Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PAB is an assembly chaperone that functions downstream of chaperonin 60 in the assembly of chloroplast ATP synthase coupling factor 1

Significance The assembly of chloroplast ATP synthase, a multiprotein complex made of subunits of mixed genetic origin, is essential for organelle biogenesis and organism survival. Assembly of multiprotein complexes relies not only on the proper action of universal folding chaperones but also on that of specific assembly chaperones that orchestrate the joining of individual components into higher-order complexes. In this work, we have identified a specific assembly chaperone for chloroplast ATP synthase and shown that it functions downstream of the Cpn60 chaperone to promote assembly of the catalytically active core of the chloroplast ATP synthase. Such collaboration between folding and assembly chaperones appears to be a widely used cellular strategy for the folding and assembly of nucleus-encoded proteins into multiprotein photosynthetic complexes. The chloroplast ATP synthase, a multisubunit complex in the thylakoid membrane, catalyzes the light-driven synthesis of ATP, thereby supplying the energy for carbon fixation during photosynthesis. The chloroplast ATP synthase is composed of both nucleus- and chloroplast-encoded proteins that have required the evolution of novel mechanisms to coordinate the biosynthesis and assembly of chloroplast ATP synthase subunits temporally and spatially. Here we have elucidated the assembly mechanism of the α3β3γ core complex of the chloroplast ATP synthase by identification and functional characterization of a key assembly factor, PAB (PROTEIN IN CHLOROPLAST ATPASE BIOGENESIS). PAB directly interacts with the nucleus-encoded γ subunit and functions downstream of chaperonin 60 (Cpn60)-mediated CF1γ subunit folding to promote its assembly into the catalytic core. PAB does not have any recognizable motifs or domains but is conserved in photosynthetic eukaryotes. It is likely that PAB evolved together with the transfer of chloroplast genes into the nucleus to assist nucleus-encoded CF1γ assembly into the CF1 core. Such coordination might represent an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for folding and assembly of nucleus-encoded proteins to ensure proper assembly of multiprotein photosynthetic complexes.
Essays on Fiscal Policy, Institutions and Economic Growth

ESSAYS ON FISCAL POLICY, INSTITUTIONS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH BY BAUYRZHAN YEDGENOV AUGUST 2017 Committee Chair: Dr. Martinez-Vazquez Major Department: Economics Chapter 1 revisits the relationship between fiscal decentralization and economic growth by addressing the endogeneity. We use an instrumental variable approach based on two geography variables, namely a Geographic Fragmentation Index (GFI) and country size. We find that both instruments are strong and valid in the first stage regression and that a ten percent increase in decentralization measured by the expenditure or revenue share of subnational government in total government expenditures or revenues increases GDP per capita growth by approximately 0.4 percentage points. Moreover, we find that the results are more pronounced in the case of developed countries with a higher magnitude of the impact of revenue decentralization and lower impact of expenditure decentralization, while for a sample of developing countries both decentralization measures are insignificant. Chapter 2 explores the role of the tax structure and its key elements on the volatility of output growth. We account for both embedded automatic stabilizers measured by progressivity of the tax system and discretionary policy by accounting for the actual levels of revenue and its composition measured by tax mix ratio or the ratio of direct taxes to indirect taxes. We find that higher reliance on direct taxes versus indirect taxes is a significant stabilizing factor for output volatility for the whole sample of all countries and the subsample of lower income countries. For the subsample of high-income countries, we find a significant stabilizing impact of progressivity in the income tax structure, especially when there is higher reliance on personal income tax revenue. Chapter 3 reexamines the causal link between institutional quality and economic development using "Malaria Endemicity" as an instrument for institutions. This instrument is superior to the previously used instruments in the literature which suffered from measurement error. Because the Malaria Endemicity measure captures the malaria environment before the discovery that mosquitoes transmit the disease and before the successful eradication efforts that followed, it is exogenous to both institutional quality and economic development. We find Malaria Endemicity a valid strong instrument which yields larger significant effects of institutions on economic development than those obtained in the previous literature. INDEX WORDS: Fiscal decentralization, Economic development, Progressivity, Tax structure, Malaria, Geography ESSAYS ON FISCAL POLICY, INSTITUTIONS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH BY BAUYRZHAN YEDGENOV A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies of Georgia State University GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY
Influence of Fluorescent Probe Size and Cytochrome b5 on Drug-Drug Interactions in CYP2C9

7-Methoxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin (MFC) has been used extensively in high-throughput screens for the identification of potential CYP2C9 interactions. More recently, additional probes from Invitrogen have been used. Vivid 2C9Green is the largest of the probes and has had limited prior characterization. The newseries of probes differ significantly from MFC andwere examined for their ability to identify interactions with 19 CYP2C9 substrates/inhibitors. The inhibition profiles depend largely on the physical differences between the fluorescent probe substrates. Cytochrome b5 (cyt b5) was also investigated for the ability to alter the inhibition profile of a given compound. The stoichiometric addition of cyt b5 caused an increase in Vmaxof MFC and Vivid 2C9 Green 4.4 and 1.7 times, respectively. Furthermore, cyt b5 imposes a steric component to the active site as the inhibition profiles were significantly affected in incubations with MFC. The addition of cyt b5 had limited impact on the inhibition profiles generated with Vivid 2C9Green. The Km of Vivid 2C9 Green increased from 1.2 ± 0.2 µ Mto4.8 ± 0.3 µ Mas a result of cyt b5 addition. These results illustrate that multiple substrate probes may be necessary for screening drug-drug interaction in CYP2C9 and that cyt b5 effects can impart steric restraints on the CYP2C9 active site.
Emotion Processing by ERP Combined with Development and Plasticity

Emotions important for survival and social interaction have received wide and deep investigations. The application of the fMRI technique into emotion processing has obtained overwhelming achievements with respect to the localization of emotion processes. The ERP method, which possesses highly temporal resolution compared to fMRI, can be employed to investigate the time course of emotion processing. The emotional modulation of the ERP component has been verified across numerous researches. Emotions, described as dynamically developing along with the growing age, have the possibility to be enhanced through learning (or training) or to be damaged due to disturbances in growth, which is underlain by the neural plasticity of emotion-relevant nervous systems. And mood disorders with typical symptoms of emotion discordance probably have been caused by the dysfunctional neural plasticity.
The Influence of the Practice Environment on Nurse Managers’ Job Satisfaction and Intent to Leave

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the influence of the practice environment on nurse managers’ (NMs’) job satisfaction and intent to leave. BACKGROUND: Nurse managers are a ready pool of talent to fill impending strategic leadership vacancies. Job satisfaction as an NM is a deciding factor for senior leadership aspirations. METHODS: This study used a secondary analysis of 2012 survey data of 355 NMs. The Nurse Manager Practice Environment Scale was used to identify organizational features that influence NMs’ job satisfaction and intent to leave. RESULTS: Mean (SD) job satisfaction was 4.5 (1.1) on a 6-point scale. Mean (SD) intent to leave was 5.0 (2.1) on a scale ranging from 3 to 9. The Nurse Manager Practice Environment Scale was a significant predictor of both job satisfaction and intent to leave. CONCLUSIONS: Features of the organizational context can be modified to improve job satisfaction and reduce intent to leave among NMs.
Single Shot Text Detector with Regional Attention

We present a novel single-shot text detector that directly outputs word-level bounding boxes in a natural image. We propose an attention mechanism which roughly identifies text regions via an automatically learned attentional map. This substantially suppresses background interference in the convolutional features, which is the key to producing accurate inference of words, particularly at extremely small sizes. This results in a single model that essentially works in a coarse-to-fine manner. It departs from recent FCN-based text detectors which cascade multiple FCN models to achieve an accurate prediction. Furthermore, we develop a hierarchical inception module which efficiently aggregates multi-scale inception features. This enhances local details, and also encodes strong context information, allowing the detector to work reliably on multi-scale and multi-orientation text with single-scale images. Our text detector achieves an F-measure of 77% on the ICDAR 2015 benchmark, advancing the state-of-the-art results in [18, 28]. Demo is available at: http://sstd.whuang. org/.
Writing a Recipe for Teaching Sustainable Food Systems: Lessons from Three University Courses

The sustainability of the food system is at the forefront of academic and policy discussions as we face the challenge of providing food security to a growing population amidst environmental uncertainty and depletion, social disruptions, and structural economic shocks and stresses. Crafting a sustainable and resilient food system requires us to go beyond disciplinary boundaries and broaden critical and creative thinking skills. Recent literature calls for examples of pedagogical transformations from food systems courses to identify successful practices and potential challenges. We offer a recipe for what to teach by framing systems thinking concepts, then discuss how to teach it with five learning activities: deductive case studies, experiential learning, reflective narrative learning, system dynamics simulations and scenarios, and inductive/open-ended case studies, implemented with collaborative group learning, inter/trans-disciplinarity, and instructor-modeled co-learning. Each learning activity is animated with concrete examples from our courses at Oregon State University, University of Minnesota, and University of Vermont, USA. We discuss opportunities and challenges implementing these strategies in light of student, instructor, and institutional expectations and constraints. But the challenge is worth the effort, because food system transformation requires active learners and systemic thinkers as engaged citizens, food system advocates, entrepreneurs, and policy makers.
Comparison of Gabapentin with Estrogen for treatment of hot flashes in post-menopausal women

Objective: Various non-hormonal agents have been used for the treatment of hot flashes in women with menopause. Some studies have reported that gabapentin appears to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment modality. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the treatment with gabapentin is effective in reducing hot flash frequency and severity and also to compare gabapentin 100 mg/day, 300 mg/day and conjugated estrogen in this regards. Methods: In this comparative clinical trial, 100 post-menopausal women attending outpatient clinics of Isfahan University hospitals were included from April 2008 to February 2009. Participants randomly received gabapentin 300 mg/day, gabapentin 100 mg/day, or conjugated estrogen 0.625 mg/day for 12 weeks. Frequency and severity of hot flashes and adverse effects were compared among the three groups. Findings: From all, 16 participants dropped out. There were no significant differences among the groups before intervention in terms of age, body mass index and baseline hot flash frequency and severity. Hot flash diaries were used to record the frequency and severity of hot flashes. After the treatment period, there was a significant decrease in both severity and frequency of hot flashes in all three groups. Post-hoc analyses showed that the frequency and severity of hot flashes were significantly lower in those who received gabapentin 300 mg/day or estrogen 0.625 mg/day compared to those who received gabapentin 100 mg/day. There was not statistically significant difference between those who received gabapentin 300 mg/day and those who received estrogen. Very few adverse effects, mostly gastrointestinal discomfort were observed in both gabapentin groups (8%). Conclusion: Gabapentin 300 mg/day could be useful to relieve hot flashes in women for whom hormone therapy is not suitable or when hot flashes do not respond to other therapies. Further researches are needed to determine the efficacy of gabapentin use for longer periods or at higher doses.
Stability of relevant plasma protein activities in cryosupernatant plasma units during refrigerated storage for up to 5 days postthaw

Cryosupernatant plasma (CSP) is used in Canada for plasma exchange in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. The refrigerated storage time for thawed CSP is limited in many areas to not more than 24 hours postthaw. Because large volumes of CSP are needed for plasma exchange, procedural postponement can lead to product wastage. To determine if CSP storage could be extended, we measured coagulation‐related activities in CSP thawed and stored at 1 to 6°C for up to 5 days.
Overexpression of the Heme Oxygenase Gene in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Heme oxygenase (HO) activity has been implicated in the regulation of renal function and cell growth in normal and disease states. Expression of HO genes has been shown to regulate important hemoprotein(s) such as cytochrome P450. In the present study, HO activity was measured in samples of human adenocarcinoma, jux-tatumor, and normal renal tissues. The samples were histologically examined to verify the malignant and normal nature. HO activity was 4-fold higher in the adenocarcinoma than in either normal or juxtatumor tissues. We designed a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method to assess the presence of HO-1 and HO-2 mRNA in biopsy samples of various human renal tissues. Total RNA from renal samples was reverse transcribed and amplified simultaneously by PCR using specific primers for HO-1 and HO-2. Results show that both HO-1 and HO-2 mRNAs were expressed in all renal tissues examined and that HO-1 appeared to be amplified more than HO-2. Northern blot analysis revealed that HO-1 mRNA was elevated by several-fold in adenocarcinoma compared with juxtatumor or normal tissues. In contrast, no differences in HO-2 mRNA levels were observed using either RT-PCR or Northern blot. Cytochrome P450 arachidonic acid epoxygenase and ω-hydroxylase activities were markedly reduced in the tumor tissues, whereas, in the juxtatumor tissue, cytochrome P450 ω-hydroxylase activity was significantly increased. Northern blot analysis using cytochrome P450 cDNA probe 4A2 cDNA for the ω-hydroxylase gene family revealed that mRNA levels for ω-hydroxylase transcripts were significantly decreased in the adenocarcinoma compared with juxtatumor. The decrease in cytochrome P450 4All mRNA levels correlated with a decrease in the arachidonic acid ω-hydroxylation metabolite, 20-HETE. The production of 20-HETE was significantly higher in juxtatumor in agreement with ω-hydroxylase mRNA. Higher levels of HO-1 may be a contributing factor for the undetectable levels of cytochrome P450 arachidonic acid metabolites, 20-HETE, in the adenocarcinoma. Our results suggest that increased generation of mitogenic activities by ω-hydroxylase and 20-HETE in the juxtatumor may be a contributing factor in the development and growth of neoplastic tissues, and the induction of HO in the tumor tissue may be an attempt to limit oxidative injury caused by the cytochrome P450 metabolites and other oxidative stress.
Vagal complex monocarboxylate transporter-2 expression during hypoglycemia

Astrocytic provision of lactate provision to neurons may be a critical indicator of substrate fuel availability in metabolic sensing sites in the brain, including the hindbrain dorsal vagal complex. We examined the hypothesis that vagal complex monocarboxylate transporter protein levels are gender dependent and estrogen dependent, and that estrogen influences adaptation of these protein responses during repeated insulin-induced hypoglycemia. Western blot analyses showed that male and estrogen-treated ovariectomized female rats exhibit opposite changes in monocarboxylate transporter-2 levels after one insulin injection, as well as divergent patterns of adaptation to this metabolic challenge. The data suggest that sex differences in hypoglycemic patterns in vagal complex lactate transport may underlie disparate signaling of cellular energy imbalance.
Mortality among 723,948 foreign- and native-born Swedes 1970-1999.

BACKGROUND Mortality in a population is regarded as an accurate and valid measure of the population's health. There are a few international studies, predominantly cross-sectional, of mortality among all foreign-born compared with an indigenous population, and the results have varied. No Swedish longitudinal study describing and analysing mortality data was found in a literature review. METHODS This study describes and analyses the differences in mortality between foreign-born persons and native Swedes during the period 1970-1999, based on data from Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare. The database consisted of 723,948 persons, 361 974 foreign-born living in Sweden in 1970, aged > or = 16 years, and 361 974 Swedish controls matched for age, sex, occupation and type of employment, living in the same county in 1970. RESULTS The results showed increased mortality for foreign-born persons compared with the Swedish controls [odds ratio (OR) 1.08; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.07-1.08]. Persons who had migrated 'late' (1941-1970) to Sweden were 2.5 years younger at time of death than controls. In relation to country of birth, the highest risk odds were for men born in Finland (OR 1.21), Denmark (OR 1.11) and Norway/Iceland (OR 1.074). Age cohorts of foreign-born persons born between 1901 and 1920 had higher mortality at age 55-69 years than cohorts born between 1921 and 1944. CONCLUSIONS Migrants had higher mortality than the native population, and migration may be a risk factor for health; therefore, this seems to be an important factor to consider when studying mortality and health.
Resin adhesion to carious dentin.

PURPOSE To investigate the microtensile bond strength (microTBS) of a self-etching priming adhesive system to normal, caries-affected and caries-infected dentin, and to observe the ultrastructure of the resin-dentin interface by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve extracted human molar teeth with deep occlusal caries were stained with caries detector solution and ground flat occlusally. The red-stained soft dentin was classified as caries-infected. The surrounding discolored dentin was classified as caries-affected dentin. The surrounding normal dentin served as a control. The entire flat surface was bonded with Clearfil Liner Bond 2V (CV) and covered with resin composite to form a composite crown 5 mm high. One day later the specimens were serially sectioned vertically into multiple slabs 0.8 mm thick. Under microscopic observation, the specimens were divided into normal or caries-infected or caries-affected dentin. These regions were isolated by cutting away the remaining dentin to form hour-glass shapes with the smallest surface area at the test site. After measuring the areas, the specimens were fixed to a microtensile tester and pulled under tension to failure. Additional slabs that were not used for bond strength tests were processed for TEM. Bond strength data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls multiple comparisons. RESULTS The microTBS of CV to normal, caries-affected and caries-infected dentin were 45 +/- 10 MPa, 30 +/- 10 MPa, 10 +/- 5 MPa, respectively. TEM images showed that CV formed thin hybrid layers that were less than 1 microm thick in normal dentin, but that were between 6-8 microm thick in caries-affected dentin. Bacteria were only sparsely observed in the dentin tubules of bonded caries-affected dentin. However, in caries-infected dentin, an unusual interface was seen in which carious bacteria within disorganized non-banded collagen fibrils could be seen embedded by the adhesive. The hybrid layer in caries-infected dentin was found to be 30-60 microm thick.
18F‐Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography–Computed Tomography Imaging in the Management of Merkel Cell Carcinoma: A Single‐Institution Retrospective Study

Background Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is among the deadliest of cutaneous malignancies. A lack of consensus evaluation and treatment guidelines has hindered management of this disease. The utility of simultaneous positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) has been demonstrated for a variety of tumors yet remains underinvestigated for MCC. Objectives To report the value of fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT imaging in the initial staging and ongoing management of individuals with MCC and to determine whether any patient or tumor characteristics may predict when PET/CT is more likely to have greater influence on medical decision‐making. Materials and Methods A single‐institution retrospective chart review was conducted of all patients diagnosed with MCC who underwent FDG‐PET/CT scanning from 2007 to 2010. The outcome of each of these studies was evaluated as to the influence on patient staging and management. Patient clinical information and information on gross and microscopic tumor characteristics were collected and analyzed. Results Twenty patients underwent 39 PET/CT scans. Results of PET/CT imaging revealed previously unknown information related to MCC in four (20%) patients, leading to changes in management in three of these four cases. Three previously unknown neoplasms were detected. Conclusion Fluorodeoxyglucose‐positron emission tomography and computed tomography is a valuable tool for initial staging and to assess response to therapy of patients diagnosed with MCC. Larger prospective studies would be required to establish the optimal timing for this imaging modality.
Robust Distributed Estimation by Networked Agents

Diffusion adaptive networks tasked with solving estimation problems have attracted attention in recent years due to their reliability, scalability, resource efficiency, and resilience to node and link failure. Diffusion adaptation strategies that are based on the least-mean-squares algorithm can be nonrobust against impulsive noise corrupting the measurements. Impulsive noise can degrade stability and steady-state performance, leading to unreliable estimates. In previous work [“Robust adaptation in impulsive noise,” IEEE Trans. Signal Process. , vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 2851–2865, Jun. 2016], a robust adaptive algorithm for stand-alone agents was developed, one that semi-parametrically estimates the optimal error nonlinearity jointly with the parameter of interest. Prior knowledge of the impulsive noise distribution was not assumed. In this paper, we extend the framework to solve the problem of robust distributed estimation by a network of agents. Challenges arise due to the coupling among the agents and the distributed nature of the problem. The resulting diffusion strategy is analyzed and its performance illustrated by numerical simulations.