Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protein Kinase C βII Regulates Akt Phosphorylation on Ser-473 in a Cell Type- and Stimulus-specific Fashion*♦

Akt (= protein kinase B), a subfamily of the AGC serine/threonine kinases, plays critical roles in survival, proliferation, glucose metabolism, and other cellular functions. Akt activation requires the recruitment of the enzyme to the plasma membrane by interacting with membrane-bound lipid products of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase. Membrane-bound Akt is then phosphorylated at two sites for its full activation; Thr-308 in the activation loop of the kinase domain is phosphorylated by 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) and Ser-473 in the C-terminal hydrophobic motif by a putative kinase PDK2. The identity of PDK2 has been elusive. Here we present evidence that conventional isoforms of protein kinase C (PKC), particularly PKCβII, can regulate Akt activity by directly phosphorylating Ser-473 in vitro and in IgE/antigen-stimulated mast cells. By contrast, PKCβ is not required for Ser-473 phosphorylation in mast cells stimulated with stem cell factor or interleukin-3, in serum-stimulated fibroblasts, or in antigen receptor-stimulated T or B lymphocytes. Therefore, PKCβII appears to work as a cell type- and stimulus-specific PDK2.
Pricing Chinese floating rate bonds and swaps

Chinese floating rate bonds differ from American floating rate bonds in that the coupon payments are determined based on an interest rate defined by the government. While this rate is cointegrated with market determined (LIBOR equivalent) rates, it is in general not equal to the market’s discount rate. As a result, Chinese floating rate bonds trade at values substantially different from par. We present empirical results concerning the relationship between the government rate and market yield curves, and develop pricing models which can be used to value Chinese floating rate bonds. We demonstrate that these models offer substantial improvements for pricing and hedging as compared to using the framework conventionally applied to American bond pricing. The Chinese bond market has had a rather chequered past. The first half of the 20th century was characterised by very unstable governments. First the imperial government and then the nationalist government defaulted on their debt obligations. Further, loose monetary policy during the 1930s and 1940s, and the attendent hyper-inflation resulted in the decimation of most fixed income securities. As a result, even after recent market
Age at marriage, family planning practices, and other variables as correlates of fertility in Korea

The relationships between fertility and thirteen variables are examined in three groups of married Korean women, about 400 each from urban, rural, and semi-rural areas. Data were obtained by interview. Age at marriage and family planning practice are the strongest predictors of fertility and account for about 10 percent and 7 percent of the total variance, respectively. Other factors which accounted for lesser fractions of variability are ideal number of children, rural versus urban residence, education, aspiration for daughters, exposure to mass media, and economic status. Most of the relationships appear to be stable over time; others, which are associated with modernization, appear to be changing. The thirteen variables combined can account for a maximum of 40 percent of the variance in fertility.
Depression, health-related quality of life, and medical cost outcomes of receiving recommended levels of antidepressant treatment.

BACKGROUND We evaluated depression severity, health-related quality of life (HRQL), and medical cost outcomes of primary care patients receiving recommended and less-than-recommended levels of antidepressant treatment. METHODS We performed a secondary analysis of clinical trial data from primary care clinics in a staff-model managed care organization. The trial included patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R) criteria for major depression who were starting antidepressant treatment. The primary outcomes measures used were the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), Hopkins Symptom Checklist depression scores, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) mental and physical component summary scores, and the total outpatient and inpatient medical costs. RESULTS Of 358 patients starting antidepressant treatment, 195 (54.5%) received doses recommended by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research for 90 days or more. Mean HDRS score decreased from 14.1 to 8.8 in patients receiving less-than-recommended treatment and decreased from 13.8 to 8.9 in patients with minimum recommended treatment (P = .761). No significant differences in improvement of HRQL outcomes during 6 months were observed between patients receiving recommended or less-than-recommended antidepressant therapy. Mean total medical costs over 6 months for patients taking the recommended levels of antidepressant treatment were $1872 +/- 140 compared with $2622 +/- 413 for patients taking less-than-recommended treatment (P = .032). The differences in total medical costs were attributable to significantly lower nonmental health-related inpatient costs in the recommended antidepressant treatment group ($104 vs $785, P = .004). CONCLUSIONS Patients receiving minimum recommended levels of antidepressant therapy for 3 months showed improvement in depression severity and HRQL comparable with patients receiving less-than-recommended treatment. Patients receiving minimum recommended treatment had lower total costs and nonmental health-related inpatient costs. Antidepressant treatment in primary care patients may have the greatest impact on the frequency of health care visits and on costs for medical conditions and impairments.
Theorizing Chinese Citizenship

The continuous development of the BRICS relationship strengthened the argument for the reform of global governance institutions. In Chapter 6 Stuenkel studies how that claim evolved to the institutionalisation of the group’s relationship through the creation of the New Development Bank and the Contingency Reserve Agreement at the 2014 BRICS meeting in Fortaleza. Currently, other forms of institutionalised cooperation are being discussed in many dimensions, including aid and foreign direct investment. Nevertheless, despite this institutional development, the BRICS’ relationship with Western institutions remains important. After the analysis of the BRICS’ historical progression, Chapter 7 relates the evolution of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) concept to the BRICS’ scepticism vis-à-vis R2P, discussing in this sense the dichotomy between ‘a pro-interventionist Global North and a pro-sovereignty Global South’ (p. 129). The fact is that ‘the BRICS were, in general, quite suspicious of those who argued for a doctrine of “contingent sovereignty”’ (p. 128), mainly because of a different position concerning how interventions should be done. To prove his point, the author analyses all the major decisions and resolutions that the UN Security Council issued until 2011 in relation to both the BRICS and R2P. Special attention is paid to resolution 1973 on Libya and on the BRICS’ positions towards a resolution on the conflict in Syria. The last chapter focuses on the Crimean Crisis and on how Brazil, India, China and South Africa reacted to it. Departing from Schweller and Pu’s cyclical phases of systemic change, Stuenkel argues that the BRICS do not have the interest to change a system that they ultimately see as beneficial nor have the intellectual basis to create an alternative global order. Their goal is purely to challenge the establishment. This is a useful chapter to question the established rhetoric that tends to demonise the BRICS’ existence. Although the internal politics in the BRICS states has drastically changed since 2008, the institutions they have created are still important and feed their current cooperation. According to Stuenkel, the BRICS example overrules some realist arguments by showing that institutions can adapt themselves to other needs and are often the origin of new forms of cooperation. From the world of finance and a successful demand for reform of the IMF, the BRICS moved to education, science and defence. Overall this is a book that focuses on the BRICS’ internal dynamics, analysing the several moments that led to the construction of the bloc. It is ‘a critical “historical biography” of the BRICS concept’ (p. ix), making it suitable for a wider audience and satisfying both the needs of experienced researchers and readers in general. It is a book that falls under the wider research about the role of emerging powers in international relations and the consequent and irreversible transition from a unipolar to a multipolar global order.
[The usefulness and limitations of the radioallergosorbent test in diagnosing food allergy in atopic dermatitis].

To clarify the diagnostic value of the radioallergosorbent test (RAST), the relationship between RAST and the oral food challenge test was evaluated. 263 children with atopic dermatitis were challenged by egg, cow's milk or soy bean after their skin manifestations had been improved by elimination diet and environmental control. Of 200 cases with negative RAST results for egg white, 108 cases (54.0%) showed no reaction in egg challenge tests. However, 65 cases (31.5%) had non-immediate reactions, while 29 cases (14.5%) had immediate reactions (within 2 hours of challenge). Of 16 cases with RAST score of 1 for egg white, 11 cases (68.8%) had non-immediate reactions and 2 cases (12.5%) had immediate reactions in egg challenge tests. Of 19 cases with RAST scores of 2 for egg white, 2 cases (10.5%) had no reaction, 6 cases (31.6%) had non-immediate reactions and 11 cases (57.9%) had immediate reactions in egg challenge tests. Of 21 cases with RAST scores of 3 for egg white, 1 case (4.8%) had no reaction, 3 cases (14.3%) had non-immediate reactions and 17 cases (81.0%) had immediate reactions in egg challenge tests. All 7 cases with RAST scores of 4 for egg white had immediate reactions in egg challenge tests. Almost the same relationship between RAST and challenge tests were found in test using cow's milk or soy bean. In conclusion, false negative results were seen in 46.0% of RAST for egg white, 51.7% of RAST for cow's milk and 26.9% of RAST for soy bean. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
An Optimal Frequency in Ca2+ Oscillations for Stomatal Closure Is an Emergent Property of Ion Transport in Guard Cells1[CC-BY]

Rapid closure of stomata occurs at an optimum frequency in Ca2+ and voltage oscillations, but this optimum emerges in simulations as a by-product of the transport that drives closure rather than as a signal that regulates it. Oscillations in cytosolic-free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) have been proposed to encode information that controls stomatal closure. [Ca2+]i oscillations with a period near 10 min were previously shown to be optimal for stomatal closure in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), but the studies offered no insight into their origins or mechanisms of encoding to validate a role in signaling. We have used a proven systems modeling platform to investigate these [Ca2+]i oscillations and analyze their origins in guard cell homeostasis and membrane transport. The model faithfully reproduced differences in stomatal closure as a function of oscillation frequency with an optimum period near 10 min under standard conditions. Analysis showed that this optimum was one of a range of frequencies that accelerated closure, each arising from a balance of transport and the prevailing ion gradients across the plasma membrane and tonoplast. These interactions emerge from the experimentally derived kinetics encoded in the model for each of the relevant transporters, without the need of any additional signaling component. The resulting frequencies are of sufficient duration to permit substantial changes in [Ca2+]i and, with the accompanying oscillations in voltage, drive the K+ and anion efflux for stomatal closure. Thus, the frequency optima arise from emergent interactions of transport across the membrane system of the guard cell. Rather than encoding information for ion flux, these oscillations are a by-product of the transport activities that determine stomatal aperture.
Activation of CD40 in Cervical Carcinoma Cells Facilitates CTL Responses and Augments Chemotherapy-Induced Apoptosis1

In this study, we describe the expression and function of CD40, a TNF receptor family member, in cervical carcinomas. CD40 was present at very low levels in normal cervical epithelium but was overexpressed in human papillomavirus-infected lesions and advanced squamous carcinomas of the cervix. The stimulation of CD40-positive cervical carcinoma cell lines with soluble CD40L (CD154) resulted in activation of the NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways and up-regulation of cell surface markers and intracellular molecules associated with Ag processing and presentation. Concomitantly, the CD154-induced activation of CD40 in carcinoma cells was found to directly influence susceptibility to CTL-mediated killing. Thus, CD40 stimulation in cervical carcinoma cell lines expressing a TAP-dependent human papillomavirus 16 E6 Ag epitope resulted in their enhanced killing by specific CTLs. However, CD154 treatment of carcinoma cells expressing proteasome-dependent but TAP-independent Ags from the EBV-encoded BRLF1 and BMLF1 failed to increase tumor cell lysis by specific CTLs. Moreover, we demonstrate that chemotherapeutic agents that suppress protein synthesis and reverse the CD40-mediated dissociation of the translational repressor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein from the initiation factor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E, such as 5-fluorouracil, etoposide, and quercetin, dramatically increase the susceptibility of cervical carcinoma cells to CD40L-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these observations demonstrate the functional expression of CD40 in epithelial tumors of the cervix and support the clinical exploitation of the CD40 pathway for the treatment of cervical cancer through its multiple effects on tumor cell growth, apoptosis, and immune recognition.
PENGARUH PERCEIVED USEFULNESS DAN PERCEIVED EASE OF USE PADA MINAT PENGGUNAAN INTERNET BANKING DENGAN ATTITUDE TOWARD USING SEBAGAI VARIABEL INTERVENING

The use of internet technology banking is a way to perform banking transactions using the Internet network that allows customers to transact. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, the interest (intention) the use of internet banking with an attitude (attitude toward using) as an intervening variable. The study was conducted on SME trading business in Denpasar as it has a number of MSMEs biggest trading business in Bali. Samples are taken by 92 companies using the formula Slovin. Data collection techniques used in this study was a questionnaire and data analysis techniques using path analysis techniques. Based on the analysis found that the variables of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward using a positive effect on the interest in the use of internet banking.
In Vitro Assembly of Sindbis Virus Core-Like Particles from Cross-Linked Dimers of Truncated and Mutant Capsid Proteins

ABSTRACT A nucleic acid-bound capsid protein dimer was previously identified using a Sindbis virus in vitro nucleocapsid assembly system and cross-linking reagents. Cross-link mapping, in combination with a model of the nucleocapsid core, suggested that this dimer contained one monomer from each of two adjacent capsomeres. This intercapsomere dimer is believed to be the initial intermediate in the nucleocapsid core assembly mechanism. This paper presents the purification of cross-linked dimers of a truncated capsid protein and the partial purification of cross-linked dimers of a full-length assembly-defective mutant. The assembly of core-like particles from these cross-linked capsid protein dimers is demonstrated. Core-like particles generated from cross-linked full-length mutant CP(19-264)L52D were examined by electron microscopy and appeared to have a morphology similar to that of wild-type in vitro-assembled core-like particles, although a slight size difference was often visible. Truncated cross-linked CP(81-264) dimers generated core-like particles as well. These core-like particles could subsequently be disassembled when reversible cross-linking reagents were used to form the dimers. The ability of the covalent intercapsomere cross-link to rescue capsid proteins with assembly defects or truncations in the amino-terminal region of the capsid protein supports the previous model of assembly and suggests a possible role for the amino-terminal region of the protein.
Specificity of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging in detecting hippocampal sclerosis.

BACKGROUND Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based volumetric measurements of the hippocampal formation are useful in detecting unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. In this pathologic entity, volumetric MRI analysis shows the epileptogenic structure to be atrophic when compared with the normal, nonepileptogenic side. Some authors have suggested that the radiological features of atrophy of medial temporal lobe structures are common in patients with complex partial seizures, but also are seen frequently in other seizure types and can occur even in patients without epilepsy. OBJECTIVE To determine if seizures originating in extrahippocampal sites cause gliosis, cell loss, and atrophy of medial temporal lobe structures (i.e., HS). METHODS We studied 110 patients with chronic epilepsy using volumetric MRI measurements of the hippocampal formation. Seventeen patients had pathologically proven HS, 27 patients had seizures due to extratemporal structural lesions, 15 patients had seizures caused by extrahippocampal temporal lobe lesions, 29 patients had primary generalized epilepsy, and 22 patients had secondary generalized epilepsy. RESULTS All 17 patients with HS showed significantly reduced absolute hippocampal formation volumes of greater than 2 SDs below the mean of the control groups. The preoperative hippocampal formation volume measurements correlated well with the severity of HS on pathological examination. Hippocampal volumes were within the normal range in all patients with primary generalized epilepsy, secondary generalized epilepsy, extratemporal structural lesions, and extrahippocampal temporal lobe lesions. CONCLUSIONS Seizures originating at extrahippocampal sites do not cause gliosis, cell loss, or atrophy of medial temporal structures. Significant reduction in hippocampal volumes is a specific marker for HS.
Analysis of All Protein Phosphatase Genes in Aspergillus nidulans Identifies a New Mitotic Regulator, Fcp1

ABSTRACT Reversible protein phosphorylation is an important regulatory mechanism of cell cycle control in which protein phosphatases counteract the activities of protein kinases. In Aspergillus nidulans, 28 protein phosphatase catalytic subunit genes were identified. Systematic deletion analysis identified four essential phosphatases and four required for normal growth. Conditional alleles of these were generated using the alcA promoter. The deleted phosphatase strain collection and regulatable versions of the essential and near-essential phosphatases provide an important resource for further analysis of the role of reversible protein phosphorylation to the biology of A. nidulans. We further demonstrate that nimT and bimG have essential functions required for mitotic progression since their deletions led to classical G2- and M-phase arrest. Although not as obvious, cells with AnpphA and Annem1 deleted also have mitotic abnormalities. One of the essential phosphatases, the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain phosphatase Anfcp1, was further examined for potential functions in mitosis because a temperature-sensitive Anfcp1 allele was isolated in a genetic screen showing synthetic interaction with the cdk1F mutation, a hyperactive mitotic kinase. The Anfcp1tscdk1F double mutant had severe mitotic defects, including inability of nuclei to complete mitosis in a normal fashion. The severity of the Anfcp1tscdk1F mitotic phenotypes were far greater than either single mutant, confirming the synthetic nature of their genetic interaction. The mitotic defects of the Anfcp1tscdk1F double mutant suggests a previously unrealized function for AnFCP1 in regulating mitotic progression, perhaps counteracting Cdk1-mediated phosphorylation.
The Role of Microvascular Thrombosis in Sepsis

The acute inflammatory response to sepsis gives rise to significant morbidity and mortality. The mechanisms underlying this form of tissue injury are poorly understood. This review examines the evidence that tissue ischaemia due, to generalized microvascular thrombosis may play an important role. Microvascular thrombosis is probably an adaptive response that prevents bacteria in the tissues reaching the systemic circulation via the capillaries. In time, a definitive response by leucocytes removes the bacteria and repairs the damaged tissues. There is however evidence that if microvascular thrombosis becomes generalized, then extensive tissue ischaemia may precipitate organ failure and death. Post-mortem studies of patients with sepsis demonstrate microvascular thrombi in many organs including the kidney, liver, lung, gut, adrenals and brain, and the degree of organ injury is related to the quantity of thrombi. Furthermore studies in human and animal models of sepsis demonstrate therapies that inhibit coagulation or promote fibrinolysis reduce organ failure and mortality. In view of the personal and economic burdens that tissue injury associated with the acute inflammatory response places on the community, further studies to establish the role of microvascular thrombosis are clearly required. Such studies may lead to new therapies to limit or prevent this form of injury.
Consensus review of optimal perioperative care in colorectal surgery: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Group recommendations.

OBJECTIVES To describe a consensus review of optimal perioperative care in colorectal surgery and to provide consensus recommendations for each item of an evidence-based protocol for optimal perioperative care. DATA SOURCES For every item of the perioperative treatment pathway, available English-language literature has been examined. STUDY SELECTION Particular attention was paid to meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, and systematic reviews. DATA EXTRACTION A consensus recommendation for each protocol item was reached after critical appraisal of the literature by the group. DATA SYNTHESIS For most protocol items, recommendations are based on good-quality trials or meta-analyses of such trials. CONCLUSIONS The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Group presents a comprehensive evidence-based consensus review of perioperative care for colorectal surgery. It is based on the evidence available for each element of the multimodal perioperative care pathway.