Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dimensions of parental alcohol use/problems and offspring temperament, externalizing behaviors, and alcohol use/problems.

BACKGROUND Alcohol consumption (AC) and alcohol problems (AP) are complex traits. How many factors reflecting parental AC and AP are present in the large prospectively followed Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children cohort? Would these factors be uniquely associated with various temperamental and alcohol-related outcomes in the children? METHODS We factor-analyzed multiple items reflecting maternal and paternal AC and AP measured over a 12-year period from before the birth of the child (n = 14,093 families). We examined, by linear regression controlling for socioeconomic status, the relationship between scales derived from these factors and offspring early childhood temperament, externalizing traits, and adolescent AC and AP (ns ranging from 9,732 to 3,454). RESULTS We identified 5 coherent factors: typical maternal AC, maternal AC during pregnancy, maternal AP, paternal AC, and paternal AP. In univariate analyses, maternal and paternal AC and AP were modestly and significantly associated with low shyness, sociability, hyperactivity, and conduct problems in childhood and early adolescence; delinquent behavior at age 15; and AC and AP at ages 15 and 18. AC and AP at age 18 were more strongly predicted by parental factors than at age 15. Maternal AC during pregnancy uniquely predicted externalizing traits at ages 4, 13, and 15. CONCLUSIONS Parental AC and AP are complex multidimensional traits that differ in their association with a range of relevant measures in their children. Controlling for background AC and AP, self-reported levels of maternal AC during pregnancy uniquely predicted externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence.
Tipping the (Im)Balance: Capital Inflows, Financial Market Structure, and Banking Crises

An emerging consensus among scholars and policy&#8208;makers identifies foreign capital inflows as one of the primary determinants of banking crises in developed countries. We challenge this view by arguing that external imbalances are destabilizing only when banks face substantial competition from securities markets in the process of financial intermediation. We assemble a dataset of banking crises covering the advanced industrialized countries from 1976 to 2011 and find evidence of a conditional relationship between capital inflows, a well&#8208;developed securities market, and the incidence of banking crises. We further explore the impact of capital inflows on banks&#8217; actual risk taking as indicated by their capital adequacy levels and measures of insolvency risk. Our results demonstrate that prudential capital cushions tend to decline with the combination of capital inflows and prominent securities markets. We highlight the political decisions&#8212;often made during the early days of a country's financial development&#8212;that determine the relative prominence of banks vs. non&#8208;bank financial institutions and conclude with policy recommendations.
Activity of Somatosensory-Responsive Neurons in High Subdivisions of SI Cortex during Locomotion

Responses of neurons in the primary somatosensory cortex during movements are poorly understood, even during such simple tasks as walking on a flat surface. In this study, we analyzed spike discharges of neurons in the rostral bank of the ansate sulcus (areas 1–2) in 2 cats while the cats walked on a flat surface or on a horizontal ladder, a complex task requiring accurate stepping. All neurons (n = 82) that had receptive fields (RFs) on the contralateral forelimb exhibited frequency modulation of their activity that was phase locked to the stride cycle during simple locomotion. Neurons with proximal RFs (upper arm/shoulder) and pyramidal tract-projecting neurons (PTNs) with fast-conducting axons tended to fire at peak rates in the middle of the swing phase, whereas neurons with RFs on the distal limb (wrist/paw) and slow-conducting PTNs typically showed peak firing at the transition between swing and stance phases. Eleven of 12 neurons with tactile RFs on the volar forepaw began firing toward the end of swing, with peak activity occurring at the moment of foot contact with floor, thereby preceding the evoked sensory volley from touch receptors. Requirement to step accurately on the ladder affected 91% of the neurons, suggesting their involvement in control of accuracy of stepping. During both tasks, neurons exhibited a wide variety of spike distributions within the stride cycle, suggesting that, during either simple or ladder locomotion, they represent the cycling somatosensory events in their activity both predictively before and reflectively after these events take place.
Inter-Seasonal Influenza is Characterized by Extended Virus Transmission and Persistence

The factors that determine the characteristic seasonality of influenza remain enigmatic. Current models predict that occurrences of influenza outside the normal surveillance season within a temperate region largely reflect the importation of viruses from the alternate hemisphere or from equatorial regions in Asia. To help reveal the drivers of seasonality we investigated the origins and evolution of influenza viruses sampled during inter-seasonal periods in Australia. To this end we conducted an expansive phylogenetic analysis of 9912, 3804, and 3941 hemagglutinnin (HA) sequences from influenza A/H1N1pdm, A/H3N2, and B, respectively, collected globally during the period 2009-2014. Of the 1475 viruses sampled from Australia, 396 (26.8% of Australian, or 2.2% of global set) were sampled outside the monitored temperate influenza surveillance season (1 May – 31 October). Notably, rather than simply reflecting short-lived importations of virus from global localities with higher influenza prevalence, we documented a variety of more complex inter-seasonal transmission patterns including “stragglers” from the preceding season and “heralds” of the forthcoming season, and which included viruses sampled from clearly temperate regions within Australia. We also provide evidence for the persistence of influenza B virus between epidemic seasons, in which transmission of a viral lineage begins in one season and continues throughout the inter-seasonal period into the following season. Strikingly, a disproportionately high number of inter-seasonal influenza transmission events occurred in tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, providing further evidence that climate plays an important role in shaping patterns of influenza seasonality.
Experimental Study on Dual Air Supply Downdraft Gasifier for an Improved Producer Gas Quality

Tar reduction is a major technical challenge which needs to be addressed in biomass gasifier systems. This study presents an experimental evaluation of dual air supply downdraft gasifier with respect to better producer gas quality in terms of reduced tar and particulate content. Experiments were conducted by varying the secondary air flow from 15 to 30 % at constant equivalence ratio of 0.4. The secondary air flow was optimized at 25 % with tar content of 241 mg Nm-3 and lower calorific value of 4.51 MJ Nm-3. The dual air supply in the gasifier allowed a reduction of 79 % tar content as a result of partial oxidation of volatile compounds in the pyrolysis zone.
Positive and negative elements regulate a melanocyte-specific promoter

Melanocytes are specialized cells residing in the hair follicles, the eye, and the basal layer of the human epidermis whose primary function is the production of the pigment melanin, giving rise to skin, hair, and eye color. Melanogenesis, a process unique to melanocytes that involves the processing of tyrosine by a number of melanocyte-specific enzymes, including tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1), occurs only after differentiation from the melanocyte precursor, the melanoblast. In humans, melanogenesis is inducible by UV irradiation, with melanin being transferred from the melanocyte in the epidermis to the surrounding keratinocytes as protection from UV-induced damage. Excessive exposure to UV, however, is the primary cause of malignant melanoma, an increasingly common and highly aggressive disease. As an initial approach to understanding the regulation of melanocyte differentiation and melanocyte-specific transcription, we have isolated the gene encoding TRP-1 and examined the cis- and trans-acting factors required for cell-type-specific expression. We find that the TRP-1 promoter comprises both positive and negative regulatory elements which confer efficient expression in a TRP-1-expressing, pigmented melanoma cell line but not in NIH 3T3 or JEG3 cells and that a minimal promoter extending between -44 and +107 is sufficient for cell-type-specific expression. Assays for DNA-protein interactions coupled with extensive mutagenesis identified three factors, whose binding correlated with the function of two positive and one negative regulatory element. One of these factors, termed M-box-binding factor 1, binds to an 11-bp motif, the M box, which acts as a positive regulatory element both in TRP-1-expressing and -nonexpressing cell lines, despite being entirely conserved between the melanocyte-specific tyrosinase and TRP-1 promoters. The possible mechanisms underlying melanocyte-specific gene expression are discussed.
Exploring digital divides: An examination of eHealth technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management in the USA

Recent government initiatives to deploy health information technology in the USA, coupled with a growing body of scholarly evidence linking online heath information and positive health-related behaviors, indicate a widespread belief that access to health information and health information technologies can help reduce healthcare inequalities. However, it is less clear whether the benefits of greater access to online health information and health information technologies is equitably distributed across population groups, particularly to those who are underserved. To examine this issue, this article employs the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) to investigate relationships between a variety of socio-economic variables and the use of the web-based technologies for health information seeking, personal health information management and patient-provider communication within the context of the USA. This study reveals interesting patterns in technology adoption, some of which are in line with previous studies, while others are less clear. Whether these patterns indicate early evidence of a narrowing divide in eHealth technology use across population groups as a result of the narrowing divide in Internet access and computer ownership warrants further exploration. In particular, the findings emphasize the need to explore differences in the use of eHealth tools by medically underserved and disadvantaged groups. In so doing, it will be important to explore other psychosocial variables, such as health literacy, that may be better predictors of health consumers’ eHealth technology adoption.
AutoV: An Automotive Testbed for Real-Time Virtualization

Timing isolation is critical for automotive systems. Real-time virtualization, such as RT-Xen, is a promising technique to integrate legacy automotive systems onto a powerful multi-core platform for achieving better performance and lower cost without breaking the timing isolation. However, the real-time virtualization has never been evaluated with real automotive applications in a non-simulation environment. In order to facilitate the evaluation of real-time virtualization for automotive systems, we propose the AutoV, an affordable and accessible automotive testbed for real-time virtualization. We present a case study to demonstrate the applications of the AutoV.
Alteration in Pimephales promelas mucus production after exposure to nanosilver or silver nitrate

The fish gill's ability to produce mucus effectively is a critical part of the stress response and protection against xenobiotic toxicity. Adult fathead minnows were exposed to silver nitrate (0.82 µg/L or 13.2 µg/L), polyvinylpyrrolidone‐coated silver nanoparticles (11.1 µg/L or 208 µg/L), and citrate‐coated silver nanoparticles (10.1 µg/L or 175 µg/L) for 96 h. Mucus concentrations based on glucose as a surrogate were determined at 0 h, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, 4 h and 24 h after re‐dosing each day. Higher mucus production rates following silver treatment were observed at the beginning as compared to controls and compared to after 3 d of exposure. Control fish produced consistent mucus concentrations throughout the exposure (0.62 mg/L and 0.40 mg/L at 24 h and 96 h, respectively). Following 24 h of exposure, all silver treatment groups produced significantly more mucus than controls. Following 96 h of exposure, mucus concentrations in treatment groups were significantly reduced compared with each respective treatment at 24 h. Reduced mucus production following long‐term silver exposure could prevent the gills from removing silver, and thus increase toxicity. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:2869–2872. © 2014 SETAC
The School Curriculum and Its Influence on Teacher Motivation in Curriculum Implementation in Kenya

A review of empirical studies on teacher motivation indicates decreasing levels of motivation among secondary school teachers ultimately leading to minimal achievements of the projected Kenya’s Vision 2030. This study examined the school curriculum as a determinant of secondary school teacher motivation in Kenya in curriculum implementation. The research adopted a survey study design, adopting mixed methods research approach with an aim of fortifying and converging both quantitative and qualitative data. The respondents were sampled from 46 secondary schools located in Nyeri and Kirinyaga counties of Kenya. The findings of this study inform curriculum planners, education leadership and policy makers on the school curriculum as a core determinant of teacher motivation in secondary schools that influence curriculum implementation in Kenya. Key Words: School Curriculum; Teacher Motivation; Curriculum Implementation
Rethinking CDN design with distributee time-varying traffic demands

The content delivery network (CDN) intensively uses cache to push the content close to end users. Over both traditional Internet architecture and emerging cloud-based framework, cache allocation has been the core problem that any CDN operator needs to address. As the first step for cache deployment, CDN operators need to discover or estimate the distribution of user requests in different geographic areas. This step results in a statistical spatial model for the user requests, which is used as the key input to solve the optimal cache deployment problem. More often than not, the temporal information in user requests is omitted to simplify the CDN design. In this paper, we disclose that the spatial request model alone may not lead to truly optimal cache deployment. By considering the temporal information in user requests, we provide a dynamic traffic based solution to this broadly studied problem. Via experiments over the North American ISPs Points of Presence (PoPs) network, our new solution outperforms traditional CDN design method and saves the overall delivery cost by 16% to 20%.
A Grading System Combining Tumor Budding and Nuclear Diameter Predicts Prognosis in Resected Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma

For lung squamous cell carcinomas, there are no histologic findings that have been universally accepted as prognostic factors. Tumor budding and nuclear grade have been recognized as prognostic factors in other carcinomas. In this study, we investigated whether pathologic findings could determine clinical outcome in Japanese patients with lung squamous cell carcinomas. Tumor slides from surgically resected lung squamous cell carcinomas (1999 to 2012) were reviewed (n=216). Tumors were evaluated for histologic subtypes, differentiation, tumor budding, nuclear diameter, and mitosis. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using the log-rank test and the Cox proportional hazards model. Tumor budding and large nuclei were independent prognostic factors of a worse RFS (P<0.001 and P=0.002, respectively) and a worse OS (P<0.001 and P=0.038, respectively) on multivariate analysis after adjustment for pathologic stage and lymphatic invasion. However, histologic subtypes, differentiation, and mitotic count did not correlate with prognosis. A grading system combining tumor budding and nuclear diameter was an independent prognostic factors of a worse RFS (grade 2 vs. 1, hazard ratio [HR]=2.91; P<0.001, and grade 3 vs. 1, HR=7.60, P<0.001) and a worse OS (grade 2 vs. 1, HR=2.15; P=0.014, and grade 3 vs. 1, HR=4.54, P<0.001). We found that a grading system combining tumor budding and nuclear diameter was a significant prognostic factor among Japanese patients with resected lung squamous cell carcinoma.
Assessing Risk Factors for Dental Caries: A Statistical Modeling Approach

The problem of identifying potential determinants and predictors of dental caries is of key importance in caries research and it has received considerable attention in the scientific literature. From the methodological side, a broad range of statistical models is currently available to analyze dental caries indices (DMFT, dmfs, etc.). These models have been applied in several studies to investigate the impact of different risk factors on the cumulative severity of dental caries experience. However, in most of the cases (i) these studies focus on a very specific subset of risk factors; and (ii) in the statistical modeling only few candidate models are considered and model selection is at best only marginally addressed. As a result, our understanding of the robustness of the statistical inferences with respect to the choice of the model is very limited; the richness of the set of statistical models available for analysis in only marginally exploited; and inferences could be biased due the omission of potentially important confounding variables in the model's specification. In this paper we argue that these limitations can be overcome considering a general class of candidate models and carefully exploring the model space using standard model selection criteria and measures of global fit and predictive performance of the candidate models. Strengths and limitations of the proposed approach are illustrated with a real data set. In our illustration the model space contains more than 2.6 million models, which require inferences to be adjusted for ‘optimism'.
Broad spectrum O-linked protein glycosylation in the human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Protein glycosylation is an important element of biologic systems because of its significant effects on protein properties and functions. Although prominent within all domains of life, O-linked glycosylation systems modifying serine and threonine residues within bacteria and eukaryotes differ substantially in target protein selectivity. In particular, well-characterized bacterial systems have been invariably dedicated to modification of individual proteins or related subsets thereof. Here we characterize a general O-linked glycosylation system that targets structurally and functionally diverse groups of membrane-associated proteins in the Gram-negative bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the etiologic agent of the human disease gonorrhea. The 11 glycoproteins identified here are implicated in activities as varied as protein folding, disulfide bond formation, and solute uptake, as well as both aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Along with their common trafficking within the periplasmic compartment, the protein substrates share quasi-related domains bearing signatures of low complexity that were demonstrated to encompass sites of glycan occupancy. Thus, as in eukaryotes, the broad scope of this system is dictated by the relaxed specificity of the glycan transferase as well as the bulk properties and context of the protein-targeting signal rather than by a strict amino acid consensus sequence. Together, these findings reveal previously unrecognized commonalities linking O-linked protein glycosylation in distantly related life forms.
Medium-term cycles and housing: Is regional integration different?

Drehmann et al. (Drehmann M, Borio C and Tsatsaronis K (2012) Characterising the financial cycle: Don’t lose sight of the medium term! BIS Working Papers, No. 380. Bank for International Settlements, June) of the BIS lament the attention given to medium-term cycles. They highlight a financial cycle characterised by longer cycles in credit and property prices. Although the co-movement of regional residential property prices has been well-explored, they have not been examined in this range. For the UK what is found is that, despite the ripple effect being more evident at the medium-term cycles, the degree of integration is greater than in the business range. Moreover, the segmentation of the UK is related to arcs. An Outer South, which surrounds London, is topped by the Midlands, with a less well integrated Northern grouping. Not only does this appear to reflect a monocentric system, but it also implies that price cycles and price leadership could be related to price levels. With differing price levels as a proxy for sensitivity to financial fluctuations, finance appears to be promoting both housing market integration and, with London, dissimilarity. Drehmann et al.’s call for the medium-term cycles to be made a policy focus is endorsed, but with the proviso that a London-centric view of the impact of credit liberalisation is important for national cohesion.
[Cloning and expression of novel swine gene BCL-G(L) in E.coli and preparation of its polyclonal antibody in guinea pigs].

AIM In order to express a novel gene named as BCL-G(L); of swine in E.coli and prepare its polyclonal antibody. METHODS The contig sequence of the gene was predicted and in silicon cloned by blasting the human BCL-G(L); in swine ESTs database in NCBI. The cloning sequence was obtained by RT-PCR from swine spleen. The cloning sequence was identified by sequencing and compared with the contig sequence. Then the gene was cloned into a prokaryotic expression vector pET-32a to construct a recombinant plasmid named as pET32a-BCL-G(L);. The fusion protein pET32a-BCL-G(L); was expressed in E.coli BL21 and purified using a His-tag fusion protein purification kit. Then guinea pigs were immunized with the purified protein to get the specific polyclonal antibody. RESULTS The titer of the antibody was 1:800 detected by ELISA. The protein BCL-G(L); can be specifically detected by western blot assay using the polyclonal antibody. CONCLUSION The novel swine gene BCL-G(L); was cloned and expressed in E.coli and its polyclonal antibody was prepared successfully.
Structural basis for the phosphorylation of FUNDC1 LIR as a molecular switch of mitophagy

ABSTRACT Mitophagy is a fundamental process that determines mitochondrial quality and homeostasis. Several mitophagy receptors, including the newly identified FUNDC1, mediate selective removal of damaged or superfluous mitochondria through their specific interaction with LC3. However, the precise mechanism by which this interaction is regulated to initiate mitophagy is not understood. Here, we report the solution structure of LC3 in complex with a peptide containing the FUNDC1 LC3-interacting region (LIR) motif. The structure reveals a noncanonical LC3-LIR binding conformation, in which the third LIR residue (Val20) is also inserted into the hydrophobic pocket of LC3, together with the conserved residues Tyr18 and Leu21. This enables Tyr18 to be positioned near Asp19 of LC3, and thus phosphorylation of Tyr18 significantly weakens the binding affinity due to electrostatic repulsion. Functional analysis revealed that mitochondrial targeting of the LIR-containing cytosolic portion of FUNDC1 is necessary and sufficient to initiate mitophagy when Tyr18 is unphosphorylated, even in the absence of mitochondrial fragmentation. Thus, we demonstrated that phosphorylation of Tyr18 of FUNDC1 serves as a molecular switch for mitophagy. This may represent a novel target for therapeutic intervention.