Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic influence on smoking--a study of male twins.

BACKGROUND The results of twin and family studies suggest that heredity has a small influence on smoking behavior. METHODS We conducted a genetic analysis of several aspects of smoking behavior among subjects in the National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Twin Registry. The registry includes male twins who were born in the United States between 1917 and 1927 and who were members of the armed services during World War II. Information on smoking history was available for 4775 pairs of twins, who were first surveyed in 1967 through 1969, when they were 40 to 50 years old, and then re-surveyed in 1983 through 1985, when they were 56 to 66. Eighty percent of the subjects in this cohort had smoked at some time in their lives, 60 percent were smokers in 1967 through 1969, and 39 percent were smoking in 1983 through 1985. Similarities between twins in smoking habits at base line and at the second follow-up 16 years later were examined. The comparison of concordance for smoking between monozygotic and dizygotic twins was used to assess the relative contribution of familial and genetic factors. RESULTS In 1967-1969 survey the ratio of observed to expected concordance for smoking was higher among the monozygotic twins than among the dizygotic twins for those who had never smoked (overall rate ratio, 1.38; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.25 to 1.54), for former smokers (overall rate ratio, 1.59; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.35 to 1.85), for current cigarette smokers (overall rate ratio, 1.18; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.11 to 1.26), and for current cigar or pipe smokers (overall rate ratio, 1.60; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.22 to 2.06). The data also suggest genetic influences on quitting smoking. Monozygotic twins were more likely than dizygotic twins to be concordant for quitting smoking (overall rate ratio, 1.24; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.06 to 1.45). CONCLUSIONS In this cohort of adult male twins, there were moderate genetic influences on lifetime smoking practices.
ÇALIŞAN PERSPEKTİFİNDEN TARIMSAL YAYIMI GELİŞTİRME PROJESİ: AYDIN İLİ ÖRNEĞİ

Turkiye’de tarimsal yayim calismalari uzun suredir surdurulmektedir. Tarimsal yayim hizmetleri icin bircok yontem ve proje uygulanmistir. Son yillarda uygulanmakta olan Tarimsal Yayimi Gelistirme, yaygin ismiyle TAR-GEL projesinde calisanlarin memnuniyet duzeylerini ve calisanlar acisindan projenin surdurulebilirligini ortaya koymayi amaclayan bu calisma kapsaminda soz konusu projede calisan ziraat muhendislerine ve veteriner hekimlere bir anket uygulanmistir. Anketin icerigi; calisanlarin memnuniyet duzeyini olcmek uzere dusunce, duygu ve davranislarini ele alan Likert Tipi Tutum Olceginden olusmaktadir. Arastirma sonucunda; TAR-GEL calisanlarinin en temel talebinin, “buro masraflarinin bakanlikca karsilanmasi” ve “bagli koylere ulasim giderlerinin bakanlikca karsilanmasi” oldugu bulunmustur. Ayrica, calisanlar, gorev ve sorumluluklarinin net olarak tanimlanmamis oldugunu dusunmektedir. TAR-GEL calisanlari, il/ilce personeline gore kendilerinin daha dusuk ozluk haklarina sahip olduklarina inanmaktadirlar. Elde edilen bulgulara gore calisanlar projenin mevcut haliyle surdurulmesini reddetmekte ve ozluk haklarindaki farkliligin kabul edilemez oldugunu dusunmektedirler. Bununla beraber TAR-GEL calisanlarinin bakanlik elemani olmaktan memnun oldugu sonucu dikkati ceken diger bir bulgudur
Transgenic Studies on the Involvement of Cytokinin and Gibberellin in Male Development

Numerous plant hormones interact during plant growth and development. Elucidating the role of these various hormones on particular tissue types or developmental stages has been difficult with exogenous applications or constitutive expression studies. Therefore, we used tissue-specific promoters expressing CKX1 andgai, genes involved in oxidative cytokinin degradation and gibberellin (GA) signal transduction, respectively, to study the roles of cytokinin and GA in male organ development. Accumulation of CKX1 in reproductive tissues of transgenic maize (Zea mays) resulted in male-sterile plants. The male development of these plants was restored by applications of kinetin and thidiazuron. Similarly, expression of gai specifically in anthers and pollen of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis resulted in the abortion of these respective tissues. Thegai-induced male-sterile phenotype exhibited by the transgenic plants was reversible by exogenous applications of kinetin. Our results provide molecular evidence of the involvement of cytokinin and GA in male development and support the hypothesis that the male development is controlled in concert by multiple hormones. These studies also suggest a potential method for generating maintainable male sterility in plants by using existing agrochemicals that would reduce the expense of seed production for existing hybrid crops and provide a method to produce hybrid varieties of traditionally non-hybrid crops.
Efficient frontier research on risk measure and investment portfolio considering double side risk preference of investor

The existing risk measure methods can not only reflex the risk feeling of investor to the profit positive fluctuation, but the corresponding optimal investment strategies or investment portfolio can not fully consistent with the real demand of investor. In order to compensate for this inadequate, this paper puts forward a new kind of risks measure method which puts investor's different attitudes to the two-way fluctuations of investment profit into consideration and fully reflects the risk feeling of investor. Simultaneously, this paper puts forward to a optimize model for the investment portfolio with the new risk measure method and analyzes the efficient frontier of investment portfolio from different angles. The results indicate that the risk attitude of investor has distinct effect to the investment portfolio when consider the bilateral risk preference, and when the efficient frontier of investment portfolio exists the risk attitudes above have interactive influence.
Intracellular and extracellular roles of S100 proteins

S100, a multigenic family of non‐ubiquitous Ca2+‐modulated proteins of the EF‐hand type expressed in vertebrates exclusively, has been implicated in intracellular and extracellular regulatory activities. Members of this protein family have been shown to interact with several effector proteins within cells thereby regulating enzyme activities, the dynamics of cytoskeleton constituents, cell growth and differentiation, and Ca2+ homeostasis. Structural information indicates that most of S100 proteins exist in the form of antiparallelly packed homodimers (in some cases heterodimers), capable of functionally crossbridging two homologous or heterologous target proteins in a Ca2+‐dependent (and, in some instances, Ca2+‐independent) manner. In addition, extracellular roles have been described for several S100 members, although secretion (via an unknown mechanism) has been documented for a few of them. Extracellular S100 proteins have been shown to exert regulatory effects on inflammatory cells, neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and endothelial and epithelial cells, and a cell surface receptor, RAGE, has been identified as a potential S100A12 and S100B receptor transducing the effects of these two proteins on inflammatory cells and neurons. Other cell surface molecules with ability to interact with S100 members have been identified, suggesting that RAGE might not be a universal S100 protein receptor and/or that a single S100 protein might interact with more than one receptor. Collectively, these data indicate that members of the S100 protein family are multifunctional proteins implicated in the regulation of a variety of cellular activities. Microsc. Res. Tech. 60:540–551, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Composição e atividade larvicida do óleo essencial Eugenia candolleana DC. (MYRTACEAE) contra o Aedes aegypti

Normal.dotm 0 0 1 130 743 Rezende 6 1 912 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:. 0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} O mosquito Aedes aegypti e o vetor do virus da dengue, Chikungunya e Zika. O aumento da resistencia dos mosquitos a inseticidas comerciais prejudica programas de controle regulares; portanto, a prospeccao quimica de especies de plantas com propriedades larvicidas tem sido uma alternativa para o controle deste vetor. O oleo essencial de Eugenia candollena DC foi extraido por Clevenger modificado e seus constituintes identificados utilizando a cromatografia gasosa acoplada a espectrometria de massas e quantificados pela cromatografia gasosa. O oleo obtido foi rico em sesquiterpenos, demonstrando o b -elemeno (35,87±0,13%) como componente majoritario. A mortalidade das larvas do A. aegypti foi de 100% em 24 h apos o tratamento com o oleo na concentracao de 0,50 µg/µL e a CL 50 para este tempo foi estimado em 0,30 µg/µL.
HRMAS NMR observation of β‐sheet secondary structure on a water swollen solid support

In this paper HRMAS NMR was used to investigate whether peptides on a peptidyl resin swollen in aqueous solution can adopt an intramolecular β‐sheet structure. A model peptide YQNPDGSQA, that was previously shown to adopt such a secondary structure in solution, (Blanco et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1993) was grafted onto three different solid supports that swell in aqueous solution to examine the influence of the resin on the structure. Both parameters of resin loading and pH inside the swollen peptidyl resin proved to be important for the physicochemical behaviour of the peptide on the support. Copyright © 2003 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Subclinical cytomegalovirus and Epstein–Barr virus viremia are associated with adverse outcomes in pediatric renal transplantation

Abstract: Post‐transplant clinical disease with cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a known risk factor for graft dysfunction and lymphoproliferation. We postulate that subclinical, asymptomatic viremia also adversely impacts outcomes, and may warrant re‐assessment of current monitoring and antiviral prophylaxis protocols. A single‐center study was conducted on 102 pediatric (51 steroid‐free and 51 matched steroid‐based historical controls). Quantitative viral loads were serially monitored and correlated with outcome measures. Overall, the incidence of CMV and EBV clinical disease was 5% (1% CMV and 4% EBV); however, the incidence of subclinical viremia was 44% (12.7% CMV, 38.2% EBV, 6.9% CMV + EBV). Risk factors for subclinical viremia were EBV naivety (p = 0.07), age less than five yr (p = 0.04), lack of prophylaxis (p = 0.01), and steroid usage (p = 0.0007). Subclinical viremia was associated with lower three‐yr graft function (p = 0.03), increased risk of acute rejection (odds ratio 2.07; p = 0.025), hypertension (p = 0.04), and graft loss (p = 0.03). Subclinical asymptomatic CMV and EBV viremia is a risk factor for graft injury and loss. These findings support the need for aggressive, serial viral monitoring to better determine the appropriate length of post‐transplant antiviral prophylaxis, and to determine the effect of immunosuppression protocols on the development of viremia.
Influence of drought stress on growth , protein expression and osmolyte accumulation in sunflower Helianthus annuus

Drought stress causes considerable yield losses in agriculture and receives high attention in current sunflower breeding programs. For this study, an in vitro system based on MS media (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) supplemented with polyethylene glycol 6000 (Korell, 1997) was established to examine sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seedlings under artificial drought stress conditions. The objective is to identify parameters applicable as markers for drought stress, which would allow breeders to screen their material efficiently for drought tolerance. For this purpose, different morphological and physiological parameters were analysed by comparing control plants with plants grown under drought stress (-0,6 MPa). The evaluation of growth reveals a significant growth deficit of drought stressed plants compared to control plants concerning hypocotyl length, development of cotyledons and primary leaves, whereas for root fresh weight in relation to shoot fresh weight no significant difference could be detected. Qualitative and quantitative changes in osmolyte accumulation were examined by HPLC and gas chromatography. Osmolyte analyses revealed an accumulation of glucose (25-30fold), inositol (2030fold), proline (10-20fold), fructose (3-6fold) and sucrose (4-5fold) in extracts from leaves of droughtstressed plants. Changes in protein expression of drought-stressed versus control plants were detected in colloidal Coomassie-stained 2D-PAGE gels. In future studies, differentially expressed proteins will be identified by peptide mass fingerprinting and used to develop molecular markers for breeding programs.
Divergence and diversity in the defensive ecology of Inga at two Neotropical sites

1 Tropical plants express multiple defensive traits that enable them to resist, deter or escape herbivores. In this study, we approached plant defensive adaptations by focusing on variation and interaction between sets of plant defensive strategies from a community perspective. 2 We compared two sites: the aseasonal Amazonian forest of Yasuni, Ecuador, and the seasonal forest of Barro Colorado National Monument (BCNM), Panama. We suggest that differences in ant abundance between these sites influence the divergence, local assembly and interaction of chemical and indirect ant‐mediated defences in 18 tree species of the genus Inga (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae). 3 Relative ant abundance and visitation to extra floral nectaries were significantly higher at Yasuni than at BCNM. Correspondingly, Yasuni Ingas had low leaf extract bioactivity compared with BCNM Ingas, suggesting that Yasuni Ingas rely more on indirect ant defences, while BCNM Ingas rely more on chemical defences. 4 Yasuni Ingas varied widely in their ant visitation and extract bioactivity, and the strategies were negatively correlated in a trade‐off like pattern. In comparison, BCNM Ingas had a positive correlation and little variation in their ant visitation, suggesting that their defence ecology was driven by environmental characteristics other than ants. 5 An experiment planting the same Inga species at both sites supported the prediction of higher herbivore pressure at Yasuni than at BCNM. However, leaf damage to naturally occurring Ingas was similar between sites, suggesting that the adaptations at the two sites were equally effective. Damage levels were also similar among species with contrasting defensive strategies, suggesting that ant and chemical strategies were also equally effective at a single site. 6 Synthesis. While tropical forests are thought to be a cradle of specialized interactions that promote diversification and allow the coexistence of a large number of species, the observed divergence in the defence ecology of Inga between these two sites suggests that general community characteristics can also promote diversity by favouring local and geographical diversity in defensive solutions.
Perceptual and motor mechanisms for mental rotation of human hands

We measured brain potentials from human subjects performing a mental rotation task requiring right-left judgments of misoriented hands, and a control task requiring palm-back judgments of the same stimuli. High-density, 128-channel event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 16 normal, right-handed subjects. There was a main effect of task at five different latencies: 148 ms (occipital), 180 ms (parietal), 388 ms (vertex), 556 ms (central-parietal), and 900 ms (vertex). Source estimations derived from topographic data indicate that frontal brain regions were strongly activated after 300 ms in the control task, but not until about 900 ms in the rotation task. We conclude that the neural computations underlying mental hand rotation may be recruited from relatively early stages of visuo-perceptual analysis; these early computations influence subsequent processing within a parietal-prefrontal system for the integration of perception with action.
Uso de valores de Ritz para estimativa do número de condição de uma matriz: aplicações no método de pontos interiores

Um problema de programação linear (PPL) de grande porte, em geral, é resolvido utilizando métodos de pontos interiores (MPI). O principal custo computacional em MPIs envolve a determinação das direções de busca. A cada iteração um sistema linear esparso, mal condicionado e indefinido é resolvido para determinar essas direções. Precondicionadores espećıficos foram desenvolvidos para melhorar o condicionamento da matriz de cada sistema linear. Podemos destacar o precondicionador derivado da Fatoração Controlada de Cholesky (FCC), que tem seu melhor desempenho quando a matriz do sistema está melhor condicionada, e o precondicionador Separador, que utiliza a fatoração LU e apresenta melhores resultados para matrizes mal condicionadas. Abordagens h́ıbridas com a combinação desses precondicionadores têm apresentado resultados promissores [2]. Assume-se a existência de fases durante as iterações de pontos inteiros e em cada fase é usado um tipo de precondicionador. A escolha do momento da troca de precondicionador é essencial para o sucesso dessas abordagens h́ıbridas e, se bem feita, traz ganho no tempo computacional e/ou no número de iterações. Algumas heuŕısticas tem sido propostas para determinar a troca de fases em MPIs que usam precondicionadores h́ıbridos [1, 2].
Alcohol price elasticities in control and license states in the United States, 1982-99.

AIM The demand for alcohol has been demonstrated repeatedly to be sensitive to price changes. However, estimated price elasticities vary by study region and over time. One explanation for these variations might be that different countries or parts of countries have had different alcohol control systems. The hypothesis addressed in this study was that a regulated market leads to higher transaction costs associated with purchasing alcohol, which in turn increases the full price of the beverages (the nominal cash price plus transaction costs). As a result, the cash price of alcohol represents a smaller part of the full price in a highly regulated market. Assuming that customers respond primarily to changes in full price, the demand for alcohol should be less sensitive to changes in cash price where regulation is stricter. This study examined whether variations in price elasticities were a function of the different regulatory systems in control and license states in the United States during the period 1982-99. DATA AND METHODS Time-series cross-sectional analyses (in 50 states over 18 years) were conducted. Elasticities were estimated using a multiplicative model based upon first-differences of time-series within states. Disposable income and other socio-demographic variables were used as control variables. All data were obtained from archival sources. FINDINGS The demand for spirits and beer were significantly more sensitive to price changes in license states than in control states. The estimated price elasticity for wine sales was also somewhat larger in license states, but not significantly so. CONCLUSION The lower price elasticities for spirits and beer in the control states support the hypothesis that customers respond primarily to changes in the full price of alcohol.
The Stigma of Reproductive Health Services Utilization by Unmarried Women

Background: Fear of the stigma associated with reproductive health services has always been one of the reasons why youth and unmarried individuals avoid making use of such services. This stigma imposes a great deal of mental stress, fear, and depression on patients and causes delays in the diagnosis and treatment of their conditions. Objectives: This paper explores the concept of stigma in the context of the utilization of reproductive health services by unmarried women. Patients and Methods: This study is qualitative in nature. Purposive sampling was employed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 unmarried women, five midwives, and two physicians. The data were analyzed using the conventional content analysis method. Results: Four main categories constituted the general concept concerning the stigma suffered by unmarried women for using reproductive health services, i.e., prevalent stereotypical thinking patterns in society, the fear of being judged and labeled by others, discrimination, and feeling ashamed of seeking reproductive health services. Conclusions: The findings indicated that society associates reproductive health issues with sexual relations, which in turn shapes the stigma and places limitations on unmarried women for using reproductive health services. Thus, while reproductive health services are planned and provided to unmarried women, strategies are demanded for overcoming this stigma.
Dynamical Model and Optimal Turning Gait for Mechanical Rectifier Systems

Animal locomotion can be viewed as mechanical rectification due to the dynamics that convert periodic body movements to a positive average thrust, resulting in a steady locomotion velocity. This paper considers a general multibody mechanical rectifier under continuous interactions with the environment, with full rotation and translation in 3-D space. The equations of motion are developed with respect to body coordinates to allow for direct analysis of maneuvering dynamics. The paper then formulates and solves an optimal turning gait problem for a mechanical rectifier traveling along a curved path, with propulsive forces generated by periodic body deformation (gait). In particular, the gait is optimized to minimize a quadratic cost function, subject to constraints on average locomotion velocity and average angular velocity. The problem is proven to reduce to two separate, tractable minimization problems solvable for globally optimal solutions. The first problem solves for the optimal shape offset that results in turning, while the other solves for the optimal gait that results in locomotion along a straight path. A case study of a locomotor in a fluid environment is presented to demonstrate the utility of the method for robotic locomotor design.
Reservation Wages and Unemployment Insurance

This paper argues that a risk-averse worker's after-tax reservation wage encodes all the relevant information about her welfare. This insight leads to a novel test for the optimality of unemployment insurance based on the responsiveness of reservation wages to unemployment benefits. Some existing estimates imply significant gains to raising the current level of unemployment benefits in the United States, but highlight the need for more research on the determinants of reservation wages. Our approach complements those based on Baily's (1978) test.