Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structural Recognition of a Novel Fibrinogen Chain Sequence (117133) by Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 Mediates Leukocyte-Endothelium Interaction (*)

In addition to its role in hemostasis, fibrinogen is obligatorily required to mount competent inflammatory responses in vivo. A molecular prerequisite of fibrinogen-dependent inflammation may reside in its ability to associate with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and enhance monocyte adhesion to endothelium by bridging the two cell types. Structure-function characterization of the novel ICAM-1 recognition of fibrinogen was carried out by synthetic peptidyl mimicry of the fibrinogen chain. A novel peptide sequence, NNQKIVNLKEKVAQLEA, designated 3, dose-dependently inhibited (IC 20-40 μg/ml) binding of I-fibrinogen to endothelial cells or ICAM-1-expressing B lymphoblastoid Daudi cells. In contrast, none of the previously identified vascular cell fibrinogen interacting sequences was effective. Increasing concentrations of 3 completely inhibited fibrinogen-mediated adhesion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells or vitamin D3-differentiated monocytic HL-60 cells to endothelium, but did not affect leukocyte-endothelium interaction in the absence of fibrinogen. I-Labeled 3 bound specifically and saturably to genetically engineered ICAM-1 transfectants, but not to control non-transfected cells, and associated with ICAM-1 on cytokine-activated endothelium with a K of 34 μM. Consistent with functional recognition of ICAM-1, immobilized 3 supported adhesion of JY lymphoblasts in a dose-dependent reaction inhibited by monoclonal antibodies to ICAM-1. We conclude that a novel fibrinogen 3 sequence NNQKIVNLKEKVAQLEA binds to ICAM-1 and modulates ICAM-1-dependent adhesion. These findings define the structural basis of fibrinogen:ICAM-1 recognition and provide a potential selective target for inhibiting fibrinogen-dependent inflammatory responses.
Cancer/Testis Antigens: Expression, Regulation, Tumor Invasion, and Use in Immunotherapy of Cancers

ABSTRACT Cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) are named based on their expression pattern that is restricted in a number of normal and abnormal tissues. Tumor cells frequently express antigens whose expression is typically restricted to germ cells. Their unique expression pattern is guaranteed by precise epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Because of their tumor-limited, high immunogenicity, and biased expression, discovery of these molecules provides unprecedented opportunities for further research and clinical development in the field of cancer diagnosis and immunotherapy. Evolving evidence reveals that a number of CTAs stimulate epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and generation of cancer stem-like cells, intensifying metastasis, invasion, and tumorigenesis. Based on these features, CTAs attract attention to be considered as ideal targets for developing several clinical trials, many of them concentrating on CTA vaccine therapy. According to recent practical clinical interest, more characterizations of CTA regulation are identified. CTA expression has been demonstrated in a variety of human cancer tissues, and some of them have been found to elicit humoral and/or cellular immune responses in cancer patients. CTAs are brilliant targets for anticancer drug discovery, targeted tumor therapy, and diagnostic biomarkers, furthermore, valued genes in the study of immunotherapy, promoting tumorigenesis, and malignant progression. This review outlines and categorizes our current understanding of the complex and biased process of CTAs mRNA and protein expression in cancer, and supplies the most recent information on their regulation and function. Besides, a concise synopsis of the major clinical trials involving CTAs, as therapeutic avenues, is discussed. Abbreviations: AIRE: autoimmune regulator; cAMP: cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate; CEA: carcinoembryonic antigen; CML: chronic myeloid leukemia; CREB: cyclicamp response element binding; CSCs: cancer stem cells; CTAs: cancer/testis antigens; CTL: cytotoxic T lymphocyte; DCs: dendritic cells; EMT: epithelial–mesenchymal transition; ERK: extracellular signal-regulated kinase; ESCC: esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; ETS: E26 transformation-specific; His: histidine; HLA: human leukocyte antigen; HNSCC: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; IFN-γ: interferon-γ; IHC: Immunohistochemistry; IL-7: Interleukin7; MHC: major histocompatibility complex; MMP2: matrix metalloproteinase 2; mTECs: medullary thymus epithelial cells; MUC1: mucin 1; NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer; PRAME: preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma; RDA: representational difference analysis; SEREX: serological analysis of cDNA expression; SSX: synovial sarcoma X chromosome; TAAs: tumor-associated antigens; TCR: T-cell receptor; TCGA: The Cancer Genome Atlas; TGF-β: transforming growth factor-β.
Combined linkage and linkage disequilibrium mapping for genome screens

Linkage analysis and association studies, two major approaches for genetic studies of human diseases, are useful for mapping genes that are highly penetrant, but both use only part of the information that is available for mapping disease genes. Therefore, they provide limited utility when used alone. In this report, we present combined linkage and linkage disequilibrium mapping that simultaneously utilizes linkage and linkage disequilibrium information for mapping human disease genes. Compared with the existing linkage analysis and association study methods, this method has several advantages: 1) it has high statistical power by a joint analysis of linkage and linkage disequilibrium for localizing disease susceptibility loci: 2) it unifies the theory of linkage analysis and linkage disequilibrium mapping, 3) it retains the general framework for linkage analysis and, hence, can be easily incorporated into the existing software for the linkage analysis. The proposed LLDM is applied to familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (FHL) disease. Genet. Epidemiol. 19:211–234, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Biocompatibility: Is it a Relevant Consideration for Today's Haemodialysis?

Today, worldwide about 600,000 dialysis patients use more than 60 million dialysers per year, These numbers are increasing by an annual 6%. However, the most considerable increase in patient number originates from the developing countries. Here we expect about 300,000 patients to be treated with haemodialysis in 1997. This increment is far higher than that found e.g. for Europe (Fig. 1). Many of the patients from developed countries have been undergoing dialysis for 15 years and more. Thus, we will also observe more and more long-term, i.e. old dialysis patients in developing countries, following the improvements in gross national product. An increase in the number of chronic dialysis patients leads to the question of whether continuous contact of blood with extracorporeal surface may stimulate adverse reactions? During 15 years dialysis the blood of each of the patients has come into contact with about 4,000 m2 of foreign surface. This is about the size of a football field, and is a number which may explain the general interest in interactions of blood with extracorporeal surfaces, something standardly referred to as "biocompatibility". In order to clarify strategies for future treatment modalities and treatment quality together with its associated costs, the clinical aspects of dialyser biocompatibility have to be addressed. For this purpose, we will not describe in detail individual biocompatibility parameters, but shall discuss the meaning of biocompatibility in its current usage in haemodialysis therapy and the clinical associations claimed to relate in part or toto to bioincompatible events derived from haemodialysis therapy.
The Distress Premium Puzzle

Fama and French (1992) suggest that the positive value premium results from risk of financial distress. However, recent empirical research has found that financially distressed firms have lower stock returns, using empirical estimates of default probabilities. This paper reconciles the positive value premium and the negative distress premium in a model that decouples actual and risk-neutral default probabilities. Moreover, in agreement with the data, firms with higher bond yields have higher stock returns in the model. The model also captures the fact that book-to-market value dominates financial leverage in explaining stock returns. Finally, the model predicts that firms with higher risk-neutral default probabilities should have higher stock returns, a hypothesis that can be tested using credit default swap premiums.
The BOTRYTIS SUSCEPTIBLE1 Gene Encodes an R2R3MYB Transcription Factor Protein That Is Required for Biotic and Abiotic Stress Responses in Arabidopsis Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.014167.

The molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in plant resistance to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea and their genetic control are poorly understood. Botrytis causes severe disease in a wide range of plant species, both in the field and in postharvest situations, resulting in significant economic losses. We have isolated the BOS1 (BOTRYTIS-SUSCEPTIBLE1) gene of Arabidopsis based on a T-DNA insertion allele that resulted in increased susceptibility to Botrytis infection. The BOS1 gene is required to restrict the spread of another necrotrophic pathogen, Alternaria brassicicola, suggesting a common host response strategy against these pathogens. In the case of the biotrophic pathogens Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato and the oomycete parasite Peronospora parasitica, bos1 exhibits enhanced disease symptoms, but pathogen growth is similar in bos1 and wild-type plants. Strikingly, bos1 plants have impaired tolerance to water deficit, increased salinity, and oxidative stress. Botrytis infection induces the expression of the BOS1 gene. This increased expression is severely impaired in the coi1 mutant, suggesting an interaction of BOS1 with the jasmonate signaling pathway. BOS1 encodes an R2R3MYB transcription factor protein, and our results suggest that it mediates responses to signals, possibly mediated by reactive oxygen intermediates from both biotic and abiotic stress agents.
In vitro bactericidal and TEM study of the interaction of Ag-modified titania with coliform bacteria

This research aimed to investigate in vitro photocatalytic bactericidal effect of Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite using Escherichia coli as a model organism. Highly dispersed, Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite is used with an average particle size of less than 20 nm. Bactericidal analysis was carried out in Luria Bertani medium on solid agar plates with various illumination time and different concentrations of Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite. Transmission electron microscopic analysis of bacterial section was used to detect the effect of irradiation of Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite on the ultra structure of the bacterial cell in order to reveal possible cellular damage. The mechanism underlying the action of photoexcited Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite on E. coli cell membrane is also evaluated. The results confirmed that E. coli cells after the contact with Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite were damaged since they showed membrane disorganization. This causes the enhanced level of membrane permeability leading to the build-up of Ag–TiO2 nanocomposite in the bacterial membrane and also cellular internalization of these nanoparticles.
Exploiting Managerial Capability for Innovation in a Micro-Firm Context: New and Emerging Perspectives within the Irish Hotel Industry.

Purpose – The paper has been developed from a critical review of available literature drawn from the micro firm, managerial capability and innovation management fields. The paper aims to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper has been developed from a critical review of available literature drawn from the micro firm, managerial capability and innovation management fields. Findings – Four criteria of micro firm managerial capability emerge from micro firm managerial traits in the literature namely, leadership; strategic thinking; problem solving and people relationships. The review also shows that micro firms are embedded in three resource pools which include stakeholder ties; the local community and the proximate market environment. Micro firm managerial capability is argued to emerge from the interaction of the managerial capability criteria and the resources in a process mediated by the resource based and dynamic capabilities perspectives from the strategic management literature.
Sukuk Markets: A Proposed Approach for Development

The issuance of sukuk, as an instrument in Islamic finance, has been growing in recent years. Many policy makers and businesses are looking at the sukuk markets as sources of long-term financing. The paper identifies key issues impeding further development of sukuk markets globally, namely, standardization of structures and practices, investor protection concerns relating to insolvency and governance regimes, and market liquidity. The paper also offers approaches in developing domestic sukuk markets and in accessing the international market. The authors suggest that, in developing domestic sukuk markets, policy makers use a framework similar to that of the development of conventional bond markets, that is, by establishing (1) well-functioning money markets, (2) efficient primary markets and securities-offering regimes, (3) a robust and diversified investor base, (4) a market infrastructure that facilitates trading, price transparency, and efficient clearing and settlement of transactions, (5) derivatives market and hedging tools to support risk management by issuers and investors, and (6) a credible legal and regulatory framework. In accessing the international market, the issues policy makers or potential sukuk issuers should consider include awareness of and knowledge of sukuk, legal foundation, taxation, governance, and obligors' credit rating.
Survive Then Thrive: Determinants of Success in the Economics Ph.D. Program

"This study investigates the completion of the Ph.D. in economics. We use ex ante information, based upon reviewing individual applications from former doctoral students. Students need different skills to succeed at each distinct stage of the doctoral program. Significant determinants for passing the comprehensive exams include Graduate Record Exam (GRE) verbal and quantitative scores, a Masters degree, and prior focus on economics. By contrast, research motivation and math preparation play significant roles in completing the dissertation. GRE scores become insignificant for completion in the generalized ordered logit estimates, which emphasize the sequential nature of the Economics Ph.D. program". ("JEL "I210) Copyright 2007 Western Economic Association International.
Protein LidA from Legionella is a Rab GTPase supereffector

The causative agent of Legionnaires disease, Legionella pneumophila, injects several hundred proteins into the cell it infects, many of which interfere with or exploit vesicular transport processes. One of these proteins, LidA, has been described as a Rab effector (i.e., a molecule that interacts preferentially with the GTP-bound form of Rab). We describe here the structure and biochemistry of a complex between the Rab-binding domain of LidA and active Rab8a. LidA displays structural peculiarities in binding to Rab8a, forming a considerably extended interface in comparison to known mammalian Rab effectors, and involving regions of the GTPase that are not seen in other Rab:effector complexes. In keeping with this extended binding interface, which involves four α-helices and two pillar-like structures of LidA, the stability of LidA-Rab interactions is dramatically greater than for other such complexes. For Rab1b and Rab8a, these affinities are extraordinarily high, but for the more weakly bound Rab6a, Kd values of 4 nM for the inactive and 30 pM for the active form were found. Rab1b and Rab8a appear to bind LidA with Kd values in the low picomolar range, making LidA a Rab supereffector.
Scalar hairy black holes and solitons in asymptotically flat spacetimes

A numerical analysis shows that a class of scalar-tensor theories of gravity with a scalar field minimally and nonminimally coupled to the curvature allows static and spherically symmetric black hole solutions with scalar-field hair in asymptotically flat spacetimes. In the limit when the horizon radius of the black hole tends to zero, regular scalar solitons are found. The asymptotically flat solutions are obtained provided that the scalar potential $V(\phi)$ of the theory is not positive semidefinite and such that its local minimum is also a zero of the potential, the scalar field settling asymptotically at that minimum. The configurations for the minimal coupling case, although unstable under spherically symmetric linear perturbations, are regular and thus can serve as counterexamples to the no-scalar-hair conjecture. For the nonminimal coupling case, the stability will be analyzed in a forthcoming paper.
Effect of ketamine on presympathetic neurons in rostral ventrolateral medulla of rats.

AIM To study the effects of ketamine on central sympathetic and cardiovascular regulation. METHODS The experiment was performed on 25 urethane anaesthetized, artificially ventilated adult rats. A total of 32 presympathetic neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) were electrophysiologically identified, which had properties of both barosensitivity and projection to the spinal cord. Responses of these neurons to intravenously administrated ketamine (a non competitive N-methyl-D aspartate receptor antagonist) were observed. RESULTS Intravenous injection of ketamine (3, 6, 12 mg/kg body weight) increased the firing rate and blocked the barosensitivity of presympathetic neurons in the RVLM in a dose dependent manner. CONCLUSION Ketamine could affect the sympathetic outflow by blocking tonic baroreceptor inhibition of the presympathetic neurons in the RVLM.
On computing artin l-functions in the critical strip

This paper gives a method for computing values of certain nonabelian Artin L-functions in the complex plane. These Artin L-functions are attached to irreducible characters of degree 2 of Galois groups of certain normal extensions K of Q. These fields K are the ones for which G = Gal(K/Q) has an abelian subgroup A of index 2, whose fixed fileld Q(,fd) is complex, and such that there is a a G G A for which aaa 1 = a-1 for all a E A. The key property proved here is that these particular Artin L-functions are Hecke (abelian) L-functions attached to ring class characters of the imaginary quadratic field Q(-d) and, therefore, can be expressed as linear combinations of Epstein zeta functions of positive definite binary quadratic forms. Such Epstein zeta functions have rapidly convergent expansions in terms of incomplete gamma functions. In the special case K = Q(\/, a1/3), where a > 0 is cube-free, the Artin L-function attached to the unique irreducible character of degree 2 of Gal(K/Q) -S3 is the quotient of the Dedekind zeta function of the pure cubic field L = Q(a1/3) by the Riemann zeta function. For functions of this latter form, representations as linear combinations of Epstein zeta functions were worked out by Dedekind in 1879. For a = 2, 3, 6 and 12, such representations are used to show that all of the zeroes p = a + it of these L-functions with 0 < a < 1 and Iti < 15 are simple and lie on the critical line a = 1/2. These methods currently cannot be used to compute values of L-functions with Im(s) much larger than 15, but approaches to overcome these deficiencies are discussed in the final section.
Elite Higher Education Admissions in the Arts and Sciences: Is Cultural Capital the Key?

This article examines the extent to which cultural capital helps to explain the link between social background and gaining an offer for study at the University of Oxford. We find that cultural knowledge, rather than participation in the beaux arts, is related to admissions decisions.This effect is particularly pronounced in arts subjects. We only partly support Bourdieu's postulation of cultural capital as the main differentiator between fractions of the middle class. Measures of cultural capital do not account for the gender gap in admission and only explain a small part of the disadvantage faced by South-Asian applicants.
Dental and Oral Problem Patterns and Treatment Seeking Behavior of Geriatric Population

Background: The manifestations of oral changes and disorders affecting the geriatric population are different from the rest of the population. Inaccessibility to dental care is a compelling impediment to avail oral health services. Objective: The aims were to assess the dental and oral problems and to find out the determinants of oral health seeking behaviour among elderly population of Al-Jouf province, Saudi Arabia. Methods: The present cross sectional study included geriatric patients of 60 years and above, who visited the College of Dentistry, Al-Jouf University. A simple pre-structured questionnaire was filled by the patients, which comprised of demographic details and the different oral complaints of elderly and the type of health care utilized for those complaints. Results: Out of total 892 elderly persons included, 51.79% were males and 48.21 were females. The most common oral problem was missing tooth (78.69%) followed by gum problems (74.21%). 39.5% males and 28.0% females visited general dental practitioners for oral health care. Majority of the participants (32.8%) suggested accessibility as a basic factor in determining the health care source. The difference in the distribution of male and females or association between the type of care and gender and distribution for choosing a health care source was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Inaccessibility to dental care emerged as an important barrier to avail oral health services. Adequate access to medical and dental care can reduce premature morbidity and mortality, preserve function, and enhance overall quality of life.
Tainted Knowledge vs. Tempting Knowledge: People Avoid Knowledge from Internal Rivals and Seek Knowledge from External Rivals

We compare how people react to good ideas authored by internal rivals (employees at the same organization) versus external rivals (employees at a competitor organization). We hypothesize that internal and external rivals evoke contrasting kinds of threats. Specifically, using knowledge from an internal rival is difficult because it threatens the self and its competence: It is tantamount to being a “follower” and losing status relative to a direct competitor. By contrast, external rivals pose a lower threat to personal status, so people are more willing to use their knowledge. We conducted three studies. Study 1 showed that internal and external rivalry involved opposite relationships between threat and knowledge valuation: The more threat internal rivals provoked, the more people avoided their knowledge, whereas the more threat external rivals provoked, the more people pursued their knowledge. Study 2 explored the types of threat that insiders and outsiders evoked. In particular, people assumed that they would lose more personal status if they used an internal rival's knowledge and, therefore, reduced their valuation of that knowledge. Finally, Study 3 found that self-affirmation attenuated these patterns. We suggest that the threats and opportunities for affirmation facing the self dictate how people respond to rivals and, ultimately, their willingness to value new ideas.