Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Back to the future : Greenland's contribution to sea-level change.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is presently making a signifi cant contribution to global sea-level rise. Predictions for the future suggest that this will continue and likely accelerate during the remainder of this century. However, a comprehensive understanding of ongoing mass balance fl ux has only become possible in the last decade or so, following the development of satellite and other new observational technologies. As a result, it is not clear whether the patterns observed today are typical of the past or not. In this paper, I review predictions for Greenland’s contribution to future sea-level rise and then place these estimates in the context of the evidence for change during the twentieth century, the last few millennia, and the Eemian interglacial. There is evidence that the ice sheet responds sensitively to changes in conditions in the adjacent North Atlantic, leading to a hypothesis that annual and decadal fl uctuations in Atlantic air and sea surface temperatures shape the ice sheet’s contribution to global sea-level change. The recent loss of ice needs also to be seen in the context of an overall increase in ice sheet size and the related advance of the ice sheet margin by tens of kilometers during the past few millennia. I conclude by arguing that in order to better constrain the role of the Greenland Ice Sheet in future sea level, improvements in our understanding of present-day change in the ice sheet must be matched by equal strides in understanding how the ice sheet evolved in the past.
A randomized, rater-blinded, parallel trial of intensive speech therapy in sub-acute post-stroke aphasia: the SP-I-R-IT study.

BACKGROUND There is conflicting evidence regarding the benefits of intensive speech and language therapy (SLT), particularly because intensity is often confounded with total SLT provided. AIMS A two-centre, randomized, rater-blinded, parallel study was conducted to compare the efficacy of 100 h of SLT in a regular (RT) versus intensive (IT) treatment in sub-acute post-stroke aphasia. METHODS & PROCEDURES Consecutive patients with aphasia, within 3 months of a left hemisphere ischemic stroke, were randomized to IT (2 h per day × 5 days per week, 10 weeks) or RT (2 h per week × 50 weeks). Evaluations took place at 10, 50 and 62 weeks. Primary outcome was the frequency of responders, defined by 15% increase of Aphasia Quotient (AQ) from the baseline to 50 weeks. Secondary outcomes were changes from the baseline in AQ and functional communication profile (FCP) at 50 and 62 weeks and improvement stability between 50 and 62 weeks. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Thirty patients were randomized and 18 completed the study. No significant differences were found between groups in primary or secondary outcomes, although IT patients (N = 9) obtained higher scores in language measures between 10 and 62 weeks in per protocol analysis. The number of non-completions was identical between groups. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study suggests that, in the sub-acute period following stroke and controlling for the number of hours of SLT provided, there is a trend for a greater improvement in language and functional communication measures with IT compared with RT. The lack of statistical significance in results was probably due to the small sample size.
CYP2D6 Genotype and Phenotype in Amerindians of Tepehuano Origin and Mestizos of Durango, Mexico

Although the drug‐metabolizing enzyme CYP2D6 has been studied extensively in subjects of differing ethnicities, limited CYP2D6 pharmacogenetic data are available for the Amerindian population and Mestizos of Mexico. Dextromethorphan hydroxylation phenotype was studied in Tepehuano Amerindian (n = 58) and Mestizo (n = 88) subjects, and 195 individuals (85 Tepehuano Amerindians and 110 Mestizos) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction‐restriction fragment length polymorphism methods to identify the frequencies of the CYP2D6*3, *4, *6, and *10 alleles. Tepehuano Amerindian subjects lacked the poor metabolizer (PM) phenotype, whereas in Mestizos the PM phenotype frequency was 6.8%. The CYP2D6*3, *6, and *10 alleles were not found in Tepehuano Amerindians. The CYP2D6*4 allele had a low frequency (0.006) in this Amerindian group. In the Mestizo group, the CYP2D6*3, *4, and *10 alleles had frequencies of 0.009, 0.131, and 0.023, respectively. The CYP2D6*6 allele was not found in Mestizos. The genotype‐phenotype association was strongly statistically significant (r2 = .45; P = .005) in Mestizos. The Tepehuano population was found to have a low phenotypic and genotypic CYP2D6 diversity and differed from other Amerindian groups. On the other hand, the frequencies of the CYP2D6 variant alleles in Mestizos were similar to those reported for whites.
What Makes Law to Change Behavior? An Experimental Study

Abstract The use of mild laws to affect people’s behavior is pervasive – from environmental regulation to tort law – but little is known about how the law changes human behavior and social outcomes when it uses non-deterrent monetary incentives. We find that when low monetary incentives are framed so as to indicate what is group desirable behavior, people behave more cooperatively in a public goods game than when no-incentives exist. However, we find that the effect is transitory. Surprisingly, the effect is long lasting when low monetary incentives are presented as payments for some neutral behavior – that is, when the fine is presented as a mere price change. Our findings suggest that the indication of what is group desirable behavior makes salient the conflict between people’s normative expectations and what others effectively do. This undermines conditional cooperators’ own motivation to contribute to public goods. Neutrally framed price-incentives have a long lasting positive effect on contribution decisions because it does not indicate what one should do and thus avoids the conflict with what others effectively do.
Formation and properties of mixed disulfides between thioredoxin reductase from Escherichia coli and thioredoxin: Evidence that cysteine‐138 functions to initiate dithiol‐disulfide interchange and to accept the reducing equivalent from reduced flavin

Mutation of one of the cysteine residues in the redox active disulfide of thioredoxin reductase from Escherichia coli results in C135S with Cys138 remaining or C138S with Cys135 remaining. The expression system for the genes encoding thioredoxin reductase, wild‐type enzyme, C135S, and C138S has been re‐engineered to allow for greater yields of protein. Wild‐type enzyme and C135S were found to be as previously reported, whereas discrepancies were detected in the characteristics of C138S. It was shown that the original C138S was a heterogeneous mixture containing C138S and wild‐type enzyme and that enzyme obtained from the new expression system is the correct species. C138S obtained from the new expression system having 0.1% activity and 7% flavin fluorescence of wild‐type enzyme was used in this study. Reductive titrations show that, as expected, only 1 mol of sodium dithionite/mol of FAD is required to reduce C138S. The remaining thiol in C135S and C138S has been reacted with 5,5′‐dithiobis‐(2‐nitrobenzoic acid) to form mixed disulfides. The half time of the reaction was <5 s for Cys138 in C135S and approximately 300 s for Cys135 in C138S showing that Cys138 is much more reactive. The resulting mixed disulfides have been reacted with Cys32 in C35S mutant thioredoxin to form stable, covalent adducts C138S‐C35S and C135S‐C35S. The half times show that Cys138 is approximately fourfold more susceptible to attack by the nucleophile. These results suggest that Cysl38 may be the thiol initiating dithiol‐disulfide interchange between thioredoxin reductase and thioredoxin.
New species of Auritella (Inocybaceae) from Cameroon, with a worldwide key to the known species

Two new species in the genus Auritella (Inocybaceae) are described as new from tropical rainforest in Cameroon. Descriptions, photographs, line drawings, and a worldwide taxonomic key to the described species of Auritella are presented. Phylogenetic analysis of 28S rDNA and rpb2 nucleotide sequence data suggests at least five phylogenetic species that can be ascribed to Auritella occur in the region comprising Cameroon and Gabon and constitute a strongly supported monophyletic subgroup within the genus. Phylogenetic analysis of ITS data supports the conspecificity of numerous collections attributed to the two new species as well as the monophyly of Australian species of Auritella. This work raises the known number of described species of Auritella to thirteen worldwide, four of which occur in tropical Africa, one in tropical India, and eight in temperate and tropical regions of Australia. This is the first study to confirm an ectomycorrhizal status of Auritella using molecular data.
A Simple Model to Predict the Sensitivity to Change of Visual Acuity Measurements

Background: Estimates of test-retest variability (TRV) in the form of a 95% range have been suggested as providing a cutoff value (or “change-criterion”) against which measured acuity changes can be judged to decide whether they are indicative of a clinically important change. This approach is based on ensuring that the specificity of the procedure is 95% in individuals with no real change. In an earlier article we investigated empirically the ability of the procedure to detect varying degrees of change (its sensitivity). In this article, we develop a simple statistical model to examine further the sensitivity of the approach. Methods. A statistical model was developed, and predictions from the model were compared with empirical visual acuity data. Results. The model predicts that for changes equal in size to the magnitude of the change-criterion, sensitivity will be 50%. For changes 1.65 times the change-criterion, sensitivity is 90% and increasing to 95% for changes 1.84 times the size of the change-criterion. Predicted sensitivities agreed well with those measured empirically. Conclusions. The 95% range for TRV is often used to decide whether measured changes are indicative of clinically important changes. Evaluating the performance of visual acuity charts using a method analogous to that of estimating the sensitivity and specificity of a screening test highlights some limitations of this method. Use of the 95% range as a change-criterion ensures a high specificity, but a simple statistical model indicates that changes must approach twice the size of the change-criterion before they will be detected with sensitivity in excess of 95%. This has implications for the clinician attempting to assess the reliability of visual acuity charts, and in other similar tests, to detect change.
Diminished Cell Proliferation Associated with the Death-protective Activity of Bcl-2*

The oncogene product Bcl-2 effectively spares cells from programmed cell death (apoptosis). The molecular mechanism underlying this death-protective activity has, however, remained enigmatic. Here we show that induction of Bcl-2 expression is consistently associated with a retardation of mammalian cell proliferation due to a prolongation of the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Whereas cells lacking Bcl-2 expression die from any point of the cell cycle in response to apoptotic agents, Bcl-2-overexpressing cells accumulate in the G0/G1 phase and are protected from cell death. Co-expression of Bax, a negative regulator of Bcl-2, reverts both the cell death protective and proliferation retarding activities of Bcl-2. Moreover, a Bcl-2 mutant defective in death protection does not affect cell division. These findings indicate that Bcl-2 contributes to cell survival by diminishing the rate of cell proliferation.
Chemotactic properties of partially purified human epidermal cell-derived thymocyte-activating factor (ETAF) for polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells.

Human epidermal cell thymocyte-activating factor (ETAF) derived from either normal epidermal cells or a squamous cell carcinoma cell line has recently been shown to be a low m.w. protein that is indistinguishable from human macrophage-derived interleukin 1 (IL 1). As with human IL 1, human ETAF elutes from Sephadex S-200 gel in two major peaks at m.w. 70,000 to 40,000 and m.w. 25,000 to 12,000. Rechromatography of the higher m.w. fraction of ETAF yielded some of the lower m.w. activity, and chromatofocusing of high m.w. ETAF yielded the same three isoelectric points as the lower m.w. ETAF. Partially purified human ETAF as well as IL 1 were chemotactic for polymorphonuclear and mononuclear leukocytes. In addition, exposure of PMN to ETAF stimulated increased metabolic activity as demonstrated by greater reduction of intracellular nitroblue tetrazolium. Therefore, this study lends further support for an important role of ETAF in the pathogenesis of inflammatory skin diseases.
Risks in hydrological modelling due to uncertainties indischarge determination

Uncertainties in discharge determination may have serious consequences for hydrological modelling and resulting discharge predictions affecting flood and drought risk assessment and decision making. The aim of this study is to quantify the effect of discharge errors on parameters and performance of a conceptual hydrological model for discharge prediction applied to two catchments. Four error sources in discharge determination are considered: a combination of systematic and random measurement errors without autocorrelation; random measurement errors with autocorrelation; hysteresis in the discharge-water level relation; and effects of an outdated discharge–water level relation. Results show that systematic errors and an outdated discharge–water level relation have a considerable influence on model performance, while other error sources have a small to negligible effect. The effects of errors on parameters are large if the effects on model performance are large, and vice versa. Parameters controlling the water balance are influenced by systematic errors, and parameters related to the shape of the hydrograph are influenced by random errors. Large effects of discharge errors on model performance and parameters should be taken into account when using discharge predictions for risk assessment and decision making
Four Years’ Treatment Efficacy of Patients with Severe Hyperlipidemia. Lipid Lowering Drugs versus LDL-Apheresis

A total of 47 patients suffering from heterozygous hyperlipidemia were treated with LDL-apheresis (24 patients, aged 49.5±11.5 years), diet and/or lipid-lowering drugs or with diet and lipid-lowering drugs only (23 patients, aged 48.0±11.9 years). After treatment periods of 44.4±14.3 (apheresis group) and 33.5±15.9 (drug group) months, respectively, the ensuing results revealed significant differences (p<0.0001): total cholesterol decreased from 10.4 to 5.5 vs 9.9 to 8.7 mmol/l, LDL from 7.4 to 3.9 vs 6.6 to 5.2 mmol/l, triglycerides from 5.8 to 3.7 vs 4.8 to 4.1 mmol/l and the LDL/HDL-ratio decreased from 7.1 to 3.4 vs 6.7 to 5.8. In the apheresis group one patient died from myocardial infarction vs one non-fatal myocardial infarction and the manifestation of coronary heart disease in three cases in the drug group. There were no severe side-effects in either group. All patients in the apheresis group experienced an increased clinical performance. On the other hand physological well-being of these patients was lower than that of the drug group (scores 42.3±8.9 vs 50.2±9.9, p<0.002). The present trial suggests that a continuing reduction in serum lipid concentrations may lower in a dose dependent manner the risk of development and progression of coronary heart disease. With respect to clinical and laboratory results, LDL-apheresis seems safe and appears to be the most effective therapy.
The Structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory With Binary and Rating Scale Items

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) items typically have a forced-choice format, comprising a narcissistic and a nonnarcissistic statement. Recently, some have presented the narcissistic statements and asked individuals to either indicate whether they agree or disagree that the statements are self-descriptive (i.e., a binary response format) or to rate the extent to which they agree or disagree that these statements are self-descriptive on a Likert scale (i.e., a rating response format). The current research demonstrates that when NPI items have a binary or a rating response format, the scale has a bifactor structure (i.e., the items load on a general factor and on 6 specific group factors). Indexes of factor strength suggest that the data are unidimensional enough for the NPI's general factor to be considered a measure of a narcissism latent trait. However, the rating item general factor assessed more narcissism components than the binary item one. The positive correlations of the NPI's general factor, assessed when items have a rating response format, were moderate with self-esteem, strong with a measure of narcissistic grandiosity, and weak with 2 measures of narcissistic vulnerability. Together, the results suggest that using a rating format for items enhances the information provided by the NPI.
Gene Identification and Functional Analysis of Methylcitrate Synthase in Citric Acid-Producing Aspergillus niger WU-2223L

Methylcitrate synthase (EC 2.3.3.5; MCS) is a key enzyme of the methylcitric acid cycle localized in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells and related to propionic acid metabolism. In this study, cloning of the gene mcsA encoding MCS and heterologous expression of it in Escherichia coli were performed for functional analysis of the MCS of citric acid-producing Aspergillus niger WU-2223L. Only one copy of mcsA (1,495 bp) exists in the A. niger WU-2223L chromosome. It encodes a 51-kDa polypeptide consisting of 465 amino acids containing mitochondrial targeting signal peptides. Purified recombinant MCS showed not only MCS activity (27.6 U/mg) but also citrate synthase (EC 2.3.3.1; CS) activity (26.8 U/mg). For functional analysis of MCS, mcsA disruptant strain DMCS-1, derived from A. niger WU-2223L, was constructed. Although A. niger WU-2223L showed growth on propionate as sole carbon source, DMCS-1 showed no growth. These results suggest that MCS is an essential enzyme in propionic acid metabolism, and that the methylcitric acid cycle operates functionally in A. niger WU-2223L. To determine whether MCS makes a contribution to citric acid production, citric acid production tests on DMCS-1 were performed. The amount of citric acid produced from glucose consumed by DMCS-1 in citric acid production medium over 12 d of cultivation was on the same level to that by WU-2223L. Thus it was found that MCS made no contribution to citric acid production from glucose in A. niger WU-2223L, although MCS showed CS activity.
[Seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus and human immunodeficiency virus infection in a population of multiply-transfused patients in Colombia].

INTRODUCTION Although the transfusion of blood products is a common therapy, it carries risk of transmission of infections, especially hepatitus B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). OBJECTIVE As part of the blood safety initiative, the Pan American Health Organization supported studies to estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B virus infection in Colombia. MATERIALS AND METHODS Between February and September 2003, a cross sectional study examined 500 multiply-transfused patients at four hospital centers in the cities of Bogota and Medellin. The serum samples were analyzed by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) using commercial kits. RESULTS The seroprevalence of HIV infection was 1.8% (CI 95% 0.5-3.1). The seroprevalence of HBV infection was 18.6% (CI 95% 15.1-22.1). Six risk factors were associated with HIV and HBV infection: (1) receiving more than 48 units of blood or blood components, (2) diagnosis of hemophilia, (3) receiving transfusions for more than one year, (4) receiving whole blood, (5) coinfection with hepatitis C virus and (6) receiving transfusions before 1993. CONCLUSIONS This is the first epidemiological study with a significant sample size performed in multiply-transfused patients in Colombia. The principal finding was the high prevalence of HBV and HIV infection in patients with diagnosis of hemophilia compared with the other five groups of multiply-transfused patients.
Demand‐aware resource allocation for ultra‐dense small cell networks: an interference‐separation clustering‐based solution

In this paper, we present a novel clustering‐based resource allocation framework for downlink transmission in ultra‐dense small cell networks. Specifically, we first model a combinatorial optimisation problem that jointly considers subchannel and power allocation and user traffic demand in terms of a large‐scale network scenario. Unfortunately, the huge communication overhead and computational complexity make it challenging for traditional centralised/distributed solutions. To address this issue, we propose an interference‐separation clustering‐based scheme to divide the massive small cells into smaller groups with different priorities, which reduces the network scale. Different from the existing cluster construction scheme, the proposed clustering method effectively avoids the inter‐cluster interference through coordination. Then, for a given cluster configuration, we formulate the distributed resource allocation problem as a local interaction game where the utility of each player comprises not only its own profits but also the interests of neighbours. We prove the existence of Nash equilibrium for the formulated game and design a hierarchical learning algorithm to achieve the Nash equilibrium, which only needs local information exchange. Finally, simulation results validate that the proposed solution outperforms some other existing approaches and is more suitable for large‐scale networks. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Migration of the elderly: a review.

A better understanding of the nature and causes of the migration of elderly people is of growing interest to planners in many western nations. As a demographic process it operates together with the natural change and net migration of other age groups to change the numbers and characteristics of the populations of towns and regions. At the regional scale planners are particularly concerned to predict the future amount and location of elderly migrants and to assess the strategic implications of their movements and at the more local scale are also concerned with the social and economic impacts resulting from the in-movement of older people to particular areas and the need for appropriate policies and the provision of special facilities. Although the aged may be less mobile than younger people the sharp rise in mobility as people leave the workforce on retirement is now a well established phenomenon; and when% is also appreciated that the populations of most western nations are aging leading to a proportionate increase of the aged among migrants the underlying reason for this growing interest is much reinforced. The purpose of this article is to review the current literature on the migration of the elderly and suggest some priority areas for further attention. In fact the available literature although growing is rather limited a reflection in part of the lack of well developed theory and as Barsby and Cox argue much of the evidence (on various aspects of the process) is very weak. In part also there has been a tendency to ignore elderly movers because the young are more mobile and obviously relevant in theories of urbanisation and regional growth. " Theory dealing with labour force mobility is well developed and has been the subject of a large body of research but given the looser attachment of the elderly to the labour force they may well migrate for substantially different reasons from those of younger persons and theory applicable to the labour force may not apply to the elderly. (excerpt)