Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SOX6 Attenuates Glucose-stimulated Insulin Secretion by Repressing PDX1 Transcriptional Actvity and Is Down-regulated in Hyperinsulinemic Obese Mice*

In obesity-related insulin resistance, pancreatic islets compensate for insulin resistance by increasing secretory capacity. Here, we report the identification of sex-determining region Y-box 6 (SOX6), a member of the high mobility group box superfamily of transcription factors, as a co-repressor for pancreatic-duodenal homeobox factor-1 (PDX1). SOX6 mRNA levels were profoundly reduced by both a long term high fat feeding protocol in normal mice and in genetically obese ob/ob mice on a normal chow diet. Interestingly, we show that SOX6 is expressed in adult pancreatic insulin-producing β-cells and that overexpression of SOX6 decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, which was accompanied by decreased ATP/ADP ratio, Ca2+ mobilization, proinsulin content, and insulin gene expression. In a complementary fashion, depletion of SOX6 by small interfering RNAs augmented glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in insulinoma mouse MIN6 and rat INS-1E cells. These effects can be explained by our mechanistic studies that show SOX6 acts to suppress PDX1 stimulation of the insulin II promoter through a direct protein/protein interaction. Furthermore, SOX6 retroviral expression decreased acetylation of histones H3 and H4 in chromatin from the promoter for the insulin II gene, suggesting that SOX6 may decrease PDX1 stimulation through changes in chromatin structure at specific promoters. These results suggest that perturbations in transcriptional regulation that are coordinated through SOX6 and PDX1 in β-cells may contribute to the β-cell adaptation in obesity-related insulin resistance.
Cognitive function is associated with the development of mobility impairments in community-dwelling elders.

OBJECTIVE To examine the association of cognitive function with the risk of incident mobility impairments and the rate of declining mobility in older adults. DESIGN Prospective, observational cohort study. SETTING Retirement communities across metropolitan Chicago. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1,154 ambulatory elders from two longitudinal studies without baseline clinical dementia or history of stroke or Parkinson disease. MEASUREMENTS All participants underwent baseline cognitive testing and annual mobility examinations. Mobility impairments were based on annual timed walking performance. A composite mobility measure, which summarized gait and balance measures, was used to examine the annual rate of mobility change. RESULTS During follow-up of 4.5 years, 423 of 836 (50.6%) participants developed impaired mobility. In a proportional hazards model controlled for age, sex, education, and race, each 1-unit higher level of baseline global cognition was associated with a reduction to about half in the risk of mobility impairments (hazard ratio = 0.51, 95% confidence interval: 0.40-0.66) and was similar to a participant being about 13 years younger at baseline. These results did not vary by sex or race and were unchanged in analyses controlling for body mass index, physical activity, vascular diseases, and risk factors. The level of cognition in five different cognitive abilities was also related to incident mobility impairment. Cognition showed similar associations with incident loss of the ability to ambulate. Linear mixed-effects models showed that global cognition at baseline was associated with the rate of declining mobility. CONCLUSIONS Among ambulatory elders, cognition is associated with incident mobility impairment and mobility decline.
Measuring Perceived Website Usability

ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to develop a short, reliable, and valid perceived website usability measurement scale. A sample of 350 participants was used to collect the necessary data. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to purify the proposed scale. Analysis indicated that the proposed multi-dimensional usability scale is reliable and shows evidence of construct and predictive validity. Academic and managerial implications were discussed.
A Miniature Folded Shorted Patch Antenna for Dual-Band Operation $ $

The design and performance of a folded shorted patch antenna for dual-band operation is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna consists of a folded shorted patch that is excited by a coaxial probe. By cutting two slots in different parts of the patch, good input impedance matching has been achieved over two frequency bands. The lower band possesses an impedance bandwidth (SWR < 2) of 21.1% (0.790 to 0.976 GHz) and a peak gain of 7.3 dBi, while the upper band has an impedance bandwidth (SWR < 2) of 32.2% (1.698 to 2.350 GHz) and a peak gain of 7.5 dBi. Other than the wideband and high gain features, this antenna also has a low profile of 0.05 lambdaL and a small size of 0.25 lambdaL times 0.36 lambdaL , where lambdaL is the free space wavelength at the center frequency of the lower band. Therefore, this antenna is very suitable for the indoor base station that is required to service several wireless communication systems, included CDMA800, GSM900, PCS, UMTS, BLUETOOTH and WLAN, by a single compact antenna.
Life after ISO 9000: An analysis of the impact of ISO 9000 and total quality management on small businesses in Northern Ireland

This paper examines whether or not small businesses (fewer than 100 employees) can successfully pursue total quality management (TQM) beyond ISO 9000. A review of the literature on quality in small businesses shows that the benefits of ISO 9000 can far outweigh the costs of achieving registrations (even for small businesses) but also emphasizes that ISO 9000 should be viewed as a step towards TQM and not the end of the quality journey. Although many small businesses are benefiting from ISO 9000, an increasing number of small ISO businesses are not progressing towards TQM. To explore the actual impact of quality on small business, a number of small ISO 9000 businesses were surveyed. The main conclusions and recommendations arising from the thesis are that small businesses can benefit from implementing TQM. However, small TQM practitioners need to learn to be more externally focused, i.e. customer focused, to measure the financial impact of TQM on bottom line performance and to use direct methods to measure.
Family Presence During Invasive Procedures and Resuscitation: Hearing the Voice of the Patient

How do patients react to the presence of family during invasive procedures (IPs) or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)? Until recently, surprisingly little research had addressed the issue of family presence at all, and to our knowledge, no other studies have been published that delineate patients’ perspectives.In February 2000, we first reported in this journal findings from our pioneering study, which demonstrated numerous benefits that bedside visitation confers on the families of patients undergoing these procedures. This article presents our further investigation—aimed at describing the experiences of the patients—using a qualitative research approach to analyzing data collected during that study.The study took place in the emergency department (ED) of a university-affiliated, regional, level-I trauma center. The protocol for family presence was adapted from guidelines developed by the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA). Nine patients (eight who had IPs and one who underwent CPR) were also interviewed approximately two months after the emergency event. A semistructured questionnaire was used to determine their perceptions of the family presence experience.Seven themes emerged from the data. Three of these relate to the positive effects that family presence had on patients: it comforted them; provided help; and served, the patients believed, to remind providers of a patient’s “personhood”—he wasn’t just a patient; he was a person and had a family. Two themes involve how family presence reflects the reciprocal nature of patient–family bonds and the patient’s right to have family members present. The remaining two themes characterize how patients perceived the effects of the experience on their family members and on the health care environment. Patients saw both positive and negative effects on those who were present but believed the benefits to families outweighed the potential problems. Although further study is needed, family presence indeed appears to deliver many benefits, with apparently few drawbacks or adverse effects, to patients, their families, and their providers. In 1999, our institution, Parkland Health & Hospital System, approved a hospital-wide protocol for family presence during IPs and CPR.Corresponding author:Theresa MeyersPresbyterian Hospital of Dallas, Emergency Department8200 Walnut Hill LaneDallas, TX 75231TheresaMeyers@texashealth.org
Endorepellin Evokes Autophagy in Endothelial Cells*

Background: Endorepellin inhibits angiogenesis by simultaneously binding the α2β1 integrin and VEGFR2, attenuating the PI3K/Akt/mTOR and PKC/JNK/AP1 signaling pathways. Results: Endorepellin evokes autophagy by inducing Beclin 1 and LC3 downstream of VEGFR2 in a Peg3-dependent manner. Conclusion: Endorepellin causes endothelial cell autophagy through VEGFR2 independent of the α2β1 integrin. Significance: Endorepellin-evoked endothelial cell autophagy represents a promising strategy for angiostatic-based therapeutics. Endorepellin, the C-terminal fragment of the heparan sulfate proteoglycan perlecan, possesses angiostatic activity via dual receptor antagonism, through concurrent binding to the α2β1 integrin and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2). Here, we discovered that soluble endorepellin induced autophagy in endothelial cells by modulating the expression of Beclin 1, LC3, and p62, three established autophagic markers. Moreover, endorepellin evoked expression of the imprinted tumor suppressor gene Peg3 and its co-localization with Beclin 1 and LC3 in autophagosomes, suggesting a major role for this gene in endothelial cell autophagy. Mechanistically, endorepellin induced autophagy by down-regulating VEGFR2 via the two LG1/2 domains, whereas the C-terminal LG3 domain, the portion responsible for binding the α2β1 integrin, was ineffective. Endorepellin also induced transcriptional activity of the BECN1 promoter in endothelial cells, and the VEGFR2-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor, SU5416, blocked this effect. Finally, we found a correlation between endorepellin-evoked inhibition of capillary morphogenesis and enhanced autophagy. Thus, we have identified a new role for this endogenous angiostatic fragment in inducing autophagy through a VEGFR2-dependent but α2β1 integrin-independent pathway. This novel mechanism specifically targets endothelial cells and could represent a promising new strategy to potentiate the angiostatic effect of endorepellin and perhaps other angiostatic matrix proteins.
Plant Closures in Urban Areas: Towards a Local Policy Response

This paper focuses upon large plant closures by multi-locational firms in urban areas. It argues that it is useful to disaggregate such closures into two categories: cessation closures and selective closures. This classification is applied to closures in Sheffield from 1979 to 1989 and a further distinction is drawn between inter-urban selective closures and intra-urban selective closures. The local environmental factors which had most effect on inter-urban selective closures are identified. It is argued that local policies may be able to influence plants at risk of selective closure (through manipulation of the environmental factors) but that local policies are unlikely to influence plants at risk of cessation closure.
Inclusion and Exclusion in Participation Strategies in the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, Chiapas, Mexico

Since the 1970s, community participation has become central in biodiversity conservation initiatives, mainly as a strategy for integrating the needs and interests of the populations living in and around protected areas (PAs), and to enhance local social development. Nevertheless, institutionalised participation is usually conceived as a means to attain the goals of conservation initiatives. Although important efforts have been made to construct participatory processes, these are designed and implemented in ways that produce exclusion. In this study, we analyse the exclusion processes produced in the consultation workshops developed to evaluate and update the Conservation and Management Programme (CMP) of the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve (MABR), and in the Reserve's Advisory Council (Consejo Asesor) meetings. Our analysis is based on the observation of two workshops, the revision of workshop reports, interviews with institutional officials, and the participation of one of us in the Advisory Council of the MABR as a councillor. We show that participatory processes for incorporating local population's views and perspectives into decision-making processes still face important challenges. We highlight the importance of acknowledging, and attending to, the processes of exclusion generated by the mechanisms themselves, despite being implemented to include local communities.
Quality management approach in China

In order to provide readers with a better understanding of China’s approach to quality management, this paper presents China’s quality management history, the main quality management efforts adopted by the Chinese government, the product quality situation, and the reasons for product quality problems. Finally, it has been concluded that governments can only play a role in shaping the context and institutional structure surrounding companies, while governments cannot create competitive industries; only companies can do that. If the quality of people, especially governmental officials, top management, and employees does not improve, it is very difficult for the country to improve product quality.
Fuel Versus Food

Many countries have actively encouraged the production of biofuels as a low-carbon alternative to the use of fossil fuels in transportation. To what extent do these trends imply a reallocation of scarce land away from food to fuel production? This paper critically reviews the small but growing literature in this area. We find that an increase in biofuel production may have a significant effect on food prices and, in certain parts of the world, in speeding up deforestation through land conversion. However, more research needs to be done to examine the effect of newer generation biofuel technologies that are less land intensive as well as the effect of environmental regulation and trade policies on land-use patterns.
Construction of transposon Tn3phoA: its application in defining the membrane topology of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens DNA transfer proteins

Protein fusion with the Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase is used extensively for the analysis of the topology of membrane proteins. To study the topology of the Agrobacterium T‐DNA transfer proteins, we constructed a transposon, Tn3phoA. The transposon mobilizes into plasmids at a high frequency, is stable after transposition, can produce phoA translational fusions and can be used for the analysis of protein topology directly in the bacterium of interest. For studies on the DNA transfer proteins, an Agrobacterium strain deficient in phoA under our experimental conditions was constructed by chemical mutagenesis. A plasmid containing virB and virD4 was used as a target for mutagenesis. Twenty‐eight unique phoA‐positive clones that mapped to eight virB genes were isolated. Multiple insertions throughout VirB1, VirB5, VirB7, VirB9 and VirB10 indicated that these proteins primarily face the periplasm. Insertions in VirB2, VirB6 and VirB8 allowed the identification of their periplasmic domains. No insertions were found in VirB3, VirB4 and VirB11. These proteins either lack or have a short periplasmic domain. No insertions mapped to VirD4 either. To study VirD4 topology, targeted phoA fusions and random lacZ fusions were constructed. Analysis of the fusion proteins indicated that VirD4 contains a single periplasmic domain near the N‐terminus, and most of the protein lies in the cytoplasm. A hypothetical model for the T‐DNA transport pore is presented.
Trade Costs and Provincial Heterogeneity in Italy

We test the hypothesis that higher economic development is associated with lower trade costs. Using different methods to control for multilateral resistance, we apply two alternative gravity equations (GE). In the first, we estimate total exports from 103 Italian provinces to 188 countries over the period 1995-2004. In the second, we estimate sectoral exports and then construct provincial trade cost elasticities. Italian provinces are heterogeneous with respect to trade costs. The two versions of GE are qualitatively the same but quantitatively different suggesting that other factors than trade costs are at play, possibly agglomeration externalities.
Accessible platforms for e‐learning: A case study

This paper presents a technical solution to improve accessibility in e‐learning platforms. The guidelines for the solution were concluded from the analysis of literature with the goal of achieving scalable, reusable, and easily manageable platforms. The method has been tested through a case study conducted on Moodle where a sample of the target population experimented it through several Engineering Education courses resulting in a high degree of perceived usefulness. We also found out that deaf students encountered less problems accessing the information than blind students due to different reasons.
SMEs and Their Peripheral Innovation Environment: Reflections from a Finnish Case

As it has now been widely argued, innovation is ever more seldom the product of isolated firms but usually requires a combination of multiple technologies, skills and competences, part of which have to be acquired from outside the boundaries of the innovating firm. As the literature on regional systems of innovation and other territorial innovation models suggests, the region is the most appropriate spatial level for investigating and understanding the nature of firms’ external knowledge acquisition in their innovation processes, as well as for identifying the critical actors and factors contributing to them. Unlike the majority of studies focusing on the innovation activities of firms at the regional level, this paper focuses not on the actual importance of different location factors, but on the perceptions of small- and medium-sized firms entrepreneurs of the quality of different factors in their regional innovation environment. By identifying differences between the perceptions of innovative and less-innovative firms, this study contributes to the literature on innovation as a regional-level phenomenon, and also tentatively puts forward some managerial and policy implications, as well as suggestions for further research.
Cerebral perfusion, oxygenation and metabolism during exercise in young and elderly individuals

• The influence of normative ageing on cerebral perfusion, oxygenation and metabolism during exercise is not well known. • This study assessed cerebral perfusion and concentration differences for oxygen, glucose and lactate across the brain, in young and elderly individuals at rest and during incremental exercise to exhaustion. • We observed that during submaximal exercise (at matched relative intensities) and during maximal exercise, cerebral perfusion was reduced in older individuals compared with young individuals, while the cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen and uptake of glucose and lactate were similar. • The results indicate that the age‐related reduction in cerebral perfusion during exercise does not affect brain uptake of lactate and glucose.
Assortative preferences and discrimination by females against hybrid male song in the grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus and Chorthippus jacobsi (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

The grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus and Chorthippus jacobsi are highly differentiated for male mating signals, and form a mosaic hybrid zone in northern Spain. At some sites within this zone, many hybrids are observed. At others, few hybrids are observed. Such bimodal sites may reflect recent contacts between parental genotypes, or local variation in levels of assortative mating or selection against hybrids. Playback of 12 parental and F1 male songs to 296 parental and hybrid females revealed positive assortative preferences in C. brunneus and C. jacobsi females, supporting a direct role of male mating signals in female choice. However, all female genotypic classes showed reduced responsiveness to F1 male songs. Such sexual selection against hybrids is consistent with the narrow cline width observed in the field for song characters relative to morphology. These results have implications for the genetic structure of the hybrid zone and for models of speciation by reinforcement.
Informal credit institutions in transition countries: a study of urban money lenders in post-communist Uzbekistan

Research on informal financial institutions in transition economies is scant. This study investigates behaviour of urban money lenders in Uzbekistan. Money lending in Uzbekistan is a relatively new business which emerged mostly in response to targeted demand from fellow entrepreneurs during transition. We find that their lending behaviour is more stringent than suggested by previous studies of rural money lenders. They always require collateral, do not engage with the poor and avoid lending for consumption purposes. Their lending is short-term and targeted on specific business opportunities which enjoy healthy cash flows and offer quick returns. They have limited outreach from serving networks of connections within small geographical localities. Since they rely exclusively on their own resources for loanable funds, they often have to ration their loans. They actively use all available information and instruments to reduce default risks. Although borrowers live in closer geographical proximity to lenders in urban areas, they are also engaged in various heterogeneous activities and are more self-reliant with respect to the local community, which reduces the accuracy of money lenders' assessment of the character of borrowers as well as of their ability to repay.
Price response of herd off-take under market liberalization in a developing cattle sector: panel analysis applied to Kenya's ranching

ABSTRACT The influence of price, in view of macro-economic policy change and a set of other factors, on herd off-take rates from ranches in Kenya over a period of 17 years was assessed. An AR(1) equation, based on Nerlove's classical dynamic supply model, was derived and fitted to panel data using the Cochrane–Orcutt procedure. Pooling of data was done to circumvent data insufficiency, thereby improving the statistical power of the analysis. Results indicate that price change has had a significant effect on ranch herd off-take, and climatic factors also account for long-run off-take levels.
Is Group Affiliation Profitable in Emerging Markets? An Analysis of Diversified Indian Business Groups

Emerging markets like India have poorly functioning institutions, leading to severe agency and information problems. Business groups in these markets have the potential both to offer benefits to member firms, and to destroy value. We analyze the performance of affiliates of diversified Indian business groups relative to unaffiliated firms. We find that accounting and stock market measures of firm performance initially decline with group diversification and subsequently increase once group diversification exceeds a certain level. Unlike U.S. conglomerates' lines of business, and similar to the affiliates of U.S. LBO associations, affiliates of the most diversified business groups outperform unaffiliated firms.