Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlled Heterotypic Pseudo-Islet Assembly of Human β-Cells and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells Using Magnetic Levitation

β-Cell functionality and survival are highly dependent on the cells' microenvironment and cell–cell interactions. Since the pancreas is a highly vascularized organ, the crosstalk between β-cells and endothelial cells (ECs) is vital to ensure proper function. To understand the interaction of pancreatic β-cells with vascular ECs, we sought to investigate the impact of the spatial distribution on the interaction of human cell line-based β-cells (EndoC-βH3) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). We focused on the evaluation of three major spatial distributions, which can be found within human islets in vivo, in tissue-engineered heterotypic cell spheroids, so-called pseudo-islets, by controlling the aggregation process using magnetic levitation. We report that heterotypic spheroids formed by spontaneous aggregation cannot be maintained in culture due to HUVEC disassembly over time. In contrast, magnetic levitation allows the formation of stable heterotypic spheroids with defined spatial distribution and significantly facilitated HUVEC integration. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that introduces a human-only cell line-based in vitro test system composed of a coculture of β-cells and ECs with a successful stimulation of β-cell secretory function monitored by a glucose-stimulated insulin secretion assays. In addition, we systematically investigate the impact of the spatial distribution on cocultures of human β-cells and ECs, showing that the architecture of pseudo-islets significantly affects β-cell functionality. Impact statement Tissue engineering of coculture systems containing β-cells and endothelial cells (ECs) is a promising technique to stimulate β-cell functionality. In this study, we analyzed human pancreatic islet tissue and revealed three different native distributions of β-cells and ECs. We successfully recreated these distributions in vitro by employing magnetic levitation of human β-cells and ECs, forming controlled heterotypic pseudo-islets, which enabled us to identify a significant impact of the pseudo-islet architecture on insulin secretion.
Ovicidal activity of crude extracts of few traditional plants against Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera).

Cipadessa baccifera Miq. , Melia dubia (Cav.) (Meliaceae); Clausena dentata (Rutaceae) and Dodonaea angustifolia (Sapindaceae) are common medicinal plants found in Western Ghats and are used traditionally for various purposes. The petroleum ether, chloroform, hexane, acetone and water extracts of the leaves were investigated for their ovicidal property against Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) (Lepidoptera : Noctuidae). The different extracts of the test plants differed significantly in their efficacy. Among the four plants tested for ovicidal activity, Clausena dentata reduced the egg hatchability and proved to be highly ovicidal compared to others. Among the age of eggs, it was clear that the early stage of the eggs namely 24 h old eggs, to be highly susceptible to all the treatments.
A web-based adolescent depression support system: feedback and implications for the future

ABSTRACT The aim is to describe feedback from the adolescents on their use of a web-based depression support system. Web-based support systems can serve as an alternative to conventional treatment or to complement the current services. Mixed methods were used to approach the topic from multiple perspectives. Feedback was collected from adolescents with symptoms of depression or anxiety. Adolescents (n = 46) responded to a questionnaire after participating on the support system, and 24 adolescents did not provide feedback. The data were analyzed with quantitative descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis. Out of 45 adolescents, 93% agreed that the web-based support system was targeted at them, and 89% felt it was reliable and safe. It was perceived as a good channel for reflecting thoughts. However, some adolescents felt it was difficult to use or that using it did not help them. Ideas for development were also offered. Depis.Net provided the adolescents with a reliable way to ease their condition at home. Using feedback from the adolescents on the support system makes it possible to identify those who are able to use this kind of system in daily practice.
An expanded mouse testis transcriptome and mass spectrometry defines novel proteins.

The testis transcriptome is exceptionally complex. Despite its complexity, previous testis transcriptome analyses relied on a reductive method for transcript identification, thus underestimating transcriptome complexity. We describe here a more complete testis transcriptome generated by combining Tuxedo, a reductive method, and Spliced-RUM, a combinatorial transcript building approach. Forty-two percent of the expanded testis transcriptome is composed of unannotated RNAs with novel isoforms of known genes and novel genes constituting 78% and 9.8% of the newly discovered transcripts, respectively. Across tissues, novel transcripts were predominantly expressed in the testis with the exception of novel isoforms which were also highly expressed in the adult ovary. Within the testis, novel isoform expression was distributed equally across all cell types while novel genes were predominantly expressed in meiotic and post-meiotic germ cells. The majority of novel isoforms retained their protein coding potential while most novel genes had low protein coding potential. However, a subset of novel genes had protein coding potentials equivalent to known protein coding genes. Shotgun mass spectrometry of round spermatid total protein identified unique peptides from four novel genes along with seven annotated non-coding RNAs. These analyses demonstrate the testis expresses a wide range of novel transcripts that give rise to novel proteins.
Managing sustainable development of agriculture – case of Poland

Integration of activities serving for environmental protection and achievement of economic and social objectives is among the most important measures in agricultural policy. This paper presents an example of implementation of the concept of sustainable development of agriculture in Poland. A review of measures related to management of agricultural development at the national level was conducted, and sustainability of farms depending on specialization was assessed. Analyses pertain to 2013. Conducted analysis indicates that the factor with the greatest impact on the sustainability of farms is the production profile. In specialized farms, the economic objective is prioritized, often at the expense of the environment. Animal production poses a particular threat to the environment, which is the result of the concentration and large scale of production. Simplification of plant production occurred in farms specializing in field crops and swine. This is also an unfavorable practice, because it leads to disruption of the ecological equilibrium of agrocenoses. Economic sustainability was achieved by farms conducting intensive production, and this occurred thanks to the large contribution of funds from the EU budget.
Production of fermented cereal powders

The white and yellow varieties of maize (Zea mays Linn.), millet [Pennisetum typhoides (Burm.f.) Stapf & C.E. Hubbard] and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moench] were used to produce durable and storable dry powders using a fluidized drying technique at 70°C for 40 minutes. The powders were blended with fruit extracts essentially to provide flavours. Microbial counts of the powders indicated presence of scanty growth of nonpathogenic colonies and these were significantly lower than data obtained for locally prepared wet pastes. The proximate composition of the dry powdery products obtained from the cereals did not change significantly after a shelf-life of 12 months. The relative advantages of the products over the wet pastes are discussed.
Modelling the Optimal Control of Transmission Dynamics of Mycobacterium ulceran Infection

This paper examines optimal control of transmission dynamics of Mycobacterium ulceran (MU) infection. A nonlinear mathematical model for the problem is proposed and analysed qualitatively using the stability theory of the differential equations, optimal control and computer simulation. The basic reproduction number of the reduced model system is obtained by using the next generation operator method. It is found that by using Ruth Hurwitz criteria, the disease free equilibrium point is locally asymptotically stable and using centre manifold theory, the model shows the transcritical (forward) bifurcation. Optimal control is applied to the model seeking to minimize the transmission dynamics of MU infection on human and water-bugs. Pontryagin’s maximum principle is used to characterize the optimal levels of the controls. The results of optimality are solved numerically using MATLAB software and the results show that optimal combination of two controls (environmental and health education for prevention) and (water and environmental purification) minimizes the MU infection in the population.
On-farm paddock-scale comparisons across southern Australia confirm that increasing the nutrition of Merino ewes improves their production and the lifetime performance of their progeny

Experiments conducted by Lifetimewool at plot-scale have shown that differences in the maternal liveweight during pregnancy and lactation (liveweight profiles) of individual Merino ewes influences their wool production and reproductive rate as well as the birthweight, survival, weaning weight and lifetime wool production of their lambs in a predictable manner. This study determined whether these impacts of nutrition of the ewe on ewe and progeny performance are measurable on commercial properties across southern Australia at a paddock-scale where ewes were aggregated into flocks with a greater spread of the date of conception and where the liveweight profile of the flocks were managed based on random samples of 100 ewes and liveweight was uncorrected for fleece weight or conceptus. Eighteen paddock-scale experiments at 15 sites were conducted in cooperation with wool producers across Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. Each co-operator joined up to 1000 mixed aged adult Merino ewes. The flock was scanned using ultrasound at Day 50 from the start of joining to identify those ewes that conceived during the first 21 days of joining. These ewes were then split at random into two treatments and fed to achieve a target difference in liveweight of 10 kg or ~1 condition score/fat score at lambing. The production of ewes during their year of pregnancy and following their next joining was measured as was the performance of their progeny up to their third shearing. Only the 13 paddock-scale experiments that achieved a difference in liveweight profile at lambing of at least 4 kg were included in the final analysis. In these 13 experiments, increasing the nutrition of Merino ewes during pregnancy clearly increased the clean fleece weight and fibre diameter in ewes and the survival and lifetime wool production of their lambs. In most cases the size of the effect was not significantly different to that predicted by the relationship derived using individual liveweight profiles in the plot-scale experiments. This confirms that managing average ewe liveweight or condition score/fat score profile through better nutrition will lead to predictable increases in the performance of ewes and their progeny performance under commercial conditions and validates the use of the plot-scale relationships in economic analyses.
MiR-3150b-3p inhibits the progression of colorectal cancer cells via targeting GOLPH3

The aim of this study was to investigate the function of miR-3150b-3p in malignant behaviors of colorectal cancer (CRC). The tumor-inhibitive effect of miR-3150b-3p was determined by cell viability, invasion, and migration assays. The influence of miR-3150b-3p on the expression of Golgi phosphoprotein 3 (GOLPH3) and Janus kinase 2 (JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) pathway was evaluated by luciferase reporter, qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. MiR-3150b-3p was markedly decreased in CRC cell lines compared with colonic mucosal epithelial cell line (FHC). Furthermore, miR-3150b-3p inhibited malignant biological behaviors by targeting GOLPH3, an oncogene in CRC. Additionally, we suggested that miR-3150b-3p ameliorated CRC tumorigenesis in vitro through GOLPH3-mediated JAK2/STAT3 pathway. MiR-3150b-3p might function as a promising tumor suppressor in CRC.
Chapter 9. Social Media as Channels for the Public Communication of Science: The Case of Spanish Research Centers and Public Universities

Currently, the Web is valued as a key channel in the informal teaching of science. Despite that, studies on using social media’s tools for the public communication of science are still scarce. The objective of our research is to analyze how Spanish research centers and public universities used Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to communicate their scientific results to society. Three aspects were assessed: presence (if these institutions registered a profile on social media), connectivity (followers on their public profiles), and intensity (this latter element referred to the number of publications registered on their profile during a one-month period for three consecutive years). The methodology includes the design of an ad hoc checklist, making it possible to compile and analyze data relating to the three above-mentioned aspects. The analysis was carried out in December 2012, 2013, and 2014. From among the principal results, note that the presence of the analyzed Spanish research centers and public universities by way of channels specializing in disseminating science on these three social media websites remains incipient. Nevertheless, the general tendency is for such institutions to use these channels to disseminate their scientific production to the general public. Approximately one-third of the centers analyzed do make use of Facebook and Twitter to transmit knowledge specializing in science; approximately one-sixth do the same on YouTube.
Chemical transport of neutral atmospheric constituents by waves and turbulence: Theory and observations

Vertical chemical transport occurs when the density fluctuations of a species, caused by perturbations of its chemistry, are strongly correlated with the vertical wind fluctuations. Chemical transport can exceed dynamical and eddy transport of chemically active species. Theoretical expressions are derived for the chemical fluxes and transport velocities and used to characterize the vertical transport of mesospheric O3 and meteoric Na and Fe between 85 and 100 km. Chemical transport is dependent on the intrinsic frequency spectrum of the temperature fluctuations and on the chemical cutoff periods of the species. For O3 only high‐frequency fluctuations contribute to chemical transport because slower, larger‐amplitude density perturbations are damped by chemistry. The cutoff periods for O3 range from ~15 min during the day when photolysis is important to ~200 min at night. The chemical transport velocities of Na and Fe are proportional to the O3, O2+, and NO+ densities above 85 km. For O3, Na, and Fe the magnitudes of the vertical transport velocity can be as large as 10 cm/s, and they exhibit strong diurnal variations. O3 chemical transport is downward at night and upward during the day. Na and Fe chemical transport are largely upward with the strongest upward velocities at night near 85 and 100 km.
Genome-Wide Identification of Long Non-coding RNA in Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf) Leaves in Response to Boron Deficiency

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important roles in plant growth and stress responses. As a dominant abiotic stress factor in soil, boron (B) deficiency stress has impacted the growth and development of citrus in the red soil region of southern China. In the present work, we performed a genome-wide identification and characterization of lncRNAs in response to B deficiency stress in the leaves of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata), an important rootstock of citrus. A total of 2101 unique lncRNAs and 24,534 mRNAs were predicted. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments were performed for a total of 16 random mRNAs and lncRNAs to validate their existence and expression patterns. Expression profiling of the leaves of trifoliate orange under B deficiency stress identified 729 up-regulated and 721 down-regulated lncRNAs, and 8419 up-regulated and 8395 down-regulated mRNAs. Further analysis showed that a total of 84 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) were up-regulated and 31 were down-regulated, where the number of up-regulated DELs was 2.71-fold that of down-regulated. A similar trend was also observed in differentially expressed mRNAs (DEMs, 4.21-fold). Functional annotation of these DEMs was performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses, and the results demonstrated an enrichment of the categories of the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (including phenylpropanoid biosynthesis/lignin biosynthesis), plant hormone signal transduction and the calcium signaling pathway. LncRNA target gene enrichment identified several target genes that were involved in plant hormones, and the expression of lncRNAs and their target genes was significantly influenced. Therefore, our results suggest that lncRNAs can regulate the metabolism and signal transduction of plant hormones, which play an important role in the responses of citrus plants to B deficiency stress. Co-expression network analysis indicated that 468 significantly differentially expressed genes may be potential targets of 90 lncRNAs, and a total of 838 matched lncRNA-mRNA pairs were identified. In summary, our data provides a rich resource of candidate lncRNAs and mRNAs, as well as their related pathways, thereby improving our understanding of the role of lncRNAs in response to B deficiency stress, and in symptom formation caused by B deficiency in the leaves of trifoliate orange.
General Equilibrium Computations of the Marginal Welfare Costs of Taxes in the United States

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid by public finance economists to the marginal excess burden (MEB)1 per additional dollar of tax revenue. Estimates of MEBs stand in contrast to estimates of the welfare cost of taxes which are calculated by totally removing existing taxes and replacing them with equal yield lump sum taxes. Instead, an MEB estimate measures the incremental welfare costs of raising extra revenues from an already existing distorting tax. Earlier estimates of MEBs have either concentrated on particular portions of the tax system, or have employed partial equilibrium methods. Here, we examine the MEB of all major taxes in the United States, using a multisector, dynamic computational general equilibrium model. This allows us to calculate simultaneously the marginal welfare effects of individual income taxes, corporate taxes, payroll taxes, sales and excise taxes, and other smaller sources of revenue. We find that the marginal excess burden
EFFECT OF STORAGE DURATION ON THE STORED PUPAE OF PARASITOID Bracon hebetor ( Say ) AND ITS IMPACT ON PARASITOID QUALITY

The ecto-endo larval parasitoid, Bracon hebetor (Say) is an important biocontrol agent. Effective storage methods for B. hebetor are essential for raising its success as a commercial bio-control agent against lepidopteran pests. The study was undertaken to determine the effect of storage duration on the pupae of Bracon hebetor in terms of pupal survival, adult emergence, percent parasitism, female and male longevity, female fecundity and sex ratio. Three to four days old pupae were stored for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 weeks at 4 ± 1 o C. The ranges of time for adult emergence from stored pupae, production of total adult, survivability of pupae, parasitism of host larvae by the parasitoid, longevity of adult female and male and fecundity were 63.0 -7.5 days, 6.8-43.8/50 host larvae, 13.0-99.5%, 0.0 -97.5%, 0.00-20.75 days, 0.00-17.25 days and 0.0073. 00/50 female, respectively. The time of adult emergence and mortality of pupae increased but total number of adult emergence, survivability of pupae, longevity of adult female and male decreased gradually with the progress of storage period of B. hebetor pupae. The prevalence of male was always higher than that of female. Therefore, short-term storage of B. hebetor pupae could be stored for up to 4 weeks without disturbing the functioning of the parasitoid. It is important for sustaining and accumulating large numbers of parasitoids in mass rearing programs and subsequent use of field application.
Endophytic seed mycobiome of six sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) cultivars from commercial seedlots using an Illumina sequencing approach

Pathogen-free seeds are important for the establishment of young seedlings, prevention of health problems upon consumption by animals and livestock, and inadvertent movement of pathogens into and out of countries. However, testing for the presence of fungi, including pathogens from seeds is a time consuming and difficult process. In this study, we characterized the seed fungal microbiome (mycobiome) of six commercial sorghum cultivars from South Africa using a deep amplicon next generation sequencing approach based on the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal operon. Sorghum is the fifth most important crop in the world, and widely used by African farmers. We found that the fungi present in each of the seedlots were similar to those reported by cultural studies. By comparing phylotypes of certain key families and genera to phylotypes used in established phylogenies and reputed sequences from public databases, the diagnostic value of the NGS method was also investigated. We showed that a number of molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) could be identified at the species level and established that certain known pathogens are not present in the tested seeds, for instance in the Aspergillus group. Other groups could not be identified, not even to genus level. While acknowledging the shortcomings of using partial ITS data, we demonstrated that deep amplicon sequencing is a valuable diagnostic tool for seed disease control and prevention in some cases.
The Formation of European Inflation Expectations: One Learning Rule Does Not Fit All

We empirically investigate how well different learning rules manage to explain the formation of household inflation expectations in six key member countries of the euro area. Our findings reveal a pronounced heterogeneity in the learning rules employed on the country level. While the expectation formation process in some countries can be best explained by rules that incorporate forward-looking elements (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands), households in other countries employ information on energy prices (France) or form their expectations by means of more traditional learning rules (Belgium, Spain). Moreover, our findings suggest that least squares based algorithms significantly outperform their stochastic gradient counterparts, not only in replicating inflation expectation data but also in forecasting actual inflation rates.