Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence and gender difference of lumbar disc space narrowing in elderly Chinese men and women: Mr. OS (Hong Kong) and Ms. OS (Hong Kong) studies

, Abstract Objective— Mr. OS (Hong Kong) and Ms. OS (Hong Kong) represent the first large scale prospective population based studies conducted on bone health in elderly (≥65 yrs) Chinese men (n=2000) and women (n=2000). The current study investigated the prevalence of lumbar disc space narrowing (DSN) in these subjects, and identified the potential relationship between DSN and gender, bone mineral density (BMD), and other demographic and clinical data. Methods— On lumbar lateral radiographs, L1/L2-L4/L5 disc space was classified to 4 categories: 0= normal; 1= mild narrowing; 2= moderate narrowing; 3= severe narrowing. Demographic and clinical data between subjects with and without sum of DSN score ≥ 3 were compared. Results— DSN was more common in elderly women than in men. The average DSN score for the four discs was 2.71±2.21 for men, and 3.08±2.50 for women (P<0.0001). For the three age groups of 65~69, 70~79, ≥80 (yrs), average DSN score increased with increasing age in both men and women, and to a greater degree in women than men. Average DSN score difference between women and men was 0.12, 0.40, and 0.90 respectively in the three age groups. For both men and women, DSN ≥ 3 was associated with older age, higher spine and hip BMD, low back pain, and restricted leg mobility. Conclusion— Prevalence and severity of DSN is higher in elderly women than elderly men. With increasing age, DSN progresses at a greater rate in females than males. DSN ≥ 3 is associated with higher spine and hip BMD.
Longitudinal Associations between TV Viewing and BMI among White and Black girls

Purpose: Childhood overweight is one of the most important public health problems facing America today, and time spent watching television has been proposed as a causal factor. This study examines the effects of TV viewing on the trajectory of BMI over the course of adolescence. Methods: We analyzed data on TV viewing and BMI from the NHLBI Growth and Health Study, a panel study of 2,379 White and Black girls followed for up to 10 annual visits, beginning at age 9 or 10. Latent growth curve models were used to estimate the effects of daily TV viewing on the slope of BMI, one using TV viewing at age 10 to predict the trajectory of BMI from ages 11 to 14, and one using TV viewing at age 14 to predict BMI trajectory from ages 15-19. Models controlled for baseline BMI, physical activity, maturation stage, and socio-economic status. Results: For White girls, higher levels of baseline TV viewing were positively associated with a steeper trajectory of BMI for the four years following a baseline visit (ages 11 to 14, on average). TV viewing was not associated with the trajectory of BMI over the last five of the ten visits. For Black girls, TV viewing was not associated with either trajectory of BMI. Conclusions: White girls who watched more TV at baseline showed a steeper increase in BMI over early adolescence compared to girls who watched less TV. TV viewing may be a factor contributing to overweight among young girls.
Nucleic Acids Research

Ultraviolet light induced RNA-protein cross-linking for identification of polypeptides interacting with RNA in intact cells (Wagenmakers et al. 1980), is limited by the intensity of the label in the proteins or in residual nucleotides remaining attached to the proteins after RNase treatment of the RNA-protein complexes. Here we report a method, where the cross-linked RNA-protein complexes are treated with RNase Ti and the Tl-oligonucleotides covalently linked to the proteins are labeled in the 5' terminus using y-32P-ATP and T4 polynucleotide kinase. The cross-linked proteins can then readily be identified owing to the incorporated 32p label. As examples, proteins associated with polyadenylated mRNA, hnRNA and adenoviral VA RNA were identified. A protein with a molecular weight of approximately 50,000 is found associated with adenovirus-coded VA RNA. This was confirmed by binding assays, in which labeled VAI RNA is incubated with proteins from uninfected and adenovirus infected HeLa cells immobilized on nitrocellulose sheets.
Isolation of a large number of novel mammalian genes by a differential cDNA library screening strategy

As part of the ongoing human and mouse genome projects, the aim of this study was to isolate novel, previously uncharacterized, genes from mouse testis. Two approaches were compared for their effectiveness in isolating novel genes: random, vs differential, complementary DNA (cDNA) cloning methods. In the differential approach, only the cDNA clones containing rare sequences (as determined by preliminary clone hybridization) are further analyzed; in the random approach, cDNA clones are isolated at random from the cDNA library. More than two hundred cDNA clones altogether were analyzed, using a PCR-mediated amplification and sequencing strategy. A comparison of these sequences to nucleic acid and protein sequence databases, revealed that 84% of the isolated rare cDNA clones represented new, previously uncharacterized mouse genes. In contrast, less than 63% of the cDNA clones isolated at random from cDNA libraries, contained novel genes. Thus, the probability of isolating new, previously uncharacterized, mammalian genes from cDNA libraries can be markedly improved by focusing efforts on clones containing rare sequences.
Tankyrase SAM domain polymerization is required for its role in Wnt signaling

SUMMARY Tankyrase-1 (TNKS1/PARP-5a) is a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzyme that regulates multiple cellular processes creating a poly(ADP-ribose) posttranslational modification that can lead to target protein turnover. TNKS1 thereby controls protein levels of key components of signaling pathways, including Axin1, the limiting component of the destruction complex in canonical Wnt signaling that degrades β -catenin to prevent its coactivator function in gene expression. There are limited molecular level insights into TNKS1 regulation in cell signaling pathways. TNKS1 has a sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain that is known to mediate polymerization, but the functional requirement for SAM polymerization has not been assessed. We have determined the crystal structure of wild-type human TNKS1 SAM domain and used structure-based mutagenesis to disrupt polymer formation and assess the consequences on TNKS1 regulation of β -catenin dependent transcription. Our data indicate the SAM polymer is critical for TNKS1 catalytic activity and allows TNKS1 to efficiently access cytoplasmic signaling complexes. Tankyrase-1 (TNKS1) modifies proteins with poly(ADP-ribose) to regulate their turnover, including Wnt signaling component Axin1. Riccio et al. determined the human TNKS1 SAM domain polymer structure using crystallography. Functional analysis indicates SAM polymerization is critical for TNKS1 catalytic activity and access to cytoplasmic signaling complexes. β and casein kinase 1 α (CK1) core components
The individual-level and societal-level effects of mental disorders on earnings in the United States: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

Objective— To update estimates of the associations between mental disorders and earnings from those of Rice et al. for 1985 and Harwood et al. for 1992. Current estimates, for 2002, are based on data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Methods— The NCS-R is a nationally representative survey of the US household population administered in 2001–03. Following the same basic approach as the prior studies, with some modifications to improve model-fitting, we predicted personal earnings in the 12 months before interview from information about 12-month and lifetime DSM-IV mental disorders among respondents ages 18–64, controlling for socio-demographics and substance disorders. We used conventional demographic rate standardization methods to distinguish predictive effects of mental disorders on amount earned by people with earnings from predictive effects on probability of having any earnings. Results— Twelve-month DSM-IV serious mental illness (SMI) significantly predicted reduced earnings. Other 12-month and lifetime DSM-IV/CIDI disorders did not. Respondents with SMI had 12-month earnings averaging $16,306 less than other respondents with the same values on control variables among males; $9,302 among females), for a societal-level total of $193.2 billion. Of this total, 75.4% was due to reduced earnings among mentally ill people with any earnings (79.6% males; 69.6% females). The remaining 24.6% was due to reduced probability of having any earnings. Conclusions— These results add to a growing body of evidence that mental disorders are associated with substantial societal-level impairments that should be taken into consideration in making decisions about the allocation of treatment and research resources. This report updates national estimates of the annual lost earnings associated with mental disorders in the US. The first such estimate, $44.1 billion in 1985, was made by Rice et al. (1) in a report commissioned by the US Public Health Service using data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study (2). This estimate was subsequently updated to $77 billion for 1992 by Harwood et al. (3) in a report commissioned by NIMH, using data from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) (4). The current update is based on data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) (5). earlier
Activation of mitochondrial u-calpain increases AIF cleavage in cardiac mitochondria during ischemia-reperfusion

Ubiquitous calpains (calpain I & II) are generally recognized as cytosolic proteins. Recently, mitochondrial localized calpain I ( μ -calpain) has been identified. Activation of mito-u-calpain cleaves apoptosis inducing factor (AIF), a flavoprotein located within the mitochondrial intermembrane space, in liver mitochondria, but not in brain mitochondria. We first tested if activation of mito-u-calpain cleaves AIF in isolated heart mitochondria. A decrease in AIF content within mitochondria increases cardiac injury during ischemia-reperfusion by augmenting oxidative stress. We hypothesize that the activation of mito-u-calpain by calcium overload during ischemia-reperfusion results in decreased AIF content within mitochondria by cleaving AIF. The u-calpain was present within mouse heart mitochondria, mostly in the intermembrane space. Exogenous calcium treatment induced a calpain-dependent decrease of mitochondrial AIF content in isolated mouse heart mitochondria. This process was blocked by a calpain inhibitor (MDL-28170). The Mitochondrial u-calpain activity was increased by 160% ± 15% during ischemia-reperfusion compared to time control. In contrast, the mitochondrial AIF content was decreased by 52% ± 7% during reperfusion vs. time control in the buffer perfused mouse heart. Inhibition of mito-u-calpain using MDL-28170 decreased cardiac injury by preserving AIF content within mitochondria during ischemia-reperfusion. Thus, activation of mito-u-calpain is required to release AIF from cardiac mitochondria. Inhibition of calpains using MDL-28170 decreases cardiac injury by inhibiting both cytosolic calpains and mito-u-calpain during ischemia-reperfusion. in decreased mitochondrial AIF content accompanied by increased mito-u-calpain activity. Prevention of mito-u-calpain activation using MDL treatment maintained mitochondrial AIF content during ischemia-reperfusion. These results support that activation of mito-u-calpain contributes to decreased AIF content within mitochondria in the buffer perfused mouse heart during reperfusion
Nucleic Acids Research

We have investigated the binding of the fl single-stranded DNA-binding protein (gene V protein) to DNA oligonucleotides and RNA synthesized in vitro. The first 16 nucleotides of the fl gene II mRNA leader sequence were previously identified as the gene II RNA-operator; the target to which the gene V protein binds to repress gene II translation. Using a gel retardation assay, we find that the preferential binding of gene V protein to an RNA carrying the gene II RNA-operator sequence is affected by mutations which abolish gene II translational repression in vivo. In vitro, gene V protein also binds preferentially to a DNA oligonucleotide whose sequence is the DNA analog of the wildtype gene II RNA-operator. Therefore, the gene V protein recognizes the gene II mRNA operator sequence when present in either an RNA or DNA context. 1NTRODUCTION The gene V protein of bacteriophage fl (fd, M13) is a small dimeric single-stranded DNAbinding protein (1). During infection the gene V protein (gpV) increases the intracellular concentration of single-stranded phage DNA by covering newly replicated single-stranded DNA molecules to prevent complementary strand synthesis (2). It also binds to the gene II mRNA leader sequence to repress the translation of the phage encoded replication protein pH (3,4,5). In vitro gpV binds tightly and cooperatively to single but not to double-stranded DNA (6), and with lower affinity to RNA (7,8). The three-dimensional structure of this protein has been determined by X-ray crystallography (9). The amino acids involved in binding (10,1 1) and the mechanism of binding (8,12-14) have been both investigated by chemical and spectroscopic techniques. These studies have revealed that there are two different binding modes, one for oligonucleotides and another for DNA (12,14). Furthermore, the affinity for homopolymers differs markedly from one homopolymer to another (8,13). Different binding models have been proposed to explain these findings which have however in common a role for the aromatic side chains of gpV which are stack upon the nucleic acid bases and a binding of the DNA phosphate backbone by its lysyl and arginyl side chains (1,8). We previously investigated by genetic means the target that gpV binds to repress gene II mRNA translation (5). The first 16 nucleotides of the gene II niRNA leader sequence were found to be required for repression in vivo. In vitro, gpV protein binds RNA molecules carrying this sequence with a 10 fold higher affinity than it binds RNA molecules that do not contain this sequence. In this paper we examine in vitro gpV binding to RNAs carrying mutations which impair repression in vivo. Such mutations affect gpV binding in vitro. To further investigate the apparent paradox of both binding without specificity © IRL Press Volume 17 Number 18 1989
Post-Story: Influence of Introducing Story Feature on Social Media Posts

ABSTRACT Driven by the need to enhance user traffic on social media (SM) platforms for increasing their advertising revenues, SM platforms are experimenting with new content creation features. However, it is unclear if such initiatives are also beneficial for SM profile owners such as influencers, who are the prime content creators on the SM platforms who use SM posts to build their influence within their network of followers. Our study investigates the effect of introducing one such new SM feature: the “story” on the creation and consumption of SM posts. Leveraging social penetration theory, we hypothesize the influence of introducing story feature on (1) the frequency of SM post creation by profile owners and (2) the extent of follower engagement with SM posts. Employing a quasi-experimental design, we find that the introduction of the story feature reduces the frequency of SM post creation, but the enhanced self-disclosure through the story feature increases follower engagement with the SM posts. However, these effects are moderated by the situating culture of the SM communities: while low-power-distance cultures value profile owners’ self-disclosure, high-power-distance cultures exhibit a mixed influence. Advancing literature on social penetration theory and SM user engagement, our study demonstrates that new self-disclosive SM content creation features do not necessarily benefit all the concerned stakeholders and that the effectiveness of such features might vary from one community to another. Hence, the intended impact of introducing new SM features needs to be carefully evaluated by SM platforms in a holistic manner.
Leveraging Platform Boundary Resources: The Role of Distributed Sensemaking

ABSTRACT Although mobile platform ecosystems are highly competitive environments, they provide important entrepreneurial opportunities for app developer organizations. To facilitate app innovations, platform owners regularly release platform boundary resources (PBRs) by adding novel technologies at the platform level. App developer organizations, however, face high levels of technological uncertainty as they create app-level innovations based on PBRs. We examine the effectiveness of the level of distributed sensemaking about PBRs in a context of technological uncertainty arising from either PBR’s technological unrelatedness with prior PBRs or app complexity. Using a dataset of 933 PBR-based app innovations, the findings significantly contribute to our understanding of the duality between competition and cooperation in a platform ecosystem. We demonstrate that distributed sensemaking among app developers, who potentially compete against each other, is crucial for enhancing app competitive performance, especially when technological uncertainty is high. Thus, we encourage greater cooperation among app developer organizations to leverage PBRs.
Gaining Customer Loyalty with Tracking Information Quality in B2B Logistics

ABSTRACT Although vendor firms invest heavily in technologies to digitalize business-to-business (B2B) service orchestration, little is known about the mechanisms through which high quality information, a key resource generated from digitalization, creates customer loyalty. Positioning our work in the B2B logistics services context, we take a customer needs fulfillment perspective to understand value creation and capture from digitalization of service orchestration in B2B logistics relationships. We suggest that a vendor will capture exchange value, manifesting as customer loyalty, for the customer’s perceived use value of the service enabled by tracking information quality on service orchestration. We propose that service flexibility and service efficiency provided by the logistics vendor are two types of use value for customers, which serve as the value-creation pathways through which tracking information quality affects customer loyalty, the exchange value received by the vendor. We further argue that service modal variety, a key aspect of service complexity, moderates the value-creation pathways of tracking information quality. Using survey and archival data of B2B relationships between a Fortune 100 logistics vendor and its major customers, we find empirical support for the use value mechanisms through which tracking information quality affects customer loyalty in the context of B2B logistics services.
Maximising Information yields Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity

Experiments show a synaptic weight potentiating if its presynaptic spike just preceded its postsynaptic one, and depressing if it came just after, with a sharp transition at synchrony. To understand why, we would like to derive this rule from first principles. To do this, we first calculate the dependency of the postsynaptic spike timing on the presynaptic spike timing in a linear spiking model called the Spike Response Model. We then use this to calculate the gradient of the information transfer in a spiking network. This produces a non-local learning rule for the weights which has the correct signs of potentiation and depression, but without the sharp transition. Since the rule is analogous to ICA, we follow Amari in transforming the gradient by an approximate Hessian to get a Natural Gradient rule. This yields an almost-local learning algorithm in which a sharp transition between potentiation and depression now appears. The main mismatch between our rule and the experiment is an offset of the sharp transition from synchrony. We believe this is due to a mismatch between the Spike Response Model and the real neuron. We propose that information maximisation occurs across time through a causal network of spike timings.
Design Opportunities for Freelancing Platforms: Online Freelancers’ Views on a Worker-Centred Design Fiction

Freelancing platforms, such as Upwork and Fiverr, have become a viable source of work for millions of freelancers worldwide. However, these gig economy systems are not typically designed in ways that centre workers’ preferences and wellbeing. In this paper, we describe the development and evaluation of ‘Freelance Grow,’ a design fiction portraying a freelancing platform that prioritises freelancers’ professional development and peer support. The design fiction was informed by a systematic literature assessment, using recommendations from twenty-six sources for improving online freelancers’ experiences. We then used the design fiction in focus groups with 23 online freelancers to investigate their views on the ideas suggested in our design fiction. Based upon a thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts, we present three opportunities and considerations for designing systems that further enable freelancers’ work autonomy, entrepreneurial development, and peer support. Ultimately, we contribute an expanded understanding of design approaches to support online freelancers in the gig economy.
Verifying Hardware Optimizations for Efficient Acceleration

Verifying the correctness of optimizations is a key challenge in hardware acceleration. Incorrect optimizations can produce designs unfit for purpose. This paper presents a novel approach, Covoh, which captures families of hardware designs as parametric block descriptions, such that the behaviour of design instances can be verified by numerical and symbolic simulation. In this work, hardware optimizations are expressed as transformations of parametric descriptions, and their parametric verification based on the Coq proof assistant is guided by verification strategies. Repositories of design descriptions and verification strategies have been developed to facilitate design development in Covoh. Its use in verifying two optimizations illustrates the capability of Covoh. The first, a variation of Horner’s Rule, maps an O(n2) design to an O(n) design. The second, used in optimizing avionics monitoring, maps an O(2n) design to an O(n) design. The effectiveness of such optimizations is demonstrated with FPGA implementations: varying the value of a single parameter that controls pipelining would, for example, lead to a family of functionally-verified designs with different trade-offs, from ones with low throughput, low resource usage and low power consumption to ones with high throughput, high resource usage and high power consumption.
New futures of work or continued marginalization? The rise of online freelance work and digital platforms

Workers from historically marginalized populations are an increasingly important, but not-well-understood, set of participants in the narratives being developed about the many futures of work. Here, we argue that the growth of non-standard work and the changes in worker/employer relationships that this reflects, the rising number of independent workers, and the surge of digital labor platforms demand more attention to what these new working arrangements mean for historically marginalized groups. To do so, in this paper we: (1) summarize long-documented inequalities in traditional workplaces, (2) highlight how these issues translate into the under-regulated and fast-evolving landscape of digital labor platforms, and (3) focus on how the emergence of data-driven algorithms and AI technologies may impact these issues. Our discussion draws attention to how HCI researchers can continue to address issues of bias and inequality embedded within technology. In particular, we focus on how issues of bias are diminished, transformed, or exacerbated in emerging forms of digitally-mediated work that seem to be core to discourse on the futures of work.