Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application of Long-Range and Binding Reverse Transcription-Quantitative PCR To Indicate the Viral Integrities of Noroviruses

ABSTRACT This study intends to establish and apply methods evaluating both viral capsid and genome integrities of human noroviruses (NoVs), which thus far remain nonculturable. Murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1) and human NoV GII.4 in phosphate-buffered saline suspensions were treated with heat, UV light, or ethanol and detected by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), long-range RT-qPCR, binding RT-qPCR, and binding long-range RT-qPCR. For MNV-1 heated at 60°C for 2 and 30 min, limited reductions of genomic copies (<0.3-log) were obtained by RT-qPCR and long-range RT-qPCR, while the cell-binding pretreatments obtained higher reductions (>1.89-log reduction after 60°C for 30 min by binding long-range RT-qPCR). The human NoV GII.4 was found to be more heat resistant than MNV-1. For both MNV-1 and human NoV GII.4 after UV treatments of 20 and 200 mJ/cm2, no significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed between the dose-dependent reductions obtained by the four detection methodologies. Treatment of 70% ethanol for 1 min was shown to be more effective for inactivation of both MNV-1 and human NoV GII.4 than the heat and UV treatments used in this study. Subsequently, eight raspberry and four shellfish samples previously shown to be naturally contaminated with human NoVs by RT-qPCR (GI and GII; thus, 24 RT-qPCR signals) were subjected to comparison by this method. RT-qPCR, long-range RT-qPCR, binding RT-qPCR, and binding long-range RT-qPCR detected 20/24, 14/24, 24/24, and 23/24 positive signals, respectively, indicating the abundant presence of intact NoV particles.
A study on the energetic electron precipitation observed by CSES

High energy particles are the main target of satellite space exploration; particle storm events are closely related to solar activity, cosmic ray distribution, and magnetic storms. The commonly seen energetic particle (electron) precipitation anomalies include mainly the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts, the South Atlantic Anomaly, and the anomalous stripes excited by artificial electromagnetic waves. The China Seismo‐Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES), launched in February of 2018, provides a platform for studying ionospheric particle disturbances. This paper reports the first studies of electron precipitation phenomenon based on high energy particle data from the CSES. We find that the global distribution of electron fluxes in the low energy band (0.1–3 MeV) can relatively well reflect the anomalous precipitation belt, which is consistent with results based on the DEMETER satellite, indicating that the quality of the low‐energy band payload of the CSES is good. In addition, this paper makes an in‐depth study of the electron precipitation belt excited by the NWC artificial VLF electromagnetic transmitter located in Australia, which appears as a typical wisp structure on the energy spectrum. The magnetic shell parameter L corresponding to the precipitation belt ranges from 1.44 to 1.74, which is close to the L value (~1.45) of the NWC transmitter; the energy of the precipitation electrons is between 100 keV and 361.57 keV, among which the precipitation of 213.73 keV electrons is most conspicuous.
Investigation on Time to Fatigue for Upper Limb Muscle during a Repetitive Light Assembly Task

Repetitive tasks are known as one of the prevalent root causes of muscle fatigue. Light assembly tasks, which are common in electronic and electrical industries, are a class of repetitive tasks with involving light weight (< 1 kg). The upper limb region was reported as most complained of strain by the workers doing this type of job. This study aims to investigate the time to fatigue for upper limb muscles in a light assembly task. Twenty subjects (10 males and 10 females) with mean (SD) age of 24.05 (1.76) years performed a light assembly task continuously for two hours. The time to fatigue was defined by significant changes in RMS of electromyography as well as grip strength. Results from RMS EMG show that upper trapezius muscle (right and left) was the muscle fastest being fatigued the fasted (90 minute), followed the right and the left anterior deltoid (95 minutes), the right and the left brachioradialis (100 minutes) and right and the left bicep brachii muscle (110 minutes). On the other hand, a significant change in grip and pinch strength occurred after 100 minutes and 120 minutes work, respectively.
Application of response surface methodology to evaluate biodiesel production from spent bleaching earth by in situ transesterification process

Spent bleaching earth (SBE) is used bleaching earth from refining of crude palm oil (CPO). SBE still contains 20 to 40 percents oil. The oil contained in SBE is not food grade oil (non edible oil), but it can be converted into biodiesel. One method used to produce biodiesel is in situ transesterification. In situ transesterification is a biodiesel production process by integrating the oil extraction and biodiesel conversion in one continuous process, so that the process can reduce the time and the cost of biodiesel production. The aim of the study was to obtain the optimal in situ esterification/transesterification reaction conditions to produce biodiesel, investigated using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A central composite design with three independent variables: reaction temperature (51.6, 55.0, 60.0, 65.0, and 68.4°C); in situ transesterification time (0.4, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.6 hours); and NaOH catalyst concentration (1.66, 2.0, 2.5, 3%, and 3.34% w/w) was used to study the response variable (yield of biodiesel). Based on the results of the experiment, it can be concluded that R2 was 0.8813, lack of fit was 0.278, and the optimum condition for the in situ transesterification process to produce biodiesel was a heating temperature of 64.33°C, NaOH catalyst concentration of 2.39% (w/w), and a reaction time of 2.32 hours.
Investigational Notch and Hedgehog inhibitors – therapies for cardiovascular disease

Introduction: During the past decade, a variety of Notch and Hedgehog pathway inhibitors have been developed for the treatment of several cancers. An emerging paradigm suggests that these same gene regulatory networks are often recapitulated in the context of cardiovascular disease and may now offer an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Areas covered: This article briefly reviews the profile of Notch and Hedgehog inhibitors that have reached the preclinic and clinic for cancer treatment and discusses the clinical issues surrounding targeted use of these inhibitors in the treatment of vascular disorders. Expert opinion: Preclinical and clinical data using pan-Notch inhibitors (γ-secretase inhibitors) and selective antibodies to preferentially target notch receptors and ligands have proven successful but concerns remain over normal organ homeostasis and significant pathology in multiple organs. By contrast, the Hedgehog-based drug pipeline is rich with more than a dozen Smoothened (SMO) inhibitors at various stages of development. Overall, refined strategies will be necessary to harness these pathways safely as a powerful tool to disrupt angiogenesis and vascular proliferative phenomena without causing prohibitive side effects already seen with cancer models and patients.
Elastica and buckling loads of nonlinear elastic tapered cantilever columns

Article history: Received 26 June, 2017 Accepted 1 November 2017 Available online 1 November 2017 This paper deals with the elastica and buckling loads of the nonlinear elastic tapered cantilever columns subjected to an axial load at the free end. The column cross section is rectangular, where the width and depth vary linearly with the column axis. The column material is nonlinear elastic, which obeys the Ludwick’s constitutive law. The ordinary differential equations governing the elastica of buckled column are derived and solved numerically for computing the elastica and buckling loads. Parametric studies for the annealed copper, N.P. 8 aluminum alloy and steel columns are conducted. © 2018 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada
Ontological Issues in using a Description Logic to Represent Medical Concepts: Experience from GALEN

Concept models, or ‘ontologies’ represented in description logics are becoming central to many efforts in re-usable medical terminologies. Developers of any ontology must make a series of choices concerning how concepts are represented. These choices are made more difficult by the limitations of the logical formalisms in which ontologies are represented and the complexity of the pragmatics of medical usage, as well as by the sheer size and scope of medicine. Principles for ontology structure to guide developers are still poorly. This paper articulates the principles arrived at from the experience of the GALEN programme and illustrates them with an overview of the its ontology, the GALEN Common Reference Model. The complete Common Reference Model and associated material is available from the OpenGALEN foundation at www.OpenGALEN. org Citation: Appeared at IMIA WG6 Workshop: Terminology and Natural Language in Medicine. Phoenix Arixona, Nov 1999. Two appear as a two part paper: Rector, AL and Rogers JE (2002) Ontological issues in GALEN: Part I Principles and Part II High Level Schemata in Methods of Information in Medicine.
The Earliest Horse Harnessing and Milking

Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic. Here, we present three independent lines of evidence demonstrating domestication in the Eneolithic Botai Culture of Kazakhstan, dating to about 3500 B.C.E. Metrical analysis of horse metacarpals shows that Botai horses resemble Bronze Age domestic horses rather than Paleolithic wild horses from the same region. Pathological characteristics indicate that some Botai horses were bridled, perhaps ridden. Organic residue analysis, using δ13C and δD values of fatty acids, reveals processing of mare's milk and carcass products in ceramics, indicating a developed domestic economy encompassing secondary products.
Distinct Roles of Myosins in Aspergillus fumigatus Hyphal Growth and Pathogenesis

ABSTRACT Myosins are a family of actin-based motor proteins found in many organisms and are categorized into classes based on their structures. Class II and V myosins are known to be important for critical cellular processes, including cytokinesis, endocytosis, exocytosis, and organelle trafficking, in the model fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus nidulans. However, the roles of myosins in the growth and virulence of the pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus are unknown. We constructed single- and double-deletion strains of the class II and class V myosins in A. fumigatus and found that while the class II myosin (myoB) is dispensable for growth, the class V myosin (myoE) is required for proper hyphal extension; deletion of myoE resulted in hyperbranching and loss of hyphal polarity. Both myoB and myoE are necessary for proper septation, conidiation, and conidial germination, but only myoB is required for conidial viability. Infection with the ΔmyoE strain in the invertebrate Galleria mellonella model and also in a persistently immunosuppressed murine model of invasive aspergillosis resulted in hypovirulence, while analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid revealed that tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release and cellular infiltration were similar compared to those of the wild-type strain. The ΔmyoE strain showed fungal growth in the murine lung, while the ΔmyoB strain exhibited little fungal burden, most likely due to the reduced conidial viability. These results show, for the first time, the important role these cytoskeletal components play in the growth of and disease caused by a known pathogen, prompting future studies to understand their regulation and potential targeting for novel antifungal therapies.
Failure to achieve disease control in acromegaly: cause analysis by a registry-based survey.

CONTEXT Disease control is a prime target in acromegaly treatment. This should be achievable in the vast majority of patients by available treatment options. For unknown reasons, however, a significant number of patients do not achieve disease control. OBJECTIVE To investigate reasons for failure to achieve disease control in long-standing acromegaly. DESIGN AND METHODS Survey based on the German Acromegaly Registry database (1755 patients in 57 centres). Questionnaires were sent to 47 centres treating 178 patients with elevated disease markers (IGF1 and GH) at the last documented database visit out of 1528 patients with a diagnosis dated back ≥2 years. Thirty-three centres returned anonymised information for 120 patients (recall rate 67.4%). RESULTS Median age of the 120 patients (58 females) was 57 years (range 17-84). Ninety-four patients had at least one operation, 29 had received radiotherapy and 71 had been previously treated medically. Comorbidities were reported in 67 patients. In 61 patients, disease activity had been controlled since the last documented database visit, while 59 patients still had biochemically active disease. Reasons were patients' denial to escalate therapy (23.3%), non-compliance (20.6%), fluctuating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and growth hormone (GH) levels with normal values at previous visits (23.3%) and modifications in pharmacotherapy (15.1%). Therapy resistance (9.6%), drug side effects (4.1%) and economic considerations (4.1%) were rare reasons. CONCLUSIONS Main reasons for long-standing active acromegaly were patients' lack of motivation to agree to therapeutic recommendations and non-compliance with medical therapy. Development of patient education programmes could improve long-term control and thus prognosis of acromegalic patients.
Role of Toll-Like Receptor 13 in Innate Immune Recognition of Group B Streptococci

ABSTRACT Murine Toll-like receptor 13 (TLR13), an endosomal receptor that is not present in humans, is activated by an unmethylated motif present in the large ribosomal subunit of bacterial RNA (23S rRNA). Little is known, however, of the impact of TLR13 on antibacterial host defenses. Here we examined the role of this receptor in the context of infection induced by the model pathogen group B streptococcus (GBS). To this end, we used bacterial strains masked from TLR13 recognition by virtue of constitutive expression of the ErmC methyltransferase, which results in dimethylation of the 23S rRNA motif at a critical adenine residue. We found that TLR13-mediated rRNA recognition was required for optimal induction of tumor necrosis factor alpha and nitrous oxide in dendritic cell and macrophage cultures stimulated with heat-killed bacteria or purified bacterial RNA. However, TLR13-dependent recognition was redundant when live bacteria were used as a stimulus. Moreover, masking bacterial rRNA from TLR13 recognition did not increase the ability of GBS to avoid host defenses and replicate in vivo. In contrast, increased susceptibility to infection was observed under conditions in which signaling by all endosomal TLRs was abolished, i.e., in mice with a loss-of-function mutation in the chaperone protein UNC93B1. Our data lend support to the conclusion that TLR13 participates in GBS recognition, although blockade of the function of this receptor can be compensated for by other endosomal TLRs. Lack of selective pressure by bacterial infections might explain the evolutionary loss of TLR13 in humans. However, further studies using different bacterial species are needed to prove this hypothesis.
Number of positive nodes is superior to the lymph node ratio and American Joint Committee on Cancer N staging for the prognosis of surgically treated head and neck squamous cell carcinomas

Recent changes in head and neck cancer epidemiology have created a need for improved lymph node prognostics. This article compares the prognostic value of the number of positive nodes (pN) with the value of the lymph node ratio (LNR) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) N staging in surgical patients.
Applied Mathematical Modelling of Continuous Casting Processes: A Review

With readily available and ever-increasing computational resources, the modelling of continuous casting processes—mainly for steel, but also for copper and aluminium alloys—has predominantly focused on large-scale numerical simulation. Whilst there is certainly a need for this type of modelling, this paper highlights an alternative approach more grounded in applied mathematics, which lies between overly simplified analytical models and multi-dimensional simulations. In this approach, the governing equations are nondimensionalized and systematically simplified to obtain a formulation which is numerically much cheaper to compute, yet does not sacrifice any of the physics that was present in the original problem; in addition, the results should agree also quantitatively with those of the original model. This approach is well-suited to the modelling of continuous casting processes, which often involve the interaction of complex multiphysics. Recent examples involving mould taper, oscillation-mark formation, solidification shrinkage-induced macrosegregation and electromagnetic stirring are considered, as are the possibilities for the modelling of exudation, columnar-to-equiaxed transition, V-segregation, centreline porosity and mechanical soft reduction.
Primary angiosarcoma of the breast.

To the Editor. — Primary angiosarcoma of the breast is a rare neoplasm characterized by its rapid growth, large size, and frequent recurrences with metastasis. Long-term survival is rare.1-3In support of recent reports suggesting multimoduality therapy4,5(237:2605, 1977) for sarcomas, we wish to relate the clinical and pathologic features of a patient who survived for four years after diagnosis. Report of a Case. — In April 1973, at the age of 43 years, the patient came to us with a right breast mass; the biopsy specimen showed angiosarcoma. Therapy consisted of a simple mastectomy followed postoperatively by vincristine and cyclophosphamide chemotherapy. The patient did well until October 1975 when she came for her second admission because of iron deficiency anemia. Her barium enema showed a persistent narrowing of the colon near the hepatic flexure. Selective celiac and superior mesenteric arteriograms showed metastatic angiosarcoma in the distal duodenum. A questionable
Human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitors modulate Ca2+ homeostasis and potentiate alcoholic stress and injury in mice and primary mouse and human hepatocytes

A portion of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)‐infected patients undergoing protease inhibitor (PI) therapy concomitantly consume or abuse alcohol leading to hepatic injury. The underling mechanisms are not known. We hypothesize that HIV PIs aggravate alcohol‐induced liver injury through an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress mechanism. To address this, we treated mice, primary mouse hepatocytes (PMHs), and primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) with alcohol and the HIV PIs ritonavir (RIT) and lopinavir (LOP). In mice, RIT and LOP induced mild ER stress and inhibition of sarco/ER calcium‐ATPase (SERCA) without significant increase in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. However, a single dose of alcohol plus the two HIV PIs caused a more than five‐fold increase in serum ALT, a synergistic increase in alcohol‐induced liver lipid accumulation and ER stress response, and a decrease of SERCA. Mice treated with chronic HIV PIs and alcohol developed moderate liver fibrosis. In PMHs, the HIV drugs plus alcohol also inhibited SERCA expression and increased expression of glucose‐regulated protein 78, C/EBP homologous protein, sterol regulatory element‐binding protein 1c, and phosphorylated c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase 2, which were accompanied by a synergistic increase in cell death compared with alcohol or the HIV drugs alone. In PHHs, treatment with RIT and LOP or alcohol alone increased messenger RNA of spliced X box‐binding protein 1 and decreased SERCA, which were accompanied by reduced levels of intracellular calcium. Alcohol combined with the HIV drugs significantly reduced intracellular calcium levels and potentiated cell death, which was comparable to the cell death caused by the SERCA inhibitor thapsigargin. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the possibility that HIV PIs potentiate alcohol‐induced ER stress and injury through modulation of SERCA and maintaining calcium homeostasis could be a therapeutic aim for better care of HIV patients. (HEPATOLOGY 2012;)
The microtubule end‐binding protein FgEB1 regulates polar growth and fungicide sensitivity via different interactors in Fusarium graminearum

In yeasts, the end-binding protein 1 (EB1) homologs regulate microtubule dynamics, cell polarization, and chromosome stability. However, functions of EB1 orthologs in plant pathogenic fungi have not been characterized yet. Here, we observed that the FgEB1 deletion mutant (ΔFgEB1) of Fusarium graminearum exhibits twisted hyphae, increased hyphal branching and curved conidia, indicating that FgEB1 is involved in the regulation of cellular polarity. Microscopic examination further showed that the microtubules of ΔFgEB1 exhibited less organized in comparison with those of the wild type. In addition, the lack of FgEB1 also altered the distribution of polarity-related class I myosin via the interaction with the actin. On the other hand, we identified four core septins as FgEB1-interacting proteins, and found that FgEB1 and septins regulated conidial polar growth in the opposite orientation. Interestingly, FgEB1 and FgKar9 constituted another complex that modulated the response to carbendazim, a microtubule-damaging agent specifically. In addition, the deletion of FgEB1 led to dramatically decreased deoxynivalenol (DON) biosynthesis. Taken together, results of this study indicate that FgEB1 regulates cellular polarity, fungicide sensitivity and DON biosynthesis via different interactors in F. graminarum, which provides a novel insight into understanding of the biological functions of EB1 in filamentous fungi.
Dynamic choice with anticipated regret

This paper provides an axiomatic model of dynamic choice in which the decision maker is driven by anticipated ex-post regret. In the presence of dynamic inconsistency problem due to both arrival of new information and changing choice opportunities, we characterize a sophisticated behavior that plays backward induction. Moreover, we characterize consistent belief updating, which rules out the inconsistency due to arrival of new information and highlights the significance of inconsistency due to changing opportunities.