally, a formal security model is designed to prove that our protocol is secure under the assumption of the computational Diffie–Hellman problem. The simulations further illustrate that the proposed ASC has superior performance in terms of communication/computational cost, packet loss ratio, latency, etc.
Needle exchange programs : factors that influence attitudes and local policy

The purpose of this study was to assess whether negative attitudes towards minority groups and IVDUs are influential on policy decisions relevant to the implementation of needle exchange programs. The political climate and social readiness of the Lehigh Valley community on needle exchange programs was investigated. Twenty-five service providers and public officials were interviewed. A semi-structured survey was devised to elicit the perceptions and knowledge of the subjects on factors which would affect the possible implementation of a needle exchange program in the LehIgh Valley. The Constant Comparative Method was used to organize and analyze the data. Six research questions emerged. These questions asked each subject 1) What is your general knowledge of and opinion about needle exchange programs? 2) Do you know of any discussions that have taken place in the Lehigh Valley on implementing a needle exchange program? 3) Who do you think would support and oppose a local needle exchange program? 4) What attitudes do you think impact AIDS prevention policies such as needle exchange? 5) Why are needle exchange programs in some place and not others? and 6) Do you foresee a needle exchange program in the Lehigh Valley in the future? The five professional subgroups that emerged are individuals who represent substance abuse organization, individuals who represent AIDS organizations, public officials who are active in substance abuse issues, . public officials who are active in AIDS issues, and public officials who are not
Searching for Protein-Protein Interactions within the Bacillus subtilis Spore Coat

ABSTRACT The capability of endospores of Bacillus subtilis to withstand extreme environmental conditions is secured by several attributes. One of them, the protein shell that encases the spore and is known as the coat, provides the spore with its characteristic resistance to toxic chemicals, lytic enzymes, and predation by unicellular and multicellular eukaryotes. Despite most of the components of the spore coat having been identified, we have only a vague understanding of how such a complex structure is assembled. Using the yeast two-hybrid system, we attempted to identify direct contacts among the proteins allocated to the insoluble fraction of the spore coat: CotV, CotW, CotX, CotY, and CotZ. We also examined whether they could interact with CotE, one of the most crucial morphogenetic proteins governing outer coat formation and also present in the insoluble fraction. Out of all 21 possible interactions we tested, 4 were found to be positive. Among these interactions, we confirmed the previous observation that CotE forms homo-oligomers. In addition, we observed homotypic interactions of CotY, strong interactions between CotZ and CotY, and relatively weak, yet significant, interactions between CotV and CotW. The results of this yeast two-hybrid analysis were confirmed by size exclusion chromatography of recombinant coat proteins and a pull-down assay.
Micro-based evidence of EU competitiveness: The CompNet database

Drawing from confidential firm-level balance sheets in 11 European countries, the paper presents a novel sectoral database of comparable productivity indicators built by members of the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) using a newly developed research infrastructure. Beyond aggregate information available from industry statistics of Eurostat or EU KLEMS, the paper provides information on the distribution of firms across several dimensions related to competitiveness, e.g. productivity and size. The database comprises so far 11 countries, with information for 58 sectors over the period 1995-2011. The paper documents the development of the new research infrastructure, the construction of the database, and shows some preliminary results. Among them, it shows that there is large heterogeneity in terms of firm productivity or size within narrowly defined industries in all countries. Productivity, and above all, size distribution are very skewed across countries, with a thick left-tail of low productive firms. Moreover, firms at both ends of the distribution show very different dynamics in terms of productivity and unit labour costs. Within-sector heterogeneity and productivity dispersion are positively correlated to aggregate productivity given the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. To this extent, we show how allocative efficiency varies across countries, and more interestingly, over different periods of time. Finally, we apply the new database to illustrate the importance of productivity dispersion to explain aggregate trade results.
Serum levels of soluble syndecan-1 in Hodgkin's lymphoma.

BACKGROUND Syndecan-1 (CD138) is expressed by the Hodgkin-Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells of classic Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL), but not in nodular lymphocyte-predominant HL. Syndecan-1 may be involved in the interaction between HRS cells and the cellular and stromal microenvironment typical of nodular sclerosing HL. PATIENTS AND METHODS Serum levels of soluble syndecan-1 were determined by ELISA in 66 patients with HL and 14 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. RESULTS The levels of syndecan-1 were higher in HL patients than controls (100.2 +/- 35.9 ng/ml vs. 67.9 +/- 24.5 ng/ml, p < 0.001). They marginally correlated with advanced age (p = 0.06), male gender (p = 0.07) and consequently high IPS (p = 0.01), but did not correlate with markers of tumor burden and prognosis, including serum interleukin-10 and soluble CD30. At 6 years, failure-free survival was 70 +/- 9% vs. 50 +/- 11% (p = 0.32) for patients with serum soluble syndecan-1 levels above or below the observed median value of 91 ng/ml. CONCLUSION The serum levels of syndecan-1 were elevated in patients with HL, but were not strongly correlated with other potential prognostic factors. Their effect on prognosis deserves further evaluation.
The Impact of the Structure of Debt on Target Gains

Consistent with prior literature, we find that increases in target leverage have a positive impact on returns to target shareholders irrespective of the source of debt. Even so, financing with bank debt has a remarkably different impact. If a target firm's debt is primarily sourced from banks, as opposed to when debt is dominated by public or private non-bank debt, we find that an increase in target leverage from the 25th to the 75th percentile (1) raises the probability of a bid leading to a successful takeover by 14%, but (2) lowers returns to target shareholders by 5.2% in the event a takeover occurs. (3) Supporting the coinsurance effect as an explanation, we find that an increase in leverage from the 25th to the 75th percentile lowers returns to target shareholders by 8.7% if target debt is relatively risky and bank-dominated. Finally, the transaction time to complete a takeover is also relatively smaller when debt is bank-dominated, since banks can more efficiently shift their debt to the typically more secure bidders.
Monitoring rare serious adverse events from a new treatment and testing for a difference from historical controls

Background We detail the design of a study to monitor the safety of including albendazole to an existing treatment regimen to eliminate lymphatic filariasis. We wish to show that this new regimen does not increase the rate of a rare serious adverse event (SAE) compared to the old regimen. Controlled but small clinical trials have not detected any increase in the SAE using albendazole, and it is known to have added benefits; therefore, it is unethical to randomize patients to the old regimen. Purpose A sample size for the new regimen is needed to test that the new rate of SAE is noninferior to the historic rate. If the new regimen does have an inferior rate of SAE then we wish to stop the study early. This setup is different from traditional early stopping for efficacy and futility. In that traditional case, the two stopping decisions are relative to the same null hypothesis of equality, while in our setup, we have two different null hypotheses: the noninferiority null and the equality null. When testing the former, we need not stop early if the new regimen appears better because no subjects are receiving the old regimen anymore anyway. When testing the equality of SAE rates, however, we want to stop early if the new regimen has a significantly higher rate of SAE. Methods We create a design that uses an exact difference in proportions test for testing noninferiority, but calculates maximal sample size based on conditional power which treats the historical rates as true rates. The design allows for early stopping if the new treatment appears inferior with respect to SAE rate but makes no corrections for multiple testing. We explore the properties of this naive design without assuming the historical rates are known. Results For our example, we show that our naive design strategy bounds the type I error of the noninferiority hypothesis in all cases and bounds it for the equality hypothesis at 0.05, as long as the true SAE rate is <0.00015. The same design has unconditional power for the noninferiority hypothesis greater than the nominal 80% as long as the true SAE rate for both regimens are <0.00025. Limitations The type I and power results above hold only for our historical sample size of 17 877. We expect similar type I and power properties to hold with studies with SAE rates similar or less (i.e., < 0.00015) and historical sample sizes similar or smaller. Conclusions Our design for comparing very rare historical SAE rates to SAE rates of a new treatment has large power to conclude noninferiority of the new treatment SAE rate when both rates are equal, but allows early stopping if the new SAE rates are worse. Clinical Trials 2007; 4: 598—610. http://ctj.sagepub. com
Building Relationships with Business and Leisure Flyers

Abstract Frequency marketing programs are widely used by service providers to build relationships and loyalty. This study examines one particular form of frequency marketing program the frequent flyer program and the factors which influence loyalty to the service provider. A survey of frequent flyers shows that business and leisure flyers find different aspects of these programs to be important. Compared with leisure flyers, business flyers were somewhat more interested in the points per se as a way of “keeping score,” while leisure flyers were somewhat more concerned with the procedural aspects of frequent flyer programs.
Liquidity Risk and Stock Returns: A Return Decomposition Approach

We study the effect of innovations in liquidity on stock-return volatility under the return-decomposition framework. Using revisions to equity analyst consensus forecasts to measure cash-flow news directly, we contend that both cash-flow news and expected return news correlate with liquidity shocks, and the cash-flow news component is a nontrivial channel through which liquidity correlates with stock returns. Specifically, we find a positive (decrease) liquidity shock for firms that have positive (negative) cash-flow news and expected-return news. Furthermore, since the correlation between liquidity proxies and stock returns also arise from the association of liquidity proxies with the three stock return components, the R^2 from a regression of returns on liquidity proxies may understate or overstate the importance of liquidity as a source of stock-return variance. Finally, liquidity proxies tend to explain stock returns better during negative market liquidity shocks, but this additional explanatory power comes mostly from the increased correlation between liquidity proxies and cash-flow news, while the correlation between liquidity proxies and unexplained stock return variations does not change with market liquidity conditions.
Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor prevents neuronal death and glial activation after global ischemia in the rat

The expression of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor tyrosine kinase B are both increased after global ischemia. Therefore, a protective action of BDNF against the delayed degeneration of vulnerable neurons has been suggested. We have investigated the neuroprotective action of BDNF in global ischemia induced by a four‐vessel occlusion in the rat. Following reperfusion, 0.06 μg/hr BDNF was continuously administered intracerebroventricularly with an osmotic minipump. Rats were sacrificed up to 7 days after ischemia and neuronal degeneration was identified by terminal transferase and biotin‐dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Additionally, the glial reaction was investigated immunohistochemically and by measuring the activation of immunological nitric oxide synthase protein expression. Postischemic intracerebroventricular infusion of BDNF prevented neuronal death in the vulnerable CA1 region of the hippocampus. Additionally, astroglial activation and macrophage infiltration, which were observed in association with neuronal death, were inhibited by BDNF. This was paralleled by an inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in the hippocampus. Thus, the observed neuroprotective effects of continuous BDNF administration after reperfusion suggest a therapeutic potential for BDNF in cerebral ischemia. J. Neurosci. Res. 56:21–27, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.