Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Short-lived climate pollutant issues in the mitigation of the global warming

The Paris agreement, adopted in the UNFCCC COP21 round, set the 2 degrees target and 1.5 degrees effort of global warming after the industrial revolution. These targets mean that the society has to pay significant efforts to reduce the long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) emission. Another problem is that the notable reduction of the surface temperature does not appear in the next two decades even with a substantial reduction of LLGHGs, because of the long lifetime of the LLGHGs. As one of other mitigation methods, a concept of the short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP), which include black carbon (BC) aerosols, tropospheric ozone, and methane, has been introduced by UNEP. According to the UNEP report for black carbon and tropospheric ozone, it will be possible to reduce the global surface temperature of about 0.5 degrees in a short period after substantial removal of SLCP emission. There are several mitigation initiatives along this idea, such as the UNEP Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), has been launched. It is, however, there are several recent studies that the SLCP impact on the global surface temperature is not large, so that a careful analysis of the SLCP impact has to be made. We like to discuss this issue in this talk based on several past studies and results of the ERTDF S-12 project. Important subjects of the analysis are links between 1) air quality and SLCP emissions, 2) emission and mitigation technologies, and 3) SLCP concentration and the earth's climate change.
Ieee Transactions on Evolutionary Computation Computational Cost Reduction of Non-dominated Sorting Using the M-front

—Many multi-objective evolutionary algorithms rely on the non-dominated sorting procedure to determine the relative quality of individuals with respect to the population. In this paper we propose a new method to decrease the cost of this procedure. Our approach is to determine the non-dominated individuals at the start of the evolutionary algorithm run and to update this knowledge as the population changes. In order to do this efficiently we propose a special data structure called the M-front, to hold the non-dominated part of the population. The M-front uses the geometric and algebraic properties of the Pareto dominance relation to convert orthogonal range queries into interval queries using a mechanism based on the nearest neighbor search. These interval queries are answered using dynamically sorted linked lists. Experimental results show that our method can perform significantly faster than the state of the art Jensen-Fortin's algorithm, especially in many-objective scenarios. A significant advantage of our approach is that if we change a single individual in the population we still know which individuals are dominated and which are not.
Codon-optimized filovirus DNA vaccines delivered by intramuscular electroporation protect cynomolgus macaques from lethal Ebola and Marburg virus challenges

Cynomolgus macaques were vaccinated by intramuscular electroporation with DNA plasmids expressing codon-optimized glycoprotein (GP) genes of Ebola virus (EBOV) or Marburg virus (MARV) or a combination of codon-optimized GP DNA vaccines for EBOV, MARV, Sudan virus and Ravn virus. When measured by ELISA, the individual vaccines elicited slightly higher IgG responses to EBOV or MARV than did the combination vaccines. No significant differences in immune responses of macaques given the individual or combination vaccines were measured by pseudovirion neutralization or IFN-γ ELISpot assays. Both the MARV and mixed vaccines were able to protect macaques from lethal MARV challenge (5/6 vs. 6/6). In contrast, a greater proportion of macaques vaccinated with the EBOV vaccine survived lethal EBOV challenge in comparison to those that received the mixed vaccine (5/6 vs. 1/6). EBOV challenge survivors had significantly higher pre-challenge neutralizing antibody titers than those that succumbed.
Plasma and Platelet Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Levels in Bipolar Disorder Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or in a Major Depressive Episode Compared to Healthy Controls

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a highly disabling mental disorder arising after traumatism exposure, often revealing critical and complex courses when comorbidity with bipolar disorder (BD) occurs. To search for PTSD or depression biomarkers that would help clinicians define BD presentations, this study aimed at preliminarily evaluating circulating brain-derived-neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in BD subjects with PTSD or experiencing a major depressive episode versus controls. Two bloodstream BDNF components were specifically investigated, the storage (intraplatelet) and the released (plasma) ones, both as adaptogenic/repair signals during neuroendocrine stress response dynamics. Bipolar patients with PTSD (n = 20) or in a major depressive episode (n = 20) were rigorously recruited together with unrelated healthy controls (n = 24) and subsequently examined by psychiatric questionnaires and blood samplings. Platelet-poor plasma (PPP) and intraplatelet (PLT) BDNF were measured by ELISA assays. The results showed markedly higher intraplatelet vs. plasma BDNF, confirming platelets’ role in neurotrophin transport/storage. No between-group PPP-BDNF difference was reported, whereas PLT-BDNF was significantly reduced in depressed BD patients. PLT-BDNF negatively correlated with mood scores but not with PTSD items like PPP-BDNF, which instead displayed opposite correlation trends with depression and manic severity. Present findings highlight PLT-BDNF as more reliable at detecting depression than PTSD in BD, encouraging further study into BDNF variability contextually with immune-inflammatory parameters in wider cohorts of differentially symptomatic bipolar patients.
Characterization of Baseline Intestinal Mucosal Indices of Injury and Inflammation in Men for Use in Rectal Microbicide Trials (HIV Prevention Trials Network-056)

Objectives:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the biologic stability of mucosal parameters that might be used as endpoints in phase 1 rectal safety studies. Methods:Sixteen male participants were enrolled into 4 groups defined by HIV status, viral load, and sexual activity. Each participant underwent 3 flexible sigmoidoscopies at 2-week intervals with collection of blood, intestinal biopsies, and rectal secretions. Intestinal histology, phenotypic characterization of mucosal mononuclear cells, cytokine messenger RNA (mRNA) profiles (RANTES, interferon-γ [IFNγ], and interleukin-10), and immunoglobulin secretion were assessed. Intraclass correlation (ICC) was calculated to assess endpoint stability. Results:Qualitative histology demonstrated minimal inflammation in >95% of biopsies and remained stable throughout the study period. ICC for the tissue cytokine mRNA measurements and several T-cell phenotypic markers was >0.7, indicating stability over time. Mucosal CD4 lymphopenia was seen in the HIV-positive participants and was more pronounced in those with higher viral loads. Modest differences were observed for cytokine expression (IFNγ) and T-cell phenotype (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD4/CCR5, and CD4/CD38) between the tissue samples collected at 10 and 30 cm. Conclusions:These data help to provide a rationale for the selection of endpoints for future phase 1 rectal safety studies.
An outbreak of mumps meningoencephalitis in Sangli district.

The epidemiology of mumps in India and the magnitude of the problem are not fully appreciated(2). Outbreaks occur at interval of 5-10yrs(2). Mumps continue to occur in epidemic proportions despite the availability of an effective vaccine. Finland became the first documented country to be free of indigenous mumps and rubella with the use of national 2 dose trivalent MMR vaccination program, free of charge and on a voluntary basis, which was launched in 1982(3). We are reporting this case study because, though 9 out of 10 of our patients were vaccinated with MMR vaccine they developed serious complication of mumps like meningoencephalitis.
Plant traits predict inter‐ and intraspecific variation in susceptibility to herbivory in a hyperdiverse Neotropical rain forest tree community

A key issue in plant/herbivore interaction research is to understand which plant traits drive differences in herbivore damage. Variation in chemical, physical or phenological traits of plants may all modulate the degree of herbivore damage among species and individuals, yet the relative importance of these factors is still subject to debate, particularly in species‐rich systems such as tropical rain forests. To address this issue, we quantified leaf herbivore damage in 28 common tree species of the Yasuní forest dynamic plot (YFDP) in the Ecuadorian Amazon over 11 months. Census data from the YFDP allowed us to quantify several aspects of tree ecology potentially affecting herbivory including leaf turnover and spatial distribution patterns. We measured six chemical, eight physical and four ecological traits of the focal species. Using a combination of multivariate analyses and phylogenetic generalized linear regression model (PGLS), we assessed trade‐offs between physical and chemical traits and the relative effect of all these traits on leaf herbivore damage. Herbivore damage was highly variable among species and individuals, with leaves on average displaying damage over 13.4% (2.5–29.5%) of their area. We found no significant trade‐off between physical and chemical defences for the 28 studied tree species. Overall, leaf size, shearing resistance, cellulose, ash content and leaf size × ash were the best predictors of herbivore damage. Surprisingly, condensed tannins and latex did not significantly correlate with herbivore damage. In addition, we found no relationships between herbivory and local tree density. However, we did find a weak effect of tree clustering and strong effect of tree leaf turnover rates on herbivore damage. Synthesis. In the western Amazon, leaves are defended against herbivores through a combination of physical (toughness), chemical (toughness‐related elements), and phenological (rapid leaf replacement) characteristics that do not appear to be subject to obvious trade‐offs. Conventional strategies, such as condensed tannins or latex, do not seem to be strongly involved as a defence against herbivores in this community.
BMC Small RNAs and the regulation of cis-natural antisense transcripts in Arabidopsis

Background: In spite of large intergenic spaces in plant and animal genomes, 7% to 30% of genes in the genomes encode overlapping cis-natural antisense transcripts (cis-NATs). The widespread occurrence of cis-NATs suggests an evolutionary advantage for this type of genomic arrangement. Experimental evidence for the regulation of two cis-NAT gene pairs by natural antisense transcripts-generated small interfering RNAs (nat-siRNAs) via the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway has been reported in Arabidopsis. However, the extent of siRNA-mediated regulation of cis-NAT genes is still unclear in any genome. Results: The hallmarks of RNAi regulation of NATs are 1) inverse regulation of two genes in a cis-NAT pair by environmental and developmental cues and 2) generation of siRNAs by cis-NAT genes. We examined Arabidopsis transcript profiling data from public microarray databases to identify cis-NAT pairs whose sense and antisense transcripts show opposite expression
The Acute Stress Disorder Scale: A Tool for Predicting Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

A new diagnosis of acute stress disorder (ASD) was introduced in DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association in 1994 to identify people at risk of developing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The project's main aim was to develop a self-report measure that permit identification of acutely traumatised individuals who are at risk of chronic PTSD and provide opportunities for early intervention of people at risk.
Concealing agreements over climate–conflict results

Do short-term climatic changes increase civil war risk? This question has been subject to much scientific debate, prompted by a pair of PNAS studies that reached different conclusions (1, 2). Now, another paper (3), authored by colleagues of the first study, seeks to reconcile this debate by claiming that the results from the second study are consistent with the first.
Adiponectin Deficiency Promotes Tumor Growth in Mice by Reducing Macrophage Infiltration

Adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived plasma protein that has been implicated in regulating angiogenesis, but the role of adiponectin in regulating this process is still controversial. In this study, in order to determine whether adiponectin affects tumor growth and tumor induced vascularization, we implanted B16F10 melanoma and Lewis Lung Carcinoma cells subcutaneously into adiponectin knockout and wild-type control mice, and found that adiponectin deficiency markedly promoted the growth of both tumors. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that adiponectin deficiency reduced macrophage recruitment to the tumor, but did not affect cancer cell mitosis, apoptosis, or tumor-associated angiogenesis. In addition, treatment with recombinant adiponectin did not affect the proliferation of cultured B16F10 tumor cells. Importantly, the restoration of microphage infiltration at an early stage of tumorigenesis by means of co-injection of B16F10 cells and macrophages reversed the increased tumor growth in adiponectin knockout mice. Thus, we conclude that the enhanced tumor growth observed in adiponectin deficient mice is likely due to the reduction of macrophage infiltration rather than enhanced angiogenesis.
Overcoming challenges in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pediatric drug-resistant tuberculosis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is a growing global health threat and children are especially vulnerable to becoming infected and sick with DR-TB. There is a growing body of evidence on the optimal diagnosis, treatment and prevention of DR-TB in this vulnerable population. Areas covered: A comprehensive review of the literature on DR-TB in children was done using PubMed and Ovid databases up to 31 December 2016. Topic areas covered included diagnosis of DR-TB, treatment of DR-TB – including novel medications and regimens, prevention of DR-TB, community-based care, and stigma/discrimination. After presenting a case that highlights some of these challenges in each of these areas, for which we will propose mechanisms for overcoming them. Expert commentary: Overcoming the challenges facing children with DR-TB, requires a paradigm shift at multiple levels. The ‘trickle down’ approach to pediatric DR-TB has been woefully inadequate and it is essential that pediatric DR-TB – preventing it, diagnosing it, and treating it – be made a priority.
From Images to Sentences through Scene Description Graphs using Commonsense Reasoning and Knowledge

In this paper we propose the construction of linguistic descriptions of images. This is achieved through the extraction of scene description graphs (SDGs) from visual scenes using an automatically constructed knowledge base. SDGs are constructed using both vision and reasoning. Specifically, commonsense reasoning is applied on (a) detections obtained from existing perception methods on given images, (b) a "commonsense" knowledge base constructed using natural language processing of image annotations and (c) lexical ontological knowledge from resources such as WordNet. Amazon Mechanical Turk(AMT)-based evaluations on Flickr8k, Flickr30k and MS-COCO datasets show that in most cases, sentences auto-constructed from SDGs obtained by our method give a more relevant and thorough description of an image than a recent state-of-the-art image caption based approach. Our Image-Sentence Alignment Evaluation results are also comparable to that of the recent state-of-the art approaches.
Bone marrow pathologic abnormalities in familial platelet disorder with propensity for myeloid malignancy and germline RUNX1 mutation

Despite use of newer approaches, some patients being considered for autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) may only mobilize limited numbers of hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) into blood, precluding use of the procedure, or being placed at increased risk of complications due to slow hematopoietic reconstitution. Developing more efficacious HPC mobilization regimens and strategies may enhance the mobilization process and improve patient outcome. Although Notch signaling is not essential for homeostasis of adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), Notch-ligand adhesive interaction maintains HSC quiescence and niche retention. Using Notch receptor blocking antibodies, we report that Notch2 blockade, but not Notch1 blockade, sensitizes hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors (HSPCs) to mobilization stimuli and leads to enhanced egress from marrow to the periphery. Notch2 blockade leads to transient myeloid progenitor expansion without affecting HSC homeostasis and self-renewal. We show that transient Notch2 blockade or Notch2-loss in mice lacking Notch2 receptor lead to decreased CXCR4 expression by HSC but increased cell cycling with CXCR4 transcription being directly regulated by the Notch transcriptional protein RBPJ. In addition, we found that Notch2-blocked or Notch2-deficient marrow HSPCs show an increased homing to the marrow, while mobilized Notch2-blocked, but not Notch2-deficient stem cells and progenitors, displayed a competitive repopulating advantage and enhanced hematopoietic reconstitution. These findings suggest that blocking Notch2 combined with the current clinical regimen may further enhance HPC mobilization and improve engraftment during HCT.
Semiquantitative Culture Analysis during Therapy for Mycobacterium avium Complex Lung Disease.

RATIONALE Microbiologically based criteria such as sputum culture conversion to negative have traditionally been used to define treatment success for mycobacterial diseases. There are, however, limited data regarding whether nontuberculous mycobacterial sputum culture conversion or semiquantitative culture analysis correlates with subjective or nonmicrobiologic objective indices of treatment response. OBJECTIVES To determine whether a semiquantitative mycobacterial culture scale correlated with clinical disease status and was predictive of long-term sputum mycobacterial culture conversion to negative in a cohort of patients with nodular/bronchiectatic Mycobacterium avium complex lung disease undergoing therapy. METHODS One hundred and eighty patients undergoing standard macrolide-based therapy for M. avium complex lung disease were monitored at standard frequent intervals with symptomatic, radiographic, and microbiologic data collected, including semiquantitative mycobacterial culture analysis. Analyses were used to evaluate clinical and microbiologic predictors of long-term sputum conversion to culture negative. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS After 12 months of therapy, 148 (82%) patients had sputum conversion to culture negative. Baseline semiquantitative sputum culture scores did not differ between patients with sputum conversion and those without. The change in sputum culture semiquantitative score from baseline to Month 3 was highly predictive of subsequent sputum long-term conversion status indicative of treatment success, as was improvement in cough, and especially early radiographic improvement. CONCLUSIONS Early semiquantitative sputum agar plate culture results can be used to predict symptomatic and radiographic improvement as well as long-term sputum culture conversion to negative in this population. We suggest that semiquantitative sputum culture scores can be a useful tool for evaluating new nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease therapies.
Loss of Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule Induces Tumor Metastasis by Up-regulating Lymphangiogenesis

Reduced expression of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) has been implicated in the progression to tumor malignancy in cancer patients. Previously, we have shown that the loss of NCAM function causes the formation of lymph node metastasis in a transgenic mouse model of pancreatic β cell carcinogenesis (Rip1Tag2). Here we show that tumors of NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 transgenic mice exhibit up-regulated expression of the lymphangiogenic factors vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and -D (17% in wild-type versus 60% in NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 mice) and, with it, increased lymphangiogenesis (0% in wild-type versus 19% in NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 mice). Repression of VEGF-C and -D function by adenoviral expression of a soluble form of their cognate receptor, VEGF receptor-3, results in reduced tumor lymphangiogenesis (56% versus 28% in control versus treated mice) and lymph node metastasis (36% versus 8% in control versus treated mice). The results indicate that the loss of NCAM function causes lymph node metastasis via VEGF-C- and VEGF-D-mediated lymphangiogenesis. These results also establish Rip1Tag2;NCAM-deficient mice as a unique model for stochastic, endogenous tumor lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis in immunocompetent mice.
Factors Affecting Credit Risk in Nepalese Commercial Banks

This study analyzes the factors affecting credit risk in Nepalese commercial banks. The study comprises data from 27 commercial banks from 2002 to 2020 A.D. For analysis, the Least Square Dummy Variable (LSDV) Regression for model I and Random Effect (RE) Regression Analysis for model II were performed. The effect of the independent variables on credit risk, using loan loss provision and non-performing loans, as proxies of it was examined. While comparing both models, the loan loss provisioning was found to better explain the credit risk. The growth rate of GDP, a macroeconomic variable, had a significant and positive effect on credit risk, which was unexpected whereas the control variable, the interbank interest rate, had a negative and significant effect on credit risk. Furthermore, the year dummy showed a relatively high requirement for loan loss provision, especially in the years 2019 and 2020, which may be due to COVID-19. The bank-specific variables like size, and government banks had significant and positive effects on credit risk. This implied that the merging of banks was not fruitful as it caused an increase in the total assets of banks, which would lead to an increase in the size of commercial banks. That increase in the size of commercial banks was found to increase credit risk. In addition, government-owned banks were found to have higher credit risk than other banks. The government should think about reforms through private sector participation in government-owned banks as another alternative to reduce credit risk.
Thermally denatured ribonuclease A retains secondary structure as shown by FTIR.

Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been used to test for the presence of nonrandom structure in thermally denatured ribonuclease A (RNase A) at pH* 2.0 (uncorrected pH measured in D2O). The amide I spectral region of the native and thermally denatured protein was compared. A substantial decrease in the amount of beta-sheet and alpha-helix and a corresponding increase in the amount of turn and unordered structure was observed on thermal denaturation. The results indicate that thermally denatured RNase A contains significant amounts of secondary structure (11% helix and 17% beta-sheet), consistent with previous results reported for circular dichroism, and with a relatively compact structure, as revealed by dynamic light scattering. These results are in contrast to those of amide protection experiments reported recently [Robertson, A.D., & Baldwin, R.L. (1991) Biochemistry 30, 9907-9914] which indicated no stable hydrogen-bonded structure under these experimental conditions. Possible explanations for this apparent discrepancy are given.