Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trafficking Highways to the Intercalated Disc: New Insights Unlocking the Specificity of Connexin 43 Localization

Abstract With each heartbeat, billions of cardiomyocytes work in concert to propagate the electrical excitation needed to effectively circulate blood. Regulated expression and timely delivery of connexin proteins to form gap junctions at the specialized cell–cell contact region, known as the intercalated disc, is essential to ventricular cardiomyocyte coupling. We focus this review on several regulatory mechanisms that have been recently found to govern the lifecycle of connexin 43 (Cx43), the short-lived and most abundantly expressed connexin in cardiac ventricular muscle. The Cx43 lifecycle begins with gene expression, followed by oligomerization into hexameric channels, and then cytoskeletal-based transport toward the disc region. Once delivered, hemichannels interact with resident disc proteins and are organized to effect intercellular coupling. We highlight recent studies exploring regulation of Cx43 localization to the intercalated disc, with emphasis on alternatively translated Cx43 isoforms and cytoskeletal transport machinery that together regulate Cx43 gap junction coupling between cardiomyocytes.
An Empirical Investigation of Audit Committee Effectiveness and Risk Management: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This study examines the association between audit committee characteristics and the combination of risk management and audit committee activities by industrial Saudi listed firms. Since none of the sample firms has established a stand-alone risk management committee and the functions of monitoring and controlling risk activities are closer to the audit committee than board of directors, this study expects that audit committees with non-executive independent members, more members on the audit committee, financially expert audit committee members and diligence are more likely to combine the risk management and audit committee activities. The study utilizes a cross-sectional analysis of 102 firm-year observations during the 2007-2011 period. A pooled logistic regression analysis is used to estimate the associations proposed in the hypotheses. The study finds that only audit committee size is positively related to the combination of risk management and audit committee activities. This result suggests that the size of the audit committee do indeed proxy for its effectiveness in enhancing the quality of internal control and, thus, monitoring risk management activities. The result of this study contributes to the existing theory and empirical evidence of how the effectiveness of audit committee is related to monitoring and controlling risk management activities. This study offers policy-makers additional evidence to be used for setting up and/or enacting regulations in Saudi Arabia.
Stock Market Liberalization and the Cost of Capital in Emerging Markets

I study how stock market liberalization changes an emerging market's cost of capital. I do so in a Lucas economy with two dividend trees. One dividend tree represents the emerging market's dividends while the other tree represents the dividends paid by all other countries. I solve for equilibrium asset prices in two versions of the economy. In the first version, stock markets are partially liberalized, because the emerging market's residents cannot invest in foreign stock markets. All other agents are unconstrained. In the second version, stock markets are fully liberalized, because there are no investment constraints. I show that moving from partial to full liberalization causes an increase in the emerging market's cost of capital and risk premium, despite better international risk sharing.
Asymmetry in EU & EMU: What impact did the financial crisis have?

This paper aims to show what effect the financial crisis in the period 2008-2009 has had on the existing asymmetry between the northern and southern countries in the EU and the EMU. By using macroeconomic indicators of twenty-seven EU and seventeen EMU countries over the period 1995-2011 we test for an increased asymmetry due to the financial crisis, using the endogenous growth model. Results show that there is a significant difference between the northern and southern groups, therefore asymmetry is evident. The financial crisis 2008-2009 had a negative impact on the GDP per capita in both groups in the EU and EMU, although not significant. We reject the hypothesis of increased asymmetry due to the financial crisis
A Collaborative Approach to Cervical Cancer Screening

Objectives –The main objective of this project was to evaluate a collaborative nurse and general practitioner approach to improve screening for cervical cancer. Design—Multiple group time series design. Setting –Six postal areas in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, chosen as intervention sites because of very low Pap test rates compared with the rest of NSW (fewer than 50% of women screened). Six regions of similar size and with similar baseline screening levels were selected as comparison sites. Subjects—All women selected in the resident postal areas. Interventions –Women's health nurses worked in collaboration with general practitioners within the communities selected from within the Hunter area to prond provide screening for cervical cancer. Main Outcome Measures –Qualitative information on initial expectations and impressions of the collaborative processes were collected at the start of the project period. Process data on client characteristics and Pap test results were obtained from minimum data collections; client satisfaction was assessed from client surveys. Outcome data on the increase in the number of women in each community who were screened for cervical cancer were obtained from Health Insurance Commission claims for screening Pap tests (and from nurses' records where Pap tests were examined under block funding arrangements). Results –This project showed that nurses and general practitioners can collaborate to provide appropriate and highly acceptable cervical cancer screening services for women. Many of the women screened by the nurses were in the high risk age range for cervical cancer (40 years and older) and had only basic education levels, thus representing women who are most likely to have poor screening rates. Further, 33.1% of the women screened had not had a Pap test in the past four years or had never been screened. The number of women having a Pap test during the first six months of the project, compared with the number expected from preintervention patterns, was significantly greater in four intervention areas (P < 0.01). No corresponding increase was seen in comparison areas with similar screening rates at baseline. Conclusions –There is great potential for nurses to work in collaboration with general practitioners to improve the availability and coverage of community cervical cancer screening programmes.
The Sec 1 / Munc 18 Protein Vps 45 Regulates Cellular Levels of Its SNARE Binding Partners Tlg 2 and Snc 2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Intracellular membrane trafficking pathways must be tightly regulated to ensure proper functioning of all eukaryotic cells. Central to membrane trafficking is the formation of specific SNARE (soluble N-ethylmeleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) complexes between proteins on opposing lipid bilayers. The Sec1/Munc18 (SM) family of proteins play an essential role in SNARE-mediated membrane fusion, and like the SNAREs are conserved through evolution from yeast to humans. The SM protein Vps45 is required for the formation of yeast endosomal SNARE complexes and is thus essential for traffic through the endosomal system. Here we report that, in addition to its role in regulating SNARE complex assembly, Vps45 regulates cellular levels of its SNARE binding partners: the syntaxin Tlg2 and the v-SNARE Snc2: Cells lacking Vps45 have reduced cellular levels of Tlg2 and Snc2; and elevation of Vps45 levels results in concomitant increases in the levels of both Tlg2 and Snc2. As well as regulating traffic through the endosomal system, the Snc v-SNAREs are also required for exocytosis. Unlike most vpsmutants, cells lacking Vps45 display multiple growth phenotypes. Here we report that these can be reversed by selectively restoring Snc2 levels in vps45 mutant cells. Our data indicate that as well as functioning as part of the machinery that controls SNARE complex assembly, Vps45 also plays a key role in determining the levels of its cognate SNARE proteins; another key factor in regulation of membrane traffic. Citation: Shanks SG, Carpp LN, Struthers MS, McCann RK, Bryant NJ (2012) The Sec1/Munc18 Protein Vps45 Regulates Cellular Levels of Its SNARE Binding Partners Tlg2 and Snc2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49628. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. 0049628 Editor: Wanjin Hong, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore Received July 12, 2012; Accepted October 11, 2012; Published November 14, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Shanks et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by grants from the BBRSC (to NJB) and The Wellcome Trust (studentship to LNC). NJB is a Prize Fellow of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: nia.bryant@glasgow.ac. uk
An Economic Investigation of Corruption and Electricity Theft

Theft and corruption are common in electricity distribution systems worldwide. We have analysed electricity theft in the framework of an individual’s choice under uncertainty and through a three-layered principalagent- client model of corruption. The study finds that an individual steals electricity only if the subjective benefits are higher than the associated costs e.g., fine imposed in case of detection or job dismissal. The fair tariffs and efficiency wages along with higher deterrence and active consumer involvement in reporting electricity theft can help in combating corruption and pilferage in electricity sector. Moreover, deterrence through increased probability of detection and conviction are important policy measures.
Natural killer cell–dendritic cell crosstalk in the initiation of immune responses

Dendritic cells (DCs) and natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in early defences against cancer and infections. They specialise in complementary functions, including IL-12 or IFN-α/β secretion and antigen presentation for the former, and IFN-γ secretion and killing of infected or tumour cells for the latter. Both DCs and NK cells are also sensors of the immune system that have developed different, but partially overlapping, systems to identify pathology associated danger signals. Evidence of NK–DC interaction has accumulated recently. This interaction may lead to NK cell activation, DC activation, or apoptosis depending on the activation status of both cell types. Thus, the outcome of NK–DC crosstalk is likely to influence both innate and adaptive immune responses. This review addresses the molecular mechanisms under-lying the different NK–DC interactions, and their in vivo significance in anti-tumour or antimicrobial immunity. Finally, we discuss the potential clinical implications of this new field.
Use of an Immunoglobulin G Avidity Assay Based on Recombinant Antigens for Diagnosis of Primary Toxoplasma gondii Infection during Pregnancy

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to develop an antibody-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) avidity assay to discriminate between acute and latent phases of Toxoplasma gondii infection by using recombinant antigens. One hundred twenty-one serum samples from women who developed IgG antibodies against Toxoplasma during pregnancy were used. The IgG avidities of antibodies directed against epitopes carried by fragments of GRA3, GRA7, MIC3, and SAG1 antigens were measured by performing parallel enzyme immunoassays. The avidity index for Toxoplasma-specific antibodies against a homogeneous mixture of recombinant GRA3, GRA7, MIC3, and SAG1 antigens correlated closely with the IgG avidity of antibodies against lysed whole-cell T. gondii antigen. The avidity assay performed with the recombinant MIC3 antigen highlighted the presence of avidity low-antibodies IgG exclusively in sera collected within 2 months after primary infection. The presence of T. gondii-specific, low-avidity IgG antibodies against recombinant MIC3 antigen can be used to determine the point of infection with T. gondii within a 2-month time frame after infection.
BoD algorithm for TCP and multimedia applications in a DVB-S2/RCS system

With the increasing utilization of multimedia applications and triple play services, multimedia traffic (using TFRC-TCP Friendly Rate Protocol) will be occupying an important portion of Internet in competition with TCP traffic. However, the increasing occupation will be accompanied by complex user's bandwidth requests. In satellite based systems such as DVB-S2/RCS, the management of this resource will be critical. In this work we propose a Bandwidth on Demand (BoD) algorithm based on a cross-layer interaction between the MAC and Transport layers to overcome the BW optimization problem. The algorithm allows to recover the bandwidth that is not being used for any other connection assigning it to the connections that require more resources.
Automated design of virtual worlds for visualizing multivariate relations

Interactive visualization systems provide a powerful means to explore complex data, especially when coupled with 3-D interaction and display devices to produce virtual worlds. While designing a quality static 2-D visualization is already a difficult task for most users, designing an interactive 3-D one is even more challenging. To address this problem, AutoVisual, a research system that designs interactive virtual worlds for visualizing and exploring multivariate relations of arbitrary arity, is being developed. AutoVisual uses worlds within worlds, an interactive visualization technique that exploits nested, heterogeneous coordinate systems to map multiple variables onto each spatial dimension. AutoVisual's designs are guided by user-specified visualization tasks, and by a catalog of design principles encoded using a rule-based language. <<ETX>>
Postprandial activation of p53-dependent DNA repair is modified by Mediterranean diet supplemented with coenzyme Q10 in elderly subjects.

BACKGROUND Alterations in the expression levels of genes and proteins involved in oxidative stress and DNA damage response underlie the phenotypic changes associated with aging. We have investigated whether the quality of dietary fat alters postprandial gene expression and protein levels involved in p53-dependent DNA repair and whether the supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 improves this situation in an elderly population. METHODS Twenty participants were randomized to receive three isocaloric diets each for 4 weeks: Mediterranean diet supplemented with Coenzyme Q10, Mediterranean diet, saturated fatty acid-rich diet. After a 12-hour fast, volunteers consumed a breakfast with a fat composition similar to that consumed in each of the diets. Gadd45a, Gadd45b, OGG1, APE-1/Ref-1, DNApolβ, and XPC gene expression and nuclear Gadd45a, APE-1/Ref-1, and DNApolβ protein levels were determined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS Mediterranean diet and Mediterranean diet supplemented with Coenzyme Q10diets downregulated Gadd45a protein levels compared with the saturated fatty acid-rich diet. Moreover, Mediterranean diet supplemented with Coenzyme Q10diet evoked lower postprandial Gadd45a, Gadd45b, XPC, DNApolβ and OGG1 gene expression and lower APE-1/Ref-1 and DNApolβ protein levels than the saturated fatty acid-rich diet. CONCLUSIONS Our results support a beneficial effect of Mediterranean diet and Mediterranean diet supplemented with Coenzyme Q10 on DNA damage as compared to the detrimental action of a saturated fatty acid-rich diet, which triggers the p53-dependent DNA repair machinery.
Development of gene therapy to target pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Its high propensity to infiltrate and metastasize early from a small primary focus necessitates development of a new therapy which can track down the disseminated cancer cells in vivo. Gene therapy may offer new opportunities for a variety of targeting strategies, and we review here some of our work related to the development of targeted gene therapy: 1) Targeting by specific molecular abnormality: Many pancreatic cancer cells show “addiction” to K‐as mutation, while normal cells appear resistant to suppression of K‐ras‐mediated signaling by antisense K‐ras RNA expression adenoviral vector. 2) Targeting by in vivo tumor characteristics: In a peritoneal dissemination model, intraperitoneal lipofection/polyfection can deliver and express transgenes highly preferentially in tumor nodules. 3) Targeting by vector: An efficient protocol for construction of an adenovirus expression vector library has been developed, which will enable a direct functional selection of fiber knob‐modified targeting vector species for given cells. 4) Targeting by tumor immunity: Several cytokines not only induce direct cytotoxicity, but are also expected to activate specific immunity to achieve targeted suppression of cancer cells in vivo. Unlike parenteral administration of short‐lived recombinant interferon protein, local interferon gene transfer can provide a target tissue‐restricted distribution and sustained expression, which may improve the efficacy/safety balance of cytokine therapy. Cancer gene therapy development is, in general, at the stage of proof of principles and safety. However, it is an art of integrated science. The recent rapid progress of related sciences and technologies will expand the potential and consolidate the clinical reality of gene therapy.
Micro Enterprises : A comparative case study of entrepreneurship in rural India

In the summer of 2009 during field trip in southern India I came in contact with two entrepreneurs who shared their stories of success and hardships with me. I had come visiting them as a part of a summer course in research methodology and I wanted to know more about micro enterprises and entrepreneurship in rural India. I wanted to know what makes certain entrepreneurs more successful than others. This thesis is a comparative case study on the factors of success with an emphasis on rural India. I was looking for a qualitative, holistic explanation to why these enterprises had such differences in success and if this could be explained by applying western entrepreneurship theories in an indigent, rural and for me exotic culture far away from where the theories originated. To do so I used Participatory Rural Appraisal to get to know the micro enterprises and entrepreneurs in depth. After reviewing literature, the factors of success were extracted and incorporated in a model used to analyze whether it could explain the different paths of the enterprises. After having taken part in their fascinating stories about their life and their ventures the conclusion is that predominantly American 20th century entrepreneurship theory also applies to the Indian rural context of today. The successful enterprise analysis did indeed show surprisingly large coherence to what the theories considered skillful entrepreneurship whereas the unsuccessful enterprise did not.
Analisis Pengaruh Kualitas Akrual (Accruals Quality) Terhadap Sinkronitas Harga Saham (Stock Price Synchronicity): Studi Empiris Pada Bursa Efek Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to comprehend whether the quality of earnings in financial report, focused on accruals quality, affects the level of firm-specific information being impounded by the investors in making capital allocation decision, measured by stock price synchronicity. Accruals quality is also decomposes into innate accruals quality component and discretionary accruals quality component and distinguishing their effect on stock price synchronicity. The observations used for this study are 90 firm-years from companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange at agriculture sector, infrastructure, utilities, and transportation sector, basic industry and chemicals sector, and miscellaneous industry sector for the years 2011 and 2012. The results of this study show that accruals quality has significant negative effect on stock price synchronicity. This finding implicate that accruals quality is important factor for investors in impounding more or less firm-specific information in stocks market decision making. The higher (lower) the accruals quality, the more (less) firm-specific information reflected on stock price. This study also finds that the impact of innate accruals quality is more significant than the discretionary accruals quality component.
Autonomous decentralized enterprise model ----A new wave in Web 2.0 type e-commerce in Japan

Internet technology has brought many changes in the society. In the Web 2.0 era, the role of common customers in business has changed largely. Consumers have become more influential on sales or new item development by enterprises through Internet (weblogs dasiablogspsila, forums, personal web pages, wikis, podcasts, social bookmarks, RSS feeds and other forms of many-to-many publishing). In some extent, Web 2.0 facilitates the construction of the autonomous decentralized network ldquooutsiderdquo enterprises. This network is constituted by each autonomous customers and supplier. In this paper, we describe a new wave of organization model ldquoinsiderdquo enterprises. Yumenomachi Souzou Iinkai is one successful enterprise on Internet portal business in Japan. The companypsilas main manner of management is to respect the autonomy of the employees. Most of the current staffs have intention to be independent and initiate their own Internet business company in the future. The CEO, Ms. Nakamura, also has been encouraging their ambitions to grow the company as a virtual cluster of new Internet businesses owned by the current employees. The case indicates a new enterprise model based on an autonomous decentralized organization.
RETAILING WITHOUT FRONTERS

The writer has recently been engaged in a research project addressing the theme of retailing internationalisation. The thrust of the research has been an identification of the extent and geographical orientation of cross‐frontier retailing, and the strategies employed by major retailers to enter and subsequently operate in overseas markets. This paper reviews the recent activities of a number of major retailers, principally from the UK and continental Europe but also from North America, Australia and Scandinavia, to have developed such an international presence. The writer suggests that in considering the location of their overseas interests together with the strategies employed to enter foreign markets, a number of distinct groupings are identifiable. Furthermore, these groupings are, to some extent, indicative of the way in which retailers will pursue their international ambitions in the future. The research presented in this paper was funded by Coopers & Lybrand as part of a joint programme of research into the retail trades being conducted by Coopers & Lybrand and OXIRM.