Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Translational approaches for the prevention of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer

Breast cancer prevention has focused heavily on endocrine interventions using selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors. Tamoxifen, the stereotypical selective estrogen receptor modulator, significantly reduces the breast cancer incidence in high-risk women. Selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors, however, only prevent the development of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer and have no effect in reducing the risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer, which has poor prognosis. Thus, preventive therapies for estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer are clearly needed. Recently, a number of novel chemopreventive agents targeting nonendocrine pathways have been developed and shown to prevent estrogen receptor-negative mammary tumorigenesis in animal models. These agents include rexinoids, selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and others. In this review, we discuss the effects of selective estrogen receptor modulators and aromatase inhibitors, as well as novel agents targeting nonendocrine pathways. We also discuss the promise of combining these agents for the effective prevention of all forms of breast cancer.
The politics of curtailment: multi-level governance and solar photovoltaic power generation in China

ABSTRACT The rise of China’s photovoltaic (PV) industry, and the concomitant curtailment problem, provides an opportunity to reconsider China’s industrial governance. It is argued here that the curtailment is intertwined with the multi-level character of China’s energy governance. Borrowing the insights of multi-level governance (MLG), we identify the relevant stakeholders situated at different levels and clarify their positions and considerations concerning the solar PV industry. MLG analysis reveals that curtailment in China’s solar PV industry was primarily the result of uncoordinated development at different levels – sub-provincial, provincial, national, and international. China’s response to the curtailment problem is then examined, considering whether such policy adjustments will contribute to greater societal participation, changes in development ideas, an improved coordination mechanism, or alternative institutional arrangements.
The E3 ligase Cdh1-anaphase promoting complex operates upstream of the E3 ligase Smurf1 in the control of axon growth

Axon growth is an essential event during brain development and is extremely limited due to extrinsic and intrinsic inhibition in the adult brain. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Cdh1-anaphase promoting complex (APC) has emerged as an important intrinsic suppressor of axon growth. In this study, we identify in rodents the E3 ligase Smurf1 as a novel substrate of Cdh1-APC and that Cdh1 targets Smurf1 for degradation in a destruction box-dependent manner. We find that Smurf1 acts downstream of Cdh1-APC in axon growth and that the turnover of RhoA by Smurf1 is important in this process. In addition, we demonstrate that acute knockdown of Smurf1 in vivo in the developing cerebellar cortex results in impaired axonal growth and migration. Finally, we show that a stabilized form of Smurf1 overrides the inhibition of axon growth by myelin. Taken together, we uncovered a Cdh1-APC/Smurf1/RhoA pathway that mediates axonal growth suppression in the developing mammalian brain.
early bolting in short days: An Arabidopsis Mutation That Causes Early Flowering and Partially Suppresses the Floral Phenotype of leafy

The time of flowering in Arabidopsis is controlled by multiple endogenous and environmental signals. Some of these signals promote the onset of flowering, whereas others repress it. We describe here the isolation and characterization of two allelic mutations that cause early flowering and define a new locus, EARLY BOLTING IN SHORT DAYS (EBS). Acceleration of flowering time in the ebs mutants is especially conspicuous under short-day photoperiods and results from a reduction of the adult vegetative phase of the plants. In addition to the early flowering phenotype, ebs mutants show a reduction in seed dormancy, plant size, and fertility. Double mutant analysis with gibberellin-deficient mutants indicates that both the early-flowering and the precocious-germination phenotypes require gibberellin biosynthesis. Analysis of the genetic interactions among ebs and several mutations causing late flowering shows that the ft mutant phenotype is epistatic over the early flowering of ebs mutants, suggesting that the precocious flowering of ebs requires the FT gene product. Finally, the ebs mutation causes an increase in the level of expression of the floral homeotic genes APETALA3 (AP3), PISTILLATA (PI), and AGAMOUS (AG) and partially rescues the mutant floral phenotype of leafy-6 (lfy-6) mutants. These results suggest that EBS participates as a negative regulator in developmental processes such as germination, flowering induction, and flower organ specification.
Chromosome-Encoded Ambler Class D β-Lactamase of Shewanella oneidensis as a Progenitor of Carbapenem-Hydrolyzing Oxacillinase

ABSTRACT A chromosome-encoded β-lactamase gene from a Shewanella oneidensis reference strain was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. It encoded a carbapenem-hydrolyzing Ambler class D β-lactamase, OXA-54, that shared 92% amino acid identity with the plasmid-encoded carbapenem-hydrolyzing oxacillinase OXA-48 from Klebsiella pneumoniae. This work suggests that Shewanella spp. may produce the progenitor of oxacillinases compromising the efficacy of imipenem in clinically relevant gram-negative pathogens.
PALM: Security Preserving VM Live Migration for Systems with VMM-enforced Protection

Live migration of virtual machine (VM) is a desirable feature for distributed computing such as grid computing and recent cloud computing by facilitating fault tolerance, load balance, and hardware maintenance. Virtual machine monitor (VMM) enforced process protection is a newly advocated approach to provide a trustworthy execution environment for processes running on commodity operating systems.While VMM-enforced protection systems extend protection to the processes in the virtual machine (VM), it also breaks the mobility of VMs since a VM is more closely bound to the VMM. Furthermore, several security vulnerabilities exists in migration, especially live migration of such systems that may degrade the protection strength or even break the protection.In this paper, we propose a secure migration system that provides live migration capability to VMs in VMM-enforced process protection systems, while not degrading the protection level. We implemented a prototype system base on Xen and GNU Linux to evaluate the design. The results shows that no serious performance degradation is incurred comparing to Xen live migration system.
SERUM ZINC CONCENTRATIONS IN GROWING PREMATURE INFANTS

ABSTRACT. Serial serum zinc concentrations were measured in 31 relatively well, growing premature infants during the first 26 weeks of life. Zinc concentrations declined progressively from 17.9 μmol (1.17 mg/1) at birth (normal adult value) to 8.9 μmol (0.58 mg/1) at 6 weeks of age despite a zinc intake of greater than 13.7 μmol (900 μg)/kg/day after the second week of life. The serum zinc increased after 16 weeks of age to 10.7 μmol/dl (0.7 mg/1). No infant demonstrated clinical signs of zinc deficiency. This data may serve as a reference against which serum zinc concentrations in other premature infants may be compared in order to help define the deficiency state.
Alternative Causation in Asbestos Cases under Belgian Law

1. [1141] The English and Wales Court of Appeal's decision deals with an individual who died of lung cancer caused by an exposure to asbestos while being employed successively by six different companies. Experts cannot establish which (if any) of the exposures triggered the cell changes in his body which led to the contraction of the disease. For the first time, the Court of Appeal applies the so-called Fairchild exception (Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd [2002] UKHL 22, [2003] 1 AC 32) in a lung cancer case. This means that damages are awarded against each employer in proportion to the increase in risk for which each was responsible.
The impact of intra-EU migration on welfare chauvinism

Abstract We examine whether intra-EU migration affects welfare chauvinistic attitudes, i.e. the idea that immigrants’ access to the welfare system should be restricted. According to the in-group/out-group theory, migration can unleash feelings of insecurity and thus trigger welfare chauvinism. According to intergroup contact theory, welfare chauvinism should decrease when immigration is higher, because contact reduces prejudice and softens anti-immigrant stances. We test these theories using data from the European Social Survey 2008/2009, supplemented with country-level data, and analyse these data using a multilevel ordered logit approach. We find a negative relation between intra-EU immigration and welfare chauvinism, supporting the intergroup contact theory: in countries with more intra-EU migration, welfare chauvinism tends to be lower. Furthermore, the higher the percentage of East European immigrants compared to other EU immigrants, the higher the level of welfare chauvinism.
Low cost vector quantization methods for spectral coding in low rate speech coders

In low rate speech coders based on the linear prediction method, the quality of synthesized speech can be improved by enhancement of the short-term spectrum quantization stage. In this study, we propose two new efficient methods for coding the spectral parameters, namely sorted codebook vector quantization (SCVQ) and fine-coarse vector quantization (FCVQ). The principles of these methods are presented along with the methods of training and optimizing the related codebooks. The performance of the new schemes is compared experimentally with other efficient methods, such as tree-searched vector quantization (TSVQ) and multi-stage vector quantization (MSVQ). We demonstrate that the new methods offer significant cost reduction whilst achieving superior quality.
Modified pseudo eye metric for mismatched transmission lines

In addition to the eye diagram, the pseudo eye is another parameter to quickly access the performance of the channel. In order to make the pseudo eye method also applicable when the channel is mismatched at both source and load ends, a modified formula based on superposition and bounce diagram analysis is proposed to eliminate the effects caused by mismatched termination with resistive components. Subsequently, both the simulation and the experimental results are provided to validate the modified formula.
Discrete dopant induced electrical and thermal fluctuation in nanoscale SOI FinFET

The International Roadmap for Semiconductors has forecasted a transition from conventional bulk device to siliconon-insulator (SOI) one, and then to multiple-gate SOI for high-performance devices. Impact of the discrete-dopant number and discrete-dopant position on device characteristics is crucial for nanoscale semiconductor devices. In this paper, the discrete dopant induced electrical and thermal fluctuation of 16 nm SOI FinFETs is for the first time explored. A three-dimensional "atomistic" device simulation with quantum hydrodynamic equation is proposed and performed for electrical and thermal characteristics of the discrete dopant fluctuated SOI FinFETs. Discrete dopants are statistically positioned in the 3D channel region to study associated carrier transportation characteristics, concurrently capturing "dopant concentration variation" and "dopant position fluctuation". Effect of the discrete-dopant-number- and discrete-dopant-position-induced fluctuations on device characteristic including variations of the lattice and electron temperatures are advanced. The large-scale computational statistics study provides us an insight into the fluctuation of electrical and thermal characteristics and mechanism of immunity against fluctuation in SOI FinFETs.
[Four-port pars plana vitrectomy for severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the 4-port pars plana vitrectomy in eyes with severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). METHODS It was a case-control study. Twenty-eight eyes in 27 patients with extensive fibrovascular proliferation associated with PDR were retrospectively collected, who were undergone 4-port pars plana vitreous surgery with bimanual manipulation techniques, such as membrane dissections and enbloc membranectomy. The control group consisted of 30 eyes in 30 patients with PDR which were undergone 3-port pars plana vitrectomy by the same surgeon. RESULTS Twenty-eight eyes were undergone membrane dissection and enbloc membranectomy smoothly during 4-port pars plana vitrectomy, 2 iatrogenic holes occurred in 1 eye. During the follow up 7 months to 4.5 years, the retina was fully attached in all eyes, visual acuity had improved except 1 eye which complicated with neovascular glaucoma. In the control group, membranes partially remained in 2 eyes, 4 iatrogenic holes appeared in 3 eyes, neovascular glaucoma occurred in 3 eyes, the retina was reattached during the follow-up time from 12 to 34 months. CONCLUSIONS For severe proliferative diabetic retinopathy, the 4-port pars plana vitrectomy with bimanual manipulations of membrane peeling is safe and efficiency.
T-2 toxin and its metabolite HT-2 toxin combined with insulin-like growth factor-I modify progesterone secretion by porcine ovarian granulosa cells

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of A-trichothecenes T-2 and HT-2 toxins combined with insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) on the release of steroid hormone progesterone (P4) by porcine ovarian granulosa cells (GCs). The cells were incubated without (control) or with treatments of A-trichothecenes T-2 (100 and 1000 ng/mL)/ HT-2 (100 and 1000 ng/mL) combined with IGF-I (1, 10 and 100 ng/mL) for 24 h. Progesterone secretion was determined by RIA. The release of P4 by GCs after addition of T-2 toxin (at 100 ng/mL) combined with IGF-I (at 10 but not at 1 and 100 ng/mL) and HT-2 toxin (at 100 ng/mL) combined with IGF-I (at all doses) was significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited. On the other hand the release of P4 after addition of T-2/ HT-2 toxin (at 1000 ng/mL) combined with IGF-I (at all doses) was significantly (P < 0.05) stimulated. Alone IGF-I addition (at 10, 100 but not at 1 ng/mL) significantly (P < 0.05) stimulated P4 release by GCs. The results of our in vitro study indicate the T-2 and HT-2 toxins combined with IGF-I could modify progesterone secretion by porcine ovarian granulosa cells and potentially regulate process of steroidogenesis in the ovaries. Currently, occurence of mycotoxins in food and feed is a worldwide problem and therefore study of these toxins as well as their interaction with different substances such as growth factors could be beneficial for better understanding of mechanism of their toxic effects in organism.
Effect of MgCl2 and Phosphatidylglycerol on CaCl2-Mediated Recovery of Oxygen Evolution in a Photosystem II Complex Depleted of the 17 and 24 kDa Extrinsic Proteins

Abstract Phosphatidylglycerol (PG) is an anionic lipid of the thylakoid membrane of higher plant chloroplasts. PG was shown previously to stimulate the evolution of oxygen in intact photosystem II (PSII) membranes [Fragata, M. , Strzałka, K. and Nénonéné, E. K. (1991) J. Photochem. Photobiol. B: Biol 11, 329-342], In this work, a study was undertaken of the effect of MgCl2 and PG on the CaCl2-mediated recovery of oxygen evolution in a PSII complex depleted of the extrinsic proteins (EP) of molecular masses 17 kDa (EP17) and 24 kDa (EP24), hereunder designated d17.24PSII. This molecular system is structurally close to the PSII core complex of cyanobacteria and is therefore useful in the comparative analysis of PSII-PG relationships in cyanobacteria and the higher plants. This work reveals a new aspect of the thylakoid lipids role in the PSII function, namely the PG effect on intact PSII is observed as well in d17.24PSII. The results show that phosphatidylglycerol has the ability to compensate for the loss of EP17 and EP24 in the PSII complex. That is, PG restores the oxygen evolution in d17.24PSII incubated in the presence of MgCl2 and/or CaCl2 to the levels observed in native PSII. Moreover, the site of H2O degradation in d17.24PSII, including most probably the pool of calcium and chloride ions, would seem to be protected by phosphatidylglycerol. This suggests that one of the docking sites of PG in the PSII complex is near EP24, inasmuch as this extrinsic protein participates in the regulation of the affinity of the calcium and chloride ions to the water oxidation site. Furthermore, taking into account that in d17.24PSII the PSII core complex is directly exposed to PG, then the phospholipid effect reported here indicates that phosphatidylglycerol might be a functional effector and membrane anchor of the D1 protein in the PSII core complex as was shown recently in the cyanobacterium Oscillatoria chalybea [Kruse, O. and Schmid, G. H. (1995) Z. Naturforsch. 50c, 380-390],
Data Fusion Algorithm for INS/GPS/Odometer Integrated Navigation System

INS/GPS/odometer are commonly integrated using a federated Kalman filter to provide a robust navigation solution, overcoming their weaknesses. However, the accuracy of federated Kalman filter is degraded in the condition that the statistical characteristics of noise don't be known accurately. The method of federated Kalman filter is improved to perform the INS/GPS/Odometer integrated navigation in this paper. This method uses fuzzy adaptive Kalman filter to detect changes of the measurement noise statistical characteristics and correct them gradually. Meanwhile, weighted coefficient is used to describe the degree of confidence of sub-filters. Simulations in INS/GPS/odometer integrated navigation system demonstrate that the weighted coefficients of sub-filters with low confidence are decreased adaptively, and the accuracy is improved compared with the federated kalman filter.
Sharing Unexpected Biomarker Results with Study Participants

Background The Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Centers (BCERCs) include collaborators from basic sciences, epidemiology, and the community, conducting studies to investigate whether environmental exposures are associated with the timing of puberty. A pilot study of a subset of the study participants assessed the feasibility of measuring selected biomarkers of exposure in blood and urine in girls 6–8 years of age. In the Greater Cincinnati study population, we found an elevated serum concentration of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) among > 90% of young girls living in a small community. Objectives The research team deliberated whether and how to report the PFOA findings to our study families. We will address the issues considered in our decision, as well as the formats we used to present the findings. Methods The results were verified as we searched for potential sources of the elevated PFOA levels. As a research team, we grappled with issues regarding the reporting of unexpected results, derived from unknown sources and with unknown clinical significance. Ultimately, we did decide to present these findings to the study families through a well-developed communication plan. Discussion Research team members came from a variety of experiences and backgrounds, which led to different interpretations about the clinical, ethical, and public health issues surrounding these findings. The ethical debates centered around the precautionary principle, the right to know, and do no harm. Conclusions Given advances in environmental biomarker technologies and greater use of the transdisciplinary research model, a communication plan must be developed for those involved as study participants.
A longitudinal study on hand use while building a tower

The aim of the study was to describe a developmental trend of hand use for picking up and stacking blocks from the age of 18 months to 7 years. A second aim was to determine whether there is a relationship between right-hand use while building a tower and manual laterality at school age. A total of 28 children were asked to build a tower at five longitudinal assessments. The use of the right hand fluctuated considerably with age (p<.05), but no age-related increase was observed. Right-hand use was rather prominent at 18 months, decreased significantly at 26 months, increased at age 4;7, decreased again at 5;7, and finally increased again at age 7. From age 4;7 onwards, the percentage of right-hand use for stacking the blocks was significantly (p<.05) related to the laterality quotient at school age.
A History of Childhood Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence Victimization Among Native American Adults

This study examined the association between childhood maltreatment and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization among Native American adults. Based on Riggs’s theoretical model of the long-term effects of childhood abuse, we also examined the mediating roles of insecure attachment patterns and depressive symptoms. The current study was a secondary data analysis using the 2013 General Well-Being Among Native Americans dataset (N = 479). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized relationships among key constructs. Consistent with existing literature of revictimization, our findings showed that the experience of childhood maltreatment was positively associated with IPV victimization. Mediation analyses indicated that depression was a significant mediator in the association between childhood maltreatment and IPV victimization. In addition, all the paths linking childhood maltreatment, fearful attachment, depressive symptoms, and IPV victimization were statistically significant, although the overall mediation effect was not significant. The results of this study suggest that Riggs’s model can serve as a useful theoretical framework for understanding the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment among Native American adults. Practitioners in the area of IPV should include maltreatment history and current attachment patterns in client assessments, which could help address conflict and violence within intimate relationships.
J-Liquidity Measure: The Term Structure of the Liquidity Premium in Japan

We interpret the yield spread between Japanese government-guaranteed bonds and government bonds as market liquidity, which we refer to as the J-liquidity measure. Our model-free approach not only provides the term structure of the liquidity premium, but also captures the impact of illiquidity events and the illiquidity condition of the Japanese fixed-income market. We empirically show that the long-term factor of the liquidity premium curve is driven by the volatility of the short-term rate. The liquidity measure is provided publicly for future applications.