Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interaction of Genome-linked Protein (VPg) of Turnip Mosaic Virus with Wheat Germ Translation Initiation Factors eIFiso4E and eIFiso4F*

The interaction between VPg of turnip mosaic virus and wheat germ eukaryotic translation initiation factors eIFiso4E and eIFiso4F (the complex of eIFiso4E and eIFiso4G) were measured and compared. The fluorescence quenching data showed the presence of one binding site on eIFiso4E for VPg. Scatchard analysis revealed the binding affinity (Ka) and average binding sites (n) for VPg were (8.51 ± 0.21) × 106 M–1 and 1.0, respectively. The addition of eIFiso4G to the eIFiso4E increased the binding affinity 1.5-fold for VPg as compared with eIFiso4E alone. However, eIFiso4G alone did not bind with VPg. The van't Hoff analyses showed that VPg binding is enthalpy-driven and entropy-favorable with a large negative ΔH°(–29.32 ± 0.13 kJmol–1) and positive ΔS° (36.88 ± 0.25 Jmol–1K–1). A Lineweaver-Burk plot indicates mixed-type competitive ligand binding between VPg and anthraniloyl-7-methylguanosine triphosphate for eIFiso4E. Fluorescence stopped-flow studies of eIFiso4E and eIFiso4F with VPg show rapid binding, suggesting kinetic competition between VPg and m7G cap. The VPg protein binds much faster than cap analogs. The activation energies for binding of eIFiso4E and eIFiso4F with VPg were 50.70 ± 1.27 and 75.37 ± 2.95 kJmol–1 respectively. Enhancement of eIFiso4F-VPg binding with the addition of a structured RNA derived from tobacco etch virus suggests that translation initiation involving VPg occurs at internal ribosomal entry sites. Furthermore, the formation of a protein-RNA complex containing VPg suggests the possibility of direct participation of VPg in the translation of the viral genome.
The Valuation of Multiple Options: An Application to the Exchange Rate Market of the Italian Lira

The first part of the paper presents some basic relationships linking multiple options, i.e. options written on several risky assets and, specifically, options on the maximum and the minimum of n assets. This is followed by a description of the features of currency option bonds, which offer their holders a series of multiple currency options, and of the Fong and Vasicek M.A.P. strategy, which consists in replicating the payoff of a call option on the maximum written on several assets. Subsequently, Johnson's equation for pricing options on the maximum of n assets is presented and adapted to the case of currency options, with a test of the underlying assumptions to see whether they apply to the exchange market of the lira. Call options on the maximum written on the dollar, the yen and the DM are then priced and a simulation carried out to replicate the value of these options with a dynamically adjusted portfolio made up of the three underlying currencies. Lastly, a comparison is made of the results obtained by an equally distributed multicurrency portfolio and by a M.A.P. strategy.
Suppression of Allene Oxide Cyclase in Hairy Roots of Medicago truncatula Reduces Jasmonate Levels and the Degree of Mycorrhization with Glomus intraradices1[w]

During the symbiotic interaction between Medicago truncatula and the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus intraradices, an endogenous increase in jasmonic acid (JA) occurs. Two full-length cDNAs coding for the JA-biosynthetic enzyme allene oxide cyclase (AOC) from M. truncatula, designated as MtAOC1 and MtAOC2, were cloned and characterized. The AOC protein was localized in plastids and found to occur constitutively in all vascular tissues of M. truncatula. In leaves and roots, MtAOCs are expressed upon JA application. Enhanced expression was also observed during mycorrhization with G. intraradices. A partial suppression of MtAOC expression was achieved in roots following transformation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes harboring the MtAOC1 cDNA in the antisense direction under control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. In comparison to samples transformed with 35S∷uidA, roots with suppressed MtAOC1 expression exhibited lower JA levels and a remarkable delay in the process of colonization with G. intraradices. Both the mycorrhization rate, quantified by fungal rRNA, and the arbuscule formation, analyzed by the expression level of the AM-specific gene MtPT4, were affected. Staining of fungal material in roots with suppressed MtAOC1 revealed a decreased number of arbuscules, but these did not exhibit an altered structure. Our results indicate a crucial role for JA in the establishment of AM symbiosis.
Herschel spectroscopic observations of the compact obscured nucleus in Zw 049.057

Context. The LIRG Zw 049.057 contains a compact obscured nucleus where a considerable amount of the galaxy's luminosity is generated. This nucleus contains a dusty environment that is rich in molecular gas. One approach to probing this kind of environment and to revealing what is hidden behind the dust is to study the rotational lines of molecules that couple well with the IR radiation emitted by the dust. Methods. We observed Zw 049.057 with PACS and SPIRE onboard the Herschel Space Observatory in rotational lines of H2O, H218O, OH, 18OH, and [O I]. We modeled the unresolved core of the galaxy using a spherically symmetric radiative transfer code. Results. We present the full SPIRE FTS spectrum of Zw 049.057, along with relevant spectral scans in the PACS range. We find that a minimum of two different components (nuclear and extended) are required in order to account for the rich molecular line spectrum. The nuclear component has a radius of 10-30 pc, a very high infrared surface brightness (1e14 Lsun/kpc2), warm dust (Td > 100 K), and a very large H2 column density (NH2 = 1e24-1e25 cm-2). The modeling also indicates high nuclear H2O (5e-6) and OH (4e-6) abundances relative to H2 as well as a low 16O/18O-ratio of 50-100. We also find a prominent infall signature in the [O I] line. We tentatively detect a 500 km/s outflow in the H2O 313->202 line. Conclusions. The high surface brightness of the core indicates the presence of either a buried active galactic nucleus or a very dense nuclear starburst.nThe H2O abundance is comparable to that of other compact (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies such as NGC 4418 and Arp 220 - and also to hot cores in the Milky Way. The enhancement of 18O is a possible indicator that the nucleus of Zw 049.057 is in a similar evolutionary stage as the nuclei of Arp 220 - and more advanced than NGC 4418.
Does Visceral Adiposity Influence the Standard of Care Response for Hepatitis C Patients

Background: A considerable amount of evidence showed how metabolic factors may influence the natural history of patients with chronic hepatitis C and affect the outcome of antiviral therapies. Aim: To evaluate the clinical significance of visceral adiposity index (VAI) as a new predictor of early and sustained virological response (SVR) in hepatitis C patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 hepatitis C virus infected patients under treatment with pegylated interferon and ribavirin and who had a baseline serum lipid profile were included in this prospective study. Results of lipoprotein profiles and clinical data, including body mass index and waist circumference, were compared between patients with a sustained virological response and non-SVR or a non-virological response (NVR) and virological responses other than NVR (non-NVR). In addition, significant predictive factors independently associated with virological response to peg-IFNα-2b plus RBV were determined by statistical analysis. Results: End of treatment complete response was seen in 56% (n=28) and whereas 26% (n=13) were breakthroughers. SVR was seen in 40% (n=20) patients giving 60% failure response. The basal VAI was low in SVR (mean + SD = 1.27 + 0.7) in comparison to the failure group (1.7 + 0.8) and tend to be not markedly elevated at the 48 week when compared with the failure group (1.6 + 56 and 2.22 + 0.71, respectively). Conclusion: Pre-treatment and on-treatment VAI can predict response to treatment and SVR that can help in individualizing treatment and patient selection and optimize treatment outcomes.
An Empirical Effort to Validate Electronic-Government Adoption Model

This chapter is developed from research that investigated and identified the critical factors that contribute to the adoption of Electronic-Government (EG) by the demand side stakeholders, i.e., the end users of EG. The research also validated the EG adoption model (GAM, Shareef et al., 2010) for citizens at different levels of service maturity of EG. To accomplish that task, this chapter provides the methodology and the statistical analysis of the research demonstrating theory development through quantitative research. Selecting an appropriate method of statistical analysis, preparing and presenting data, accurately analyzing statistical data, interpreting data in depth, and drawing a comprehensive conclusion from the results are significant parts of research and have the potential to validate and generalize a model. This chapter then organizes results obtained from statistical analysis and interprets the findings. Finally, the chapter presents EG adoption models for different levels of service maturity. The five sections of the chapter with sub-sections present the theoretical design, methodology, analysis, discussion, and conclusion of the study.
The Exploitation of “Exploitation” in the Tenofovir PrEP Trial in Cameroon: Lessons Learned from Media Coverage of an HIV Prevention Trial

Media coverage influences how clinical trials are perceived internationally and in communities where trials occur, affecting recruitment, retention, and political support for research. We conducted a discourse analysis of news coverage from 2004–2005 of a trial in Cameroon on oral PrEP for HIV prevention, to identify messages, communication techniques, and sources of messages that were amplified via media. We identified two parallel discourses: One on ethical concerns about the Cameroon trial, and a second, more general “science exploitation” discourse concerned with the potential for trials with vulnerable participant populations to be conducted unethically, benefiting only wealthy populations. Researchers should overtly address exploitation as an integral, ongoing component of research, particularly where historical or cultural conditions set the stage for controversy to emerge.
Determining organisation-specific factors for developing health interventions in companies by a Delphi procedure: Organisational Mapping

Companies, seen as social communities, are major health promotion contexts. However, health promotion in the work setting is often less successful than intended. An optimal adjustment to the organisational context is required. Knowledge of which organisation-specific factors are relevant to health promotion is scarce. A Delphi procedure is used to identify these factors. The aim is to contribute to more effective workplace health promotion. The identified factors are described and embedded into a practical methodology (Intervention Mapping). A systematic use of these factors (called ‘Organisational Mapping’) is likely to contribute to more effective health promotion in the work setting.
Shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures at oblique and arbitrary polarizations

Shielding effectiveness of metallic enclosures with apertures when illuminated by an oblique incidence arbitrary polarized plane wave has been studied by using an efficient hybrid modal/moment technique. Shielding effectiveness of rectangular enclosures with one, two, and four apertures at multiple points inside the enclosures for various frequencies has been calculated when the illuminating source flies by the front of the enclosure. The work shows that the shielding effectiveness is seriously affected by frequency, angle of incidence and polarization of the illuminating field; the number and orientation of apertures; and the location inside the cavity. It has been shown that the usual assumption about the normal incidence being the worst-case scenario for shielding effectiveness values may not be valid when there is more than one aperture in the cavity. The paper emphasizes the need for the statistical investigation of shielding effectiveness problem of metallic enclosures with apertures.
Gross motor function of children with down syndrome: creation of motor growth curves.

OBJECTIVE To create gross motor function growth curves for children with Down syndrome (DS) and to estimate the probability that motor functions are achieved by different ages. DESIGN Nonlinear growth curve analysis by using a 2-parameter (rate, upper limit) model. SETTING Early intervention programs, schools, and children's homes. PARTICIPANTS One hundred twenty-one children with DS, ages 1 month to 6 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and severity of motor impairment. RESULTS The curves for children with mild (n = 51) and moderate/severe (n = 70) impairment were characterized by a greater increase in GMFM scores during infancy and smaller increases as the children approached the predicted maximum score of 85.9 or 87.9. The estimated probability that a child would roll by 6 months was 51%; sit by 12 months, 78%; crawl by 18 months, 34%; walk by 24 months, 40%; and run, walk up stairs, and jump by 5 years, 45% to 52%. CONCLUSIONS Children with DS require more time to learn movements as movement complexity increases. Impairment severity affected the rate but not the upper limit of motor function. The results have implications for counseling parents, making decisions about motor interventions, and anticipating the time frame for achievement of motor functions.
Indicators of life-threatening malaria in African children.

BACKGROUND About 90 percent of the deaths from malaria are in African children, but criteria to guide the recognition and management of severe malaria have not been validated in them. METHODS We conducted a prospective study of all children admitted to the pediatric ward of a Kenyan district hospital with a primary diagnosis of malaria. We calculated the frequency and mortality rate for each of the clinical and laboratory criteria in the current World Health Organization (WHO) definition of severe malaria, and then used logistic-regression analysis to identify the variables with the greatest prognostic value. RESULTS We studied 1844 children (mean age, 26.4 months) with a primary diagnosis of malaria. Not included were 18 children who died on arrival and 4 who died of other causes. The mortality rate was 3.5 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 2.7 to 4.3 percent), and 84 percent of the deaths occurred within 24 hours of admission. Logistic-regression analysis identified four key prognostic indicators: impaired consciousness (relative risk, 3.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 7.0), respiratory distress (relative risk, 3.9; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.0 to 7.7), hypoglycemia (relative risk, 3.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.6 to 6.7), and jaundice (relative risk, 2.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 6.3). Of the 64 children who died, 54 were among those with impaired consciousness (n = 336; case fatality rate, 11.9 percent) or respiratory distress (n = 251; case fatality rate, 13.9 percent), or both. Hence, this simple bedside index identified 84.4 percent of the fatal cases, as compared with the 79.7 percent identified by the current WHO criteria. CONCLUSIONS In African children with malaria, the presence of impaired consciousness or respiratory distress can identify those at high risk for death.
Analysis of Invasive Haemophilus influenzae Infections after Extensive Vaccination against H. influenzae Type b

ABSTRACT Little clinical and microbiological information is available about invasive Haemophilus influenzae infection after widespread vaccination against H. influenzae type b (Hib). We conducted an active community surveillance study on invasive H. influenzae during a 2-year period in a community of more than 5 million people after vaccination against Hib in children was introduced. The median incidence was 16.3 cases/100,000 persons per year in children less than 1-year-old and 4.41 cases/100,000 persons in children less than <5 years old. The highest incidence in adults was observed in patients greater than 70 years old. Clinical diagnoses included bacteremia, pneumonia, and meningitis. Of the H. influenzae-infected patients, 74.3% had underlying predisposing conditions, including impaired immunity and respiratory diseases. A total of 73.6% of the isolates were nontypeable and 16.5, 6.6, and 3.3% were types b, f, and e, respectively. Infections due to capsulated strains b, e, and f were evenly distributed between children and adults. Ampicillin and cotrimoxazole resistance occurred at frequencies of 24.2 and 48.4%, respectively. Antibiotic resistance was more prevalent in capsulated than in noncapsulated H. influenzae. Invasive isolates were highly resistant to antibiotics that were used infrequently in the community. Nontypeable H. influenzae were genetically much more heterogeneous than capsulated strains. Capsule-deficient mutants (b−) were not detected. Plasmid carriage was linked to antibiotic resistance and capsulated strains. Over the study period, the incidence of invasive H. influenzae infections, either encapsulated or not, did not increase. In the post-Hib vaccination era, most invasive infections were due to noncapsulated strains and occurred in the extreme ages of life in patients with predisposing conditions.
An Assessment Model for the State of Organizational Readiness Inservice Oriented architecture Implementation Based on Fuzzy Logic

Growth changes in organizations and on the other hand strong need to utilization of information and communication technology possibly implied applying changes in organization in accordance with changes in functionality. What's more, information technology structure, hardware, software and information infrastructure have to be synchronized. One of the most important approaches leading to this goal are service oriented architecture.Service oriented architecture (SOA) is a style of information systems architecture supporting loose coupling of services for flexibility and interoperability of systems and is independent of the technology. The most important achievement of creating service oriented architecture is the need for increasing flexibility, speed and agility. Consequently, it changes in the structure of its organization. According to broad scope of enterprise architecture projects, it is necessary before implementation and the related major cost, organization would be notified of its readiness to get right decisions, develop appropriate strategies and adopt new approach.In this paper, we propose a model for evaluating organizational readiness in order to implement SOA with the use of Mamdani fuzzy logic. According to the results of this assessment method, we can decide more precisely whether an organization is ready to adopt SOA or not.By using this assessment model, organizations can realize their strengths and weaknesses identify their improvement areas and thus increase their readiness. Consequently this model is tested by means of a case study in Tehran municipality ICT organization.
Identifying redundant gate replacements in verification by error modeling

This paper considers verification of combinational circuits by test vectors under assumption of gate and wire replacement faults. Identifying redundant faults is critical to the quality and speed of such verification schemes. We propose the first known exact redundancy identification of gate replacement faults, together with its efficient approximations. While both solutions use the SAT formulation of redundancy identification, we propose the means to effectively use any single stuck-at-value redundancy identification in the approximate schemes, with varying detection accuracy. Critical to the latter are the novel uses of don't care approximations that detect many redundant faults and quickly identify those that can be detected by methods for stuck-at value faults. A test generation scheme that uses the error-correcting properties of Arithmetic Transforms is incorporated into the overall verification procedure, and is shown to provide high fault coverage for these fault models.
Adoption of E-Government Services in Developing Countries: An Empirical Evaluation

E-government initiatives are in their infancy in many developing countries. The success of these initiatives is dependent on government support as well as citizens’ adoption of e-government services. This chapter explains in detail a study that aimed to explore the attitudes and perceptions of citizens regarding the adoption of e-government services in Kuwait, as a developing country. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods, including a questionnaire survey incorporating the amended version of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), as well as usability testing and focus groups. The findings identified factors that determine and influence the adoption of e-government; these were then modeled taking a systemic approach. Based on the results and conclusions of the study, recommendations were made to Kuwaiti officials responsible for the e-government services.
Molecular fluorescence, phosphorescence, and chemiluminescence spectrometry.

The survey stresses advances in the techniques of luminescence spectrometry and in instrumentation related to present or potential analytical luminescence methods. Applications are cited only when they appear to be novel. The review, prepared with the assistance of a computer profile of Chemical Abstracts titles prepared locally, covers literature indexed during the period from December, 1979 through October, 1981. Journals received by the end of November, 1981 have been scanned by the author. As in a previous review, certain topics are excluded. These include all publications concerning atomic fluorescence, molecular luminescence in flames, X-ray fluorescence, solid-state phosphor and semiconductor luminescence (both organic and inorganic), radioluminescence, liquid scintillation counting, photosynthesis and solar energy conversions. Papers dealing with luminescence in liquid, thin-layer, or paper chromatography are cited only when they appear to be of appreciable spectroscopic interest. The literature on fluorescent probing of macromolecular and micellar systems has been excluded almost entirely except for citation of a few general reviews. To keep the number of references from becoming unmanageable, a great deal of arbitrary exclusion of interesting work was necessary. 580 references.
The effects of payments for pharmaceuticals: a systematic literature review

Abstract The existence of different forms of out-of-pocket payments (OOPs) for pharmaceuticals across the globe provokes the question whether they can achieve more negative or positive consequences. A systematic literature review was conducted to assess the association between drug cost sharing and health care services utilization, health care costs as well as health outcomes. Studies published in The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase were searched with such keywords as: drug, pharmaceutical, cost sharing, out of pocket, co-payments paired with the following: impact, health outcomes, health care costs and utilization. The final review included 18 articles. A total of 11 publications reported the association between drug cost sharing and health care utilization patterns, of which nine found a statistically significant direct relationship. In all 10 publications concerned the association between drug copayments and health care costs. Majority were limited to the impact on the drug budget. Seven studies looked into the link between drug cost sharing and health outcomes, of which five reported statistically significant inverse relationship. There is some evidence for the association between drug copayments, health outcomes and health care services consumption. The optimal system of OOPs’ payments for pharmaceuticals needs to prevent drugs’ overconsumption and mitigate the risks of excessive cost sharing’s burden.