julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
CURRENCY RISK IN CURRENCY UNIONS
2013-09-01

Sovereign yield spreads within currency unions may reflect the risk of outright default. Yet, if exit from the currency union is possible, spreads may also reflect currency risk. In this paper, we develop a New Keynesian model of a small member country of a currency union, allowing both for default within and exit from the union. Initially, the government runs excessive deficits as a result of which it lacks the resources to service the outstanding debt at given prices. We establish two results. First, the initial policy regime is feasible only if market participants expect a regime change to take place at some point, giving rise to default and currency risk. Second, the macroeconomic implications of both sources of risk differ fundamentally. We also analyze the 2009--2012 Greek crisis, using the model to identify the beliefs of market participants regarding regime change. We find that currency risk accounts for about a quarter of Greek yield spreads.
A Review of “Celebrity Gods: New Religions, Media, and Authority in Occupied Japan”
2013-09-01

Benjamin Dorman's book examines how two ‘celebrity gods’, Nagaoka Nagako alias Jikōson (1903–1984), founder of the new religion Jiu, and Kitamura Sayo (1900–1967), founder of Tenshō Kōtai Jingū Kyō...
Dissociating Number Line Estimations from Underlying Numerical Representations
2013-09-02

Estimation patterns in the number line task are usually interpreted to indicate the (logarithmic or linear) nature of the underlying mental number line. However, indicators of the to-be-achieved linear representation may also be confounded with task requirements or strategies to achieve optimal task performance. In this study, we dissociated correct task performance from indices of a linear representation. Therefore, we designed an experiment in which adults and first graders had to learn number-to-space mappings of nonlinear functions. For adults, we found better fits of the corresponding functions than a linear function after just a few minutes of training. For most first graders, estimation patterns were not fitted better by a logarithmic function when they had to learn a logarithmic layout. Thus, estimation patterns produced in the number line estimation task do not necessarily allow for valid inferences on the underlying representation of number magnitude.
Intraoperative Evaluation of Transmitral Pressure Gradients after Edge-to-Edge Mitral Valve Repair
2013-09-02

Edge-to-edge MV repairs are associated with higher intraoperative peak and mean TMPG after separation from CPB compared to conventional repair techniques. Unless gradients are severely elevated, these findings are not necessarily suggestive of iatrogenic MS. Thus, in the immediate postoperative period mildly elevated TMPG can be expected and tolerated after edge-to-edge mitral repairs.
Conditions for Outperformance of Recombination in Online Evolution of Swarm Robots
2013-09-02

Genetic recombination is commonly used in evolutionary algorithms and yet its benefits are an open question in evolutionary biology. We investigate when recombination is actually beneficial in the evolutionary adaptation of swarm robot behaviour in dynamic environments. In this scenario, artificial evolution has to deal with challenges that are similar to natural evolution: it must run online, distributed and evolve the genome structure. These requirements could diminish the benefit of recombination due to disruptive crossover. Using neural networks as robot controllers, we reduce this disruptiveness with an adaptive mate choice that evolves the probability of recombination and the genetic similarity of mates. In two experiments with a multi-agent simulation, we compare the adaptive performance of this approach with random recombination and pure mutation. Whereas both recombination treatments naturally outperform at low mutation rates, pure mutation achieves its best performance with high rates, where it also outperforms random recombination. The adaptive mate choice, however, achieves the same performance as pure mutation at high rates and outperforms when the network size is increased. We also found that treatments with recombination evolved smaller neural networks with fewer links.
Dipeptides promote folding and peptide binding of MHC class I molecules
2013-09-03

MHC class I molecules bind only those peptides with high affinity that conform to stringent length and sequence requirements. We have now investigated which peptides can aid the in vitro folding of class I molecules, and we find that the dipeptide glycyl-leucine efficiently supports the folding of HLA-A*02:01 and H-2K b into a peptide-receptive conformation that rapidly binds high-affinity peptides. Treatment of cells with glycyl-leucine induces accumulation of peptide-receptive H-2K b and HLA-A*02:01 at the surface of cells. Other dipeptides with a hydrophobic second amino acid show similar enhancement effects. Our data suggest that the dipeptides bind into the F pocket like the C-terminal amino acids of a high-affinity peptide.
Antibody mediated CDCP1 degradation as mode of action for cancer targeted therapy
2013-09-03

CUB‐domain‐containing‐protein‐1 (CDCP1) is an integral membrane protein whose expression is up‐regulated in various cancer types. Although high CDCP1 expression has been correlated with poor prognosis in lung, breast, pancreas, and renal cancer, its functional role in tumor formation or progression is incompletely understood. So far it has remained unclear, whether CDCP1 is a useful target for antibody therapy of cancer and what could be a desired mode of action for a therapeutically useful antibody. To shed light on these questions, we have investigated the cellular effects of a therapeutic antibody candidate (RG7287). In focus formation assays, prolonged RG7287 treatment prevented the loss of contact inhibition caused by co‐transformation of NIH3T3 cells with CDCP1 and Src. In a xenograft study, MCF7 cells stably overexpressing CDCP1 reached the predefined tumor volume faster than the parental MCF7 cells lacking endogenous CDCP1. This tumor growth advantage was abolished by RG7287 treatment. In vitro, RG7287 induced rapid tyrosine phosphorylation of CDCP1 by Src, which was accompanied by translocation of CDCP1 to a Triton X‐100 insoluble fraction of the plasma membrane. Triggering these effects required bivalency of the antibody suggesting that it involves CDCP1 dimerization or clustering. However, this initial activation of CDCP1 was only transient and prolonged RG7287 treatment induced internalization and down‐regulation of CDCP1 in different cancer cell lines. Antibody stimulated CDCP1 degradation required Src activity and was proteasome dependent. Also in three different xenograft models with endogenous CDCP1 expression RG7287 treatment resulted in significant tumor growth inhibition concomitant with substantially reduced CDCP1 levels as judged by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. Thus, despite transiently activating CDCP1 signaling, the RG7287 antibody has a therapeutically useful mode of action.
Predictors of Subsequent Overdrainage and Clinical Outcomes After Ventriculoperitoneal Shunting for Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
2013-09-03

Abstract BACKGROUND: Little is known about variables associated with overdrainage complications and neurofunctional and health-related quality of life outcomes in idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) patients after shunt surgery. OBJECTIVE: To identify candidate demographic and disease-specific predictors of overdrainage and patient-related outcomes, allowing for more personalized care of patients with iNPH. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of the dataset of the SVASONA study, a multicenter randomized trial comparing gravitational and conventional gravitational valves for treating iNPH. We evaluated the association between baseline items and the incidence of overdrainage, using different endpoint definitions. RESULTS: We identified only a few variables associated with a possible increased risk of overdrainage. Apart from using conventional rather than gravitational valves, longer duration of surgery and female sex were associated with a higher risk of clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of overdrainage (hazard ratio: 1.02, 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.04 and 1.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.81-4.16). The occurrence of clinical symptoms of overdrainage, and the need for exchanging a programmable by a gravitational valve may adversely affect disease-specific outcomes like the Kiefer score. CONCLUSION: Few, if any, baseline and treatment characteristics may be helpful in estimating the individual risk of complications and clinical outcomes after shunt surgery for iNPH. Patients should be informed that longer surgery for any reason may increase the risk of later overdrainage. Also, women should be counseled about a sex-associated increased risk of the development of clinical symptoms of overdrainage, although the latter cannot be distinguished from a generally higher prevalence of headaches in the female population.
Arthroscopically assisted reduction and internal fixation of a femoral anterior cruciate ligament osteochondral avulsion fracture in a 14-year-old girl via transphyseal inside-out technique
2013-09-03

Femoral avulsion fracture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in children and adolescents is rare, and its arthroscopic treatment is even more so. A femoral avulsion fracture of the ACL of a 14-year-old girl was arthroscopically reduced and fixed by a Kirschner wire (K-wire) via an inside-out technique. A 1.4-mm K-wire was drilled inside-out into the osseous defect of the lateral femoral condyle under arthroscopic visualization. The avulsed fragment was reduced and then drilled retrograde by the wire. After bending the intra-articular visible end of the K-wire by a knot pusher, the fragment was gently fixed by pulling the wire from outside. At 24 months, both knee stability and range of motion were the same in the operated and the healthy opposite leg. Magnetic resonance imaging evaluation and conventional radiographs showed an intact ACL without detectable disturbance in the growth plate. Only seven cases of a proximal avulsion of the ACL in children and adolescents have been published. Six were treated by open reduction and internal fixation, one by arthroscopic reduction without fixation.
Optical Detection and Virotherapy of Live Metastatic Tumor Cells in Body Fluids with Vaccinia Strains
2013-09-03

Metastatic tumor cells in body fluids are important targets for treatment, and critical surrogate markers for evaluating cancer prognosis and therapeutic response. Here we report, for the first time, that live metastatic tumor cells in blood samples from mice bearing human tumor xenografts and in blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with cancer were successfully detected using a tumor cell-specific recombinant vaccinia virus (VACV). In contrast to the FDA-approved CellSearch system, VACV detects circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in a cancer biomarker-independent manner, thus, free of any bias related to the use of antibodies, and can be potentially a universal system for detection of live CTCs of any tumor type, not limited to CTCs of epithelial origin. Furthermore, we demonstrate for the first time that VACV was effective in preventing and reducing circulating tumor cells in mice bearing human tumor xenografts. Importantly, a single intra-peritoneal delivery of VACV resulted in a dramatic decline in the number of tumor cells in the ascitic fluid from a patient with gastric cancer. Taken together, these results suggest VACV to be a useful tool for quantitative detection of live tumor cells in liquid biopsies as well as a potentially effective treatment for reducing or eliminating live tumor cells in body fluids of patients with metastatic disease.
Gremlin-1 Is an Inhibitor of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor and Attenuates Atherosclerotic Plaque Growth in ApoE−/− Mice
2013-09-04

Monocyte infiltration and macrophage formation are pivotal steps in atherosclerosis and plaque vulnerability. Gremlin-1/Drm is crucial in embryo-/organogenesis and has been shown to be expressed in the adult organism at sites of arterial injury and to inhibit monocyte migration. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate and characterize the role of Gremlin-1 in atherosclerosis. Here we report that Gremlin-1 is highly expressed primarily by monocytes/macrophages in aortic atherosclerotic lesions of ApoE(-/-) mice and is secreted from activated monocytes and during macrophage development in vitro. Gremlin-1 reduces macrophage formation by inhibiting macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a cytokine critically involved in atherosclerotic plaque progression and vulnerability. Gremlin-1 binds with high affinity to MIF (KD = 54 nm), as evidenced by surface plasmon resonance analysis and co-immunoprecipitation, and reduces MIF-induced release of TNF-α from macrophages. Treatment of ApoE(-/-) mice with a dimeric recombinant fusion protein, mGremlin1-Fc, but not with equimolar control Fc or inactivated mGremlin1-Fc, reduced TNF-α expression, the content of monocytes/macrophages of atherosclerotic lesions, and attenuated atheroprogression. The present data disclose that Gremlin-1 is an endogenous antagonist of MIF and define a role for Gremlin-1/MIF interaction in atherosclerosis.
Correction: Resveratrol as a Pan-HDAC Inhibitor Alters the Acetylation Status of Jistone Proteins in Human-Derived Hepatoblastoma Cells
2013-09-04

The polyphenolic alcohol resveratrol has demonstrated promising activities for the prevention and treatment of cancer.Different modes of action have been described for resveratrol including the activation of sirtuins, which represent the class III histone deacetylases (HDACs).However, little is known about the activity of resveratrol on the classical HDACs of class I, II and IV, although these classes are involved in cancer development or progression and inhibitors of HDACs (HDACi) are currently under investigation as promising novel anticancer drugs.We could show by in silico docking studies that resveratrol has the chemical structure to inhibit the activity of different human HDAC enzymes.In vitro analyses of overall HDAC inhibition and a detailed HDAC profiling showed that resveratrol inhibited all eleven human HDACs of class I, II and IV in a dose-dependent manner.Transferring this molecular mechanism into cancer therapy strategies, resveratrol treatment was analyzed on solid tumor cell lines.Despite the fact that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is known to be particularly resistant against conventional chemotherapeutics, treatment of HCC with established HDACi already has shown promising results.Testing of resveratrol on hepatoma cell lines HepG2, Hep3B and HuH7 revealed a dose-dependent antiproliferative effect on all cell lines.Interestingly, only for HepG2 cells a specific inhibition of HDACs and in turn a histone hyperacetylation caused by resveratrol was detected.Additional testing of human blood samples demonstrated a HDACi activity by resveratrol ex vivo.Concluding toxicity studies showed that primary human hepatocytes tolerated resveratrol, whereas in vivo chicken embryotoxicity assays demonstrated severe toxicity at high concentrations.Taken together, this novel pan-HDACi activity opens up a new perspective of resveratrol for cancer therapy alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutics.Moreover, resveratrol may serve as a lead structure for chemical optimization of bioavailability, pharmacology or HDAC inhibition.
The Tumor Suppressor p53 Fine-Tunes Reactive Oxygen Species Levels and Neurogenesis via PI3 Kinase Signaling
2013-09-04

Mounting evidence points to a role for endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cell signaling, including in the control of cell proliferation, differentiation, and fate. However, the function of ROS and their molecular regulation in embryonic mouse neural progenitor cells (eNPCs) has not yet been clarified. Here, we describe that physiological ROS are required for appropriate timing of neurogenesis in the developing telencephalon in vivo and in cultured NPCs, and that the tumor suppressor p53 plays a key role in the regulation of ROS-dependent neurogenesis. p53 loss of function leads to elevated ROS and early neurogenesis, while restoration of p53 and antioxidant treatment partially reverse the phenotype associated with premature neurogenesis. Furthermore, we describe that the expression of a number of neurogenic and oxidative stress genes relies on p53 and that both p53 and ROS-dependent induction of neurogenesis depend on PI3 kinase/phospho-Akt signaling. Our results suggest that p53 fine-tunes endogenous ROS levels to ensure the appropriate timing of neurogenesis in eNPCs. This may also have implications for the generation of tumors of neurodevelopmental origin.
Standards‐based metadata management for molecular simulations
2013-09-04

SUMMARY State‐of‐the‐art research in a variety of natural sciences depends heavily on methods of computational chemistry, for example, the calculation of the properties of materials, proteins, catalysts, and drugs. Applications providing such methods require a lot of expertise to handle their complexity and the usage of high‐performance computing. The MoSGrid (molecular simulation grid) infrastructure relieves this burden from scientists by providing a science gateway, which eases access to and usage of computational chemistry applications. One of its cornerstones is the molecular simulations markup language (MSML), an extension of the chemical markup language. MSML abstracts all chemical as well as computational aspects of simulations. An application and its results can be described with common semantics. Using such application, independent descriptions users can easily switch between different applications or compare them. This paper introduces MSML, its integration into a science gateway, and its usage for molecular dynamics, quantum chemistry, and protein docking. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.
Employees' Political Skill and Job Performance: An Inverted U ‐Shaped Relation?
2013-09-04

During the past decade, the construct of political skill has attracted a lot of attention. In particular, its relation to job performance has been examined. With regard to this link, it is typically proposed that political skill affects job performance in a positive linear manner. However, in this article it is suggested that intermediate levels of employees' political skill yield the highest job performance, implying that this association is in fact represented by an inverted U ‐shape. Findings from two field studies ( N 1 = 178, N 2 = 115 employee‐supervisor‐colleague triads) that incorporated different sample characteristics (early career employees, established employees), job performance dimensions (overall, task, contextual, and adaptive performance), and rating sources (supervisors and colleagues) supported this idea. Across different analyses, employees with intermediate levels of political skill received higher job performance ratings compared to those with lower and higher levels, respectively. In addition, the nature of the relationships between employees and their raters was found to moderate this curvilinear effect. Specifically, besides the fact that employees who had close working relationships with their raters generally received higher job performance ratings, the decreases in the job performance ratings of employees high in political skill were less pronounced when they had close relationships.
Embryonic remnants of intercentra and cervical ribs in turtles
2013-09-04

Summary A broad sample of extant turtles possesses a series of paired bones in the neck that are situated between the cervical vertebrae. These paired bones were originally proposed to be cervical rib remnants, but have more recently been interpreted as vestiges of intercentra. Here, we document, for the first time, the neck development of a pleurodire turtle, Emydura subglobosa, and identify blastematous structures, which partially recapitulate the ribs and intercentra of the plesiomorphic tetrapod condition. We identify blastematous “bridges” between intercentra and the corresponding ribs, which we homologize with the vestiges visible in extant turtles and with the remnant parapophyseal articulation processes of the intercentra of some stem taxa. Only the unpaired, median part of the intercentrum of the atlas is retained in adult turtles, but intercentra are recapitulated along the entire vertebral column during development; they are embedded in the cervical myosepta and serve as attachment sites for neck musculature. We also identify two rib rudiments in the occipital region, which may indicate that at least two vertebrae are integrated into the cranium of turtles in particular, and of amniotes in general.
MR-Based Attenuation Correction Methods for Improved PET Quantification in Lesions Within Bone and Susceptibility Artifact Regions
2013-09-05

For soft-tissue lesions, none of the evaluated methods showed statistically significant errors. For bone lesions, significant underestimations of -16% and -11% occurred for methods in which bone tissue was ignored (SEG1 and SEG2). In the present attenuation correction schemes, uncorrected MR susceptibility artifacts typically result in reduced attenuation values, potentially leading to highly reduced PET standardized uptake values, rendering lesions indistinguishable from background. While AT&PR and SEG2wBONE show accurate results in both soft tissue and bone, SEG2wBONE uses a two-step approach for tissue classification, which increases the robustness of prediction and can be applied retrospectively if more precision in bone areas is needed.
Probing the effect of gravitational microlensing on the measurements of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect
2013-09-05

In general, in the studies of transit light-curves and the\\nRossiter-McLaughlin (RM), the contribution of the planet's gravitational\\nmicrolensing is neglected. Theoretical studies, have, however shown that the\\nplanet's microlensing can affect the transit light-curve and in some extreme\\ncases cause the transit depth to vanish. In this letter, we present the results\\nof our quantitative analysis of microlening on the RM effect. Results indicate\\nthat for massive planets in on long period orbits, the planet's microlensing\\nwill have considerable contribution to the star's RV measurements. We present\\nthe details of our study, and discuss our analysis and results.\\n