Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Duplication and Sub/Neofunctionalization of Malvolio, an Insect Homolog of Nramp, in the Subsocial Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

With growing numbers of sequenced genomes, increasing numbers of duplicate genes are being uncovered. Here we examine Malvolio, a gene in the natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (Nramp) family, that has been duplicated in the subsocial beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides, which exhibits advanced parental behavior. There is only one copy of Mvl in honey bees and Drosophila, whereas in vertebrates there are two copies that are subfunctionalized. We first compared amino acid sequences for Drosophila, beetles, mice, and humans. We found a high level of conservation between the different species, although there was greater variation in the C-terminal regions. A phylogenetic analysis across multiple insect orders suggested that Mvl has undergone several independent duplications. To examine the potential for different functions where it has been duplicated, we quantified expression levels of Mvl1 and Mvl2 in eight tissues in N. vespilloides. We found that while Mvl1 was expressed ubiquitously, albeit at varying levels, expression of Mvl2 was limited to brain and midgut. Because Mvl has been implicated in behavior, we examined expression during different behavioral states that reflected differences in opportunity for social interactions and expression of parental care behaviors. We found differing expression patterns for the two copies, with Mvl1 increasing in expression during resource preparation and feeding offspring, and Mvl2 decreasing in these same states. Given these patterns of expression, along with the protein analysis, we suggest that Mvl in N. vespilloides has experienced sub/neofunctionalization following its duplication, and may be evolving differing and tissue-specific roles in behavior and physiology.
Noise correlation in multicoil receiver systems

When two or more rf coils are used to receive NMR signals from the same part of the patient, the overall sensitivity of an image formed from some combination of these signals may be degraded if noise voltages in the coils are correlated. Whereas it is straightforward to calculate correlation caused by noise sources in the coils themselves, there is disagreement about noise correlation when that noise arises from thermally driven currents within the body itself. A general analysis based on the principles of reciprocity, superposition, and energy conservation yields an equation for sample‐induced noise correlation in terms of circuit impedances. Furthermore, the analysis yields a very simple expression for the total noise correlation (i.e., noise from patient and coil elements) between the coils. This latter expression is applicable to any two‐port receiver coil assembly, including single coils with two modes, such as a birdcage coil, and in general, to any two ports of an n‐port receiver system. © 1992 Academic Press, Inc.
Applying Network Coding to Cyclic Networks

This work addresses the application of network coding on cyclic networks. Cycles and delay are indispensable factors when designing and implementing data networks. However, most attention in the literature of network coding has been on acyclic networks. Hence, in order to bridge the gap of network coding and the practical networks, Convolutional Network Coding (CNC) with delay as an essential part was proposed for network coding on cyclic networks.
Involvement of Gi/o Proteins in Nerve Growth Factor-Stimulated Phosphorylation and Degradation of Tuberin in PC-12 Cells and Cortical Neurons

Tuberin is a critical translation regulator whose role in nerve growth factor (NGF)-promoted neuronal survival has not been documented. In the present study, we examined the ability of NGF to regulate tuberin in PC-12 cells and primary cortical neurons. Incubation of serum-deprived cells with NGF stimulated tuberin phosphorylation and induced proteosome-mediated tuberin degradation. Inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) by wortmannin or overexpression of the kinase dead Akt mutant completely blocked the NGF-induced tuberin phosphorylation and degradation. It is interesting that the NGF-induced tuberin phosphorylation was partially blocked by pertussis toxin or overexpression of regulators of G protein signaling (regulator of G protein signaling Z1 and Gα-interacting protein), suggesting the participation of Gi/o proteins. The use of transducin as a Gβγ scavenger indicated that Gβγ subunits rather than Gαi/o acted as the signal transducer. Epidermal growth factor can similarly induce tuberin phosphorylation and degradation via a PI3K/Akt pathway in PC-12 cells, but these responses were insensitive to pertussis toxin treatment. Treatment of PC-12 cells with a specific agonist to the Gi-coupled α2-adrenoceptor also stimulated tuberin phosphorylation transiently, further demonstrating the involvement of Gi/o signaling in tuberin regulation in PC-12 cells. Finally, overexpression of nonphosphorylable tuberin attenuated NGF-promoted survival of PC-12 cells, suggesting that the phosphorylation and degradation of tuberin are important for NGF-promoted cell survival. Together, this study demonstrates the regulatory effect of NGF and Gi/o signaling on tuberin.
Response to Letter to the Editor, “Association of Endodontic Lesions with Coronary Artery Disease”

In response to some additional questions raised by Vlasa et al. (2016), we acknowledge that there is significant heterogeneity for coronary artery disease (CAD) diagnoses between corresponding studies. One of the strengths in our study is that the cohort was examined by using coronary artery angiography, providing high-quality data for CAD diagnoses, which are defined in detail in the original reference (Vaara et al. 2012). Of our patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS, n = 169), 14.2% had unstable angina pectoris, 49.1% had non-STelevation myocardial infarction, and 36.7% had ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The group with endodontic lesions was more likely to have ST-elevation myocardial infarction than no CAD. In a multivariable model (Liljestrand et al. 2016), this association resulted in an odds ratio of 4.3 (95% confidence interval, 1.6–11.6, P = 0.003). The patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction are generally characterized by young age, milder stenosis, higher inflammation, susceptibility to plaque rupture, and thrombosis. Oral bacteria, especially viridans streptococci, have been frequently found in thrombus aspirates of similar patients (Pessi et al. 2013). As suggested, we further analyzed the association between endodontic lesions and number of affected (>50% stenosis) coronary arteries. Endodontic lesions associated significantly with having 1 stenosed artery (n = 128) and with having 71% to 99% obstruction (n = 124) in the most affected artery but not with multivascular disease or 100% occlusion. One should bear in mind that fragmenting the sample size reduces statistical power. However, these findings may be used as guidelines in future studies. Acknowledgments
Starworld: Preparing Accountants for the Future: A Case-Based Approach to Teach International Financial Reporting Standards Using ERP Software.

International Financial Reporting Standards now constitute an important part of educating young professional accountants. This paper looks at a case based process to teach International Financial Reporting Standards using integrated Enterprise Resource Planning software. The case contained within the paper can be used within a variety of courses to teach International Financial Reporting Standards within an ethical framework. This case does not require access to a live SAP ECC 6.0 server. Students desiring a real time technical experience can either use a live system or utilize the practice capability within this case. The product demonstrated uses the current version of SAP ECC 6.0.
DNA‐Independent RNA Polymerases

Poly(A) polyermase, purified from E. coli, catalyzes the incorporation of AMP residues onto the free 3′‐hydroxyl terminus of RNA, utilizing ATP as a precursor. This unit describes specific reaction conditions as well as some applications including labeling the 3′ ends of RNA with α32ATP for hybridization probes, and cloning RNA that lacks a poly(A) tail. The poly(A) tail is synthesized by poly(A) polyermase, and cDNA is synthesized from the resulting RNA using oligo(dT) as a primer.
Analysis of gate modulation in nanoscale field effect transistors using an equivalent substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) model

In this paper, a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) model has been used to analyze the gate modulation of field effect transistors (FET) with a molecular channel of nanoscale material. By neglecting quantum mechanical effects and by treating nanoscale material as a “rigid” substrate, static electric field distribution inside the FET channel is analyzed. Numerical results show that the modulated electric fields near the interface between the FET channel and the gate insulator vary with dielectric constant of nanoscale material. Moreover, we found that, regardless of channel material and insulator thickness, the electric field penetrating inside the FET channel decreases in a similar way with the distance from the interface. This paper provides useful information for the detailed calculation of I-V curves and for the design of nanoscale FETs.
Landmark selection for shape model construction via equalization of variance

Model-based segmentation approaches, such as those employing active shape models (ASMs), have proved to be useful for medical image segmentation and understanding. To build the model, we need an annotated training set representing correspondences among shapes. Manual positioning of landmarks is a tedious, time consuming, and error prone task, and almost impossible in the 3D space. To overcome some of these drawbacks, we devised an automatic method. Our method is guided by the strategy of equalization of the variance contained in a training set for selecting landmarks. The main premise here is that this strategy itself takes care of the correspondence issue and at the same time deploys landmarks very frugally and optimally considering shape variations. The desired landmarks are positioned around each contour in such a manner as to equally distribute the total variance existing in the training set. The method is evaluated on 40 MRI foot data sets. The results show that, for the same number of landmarks, the proposed method is significantly more compact than manual and equally spaced annotations.
Evidence of autochthonous hepatitis E in a Portuguese pediatric cohort, 1992–1995

Despite the growing importance of hepatitis E virus (HEV) in industrialized countries, minimal attention has been given to autochthonous HEV infection in children. The present study screened archived sera (N = 71) from a Portuguese pediatric cohort collected in 1992–1995 for the presence of antibodies against HEV, using enzyme immunoassays and immunodot. Anti‐HEV IgG was detected in two children and anti‐HEV IgM in one, suggesting an acute HEV infection. This shows that HEV was circulating in the paediatric population of Portugal in the early 1990s. J. Med. Virol. 88:919–921, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Stereological Methods for Estimating the Myelin Sheaths of the Myelinated Fibers in White Matter

In the present study, efficient and unbiased stereological techniques to investigate the myelin sheaths of the myelinated fibers in rat white matter were established. In the present design, four tissue blocks were obtained from the entire white matter of rat brain in a uniform, random fashion. Isotropic, uniform random (IUR) sections were ensured by the use of the isector technique. One section with the thickness of 60 nm was cut from the center of each epon block. Eight to 10 fields of vision were randomly photographed under a transmission electron microscope. The total length of the myelinated fibers and the total volume of the myelin sheaths in the white matter were the products of the length density, volume density, and the volume of the white matter obtained with the Cavalieri principle. The mean areas of the myelinated fibers profiles and myelin sheaths were estimated with the point counting technique. The inner and outer perimeters of the myelin sheaths were estimated by the use of a line grid, and the thickness of the myelin sheaths was estimated by direct orthogonal measurements in uniform, random locations. The described methods will provide very useful tools for future quantitative studies of changes in the myelin sheaths of white matter in various experimental conditions and in various neurodegenerative diseases. Anat Rec, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Initial Public Offerings, Earnings Management and Venture Capital: Evidence in Bull and Bear Market Conditions

Earnings management at the time of the IPO is an important issue and has captured considerable attention of academic literatures. However, there have been few studies testing earnings management in the context of market condition, and when financial intermediaries such as venture capital (VC) involve in the IPO process. This study investigates how VCs influence on earnings management of IPOs upon market condition. We find evidence that if IPO firms go public in the bear market periods, VCs are more likely to inflate their earnings more aggressively at the IPO, compared to the bull market periods. Specifically, while most of studies have argued that VCs have certification effect and monitoring effect to discourage earnings management, we argue that, with empirical finding, VCs have incentives to inflate their IPOs’ earnings for harvesting high returns in the IPO year and the inflated earnings are more deepened in bear market periods.
The Legacy of Deposit Insurance: The Growth, Spread, and Cost of Insuring Financial Intermediaries

Without the Great Depression, the United States would not have adopted deposit insurance. While the New Deal's anti-competitive barriers have largely collapsed become" deeply rooted. This paper examines how market and political competition for deposits raised the level of coverage and spread insurance to all depository institutions. A comparison of the cost of federal insurance with a counterfactual of an insurance-free system shows that federal insurance ultimately imposed a" higher cost but achieved political acceptance because of the distribution of the burden.
Atm Inactivation Results in Aberrant Telomere Clustering during Meiotic Prophase

ABSTRACT A-T (ataxia telangiectasia) individuals frequently display gonadal atrophy, and Atm−/− mice show spermatogenic failure due to arrest at prophase of meiosis I. Chromosomal movements take place during meiotic prophase, with telomeres congregating on the nuclear envelope to transiently form a cluster during the leptotene/zygotene transition (bouquet arrangement). Since the ATM protein has been implicated in telomere metabolism of somatic cells, we have set out to investigate the effects of Atm inactivation on meiotic telomere behavior. Fluorescent in situ hybridization and synaptonemal complex (SC) immunostaining of structurally preserved spermatocytes I revealed that telomere clustering occurs aberrantly inAtm −/− mice. Numerous spermatocytes ofAtm −/− mice displayed locally accumulated telomeres with stretches of SC near the clustered chromosome ends. This contrasted with spermatogenesis of normal mice, where only a few leptotene/zygotene spermatocytes I with clustered telomeres were detected. Pachytene nuclei, which were much more abundant in normal mice, displayed telomeres scattered over the nuclear periphery. It appears that the timing and occurrence of chromosome polarization is altered in Atm −/− mice. When we examined telomere-nuclear matrix interactions in spermatocytes I, a significant difference was observed in the ratio of soluble versus matrix-associated telomeric DNA sequences between meiocytes ofAtm −/− and control mice. We propose that the severe disruption of spermatogenesis during early prophase I in the absence of functional Atm may be partly due to altered interactions of telomeres with the nuclear matrix and distorted meiotic telomere clustering.
Measurement of lifetime alcohol consumption.

The reliability and validity of a retrospective, self-report measure, the Concordia Lifetime Drinking Questionnaire (CLDQ), were assessed with a group of 72 elderly Canadian men. The CLDQ includes quantity and frequency questions on current beverage-specific alcohol use and a series of questions about the start of alcohol use. The innovative features of the CLDQ include requiring subjects to collaborate with the interviewer in drawing a graph that represents their lifetime drinking patterns and encouraging more accurate recall by the use of salient events in the subject's life history. Drinking was assessed on two occasions approximately 33 months apart. Forty-six wives responded to questions about their husband's drinking. The reliability coefficient for lifetime drinking was . 78. A comparison of the two graphs every fifth year from 1945 to 1985 yielded significant correlations that ranged from . 65 to . 87. Validity was tested by comparing each wife's rating of her husband's drinking at present and at time of marriage with similar points on the husband's graphs; the correlations were . 87 and . 72, respectively. Moderate correlations were obtained between the MAST and the CLDQ. The CLDQ was judged to be a reliable and valid measure of lifetime drinking, appropriate for use with the elderly. The longitudinal lifetime drinking patterns appeared similar to those found in cross-sectional studies.
Transparent Dielectric Resonator Antennas for Optical Applications

The transparent dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for optical applications is proposed for the first time. For demonstration, a dual function transparent hemispherical DRA made of Borosilicate Crown glass (Pyrex) is investigated. The dual function DRA simultaneously works as an antenna and a focusing lens for an underlaid solar cell. The system is very compact because no extra footprint is needed for the solar cell. A conformal strip is used to excite the hemispherical DRA in its fundamental broadside TE111 mode. Due to the focusing effect of the DRA, higher voltage and current outputs of the solar cell can be obtained. In this paper, the transparent rectangular DRA was also studied, and it was found that the rectangular DRA does not provide the focusing function. It was also found that the proposed transparent DRAs can provide a higher gain ( ~ 4 dBi) than for the state-of-the-art transparent microstrip antennas ( ~ -5 dBi to 0 dBi). The reflection coefficients, input impedances, antenna gains, and radiation patterns of the two transparent DRAs are studied, and reasonable agreement between the simulated and measured results was observed. The proposed configurations can potentially be used for applications that need a self-sustaining power.
Gambogic acid inhibits the catalytic activity of human topoisomerase IIα by binding to its ATPase domain

This study is intended to characterize the cellular target of gambogic acid (GA), a natural product isolated from the gamboge resin of Garcinia hurburyi tree, which possesses potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activities. The antiproliferative activity of GA was further confirmed here in a panel of human tumor cells and multidrug-resistant cells. We found that GA significantly inhibited the catalytic activity of topoisomerase (Topo) II and, to a comparatively less extent, of Topo I, without trapping and stabilizing covalent topoisomerase-DNA cleavage complexes. Down-regulation of Topo IIα but not Topo I and Topo IIβ, reduced GA-induced apoptosis and the phosphorylation of c-Jun, and restored cell proliferation upon GA treatment. Moreover, GA antagonized etoposide-induced DNA damage and abrogated the antiproliferative activity of etoposide, whereas it did not affect camptothecin-induced DNA damage. By dissecting the actions of GA on the individual steps of Topo IIα catalytic cycle, we found that GA inhibited DNA cleavage and ATP hydrolysis. Moreover, GA directly bound to the ATPase domain of Topo IIα, and may share common binding sites with ATP. The results reported here show that GA exerts its antiproliferative effect by inhibiting the catalytic activity Topo IIα. They also indicate that GA inhibits Topo IIα-mediated DNA cleavage and modulate the activity of Topo II poisons, which provide rationale for further clinical evaluation of GA. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(9):2429–40]
Budgetary Participation and Village Development Performance (Study at Jayapura City)

This study aims to identify and explain the effect of budgetary participation on the performance of village development. This research also examines the procedural justice and organizational commitment as the mediation variables on the relationship between budgetary participation and village development performance. The results of this study are expected to provide recommendations to the local government about the appropriate budgetary participation strategy for refining and improving village development performance.This research is an explanatory research. The data was collected by survey method. This study was conducted in 14 villages in Jayapura Papua province. The respondents are representing each village which consists of cultural leaders, religious leaders, youth leaders, and female leaders, village-heads and secretaries, and also the a companion program PNPM-Respek. The reliable data processed in this study consist of 97 respondents. Analytical methods to test the hypothesis used Generalized Structured Component Analysis.The results show that budgetary participation does not significantly influence the village development performance; yet, procedural justice and organizational commitment are perfect mediations for the relationship between budgetary participation and village development performance. Organizational commitment is also a perfect mediation for the relationship between procedural justice and village development performance. Procedural justice has a greater role than organizational commitment in mediating the relationship between budgetary participation and village development performance. Budgeting procedures when applied consistently in the budgeting process can enhance organizational commitment and further will improve village development performance
A Profile of Australian Adults Who Have Discussed Their Posthumous Organ Donation Wishes With Family Members

Next of kin who are aware of the deceased's organ donation wishes usually will honor those wishes, while next of kin who are unaware of these wishes typically withhold consent for posthumous donation. Encouraging individuals to communicate or register their organ donation wishes is therefore important. Using a sample of 409 participants, the current study sought to develop a profile of Australian adults who had communicated their organ donation wishes to family members. Christian participants and those who had a higher income were more likely to have communicated their donation wishes. Conversely, participants were less likely to have communicated their donation wishes if they were unregistered and undecided/opposed to organ donation, unregistered but willing to donate, or fearful of death. Finally, whether participants had communicated, registered, or communicated and registered their donation wishes was associated with their age, religion, attitude toward organ donation, and recall of media content about organ donation. Messages encouraging the communication of organ donation wishes to family members should therefore be targeted toward those individuals who are most likely to be receptive toward enacting this behavior.