Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Epigenetic Regulation of Angiogenesis by JARID1B-Induced Repression of HOXA5

Objective— Altering endothelial biology through epigenetic modifiers is an attractive novel concept, which is, however, just in its beginnings. We therefore set out to identify chromatin modifiers important for endothelial gene expression and contributing to angiogenesis. Approach and Results— To identify chromatin modifying enzymes in endothelial cells, histone demethylases were screened by microarray and polymerase chain reaction. The histone 3 lysine 4 demethylase JARID1B was identified as a highly expressed enzyme at the mRNA and protein levels. Knockdown of JARID1B by shRNA in human umbilical vein endothelial cells attenuated cell migration, angiogenic sprouting, and tube formation. Similarly, pharmacological inhibition and overexpression of a catalytic inactive JARID1B mutant reduced the angiogenic capacity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. To identify the in vivo relevance of JARID1B in the vascular system, Jarid1b knockout mice were studied. As global knockout results in increased mortality and developmental defects, tamoxifen-inducible and endothelial-specific knockout mice were generated. Acute knockout of Jarid1b attenuated retinal angiogenesis and endothelial sprout outgrowth from aortic segments. To identify the underlying mechanism, a microarray experiment was performed, which led to the identification of the antiangiogenic transcription factor HOXA5 to be suppressed by JARID1B. Importantly, downregulation or inhibition of JARID1B, but not of JARID1A and JARID1C, induced HOXA5 expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Consistently, chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that JARID1B occupies and reduces the histone 3 lysine 4 methylation levels at the HOXA5 promoter, demonstrating a direct function of JARID1B in endothelial HOXA5 gene regulation. Conclusions— JARID1B, by suppressing HOXA5, maintains the endothelial angiogenic capacity in a demethylase-dependent manner.
The Treuhandanstalt: Privatization by State and Market

To date, most of Eastern Europe has pursued privatization through markets: auctions, vouchers, mutual funds, and stock market flotations have all been widely advocated. The state has been viewed as an impediment whose involvement in the enterprise sector needs to be terminated at the earliest opportunity. There is one exception. Despite having an unusual abundance of managerial and financial resources, responsibility for restructuring East German enterprises has fallen on a state agency, the Treuhandanstalt (THA). This paper is an exploration of the way in which the THA has undertaken its function and of the lessons, if any, that it provides for the rest of Eastern Europe. We are not concerned here with the process of German unification and the course of events that rendered the vast majority of East German industry unprofitable (see, for example, Akerlof et al. 1991; Sinn and Sinn 1991; Dornbusch and Wolf, chap. 5 in vol. 1). This paper focuses on how the THA has engaged in restructuring and privatization in a situation in which the majority of tradable-sector jobs were under immediate threat.
Watching the Bacteriophage N4 RNA Polymerase Transcription by Time-dependent Soak-trigger-freeze X-ray Crystallography*

Background: The two-metal-ion mechanism of the nucleotidyl transfer reaction by RNA/DNA polymerases has not been adequately elucidated due to lack of temporal resolution. Results: Soak-trigger-freeze x-ray crystallography revealed structures of natural, time-resolved intermediates of transcript initiation. Conclusion: First structural evidence shows that catalytic metal binds after the nucleotide and nucleotide-binding metal and right before reaction chemistry. Significance: Time-dependent soak-trigger-freeze x-ray crystallography can yield functionally relevant high resolution information to study enzyme reactions. The challenge for structural biology is to understand atomic-level macromolecular motions during enzymatic reaction. X-ray crystallography can reveal high resolution structures; however, one perceived limitation is that it reveals only static views. Here we use time-dependent soak-trigger-freeze X-ray crystallography, namely, soaking nucleotide and divalent metal into the bacteriophage RNA polymerase (RNAP)-promoter DNA complex crystals to trigger the nucleotidyl transfer reaction and freezing crystals at different time points, to capture real-time intermediates in the pathway of transcription. In each crystal structure, different intensities and shapes of electron density maps corresponding to the nucleotide and metal were revealed at the RNAP active site which allow watching the nucleotide and metal bindings and the phosphodiester bond formation in a time perspective. Our study provides the temporal order of substrate assembly and metal co-factor binding at the active site of enzyme which completes our understanding of the two-metal-ion mechanism and fidelity mechanism in single-subunit RNAPs. The nucleotide-binding metal (MeB) is coordinated at the active site prior to the catalytic metal (MeA). MeA coordination is only temporal, established just before and dissociated immediately after phosphodiester bond formation. We captured these elusive intermediates exploiting the slow enzymatic reaction in crystallo. These results demonstrate that the simple time-dependent soak-trigger-freeze X-ray crystallography offers a direct means for monitoring enzymatic reactions.
Cycle ergometer and inspiratory muscle training offer modest benefit compared with cycle ergometer alone: a comprehensive assessment in stable COPD patients

Background Cycle ergometer training (CET) has been shown to improve exercise performance of the quadriceps muscles in patients with COPD, and inspiratory muscle training (IMT) may improve the pressure-generating capacity of the inspiratory muscles. However, the effects of combined CET and IMT remain unclear and there is a lack of comprehensive assessment. Materials and methods Eighty-one patients with COPD were randomly allocated to three groups: 28 received 8 weeks of CET + IMT (combined training group), 27 received 8 weeks of CET alone (CET group), and 26 only received 8 weeks of free walking (control group). Comprehensive assessment including respiratory muscle strength, exercise capacity, pulmonary function, dyspnea, quality of life, emotional status, nutritional status, and body mass index, airflow obstruction, and exercise capacity index were measured before and after the pulmonary rehabilitation program. Results Respiratory muscle strength, exercise capacity, inspiratory capacity, dyspnea, quality of life, depression and anxiety, and nutritional status were all improved in the combined training and CET groups when compared with that in the control group (P<0.05) after pulmonary rehabilitation program. Inspiratory muscle strength increased significantly in the combined training group when compared with that in the CET group (ΔPImax [maximal inspiratory pressure] 5.20±0.89 cmH2O vs 1.32±0.91 cmH2O; P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the other indices between the two groups (P>0.05). Patients with weakened respiratory muscles in the combined training group derived no greater benefit than those without respiratory muscle weakness (P>0.05). There were no significant differences in these indices between the patients with malnutrition and normal nutrition after pulmonary rehabilitation program (P>0.05). Conclusion Combined training is more effective than CET alone for increasing inspiratory muscle strength. IMT may not be useful when combined with CET in patients with weakened inspiratory muscles. Nutritional status had slight impact on the effects of pulmonary rehabilitation. A comprehensive assessment approach can be more objective to evaluate the effects of combined CET and IMT.
Labour Market Inequalities: Problems and Policies of Low-Wage Employment in International Perspective

Low-skilled workers face a future of joblessness or low-wage, insecure employment as technological change and globalization impact on the advanced economies. 'The European social model' of collective bargaining, minimum wages, employment rights, and social welfare support is alternately cited as both cause and cure. The contributions to this book review the evidence and find that, while the European model cannot remedy adverse global trends affecting low-skilled workers, it does achieve significant success in moderating them. Collective bargaining and wage regulation reduce the incidence of low pay. Minimum wages at prevailing levels provide significant wage protection for more vulnerable workers, without substantial job losses. The significant 'jobs deficit' of Germany relative to the USA in low-wage services is not the outcome of excessively high German wages. Conversely, reliance on wage flexibility to create jobs for the low-skilled does not emerge as economically effective, and can no longer be regarded as the simple panacea.
Enrolment and Delayed Enrolment of Secondary School Age Children in Indonesia

We analyse the school participation decision of children between 13 and 18 years in Indonesia using the 1992 SUSENAS household survey. Our focus is on which household factors determine enrolment and delayed enrolment. We use the multinomial fixed effect model where the cluster-specific fixed effects correct for any regional-specific factors that may influence the demand for education. The model is estimated by conditional maximum likelihood. We find that parent's education has a positive effect on enrolment, where the effects are stronger for boys than for girls. On the other hand, literacy of parents has stronger effects on the girls education than on the boys'. The model without fixed effects is rejected against the model with fixed effects. Hence, omitting regional variation in the model would have led to biased estimates.
Simple and reliable preparation of immunodiagnostic antigens for Taenia solium cysticercosis

SUMMARY Cysticercosis caused by infection with the larval stage of Taenia solium is an important cause of neurological disease worldwide and immunodiagnosis is important for the control and elimination of cysticercosis. In the present study, we established a simple and reliable preparation of immunodiagnostic low-molecular-weight antigens (LMWAgs) from T. solium cyst fluids by a cation-exchange chromatography (CEC). Banding patterns of LMWAgs on SDS-PAGE were different between isolates from Ecuador and China. All cysticercosis patient sera and some echinococcosis patient sera recognized both LMWAgs by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), but sera from healthy persons were not positive. There was no statistical difference in immunodiagnostic performance of LMWAgs prepared from different geographical isolates. These results indicated that these novel immunodiagnostic antigen preparations could contribute the control and prevention of cysticercosis in endemic areas, especially developing countries.
Modification of Duval triangle for diagnostic transformer fault through a procedure of dissolved gases analysis

Dissolved gas-in-oil analysis (DGA) is a sensitive and reliable technique for the detection of incipient fault condition within oil-immersed transformers. When the mineral oil is subjected to high thermal or/and electrical stresses, it decomposes and, as a result, gases are generated. This paper presents modification of Duval triangle DGA diagnostic graph to numerical method that is easy to use for diagnosing and the possibility to use for a Matlab program. The evaluation is carried out on DGA data obtained from three different groups of transformers. A Matlab program was developed to automate the evaluation of Duval Triangle graph to numerical modification, Also the fault gases can be generated due to oil decomposing effected by transformer over excitation which increasing the transformer exciting current lead to rising the temperature inside transformer core beside the other causes.
Concanavalin A simultaneously primes liver hematopoietic and epithelial progenitor cells for parallel expansion during liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in mice

Liver hematopoietic progenitor cells (LHPC) and liver epithelial progenitor cells (LEPC) share a remarkable number of growth and differentiation‐controlling receptor‐ligand signaling systems. These likely account for the ability of the liver to support hematopoiesis in fetal life, and possibly for suggestions that LHPC can differentiate into hepatocytes. In these experiments, the kinetics and magnitude of LHPC and LEPC activation and expansion were studied by using a concanavalin A (Con A) liver injury model followed by partial hepatectomy (PH). Studies were performed in interleukin 6–deficient (IL‐6−/−) mice and wild‐type (IL‐6+/+) controls, which show equal susceptibility to Con A– induced injury, because IL‐6/gp130 signaling has been implicated in both LHPC and LEPC expansion. Con A pretreatment primed LHPC and LEPC for a rapid and parallel expansion after PH in IL‐6+/+ mice, which was significantly blunted and delayed in the IL‐6−/− mice. Exogenous IL‐6 given immediately before PH after Con A, augmented both LHPC and LEPC expansion in the IL‐6−/− mice. Thus, the proinflammatory cytokine IL‐6, commonly produced in liver injury and inflammatory disease, is an important growth factor involved in the expansion of LHPC and LEPC. This observation has implications for both hepatic carcinogenesis and transplantation.
On movement-based mobility tracking strategy-an enhanced version

An enhanced version of the movement-based location update with selective paging strategy proposed in [1] is presented. Although the terminal paging cost is lightly increased, a significant reduction in the location update cost is achieved. The net effect is, for low call-to-mobility ratio, a saving of around 10%–15% in the total cost (location+ paging) per call arrival is achieved. Our proposal can be easily implemented in real cellular systems.
Identification of an iron-regulated 37,000-dalton protein in the cell envelope of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

We examined the outer membrane proteins which appear during the growth of Neisseria gonorrhoeae F62 in complex medium supplemented with 25 microM Desferal mesylate, a potent iron chelator. Outer membranes were prepared by Sarkosyl extraction and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Several higher-molecular-weight (74,000 to greater than 94,000) proteins increased under iron-limiting conditions. In addition we observed the appearance of an iron-regulated protein with an apparent molecular weight of 37,000. This protein comigrated with the gonococcal protein I under normal Laemmli gel conditions. By increasing the ionic strength of the lower gel buffer, separation of protein I and the 37,000-dalton iron-regulated protein occurred. The 37,000-dalton protein stained poorly with Coomassie blue. However, when a silver stain was used, the protein appeared as a major component of the gonococcal outer membrane. Production of this 37,000-dalton protein was suppressed by the addition of iron to the medium. An iron-regulated protein with a similar molecular weight was observed in four clinical isolates and in an additional laboratory strain. Peptide mapping indicated that the 37,000-dalton protein was distinct from protein I and was identical between strains of the WI and WII serogroups.
Nonlinear Filtering for Stochastic Volatility Models with Heavy Tails and Leverage

This paper develops a computationally efficient filtering based procedure for the estimation of the heavy tailed SV model with leverage. While there are many accepted techniques for the estimation of standard SV models, incorporating these effects into an SV framework is difficult. Simulation evidence provided in this paper indicates that the proposed procedure outperforms competing approaches in terms of the accuracy of parameter estimation. In an empirical setting, it is shown how the individual effects of heavy tails and leverage can be isolated using standard likelihood ratio tests.
A Protected Areas Ecotourism Competitive Cluster Approach to Catalyse Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth in Bulgaria

This paper focuses on how small ecotourism and related supply chain businesses in gateway communities can be linked to protected areas by organising them into competitive clusters focused on their comparative advantages and uniqueness. It examines pilot project work in Bulgaria in small communities near the Rila and Central Balkan National Park. It shows how Bulgaria might develop its ecotourism potential by replicating this approach. The Bulgarian experience holds potential for replication in other protected areas and gateway communities using collaborative tools based upon lessons learned from the model sites and from ecotourism cases around the world, including: (1) developing an inclusive stakeholder group; (2) fostering education within gateway communities near protected areas; (3) strengthening the legal and regulatory framework; (4) expanding small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship opportunities; (5) expanding destination management capacity at the community level; (6) linking protected area sites to less visited areas; (7) implementing environmental management and certification programmes; (8) expanding financing for protected areas; (9) using the Internet for linking and branding the network; and (10) developing indicator or monitoring systems.
blaNDM-1 Is a Chimera Likely Constructed in Acinetobacter baumannii

ABSTRACT Alignment of DNA sequences found upstream of aphA6 and all blaNDM-1 genes displays 100% identity. This identity continues 19 bp into the blaNDM-1 gene such that the first 6 amino acids of aphA6 and blaNDM-1 are the same. Furthermore, the percent GC content (GC%) of aphA6 is considerably lower than that of blaNDM-1 and the GC% within the blaNDM-1 structural gene changes dramatically after the first 19 bp. This is unequivocal evidence that blaNDM-1 is a chimera.
Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integration protein: DNA sequence requirements for cleaving and joining reactions

Using purified integration protein (IN) from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 and oligonucleotide mimics of viral and target DNA, we have investigated the DNA sequence specificity of the cleaving and joining reactions that take place during retroviral integration. The first reaction in this process is selective endonucleolytic cleaving of the viral DNA terminus that generates a recessed 3' OH group. This 3' OH group is then joined to a 5' phosphoryl group located at a break in the target DNA. We found that the conserved CA located close to the 3' end of the plus strand of the U5 viral terminus (also present on the minus strand of the U3 terminus) was required for both cleaving and joining reactions. Six bases of HIV U5 or U3 DNA at the ends of model substrates were sufficient for nearly maximal levels of selective endonucleolytic cleaving and joining. However, viral sequence elements upstream of the terminal 6 bases could also affect the efficiencies of the cleaving and joining reactions. The penultimate base (C) on the minus strand of HIV U5 was required for optimal joining activity. A synthetic oligonucleotide mimic of the putative in vivo viral "DNA" substrate for HIV IN, a molecule that contained a terminal adenosine 5'-phosphate (rA) on the minus strand, was indistinguishable in the cleaving and joining reactions from the DNA substrate containing deoxyadenosine instead of adenosine 5'-phosphate at the terminal position. Single-stranded DNA served as an in vitro integration target for HIV IN. The DNA sequence specificity of the joining reaction catalyzed in the reverse direction was also investigated.
OPTIMUM CONDITIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR ESTIMATING THE VOLATILITY OF STOCK INDICES

This study aims at minimizing the excess kurtosis observed in the financial data especially in stock price by obtaining an optimum conditional distribution for estimating the linear GARCH (p, q) model. The study used the daily stock prices of First Bank Nigeria Pic. traded in the Nigeria Stock Exchange from January 2001 to July 2008 and the results from the statistical properties of the daily returns and that of the Jarque-Bera test showed that the returns series is leptokurtic. The selected GARCH model was compared for estimation based on the Normal, Student-t distribution and Generalized Error distribution (GED). The optimum distribution was selected using the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and the Likelihood values and the results indicated that the kurtosis displayed was reduced when GED is used in the estimation. For stationarity. the parameters sum is less than one and this implies that the parameters satisfy the second order stationary (weakly stationary) conditions.
A Qualitative Study on the Adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Practice

The consumerization of information and communication technology (ICT) is a practically important research question. Throughout this paper, the author investigates the reasons that lead to this new and important practice. He analyzes the evolution and current state of ICT adoption research, identifying adoption patterns and determining factors, and hereby offers an integrative theoretical framework based on this body of research that illuminates the main pathways to adoption behavior. Results of this analysis allow one to realize a new phenomenon, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), which has become essential for organizations. A qualitative study is conducted to explain organizations' adoption of BYOD. A constant comparative method is used to analyze data obtained by interviewing the senior level managers of 14 organizations. Findings show that security, privacy, perceived financial cost, and compatibility have a major effect on the adoption.
Human Neonatal Cardiovascular Progenitors: Unlocking the Secret to Regenerative Ability

Although clinical benefit can be achieved after cardiac transplantation of adult c-kit+ or cardiosphere-derived cells for myocardial repair, these stem cells lack the regenerative capacity unique to neonatal cardiovascular stem cells. Unraveling the molecular basis for this age-related discrepancy in function could potentially transform cardiovascular stem cell transplantation. In this report, clonal populations of human neonatal and adult cardiovascular progenitor cells were isolated and characterized, revealing the existence of a novel subpopulation of endogenous cardiovascular stem cells that persist throughout life and co-express both c-kit and isl1. Epigenetic profiling identified 41 microRNAs whose expression was significantly altered with age in phenotypically-matched clones. These differences were correlated with reduced proliferation and a limited capacity to invade in response to growth factor stimulation, despite high levels of growth factor receptor on progenitors isolated from adults. Further understanding of these differences may provide novel therapeutic targets to enhance cardiovascular regenerative capacity.