Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEC14 is a specific requirement for secretion of phospholipase B1 and pathogenicity of Cryptococcus neoformans

Secreted phospholipase B1 (CnPlb1) is essential for dissemination of Cryptococcus neoformans to the central nervous system (CNS) yet essential components of its secretion machinery remain to be elucidated. Using gene deletion analysis we demonstrate that CnPlb1 secretion is dependent on the CnSEC14 product, CnSec14‐1p. CnSec14‐1p is a homologue of the phosphatidylinositol transfer protein ScSec14p, which is essential for secretion and viability in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In contrast to CnPlb1, neither laccase 1‐induced melanization within the cell wall nor capsule induction were negatively impacted in CnSEC14‐1 deletion mutants (CnΔsec14‐1 and CnΔsec14‐1CnΔsfh5). Similar to the CnPLB1 deletion mutant (CnΔplb1), CnΔsec14‐1 was hypovirulent in mice and did not disseminate to the CNS by day 14 post infection. Furthermore, macrophage expulsion of live CnΔsec14‐1 and CnΔplb1 (vomocytosis) was reduced. Individual deletion of CnSEC14‐2, a closely related CnSEC14‐1 homologue, and CnSFH5, a distantly related SEC fourteen like homologue, did not abrogate CnPlb1 secretion or virulence. However, reconstitution of CnΔsec14‐1 with CnSEC14‐1 or CnSEC14‐2 restored both phenotypes, consistent with functional genetic redundancy. We conclude that CnPlb1 secretion is SEC14‐dependent and that C. neoformans preferentially exports virulence determinants to the cell periphery via distinct pathways. We also demonstrate that CnPlb1 secretion is essential for vomocytosis.
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition for Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction in COPD

BACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle impairment is a recognized complication of COPD, predicting mortality in severe disease. Increasing evidence implicates the renin-angiotensin system in control of muscle phenotype. We hypothesized that angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition would improve quadriceps function and exercise performance in COPD. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial investigated the effect of the ACE inhibitor, fosinopril, on quadriceps function in patients with COPD with quadriceps weakness. Primary outcomes were change in quadriceps endurance and atrophy signaling at 3 months. Quadriceps maximum voluntary contraction (QMVC), mid-thigh CT scan of the cross-sectional area (MTCSA), and incremental shuttle walk distance (ISWD) were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Eighty patients were enrolled (mean [SD], 65 [8] years, FEV1 43% [21%] predicted, 53% men). Sixty-seven patients (31 fosinopril, 36 placebo) completed the trial. The treatment group demonstrated a significant reduction in systolic BP (Δ−10.5 mm Hg; 95% CI, −19.9 to −1.1; P = .03) and serum ACE activity (Δ−20.4 IU/L; 95% CI, −31.0 to −9.8; P < .001) compared with placebo. No significant between-group differences were observed in the primary end points of quadriceps endurance half-time (Δ0.5 s; 95% CI, −13.3-14.3; P = .94) or atrogin-1 messenger RNA expression (Δ−0.03 arbitrary units; 95% CI, −0.32-0.26; P = .84). QMVC improved in both groups (fosinopril: Δ1.1 kg; 95% CI, 0.03-2.2; P = .045 vs placebo: Δ3.6 kg; 95% CI, 2.1-5.0; P < .0001) with a greater increase in the placebo arm (between-group, P = .009). No change was shown in the MTCSA (P = .09) or ISWD (P = .51). CONCLUSIONS: This randomized controlled trial found that ACE inhibition, using fosinopril for 3 months, did not improve quadriceps function or exercise performance in patients with COPD with quadriceps weakness. TRIAL REGISTRY: Current Controlled Trials; No.: ISRCTN05581879; URL: www.controlled-trials.com
Impact of E-Procurement Implementation on Bahrain Road Construction Companies: Exploring the Influence of Firm Size and Readiness Factors

Information Technology is being used more and more by both public and private organizations to improve the quality of their procurement services. The Bahrain Tender Board (BTB) intends to implement a new e-procurement system that covers every stage of the procurement process to expedite the process for both bidders and procuring companies. Only tender announcements, bid submissions, and tender awards are permitted under the existing system. The study intends to determine the factors impacting the Bahrain Roads Sector's readiness to deploy an electronic procurement system, in addition to highlighting the varying sizes of enterprises' experiences with the current system. Better selection and implementation of a more recent eprocurement system will be made possible by this.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and the Risk of Congenital Heart Defects: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Background Recent studies have reported conflicting results on the association between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the risk of heart defects. We aimed to assess the association between SSRIs in pregnant women during the first trimester and the risk of congenital heart defects. Methods and Results PubMed and EMBASE up to July 2014 were searched for population-based cohort studies that reported SSRIs in pregnant women during the first trimester and live infants’ heart defects at follow-up. A meta-analysis of published data was undertaken primarily by means of fixed-effects models. Four cohort studies including 1 996 519 participants were included with a mean follow-up period ranging from discharge to 72 months. SSRIs were not associated with increased risks of heart defects 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 0.94 to 1.18). Conclusions SSRIs during the first trimester in pregnant women were not associated with increased risks for newborn heart defects.
Mothers Helper T Cell Clones from Alloimmunized HLA-DR 52 a of Diverse Antigen-Specific HPA-1 a Alloepitope and the Presenting Evidence for the Specificity for Platelet

Maternal alloantibodies against the human platelet Ag (HPA)-1a allotype of the platelet ␤ 3 integrin GpIIb/IIIa can cause severe fetal or neonatal hemorrhage. Almost all anti-HPA-1a-immune mothers are homozygous for HPA-1b and carry HLA-DR52a (DRB3*0101). The single Pro 33 3 Leu substitution (HPA-1b3 HPA-1a) was previously predicted to create a binding motif for HLA-DR52a that can lead to alloimmunization. We have isolated six CD4 ؉ T cell clones from three such mothers, which all respond to intact HPA-1a ؉ , but not HPA-1b ؉ , platelets. We used them to define the " core " and " anchor " residues of this natural T cell epitope. Molecular modeling based on a recently published crystal structure can explain the preferential presentation of the Leu 33 (but not Pro 33 variant) by HLA-DR52a rather than the linked HLA-DR3 or the allelic DR52b. The modeling also predicts efficient anchoring at position 33 by several alternative hydrophobic ␣-amino acids; indeed, a recently identified variant with Val 33 is presented well to two clones, and is therefore potentially alloimmunogenic. Finally, these HPA-1a-specific T cell clones use a variety of T cell receptors, but all have a " Th1 " (IFN-␥-producing) profile and are suitable for testing selective immunotherapies that might be applicable in vivo. A lloimmune responses by mothers against fetal Ags have been studied much less than autoimmune reactions, although the original alloantigens are easier to identify. There have been some reports on maternal T cell responses to rhesus Ags (1), but few on fetomaternal alloimmune thrombocy-topenia (FMAIT) 3 (2), although much is known about its immu-nogenetics (2, 3). FMAIT causes considerable fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. The overall incidence of FMAIT is estimated to be 1 in 1163 live births (86 per 100,000), the incidence of severe throm-bocytopenia (platelet count Ͻ50 ϫ 109/L) is 1 in 1695 (or 59 per 100,000), and intracranial hemorrhage occurs in the range of 10 – 20%, most of which occur antenatally (4 – 6). Most of the deaths are associated with intracranial hemorrhage; the mortality has been estimated in some studies as Ͼ10% (7), although recent studies suggest this is an overestimate (5, 6). Unfortunately, unlike in he-molytic disease of the newborn, there is as yet no reliable laboratory method to predict pregnancies at high risk of severe FMAIT and intracranial hemorrhage (8, 9). FMAIT frequently affects first pregnancies (unlike hemolytic disease of the newborn), and …
Matrix "Bit" loaded: a scalable lightweight join query processor for RDF data

The Semantic Web community, until now, has used traditional database systems for the storage and querying of RDF data. The SPARQL query language also closely follows SQL syntax. As a natural consequence, most of the SPARQL query processing techniques are based on database query processing and optimization techniques. For SPARQL join query optimization, previous works like RDF-3X and Hexastore have proposed to use 6-way indexes on the RDF data. Although these indexes speed up merge-joins by orders of magnitude, for complex join queries generating large intermediate join results, the scalability of the query processor still remains a challenge. In this paper, we introduce (i) BitMat - a compressed bit-matrix structure for storing huge RDF graphs, and (ii) a novel, light-weight SPARQL join query processing method that employs an initial pruning technique, followed by a variable-binding-matching algorithm on BitMats to produce the final results. Our query processing method does not build intermediate join tables and works directly on the compressed data. We have demonstrated our method against RDF graphs of upto 1.33 billion triples - the largest among results published until now (single-node, non-parallel systems), and have compared our method with the state-of-the-art RDF stores - RDF-3X and MonetDB. Our results show that the competing methods are most effective with highly selective queries. On the other hand, BitMat can deliver 2-3 orders of magnitude better performance on complex, low-selectivity queries over massive data.
The range test: a dependence test for symbolic, non-linear expressions

Most current data dependence tests cannot handle loop bounds or array subscripts that are symbolic, nonlinear expressions (e.g. A(n*i+j), where 0/spl les/j/spl les/n). We describe a dependence test, called the range test, that can handle such expressions. Briefly, the range test proves independence by determining whether certain symbolic inequalities hold for a permutation of the loop nest. Powerful symbolic analyses and constraint propagation techniques were developed to prove such inequalities, The range test has been implemented in Polaris, a parallelizing compiler being developed at the University of Illinois. <<ETX>>
The novel association between red complex of oral microbe and body mass index in healthy Japanese: a population based cross-sectional study

Microbiota has been thought to be one of important environmental factors for obesity or Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Among oral microbe, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola and Tannellera forsythia are known as risk factors, so called red complex, for periodontitis. Red complex could also be a risk factor for obesity. However, recent study indicated that obesity was not improved by periodontal therapy. Thus, we performed a cross sectional study to reveal the association of oral microbe with body mass index in a healthy population. Healthy individuals were randomly recruited. The infections of oral microbe were identified by Taqman polymerase chain reaction. The relationships between number of red complex and body mass index or waist circumference were analyzed. Two hundred and twenty-two apparently healthy Japanese were enrolled. BMI and waist circumference as well as age, periodontitis, number of brushing teeth were significantly associated with the number of red complex after adjusting covariance. The effect size of body mass index or waist circumference was 0.023 (p = 0.028) or 0.024 (p = 0.024), respectively. Body mass index and waist circumference were independently associated with the number of red complex among apparently healthy Japanese. The current observation implies the possibility that oral microbe was associated with obesity in healthy population.
Psychosocial Factors Associated with Relapse in Patients with Alcohol Dependence

Introduction: Despite the recent developments in the biology of addiction, a significant part of relapse and its management is still influenced by psychosocial factors and the interplay between them. This study aims at finding the extent of association of various psychosocial factors with relapse in patients of alcohol dependence. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study of two groups of alcohol dependence patients: abstinence (n = 31) and relapse (n = 35). Demographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables were compared between the two groups. Statistical analyses were aimed at finding the extent of association between various factors and relapse. Results: Demographic variables such as family history of substance dependence (odds ratio [OR] =2.09; confidence interval [CI] =0.74–5.90) and past history of ≥2 relapses (OR = 2.71; CI = 0.83–8.87) were associated with relapse in alcohol dependence. Clinical variables such as younger age of onset of dependence (Mean difference = −3.93; 95% CI = −7.66 - −0.21; P = 0.038) and shorter time to develop dependence (Mean difference = −3.08; 95% CI = −5.53 -−0.63; P = 0.014) were significantly associated with relapse. Of the psychosocial variables, coping behavior (OR = 6.54; CI = 1.17–36.74) had the highest association with relapse followed by relapse precipitants (OR = 1.42; CI = 1.16–1.74). Conclusion: Coping behaviors to adverse situations have greater association with relapse among psychosocial variables than the number of high-risk situations a patient experiences. Interventions targeted at improving coping skills can help patients stay abstinent.
Connectomic Insights into Topologically Centralized Network Edges and Relevant Motifs in the Human Brain

White matter (WM) tracts serve as important material substrates for information transfer across brain regions. However, the topological roles of WM tracts in global brain communications and their underlying microstructural basis remain poorly understood. Here, we employed diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and graph-theoretical approaches to identify the pivotal WM connections in human whole-brain networks and further investigated their wiring substrates (including WM microstructural organization and physical consumption) and topological contributions to the brain's network backbone. We found that the pivotal WM connections with highly topological-edge centrality were primarily distributed in several long-range cortico-cortical connections (including the corpus callosum, cingulum and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus) and some projection tracts linking subcortical regions. These pivotal WM connections exhibited high levels of microstructural organization indicated by diffusion measures (the fractional anisotropy, the mean diffusivity and the axial diffusivity) and greater physical consumption indicated by streamline lengths, and contributed significantly to the brain's hubs and the rich-club structure. Network motif analysis further revealed their heavy participations in the organization of communication blocks, especially in routes involving inter-hemispheric heterotopic and extremely remote intra-hemispheric systems. Computational simulation models indicated the sharp decrease of global network integrity when attacking these highly centralized edges. Together, our results demonstrated high building-cost consumption and substantial communication capacity contributions for pivotal WM connections, which deepens our understanding of the topological mechanisms that govern the organization of human connectomes.
Patient satisfaction with service quality in an oncology setting: implications for prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer

Objective To evaluate the relationship between self-reported satisfaction with service quality and overall survival in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Design A prospective cohort study. Setting Cancer Treatment Centers of America® from July 2007 and December 2010. Participants Nine hundred and eighty-six returning NSCLC patients. Intervention Overall patient experience ‘considering everything, how satisfied are you with your overall experience’ was measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from ‘completely dissatisfied’ to ‘completely satisfied. ’. Main Outcome Measure Patient survival was the primary end point. Results The response rate for this study was 69%. Six hundred patients were newly diagnosed, while 386 were previously treated. Four hundred sixty-nine were males, while 517 were females. 101, 59, 288 and 538 patients had stage I, II, III and IV disease, respectively. Mean age was 58.9 years. Six hundred and thirty (63.9%) patients had expired at the time of this analysis. Seven hundred and sixty-two (77.3%) patients were ‘completely satisfied’. Median overall survival was 12.1 months (95% confidence interval (CI): 10.9–13.2 months). On univariate analysis, ‘completely satisfied’ patients had a significantly lower risk of mortality compared with those not ‘completely satisfied’ [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.59–0.84; P < 0.001]. On multivariate analysis controlling for stage at diagnosis, prior treatment history, age and gender, ‘completely satisfied’ patients demonstrated significantly lower mortality (HR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.60–0.85; P < 0.001) compared with those not ‘completely satisfied’. Conclusions Self-reported experience with service quality was an independent predictor of survival in NSCLC patients undergoing oncologic treatment, a novel finding in the literature. Based on these provocative findings, further exploration of this relationship is warranted in well-designed prospective studies.
Lung Cancer Mortality Pattern in Thailand, 2019

Worldwide, lung cancer is a serious public health issue. The aim of this paper was to investigate the patterns of lung cancer mortality in Thailand, 2019. Two datasets provided by the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, one is Verbal Autopsy (VA) and the other is Vital Registration (VR) were utilized. The VA study was conducted in the selected nine provinces in 2019 with a total number of 8,848 deaths, whereas 377 (4.3%) cases were accounted for deaths from lung cancer. On the other hand, the VR data reporting the total number of 488,503 deaths for the entire country in 2019 with 15,675 (3.2%) cases were accounted for deaths by lung cancer. A logistic regression model was applied to obtain the estimated proportion of deaths by lung cancer. After that, a triangulation method was utilized, and then the logistic regression model was applied to project the number of deaths by lung cancer in 2019 for the entire nation. It was discovered that males aged 50–79 and females aged 50–69 have statistically significant proportions of death by lung cancer higher than the overall mean (3.14%). Moreover, geographically, the proportion of deaths by lung cancer was the highest in the north and the lowest in the south. Additionally, the proportion of deaths by lung cancer for both genders aged younger than 50 and older than 80 years was statistically significantly lower than the overall mean. However, among the patients who are older, they might die from other comorbidities.
Novel Power Outage Probability Estimation Method for Energy Harvesting in Underlay D2D Networks

Interference generated in beyond-5G device-to-device (D2D) networks can be utilized for ambient energy harvesting (EH) purposes to extend the lifetime of IoT devices. In this regard, power outage probability (POP) is an essential parameter for sustainability analysis in EH systems. This work presents a Gaussian mixture models (GMM)-based approach for POP estimation. The proposed approach provides a faster and more tractable and accurate measure of POP as indicated via numerical results.
Central Bank Digital Currency: A Bibliometric and Content Analysis

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a digital revolutionary idea built on distributed ledger and smart contracts systems. With the introduction of virtual currency, central banks are no longer limited to accepting cash as payment. Along with many benefits of CBDCs, technological, social, and economic obstacles impede its execution. This research aims to provide insight into the development of CBDCs, how they serve in the payment, and hinder their adoption through bibliometric and content analysis. Applying a mixed-method approach, this study first underscored the yearly publication trends, prominent journals, and documents. Moreover, the qualitative technique provides insights into prevailing literature themes, ensuring a thorough understanding of the topic.
Thermal structure and intermediate-depth seismicity in the Tohoku-Hokkaido subduction zones

Abstract. The cause of intermediate-depth (>40 km) seismicity in subduction zones is not well understood. The viability of proposed mechanisms, which include dehydration embrittlement, shear instabilities and the presence of fluids in general, depends significantly on local conditions, including pressure, temperature and composition. The well-instrumented and well-studied subduction zone below Northern Japan (Tohoku and Hokkaido) provides an excellent testing ground to study the conditions under which intermediate-depth seismicity occurs. This study combines new finite element models that predict the dynamics and thermal structure of the Japan subduction system with a high-precision hypocenter data base. The upper plane of seismicity is principally contained in the crustal portion of the subducting slab and appears to thin and deepen within the crust at depths >80 km. The disappearance of seismicity overlaps in most of the region with the predicted phase change of blueschist to hydrous eclogite, which forms a major dehydration front in the crust. The correlation between the thermally predicted blueschist-out boundary and the disappearance of seismicity breaks down in the transition from the northern Japan to Kurile arc below western Hokkaido. Adjusted models that take into account the seismically imaged modified upper mantle structure in this region fail to adequately recover the correlation that is seen below Tohoku and eastern Hokkaido. We conclude that the thermal structure below Western Hokkaido is significantly affected by time-dependent, 3-D dynamics of the slab. This study generally supports the role of fluids in the generation of intermediate-depth seismicity.
NLRP3 Inflammasome and Host Protection against Bacterial Infection

The inflammasome is a multi-protein complex that induces maturation of inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 through activation of caspase-1. Several nucleotide binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family members, including NLRP3, recognize unique microbial and danger components and play a central role in inflammasome activation. The NLRP3 inflammasome is critical for maintenance of homeostasis against pathogenic infections. However, inflammasome activation acts as a double-edged sword for various bacterial infections. When the IL-1 family of cytokines is secreted excessively, they cause tissue damage and extensive inflammatory responses that are potentially hazardous for the host. Emerging evidence has shown that diverse bacterial pathogens or their components negatively regulate inflammasome activation to escape the immune response. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge of the roles and regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome during bacterial infections. Activation and regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome should be tightly controlled to prevent virulence and pathology during infections. Understanding the roles and regulatory mechanisms of the NLRP3 inflammasome is essential for developing potential treatment approaches against pathogenic infections.