Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human White/Murine ABC8 mRNA Levels Are Highly Induced in Lipid-loaded Macrophages

To identify genes that are transcriptionally activated when human macrophages accumulate excess lipids, we employed the mRNA differential display technique using RNA isolated from human monocyte-macrophages incubated in the absence or presence of acetylated low density lipoprotein and sterols (cholesterol and 25-hydroxycholesterol). These studies identified a mRNA whose levels were highly induced in lipid-loaded macrophages. The mRNA encoded the human White protein, a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily of proteins. The mRNA levels of ABC8, the murine homolog of the human white gene, were also induced when a murine macrophage cell line, RAW264.7, was incubated with acetylated low density lipoprotein and sterols. Additional studies demonstrated that white/ABC8 mRNA levels were induced by specific oxysterols that included 25-, 20(S)-, and 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol, and by a retinoid X receptor-specific ligand. Furthermore, the oxysterol-mediated induction of ABC8 expression in mouse peritoneal macrophages was dependent on the presence of the nuclear oxysterol receptors, liver X receptors (LXRs). Macrophages derived from mice lacking both LXRα and LXRβ failed to up-regulate the expression of ABC8 following incubation with 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol. Oxysterol-dependent induction of white/ABC8 mRNA was blocked by actinomycin D but not by cycloheximide treatment of cells. We conclude that thewhite and ABC8 genes are primary response genes that are transcriptionally activated by specific oxysterols and that this induction is mediated by the LXR subfamily of nuclear hormone receptors. These data strongly support the hypothesis thatwhite/ABC8 has a role in cellular sterol homeostasis.
Regional variability of disinfection by-products in Canadian drinking water

The chlorination of drinking water forms various disinfection by-products (DBPs), some of which present potential risks to humans. This study investigates occurrences, trends, and regional and seasonal variability of DPBs in two Canadian provinces: Ontario and Quebec. The findings demonstrate that trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) can be represented better by region-based analysis than by province-based analysis. THMs in summer months are much higher than in cold months, while HAAs show variable results. The seasonal and regional variability of DBPs can have implications for the selection of DBP sampling locations, sampling frequency, regulatory limitations of DBPs, exposure analysis and risk characterization.
Genetic Transformation of Sugarcane, Current Status and Future Prospects

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is a tropical and sub-tropical, vegetative-propagated crop that contributes to approximately 80% of the sugar and 40% of the world’s biofuel production. Modern sugarcane cultivars are highly polyploid and aneuploid hybrids with extremely large genomes (>10 Gigabases), that have originated from artificial crosses between the two species, Saccharum officinarum and S. spontaneum. The genetic complexity and low fertility of sugarcane under natural growing conditions make traditional breeding improvement extremely laborious, costly and time-consuming. This, together with its vegetative propagation, which allows for stable transfer and multiplication of transgenes, make sugarcane a good candidate for crop improvement through genetic engineering. Genetic transformation has the potential to improve economically important properties in sugarcane as well as diversify sugarcane beyond traditional applications, such as sucrose production. Traits such as herbicide, disease and insect resistance, improved tolerance to cold, salt and drought and accumulation of sugar and biomass have been some of the areas of interest as far as the application of transgenic sugarcane is concerned. Although there have been much interest in developing transgenic sugarcane there are only three officially approved varieties for commercialization, all of them expressing insect-resistance and recently released in Brazil. Since the early 1990’s, different genetic transformation systems have been successfully developed in sugarcane, including electroporation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens and biobalistics. However, genetic transformation of sugarcane is a very laborious process, which relies heavily on intensive and sophisticated tissue culture and plant generation procedures that must be optimized for each new genotype to be transformed. Therefore, it remains a great technical challenge to develop an efficient transformation protocol for any sugarcane variety that has not been previously transformed. Additionally, once a transgenic event is obtained, molecular studies required for a commercial release by regulatory authorities, which include transgene insertion site, number of transgenes and gene expression levels, are all hindered by the genomic complexity and the lack of a complete sequenced reference genome for this crop. The objective of this review is to summarize current techniques and state of the art in sugarcane transformation and provide information on existing and future sugarcane improvement by genetic engineering.
Mortality due to hepatitis C-related liver disease in HIV-infected patients in France (Mortavic 2001 study)

Objective: To determine mortality due to end-stage liver disease (ESLD) in a nationwide cohort of HIV-infected patients 5 years after the introduction of highly active antretroviral therapy (HAART) and to compare this with that observed before and during the early years of HAART. Design and methods: All departments of internal medicine and infectious diseases from the GERMIVIC Study Group prospectively recorded all deaths in HIV-infected patients during 2001. Sixty-five departments, following a total of 25 178 HIV-infected patients, participated in the study. Results were compared with those of previous surveys conducted using similar methodology in 1995 and 1997. Results: Among 265 deaths observed during 2001, 129 (48.7%) were related to AIDS, 38 (14.3%) to ESLD, and 98 (36.7%) to other causes. Mortality due to ESLD represented 28% of non AIDS-related deaths; 36 of the 38 patients (95%) dying from ESLD had chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In 2001, deaths due to ESLD (14.3%) were significantly more frequent than in 1995 (1.5%; P < 0.01) and 1997 (6.6%; P < 0.01). During this interval, the prevalence of hepatocellular carcinoma as a cause of death increased (1995, 4.7%; 1997, 11%; 2001, 25%; P < 0.05), as did alcohol consumption (P < 0.01). Conclusions: In the post-HAART era, ESLD due to HCV is a growing cause of mortality in HIV-infected patients. Increased longevity attributable to HAART, and a higher prevalence of alcohol consumption, are probably involved in this trend.
New employee representation: Legal developments and New Zealand unions

Legislative protections supporting New Zealand's compulsory arbitration system made unions a vital part of industrial relations from 1894 to 1991. Following a dramatic shift to a more deregulated labour market, the union movement suffered a sharp decline in influence and membership during the 1990s. In October 2000 the Labour‐Alliance Coalition that formed government in 1999 introduced its Employment Relations Act that includes new protections for registered trade unions. The early impact of the legislation has been to promote the registration of a plethora of new unions. However, the new unions formed since the introduction of the Act represent very few workers and have narrow interests. Although they exist formally as unions, these organisations are more accurately alternative forms of employee representation that exist to facilitate enterprise bargaining and, in some instances, to allow employers to frustrate the activities of larger, established unions.
Initial performance of new issues of shares in Malaysia

This paper presents the levels of under-pricing for new issues in a developing country, Malaysia, over a more recent period, January 1990-December 1998, than reported in prior studies. Three types of new issues were examined, namely public issue, offer for sale and combination or hybrid of offer for sale and public issue. Comparisons of initial return between types of new issues and between different board of listing were made. The results of independent t -tests for difference in mean initial returns indicate that, in general, there are significant differences in mean initial returns between types of new issues and between boards of listing. The results of step-wise regression reveal that on average, only over-subscription ratio contributes significantly to the initial returns. However, caution should be taken when interpreting the models formed because the Durbin-Watson rest indicate that some models are not free from problem of auto-correlation of the residuals.
FDI location choice: agglomeration vs institutions

Using an extensive data set on foreign invested enterprises in China from US, EU, Japan and Korea, we explore the role of agglomeration economies (network externalities) and government institutions as well as other more traditional factors in determining the (regional) locational choice of foreign direct investment (FDI). Employing firm-level discrete choice model, we find that provinces with stronger public institutions and higher horizontal and vertical agglomerations tend to attract more foreign investments. Furthermore, we explore the interplay of institutions and agglomeration economies. We detect that foreign horizontal agglomeration can partially overcome the negative impact of weak institutions on FDI entry. However, we obtain mixed evidence regarding the interplay between institutions and domestic horizontal agglomeration or vertical agglomeration. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ecohydrological Landscape Management for Human Well-Being

Abstract This paper introduces a new perspective on water resources emphasizing the role of water vapor flows for human well-being. The connections between freshwater and ecosystem services in terrestrial environments are addressed, particularly the role of freshwater for the biota that sustains the flow of ecosystem services and the role of the biota that modifies freshwater flows. First, the water dependence of terrestrial ecosystem services and food production are analyzed. Secondly, two examples of unintentional, large-scale, water-mediated cascading effects related to ecosystem services that result from local, uncoordinated decisions in Australia and South Africa are discussed. These two countries are taking the lead in the management of freshwater flows and terrestrial ecosystem services. Issues including potential conflicts of interest and trade-offs between food (or timber) production and ecosystem services at the catchment scale are taken into account. A world-wide, intentional ecohydrological landscape approach to handle these issues is suggested. One important step towards a more integrated approach to freshwater is the development of flexible institutional structures.
Multilayer Perceptron Classification of Unknown Volatile Chemicals from the Firing Rates of Insect Olfactory Sensory Neurons and Its Application to Biosensor Design

In this letter, we use the firing rates from an array of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to train an artificial neural network (ANN) to distinguish different chemical classes of volatile odorants. Bootstrapping is implemented for the optimized networks, providing an accurate estimate of a network's predicted values. Initially a simple linear predictor was used to assess the complexity of the data and was found to provide low prediction performance. A nonlinear ANN in the form of a single multilayer perceptron (MLP) was also used, providing a significant increase in prediction performance. The effect of the number of hidden layers and hidden neurons of the MLP was investigated and found to be effective in enhancing network performance with both a single and a double hidden layer investigated separately. A hybrid array of MLPs was investigated and compared against the single MLP architecture. The hybrid MLPs were found to classify all vectors of the validation set, presenting the highest degree of prediction accuracy. Adjustment of the number of hidden neurons was investigated, providing further performance gain. In addition, noise injection was investigated, proving successful for certain network designs. It was found that the best-performing MLP was that of the double-hidden-layer hybrid MLP network without the use of noise injection. Furthermore, the level of performance was examined when different numbers of OSNs used were varied from the maximum of 24 to only 5 OSNs. Finally, the ideal OSNs were identified that optimized network performance. The results obtained from this study provide strong evidence of the usefulness of ANNs in the field of olfaction for the future realization of a signal processing back end for an artificial olfactory biosensor.
Unionising the white collar workers

This research identifies factors which affect the unionisation of white collar workers and provides an analytical model for the use of practitioners in employee relations. The article is based on a study carried out at Sheffield City Polytechnic from 1974–1977. The research took a company or organisation‐level perspective rather than the national or industrial ones favoured by previous researchers. In an organisational context the union recognition process is one which creates a profound change in relationship between white collar staff and their employer; a change from what may be described as an “individualistic” to a more “collective” relationship.
Gradients of semantic relatedness and their contrasting explanations in refractory access and storage semantic impairments

We report a study that directly compares the comprehension skills of patients with refractory access and static storage semantic deficits. It has been reported previously, in the context of matching to sample tasks, that the performance of both types of patients may be affected by the semantic relatedness of competing responses. However, it has been hypothesised that such effects of semantic distance may reflect different processes (Warrington & Cipolotti, 1996). More specifically, semantic relatedness effects following refractory access deficits may be explained in terms of the effect of refractoriness on representations that share semantic space, whilst relatedness effects consequent to storage deficits may reflect the preferential sparing of superordinate rather than item-specific information. In this series of experiments, we compare and contrast refractory access and storage patients on word–picture matching tasks that manipulate the semantic relatedness of items within a response array. In particular, the interaction of semantic distance and item frequency is explored. We also provide evidence of gradients of semantic relatedness in our refractory assess patient, and consider what information such patients can provide about extremely fine-grain conceptual organisation.
Understanding COVID-19: From Dysregulated Immunity to Vaccination Status Quo

The development of vaccines against infectious diseases has helped us battle the greatest threat to public health. With the emergence of novel viruses, targeted immunotherapeutics ranging from informed vaccine development to personalized medicine may be the very thing that separates us between life and death. Late in 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), made a remarkable entrance to human civilization, being one of many to cross the species barrier. This review discusses the important aspects of COVID-19, providing a brief overview of our current understanding of dysregulated immune responses developed using various experimental models, a brief outline of experimental models of COVID-19 and more importantly, the rapid development of vaccines against COVID-19.
The efficacy of pneumatic compression stockings in the prevention of pulmonary embolism after cardiac surgery.

INTRODUCTION Pneumatic compression stocking (PCS) devices have been introduced to decrease the incidence of postoperative deep venous thrombosis (DVT). However, their role in the prophylaxis against pulmonary embolism (PE) remains unclear. This study was undertaken to compare the prophylactic effectiveness of subcutaneous heparin (SCH) alone vs the combined use of PCS and SCH in the prevention of PE following cardiac surgery. METHODS We studied 2,551 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery over a 10-year period. They were randomly allocated to two groups. Group A included 1,196 patients who were treated with 5,000 U of SCH every 12 h and group B included 1,355 patients treated with a combined prophylactic regimen of PCS and SCH. RESULTS The diagnosis of PE was established in 69 patients by either high-probability ventilation perfusion scan, pulmonary angiogram, or autopsy. The incidence of PE in group A patients was 4% (48/1,196) and in group B was 1.5% (21/1,355). The concomitant use of bilateral PCS and SCH reduced the frequency of postoperative PE in 62% in comparison to the prophylaxis with SCH alone (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that the combined prophylactic method of bilateral PCS and SCH is superior to SCH alone in the prevention of PE after cardiac surgery.
Yield Gaps and Potential Agricultural Growth in West and Central Africa

The authors identify a set of development priorities for agriculture that cut across West Africa at both the country and regional levels to achieve economywide growth goals in the region. To do this we adopt a modeling and analytical framework that involves the integration of spatial analysis to identify yield gaps determining the growth potential of different agricultural activities for areas with similar conditions and an economywide multimarket model to simulate ex ante the economic effects of closing these yield gaps. Results indicate that the greatest agriculture-led growth opportunities in West Africa reside in staple crops (cereals and roots and tubers) and livestock production. Contributing the most to agricultural growth in the Sahel are livestock, rice, coarse grains, and oilseeds (groundnuts); in Coastal countries, staple crops such as cassava, yams, and cereal seems to be relatively more important than other subsectors; and in Central Africa livestock and root crops are the sources of growth with highest potential. Results also point toward an essential range of policies and investments that are needed to stimulate the productivity growth of prioritized activities. These include developing opportunities for regional cooperation on technology adaptation and diffusion, strengthening regional agricultural markets, exploiting opportunities for greater regional cooperation and harmonization, diversifying traditional markets, and enhancing linkages between agricultural and nonagricultural sectors.
Prediction of Fingerprint Orientation

This paper presents an algorithm to predict fingerprint orientation. The algorithm consists of two models: coarse prediction model and polynomial model. The coarse prediction model, which is based on first order phase portrait, is proposed to estimate the orientation in areas where there is no ridge information in the input image. Polynomial model is used to refine the fingerprint orientation predicted by the coarse model. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Formation and resolution of ankylosis under application of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) to class III furcation defects in cats.

OBJECTIVES Periodontal regeneration under application of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is compromised by ankylosis. Ankylosis disappearance following application of BMP has been observed in the case of a small defect, which might be beneficial change for periodontal regeneration. However, the histological observation of ankylosis disappearance has not been demonstrated in a large defect. The purpose of this present study was to confirm resolution of ankylosis during periodontal regeneration by recombinant human BMP-2 (rhBMP-2) applied to class III furcation defects. MATERIAL AND METHODS Class III furcation defects were created in the premolars of six adult cats. The rhBMP-2 material, prepared by applying rhBMP-2 to a combination of polylactic acid-polygricolic copolymer and gelatin sponge (PGS; 0.33 microg rhBMP-2/mm(3) PGS) or control material containing only PGS, was implanted into each defect. The cats were killed at 3, 6 or 12 weeks after surgery and serial sections were prepared for histological and histometrical observation. RESULTS Ankylosis was observed in some of the rhBMP-2/PGS group at 3 and 6 weeks, but not at 12 weeks. At 6 weeks, osteoclast-like cells were visible in the rhBMP-2/PGS group with ankylosis. Residual PGS was evident between the bone and root surface in the rhBMP-2/PGS group without ankylosis at 3 weeks. CONCLUSIONS Resolution of ankylosis by osteoclast-like cells possibly occurred under application of rhBMP-2. Residual PGS might play an important role in preventing ankylosis formation.
Corporate Governance: Its scope, concerns and theories

This paper outlines the conceptual, cultural, contextual and disciplinary scope of the rapidly evolving topic of corporate governance. As a basis for improving the rigour of research and analysis, some definitions are suggested. Reasons for the diversity of viewpoints and concerns are considered. To provide an orientation for new scholars and those from specialized disciplines, recent surveys of corporate governance are reviewed from their ethnocentric, contextual, and intellectual contingencies. The prospects of developing the topic as a "science of organization" are considered along with areas for future research.
Generation of testable designs from behavioral descriptions using high level synthesis tools

Develops a synthesis-for-testability procedure wherein behavioral modeling techniques are used to generate testable designs. Knowledge about the accessibility of embedded modules is extracted from the behavioral design, analyzed, and any modification required subsequently incorporated in the behavioral design. Results show that when the resulting testable circuit is synthesized from this modified design using a high level synthesis tool, the overhead for testability is quite small, especially for large circuits. <<ETX>>
Gender Differences in Wealth at Retirement

Recent economic trends, like the growing prevalence of defined contribution retirement plans, have made individuals increasingly responsible for their own financial security. Financial security greatly depends on the ability to accumulate adequate wealth (Edward Wolff 1998). Wealth can be a significant source of retirement income for individuals less and less able to rely on Social Security and employerprovided defined benefit pension plans. One concern in the current economic climate is the persistent gap in wealth between men and women. Several papers—for example Lucie Schmidt and Purvi Sevak (2006)—have found that the gap is significant even after controlling for individual characteristics. This paper contributes to the literature by studying the role of risk preferences in addition to other characteristics. Specifically, it addresses the following research question: controlling for other factors, do gender differences in risk preferences contribute to the gender wealth gap at retirement? The underlying premise is that women are more risk averse than men, which is supported by previous research (for example, Robert B. Barsky et al. 1997). A simple theoretical model of household decision-making illustrates that retirement wealth is a function of income earned over the lifetime and risk aversion. The model is empirically tested using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). 1 Results show that the gender gap in wealth persists even when risk preferences are added to the set of controls. Thus the unexplained gap remains a cause for concern.