Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smad pathway‐specific transcriptional regulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p21WAF1/Cip1

Transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) inhibits epithelial cell growth, in part via transcriptional induction of the cell cycle inhibitor p21WAF1/Cip1 (p21). We show that bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)‐7 induces higher p21 expression than TGF‐β1 in various epithelial cells. Despite this, BMP‐7 only weakly suppresses epithelial cell proliferation, as Id2, a cell cycle‐promoting factor, becomes concomitantly induced by BMP‐7. Signaling studies with all type I receptors of the TGF‐β superfamily show that BMP receptors induce higher p21 expression than TGF‐β/activin receptors. Smad4 is essential for p21 regulation by all receptor pathways. Based on the previously known ability of c‐Myc to block p21 expression and epithelial growth arrest in response to TGF‐β1, we demonstrate that ectopic c‐Myc expression can abrogate Smad‐mediated p21 induction by all TGF‐β and BMP receptors. Furthermore, p21 induction by all receptor pathways can be blocked by the natural inhibitors of the TGF‐β superfamily. Smad7 inhibits all pathways whereas Smad6 selectively inhibits the BMP pathways. The observed pathway specificity reflects the efficiency by which BMP Smads, compared to TGF‐β Smads, transactivate the p21 promoter. In addition, BMP‐specific Smads, Smad1, Smad5, and especially Smad8, induce endogenous p21 mRNA and protein levels, while they fail to induce epithelial growth inhibition when compared to TGF‐β receptor‐phosphorylated Smads (R‐Smads), Smad2 and Smad3. Thus, p21 is a common target of all TGF‐β superfamily pathways. However, the ability of TGF‐β superfamily members to induce cell growth arrest depends on the regulation of additional gene targets. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Literature-based reading instruction: Problems, possibilities & polemics in the struggle to change

Concerns are being raised in both professional literature as well as in the popular press regarding certain aspects of the literature-based movement. A longitudinal study investigated a group of first-grade teachers who have been attempting (with varying degrees of success) to introduce literature-based teaching strategies into their classrooms. The experiences of these teachers were inspected in relation to four areas of concern that have been raised regarding literature-based teaching: (1) skills instruction; (2) guided reading strategies; (3) literature selection; and (4) thematic teaching (or curriculum integration). Results indicated that the teachers varied considerably in their instruction as they wrestled with the issue of how best to guide students toward appropriate practice and success with texts that were uncontrolled in terms of vocabulary. Findings provide support for both sides of an increasingly polarized and strident debate over the merits of literature-based teaching. Contains 29 references. (Author/RS) ************************************************************ Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Literature-Based Reading Instruction: Problems, Possibilities, and Polemics in the Struggle to Change James V. Hoffman Sarah J. McCarthey Debra Bayles Bonnie Elliott Angela Ferree Debra Price The University of Texas at Austin Judy Abbott West Virginia University U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Liz' This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Niq IllV' National Reading Research Center READING RESEARCH REPORT NO. 67
Simulated microgravity induced damage in human retinal pigment epithelial cells.

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to determine the potential damage to the human retina that may occur from weightlessness during space flight using simulated microgravity. METHODS Human retinal pigment epithelial (hRPE) cells were cultured for 24 h in a National Aeronautics and Space Administration-designed rotating wall bioreactor vessel to mimic the microgravity environment of space. Single-stranded breaks in hRPE DNA induced by simulated gravity were measured using the comet assay. In addition, the production of the inflammatory mediator prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was measured in these cells 48 h after recovery from simulated microgravity exposure. RESULTS Simulated microgravity induced single-stranded breaks in the hRPE DNA that were not repaired within 48 h. Furthermore, PG E2 production was dramatically increased 48 h after the initial microgravity-induced damage, indicating the induction of an inflammatory response. There was less DNA damage and no PGE2 release in hRPE cells pretreated with the antiinflammatory agent cysteine during their exposure to microgravity. CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated that the microgravity environment generated by a NASA-designed rotating wall bioreactor vessel induces an inflammatory response in hRPE cells. This system thus constitutes a new model system for the study of inflammation in the retina, a system that does not involve the introduction of an exogenous chemical agent or supplementary irradiation. This in vitro method may also be useful for testing novel therapeutic approaches for suppression of retinal inflammation. Furthermore, we suggest a safe prophylactic treatment for prevention of acute, transitory, or enhanced age-related permanent blindness in astronauts or flight personnel engaged in long-haul flights.
Challenges to Applying Virtual Reality Technology and Techniques to Visual Analytics

Visual analytics is the science of analytical reasoning facilitated by interactive visual interfaces. It has grown out of and is strongly related to information visualization. Visual analytic tools assist analysts in detecting the expected and discovering the unexpected from complex, noisy, incomplete, heterogeneous, and sometimes deliberately deceptive data. VR/AR research has claimed for years to provide the potential for more effective environments to understand and explore information spaces. This would seem to make VR technology a natural for application to visual analytics. However, visual analytics is focused on the analytical process not the tools and technology. As such, any new methods, techniques, and technologies need to show benefit to analysts working on real problems. Additionally, the majority of visual analytics research funding is not focused on disruptive physical interface technologies. Generally speaking, new technologies and techniques for visual analytics need to function within the current analytical environment. The purpose of this panel is to introduce the domain of visual analytics to the audience and explore how and where VR/AR research can be adapted for use in visual analytics. The panelists have been selected based on topic areas of research that have potential for near term insertion or impact on visual analytics. This panel will focus on the hard issues of defining what it will take to get VR technology introduced into the visual analytics research funding stream.
Changing public support for welfare sanctioning in Britain and the Netherlands: A persuasion experiment

During the last few decades, welfare sanctioning has come to play an increasingly central role in the institutional design of, and the philosophical and political approach to, most welfare states. Although much attention has been given to the morality and effectiveness of such policies, there is limited research that examines their social legitimacy. In this article we map public support for welfare sanctioning for unemployed people who do not want to accept jobs with wages or skill levels lower than their previous jobs. Our main contribution to the literature lies in the aim to discover how the social legitimacy of this policy can be increased or reduced by providing moral and economic counterarguments in a persuasion experiment. We use five waves of panel data administered in 2014-15 among approximately 9,000 respondents in Britain and the Netherlands. We show that support for welfare sanctioning is high in the two countries. Findings indicate that arguments opposing the policy reduce support to a greater extent than arguments in favor of the policy are able to improve its social legitimacy. We found moral arguments, considering the well-being of unemployed people, to be more effective than economic arguments focusing on the effects of the policy on welfare spending. In Britain, people are more persistent in their support than in the Netherlands, which could be because the debate on this topic is more polarized in Britain. Also, people with higher political interests, higher education, and men are less likely to change opinions after being confronted with counterarguments.
Akt/PKB plays role of apoptosis relay on entry into first mitosis of mouse embryo

Summary The cell-cycle regulators that control meiotic divisions also regulate the events that accompany the oocyte-to-zygote transition. Thus, the meiotic machinery functions as an internal pacemaker that propels the oocyte toward embryogenesis. The preimplantation embryo expresses a number of receptors that are important for initial activity of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase–protein kinase B (PI3K-Akt/PKB) pathway. The complete PI3K-Akt/PKB-CDK1 cascade is implicated as a key regulator of a number of cellular functions. Selective inhibition of protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) with inhibitor SH6 and cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) with inhibitor roscovitine arrest development of the 1-cell preimplantation mouse embryo before entry into the first mitosis. The pronuclei of these inhibited embryos migrate to one another, but do not progress to pronuclei envelope breakdown and pronuclear fusion running immediately before the onset of mitosis. SH6-treated 1-cell mouse embryos showed a high occurrence of apoptosis features (nuclear fragmentation, positive terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL), active caspase-3 in both cytoplasm and nucleoplasm). In the Akt/PKB-inhibited embryos, the active phosphorylated form Ser473Akt/PKB was not detected in pronuclear areas when compared with inhibitor-free controls. Although CDK1-inhibited 1-cell embryos also failed to enter into the first mitosis, the presence of apoptotic cell death features was not observed. In the roscovitine-treated embryos, Ser473Akt/PKB was detected in the pronuclei independently of CDK1 activity. We conclude that Akt/PKB plays an important role during entry of the 1-cell mouse embryo into the first mitosis, and probably functions as a relay in the cell-cycle stage. We assume that Akt/PKB is the primary target responsible for mediating anti-apoptotic signals in the 1-cell mouse embryo.
Impact of Fear of Identity Theft and Perceived Risk on Online Purchase Intention

Abstract Background and Purpose: Online activities are present in almost every aspect of people’s daily lives. Online purchases are also increasing each year and therefore it is important to investigate what influences online purchase intentions. Online purchase intentions are among everything else, influenced by the fear of identity theft and perceived risk. Design/Methodology/Approach: The online survey was conducted among 190 participants from Slovenia. The relations between the constructs of fear of financial losses, fear of reputational damage, perceived risk and online purchase intention were investigated. Results: The research showed that the relations between the constructs of fear of financial losses, fear of reputational damage, perceived risk are positive and the relation between the constructs of perceived risk and online purchase intention were negative. All of the relations were statistically significant. Conclusion: Understanding the impact of fear of identity theft and perceived risk on online purchase intention can be helpful for online sellers, because with these findings they can manage this fear and perceived risk to increase online purchase intention and address the risks accordingly. Online sellers should therefore regard new findings from the field of online sales. If an online store wants to have success in sales, they should consider all sides of customers’ desires as well as their restraints.
Electrical impedence tomography and heterogeneity of pulmonary perfusion and ventilation in porcine acute lung injury

Background: The heterogeneity of pulmonary ventilation (V), perfusion (Q) and V/Q matching impairs gas exchange in an acute lung injury (ALI). This study investigated the feasibility of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to assess the V/Q distribution and matching during an endotoxinaemic ALI in pigs.
Growth and Financial Profiles Amongst Manufacturing SMEs from Australia's Business Longitudinal Survey

The principal objective of this paper is to compare and contrast financial profiles for a longitudinal panel of 871 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) In the Australian manufacturing sector that have embarked upon different development pathways and to examine possible connections between enterprise growth and the experience of common financial problems. Collectively, the findings represent a departure from much received knowledge in SME financial scholarship. The experience of growth seems not to have influenced the return on Investment, asset structure, financial structure, liquidity and solvency ratios of the SMEs studied; but the margin, operating expenses, turnover, and financing expense ratios do appear to be affected by growth. Overall, the financial profiles produced are quite unremarkable; there Is no evidence of problematic financial consequences of growth. The only differences in financial profiles found are those that are readily explained by differences in the scale or growth resource needs of the businesses examined.
Linked Source and Target Domain Subspace Feature Transfer Learning -- Exemplified by Speech Emotion Recognition

The typical inherent mismatch between the test and training corpora and by that between 'target' and 'source' sets usually leads to significant performance downgrades. To cope with this, this study presents a feature transfer learning method using Denoising Auto encoders (DAEs) to build high order subspaces of the source and target corpora, where features in the source domain are transferred to the target domain by an additional neural network. To exemplify effectiveness of our approach, we select the INTERSPEECH Emotion Challenge's FAU Aibo Emotion Corpus as target corpus and further two publicly available databases as source corpora for extensive and reproducible evaluation. The experimental results show that our method significantly improves over the baseline performance and outperforms today's state-of-the-art domain adaptation methods.
Precursor‐Directed Biosynthesis of Novel Triketide Lactones

Precursor‐directed biosynthesis was used to produce different triketide lactones (R‐TKLs) in a fermentation process. Plasmids expressing engineered versions of the first subunit of 6‐deoxyerythronolide B synthase (DEBS1) fused to the terminal DEBS thioesterase (TE) were introduced into three different Streptomyces strains. The DEBS1 protein fused to TE had either an inactivated ketosynthase domain (KS1°) or a partial DEBS1 lacking module 1 but containing module 2 (M2+TE). Different synthetic precursors were examined for their effect on R‐TKL production. An overproducing strain of S. coelicolor expressing the M2+TE protein was found to be best for production of R‐TKLs. Racemic precursors were as effective as enantiomerically pure precursors in the fermentation process. The R group on the precursor significantly affected titer (propyl ≫ chloromethyl > vinyl). The R‐TKLs were unstable in fermentation broth at pH 6–8. A two‐phase fermentation with a pH shift was implemented to stabilize the products. The fermentation pH initially was controlled at optimal values for cell growth (pH 6.5) and then shifted to 5.5 during production. This doubled peak titers and stabilized the product. Finally, the concentration of synthetic precursor in the fermentation was optimized to improve production. A maximum titer of 500 mg/L 5‐chloromethyl‐TKL was obtained using 3.5 g/L precursor.
XBP1s Is an Anti-lipogenic Protein*

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been shown to contribute to various metabolic diseases, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes. Reduction of ER stress by treatment with chemical chaperones or overexpression of ER chaperone proteins alleviates hepatic steatosis. Nonetheless, X-box binding protein 1s (XBP1s), a key transcription factor that reduces ER stress, has been proposed as a lipogenic transcription factor. In this report, we document that XBP1s leads to suppression of lipogenic gene expression and reduction of hepatic triglyceride and diacylglycerol content in livers of diet-induced obese and genetically obese and insulin-resistant ob/ob mice. Furthermore, we also show that PKCϵ activity, which correlates with fatty liver and which causes insulin resistance, was significantly reduced in diet-induced obese mice. Finally, we have shown that XBP1s reduces the hepatic fatty acid synthesis rate and enhances macrolipophagy, an initiating step in lipolysis. Our results reveal that XBP1s reduces hepatic lipogenic gene expression and improves hepatosteatosis in mouse models of obesity and insulin resistance, which leads us to conclude that XBP1s has anti-lipogenic properties in the liver.
Establishment and characterization of 12 uterine cervical‐carcinoma cell lines: Common sequence variation in the E7 gene of HPV‐16‐positive cell lines

A total of 12 carcinoma cell lines of the human uterine cervix were established from 5 keratinizing and 5 non‐keratinizing squamous‐cell carcinomas, and 2 small‐cell carcinomas. Of these, 10 lines grew as adherent cells and 2 as floating aggregates. All lines showed (i) similarity in morphology to the primary tumor from which they were derived; (ii) high viability with relatively long doubling times (48–96 hr); (iii) absence of Mycoplasma and other bacteria, apart from one Mycoplasma‐contaminated line; (iv) genetic heterogeneity by DNA‐fingerprinting analysis; (v) absence of p53 mutation from exon 4 through 9; and (vi) the presence of HPV DNA sequence. Among the lines, 7 were infected by HPV‐16, 3 by HPV‐18, 1 by HPV‐31, and 1 by HPV‐33; the 2 cell lines derived from small‐cell carcinomas contained HPV‐18. Interestingly, 6 of the 7 cell lines containing HPV‐16‐type DNA harbored the same alteration of E7 at nucleotide position 647 (amino acid 29, AAT |iO AGT, Asn |iO Ser), whereas the 3 HPV‐18‐positive lines did not; 3 cell lines proved to have intact E1/E2 of HPV, suggesting the presence of episomally replicating HPV DNA as well as the integrated form, whereas the other 9 lines were shown to have integrated HPV. Taken together, these cell lines would be very useful for studying the biology of uterine cervical carcinoma. Int. J. Cancer 72:313–320, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Endogenous Nur77 Is a Specific Indicator of Antigen Receptor Signaling in Human T and B Cells

Distinguishing true Ag-stimulated lymphocytes from bystanders activated by the inflammatory milieu has been difficult. Nur77 is an immediate early gene whose expression is rapidly upregulated by TCR signaling in murine T cells and human thymocytes. Nur77-GFP transgenes serve as specific TCR and BCR signaling reporters in murine transgenic models. In this study, we demonstrate that endogenous Nur77 protein expression can serve as a reporter of TCR and BCR specific signaling in human PBMCs. Nur77 protein amounts were assessed by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry in T and B cells isolated from human PBMCs obtained from healthy donors that had been stimulated by their respective Ag receptors. We demonstrate that endogenous Nur77 is a more specific reporter of Ag-specific signaling events than the commonly used CD69 activation marker in both human T and B cells. This is reflective of the disparity in signaling pathways that regulate the expression of Nur77 and CD69. Assessing endogenous Nur77 protein expression has great potential to identify Ag-activated lymphocytes in human disease.
Are Peanut Allergies a Concern for Using Peanut-Based Formulated Foods in Developing Countries?

Background Peanut allergy is relatively common among children in developed countries and may have severe outcomes, including anaphylaxis. However, few data about peanut allergy in developing countries are available. Meanwhile, formulated foods with peanuts as a major ingredient are being promoted to prevent and control malnutrition in developing countries. Objective The objectives of the paper are to review the existing epidemiologic data about peanut allergy, to determine whether the prevalence of peanut allergy is lower in developing countries, and to explore the possible reasons for onset of peanut allergy. Methods Publications relevant to peanut allergy were searched via Pubmed, and prevalence and etiological factors of peanut allergy were reviewed. Results Data about peanut allergy were scarce in most developing countries. The existing data support the conclusion that peanut allergy is not as common in developing countries as in developed countries and may not be a major concern for programs promoting formulated food containing peanuts for control of malnutrition. However, plans for treatment of individuals with peanut allergy could be incorporated into these formulated food supplementation programs. A few risk factors (late introduction of peanuts to children, peanut processing technology, non-oral peanut exposure, and maternal peanut exposure during pregnancy and lactation) have been hypothesized to be associated with peanut allergy. However, more conclusive data are needed to verify or disprove these hypotheses. Conclusions Peanut allergy is not as common in developing countries as in developed countries and may not be a major concern for programs promoting formulated food containing peanuts for control of malnutrition. However, more research about prevalence of peanut allergy is warranted in developing countries.
The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group

The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group produces up‐to‐date systematic reviews of interventions for the cessation and prevention of tobacco use. Many of our Cochrane Reviews have also been published in scientific journals. Our review prioritization schedule is informed by our group's experience and expertise as well as identifying topics for reviews via regular searches of current scientific literature and from other news sources, such as the Action on Smoking and Health updates. The Cochrane Register of Studies allows identification of new trials, which might be eligible for review updates. Everyday challenges include timely publishing and updating of our reviews, and ensuring compliance to Cochrane methodological expectations of Cochrane intervention review standards. We are grateful for the contributions of our authors and peer reviewers, with whom we aim to have close working and productive relationships. We look forward to continuing our contribution toward a reliable evidence base on interventions to combat tobacco addiction.