Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Arabidopsis Double-Stranded RNA Binding Protein DRB3 Participates in Methylation-Mediated Defense against Geminiviruses

ABSTRACT Arabidopsis encodes five double-stranded RNA binding (DRB) proteins. DRB1 and DRB2 are involved in microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis, while DRB4 functions in cytoplasmic posttranscriptional small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathways. DRB3 and DRB5 are not involved in double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) processing but assist in silencing transcripts targeted by DRB2-associated miRNAs. The goal of this study was to determine which, if any, of the DRB proteins might also participate in a nuclear siRNA pathway that leads to geminivirus genome methylation. Here, we demonstrate that DRB3 functions with Dicer-like 3 (DCL3) and Argonaute 4 (AGO4) in methylation-mediated antiviral defense. Plants employ repressive viral genome methylation as an epigenetic defense against geminiviruses, using an RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway similar to that used to suppress endogenous invasive DNAs such as transposons. Chromatin methylation inhibits virus replication and transcription, and methylation-deficient host plants are hypersusceptible to geminivirus infection. Using a panel of drb mutants, we found that drb3 plants uniquely exhibit a similar hypersensitivity and that viral genome methylation is substantially reduced in drb3 compared to wild-type plants. In addition, like dcl3 and ago4 mutants, drb3 plants fail to recover from infection and cannot accomplish the viral genome hypermethylation that is invariably observed in asymptomatic, recovered tissues. Small RNA analysis, bimolecular fluorescence complementation, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments show that DRB3 acts downstream of siRNA biogenesis and suggest that it associates with DCL3 and AGO4 in distinct subnuclear compartments. These studies reveal that in addition to its previously established role in the miRNA pathway, DRB3 also functions in antiviral RdDM. IMPORTANCE Plants use RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) as an epigenetic defense against geminiviruses. RNA silencing pathways in Arabidopsis include five double-stranded RNA binding proteins (DRBs) related to Drosophila R2D2 and mammalian TRBP and PACT. While DRB proteins have defined roles in miRNA and cytoplasmic siRNA pathways, a role in nuclear RdDM was elusive. Here, we used the geminivirus system to show that DRB3 is involved in methylation-mediated antiviral defense. Beginning with a panel of Arabidopsis drb mutants, we demonstrated that drb3 plants uniquely show enhanced susceptibility to geminiviruses. Further, like dcl3 and ago4 mutants, drb3 plants fail to hypermethylate the viral genome, a requirement for host recovery. We also show that DRB3 physically interacts with the RdDM pathway components DCL3 and AGO4 in the nucleus. This work highlights the utility of geminiviruses as models for de novo RdDM and places DRB3 protein in this fundamental epigenetic pathway.
A second thought on second look laparotomy

Between 1982 and 1987, 43 patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma, identified as International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Stages I‐IV, underwent second‐look laparotomy as a part of their treatment protocol. Twenty‐nine patients (67%) had no evidence of residual disease, five (11.6%) had residual disease 1 cm, and nine patients (20%) had residual disease 1 cm at re‐exploration. Persistent disease at the second operation was positively correlated with the initial clinical stage, and negatively correlated with the extent of the original cytoreductive surgery. Fifteen of 29 patients with negative findings (52%) developed recurrent disease within two years. All recurrences were limited to the abdominal cavity only. Three and five years survival, for the patients with negative findings, was 62% and 48% respectively. No documented benefit to the patients could be demonstrated by adopting second‐look laparotomy as a routine procedure in the management of patients with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. In view of our data, as well as that of others, such operations cannot be considered a valuable routine procedure. At this point, second‐look laparotomy may have a role in evaluating the efficacy of a post‐surgical new chemotherapy treatment regimen.
Calendar Effects in AAPL Value-at-Risk

This study investigates calendar anomalies: day-of-the-week effect and seasonal effect in the Value-at-Risk (VaR) analysis of stock returns for AAPL during the period of 1995 through 2015. The statistical properties are examined and a comprehensive set of diagnostic checks are made on the two decades of AAPL daily stock returns. Combing the Extreme Value Approach together with a statistical analysis, it is learnt that the lowest VaR occurs on Fridays and Mondays typically. Moreover, high Q4 and Q3 VaR are observed during the test period. These results are valuable for anyone who needs evaluation and forecasts of the risk situation in AAPL. Moreover, this methodology, which is applicable to any other stocks or portfolios, is more realistic and comprehensive than the standard normal distribution based VaR model that is commonly used.
Managing mealtime tasks: told by persons with dementia.

AIM To capture the self-description of managing mealtime tasks by persons with dementia. BACKGROUND There are several factors that negatively affect food intake in persons with dementia that may increase the risk of developing malnutrition. Difficulties in managing daily activities increase gradually and mealtime tasks like food shopping, cooking and eating often become troublesome. Still, little is known about how persons with dementia themselves experience this issue. DESIGN A qualitative study with an ethnographic approach. METHOD Ten women and five men aged 69-86 with dementia were interviewed. Interviews were carried out in the informants' own homes and a thematic analysis was performed. RESULTS The informants described that they wanted to be independent and that the memory loss was not affecting them to a great extent. Old habits and routines, as well as newly developed strategies, helped them manage mealtime tasks despite the disease. Informants were satisfied with their current situation, even though it sometimes meant that they had changed their way of managing mealtime tasks, for instance receiving meals-on-wheels. CONCLUSIONS Persons with dementia seem to be able to manage mealtime tasks and these activities were based on old habits and routines. Independence was highly valued and managing mealtime tasks seems to be one way to appear independent. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE It is important for caregivers to understand that persons with dementia might not express difficulties in managing mealtime tasks for fear of losing their independence. It is, therefore, important to create a trustful relationship even before problems arise to be able to support the persons when necessary.
Evaluation of Serum Perforin, Caspase-3, sFasL and M-30 Levels as Apoptotic Markers in Children With Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Background: Apoptosis is a main regulator in responses of cellular immunity throughout systemic viral infections. Perforin, soluble Fas ligand, caspase-3 and caspase-cleaved cytokeratin-18 (M-30) are mediators of apoptosis. The aim of this study is the evaluation of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) disease changes in the levels of these apoptotic markers and the relation of these changes with disease severity. Methods: Forty-nine hospitalized children with CCHF and 36 healthy controls were enrolled in this prospective study. The CCHF patients were classified into 2 groups based on disease severity (severe group and nonsevere group). Demographic characteristics and clinical and laboratory findings of all patients were recorded on admission. Results: Serum perforin, caspase-3 and soluble Fas ligand levels were found to be significantly higher both in the severe and nonsevere CCHF groups than the healthy control group (P < 0.05), but there was no significant difference in these apoptotic markers between severe and nonsevere CCHF groups (P > 0.05). In addition, serum M-30 levels did not differ significantly among all groups (P > 0.05). There was a positive correlation between serum values for perforin, caspase-3 and M-30 and the disease’s severity criteria such as aspartate aminotransferase and/or alanine aminotransferase. The serum levels of all these markers were negatively correlated with disease severity criteria such as the platelet count. Conclusions: In this study, we concluded that the interactions of cytolytic granules containing perforin and caspase cascade and Fas-FasL may play an important role in the pathogenesis of CCHF in children.
Nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: incidence and risk factor analysis.

BACKGROUND Nausea and vomiting after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are common in clinical practice, but few studies have reported the incidence and risk factors of such events. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to analyze the incidence and risk factors of nausea and vomiting after TACE for HCC. METHODS This study was a single-center retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database. Between May 2010 and October 2012, 150 patients with HCC were analyzed for incidence and preprocedural risk factors. RESULTS The incidence of postembolization nausea and vomiting was 38.8% and 20.9%, respectively, in patients with HCC. Patients who developed nausea had lower levels (<100 IU/L) of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) compared to those without nausea (123.04 ± 69.38 vs. 167.41 ± 138.95, respectively, p=0.044). Female gender correlated to a higher incidence of nausea as well (p=0.024). Patients who developed vomiting, compared to those who did not, also had lower levels (<100 IU/L) of serum ALP (112.52 ± 62.63 vs. 160.10 ± 127.80, respectively, p=0.010), and serum alanine transferase (ALT) (35.61 ± 22.87 vs. 44.97 ± 29.62, respectively, p=0.045). There were no statistical significances in the incidences of nausea and vomiting between male patients over 50 years old and female patients who have entered menopause (p=0.051 and p=0.409, respectively). Multivariate analysis by logistic regression analysis demonstrated that female gender and ALP>100 IU/L were the most independent predictive factors of postembolization nausea (odds ratio (OR): 3.271, 95% CI: 1.176-9.103, p=0.023 and OR: 0.447, 95% CI: 0.216-0.927, p=0.030, respectively). ALP>100 IU/L was also the most independent predictive risk factor of postembolization vomiting (OR: 0.389, 95% CI: 0.159-0.952, p=0.039). CONCLUSIONS Postembolizaiton nausea and vomiting are common in patients with HCC. Recognition of the risk factors presented above before TACE is important for early detection and proper management of postembolization nausea and vomiting. Nevertheless, future studies are required.
The role of the 3D environment in hypoxia-induced drug and apoptosis resistance.

BACKGROUND 3D tumors express different adhesion receptors from those expressed in monolayers, leading to a distinct microenvironment. The third dimension also brings mass transport into relevance, as inadequate diffusion of oxygen produces hypoxia. This study investigates the effects of distinct 3D environments on hypoxia-associated apoptosis and drug resistance. MATERIALS AND METHODS Under hypoxia and normoxia, U251 glioma cells and U87 astrocytoma cells were grown as spheroids on flat substrates, scaffolds seeded with dispersed cells, and spheroid-seeded scaffolds. The samples were subsequently treated with doxorubicin and resveratrol, known inducers of apoptosis. RESULTS All 3D environments induced increased but distinct resistance to apoptosis, as evident by lower caspase-3 activity, and higher production of anti-apoptotic proteins BCL-2 and survivin. Hypoxic monolayers also exhibited higher resistance to doxorubicin and higher production of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), but lower production of BCL-2 and survivin. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that in vitro, 3D models acquire greater apoptosis resistance via up-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins, and that the precise mechanism depends on the individual 3D microenvironment.
Enhancing the reliability of two-way vehicle-to-grid communications

Narrowband power line communications (NB-PLC) and unlicensed wireless communications are the two leading communications technologies for the emerging two-way Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) communications applications. In this paper, we exploit the media diversity provided by the availability of both the NB-PLC and wireless links to enhance the robustness against the interference and noise encountered on both links. In particular, we propose two efficient media diversity selection schemes to exploit the decoupled nature of the two communication links to reduce the bit error rate (BER) and increase the reliability of the V2G communication system. In addition, we derive closed-form expressions for the BER of our proposed media diversity selection schemes. Furthermore, we present simulation results that quantify the performance gains achieved by our proposed media diversity selection schemes compared to a single link (i.e. wireless-only or PLC-only) performance.
In-Cabin Wideband Channel Characterization for WAIC Systems

The work presented here deals with in-cabin aircraft wireless channel characterization in a short-range aircraft. Both large-scale and small-scale parameters were extracted for 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz frequency bands. Results are analyzed and compared for multiple scenarios and for both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) situations. The mean path-loss exponents are 1.9 for 2.45 GHz and 1.6 for 5.8 GHz frequency bands which is different from some previous results obtained in relatively wide-body aircrafts. The mean coherence bandwidth determined for 2.45 GHz is 760 kHz while for 5.8 GHz it corresponds to 970 kHz. RMS delay-spread mean values lie around 19 to 33 ns for the lower band and 16 to 25 ns for the higher band. The statistical analysis revealed a delay-spread following lognormal distribution. Finally, the Rice model for LOS scenario, showed a better fit for the multipath fading envelope with an average-factor of 8.5 dB and 11 dB for 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz, respectively.
Increasing breastfeeding rates among African-American women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children: application of Social Cognitive Theory

ABSTRACT Breastfeeding offers tremendous health benefits to both child and mother. In spite of these many benefits, current rates of breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity among African-American women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are lower than rates of other ethnic groups. The decision to breastfeed is complicated, and strategies are needed to increase breastfeeding rates among these women. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) offers hope for understanding these complicated decisions and for developing strategies to overcome this problem. The purpose of this paper is to explore the literature and develop strategies based on SCT to increase breastfeeding among African-American women enrolled in WIC.
Identification of group A rotavirus gene 4 types by polymerase chain reaction

Five genetically distinct human rotavirus (HRV) gene 4 groups have been described on the basis of comparative nucleotide sequencing and the predicted amino acid sequences, and at least four of them represent distinct VP4 antigenic types. To identify each gene 4 type and investigate its distribution in HRV isolates from patients with diarrhea, we developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) typing method using sequence information available for four genetically distinct gene 4 types. Rotavirus double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) isolated from stool samples were first reverse transcribed and amplified by PCR by using two oligonucleotide primers that correspond to regions that are highly conserved among all known HRV gene 4 types. The 876-bp dsDNA products were then reamplified by PCR in the presence of a cocktail containing one conserved plus-sense primer and four type-specific minus-sense primers (selected from the hypervariable region of gene 4), resulting in products of 345, 483, 267, and 391 bp corresponding to gene 4 types 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. This method reliably identified the gene 4 types of 16 well-characterized HRV isolates. Our results were independently confirmed for all 16 strains by reverse transcription and PCR amplification of HRV dsRNA in the presence of alternate type-specific primer pairs. For direct gene 4 typing of HRV in stool samples, we developed a method to extract rotavirus dsRNA from stool specimens by using glass powder. Our results suggest that gene 4 typing will be useful in providing more a complete characterization of HRV strains of epidemiologic or vaccine-related interest.
Assessment of Multiple Task Activation and Reproducibility in Patients with Benign and Low-grade Neoplasms

Twenty-four patients with proven benign and low-grade brain neoplasms each performed two iterations of four fMRI paradigms: language (word generation), primary and association auditory (text listening), upper limb fine motor control (alternating-limb bilateral finger tapping), and primary visual perception (reversing checkerboard). Activation clusters with varying thresholds were generated for each scan and used to calculate reproducibility parameters: Difference in the Center of Mass (COM) location, Rsize, and Roverlap. The average difference in the COM, Rsize, and Roverlap values ranged from 1.70 ± 0.53 mm −10.60 ± 3.21 mm, 0.6 ± 0.04–0.90 ± 0.05 and 0.23 ± 0.12 −1 ± 0.16 respectively for all tasks. These values are within the range of, or higher than, previously published reports on fMRI test-retest precision. FMRI is indicated to be a noninvasive tool with acceptable reproducibility measures for assessing the localizations of multiple language and sensorimotor functions in patients scheduled for radiotherapy treatment.
Identification of lactococci and enterococci by colony hybridization with 23S rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes

Specific sequences of 23S rRNA of Lactococcus lactis, Enterococcus faecalis, Enteroccus faecium, and Enterococcus malodoratus/Enterococcus avium were identified, and complementary oligonucleotide probes were synthesized. The specificity of the probes was evaluated by dot blot and colony hybridizations. The probes can be used for the specific detection and identification of colonies of the corresponding species in mixed cultures.
Capital Budgeting and Management Practices: Smoothing Out Rough Spots in Government Outlays

Public capital budgeting and management literature recommends longâ€ term capital and fiscal planning practices to prevent large fluctuations in outlays caused by fiscal stresses. This study extends the literature by examining the effects of longâ€ term capital planning and management practices such as the use of a capital budget, separate impact analyses, and the use of bond financing and dedicated revenue sources on capital spending volatility. The empirical results confirm that several of these practices smooth out state government capital outlays that vary because of socioâ€ economic and financial factors.
The savings behaviour and decision-making of scheme participants in Save As You Earn employee stock ownership plans

This thesis makes a significant contribution towards an underdeveloped yet growing strand of research that has emerged in recent years seeking to identify which specific factors are most influential on the savings behaviour and decision-making of scheme participants in broad-based employee stock ownership plans. More specifically, this study conducts empirical analysis into a savings related share option scheme known as Save As You Earn in the pursuit of answering three key research questions. The first research question seeks to identify which factors best account for how much a scheme participant chooses to place within their plan. The second research question focuses on identifying which variables are shown to alter the concentration of monthly savings directed into Save As You Earn as a proportion of a scheme participant’s total monthly wealth. The final research question focuses on which determinants best explain decisions at the point of maturity, when scheme participants are faced with the opportunity to purchase shares in their employer or take the cash. In terms of the explanatory variables explored, this study includes measures for socio-demographic factors, employment-related attributes, motives for joining, attitudes towards their employer and job, risk preferences, perceptions of past share price movements and whether a scheme participant has received financial education. The research findings presented within this thesis are derived from conducting univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis upon a cross-section of two thousand and fifty one survey responses from ten separate companies from a across range of industries. While this study finds that some traditional economic factors are partially able to explain a scheme participant’s savings behaviour, the major academic contribution of this research is to document that financial literacy and financial education has a recognisable and notable impact on a scheme participant’s financial decision-making.
Influence of Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents on Glycated Hemoglobin in Nondiabetic Kidney Diseases at the Start of Dialysis

Background: Although glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) is a practical tool to assess long-term glucose control in the general population, it may underestimate glycemic control in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients – especially those undergoing treatment with erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA). We evaluated the association of HbA1C with other parameters of glucose homeostasis and tested its association with ESA use and mortality in nondiabetic incident dialysis patients. Methods: We studied 270 nondiabetic CKD stage 5 patients referred to initiate dialysis therapy [median age: 54 years (43–63), 154 males]. Patients were followed for up to 5 years for survival analysis. Results: HbA1C was positively correlated with age (Rho = 0.13; p = 0.031), C-reactive protein (Rho = 0.14; p = 0.024), total cholesterol (Rho = 0.19; p = 0.001), triglycerides (Rho = 0.21; p < 0.001) and glucose (Rho = 0.21; p = 0.001), but it was negatively correlated with HDL-cholesterol (Rho = –0.22; p < 0.001) and ESA dose (Rho = –0.27; p < 0.001). Across increasing HbA1C tertiles, increased glucose levels and reduced use of ESA and dose of ESA were observed (p < 0.001), but there were no differences in insulin and HOMA index. In a stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis, ESA dose was negatively associated with logHbA1C. HbA1C did not predict mortality. Conclusion: In nondiabetic CKD stage 5 patients, HbA1C levels were associated with ESA dose. HbA1C was not independently associated with surrogate markers of insulin resistance or mortality.