Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Does the Belt and Road Initiative Reduce the R&D Investment of OFDI Enterprises? Evidence from China’s A-Share Listed Companies

Existing studies on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) primarily explain its impact on foreign trade, foreign direct investment and economic development of the countries concerned, whereas its impact on the performance of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) enterprises has rarely been examined. By considering the BRI as exogenous policy shock, this paper analyzes the mechanism and impact of the BRI on the research and development (R&D) investment of China’s OFDI enterprises investing in countries along the Belt and Road. With propensity score matching and a difference-in-difference approach, it tackles the endogeneity problem caused by self-selecting into the BRI enterprise group. The estimates indicate that BRI has not effectively promoted the R&D investment of OFDI enterprises, but plays an inhibitory role in the short term, and the marginal effect increases firstly and then decreases. Further mechanism analysis shows that the BRI leads to the addition of overseas revenue and the reduction of return on assets, which are the main reasons for the decrease of the R&D investment. In addition, the ownership heterogeneity analysis finds a higher negative effect on the state-owned enterprises, while a smaller effect on non-state-owned enterprises.
The exercise‐regulated myokine chitinase‐3‐like protein 1 stimulates human myocyte proliferation

Chitinase‐3‐like protein 1 (CHI3L1) is involved in tissue remodelling and inflammatory processes. Plasma levels are elevated in patients with insulin resistance and T2DM. We recently showed that CHI3L1 and its receptor protease‐activated receptor 2 (PAR‐2) are expressed in skeletal muscle. Activation of PAR‐2 by CHI3L1 protects against TNF‐α‐induced inflammation and insulin resistance. However, the effect of exercise on CHI3L1 and PAR‐2 signalling remains unknown. The aim of this work was to study the impact of exercise on CHI3L1 production and the effect of CHI3L1/PAR‐2 signalling on skeletal muscle growth and repair.
Self‐assembled dextrin nanogel as protein carrier: Controlled release and biological activity of IL‐10

Interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) is an anti‐inflammatory cytokine, which active form is a non‐covalent homodimer. Given the potential of IL‐10 for application in various medical conditions, it is essential to develop systems for its effective delivery. In previous work, it has been shown that a dextrin nanogel effectively incorporated and stabilized rIL‐10, enabling its release over time. In this work, the delivery system based on dextrin nanogels was further analyzed. The biocompatibility of the nanogel was comprehensively analyzed, through cytotoxicity (lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, MTS, Live, and Dead) and genotoxicity (comet) assays. The release profile of rIL‐10 and its biological activity were evaluated in vivo, using C57BL/6 mice. Although able to maintain a stable concentration of IL‐10 for at least 4 h in mice serum, the amount of protein released was rather low. Despite this, the amount of rIL‐10 released from the complex was biologically active inhibiting TNF‐α production, in vivo, by LPS‐challenged mice. In spite of the significant stabilization achieved using the nanogel, rIL‐10 still denatures rather quickly. An additional effort is thus necessary to develop an effective delivery system for this cytokine, able to release active protein over longer periods of time. Nevertheless, the good biocompatibility, the protein stabilization effect and the ability to perform as a carrier with controlled release suggest that self‐assembled dextrin nanogels may be useful protein delivery systems. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011; 108:1977–1986. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The permeability of the cGMP‐activated channel to organic cations in retinal rods of the tiger salamander.

1. The permeability of the channel activated by guanosine 3',5'‐cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) to many organic monovalent cations was determined by recording macroscopic currents in excised inside‐out patches of plasma membrane from isolated retinal rod outer segments of the tiger salamander. 2. Current‐voltage relations were measured when the NaCl of the bathing medium was replaced by salts of organic cations. Permeability ratios relative to Na+ ions were calculated with the Goldman‐Hodgkin‐Katz potential equation from the measured changes of reversal potentials. 3. Hydroxylammonium+, hydrazinium+ and methylammonium+, which are molecules of very similar shape and size, permeate the channel with very different permeability ratios: 5.92, 1.99 and 0.60 respectively. 4. Methylated and ethylated ammonium+ compounds were investigated. It was found that, not only methylammonium+, but also dimethylammonium+ and ethylammonium+ were permeant with permeability ratios of 0.6, 0.14 and 0.16 respectively. Trimethylammonium+, tetramethylammonium+, diethylammonium+, triethylammonium+, and tetraethylammonium+ were not permeant. 5. Guanidinium+ and its derivatives formamidinium+, aminoguanidinium+, acetamidinium+ and methylguanidinium+ were all permeant with permeability ratios 1.12, 1.00, 0.63, 0.36 and 0.33 respectively. 6. The cGMP‐activated channel was found to be permeable to at least thirteen organic cations. Molecular models of the permeant cations indicate that the cross‐section of the narrowest part of the pore must be at least as large as a rectangle of 0.38 x 0.5 nm dimensions.
Molecular convergence of clock and photosensory pathways through PIF3–TOC1 interaction and co-occupancy of target promoters

Significance This study defines a molecular mechanism by which clock- and light-signaling pathways converge in Arabidopsis. The data reveal that Timing of CAB expression 1 (TOC1), an essential core component of the central oscillator, binds to and represses Phytochrome-interacting factor (PIF) transcriptional activators, which also are the direct molecular signaling partners of the phytochrome photosensory receptors. This finding shows that TOC1 functions as a clock output transducer, directly linking the core oscillator to a pleiotropically acting transcriptional network through repression of target genes. Collectively, in the plant, these components comprise a transcriptionally centered signaling hub that provides clock-imposed gating of PIF-mediated, photosensory-regulated diurnal growth patterns. These results provide a framework for future research aimed at understanding how circadian dynamics are integrated with other plant physiological processes important for optimal plant fitness. A mechanism for integrating light perception and the endogenous circadian clock is central to a plant’s capacity to coordinate its growth and development with the prevailing daily light/dark cycles. Under short-day (SD) photocycles, hypocotyl elongation is maximal at dawn, being promoted by the collective activity of a quartet of transcription factors, called PIF1, PIF3, PIF4, and PIF5 (phytochrome-interacting factors). PIF protein abundance in SDs oscillates as a balance between synthesis and photoactivated-phytochrome–imposed degradation, with maximum levels accumulating at the end of the long night. Previous evidence shows that elongation under diurnal conditions (as well as in shade) is also subjected to circadian gating. However, the mechanism underlying these phenomena is incompletely understood. Here we show that the PIFs and the core clock component Timing of CAB expression 1 (TOC1) display coincident cobinding to the promoters of predawn-phased, growth-related genes under SD conditions. TOC1 interacts with the PIFs and represses their transcriptional activation activity, antagonizing PIF-induced growth. Given the dynamics of TOC1 abundance (displaying high postdusk levels that progressively decline during the long night), our data suggest that TOC1 functions to provide a direct output from the core clock that transiently constrains the growth-promoting activity of the accumulating PIFs early postdusk, thereby gating growth to predawn, when conditions for cell elongation are optimal. These findings unveil a previously unrecognized mechanism whereby a core circadian clock output signal converges immediately with the phytochrome photosensory pathway to coregulate directly the activity of the PIF transcription factors positioned at the apex of a transcriptional network that regulates a diversity of downstream morphogenic responses.
Communication Issues Faced by Parents Who have a Child Diagnosed with Cancer

Twenty-nine parents of children who had been diagnosed with various cancers were interviewed through long, semistructured interviews conducted via telephone by a mother whose daughter once had cancer. Parents usually began their narratives of the defining moments in the months, weeks, or days prior to the diagnosis. The authors report on parents' views about one of the defining moments in the stories. At the first level, we call this “communication issues” and include the following topics: communication at diagnosis, contradictions and confusion, getting the “right” amount of information, good and poor communication, feeling listened to, and errors in medical information. At another level, the way that parents talk about communications issues reflects an underlying paradox that parents whose children have cancer face: They are and feel responsible for their children, and yet they often lack knowledge, authority, and power in their dealings with the health care system and its medical care providers.
Liver transplantation in patients over 60 and 65 years: An evaluation of long‐term outcomes and survival

With increased demand for liver transplantation (LT), outcomes of older recipients have been subjected to greater scrutiny, as previous studies have demonstrated poorer survival outcomes. Outcomes of 77 patients aged > 65 yr (group 1) who underwent transplantation between 1988 and 2003 at King's College Hospital, London, were compared with all recipients aged between 60 and 64 yr (group 2, n = 137) and 202 time‐matched control patients with chronic liver disease aged between 18‐59 yr (group 3). Patient survival at 30‐days for groups 1, 2, and 3 were 99%, 94%, and 94%, respectively (P = not significant [NS]). At 1‐yr, survival in the 3 groups was 82%, 86%, and 83%, respectively (P = NS), and at 5‐yr patient survival was comparable (73%, 80%, and 78%, respectively) (P = NS). Episodes of acute cellular rejection (ACR) were fewer in the older cohorts (43% vs. 45% vs. 61%, P = 0.0016), although there was no significant difference identified in the numbers of patients in each group who experienced ACR (P = 0.16). A similar but nonsignificant trend was identified for rates of chronic rejection among the groups. In conclusion, these data suggest that survival of patients over 60 and 65 yr undergoing LT is satisfactory, at least in the first 5‐yr posttransplantation. In addition, patients over 65 yr experience less rejection, with good graft survival. Thus, LT should not be denied to patients >65 yr on the basis of age alone, once a comprehensive screen for comorbidity has been undertaken. Liver Transpl 13:1382–1388. 2007. © 2007 AASLD.
Lrp4: A novel modulator of extracellular signaling in craniofacial organogenesis

The low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor family is a large evolutionarily conserved group of transmembrane proteins. It has been shown that LDL receptor family members can also function as direct signal transducers or modulators for a broad range of cellular signaling pathways. We have identified a novel mode of signaling pathway integration/coordination that occurs outside cells during development that involves an LDL receptor family member. Physical interaction between an extracellular protein (Wise) that binds BMP ligands and an Lrp receptor (Lrp4) that modulates Wnt signaling, acts to link these two pathways. Mutations in either Wise or Lrp4 in mice produce multiple, but identical abnormalities in tooth development that are linked to alterations in BMP and Wnt signaling. Teeth, in common with many other organs, develop by a series of epithelial–mesenchymal interactions, orchestrated by multiple cell signaling pathways. In tooth development, Lrp4 is expressed exclusively in epithelial cells and Wise mainly in mesenchymal cells. Our hypothesis, based on the mutant phenotypes, cell signaling activity changes and biochemical interactions between Wise and Lrp4 proteins, is that Wise and Lrp4 together act as an extracellular mechanism of coordinating BMP and Wnt signaling activities in epithelial–mesenchymal cell communication during development. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Slow Genetic Divergence of Helicobacter pylori Strains during Long-Term Colonization

ABSTRACT The genetic variability of Helicobacter pylori is known to be high compared to that of many other bacterial species. H. pylori is adapted to the human stomach, where it persists for decades, and adaptation to each host results in every individual harboring a distinctive bacterial population. Although clonal variants may exist within such a population, all isolates are generally genetically related and thus derived from a common ancestor. We sought to determine the rate of genetic change of H. pylori over 9 years in two asymptomatic adult patients. Arbitrary primed PCR confirmed the relatedness of individual subclones within a patient. Furthermore, sequencing of 10 loci (∼6,000 bp) in three subclones per time and patient revealed only two base pair changes among the subclones from patient I. All sequences were identical among the patient II subclones. However, PCR amplification of the highly divergent gene amiA revealed great variation in the size of the gene between the subclones within each patient. Thus, both patients harbored a single strain with clonal variants at both times. We also studied genetic changes in culture- and mouse-passaged strains, and under both conditions no genetic divergence was found. These results suggest that previous estimates of the rate of genetic change in H. pylori within an individual might be overestimates.
A Hybrid Transmission Grid Architecture Enabling Efficient Optimal Power Flow

The recent rise of electricity generation based on renewable energy sources increases the demand for transmission capacity. Capacity expansion via the upgrade of transmission line capacity, e.g., by conversion to a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line, is an attractive option. In this paper, it is shown that if the upgrade to HVDC is applied systematically to selected transmission lines across the grid, a hybrid architecture is obtained that enables an efficient and globally optimal solution of the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. More precisely, for conventional meshed AC transmission grids the OPF problem is nonconvex and in general NP-hard, rendering it hard to solve. We prove that after the upgrade to the proposed hybrid architecture, the same mesh topology facilitates an exact convex relaxation of the OPF problem, enabling its globally optimal solution with efficient polynomial time algorithms. This OPF method is then employed in simulations, which demonstrate that the hybrid architecture can increase the effective transmission capacity and substantially reduce the generation costs, even compared to the AC grid with optimal transmission switching.
Patterns and Trends in Elder Homicide Across Race and Ethnicity, 1985-2009

In this report, we assess total and race/ethnicity-disaggregated patterns and temporal trends in elderly homicide (age 55-74) compared with younger age groups for the 1985-to-2009 period. To do this, we use California arrest statistics that provide annual homicide figures by race and ethnicity (including a Hispanic identifier) and by age. Major aims of our analysis are to establish whether (a) elderly homicide rates are different/similar across race/ethnic comparisons; (b) the elderly share of homicide and age-homicide distributions more generally differ across race/ethnicity; and (c) elderly rates of homicide and the share of elderly homicide relative to younger age groups is similar or different now as compared with 20 to 30 years ago. Our analysis is important and timely because some commentators have suggested that elderly homicide levels have been rising over the past one to two decades and because there is a virtual absence of research of any sort on elderly homicide trends that involve comparisons by race and ethnicity. Key findings are that elderly shares of homicide offending relative to younger ages have not increased (or decreased), that elder homicides continue to account for a small fraction of all homicides, and that these patterns persist across race/ethnicity comparisons.
Zmynd15 Encodes a Histone Deacetylase-dependent Transcriptional Repressor Essential for Spermiogenesis and Male Fertility*

Spermatogenesis is a complex process through which male germ line stem cells undergo a multi-step differentiation program and sequentially become spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids, and eventually spermatozoa. In this process, transcription factors act as switches that precisely regulate the expression of genes that in turn control the developmental program of male germ cells. Transcription factors identified to be essential for normal haploid gene expression all display transcription-activating effects and thus serve as the “on” switch for haploid gene expression. Here, we report that ZMYND15 acts as a histone deacetylase-dependent transcriptional repressor and controls normal temporal expression of haploid cell genes during spermiogenesis. Inactivation of Zmynd15 results in early activation of transcription of numerous important haploid genes including Prm1, Tnp1, Spem1, and Catpser3; depletion of late spermatids; and male infertility. ZMYND15 represents the first transcriptional repressor identified to be essential for sperm production and male fertility.
Polymorphic Nucleotide within the Promoter of Nitrate Reductase (NarGHJI) Is Specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium tuberculosis rapidly reduces nitrate, leading to the accumulation of nitrite. This characteristic served for the past 40 years to differentiate M. tuberculosis from other members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), such as Mycobacterium bovis (non-BCG [referred to here as simply “M. bovis”]), Mycobacterium bovis BCG, Mycobacterium africanum, or Mycobacterium microti. Here, a narG deletion in M. tuberculosis showed that rapid nitrite accumulation of M. tuberculosis is mediated by narGHJI. Analysis of narG mutants of M. bovis and M. bovis BCG showed that, as in M. tuberculosis, nitrite accumulation was mediated by narGHJI, and no other nitrate reductase was involved. However, in contrast to M. tuberculosis, accumulation was delayed for several days. Comparison of the narGHJI promoter revealed that, at nucleotide −215 prior to the start codon of narG, M. tuberculosis carried a thymine residue, whereas the bovine mycobacteria carried a cytosine residue. Using LightCycler technology we examined 62 strains of M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. bovis BCG, M. microti, and M. africanum and demonstrated that this single nucleotide polymorphism was specific for M. tuberculosis. For further differentiation within the MTBC, we included, by using LightCycler technology, the previously described analysis of oxyR polymorphism, which is specific for the bovine mycobacteria, and the RD1 polymorphism, which is specific for M. bovis BCG. Based on these results, we suggest a LightCycler format for rapid and unambiguous diagnosis of M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, and M. bovis BCG.
Impaired cerebral autoregulation and vasomotor reactivity in sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND Understanding the relationship between vascular disease and Alzheimer's disease (AD) will enhance our insight into this disease and pave the way for novel therapeutic research. Cerebrovascular dysfunction, expressed as impaired cerebral autoregulation and cerebral vasomotor reactivity, has been observed in transgenic mouse models for AD. Translation to human AD is limited and conflicting however. OBJECTIVE To investigate if impaired cerebral autoregulation and cerebral vasomotor reactivity, found in animal models for AD, are present in human sporadic AD. METHODS In 12 patients with mild to moderate AD (75 SD 4 yr) and 24 controls matched for age and history of hypertension, all without diabetes, we measured blood pressure (Finapres) and cerebral blood flow-velocity (transcranial Doppler). Cerebral autoregulation was assessed during changes in blood pressure induced by single and repeated sit-stand maneuvers. Cerebral vasomotor reactivity was assessed during hyperventilation and inhalation of 5 % carbon dioxide. RESULTS During single sit-stands, controls had a 4% (SD 8) decrease in cerebrovascular resistance during a reduction in blood pressure, and an 8 % (SD 11) increase during a rise in blood pressure, indicating normal cerebral autoregulation. These changes were not seen in AD (p=0.04). During repeated sit-stands, blood pressure fluctuated by 20 % of baseline. This led to larger fluctuations in cerebral blood flow in AD (27 (6) %) than in controls (22 (6) %, p < 0.05). Cerebral vasomotor reactivity to hypercapnia was reduced in AD (42.7 % increase in CBFV, versus 79.5 % in controls, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION Observations of impaired cerebrovascular function (impaired autoregulation and vasoreactivity) in transgenic mouse models for AD were confirmed in patients with sporadic AD.