Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parental corporal punishment in relation to children’s executive function and externalizing behavior problems in China

ABSTRACT The current study examined the relationship among paternal and maternal corporal punishment (CP), children’s executive function (EF), and children’s externalizing behavior problems. In total, 328 Chinese preschool-aged children and their parents and teachers participated. Paternal and maternal CP was assessed by father-reports and by mother-reports, respectively. Children’s EF was assessed by the Executive Function Touch program. Children’s externalizing behavior problems were assessed by mother-reports and by teacher-reports. The results of structural equation modeling generally supported working memory as a mediator linking paternal CP and children’s externalizing behaviors and inhibitory control as a mediator linking maternal CP and children’s externalizing behaviors. No differences by children’s gender were found. The current findings highlight the importance of EF in behavioral outcomes of children who experience parental CP.
Nouvelles fonctions de la protéine E2F1 dans le contrôle de l'épissage des transcrits : implication dans la carcinogénèse bronchique

La proteine E2F-1 est un facteur de transcription qui participe au controle de la proliferation cellulaire en stimulant le passage des cellules en phase S du cycle cellulaire et est aussi capable d'induire l'apoptose. Ayant prealablement decrit son profil d'expression differentielle dans les tumeurs bronchiques, nous avons etudie son role potentiel dans ces tumeurs. L'epissage alternatif des pre-ARNm joue un role important dans la regulation de l'apoptose et les proteines de la famille SR sont des regulateurs principaux des evenements de l'epissage alternatif et constitutif. Actuellement tres peu de donnees existent concernant leurs activateurs en amont ainsi que leurs genes cibles impliques au cours du processus apoptotique. Dans ce travail, nous avons identifie la proteine SC35, un membre de la famille des proteines SR, comme une cible transcriptionnelle directe de E2F1. Nous avons montre que les deux proteines interagissent et cooperent pour induire l'apoptose, notamment en reponse aux agents genotoxiques, en modifiant les patrons d'epissage de certains genes apoptotiques dont Bcl-x, ou caspase-9, en faveur des transcrits codant pour les isoformes pro-apoptotiques. Ces resultats demontrent la capacite de E2F1 a reguler les profils d'epissage de transcrits controlant l'apoptose via la proteine SC35. Finalement, nous avons obtenu des resultats impliquant SC35 dans le controle des fonctions transactivatrices de E2F1 au niveau de genes controlant la division cellulaire, et notamment la synthese d'ADN. La proteine VEGF-A existe sous la forme de multiples isoformes proteiques resultant de l'epissage alternatif de son ARNm pre-messager et denommees de facon generique VEGFxxx (formes pro-angiogeniques) et VEGFxxxb (formes anti-angiogeniques). L'expression des differentes isoformes de VEGF-A est fortement deregulee dans les tumeurs. Dans un deuxieme axe de ce travail, nous avons montre que E2F1 reprime l'activite du promoteur du VEGF-A dans nos lignees depourvues de p53 fonctionnelle et dans des conditions normoxiques. De plus, nous avons montre que E2F1 n'affecte pas negativement le niveau d'expression des isoformes VEGFxxxb suggerant que E2F1 stimule l'inclusion de l'exon 8b du VEGF-A par un mecanisme restant a identifier. Nos resultats montrent qu'E2F1 affecte la balance des isoformes du VEGFA en faveur de ses formes anti-angiogeniques et suggerent que le facteur d'epissage SC35 contribue a ces effets. Nos travaux ouvrent des perspectives quand aux consequences biologiques de la deregulation de l'expression de E2F1 dans les cancers bronchiques via une modification des facteurs d'epissage et un role de E2F1 dans le processus de neoangiogenese.
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion and Distinct Myeloid Developmental Abnormalities in a Murine Model of the AML1-ETO Translocation

ABSTRACT The t(8;21)(q22;q22) translocation, which fuses the ETO gene on human chromosome 8 with the AML1 gene on chromosome 21 (AML1-ETO), is one of the most frequent cytogenetic abnormalities associated with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). It is seen in approximately 12 to 15% of AML cases and is present in about 40% of AML cases with a French-American-British classified M2 phenotype. We have generated a murine model of the t(8;21) translocation by retroviral expression of AML1-ETO in purified hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Animals reconstituted with AML1-ETO-expressing cells recapitulate the hematopoietic developmental abnormalities seen in the bone marrow of human patients with the t(8;21) translocation. Primitive myeloblasts were increased to approximately 10% of bone marrow by 10 months posttransplant. Consistent with this observation was a 50-fold increase in myeloid colony-forming cells in vitro. Accumulation of late-stage metamyelocytes was also observed in bone marrow along with an increase in immature eosinophilic myelocytes that showed abnormal basophilic granulation. HSC numbers in the bone marrow of 10-month-posttransplant animals were 29-fold greater than in transplant-matched control mice, suggesting that AML1-ETO expression overrides the normal genetic control of HSC pool size. In summary, AMLI-ETO-expressing animals recapitulate many (and perhaps all) of the developmental abnormalities seen in human patients with the t(8;21) translocation, although the animals do not develop leukemia or disseminated disease in peripheral tissues like the liver or spleen. This suggests that the principal contribution of AML1-ETO to acute myeloid leukemia is the inhibition of multiple developmental pathways.
The importance of patient preferences in treatment decisions—challenges for doctors

The expectation that patients will become increasingly involved in making treatment decisions poses new challenges for doctors. This article discusses what these are and how doctors might face them Health professionals are increasingly encouraged to involve patients in treatment decisions, recognising patients as experts with a unique knowledge of their own health and their preferences for treatments, health states, and outcomes.1 2 Increased patient involvement, a result of various sociopolitical changes,w1 is an important part of quality improvement since it has been associated with improved health outcomes3 w1-w9 and enables doctors to be more accountable to the public. However, this poses challenges for doctors. We discuss these in relation to the competences for shared decision making that have been proposed.4 w10 We made literature searches using Medline, Web of Science, PsychINFO, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, and HMIC (key words “consumer participation,” “patient participation,” “decision making,” “patient preferences,” “shared decision making,” “patient involvement in decision making”). We also searched references of articles, indexes of key journals, important texts about patient involvement, and key reviews. We conducted informal interviews with doctors from a range of specialties (general practice, orthopaedics, stroke medicine, accident and emergency, and vascular surgery) and recorded their opinions to provide a focus to this discussion (quotes in italics). For patients' views about treatment options to be valued and necessary, there must be a partnership between doctor and patient, but establishing one requires both time and certain skills. “There's not enough time”— The pressure of time is a perpetual challenge; doctors are particularly concerned about the implications of informing patients without allowing extra time for this.5 However, involving patients more in treatment decisions may have no significant effect on consultation length3: adequate discussion at an early stage may allow more succinct discussion later …
Using basis functions in iterative learning control: analysis and design theory

In this article, we discuss iterative learning control (ILC) for systems with input/output (i/o) basis functions. First, we show that various different ILC formulations in the literature can be captured by a common system representation involving i/o basis functions. Analysis of ILC control objectives in this framework yields ILC controller conditions which are required for convergence and optimal performance. Furthermore, analysis reveals how different ILC objectives (monotonic convergence, performance, minimisation of input amplitudes) can be reached by designing separate parts of the ILC controller. The analysis is subsequently expanded by studying the effects of trial-varying disturbances on performance, which results in suggestions for the compensation of these effects. Finally, we use these results to systematically design ILC controllers for the representation under study, and we show that the found results are applicable to existing ILC problem formulations with i/o basis functions, and problem formulations which can be interpreted as such.
Assembly of GABAA receptors (Review)

GABAA receptors are the major inhibitory transmitter receptors in the central nervous system. They are chloride ion channels that can be opened by γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and are the targets of action of a variety of pharmacologically and clinically important drugs. GABAA receptors are composed of five subunits that can belong to different subunit classes. The existence of 19 different subunits gives rise to the formation of a large variety of distinct GABAA receptor subtypes in the brain. The majority of GABAA receptors seems to be composed of two α, two β and one γ subunit and the occurrence of a defined subunit stoichiometry and arrangement in αβγ receptors strongly indicates that assembly of GABAA receptors proceeds via defined pathways. Based on the differential ability of subunits to interact with each other, a variety of studies have been performed to identify amino acid sequences or residues important for assembly. Such residues might be involved in direct protein-protein interactions, or in stabilizing direct contact sites in other regions of the subunit. Several homo-oligomeric or hetero-oligomeric assembly intermediates could be the starting point of GABAA receptor assembly but so far no unequivocal assembly mechanism has been identified. Possible mechanisms of assembly of GABAA receptors are discussed in the light of recent publications.
String Correction for Text Streams using Associative Memories

In this work a Content Addressable Memory (CAM) is used for verifying string errors in a text as well as giving the more probable correcting options. First, each word of the text is confronted with a memorized dictionary by a trie structure algorithm. This type of algorithm permits the verification of the existence of a test word in the dictionary in the fastest scanning way. If the tested word is contained in the dictionary, the system retrieves the same word as an accepted string, otherwise the associative memory routine runs to find the closest options that better match the tested word and give them in a probabilistic order. The text data used for training and testing was taken from daily articles of the Washington Post newspaper.
Characterization of Flagellum Gene Families of Methanogenic Archaea and Localization of Novel Flagellum Accessory Proteins

ABSTRACT Archaeal flagella are unique motility structures, and the absence of bacterial structural motility genes in the complete genome sequences of flagellated archaeal species suggests that archaeal flagellar biogenesis is likely mediated by novel components. In this study, a conserved flagellar gene family from each of Methanococcus voltae, Methanococcus maripaludis,Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus, andMethanococcus jannaschii has been characterized. These species possess multiple flagellin genes followed immediately by eight known and supposed flagellar accessory genes,flaCDEFGHIJ. Sequence analyses identified a conserved Walker box A motif in the putative nucleotide binding proteins FlaH and FlaI that may be involved in energy production for flagellin secretion or assembly. Northern blotting studies demonstrated that all the species have abundant polycistronic mRNAs corresponding to some of the structural flagellin genes, and in some cases several flagellar accessory genes were shown to be cotranscribed with the flagellin genes. Cloned flagellar accessory genes of M. voltaewere successfully overexpressed as His-tagged proteins inEscherichia coli. These recombinant flagellar accessory proteins were affinity purified and used as antigens to raise polyclonal antibodies for localization studies. Immunoblotting of fractionated M. voltae cells demonstrated that FlaC, FlaD, FlaE, FlaH, and FlaI are all present in the cell as membrane-associated proteins but are not major components of isolated flagellar filaments. Interestingly, flaD was found to encode two proteins, each translated from a separate ribosome binding site. These protein expression data indicate for the first time that the putative flagellar accessory genes of M. voltae, and likely those of other archaeal species, do encode proteins that can be detected in the cell.
Myocardin Sumoylation Transactivates Cardiogenic Genes in Pluripotent 10T1/2 Fibroblasts

ABSTRACT Myocardin, a serum response factor (SRF)-dependent cofactor, is a potent activator of smooth muscle gene activity but a poor activator of cardiogenic genes in pluripotent 10T1/2 fibroblasts. Posttranslational modification of GATA4, another myocardin cofactor, by sumoylation strongly activated cardiogenic gene activity. Here, we found that myocardin's activity was strongly enhanced by SUMO-1 via modification of a lysine residue primarily located at position 445 and that the conversion of this residue to arginine (K445R) impaired myocardin transactivation. PIAS1 was involved in governing myocardin activity via its E3 ligase activity that stimulated myocardin sumoylation on an atypical sumoylation site(s) and by its physical association with myocardin. Myocardin initiated the expression of cardiac muscle-specified genes, such as those encoding cardiac α-actin and α-myosin heavy chain, in an SRF-dependent manner in 10T1/2 fibroblasts, but only in the presence of coexpressed SUMO-1/PIAS1. Thus, SUMO modification acted as a molecular switch to promote myocardin's role in cardiogenic gene expression.
Elective induction of labour increases caesarean section rate in low risk multiparous women

The aim of this study was to compare the risk of secondary caesarean section in induced versus spontaneous labour in the second delivery of low risk women who had a vaginal delivery in their first pregnancy. The data were retrospective cohort from an existing regional database, comparing term (between 37 and 42 gestational weeks) second deliveries in cephalic position in women who had previously given vaginal birth. Diabetes, hypertension and multiple pregnancy were excluded as were those with a birth weight less than 2500 g or more than 4500 g. The difference was not significant when induction was performed after 41 weeks. The results showed a total number of 29693 deliveries were included, 21243 in spontaneous labour and 8450 after induction of labour. In the spontaneous group 312 (1.5%) underwent secondary caesarean section, as compared to 237 (2.8%) in the induced group, p < 0.001, OR 1.93 (95% confidence interval 1.63–2.29). It was concluded that elective induction of labour in low risk women who have previously given vaginal birth is associated with an almost doubled rate of secondary caesarean section if performed before 41 weeks.
Long-Term Retail Energy Forecasting With Consideration of Residential Customer Attrition

Deregulation of the electric power industry has created both wholesale markets and retail markets. Most load forecasting studies in the literature are on the wholesale side. Minimal research efforts have been devoted to tackling the challenges on the retail side, such as limited data history and high customer attrition rate. This paper proposes a comprehensive solution to long-term retail energy forecasting in order to feed the forecasts to a conservative trading strategy. We dissect the problem into two sub-problems: 1) load per customer forecasting; and 2) tenured customer forecasting. Regression analysis and survival analysis are applied to each sub-problem respectively. The proposed methodology has been implemented at a fast growing retailer in the U.S., showing superior performance in terms of mean absolute percentage error of hourly demand and daily and monthly energy over a common industry practice that assumes constant customer attrition rate.
Genome Sequence and Global Gene Expression of Q54, a New Phage Species Linking the 936 and c2 Phage Species of Lactococcus lactis

ABSTRACT The lytic lactococcal phage Q54 was previously isolated from a failed sour cream production. Its complete genomic sequence (26,537 bp) is reported here, and the analysis indicated that it represents a new Lactococcus lactis phage species. A striking feature of phage Q54 is the low level of similarity of its proteome (47 open reading frames) with proteins in databases. A global gene expression study confirmed the presence of two early gene modules in Q54. The unusual configuration of these modules, combined with results of comparative analysis with other lactococcal phage genomes, suggests that one of these modules was acquired through recombination events between c2- and 936-like phages. Proteolytic cleavage and cross-linking of the major capsid protein were demonstrated through structural protein analyses. A programmed translational frameshift between the major tail protein (MTP) and the receptor-binding protein (RBP) was also discovered. A “shifty stop” signal followed by putative secondary structures is likely involved in frameshifting. To our knowledge, this is only the second report of translational frameshifting (+1) in double-stranded DNA bacteriophages and the first case of translational coupling between an MTP and an RBP. Thus, phage Q54 represents a fascinating member of a new species with unusual characteristics that brings new insights into lactococcal phage evolution.
Blood Pressure Responsiveness to the Cold Pressor Test in Normotensive Young Adults

BACKGROUND: Early detection of proneness to hypertension may help an individual to lead a healthy life by altering the lifestyle. Individuals having the predisposing factors of hypertension tend to show higher and prolonged responsiveness to blood pressure following stress. With this hypothesis, in present study an attempt has been made to explore the cardiovascular reactivity to stress (cold stress) and the recovery time after the withdrawal of the stressor in normotensive young adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group comprised of asymptomatic normotensive participants (18-25 years) of either sex (n=50). These individuals were selected based on a positive family history of hypertension (either or both parents). The control group was comprised of similar group of individuals (n=50) but with no history of hypertension in the family. The cold pressor test was carried out. The changes in blood pressure among the participants of the hypertensive and normotensive families were compared using Student‟s t-test. RESULTS: The present study has shown that the increase in the response of the blood pressure profile is more in participants with positive family history of hypertension compared to participants with negative family history of hypertension. Recovery to the baseline after cold pressor test also was slow amongst the positive family history groups compared to participants with negative family history of hypertension. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that a state of hyper-responsiveness may precede essential hypertension and that the cold pressor test could be useful as a predictor of future hypertension in a young study population. The cold pressor tests may thus identify a subgroup of individuals with an occult physiological abnormality that predisposes them to hypertension decades later.
Genetically modified bone marrow‐derived dendritic cells expressing tumor‐associated viral or “self” antigens induce antitumor immunity in vivo

The clinical application of synthetic tumor peptide‐based vaccines is currently limited to patients with specified major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I alleles. Such logistic limitations may be overcome using tumor gene‐based approaches. Here we describe the effective generation of dendritic cells (DC) expressing tumor peptide‐MHC complexes as a result of particle‐mediated transfer of genes encoding tumor‐associated antigens (TAA). Bone marrow‐derived DC were transfected with plasmid DNA encoding the tumor‐associated viral antigen E7 derived from human papilloma virus (HPV) 16. When applied as a vaccine, these genetically modified DC induced antigen‐specific CD8+ cyto‐toxic T lymphocytes (CTL) in vivo and promoted the rejection of a subsequent, normally lethal challenge with an HPV 16‐transformed tumor cell line. Of greatest interest, immunization of mice with syngeneic DC genetically modified to enhance their presentation of a constitutive “self” epitope derived from the tumor‐suppressor gene product p53 caused a significant reduction in the in vivo growth of a chemically induced p53‐positive sarcoma. These results suggest that cancer vaccines consisting of DC genetically modified to express TAA of viral or “self” origin effectively induce antitumor immunity in vivo.
Rol del mercado de capitales en el crecimiento de la economia: Literatura y evidencia para Argentina

Los modelos economicos que analizan el crecimiento hacen un fuerte hincapie en el efecto positivo de la acumulacion del capital sobre el desarrollo de las economias. Para ello, deben existir mercados de capitales desarrollados que canalicen adecuadamente los ahorros hacia la inversion. Los enfoques de analisis del crecimiento economico mas recientes incorporan en su desarrollo aspectos institucionales y de infraestructura de incentivos a traves de la normativa vigente, relevantes para explicar el desarrollo de los mercados, la acumulacion del capital y -por extension- el crecimiento. Mercados de capitales poco desarrollados, con problemas de informacion y -sobre todo- con baja liquidez, pueden originar menor acumulacion de capital y menor crecimiento economico. Este efecto esta medido en el trabajo, de donde surge que si la liquidez en el mercado de acciones en Argentina fuese equiparable a la media de un conjunto de paises latinoamericanos, la tasa de crecimiento del Producto Bruto podria incrementarse entre un punto y un punto y medio por ano, con el consiguiente efecto en la creacion de empleo, en el aumento de la recaudacion impositiva y en el bienestar de la poblacion. Ello requiere de los incentivos adecuados para la cotizacion publica y la comercializacion de acciones de empresas.
Toxicological Concerns of Engineered Nanosize Drug Delivery Systems

Matters when converted into nanosize provide some unique surface properties, which are different from those of the bulk materials. Nanomaterials show some extraordinary behavioral patterns because of those properties, such as supermagnetism, quantum confinement, etc. A great deal of implication of nanomaterials in nanomedicine has already been realized. Utility of nanomaterials as drug nanocarrier projects many potential advantages of them in drug delivery. Despite many such advantages, the potential risk of health and environmental hazards related to them cannot be ignored. Here various physicochemical factors, such as chemical nature, degradability, surface properties, surface charge, particle size, and shape, have been shown to play a crucial role in toxicity related to drug nanocarriers. Evidence-based findings of some drug nanocarriers have been incorporated to provide distinct knowledge to the readers in the field. A glimpse of current regulatory controls and measures required to combat the challenges of toxicological aspects of drug nanocarriers have been described.