Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Protein and DNA evidences of HCMV infection in primary breast cancer tissues and metastatic sentinel lymph nodes.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women worldwide. There are evidences that human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is associated with several malignant tumors. This study aims to investigate the infection of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in a large sample of breast cancer patients, and conduct a correlation analysis of clinical and pathological factors, to provide evidence for whether HCMV infection is associated with breast cancer development, progression and metastasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 438 tissue samples (including breast cancer tissue, paracancerous tissue and sentinel lymph node [SLN] tissue) obtained from 146 patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and intraoperatively underwent unilateral axillary SLN biopsy at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from June 2013 to June 2014 were included into this study. These tissue samples were divided into two groups: SLN positive group and SLN negative group. The clinical information is collated and numbered. Normal breast tissues of 40 patients with cyclomastopathy were taken as controls. The expressions of HCMV immediate-early (IE) and late antigen (LA) proteins of breast cancer tissues, paracancerous tissues, SLN tissues and normal breast tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry, and HCMV infection of the samples was graded according to the percentage of the positive cells, and HCMV IE2 mRNA expression was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The clinical data were collated and statistically analyzed. RESULTS HCMV IE and LA proteins were highly expressed in all breast cancer tissue samples. IE proteins were detected in 47.9% (70/146) of paracancerous tissue samples, and LA proteins were detected in 53.4% (78/146) of paracancerous tissue samples. IE and LA proteins were expressed in 92.6% of metastatic SLN samples (62/68) and in most of the tumor cells. Inflammatory cells in 60% (42/70) of non-metastatic samples were positive for HCMV. HCMV DNA was present in 100% of breast cancer tissue samples, 50% of paracancerous tissue samples, and 91% of metastatic SLN samples; but this was not present in HCMV negative and non-metastatic SLN samples. Differences in HCMV infection, and estrogen receptor-α, progesterone receptor, Elston classification, Ki67 percentage, Her-2 and Luminal type and other clinical indicators were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION HCMV infection is common in breast cancer tissues, paracancerous tissues and SLN tissues. The severity of HCMV infection varied markedly with tissue type. HCMV infection might be associated with metastasis and invasion of breast cancer. The expression of HCMV IE2 was associated to breast cancer and lymph node metastasis. The expression level of estrogen receptor-α was related to HCMV infection.
Changing climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools

Significance Despite a surge in policy and research attention to conflict and bullying among adolescents, there is little evidence to suggest that current interventions reduce school conflict. Using a large-scale field experiment, we show that it is possible to reduce conflict with a student-driven intervention. By encouraging a small set of students to take a public stance against typical forms of conflict at their school, our intervention reduced overall levels of conflict by an estimated 30%. Network analyses reveal that certain kinds of students (called “social referents”) have an outsized influence over social norms and behavior at the school. The study demonstrates the power of peer influence for changing climates of conflict, and suggests which students to involve in those efforts. Theories of human behavior suggest that individuals attend to the behavior of certain people in their community to understand what is socially normative and adjust their own behavior in response. An experiment tested these theories by randomizing an anticonflict intervention across 56 schools with 24,191 students. After comprehensively measuring every school’s social network, randomly selected seed groups of 20–32 students from randomly selected schools were assigned to an intervention that encouraged their public stance against conflict at school. Compared with control schools, disciplinary reports of student conflict at treatment schools were reduced by 30% over 1 year. The effect was stronger when the seed group contained more “social referent” students who, as network measures reveal, attract more student attention. Network analyses of peer-to-peer influence show that social referents spread perceptions of conflict as less socially normative.
Automated generation of visual web tests from DOM-based web tests

Functional test automation is increasingly adopted by web applications developers. In particular, 2nd generation tools overcome the limitations of 1st generation tools, based on screen coordinates, by providing APIs for easy selection and interaction with Document Object Model (DOM) elements. On the other hand, a new, 3rd generation of web testing tools, based on visual image recognition, brings the promise of wider applicability and simplicity. In this paper, we consider the problem of the automated creation of 3rd generation visual web tests from 2nd generation test suites. This transformation affects mostly the way in which test cases locate web page elements to interact with or to assert the expected test case outcome. Our tool PESTO determines automatically the screen position of a web element located in the DOM by a DOM-based test case. It then determines a rectangle image centred around the web element so as to ensure unique visual matching. Based on such automatically extracted images, the original, 2nd generation test suite is rewritten into a 3rd generation, visual test suite. Experimental results show that our approach is accurate, hence potentially saving substantial human effort in the creation of visual web tests from DOM-based ones.
Nutritional and Anti-nutrient Composition of Melon Husks: Potential as Feed Ingredient in Poultry Diet

Melon husks were collected from Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State and milled into powder for proximate, mineral and phytochemical analysis. The results of proximate analysis showed that melon husks contained crude protein (19.14% ±0.46), carbohydrate (61.01% ±0.35), crude fibre (8.12% ±0.85), ash (7.73% ± 0.12), crude fat (1.71% ±0.04) and fatty acid (1.37% ± 0.03). The minerals detected include, Ca (2.1% ±0.13), K (1.3% ±0.04), Mg (0.42% ±0.1) and Na (259.85±1.78), Fe (98.42±1.55), Mn (58.83±0.54), Zn (47.77±1.06), P (30.11±0.2) and Cu (5.94±0.3) in parts per million (ppm). The results of phytochemical and anti-nutrients analysis showed the presence of tannins (15.15% ±0.24), phytates (2.05% ±0.12), trypsin inhibitor (2.01% ±0.10), saponins (1.47% ±0.23), oxalates (0.71% ±0.16) and cyanide ((0.06% ±0.01). The level of anti-nutrients and cyanide detected in the melon husks were low. The presence of essential nutrients and minerals imply melon husks could be utilized as a potential feed ingredient in poultry diets. The benefits of essential nutrients and minerals in maintaining health and growth performance were highlighted. It was therefore recommended that melon husks (shells), which are either burnt as agricultural waste materials or discarded in large quantities to pollute the environment in some parts of Nasarawa State, could be utilized as a possible feed ingredient in poultry diets.
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Transmission in Dialysis Unit and Infection Control Interventions in Korea

of MERS infection whereas there was no seroconversion case among the 443 HCP with adequate personal protective equipment during the 2015 MERS outbreak in South Korea. In summary, there was no evidence of MERS-CoV infection among the HCP who participated in the care of 30 patients in NMC although a substantial proportion of HCP reported that they experienced MERS-like symptoms during the patient care period. Our results suggest that risk of MERS acquisition among HCP is low under stringent infection control measures.
Teachers as presenters at continuing professional development seminars in the English-as-a-foreign-language context: ‘I find it more convincing’

With a growing awareness of the limitations of a transmissive mode of education and a one-size-fits-all approach to teacher education, teachers’ active involvement is increasingly recognized as a crucial component of their continuous professional development (CPD). In many EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts, however, CPD is still largely built on the premise of knowledge transmission and knowledge consumption. The present study seeks to explore how EFL teachers can be made to play a more active role by participating as presenters at CPD seminars, as well as the ways in which such a mode of CPD can promote teacher learning. Using questionnaire and email interview data from 166 seminar participants and 4 teacher presenters respectively, the study shows that opportunities for teachers’ knowledge sharing and production at CPD seminars can enrich teacher learning. The paper concludes that a more robust form of teachers’ CPD should see teachers play a much more active role than what is usually allowed in CPD activities that are dominated by the traditional training paradigm built on knowledge consumption.
Validated Spectrophotometric Methods for the Determination of Tadalafil in Pharmaceutical Formulations

Two simple and sensitive UV-Visible spectrophotometric methods A and B for the determination of tadalafil have been described. These methods are based on the formation of bluish green color and blue colored chromogens obtained when the drug was condensed with Isatin and Xanthydrol exhibiting λ max at 665 and 640nm respectively. These methods obey Beer’s Law in the concentration ranges of 0.4-2.0 and 4-20 µg/mL. The optimum conditions for all color development are described and the proposed methods have been successfully applied for the determination of tadalafil in bulk drug and pharmaceutical formulations. The common execipients and additives did not interfere in this method.
Podosomes of dendritic cells facilitate antigen sampling

ABSTRACT Dendritic cells sample the environment for antigens and play an important role in establishing the link between innate and acquired immunity. Dendritic cells contain mechanosensitive adhesive structures called podosomes that consist of an actin-rich core surrounded by integrins, adaptor proteins and actin network filaments. They facilitate cell migration via localized degradation of extracellular matrix. Here, we show that podosomes of human dendritic cells locate to spots of low physical resistance in the substrate (soft spots) where they can evolve into protrusive structures. Pathogen recognition receptors locate to these protrusive structures where they can trigger localized antigen uptake, processing and presentation to activate T-cells. Our data demonstrate a novel role in antigen sampling for the podosomes of dendritic cells.
High levels of caregiver burden in Prader-Willi syndrome

Objectives Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by hyperphagia, developmental delay, incomplete sexual development, mild-to-moderate intellectual disability, and a variety of challenging behavioral and psychiatric symptoms. The characteristics of PWS can be difficult for caregivers to cope with and are likely to cause significant and long- term caregiver burden. The current study examined burden in 142 caregivers of children and adults with PWS living in the US using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). The study aimed to measure the level of burden in caregivers of individuals with PWS, to explore the impact of PWS on caregiver quality of life, and to assess ZBI as an indicator of that impact. Results Caregivers participating in this study were predominantly mothers, 30–59 years old, non-Hispanic Whites, married or in a relationship, with an annual household income slightly distributed towards higher income. Nearly 90% of the caregiver`s children with PWS lived at home. Caregivers experienced high caregiver burden with an average ZBI score of 44.4 ± 15.4. ZBI scores were highest for caregivers of teenage and young adult individuals with PWS (49.2 ± 14.6 and 49.2 ± 14.1, respectively), while those caring for older adults (>30) and the youngest age group had lower scores (38.6 ±10.5 and 34.8 ±12.5, respectively). Caregivers reported that caring for a person with PWS negatively impacted their romantic relationship, ability to work, sleep, and mood. Whereas we did not find strong correlations between family income or level of help the caregiver receives and ZBI scores, the results showed significant correlations and a linear relationship between ZBI scores and caregiver depressed mood, feelings of anxiety, negative romantic relationship impact, as well as sleep and work disruption. Conclusions Our study reveals that PWS incurs high caregiver burden and impacts many aspects of the lives of caregiver. We identified the ZBI as a good predictor of that impact. Our findings draw attention to the critical unmet need for support for caregivers of individuals with PWS.
Transgenic expression of plastidic glutamine synthetase increases nitrogen uptake and yield in wheat

Summary The plastidic glutamine synthetase isoform (GS2) plays a key role in nitrogen (N) assimilation. We introduced TaGS2‐2Abpro::TaGS2‐2Ab, the favourable allele of TaGS2‐2A in the winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) variety Ji5265. Transgenic expression of TaGS2‐2Ab significantly increased GS2 abundance and GS activity in leaves. Two consecutive field experiments showed the transgenic lines had higher grain yield, spike number, grain number per spike and 1000‐grain weight than did the wild type under both low N and high N conditions. Analysis of N use‐related traits showed that transgenic expression of TaGS2‐2Ab increased root ability to acquire N, N uptake before and after flowering, remobilization of N to grains and N harvest index. Measurement of chlorophyll content and net photosynthesis rate in flag leaves during grain filling stage revealed that the transgenic lines had prolonged leaf functional duration as compared with the wild type. These results suggest that TaGS2 plays important role in N use, and the favourable allele TaGS2‐2Ab is valuable in engineering wheat with improved N use efficiency and grain yield.
Preparation of plasticized poly (lactic acid) and its influence on the properties of composite materials

Plasticized poly (lactic acid) (PPLA) was prepared by melt blending poly (lactic acid) (PLA) with 10 wt% of poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG), with varied molecular weights range from 400 to 4000. The structure, thermal property, morphology, and surface free energy of the PPLA were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and contact angles (CA). The resulting PPLA results indicated that the introduction of PEG to the blend systems resulted in a ductile fracture, a decrease in the melt temperature (Tm) and glass transfer temperature (Tg), and an increase in the degree of crystallization (χc), which indicated an improved flexibility. In addition, the polarity of the PPLA increased and the surface free energy decreased. The resulting PPLA was subsequently used as matrix to blend with wood flour to prepare composites. The mechanical strength, melting behavior, thermal stability, and microscopy of the PPLA/wood flour composites were also evaluated. These results illustrated that the plasticized PPLA matrix was beneficial to the interfacial compatibility between the polar filler and the substrate.
DPPG: A Dynamic Password Policy Generation System

To keep password users from creating simple and common passwords, major websites and applications provide a password-strength measure, namely a password checker. While critical requirements for a password checker to be stringent have prevailed in the study of password security, we show that regardless of the stringency, such static checkers can leak information and actually help the adversary enhance the performance of their attacks. To address this weakness, we propose and devise the Dynamic Password Policy Generator, namely DPPG, to be an effective and usable alternative to the existing password strength checker. DPPG aims to enforce an evenly-distributed password space and generate dynamic policies for users to create passwords that are diverse and that contribute to the overall security of the password database. Since DPPG is modular and can function with different underlying metrics for policy generation, we further introduce a diversity-based password security metric that evaluates the security of a password database in terms of password space and distribution. The metric is useful as a countermeasure to well-crafted offline cracking algorithms and theoretically illustrates why DPPG works well.
Influence of the stress ratio on the multiaxial fatigue behaviour of glass/epoxy tubes

In the present work the influence of the multiaxiality condition and of the load ratio on the fatigue behavior of glass/epoxy tubes is investigated. Fatigue tests have been conducted on tubular specimens subjected to combined tension-torsion loading resulting in a biaxial stress state with the presence of transverse and in-plane shear stresses. Three values of the load ratios have been also investigated (-1, 0 and 0.5). Fatigue curves, relating the maximum cyclic transverse stress to the cycles spent for the initiation of the first crack, have been found to be strongly dependent on the multiaxiality condition and on the load ratio.
Alternative splicing of OsLG3b controls grain length and yield in japonica rice

Summary Grain size, one of the important components determining grain yield in rice, is controlled by the multiple quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Intensive artificial selection for grain size during domestication is evidenced in modern cultivars compared to their wild relatives. Here, we report the molecular cloning and characterization of OsLG3b, a QTL for grain length in tropical japonica rice that encodes MADS‐box transcription factor 1 (OsMADS1). Six SNPs in the OsLG3b region led to alternative splicing, which were associated with grain length in an association analysis of candidate region. Quantitative PCR analysis indicated that OsLG3b expression was higher during the panicle and seed development stages. Analysis of haplotypes and introgression regions revealed that the long‐grain allele of OsLG3b might have arisen after domestication of tropical japonica and spread to subspecies indica or temperate japonica by natural crossing and artificial selection. OsLG3b is therefore a target of human selection for adaptation to tropical regions during domestication and/or improvement of rice. Phylogenetic analysis and pedigree records showed that OsLG3b had been employed by breeders, but the gene still has much breeding potential for increasing grain length in indica. These findings will not only aid efforts to elucidate the molecular basis of grain development and domestication, but also facilitate the genetic improvement of rice yield.
Unsupervised Sentiment-Bearing Feature Selection for Document-Level Sentiment Classification

SUMMARY Text sentiment classiﬁcation aims to automatically classify subjective documents into di ﬀ erent sentiment-oriented categories (e.g. positive / negative). Given the high dimensionality of features describing documents, how to e ﬀ ectively select the most useful ones, referred to as sentiment-bearing features, with a lack of sentiment class labels is crucial for improving the classiﬁcation performance. This paper proposes an unsupervised sentiment-bearing feature selection method (USFS), which incorporates sentiment discriminant analysis (SDA) into sentiment strength calculation (SSC). SDA applies traditional linear discriminant analysis (LDA) in an unsupervised manner without losing local sentiment information be-tween documents. We use SSC to calculate the overall sentiment strength for each single feature based on its a ﬃ nities with some sentiment priors. Experiments, performed using benchmark movie reviews, demonstrated the superior performance of USFS.
Rates of sustained virological response 12 weeks after the scheduled end of direct‐acting antiviral (DAA)‐based hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy from the National German HCV registry: does HIV coinfection impair the response to DAA combination therapy?

The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) treatment recommendations for hepatitis C no longer discriminate between HIV/hepatitis C virus (HCV)‐coinfected and HCV‐monoinfected patients. However, recent data from Spain are questioning these recommendations on the basis of the findings of higher relapse rates and lower cure rates in HIV/HCV‐infected subjects. The aim of our study was to compare HCV cure rates in monoinfected and coinfected patients from Germany.
Gut Microbiota-Immune System Crosstalk and Pancreatic Disorders

Gut microbiota is key to the development and modulation of the mucosal immune system. It plays a central role in several physiological functions, in the modulation of inflammatory signaling and in the protection against infections. In healthy states, there is a perfect balance between commensal and pathogens, and microbiota and the immune system interact to maintain gut homeostasis. The alteration of such balance, called dysbiosis, determines an intestinal bacterial overgrowth which leads to the disruption of the intestinal barrier with systemic translocation of pathogens. The pancreas does not possess its own microbiota, and it is believed that inflammatory and neoplastic processes affecting the gland may be linked to intestinal dysbiosis. Increasing research evidence testifies a correlation between intestinal dysbiosis and various pancreatic disorders, but it remains unclear whether dysbiosis is the cause or an effect. The analysis of specific alterations in the microbiome profile may permit to develop novel tools for the early detection of several pancreatic disorders, utilizing samples, such as blood, saliva, and stools. Future studies will have to elucidate the mechanisms by which gut microbiota is modulated and how it tunes the immune system, in order to be able to develop innovative treatment strategies for pancreatic disorders.
Effects of exchange bias on magnetotransport in permalloy kagome artificial spin ice

We investigate the magnetotransport properties of connected kagome artificial spin ice networks composed of permalloy nanowires. Our data show clear evidence of magnetic switching among the wires, both in the longitudinal and transverse magnetoresistance. An unusual asymmetry with field sweep direction appears at temperatures below about 20 K that appears to be associated with exchange bias resulting from surface oxidation of permalloy, and which disappears in alumina-capped samples. These results demonstrate that exchange bias is a phenomenon that must be considered in understanding the physics of such artificial spin ice systems, and that opens up new possibilities for their control.