Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clonal Evolution Including Partial Loss of Human Leukocyte Antigen Genes Favoring Extramedullary Acute Myeloid Leukemia Relapse After Matched Related Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Background. Relapse of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) leaves few therapeutic options, and mechanisms of immune escape of recurring leukemic cells remain poorly understood. Recently, acquired loss of mismatched human leukocyte antigen (HLA) was demonstrated in patients with AML undergoing haploidentical allogeneic HSCT and was suggested not to occur in HLA-matched HSCT. We hypothesized that this mechanism applies to extramedullary AML relapse which occurs frequently after allogeneic HSCT and might also not be restricted to haploidentical HSCT. Methods. DNA from extramedullary AML relapse after HSCT was compared with bone marrow at diagnosis with array comparative genomic hybridization to investigate relapse-specific genomic aberrations in relapsing AML after allogeneic HSCT. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from the same points of time were assessed for HLA, major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A, and TAP2 immunohistochemistry staining to assess cell surface expression of deleted loci encoded on chromosome 6p. Results. Array comparative genomic hybridization revealed a partial loss of chromosome 6p in extramedullary myeloid sarcoma relapse of AML after sustained complete remission was achieved through matched related allogeneic HSCT. Among others, a deleted region 6p21.32-p21.33, which included several HLA class I genes, was detected. Conclusions. These results suggest that the loss of HLA class I haplotype also occurs in AML relapse after HLA-matched related HSCT. Partial loss of several HLA class I genes and subsequent reduced presentation of minor histocompatibility antigens and reduced ligation of activating natural killer-cell receptors may explain the loss of graft-versus-leukemia response and extramedullary AML relapse in tissue with reduced immunologic surveillance.
Distributional implications of contemporary Judeo‐Christian economics

Distributional issues have re‐emerged as an important issue in economics, social science, and philosophy in the last few decades. In the same period, the relevance of derivative Judeo‐Christian socio‐economic principles to the contemporary world has been (re)asserted, developing an incipient Judeo‐Christian economics. Methodologically, this undertaking is comparable to that underlying the evolution of Islamic and other forms of religious economics. The methodology employed in the Judeo‐Christian undertaking is described via a worked example. The example shows how normative principles can be derived from Judeo‐Christian thought allegedly relevant to shaping the contemporary distribution of wealth and income. The principles are deduced from a particular sub‐set of Judeo‐Christian source material, and have the effect of generating greater equity in economic distribution. The deductions are compared with selected ideas canvassed in recent economics' discussion about inequitable distribution concerning appropriate criteria for guiding redistributional policy, ideas of “equal opportunity” vs “equal outcomes”, and the relation between distribution and economic growth.
Guaranteed Employment in an Indian State: The Maharashtra Experience

The expense and administration of entitlement programs usually are considered too burdensome for Third World countries, and these programs generally are associated with the welfare states of advanced industrial nations. This article discusses an entitlement program in the state of Maharashtra in India-the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS)-which entitles any rural resident of the state to a job and fulfills this guarantee by creating a system of public works designed to promote rural development. Implementation of such an ambitious program in a state whose population is slightly larger than that of West Germany, and whose area approximates West and East Germany combined, presents many problems. Public works must be planned and implemented so that jobs can be provided to a dispersed constituency. Implementation must be made responsive to fluctuations in the demand for employment, which are sizable and occur over time and across space. In addition, measures must be designed to keep corruption in check. In spite of the problems, making employment an entitlement generates some unexpected benefits. Examining the impact that the program has on the behavior of individuals is essential to understanding how the EGS produces these benefits. By guaranteeing jobs to the unemployed, the EGS creates an incentive that shapes behavior. It politicizes the rural poor by inciting them to demand employment from the state. Politicians and gov-
The Determinants of Capital Structure: Empirical evidence from Thai Banks

The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of the capital structure of Thai banks. The data spans a ten year period from 1999 – 2008. The differentiation point of this study is that, whereas most studies on capital structure focus predominantly on internal bank variables, this study, in addition to internal variables includes market-based risk variables. A range of market-based default and value at risk variables were considered which were then narrowed down to improve the model. Fixed effects panel data analysis is employed, with both market and book leverage used as dependent variables. The Thai bank study is benchmarked to Japanese and Malaysian banks. The study found that the significance of the market-based variables is greater for market leverage than for book leverage. The results can assist regulators and banks in understanding the impact of different market and internal variables on capital.
Actin-Depolymerizing Factor Mediates Rac/Rop GTPase–Regulated Pollen Tube Growth Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.007153.

Pollen tube elongation is a rapid tip growth process that is driven by a dynamic actin cytoskeleton. A ubiquitous family of actin binding proteins, actin-depolymerizing factors (ADFs)/cofilins, bind to actin filaments, induce severing, enhance depolymerization from their slow-growing end, and are important for maintaining actin dynamics in vivo. ADFs/cofilins are regulated by multiple mechanisms, among which Rho small GTPase–activated phosphorylation at a terminal region Ser residue plays an important role in regulating their actin binding and depolymerizing activity, affecting actin reorganization. We have shown previously that a tobacco pollen-specific ADF, NtADF1, is important for maintaining normal pollen tube actin cytoskeleton organization and growth. Here, we show that tobacco pollen grains accumulate phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated forms of ADFs, suggesting that phosphorylation could be a regulatory mechanism for their activity. In plants, Rho-related Rac/Rop GTPases have been shown to be important regulators for pollen tube growth. Overexpression of Rac/Rop GTPases converts polar growth into isotropic growth, resulting in pollen tubes with ballooned tips and a disrupted actin cytoskeleton. Using the Rac/Rop GTPase–induced defective pollen tube phenotype as a functional assay, we show that overexpression of NtADF1 suppresses the ability of NtRac1, a tobacco Rac/Rop GTPase, to convert pollen tube tip growth to isotropic growth. This finding suggests that NtADF1 acts in a common pathway with NtRac1 to regulate pollen tube growth. A mutant form of NtADF1 with a nonphosphorylatable Ala substitution at its Ser-6 position [NtADF1(S6A)] shows increased activity, whereas the mutant NtADF1(S6D), which has a phospho-mimicking Asp substitution at the same position, shows reduced ability to counteract the effect of NtRac1. These observations suggest that phosphorylation at Ser-6 of NtADF1 could be important for its integration into the NtRac1 signaling pathway. Moreover, overexpression of NtRac1 diminishes the actin binding activity of green fluorescent protein (GFP)–NtADF1 but has little effect on the association of GFP-NtADF1(S6A) with actin cables in pollen tubes. Together, these observations suggest that NtRac1-activated activity regulates the actin binding and depolymerizing activity of NtADF1, probably via phosphorylation at Ser-6. This notion is further supported by the observation that overexpressing a constitutively active NtRac1 in transformed pollen grains significantly increases the ratio of phosphorylated to nonphosphorylated ADFs. Together, the observations reported here strongly support the idea that NtRac1 modulates NtADF1 activity through phosphorylation at Ser-6 to regulate actin dynamics.
Does aid increase growth?

Is aid effective in increasing growth rates of recipient countries? This is the burning question in any economic evaluation of aid effectiveness, yet there is no consensus on the answer. Recent advances in growth theory help us to identify the various mechanisms by which aid can increase growth, notably through increasing investment in physical and human capital. The empirical evidence has tended to focus on aid effectiveness by examining its impact as (physical) investment and, more recently, by considering the relationship between aid and government economic policy. There is an increasing body of evidence that aid does work, conditional on other variables in the growth regression.
Power Saving and Energy Optimization Techniques for Wireless Sensor Neworks (Invited Paper)

Wireless sensor networks have become increasingly popular due to their wide range of applications. Energy consumption is one of the biggest constraints of the wireless sensor node and this limitation combined with a typical deployment of large number of nodes have added many challenges to the design and management of wireless sensor networks. They are typically used for remote environment monitoring in areas where providing electrical power is difficult. Therefore, the devices need to be powered by batteries and alternative energy sources. Because battery energy is limited, the use of different techniques for energy saving is one of the hottest topics in WSNs. In this work, we present a survey of power saving and energy optimization techniques for wireless sensor networks, which enhances the ones in existence and introduces the reader to the most well known available methods that can be used to save energy. They are analyzed from several points of view: Device hardware, transmission, MAC and routing protocols.
Political Order, Identity, and Security in Multinational, Multi-Religious Russia

The basis of a civil nation is common goals, common values, trust in the government, and the understanding that the government serves us. The main task of the people [now] is to avoid military service, taxes, and the authorities in general. Under such conditions, it is impossible to form a civil political nation.
INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE DIVERSIFICATION — A VIABLE INVESTMENT STRATEGY

As 1987 progressed the reverberations of the Big Bang continued to send shock waves through the investment markets. One such wave, which emanated from ‘deregulation’, is enhanced international portfolio diversification opportunities for the investor. If real estate is to compete successfully with other investment media and other financial centres also in the process of deregulation, it must urgently adapt to meet this challenge. Property analysts must respond positively to this global investment market by providing new and diversified real estate investment opportunities for the investor — the alternative is to allow real estate attractiveness as an international investment option to sink into a decaying trough. As a response to this challenge, I recently undertook research into the potential benefits of diversifying funds into international real estate assets supported by the use of correlation analysis. The findings and implications are relevant to any institution or individual which has the resources globally to expand or establish a real estate investment portfolio.
GMM-based testing procedures of the mixture of distributions model

A direct test of the mixture-of-distributions model is conducted using daily Spanish stock return and trading volume for the period April 1990 to January 1996. Both the standard mixture-of-distributions model of Tauchen and Pitts (1983) and the modified version proposed by Andersen (1996) are estimated by GMM and tested using the overidentified restrictions. The results reject the models, that is, the variables are not related due to a common dependence on a factor, namely the flow of information, according to the specifications of the mixture models considered.
Political Economy of Modern Capitalism: Mapping Convergence and Diversity

Modern capitalism, from neo-liberalism to deregulation, has come to dominate national and international political economy. This major book addresses this convergence and provides a comprehensive overview of the implications for future capitalist diversity. Leading international contributors consider important questions. Is the preference for free markets a well-founded response to intensified global competition? Does this mean that all advanced societies must converge on an imitation of the United States? What are the implications for the institutional diversity of the advanced economies? How do we now evaluate the systems and institutions in East Asia? Political Economy and Modern Capitalism provides a practical and wide-ranging analysis of the public policy choices facing governments and business around the world. It will be invaluable reading for students and researchers of political economy, comparative politics, political science, political sociology, public policy, and administration.
Spontaneous preterm birth, a clinical dilemma: Etiologic, pathophysiologic and genetic heterogeneities and racial disparity

Preterm labor leading to preterm delivery (<37 weeks’ gestation) affects approximately 5–7% of live births in developed countries, but significantly higher in developing countries. Prematurity due to preterm birth (PTB) accounts for around 28% of neonatal mortality worldwide. Approximately 45–50% of PTBs are idiopathic or spontaneous, 30% are related to preterm rupture of membranes, and another 15–20% are attributed to medically indicated or elective preterm deliveries. The rate of spontaneous PTB is also increasing and the exact cause is still unclear. Generalized approaches in screening for high risk status of preterm labor and interventions have failed to reduce PTB rates. PTB presents a clinical dilemma due to etiologic, pathophysiologic and genetic heterogeneities. Racial disparity in PTB rates observed in the US further complicates its understanding. PTB is a complex phenotype and is not initiated by a single etiologic agent. Etiologic factors operate through multiple pathophysiologic pathways, and these pathways include highly overlapping biomarkers and molecular factors creating pathophysiologic heterogeneities. In this article, the current understanding of PTB pathophysiology is reviewed and the need for a much broader approach in research, analysis and interpretation of data is explained, where environmental and race/ethnicity specific risk factors may dictate specific pathways leading to PTB. Recent data on amniotic fluid biomarkers and maternal and fetal genetic variants, which indicate huge disparity between races in the US, are also reviewed. These data suggest that gene–gene interactions and gene–environmental interactions produce distinct pathophysiologic pathways with respect to an individual's genetic make‐up and environmental risk exposure. Current strategies of high risk screening and intervention measures may not be generalized, and a more individualized approach may be required to understand PTB and its prevention.
Analysis of Ebh, a 1.1-Megadalton Cell Wall-Associated Fibronectin-Binding Protein of Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT In order for Staphylococcus aureus to adhere to host extracellular matrix (ECM) substrates, it elicits a wide range of surface proteins. We have characterized a novel ∼1.1-MDa protein in S. aureus, termed Ebh (for ECM-binding protein homologue), which has homology to other ECM-binding proteins. Ebh consists of several domains, including a large central region with 44 imperfect repeats of 126 amino acids. Expression analysis revealed ebh to be growth phase regulated and repressed by agr. A fragment of the central repeat region of Ebh was cloned, overexpressed, and used in ligand-binding studies to determine Ebh function. The recombinant protein was found to specifically bind human fibronectin. Ebh is produced during human infection since serum samples taken from patients with confirmed S. aureus infections were found to contain anti-Ebh antibodies. Localization studies revealed Ebh to be cell envelope associated and is proposed to form a specialized surface structure involved in cellular adhesion.
Transparency of Monetary Policy: Theory and Practice

Transparency has become one of the main features of monetary policymaking during the last decade. This article establishes stylized facts and provides a systematic overview of the practice of monetary policy transparency around the world. It shows much diversity in information disclosure, even for central banks with the same monetary policy framework, including inflation targeting. Nevertheless, the study finds significant differences in transparency across monetary policy frameworks. The empirical findings are explained using key insights distilled from the theoretical literature. Thus, this article aims to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of monetary policy transparency. (JEL codes: E58, D82) Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Upholding labour standards through corporate social responsibility policies in China

The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts and practices including voluntary codes of conduct in China has grown considerably over the past decade, providing an opportunity to examine the dynamics and impacts of codes of conduct in stemming labour abuses. This article uses an in-depth case study of the implementation of codes of conduct at a Chinese supplier factory for Reebok, a leading brand in the global athletic footwear industry, to explore how and why codes of conduct, as a privatised form of global labour regulation, are effective in some respects but also ineffective in other respects in terms of improving labour standards in the global production system. This article sheds light on the influences of a variety of related factors that are embedded in overlapping international, industrial, national and local contexts to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of codes of conduct at curbing labour abuses.
The Alternative Arrangements of Exchange Rate Regimes

The desirable exchange rate regime for a country might depend on the regimes of the other countries. Taking this point into consideration, this paper shows the conditions for relative superiority of the alternative exchange rate arrangements using a quasi three countries model of Mundell-Fleming type. These conditons include the new one for optimum currency areas. The compared alternatives consist of such arrangements as independent floats, solitary pegs, common pegs, and common floats. As the criterion of comparison, this paper adopts the analysis of Poole (1970) which has measured the variability of GNP in response to both real and monetary shocks.
The Economic Impact of the Olympic Games: Ex Ante Predictions and Ex Poste Reality

This article uses data from the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the 2002 Olympic Winter Games to test the predictions of regional input-output models. Real changes associated with these events are insignificant. Nominal measures of demand overstate demand increases and factor price increases absorb the impact of real increases in demand. Nominal changes appear to be limited to hotel prices. Input-output models of a regional economy are often used to predict the impact of short-duration sporting events. Because I-O models assume constant factor prices and technical coefficients between sectors are calibrated from long-run steadystate relations in the regional economy, the predictions greatly overstate the true impact. Because the predictions of these models are increasingly used to justify public subsidies, understanding these deficiencies is crucial. During the competition between communities for the right to host a future Olympic Games, politicians and proponents bring forth predictions touting the economic benefits to the region that ultimately wins the right to host the Games. These predictions are used as justification for public subsidies and to help convince voters that it is good business to use scarce tax revenues to secure and promote the Games. Although the winning community will be required to make substantial sacrifices, the promised payoff is so large that the competition between communities is fierce, even resulting in illegal bribes and kickback to Olympic officials empowered to choose the site. 1 However, when the Games are over the host communities are often left with substantial debts and, as we demonstrate below, little or no noticeable benefits. In this article we explore how the predictions are made and what reality shows us. We advocate measuring the impact of past events to ascertain the likely consequence of future events like the Olympic Games, and to avoid predictions based on simulated regional economic models.
Using Four-Moment Tail Risk to Examine Financial and Commodity Instrument Diversification

We consider the effect of higher moments on diversification, since most assets possess a potential for tail losses. In particular, we examine higher-moment Value-at-Risk measures for individual instruments and diversified portfolios. We find that a naive futures portfolio is consistently superior to common stock indexes. As few as ten randomly chosen instruments diversify away 85% of the unsystematic four-moment tail risk. We also compare the two- and four-moment tail risks for different size portfolios. Finally, the tail risk for naive portfolios varies much less over time than other portfolios.
Monitoring intermediate filament assembly by small-angle x-ray scattering reveals the molecular architecture of assembly intermediates

Intermediate filaments (IFs), along with microtubules, microfilaments, and associated cross-bridging proteins, constitute the cytoskeleton of metazoan cells. While crystallographic data on the dimer representing the elementary IF “building block” have recently become available, little structural detail is known about both the mature IF architecture and its assembly pathway. Here, we have applied solution small-angle x-ray scattering to investigate the in vitro assembly of a 53-kDa human IF protein vimentin at pH 8.4 by systematically varying the ionic strength conditions, and complemented these experiments by electron microscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation. While a vimentin solution in 5 mM Tris·HCl (pH 8.4) contains predominantly tetramers, addition of 20 mM NaCl induces further lateral assembly evidenced by the shift of the sedimentation coeficient and yields a distinct octameric intermediate. Four octamers eventually associate into unit-length filaments (ULFs) that anneal longitudinally. Based on the small-angle x-ray scattering experiments supplemented by crystallographic data and additional structural constraints, 3D molecular models of the vimentin tetramer, octamer, and ULF were constructed. Within each of the three oligomers, the adjacent dimers are aligned exclusively in an approximately half-staggered antiparallel A11 mode with a distance of 3.2–3.4 nm between their axes. The ULF appears to be a dynamic and a relatively loosely packed structure with a roughly even mass distribution over its cross-section.