Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Prevalence and Associated Factors of Extra/Pre-Marital Sexual Behaviors Among University Students in Kerman, Iran

Background: Extra/pre-marital sexual behaviors (EPSB) are considered as an important problem, especially among the young generation. Objectives: This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and determinants of EPSB among university students in Kerman, Iran. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 2157 students in 2016. This study used different data collection methods such as direct and network scale-up (NSU). A self-administrated questionnaire was completed by the participants for direct data survey. Then NSU data were gathered through the interview by a trained same-sex interviewer. Results: Total of 1035 male and 695 female students (n = 1730) were studied with the mean age of 20.5 years (range 18 29). In the direct method, 14.9% of the students had sex with non-student partners (SNSP) (3.4% females and 22.6% males). Corresponding percentages in the NSU method were 2.5% and 7.9%. Comparing direct method results of two groups, it was determined that males’ last year SNSP (22.6 %,) was more prevalent but in females, last year sex with student partner (SSP) (4.7%) was more prevalent. Comparisons revealed that in the direct method, 41.7% of the students watched pornography (16.6% females and 58.8% males). There was a significant association between watching pornography and gender (OR male to female = 7.2), as well as between SSP and SNSP without any payment regarding the gender (OR male to female = 5.3 and 7.7). Conclusions: Our findings showed that extra/pre-marital sexual relationships are relatively common among university students, especially males. We found lower percentages in the indirect NSU method, which is mainly because of nature of such behaviors that are invisible in society and we could not provide estimation for visibility.
Transposon silencing in the Drosophila female germline is essential for genome stability in progeny embryos

Suppression of transposons by the Piwi-interacting RNA biogenesis factor Vasa in the supporting nurse cells is essential to prevent their accumulation in the developing oocyte, ensuring proper Drosophila embryonic development. The Piwi-interacting RNA pathway functions in transposon control in the germline of metazoans. The conserved RNA helicase Vasa is an essential Piwi-interacting RNA pathway component, but has additional important developmental functions. Here, we address the importance of Vasa-dependent transposon control in the Drosophila female germline and early embryos. We find that transient loss of vasa expression during early oogenesis leads to transposon up-regulation in supporting nurse cells of the fly egg-chamber. We show that elevated transposon levels have dramatic consequences, as de-repressed transposons accumulate in the oocyte where they cause DNA damage. We find that suppression of Chk2-mediated DNA damage signaling in vasa mutant females restores oogenesis and egg production. Damaged DNA and up-regulated transposons are transmitted from the mother to the embryos, which sustain severe nuclear defects and arrest development. Our findings reveal that the Vasa-dependent protection against selfish genetic elements in the nuage of nurse cell is essential to prevent DNA damage–induced arrest of embryonic development.
Do GAN Loss Functions Really Matter?

In this paper, we address the recent controversy between Lipschitz regularization and the choice of loss function for the training of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). One side argues that the success of the GAN training should be attributed to the choice of loss function [16, 2, 5], while the other suggests that the Lipschitz regularization is the key to good results [17, 3, 18, 19]. We provide a theoretical and experimental analysis of how Lipschitz regularization interacts with the loss function to derive the following insights: (i) We show that popular GANs (NS-GAN [4], LS-GAN [16], WGAN [2]) perform equally well when the discriminator is regularized with a small Lipschitz constant, but the performance in terms of quality and diversity gets worse for larger Lipschitz constants, except for WGAN. (ii) We show that all loss functions degenerate to linear ones for small Lipschitz constants to explain why the performance of these GANs is similar. For higher Lipschitz constants, we observe that only WGAN performs well while NS-GAN and LS-GAN break down. For lower Lipschitz constants, NS-GAN and LS-GAN perform similarly to WGAN only because they degenerate to the WGAN loss. In order to further illustrate this issue, we demonstrate that even "ridiculous" loss functions such as sin and exp have similar performance to NS-GAN, LS-GAN, and WGAN, when small Lipschitz constants are used.
Comparison of chemical composition and antioxidant activities of two Winter savory subspecies (Satureja montana subsp. variegata and Satureja montana subsp. montana) cultivated in Northern Italy

Abstract The Satureja L. genus belongs to the Lamiaceae family and comprises about 30 species commonly known as savory. Savory is represented by aromatic plants which are used as spice, tea and food additive. In this study, we explored the differences in essential oil composition and antioxidant activity between two subspecies occurring in Italy, namely S. montana subsp. variegata and subsp. montana. Essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and the major volatile constituents were carvacrol (22.5%), p-cymene (17.6%), thymol (17,4%) in the subsp. variegata, and carvacrol (61.9%), p-cymene (9,9%) and γ-terpinene (8.2%) in the subsp. montana. The main chemical difference was the carvacrol:thymol ratio, with the latter much higher in the subsp. montana (above 300) compared with the subsp. variegata. The antioxidant activity was determined by using DPPH, ABTS and FRAP and essential oils displayed noteworthy radical scavenging effects against the ABTS radical (IC50 of 30.02-34.5 µg/ml). Graphical Abstract
Metabolic Changes of Amino Acids and Flavonoids in Tea Plants in Response to Inorganic Phosphate Limitation

The qualities of tea (Camellia sinensis) are not clearly understood in terms of integrated leading molecular regulatory network mechanisms behind inorganic phosphate (Pi) limitation. Thus, the present work aims to elucidate transcription factor-dependent responses of quality-related metabolites and the expression of genes to phosphate (P) starvation. The tea plant organs were subjected to metabolomics analysis by GC×GC-TOF/MS and UPLC-Q-TOF/MS along with transcription factors and 13 metabolic genes by qRT-PCR. We found P starvation upregulated SPX2 and the change response of Pi is highly dependent on young shoots. This led to increased change in abundance of carbohydrates (fructose and glucose), amino acids in leaves (threonine and methionine), and root (phenylalanine, alanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine). Flavonoids and their glycosides accumulated in leaves and root exposed to P limitation was consistent with the upregulated expression of anthocyanidin reductase (EC 1.3.1.77), leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase (EC 1.4.11.19) and glycosyltransferases (UGT78D1, UGT78D2 and UGT57L12). Despite the similar kinetics and high correlation response of Pi and SPX2 in young shoots, predominating theanine and other amino acids (serine, threonine, glutamate, valine, methionine, phenylalanine) and catechin (EGC, EGCG and CG) content displayed opposite changes in response to Pi limitation between Fengqing and Longjing-43 tea cultivars.
Polarity Loss for Zero-shot Object Detection

Conventional object detection models require large amounts of training data. In comparison, humans can recognize previously unseen objects by merely knowing their semantic description. To mimic similar behaviour, zero-shot object detection aims to recognize and localize 'unseen' object instances by using only their semantic information. The model is first trained to learn the relationships between visual and semantic domains for seen objects, later transferring the acquired knowledge to totally unseen objects. This setting gives rise to the need for correct alignment between visual and semantic concepts, so that the unseen objects can be identified using only their semantic attributes. In this paper, we propose a novel loss function called 'Polarity loss', that promotes correct visual-semantic alignment for an improved zero-shot object detection. On one hand, it refines the noisy semantic embeddings via metric learning on a 'Semantic vocabulary' of related concepts to establish a better synergy between visual and semantic domains. On the other hand, it explicitly maximizes the gap between positive and negative predictions to achieve better discrimination between seen, unseen and background objects. Our approach is inspired by embodiment theories in cognitive science, that claim human semantic understanding to be grounded in past experiences (seen objects), related linguistic concepts (word vocabulary) and visual perception (seen/unseen object images). We conduct extensive evaluations on MS-COCO and Pascal VOC datasets, showing significant improvements over state of the art.
Amino acids stimulate glycyl‐tRNA synthetase nuclear localization for mammalian target of rapamycin expression in bovine mammary epithelial cells

Amino acids are required for the activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) to increase cell growth, protein and lipid synthesis, and inhibit autophagy. However, the mechanism through which amino acids activate the mTOR signaling is still largely unknown. In our previous study, we discovered that glycyl‐tRNA synthetase (GlyRS) is a key mediator of amino‐acid‐induced mTOR expression and activation in bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs). Here we show that amino acids stimulate GlyRS nuclear localization for mTOR expression in BMECs. Met stimulates GlyRS nuclear localization, and the nuclear GlyRS is cleaved into a C‐terminus‐containing truncated form. We prove that GlyRS has a bipartite nuclear leading sequences, and GlyRS is phosphorylated at Thr544 and Ser704 in the cytoplasm under the stimulation of amino acids (Met, Leu, and Lys). The nuclear GlyRS physically binds to nuclear factor kappa B1, triggers its phosphorylation, thereby enhancing mRNA expression of its target genes including mTOR, S6K1, and 4EBP1. We further demonstrate that GlyRS is required for the inhibition of autophagy by Met. Thus our work elucidates that amino acids trigger GlyRS phosphorylation and nuclear localization to enhance the mRNA expression of mTOR.
Evidence That Rat Chondrocytes Can Differentiate Into Perichondrial Cells

During early bone formation, mesenchymal cells condense and then differentiate into collagen type II‐expressing chondrocytes that make up the cartilaginous bone anlagen. This anlage then becomes enclosed by the perichondrium. The mechanisms by which the perichondrium forms are not known. The purpose of this study was to determine whether epiphyseal chondrocytes can differentiate into perichondrial cells. Novel perichondrium markers were identified by expression microarray of microdissected rat perichondrium and growth plate cartilage. A dissection method that allowed for removal of contaminating perichondrium was developed and the absence was confirmed by histological examination and by expression of perichondrium markers. Perichondrium formation surrounding chondrocyte pellets was studied using histology, real‐time PCR, and in situ hybridization for chondrocyte and perichondrium markers. Cultured chondrocyte pellets developed an exterior perichondrium‐like layer. This surrounding tissue did not express chondrocyte markers, collagen‐type II and type X, as assessed by in situ hybridization. Instead, perichondrium markers, periostin, Dickkopf 3 (Dkk3), roundabout 2, cadherin 2, L‐galectin 1 (Lgals1), and thrombospondin 2 (Thbs2) were upregulated following formation of the perichondrium‐like layer as assessed by real‐time PCR. Interestingly, markers specific for the cambium layer, Dkk3, Thbs2, and Lgals1, but not for the fibrous layer, collagen‐type XIV and decorin, were upregulated. The findings suggest that epiphyseal chondrocytes of postnatal animals retain the potential to differentiate into perichondrial cells, supporting the hypothesis that the perichondrium originates from collagen type II‐expressing chondrocytes at the periphery of the cartilaginous bone template. © 2018 The Authors. JBMR Plus published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Porous titanium-coated polyetheretherketone implants exhibit an improved bone–implant interface: an in vitro and in vivo biochemical, biomechanical, and histological study

Purpose Spinal interbody fusion cages are designed to provide immediate stabilization for adjoining vertebrae and ideally enable bony ingrowth to achieve successful integration. For such an implant, cells must be able to attach, move, grow, and differentiate on its surface. These cellular interactions are dependent on how the implant surface enables the coating and binding of blood and tissue fluid proteins that support cell adhesion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo osteoblast cell–implant surface interactions that result in osseointegration onto a surface composed of plasma-sprayed titanium on a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) substrate or titanium-coated PEEK (Ti-PEEK) (PlasmaporeXP®) as compared to uncoated PEEK implants. Materials and methods The influence of the Ti-PEEK surface modification on the biochemical, biomechanical, and histological properties at the bone–implant interface is demonstrated both in vitro using simulated bone-forming cell culture experiments and in vivo using a 12- and 24-week ovine implant model. Results Osteoblast-like cells attached to the Ti-PEEK surface upregulated early bone-forming activity as measured by an increase in transcription and translation of ALP and BMP-2 when compared to cells on PEEK. Similarly, a significant increase in new bone formation, bony apposition, and pullout strength was demonstrated on Ti-PEEK implants when compared to PEEK implants at 12 and 24 weeks in an ovine implant in vivo model. Conclusion The study shows that the Ti-PEEK surface demonstrated enhanced osseointegrative properties compared to PEEK both in vitro and in vivo.
Optimization of Sample Preparation for Detection of 10 Phthalates in Non-Alcoholic Beverages in Northern Vietnam

A novel method was developed for the sensitive, cheap and fast quantitation of 10 phthalates in non-alcoholic beverages by liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) combined with gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The best results were obtained when n-hexane was used as extraction solvent. A central composite design (CCD) was applied to select the most appreciated operating condition. The method performance was evaluated according to the SANTE/11945/2015 guidelines and was linear in the 0.1 to 200 µg/L range for 10 phthalate compounds, with r2 > 0.996 and individual residuals <15%. Repeatability (RSDr), within-laboratory reproducibility (RSDwr), and the trueness range were from 2.7 to 9.1%, from 3.4 to 14.3% and from 91.5 to 118.1%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was between 0.5 to 1.0 ng/L and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was between 1.5 to 3.0 ng/L for all 10 compounds. The developed method was successfully applied to the analysis of non-alcoholic beverages.
Cervical cancer screening by molecular Pap‐transformation of gynecologic cytology

Cervical cancer is one of the common cancers in women accounting for 7.9% of all cancers. In India it is the second commonest cancer in women. The immortality of the cancer cell and the relatively long time frame from acquisition of infection to development of cervical cancer was established. As major advancements like LBC, HPV testing were introduced in the recent years, screening has taken a new avatar, the Molecular pap! The objectives of this study were: To compare gynecologic cytology and abnormal results with respect to conventional and LBC. To study the role of HPV cotesting and ancillary tests performed, that is, HPV CISH, and p16ink4a by IHC.
Iron in the Tumor Microenvironment—Connecting the Dots

Iron metabolism and tumor biology are intimately linked. Iron facilitates the production of oxygen radicals, which may either result in iron-induced cell death, ferroptosis, or contribute to mutagenicity and malignant transformation. Once transformed, malignant cells require high amounts of iron for proliferation. In addition, iron has multiple regulatory effects on the immune system, thus affecting tumor surveillance by immune cells. For these reasons, inconsiderate iron supplementation in cancer patients has the potential of worsening disease course and outcome. On the other hand, chronic immune activation in the setting of malignancy alters systemic iron homeostasis and directs iron fluxes into myeloid cells. While this response aims at withdrawing iron from tumor cells, it may impair the effector functions of tumor-associated macrophages and will result in iron-restricted erythropoiesis and the development of anemia, subsequently. This review summarizes our current knowledge of the interconnections of iron homeostasis with cancer biology, discusses current clinical controversies in the treatment of anemia of cancer and focuses on the potential roles of iron in the solid tumor microenvironment, also speculating on yet unknown molecular mechanisms.
Associations Between Pet Ownership and Attitudes Toward Pets With Youth Socioemotional Outcomes

Evidence regarding the effects of pet ownership and related variables on youth socioemotional development is mixed. Inconsistencies across studies may be due to a variety of factors, including the use of different outcomes measured across studies, small potential effect sizes, and use of selected samples. In addition, studies have not systematically controlled for demographic characteristics that may bias results, nor have studies systematically examined whether effects are consistent across different subgroups. The present study examined the impact of pet ownership and attitudes toward pets on four measures of youth socioemotional outcomes: delinquency, depressed mood, empathy, and prosocial behavior. Linear mixed-effect regression analyses were conducted on 342 youth (48.0% male) aged 9–19 (M = 14.05, SD = 1.77) from a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse sample. The majority (59.1%) of youth currently lived with a dog or cat and all participants completed the Pet Attitude Scale-Modified. Pet owners reported lower delinquency and higher empathy than non-owners; however, group differences became non-significant once demographic factors were controlled for. Attitudes toward pets was significantly associated with all four outcomes. More positive attitudes was modestly associated with lower delinquency (β = -0.22, p < 0.001) and higher empathy (β = 0.31, p < 0.001), with smaller effects for depressed mood (β = -0.12, p = 0.04) and prosocial behavior (β = 0.12, p = 0.02). For delinquency, empathy, and prosocial behavior, effects were only slightly attenuated and remained statistically significant after controlling for gender, age, race/ethnicity, family socioeconomic status, and pet ownership, although the effect for depressed mood became non-significant after inclusion of these demographic factors. While there was some variability in effect sizes across different subgroups, none of the interactions between attitudes toward pets and gender, race/ethnicity, age, family SES, or pet ownership was statistically significant, indicating that the effects may transcend individual differences in demographic characteristics. Overall, the study adds to a growing body of work supporting a positive relationship between emotional bonds with pets and youth socioemotional outcomes and offers potential explanations for inconsistencies across previous studies.
Taxifolin Resensitizes Multidrug Resistance Cancer Cells via Uncompetitive Inhibition of P-Glycoprotein Function

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) effluxes lots of chemotherapeutic agents and leads to multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer treatments. The development of P-gp inhibitors from natural products provide a potential strategy for the beneficial clinical outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the natural flavonoid taxifolin, luteolin, (−)-gallocatechin, and (−)-catechin on human P-gp activity. The kinetic interactions and underlying mechanisms of taxifolin-mediated transporter inhibition were further investigated. The transporter inhibition ability was evaluated in human P-gp stable expression cells (ABCB1/Flp-InTM-293) by calcein-AM uptake assays. The kinetics study for P-gp inhibition was evaluated by doxorubicin and rhodamine123 efflux assays. The MDR reversal ability of taxifolin were performed by SRB assays to detect the cell viability in sensitive cancer cell line (HeLaS3), and resistant cancer cell line (KB-vin). Cell cycle analysis and ABCB1 real-time RT-PCR were used for mechanical exploration. The results demonstrated that taxifolin decreased ABCB1 expression in a concentration-dependent manner. The function of P-gp was inhibited by taxifolin through uncompetitive inhibition of rhodamine 123 and doxorubicin efflux. The combination of taxifolin significantly resensitized MDR cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents. These results suggested that taxifolin may be considered as a potential P-gp modulator for synergistic treatment of MDR cancers.
PARP‐1 regulates DNA repair factor availability

PARP‐1 holds major functions on chromatin, DNA damage repair and transcriptional regulation, both of which are relevant in the context of cancer. Here, unbiased transcriptional profiling revealed the downstream transcriptional profile of PARP‐1 enzymatic activity. Further investigation of the PARP‐1‐regulated transcriptome and secondary strategies for assessing PARP‐1 activity in patient tissues revealed that PARP‐1 activity was unexpectedly enriched as a function of disease progression and was associated with poor outcome independent of DNA double‐strand breaks, suggesting that enhanced PARP‐1 activity may promote aggressive phenotypes. Mechanistic investigation revealed that active PARP‐1 served to enhance E2F1 transcription factor activity, and specifically promoted E2F1‐mediated induction of DNA repair factors involved in homologous recombination (HR). Conversely, PARP‐1 inhibition reduced HR factor availability and thus acted to induce or enhance “BRCA‐ness”. These observations bring new understanding of PARP‐1 function in cancer and have significant ramifications on predicting PARP‐1 inhibitor function in the clinical setting.