Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
RNA editing in eag potassium channels

RNA editing at four sites in eag, a Drosophila voltage-gated potassium channel, results in the substitution of amino acids into the final protein product that are not encoded by the genome. These sites and the editing alterations introduced are K467R (Site 1, top of the S6 segment), Y548C, N567D and K699R (sites 2–4, within the cytoplasmic C-terminal domain). We mutated these residues individually and expressed the channels in Xenopus oocytes. A fully edited construct (all four sites) has the slowest activation kinetics and a paucity of inactivation, whereas the fully unedited channel exhibits the fastest activation and most dramatic inactivation. Editing Site 1 inhibits steady-state inactivation. Mutating Site 1 to the neutral residues resulted in intermediate inactivation phenotypes and a leftward shift of the peak current-voltage relationship. Activation kinetics display a Cole-Moore shift that is enhanced by RNA editing. Normalized open probability relationships for 467Q, 467R and 467K are superimposable, indicating little effect of the mutations on steady-state activation. 467Q and 467R enhance instantaneous inward rectification, indicating a role of this residue in ion permeation. Intracellular tetrabutylammonium blocks 467K significantly better than 467R. Block by intracellular, but not extracellular, tetraethylammonium interferes with inactivation. The fraction of inactivated current is reduced at higher extracellular Mg+2 concentrations, and channels edited at Site 1 are more sensitive to changes in extracellular Mg+2 than unedited channels. These results show that even a minor change in amino acid side-chain chemistry and size can have a dramatic impact on channel biophysics, and that RNA editing is important for fine-tuning the channel’s function.
The Equilibrium Fed Funds Rate and the Indicator Properties of Term Structure Spreads

This paper introduces a model-based measure of the equilibrium federal funds rate and examines the indicator properties of the spread between observed and equilibrium rates. The results are compared to those of existing studies, which implicitly use long-term interest rates to proxy the equilibrium funds rate. Granger-causality tests suggest that different measures of the term-structure spread are dominated by the funds-rate spread as a forecaster of a wide range of macroeconomic variables. These results are supported by variance-decomposition analysis. The paper also estimates simple VARs to discuss how the policy stance responds to macroeconomic shocks. Copyright 1997 by Oxford University Press.
Role of Sensory and Cognitive Information in the Enhancement of Certainty and Linking for Novel and Familiar Foods

Expected and actual liking for novel and familiar foods were examined under various conditions of sensory and verbal information with 121 subjects who differed in food neophobia. The possible mediating roles of uncertainty about product identity and resemblance to familiar foods were also investigated. Subjects were divided into three verbal information groups (no information; product name; ingredient and use information) balanced for neophobia, age and gender. All groups rated test samples under three sensory conditions: (1) appearance only, (2) appearance and smell and (3) appearance, smell and taste. Neophilics rated novel foods more favorably than did neophobics. Accumulating sensory experience (appearance, smell, taste) decreased liking for novel foods but increased liking for familiar foods. Verbal information generally increased liking for all samples. Liking and certainty of product identity were curvilinearly related for novel foods, but linearly related for familiar foods. Liking for products judged to closely resemble the test product predicted up to 64% of the variability in expected and actual liking. Eight weeks later, subjects rated one of the two novel foods higher than in the first exposure, but no other exposure effects were observed. Our data suggest that information (possibly via reduced uncertainty), resemblance to more familiar foods, and exposure contribute to reducing initially negative responses to novel foods; furthermore, neophobia decreases liking for novel foods similarly at all levels of sensory input (visual, smell and taste).
Identification of Serotonin Receptors Recognized by Anti‐Idiotypic Antibodies

Anti‐idiotypic antibodies were generated by immunizing rabbits with affinity‐purified antibodies to serotonin (5‐hydroxytryptamine; 5‐HT). Anti‐5‐HT activity was removed from the resulting antisera by chromatography through a 5‐HT affinity column. The anti‐idiotypic antibodies were demonstrated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay to bind to affinity‐purified whole anti‐5‐HT antibodies and their Fab fragments. Anti‐idiotypic antibodies, purified by affinity chromatography on columns to which antibodies to 5‐HT were coupled, competed with 5‐HT (covalently bound to protein) for the binding sites on anti‐5‐HT antibodies and serotonin binding protein. The anti‐idiotypic antibodies antagonized the binding of [3H]5‐HT to membranes isolated from the cerebral cortex, striatum, and raphe area more than to membranes from hippocampus or cerebellum. The anti‐ idiotypic antibodies also blocked the binding of the 5‐HT1B‐ selective ligand (‐)‐[125I]iodocyanopindolol (in the presence of 30 μM isoproterenol) to cortical membranes. In contrast, anti‐idiotypic antibodies failed to inhibit binding of the 5‐ HT1A‐selective ligand 8‐hydroxy‐2‐(di‐n)‐[3H]propylamino)‐ tetralin ([3H]8‐OH‐DPAT) to raphe area membranes or hippocampal membranes. These observations suggested that the anti‐idiotypic antibodies may recognize some 5‐HT receptor subtypes but not others. This hypothesis was tested by ascertaining the ability of anti‐idiotypic antibodies to immunostain cells transfected in vitro with cDNA encoding the 5‐ HT1C or 5‐HT2 receptor or with a genomic clone encoding the 5‐HT1A receptor. Punctate sites of immunofluorescence were found on the surfaces of fibroblasts that expressed 5‐ HT1C and 5‐HT2 receptors, but not on the surfaces of HeLa cells that expressed 5‐HT1A receptors. Immunostaining of cells by the anti‐idiotypic antibodies was inhibited by appropriate pharmacological agents: immunostaining of cells expressing 5‐HT1C receptors was blocked by mesulergine (but not ketanserin, 8‐OH‐DPAT. or spiperone), whereas that of cells expressing 5‐HT2 receptors was blocked by ketanserin or spiperone (but not mesulergine or 8‐OH‐DPAT). The anti‐ idiotypic antibodies failed to inhibit the uptake of [3H]5‐HT by serotonergic neurons. It is concluded that the anti‐idiotypic antibodies generated with anti‐5‐HT serum recognize the 5‐ HT1B, 5‐HTlC, and 5‐HT2 receptor subtypes; however, neither 5‐HT1A receptors nor 5‐HT uptake sites appear to react with these antibodies.
Antimicrobial activity of phenolic compounds identified in wild mushrooms, SAR analysis and docking studies

Although the antimicrobial activity of extracts from several mushroom species has been reported, studies with the individual compounds present in that extracts are scarce. Herein, the antimicrobial activity of different phenolic compounds identified and quantified in mushroom species from all over the world was evaluated. Furthermore, a structure–activity relationship (SAR) analysis and molecular docking studies were performed, in order to provide insights into the mechanism of action of potential antimicrobial drugs for resistant micro‐organisms.
Revision of the Nerlovian partial adjustment framework and its application to sorghum production in Nigeria

An attempt was made in this paper to show how varying coefficients of adjustment might be incorporated into the Nerlovian partial adjustment framework and the resulting model applied to sorghum production in Nigeria. The nonlinear forms of the model were estimated with Quasi-Newton iteration technique while the linear forms were estimated with regress. The estimated coefficients conform to theoretical expectations and were appropriately signed but with few exceptions. In addition, varying elasticity of supply was also obtained. The distribution of the adjustment coefficient and the elasticity were significantly different from zero. Key words: Nerlovian partial adjustment framework, quasi-Newton iteration technique, regress.
Determinants of Systematic Risk in the Online Travel Agency Industry

Systematic risk, or the variance of asset returns that cannot be eliminated through diversification of a portfolio, has received limited attention from tourism researchers. This is problematic given the dramatic changes experienced by the industry in the last two decades and the fact that there are unique determinants of systematic risk owing to the tourism industry's idiosyncratic business environment. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study is to identify financial/operating determinants that influence systematic risk for online travel agencies (OTAs). Panel data from 10 US OTA companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Index from 2001 through 2010 were analysed via a two-way, random-effects model using generalized least squares. The results indicate that advertising expenditures, liquidity and firm size are significant determinants of the systematic risk of OTAs. Appropriate financial/operating management for all three determinants are recommended to decrease that risk. This investigation of OTAs' systematic risk provides practical insights to the OTA industry.
Real Wages and Unemployment in Britain during the 1930s

This paper explains shifts in the level of economic activity in Britain in the interwar period, particularly from 1928 to 1937, and relates these to movements in the real wage. The authors' general thesis is that the real wage follows a path that is perfectly consistent with the recession of the early 1930s being instigated, in the main, by demand shocks. Supply-side factors are only of minor significance. Copyright 1989 by Royal Economic Society.
Interactions of Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions: A Dynamic Framework

This article analyzes the interaction between a firm's dynamic investment, operating, and financing decisions in a model with operating adjustment and recapitalization costs. Using numerical analysis, we solve the model for cases that highlight interaction effects. We find that higher production flexibility (due to lower costs of shutting down and reopening a production facility) enhances the firm's debt capacity, thereby increasing the net tax shield value of debt financing. While higher financial flexibility (resulting from lower recapitalization costs) has a similar effect, production flexibility and financial flexibility are, to some extent, substitutes. We find that the impact of debt financing on the firm's investment and operating decisions is economically insignificant. Copyright 1994 by American Finance Association.
Wasserstein Loss for Image Synthesis and Restoration

This paper presents a novel variational approach to imposing statistical constraints on the output of both image generation (typically to perform texture synthesis) and image restoration (for instance, to achieve denoising and inpainting) methods. The empirical distributions of linear or nonlinear image descriptors are imposed to be close to some input distributions by minimizing a Wasserstein loss, i.e., the optimal transport distance between the distributions. We advocate the use of a Wasserstein distance because it is robust when using discrete distributions without the need to resort to kernel estimators. We showcase the use of different descriptors to tackle various image processing applications. These descriptors include linear wavelet-based filtering to account for simple textures, nonlinear sparse coding coefficients for more complicated patterns, and the image gradient to restore sharper contents. For applications to texture synthesis, the input distributions are the empirical distributions compu.
Agp2p, the Plasma Membrane Transregulator of Polyamine Uptake, Regulates the Antifungal Activities of the Plant Defensin NaD1 and Other Cationic Peptides

ABSTRACT Cationic antifungal peptides (AFPs) act through a variety of mechanisms but share the common feature of interacting with the fungal cell surface. NaD1, a defensin from Nicotiana alata, has potent antifungal activity against a variety of fungi of both hyphal and yeast morphologies. The mechanism of action of NaD1 occurs via three steps: binding to the fungal cell surface, permeabilization of the plasma membrane, and internalization and interaction with intracellular targets to induce fungal cell death. The targets at each of these three stages have yet to be defined. In this study, the screening of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae deletion collection led to the identification of Agp2p as a regulator of the potency of NaD1. Agp2p is a plasma membrane protein that regulates the transport of polyamines and other molecules, many of which carry a positive charge. Cells lacking the agp2 gene were more resistant to NaD1, and this resistance was accompanied by a decreased uptake of defensin. Agp2p senses and regulates the uptake of the polyamine spermidine, and competitive inhibition of the antifungal activity of NaD1 by spermidine was observed in both S. cerevisiae and the plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. The resistance of agp2Δ cells to other cationic antifungal peptides and decreased binding of the cationic protein cytochrome c to agp2Δ cells compared to that of wild-type cells have led to a proposed mechanism of resistance whereby the deletion of agp2 leads to an increase in positively charged molecules at the cell surface that repels cationic antifungal peptides.
Standardization of the physicochemical parameters to assess in vitro the beta-hematin inhibitory activity of antimalarial drugs.

Intraerythrocytic plasmodia form hemozoin as a detoxification product of hemoglobin-derived heme. An identical substance, beta-hematin (BH), can be obtained in vitro from hematin at acidic pH. Quinoline-antimalarials inhibit BH formation. Standardization of test conditions is essential for studying the interaction of compounds with this process and screening potential inhibitors. A spectrophotometric microassay of heme polymerization inhibitory activity (HPIA) (Basilico et al., Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 42, 55-60, 1998) previously reported was used to investigate the effect of pH and salt concentration on BH formation. The yield of BH formation decreased with pH. Moreover, under conditions used in the above HPIA assay (18 h, 37 degrees C, pH = 2.7), several salts including chloride and phosphate inhibited the process. Aminoquinoline drugs formulated as salts (chloroquine-phosphate, primaquine-diphosphate), but not chloroquine-base, also inhibited the reaction. Interference by salts was highest at low pH and decreased at higher pH (pH 4). Here, we describe different assay conditions that eliminate these problems (BHIA, beta-hematin inhibitory activity). By replacing hematin with hemin as the porphyrin and NaOH solution with DMSO as solvent, the formation of BH was independent of pH up to pH 5.1. No interference by salts was observed over the pH range 2.7-5.1. Dose-dependent inhibition of BH formation was obtained with chloroquine-base, chloroquine-phosphate, and chloroquine-sulfate at pH 5.1. Primaquine was not inhibitory. The final product, characterized by solubility in DMSO, consists of pure BH by FT-IR spectroscopy. The BHIA assay (hemin in DMSO, acetate buffer pH 5 +/- 0.1, 18 h at 37 degrees C) is designed to screen for those molecules forming pi-pi interactions with hematin and thus inhibiting beta-hematin formation.
Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus detected by the national diabetes data group or the carpenter and coustan plasma glucose thresholds.

OBJECTIVE In 2000, the American Diabetes Association proposed the adoption of the Carpenter and Coustan criteria for diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The Carpenter and Coustan cutoffs are lower than the previously recommended National Diabetes Data Group (NDDG) values and would result in higher prevalence of GDM. Our aim is to estimate the magnitude of change in prevalence of GDM using the Carpenter and Coustan thresholds as compared with the NDDG thresholds by age and ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Cross-sectional study of 28,330 women aged 14-49 years who gave birth in 1996 and were members of the Northern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program. Age, ethnicity, screening, and diagnostic test results were assessed from computerized hospitalization and laboratory systems. RESULTS A total of 26,481 (94%) women were screened using a 50-g, 1-h oral glucose tolerance test, and 4,190 women underwent a diagnostic 100-g, 3-h oral glucose tolerance test after an abnormal screening. Overall, the GDM prevalence among screened women was 3.2% (95% CI 3.0-3.4) by NDDG and 4.8% (95% CI 4.5-5.1) by Carpenter and Coustan criteria, and based on either threshold, it increased with age (P < 0.001). The age-adjusted GDM prevalence by NDDG and Carpenter and Coustan criteria, respectively, was 5.0 and 7.4% in Asians, 3.9 and 5.6% in Hispanics, 3.0 and 4.0% in African-Americans, and 2.4 and 3.8% in whites. Proportional increments were larger in women aged <25 years (70%) and in whites (58%). CONCLUSIONS -The prevalence of GDM increased, on average, by 50% with use of the Carpenter and Coustan thresholds. Relative increments were greater in low-risk age and ethnic groups. This information would be useful for clinical settings in predicting cost of GDM based on demographic characteristics of the population.
Fusion of Deep Learning and Compressed Domain Features for Content-Based Image Retrieval

This paper presents an effective image retrieval method by combining high-level features from convolutional neural network (CNN) model and low-level features from dot-diffused block truncation coding (DDBTC). The low-level features, e.g., texture and color, are constructed by vector quantization -indexed histogram from DDBTC bitmap, maximum, and minimum quantizers. Conversely, high-level features from CNN can effectively capture human perception. With the fusion of the DDBTC and CNN features, the extended deep learning two-layer codebook features is generated using the proposed two-layer codebook, dimension reduction, and similarity reweighting to improve the overall retrieval rate. Two metrics, average precision rate and average recall rate (ARR), are employed to examine various data sets. As documented in the experimental results, the proposed schemes can achieve superior performance compared with the state-of-the-art methods with either low-or high-level features in terms of the retrieval rate. Thus, it can be a strong candidate for various image retrieval related applications.
Managerial and Technical Inefficiencies of Foreign and Domestic Banks in Turkey During the 2008 Global Crisis

This study analyses the differences between the group efficiency of foreign and domestic banks in Turkey from 2007 to 2010. The efficiencies of bank groups are compared after managerial inefficiencies are eliminated. In the process, the underlying factors of group efficiencies are identified. The results reveal that bank efficiencies are highly affected by their association with the bank groups. The efficiencies of foreign banks are higher than those of domestic banks both before and after managerial inefficiencies are eliminated. Surprisingly, foreign banks are found to have been highly or fully efficient during the global financial crisis, once the managerial inefficiencies are removed.
The anomalies that aren't there: the weekend, January and pre-holiday effects on the all gold index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange 1987-1997

This paper investigates the existence of the Weekend, January and Pre-Holiday effects in the All Gold Index on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over an 11- year period; 5 January 1987 through 15 May 1997, and for three sub-samples of equal length. These results are in severe contrast to the overwhelming international evidence documented for the stock markets of many other countries, be they developed or emerging markets: there appears to be no Weekend, January or Pre-Holiday effects, present in the All Gold Index. This is somewhat surprising as some financial economists have suggested that the above seasonalities are now accepted ‘stylised facts’! This paper suggests that the lack of any detectable calendar effects, may, in part, be due to the particular market microstructure of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange or the composition of the All Gold Index. Consequently this paper concludes that further research is required in this area. This is a somewhat ironic conclusion: usually security market anomalies studies are concerned with offering suggestions as to why a particular seasonality has occurred, here this study is suggesting that further research is required as to why anomalies have not occurred.
Relative Contributions of Lipooligosaccharide Inner and Outer Core Modifications to Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a frequent commensal of the human nasopharynx that causes opportunistic infection in immunocompromised individuals. Existing evidence associates lipooligosaccharide (LOS) with disease, but the specific and relative contributions of NTHi LOS modifications to virulence properties of the bacterium have not been comprehensively addressed. Using NTHi strain 375, an isolate for which the detailed LOS structure has been determined, we compared systematically a set of isogenic mutant strains expressing sequentially truncated LOS. The relative contributions of 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid, the triheptose inner core, oligosaccharide extensions on heptoses I and III, phosphorylcholine, digalactose, and sialic acid to NTHi resistance to antimicrobial peptides (AMP), self-aggregation, biofilm formation, cultured human respiratory epithelial infection, and murine pulmonary infection were assessed. We show that opsX, lgtF, lpsA, lic1, and lic2A contribute to bacterial resistance to AMP; lic1 is related to NTHi self-aggregation; lgtF, lic1, and siaB are involved in biofilm growth; opsX and lgtF participate in epithelial infection; and opsX, lgtF, and lpsA contribute to lung infection. Depending on the phenotype, the involvement of these LOS modifications occurs at different extents, independently or having an additive effect in combination. We discuss the relative contribution of LOS epitopes to NTHi virulence and frame a range of pathogenic traits in the context of infection.
Altered sensitivity to a novel vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 (1-31) in myometrium and umbilical artery of women with severe preeclampsia.

We have suggested that a novel endothelin-1 with 31 amino acids [ET-1 (1-31)] plays an important role in fetal circulation, owing to a strong contractile activity on the umbilical artery. To clarify the pathophysiological significance of ET-1 (1-31) in the development of severe preeclampsia, its contractile activities on human umbilical arteries and uterine smooth muscle from patients with preeclampsia were studied. The contraction by ET-1 (1-31) was stronger in uterine smooth muscle of the patients with severe preeclampsia than that of normal subjects. On the contrary, the constriction of umbilical artery of the patients with eclampsia was significantly weaker than that of normal pregnant women. The stronger contraction of myometrium by ET-1 (1-31) in patients with severe preeclampsia observed for the first time in the present study suggests that ET-1 (1-31) might be involved in the development of preeclampsia.