Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modulation by substrate concentration of maximal shortening velocity and isometric force in single myofibrils from frog and rabbit fast skeletal muscle

1 The effects of magnesium adenosine triphosphate (MgATP; also referred to as ‘substrate’) concentration on maximal force and shortening velocity have been studied at 5 °C in single and thin bundles of striated muscle myofibrils. The minute diameters of the preparations promote rapid diffusional equilibrium between the bathing medium and lattice space so that during contraction fine control of substrate and product concentrations is achieved. 2 Myofibrils from frog tibialis anterior and rabbit psoas fast skeletal muscles were activated maximally by rapidly (10 ms) exchanging a continuous flux of pCa 8.0 for one at pCa 4.75 at a range of substrate concentrations from 10 μM to 5 mM. At high substrate concentrations maximal isometric tension and shortening velocity of both frog and rabbit myofibrils were very close to those determined in whole fibre preparations from the same muscle types. 3 As in frog and rabbit skinned whole fibres, the maximal isometric force of the myofibril preparations decreases as MgATP concentration is increased. The maximal velocity of unloaded shortening (V0) depends hyperbolically on substrate concentration. V0 extrapolated to infinite MgATP (3.6 ± 0.2 and 0.8 ± 0.03 l0 s−1 in frog and rabbit myofibrils, respectively) is very close to that determined directly at high substrate concentration. The Km is 210 ± 20 μM for frog tibialis anterior and 120 ± 10 μM for rabbit psoas myofibrils, values about half those found in larger whole fibre preparations of the same muscle types. This implies that measurements in whole skinned fibres are perturbed by diffusional delays, even in the presence of MgATP regenerating systems. 4 In both frog and rabbit myofibrils, the Km for V0 is about one order of magnitude higher than the Km for myofibrillar MgATPase determined biochemically in the same experimental conditions. This confirms that the difference between the Km values for MgATPase and shortening velocity is a basic feature of the mechanism of chemomechanical transduction in muscle contraction.
How do consumers perceive the socially responsible activities of corporations: An emerging country’s perspective

This paper aims to understand (1) the perceptions of Turkish consumers towards the products /services of socially responsible corporations and (2) whether demographics- age, gender, education- are effective to profile the socially responsible consumers. The extant marketing literature has focused on the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept but less emphasis has given to understand the behavioral intentions and perceptions of consumers towards socially responsible products/services. Moreover, past research within the literature mostly are done in developed countries such as US and UK while limited analysis are done in emerging country context. In the study, the instrument developed by Maignan (2001) is used to measure the readiness of consumers to support socially responsible products. Data collected from 463 respondents indicate that Turkish consumers have favorable intention to support socially responsible products. Another valuable finding is that although gender has significant influence over socially responsible behavior, age and education are not significant indicators.The findings support the results of recent studies that the demographics are not strong enough alone to profile the socially responsible consumers and segment the market for CSR initiatives.
Neuronal Soluble Factors Differentially Regulate the Expression of the GLT1 and GLAST Glutamate Transporters in Cultured Astroglia

Abstract: The glutamate transporters in the plasma membranes of neural cells secure termination of the glutamatergic synaptic transmission and keep the glutamate levels below toxic concentrations. Astrocytes express two types of glutamate transporters, GLAST (EAAT1) and GLT1 (EAAT2). GLT1 predominates quantitatively and is responsible for most of the glutamate uptake activity in the juvenile and adult brain. However, GLT1 is severely down‐regulated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Furthermore, selective loss of this transporter occurs in cultured astroglia. Expression of GLAST, but not of GLT1, seems to be regulated via the glutamate receptor signalling. The present study was undertaken to examine whether neuronal factors, other than glutamate, influence the expression of astroglial glutamate transporters. The expression of GLT1 and GLAST was examined in primary cultures of cerebellar granule neurons, cortical neurons, and astrocytes under different experimental conditions, including those that mimic neuron‐astrocyte interactions. Pure astroglial cultures expressed only GLAST, whereas astrocytes grown in the presence of neurons expressed both GLAST (at increased levels) and GLT1. The induction of GLT1 protein and its mRNA was reproduced in pure cortical astroglial cultures supplemented with conditioned media from cortical neuronal cultures or from mixed neuron‐glia cultures. This treatment did not change the levels of GLAST. These results suggest that soluble neuronal factors differentially regulate the expression of GLT1 and GLAST in cultured astroglia. Further elucidation of the molecular nature of the secreted neuronal factors and corresponding signalling pathways regulating the expression of the astroglial glutamate transporters in vitro may reveal mechanisms important for the understanding and treatment of neurological diseases.
Mobile Phone Use for Agribusiness by Farmers in Southwest Nigeria

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has led to an increased adoption and use of mobile phones, even by rural farmers, for agribusinesses. Scanty studies, however, have focused on the use and influence of mobile phones for agribusiness in Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated how farmers in Southwest Nigeria use mobile phones for agribusiness, the benefits of the use of mobile phones, and the challenges the farmers face using the device. Driven by theory of Information and Communication Technology for Development, this study adopted Survey and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) methods. While Stratified, Simple Random, Purposive and Convenience sampling techniques were employed to select the sample, questionnaire and FGD guide were used to collect data. For agribusiness, the mostly used mobile phone feature by farmers is radio (75.9%) while the mostly deployed phone service is voice call (83.4%). Mobile phone use contributed to increase in farmers’ income, reduction in transaction and transportation costs, and increase in farm productivity. However, epileptic electricity supply hinders the effective use of mobile phones for agribusiness. Infrastructural facilities, especially electricity, should be provided in the rural areas to enable farmers use mobile phones effectively for agribusiness activities and ensure sustainable agricultural development.
A functional role for the ‘fibroblast‐like cells’ in gastrointestinal smooth muscles

Smooth muscles, as in the gastrointestinal tract, are composed of several types of cells. Gastrointestinal muscles contain smooth muscle cells, enteric neurons, glial cells, immune cells, and various classes of interstitial cells. One type of interstitial cell, referred to as ‘fibroblast‐like cells’ by morphologists, are common, but their function is unknown. These cells are found near the terminals of enteric motor neurons, suggesting they could have a role in generating neural responses that help control gastrointestinal movements. We used a novel mouse with bright green fluorescent protein expressed specifically in the fibroblast‐like cells to help us identify these cells in the mixture of cells obtained when whole muscles are dispersed with enzymes. We isolated these cells and found they respond to a major class of inhibitory neurotransmitters – purines. We characterized these responses, and our results provide a new hypothesis about the role of fibroblast‐like cells in smooth muscle tissues.
A comparison of acetaminophen and rimantadine in the treatment of influenza A infection in children

Rimantadine was compared with acetaminophen in a double‐blind randomly assigned therapeutic trial in 63 children presenting with influenzal symptoms. Fortynine of the children were proven to have influenza A by culture on presentation. Forty‐three of the cultures, 88%, were influenza A/H1N1 strains. Both drugs were well tolerated. Rimantadine lowered the amount of virus shed in the first 2 days after initiation of therapy. Clinical resolution of illness was not different between the two therapeutic modalities. In individuals who shed virus for 4 days, strains recovered on the last day were relatively resistant to rimantadine.
Placental blood flow measured by three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound at 26 to 35 weeks gestation in normal pregnancies

Objective. To evaluate placental vascular indices, in pregnancies between 26 and 35 weeks, using three-dimensional power Doppler (3DPD) ultrasound and the effect of placental location on these indices. Methods. This was a cross-sectional study involving 283 patients. The placental vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization and flow index (VFI) was obtained using the VOCAL program. Pearson's linear correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between gestational age and these indices. Student's parametric t-test and Levene's test were used to analyse the results between VI, FI and VFI and placental location. Results. There was no linear correlation between gestational age (GA) and VI (p = 0.390) and VFI (p = 0.053). Only the FI presented a significant linear correlation (p = 0.004), with a slow increase according to GA. It was possible to construct a reliable nomogram only for this index. There were no significant differences in the VI, FI and VFI according to placental location (p = 0.323, 0.172 and 0.120, respectively). Conclusion. Placental FI assessed by 3DPD increases progressively and significantly between 26 and 35 weeks. Placental location has no influence on the three vascular indices studied. The FI reference values obtained in this study can be used as a parameter for future investigations on placental vascularization using 3DPD.
Hypersensitivity to Mosquito Bites Associated with Natural Killer Cell–derived Large Granular Lymphocyte Lymphocytosis: A Case Report in Korea

Hypersensitivity to mosquito bites (HMB) is characterized by intense skin reactions at bite sites. The pathogenesis of HMB might be related to clonal lymphoproliferation of Epstein-Barr virus DNA-positive natural killer (NK) cells. We report the first case of HMB possibly associated with NK cell-derived large granular lymphocyte (NK-LGL) lymphocytosis in Korea.
TIR Domain-Containing Adapter-Inducing Beta Interferon (TRIF) Mediates Immunological Memory against Bacterial Pathogens

ABSTRACT Induction of adaptive immunity leads to the establishment of immunological memory; however, how innate immunity regulates memory T cell function remains obscure. Here we show a previously undefined mechanism in which innate and adaptive immunity are linked by TIR domain-containing adapter-inducing beta interferon (TRIF) during establishment and reactivation of memory T cells against Gram-negative enteropathogens. Absence of TRIF in macrophages (Mϕs) but not dendritic cells led to a predominant generation of CD4+ central memory T cells that express IL-17 during enteric bacterial infection in mice. TRIF-dependent type I interferon (IFN) signaling in T cells was essential to Th1 lineage differentiation and reactivation of memory T cells. TRIF activated memory T cells to facilitate local neutrophil influx and enhance bacterial elimination. These results highlight the importance of TRIF as a mediator of the innate and adaptive immune interactions in achieving the protective properties of memory immunity against Gram-negative bacteria and suggest TRIF as a potential therapeutic target.
A Compromise Principle in Deep Monocular Depth Estimation

Monocular depth estimation, which plays a key role in understanding 3D scene geometry, is fundamentally an ill-posed problem. Existing methods based on deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have examined this problem by learning convolutional networks to estimate continuous depth maps from monocular images. However, we find that training a network to predict a high spatial resolution continuous depth map often suffers from poor local solutions. In this paper, we hypothesize that achieving a compromise between spatial and depth resolutions can improve network training. Based on this "compromise principle", we propose a regression-classification cascaded network (RCCN), which consists of a regression branch predicting a low spatial resolution continuous depth map and a classification branch predicting a high spatial resolution discrete depth map. The two branches form a cascaded structure allowing the classification and regression branches to benefit from each other. By leveraging large-scale raw training datasets and some data augmentation strategies, our network achieves top or state-of-the-art results on the NYU Depth V2, KITTI, and Make3D benchmarks.
Common Identity and the Voluntary Provision of Public Goods : An Experimental Investigation

We conduct a framed field experiment in two Dallas neighborhoods to examine how common identity affects individual contributions to local public goods. The participants’ common identity is primed to make neighborhood membership salient before individuals make donations to local non-profit organizations. We find that the identity treatment is sensitive to community context. It decreases the likelihood of giving in the struggling, poor neighborhood, but its impact is positive, albeit statistically insignificant, in the lowto middle-income neighborhood. In addition, the identity treatment triggers participants’ perceptions or memories of experiences with their communities which in turn lead to the treatment differences across the two communities. Our findings reveal the limitations on the power of common group identity in influencing individual economic decision making, which has been largely overlooked in the literature.
Virtual Arguments: On the Design of Argument Assistants for Lawyers and Other Arguers

The First Prototype: ARGUE! - Improved Naturalness: ARGUMED 2.0. - A Logical Extension: ARGUMED 3.0 based on DEFLOG. - A Comparison of Argument Assistants and Mediators. - Theories of Defeasible Argumentation. - Argument Assistants: Conclusions and Prospects.
Psychometric evaluation of the Ward Atmosphere Scale in a Russian psychiatric hospital

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 10 subscales of the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) in a Russian psychiatric hospital. Methods: A total of 212 patients and 96 staff members at five wards for acute psychiatric patients completed the WAS. We calculated Cronbach's alpha, the Corrected Item Total Subscale Correlation (CITC), and item-revised subscale intercorrelations. Results: By removing a total of 32 items, the psychometric properties for all subscales except “Autonomy”, reached an acceptable level for the patient scores. Although several of the revised subscales were highly intercorrelated, the specificity of the items of the revised scales appeared acceptable. Conclusions: The revised WAS version appeared applicable within this Russian psychiatric hospital context. Several of the items that were dropped appeared inapplicable because of differences between Russian and Western culture and psychiatry.
Assessment of reversible myocardial dysfunction in chronic ischaemic heart disease: comparison of contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance and a combined positron emission tomography-single photon emission computed tomography imaging protocol.

AIMS The aim of the study was to compare, in patients with chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy, contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (ce-CMR) imaging and a combined (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose ((18)F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) and (99m)Tc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) protocols for the prediction of functional recovery after revascularization, as assessed by cine CMR. METHODS AND RESULTS Twenty-nine patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy (ejection fraction 32 +/- 10%) were investigated with ce-CMR and PET/SPECT. For the assessment of global and regional functions, cine CMR was performed at baseline and at 6 months follow-up. For ce-CMR, the segmental extent of hyperenhancement (SEH) was quantitated, and for PET/SPECT, different viability categories were defined according to a validated quantitative protocol. Functional improvement was related to the SEH by ce-CMR, as well as to the viability categories by PET/SPECT. Sensitivity and specificity for the prediction of functional recovery at follow-up was 97 and 68% for ce-CMR and 87 and 76% for PET/SPECT. The positive predictive value was identical for both techniques (73%). However, ce-CMR achieved a higher negative predictive value (93 vs. 77%, respectively), indicating that ce-CMR may be superior to PET/SPECT for the identification of segments unlikely to recover function after revascularization. Both methods had a similar yield in the prediction of global functional improvement. CONCLUSION ce-CMR is comparable with a PET/SPECT imaging protocol for the prediction of regional and global functional improvement after revascularization. However, ce-CMR may be superior to nuclear imaging for the identification of segments that are unlikely to recover function at follow-up.
Generation of rac3 Null Mutant Mice: Role of Rac3 in Bcr/Abl-Caused Lymphoblastic Leukemia

ABSTRACT Numerous studies indirectly implicate Rac GTPases in cancer. To investigate if Rac3 contributes to normal or malignant cell function, we generated rac3 null mutants through gene targeting. These mice were viable, fertile, and lacked an obvious external phenotype. This shows Rac3 function is dispensable for embryonic development. Bcr/Abl is a deregulated tyrosine kinase that causes chronic myelogenous leukemia and Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in humans. Vav1, a hematopoiesis-specific exchange factor for Rac, was constitutively tyrosine phosphorylated in primary lymphomas from Bcr/Abl P190 transgenic mice, suggesting inappropriate Rac activation. rac3 is expressed in these malignant hematopoietic cells. Using lysates from BCR/ABL transgenic mice that express or lack rac3, we detected the presence of activated Rac3 but not Rac1 or Rac2 in the malignant precursor B-lineage lymphoblasts. In addition, in female P190 BCR/ABL transgenic mice, lack of rac3 was associated with a longer average survival. These data are the first to directly show a stimulatory role for Rac in leukemia in vivo. Moreover, our data suggest that interference with Rac3 activity, for example, by using geranyl-geranyltransferase inhibitors, may provide a positive clinical benefit for patients with Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Estimating Regime-Switching Taylor Rules with Trend In ation Efrem

This paper estimates regime-switching monetary policy rules featuring trend ination over the post-WWII U.S. data. We nd evidence in favor of regime shifts, time-variation of the ination target, and a drop in the ination gap persistence when entering the Great Moderation sample. Estimated Taylor rule parameters and regimes are robust across di¤erent monetary policy models. We propose an "internal consistency" test to discriminate among our estimated rules. Such test relies upon the reverse causality running from the monetary policy stance to the ination gap. Our results support the stochastic autoregressive process as the most consistent model for trend ination, above all when conditioning to the post-1985 subsample. Keywords: Active and passive Taylor rules, trend ination, ination gap persistence, Markov-switching models. JEL Classi cation: E52, E61, E62. First draft: June 2008. We thank Guido Ascari, Francesco Bianchi, Patrick Crowley, Esa Jokivuolle, David Mayes, Jouko Vilmunen, Paolo Zagaglia, and participants at seminars and conferences at the University of Padua, the CEF 2008 (Paris), and the Bank of Finland for useful commments and suggestions. The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reect those of the Bank of Finland. All remaining errors are ours. Authorse-mail accounts: efrem.castelnuovo@unipd.it, luciano.greco@unipd.it, davide.raggi@unibo.it .
Crystal Structure of the Human RORα Ligand Binding Domain in Complex with Cholesterol Sulfate at 2.2 Å*

The retinoic acid-related orphan receptor α (RORα) is an orphan member of the subfamily 1 of nuclear hormone receptors. Our recent structural and functional studies have led to the hypothesis that cholesterol or a cholesterol derivative is the natural ligand of RORα. We have now solved the x-ray crystal structure of the ligand binding domain of RORα in complex with cholesterol-3-O-sulfate following a ligand exchange experiment. In contrast to the 3-hydroxyl of cholesterol, the 3-O-sulfate group makes additional direct hydrogen bonds with three residues of the RORα ligand binding domain, namely NH-Gln289, NH-Tyr290, and NH1-Arg370. When compared with the complex with cholesterol, seven well ordered water molecules have been displaced, and the ligand is slightly shifted toward the hydrophilic part of the ligand binding pocket, which is ideally suited for interactions with a sulfate group. These additional ligand-protein interactions result in an increased affinity of cholesterol sulfate when compared with cholesterol, as shown by mass spectrometry analysis done under native conditions and differential scanning calorimetry. Moreover, mutational studies show that the higher binding affinity of cholesterol sulfate translates into an increased transcriptional activity of RORα. Our findings suggest that cholesterol sulfate could play a crucial role in the regulation of RORα in vivo.
Ionic liquid-gated graphene FET array with enhanced selectivity for electronic nose

We report the selectivity enhancement of the graphene gas sensor using ionic liquids (ILs). Because the gas absorbability and selectivity of the IL depends on the types of its anion and cation, the graphene sensors covered with different ILs have different gas responses. We fabricated the IL-gated graphene field-effect transistors (ILGFETs) and assembled three ILGFEiodineTs with three kinds of ILs into an ILGFET array. Their responses to ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, and iodine were measured. The ILGFET with an IL ([EMIM][BF4]) was more selective for ammonia and iodine and less selective for iodine than that with another IL ([EMIM][TFSI]). The response patterns obtained using the ILGFET array indicated the feasibility of the graphene electronic nose.