Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A stimulates aberrant mitochondrial biogenesis through a CDK 4 / Rb-independent pathway

The tumor suppressor p16INK4A (p16) inhibits cell cycle progression through the CDK4/Rb pathway. We have previously shown that p16 regulates cellular oxidative stress, independent of its role in cell cycle control. We investigated whether loss of p16 had a direct impact on the mitochondria. We found that p16-null primary mouse fibroblasts (PMFs) displayed increased mitochondrial mass and expression of mitochondrial respiratory subunit proteins compared to wild-type (WT) PMFs. These findings in p16-null PMFs were associated with increased expression of the mitochondrial biogenesis transcription factors PRC and TFAM. On the other hand, p16deficient PMFs demonstrated reduced mitochondrial respiration capacity consistent with electron microscopy findings showing that mitochondria in p16-deficient PMFs have abnormal morphology. Consistent with increased mitochondrial mass and reduced respiratory capacity, p16-deficient PMFs generated increased mitochondrial superoxide. One biological consequence of elevated ROS in p16-deficient PMFs was enhanced migration, which was reduced by the ROS scavenger N-acetylcysteine. Finally, p16-deficient PMFs displayed increased mitochondrial membrane potential, which was also required for their enhanced migration. The mitochondrial and migration phenotype was restored in p16-deficient PMFs by forced expression of p16. Similarly, over-expression of p16 in human melanocytes and A375 melanoma cells led to decreased expression of some mitochondrial respiratory proteins, enhanced respiration, and decreased migration. Inhibition of Rb phosphorylation in melanocytes and melanoma cells, either by addition of chemical CDK4 inhibitors or RNAi-mediated knockdown of CDK4, did not mimic the effects of p16 loss. These results suggest that p16 regulates mitochondrial biogenesis and function, which is independent of the canonical CDK4/Rb pathway.
Establishing the effect of eggplant powders on the rheological characteristics of a semi-finished product made from liver pate masses

Results of the study of functional properties of partially prepared liver pate masses with partial replacement of beef liver with edible eggplant powder (3 %, 5 %, 7 %) were presented. Structural and mechanical characteristics of liver pate masses partially prepared according to the conventional technology and those with addition of edible powders at various percentage ratios were studied. Eggplant powder is characterized by high consumer characteristics and can be used in food products as a biologically active additive. It is the most promising raw material for creation of special-purpose products. Addition of powders expands the product range, affects chemical composition of foods, improves organoleptic, physical, chemical, structural and mechanical properties of the final product. It was established that introduction of eggplant powders to pate masses leads to significant changes in the structural state of partially prepared pates by changing numerical values of rheological characteristics and improving structure of the mixture. It was established that introduction of eggplant powder leads to an increase in the moisture-binding and moisture-retaining capacities of the partially prepared liver pate mass which positively affects plasticity and softness of the product. This is explained by the fact that introduction of powders into partially prepared pate mass leads to an increase in the mass fraction of the high molecular weight substances capable of swelling accompanied by binding and retaining of moisture. Proceeding from the experimental data, it was found that the liver pate mass with a 5 % content of eggplant powder had optimal structural and mechanical properties. The rational weight fraction of partial replacement of beef or chicken liver with the developed edible powder due to which the systems are characterized by the highest functional and technological parameters was substantiated. Proceeding from the data obtained, it was proved that the use of eggplant powders for the production of partially prepared liver pates is possible. The study results can be used by food industry enterprises to expand the product range.
Isolation and structural determination of flavan-3-ol derivatives from the Polypodium vulgare L. rhizomes water extract

Abstract Polypodium vulgare L. (Polypodiaceae) is a fern used in traditional Polish medicine as an expectorant to treat cough and pertussis. Additionally, it was used as a diuretic in renal diseases, especially in chronic nephritis and pyelonephritis. In our study, a water extract was prepared from the rhizome of common polypody and subsequently fractionated on a resin column. As a result, the mixture of flavan-3-ol derivatives was obtained after the column elution with 60% methanol. Further purification by various chromatographic techniques led us to the isolation of (+)-afzelechin (1), a new previously not reported (+)-afzelechin-7-O-α-l-arabinofuranoside (2), and three other monomer flavan-3-ol glycosides: (+)-afzelechin-7-O-β-d-apiofuranoside (3), (+)-catechin-7-O-α-l-arabinofuranoside (4) and (+)-catechin-7-O-β-d-apiofuranoside (5). Structures of the compounds were established by HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The HSQC and HMBC NMR techniques were used in the structure elucidation of the position of sugar attachment.
Mechanical and Water Intake Properties of Banana-Carbon Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites

The concern for the environmental pollution and the prevention of resources has attracted researchers to develop new eco-friendly green materials based on sustainability principles. In this experimental study, there are six different composite samples were fabricated by using banana and carbon fibers with epoxy resin matrix. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength, and water uptake properties of these composites have been evaluated. The composites reinforced with pure carbon fibers can hold the maximum tensile strength of 288.03 MPa, flexural strength of 3.12 kN, impact strength of 4.58 J and water intake percentage of 62.3%. Whereas the composites reinforced with carbon and banana fibers can withstand the maximum tensile strength of 277.06 MPa, flexural strength of 3.07 kN, impact strength of 4.36 J and water intake percentage of 70%. The finite element analysis has been carried out to predict the mechanical properties of the composites by using ANSYS 15.0. The experimental results are compared with the predicted values and have found that, there is a high correlation occurs between the results. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis is carried out to study the fiber matrix interfaces and analyse the structure of the fractured and water absorbed surfaces.
The Influence of Corporate Messages on the Product Portfolio

The authors examine factors that change the influence of corporate messages for forming judgments about products in the company's portfolio (i.e., transfer). Corporate messages transferred more than a product message onto other products in the company's portfolio. However, a product message had more influence than corporate messages for that product. Moreover, a corporate ability (quality) message transferred more to the portfolio than did a corporate social responsibility message. Finally, a competitive product message that preceded a company product message and was positioned similarly to a company product lessened corporate message diagnosticity, reducing transfer. However, this occurred only for a product in the same category but not for a product in a different one. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for corporate brand and product brand managers and suggest directions for further research.
Liberalisation and stock market co-movement between emerging economies

This paper investigates the impact of trade and financial liberalisation on the degree of stock market co-movement among emerging economies. Using a sample of 25 developing countries observed over 15 years, we estimate the impact of reforms aimed at opening these countries through trade and financial channels to the rest of the world. The estimation of time-varying cross-country correlations allows the econometric investigation to be performed using a panel data framework, thus raising the quality of the statistical inference. Our results offer strong support in favour of a positive impact of trade and financial liberalisation reforms on the degree of cross-country stock market linkages.
Impact of resolution and air temperature on Large Eddy Simulation of mid-latitude summer time convection

Abstract. We analyze life cycles of summer time moist convection of a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) in a limited area setup over Germany. The goal is to assess the ability of the model to represent convective organization in space and time in comparison to radar data, and its sensitivity to daily mean surface air temperature. A continuous period of 36 days in May and June 2016, showing a considerable amount of convective rainfall which covers large parts of the domain on most of the days, is simulated with a grid spacing of 625 m. Using convective organization indices, and a tracking algorithm for convective precipitation events, we find that an LES with 625 m grid spacing tends to underestimate the degree of convective organization, and shows a weaker sensitivity of heavy convective rainfall to temperature as suggested by the radar data. An analysis of three days within this period that are simulated with finer grid spacing of 312 m and 156 m showed, that a grid spacing at the 100 m scale has the potential to improve the simulated diurnal cycles of convection, the mean time evolution of single convective events, and the degree of convective organization.
ACCURACY OF MODELS PREDICTING CORPORATE BANKRUPTCY IN A SELECTED INDUSTRY BRANCH

The paper's main aim is an accuracy verification of d zens models predicting financial distress. The evaluated models were creat ed in the past in developed countries and especially in transition economies. H igh probability of bankruptcy does not affect only an ailing enterprise itself bu t it also influences other business related entities or counterparties and therefo re the results provided by models predicting financial distress have their ser ious usage as scoring models. Models predicting financial distress help the decis ion making process by predicting future development of selected business ent ities. Research hypotheses are based on the idea that already existing models pred icting financial distress still have enough explanatory power and accuracy for deci sion making and there is no need for the creation of a new one. The research should answer the question which models should nowadays be recommended the mos t for practical use. The paper uses for the verification tools such as Type I Error, Type II Error, ROC Curves and related AuROC coefficients.
ENTEROTOXAEMIA IN MOUFLONS (OVIS MUSIMON)

In a herd of mouflons, a lethality reaching 10% of the population, with pathomorphological signs of enterotoxaemia was observed. From all examined animals, Clostridium perfringens was isolated, serologically identified as type C. A carriership of C. perfringens type C was proved in healthy mouflons too. The principal factors, provoking the development of the disease were analyzed. The results showed a high sensitivity of mouflons to C. perfringens . This microorganism is probably part of the intestinal microflora in mouflons, like sheep and other animal species.
Comparative study of non-Markovianity measures in exactly solvable one- and two-qubit models

In this paper we present a detailed critical study of several recently proposed non-Markovianity measures. We analyse their properties for single qubit and two-qubit systems in both pure-dephasing and dissipative scenarios. More specifically we investigate and compare their computability, their physical meaning, their Markovian to non-Markovian crossover, and their additivity properties with respect to the number of qubits. The bottom-up approach that we pursue is aimed at identifying similarities and differences in the behavior of non-Markovianity indicators in several paradigmatic open system models. This in turn allows us to infer the leading traits of the variegated phenomenon known as non-Markovian dynamics and, possibly, to grasp its physical essence.
Effect of Different Water-to-powder Ratios on the Solubility and Microhardness of Calcium-Enriched Mixture Cement

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different water-to-powder (WP) proportions on the microhardness and water solubility of calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement. Methods and Materials: One gram of CEM cement powder was mixed with 0.33 mL, 0.4 mL or 0.5 mL CEM liquid. For water solubility, a total of 60 specimens were prepared (n=20 per each ratio) in the disk-shaped stainless-steel molds with a height of 1.5±0.1 mm and internal diameter of 10.0±0.1 mm. The specimens of each WP ratio were randomly divided into two subgroups: half (n=10) were immersed for one day and the other half (n=10), were kept for 21 days in distilled water. The solubility was calculated as a percentage of the weight loss. To measure microhardness, a total of 30 samples were prepared (10 per each ratio, n=10). The mixtures were transferred to metallic cylindrical molds with internal dimensions of 6±0.1 mm height and 4±0.1 mm diameters. After 4 days the specimens were subjected to Vicker's test. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey’s tests at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The 0.33 WP ratio showed significantly greater microhardness value (25.98±2.77) compared to 0.4 and 0.5 proportions (P=0.004 and P<0.001 respectively). Significant differences were observed between water solubility values of different WP ratios at both time intervals (P<0.001). At both time intervals, 0.33 and 0.5 WP ratios exhibited the lowest and highest solubility, respectively. Conclusion: According to the results of this in vitro study, higher WP ratios result in lower microhardness and higher water solubility of the CEM cement. Therefore, the 0.33 WP ratio would be the ideal proportion.
Kant’s Ethics of Grace: Perspectival Solutions to the Moral Difficulties with Divine Assistance

Throughout most of the history of Kant interpretation, the Sage of Konigsberg has been portrayed either as a philosopher without any serious interest in religion or as one who sought to bolster an essentially secular moral philosophy by reducing religion to nothing but ethical conduct. When such interpreters turn to Kant’s Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason (1793), they typically ignore or explain away his references to divine assistance (e.g., 44–45) and his arguments that our practical need to believe in God justifies a believer’s hope that a morally
MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION AND GENETIC DIVERSITY OF SOME EGYPTIAN CITRUS CULTIVARS USING RAPD AND ISSRs MARKERS

Citrus L. genus includes several of the most important world’s fruit crops, such as oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruits, pummelos and kumquats. In this respect, the present study was to determine the genetic relationship of some Citrus species, including six mandarin, four Clementine and one tangerine cultivars through RAPD and ISSRs based PCR molecular marker. The obtained results showed that, the 11 tested Citrus cultivars were highly similar at the DNA level, and exhibited using the 17 and 10 random primers, 91 and 78 polymorphic bands (20.40% and 25.7%, respectively) in both RAPD and ISSRs molecular markers, respectively. The highest degree of similarity when use RAPD molecular marker was between Balady mandarin and Seedless mandarin (57%) whereas the lowest degree of similarity (40%) between Fedela Clementine and Sunburst mandarin. But the highest degree of similarity between Kara mandarin and Fedela Clementine (51%) whereas the lowest degree of similarity (34%) between Balady mandarin and Sunburst mandarin when use ISSRs technique. In this study some RAPD and ISSRs markers may be linked to some fruiting traits such as beginning of fruit maturity (RAPD primer OPA-16 - 2278 bp and ISSRs primer 844A - 385 bp), peel color (ISSRs primer 17895A - 1178 bp), average no. of seeds per fruit (RAPD primer OPA-10 - 1088 bp) and T.S. S/ acid ratio (RAPD primer OPA-7 - 909 bp). The results from both techniques, showed that the average of polymorphism percentage through the 11 Citrus cultivars was higher using ISSRs than RAPD markers and the phylogenetic relationship was more reliable, indicate that ISSRs molecular marker for fingerprinting, mapping and diversity study of Citrus and its relatives. These results confirmed the usefulness of ISSRs-PCR analysis to detect the genetic variability between cultivars which agreed with who demonstrated that ISSRs markers are a valuable method for detecting genetic variability among rice varieties and for rapidly identifying cultivars.
Malaria and soil-transmitted helminthes coinfection in a rural community of Kwara State, North Central Nigeria

Malaria and soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) are common in most developing countries especially Nigeria. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of occurrence of Plasmodium falciparum and STHs coinfection and to determine the associated risk factors. A community based study was conducted on 300 individuals living in Oke-Oyi a rural community in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, between January and June 2014. Blood samples were collected by finger prick to determine malaria parasitaemia using thick and thin film method while stool samples were processed using formalin-ether sedimentation technique and examined microscopically for intestinal parasites. Well structured questionnaire was administered to ascertain socio-economic characteristics of the subjects. The prevalence of malaria was 56.7% while the prevalence of STHs/malaria coinfection was 40.1%. The age group 1-10 was found to be the most infected (74.3%) while males (60.7%) were more infected than females (51.8%). Ascaris lumbricoides Linnaeus, 1758 was the most prevalent (60.5%) STHs infection followed by Trichuris trichiura (Linnaeus, 1771) (57.6%). Multiple infections were more pronounced in the age group 1-10 (40.1%). Subjects that were farmers were more prone to coinfection. Intestinal parasitic infection and malaria coinfection is a serious health challenge in Oke-Oyi Area of Kwara State, North Central Nigeria. Therefore, concerted efforts such as mass deworming, improved sanitation, provision of toilet facilities and health education is encouraged.
Chaotic Stream Cipher-Based Secure Data Communications over Intelligent Transportation Network

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are advanced applications in which the transportation industry is adapted to the information technology revolution. As an important development direction of ITS, the electronic toll collection (ETC) subsystem, which enables an efficient and speedy toll collection, has gained widespread popularity in the world. In an ETC system, toll transaction data are transmitted over intelligent transportation networks, which is vulnerable to eavesdropping, interfering, and tampering attacks. To address the above security problems, we proposed a chaotic stream cipher-based cryptographic scheme to realise secure data communications over wireless sensor network (WSN), which is a part of ITS. The proposed cryptographic scheme allowed ITS to achieve key negotiation and data encryption between sensor nodes in the WSN, whileas reduced computational costs and power consumption. Security analysis and experimental results showed that the proposed scheme could protect data transmission between wireless sensor nodes from being attacked, and significantly reduced the communication overhead for the whole system compared to the existing ECC_AES scheme, thus satisfying the real-time data transmission requirement of ITS.
Analysis of Spatio-Temporally Sparse Optimal Control Problems of Semilinear Parabolic Equations

Optimal control problems with semilinear parabolic state equations are considered. The objective features one out of three different terms promoting various spatio-temporal sparsity patterns of the control variable. For each problem, first-order necessary optimality conditions, as well as second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions are proved. The analysis includes the case in which the objective does not contain the squared norm of the control.
Tillage and Nitrogen Fertilization Impact on Irrigated Corn Yields, and Soil Chemical and Physical Properties Under Semiarid Climate

study evaluated the effects of tillage (deep tillage (DT), conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT) and no-till (NT)), and nitrogen (N) rates (0 (N0), 200 (N200), 250 (N250), and 300 (N300) kg ha-1) on: i) corn growth and yields, ii) some soil chemical properties (total soil carbon, nitrogen, and available nutrient stocks), and iii) selected soil physical properties (bulk density, total porosity, and infiltration) under semiarid climate. Total carbon (Corg), total nitrogen (TN), nitrate, available phosphorus (AP), exchangeable potassium (K), bulk density (ρb), penetration resistance (PR) and soil infiltration rates were measured. No-till had significantly higher Corg (9%) but lower TN (5%) as compared to CT. Deep tillage decreased ρb (2 to 5%) and PR (35 to 60%) compared to other tillage practices. The highest level of N had higher Corg (20%), TN (30%) and nitrate (35%) compared to the control treatment. The Highest N rate under DT has higher harvest index than those of CT, MT, and NT treatments. The nitrogen rate of 240 kg ha-1 produced near maximum yields (~90%) in DT and CT than the 260 kg ha-1 N – MT treatment and the 270 kg ha-1 N-NT treatment.
The Digestive System: Challenges and Opportunities

SUMMARY The purpose of this review is to set the context for a discussion of the improvement of nutrient efficiency in poultry production through greater understanding of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Much of the ongoing research in efficiency of nutrient capture is directed toward better understanding of the benefits of nonpharmaceutical antibiotic growth promoters because approvals for the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics in animal feed are fast disappearing worldwide. Acceptable replacements for these drugs are being sought. Because much of the effect of antibiotics is due to their antimicrobial activity, research has been directed at understanding the antimicrobial effect and identifying new nonpharmacological antimicrobials for the industry. However, there are certainly other opportunities for innovative improvements in efficiency through modification of GI development, maintenance, and health. The GI system includes the gut itself, liver, pancreas, gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and resident microflora. All of these tissues and organs offer opportunities for improvement. This review will begin with a description of the components of the GI system, including anatomy, ontogeny, cell biology, and system maintenance. Opportunities to improve efficiency though alterations of GI ontogeny, structure, and function will be discussed briefly. Topics to be covered by other speakers are the role of mitochondria in the partitioning of nutrients from gut maintenance to muscle growth, use of exogenous delivery of antibodies to reduce diversion of nutrients to immunity, and reducing the need for intestinal and hepatic detoxification through the modulation of the animal’s own capacity to exclude pathogens and toxins from entering the body.
Exact Weak Laws and One Sided Strong Laws

This paper explores Exact Weak Laws and their almost sure counterparts. First we show that the weighted sums of our infinite mean random variables can be balanced by a carefully selected sequence, i.e., that the ratio converges to one in probability. Then it is shown that the upper limit is almost surely infinity, while the lower limit is one.