Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cytoskeletal Proteins and Gene Regulation: Form, Function, and Signal Transduction in the Nucleus

The cytoskeleton is important for controlling cell shape and cell motility and for organizing signaling complexes. Additionally, connections are being found between cytoskeletal proteins and the regulation of gene expression in the nucleus. De Lanerolle and Cole discuss new insights from plants that show that a plant member of the COOH-terminal binding protein (CtBP) and the brefeldin A adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-ribosylated subtrates (BARS) proteins, ANGUSTIFOLIA, may be a regulator of both the microtubule-based cytoskeleton and a transcriptional regulator. Additionally, they describe how actin and myosins may play similar roles in regulating gene expression in the nucleus of mammalian cells.
Accuracy and uniqueness of three in vivo measurements of atherosclerotic carotid plaque morphology with black blood MRI

High‐resolution MRI provides unique information about morphology of atherosclerotic carotid plaque. In this study, the accuracy and precision of measurements of carotid plaque burden and lumen narrowing were determined for in vivo black blood MRI assessment with respect to ex vivo MRI in a group of 37 atherosclerosis patients who underwent carotid endarterectomy (CEA). Three different plaque measures were compared between paired in vivo and ex vivo MR images: maximum wall area (MWA), minimum lumen area (mLA), and wall volume (WV). MWA and WV are measures of plaque burden, while mLA is a measure of lumen narrowing. The matched in vivo and ex vivo measurements showed good agreement (the correlation coefficients for in/ex vivo WV, MWA, and mLA were 0.92, 0.91, 0.90, respectively) with predictable bias. This study indicates that in vivo black blood MRI can be used to directly estimate the morphology of the plaque. Comparison of the three plaque measures showed that mLA and MWA or WV provide different information regarding the atherosclerotic lesions (the correlation coefficients between mLA and MWA or WV were less than 0.3). Black blood MRI technique is a potentially powerful clinical tool to characterize the severity of atherosclerotic plaque. It can provide accurate measurements on different aspects of the plaque, from plaque burden to lumen narrowing. Magn Reson Med 50:75–82, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Phenotypic diversity and ecosystem functioning in changing environments: A theoretical framework

Biodiversity plays a vital role for ecosystem functioning in a changing environment. Yet theoretical approaches that incorporate diversity into classical ecosystem theory do not provide a general dynamic theory based on mechanistic principles. In this paper, we suggest that approaches developed for quantitative genetics can be extended to ecosystem functioning by modeling the means and variances of phenotypes within a group of species. We present a framework that suggests that phenotypic variance within functional groups is linearly related to their ability to respond to environmental changes. As a result, the long-term productivity for a group of species with high phenotypic variance may be higher than for the best single species, even though high phenotypic variance decreases productivity in the short term, because suboptimal species are present. In addition, we find that in the case of accelerating environmental change, species succession in a changing environment may become discontinuous. Our work suggests that this phenomenon is related to diversity as well as to the environmental disturbance regime, both of which are affected by anthropogenic activities. By introducing new techniques for modeling the aggregate behavior of groups of species, the present approach may provide a new avenue for ecosystem analysis.
Performance aspiration, industrial search and R&D investment among chinese firms: Distinguishing isomorphism and differentiation rationales

Purpose This paper aims to examine the behavioral determinants of firm research and development (R&D) investment in China by looking into the interaction between performance aspiration and industrial search. Design/methodology/approach The author argues that the performance aspiration effect is strengthened in R&D-intensive industries based on the isomorphism rationale, whereas it is weakened by high industry R&D intensity owing to the differentiation rationale. Deriving from the isomorphism and differentiation rationales, the author developed a set of competitive hypotheses and empirically tested them by using a large panel data of 6,539 company-years from China for the period 2001-2003. Findings First, R&D intensity is positively related to the deviation of firm performance from aspiration. Second, industry R&D intensity negatively moderates the relationship between performance aspiration and firm R&D intensity for firms performing above aspiration. Therefore, the results provide support for the differentiation rationale. Originality/value The study contributes to the ongoing research that provides and tests the behavioral explanations for R&D and innovation. By delving into the moderating role of industry R&D intensity, the author advocate the need for contextualizing performance aspiration in industrial environments. The study informs policymakers and business leaders about the interaction between the external environment and internal decision process in R&D investment decision.
[Pleiotropic effect of the micronized fenofibrate: the reduction of plasma chlamydia pneumoniae antibody levels in patients with coronary artery disease].

INTRODUCTION A growing amount of data suggest that atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease and in it's development Chlamydia pneumoniae infection may contribute. Recent studies have shown that administration of micronized fenofibrate reduces the plasma levels of several markers of the inflammatory response. AIM The aim of the authors was to evaluate the effect of micronized fenofibrate on the lipids and Chlamydia pneumoniae antibody levels of 20 patients with coronary artery disease. METHODS The plasma total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, lipoprotein (a), ApoA1, ApoB, fibrinogen and Chlamydia Ig A, IgG and IgM antibody concentrations were examined. The patients were on strict lipid lowering diet and were treated by daily 200 mg micronized fenofibrate for 3 weeks. RESULTS A significant reduction of the total cholesterol (18.3%), LDL cholesterol (17.7%), triglyceride (37.8%), ApoB (18.4%), fibrinogen (16.1%) levels was observed. The concentration of HDL cholesterol (17.0%) and ApoA1 (12.2%) showed a significant elevation. The Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM antibody (characterizing the acute infections) was not detectable. The IgA antibody level decreased from 13.0 EIU to 12.3 EIU (p < 0.05) and IgG from 85.1 EIU to 78.7 EIU (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS Beside the expected lipid lowering effect of the micronized fenofibrate a significant reduction in the plasma Chlamydia pneumoniae IgA and IgG antibody levels was observed supporting the anti-inflammatory, pleiotropic effect of this drug.
Emission Taxation, Green Innovations and Inverted-U Aggregate R&D Efforts in a Linear State Oligopoly Game

We revisit the well known differential Cournot game with polluting emissions dating back to Benchekroun and Long (1998), proposing a version of the model in which environmental taxation is levied on emissions rather than the environmental damage. This allows to attain strong time consistency under open-loop information, and yields two main results which can be summarized as follows: (i) to attain a fully green technology in steady state, the regulator may equivalently adopt an appropriate tax rate (for any given number of firms) or regulate market access (for any given tax rate); (ii) if the environmental damage depends on emissions only (i.e., not on industry output) then the aggregate green R&D effort takes an inverted-U shape, in accordance with Aghion et al. (2005), and the industry structure maximising aggregate green innovation also minimises individual and aggregate emissions.
Study on the detection performance of UWB bio-radar with segmented time window

To improve the life detection accuracy of UWB bi-radar in ruin scene, the paper put forward a layering detection approach based on segmented time window to achieve the goal. Firstly, a bio-radar hardware which can accomplish the layering detection function was implemented. Besides that, to eliminate the influence of individual difference, a frequency and displacement quantitatively adjustable system was established to serve as the standard detection target. Then, free space experiment was conducted to analyze the detection performance of layering detection bio-radar. At last, on-site ruin environment experiment was carried out to verify the detection performance improvement of the layering detection platform. The life-rescuing UWB bio-radar we implemented in the paper is capable of freely choosing the time window to carry out piecewise layering detection. And it is superior to the original detection system in terms of detection accuracy, which can be used for post-disaster relief operations in complex ruin environment.
The electoral budget cycle on municipal waste collection expenditure

ABSTRACT This article analyses the determinants of municipal waste collection expenditure, specifically the effects of electoral cycles on municipal waste collection expenditure. We use a database with information on Spanish municipalities with more than 1000 inhabitants for the period 2002–2011. Our results reveal that incumbents adopt an opportunistic behaviour, increasing spending on waste in the preelection year and reducing it in the election and post-election years. Therefore, we confirm an electoral budget cycle on waste collection expenditures in Spain. Additionally, we find that the levels of income, unemployment and upper-level governments’ transfers have a positive impact on waste collection spending. Finally, population density, level of urbanization, average age of the population of the municipality and less fragmented governments negatively influence waste collection spending.
Design of low complexity variable digital filter with large cutoff frequency range based on second order frequency transformation and interpolation

This paper presents the design of low complexity variable digital filter with large cutoff frequency range based on the second order frequency transformations and interpolation technique. It provides tunable lowpass as well as bandpass responses, making it suitable for applications such as cognitive radios which need to support multiple communication standards on a single mobile terminal. The design example of the proposed interpolated second order frequency transformation based filter (ISFT filter) has the wide cutoff frequency range of 0. 0523π to 0. 9477π. For this cutoff frequency range, ISFT filter offers 12.5% reduction in the number of multiplications over the fast filter bank based filter for approximately the same gate-count, and 39.3% and 30% reduction in the number of multiplications and gate-count respectively over the spectral parameter approximation based filter.
SERUM CYTOKINE DIFFERENCES IN SEVERELY BURNED CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT SEPSIS

The aim was to determine whether serum cytokine profiling early after burn can be used to identify patients at high risk of developing and subsequently dying of sepsis. A case series study was designed to determine whether serum cytokine profiling allows identification of patients at highest risk of developing and dying of sepsis at the time of hospital admission. All patients were treated according to the standard of burn care at our facility. Forty-four children (1-19 years old) with more than 40% of total body surface area and admitted within 7 days postburn were studied. None had infections or sepsis at the time of admission. Serum was collected before the first operation, and concentrations of 17 cytokines were measured. Diagnosis of sepsis was made at autopsy with identification of the pathogen. Fifteen patients developed sepsis and died, whereas 29 patients did not develop sepsis and survived. Significant elevations in serum interleukin (IL) 6, IL-8, IL-10, granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor, interferon &ggr; (IFN-&ggr;), tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and IL-12 p70 were found at the time of admission of patients who subsequently developed and died of sepsis when compared with burned patients who did not develop sepsis (P < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that patients with a combination of elevated IL-6 and IL-12 p70 and lower TNF had an elevated risk of dying of sepsis. Serum IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor, IFN-&ggr;, TNF, and IL-12 p70 are expressed differently in patients who die of sepsis versus those who never become septic. In addition, serum IL-6, IL-12 p70, and TNF can be used to identify burned patients who are at high risk of death from sepsis.
Developmental Regulation of a Novel Outwardly Rectifying Mechanosensitive Anion Channel in Caenorhabditis elegans *

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegansoffers unique experimental advantages for defining the molecular basis of anion channel function and regulation. However, the relative inaccessibility of somatic cells in adult animals greatly limits direct electrophysiological studies of channel activity. We developed methods to routinely isolate and patch clamp C. elegans embryo cells and oocytes and to culture and patch clamp neurons and muscle cells. Dissociated embryonic cells express a robust outwardly rectifying anion current that is activated by membrane stretch and depolarization. This current, termedI Cl,mec, is inhibited by anion and mechanosensitive channel inhibitors. I Cl,mechas broad anion selectivity and the channel has a unitary conductance of 5–7 picosiemens. I Cl,mec is not detectable in whole-cell or isolated patch recordings from oocytes, cultured muscle cells, and cultured neurons but is expressed in single cell and later embryos. Channel density is high, and the current is observed in >80% of membrane patches. Macroscopic currents of 40–120 pA at +100 mV are typically observed in inside-out membrane patches formed using low resistance patch pipettes. Isolated membrane patches of early embryonic cells therefore contain 60–200I Cl,mec channels. The apparent activation ofI Cl,mec shortly after fertilization and its down-regulation in terminally differentiated cells suggests that the channel may play important roles in embryogenesis and/or cytokinesis.
The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T polymorphism and breast cancer risk in Asian populations.

BACKGROUND Methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHFR) is the key enzyme of the folate metabolic pathway and several studies have pointed to association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and breast cancer risk. Although significant association was observed in some studies, in others no clear link could be established. OBJECTIVE A meta-analysis of published Asian case control studies was therefor carried out to shed further light on any C677T breast cancer association. MATERIALS AND METHODS PubMed, Springer Link, Google Scholar and Elsevier databases were searched for case control studies of associations between MTHFR C677T polymorphism and breast cancer risk. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to assess the association. A total of 36 studies including 8,040 cases and 10,008 controls were included in the present meta-analysis. RESULTS Overall, a significantly elevated breast cancer risk was associated with the T allele and TT genotype in homozygote comparison and dominant genetic models when all studies were pooled into the meta-analysis (T vs C (allele contrast model): OR=1,23, 95%CI=1.13-1.37, p=0.000 ; TT vs CC(homozygote model): OR=1.38, 95%CI=1.16-1.63, p=0.0003; TT+CT vs CC (dominant model): OR=1.12, 95%CI=1.01-1.23, p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS The present meta-analysis strongly suggested a significant association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and risk of breast cancer in Asian populations.
Dynamic CGE model of the Chinese economy for fiscal and financial policy analysis

China is to become the largest economy in the world by 2020 according to the IMF forecasts. Annual growth rates of output remained around 9.3 percent on average during 1980 to 2015. It was made possible by the accumulation capital with steady flows of investment on average around 49.5 percent of GDP, increase in the human capital index from 1.8 to 2.6 in the country that has the largest population among all countries. Current account surplus stood around 3.4 percent of GDP. Such growth rates were possible due to macroeconomic stability. Market friendly growth strategy however has led to a sharp increase in the income and consumption inequality. Inequality is deeper in the rural areas than in the urban areas. A representative household in the richest quintile earns eight times more than an average household in poorest quintile. This is five times more in urban areas. The Gini coefficient was around 0.48. By this measure China has become the most unequal economy in the world. Similar disparities remain across provinces of China; per capita income of Tianjin was 99,600 Yuan compared to 22,921 Yuan of Guizhou. Chinese government has used public spending to create economic infrastructure and public services. The share of public spending and revenue has reached around 30 percent of GDP in China in recent years. Share of local government has risen steadily over years from 53 percent to 86 percent in 2013. Efficiency in the local governance thus is essential for correcting economic and social problems in China. VAT, corporation tax, business tax, consumption tax and income tax and tariffs are important sources of revenue. In 2013, these contributed to 26, 20, 16, 7, 6 and 2 percents of total revenue respectively. Compared to advance countries Chinese tax system still seems very regressive as the income tax contributes to the very small proportion of the total revenue. It is welcome to see that the share of VAT decreased from 36 to 26 percent and tax in corporate income tax rose from eight to 20 percent but the very low income tax that accounts about 6 percent of total revenue, has caused income inequality to deteriorate. The adverse consequences of tax composition are to some extent mitigated by a more reasonable structure of public spending. Education, social safety, agriculture, public services, community, transport and health had 18, 12, 11, 11, 10 seven and 7 percent of public spending respectively.
Technological Thinking: A Teaching Challenge

We present a 90 minute, experiential workshop. The central theme will be the challenge “How can technological thinking be taught without technology? ” We believe that answering this question can play a critical role in education and in curriculum development. For instance, a clear idea of the attitudes and skills required for the successful use of technology allows technological thinking to be targeted in any class of a curriculum, and even with students who have not yet been exposed to technology in a significant way. We will look at components of technological thinking through a series of activites, all of which themselves require no technology. Our goal with these activities will be to stimulate an understanding of the mind’s thinking processes and of the creative ways that ideas can be connected. Participants will leave with new insights and theories for supporting technological thinking across a curriculum, irrespective of resource or funding constraints. In addition, participants will be encouraged to share and discuss particular problems they have encountered with technological thinking in education, which we will then consider in the light of the ideas presented during the workshop.
Biomechanical Comparison of Anatomic Double-Bundle, Anatomic Single-Bundle, and Nonanatomic Single-Bundle Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstructions

Background: Although both anatomic double-bundle and single-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction procedures are in use, it remains controversial whether the anatomic double-bundle procedure is biomechanically superior. Hypothesis: The anatomic double-bundle procedure would be better than both laterally placed anatomic and nonanatomic transtibial single-bundle procedures at restoring to normal the tibial anterior translation, internal rotation, and pivot-shift instability. It was also hypothesized that tibial internal rotation would be closer to normal after laterally placed anatomic single-bundle reconstruction than after the nonanatomic reconstruction. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Eight cadaveric knees were mounted in a 6 degrees of freedom rig and tested using the following loading conditions: 90-N anterior and posterior tibial forces, 5-N·m internal and external tibial rotation torques, and a simulated pivot-shift test. Tibiofemoral kinematics during the flexion-extension cycle were recorded with an optical tracking system for (1) intact, (2) anterior cruciate ligament–deficient knee, (3) anatomic double-bundle reconstruction, (4) nonanatomic single-bundle reconstruction, and (5) laterally placed single-bundle reconstruction. Results: Rotational laxity with internal tibial torque and anterior laxity in the simulated pivot shift were significantly less in the double-bundle reconstruction and laterally placed single-bundle reconstruction compared with the nonanatomic single-bundle reconstruction. There were no significant differences between the 3 procedures when anterior and posterior tibial translation forces and external rotation torques were applied. In addition, there were no significant differences between the double-bundle reconstruction and laterally placed single-bundle reconstruction. Conclusion: The postoperative rotational and pivot-shift laxity after anatomic double-bundle anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction was significantly better than that after nonanatomic single-bundle reconstruction. However, there were no significant differences between the double-bundle reconstruction and laterally placed single-bundle reconstruction. Clinical Relevance: This work suggests that a single-bundle reconstruction may be better able to control both knee laxity and pivot-shift instability if the femoral tunnel is moved to a more lateral position and that then the double-bundle reconstruction may not offer significant further advantages.
Type 2 diabetes in hepatitis C-related mixed cryoglobulinaemia patients.

OBJECTIVES Mixed cryoglobulinaemia (MC) is a systemic vasculitis frequently associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. A possible link between HCV infection and type 2 diabetes has been suggested. This study evaluated the prevalence and clinical phenotype of diabetes in MC-HCV+ patients. METHODS Two hundred and twenty-nine consecutively recruited MC-HCV+ patients were compared with 217 sex- and age-matched controls without HCV infection. RESULTS The prevalence of type 2 diabetes was significantly higher in MC-HCV+ patients than in controls (14.4 vs 6.9%, P < 0.01). Diabetic MC-HCV+ patients were leaner than diabetic patients without MC-HCV (P < 0.0001), and showed significantly lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (P < 0.001) and lower systolic (P = 0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.005). MC-HCV+ diabetic patients had non-organ-specific autoantibodies more frequently (34 vs 18%, P = 0.032) than non-diabetic MC-HCV+ patients. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is higher in patients with MC-HCV than in controls. Diabetic MC-HCV+ patients show an attenuated diabetic phenotype and are more likely to carry non-organ-specific autoantibodies.