Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rebuttal to Jacobson's "New Evidence for Old Arguments"

In "Salvation for the Spendthrift Incumbent" (Green and Krasno 1988), we argue that incumbent spending has a sizable effect on the House vote. This stands in direct contrast to Professor Jacobson's well-known view that "campaign spending by incumbents is not related to how well they do at the polls" (Jacobson 1983, 42, emphasis in the original). In his rebuttal Jacobson criticizes our findings on three grounds. First, he argues that the instrument we use in our twostage least squares model for incumbent spending is invalid. Second, he complains that our model fails to account for diminishing marginal returns. Finally, Jacobson asserts that our findings for the 1978 election do not hold for subsequent years. In this paper we briefly respond to these criticisms. Using data drawn from the 1976-86 elections, we demonstrate that incumbent spending has a substantial influence on the vote. We then critique the assumptions underlying Jacobson's individual-level analysis. In the end we find little empirical support for Jacobson's contention that the effects of incumbent spending are "substantively small and statistically insignificant. " Much of Jacobson's essay focuses on the question of whether incumbent spending is as effective as challenger spending. This comparative question, however, occupies a minor place in our "Salvation" essay; our main objective was to show that incumbent spending has more than a trivial influence on electoral outcomes. We do not disagree, in fact, with Jacobson's position that the marginal effect of challenger spending exceeds that of incumbent spending. But this is not the only way to gauge the relative importance of incumbent and challenger spending. Another way would be to compare the yield, the number of votes "purchased" by challengers and incumbents in each district. This standard takes into account the fact that incumbents typically outspend their opponents. Data from 1976-86 indicate that the yield from incumbent spending is both considerable and on par with the yield from challenger expenditures. In sum, access to financial resources represents one of the important advantages of incumbency, for the spendthrift incumbent is able to offset the effects of campaign expenditures by the opposition.
Molecular Cloning of the Actinomycin Synthetase Gene Cluster from Streptomyces chrysomallus and Functional Heterologous Expression of the Gene Encoding Actinomycin Synthetase II

ABSTRACT The actinomycin synthetases ACMS I, II, and III catalyze the assembly of the acyl peptide lactone precursor of actinomycin by a nonribosomal mechanism. We have cloned the genes of ACMS I (acmA) and ACMS II (acmB) by hybridization screening of a cosmid library of Streptomyces chrysomallusDNA with synthetic oligonucleotides derived from peptide sequences of the two enzymes. Their genes were found to be closely linked and are arranged in opposite orientations. Hybridization mapping and partial sequence analyses indicate that the gene of an additional peptide synthetase, most likely the gene of ACMS III (acmC), is located immediately downstream of acmB in the same orientation. The protein sequence of ACMS II, deduced fromacmB, shows that the enzyme contains two amino acid activation domains, which are characteristic of peptide synthetases, and an additional epimerization domain. Heterologous expression ofacmB from the mel promoter of plasmid PIJ702 inStreptomyces lividans yielded a functional 280-kDa peptide synthetase which activates threonine and valine as enzyme-bound thioesters. It also catalyzes the dipeptide formation of threonyl–l-valine, which is epimerized to threonyl–d-valine. Both of these dipeptides are enzyme bound as thioesters. This catalytic activity is identical to the in vitro activity of ACMS II from S. chrysomallus.
Total Plasma Sulfide as a Marker of Shock Severity in Nonsurgical Adult Patients

Previous animal and human studies have suggested that total plasma sulfide plays a role in the pathophysiology of shock. This study's aim was to determine the value of total plasma sulfide as a marker of shock severity in nonsurgical adult patients admitted to the ICU. Forty-one patients, with various types of shock (septic, cardiogenic, obstructive, and hypovolemic), were included in the study, with an average total plasma sulfide concentration of 23.2 ± 26.3 µM. Survivors (of shock) had lower total plasma sulfide concentrations than nonsurvivors (13.0 ± 26.3 vs. 31.9 ± 31.5 µM; P = 0.02). Total plasma sulfide correlated with dose of administered norepinephrine (R2 linear = 0.829; P = 0.001) and with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score (R2 cubic = 0.767; P = 0.001). Area under the receiver operating characteristic for total plasma sulfide as a predictor of ICU mortality was 0.739 (confidence interval, 0.587-0.892; P = 0.009). Even after correcting for APACHE II score and lactate values, total plasma sulfide correlated with mortality (odds ratio, 1.058; 95% confidence interval, 1.001-1.118; P = 0.045). The study provides evidence that, in nonsurgical adult ICU patients admitted because of any type of shock, total plasma sulfide correlates with administered norepinephrine dose at admission, severity of disease (APACHE II score ≥30 points), and survival outcome.
The Psychology of Terrorism: An Agenda for the 21st Century

Research on political terrorism, which began in the early 1970s, faces some persistent problems. These involve defining the concept, collecting empirical data, building integrative theory, and avoiding the attribution of terrorism to personality disorders or “irrationality. ” Furthermore, analysis risks being driven by events or the concerns of policymakers. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that psychological explanations of terrorism must take multiple levels of analysis into account, linking the individual to the group and to society. Future research should critically examine the assumption that a “new terrorism” has appeared at the end of the 20th century. Analysts should also take advantage of 30 years of history to develop comparisons and developmental studies that look not only at the causes of terrorism but at changes in terrorist strategy, the termination of terrorist campaigns, government decision-making, and policy effectiveness.
Effect of different dietary concentrations of inorganic and organic copper on growth performance and lipid metabolism of White Pekin male ducks

1. The effect of different dietary concentrations of inorganic and organic copper on performance and lipid metabolism of White Pekin ducks (WPD) was investigated from 1-49 d of age. A common basal diet was supplemented with 4, 8, 12 and 150 mg/kg of copper (Cu) from inorganic and organic sources to obtain 9 treatments, including 4 concentrations of Cu x two sources, and the unsupplemented control group. Each treatment contained 5 replicates of 9 male ducks each. 2. Supplementation of Cu at 8 mg/kg in inorganic form was adequate for growth of male WPD from 1-56 d of age. Inorganic Cu significantly decreased feed intake and improved feed conversion ratio, compared with the organic form. 3. Plasma Cu significantly increased, while plasma Zn significantly decreased, due to Cu supplementation. Organic Cu showed better efficacy than inorganic for improving liver Cu concentration, Cu excretion and apparent Cu retention. 4. Dietary Cu concentration significantly affected percentage blood and Hgb and abdominal fat deposition. In addition, inorganic Cu increased percentage blood and abdominal fat deposition compared with the organic source. 5. Supplementation of 150 mg/kg of Cu significantly decreased liver and meat lipids, cholesterol, and colour and tenderness of meat; while liver protein and moisture was increased. In addition, dietary 150 mg/kg of Cu supplementation significantly decreased plasma lipids, triglycerides and cholesterol, while increasing plasma AST and ALT. 6. Organic Cu was more potent for decreasing plasma triglycerides than the inorganic source. However, plasma cholesterol was only significantly decreased with the inorganic source of Cu, compared with the unsupplemented control. 7. The organic Cu was safer as a feed additive for WPD, especially at the lower concentrations up to 12 mg; while some mild to moderate changes may be developed at the higher doses, when fed at pharmacological concentrations as a growth promoter.
An Organizational Learning Approach to Information Systems Development

Information generated from communications between uses and analysts forms the basis for information systems development and is therefore a major determinant of success. This research investigates the effectiveness of these user/analyst interactions. Tape recordings of user/analyst communications during systems development are used to analyze traditional interaction methods. An alternative "organizational learning" interation methodology is developed based on the Argyris and Schon organizational learning theory. Finally, this new methodology is used by a group of professionals involved in systems projects and again evaluated based on tape recordings of their user/analyst communications. Results show that traditional user/analyst interactions display primarily error-prone characteristics, and that the new interaction methodology successfully generated more valid information with increased detection of errors.
Neurogenin3 is differentially required for endocrine cell fate specification in the intestinal and gastric epithelium

Endocrine cells of the pancreas and the gastrointestinal tract derive from multipotent endodermal stem cells. We have shown previously that the basic helix– loop–helix (bHLH) transcription factor neurogenin3 (ngn3) is required for the specification of the endocrine lineage in uncommitted progenitors in the developing pancreas. We investigate herein the expression and the function of ngn3 in the control of endocrine cell development in the intestinal and gastric epithelium. Our results indicate that as in the pancreas, gastrointestinal endocrine cells derive from ngn3‐expressing progenitors. Mice homozygous for a null mutation in ngn3 fail to generate any intestinal endocrine cells, and endocrine progenitor cells are lacking. The other main intestinal epithelial cell types differentiate properly. In contrast, in the glandular stomach, the differentiation of the gastrin‐ (G cells) and somatostatin (D cells)‐secreting cells is impaired whereas serotonin‐ (enterochromaffin EC cells), histamine‐ (enterochromaffin‐like ECL cells) and ghrelin (X/A cells)‐expressing cells are still present. Thus, ngn3 is strictly required for endocrine cell fate specification in multipotent intestinal progenitor cells, whereas gastric endocrine development is both ngn3 dependent and independent.
Sociocultural Determinants of the Help‐seeking Behavior of Patients with Mental Illness

This descriptive study employed semistructured interviewing and questionnaire administration to delineate the sociocultural determinants of the help-seeking process in 48 psychiatric patients. The help-seeking process is considered in two stages. The first stage starts from the recognition of initial symptoms and ends in the first contact with a mental health professional. The second stage is defined as that time between the first contact and actual participation in a planned treatment program. In both stages, patients typically go through phases of lay consultation, nonpsychiatric professional consultation, and referral. The multiple steps which are usually involved in help seeking often result in significant delay of both mental health contact and treatment. The help-seeking process was found to correlate strongly with ethnicity. Both Asians and Blacks showed more extended family involvement, and the involvement of key family members tended to be persistent and intensive in Asians. Ethnicity was also associated with the length of delay, with Asians showing the longest delay and Caucasians the least. These ethnic differences were also reflected in help-seeking pathway assignment using Lin's criteria. Although modernity and parochialism, as measured by the level of modernization and the cohesiveness of the social network system of the subjects, were also found to be correlated with delay, they appeared to exert an influence independent from that of ethnicity.
[Subjective health and career status of former top athletes. A controlled 15-year follow-up study].

36 former Swiss elite athletes, all of them members of the National team in 1973, were re-examined in 1988 at an average age of 42 years, together with a control group of 23 normally active men. In 1988, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was 68 +/- 5 ml/kg.min in the 18 still active runners, 55 +/- 8 ml/kg.min in the 9 inactive former runners, 45 +/- 6 ml/kg.min in bobsledders, and 44 +/- 6 ml/kg.min in controls. In 1988, the 27 runners had modest but significantly more frequent radiological signs of degenerative hip disease than non-runners, while no influence of long-term physical training on the radiological state of the ankle joint was found. In 1988, runners tended to report themselves healthier; subgroup analyses revealed 1) that this superior self-rated health was confined to those runners still active in 1988 (p less than 0.05) and that VO2max in 1988 was associated with subjective wellbeing (p less than 0.05), and 2) that body fat content was the strongest negative predictor of self-rated health (p = 0.001). 22% of former elite athletes indicated chronic, sports-related complaints but nevertheless rated their health as good as their athletic counterparts free of complaints. 53% of the elite athletes felt that the "benefits" of their own sports career outweighed its "costs", and in two of five of all athletes even "by far". This attitude was neither significantly influenced by the existence of chronic sports-related complaints nor by radiological signs of degenerative hip disease. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A new pruning algorithm for game tree in Chinese Chess Computer Game

In the endgame stage of Chinese Chess Computer Game (CCCG), the complexity and diversity of positions make the endgame database always very huge. Thus, it is unsuitable and inefficient to develop an intelligent search engine based on the learning for the master players' endgame database. In addition, the master players will stop the search of the best move for the current position if it can match with a remembered endgame pattern. However, the existing search engines select the best move based on the position values of leaf nodes of game tree, without considering the endgame patterns. Inspired by this process, we design a new pruning algorithm to select the best move for CCCG in the endgame stage. In this new algorithm, the refined master players endgame patterns have been fused into the search engine to prune the game tree. The experimental results demonstrate that our designed pruning algorithm is feasible and effective.
Detection in primary chronic myeloid leukaemia cells of p210BCR‐ABL1 in complexes with adaptor proteins CBL, CRKL, and GRB2

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) arises as a consequence of the expression of a chimeric fusion protein, p210BCR‐ABL1, which is localized to the cytoplasm and has constitutive protein tyrosine kinase activity. Extensive publications report that p210BCR‐ABL1 complexed with multiple cytoplasmic proteins can modulate several cell signaling pathways. However, while altered signaling states can be demonstrated in primary CML material, most of the reported analytical work on complexed proteins has been done in cell lines expressing p210BCR‐ABL1. This has been necessary because primary hemopoietic cell lysates contain a degradative activity which rapidly and permanently destroys p210BCR‐ABL1, precluding accurate p210BCR‐ABL1 quantification by Western blotting or investigation of coimmunoprecipitating proteins in primary cells. This degradative activity has proven intractable to inhibition by conventional protease inhibitors. We show here that the degradative activity in primary cells is associated with cell lysosomes and is most likely to be an acid‐dependent hydrolase. By lysing primary hemopoietic cells at high pH, we have demonstrated substantial inhibition of the p210BCR‐ABL1‐degradative activity and now report, to the best of our knowledge, the first published demonstration by coimmunoprecipitation of the association between p210BCR‐ABL1 and cytoplasmic effector proteins in primary CML material. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cardiovascular Toxicities of Immunosuppressive Agents

Cardiovascular disease is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality following solid organ transplantation. Many of the current immunosuppressive drugs are associated with an increase of one or more risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis. This review compares the mechanism by which individual immunosuppressive agents may impact on these risk factors and the differential contributionof cyclosporine, tacrolimus, mycophenolate, azathioprine, and Rapamycin to these individual risk factors. Attention to the potential cardiovascular toxicities of individual immunosuppressive agents may help design strategies for maintenance of immunosuppression tailored to individual patients.
Comparative estimation of inevitable endogenous ileal flow of amino acids in Pekin ducks under varying dietary or physiological conditions and their significance to nutritional requirements for amino acids

&NA; In 2 experiments in Pekin ducks the inevitable endogenous ileal flow (IEIF) of AA was estimated at changing intake and source of crude fiber (CF) or soybean oil (SO) level. Also the roles of dry matter intake (DMI) and BW or age as well as the proportion of IEIF in the dietary requirement for AA were studied. In experiment 1 three basal CP (20, 60, or 100 g/kg) diets were formulated containing a low CF (LCF, 30 g/kg) or high (HCF, 80 g/kg) level; achieved with cellulose supplementation. All diets were similar in every other respect including having SO content of 40 g/kg. Four floor pens of eight 85‐day‐old ducks were randomly allocated to each diet. Similar diets were mixed in experiment 2 but corn cob meal replaced cellulose as the fiber source. A high SO (HSO) series was also formed by increasing the SO level from 40 g/kg in the basal series to 100 g/kg. Thus the LCF series was concurrently classified as low SO (LSO) series to control SO effect. Each of the eventual 9 diets were fed to 5 floor pens of ten 65‐day‐old ducks. Ileal AA flow was measured after a 5 day feeding period in both experiments. Linear regression was calculated between ileal flow and dietary intake of individual AA. The IEIF interpreted as the y‐intercept of each linear function responded neither to elevated ingestion of each CF type nor to SO level. Age and DMI had no effect on IEIF computed in relation to BW, but wide discrepancies resulted when related to DMI. Overall IEIF of AA varied between 14.3 to 129.8 mg/kg BW d‐1. These flows were established in model computations to account for 10 to 64% of the recommended intake of limiting AA. In conclusion the ileal inevitable flow is constant within the dietary/age conditions investigated. However it is modulated by feed intake and accounts for a significant portion of total amino acid requirement.
Mesoporous silica formulation strategies for drug dissolution enhancement: a review

Introduction: Silica materials, in particular mesoporous silicas, have demonstrated excellent properties to enhance the oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. Current research in this area is focused on investigating the kinetic profile of drug release from these carriers and manufacturing approaches to scale-up production for commercial manufacture. Areas covered: This review provides an overview of different methods utilized to load drugs onto mesoporous silica carriers. The influence of silica properties and silica pore architecture on drug loading and release are discussed. The kinetics of drug release from mesoporous silica systems is examined and the manufacturability and stability of these formulations are reviewed. Finally, the future prospects of mesoporous silica drug delivery systems are considered. Expert opinion: Substantial progress has been made in the characterization and development of mesoporous drug delivery systems for drug dissolution enhancement. However, more research is required to fully understand the drug release kinetic profile from mesoporous silica materials. Incomplete drug release from the carrier and the possibility of drug re-adsorption onto the silica surface need to be investigated. Issues to be addressed include the manufacturability and regulation status of formulation approaches employing mesoporous silica to enhance drug dissolution. While more research is needed to support the move of this technology from the bench to a commercial medicinal product, it is a realistic prospect for the near future.
Simulation of force control algorithms for serial robots

The advantages of using force control in industrial or other type of robotic systems are well known. Study of such systems in virtual environment in the form of simulation is of great help for the design of a controller or a robot. In this paper, we show how to simulate different force control algorithms of a typical serial robot used in the industries before deciding to choose a suitable one for real implementation. This was done using an add-on to MATLAB® Simulink® known as “SimMechanics®”. Note that Simulink is an established framework for the analysis and simulation of control algorithms. Hence, our intention was to demonstrate the integration of the dynamic model of a serial robot using SimMechanics toolbox with MATLAB Simulink toolbox, e.g., Control and others.
Fast spin-echo imaging in the evaluation of intradural disease of the spine.

PURPOSE Fast spin echo (FSE) images were compared with conventional images in 46 patients with intradural spinal disease to determine their accuracy in the detection and delineation of lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS The images were interpreted by two neuroradiologists, who read individually. A total of 720 blinded readings formed the basis for this evaluation. A gold standard for each patient was selected, based on the blinded readings of the conventional studies. RESULTS In the sagittal plane, the FSE sequences were found to have an accuracy of 93% and 93% for the first reader and 93% and 85% for the second reader. For the axial plane, the corresponding figures were 86% and 82% for the first reader and 64% and 77% for the second reader. These figures compared favorably with conventional sequences. Similar delineation of lesions was noted in 78% of cases. In the remaining cases, there were no significant trends. CONCLUSION Because of these findings, FSE sequences appear as accurate as conventional sequences. In this study, they were capable of supplanting conventional sequences in the evaluation of intradural pathology of the spine in the sagittal plane, although conventional sequences were still preferred in the axial plane.