Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Enhances Primary Human Macrophage Immunity Against Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria

Rationale: The association between non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung disease and alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is likely due, in part, to underlying emphysema or bronchiectasis. But there is increasing evidence that AAT itself enhances host immunity against microbial pathogens and thus deficiency could compromise host protection. Objectives: The goal of this project is to determine if AAT could augment macrophage activity against non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Methods: We compared the ability of monocyte-derived macrophages cultured in autologous plasma that were obtained immediately before and soon after AAT infusion—given to individuals with AAT deficiency—to control an ex vivo Mycobacterium intracellulare infection. Measurements and Main Results: We found that compared to pre-AAT infused monocyte-derived macrophages plus plasma, macrophages, and contemporaneous plasma obtained after a session of AAT infusion were significantly better able to control M. intracellulare infection; the reduced bacterial burden was linked with greater phagosome-lysosome fusion and increased autophagosome formation/maturation, the latter due to AAT inhibition of both M. intracellulare–induced nuclear factor-kappa B activation and A20 expression. While there was a modest increase in apoptosis in the M. intracellulare-infected post-AAT infused macrophages and plasma, inhibiting caspase-3 in THP-1 cells, monocyte-derived macrophages, and alveolar macrophages unexpectedly reduced the M. intracellulare burden, indicating that apoptosis impairs macrophage control of M. intracellulare and that the host protective effects of AAT occurred despite inducing apoptosis. Conclusion: AAT augments macrophage control of M. intracellulare infection through enhancing phagosome-lysosome fusion and autophagy.
The Minimal Residual Disease in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas: From the Laboratory to the Clinical Practice

Minimal residual disease (MRD) in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHLs) still represents matter of interest and debate: indeed, the new available treatments offer higher rates of complete responses and MRD negativity than in the past, with a positive impact on the long-term survival. Furthermore, the introduction of more sensitive and accurate molecular techniques, such as digital PCR (ddPCR) and the next generation sequencing techniques (NGS), increased the possibility of identifying molecular targets to be followed after therapy (such as rearrangement of immunoglobulins, fusion genes, or mutations). This review focused on how molecular biology can help to detect MRD in different types of NHLs and how MRD can change the clinical practice in 2019. In follicular lymphoma (FL), contamination of the grafts and molecular disease persistence after transplantation represent a negative prognostic factors. The combination of Rituximab or Obinutuzumab with Bendamustine seems to be the most effective way to clear MRD in FL patients receiving chemo-immunotherapy (further studies are in progress), and also 90Yttrium-Ibritumomab-Tiuxetan offers a deep clearance of molecular disease. Finally, molecular MRD can further stratify PET-negative cases, with subjects both PET- and MRD-negative presenting the best outcome. In aggressive lymphomas, MRD has a relevant prognostic power and can represent the platform for immunotherapy (such as CAR-T). In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), the assessment of MRD in the plasma (where cell-free DNA and exosomes circulate) seems to be more predictive than the bone marrow analysis or peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Finally, NGS technologies could be more useful than the classical “patient allele-specific PCR” because they can identify any possible clone emerging during the treatment or follow-up, even if different from that identified at diagnosis, thus predicting relapse. After all, the present available molecular approaches can move MRD from the bench side to the clinical practice.
Combining Modules for Versatile and Optimal Labeling of Lactic Acid Bacteria: Two pMV158-Family Promiscuous Replicons, a Pneumococcal System for Constitutive or Inducible Gene Expression, and Two Fluorescent Proteins

Labeling of bacterial cells with fluorescent proteins allows tracking the bacteria in competition and interactomic in vivo and in vitro studies. During the last years, a few plasmid vectors have been developed aimed at the fluorescent labeling of specific members of the lactic acid bacteria (LAB), a heterogeneous group that includes microorganisms used in the food industry, as probiotics, or as live vectors for mucosal vaccines. Successful and versatile labeling of a broad range of LAB not only requires a vector containing a promiscuous replicon and a widely recognized expression system for the constitutive or regulated expression of the fluorescence determinant, but also the knowledge of the main features of the entire plasmid/host/fluorescent protein ensemble. By using the LAB model species Lactococcus lactis, we have compared the utility properties of a set of labeling vectors constructed by combining a promiscuous replicon (pMV158 or pSH71) of the pMV158 plasmid family with the gene encoding either the EGFP or the mCherry fluorescent protein placed under control of promoter PX or PM from the pneumococcal mal gene cluster for maltosaccharide uptake and utilization, respectively. Some vectors carrying PM also harbor the malR gene, whose product represses transcription from this promoter, thus enabling maltose-inducible synthesis of the fluorescent proteins. We have determined the plasmid copy number (PCN) and segregational stability of the different constructs, as well as the effect of these features on the fitness and fluorescence intensity of the lactococcal host. Constructs based on the pSH71 replicon had a high copy number (∼115) and were segregationally stable. The copy number of vectors based on the pMV158 replicon was lower (∼8–45) and varied substantially depending on the genetic context of the plasmid and on the bacterial growth conditions; as a consequence, inheritance of these vectors was less stable. Synthesis of the fluorescent proteins encoded by these plasmids did not significantly decrease the host fitness. By employing inducible expression vectors, the fluorescent proteins were shown to be very stable in this bacterium. Importantly, conditions for accurate quantification of the emitted fluorescence were established based on the maturation times of the fluorescent proteins.
Acceleration of Mechanistic Investigation of Plant Secondary Metabolism Based on Computational Chemistry

This review describes the application of computational chemistry to plant secondary metabolism, focusing on the biosynthetic mechanisms of terpene/terpenoid, alkaloid, flavonoid, and lignin as representative examples. Through these biosynthetic studies, we exhibit several computational methods, including density functional theory (DFT) calculations, theozyme calculation, docking simulation, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculation. This review demonstrates how modern computational chemistry can be employed as an effective tool for revealing biosynthetic mechanisms and the potential of computational chemistry—for example, elucidating how enzymes regulate regio- and stereoselectivity, finding the key catalytic residue of an enzyme, and assessing the viability of hypothetical pathways. Furthermore, insights for the next research objective involving application of computational chemistry to plant secondary metabolism are provided herein. This review will be helpful for plant scientists who are not well versed with computational chemistry.
Animal-Borne Telemetry: An Integral Component of the Ocean Observing Toolkit

Animal telemetry is a powerful tool for observing marine animals and the physical environments that they inhabit, from coastal and continental shelf ecosystems to polar seas and open oceans. Satellite-linked biologgers and networks of acoustic receivers allow animals to be reliably monitored over scales of tens of meters to thousands of kilometers, giving insight into their habitat use, home range size, the phenology of migratory patterns and the biotic and abiotic factors that drive their distributions. Furthermore, physical environmental variables can be collected using animals as autonomous sampling platforms, increasing spatial and temporal coverage of global oceanographic observation systems. The use of animal telemetry, therefore, has the capacity to provide measures from a suite of essential ocean variables (EOVs) for improved monitoring of Earth's oceans. Here we outline the design features of animal telemetry systems, describe current applications and their benefits and challenges, and discuss future directions. We describe new analytical techniques that improve our ability to not only quantify animal movements but to also provide a powerful framework for comparative studies across taxa. We discuss the application of animal telemetry and its capacity to collect biotic and abiotic data, how the data collected can be incorporated into ocean observing systems, and the role these data can play in improved ocean management.
Story-Me: Design of a System to Support Intergenerational Storytelling and Preservation for Older Adults

In this paper, we present our ongoing work Story-Me, which consists of a slots-machine-like device used by older adults, and a cellphone application used by their children. It aims to facilitate intergenerational story-sharing regarding life story and family memento story, between older adults living in nursing home and their children. A detailed description of the system is firstly reported, a preliminary evaluation was further conducted, conclusion and future research agenda are in the final part.
Classical and Object Oriented Software Engineering

From the Publisher: Classical and Object-Oriented Software Engineering is designed for an introductory software engineering course. This book provides an excellent introduction to software engineering fundamentals,covering both traditional and object-oriented techniques. Schach's unique organization and style makes it excellent for use in a classroom setting. It presents the underlying software engineering theory in Part I and follows it up with the more practical life-cycle material in Part II. Many software engineering books are more like reference books,which do not provide the appropriate fundamentals before inundating students with implementation details. In this edition,more practical material has been added to help students understand how to use what they are learning. This has been done through the use of "How To" boxes and greater implementation detail in the case study. Additionally,the new edition contains the references to the most current literature and includes an overview of extreme programmming. The website in this edition will be more extensive. It will include Solutions,PowerPoints that incorporate lecture notes,newly developed self-quiz questions,and source code for the term project and case study.
The role of age and gender on implementing informal and non-formal science learning activities for children

There is a growing number of informal and non-formal learning activities worldwide related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) subject areas -- particularly, those related to coding and making. To understand the general aim and content of such activities, we conducted a survey addressing highly experienced instructional designers and instructors of informal and non-formal science learning activities in nine European countries (N=128). The goal of this paper is to investigate the relation between (1) the targeted age-group and (2) the gender of the participants in these activities, and (3) the gender of the activity leader experts and (I) the content and (II) the main goal of the activity. The results show that the gender and age of the participants and the gender of the activity leader experts are associated with regards to the underlined content and the goal of the activity. We introduce the revealed patterns that describe typical goals and content in association with the participant's gender and age along with patterns between the activity leader experts' gender and the content and the main goal of the activity. We discuss the study findings in detail, their implications and their value for the informal and non-formal learning communities.
Factors Affecting Student Participation in the Online Learning Environment at the Open University of Hong Kong.

The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect students’ participation in the online learning environment (OLE) for distance learning students of mathematics at the Open Learning University of Hong Kong (OUHK) and to find out the suggestions that can improve students’ use of the OLE. A questionnaire was designed to survey to students’ usage pattern of OLE (called WebCT). The analysis of the results obtained from the open-ended questions in the questionnaire and the interviews revealed that students liked using the OLE for sharing and learning from each other. They also preferred to have tutorial notes and the solutions of the assignments. To improve WebCT, students suggested adding electronic submission for assignments, students’ assignment records, Chinese characters and a mathematical science package.
Towards a Research Agenda for Gameful Creativity

We propose a one-day workshop that focuses on the intersection of gamefulness and creativity. The objective of this workshop is to bring together both researchers and practitioners interested in this field to discuss a research agenda that will explore the relationship between game-related aspects (e.g. game play, game genres) and creative thinking. Embracing the interdisciplinarity of creativity, we invite researchers from a variety of fields including but not limited to games, gamification, playfulness and creativity research. In a highly interactive format, we aim to consolidate previous work, identify relevant areas for future research, and discuss methods to assess the effectiveness of gamefulness on individuals' creative potential. As outcomes of the workshop we hope to set a research agenda and establish a vibrant community around the domain of gamefulness and creativity.
Secondary Pre-service Teachers’ Use of Vee Diagrams to Analyse Problems and Illustrate Multiple Solutions

This article presents data from a group of secondary pre-service teachers who used vee diagrams to illustrate their conceptual and methodological analyses of a problem, as part of a required mathematics methods course assignment. The individually constructed vee diagrams were analysed in terms of the extent to which they displayed principles and main concepts, adequately justified the mathematics applied in their multiple methods, and the appropriateness of the methods for early secondary level. Constructing vee diagrams prompted the pre-service teachers to repackage their own understanding of the mathematics embedded in the problem context, by organising the material in ways that were pedagogically meaningful, developmentally sound, and flexibly arranged to meet a range of ability levels. The vee diagrams’ overall ratings indicate the degree to which pre-service teachers differentially achieved their intentions, conceptually and methodologically. Three exemplars provide further insights into the nature of responses that collectively differentiate between vee diagram types. Findings suggest vee diagrams provide a useful tool to illustrate the pre-service teachers’ pedagogical intentions, understanding and interpretations of the mathematics contextualised in a problem.
A novel age classification method using morph-based models

Automatic facial age classification and estimation is an interesting and challenging problem, and has many real world applications. The performances of the classification methods may differ depending on the selected training samples. Also using large amount of training samples makes the classification systems more complex and time consuming. In this paper, a novel and a simple age classification method using morph-based age models is presented. The age models representing the common characteristics of age groups are produced using image morphing method. Then age related facial features are extracted with Local Binary Patterns. In the classification phase, ensemble of distance metrics is used to determine the closeness of the test sample to age groups. Then, the results of these metrics are combined with Borda Count voting method to improve the classification performance. Experimental results using the Face and Gesture Recognition Research Network (FGNET) and Park Aging Mind Laboratory (PAL) aging databases show that the proposed method achieves better age classification accuracy when compared to some of the previous methods.
Evaluation of the Use of Ict in Agricultural Technology Delivery to Farmers in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

This study evaluated the use of ICT as a source of technology delivery among farmers in Ebonyi State of Nigeria. Multiple-stage random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents. Primary data were collected using a well structured questionnaire and interview schedule. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in data analysis. Results obtained showed that 55 percent of the respondents were males whose age brackets fall within 30 – 39 years. About 30 percent had secondary education. Out of 45 percent of the respondents who were farmers, 41.7 percent were mainly crop farmers. 54.17 percent of the respondents had access to mobile phones whereas 57.50 percent had no access to computer. ICTs was used by 31.67 percent of the respondents to get information on new varieties, ICT was effective in information delivery in determining the quantity of farm inputs. A high co-efficient of multiple determination (R 2 ) of 76.6 percent was obtained. This means that 76.6 percent of the total variables in the dependent variables were caused by the changes in independent variables included in the regression model. Infrastructural, technical, institutional and financial constraints were identified by factor analysis. In conclusion, overcoming the problems of information dissemination and communication, language barriers and limited economic resources would increase the use of ICTs in the study area. Recommendations such as improvement of infrastructural facilities, periodic training of farmers, and extension agents, subsidizing ICTs facilities as well as organizing public enlightenment programmes should be carried out to improve the awareness and the use of ICTs in Ebonyi State. Keywords: ICT, Agriculture, Technology, Delivery, Farmers, Ebonyi State.
Bladder cancer mortality after a diagnosis of nonmuscle-invasive bladder carcinoma.

Aim: To assess mortality from bladder cancer following a diagnosis of nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer. Materials & methods: This is a SEER registry-based study. The risk of death from bladder cancer was compared with that of the general population. Cox proportional model was performed to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) for death according to baseline characteristics. Results: The bladder cancer-specific mortality at 20 years was 11%; and it was higher for black patients compared with white patients (adjusted HR: 1.711 [95% CI: 1.564-1.872]; p < 0.0001); additionally, it was higher for patients older than 70 years old compared with younger patients (adjusted HR: 2.005 [95% CI: 1.916-2.099]; p < 0 .0001). The risk of bladder cancer mortality increased after diagnosis of a recurrent bladder cancer (both nonmuscle-invasive and muscle-invasive; adjusted HR: 6.97 [95% CI: 6.56-7.40]; p < 0 .0001). Conclusion: Important predictors for death from bladder cancer following a diagnosis of nonmuscle-invasive bladder cancer include older age at diagnosis and black race.
Five year outcomes of the endurant stent graft for endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in the ENGAGE registry

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Getting more out of molecular testing for indeterminate thyroid nodules

Trevor E. Angell, MD, received his medical degree from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He completed his internal medicine training and clinical endocrinology fellowship at the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center, and his research training involved studying the interplay between thyroid cancer biology and immunology at the University of Southern California. In addition to his clinical practice in thyroidology, Dr. Angell focuses on clinical and translational research and is particularly concerned with thyroid nodule diagnosis and management via molecular and biomarker testing.
Effects of retrieval practice and presentation modality on verbal learning: testing the limits of the testing effect

ABSTRACT The testing effect refers to improved memory after retrieval practice and has been researched primarily with visual stimuli. In two experiments, we investigated whether the testing effect can be replicated when the to-be-learned information is presented auditorily, or visually + auditorily. Participants learned Swahili-English word pairs in one of three presentation modalities – visual, auditory, or visual + auditory. This was manipulated between-participants in Experiment 1 and within-participants in Experiment2. All participants studied the word pairs during three study trials. Half of participants practiced recalling the English translations in response to the Swahili cue word twice before the final test whereas the other half simply studied the word pairs twice more. Results indicated an improvement in final test performance in the repeated test condition, but only in the visual presentation modality (Experiments 1 and 2) and in the visual + auditory presentation modality (Experiment 2). This suggests that the benefits of practiced retrieval may be limited to information presented in a visual modality.