Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvement in phosphate acquisition and utilization by a secretory purple acid phosphatase (OsPAP21b) in rice

Summary Phosphate (Pi) deficiency in soil system is a limiting factor for rice growth and yield. Majority of the soil phosphorus (P) is organic in nature, not readily available for root uptake. Low Pi‐inducible purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) are hypothesized to enhance the availability of Pi in soil and cellular system. However, information on molecular and physiological roles of rice PAPs is very limited. Here, we demonstrate the role of a novel rice PAP, OsPAP21b in improving plant utilization of organic‐P. OsPAP21b was found to be under the transcriptional control of OsPHR2 and strictly regulated by plant Pi status at both transcript and protein levels. Biochemically, OsPAP21b showed hydrolysis of several organophosphates at acidic pH and possessed sufficient thermostability befitting for high‐temperature rice ecosystems with acidic soils. Interestingly, OsPAP21b was revealed to be a secretory PAP and encodes a distinguishable major APase (acid phosphatase) isoform under low Pi in roots. Further, OsPAP21b‐overexpressing transgenics showed increased biomass, APase activity and P content in both hydroponics supplemented with organic‐P sources and soil containing organic manure as sole P source. Additionally, overexpression lines depicted increased root length, biomass and lateral roots under low Pi while RNAi lines showed reduced root length and biomass as compared to WT. In the light of these evidences, present study strongly proposes OsPAP21b as a useful candidate for improving Pi acquisition and utilization in rice.
Neurofilament Transport Is Dependent on Actin and Myosin

Real-time analyses have revealed that some newly synthesized neurofilament (NF) subunits translocate into and along axonal neurites by moving along the inner plasma membrane surface, suggesting that they may translocate against the submembrane actin cortex. We therefore examined whether or not NF axonal transport was dependent on actin and myosin. Perturbation of filamentous actin in NB2a/d1 cells with cytochalasin B inhibited translocation of subunits into axonal neurites and inhibited bidirectional translocation of NF subunits within neurites. Intravitreal injection of cytochalasin B inhibited NF axonal transport in optic axons in a dose-response manner. NF subunits were coprecipitated from NB2a/d1 cells by an anti-myosin antibody, and myosin colocalized with NFs in immunofluorescent analyses. The myosin light chain kinase inhibitor ML-7 and the myosin ATPase inhibitor 2,3-butanedione-2-monoxime perturbed NF translocation within NB2a/d1 axonal neurites. These findings suggest that some NF subunits may undergo axonal transport via myosin-mediated interactions with the actin cortex.
Entertainment with Public Displays and Personal Screens

Human-computer interaction (HCI) research has recently become more interested in studying practices. Looking beyond the novelty of technology, practice studies try to understand how technology becomes integrated into everyday life and how it shapes everyday practices in the longer time span. The contribution of this article is to demonstrate how ubiquitous computing practices develop. The article also sheds light on children’s and their families’ smart device practices in private and public settings. This paper responds to the recent call for practice studies in HCI and tries to understand technology-mediated practices of children and their families in their everyday lives. We first focused on children’s practices with a multipurpose public display through an ethnographic field study, and then broadened our focus to the children’s and families’ smart device practices through a diary study. We showed that children’s practices with a public display were surprisingly similar to their other information and communication technology (ICT) practices at home and elsewhere. In both settings, displays were used for entertainment and time-killing, as well as for babysitting and social interaction. This study indicates that technology-mediated practices do not spring up from the ground fully formed. There are several factors contributing to the practices’ emergence: the artefact itself and its affordances, the nature of the space, and the mind-set of the users. This finding has many implications for research and design, indicating that when developing technology, we should pay attention to a variety of factors that might be contributing to the emergence of practice around that technology – factors not yet fully explored by current research.
Alternate Routes of Administration among Prescription Opioid Misusers and Associations with Sexual HIV Transmission Risk Behaviors

ABSTRACT Literature suggests that young adult prescription opioid misusers who are using alternate routes of administration (e.g., snorting, injecting) may be engaging in sexual and non-sexual HIV risk behaviors. This study examines demographics, substance use, sexual risk behavior, and health and social problems associated with alternate routes of administration of prescription opioids among a sample of young adult prescription opioid misusers. Data are drawn from baseline assessments from a behavioral intervention trial. Eligible participants were ages 18–39, and reported recent (past 90 days) heterosexual sex, and recent and regular substance use and attendance at large, recognized local nightclubs. The analyses include 446 racially/ethnically diverse participants. In bivariate regression models, compared to those who did not, participants reporting alternate routes of administration (n = 209) were more likely to be White (p < 0.025) and report group sex participation history (p = 0.002), sex with an injection drug user (p = 0.003), sexual victimization history (p = 0.003), and severe mental distress (p < 0.000). White race, group sex participation history, and severe mental distress remained significant in the multivariate model. Alternate routes of administration of prescription opioids are associated with sexual HIV transmission risk behaviors. Early prevention and intervention efforts that address sexual and non-sexual HIV risk behaviors are warranted.
Clinical application of maternal serum cytokine determination in premature rupture of membranes ‐ interleukin‐6, an early predictor of neonatal infection?

BACKGROUND In cases of premature rupture of membranes (PROM), an early detection of fetal infection is necessary in order to weigh infectious complications against prematurity. As routine parameters (leukocytes, C-reactive protein (CRP), fever, and fetal tachycardia) lack satisfactory sensitivity and specificity, this study evaluates whether the determination of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) or soluble interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) in maternal serum could supplement or replace routine inflammation parameters. METHODS In this prospective study results of clinical and laboratory parameters were investigated with respect to neonatal infection in 71 patients with PROM. IL-6, IL-8 and IL-2R were determined by enzyme immunoassays. RESULTS Best specificity and sensitivity could be demonstrated for CRP and IL-6. Both elevation of CRP and IL-6 correlated significantly (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively) with the onset of neonatal infection. At a cutoff of 11 pg/ml, IL-6 reaches a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 76%; CRP a specificity of 76% (cutoff 1.2 mg/dl) and a sensitivity of 56%. In 4/16 (25%) cases developing neonatal infection, IL-6 increased earlier than CRP. IL-8 and IL-2R results showed a less significant correlation with fetal outcome. CONCLUSIONS Determination of IL-6 in maternal serum can significantly contribute to an earlier detection of fetal infection in patients with PROM.
Marine mineral tailings use in anticorrosive coatings

A new type of water-dispersive anticorrosive paint was prepared by using marine cobalt-rich crusts tailings which are the residue of cobalt-rich manganese crusts after the extraction of Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mn by acid leach. The first step making the paint is preparing the colored slurry by mixing the tailings (54.65%, mass) with water (40.78%) and some auxiliary materials (4.57%). The second step is mixing the colored slurry (40%) with a styrene-acrylate copolymer (40%), water (11.9%) and some auxiliary materials (8.1%). Test results indicate that the resistance to impact of the coating film is equal to or more than 490 Nmiddotcm, the resistance to saline water is more than 24 days. The tailings can provide both physical and chemical corrosion protection. With their fine particle size the tailings can be dispersed into the styrene-acrylate copolymer to form a uniform coating film with relatively high bonding strength on surfaces to be protected. With a high Fe2O3 content the tailings provide physical cladding. With a high content of Sr and other trace elements the tailings can react with corroded ferrite or with other corrosive materials, such as S04 2-, to form unreactive oxides or inert compounds. In this way, the tailings serve as chemical preservation agents. P2O5 contained within the tailings may combine with metallic elements or may react with polar groups in the styrene-acrylate copolymer to form stable complex compounds to keep corrosion from developing. Oxidizing and reducing properties of rare earth elements may accelerate the formation of a polymer network of coating molecules and shorten both the solidifying and film-forming times for the coating. The tailings also likely enhance the strength and water resistance of the resultant coatings.
A systematic review of sacral nerve stimulation mechanisms in the treatment of fecal incontinence and constipation

Sacral nerve stimulation (SNS) is now well established as a treatment for fecal incontinence (FI) resistant to conservative measures and may also have utility in the management of chronic constipation; however, mechanism of action is not fully understood. End organ effects of SNS have been studied in both clinical and experimental settings, but interpretation is difficult due to the multitude of techniques used and heterogeneity of reported findings. The aim of this study was to systematically review available evidence on the mechanisms of SNS in the treatment of FI and constipation.
Psychometric Normalization of a Hyperacusis Questionnaire

Clinical hyperacusis consists of a marked intolerance to ordinary environmental sounds, while hearing thresholds are quite often normal. Hyperacusis appears to be a subjective phenomenon, which is not easily defined or quantified by objective measurements. In order to create a tool suitable to quantify and evaluate various hyperacusis symptoms, a questionnaire screening several aspects of auditory symptomatology has been constructed. Two hundred and one subjects (who were either hyperacusic or not), randomly selected from the general population, were tested. A principal component analysis performed on the correlation matrix of the 14 items of the questionnaire isolated three dimensions: attentional, social, and emotional. The three dimensions had satisfactory internal consistency reliability. The mean ± SD total score was 15 ± 6.7 out of 42 (maximum of hyperacusis) and a score greater than 28 seems to represent a strong auditory hypersensitivity. This new psychometric tool should further be tested on hyperacusic patients to verify its relevance in pathology and define the involvement of the three dimensions statistically obtained on the hyperacusis symptomatology.
A collision resistant deterministic random bit generator with fault attack detection possibilities

Deterministic random bit generators can be used for cryptographic operations. An important feature of the DREG is collision resistance in order to avoid the generation of the same output sequence for different seeds. Further features are reverse calculation resistance and fault attack detection, which can in our design be reached by the COSSMA approach (COmplete Set of State MAchines) in combination with the use of one way functions and code checkers respectively. In difference to the usual approaches utilizing hash functions and block ciphers the COSSMA approach grants inherent properties which simplify the detection of fault attacks and provide also protection against side channel attacks with very low overhead.
Changes in Cartilage and Tendon Composition of Patients With Type I Diabetes Mellitus: Identification by Quantitative Sodium Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 7 T

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate possible biochemical alterations in tendons and cartilage caused by type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1), using quantitative in vivo 7 T sodium magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Materials and MethodsThe institutional review board approved this prospective study, and written informed consent was obtained. Eight DM1 patients with no history of knee trauma and 9 healthy age- and weight-matched volunteers were examined at 7 T using dedicated knee coils.All participants underwent morphological and sodium MR imaging. Region-of-interest analysis was performed manually for the non–weight-bearing area of the femoral condyle cartilage and for the patella tendon. Two readers read the image data sets independently, twice, for intrareader and interreader agreement. Normalized mean sodium signal intensity (NMSI) values were compared between patients and volunteers for each reader using analysis of variance. ResultsOn morphological images, cartilage in the non–weight-bearing area and the patellar tendon was intact in all patients. On sodium MR imaging, bivariate analysis of variance showed significantly lower mean NMSI values in the cartilage (P = 0.008) and significantly higher values in the tendons (P = 0.025) of patients compared with those of volunteers. ConclusionOur study showed significantly different NMSI values between DM1 patients and matched volunteers. Differences observed in the cartilage and tendon might be associated with a DM1-related alteration of biochemical composition that occurs before it can be visualized on morphological MR sequences.
Exploring regional wage dispersion in Swedish manufacturing, 1860–2009

ABSTRACT Economic theory predicts that regional wages will converge as transport and communication technologies bring labour markets together. An exploration of this transition from labour market segmentation to unification requires long-term evidence of nominal wages and cost of living by region. This paper presents new evidence of wages for male manufacturing workers and cost-of-living indices across 24 Swedish counties between 1860 and 2009. Our findings indicate that the Swedish regional wage differentials were a great deal larger in the 1860s than in the 2000s. Most of the compression took place between the 1860s and World War I, as well as in the 1930s and during World War II. Differences in expenditures on housing impact on our assessment of convergence in the post-World War II decades: the nominal measure declines, while the real one stays constant. Our concluding discussion engages with the assumption that before World War I, regional wage convergence was associated with labour mobility, spurred by improved communication and transportation technologies as well as by the implementation of modern employment contracts. In the 1930s and 1940s, in contrast, regional wage convergence can be traced to high unionisation and centralised collective bargaining in the labour market, two distinguishing features of the Swedish Model.
Network Embedding with Centrality Information

Information networks such as social networks, publication networks, and the World Wide Web are ubiquitous in the real world. Traditionally, adjacency matrices are used to represent the networks. However, adjacency matrices are too sparse and too high dimensional when the scale of the networks is large. Network embedding, which aims to learn low-dimensional continuous representations for nodes, has attracted increasing attention recent years. Many network embedding methods such as DeepWalk, LINE, and node2vec have been proposed recently. Many traditional tasks such as node classification and link prediction have been proven to be benefited from the learned representations. Most of these existing network embedding methods focus on preserving the structure of the networks but totally ignore the centrality information. Centrality information which measures the importance of each individual node has been proven to be helpful in many applications. Various centrality measures such as degree centrality, closeness centrality, betweenness centrality, eigenvector centrality and Page-rank, have been proposed. Different centrality measures should be chosen according to different applications. In this paper, we aim to learn continuous nodes representations which can preserve not only the network structure but also the centrality information. We propose a general model to incorporate the centrality information in the sense of ranking. Different centrality measures can be used in the model.
Mathematical modeling of a single‐cell enzyme assay

A quantitative assay of β‐galactosidase activity in single cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been developed using a fluorogenic substrate and flow cytometry [reported in Wittrup & Bailey, Cytometry, 9,394 (1988)]. The β‐galactosidase activity is expressed in yeast from the Escherichia coli lacZ gene under the control of the yeast GAL10 promoter, and is used as a marker for multicopy plasmid content. A nonfluorescent fluorogenic substrate is enzymatically cleaved by intracellular β‐galactosidase to form a fluorescent product. The accumulation of fluorescent product in single cells was found to depend on bulk substrate concentration and single‐cell enzyme activity in a fashion that could not be described by a Michaelis–Menten kinetic rate form. It has been demonstrated that diffusion limitation rather than enzyme activity can determine the level of single‐cell fluorescence under certain assay conditions, and a mathematical model has; been formulated which accounts for substrate and product diffusion. Guided by the mathematical model, the assay conditions were modified to allow measurement of single‐cell enzyme activity rather than diffusion rates.
Bermudan Swaption Model Risk Analysis: A Local Volatility Approach

Prices of callable interest rate derivatives, such as Bermudan swaptions, can be strongly affected by our choice of interest rate model as well as its parameterization and calibration strategy. This paper develops a simple way to handle the inherent model uncertainty. The approach is based on analyzing the exercise deferral premium of Bermudan swaptions with exactly two exercise dates in a “minimal” nonparametric local volatility interest rate model. It is shown that the value of the right to defer exercise once, at a future call date, depends on the inputs obtained from a calibrated nonparametric local volatility model and can, moreover, be decomposed into a portfolio of standard European swaptions. Such a “fair” price can then be compared with one obtained using a calibrated Bermudan Monte Carlo pricer, yielding a practical way of handling the model risk involved in the chosen Bermudan pricer. Numerical examples from the US dollar swaption market are provided.
Personality and psychopathology correlates of dropout in an outpatient psychiatric service.

AIM The dropout from care in public psychiatric units is a frequent event and strategies to reduce its incidence are still debated. This study aims to determine which personality and psychopathology dimensions influence the dropout in a psychiatric unit. METHODS All new patients referred to a public psychiatric outpatient service were tested with self-administered inventories assessing personality traits (TCI), parental bonding (PBI), and psychopathology (SCL-90; BDI; STAXI). Completers were divided into nondropout, late dropout, and early dropout groups which were compared with each other with respect to diagnosis, referral, demographic data and the inventories. Logistic regression was performed between dropout and non dropout subjects with respect to the significantly differing variables. RESULTS No clinical or demographic characteristic predict dropout. Numerous SCL-90 psychopathology scales, state anger and some TCI personality facets distinguish dropout from in care subjects. Psychoticism and sentimentalism have been evidenced independent predictors of dropout. CONCLUSION In the present study dropout from the psychiatric unit is more related to personal characteristics than to sociodemographic variables or diagnosis. Dropout is related to personality and psychopathology characteristics which may reduce subject's relational skills and impair therapeutic alliance. These traits may also influence subjects' perception of the service quality and of the assessment procedure. The acknowledgement of such traits as possible determinants of dropout may orient service organization and personnel education to prevent this phenomenon in health care services. Strategies for preventing dropout are discussed.
Involvement of nuclear factor-kappa B on corticosterone- induced rat Leydig cell apoptosis.

AIM To investigate the activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) and its function in glucocorticoid-induced Leydig cell apoptosis. METHODS The Leydig cells were isolated from male Sprague-Dawley rats (90 days of age) and were incubated with corticosterone (CORT, glucocorticoid in rat) for 6 h, 12 h and 24 h, respectively. The P65 subunit of NF-kappa B (NF-kappa B/P65) in nuclei and the inhibitor of NF-kappa B (Ikappa B) in cytoplasm were analyzed by Western-blotting. The Leydig cells were treated with anti-Fas antibody for 3 h followed by Western blotting to assay the changes of NF-kappa B/P65 in nuclei and in cytoplasm. The role of NF-kappa B in CORT-induced Leydig cell apoptosis was evaluated by observing the effects of NF-kappa B/P65 overexpression and inhibiting activation of NF-kappa B by 100 micromol/L Pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) on this apoptosis. RESULTS The treatment of Leydig cells with CORT increased the levels of NF-kappa B/P65 in nuclei and decreased the levels of Ikappa B in cytoplasm. Following the Leydig cells were treated with anti-Fas antibody, the levels of NF-kappaB/P65 was increased in nuclei and decreased in cytoplasm. The CORT-induced Leydig cell apoptosis was inhibited by overexpressed NF-kappaB/P65 and was enhanced by incubation with PDTC. CONCLUSION NF-kappa B is activated by increased FasL/Fas in CORT-induced Leydig cell apoptosis. NF-kappa B may play an anti-apoptotic role in this apoptosis.
A Note of Caution on Using Hotelling Models in Platform Markets

We study a Hotelling framework in which customers first pay a monopoly platform to enter the market before deciding between two competing services on opposite ends of a Hotelling line. This setup is common when modeling competition in Internet content provision. We find that standard taken-for-granted solution methods under full market coverage break down, and that in the unique full-coverage equilibrium, the competing service providers set substantially lower prices. Standard methods and prices are restored by giving service providers the first move.
The Role of Savings and Credit in Coping with Idiosyncratic Household Shocks

Abstract This study examines the effect of access to formal banking services on households’ ability to smooth consumption in response to illness of adult workers. The institutional peculiarities of Indonesia’s largest commercial bank are exploited to separately estimate the effects of access to formal credit from savings. The means by which households smooth consumption differs depending on their access to formal services. Those with access to formal credit increase borrowing from banks, while those with access only to formal savings, but not credit, draw down on savings. Households without access to formal banking services end up liquidating productive assets.