Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Failure of a Ductile Adhesive Layer Constrained by Hard Adherends

The evaluation of a fracture from a thin layer constrained by a hard material is important in relation to the structural integrity of adhesive joints and composite materials. It has been reported that the fracture toughness of a crack in a ductile adhesive joint depends on the bond thickness, but the mechanism has not yet been elucidated clearly. In this study, the J-integral and the near-tip stress of a crack in an adhesive joint are investigated. It is determined that a decrease of the bond thickness increases the stress ahead of a crack tip, which results in the decrease of fracture toughness.
Earliest Cranio-Encephalic Trauma from the Levantine Middle Palaeolithic: 3D Reappraisal of the Qafzeh 11 Skull, Consequences of Pediatric Brain Damage on Individual Life Condition and Social Care

The Qafzeh site (Lower Galilee, Israel) has yielded the largest Levantine hominin collection from Middle Palaeolithic layers which were dated to circa 90–100 kyrs BP or to marine isotope stage 5b–c. Within the hominin sample, Qafzeh 11, circa 12–13 yrs old at death, presents a skull lesion previously attributed to a healed trauma. Three dimensional imaging methods allowed us to better explore this lesion which appeared as being a frontal bone depressed fracture, associated with brain damage. Furthermore the endocranial volume, smaller than expected for dental age, supports the hypothesis of a growth delay due to traumatic brain injury. This trauma did not affect the typical human brain morphology pattern of the right frontal and left occipital petalia. It is highly probable that this young individual suffered from personality and neurological troubles directly related to focal cerebral damage. Interestingly this young individual benefited of a unique funerary practice among the south-western Asian burials dated to Middle Palaeolithic.
Alternate-day fasting diet improves fructose-induced insulin resistance in mice.

Increased fructose consumption is linked to insulin resistance, weight gain, hyperlipidemia and hypertension. Although the advantages of several dietary restriction regimens have been demonstrated, the effects of alternate-day fasting (ADF) on fructose-induced insulin resistance have not yet been studied. This study is based on a new modification on ADF by combining the fructose-rich solution (10% w/v) and regular mice diet. Mice were randomly allocated into four groups: ADF50% (50% restriction in chow food intake but ad libitum fructose drink), ADF100% (100% restriction for chow food but ad libitum fructose drink), control (ad libitum chow food intake plus tap water) and daily food and fructose (DFF) (had free access to both chow and fructose solution). Biweekly fasting blood sugar (FBS), glucose tolerance test (GTT) and insulin tolerance test (ITT) were conducted. All groups gained weight during the study (p < 0.05). Body weights of DFF and control groups did not differ from that of ADF groups, but ADF50% gained more (p < 0.01) weights than ADF100% through the study. Total calorie intake (feed + fast days) of ADF50% was higher than that of ADF100% (p < 0.001) and control (p < 0.03). In addition, ADF groups consumed more energy than the control and DFF groups in feed (ad libitum) days (p < 0.05). At the end of the study, the mean FBS levels in the control and ADF100% groups were similar and significantly lower in relation to that of DFF and ADF50% groups (p < 0.01). Measurements of area under the curve in GTT and ITT revealed that the ADF100% group was more insulin-sensitive than the DFF and ADF50% groups. In conclusion, these data suggest that the ADF100% improves fructose-induced insulin resistance in mice.
A distinct pathway for tetrahymanol synthesis in bacteria

Significance Sterols and sterol-like lipids have critical physiological roles in both eukaryotes and bacteria. These cyclic lipids are also well preserved in ancient rocks and can function as microbial molecular fossils. Gammacerane is one such lipid that is used as an indicator of water column stratification deep in time. However, a proper interpretation of gammacerane biosignatures requires a full understanding of the biosynthesis and taxonomic distribution of one of its potential precursors, tetrahymanol, in modern microbes. Here we establish that bacterial tetrahymanol producers are more diverse than previously thought and demonstrate that bacteria have evolved a biochemical mechanism distinct from eukaryotes for synthesizing tetrahymanol. Tetrahymanol is a polycyclic triterpenoid lipid first discovered in the ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis whose potential diagenetic product, gammacerane, is often used as a biomarker for water column stratification in ancient ecosystems. Bacteria are also a potential source of tetrahymanol, but neither the distribution of this lipid in extant bacteria nor the significance of bacterial tetrahymanol synthesis for interpreting gammacerane biosignatures is known. Here we couple comparative genomics with genetic and lipid analyses to link a protein of unknown function to tetrahymanol synthesis in bacteria. This tetrahymanol synthase (Ths) is found in a variety of bacterial genomes, including aerobic methanotrophs, nitrite-oxidizers, and sulfate-reducers, and in a subset of aquatic and terrestrial metagenomes. Thus, the potential to produce tetrahymanol is more widespread in the bacterial domain than previously thought. However, Ths is not encoded in any eukaryotic genomes, nor is it homologous to eukaryotic squalene-tetrahymanol cyclase, which catalyzes the cyclization of squalene directly to tetrahymanol. Rather, heterologous expression studies suggest that bacteria couple the cyclization of squalene to a hopene molecule by squalene-hopene cyclase with a subsequent Ths-dependent ring expansion to form tetrahymanol. Thus, bacteria and eukaryotes have evolved distinct biochemical mechanisms for producing tetrahymanol.
Pseudo-Anosov braids with small entropy and the magic 3-manifold

We consider a hyperbolic surface bundle over the circle with the smallest known volume among hyperbolic manifolds having 3 cusps, so called "the magic manifold". We compute the entropy function on the fiber face of the unit ball with respect to the Thurston norm, determine homology classes whose representatives are genus 0 fiber surfaces, and describe their monodromies by braids. Among such homology classes whose representatives have n punctures, we decide which one realizes the minimal entropy. It turns out that all the braids with smallest known entropy are derived from monodromies for such homology classes.
Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases Modulate DNA Damage Response - A Contributing Factor to Using MEK Inhibitors in Cancer Therapy

The Raf-MEK-ERK pathway is commonly activated in human cancers, largely attributable to the extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) being a common downstream target of growth factor receptors, Ras, and Raf. Elevation of these up-stream signals occurs frequently in a variety of malignancies and ERK kinases play critical roles in promoting cell proliferation. Therefore, inhibition of MEK-mediated ERK activation is very appealing in cancer therapy. Consequently, numerous MEK inhibitors have been developed over the years. However, clinical trials have yet to produce overwhelming support for using MEK inhibitors in cancer therapy. Although complex reasons may have contributed to this outcome, an alternative possibility is that the MEK-ERK pathway may not solely provide proliferation signals to malignancies, the central scientific rationale in developing MEK inhibitors for cancer therapy. Recent developments may support this alternative possibility. Accumulating evidence now demonstrated that the MEK-ERK pathway contributes to the proper execution of cellular DNA damage response (DDR), a major pathway of tumor suppression. During DDR, the MEK-ERK pathway is commonly activated, which facilitates the proper activation of DDR checkpoints to prevent cell division. Inhibition of MEK-mediated ERK activation, therefore, compromises checkpoint activation. As a result, cells may continue to proliferate in the presence of DNA lesions, leading to the accumulation of mutations and thereby promoting tumorigenesis. Alternatively, reduction in checkpoint activation may prevent efficient repair of DNA damages, which may cause apoptosis or cell catastrophe, thereby enhancing chemotherapy’s efficacy. This review summarizes our current understanding of the participation of the ERK kinases in DDR.
Activation of the MAPKs ERK1/2 by cell swelling in turbot hepatocytes

Background information. Activation of MAPKs (mitogen‐activated protein kinases), in particular ERK1/2 (extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase 1/2), has been reported to take place in a large variety of cell types after hypo‐osmotic cell swelling. Depending on cell type, ERK1/2 phosphorylation can then serve or not the RVD (regulatory volume decrease) process. The present study investigates ERK1/2 activation after aniso‐osmotic stimulations in turbot hepatocytes and the potential link between phosphorylation of these proteins and RVD.
Relationships matter: linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement.

An emerging consensus exists in the school reform literature about what conditions contribute to student success. '** Conditions include high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning communities among staff, and personalized learning environments. Schools providing such supports are more likely to have students who are engaged in and connected to school. Professionals and parents readily understand the need for high standards and quality curriculum and pedagogy in school. Similarly, the concept of teachers working together as professionals to ensure student success is not an issue. But the urgency to provide a personalized learning environment for students especially with schools struggling to provide textbooks to all students, hot meals, security, and janitorial services is not as great in many quarters. While parents would prefer their children experience a caring school environment, does such an environment influence student academic performance? Research suggests it does. For students to take advantage of high expectations and more advanced curricula, they need support from the people with whom they interact in school. ^''
Exploring Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Teams: A Social Exchange Theory Perspective

In the Knowledge Economics Age, knowledge is seen as a critical resource. To enhance the knowledge value, businesses have to promote knowledge sharing as the path to gaining competitive advantages. Further, with the rapid progress in network technology, new business models have emerged to adapt to the changing environment; the virtual team, a kind of new business style, has become prevalent for many businesses in emerging information technologies. In this study, we study how the virtual team members effectively share their knowledge through the network technology. Based on the Social Exchange Theory and a model of shared knowledge, we explore the critical factors and causal relationships among knowledge sharing on virtual team. The findings show that the total eight hypotheses have been confirmed and are valid. Thus, these findings could be good references for both academics and in practice. Based upon the research findings, implications and limitations are discussed.
Consciousness: individuated information in action

Within theoretical and empirical enquiries, many different meanings associated with consciousness have appeared, leaving the term itself quite vague. This makes formulating an abstract and unifying version of the concept of consciousness – the main aim of this article –into an urgent theoretical imperative. It is argued that consciousness, characterized as dually accessible (cognized from the inside and the outside), hierarchically referential (semantically ordered), bodily determined (embedded in the working structures of an organism or conscious system), and useful in action (pragmatically functional), is a graded rather than an all-or-none phenomenon. A gradational approach, however, despite its explanatory advantages, can lead to some counterintuitive consequences and theoretical problems. In most such conceptions consciousness is extended globally (attached to primitive organisms or artificial systems), but also locally (connected to certain lower-level neuronal and bodily processes). For example, according to information integration theory (as introduced recently by Tononi and Koch, 2014), even such simple artificial systems as photodiodes possess miniscule amounts of consciousness. The major challenge for this article, then, is to establish reasonable, empirically justified constraints on how extended the range of a graded consciousness could be. It is argued that conscious systems are limited globally by the ability to individuate information (where individuated information is understood as evolutionarily embedded, socially altered, and private), whereas local limitations should be determined on the basis of a hypothesis about the action-oriented nature of the processes that select states of consciousness. Using these constraints, an abstract concept of consciousness is arrived at, hopefully contributing to a more unified state of play within consciousness studies itself.
Prp8 retinitis pigmentosa mutants cause defects in the transition between the catalytic steps of splicing

Pre-mRNA splicing must occur with high fidelity and efficiency for proper gene expression. The spliceosome uses DExD/H box helicases to promote on-pathway interactions while simultaneously minimizing errors. Prp8 and Snu114, an EF2-like GTPase, regulate the activity of the Brr2 helicase, promoting RNA unwinding by Brr2 at appropriate points in the splicing cycle and repressing it at others. Mutations linked to retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease that causes blindness in humans, map to the Brr2 regulatory region of Prp8. Previous in vitro studies of homologous mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae show that Prp8-RP mutants cause defects in spliceosome activation. Here we show that a subset of RP mutations in Prp8 also causes defects in the transition between the first and second catalytic steps of splicing. Though Prp8-RP mutants do not cause defects in splicing fidelity, they result in an overall decrease in splicing efficiency. Furthermore, genetic analyses link Snu114 GTP/GDP occupancy to Prp8-dependent regulation of Brr2. Our results implicate the transition between the first and second catalytic steps as a critical place in the splicing cycle where Prp8-RP mutants influence splicing efficiency. The location of the Prp8-RP mutants, at the “hinge” that links the Prp8 Jab1–MPN regulatory “tail” to the globular portion of the domain, suggests that these Prp8-RP mutants inhibit regulated movement of the Prp8 Jab1/MPN domain into the Brr2 RNA binding channel to transiently inhibit Brr2. Therefore, in Prp8-linked RP, disease likely results not only from defects in spliceosome assembly and activation, but also because of defects in splicing catalysis.
Efficacy in standard clinical practice of colonoscopic polypectomy in reducing colorectal cancer incidence

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in Western countries. Removal of adenomas is based on the assumption that it could lead to a reduction in the incidence of colorectal cancer, as demonstrated by the National Polyp Study in the USA. A critical issue is whether the benefit observed in clinical trials can also be observed in standard clinical practice. To address the issue, a multicentre Italian collaborative study was organised. METHODS The study cohort comprised 1693 subjects of both sexes, aged 40–69 years, enrolled between 1980 and 1987 following a total colon examination (TCE) (that is, total colonoscopy or colonoscopy and double contrast barium enema), with removal of at least one adenoma larger than 5 mm in diameter. Exclusion criteria were genetic syndromes, previous adenomas or colorectal cancer, previous colonic resection, inflammatory bowel disease, or sessile adenomas more than 3 cm in diameter. Follow up ended in December 1996 by TCE or telephone interview, and review of the medical records, clinical files, or death certificates. Incidence ratios for colorectal cancer were compared with expected age and sex specific incidences in the Italian general population. RESULTS Follow up data were obtained for 97.3% of cases for a total of 14 211 person/years. Mean follow up was 10.5 years. Six colorectal cancer cases (four in males, two in females) at various stages were ascertained (one at 29 months, two at five years, one at seven years, one at eight years, and one at 10 years from the index examination). The number of cancers expected in the reference population was 17.7 for an incidence ratio of 0.34 (confidence interval 0.23–0.63; p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Colonoscopic polypectomy substantially reduced the incidence of colorectal cancer in the cohort compared with that expected in the general population. These results are of particular relevance considering that those with adenomas are at increased risk of colorectal cancer and that this retrospective study was performed on data obtained in standard clinical practice. This observation strengthens the concept of effective population screening in view of the fact that adenomatous polyps are the most frequent neoplastic outcome of screening and their removal is associated with a decrease in the incidence of colorectal cancer.
Large-scale synchronized activity in the embryonic brainstem and spinal cord

In the developing central nervous system, spontaneous activity appears well before the brain responds to external sensory inputs. One of the earliest activities is observed in the hindbrain and spinal cord, which is detected as rhythmic electrical discharges of cranial and spinal motoneurons or oscillations of Ca2+- and voltage-related optical signals. Shortly after the initial expression, the spontaneous activity appearing in the hindbrain and spinal cord exhibits a large-scale correlated wave that propagates over a wide region of the central nervous system, maximally extending to the lumbosacral cord and to the forebrain. In this review, we describe several aspects of this synchronized activity by focusing on the basic properties, development, origin, propagation pattern, pharmacological characteristics, and possible mechanisms underlying the generation of the activity. These profiles differ from those of the respiratory and locomotion pattern generators observed in the mature brainstem and spinal cord, suggesting that the wave is primordial activity that appears during a specific period of embryonic development and plays some important roles in the development of the central nervous system.
Separation of polyphenols and arecoline from areca nut (Areca catechu L.) by solvent extraction, its antioxidant activity, and identification of polyphenols.

BACKGROUND Areca nut (Areca catechu L.) or betel nut, a commercial cash crop, is a rich source of polyphenols but also contains toxic alkaloids, mainly arecoline. Separation of these bioactive polyphenols from toxic constituents could propel the safe and beneficial use of betel nut; also it will help arecanut processing industries to produce arecoline-free products. With the aim to develop an effective method for maximum extraction of polyphenols with minimum arecoline, several factors such as nature of the solvent, pH (2-10), substrate concentration (6-14 %) and extraction time (30-150 min) under shaking conditions were evaluated. Qualitative analysis was done using spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). RESULTS Maximum extraction of polyphenols (407.47 mg GAE g(-1)), total tannin and its antioxidant activity with minimum arecoline (1.73 mg g(-1) of sample) was achieved by using 80% acetone at pH 4 for 90 min with 10% w/v substrate under shaking conditions. CONCLUSION Solvent extraction under optimized parameters gave maximum polyphenols with minimum extraction of arecoline, and highest ratio of polyphenols to arecoline. HPLC and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry results confirmed the presence of catechin and epicatechin in the extract, which suggests its potential as a source of bioactives.
Hydraulic and Mechanical Properties of Recycled Materials

Construction and maintenance of roads requires a large volume of aggregates for use as base and subbase materials. Because of the cost of virgin aggregates, federal and state agencies are encouraging the recycling of waste materials including materials in old pavements. This study assessed the suitability of four recycled materials relative to virgin aggregates for use as base and subbase materials. The four recycled materials were the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), fly ash (FA), reclaimed concrete material (RCM), and foundry sand (FS). Assessment of these materials was done in terms of their hydraulic, mechanical, and leaching properties when mixed in with various proportions of virgin aggregates. Except for slightly higher fines content in some RAP-aggregate mixtures, particle size distribution of all mixtures was within the Minnesota Department of Transportation specification band for Class 5 materials. Water retention (pore size distribution), hydraulic conductivity, resilient modulus, and shear strength measurements were generally similar to that of 100% aggregates. The exception was the mixtures of FS. Heavy metal concentrations in the leachate were also generally less than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards. The authors concluded that FA, RAP, and RCM mixtures will be good substitutes of virgin aggregates as base and subbase materials.
Shock break-out: how a GRB revealed the beginnings of a supernova

In February 2006, Swift caught a gamma-ray burst (GRB) in the act of turning into a supernova, and made the first ever direct observations of the break-out and early expansion of a supernova shock wave. GRB 060218 began with an exceptionally long burst of non-thermal gamma-rays, lasting over 2000 s, as a jet erupted through the surface of the star. While this was in progress, an optically-thick thermal component from the shock wave of the supernova explosion grew to prominence, and we were able to track the mildly relativistic expansion of this shell as the blackbody peak moved from the X-rays into the UV and optical bands. The initial radius of the shock implied that it was a blue supergiant that had exploded, but the lack of hydrogen emission lines in the supernova spectrum indicated a more compact star. The most likely scenario is that the shock ploughed into the massive stellar wind of a Wolf–Rayet progenitor, with the shock breaking-out and becoming visible to us once it reached the radius where the wind became optically-thin. I present the Swift observations of this landmark event, and discuss the new questions and answers it leaves us with.