Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Solanum lycopersicum GOLDEN 2-LIKE 2 transcription factor affects fruit quality in a light- and auxin-dependent manner

Plastids are organelles responsible for essential aspects of plant development, including carbon fixation and synthesis of several secondary metabolites. Chloroplast differentiation and activity are highly regulated by light, and several proteins involved in these processes have been characterised. Such is the case of the GOLDEN 2-LIKE (GLK) transcription factors, which induces the expression of genes related to chloroplast differentiation and photosynthesis. The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) genome harbours two copies of this gene, SlGLK1 and SlGLK2, each with distinct expression patterns. While the former predominates in leaves, the latter is mainly expressed in fruits, precisely at the pedicel region. During tomato domestication, the selection of fruits with uniform ripening fixed the mutation Slglk2, nowadays present in most cultivated varieties, what penalised fruit metabolic composition. In this study, we investigated how SlGLK2 is regulated by light, auxin and cytokinin and determined the effect of SlGLK2 on tocopherol (vitamin E) and sugar metabolism, which are components of the fruit nutritional and industrial quality. To achieve this, transcriptional profiling and biochemical analysis were performed throughout fruit development and ripening from SlGLK2, Slglk2, SlGLK2-overexpressing genotypes, as well as from phytochrome and hormonal deficient mutants. The results revealed that SlGLK2 expression is regulated by phytochrome-mediated light perception, yet this gene can induce chloroplast differentiation even in a phytochrome-independent manner. Moreover, auxin was found to be a negative regulator of SlGLK2 expression, while SlGLK2 enhances cytokinin responsiveness. Additionally, SlGLK2 enhanced chlorophyll content in immature green fruits, leading to an increment in tocopherol level in ripe fruits. Finally, SlGLK2 overexpression resulted in higher total soluble solid content, possibly by the regulation of sugar metabolism enzyme-encoding genes. The results obtained here shed light on the regulatory network that interconnects SlGLK2, phytohormones and light signal, promoting the plastidial activity and consequently, influencing the quality of tomato fruit.
Exploratory Determined Correlates of Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents: The MoMo Study

Background: Physical activity is an important contributor to reducing the risk for a variety of diseases. Understanding why people are physically active contributes to evidence-based planning of public health interventions because successful actions will target factors known to be related to physical activity (PA). Therefore the aim of this study is to identify the most meaningful correlates of PA in children and adolescents using a large, representative data set. Methods: Among n = 3539 (1801 boys) 6 to 17-year-old participants of the German representative Motorik-Modul baseline study (2003–2006) a total of 1154 different demographic, psychological, behavioral, biological, social and environmental factors were ranked according to their power of predicting PA using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regressions. Results: A total of 18 (in girls) and 19 (in boys) important PA predictors from different, personal, social and environmental factors have been identified and ranked by LASSO. Peer modeling and physical self-concept were identified as the strongest correlates of PA in both boys and girls. Conclusions: The results confirm that PA interventions must target changes in different categories of PA correlates, but we suggest to focus particularly on the social environment and physical self-concept for interventions targeting children and adolescents in Germany nowadays. We also strongly recommend to repeatedly track correlates of PA, at least every 10 years, from representative samples in order to tailor contemporary PA interventions.
Systematic Identification of Thiosemicarbazides for Inhibition of Toxoplasma gondii Growth In Vitro

One of the key stages in the development of new therapies in the treatment of toxoplasmosis is the identification of new non-toxic small molecules with high specificity to Toxoplasma gondii. In the search for such structures, thiosemicarbazide-based compounds have emerged as a novel and promising leads. Here, a series of imidazole-thiosemicarbazides with suitable properties for CNS penetration was evaluated to determine the structural requirements needed for potent anti-Toxoplasma gondii activity. The best 4-arylthiosemicarbazides 3 and 4 showed much higher potency when compared to sulfadiazine at concentrations that are non-toxic to the host cells, indicating a high selectivity of their anti-toxoplasma activity.
Prevalence of TMD and level of chronic pain in a group of Brazilian adolescents

Objectives To determine the prevalence of temporomandibular disorder and associated factors in an adolescent sample from Recife, Brazil. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1342 adolescents aged 10-17 years. The Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorder (RDC/TMD) was used by calibrated examiners to evaluate the presence and levels of chronic pain. To evaluate the socioeconomic conditions, the Brazilian Economic Classification Criteria (CCEB) questionnaire was answered by the subjects. Data were analyzed by means of binary logistic regression in SPSS. Results The results showed that 33.2% of the subjects had TMD irrespective of age (p= 0.137) or economic class (p=0.507). Statistically significant associations were found between TMD and gender (p= 0.020), headache/migraine in the past six months (p=0,000) and the presence of chronic pain (p=0,000). In final model, logistic regression showed that chronic pain contributes to the presence of TMD. Conclusions The prevalence of TMD was considered high (33.2%) and adolescents with chronic pain were more likely to have TMD. Clinical Relevance The data contribute to the understanding of TMD among adolescents and to the development of preventive measures and polices to identify the dysfunction promptly.
Novel Test Fixture for Characterizing MEMS Switch Microcontact Reliability and Performance

In microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches, the microcontact is crucial in determining reliability and performance. In the past, actual MEMS devices and atomic force microscopes (AFM)/scanning probe microscopes (SPM)/nanoindentation-based test fixtures have been used to collect relevant microcontact data. In this work, we designed a unique microcontact support structure for improved post-mortem analysis. The effects of contact closure timing on various switching conditions (e.g., cold-switching and hot-switching) was investigated with respect to the test signal. Mechanical contact closing time was found to be approximately 1 μs for the contact force ranging from 10–900 μN. On the other hand, for the 1 V and 10 mA circuit condition, electrical contact closing time was about 0.2 ms. The test fixture will be used to characterize contact resistance and force performance and reliability associated with wide range of contact materials and geometries that will facilitate reliable, robust microswitch designs for future direct current (DC) and radio frequency (RF) applications.
The association of choroidal structure and its response to anti-VEGF treatment with the short-time outcome in pachychoroid neovasculopathy

Pachychoroid neovasculopathy (PNV) shares some anatomical features with other pachychoroid spectrum diseases, but little is known about the characteristics on the treatment with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). We investigated the effect of choroidal structure and responses to anti-VEGF on the prognosis of pachychoroid neovasculopathy (PNV) and other types of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (non-PNV). Twenty-one eyes with PNV and 34 eyes with non-PNV who had anti-VEGF treatment were retrospectively reviewed. Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) area at baseline was measured with fluorescein angiography (FAG). The luminal and stromal area in the choroid was measured by enhanced-depth-imaging (EDI) OCT at baseline and 1 month. The association between dry macula or LogMAR VA (visual acuity, VA) at 1 month and baseline values or changes in the luminal or stromal area at 1 month, baseline CNV area, or anti-VEGF drugs were analyzed in patients with or without PNV. In non-PNV, change of luminal area (coefficient = 7.0×10−5, p = 0.0001), baseline CNV area (coefficient = 0.18, p = 0.033), and aflibercept vs. ranibizumab (coefficient = 0.29, p = 0.0048) were chosen as predictors for dry macula by the model selection. Similarly, in non-PNV, change of luminal area (coefficient = 6.1×10−6, p = 0.033), baseline CNV area (coefficient = 0.034, p = 0.022), and aflibercept vs. ranibizumab (coefficient = 0.056, p = 0.0020) were chosen as predictors for greater VA improvement. In PNV, however, none of these factors was chosen as predictors for dry macula or VA improvement by the model selection. The result of the present study implied that structural response after anti-VEGF might be different between non-PNV and PNV in the treatment with anti-VEGF agents.
CHFR promotes the migration of human gastric cancer cells by inducing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in a HDAC1-dependent manner

Background Previous studies have illustrated that checkpoint with forkhead-associated and ring finger domains (CHFR) was frequently silenced in several cancer types due to promoter hypermethylation and functions as a tumor suppressor gene. However, the data from the public dataset reveal that CHFR is highly expressed in human gastric cancer specimens, and the biological function of CHFR in gastric cancer is still not well understood. Materials and methods The clinical association between CHFR expression and the overall survival of gastric cancer patients as well as cancer metastasis was analyzed according to public datasets. The CHFR expression in clinical specimens and human gastric cancer cell lines was detected by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting, respectively. Gain (overexpression) and loss (silencing) of function experiments were used to elucidate the role of CHFR in gastric cancer. The migration ability of gastric cancer cells was determined by wound healing and transwell assays. Cell cycle distribution was analyzed using fluorescence-activated cell sorting experiment. The expression of the proteins in cancer cells was measured using Western blot analysis. Results According to the analysis from Kaplan–Meier plotter dataset, CHFR expression was negatively associated with overall survival of gastric cancer patients. Our data revealed that exogenous expression of CHFR not only arrested cell cycle but also led to dramatically enhanced cell migration, while silencing of CHFR significantly inhibited cell migration in gastric cancer cells. This result is consistent with the data from the Human Cancer Metastasis Dataset, in which CHFR level is found to significantly increase in metastatic gastric cancer. The overexpression of CHFR promoted epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in both SGC-7901 and AGS cells, while HDAC1 was inhibited. Interestingly, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, a HDAC1 antagonist, could effectively increase cell migration in both cell lines via enhancement of EMT. Conclusion Our data indicated that CHFR exerted positive effects on cell migration of human gastric cancer by promoting EMT via downregulating HDAC1.
Joint Optimization for Task Offloading in Edge Computing: An Evolutionary Game Approach

The mobile edge computing (MEC) paradigm provides a promising solution to solve the resource-insufficiency problem in mobile terminals by offloading computation-intensive and delay-sensitive tasks to nearby edge nodes. However, limited computation resources in edge nodes may not be sufficient to serve excessive offloading tasks exceeding the computation capacities of edge nodes. Therefore, multiple edge clouds with a complementary central cloud coordinated to serve users is the efficient architecture to satisfy users’ Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements while trying to minimize some network service providers’ cost. We study a dynamic, decentralized resource-allocation strategy based on evolutionary game theory to deal with task offloading to multiple heterogeneous edge nodes and central clouds among multi-users. In our strategy, the resource competition among multi-users is modeled by the process of replicator dynamics. During the process, our strategy can achieve one evolutionary equilibrium, meeting users’ QoS requirements under resource constraints of edge nodes. The stability and fairness of this strategy is also proved by mathematical analysis. Illustrative studies show the effectiveness of our proposed strategy, outperforming other alternative methods.
Experimental Zika virus infection of Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) and possible entry of virus into brain via activated microglial cells

The emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the New World has led to more than 200,000 human infections. Perinatal infection can cause severe neurological complications, including fetal and neonatal microcephaly, and in adults there is an association with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). ZIKV is transmitted to humans by Aedes sp. mosquitoes, yet little is known about its enzootic cycle in which transmission is thought to occur between arboreal Aedes sp. mosquitos and non-human primates. In the 1950s and ‘60s, several bat species were shown to be naturally and experimentally susceptible to ZIKV with acute viremia and seroconversion, and some developed neurological disease with viral antigen detected in the brain. Because of ZIKV emergence in the Americas, we sought to determine susceptibility of Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis), one of the most common bats in the New World. Bats were inoculated with ZIKV PRVABC59 but did not show signs of disease. Bats held to 28 days post-inoculation (PI) had detectable antibody by ELISA and viral RNA was detected by qRT-PCR in the brain, saliva and urine in some of the bats. Immunoreactivity using polyclonal anti-ZIKV antibody was detected in testes, brain, lung and salivary glands plus scrotal skin. Tropism for mononuclear cells, including macrophages/microglia and fibroblasts, was seen in the aforementioned organs in addition to testicular Leydig cells. The virus likely localized to the brain via infection of Iba1+ macrophage/microglial cells. Jamaican fruit bats, therefore, may be a useful animal model for the study of ZIKV infection. This work also raises the possibility that bats may have a role in Zika virus ecology in endemic regions, and that ZIKV may pose a wildlife disease threat to bat populations.
Classification of Thyroid Nodules in Ultrasound Images Using Direction-Independent Features Extracted by Two-Threshold Binary Decomposition

In recent years, several computer-aided diagnosis systems emerged for the diagnosis of thyroid gland disorders using ultrasound imaging. These systems based on machine learning algorithms may offer a second opinion to radiologists by evaluating a malignancy risk of thyroid tissue, thus increasing the overall diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound imaging. Although current computer-aided diagnosis systems exhibit promising results, their use in clinical practice is limited. One of the main limitations is that the majority of them use direction-dependent features. Our intention has been to design a computer-aided diagnosis system, which will use only direction-independent features, that is, it will not be dependent on the orientation and the inclination angle of the ultrasound probe when acquiring the image. We have, therefore, applied histogram analysis and segmentation-based fractal texture analysis algorithm, which calculates direction-independent features only. In our study, 40 thyroid nodules (20 malignant and 20 benign) were used to extract several features, such as histogram parameters, fractal dimension, and mean brightness value in different grayscale bands (obtained by 2-threshold binary decomposition). The features were then used in support vector machine and random forests classifiers to differentiate nodules into malignant and benign classes. Using leave-one-out cross-validation method, the overall accuracy was 92.42% for random forests and 94.64% for support vector machine. Results show that both methods are useful in practice; however, support vector machine provides better results for this application. Proposed computer-aided diagnosis system can provide support to radiologists in their current diagnosis of thyroid nodules, whereby it can optimize the overall accuracy of ultrasound imaging.
Patients Treated for Central Airway Stenosis After Lung Transplantation Have Persistent Airflow Limitation

Background Although central airway stenosis (CAS) is a common complication after lung transplantation, its consequences have been poorly evaluated. The objective of our study was to evaluate the impact of CAS on lung function after lung transplantation. Material/Methods All lung transplant recipients from June 2009 to August 2014 in a single center (Strasbourg, France) were retrospectively reviewed. Results A total of 191 lung transplantations were performed: 175 bilateral, 15 single, and 1 heart-lung transplantation. Of the 161 bilateral lung-transplanted patients who survived >3 months, 22 (13.6%) developed CAS requiring endobronchial treatment. All these patients were treated by endoscopic balloon dilatation, and 9 additionally needed endobronchial stents. Respiratory function tests demonstrated persistent obstructive ventilatory pattern despite endoscopic treatment in recipients with CAS compared to those without CAS at 6, 12, and 18 months post-transplant. At 18 months, CAS patients had significantly lower post-transplant FEV1 (1.96±0.60 L versus 2.57±0.76 L, p=0.001) and FEV1/FVC (61±14% versus 81±13%, p<0.001). The percentage of patients hospitalized for respiratory infections and number of hospital days were significantly increased in recipients with CAS (20 [91%] versus 92 [66%] p=0.036, and 144±110 days versus 103±83 days p=0.042, respectively). Survival in transplant recipients did not significantly differ between those with CAS and those without. Conclusions CAS after lung transplantation was not associated with worse survival, but it did have a significant and persistent effect on lung function, and was associated with increased rate of respiratory infection.
Fabrication of Porous Materials by Spark Plasma Sintering: A Review

Spark plasma sintering (SPS), a sintering method that uses the action of pulsed direct current and pressure, has received a lot of attention due to its capability of exerting control over the microstructure of the sintered material and flexibility in terms of the heating rate and heating mode. Historically, SPS was developed in search of ways to preserve a fine-grained structure of the sintered material while eliminating porosity and reaching a high relative density. These goals have, therefore, been pursued in the majority of studies on the behavior of materials during SPS. Recently, the potential of SPS for the fabrication of porous materials has been recognized. This article is the first review to focus on the achievements in this area. The major approaches to the formation of porous materials by SPS are described: partial densification of powders (under low pressures, in pressureless sintering processes or at low temperatures), sintering of hollow particles/spheres, sintering of porous particles, and sintering with removable space holders or pore formers. In the case of conductive materials processed by SPS using the first approach, the formation of inter-particle contacts may be associated with local melting and non-conventional mechanisms of mass transfer. Studies of the morphology and microstructure of the inter-particle contacts as well as modeling of the processes occurring at the inter-particle contacts help gain insights into the physics of the initial stage of SPS. For pre-consolidated specimens, an SPS device can be used as a furnace to heat the materials at a high rate, which can also be beneficial for controlling the formation of porous structures. In sintering with space holders, SPS processing allows controlling the structure of the pore walls. In this article, using the literature data and our own research results, we have discussed the formation and structure of porous metals, intermetallics, ceramics, and carbon materials obtained by SPS.
Increased prelaminar tissue thickness in patients with open-angle glaucoma and type 2 diabetes

Background The characteristics of the optic nerve head (ONH) in open angle glaucoma (OAG) patients with diabetes have not been reported. This study aimed to characterize the ONH structures and glaucomatous damage in diabetic OAG patients, using age-matched non-diabetic OAG patients and control subjects. Methods The locations of visual field defects of OAG patients were classified and the prelaminar thickness and lamina cribrosa depth were measured in 64 OAG patients with type 2 diabetes (OAG+DM), 68 OAG patients without diabetes (OAG-DM), and 36 controls. All participants were scanned by spectral domain-optical coherence tomography. The anterior prelaminar depth and lamina cribrosa depth were measured at the center of the reference line (the Bruch’s membrane opening plane). The prelaminar tissue thickness was obtained by subtracting the anterior prelaminar depth from the anterior lamina cribrosa depth. Results The visual field defects in the OAG+DM group were more commonly found in the inferior hemifield (P = 0.010), and tended to involve the central visual field compared to the OAG-DM group (P = 0.044). In the comparison of ONH parameters, the prelaminar thickness was highest in the OAG+DM group, followed by the control subjects and the OAG-DM group (P = 0.035). Post-hoc testing showed that prelaminar thickness was significantly greater in the OAG+DM group than in the OAG-DM group (P = 0.033). The lamina cribrosa depth was deepest in the OAG+DM group, followed by the OAG-DM group and the control subjects (P = 0.006). Conclusions Diabetic and non-diabetic OAG patients exhibit different characteristics of glaucoma, particularly increased prelaminar thickening in diabetics.
Prenatal maternal docosahexaenoic acid intake and infant information processing at 4.5mo and 9mo: A longitudinal study

Previous research suggesting an association between maternal prenatal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) intake and infant cognition has yet to assess whether there is a critical trimester for the observed effects. We used a comprehensive Food Frequency Questionnaire to estimate DHA levels during both the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, in a sample of 125 pregnant women. Infants were assessed at 4.5 months and 9 months post-partum using specific tests of visual acuity, habituation, and visual attention. Based on maternal DHA levels during pregnancy, mothers were subdivided into high, medium, and low groups, and their infants compared for task performance using one-way ANOVAs with maternal DHA groups. On the 9 month visual acuity test, infants whose mothers were in the medium DHA group performed significantly better than those with mothers in the low or high DHA groups (p = 0.008). However, no significant finding was found for any of the other cognitive assessment measures. Despite a number of studies reporting a positive effect of higher DHA levels on cognitive development, this study fails to support those conclusions. We can, however, conclude that it appears to be DHA intake in the third trimester specifically, which is influencing the development of visual acuity towards the end of the first postnatal year.