Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Significance of sugar chain recognition by galectins and its involvement in disease‐associated glycosylation

Galectins are β‐galactoside‐binding lectins that participate in a wide range of biological processes. Galectins are distributed both inside and outside cells and are believed to have roles in both intra‐ and extracellular milieus. One of the well‐recognized functions of galectins is stabilization of glycoproteins on the cell surface, thereby promoting stable signal transduction and transport of substances such as glucose. Glycoprotein‐associated diseases, including congenital disorder of glycosylation (CDG, previously called carbohydrate‐deficient glycoprotein syndrome), comprise a disease family established only in the last decade. Although numerous in vitro glycobiology studies have been performed, including investigation of glycan‐galectin interactions and of galectin action in cultured cells, a few in vivo studies have investigated molecular mechanisms of galectin actions in animal models. Both in vitro and in vivo studies are needed in order to better determine the biological significance of sugar chain recognition. Hitherto, some reports have focused on the role of impaired sugar chain recognition and galectin function in the development of diverse diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, colitis, and cancer. We recently focused on the function of galectins in immunity and embryogenesis, and in this review we summarize the diseases related to disorders of sugar chain‐galectin interaction and discuss the role of galectins as potential risk factors for some congenital and acquired diseases. These diseases are disorders of immunity, metabolism, and cell differentiation. This approach to understanding the significance of sugar chain recognition by galectins may open up a new field into the nature of glycoprotein‐related diseases, including CDG.
Monitoring Urban Copper Flows in Stockholm, Sweden: Implications of Changes Over Time

In this study, a substance flow analysis (SFA) for copper (Cu) was conducted, in which the inflow, stock, and outflow (in the form of diffuse emissions to soil and water) for Stockholm were estimated for 2013 and compared with a previous study from 1995, hence allowing a discussion on changes over time. A large number of applications containing Cu were analyzed (including power cables, copper alloys, heavy electrical equipment, tap water systems, roofs, cars, various consumer electronics, wood preservatives, and contact cables for the railroad). The results show that the inflow of Cu to Stockholm has increased between 1995 and 2013, both in total and per person, mainly as the result of an increase in heavy electrical equipment, power cables, and cars. The stock remains relatively unchanged, whereas the outflow has increased. For the outflow, the emission increase from brake linings is of greatest quantitative importance, with an estimated 5.8 tonnes annual emission of Cu to the environment of Stockholm in 2013 compared to 3.9 tonnes in 1995. Given that increasing inflows of limited resources drive the global demand, continuous monitoring of flows through society and management of outflow routes are crucial, including improvement of national legislation and regional environmental plans as well as efforts to increase resource‐use efficiency and recycling.
Performance of Alternative Price Forecast for Pakistan

To evaluate the price forecasts, we use two data frequencies i.e., annual and quarter with two most demanding techniques, i.e., ARIMA and VAR models to forecast the four index of inflation, named, Consumer Price Index (CPI), Wholesale Price Index (WPI), GNP Price Deflator (GNPPD), and Implicit Price Deflator of Total Domestic Absorption (DAPD). In order to test the performance of price forecast for Pakistan, we found Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Implicit Price Deflator of Total Domestic Absorption (DAPD) better than Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and GNP Price Deflator (GNPPD). In general more elaborate Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models outperform the simplistic Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models in forecasting a price series. Another useful conclusion is that the quarterly data provide better forecasts than the annual data. All these results support the econometricians’ maintained hypotheses that, data observed at high frequency and statistically more elaborate use of a given data set provides better predictions than the data observed at low frequency and analyzed with simplistic statistical tools.
Are cancer-related decision aids effective? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE Decision aids (DAs) have been developed to improve communication between health professionals and patients, and to involve patients in decisions about their health care. Cancer-related decisions can be difficult due to problems in communicating complex information about prognosis and the modest benefits of available treatments. We conducted a systematic review of cancer-related DAs. METHODS Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of cancer-related DAs about screening, prevention, and treatment decision making were included. We completed a comprehensive literature search and conducted both qualitative and quantitative analyses. We also conducted a meta regression to explore heterogeneity of effect estimates. RESULTS We identified 34 RCTs of DAs in a screening (n = 22 trials) or preventive/treatment (n = 12 trials) context. DAs significantly improved knowledge about screening options when compared to usual practice (weighted average effect size, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.27 to 0.73; P < .0001). A similar effect on knowledge was also found for preventive/treatment options (weighted average effect size, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.70; P < .0001). Overall, general anxiety was not increased in most trials and was significantly reduced in a screening context. Decisional conflict was reduced overall but not when screening and preventive/treatment studies were analyzed separately. There were few differences between different types of DAs. CONCLUSION Cancer-related DAs are effective in increasing patient knowledge compared with usual practice without increasing anxiety particularly in the area of cancer screening. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of DAs in the prevention and treatment context.
Euro/Dollar Exchange Rates: A Multy-Country Structural Monthly Econometric Model for Forecasting

In this paper a structural multi-country model for the Euro/Dollar Exchange rate is presented and compared with an area-wide model. The models are built in VECM form, after the full information cointegration analysis is applied in the presence of structural breaks. The results obtained give support to a specification of Mundell-Fleming type and the forecasting performances are satisfactory for both multicountry and area-wide specifications. The former is clearly better even in terms of economic effectiveness.
Systems Biology Perspectives on Minimal and Simpler Cells

SUMMARY The concept of the minimal cell has fascinated scientists for a long time, from both fundamental and applied points of view. This broad concept encompasses extreme reductions of genomes, the last universal common ancestor (LUCA), the creation of semiartificial cells, and the design of protocells and chassis cells. Here we review these different areas of research and identify common and complementary aspects of each one. We focus on systems biology, a discipline that is greatly facilitating the classical top-down and bottom-up approaches toward minimal cells. In addition, we also review the so-called middle-out approach and its contributions to the field with mathematical and computational models. Owing to the advances in genomics technologies, much of the work in this area has been centered on minimal genomes, or rather minimal gene sets, required to sustain life. Nevertheless, a fundamental expansion has been taking place in the last few years wherein the minimal gene set is viewed as a backbone of a more complex system. Complementing genomics, progress is being made in understanding the system-wide properties at the levels of the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome. Network modeling approaches are enabling the integration of these different omics data sets toward an understanding of the complex molecular pathways connecting genotype to phenotype. We review key concepts central to the mapping and modeling of this complexity, which is at the heart of research on minimal cells. Finally, we discuss the distinction between minimizing the number of cellular components and minimizing cellular complexity, toward an improved understanding and utilization of minimal and simpler cells.
Control of syngeneic tumor growth by activation of CD8+ T cells: efficacy is limited by migration away from the site and induction of nonresponsiveness.

Activation of Ag-specific CD8+ T cells in response to syngeneic tumor has been visualized by adoptive transfer of CD8+ T cells from OT-I mice, with a transgenic TCR specific for H-2Kb and an OVA peptide, into Thy-1 congenic recipients. Intraperitoneal challenge with E.G7, the EL-4 thymoma transfected with OVA, results in activation and clonal expansion of the OT-I cells in the peritoneal cavity and transient control of tumor growth. However, within 2 days after becoming activated, the OT-I cells migrate out of the peritoneal cavity into the spleen and lymph nodes, and tumor growth resumes in the peritoneal cavity. The OT-I cells in lymph nodes and spleen have lytic effector activity, but exhibit split anergy in that they cannot proliferate in response to Ag unless exogenous IL-2 is provided. The failure to remain at the tumor site and continue to control tumor growth is not due to selection of Ag loss variants or development of suppression. These results suggest that effective CD8-targeted immunotherapy may depend less on enhancing the initial activation and more on sustaining the response at the appropriate location and/or reactivating cells that have left the site of tumor growth and become nonresponsive.
The Measurement of Dispositions to Rash Action in Children

Among adolescents and adults, there appear to be at least four different personality traits that dispose individuals to rash or ill-advised action: sensation seeking, negative urgency, lack of planning, and lack of perseverance. The four are only moderately correlated and they appear to play different roles in dysfunction. It is important to determine whether the traits are present among preadolescents because of their possible influence on subsequent development. The authors developed assessments of the four traits for preadolescent children and found evidence supporting (a) the internal consistency of each trait measure, (b) the convergent and discriminant validity of the four measures using the multitrait, multimethod technique, and (c) the hypothesis that the different traits correlated with different dysfunctional behaviors as predicted by theory. Pending further validation efforts, it appears to be the case that researchers may be able to distinguish among different dispositions to rash action prior to adolescence.
Contextualizing Distance Business and Management Education: a Case of the UK Open University and IIM LINK in Russia

Contextualizing Distance Business and Management Education: a Case of the UK Open University and IIM LINK in Russia Conference or Workshop Item How to cite: Ramanau, Ruslan and Krasheninnikova, Lyubov (2012). Contextualizing Distance Business and Management Education: a Case of the UK Open University and IIM LINK in Russia. In: Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on e-Learning (Beldhuis, Hans ed.), Academic Publishing International Limited, Reading, pp. 645–649.
Effects of ADHD on Writing Composition Product and Process in School-Age Students

Objective: This study examined the relationship between ADHD and writing performance. Method: Students in Grades 3 to 7, 84 with ADHD and 135 age- and gender-matched controls completed a writing task (including process logs), and measures of working memory and attention. Results: Students with ADHD wrote texts of similar length but with poorer structure, coherence, and ideation. In all, 6.7% of the variance in writing quality was explained by whether or not the student had an ADHD diagnosis, after control for IQ and age-within-year, with ADHD students producing text that was less coherent, well structured, and ideationally rich, and spending less time thinking about and reviewing their text. Half of the effect on text quality could be attributed to working memory and sustained attention effects. Conclusion: ADHD has some effect on writing performance, which can, in part, be explained by working memory and attentional deficits.
Interference with vision by TMS over the occipital pole: a fourth period

We investigated the effect of single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the occipital pole on a forced-choice visual letter-identification task. Magnetic stimuli were applied on the midline but with the initial current directed pseudorandomly toward either left or right hemisphere; visual stimuli were presented randomly in either left or right hemifield; magnetic–visual stimulus onset asynchrony varied randomly between 12 values: −500 ms and from −50 ms to +50 ms in 10 ms steps. The data revealed the existence of a hitherto unknown fourth task-interfering TMS effect that was maximal at −10 ms and specific for magnetic stimulus polarity and visual stimulus location. This −10 ms effect cannot be explained by reflex blinking (as the −50 ms effect can) and direct disruption of letter-induced activity (as the +20 ms and +100 ms effects can), but it could be explained by direct disruption of pre-letter activity or indirect disruption of letter-induced activity.
Effects of proinsulin C-peptide on nitric oxide, microvascular blood flow and erythrocyte Na+,K+-ATPase activity in diabetes mellitus type I.

This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of proinsulin C-peptide on erythrocyte Na(+),K(+)-ATPase and endothelial nitric oxide synthase activities in patients with type I diabetes. In a randomized double-blind study design, ten patients with type I diabetes received intravenous infusions of either human C-peptide or physiological saline on two different occasions. C-peptide was infused at a rate of 3 pmol.min(-1). kg(-1) for 60 min, and thereafter at 10 pmol.min(-1). kg(-1) for 60 min. At baseline and after 60 and 120 min, laser Doppler flow (LDF) was measured following acetylcholine iontophoresis or mild thermal stimulation (44 degrees C), and venous blood samples were collected to determine plasma cGMP levels and erythrocyte membrane Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity. The LDF response to acetylcholine increased during C-peptide infusion and decreased during saline infusion [18.6+/-19.2 and -13.2+/-9.4 arbitrary units respectively; mean+/-S.E. M. ; P<0.05). No significant change in LDF was observed after thermal stimulation. The baseline plasma concentration of cGMP was 5.5+/-0.6 nmol.l(-1); this rose to 6.8+/-0.9 nmol.l(-1) during C-peptide infusion (P<0.05). Erythrocyte Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity increased from 140+/-29 nmol of P(i). h(-1). mg(-1) in the basal state to 287+/-5 nmol of P(i). h(-1). mg(-1) during C-peptide infusion (P<0.01). There was a significant linear relationship between plasma C-peptide levels and erythrocyte Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity during the C-peptide infusion (r=0.46, P<0.01). No significant changes in plasma cGMP levels or Na(+),K(+)-ATPase activity were observed during saline infusion. This study demonstrates an effect of human proinsulin C-peptide on microvascular function, which might be mediated by an increase in NO production and an activation of the erythrocyte Na(+),K(+)-ATPase. These mechanisms are compatible with the previous observed microvascular effects of C-peptide in patients with type I diabetes.
Network support for drinking, Alcoholics Anonymous and long-term matching effects.

AIMS (1) To examine the matching hypothesis that Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy (TSF) is more effective than Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) for alcohol-dependent clients with networks highly supportive of drinking 3 years following treatment; (2) to test a causal chain providing the rationale for this effect. DESIGN Outpatients were re-interviewed 3 years following treatment. ANCOVAs tested the matching hypothesis. SETTING Outpatients from five clinical research units distributed across the United States. PARTICIPANTS Eight hundred and six alcohol-dependent clients. INTERVENTION Clients were randomly assigned to one of three 12-week, manually-guided, individual treatments: TSF, MET or Cognitive Behavioral Coping Skills Therapy (CBT). MEASUREMENTS Network support for drinking prior to treatment, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) involvement during and following treatment, percentage of days abstinent and drinks per drinking day during months 37-39. FINDINGS (1) The a priori matching hypothesis that TSF is more effective than MET for clients with networks supportive of drinking was supported at the 3 year follow-up; (2) AA involvement was a partial mediator of this effect; clients with networks supportive of drinking assigned to TSF were more likely to be involved in AA; AA involvement was associated with better 3-year drinking outcomes for such clients. CONCLUSIONS (1) In the long-term TSF may be the treatment of choice for alcohol-dependent clients with networks supportive of drinking; (2) involvement in AA should be given special consideration for clients with networks supportive of drinking, irrespective of the therapy they will receive.
Statistical Modeling for Spectrum Usage Characterizing Wireless Fading Channels and Mobile Service Dynamics

Cognitive radio (CR) is considered a promising technology for addressing the issue of spectrum scarcity and has been receiving increasing attention in recent years. One of its “cognitive” capabilities is environment awareness, which gathers useful information from the radio environment, such that CR devices can accordingly change the operating (e.g., spectrum sensing) strategies. Spectrum measurement is an effective means for radio environment awareness since ground-truth observation of spectrum usage is more convincing than any theoretical assumption. In this paper, we perform in-depth statistical analysis on wireless signal strength in mobile service (MS) bands and propose a novel statistical model based on characteristic function (CF), which characterizes both wireless fading channels and MS dynamics. We validate the proposed model through empirical studies on the spectrum measurement data previously collected in Guangdong Province of China. We statistically fit the CF of the overall signal strength in MS (GSM uplink) band and estimate both Nakagami fading parameters of wireless channels and the arrival rate of MS. Then, we further utilize the estimated information to optimize the spectrum sensing strategy, which aims at maximizing the secondary user's (SU's) expected achievable throughput. The simulation results show that the optimal sensing strategy that we propose significantly improves the long-term average achievable throughput since it fully utilizes the estimated information on wireless fading channels and MS dynamics.
Estimation of the dominance variance for postweaning gain in the U.S. Limousin population.

The objective of this study was to estimate the dominance variance for postweaning gain in Limousin cattle. Data included 215,326 records of postweaning gain from 205 to 365 d, provided by the North American Limousin Foundation. Parental dominance subclasses were formed and related using the method of Hoeschele and VanRaden. Variance components were estimated using Method R based on six samples of 50%. Fixed effects in the model included contemporary group and covariates for inbreeding and breed composition (percentage Limousin). Heterozygosity was negatively correlated with breed composition (< -.99) and was therefore not included in the model. Two types of contemporary groups used as original groups from the National Cattle Evaluation were partially based on breed composition. Original contemporary groups that were too homogeneous for breed composition were replaced by herd-year-sex classes. Two models were used with the two data sets. Model 1 contained the fixed effects described above and an additive genetic effect. Model 2 included a dominance effect in addition to the effects contained in Model 1. In total, four combinations of contemporary group x model were used. Dominance variance was computed as being four times the estimated parental subclass variance. Estimates for inbreeding depression and breed composition (percentage Limousin) were all small and not greatly affected by inclusion of dominance effects or changes in contemporary groups. Estimates of the additive variance (expressed as percentage of the phenotypic variance) were only slightly affected, with values between 20 and 21%. Dominance estimates were highly affected when passing from original (10%) and to alternative contemporary groups (18%). Such large values may indicate that dominance is important for postweaning gain. Results showed the advantage of an individual dominance approach based on sire-dam combinations; therefore, expected gains through the use of specific combination ability as a part of the mating selection criteria for growth might be high.
Transcriptional Repression of O6-Methylguanine DNA Methyltransferase Gene Rendering Cells Hypersensitive to N,N′-Bis(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosurea in Camptothecin-Resistant Cells

O6-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair protein that removes alkyl-adducts from the O6-guanine in DNA and is a crucial defense against O6-alkylating agent-induced cytotoxicity. We demonstrated here that two camptothecin (CPT)-resistant cell lines (CPT30 and KB100) were more sensitive to N,N′-bis(2-chloroethyl)-N-nitrosurea (BCNU) than their parental cells. Enhanced sensitivity to BCNU in these two CPT-resistant cells involved transcriptional repression of the MGMT gene. The mechanism of MGMT gene down-regulation in CPT-resistant cells was not through gene abnormality, mRNA stability, and CpG island hypermethylation. However, the high level of methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and dimethylation of H3K9 in the promoter region were found in CPT30 and KB100 cells. Furthermore, increased MeCP2 binding on MGMT promoter was also found to be correlated with MGMT gene-silencing in short-term CPT treatment; thus, enhanced BCNU sensitivity was found in CPT-treated cells. Taken together, we suggest that CPT is able to suppress the transcription of the MGMT gene through recruiting of MeCP2 and H3K9 dimethylation, thus causing a synergistic interaction with BCNU. These findings provide a possible explanation regarding why the combination of CPT and BCNU results in a better objective response than single-use alone. In addition, this study supports a new indication for treating patients who are receiving refractory CPT derivatives with BCNU.