Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Phorbol Ester-dependent Phosphorylation Regulates the Association of p57/Coronin-1 with the Actin Cytoskeleton*

The p57/coronin-1 protein is a member of the coronin family of actin-binding proteins, which are characterized by the presence of WD (tryptophan/aspartic acid) repeats and a coiled-coil motif in the molecule. It is selectively expressed in immune cells and has been suggested to play crucial roles in leukocyte functions, including cell migration and phagocytosis. In this study we examined the effects of p57/coronin-1 phosphorylation on the association of the protein with actin. Treatment of HL60 human leukemic cells or p57/coronin-1-transfected HEK293 cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) reduced the association of p57/coronin-1 with the actin cytoskeleton, as indicated by cell fractionation experiments and by fluorescence microscopic observation. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of HL60 cell lysate revealed that p57/coronin-1 was phosphorylated upon PMA stimulation of the cells, giving two major and two minor spots of phosphorylated forms, each with distinct isoelectric points. The p57/coronin-1 molecules associated with the cytoskeleton in PMA-treated HL60 cells were phosphorylated at lower levels than those recovered in the cytosolic fraction. In addition, p57/coronin-1 co-sedimented with F-actin polymerized in vitro had lower phosphorylation levels than the molecules remaining in the supernatant. By affinity chromatographic analysis using anti-p57/coronin-1 antibody-conjugated Sepharose, p57/coronin-1 derived from PMA-treated HL60 cells showed lower affinity for actin than that from untreated cells. Finally, recovery of p57/coronin-1 in the actin cytoskeleton-rich fraction from neutrophil-like differentiated HL60 cells decreased during phagocytosis, concomitant with enhanced phosphorylation of p57/coronin-1. These results strongly suggest that the phosphorylation of p57/coronin-1 down-regulates its association with actin and modulates the reorganization of actin-containing cytoskeleton.
Maximum Entropy Tagging with Binary and Real-Valued Features

Recent literature on text-tagging reported successful results by applying Maximum Entropy (ME) models. In general, ME taggers rely on carefully selected binary features, which try to capture discriminant information from the training data. This paper introduces a standard setting of binary features, inspired by the literature on named-entity recognition and text chunking, and derives corresponding real-valued features based on smoothed log-probabilities. The resulting ME models have orders of magnitude fewer parameters. Effective use of training data to estimate features and parameters is achieved by integrating a leaving-one-out method into the standard ME training algorithm. Experimental results on two tagging tasks show statistically signiﬁcant performance gains after augmenting standard binary-feature models with real-valued features.
Characterizing Energy Consumption in Hardware Transactional Memory Systems

Transactional Memory is currently being advocated as a promising alternative to lock-based synchronization because it simplifies multithreaded programming. In this way, future many-core CMP architectures may need to provide hardware support for transactional memory. On the other hand, power dissipation constitutes a first class consideration in multicore processor design. In this work, we characterize the performance and energy consumption of two well-known Hardware Transactional Memory systems that employ opposite policies for data versioning and conflict management. More specifically, we compare the Log TM-SE Eager-Eager system and a version of the Scalable TCC Lazy-Lazy system that enables parallel commits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first characterization in terms of energy consumption of hardware transactional memory systems. To do that, we extended the GEMS simulator to estimate the energy consumed in the on-chip caches according to CACTI, and used the interconnection network energy model given by Orion 2. Results show that the energy consumption of the Eager-Eager system is 60% higher on average than in the Lazy-Lazy case, whereas performance differences between the two systems are 42% on average. Finally, we found that although on average Lazy-Lazy beats Eager-Eager there are considerable deviations in performance depending on the particular characteristics of each application.
Synergistic Activation of HIV-1 Expression by Deacetylase Inhibitors and Prostratin: Implications for Treatment of Latent Infection

The persistence of transcriptionally silent but replication-competent HIV-1 reservoirs in Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART)-treated infected individuals, represents a major hurdle to virus eradication. Activation of HIV-1 gene expression in these cells together with an efficient HAART has been proposed as an adjuvant therapy aimed at decreasing the pool of latent viral reservoirs. Using the latently-infected U1 monocytic cell line and latently-infected J-Lat T-cell clones, we here demonstrated a strong synergistic activation of HIV-1 production by clinically used histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) combined with prostratin, a non-tumor-promoting nuclear factor (NF)- κB inducer. In J-Lat cells, we showed that this synergism was due, at least partially, to the synergistic recruitment of unresponsive cells into the expressing cell population. A combination of prostratin+HDACI synergistically activated the 5′ Long Terminal Repeat (5'LTR) from HIV-1 Major group subtypes representing the most prevalent viral genetic forms, as shown by transient transfection reporter assays. Mechanistically, HDACIs increased prostratin-induced DNA-binding activity of nuclear NF-κB and degradation of cytoplasmic NF-κB inhibitor, IκBα . Moreover, the combined treatment prostratin+HDACI caused a more pronounced nucleosomal remodeling in the U1 viral promoter region than the treatments with the compounds alone. This more pronounced remodeling correlated with a synergistic reactivation of HIV-1 transcription following the combined treatment prostratin+HDACI, as demonstrated by measuring recruitment of RNA polymerase II to the 5'LTR and both initiated and elongated transcripts. The physiological relevance of the prostratin+HDACI synergism was shown in CD8+-depleted peripheral blood mononuclear cells from HAART-treated patients with undetectable viral load. Moreover, this combined treatment reactivated viral replication in resting CD4+ T cells isolated from similar patients. Our results suggest that combinations of different kinds of proviral activators may have important implications for reducing the size of latent HIV-1 reservoirs in HAART-treated patients.
Extensive graft-derived dopaminergic innervation is maintained 24 years after transplantation in the degenerating parkinsonian brain

Significance Parkinson’s disease is the most common movement disorder. Here we describe the histopathological analysis of a unique patient with Parkinson’s disease who underwent unilateral cell transplantation in the putamen with human embryonic mesencephalic tissue at 24 y before death. The patient enjoyed major clinical benefits for at least a decade after transplantation. After a quarter of a century, complete graft-derived dopaminergic reinnervation was still evident in the transplanted putamen. α-Synuclein–positive inclusions, some with the appearance of typical Lewy bodies, were present in 11–12% of the grafted dopaminergic neurons, reflecting spread of pathology from the host brain to the transplant. The clinical improvements were gradually lost from 14 y posttransplantation, indicating that even extensive graft-derived dopaminergic reinnervation loses its efficacy in a severely degenerating brain. Clinical trials using cells derived from embryonic ventral mesencephalon have shown that transplanted dopaminergic neurons can survive and function in the long term, as demonstrated by in vivo brain imaging using 18F-fluorodopa and 11C-raclopride positron emission tomography. Here we report the postmortem analysis of a patient with Parkinson’s disease who 24 y earlier underwent unilateral transplantation of embryonic dopaminergic neurons in the putamen and subsequently exhibited major motor improvement and recovery of striatal dopaminergic function. Histopathological analysis showed that a dense, near-normal graft-derived dopaminergic reinnervation of the putamen can be maintained for a quarter of a century despite severe host brain pathology and with no evidence of immune response. In addition, ubiquitin- and α-synuclein–positive inclusions were seen, some with the appearance of typical Lewy bodies, in 11–12% of the grafted dopaminergic neurons, reflecting the spread of pathology from the host brain to the transplants. Because the clinical benefits induced by transplantation in this patient were gradually lost after 14 y posttransplantation, our findings provide the first reported evidence, to our knowledge, that even a viable dopaminergic graft giving rise to extensive striatal reinnervation may lose its efficacy if widespread degenerative changes develop in the host brain.
Postnatal development of chorda tympani axons in the rat nucleus of the solitary tract

The chorda tympani nerve (CT), one of three nerves that convey gustatory information to the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), displays terminal field reorganization after postnatal day 15 in the rat. Aiming to gain insight into mechanisms of this phenomenon, CT axon projection field and terminal morphology in NTS subdivisions were examined using tract tracing, light microscopy, and immunoelectron microscopy at four postnatal ages: P15, P25, P35, and adult. The CT axons that innervated NTS rostrolateral subdivision both in the adult and in P15 rats were morphologically distinct from those that innervated the rostrocentral, gustatory subdivision. In both subdivisions, CT terminals reached morphological maturity before P15. Rostrolateral, but not rostrocentral axons, went through substantial axonal branch elimination after P15. Rostrocentral CT synapses, however, redistribute onto postsynaptic targets in the following weeks. CT terminal preference for GABAergic postsynaptic targets was drastically reduced after P15. Furthermore, CT synapses became a smaller component of the total synaptic input to the rostrocentral NTS after P35. The results underlined that CT axons in rostrocentral and rostrolateral subdivisions represent two distinct populations of CT input, displaying different morphological properties and structural reorganization mechanisms during postnatal development. J. Comp. Neurol. , 520:3217–3235, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Cyclohexane-1,2-Dione Hydrolase from Denitrifying Azoarcus sp. Strain 22Lin, a Novel Member of the Thiamine Diphosphate Enzyme Family

ABSTRACT Alicyclic compounds with hydroxyl groups represent common structures in numerous natural compounds, such as terpenes and steroids. Their degradation by microorganisms in the absence of dioxygen may involve a C—C bond ring cleavage to form an aliphatic intermediate that can be further oxidized. The cyclohexane-1,2-dione hydrolase (CDH) (EC 3.7.1.11) from denitrifying Azoarcus sp. strain 22Lin, grown on cyclohexane-1,2-diol as a sole electron donor and carbon source, is the first thiamine diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzyme characterized to date that cleaves a cyclic aliphatic compound. The degradation of cyclohexane-1,2-dione (CDO) to 6-oxohexanoate comprises the cleavage of a C—C bond adjacent to a carbonyl group, a typical feature of reactions catalyzed by ThDP-dependent enzymes. In the subsequent NAD+-dependent reaction, 6-oxohexanoate is oxidized to adipate. CDH has been purified to homogeneity by the criteria of gel electrophoresis (a single band at ∼59 kDa; calculated molecular mass, 64.5 kDa); in solution, the enzyme is a homodimer (∼105 kDa; gel filtration). As isolated, CDH contains 0.8 ± 0.05 ThDP, 1.0 ± 0.02 Mg2+, and 1.0 ± 0.015 flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) per monomer as a second organic cofactor, the role of which remains unclear. Strong reductants, Ti(III)-citrate, Na+-dithionite, and the photochemical 5-deazaflavin/oxalate system, led to a partial reduction of the FAD chromophore. The cleavage product of CDO, 6-oxohexanoate, was also a substrate; the corresponding cyclic 1,3- and 1,4-diones did not react with CDH, nor did the cis- and trans-cyclohexane diols. The enzymes acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, pyruvate oxidase (POX) from Lactobacillus plantarum, benzoylformate decarboxylase from Pseudomonas putida, and pyruvate decarboxylase from Zymomonas mobilis were identified as the closest relatives of CDH by comparative amino acid sequence analysis, and a ThDP binding motif and a 2-fold Rossmann fold for FAD binding could be localized at the C-terminal end and central region of CDH, respectively. A first mechanism for the ring cleavage of CDO is presented, and it is suggested that the FAD cofactor in CDH is an evolutionary relict.
The influence of dyadic coping in relationship education for low- income racial and ethnic minority couples

Financial concerns are stressors experienced by many couples and are negatively associated with relationship outcomes, such as relational satisfaction. Racial and ethnic minority (REM) couples are disproportionately affected by financial stress, as they are overrepresented in the lower socioeconomic bracket. In a sample of 299 low-income REM couples who participated in a relationship education programme, we explored how financial stress can influence relationship functioning, as well as the mediating relationship of couple coping. The results revealed a good fit between the data and the dyadic model, suggesting that financial stress indicators can influence relationship functioning. Moreover, couples' change in dyadic coping after a relationship education programme mediated the relationship between couple distress at baseline and couple adjustment after the relationship education programme. Implications for the findings and future research are discussed. Practitioner points Dyadic coping is one vehicle through which relationship education programmes enhance relationship functioning in low-income REM couples experiencing financial stress. Processing dyadic coping reactions and behaviour during psychotherapy may serve as a method to build, improve or enhance the couple identity of two partners.
Determinants of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging utilization in Taiwan

Objectives: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerized tomography (CT) scanners are high-tech equipment with the highest utilizations and expenditures in Taiwan. This study investigates the factors that affect MRI and CT utilization, such as whether supply-side factors have more impact than demand-side factors, and the effect of utilization control policies. Methods: This study used the nationwide CT and MRI claim data for the years 1998 to 2001 from the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) in Taiwan. Multiple regression analysis was the statistical method used to determine the relative factors that influence CT and MRI utilization. Results: CT : population ratio, hospital-based physician : population ratio, female ratio, pediatric (≤14 years) : population ratio, and family income significantly influenced CT utilization. MRI : population ratio and hospital-based physician : population ratio, female ratio, and family income significantly influenced MRI utilization. However, the proportion of the aged (≥65 years of age) did not significantly influence CT or MRI utilization after controlling for other factors. The rates of CT and MRI utilization for the outpatient and inpatient settings and the repeated uses of CT or MRI have decreased significantly after a utilization review was implemented by BNHI, which suggests that CT and MRI have been overused. Conclusions: Increases in supply-side factors significantly increase CT/MRI utilization, and supply-side factors impact CT/MRI utilization more than demand-side factors. The results show that the utilization instant report policy effectively decreases repeated uses of CT/MRI.
Suicide in prisoners: a systematic review of risk factors.

OBJECTIVE To examine factors associated with suicide in prisoners. DATA SOURCES Studies were identified through electronic searches of MEDLINE (1950-February 2007), PsycINFO (1806-February 2007), EMBASE (1974-February 2007), and CINAHL (1982-February 2007) without language restriction using the search terms prison, jail, felon, detainee, penal, and custody combined with suicide. STUDY SELECTION Included studies were investigations that reported on prisoners dying by suicide who were compared with prisoners in control groups (which were randomly selected or matched, or consisted of the total or average prison population). Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were used to explore sources of heterogeneity. DATA SYNTHESIS Thirty-four studies (comprising 4780 cases of prison suicide) were identified for inclusion in the review, of which 12 were based in the United States. Demographic factors associated with suicide included white race/ethnicity (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.7 to 2.2), being male (OR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.4 to 2.5), and being married (OR = 1.5, 95% CI = 1.3 to 1.7). Criminological factors included occupation of a single cell (OR = 9.1, 95% CI = 6.1 to 13.5), detainee/remand status (OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 3.5 to 4.8), and serving a life sentence (OR = 3.9, 95% CI = 1.1 to 13.3). Clinical factors were recent suicidal ideation (OR = 15.2, 95% CI = 8.5 to 27.2), history of attempted suicide (OR = 8.4, 95% CI =6.2 to 11.4), having a current psychiatric diagnosis (OR = 5.9, 95% CI = 2.3 to 15.4), receiving psychotropic medication (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 2.9 to 6.0), and having a history of alcohol use problems (OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.9 to 4.6). Black race/ethnicity was inversely associated with suicide (OR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.3 to 0.4). Few differences were found in risk estimates when compared by study design or publication type. CONCLUSIONS Several demographic, criminological, and clinical factors were found to be associated with suicide in prisoners, the most important being occupation of a single cell, recent suicidal ideation, a history of attempted suicide, and having a psychiatric diagnosis or history of alcohol use problems. As some of these associations included potentially modifiable environmental and clinical factors, there is scope for targeting these factors in suicide prevention strategies for individuals in custody.
Mood and Emotion in Sport: A Response to Jones, Mace, and Williams (2000)

Examination of the mood and performance relationship in sport has been an important line of investigation in sport psychology for over 20 years. Recent research has challenged the notion that the Profile of Mood States is the instrument of choice. It has also moved away from the notion that successful performance is associated with an ‘iceberg’ profile (Morgan, 1980), arguing that researchers should consider mood and emotion as distinguishable constructs (Jones, Mace, & Williams, 2000; Lane & Terry, 2000). In the present paper, I expand the discussion on mood research in sport by re-examining some of the findings of Jones, el al. in the light of recent work.
Initial Transcription by RNA Polymerase Proceeds Through a DNA-Scrunching Mechanism

Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer to monitor distances within single molecules of abortively initiating transcription initiation complexes, we show that initial transcription proceeds through a “scrunching” mechanism, in which RNA polymerase (RNAP) remains fixed on promoter DNA and pulls downstream DNA into itself and past its active center. We show further that putative alternative mechanisms for RNAP active-center translocation in initial transcription, involving “transient excursions” of RNAP relative to DNA or “inchworming” of RNAP relative to DNA, do not occur. The results support a model in which a stressed intermediate, with DNA-unwinding stress and DNA-compaction stress, is formed during initial transcription, and in which accumulated stress is used to drive breakage of interactions between RNAP and promoter DNA and between RNAP and initiation factors during promoter escape.
Participatory video and citizen voice – We’ve raised their voices: is anyone listening?

Sheathed in the glamour of filmmaking and technical innovation, participatory video (PV) is often evangelised as a communication for development methodology that intrinsically fosters transformative social and political change. Such celebratory notions, however, can obscure the complexity facing participatory video practice in achieving significant response to the inequities PV participants face. In reply, I offer the principles of representation, recognition and response as a potential pathway for more meaningful citizen engagement and action. Doing so challenges the idea that using PV primarily to help people on the margins represent their concerns through film is enough to shift deep-rooted inequities of power. Rather, my argument suggests that participatory video approaches aimed at raising citizen voice require a broader framing of practice: one that positions key decision-makers watching the films to both value marginalised voice, and responsively listen.
Analysis of precision grip force for uGRIPP (underactuated gripper for power and precision grasp)

This study analyzed the precision grip force for the underactuated gripper for power and precision grasp (uGRIPP). uGRIPP is a robot hand developed for dual arm manipulation. It can grasp objects through power and precision grips. For a more detailed analysis of the performance on the grip force and control of the grip force, a relationship was derived between the grip and actuation forces by using an analytical method based on the principle of virtual power. Finally, theoretical values of the grip force were calculated according to the analysis, and the actual grip force was measured experimentally. The experimental results show the validity of the analysis.
Efficient Resource Allocation and Consolidation with Selfish Agents: An Adaptive Auction Approach

Through virtualization technologies, modern enterprises can build private clouds to support the daily operations of their subsidiaries and consolidate resources from them. In making these resource allocation and consolidation decisions, they want to maximize the achieved utilities and minimize the incurred costs by their subsidiaries, respectively. However, these subsidiaries very often operate autonomously and have private information about job characteristics and energy costs. Due to this information asymmetry, they might be motivated to behave in their own best interests rather than that of the enterprise. To solve these principal-agent problems, we design a tunable auction under which subsidiaries submit bids and resources are allocated in proportion to their bids. We show that the induced competition game obtains a unique Nash equilibrium, under which hidden characteristics of subsidiaries can be revealed. By using variational inequality techniques, we derive the dynamics of the Nash equilibrium as a function of the auction parameters. We design a feedback control mechanism to dynamically adjust the tunable auction parameters based on observable information such as the bids and the resulting allocations. We prove that our adaptive auction converges to the optimal Nash equilibrium under which the aggregate utility of an enterprise is maximized.