Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Both Src-Dependent and -Independent Mechanisms Mediate Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Regulation of Colony-Stimulating Factor 1-Activated Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases in Myeloid Progenitors

ABSTRACT Colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) supports the proliferation, survival, and differentiation of bone marrow-derived cells of the monocytic lineage. In the myeloid progenitor 32D cell line expressing CSF-1 receptor (CSF-1R), CSF-1 activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is both Ras and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) dependent. PI3-kinase inhibition did not influence events leading to Ras activation. Using the activity of the PI3-kinase effector, Akt, as readout, studies with dominant-negative and oncogenic Ras failed to place PI3-kinase downstream of Ras. Thus, PI3-kinase appears to act in parallel to Ras. PI3-kinase inhibitors enhanced CSF-1-stimulated A-Raf and c-Raf-1 activities, and dominant-negative A-Raf but not dominant-negative c-Raf-1 reduced CSF-1-provoked ERK activation, suggesting that A-Raf mediates a part of the stimulatory signal from Ras to MEK/ERK, acting in parallel to PI3-kinase. Unexpectedly, a CSF-1R lacking the PI3-kinase binding site (ΔKI) remained capable of activating MEK/ERK in a PI3-kinase-dependent manner. To determine if Src family kinases (SFKs) are involved, we demonstrated that CSF-1 activated Fyn and Lyn in cells expressing wild-type (WT) or ΔKI receptors. Moreover, CSF-1-induced Akt activity in cells expressing ΔKI is SFK dependent since Akt activation was prevented by pharmacological or genetic inhibition of SFK activity. The docking protein Gab2 may link SFK to PI3-kinase. CSF-1 induced Gab2 tyrosyl phosphorylation and association with PI3-kinase in cells expressing WT or ΔKI receptors. However, only in ΔKI cells are these events prevented by PP1. Thus in myeloid progenitors, CSF-1 can activate the PI3-kinase/Akt pathway by at least two mechanisms, one involving direct receptor binding and one involving SFKs.
The Impact of Terrorist Bombings on the Market Values of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises: Global Evidence From Turkey, Spain, and Indonesia

ABSTRACT The last two decades witnessed numerous international terrorism incidents, some of which were specifically aimed at tourists or were at least intended to hamper visitor inflows. However, there is no empirical evidence explaining and measuring the effect of terrorist attacks on the market value of tourism enterprises. This study looked at the effect of the recent terrorist bombings in Bali (Indonesia), Istanbul (Turkey), and Madrid (Spain) on the market values of publicly traded hospitality and tourism firms in these countries. The findings indicate that, overall, markets reacted negatively to these tragic events, but reaction in Turkey was milder than in Spain.
Mode Conversion for Mode Division Multiplexing at 850 nm in Standard SMF

A mechanical mode converter for mode division multiplexed systems over SSMF at 850 nm is proposed and evaluated experimentally by the transmission of OOK-modulated optical signals. The proposed mode converter is based on a periodic structure defined by the grating period (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>) parameter and the number of mode coupling points, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. A mechanical grating with N=50 points and a tunable grating period (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula> form 440 to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$456~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) has been designed offering a 124-nm tuning bandwidth. The LP<sub>01</sub> mode to LP<sub>11</sub> mode conversion has been experimentally assessed and a conversion efficiency of 89 % has been achieved in the designed device. Optical transmission of OOK-modulated signals with 1.25 and 2.5 Gb/s bitrates on LP<sub>01</sub> mode or a converted LP<sub>11</sub> mode is demonstrated achieving BER <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$<10^{-9}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> after 1-km optical transmission over SSMF at 850 nm.
Integrin β1 activation induces an anti-melanoma host response

TGF-β is a cytokine thought to function as a tumor promoter in advanced malignancies. In this setting, TGF-β increases cancer cell proliferation, survival, and migration, and orchestrates complex, pro-tumorigenic changes in the tumor microenvironment. Here, we find that in melanoma, integrin β1-mediated TGF-β activation may also produce tumor suppression via an altered host response. In the A375 human melanoma cell nu/nu xenograft model, we demonstrate that cell surface integrin β1-activation increases TGF-β activity, resulting in stromal activation, neo-angiogenesis and, unexpectedly for this nude mouse model, increase in the number of intra-tumoral CD8+ T lymphocytes within the tumor microenvironment. This is associated with attenuation of tumor growth and long-term survival benefit. Correspondingly, in human melanomas, TGF-β1 correlates with integrin β1/TGF-β1 activation and the expression of markers for vasculature and stromal activation. Surprisingly, this integrin β1/TGF-β1 transcriptional footprint also correlates with the expression of markers for tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, multiple immune checkpoints and regulatory pathways, and, importantly, better long-term survival of patients. These correlations are unique to melanoma, in that we do not observe similar associations between β1 integrin/TGF-β1 activation and better long-term survival in other human tumor types. These results suggest that activation of TGF-β1 in melanoma may be associated with the generation of an anti-tumor host response that warrants further study.
Dynamique de trafic dans les réseaux microfluidiques modèles : Embouteillages, chocs et avalanches.

Filtration, recuperation assistee du petrole, flux sanguin. La comprehension des ecoulements dans ces exemples repose sur la connaissance du transport de particules en milieu confine. Plus generalement, dans ces situations se pose la question de l'influence des interactions entre particules sur le comportement general de l'ecoulement. Pour repondre a cela, une approche experimentale originale est proposee, basee sur la creation de nouveaux outils microfluidiques. Dans une premiere partie, nous etudions la dynamique du trafic de gouttes (suspension diluee) dans des reseaux d'obstacles microfluidiques. La presence des interactions hydrodynamiques entre particules rend cet ecoulement non lineaire et il peut alors etre parfaitement decrit par une equation dynamique de Burgers, rationalisant ainsi la presence des chocs de densite observes experimentalement. Nous avons aussi fait ressortir de notre etude des parametres generaux qui, non seulement sont utiles en microfluidique, mais s'averent pertinents a l'etude des differents domaines de trafic (voiture, pietons, .). Ce travail est poursuivi par l'etude du transport d'une suspension concentree 2D. Cet ecoulement, gouverne par une dynamique intermittente, a ete compris a travers une approche numerique, rendant compte de la phenomenologie d'avalanche constatee. Ce code s'avere ainsi efficace quant a l'interpretation de l'ecoulement de particules dans des reseaux de tubes, modele simple des milieux poreux.
Enhanced condition monitoring of power transformers through improvement in accuracy of DGA interpretation

Transformer failure in electricity supply grids has a high financial impact, due to failure to meet commercial contract and possibility of transformer replacement cost. Therefore, detecting fault inception is very important in order to keep the transformer operating with recommended efficiency, hence ensuring stability of the electric network. Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) of a transformer can provide clear indication of thermal and electrical stresses on power transformer insulation and is considered as one of the most effective tools for oil-filled power transformer diagnostics. DGA is used to detect incipient faults in order to manage the fault severity. Both on-line and offline condition monitoring methods can be applied to obtain gas content, thereafter there are many interpretation techniques for DGA results. The accuracy of these techniques is dependent on the operator's experience and knowledge of the materials and equipment involved. In this work, a combined fuzzy logic analysis technique for monitoring of power transformers based on DGA analysis is proposed, the system uses the 7 key gases to diagnose the health of the transformer and, where applicable, fault type. Initially, gas levels are considered using the IEEE standard as a basis to indicate the health of the transformer. A combined fuzzified analytical tool, based on Duval Triangle, Doernenburg ratio and Key gas method, are analysed to identify the fault type, improving on the accuracy of the individual interpretation techniques. The analytical tool has been applied to 444 sample faults reported in the literature to assess the accuracy of the proposed system. Results presented show the system's overall decision has improved capability of identifying the transformer condition over individual methods. The proposed system is proved to have 99 % accuracy in identifying the transformer normality. For cases where transformers were faulty, the approach has 98.76% accuracy in recognising the actual fault, superior to individual approaches.
Czech and Polish Raising/Control with or without Structure Sharing

Modern syntactic theories, including Principles and Parameters (P&P, i.e., Government and Binding, GB, Chomsky 1981, 1986, and the Minimalist Program, MP, Chomsky 1995) and Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG; Pollard and Sag 1987, 1994), acknowledge a clear empirical distinction between raising to subject (SR) and so-called Exceptional Case Marking (ECM; here called raising to object, or OR) constructions, as in (1), on the one hand, and subject control (SC) and object control (OC) constructions, as in (2), on the other hand.
Prevalence of Malaria Positive Rapid Diagnostic Test and Antimalarial Treatment in Patients with Fevers in the Accident and Emergency Unit of Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Western Region, Ghana

Background: Rapid diagnostic test (RDT) is a simpler, easy to read malaria diagnostic test. It was introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO) to supplement the use of microscopy and can be used alone in areas where microscopy is unavailable. Its introduction was necessary to maintain the WHO test-based treatment protocol for malaria, as dependence of microscopy which is the gold standard is not possible in many areas in Sub-Saharan Africa which lack the wherewithal to run efficient laboratory services. WHO strongly recommends that only patients with parasitological confirmation of malaria should be treated with antimalarial drugs. In this study, the prevalence of malaria positive RDT and antimalarial treatment was evaluated in patients presenting with fevers at the outpatient section of the accident and emergency unit of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Ghana. Methodology: This was a retrospective study carried out in the outpatient section of the accident emergency unit of Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital. The outpatient register was reviewed from October 2014 to March 2015, for patients who came with fever. Data on demographics, malaria RDT status and antimalarial treatment were collected and analyzed. Result: A total of 607 patients with fever had their RDT performed. Of these, 131 (21.58%) were positive for malaria while 467 (78.42%) were negative. Out of the 131 tested positive, 55 represented patients above 12 years and 76 represent children aged 0 to12 years, p = 0.002. Fifty children under the age of 5 years tested positive for malaria whereas 26 were above the age 5 years, p = 0.03. All the 131 positive patients were treated for malaria while 276 out of 476 negative patients were also treated for malaria, p
Coxsackievirus infection of mice. II. Viral kinetics and histopathological changes in mice experimentally infected with coxsackievirus B3 by intraperitoneal route.

The study was focused on kinetics of Coxsackievirus B3 serotype (CVB3) in different organs of Swiss albino mice following intraperitoneal (i.p.) infection. The results indicated that the virus replicated in the heart, spleen, thymus, pancreas, small and large intestines in the acute stage of the infection. Infectious virus was present in the spleen till day 35 post infection (p.i.). Histopathology of the hearts showed mild foci of infiltration of mononuclear cells in the acute stage of infection and massive inflammation of exocrine pancreas on day 5 p.i. These results, when compared to those of our previous study (Bopegamage et al., 2003), suggest that the pathogenesis of the disease may be influenced by the route of virus administration into the host.
Ca2+ Regulates the Interaction between Synaptotagmin and Syntaxin 1 (*)

While there is compelling evidence that the synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin serves as the major Ca2+ sensor for regulated exocytosis, it is not known how Ca2+ binding initiates membrane fusion. Here we report that Ca2+ increases the affinity, by approximately 2 orders of magnitude, between synaptotagmin and syntaxin 1, a component of the synaptic fusion apparatus. This effect is specific for divalent cations which can stimulate exocytosis of synaptic vesicles (Ca2+ > Ba2+, Sr2+ Mg2+). The Ca2+-dependence of the interaction was composed of two components with EC50 values of 0.7 and 180 μM Ca2+. The interaction is mediated by the carboxyl-terminal region of syntaxin 1 (residues 194-288) and is regulated by a novel Ca2+-binding site(s) which does not require phospholipids and is not disrupted by mutations that abolish Ca2+-dependent phospholipid binding to synaptotagmin. We propose that this interaction constitutes an essential step in excitation-secretion coupling.
Temporal control over the initiation of cell motility by a regulator of G-protein signaling

Significance Cell motility is critical for a wide range of processes in development, homeostasis, and immune response. Conversely, abnormal regulation of cell migration leads to pathological consequences like cancer metastasis. In this study, we investigate the mechanisms controlling the timing of motility acquisition, using zebrafish primordial germ cells as an in vivo model. We defined a previously unknown role for the signaling scaffold molecule and regulator of Gα protein signaling Rgs14a in coordinating the onset of migration with the presence of migration guidance cues. Furthermore, we show that this control level involves the regulation of the cell–cell adhesion molecule E-cadherin, a molecule implicated in motility acquisition in a range of normal physiological events and in disease conditions. The control over the acquisition of cell motility is central for a variety of biological processes in development, homeostasis, and disease. An attractive in vivo model for investigating the regulation of migration initiation is that of primordial germ cells (PGCs) in zebrafish embryos. In this study, we show that, following PGC specification, the cells can polarize but do not migrate before the time chemokine-encoded directional cues are established. We found that the regulator of G-protein signaling 14a protein, whose RNA is a newly identified germ plasm component, regulates the temporal relations between the appearance of the guidance molecules and the acquisition of cellular motility by regulating E-cadherin levels.
Feasibility of radical prostatectomy after neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy for patients with high risk or locally advanced prostate cancer: results of a phase I/II study.

PURPOSE We determined the feasibility of radical prostatectomy after neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy in locally advanced (stage T3 or greater) and/or high risk tumors (Gleason 8 to 10 and/or serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) greater than 20 ng/ml). MATERIALS AND METHODS Enrollment criteria included clinical stage T1 to 2 with any Gleason grade and PSA greater than 20 ng/ml, clinical stage T3 to 4 with any serum PSA or Gleason grade, or any clinical stage with biopsy Gleason grade of 8 to 10 and any serum PSA. All patients received neoadjuvant hormonal therapy during chemotherapy (4 cycles of paclitaxel and carboplatin and estramustine) followed by radical prostatectomy. Nerve sparing was decided on an individual basis and a nerve graft was offered to those who underwent unilateral or bilateral nerve resection. Perioperative morbidity, mortality and delayed complications were assessed. RESULTS A total of 36 patients were enrolled. After chemohormonal therapy clinical stage was less in 39% of patients and greater in 36%. Bilateral nerve sparing was performed in 3 patients and the remaining 33 underwent either unilateral or bilateral neurovascular bundle resection with nerve grafts performed in 17 (52%). Deep vein thrombosis (22%) was the most frequent complication of chemotherapy. Minor postoperative complications occurred in 6 patients. At a median followup of 29 months (range 5 to 51) after radical prostatectomy 32 (89%) were continent and 5 (15%) preoperatively potent men remained potent. The positive surgical margin rate was 22%. Of all subjects 45% remain free from biochemical recurrence. CONCLUSIONS Neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy followed by radical prostatectomy can be performed with low morbidity. Positive surgical margin rates are low. This approach yielded good local control of disease, however impact on tumor recurrence and survival is not known.
Alignment of protein sequences by their profiles

The accuracy of an alignment between two protein sequences can be improved by including other detectably related sequences in the comparison. We optimize and benchmark such an approach that relies on aligning two multiple sequence alignments, each one including one of the two protein sequences. Thirteen different protocols for creating and comparing profiles corresponding to the multiple sequence alignments are implemented in the SALIGN command of MODELLER. A test set of 200 pairwise, structure‐based alignments with sequence identities below 40% is used to benchmark the 13 protocols as well as a number of previously described sequence alignment methods, including heuristic pairwise sequence alignment by BLAST, pairwise sequence alignment by global dynamic programming with an affine gap penalty function by the ALIGN command of MODELLER, sequence‐profile alignment by PSI‐BLAST, Hidden Markov Model methods implemented in SAM and LOBSTER, pairwise sequence alignment relying on predicted local structure by SEA, and multiple sequence alignment by CLUSTALW and COMPASS. The alignment accuracies of the best new protocols were significantly better than those of the other tested methods. For example, the fraction of the correctly aligned residues relative to the structure‐based alignment by the best protocol is 56%, which can be compared with the accuracies of 26%, 42%, 43%, 48%, 50%, 49%, 43%, and 43% for the other methods, respectively. The new method is currently applied to large‐scale comparative protein structure modeling of all known sequences.
8-Chloro-cAMP-Related Changes on Mice Uteri

Histopathological effects of cAMP analog (8-Chloro-cAMP), tamoxifen, and medroxyprogesterone, alone or combined, upon BALB/c mice uteri are reported. 8-Chloro-cAMP diminished uterine weight, but did not modify its histopathology or estral cycle significantly. Tamoxifen diminished uterine weight showing cystic hyperplasia and an estral cycle arrested at diestrus. Medroxyprogesterone increased uterine weight, caused a swelling of the endometrium and a pseudopregnancy estrus. When combined with 8-Chloro-cAMP, tamoxifen or medroxyprogesterone always had a predominant effect. We concluded that the effects of 8-Chloro-cAMP on mice uteri did not cause significant changes on its histopathology, but diminished its weight.
Language Processing and Second Language Development: Processability theory

This book marks a new development in the field of second language acquisition research. It explores the way in which language processing mechanisms shape the course of language development. Language Processing and Second Language Development thus adds one major psychological component to the search for a theory of second language acquisition. The core of the book is Pienemann’s Processability Theory which spells out which second language forms are processable at which developmental stage. The theory is based on recent research into language processing and is formalised within Lexical-Functional Grammar. The predictions of the theory are applied to the second language development of English, German, Japanese and Swedish. The theory is also tested in on-line experiments. In addition, Processability Theory has major implications for interlanguage variation (including task variation) and age-related differences in language acquisition. All of these issues are explored from a processing perspective with theoretical and empirical rigor.
Nanoscale Adhesive Properties of Graphene: The Effect of Sliding History

Single‐asperity adhesion between nanoscale silicon tips and few‐layer graphene (FLG) sheets, as well as graphite, was measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The adhesion mechanism was understood through experiments and finite element method (FEM) simulations by comparing conventional pull‐forces measurements (contact and separation, without sliding) to those obtained after the tip was slid along the surface before separation (“pre‐sliding”). Without pre‐sliding, no variation in the pull‐off force was measured between consecutive measurements, and there was no observable dependence of the mean pull‐off force value on the number of FLG layers. However, when the tip was pre‐slid over a local area, the first pull‐off force was enhanced by 12–17%; subsequent pull‐off forces then relaxed to a lower, constant value. This occurred regardless of the number of layers, and occurred for aged graphite samples as well. Our analysis indicates that this is due to sliding‐induced changes of graphene's interfacial geometry, whereby local delamination of the top graphene layer occurs, provided there is sufficient atmospheric exposure of the surface after cleaving. This effect provides another unique feature of the nanotribological behavior of atomically‐thin sheets and is consequential for designing graphene‐based devices and coatings where adhesive interactions are important.
Performance of DS-CDMA receivers with MRC in nakagami-m fading channels with arbitrary fading parameters

The receivers that combine spatial antenna diversity with temporal multipath diversity are known as two-dimensional (2-D) RAKE receivers. In this paper, we consider the outage probability and the bit error rate performance of a coherent binary phase shift keying 2-D RAKE receiver in the context of an asynchronous direct sequence (DS)-code division multiple access (CDMA) system operating in a Nakagami-m fading channel with real and arbitrary fading parameters. The closed-form expressions derived for the two wireless performance measures are easily evaluated numerically and enable the link designer to examine the effects of system parameters, such as the number of receive antennas, RAKE fingers per antenna, and asynchronous CDMA users in the cell, as well as channel conditions, such as the amount of fading in the combined paths and the multipath intensity profile of the channel on the link performance. In addition, the diversity loss due to correlated fading among the spatially separated RAKE fingers is quantified.