Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crystal Structure of the Nephila clavipes Major Ampullate Spidroin 1A N-terminal Domain Reveals Plasticity at the Dimer Interface*

Spider dragline silk is a natural polymer harboring unique physical and biochemical properties that make it an ideal biomaterial. Artificial silk production requires an understanding of the in vivo mechanisms spiders use to convert soluble proteins, called spidroins, into insoluble fibers. Controlled dimerization of the spidroin N-terminal domain (NTD) is crucial to this process. Here, we report the crystal structure of the Nephila clavipes major ampullate spidroin NTD dimer. Comparison of our N. clavipes NTD structure with previously determined Euprosthenops australis NTD structures reveals subtle conformational alterations that lead to differences in how the subunits are arranged at the dimer interface. We observe a subset of contacts that are specific to each ortholog, as well as a substantial increase in asymmetry in the interactions observed at the N. clavipes NTD dimer interface. These asymmetric interactions include novel intermolecular salt bridges that provide new insights into the mechanism of NTD dimerization. We also observe a unique intramolecular “handshake” interaction between two conserved acidic residues that our data suggest adds an additional layer of complexity to the pH-sensitive relay mechanism for NTD dimerization. The results of a panel of tryptophan fluorescence dimerization assays probing the importance of these interactions support our structural observations. Based on our findings, we propose that conformational selectivity and plasticity at the NTD dimer interface play a role in the pH-dependent transition of the NTD from monomer to stably associated dimer as the spidroin progresses through the silk extrusion duct.
An overview on the state-of-the-art comparison of the three-contextualization paradigms

In this paper, we present the concept of context and the three-contextualization paradigms for incorporating contextual information in the recommendation process. We provide a comprehensive overview on the several novel approaches of contextual pre-filtering, contextual post-filtering and contextual modelling approaches. We then present state-of-the-art comparison across these three paradigms and raised some key concerns that are not fully addressed in the literature. This will help academicians and practitioners in comparing these three approaches to choose the best option according to their market strategy.
Dietary Iron Repletion following Early-Life Dietary Iron Deficiency Does Not Correct Regional Volumetric or Diffusion Tensor Changes in the Developing Pig Brain

Background Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency worldwide and children are at an increased risk due to the rapid growth occurring during early life. The developing brain is highly dynamic, requires iron for proper function, and is thus vulnerable to inadequate iron supplies. Iron deficiency early in life results in altered myelination, neurotransmitter synthesis, neuron morphology, and later-life cognitive function. However, it remains unclear if dietary iron repletion after a period of iron deficiency can recover structural deficits in the brain. Method Twenty-eight male pigs were provided either a control diet (CONT; n = 14; 23.5 mg Fe/L milk replacer) or an iron-deficient diet (ID; n = 14; 1.56 mg Fe/L milk replacer) for phase 1 of the study, from postnatal day (PND) 2 until 32. Twenty pigs (n = 10/diet from phase 1) were used in phase 2 of the study from PND 33 to 61, all pigs were provided a common iron sufficient diet, regardless of their early-life dietary iron status. All pigs remaining in the study were subjected to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at PND 32 and again at PND 61 using structural imaging sequences and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess volumetric and microstructural brain development, respectively. Data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA to assess the main and interactive effects of early-life iron status and time. Results An interactive effect was observed for absolute whole brain volumes, in which whole brain volumes of ID pigs were smaller at PND 32 but were not different than CONT pigs at PND 61. Analysis of brain region volumes relative to total brain volume indicated interactive effects (i.e., diet × day) in the cerebellum, olfactory bulb, and putamen-globus pallidus. Main effects of early-life iron status, regardless of imaging time point, were noted for decreased relative volumes of the left hippocampus, right hippocampus, thalamus, and increased relative white matter volume in ID pigs compared with CONT pigs. DTI indicated interactive effects for fractional anisotropy (FA) in the whole brain, left cortex, and right cortex. Main effects of early-life iron status, regardless of imaging time point, were observed for decreased FA values in the caudate, cerebellum, and internal capsule in ID pigs compared with CONT pigs. All comparisons described above were significant at P < 0.05. Conclusion Results from this study indicate that dietary iron repletion is able to compensate for reduced absolute brain volumes early in life; however, microstructural changes and altered relative brain volumes persist despite iron repletion.
Parental care, mast cells and visceral hypersensitivity.

An approximate 10–15 % of the population suffers from symptoms related to the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Therefore, IBS is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal diseases. It is characterized by recurrent abdominal complaints in the absence of any organic cause. Importantly, in a majority of patients, the distal gastrointestinal tract shows increased sensitivity to distension with abnormal perception of pain/discomfort. This visceral hypersensitivity is considered to represent an important pathophysiological mechanism. Although the pathophysiology of IBS is probably multifactorial it should be emphasized that stress is important in its initiation and/or exacerbation (1). An acute stress episode later in life is often indicated as the precipitating factor. Moreover, adverse childhood events seem to predispose for the future development of this disorder. In relation to this it should be noted that not only physical child abuse but also negative care-giving may be associated with the occurrence of adult-IBS (2). Based on the Lackner study, IBS was added to a long list of mental and physical disorders where negative parenting behavior predisposes for the future development of the disorder. So called ‘‘risky families’’ are characterized by parent child interactions that are hostile, aggressive, rejective, cold and/or neglectful. Children exposed to such dysfunctional family life display dysregulated -HPA axis activity, -serotenergic function, -endogenous opioid systems and -expression of the main stress hormone corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) (3). In order to identify some of the possible mechanisms pertinent to the occurrence of visceral hypersensitivity, important translational animal research was performed during the last couple of years. In this short overview we will discuss the relation between parenting behavior, stress-induced mast cell degranulation and subsequent barrier dysfunction/visceral hypersensitivity.
Cross‐protection studies with gut membrane glycoprotein antigens from Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia circumcincta

Gel profiles of the peanut and ConA lectin binding integral membrane glycoproteins of Teladorsagia circumcincta and Haemonchus contortus were compared and found to be considerably different. However, some of the Teladorsagia polypeptides were recognized by antisera specific for Haemonchus amino‐, metallo‐ or aspartyl peptidases, enzymes which are known to be protective antigens for that parasite. As expected, an experimental vaccine containing these Haemonchus proteases was extremely effective against homologous challenge, reducing egg and worm counts by more than 99% and 92%, respectively, but it did not provide any useful cross‐protection against either T. circumcincta,Trichostrongylus axei or Cooperiaoncophora. A reciprocal experiment, where sheep were immunized with the equivalent glycoproteins from T. circumcincta, showed that, while they were not protected against homologous challenge, there was some cross‐protection against Haemonchus as measured by a significant reduction in worm egg output.
The hypermethylation of the O6‐methylguanine‐DNA methyltransferase gene promoter in gliomas—correlation with array comparative genome hybridization results and IDH1 mutation

The use of molecular markers in the diagnostics of gliomas aids histopathological diagnosis and allows their further classification into clinically significant subgroups. The aim of this study was to characterize the methylation pattern of the O6‐methylguanine‐DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter, gene copy number aberrations, and isocitrate dehydrogenase I (IDH1) mutation in gliomas. We studied 51 gliomas (15 oligodendrogliomas, 18 oligoastrocytomas, 3 astrocytomas, and 15 glioblastomas) by pyrosequencing, array comparative genome hybridization (CGH), and immunohistochemistry. MGMT hypermethylation was observed in 100% of oligoastrocytomas, 93% of oligodendrogliomas, and 47% of glioblastomas. The most frequently altered chromosomal regions were deletions of 1p31.1/21.1‐22.2 and 19q13.3qter in oligodendroglial tumors, and losses of 9p21.3, 10q25.3qter, and 10q26.13‐26.2 in glioblastomas. Deletions on 9p and 10q, and gain of 7p were associated with the unmethylated MGMT phenotype, whereas deletion of 19q and oligodendroglial morphology was associated with MGMT hypermethylation. IDH1 mutation showed positive correlation with MGMT hypermethylation and loss of 1p/19q. Our results suggest that MGMT promoter methylation, analyzed by pyrosequencing, is a frequent event in oligodendroglial tumors, and it correlates with IDH1 mutation and 19q loss in gliomas. Pyrosequencing proved a good method for assessing the degree of MGMT methylation in formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded glioma samples. However, further studies are needed to confirm a clinically relevant cut‐off point for MGMT methylation in gliomas. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A framework of environmental mitigation for the convention and exhibition centers in the China greater Bay area

Abstract The numerous participants in convention and exhibition (C&E) events and the consequently huge consumption of direct and indirect resources have increased the environmental pressure on C&E centers to implement environmentally friendly practices and procedures. This paper explores the innovative methods adopted by green-certified C&E centers and synthesizes a reference framework of environmental mitigation practices for the C&E sector in the Greater Bay Area, which was recently designated as a major regional development area in China. Eleven green-certified C&E centers were selected to establish a comprehensive and indicative framework containing 59 actual environmental practices in three major categories. Suggestions made by 12 experts for modifying the fit of the constructed framework to suit the local geographical and climatic situations of C&E centers in the China Greater Bay Area were examined.
Risk factors in developing pregnancy‐related pelvic girdle pain

Background. In this prospective epidemiologic cohort study the aim was to identify possible risk factors for developing four different syndromes of pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy. Methods. Over a one‐year period a total of 2,269 consecutive pregnant women – at week 33 of gestation – responded to a structured questionnaire and underwent a thorough physical examination. Women who at baseline reported daily pain from pelvic joints and had corresponding objective findings were allocated, according to symptoms, into one of four classification groups, and followed up with questionnaires and physical examinations up to two years after delivery. Results. Multivariate analysis could distinguish the four pelvic pain sub groups from the “Pelvic healthy” group with respect to 13 of 24 variables. The pelvic girdle syndrome group revealed a history of previous low back pain, trauma of the back or pelvis, multiparae, had a relatively higher weight, a higher level of self reported stress and of job At a higher risk of developing symphysiolysis were women who were multiparae, had a relatively higher weight, and were smokers. If a woman had vocational training or a professional education, was stressed, had a poorer experience of previous delivery, had previous low back pain, trauma of back, or previous salpingitis, she had an increased risk of developing one‐sided sacroiliac syndrome. The risk factors for developing double‐sided sacroiliac syndrome were previous low back pain and trauma of the back or pelvis, multiparae, poorer relationship with spouse, and less job satisfaction. Conclusions. This study demonstrates no single dominant risk factor for developing pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy, but reveals a set of physical and psychosocial factors. The risk factors for developing pelvic girdle pain in general are: history of previous low back pain, trauma of the back or pelvis, multivariate, higher level of stress, and low job satisfaction.
Microwave breast tumor detection exploiting wideband Jacobians

Gradient-based iterative algorithms are preferred in microwave tomography due to their fast convergence despite the fact that the solution is only local. The drawback is that response Jacobians are not available with current commercial electromagnetic solvers and reconstruction algorithms have to be equipped with in-house codes specifically designed to produce response derivatives in addition to the responses themselves. Even with in-house codes, the computation of the response Jacobians in a wide frequency band is a challenge. Here, we present an efficient approach to the computation of wideband response Jacobians with time-domain solvers. Through this approach, the Jacobian distributions (maps) of imaged regions can be computed with relatively small memory requirements and negligible computational overhead. This self-adjoint computation is reduced to a simple post-process of the field solution which can be applied with any commercial FDTD-based solver. We show that the detection of scatterers such as breast tumors can be achieved with a single system analysis by computing the wideband Jacobian maps of high-fidelity patient-specific tissue models.
Association between 22 cytokine gene polymorphisms and dilated cardiomyopathy in Macedonian patients.

BACKGROUND Inflammation is an important component in the pathogenesis of many cardiovascular diseases and one of the commonest mechanisms in cardiomyopathy. There have been several studies on the cytokine polymorphism and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), but the results obtained were contradictory. AIM To examine a possible role of 22 cytokine gene polymorphisms in host susceptibility to or protection against DCM in Macedonians. METHODS In this study 301 healthy unrelated individuals and 52 patients with DCM were studied. Cytokine genotyping was performed by PCR with sequence-specific priming (PCR-SSP) (Heidelberg kit). RESULTS After the Bonferroni adjustment, the IL-4 -1098/T, IL-4 -1098/T:T, IL-4/TCC, and IL-4/TCC:TTC cytokine genes were positively associated with DCM, while a negative association was identified for IL-4 -1098/G, IL-4 -1098/G:T, IL-1B +3962/C:C, IL-4/GCC, and IL-4/GCC:TTC. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that some cytokine gene polymorphisms are significantly associated and affect host susceptibility/resistance to DCM in Macedonians.
Production , Manufacturing and Logistics A bargaining model with asymmetric information for a single supplier – single buyer problem

Banerjee s joint economic lot size (JELS) model represents one approach to minimizing the joint total relevant cost of a buyer and a supplier by using a joint optimal order and production policy. The implementation of a jointly optimal policy requires coordination and cooperation. Should the buyer have the market power to implement his own optimal policy as that one to be used in the exchange process no incentive exists for him to choose a joint optimal policy. A joint policy can therefore only be the result of a bargaining process between the parties involved. The supplier may make some sort of concession such as a price discount or a side payment in order to influence the buyer s order policy. A critical assumption made throughout in supply chain literature is that the supplier has complete knowledge about the buyer s cost structure. Clearly, this assumption will seldom be fulfilled in practice. The research presented in this paper provides a bargaining model with asymmetric information about the buyer s cost structure assuming that the buyer has the power to impose its individual optimal policy. 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Facial responses to basic tastes in the newborns of women with gestational diabetes mellitus

Abstract Objective: To compare facial responses to basic tastes among newborns of women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Methods: Two-hundred and one healthy newborns, 100 from GDM women were studied at the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira (IMIP), Brazil. Basic tastes were evaluated through administration of glucose (25%), sodium chloride (1.4%), citric acid (25%) and quinine hydrochloride (25%); 0.2 ml of solution on the dorsal surface of the tongue. All newborns had their face videotaped and facial responses were coded according to the Baby Facial Action Coding System. The frequency of the facial action units was compared among newborns from mothers with and without GDM. Results: Facial responses to salt was more liking among newborns from GDM mothers as compared to controls; 33 (33%) versus 21 (21%), p = 0.039). Facial responses to sweet, sour and bitter showed no differences among newborns from mothers with and without GDM. Facial expressions to basic tastes showed no differences among newborns from controlled and non- controlled GDM mothers. Conclusion: Newborns from GDM mothers seem to have a little more preference taste to salt. Further studies are needed to confirm this finding and to verify if these newborns responses to basic tastes remain life-long.
Greed is Still Good: Maximizing Monotone Submodular+Supermodular Functions

We analyze the performance of the greedy algorithm, and also a discrete semi-gradient based algorithm, for maximizing the sum of a suBmodular and suPermodular (BP) function (both of which are non-negative monotone non-decreasing) under two types of constraints, either a cardinality constraint or $p\geq 1$ matroid independence constraints. These problems occur naturally in several real-world applications in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The problems are ordinarily inapproximable to any factor (as we show). Using the curvature $\kappa_f$ of the submodular term, and introducing $\kappa^g$ for the supermodular term (a natural dual curvature for supermodular functions), however, both of which are computable in linear time, we show that BP maximization can be efficiently approximated by both the greedy and the semi-gradient based algorithm. The algorithms yield multiplicative guarantees of $\frac{1}{\kappa_f}\left[1-e^{-(1-\kappa^g)\kappa_f}\right]$ and $\frac{1-\kappa^g}{(1-\kappa^g)\kappa_f + p}$ for the two types of constraints respectively. For pure monotone supermodular constrained maximization, these yield $1-\kappa^g$ and $(1-\kappa^g)/p$ for the two types of constraints respectively. We also analyze the hardness of BP maximization and show that our guarantees match hardness by a constant factor and by $O(\ln(p))$ respectively. Computational experiments are also provided supporting our analysis.
Employment relations and dismissal regulations: Does employment legislation protect the health of workers?

Abstract Sociologists have long acknowledged that being in a precarious labour market position, whether employed or unemployed, can harm peoples' health. However, scholars have yet to fully investigate the possible contextual, institutional determinants of this relationship. Two institutions that were overlooked in previous empirical studies are the regulations that set minimum compensation for dismissal, severance payments, and entitlements to a period of notice before dismissal, notice periods. These institutions may be important for workers' health as they influence the degree of insecurity that workers are exposed to. Here, we test this hypothesis by examining whether longer notice periods and greater severance payments protect the health of labour market participants, both employed and unemployed. We constructed two cohorts of panel data before and during the European recession using data from 22 countries in the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (person years = 338,000). We find more generous severance payments significantly reduce the probability that labour market participants, especially the unemployed, will experience declines in self‐reported health, with a slightly weaker relationship for longer notice periods.
The Impact of Monetary Disorders on Inflation and Business Cycles in Iran’s Economy

In this paper, we have investigated the effect of monetary disorders on inflation and business cycles in Iran’s economy during the period 1973 to 2012. Monetary disorders are defined by two indexes of monetary policy uncertainty and shock to liquidity growth. In the first step, the causal relationship of monetary policy uncertainty on real GDP fluctuations, employment fluctuations and inflation are estimated using Granger causality test. To this purpose, to follow Haghighat and Mohammad Gholipour Tapeh (2014), the conditional variance of liquidity growth extracted from models of GARCH family was applied as a substitute for monetary policy uncertainty. In the second stage, the reaction of economic growth, employment growth and inflation to the shock to liquidity growth are estimated using impulse response function technique derived from VAR model. The results indicate the existence of one-way Granger causality relation of monetary policy uncertainty in all three variables of real GDP fluctuations, employment fluctuations and inflation. Also, based on the results, impulse response function reduces the shock to liquidity growth as much as a standard deviation, real GDP growth and employment after a period and increases inflation. Accordingly, the hypothesis of the effect of monetary disorders on business cycles in Iran’s economy in the period of this research cannot be rejected. JEL classification: E23, E31, E32, E52
Role of harmonious and obsessive passions for autonomy, competence, and relatedness support with integrated resort experiences

ABSTRACT Self-determination theory indicates that customers have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The findings of this study (total n = 350) support the proposed hypotheses, which suggest that the levels and types of customers’ passion for an integrated resort brand are associated with recreational customers’ basic needs (e.g. autonomy, competence, and relatedness). In particular, harmonious passion directly and significantly influences all types of needs satisfaction, whereas obsessive passion weakly and positively predicts autonomy and competence needs satisfaction. Results showed that customers’ satisfaction with autonomy and relatedness needs leads to positive conative consequences, such as revisit and word-of-mouth intentions. Furthermore, these relationships were mediated by autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs satisfaction. Results suggest that highlighting recreational passion increases basic needs satisfaction in tourism activities and are discussed in relation to brand-related outcomes.