Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of soil salinity on the use of the universal triangle method to estimate saline soil moisture from Landsat data: application to the SMAPEx-2 and SMAPEx-3 campaigns

ABSTRACT In this article, a method based on UTM called salinity-based soil moisture content (S_SMC) is developed. Since the soil moisture depends on the soil salinity (SS) in semi-arid regions, the S_SMC method employs the SS as an effective and augmented variable in conventional UTM to estimate SMC in these areas. In calibration step, initially, a linear regression model between the land surface temperature (LST), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and the SS is applied using in situ measurements to assess the influence of the SS in SMC estimation. Then, a non-linearity model is conducted through insertion of more terms in the linear equation and an optimal model of S_SMC is yielded. Moreover, the SS is obtained using a linear model from two selected salinity indices derived from Landsat images and in situ measurements. In estimation step, the LST, NDVI, and the SS are obtained using Landsat data. The S_SMC method is evaluated in the Soil Moisture Active Passive Experiment (SMAPEx)-2 and SMAPEx-3 campaigns in wet and dry conditions, respectively, over two scenes of Landsat images. The results demonstrated that the S_SMC method is appropriate in non-irrigated areas. In these areas, the S_SMC method improves R2 (coefficient of determination) from 22% to 65% in SMAPEx-2 and from 24% to 50% in SMAPEx-3. Moreover, the results have shown that the SMC can be estimated at satellite level with a root mean square error of 0.06 and 0.02 (m3 m−3) in wet and dry condition, respectively. Therefore, the SS is a key parameter to adjust conventional UTM to improve the SMC estimation by the S_SMC method.
THE ASSOCIATION OF SKIN-SENSITIZING ANTIBODY WITH THE β2A-GLOBULINS IN SERA FROM RAGWEED-SENSITIVE PATIENTS

1. The removal of the β2A-globulins from three sera from treated ragweed-sensitive individuals by immune absorption was associated with the loss of all detectable skin-sensitizing antibody activity as demonstrated by Prausnitz-Küstner testing. 2. Gel filtration studies, with sephadex G-200, indicated that the fractions containing only macroglobulins were devoid of all detectable skin-sensitizing antibody activity. 3. The immune absorption of the γ-globulins from a serum fraction containing β2A-globulins, γ-globulins, and a trace of β2M-globulins had no detectable influence on the skin-sensitizing antibody activity. 4. The removal of a portion of the albumin from the allergic sera by immune absorption, with retention of the skin-sensitizing activity, indicated that the loss of skin-sensitizing antibody was not due to non-specific absorption on an antigen-antibody precipitate. 5. No inhibition of the Prausnitz-Küstner reaction was observed when sheep serum, normal human serum, or normal human γ-globulins were tested in concentrations described. 6. We conclude that the skin-sensitizing antibody activities in the three sera from treated ragweed-sensitive individuals studied were associated with the β2A-globulins.
Human venous blood derivatives as fetal bovine serum substitute for fibroblast culture cells in a fibrin construct

Aim: Venous blood derivatives (VBDs) have been suggested as substitutes for Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) to improve the clinical transition of cell-based therapies. The literature is not clear about which is the best VBDs substitute. The present study aimed to evaluate the influence of VBDs on cell viability and describe a new method to seed these cells in a 3D Platelet-Rich Fibrin (PRF). Methods: Blood was processed to obtain Platelet-Poor Plasma from PRF (P-PRF), Human Serum (HS), Platelet-Poor Plasma from PRP (P-PRP), activated-PRP (a-PRP), and Platelet lysate (PL). Cells were supplemented with each VBD at 10% and FBS at 10% was the control. Cell viability (fibroblast 3T3/NIH) test was evaluated with MTT assay in two ways: i) cell-seeded and expanded with VBD; ii) cell-seed with FBS and expanded with VBD. To seed the Fibrin construct, cells were suspended in PBS and dropped into the blood sample before performing Choukroun’s protocol for PRF. Constructs were cultured for 7 days in VBD supplements and FBS. Histological and Immunohistochemical analysis with vimentin was performed. Cell viability was analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Results: VBD’s production time was very heterogeneous. Cells expanded in HS and a-PRP has grown faster. VBD-supplemented culture media provided cell culture highly sensible to trypsin/EDTA 0.25%. Cells seeded and expanded with VBD presented viability comparable to FBS in HS, a-PRP, and P-PRP (p>0.05) and lower in P-PRF and PL groups (p<0.05). The viability of cell seed with FBS and expanded with VBD was similar between P-PRF, a-PRP, PL, and FBS (p>0.05) and lower in HS and P-PRP (p<0.005). PRF-seeded cells showed a positive expression of vimentin and were able to maintain all cells supplemented with VBD. Conclusion: VBD supplements were able to maintain fibroblast cells in 2D and 3D cultures. The new method of the fibrin-cell construct was efficient to insert the cells into the fibrin network.
Effects of Vertical Wind Shear and Storm Motion on Tropical Cyclone Rainfall Asymmetries Deduced from TRMM

Abstract Vertical wind shear and storm motion are two of the most important factors contributing to rainfall asymmetries in tropical cyclones (TCs). Global TC rainfall structure, in terms of azimuthal distribution and asymmetries relative to storm motion, has been previously described using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager rainfall estimates. The mean TC rainfall distribution and the wavenumber-1 asymmetry vary with storm intensity and geographical location among the six oceanic basins. This study uses a similar approach to investigate the relationship between the structure of TC rainfall and the environmental flow by computing the rainfall asymmetry relative to the vertical wind shear. The environmental vertical wind shear is defined as the difference between the mean wind vectors of the 200- and 850-hPa levels over an outer region extending from the radius of 200–800 km around the storm center. The wavenumber-1 maximum rainfall asymmetry is downshear left (right) in the Northern .
Bone Scintigraphy and SPECT/CT of Bisphosphonate-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

Endovenous bisphosphonate therapy seems associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw. The aim of this study was to evaluate the additional diagnostic value of hybrid SPECT/CT in 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate 3-phase bone scintigraphy of osteonecrosis of the jaw in bisphosphonate-treated patients. Methods: We studied 15 patients (12 women and 3 men) with extraoral tumors affected by lytic bone metastases and multiple myeloma. All patients were previously treated with intravenous bisphosphonates (zoledronic acid) for 1–3 y, were negative for dental disease at clinical examination, and had suspected osteonecrosis of the jaw. All 15 patients underwent panoramic x-ray orthopantomography, CT or MRI (or both), microbiologic examination, 3-phase bone scintigraphy, and SPECT/CT of the maxillary region. Results: Three-phase bone-scintigraphy showed increased perfusion and an increased blood pool in 9 of 12 and 10 of 12 patients, respectively; at the metabolic phase, SPECT was positive in all patients and showed abnormal hyperactivity in the maxilla of 2 patients, in the mandible of 9 patients, and in both the mandible and the maxilla of 4 patients. Hybrid SPECT/CT was of particular value in 8 of 15 patients, allowing discrimination of the osteonecrotic core from nearby hyperactivity due to viable bone. Whole-body scintigraphy showed remote and multiple metastases in all patients. Orthopantomography showed nonspecific bone rarefaction in all patients but was not able to aid diagnosis of osteonecrosis of the jaw. CT and MRI showed anomalies in all symptomatic patients: CT was helpful in evaluating both cortical and trabecular bone aspects, and MRI was able to detect soft-tissue involvement but not cortical bone destruction. Conclusion: In appropriately selected oncology patients treated with bisphosphonates, an increased uptake of 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate in maxillary bones may suggest probable osteonecrosis of the jaw. In such cases, SPECT/CT may be of value in increasing the diagnostic accuracy of bone scanning, providing a precise functional anatomic correlation for the definition of the extent of disease.
Public health implications of meat production and consumption

Abstract The high level of meat and saturated fat consumption in the USA and other high-income countries exceeds nutritional needs and contributes to high rates of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and some cancers. Affluent citizens in middle- and low-income countries are adopting similar high-meat diets and experiencing increased rates of these same chronic diseases. The industrial agricultural system, now the predominant form of agriculture in the USA and increasingly world-wide, has consequences for public health owing to its extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides, unsustainable use of resources and environmental pollution. In industrial animal production there are public health concerns surrounding feed formulations that include animal tissues, arsenic and antibiotics as well as occupational health risks and risks for nearby communities. It is of paramount importance for public health professionals to become aware of and involved in how our food is produced.
Numerical models of volcanic flows for an estimation and delimitation of volcanic hazards, the case of Reventador volcano (Ecuador)

Lava flows are the most representative volcanic products of effusive eruptions and are formed whenthe magma is extruded and flows on the surface. When lava flows reach the surface they lose heat and cool.Cooling affects directly the rheology of the lava up to a point where it cannot flow anymore. Rheologicalparameters that control the dynamics of lava flows are the viscosity and the yield strength which in turndepends on the chemical composition, crystallinity and bubble content. There exist numerous models forthe rheology estimation, mostly developed for basaltic lava flows and few for andesitic ones.Lava flows can highly affect populated areas, infrastructures and environment. A way to forecastthe future damages is to developed numerical codes of the lava propagation on real volcanic topography.This challenging method combines the topography, the rheology, the heat loss, and flow dynamics tosimulate the emplacement of a particular lava flow. The numerical code VolcFlow which is based on thedepth-averaged approach is able to reproduce the main physical characteristics of the deposits likemorphology, length and thickness. Here 3 models are proposed for their implementation in VolcFlow withthe aim to simulate lava flows. One model is isothermal, the second includes cooling and the associatedrheological variations, and the third takes into account the crust formation and its effect on the flowemplacement. To check the validity of the different approaches, the models were tested with four studycases, two with basaltic compositions (molten basalt experiment of the Syracuse lava Project and the August-November, 2015 lava flow from Piton de la Fournaise, France) and two with andesitic compositions (theDecember 4th-5th lava flow from Tungurahua, Ecuador, and three lava flows from El Reventador,Ecuador). Results of the simulations shows that the isothermal model can reproduce the flows even if itdoes not consider the cooling and rheology variation. The model that includes rheological laws as functionof crystallization induced by cooling down flow can give very good results but is very sensitive to the inputdata, in particular to the fluid viscosity that is very dependent on chemical composition and temperature.Finally, the model that includes cooling and synthetic sigmoid rheological law shows good coherence for allthe cases except at Piton de la Fournaise. The model that aims to simulate the formation of a crust on thelava flow surface, lava flowing underneath and break-out mechanisms leads to the thickening of the crust.Hence, break-out mechanism is not reproduced with VolcFlow.
Identification of miRNA from Porphyra yezoensis by High-Throughput Sequencing and Bioinformatics Analysis

Background miRNAs are a class of non-coding, small RNAs that are approximately 22 nucleotides long and play important roles in the translational level regulation of gene expression by either directly binding or cleaving target mRNAs. The red alga, Porphyra yezoensis is one of the most important marine economic crops worldwide. To date, only a few miRNAs have been identified in green unicellar alga and there is no report about Porphyra miRNAs. Methodology/Principal Findings To identify miRNAs in Porphyra yezoensis, a small RNA library was constructed. Solexa technology was used to perform high throughput sequencing of the library and subsequent bioinformatics analysis to identify novel miRNAs. Specifically, 180,557,942 reads produced 13,324 unique miRNAs representing 224 conserved miRNA families that have been identified in other plants species. In addition, seven novel putative miRNAs were predicted from a limited number of ESTs. The potential targets of these putative miRNAs were also predicted based on sequence homology search. Conclusions/Significance This study provides a first large scale cloning and characterization of Porphyra miRNAs and their potential targets. These miRNAs belong to 224 conserved miRNA families and 7 miRNAs are novel in Porphyra. These miRNAs add to the growing database of new miRNA and lay the foundation for further understanding of miRNA function in the regulation of Porphyra yezoensis development.
Apoptosis signal‐regulating kinase 1‐mediated sustained p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase activation regulates mycoplasmal lipoprotein‐ and staphylococcal peptidoglycan‐triggered Toll‐like receptor 2 signalling pathways

Toll‐like receptor (TLR) 2 functions as a sensor for detecting various microbial components conserved in bacteria or fungi in innate immunity. TLR2 induces several signalling pathways linking to activation of the transcriptional factors NF‐κB and AP‐1 as well as induction of cell death. In human embryonic kidney 293 cells expressed human TLR2, mycoplasmal lipoproteins (MLP) or staphylococcal peptidoglycans (PGN) induced sustained phosphorylation of p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), accompanied by generation of reactive oxygen species. This observation encouraged us to examine roles of apoptosis signal‐regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) in TLR2 signalling, because ASK1 is an upstream activator of p38 MAPK during exposure to oxidative stress and other stressful stimuli. A kinase‐inactive mutant of ASK1 greatly impaired the sustained phosphorylation of p38 MAPK induced by MLP or PGN. This mutant also attenuated MLP‐ or PGN‐induced transcriptional activities of NF‐κB and AP‐1 via inhibition of p38 MAPK activation. MLP‐ or PGN‐induced cell death reactions, including DNA fragmentation and caspase‐3/7 activation, were also downregulated by the ASK1 mutant via p38 MAPK inhibition. Furthermore, TLR2 signalling had a potential to phosphorylate and dephosphorylate ASK1 at Ser83 residue. Thus, MLP and PGN have capabilities to induce ASK1‐dependent signalling pathways which regulate p38 MAPK activation through TLR2, leading to activation of NF‐κB and AP‐1 as well as induction of cell death.
TicToc: Time Traveling Optimistic Concurrency Control

Concurrency control for on-line transaction processing (OLTP) database management systems (DBMSs) is a nasty game. Achieving higher performance on emerging many-core systems is difficult. Previous research has shown that timestamp management is the key scalability bottleneck in concurrency control algorithms. This prevents the system from scaling to large numbers of cores. In this paper we present TicToc, a new optimistic concurrency control algorithm that avoids the scalability and concurrency bottlenecks of prior T/O schemes. TicToc relies on a novel and provably correct data-driven timestamp management protocol. Instead of assigning timestamps to transactions, this protocol assigns read and write timestamps to data items and uses them to lazily compute a valid commit timestamp for each transaction. TicToc removes the need for centralized timestamp allocation, and commits transactions that would be aborted by conventional T/O schemes. We implemented TicToc along with four other concurrency control algorithms in an in-memory, shared-everything OLTP DBMS and compared their performance on different workloads. Our results show that TicToc achieves up to 92% better throughput while reducing the abort rate by 3.3x over these previous algorithms.
Dysbiosis Anticipating Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Very Premature Infants

Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and targeted culture, we compared microbiota in fecal samples from infants with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and controls. Two significant signatures were associated with NEC: 1 with dominant Clostridium perfringens and 1 with dominant Enterobacteriaceae.
Illumination and Reflectance Spectra Separation of Hyperspectral Image Data under Multiple Illumination Conditions

Recently, a remarkably simple method was developed to solve the illumination and reflectance spectra separation problem (IRSS) based on the standard low-dimensionality assumption of reflectance. However, because this method assumes the scene is under one uniform illumination, it can not handle scene contains multiple illuminations or dominant shadows. In this paper, we address this problem by formulating the multiple illuminations and reflectance separation problem as a Conditional Random Field (CRF) optimization task over local separations. We then improve local illumination and reflectance separation by incorporating spatial information in each local patch.
Assessing epidemiological evidence for the teratogenic effects of anticonvulsant medications

Antiepileptic medication in pregnancy Epidemiological studies of pregnancy outcomes of women with epilepsy are important, primarily to inform choice of treatment options in clinical care of pregnant women and to inform counselling, the need for prenatal and postnatal screening, and the need for early medical, behavioural, or educational intervention. In this issue (251), Dean et al report on a long term follow up of the health and neurodevelopment of children exposed to antiepileptic drugs before birth. They did this by consulting obstetric records to identify mothers with epilepsy who delivered in a single maternity unit between 1976 and 2000, inviting mothers to participate in the study by letter via their primary care physicians, conducting an interview with participant mothers, and consulting a variety of medical and child health records. The oldest children in the study were 15 years of age. There is a fairly solid consensus that epilepsy in pregnancy treated with anticonvulsants is associated with an overall two- to three-fold increased risk of congenital malformation compared to the general population. The first challenge of the epidemiological approach is to mount sufficiently large studies. Since epilepsy is fortunately uncommon (6 per 1000 pregnancies or less), and since major congenital malformations are uncommon (2-3% of all births), every 10 000 pregnancies will yield only three or four cases of major congenital malformation born to epileptic women. Kallen,1 reviewing the results of 24 studies, indicated that nearly half of these studies included fewer than 150 infants born to epileptic mothers and did not have the statistical power to reveal a two- to three-fold raised risk of major malformation. It is generally necessary therefore to make a combined assessment of existing studies, particularly when assessing risks of specific anomalies. Schardein2 reviewed 17 cohort studies including a total of 2168 infants of …
Arsenic Characterization in Soil and Arsenic Effects on Canola Growth.

Reactions o f soil arsenic with arsenic addition and the effects o f soil arsenic on canola were studied because o f a lack o f information on this subject. The reactions o f different pools o f soil arsenic to arsenic addition were studied. The effects o f soil arsenic and arsenic form and concentration in solution on canola growth and nutrient uptake were also investigated and an attempt to model arsenic uptake with a mechanistic computer model was made. In a solution study, rate o f inorganic arsenic did not appear to effect arsenic accumulation in roots and shoots o f canola. However, shoot and root arsenic concentrations increased with organic arsenic rates. Arsenic to accumulated in the plant roots in both inorganic and organic treatments. Shoot dry weights were reduced when exposed to organic arsenic forms. Root length and dry weight were affected by all forms o f arsenic. Shoot calcium and phosphorus levels increased while shoot zinc decreased with increasing arsenic rate. In a soil study, soil solution arsenic increased curvilinearly, while resinexchangeable solid-phase arsenic approached a maximum with arsenic addition. Initial solution arsenic concentration and DTPA-extractable manganese were correlated with the change o f solution arsenic concentration due to arsenic addition. The relation between total diffusible and solution arsenic was described with nonlinear regression and was different for each soil. In a growth chamber study, canola was sensitive to soil arsenic. A mechanistic computer model was used to predict arsenic uptake by canola. Using this model, root
Role of Somatosensory Feedback from Tools in Realizing Movements by Patients with Ideomotor Apraxia

In order to investigate the underlying mechanism of ideomotor apraxia, we studied 9 patients who could not mime using tools despite the ability to manipulate actual tools normally. In all the mime tasks, visually presented tools or model gestures by examiners were fundamentally ineffectual in improving the patients’ performances. Even the remarkable improvement demonstrated when using actual tools disappeared immediately after the subjects took their hands off them. In a further experiment, 4 of the 9 patients were required to pretend to use tools while holding a stick, resulting in significant improvements or normal miming. These findings suggest that the somatosensory feedback continuously supplied from a handheld tool is a crucial component in enabling patients with ideomotor apraxia to actually use tools.
A Probabilistic Approach to Robust Shape Matching

We present a probabilistic approach to shape matching that is invariant to rotation, translation and scaling. Shapes can be represented by unlabeled point sets, so discontinuous boundaries and non-boundary points do not pose a problem. Occlusion, significant dissimilarities between shapes and image clutter are explained by a background model, and hence, their impact on the overall match is limited. The ability to operate on incomplete shape representations and ignore part of the input means that, unlike many matching algorithms, our technique performs well on real images. We derive a continuous version of the model which can be used when the 'query shape' is more accurately described by a set of line segments-e.g. a boundary polygon or line drawing. The effectiveness of the algorithms is demonstrated using the benchmark MPEG-7 data set and real images.