Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growth and Maintenance of Baby Hamster Kidney (BHK) Cells

The BHK21 cell line was established in 1961 from the kidneys of 5 Syrian hamsters from litter number 21. Since this time, this cell line has been a laboratory standard for the growth of countless viruses and the study of many biological processes. The specific use for the growth of Sindbis virus is described, although it may apply to many types of viruses. Curr. Protoc. Microbiol. 17:A.4H. 1‐A.4H. 7. © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Progressive Genomic Instability in the FVB/KrasLA2 Mouse Model of Lung Cancer

Alterations in DNA copy number contribute to the development and progression of cancers and are common in epithelial tumors. We have used array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) to visualize DNA copy number alterations across the genomes of lung tumors in the KrasLA2 model of lung cancer. Copy number gain involving the Kras locus, as focal amplification or whole chromosome gain, is the most common alteration in these tumors and with a prevalence that increased significantly with increasing tumor size. Furthermore, Kras amplification was the only major genomic event among the smallest lung tumors, suggesting that this alteration occurs early during the development of mutant Kras-driven lung cancers. Recurring gains and deletions of other chromosomes occur progressively more frequently among larger tumors. These results are in contrast to a previous aCGH analysis of lung tumors from KrasLA2 mice on a mixed genetic background, in which relatively few DNA copy number alterations were observed regardless of tumor size. Our model features the KrasLA2 allele on the inbred FVB/N mouse strain, and in this genetic background, there is a highly statistically significant increase in level of genomic instability with increasing tumor size. These data suggest that recurring DNA copy alterations are important for tumor progression in the KrasLA2 model of lung cancer and that the requirement for these alterations may be dependent on the genetic background of the mouse strain. Mol Cancer Res; 9(10); 1339–45. ©2011 AACR.
High‐fat diet intake modulates maternal intestinal adaptations to pregnancy and results in placental hypoxia, as well as altered fetal gut barrier proteins and immune markers

Maternal obesity has been associated with shifts in intestinal microbiota, which may contribute to impaired barrier function Impaired barrier function may expose the placenta and fetus to pro‐inflammatory mediators We investigated the impacts of diet‐induced obesity in mice on maternal and fetal intestinal structure and placental vascularization Diet‐induced obesity decreased maternal intestinal short chain fatty acids and their receptors, impaired gut barrier integrity and was associated with fetal intestinal inflammation. Placenta from obese mothers showed blood vessel immaturity, hypoxia, increased transcript levels of inflammation, autophagy and altered levels of endoplasmic reticulum stress markers. These data suggest that maternal intestinal changes probably contribute to adverse placental adaptations and also impart an increased risk of obesity in the offspring via alterations in fetal gut development.
Floor and Upside Investing in Retirement without Annuities

I investigate optimal stock/bond asset allocation and consumption decisions using a utility function that is intended to be representative of a retired individual's need for an income floor and desire for upside potential. I do this without using annuities. Breaking with a common assumption that you should become more conservative if you have reached “your number,” the asset allocation to stocks increases if floor consumption is largely satisfied. I discover a bond heavy region that absorbs the impact of downside stock market shocks and protect the income floor. I also discover declining absolute bond holdings when downside risks are small. Careful tuning of the parameters of the aggregate utility function makes it possible to engineer the asset allocation/consumption strategy to meet the retired individual's specific income goals while keeping the consumption floor covered.
Of engineers, rationalities, and rule: An ethnography of neoliberal reform in an urban water utility in South India

This study is an ethnography of a frontline culture of neoliberalism. It examines the new rationalities through which Chennai's reforming water utility, Metrowater, defines and categorizes people at its everyday public interface. It analyzes how reforms designed to minimize the state are internalized within a state bureaucracy. The study uses the concept of translation to call attention to the distortions and displacements through which global texts of reform are localized and decoded by local actors. The disciplines of reform in Metrowater produced new boundaries and stand-offs, both within the agency and across its service interface. Internally, they constrained the autonomy of frontline engineers and established close vigilance over their activities. Notions of efficiency based on radical commensuration and quantification reduced all value to standardized, measurable indicators. This culture of audit empowered financial managers and accountants over the traditionally powerful engineering departments. The reforms thus, in the name of public accountability, staged a stand-off between two sets of elitist disciplines, those of the old developmentalist and the new commercial bureaucracy, thereby silencing all alternative options within an overarching common sense. Yet the audit culture also engendered a vision of transformation in which engineers presented themselves as actively reforming, streamlined, and meritocratic entrepreneurs. The punitive effects of the reforms were also passed across the service counter, provoking new effects of categorization: engineers displayed a sharpened hostility toward a certain "public" comprised of demanding, unruly and over-politicized masses of slum-dwellers. The ethnography interrogated the totalizing order of the urban grid, here represented by the underground network of water-pipes. It showed that this sovereign grid was punctured by bypass connections and illegal taps which revealed the contentious and compromised order of a ground-level service. The grid embodied a myth of order, produced by silences, half-truths and euphemisms. Euphemisms constituted a discursive mode through which "corrupt" practices such as bribery were folded into the morality and logic of daily practice in the depots. Water, as the classic commons, demonstrated the leakiness of abstract orders, and provided an insightful lens into neoliberal governance by challenging projects of commodification/privatization as well as bureaucratic channels of state sovereignty.
Targeting the Genome-Stability Hub Ctf4 by Stapled-Peptide Design.

The exploitation of synthetic lethality by small-molecule targeting of pathways that maintain genomic stability is an attractive chemotherapeutic approach. The Ctf4/AND-1 protein hub, which links DNA replication, repair, and chromosome segregation, represents a novel target for the synthetic lethality approach. Herein, we report the design, optimization, and validation of double-click stapled peptides encoding the Ctf4-interacting peptide (CIP) of the replicative helicase subunit Sld5. By screening stapling positions in the Sld5 CIP, we identified an unorthodox i,i+6 stapled peptide with improved, submicromolar binding to Ctf4. The mode of interaction with Ctf4 was confirmed by a crystal structure of the stapled Sld5 peptide bound to Ctf4. The stapled Sld5 peptide was able to displace the Ctf4 partner DNA polymerase α from the replisome in yeast extracts. Our study provides proof-of-principle evidence for the development of small-molecule inhibitors of the human CTF4 orthologue AND-1.
A meta-analysis of serum cancer antigen 125 array for diagnosis of ovarian cancer in Chinese.

OBJECTIVE To further evaluation the diagnosis accuracy of serum cancer antigen 125 (CA125) in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer in Chinese patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS The PubMed, Wanfang and CNKI databases were electric searched and relevant diagnosis trials were reviewed and finally included in this meta-analysis. The diagnosis sensitivity, specificity, positive likely hood ratio (+LR), negative likely hood ratio (-LR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and receiver operating characteristic curve were pooled by Meta DiSc 1.4 software. RESULTS Nineteen studies with a total of 2426 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, +LR, -LR and DOR were 0.75 (95% confidence interval = 0.73-0.78), 0.80 (0.77-0.82), 4.52 (3.27-6.26), 0.31 (0.28-0.35) and 15.76 (10.45-23.75) respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.84. CONCLUSION Serum CA125 was potential biomarker for diagnosis of ovarian cancer with acceptable diagnosis value.
Discovering Relational Bonds in Channel Relationships

Abstract This study addresses the issue of relational bonding between retailers and suppliers within the grocery distribution channels in Malaysia. It reflects the relationship marketing concept in assessing in-terorganizational relationships. The importance of ‘guanxi’ or special relationship between channel members within the grocery distribution network in Malaysia is identified as a significant factor affecting channel interaction. The influence of the Chinese and their business philosophies are evident in the Malaysian grocery distribution channel. Business relationships between channel members require effective negotiation strategies and with the understanding of ‘guanxi’, the emphasis is on building long-term relationships to ensure continuous and profitable associations.
Empirically grounded economic reason

Part 1 The structure of complex systems: Causal ordering - causality in economic models causal ordering, comparative statics, and near decomposability, ( with Y. Iwasaki) causality and model abstraction, (with Y. Iwasaki) simulating large systems - simulation of large-scale systems by aggregation prediction and prescription in systems modelling. Part 2 The advance of information technology: the rural-urban population balance again the impact of electronic communications on organizations the steam engine and the computer - what makes technology revolutionary managing in an information-rich world on the alienation of workers and management. Part 3 Motivation and the theory of the firm: a mechanism for social selection and successful altruism organizations and markets altruism and economics - a summary statement altruism and economics - social implications. Part 4 Behaviourial economics and bounded rationality: behaviourial economics - preface to "Handbook of behaviourial economics" behaviourial economics bounded rationality satisfying empirical methods in economics - behaviourial research - theory and public policy methodological foundations of economics preface to "La theorie moderne de l'enterprise - l'approche institutionelle initial and boundary conditions in economic theory - on the behaviourial and rational foundations of economic dynamics rationality in psychology and economics the state of economic science - the failure of armchair economics why economists disagree the state of economic science economic reasoning in words and pictures - effect of mode of data presentation on reasoning about economic markets (with H.J.M. Tabachneck).
McCallum Rule and Chinese Monetary Policy

This paper evaluates the usefulness of a McCallum monetary policy rule based on money supply for maintaining price stability in mainland China. We examine whether excess money relative to rulebased values provides information that improves the forecasting of price developments. The results suggest that our monetary variable helps in predicting both consumer and corporate goods price inflation, but the results for consumer prices depend on the forecasting period. Nevertheless, growth of the Chinese monetary base has tracked the McCallum rule quite closely. Moreover, results using a structural vector autoregression suggest that our measure of excess money supply could be used to identify monetary policy shocks in the Chinese economy
Working Part-Time in the British, German and Dutch Labour Market: Scarring for the Wage Career?

The paper studies the long-term effect of part-time employment on the wage career using panel data for three countries. The main idea is to study the possible ‘scarring’ effects of part-time employment on future hourly wages up to ten years later in the career. Fixed effects panel wage regressions show the existence of a part-time wage penalty for females in all three countries and for males in the UK. Longer durations of part-time result in stronger negative wage effects. In the UK, a negative effect of past part-time employment is also found to persist even after a lasting transition to a full-time job. The fact that the effect of part-time on wage is larger in the UK suggests that wage penalties, contrary to what could be expected, are smaller in regulated labour markets with a specific skills regime.
Sharp Convergence Rates for Forward Regression in High-Dimensional Sparse Linear Models

Forward regression is a statistical model selection and estimation procedure which inductively selects covariates that add predictive power into a working statistical regression model. Once a model is selected, unknown regression parameters are estimated by least squares. This paper analyzes forward regression in high-dimensional sparse linear models. Probabilistic bounds for prediction error norm and number of selected covariates are proved. The analysis in this paper gives sharp rates and does not require β-min or irrepresentability conditions.
Diagnostic Bedside Ultrasonography for Acute Respiratory Failure and Severe Hypoxemia in the Medical Intensive Care Unit: Basics and Comprehensive Approaches

Bedside goal-directed ultrasound is a powerful tool for rapid differential diagnosis and monitoring of cardiopulmonary disease in the critically ill patient population. The bedside intensivist is in a unique position to integrate ultrasound findings with the overall clinical situation. Medically critically ill patients who require urgent bedside diagnostic assessment fall into 2 categories: (1) acute respiratory failure and (2) hemodynamic derangements. The first portion of this review outlines the diagnostic role of bedside ultrasound in the medically critically ill patient population for the diagnosis and treatment of acute respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress, and severe hypoxemia. The second portion will focus on the diagnostic role of ultrasound for the evaluation and treatment of shock states, as well as describe protocolized approaches for evaluation of shock during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Different respiratory system pathologies that result in acute respiratory failure (such as increased interstitial fluid, alveolar consolidation, pleural effusion) cause characteristic ultrasonographic findings; diaphragmatic assessment may also add information. Intracardiac shunting can cause severe hypoxemia. Protocolized approaches for the evaluation of patients with acute respiratory failure or distress are discussed.
Automating wide-band AC/DC transfer measurements

A semiautomatic rms ac/dc transfer standard that permits a 30-fold increase in the rate at which transfer measurements can be made is described. The precision of measurement is ±50 ppm in the automatic mode and ±10 ppm in the manual mode. A novel contactless overload protection circuit is included which allows waveforms of any crest factor up to the breakdown voltages of the components to be measured. The instrument is suitable for programmable operation making it adaptable to systems operation.
Three-dimensional synthetic blood vessel generation using stochastic L-systems

Segmentation of blood vessels from magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) or computed tomography angiography (CTA) images is a complex process that usually takes a lot of computational resources. Also, most vascular segmentation and detection algorithms do not work properly due to the wide architectural variability of the blood vessels. Thus, the construction of convincing synthetic vascular trees makes it possible to validate new segmentation methodologies. In this work, an extension to the traditional Lindenmayer system (L-system) that generates synthetic 3D blood vessels by adding stochastic rules and parameters to the grammar is proposed. Towards this aim, we implement a parser and a generator of L-systems whose grammars simulate natural features of real vessels such as the bifurcation angle, average length and diameter, as well as vascular anomalies, such as aneurysms and stenoses. The resulting expressions are then used to create synthetic vessel images that mimic MRA and CTA images. In addition, this methodology allows for vessel growth to be limited by arbitrary 3D surfaces, and the vessel intensity profille can be tailored to match real angiographic intensities.
Towards a deeper understanding of fatty acid bioaccessibility and its dependence on culinary treatment and lipid class: a case study of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata)

Abstract The bioaccessibility of total lipids and fatty acids (FA) in raw and grilled gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) was determined using an in vitro digestion model. The particular impact of grilling on the FA profile of seabream was also studied. In addition, the influence of lipid class on the bioaccessibility of each FA was analysed. Grilling did not change the relative FA profile, and only the absolute values were altered. However, the relative FA profile varied across lipid classes, being more dissimilar between TAG and phospholipids. Long-chain SFA and PUFA seemed to be less bioaccessible. Moreover, grilling reduced bioaccessibility of protein, fat and many FA, with the highest reductions found in PUFA such as the DHA. Strong evidence supporting a predominantly regioselective action of lipase during in vitro digestion was found, and the impact of this phenomenon on FA bioaccessibility was assessed.
Identification of a CD4+ T Cell Epitope within the M Protein of a Neurotropic Coronavirus

Abstract A significant CD4+ T cell response against the transmembrane (M) protein can be detected in the spleens of C57BI/6 mice infected intraperitoneally with a sublethal injection of the neurotropic JHM strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV-JHM), but not in those of mice with the chronic demyelinating encephalomyelitis caused by this virus. With the ultimate goal of determining the role of the M-specific response in the pathogenesis of MHV-JHM-induced neurological diseases, CD4+ T cell epitopes within the M protein were identified using vaccinia virus recombinants expressing truncated forms of the protein and peptides spanning most of the M protein in cell proliferation assays. Peptides covering residues 128-147 contain at least one CD4+ T cell epitope for MHV-JHM. Within this region is a sequence (residues 135-143) which matches the recently described MHC class II I-Ab binding motif. Delineation of this epitope should facilitate analysis of the role of the M-specific CD4+ T cell response in the development of acute and chronic neurological infections caused by MHV-JHM.
Pregnancy Loss Rates After Midtrimester Amniocentesis

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to quantify the contemporary procedure-related loss rate after midtrimester amniocentesis using a database generated from patients who were recruited to the First And Second Trimester Evaluation of Risk for Aneuploidy trial. METHODS: A total of 35,003 unselected patients from the general population with viable singleton pregnancies were enrolled in the First And Second Trimester Evaluation of Risk for Aneuploidy trial between 10 3/7 and 13 6/7 weeks gestation and followed up prospectively for complete pregnancy outcome information. Patients who either did (study group, n=3,096) or did not (control group, n=31,907) undergo midtrimester amniocentesis were identified from the database. The rate of fetal loss less than 24 weeks of gestation was compared between the two groups, and multiple logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for potential confounders. RESULTS: The spontaneous fetal loss rate less than 24 weeks of gestation in the study group was 1.0% and was not statistically different from the background 0.94% rate seen in the control group (P=.74, 95% confidence interval –0.26%, 0.49%). The procedure-related loss rate after amniocentesis was 0.06% (1.0% minus the background rate of 0.94%). Women undergoing amniocentesis were 1.1 times more likely to have a spontaneous loss (95% confidence interval 0.7–1.5). CONCLUSION: The procedure-related fetal loss rate after midtrimester amniocentesis performed on patients in a contemporary prospective clinical trial was 0.06%. There was no significant difference in loss rates between those undergoing amniocentesis and those not undergoing amniocentesis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2
Effects of strength and endurance training on antioxidant enzyme gene expression and activity in middle‐aged men

This study was aimed at investigating the effects of a 21‐week period of progressive strength or endurance training on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) antioxidant enzyme gene expression and activity in healthy middle‐aged untrained men. Strength (n=11) and endurance (n=12) training were performed twice a week, including resistance exercises to activate all the main muscle groups or cycle‐ergometer pedaling, respectively. mRNA levels of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and cytosolic superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD) were increased after 21 weeks of strength training, while endurance training induced significant changes only in MnSOD and GPx mRNA levels. CuZnSOD protein content was significantly increased only in strength‐trained subjects. The program of strength or endurance exercise training had no significant effects on the activity of any of the antioxidant enzymes. In conclusion, in a middle‐aged population, 21 weeks of strength or endurance training was a sufficient stimulus to up‐regulate mRNA levels of PBMC antioxidant enzymes, the strength training being a more optimal stimulus. However, the discrepancies between enzyme protein and mRNA levels suggest that the present systematic strength or endurance training period had no beneficial effects on enzymatic antioxidant defense mechanisms in previously untrained middle‐aged men.
Spasmodic Dysphonia: A Review. Part 2: Characterization of Pathophysiology

Objective The purpose of this review is to describe the recent advances in characterizing spasmodic dysphonia. Spasmodic dysphonia is a task-specific focal laryngeal dystonia characterized by irregular and uncontrolled voice breaks. The pathophysiology is poorly understood, and there are diagnostic difficulties. Data Sources PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library. Review Methods The data sources were searched using the following search terms: (spasmodic dysphonia or laryngeal dystonia) and (etiology, aetiology, diagnosis, pathogenesis, or pathophysiology). Conclusion The diagnosis of spasmodic dysphonia can be difficult due to the lack of a scientific consensus on diagnostic criteria and the fact that other voice disorders may present similarly. Confusion can arise between spasmodic dysphonia and muscle tension dysphonia. Spasmodic dysphonia symptoms are tied to particular speech sounds, whereas muscle tension dysphonia is not. With the advent of more widespread use of high-speed laryngoscopy and videokymography, measures of the disruptions in phonation and delays in the onset of vocal fold vibration after vocal fold closure can be quantified. Recent technological developments have expanded our understanding of the pathophysiology of spasmodic dysphonia. Implications for Practice A 3-tiered approach, involving a questionnaire, followed by speech assessment and nasolaryngoscopy is the most widely accepted method for making the diagnosis in most cases. More experimental and invasive techniques such as electromyography and neuroimaging have been explored to further characterize spasmodic dysphonia and aid in diagnosing difficult cases.