Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LRGUK1 is part of a multiprotein complex required for manchette function and male fertility

Infertility occurs in 1 in 20 young men and is idiopathic in origin in most. We have reported that the leucine‐rich repeat (LRR) and guanylate kinase‐like domain containing, isoform (LRGUK)‐1 is essential for sperm head shaping, via the manchette, and the initiation of sperm tail growth from the centriole/basal body, and thus, male fertility. Within this study we have used a yeast 2‐hybrid screen of an adult testis library to identify LRGUK1‐binding partners, which were then validated with a range of techniques. The data indicate that LRGUK1 likely achieves its function in partnership with members of the HOOK family of proteins (HOOK‐1–3), Rab3‐interacting molecule binding protein (RIMBP)‐3 and kinesin light chain (KLC)‐3, all of which are associated with intracellular protein transport as cargo adaptor proteins and are localized to the manchette. LRGUK1 consists of 3 domains; an LRR, a guanylate kinase (GUK)‐like and an unnamed domain. In the present study, we showed that the GUK‐like domain is essential for binding to HOOK2 and RIMBP3, and the LRR domain is essential for binding to KLC3. These findings establish LRGUK1 as a key component of a multiprotein complex with an essential role in microtubule dynamics within haploid male germ cells. —Okuda, H. , DeBoer, K. , O'Connor, A. E. , Merriner, D. J., Jamsai, D. , O'Bryan, M. K. LRGUK1 is part of a multiprotein complex required for manchette function and male fertility. FASEB J. 31, 1141–1152 (2017). www.fasebj. org
In Silico and in Vitro-Guided Identification of Inhibitors of Alkylquinolone-Dependent Quorum Sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major opportunistic pathogen in cystic fibrosis, wound and nosocomial infections, posing a serious burden to public health, due to its antibiotic resistance. The P. aeruginosa Pseudomonas Quinolone System (pqs) quorum sensing system, driven by the activation of the transcriptional regulator, PqsR (MvfR) by alkylquinolone (AQ) signal molecules, is a key player in the regulation of virulence and a potential target for the development of novel antibacterial agents. In this study, we performed in silico docking analysis, coupled with screening using a P. aeruginosa mCTX::PpqsA-lux chromosomal promoter fusion, to identify a series of new PqsR antagonists. The hit compounds inhibited pyocyanin and alkylquinolone signal molecule production in P. aeruginosa PAO1-L and PA14 strains. The inhibitor Ia, which showed the highest activity in PA14, reduced biofilm formation in PAO1-L and PA14, increasing their sensitivity to tobramycin. Furthermore, the hepatic and plasma stabilities for these compounds were determined in both rat and human in vitro microsomal assays, to gain a further understanding of their therapeutic potential. This work has uncovered a new class of P. aeruginosa PqsR antagonists with potential for hit to lead optimisation in the search for quorum sensing inhibitors for future anti-infective drug discovery programs.
The Nexus between Budget Deficit and Inflation in the Nigerian Economy (1980 - 2009)

This study examined whether budget deficit is inflationary or not in Nigeria within the period of 1980-2009. The study made use of time series data and employed vector Error correction Mechanism (VECM) to determine the correlation that existed between the two macroeconomic variables. The study also investigated the existence of long run relationship between budget deficit and inflation. The result showed a significant causal relationship from budget deficit to inflation while the causal relationship from inflation to budget deficit was insignificant. This implies that a uni-directional causality from budget deficit to inflation exist in Nigeria. This result shows that budgets deficit affect inflation directly and indirectly through increase in money supply in the Nigerian economy. Adequate monetary policy should be geared towards balancing the role money supply performs to both budget deficit and inflation, noting that there was uni-directional relationship between budget deficit and inflation. Keywords : Budget Deficit, Inflation, Causality, Nexus
Reciprocal Associations between Electronic Media Use and Behavioral Difficulties in Preschoolers

The use of electronic media has increased substantially and is already observable in young children. The present study explored associations of preschoolers’ use of electronic media with age, gender, and socio-economic status, investigated time trends, and examined reciprocal longitudinal relations between children’s use of electronic media and their behavioral difficulties. The study participants included 527 German two- to six-year-old children whose parents had provided information on their use of electronic media and their behavioral difficulties at two time points, with approximately 12 months between baseline and follow-up. The analyses revealed that older vs. younger children, as well as children from families with a lower vs. higher socio-economic status, were more often reported to use electronic media. Furthermore, the usage of mobile phones increased significantly between 2011 and 2016. Most interestingly, baseline usage of computer/Internet predicted more emotional and conduct problems at follow-up, and baseline usage of mobile phones was associated with more conduct problems and hyperactivity or inattention at follow-up. Peer relationship problems at baseline, on the other hand, increased the likelihood of using computer/Internet and mobile phones at follow-up. The findings indicate that preschoolers’ use of electronic media, especially newer media such as computer/Internet and mobile phones, and their behavioral difficulties are mutually related over time.
Towards Decoding Currency Volatilities

This study contributes, on the basis of economic theory, to an explanation of exchange rate volatilities for a large number of currencies. We relate daily changes in GARCH(1,1) volatilities of exchange rates to the volatility changes of several of their presumed fundamental economic determinants. The use of highfrequency data limits the choice of the explanatory economic variables that can be included. The first differences of GARCH(1,1) volatilities of share and bond price indices proxy for wealth uncertainty and the latter, in addition, for interest rate variability. Likewise, first differences of the gold price volatility, as an additional determinant, are related to exchange rate volatilities of two commodity currencies in the sample. The estimates produce coefficients with the expected signs and statistical significance.
Old and new growth theories : an assessment

Old and new growth theories - a unifying structure? "old" thoughts on "new" growth theory old and new growth theories - what role for aggregate demand? new growth theory, effective demand, and post Keynesian dynamics exogenous and endogenous growth in the Solow and Arrow models, and the Swan Proposition model-robustness in "old" and "new" growth theory on "measuring" knowledge in new (endogenous) growth theory on the mechanics of technical change - new and old ideas in economic growth technical change, effective demand and economic growth Schumpeterian growth theory and Schumpeter's monetary ideas - a suggested integration distribution and policy in the new growth literature does investment cause growth? - a test of an endogenous demand-driven theory of growth applied to India 1950 96 when Romer meets Lucas - on human capital, imperfect competition and growth the enigma of medieval craft guilds - a model of social inertia and technological change effective demand and growth in a one-sector Keynesian model neo-Kaleckian growth dynamics and the state of long-run expectations - wage versus profit-led growth reconsidered.
A Plasmodium Parasite with Complete Late Liver Stage Arrest Protects against Preerythrocytic and Erythrocytic Stage Infection in Mice

ABSTRACT Genetically attenuated malaria parasites (GAP) that arrest during liver stage development are powerful immunogens and afford complete and durable protection against sporozoite infection. Late liver stage-arresting GAP provide superior protection against sporozoite challenge in mice compared to early live stage-arresting attenuated parasites. However, very few late liver stage-arresting GAP have been generated to date. Therefore, identification of additional loci that are critical for late liver stage development and can be used to generate novel late liver stage-arresting GAPs is of importance. We further explored genetic attenuation in Plasmodium yoelii by combining two gene deletions, PlasMei2 and liver-specific protein 2 (LISP2), that each cause late liver stage arrest with various degrees of infrequent breakthrough to blood stage infection. The dual gene deletion resulted in a synthetic lethal phenotype that caused complete attenuation in a highly susceptible mouse strain. P. yoelii plasmei2− lisp2− arrested late in liver stage development and did not persist in livers beyond 3 days after infection. Immunization with this GAP elicited robust protective antibody responses in outbred and inbred mice against sporozoites, liver stages, and blood stages as well as eliciting protective liver-resident T cells. The immunization afforded protection against both sporozoite challenge and blood stage challenge. These findings provide evidence that completely attenuated late liver stage-arresting GAP are achievable via the synthetic lethal approach and might enable a path forward for the creation of a completely attenuated late liver stage-arresting P. falciparum GAP.
MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION AMONG HCT STUDENTS OF OMAN: A SEM APPROACH

Entrepreneurship Education became the trend in most of the countries around the globe. In parallel with the global trends in employment, and due to the high currency of entrepreneurship in job creation worldwide; Oman’s showed a high interest in developing Entrepreneurship in the country in terms of strategy, policy making, education and training in the last couple of years. Almost all educational institution in Oman introduced Entrepreneurship as a subject that is offered to all specializations; some institution offer’s the course of entrepreneurship as a compulsory; others as elective. In view of this, the research paper main objective is to measure the effectiveness of Entrepreneurial education among Higher College of Technology (HCT) students in Oman. The study was conducted among the students who completed the course Entrepreneurship from various departments in Higher College of Technology, Muscat. The primary data had been collected from 60 respondents, (N=60) had been selected for the analysis. Based on the previous research studies 18 constructs were selected for this study and hypotheses are framed. The research through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using AMOS software infers that almost all the determinants are positively correlated with effectiveness of Entrepreneurial Education.
Heritable, Allele-Specific Chromosomal Looping between Tandem Promoters Specifies Promoter Usage of SHC1

ABSTRACT One-half of the genes in the human genome contain alternative promoters, some of which generate products with opposing functions. Aberrant silencing or activation of such alternative promoters is associated with multiple diseases, including cancer, but little is known regarding the molecular mechanisms that control alternative promoter choice. The SHC1 gene encodes p46Shc/p52Shc and p66Shc, proteins oppositely regulating anchorage-independent growth that are produced by transcription initiated from the upstream and downstream tandem promoters of SHC1, respectively. Here we demonstrate that activation of these promoters is mutually exclusive on separate alleles in single primary endothelial cells in a heritable fashion, ensuring expression of both transcripts by the cell. Peripheral blood lymphocytes that do not transcribe p66Shc transcribed p52Shc biallelically. This distinct monoallelic transcription pattern is established by allele-specific chromosomal looping between tandem promoters, which silences the upstream promoter. Our results reveal a new mechanism to control alternative promoter usage through higher-order chromatin structure.
Technical change performance and water use efficiency in the irrigated areas: Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

In order to cope with the water scarcity, Tunisia has to manage efficiently the water demand of the economic and social sectors mainly that of the agricultural irrigated activities. Within this context, this investigation aims to analyze the technical efficiency, the water use efficiency and the dynamic of the productivity of the irrigated areas in the Sidi Bouzid region. Farm surveys have been carried out during 2003 and 2007 cropping years and technology performance has been assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis approach. Malmquist index has been also computed in order to characterize the productivity change. Empirical findings showed that the technical efficiency of the farms has increased by 17% during this period leading to an improvement of the water use efficiency up to 22%. Both, the technical efficiency change as well as the technical change reveal a positive impact on the productivity change. However, in 2007, the water use efficiency was only 78%. Therefore, farmers have to improve further their irrigated practices in order to save more water.
Auxiliary Training Information Assisted Visual Recognition

In the realm of multi-modal visual recognition, the reliability of the data acquisition system is often a concern due to the increased complexity of the sensors. One of the major issues is the accidental loss of one or more sensing channels, which poses a major challenge to current learning systems. In this paper, we examine one of these specific missing data problems, where we have a main modality/view along with an auxiliary modality/view present in the training data, but merely the main modality/view in the test data. To effectively leverage the auxiliary information to train a stronger classifier, we propose a collaborative auxiliary learning framework based on a new discriminative canonical correlation analysis. This framework reveals a common semantic space shared across both modalities/views through enforcing a series of nonlinear projections. Such projections automatically embed the discriminative cues hidden in both modalities/views into the common space, and better visual recognition is thus achieved on the test data. The efficacy of our proposed auxiliary learning approach is demonstrated through four challenging visual recognition tasks with different kinds of auxiliary information.
A “Seed-Refine” Algorithm for Detecting Protein Complexes From Protein Interaction Data

New technology advances in large-scale protein-protein interaction detection provide researchers an initial view of proteins on a global scale. These massive data sets provide a valuable source for elucidating the biomolecular mechanism in the cell. In this paper, we investigate the problem of protein complex detection from noisy protein interaction data, i.e., finding the subsets of proteins that are closely coupled via protein interactions. We identify the challenges and propose a "seed-refine" approach. We propose a novel statistically meaningful subgraph quality measure, a two-layer seeding heuristic to find good seeds, and a novel subgraph refinement method that controls the overlap between subgraphs. Experiments show the desirable properties of our subgraph quality measure and the effectiveness of our "seed-refine" algorithm
Cross‐cascade activation of ERKs and ternary complex factors by Rho family proteins

Mitogens promote cell growth through integrated signal transduction networks that alter cellular metabolism, gene expression and cytoskeletal organization. Many such signals are propagated through activation of MAP kinase cascades partly regulated by upstream small GTP‐binding proteins. Interactions among cascades are suspected but not defined. Here we show that Rho family small G proteins such as Rac1 and Cdc42hs, which activate the JNK/SAPK pathway, cooperate with Raf‐1 to activate the ERK pathway. This causes activation of ternary complex factors (TCFs), which regulate c‐fos gene expression through the serum response element. Examination of ERK pathway kinases shows that neither MEK1 nor Ras will synergize with Rho‐type proteins, and that only MEK1 is fully activated, indicating that MEKs are a focal point for cross‐cascade regulation. Rho family proteins utilize PAKs for this effect, as expression of an active PAK1 mutant can substitute for Rho family small G proteins, and expression of an interfering PAK1 mutant blocks Rho‐type protein stimulation of ERKs. PAK1 phosphorylates MEK1 on Ser298, a site important for binding of Raf‐1 to MEK1 in vivo. Expression of interfering PAK1 also reduces stimulation of TCF function by serum growth factors, while expression of active PAK1 enhances EGF‐stimulated MEK1 activity. This demonstrates interaction among MAP kinase pathway elements not previously recognized and suggests an explanation for the cooperative effect of Raf‐1 and Rho family proteins on cellular transformation.
Supine posture changes lung volumes and increases ventilation heterogeneity in cystic fibrosis

Introduction Lung Clearance Index (LCI) is recognised as an early marker of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease. The effect of posture on LCI however is important when considering longitudinal measurements from infancy and when comparing LCI to imaging studies. Methods 35 children with CF and 28 healthy controls (HC) were assessed. Multiple breath washout (MBW) was performed both sitting and supine in triplicate and analysed for LCI, Scond, Sacin, and lung volumes. These values were also corrected for the Fowler dead-space to create ‘alveolar’ indices. Results From sitting to supine there was a significant increase in LCI and a significant decrease in FRC for both CF and HC (p<0.01). LCI, when adjusted to estimate ‘alveolar’ LCI (LCIalv), increased the magnitude of change with posture for both LCIalv and FRCalv in both groups, with a greater effect of change in lung volume in HC compared with children with CF. The % change in LCIalv for all subjects correlated significantly with lung volume % changes, most notably tidal volume/functional residual capacity (Vtalv/FRCalv (r = 0.54,p<0.001)). Conclusion There is a significant increase in LCI from sitting to supine, which we believe to be in part due to changes in lung volume and also increasing ventilation heterogeneity related to posture. This may have implications in longitudinal measurements from infancy to older childhood and for studies comparing supine imaging methods to LCI.
The use of t-norms in mathematical models of epidemics

We study different t-norms in epidemiological mathematical models. We explore the SI model, which encounter between individuals is originally modelled by the product operation (also a t-norm). We discuss the differences and advantages of using one or another t-norm. Finally, we compare the solutions provided by each approach.
Immunomodulation by the copolymer glatiramer acetate

Glatiramer acetate (GA; Copaxone®, also known as Copolymer 1 or Cop‐1), a copolymer of amino acids, is very effective in the suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalitis (EAE), the animal model for multiple sclerosis (MS), in various species including primates. The immunological cross‐reaction between the myelin basic protein and GA serves as the basis for the suppressive activity of GA in EAE, by the induction of antigen‐specific suppressor cells. The mode of action of GA is by initial strong promiscuous binding to major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and competition with MBP and other myelin proteins for such binding and presentation to T cells. Suppressor T cells induced by GA are of the Th2 type, migrate to the brain and lead to in situ bystander suppression. Clinical trials with GA, both phase II and phase III, were performed in relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients, and demonstrated efficacy in reducing the relapse rate, decreasing MRI‐assessed disease activity and burden and slowing progression of disability. GA is generally well tolerated and is not associated with influenza‐like symptoms and formation of neutralizing antibodies seen with β‐interferons. It exerts its suppressive effect primarily by immunomodulation, and has recently shown ameliorating effect in a few additional autoimmune disorders as well as in graft rejection. At present GA is considered a valuable first‐line treatment option for patients with RRMS. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Auditee and audit firm characteristics as determinants of audit qualifications: Evidence from the Athens stock exchange

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to test the extent to which combinations of financial information with non‐financial variables, such as audit fees and type of audit firm, can be used in predicting qualified and unqualified audit reports.Design/methodology/approach – The data were taken from a sample of 185 Greek companies listed at the Athens stock exchange and were analysed using logistic and OLS regression models.Findings – It is found that audit fees and the type of audit firm (Big five vs non‐Big five) do not affect auditors' propensity to qualify their opinions. Instead, the occurrence of audit qualifications is associated with financial metrics such as operating margin to total assets and the current ratio. The model developed was successful in classifying 90 per cent of the total sample.Originality/value – This study has implications for external auditors, regulators and investors. Also contributes to auditing and accounting research by examining the suggested variables to identify those t.
An LCL filter with an active compensation for a fast charger station

For the AC/DC stage of a 50 kW fast charger station which is a three-phase pulse width modulated (PWM) converter, an LCL filter is designed and constructed. As a PWM converter, the rectifier is a source of high frequency harmonics demanding filtering action to meet the grid regulations. Hence, the required filtering specification by the LCL filter is extracted using an appropriate harmonic model of the converter. The design procedure and the filter transfer function are presented. In addition, an active compensator is proposed to enhance the converter power factor by modification of the reference q current. Some simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the filter.
Design and Experimental Validation of a Stable Two-Stage Estimator for Automotive Sideslip Angle and Tire Parameters

This paper proposes and experimentally validates a two-stage approach for coupled lateral vehicle state and tire model estimation. In a first stage, an extended Kalman filter is employed which provides vehicle slip angles and lateral tire forces from commercial low-cost vehicle sensors. The obtained estimates are exploited in the second stage, where a (quasi-static) tire model is fitted to this data. A major issue in this estimation process is the typical instability of these estimators for situations with (prolonged) straight driving. This issue is traced back to a lack of local observability. The use of a variable model covariance is introduced as a practical method to obtain a stable estimator, irrespective of the unobservability. The developed methodology has a low computational load and the Kalman estimator is able to run in real time, whereas the tire model parameter fitting is cheap enough to run online. The proposed methodology is validated experimentally and provides reliable results in variable driving conditions.