Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Creation and expression of myristylated forms of Rous sarcoma virus gag protein in mammalian cells

Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), a member of the avian sarcoma and leukosis family of retroviruses, has long been known to be capable of infecting and transforming mammalian cells; however, such transformed cells do not release virus particles. The RSV gag product (Pr76gag) produced in these cells is not released into the culture medium or proteolytically processed to release mature products. Thus, the behavior of Pr76gag in mammalian cells is much like that of mammalian retroviral Gag proteins which have been altered so as to block the addition of myristic acid at residue 2 (Gly). Because the RSV gag product does not possess a myristic acid addition site, we hypothesized that the creation of one by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis might permit particles to be released from mammalian cells. Two myristylated forms of Pr76 were created. In Pr76myr1, the first 10 amino acids have been exchanged for those of p60v-src, which are known to be sufficient for myristylation. In Pr76myr2, the Glu at the second residue has been substituted with Gly. The alleles encoding the modified and wild-type forms of Pr76 have been expressed at high levels in mammalian (CV-1) cells by using an SV40-based vector. Surprisingly, we have found that expression of high levels of the unmodified (wild-type) product, Pr76myr0, results in low levels of particle formation and precursor processing. This indicates that myristic acid is not the sole determinant for targeting. However, the addition of myristic acid to Pr76myr1 or Pr76myr2 resulted in a fivefold enhancement in Gag function. In all aspects examined, the behavior of myristylated Pr76 was identical to that of the authentic product produced in avian cells. We also show that processing is mediated by the gag-encoded protease and that removal of the amino terminus to create Pr76gagX results in an inability to form particles or be processed. This suggests that proper targeting is prerequisite for activation of the RSV protease in mammalian cells.
Spur-Reduction Design of Frequency-Hopping DC–DC Converters

This paper presents an inductor current average control (ICAC) method that minimizes the undesirable transient glitches in dc-dc converters using a frequency-hopping pulsewidth modulation control. The analysis in this paper shows that without careful control of the frequency-hopping instant for the dc-dc converters, the transient glitches can be rather large in magnitude and may interfere with the modulated signal to be transmitted from a mobile communication device. The ICAC technique selects the frequency-hopping instant such that the average inductor current is undisturbed when the switching frequency hops. The measurement result shows that the ICAC technique can suppress the transient spurs by 14.1 dB and the voltage of the transient glitches by 65.3%.
Educational technology to train teachers of minority languages in Canada: Challenges and successes

Canada is the world’s second largest country by total area, occupying most of northern North America. For its ten provinces and three territories, Canada must offer education in either English or French, the country’s two official languages. This raises many challenges, particularly in areas or provinces where one language, usually French, is a minority language. For example, in Ontario, Canada’s second largest province, there is a significant shortage of qualified French-speaking teachers. Moreover, although many schools employ some teachers who are not fully qualified, it would be unthinkable to remove them from the classroom for further training, given the lack of teachers. To cope with this challenge, the School of Education of Laurentian University launched a distance teacher training program. Early into the program, the candidates found that distance education was insufficient to help them meet the challenges of classroom teaching. After conducting interviews with our prospective teachers (n = 125), we realised that the theoretical content provided through the distance program needed to be complemented by classroom observations. However, this appeared to be impossible in the circumstances. In this paper, we highlight the findings of our study on the use of educational technologies to train minority-language teachers in Canada. We will focus specifically on the video component that we included in the distance training course. We will show how the videos (over 75 real-life recordings of teachers and pupils in a variety of common pedagogical situations) actually benefited the teachers-intraining, who reported increased feelings of competence, among others.
Multi-Factor Model of Correlated Commodity Forward Curves for Crude Oil and Shipping Markets

An arbitrage free multi-factor model is developed of the correlated forward curves of the crude oil, gasoline, heating oil and tanker shipping markets. Futures contracts trading on public exchanges are used as the primary underlying securities for the development of a multi-factor Gaussian Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) model for the dynamic evolution of the correlated forward curves. An intra- and inter-commodity Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is carried out in order to isolate seasonality and identify a small number of independent factors driving each commodity market. The cross-commodity correlation of the factors is estimated by a two step PCA. The factor volatilities and cross-commodity factor correlations are studied in order to identify stable parametric models, heteroskedasticity and seasonality in the factor volatilities and correlations. The model leads to explicit stochastic differential equations governing the short term and long term factors driving the price of the spot commodity under the risk neutral measure. Risk premia are absent, consistently with HJM arbitrage free framework, as they are imbedded in the factor volatilities and correlations estimated by the PCA. The use of the model is described for the pricing of derivatives written on inter- and intra-commodity futures spreads, Asian options, the valuation and hedging of energy and shipping assets, the fuel efficient navigation of shipping fleets and use in corporate risk management.
Brain Hemodynamic Effects of Doxapram in Preterm Infants

Background: Doxapram is a respiratory stimulant widely used for the treatment of idiopathic apnea of prematurity, although it has been demonstrated that it can induce a transient decrease of cerebral blood flow and that isolated mental delay in infants weighing <1,250 g is associated with the total dosage and duration of doxapram therapy. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of doxapram on cerebral hemodynamics in preterm infants using cerebral Doppler ultrasonography and near-infrared spectroscopy. Methods: Preterm infants who required treatment with doxapram for apnea of prematurity unresponsive to caffeine were treated with doxapram at an hourly dose of 0.5 mg·kg–1·h–1, followed by 1.5 and 2.5 mg·kg–1·h–1. Results: 20 preterm infants were studied. Doxapram induced a significant decrease of oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) and cerebral intravascular oxygenation (HbD = O2Hb – HHb) and an increase of HHb and CtOx concentrations, while cerebral blood volume and cerebral blood flow velocity did not change. Conclusions: Doxapram infusion induces the increase of cerebral oxygen consumption and requirement and the contemporary decrease of oxygen delivery probably mediated by a decrease of cerebral blood flow. Caution must be recommended in prescribing this drug for apnea of prematurity.
Evaluation of the Mycoplasma Duo kit for the detection of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum from urogenital and placental specimens

Abstract This study compares the Mycoplasma Duo kit for the detection of genital mycoplasmas with conventional culture using A7 differential agar for the detection of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in clinical samples. Detection of the mycoplasmas is based on the specific metabolic properties of each organism to hydrolyse either arginine or urea. The Mycoplasma Duo test showed a significantly higher detection rate than did culture, although many of the culture-negative results may have been due to the presence of bacterial overgrowth.
Long-Term Entropy and Profitability Change of United States Public Construction Firms

A firm’s business composition and the sales volume of each business segment are subject to change depending, to a considerable extent, on the firm’s business strategy. These changes were first weighted and represented as a single index, referred to by scholars in strategic management and industrial organization research fields as “firm entropy,” then the impact of firm entropy on firms’ profitability was assessed over 12 years . The performance differences between contractor and noncontractor firms, as well as focused and diversified firms, were compared through a longitudinal data analysis technique within a hierarchical linear modeling framework. Two hypotheses were formulated based on firm diversification theories and previous research findings. These hypotheses were tested according to the modeling outcomes, and implications are presented. The research findings indicate that the entropy changed constantly for both contractor and noncontractor firms. In addition, the level of firms’ long-term profitabi.
Interpreting the Predictions of Prediction Markets

Participants in prediction markets such as the Iowa Electronic Markets trade all-or-nothing contracts that pay a dollar if and only if specified future events occur. Researchers engaged in empirical study of prediction markets have argued broadly that equilibrium prices of the contracts traded are market probabilities' that the specified events will occur. This paper shows that if traders are risk-neutral price takers with heterogenous beliefs, the price of a contract in a prediction market reveals nothing about the dispersion of traders' beliefs and partially identifies the central tendency of beliefs. Most persons have beliefs higher than price when price is above 0.5, and most have beliefs lower than price when price is below 0.5. The mean belief of traders lies in an interval whose midpoint is the equilibrium price. These findings persist even if traders use price data to revise their beliefs in plausible ways.
The Effect of a Constitutional Right to Health on Population Health in 157 Countries, 1970–2007: the Role of Democratic Governance

A number of studies have evaluated the effect of a right to health as a mechanism for achieving desirable health outcomes, yet no study has sought institutional conditions that make this mechanism more effective at population level.I hypothesise whether a right to health is only an effective instrument for improving health in countries that demonstrate good governance in which effective mechanisms for enforcing the right to health, as well as controlling government behaviour, exist. Annual data from 1970 to 2007 was obtained for a panel of 157 countries, to study the effects of introducing into national constitutions an explicit, enforceable, right to health and democratic governance on infant and under-five mortality rates. The introduction of a right to health in a national constitution was significantly associated with reductions in both mean infant and under-five mortality rates. The effect was large in countries with high scores for democratic governance, whereas in countries with low scores for democratic governance, approximately half of the effect of introducing a constitutional right to health was present. The results suggest that introducing a constitutional right to health is likely to be an effective mechanism for improving health in countries that have a high level of democratic governance. However, whereas a right to health is likely to be less effective in countries with low scores for democratic governance in the short run, there can be a longer term health benefits if governance subsequently improves, the right to health remains in the constitution.
Molecular Imaging to Plan Radiotherapy and Evaluate Its Efficacy

Molecular imaging plays a central role in the management of radiation oncology patients. Specific uses of imaging, particularly to plan radiotherapy and assess its efficacy, require an additional level of reproducibility and image quality beyond what is required for diagnostic imaging. Specific requirements include proper patient preparation, adequate technologist training, careful imaging protocol design, reliable scanner technology, reproducible software algorithms, and reliable data analysis methods. As uncertainty in target definition is arguably the greatest challenge facing radiation oncology, the greatest impact that molecular imaging can have may be in the reduction of interobserver variability in target volume delineation and in providing greater conformity between target volume boundaries and true tumor boundaries. Several automatic and semiautomatic contouring methods based on molecular imaging are available but still need sufficient validation to be widely adopted. Biologically conformal radiotherapy (dose painting) based on molecular imaging–assessed tumor heterogeneity is being investigated, but many challenges remain to fully exploring its potential. Molecular imaging also plays increasingly important roles in both early (during treatment) and late (after treatment) response assessment as both a predictive and a prognostic tool. Because of potentially confounding effects of radiation-induced inflammation, treatment response assessment requires careful interpretation. Although molecular imaging is already strongly embedded in radiotherapy, the path to widespread and all-inclusive use is still long. The lack of solid clinical evidence is the main impediment to broader use. Recommendations for practicing physicians are still rather scarce. 18F-FDG PET/CT remains the main molecular imaging modality in radiation oncology applications. Although other molecular imaging options (e.g., proliferation imaging) are becoming more common, their widespread use is limited by lack of tracer availability and inadequate reimbursement models. With the increasing presence of molecular imaging in radiation oncology, special emphasis should be placed on adequate training of radiation oncology personnel to understand the potential, and particularly the limitations, of quantitative molecular imaging applications. Similarly, radiologists and nuclear medicine specialists should be sensitized to the special need of the radiation oncologist in terms of quantification and reproducibility. Furthermore, strong collaboration between radiation oncology, nuclear medicine/radiology, and medical physics teams is necessary, as optimal and safe use of molecular imaging can be ensured only within appropriate interdisciplinary teams.
Eliciting Willingness to Pay without Bias using Follow-up Certainty Statements: Comparisons between Probably/Definitely and a 10-point Certainty Scale

Correction for hypothetical bias using follow up certainty questions often takes one of two forms: (1) two options, “definitely sure” and “probably sure”, or (2) a 10-point scale with 10 very certain. While both have been successful in eliminating hypothetical bias from estimates of WTP by calibrating based on the certainty of yes responses, little is known about the relationship between the two. The purpose of this paper is to compare the two using data from three field experiments in a private good, dichotomous choice format. We compare four types of yes responses that differ in the criterion used to determine if there is sufficient certainty for a hypothetical yes response to be considered a true yes response. We make several comparisons, but focus on determining which values on the 10-point scale give the same estimates of WTP as “definitely sure” hypothetical yeses and real yeses (actual purchases). Values that produce equivalence are near 10 on the certainty scale.
Inflammatory Cytokine Expression Is Independent of the c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase/AP-1 Signaling Cascade in Human Neutrophils1

In the last decade, the ability of neutrophils to generate proinflammatory cytokines has become firmly established. Because neutrophils typically infiltrate inflammatory sites in large numbers, they could significantly contribute to the cytokine environment and even represent a substantial source of cytokines in chronic inflammatory disorders in which they predominate over other cell types. To date, however, most studies have focused on identifying which mediators are produced by neutrophils, as opposed to elucidating the molecular bases underlying this process. We previously showed that most stimuli of cytokine production in neutrophils also activate NF-κB in these cells. In this report, we turned our attention to another transcription factor that plays a central role in inflammation, AP-1. Among Jun/Fos proteins, only JunD and c-Fos are abundantly expressed in neutrophils, and they are mainly cytoplasmic. Both the cellular levels and distribution of the Jun/Fos proteins remain unaffected by various neutrophil stimuli, including those that are known to increase the corresponding mRNA transcripts. Similarly, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) 1 is overwhelmingly cytoplasmic in neutrophils and does not translocate to the nucleus upon cell activation. Although JNK is not activatable under most circumstances, specific conditions do allow its phosphorylation in response to TNF. However, no experimental condition (even those leading to JNK activation) resulted in the induction of genuine AP-1 complexes in neutrophils. Accordingly, the potent JNK inhibitor, SP 600125, failed to inhibit inflammatory cytokine gene expression in neutrophils. Collectively, our findings strongly suggest that the JNK/AP-1 signaling pathway has little or no impact on the generation of inflammatory mediators in neutrophils.
Quantitative survival model for short‐term survival after adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation

Adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT) has been accepted as an important option for end‐stage liver disease, but information regarding the risk factors remains fragmentary. We aimed to establish a predictive model for 90‐day survival. In the first step, a total of 286 cases who had received primary ALDLT using a right lobe graft between 1998 and 2004 were randomly divided into 2 cohorts at a ratio of 2:1 (191 vs. 95 recipients). The larger cohort of patients was used to develop a model. The outcome was defined as 90‐day survival, and a total of 39 preoperative and operative variables, including the period of surgery (1998‐2001 vs. 2002‐2004), were included using Cox's proportional hazard regression model. Two mismatches of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type DR (hazard ratio [HR] = 4.45; confidence interval [CI] = 1.96‐10.1), loge[blood loss volume] (HR = 2.43; CI = 1.64‐3.60), period of surgery (1998‐2001 vs. 2002‐2004) (HR = 2.41; CI = 1.04‐5.57), and loge[serum C‐reactive protein or CRP] (HR = 1.64; CI = 1.13‐2.38) were found to be independent risk factors. In the second step, we tried to establish a realistic survival model. In this step, we created 2 models, 1 that used all 4 variables (model 1) and 1 (model 2) in which blood loss volume was replaced with the past history of upper abdominal surgery and Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score (≥25), both of which showed associations with blood loss volume. These models were applied to the smaller cohort of 95 patients. Receiver operating characteristic analyses demonstrated that both models showed similar significant c‐statistics (0.63 and 0.62, respectively). In conclusion, model 2 can provide a rough estimation of the 90‐day survival after ALDLT. Liver Transpl 12:904–911, 2006. © 2006 AASLD.
CEO Compensation and Corporate Governance in China

We analyze CEO pay in China’s public traded firms from 2000 to 2010. We find that Chinese CEO pay is made up mainly of salaries and bonuses. Firms can legally grant stock options since 2005, but the take up of these has been slow. We find that CEO equity ownership is higher in firms with higher CEO pay, more outside directors, combined CEO and chair, compensation committees, and better stock returns. We document that CEO pay is positively correlated to both accounting and stock market performance, although the link to accounting performance is more robust. CEO pay is higher in firms with more growth opportunities, compensation committees, and combined CEO and Chair. We find that CEO pay dynamics are important as pay this year is significantly positively correlated to CEO pay last year. Boards and compensation committees adjust CEO to target levels over a number of years. In addition, our study documents substantial changes in Chinese corporate governance over time. The Chinese State is less likely to be the ultimate owner of public firms, ownership concentration has declined, and internal firm governance has improved significantly as evidenced by a greater fraction of outsiders on the board and the adoption of compensation committees.
Attacker Independent Stability Guarantees for Peer-2-Peer-Live-Streaming Topologies

Live streaming systems based on ALM technology provide an effective and scalable way for content dissemination. Especially push-based systems, maintaining an explicit distribution topology, represent a promising approach. Compared to a classical client-server content distribution and in contrast to other ALM systems, they introduce only low additional transport delay and jitter. However, these systems are vulnerable towards random node failures or intended attacks. In this article, we select packet loss as a natural damage measure and show that there exists an attacker-independent concept of optimal stability of streaming topologies in push approaches. We are able to identify such optimally stable topologies by minimizing an upper bound on the sequence of damages any attacker may achieve on a topology. Furthermore, we show an easily constructible subclass of these topologies and present the unexpected result that deciding membership in the complete class of optimally stable topologies is a co-NP-complete problem.
An inverse association of Helicobacter pylori infection with oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Few studies have focused on the relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and oral diseases. In this study, we explored the correlation between H. pylori infection and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). METHODS A total of 68 patients with OSCC and 104 age- and sex- matched healthy control subjects were retrospectively enrolled in this study. The H. pylori immunoglobin (Ig) G antibodies in serum were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to assess the status of H. pylori infection of our study sample. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also employed using H. pylori genus-specific 16S rRNA primers in fasting blood, and OSCC specimens were analyzed by histochemical stain of each enrolled subject. The strength of correlation between H. pylori and the development of OSCC was estimated by Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS According to the three methods for detecting prevalence of H. pylori infection in the patients with OSCC, it was statistically lower than that in the healthy controls (35.3% vs. 54.8%, P = 0.012). An inverse correlation was observed between H. pylori infection and OSCC development (Spearman's correlation coefficient = -0.191, P = 0.012). In stratification analysis, we also found a statistical association between H. pylori infection and OSCC in the subpopulation with age ≥ 60 years (P = 0.037). CONCLUSION Our findings suggested that H. pylori infection may be negatively related to OSCC. A reverse association of H. pylori infection with OSCC risk in the subpopulation with age ≥ 60 years was also found.