Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Catecholamine Secretion from Digitonin-treated Adrenal Medullary Chromaffin Cells

The plasma membrane of cultured chromaffin cells from bovine adrenal medulla was rendered leaky by incubation in low concentrations of digitonin. Digitonin (20 PM) induced Ca2+-dependent release of 10-20% of the catecholamine in the presence of 10 p~ Ca2+ without addition of secretagogue. Half-maximal catecholamine release occurred at approximately 1 pM Ca2+. M&+ could not substitute for Ca2+. Cells incubated with digitonin rapidly lost their ability to exclude trypan blue. Digitonin caused release of the cytosolic markers lactic dehydrogenase and phenylethanolamine-N-methyltransferase, but, in contrast to release of catecholamine, the release of the cytosolic proteins was inhibited by Ca2+. Soluble dopamine-/%hydroxylase, a protein marker of granule contents, was released proportionally with catecholamine in a Ca2+ dependent manner. Catecholamine release was optimal in solutions containing MgATP. Hence, digitonin-treated cells, although they lose soluble cytosolic proteins a d presumably low molecular weight cytosolic constituents, maintain the Ca2+-dependent reactions of exocytosis in the presence of MgATP. Digitonin-treated chromaffin cells may be a powerful system in which to study the biochemical mechanisms underlying exocytosis.
IRF 3 and IRF 7 Phosphorylation in Virus-infected Cells Does Not Require Double-stranded RNA-dependent Protein Kinase R or I k B Kinase but Is Blocked by Vaccinia Virus E 3 L Protein *

Induction of interferon-a (IFNa) gene expression in virus-infected cells requires phosphorylation-induced activation of the transcription factors IRF3 and IRF7. However, the kinase(s) that targets these proteins has not been identified. Using a combined pharmacological and genetic approach, we found that none of the kinases tested was responsible for IRF phosphorylation in cells infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Although the broad-spectrum kinase inhibitor staurosporine potently blocked IRF3 and -7 phosphorylation, inhibitors for protein kinase C, protein kinase A, MEK, SAPK, IKK, and protein kinase R (PKR) were without effect. Both IkB kinase and PKR have been implicated in IFN induction, but cells genetically deficient in IkB kinase, PKR, or the PKR-related genes PERK, IRE1, or GCN2 retained the ability to phosphorylate IRF7 and induce IFNa. Interestingly, PKR mutant cells were defective for response to double-stranded (ds) RNA but not to virus infection, suggesting that dsRNA is not the only activating viral component. Consistent with this notion, protein synthesis was required for IRF7 phosphorylation in virus-infected cells, and the kinetics of phosphorylation and viral protein production were similar. Despite evidence for a lack of involvement of dsRNA and PKR, vaccinia virus E3L protein, a dsRNA-binding protein capable of inhibiting PKR, was an effective IRF3 and -7 phosphorylation inhibitor. These results suggest that a novel cellular protein that is activated by viral products in addition to dsRNA and is sensitive to E3L inhibition is responsible for IRF activation and reveal a novel mechanism for the anti-IFN effect of E3L distinct from its inhibition of PKR.
Autophagy inhibitor sensitizes MCF-7 breast cancer cells to novel cyclic tetrapeptide CTS203-induced caspase-9-dependent apoptotic cell death.

UNLABELLED Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been demonstrated to be effective anti-cancer candidates against aggressive malignancies. In previous study, a novel hydroxamic acid derivate, CTS203 (cyclo(-l-Asu(NHOH)-l-A3mc6c-l-Phe-d-Pro-)), demonstrated promising HDAC inhibitory activity. Herein, more biological evaluations including cell viability, cell cycle distribution, cellular morphology, expression quantification as well as protein-protein interactions were measured to investigate its cytotoxic mechanism. Corresponding with its significant HDAC inhibitory activity, CTS203 led to increased acetylation of H3K14, cell cycle arrest as well as consequent apoptotic cell death, with bearable influence on the viability of normal cells. However, schedule-dependent cytotoxicity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells revealed a delayed cellular response to chemo-stimuli. Within this corresponding period, autophagy was rapidly triggered once exposure started, whereas autophagy inhibitor sensitized MCF-7 cells to CTS203, exhibiting synergistically anti-proliferative effects. The expression variation in MCF-7 cells revealed that the cleavage of Beclin 1 mediated by caspase-8 resulted in disabled autophagy, thus ultimately facilitated and fastened caspase-9-dependent apoptotic cell death. Taken together, these findings elucidated the mechanism of CTS203-induced cytotoxicity as well as suggested that appropriate manipulation of autophagy would be an adjunctive strategy to enhance HDAC inhibitor-induced cell death. KEYWORDS cyclic tetrapeptide, apoptosis, autophagy, HDAC inhibitor, Beclin 1 cleavage.
Disjunctions and Specificity in Suppositional Defeasible Argumentation

This work introduces a system of suppositional argumentation (SAS), trying to give a foundation for dealing intuitively with disjunctive information in a defeasible reasoning framework. Defeasible argumentation systems proposed in the field of Artificial Intelligence lack in general of such a capability. Our view is that suppositional reasoning is present in defeasible arguments involving disjunctions, just as in reasoning by cases in classical logic. Disjunctive information can express different plausible alternatives which consideration would improve the results of a debate. Here is studied in what extent an argument assuming such plausible alternatives can be considered relevant within the given context, and how those alternatives can be compared on basis of their explicative power. In consequence, a debate can be affected in several aspects, among which counter argumentation, defeat and justification have to be considered. Moreover, a comparison among arguments using specificity is adopted, obtaining that also defeasible contrapositive arguments are treated intuitively. Interesting properties of the system (consistency, a deduction theorem, reasoning by cases) are proved, and common sense rationality is tested with several benchmark problems.
A Low-Order Model Investigation of the Analysis of Gravity Waves in the Ensemble Kalman Filter

The behavior of the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is examined in the context of a model that exhibits a nonlinear chaotic (slow) vortical mode coupled to a linear (fast) gravity wave of a given amplitude and frequency. It is shown that accurate recovery of both modes is enhanced when covariances between fast and slow normal-mode variables (which reflect the slaving relations inherent in balanced dynamics) are modeled correctly. More ensemble members are needed to recover the fast, linear gravity wave than the slow, vortical motion. Although the EnKF tends to diverge in the analysis of the gravity wave, the filter divergence is stable and does not lead to a great loss of accuracy. Consequently, provided the ensemble is large enough and observations are made that reflect both time scales, the EnKF is able to recover both time scales more accurately than optimal interpolation (OI), which uses a static error covariance matrix. For OI it is also found to be problematic to observe the state at a frequency that is a subharmonic of the gravity wave frequency, a problem that is in part overcome by the EnKF. However, error in the modeledgravity waveparameters can be detrimental to the performance of the EnKF and remove its implied advantages, suggesting that a modified algorithm or a method for accounting for model error is needed.
Sources of Revenue and Government Performance: Evidence from Colombia

This paper tests the hypothesis that governments financed through taxes are more accountable and better governed than those relying on non-tax revenue. I focus on municipal governments in Colombia and exploit the timing of cadastral updates and fluctuations in the world price of oil as sources of plausibly exogenous variation in property tax revenue and natural resource royalties. I find that an increase to tax revenue has a much larger effect than a same-sized increase to oil royalties on local public goods in the areas of education, health and water, despite earmarking of royalties for basic services in these areas. Higher tax revenue also reduces the probability of a disciplinary prosecution against the municipal mayor, while the opposite is true for royalties, especially for prosecutions related to financial mismanagement.
Variation in Complex Semiochemical Signals Arising from Insects and Host Plants

ABSTRACT Chemical communication by many insect species involves complex signals of both insect and plant origin. Much attention has been focused on the behavioral activities of these components but less on their sources of variation, despite implications for evolutionary theory and pest management. We studied variation in chemical signaling at host, tree-within-host, and beetle-on-tree scales using tunneling male pine engravers [Ips pini (Say)] on jack, Pinus banksiana Lamb, red, P. resinosa Aiton, and white, P. strobus L. pines. Pine engravers are distributed transcontinentally, and stereoisomeric ratios of their principal pheromone component ipsdienol varies regionally. Linear mixed-effects models were used to examine variation in monoterpene and pheromone volatile profiles, determined by gas chromatography. Phloem from white pine had the greatest concentration of monoterpenes, although insects tunneling in white pine produced the smallest ratios of monoterpenes to pheromones (1:2) in their volatile plumes relative to jack and red pine (1:1). Beetle-to-beetle variation in plume composition was ≈2–9 times greater than the inter-tree variation within a tree species. The stereoisomeric ratio of ipsdienol was highly consistent within the pheromone component of the plume. The little variation present existed almost entirely at the level of the insects. Within the pheromone component of the plume in a given host species, there was up to 13 times more beetle-to-beetle than tree-to-tree variation. This magnitude was almost double the magnitudes of the ratios among components within the entire plumes. Implications to the behavioral ecology of bark beetle communication, such as potential strategies of cheating and predator avoidance, are discussed.
Does internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy reduce healthcare costs and resource use in treatment of social anxiety disorder? A cost-minimisation analysis conducted alongside a randomised controlled trial

Objectives Social anxiety disorder (SAD) can be effectively treated with internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT), but studies on long-term cost minimisation from a healthcare provider perspective in comparison to an evidence-based control treatment of therapeutic equivalence are lacking. The objective of the study was to determine whether ICBT reduces healthcare costs and use of healthcare resources compared with cognitive behavioural group therapy (CBGT). Design A cost-minimisation study alongside a randomised controlled trial where participants (n=126) with SAD were randomised to ICBT or to CBGT. Costs measured from a healthcare provider perspective were estimated using time-driven activity-based costing alongside health status over 4 years from baseline measured with EQ-5D. Setting A psychiatric outpatient clinic in Stockholm, Sweden. Participants Participants were 126 individuals with SAD. Primary outcome measures Changes in EQ-5D and costs. Interventions Participants received either CBGT or ICBT for a duration of 15 weeks. Results ICBT minimised healthcare costs and demonstrated health improvements within the non-inferiority margin. Assuming a practical work capacity for personnel varying between 100%, 80% and 50% of theoretical full capacity, the cost for ICBT varied in the range between 400€, 463€ and 654 €, while the cost for CBGT varied between 699€, 806€ and 1134€. Within-group effect size was −0.36 (95% CI −0.70 to −0.01) for ICBT and −0.25 (95% CI −0.60 to 0.10) for CBGT. Mean use of effective psychologist time in ICBT was 189.60 (SD=53.77) minutes compared with 499.78 (SD=30.91) in the CBGT group. Conclusions In treatment of SAD, ICBT is equally effective but is associated with more efficient staff utilisation and less costs compared with CBGT. From a healthcare provider perspective, ICBT is an advantageous treatment option. Trial registration number
Effects of institutional environment on global banking development

We investigated the effects of institutional environment on banking development. These effects were quantified directly for banking development as well as indirectly for financial stability and diversification activities. We used a dynamic regression model proposed by Arellano & Bond (1991) for a balanced panel of 134 countries between 1994 and 2011. Our results indicate that institutional environment improvements promote banking development. This result is observed for the institutional characteristics of both public and regulatory environments. Diversification has a positive impact on the degree of banking development, showing that banks obtain a credit benefit from economies of scale. Non-linearity observed for diversification effects indicate that positive effects are reversed at high diversification levels. Financial stability has a negative effect, which demonstrates that banking entails financial risk for the sector.
Racial/Ethnic Perspectives on the Quality of Hospice Care

Diversity in the US population is increasing, and evaluating the quality of culturally sensitive hospice care is important. A survey design was used to collect data from 743 patients enrolled in hospice or their family members or caregivers. Race/ethnicity was not significantly associated with any of the hospice interventions or outcomes. Patients were less likely to be satisfied with the overall hospice care (OR = 0.23, 95% CI = 0.065-0.796, P = .021) compared to other type of respondents. Satisfaction with emotional support was substantially associated with the increased likelihood of satisfaction with pain management (OR = 3.82, 95% CI = 1.66-8.83, P = .002), satisfaction with other symptom management (OR = 6.17, 95% CI = 2.80-13.64, P < .001), and of overall satisfaction with hospice care (OR = 20.22, 95% CI = 8.64-47.35, P < .001).
Effect on eNOS/NO Pathway in MIRI rats with preconditioning of GFPC from Dang Gui Si Ni decoction

Objective: In order to discover whether the eNOS/NO (endothelial nitric oxide synthase/nitric oxide) pathway is involved in the protective mechanisms of ischemic myocardium of DGSND (Dang Gui Si Ni Decoction) in MIRI (myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury) SD rats. Materials and Methods: We made I/R (ischemia-reperfusion) model by ligating the left anterior-descending branch of the coronary artery (LAD) for 30 min and releasing the ligature for 120 min. eNOS (nitric oxide synthase) mRNA (message ribonucleic acid) and iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase) mRNA were measured by the methods of real-time RT-PCR (Real time Polychainase Chain Reaction), peNOS (phosphorylated eNOS) and iNOS protein were measured by the means of western blot. Results: In PPC group, real-time RT-PCR and western-blot analysis showed that eNOS mRNA and peNOS protein increased markedly (P < 0.05); iNOS mRNA and protein decreased significantly (P < 0.05). Conclusion: These results indicate that ischemic preconditioning (IPC) of GFPC from DGSND plays a protective role in I/R heart through regulating the eNOS/NO signal pathway, which could increase the eNOS gene expression and decrease the expression of iNOS mRNA.
Self-Optimization of Coverage and Capacity in LTE Networks Based on Central Control and Decentralized Fuzzy Q-Learning

To reduce capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) in network operations, self-organizing network (SON) has been introduced as a key part of long-term-evolution (LTE) system. Self-optimization of coverage and capacity is one of the most important tasks in the context of SON. This paper proposes a central control mechanism that utilizes the fuzzy Q-learning algorithm in a decentralized fashion for this task. In our proposed approach, each eNB is a learning agent that tries to optimize its antenna downtilt automatically using information from its own and its neighboring cells, and the initialization and the termination of the optimization processes of all agents are in the control of the central entity. The simulation results verify that our proposed approach can achieve remarkable performance enhancement as well as fast convergence, indicating that it is able to meet different levels of demands defined by 3GPP for coverage and capacity optimization.
La justificación del sistema económico y su relación con la orientación a la dominancia social

Introduccion La teoria de la justificacion del sistema senala que los seres humanos poseen una tendencia psicologica a racionalizar el statu quo, percibiendolo como justo, bueno, legitimo y deseable (Jost y Kay, 2005). Esa tendencia se expresa a traves de la aprobacion de diferentes sistemas de creencias tales como, la Etica Protestante del Trabajo, la Creencia en un Mundo Justo, las politicas conservadoras y, en particular, con la Orientacion a la Dominancia Social (Jost, Blount, Pfeffer. y Hunyadi, 2003; Jost y Burgess, 2000; Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski y Sulloway, 2003; Jost y Thompson, 2000). Segun Jost y Kay (2005), desde una perspectiva sociologica, se ha considerado a la justificacion del sistema como un fenomeno a traves del cual los miembros de los grupos dominantes difunden ideas que justifican y mantienen su poder en la sociedad (Gramsci, 1975/1999; Marx y Engels, 1846/1991; Sidanius y Pratto, 1999). De esta manera, las ideologias que justifican al sistema son diseminadas por el grupo dominante, dando cuenta del para que del interes en mantener las jerarquias sociales. Sin embargo, Wakslak, Jost, Tyler y Chen (2007) explican que esta perspectiva es incompleta por dos razones: en primer lugar, diversos estudios demostraron que, mas alla de la clase social a la que pertenezca, un individuo pueden apoyar o no ideologias igualitarias (Barreiro y Castorina, 2005; Tyler, Boeckmann, Smith y Huo, 1997; Tyler y Smith, 1998). En segundo lugar, la justificacion del sistema no necesa-
An Effective Integrity Check Scheme for Secure Erasure Code-Based Storage Systems

In the application of cloud storage, a user no longer possesses his files in his local depository. Thus, he is concerned about the security of the stored files. Data confidentiality and data robustness are the main security issues. For data confidentiality, the user can first encrypt files and then store the encrypted files in a cloud storage. For data robustness, there are two concerns: service failure, and service corruption. We are concerned about data robustness in cloud storage services. Lin and Tzeng proposed a secure erasure code-based storage system with multiple key servers recently. Their system supports a repair mechanism, where a new storage server can compute a new ciphertext from the ciphertexts obtained from the remaining storage servers. Their system considers data confidentiality in the cloud, and data robustness against storage server failure. In this paper, we propose an integrity check scheme for their system to enhance data robustness against storage server corruption, which returns tampered ciphertexts. With our integrity check scheme, their storage system can deal with not only the problem of storage server failure, but also the problem of storage server corruption. The challenging part of our work is to have homomorphic integrity tags. New integrity tags can be computed from old integrity tags by storage servers without involvement of the user's secret key or backup servers. We prove the security of our integrity check scheme formally, and establish the parameters for achieving an overwhelming probability of a successful data retrieval.
Contributions to code optimization and high performance library generation

The number of transistors as well as the frequency of processors have followed Moore's law for the past decades, at the expense of an increase in architecture complexity. As improvements in processor clock frequencies have levelled out, a major shift to parallelism is taking place. Parallelism is now the only way to enhance performance, and compilers and operating systems are essential to improve performance automatically. Due to the complexity of hardware mechanisms, hard to model, compilers are still far from being able to generate high performance application codes, even on a single core. The work presented in this thesis focuses on two aspects of this issue: we rst describe results obtained for the optimization and generation of high performance libraries and their automatic reuse in applications, and then describe performance evaluation techniques and tools to guide the optimization process. Results of this work is followed by research perspectives.
Development of a Scheme for GenotypingHelicobacter pylori Based on Allelic Variation in Urease Subunit Genes

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori urease subunit genes in 383 isolates from 10 countries were investigated by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (HaeIII) analysis. Eighty-two different ureAB profiles were documented by reference to known sequences. Variation among 51% of strains was accounted for by 10 predominant patterns, which provided a unique framework for categorizing isolates with geographically diverse origins.
[Prevention and treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in CKD].

2.1 Nos pacientes com DRC estágios III a V, os níveis ideais de PTH não são conhecidos. No entanto, sugerimos que os pacientes com níveis de PTH acima do limite superior de referência para o método sejam avaliados quanto à presença de hipocalcemia, hiperfosfatemia ou fração de excreção de P elevada, e deficiência de 25-hidroxivitamina D (25-vit D). Se forem detectadas alterações nesses parâmetros, estes devem ser corrigidos; sais de Ca para correção da hipocalcemia, orientação dietética e/ou uso de quelantes de P para correção da hiperfosfatemia e uso de ergocalciferol (vitamina D2) ou colecalciferol (vitamina D3) para correção da hipovitaminose D (Evidência).
Performance Appraisal in the Ghana Education Service, the Case of Basic School Teachers in Ho Municipality

Formal performance appraisal (PA) is one of the most important human resource management practices in organisations. It is worth noting that extensive frustration and dissatisfaction with performance appraisal have challenged practitioners and researchers to appraise the efficiency of performance appraisal quality. In this paper, we focus on the reaction of employees to these performance assessments. In particular, we examine the performance appraisal process and tools used in basic schools, examine the perception of teachers regarding performance appraisal systems (PAS) and identified the challenges (barriers) of performance appraisal in Ghana Education Service (GES). Respondents sampled for the study were drawn from teaching staff of basic schools in the HoMunicipality made up of 200 teachers from 10 schools. Concerning the process of Appraisal, there was an indication that at the basic schools performance criteria do not take into consideration the opinion of staff. On the challenges to appraisal process in the sector, respondents identified certain factors as challenges to an effective appraisal process. These included the unavailability of the needed resources to enhance the appraisal process, insufficient funding and failure by authorities to act upon results.