Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suprabasal Desmoglein 3 Expression in the Epidermis of Transgenic Mice Results in Hyperproliferation and Abnormal Differentiation

ABSTRACT The desmoglein 1 (Dsg1) and desmocollin 1 (Dsc1) isoforms of the desmosomal cadherins are expressed in the suprabasal layers of epidermis, whereas Dsg3 and Dsc3 are more strongly expressed basally. This differential expression may have a function in epidermal morphogenesis and/or may regulate the proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes. To test this hypothesis, we changed the expression pattern by overexpressing human Dsg3 under the control of the keratin 1 (K1) promoter in the suprabasal epidermis of transgenic mice. From around 12 weeks of age, the mice exhibited flaking of the skin accompanied by epidermal pustules and thinning of the hair. Histological analysis of affected areas revealed acanthosis, hypergranulosis, hyperkeratosis, localized parakeratosis, and abnormal hair follicles. This phenotype has some features in common with human ichthyosiform diseases. Electron microscopy revealed a mild epidermal spongiosis. Suprabasally, desmosomes showed incorporation of the exogenous protein by immunogold labeling but were normal in structure. The epidermis was hyperproliferative, and differentiation was abnormal, demonstrated by expression of K14 in the suprabasal layer, restriction of K1, and strong induction of K6 and K16. The changes resembled those found in previous studies in which growth factors, cytokines, and integrins had been overexpressed in epidermis. Thus our data strongly support the view that Dsg3 contributes to the regulation of epidermal differentiation. Our results contrast markedly with those recently obtained by expressing Dsg3 in epidermis under the involucrin promoter. Possible reasons for this difference are considered in this paper.
Instrumental and Constitutional Differentiation in the European Union

Differentiation has become a salient feature of European integration. Yet systematic empirical evidence is lacking about its origins, duration and variation across countries and policies. This article provides such evidence from a new data set on differentiation in European Union treaty law. In addition, it is argued that two logics of treaty-based differentiation are at work. ‘Instrumental differentiation’ originates in enlargement and is motivated by efficiency and distributional concerns. ‘Constitutional differentiation’ has its origins in treaty revisions and is motivated by concerns about national sovereignty and identity. It is driven by Eurosceptic Member States that are opposed ideologically, or fear popular resistance, to the supranational centralization of core state powers.
Endocrine therapy alone vs. chemotherapy plus endocrine therapies for the treatment of elderly patients with endocrine-responsive and node positive breast cancer: a retrospective analysis of a multicenter study (Anatolian Society of Medical Oncology).

PURPOSE The extra benefit of adding chemotherapy to effective endocrine therapy (ET) has not been clearly or consistently identified in patients older than 70 years with estrogen receptor (ER) positive and node positive breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant ET vs. chemotherapy plus endocrine therapies (Chemo/ET) in such patients. METHODS In this retrospective multicenter study 191 patients ≥ 70 years with operated hormone receptor breast cancer, who were administered adjuvant ET or Chemo/ET were assessed. RESULTS The median patient follow-up time was 29.0 months (range 1-252). Therefore disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) analysis was limited, due to the rather short median follow-up, and only 30-month cumulative percentages are reported herein. The 30-month DFS rates were 50.0% in the ET arm and 49.0% in the Chemo/ET arm (p=0.79). The 30-month OS rates were 86% in the ET arm and 96.0% in the Chemo/ET arm (p=0.08). Cox proportional hazard model showed that only surgery was independent prognostic factor for survival (p=0.047), while tumor size showed a strong trend for statistical significance (p=0.051). CONCLUSION The addition of chemotherapy to endocrine therapy in older patients has no significant impact on DFS and OS.
Strategies of public diplomacy : an assessment of the current U.S. public diplomacy strategy in light of a directional, elite-oriented model and two historical cases

While undoubtedly the most powerful nation in the world, the U.S. is constrained in its ability to further its national interests by the attitudes and actions of foreign governments and, more importantly, foreign publics. The growing ability of individuals and small groups to threaten the security and vital interests of the United States necessitates improved cooperation and empathy on the part of foreign publics as well as their governments. Moreover, the concurrent decline in the utility of military statecraft due to both higher costs and decreasing international legitimacy means that policymakers are forced to consider alternative means of influencing the behavior of others. Public diplomacy is a critically important example of such an alternative means. Unfortunately, understanding public diplomacy and its effects is hampered by a lack of conceptual tools used to develop and evaluate various strategies of public diplomacy. Consequently, the following paper seeks to combine existing theoretical arguments regarding strategic communication and mass persuasion to develop an analytical model that can be used to critique the United States' current public diplomacy strategy. According to the model developed and tested herein, strategic directionality and the level of elite orientation are the two primary causal factors that determine the outcome of a particular public diplomacy campaign. Target audience predisposition and the degree to which the campaign itself is concealed from the audience serve as two intervening variables that may retard the progress of a campaign. Thus, the diagrammatical structure of the model is as follows: Directional Message + Elite-Oriented Message -* Successful PD Campaign InterveningVariables: Predisposition Concealment of Campaign When tested against Britain's efforts to recruit the U.S. as an ally prior to the end of 1941 and Kuwait's efforts to retain the support of the U.S. after Iraq's invasion in August ~
Effects of High Glucose on AVP-Induced Hyperplasia, Hypertrophy, and Type IV Collagen Synthesis in Cultured Rat Mesangial Cells

Introduction. Hyperglycemia is a principal characteristic of diabetes and influences many cellular functions. Diabetic nephropathy is characterized by glomerular mesangial expansion which could result from increased mesangial cell extracellular matrix synthesis induced by hyperglycemia. Methods. To investigate whether the physiological functions of mesangial cells are altered in a diabetic environment, we evaluated the effect of high extracellular glucose concentration on thymidine/leucine incorporation, hyperplasia/hypertrophy, and type IV collagen synthesis, induced by vasopressin (AVP), in cultured rat mesangial cells. Results. The exposure of mesangial cells to a high glucose concentration (30 mM) significantly reduced AVP-induced thymidine incorporation and hyperplasia compared with normal glucose (10 mM). By contrast, treatment of mesangial cells with AVP in the presence of high extracellular glucose significantly increased leucine incorporation, hypertrophy, and type IV collagen synthesis compared with those at normal glucose levels. The administration of staurosporine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, reversed these effects of high-glucose conditions. Furthermore, the nonpeptide AVP V1A receptor-selective antagonists potently inhibited these AVP-induced physiological responses in mesangial cells cultured in high-glucose conditions. Conclusions. These results demonstrate that high glucose suppresses mesangial cell proliferation but enhances hypertrophy and type IV collagen synthesis induced by AVP. This increased mesangial cell hypertrophy and extracellular matrix synthesis may play a crucial role in the glomerular mesangial expansion common to diabetic nephropathy.
The type II O‐antigenic polysaccharide moiety of Burkholderia pseudomallei lipopolysaccharide is required for serum resistance and virulence

Melioidosis, an infection caused by the Gram‐negative bacterial pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei, is endemic in south‐east Asia and northern Australia. Acute septicaemic melioidosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in north‐east Thailand. B. pseudomallei is highly resistant to the bactericidal activity of normal human serum (NHS), and we have found that B. pseudomallei 1026b multiplies in 10–30% NHS. We developed a simple screen for the identification of serum‐sensitive mutants based on this novel phenotype. Approximately 1200 Tn5‐OT182 mutants were screened, and three serum‐sensitive mutants were identified. The type II O‐antigenic polysaccharide (O‐PS) moiety of lipopolysaccharide was not present in the serum‐sensitive mutants. A representative serum‐sensitive mutant, SRM117, was killed by the alternative pathway of complement and was less virulent than 1026b in three animal models of melioidosis. The Tn5‐OT182 integrations in the serum‐sensitive mutants were physically linked on the B. pseudomallei chromosome, and further genetic analysis of this locus revealed a cluster of 15 genes required for type II O‐PS production. The proteins encoded by these genes were similar to proteins involved in bacterial polysaccharide biosynthesis. The results presented here demonstrate that type II O‐PS is essential for B. pseudomallei serum resistance and virulence.
The African-American Entrepreneur–Crime Drop Relationship

Although much of the urban violence literature focuses on the link between urban disadvantage and crime rates, in this article we explore the relationship between African-American entrepreneurship and rates of juvenile violence, net of the effects associated with labor market shifts and the concentration of disadvantage within these areas. That is, Black-owned businesses have increased considerably over time but have largely been neglected in the criminological literature. After generating two distinct measures of Black entrepreneurship, we test to see if Black-owned businesses were significant to the documented decline in juvenile violence in larger U.S. cities from 1990 to 2000. We find an inverse relationship between entrepreneurship and juvenile arrests involving violence across multiple cities in 1990 and 2000. Furthermore, when estimating a pooled cross-sectional time-series design, the growing presence of African-American businesses is a significant contributor to the change (decline) in Black youth violence during the period of the 1990 crime drop, while the rate of paid employees in Black firms remained unrelated to Black youth violence. In changing economic times, we discuss the importance of exploring ways to capture the presence of African-Americans in the urban economy.
Neural processing of threat cues in social environments

Previous research showed that the processing of overt threat cues formed by evolutionary experience such as snake or angry face induced automatic increased responses of the emotion‐related system consisting of the amygdala, the anterior cingulate, and the orbitofrontal cortex. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain circuits involved in perception of threat cues that lack obvious emotion contents but are potentially dangerous in a particular social situation. Subjects were scanned while watching images showing a person in either a safe or a potentially dangerous situation and being asked to detect threat signals or to evaluate the degree of threat. We found that, in contrast with gender identification, threat detection and evaluation were underpinned by a neural network, shared by both male and female subjects, consisting of the medial and lateral frontal cortex, superior parietal lobes, posterior middle temporal cortex, and cerebellum. In addition, detection of threat cues was associated with stronger posterior parietal activation for males than females. Our findings suggest that neural processing of evolutionary unprepared threat cues in social environments does not necessarily involve the emotion‐related neural system and is influence by evolutionary pressure on sex differences. Hum Brain Mapp, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Information and the cost of capital: The Easley-O’Hara (2004) model with endogenous information acquisition

We investigate the impact of endogenous information acquisition on Easley and O’Hara’s (2004) result that moving information from being publicly to privately available results in an increase in a firm’s cost of capital. As in Christensen et al. (2010), when the cost of information acquisition is fixed, Easley and O’Hara’s result reverses. We study two scenarios, however, where Easley and O’Hara’s result can continue to hold (i): where the cost of information acquisition is increasing in its precision, and (ii) where the benefits of acquiring private information span multiple firms.
Towards the implementation of the Nigerian cultural policy for the promotion of culture in Nigeria

Nigeria is among one of the African countries that took a cue from Ghana to formulate its national cultural policy at the insistence of the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Since 1976 when Nigerian formulated her cultural policy till date (2009), gaping loopholes exist which hinder the promotion of culture as documented in the cultural policy. This paper provides a guideline for the promotion of culture in Nigeria vis a vis the integration of traditional values by the government (state action). In order to address the issue sequentially, this paper discusses culture and its importance before x-raying the role of state action in the promotion of culture in Nigeria. It proffers solutions towards the implementation of the Nigerian Cultural Policy to ensure that culture is promoted in the country.
Laforin is a glycogen phosphatase, deficiency of which leads to elevated phosphorylation of glycogen in vivo

Lafora disease is a progressive myoclonus epilepsy with onset typically in the second decade of life and death within 10 years. Lafora bodies, deposits of abnormally branched, insoluble glycogen-like polymers, form in neurons, muscle, liver, and other tissues. Approximately half of the cases of Lafora disease result from mutations in the EPM2A gene, which encodes laforin, a member of the dual-specificity protein phosphatase family that additionally contains a glycogen binding domain. The molecular basis for the formation of Lafora bodies is completely unknown. Glycogen, a branched polymer of glucose, contains a small amount of covalently linked phosphate whose origin and function are obscure. We report here that recombinant laforin is able to release this phosphate in vitro, in a time-dependent reaction with an apparent Km for glycogen of 4.5 mg/ml. Mutations of laforin that disable the glycogen binding domain also eliminate its ability to dephosphorylate glycogen. We have also analyzed glycogen from a mouse model of Lafora disease, Epm2a−/− mice, which develop Lafora bodies in several tissues. Glycogen isolated from these mice had a 40% increase in the covalent phosphate content in liver and a 4-fold elevation in muscle. We propose that excessive phosphorylation of glycogen leads to aberrant branching and Lafora body formation. This study provides a molecular link between an observed biochemical property of laforin and the phenotype of a mouse model of Lafora disease. The results also have important implications for glycogen metabolism generally.
Reducing Alcohol Use in College Students: A Controlled Trial of Two Brief Interventions

This study tested two forms of alcohol reduction programming for college students. Thirty-seven moderate to heavy drinkers completed measures of quantity/frequency, drinking consequences, and attitude questionnaires. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) a two-hour information and motivation session plus mailed personal feedback on their drinking; 2) mailed feedback only; or 3) no treatment. At a 6-week follow-up session, the feedback-only group decreased drinks per month as compared to control. No other differences were statistically significant, though decreases favored the treatment conditions about equally over control. Implications for research and treatment are discussed.
Bow-tie microstrip antenna design

In this paper, the bow-tie microstrip antennas have been designed with two different angles of 40deg and 80deg. An investigation on the effect of the angle to the return loss and radiation patterns had been carried out. The impedance matching network with the microstrip transmission line feeding was used in this study. Simulation and measurement results for the return loss and radiation patterns were presented
Automated regression tests for character animation systems

We present a process to verify code changes in an animation system by using regression tests which guarantee to cover every combination of animation features used in production. For this, we need to identify the untested combinations of animation features, create an immutable set of animation data which is representative of it, and when performing the tests, automatically compare the difference in the generated poses at each revision of the code.
On Shipment Size and Freight Tariffs Technical Constraints and Equilibrium Prices

The objective of this paper is to analyse in detail the structure of road freight tariffs. To do so, a market equilibrium model is designed, with a detailed representation of the technology of carriers, and of the logistic decisions of shippers. In particular, shippers send shipments of endogenous sizes, which are consolidated by carriers in vehicles of fixed capacities. The model shows that even at marginal cost pricing, freight rates have a complex structure, which is explained by the simultaneous presence of access costs and of the vehicle capacity constraint, and by the logistic costs of shippers. © 2013 LSE and the University of Bath
Reactive oxygen species in semen of infertile patients: levels of superoxide dismutase- and catalase-like activities in seminal plasma and spermatozoa.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be detected in the semen of 40% of infertile men, whereas none is detected in semen from normal men. The ROS detected in semen are a reflection of the imbalance between ROS production and degradation. The aim of the present study was to determine whether a lowered scavenging capacity or an increased production of ROS was responsible for the ROS detected in semen samples from infertile men. Two activities were investigated: (1) catalase-like activity, which is responsible for the degradation of H2O2 and (2) superoxide dismutase-like (SOD-like) activity which is responsible for the degradation of . O2-. Catalase-like and SOD-like activities were found in whole seminal plasma, in dialyzed seminal plasma (> 12 kD), in an ultrafiltrate of seminal plasma (< 5 kD) and in spermatozoa. There was no significant difference in the SOD-like activities measured in spermatozoa, or in seminal plasma (whole or fractionated) from samples that did or did not produce ROS. SOD-like activity originated mostly from the high molecular weight components of seminal plasma. However, the catalase-like activity of whole seminal plasma and of spermatozoa was significantly greater (P = 0.01) in those samples that produced ROS as compared to those that did not. The catalase-like activity in dialyzed seminal plasma, and an ultrafiltrate of seminal plasma from semen samples that did or did not produce ROS were not statistically different. The catalase-like activity of the seminal plasma originated equally from high and low molecular weight components. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Urban Household Survival and Resilience to Food Insecurity in Crisis Conditions: The Case of Epworth in Harare, Zimbabwe

Much of the contemporary literature on food security in Sub-Saharan Africa has focused on the rural sector, with limited attention to urban areas whose inhabitants are equally vulnerable. Thus, little is known about how poor households deal with food insecurity under conditions of economic adversity and material deprivation in the urban environment. This article examines the strategies that poor urban households adopt to enhance their resilience in the face of food insecurity. Study results indicate that the resilience of poor urban households to food insecurity during a crisis situation such as that besetting Harare depends largely on 3 main factors: first, the resourcefulness of households in eking out a living through multiple income-generating activities; second, the existence of strong social links to rural households, which increases access to rural resources for urban survival; and third, the use of international remittances to increase household food security. In conclusion, the article argues that in a crisis situation such as that in Zimbabwe, survival largely depends on the ability of households to engage in multiple as well as multispatial activities that not only increase income sources but also reduce household expenses.
Quits and Layoffs in Early Twentieth Century Labor Markets

Abstract This paper uses a sample of employee records from the Canadian Pacific Railway to study changes between 1903 and 1938 in the composition of job separations, and the probability of separation. The proportion of voluntary departures fell by more than half after World War I. Independent competing risk, piecewise-constant hazard functions for the probabilities of quits and layoffs are estimated. Changes in workforce composition lengthened the average worker's spell, but a worker with any given set of characteristics was much more likely to be laid off after 1921, although many of these layoffs were only temporary.
Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging assessment of circumferential resection margin predicts disease-free survival and local recurrence: 5-year follow-up results of the MERCURY study.

PURPOSE The prognostic relevance of preoperative high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment of circumferential resection margin (CRM) involvement is unknown. This follow-up study of 374 patients with rectal cancer reports the relationship between preoperative MRI assessment of CRM staging, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM stage, and clinical variables with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and time to local recurrence (LR). PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients underwent protocol high-resolution pelvic MRI. Tumor distance to the mesorectal fascia of ≤ 1 mm was recorded as an MRI-involved CRM. A Cox proportional hazards model was used in multivariate analysis to determine the relationship of MRI assessment of CRM to survivorship after adjusting for preoperative covariates. RESULTS Surviving patients were followed for a median of 62 months. The 5-year OS was 62.2% in patients with MRI-clear CRM compared with 42.2% in patients with MRI-involved CRM with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.97 (95% CI, 1.27 to 3.04; P < .01). The 5-year DFS was 67.2% (95% CI, 61.4% to 73%) for MRI-clear CRM compared with 47.3% (95% CI, 33.7% to 60.9%) for MRI-involved CRM with an HR of 1.65 (95% CI, 1.01 to 2.69; P < .05). Local recurrence HR for MRI-involved CRM was 3.50 (95% CI, 1.53 to 8.00; P < .05). MRI-involved CRM was the only preoperative staging parameter that remained significant for OS, DFS, and LR on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION High-resolution MRI preoperative assessment of CRM status is superior to AJCC TNM-based criteria for assessing risk of LR, DFS, and OS. Furthermore, MRI CRM involvement is significantly associated with distant metastatic disease; therefore, colorectal cancer teams could intensify treatment and follow-up accordingly to improve survival outcomes.