Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Systematic Construction and Validation of an RNA-Binding Protein-Associated Model for Prognosis Prediction in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background Evidence from prevailing studies show that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is among the top cancers with high mortality globally. Gene regulation at post-transcriptional level orchestrated by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) is an important mechanism that modifies various biological behaviors of HCC. Currently, it is not fully understood how RBPs affects the prognosis of HCC. In this study, we aimed to construct and validate an RBP-related model to predict the prognosis of HCC patients. Methods Differently expressed RBPs were identified in HCC patients based on the GSE54236 dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Integrative bioinformatics analyses were performed to select hub genes. Gene expression patterns were validated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, after which univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, as well as Kaplan-Meier analysis were performed to develop a prognostic model. Then, the performance of the prognostic model was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and clinicopathological correlation analysis. Moreover, data from the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database were used for external validation. Finally, a nomogram combining clinicopathological parameters and prognostic model was established for the individual prediction of survival probability. Results The prognostic risk model was finally constructed based on two RBPs (BOP1 and EZH2), facilitating risk-stratification of HCC patients. Survival was markedly higher in the low-risk group relative to the high-risk group. Moreover, higher risk score was associated with advanced pathological grade and late clinical stage. Besides, the risk score was found to be an independent prognosis factor based on multivariate analysis. Nomogram including the risk score and clinical stage proved to perform better in predicting patient prognosis. Conclusions The RBP-related prognostic model established in this study may function as a prognostic indicator for HCC, which could provide evidence for clinical decision making.
Increased Expression of UMAMIT Amino Acid Transporters Results in Activation of Salicylic Acid Dependent Stress Response

In addition to their role in the biosynthesis of important molecules such as proteins and specialized metabolites, amino acids are known to function as signaling molecules through various pathways to report nitrogen status and trigger appropriate metabolic and cellular responses. Moreover, changes in amino acid levels through altered amino acid transporter activities trigger plant immune responses. Specifically, loss of function of major amino acid transporter, over-expression of cationic amino acid transporter, or over-expression of the positive regulators of membrane amino acid export all lead to dwarfed phenotypes and upregulated salicylic acid (SA)-induced stress marker genes. However, whether increasing amino acid exporter protein levels lead to similar stress phenotypes has not been investigated so far. Recently, a family of transporters, namely USUALLY MULTIPLE ACIDS MOVE IN AND OUT TRANSPORTERS (UMAMITs), were identified as amino acid exporters. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of increased amino acid export on plant development, growth, and reproduction to further examine the link between amino acid transport and stress responses. The results presented here show strong evidence that an increased expression of UMAMIT transporters induces stress phenotypes and pathogen resistance, likely due to the establishment of a constitutive stress response via a SA-dependent pathway.
A Comparative Analysis of Reactive Müller Glia Gene Expression After Light Damage and microRNA-Depleted Müller Glia—Focus on microRNAs

Müller glia (MG) are the predominant glia in the neural retina and become reactive after injury or in disease. microRNAs (miRNAs) are translational repressors that regulate a variety of processes during development and are required for MG function. However, no data is available about the MG miRNAs in reactive gliosis. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to profile miRNAs and mRNAs in reactive MG 7 days after light damage. Light damage was performed for 8 h at 10,000 lux; this leads to rapid neuronal loss and strong MG reactivity. miRNAs were profiled using the Nanostring platform, gene expression analysis was conducted via microarray. We compared the light damage dataset with the dataset of Dicer deleted MG in order to find similarities and differences. We found: (1) The vast majority of MG miRNAs declined in reactive MG 7 days after light damage. (2) Only four miRNAs increased after light damage, which included miR-124. (3) The top 10 genes found upregulated in reactive MG after light damage include Gfap, Serpina3n, Ednrb and Cxcl10. (4) The miRNA decrease in reactive MG 7 days after injury resembles the profile of Dicer-depleted MG after one month. (5) The comparison of both mRNA expression datasets (light damage and Dicer-cKO) showed 1,502 genes were expressed under both conditions, with Maff , Egr2, Gadd45b, and Atf3 as top upregulated candidates. (6) The DIANA-TarBase v.8 miRNA:RNA interaction tool showed that three miRNAs were found to be present in all networks, i.e., after light damage, and in the combined data set; these were miR-125b-5p, let-7b and let-7c. Taken together, results show there is an overlap of gene regulatory events that occur in reactive MG after light damage (direct damage of neurons) and miRNA-depleted MG (Dicer-cKO), two very different paradigms. This suggests that MG miRNAs play an important role in a ubiquitous MG stress response and manipulating these miRNAs could be a first step to attenuate gliosis.
Comparative Study on Pharmacokinetics of Four Long-Acting Injectable Formulations of Enrofloxacin in Pigs

A comparative study on pharmacokinetics of four long-acting enrofloxacin injectable formulations was investigated in 36 healthy pigs after intramuscular injection according to the recommended single dose @ 2.5 mg/kg body weight. The drug concentrations in the plasma were computed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection. WinNonLin5.2. 1 software was used to analyze the experimental data and compared it under one-way ANOVA using SPSS software with a 95% confidence interval (CI). The main pharmacokinetic parameters, that is, the maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax), the time to maximum concentration (Tmax), area under the time curve concentration (AUCall) and Terminal half-life (T1/2) were 733.84 ± 129.87, 917.00 ± 240.13, 694.84 ± 163.49, 621.98 ± 227.25 ng/ml, 2.19 ± 0.0. 66, 1.50 ± 0.37, 2.89 ± 0.24, 0.34 ± 0.13 h, 7754.43 ± 2887.16, 8084.11 ± 1543.98, 7369.42 ± 2334.99, 4194.10 ± 1186.62 ng h/ml, 10.48 ± 2.72, 10.37 ± 2.38, 10.20 ± 2.81, and 10.61 ± 0.86 h for 10% enrofloxacin (Alkali), 20% enrofloxacin (Acidic), Yangkang and control drug Nuokang® respectively. There were significant differences among Cmax, Tmax, and AUCall of three formulations compare with that of the reference formulation. No significant differences were observed among the T1/2 for tested formulations compare with the reference formulation. The pharmacokinetic parameters showed that the tested formulations were somewhat better compared to the reference one. The calculated PK/PD indices were effective for bacteria such as Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida with values higher than the cut-off points (Cmax/MIC90≥10–12 and AUC/MIC90 ≥ 125). However, they were not effective against bacteria like Haemophilus parasuis, Streptococcus suis, E. coli, and Bordetella bronchiseptica where lower values were obtained.
68Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT-Based Radiomic Analysis and PRRT Outcome: A Preliminary Evaluation Based on an Exploratory Radiomic Analysis on Two Patients

Aim: This work aims to evaluate whether the radiomic features extracted by 68Ga-DOTATOC-PET/CT of two patients are associated with the response to peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) in patients affected by neuroendocrine tumor (NET). Methods: This is a pilot report in two NET patients who experienced a discordant response to PRRT (responder vs. non-responder) according to RECIST1.1. The patients presented with liver metastasis from the rectum and pancreas G3-NET, respectively. Whole-body total-lesion somatostatin receptor-expression (TLSREwb-50) and somatostatin receptor-expressing tumor volume (SRETV wb-50) were obtained in pre- and post-PRRT PET/CT. Radiomic analysis was performed, extracting 38 radiomic features (RFs) from the patients' lesions. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare RFs in the responder patient vs. the non-responder patient. Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate the correlation and independence of the different RFs. Results: TLSREwb-50 and SRETVwb-50 modifications correlate with RECIST1.1 response. A total of 28 RFs extracted on pre-therapy PET/CT showed significant differences between the two patients in the Mann–Whitney test (p < 0.05). A total of seven second-order features, with poor correlation with SUVmax and PET volume, were identified by the Pearson correlation matrix. Finally, the first two PCA principal components explain 83.8% of total variance. Conclusion: TLSREwb-50 and SRETVwb-50 are parameters that might be used to predict and to assess the PET response to PRRT. RFs might have a role in defining inter-patient heterogeneity and in the prediction of therapy response. It is important to implement future studies with larger and more homogeneous patient populations to confirm the efficacy of these biomarkers.
Experimental Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Induces Pain in Mice Dependent on Early Spinal Cord Glial Cells and NFκB Activation and Cytokine Production

The neglected tropical infirmity Chagas disease (CD) presents high mortality. Its etiological agent T. cruzi is transmitted by infected hematophagous insects. Symptoms of the acute phase of the infection include fever, fatigue, body aches, and headache, making diagnosis difficult as they are present in other illnesses as well. Thus, in endemic areas, individuals with undetermined pain may be considered for CD. Although pain is a characteristic symptom of CD, its cellular and molecular mechanisms are unknown except for demonstration of a role for peripheral TNF-α in CD pain. In this study, we evaluate the role of spinal cord glial cells in experimental T. cruzi infection in the context of pain using C57BL/6 mice. Pain, parasitemia, survival, and glial and neuronal function as well as NFκB activation and cytokine/chemokine production were assessed. T. cruzi infection induced chronic mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia. Systemic TNF-α and IL-1β peaked 14 days postinfection (p.i.). Infected mice presented increased spinal gliosis and NFκB activation compared to uninfected mice at 7 days p.i. Glial and NFκB inhibitors limited T. cruzi–induced pain. Nuclear phosphorylated NFκB was detected surrounded by glia markers, and glial inhibitors reduced its detection. T. cruzi–induced spinal cord production of cytokines/chemokines was also diminished by glial inhibitors. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons presented increased activity in infected mice, and the production of inflammatory mediators was counteracted by glial/NFκB inhibitors. The present study unveils the contribution of DRG and spinal cord cellular and molecular events leading to pain in T. cruzi infection, contributing to a better understanding of CD pathology.
The Role of Literal Features During Processing of Novel Verbal Metaphors

When a word is used metaphorically (for example “walrus” in the sentence “The president is a walrus”), some features of that word's meaning (“very fat,” “slow-moving”) are carried across to the metaphoric interpretation while other features (“has large tusks,” “lives near the north pole”) are not. What happens to these features that relate only to the literal meaning during processing of novel metaphors? In four experiments, the present study examined the role of the feature of physical containment during processing of verbs of physical containment. That feature is used metaphorically to signify difficulty, such as “fenced in” in the sentence “the journalist's opinion was fenced in after the change in regime. ” Results of a lexical decision task showed that video clips displaying a ball being trapped by a box facilitated comprehension of verbs of physical containment when the words were presented in isolation. However, when the verbs were embedded in sentences that rendered their interpretation metaphorical in a novel way, no such facilitation was found, as evidenced by two eye-tracking reading studies. We interpret this as suggesting that features that are critical for understanding the encoded meaning of verbs but are not part of the novel metaphoric interpretation are ignored during the construction of metaphorical meaning. Results and limitations of the paradigm are discussed in relation to previous findings in the literature both on metaphor comprehension and on the interaction between language comprehension and the visual world.
The Impact of the Economic Corridor on Economic Stability: A Double Mediating Role of Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Development Under the Exceptional Circumstances of COVID-19

This study discusses the impact of different economic indicators on economic stability, including honest leadership, improved infrastructure, revenue generation, and CPEC taking into account the double mediating role of environmental sustainability and sustainable development, while considering the latest COVID-19 situation. This study adopted primary data collection methods and obtained data from the employees of CPEC by using questionnaires and smart-PLS for analysis purposes. The results revealed that honest leadership, improved infrastructure, revenue generation, and CPEC have a positive nexus with economic stability. Despite the severe impact of COVID-19 on the country’s economy, the economic corridor plays a vital role in stabilizing the state’s economy and supports all those related to this phenomenal project either directly or indirectly.
Gambling-Specific Cognitions Are Not Associated With Either Abstract or Probabilistic Reasoning: A Dual Frequentist-Bayesian Analysis of Individuals With and Without Gambling Disorder

Background Distorted gambling-related cognitions are tightly related to gambling problems, and are one of the main targets of treatment for disordered gambling, but their etiology remains uncertain. Although folk wisdom and some theoretical approaches have linked them to lower domain-general reasoning abilities, evidence regarding that relationship remains unconvincing. Method In the present cross-sectional study, the relationship between probabilistic/abstract reasoning, as measured by the Berlin Numeracy Test (BNT), and the Matrices Test, respectively, and the five dimensions of the Gambling-Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), was tested in a sample of 77 patients with gambling disorder and 58 individuals without gambling problems. Results and interpretation Neither BNT nor matrices scores were significantly related to gambling-related cognitions, according to frequentist (MANCOVA/ANCOVA) analyses, performed both considering and disregarding group (patients, non-patients) in the models. Correlation Bayesian analyses (bidirectional BF10) largely supported the null hypothesis, i.e., the absence of relationships between the measures of interest. This pattern or results reinforces the idea that distorted cognitions do not originate in a general lack of understanding of probability or low fluid intelligence, but probably result from motivated reasoning.
Case Report: IL-21 and Bcl-6 Regulate the Proliferation and Secretion of Tfh and Tfr Cells in the Intestinal Germinal Center of Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of interleukin (IL)-21 and B cell lymphoma protein-6 on germinal center follicular helper T (Tfh) cells and follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells and its relationship with the clinical features of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods: The expression of peripheral blood cytokines IL-21 and Bcl-6 mRNA was detected by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction. The distribution characteristics of Tfh and Tfr cells were detected using the triple immunofluorescence staining analysis. Results: The expression of IL-21 and Bcl-6 mRNA was upregulated in the ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn disease (CD) groups compared with that in the control group. Triple immunofluorescence staining showed that the number of Tfh cells in the intestinal germinal center obviously increased in the UC and CD groups compared with that in the control group, whereas the number of Tfr cells reduced. Conclusion: This study suggested that the Tfr and Tfh cells might be involved in the regulation of IBD. Bcl-6 and IL-21 can regulate the Tfh/Tfr ratio in the intestinal germinal center, promoting the occurrence and development of IBD.
Thermal stability of Peroxynitrates

PAN [CH3C(O)O2NO2] has been measured ubiquitously in the troposphere, and in the stratosphere HO2NO2 has also been analysed. The thermal lives of both compounds as a function of pressure and temperature have been established reasonably well by laboratory studies, in particular for PAN. Other peroxynitrates including the halogenated derivatives are less important as NOx carriers or temporary RO2 reservoirs in the atmosphere at least at ambient temperature. Other loss processes of peroxynitrates, besides thermal decomposition, are the reaction with OH radicals and photolysis. A few experimental results also seem to support heterogeneous decomposition of RO2NO2 on surfaces. The relative importance of thermal decomposition rate, photolysis rate and rate of the OH reaction depends on temperature, pressure, spectral distribution of solar light intensity and the OH concentration. In principle, lower temperature and lower pressure at higher altitudes increase the importance of photolysis and OH reactions as sinks of RO2NO2, because thermal decomposition rates become much slower. The RO2NO2 are produced by the addition of NO2 to RO2 radicals. The RO2-NO2 bond energy is relatively weak and lies in the range of 85–120 kJ/mol according to recent measurements. Because these bond energies determine the thermal lifetimes, it can be estimated that at 1 bar total pressure and room temperature, the lifetime ranges from 10−1 to 104 s. In the present work, the thermal lifetimes of a variety of RO2NO2 species were studied as a function of temperature and pressure. The observed pressure dependencies of the thermal decomposition rates were fitted by calculations based on the Troe-treatment of unimolecular reactions. The data obtained within the present work allow predictions about the thermal decomposition rates of RO2NO2 species not yet studied.
AKSEL: Fast Byzantine SGD

Modern machine learning architectures distinguish servers and workers. Typically, a d -dimensional model is hosted by a server and trained by n workers, using a distributed stochastic gradient descent (SGD) optimization scheme. At each SGD step, the goal is to estimate the gradient of a cost function. The simplest way to do this is to average the gradients estimated by the workers. However, averaging is not resilient to even one single Byzantine failure of a worker. Many alternative gradient aggregation rules (GARs) have recently been proposed to tolerate a maximum number f of Byzantine workers. These GARs diﬀer according to (1) the complexity of their computation time, (2) the maximal number of Byzantine workers despite which convergence can still be ensured (breakdown point), and (3) their accuracy, which can be captured by (3.1) their angular error, namely the angle with the true gradient, as well as (3.2) their ability to aggregate full gradients. In particular, many are not full gradients for they operate on each dimension separately, which results in a coordinate-wise blended gradient, leading to low accuracy in practical situations where the number ( s ) of workers that are actually Byzantine in an execution is small ( s << f ). We propose Aksel , a new scalable median-based GAR with optimal time complexity ( O ( nd )), optimal breakdown point ( n > 2 f ) and the lowest upper bound on the expected angular error ( O ( √ d )) among full gradient approaches. We also study the actual angular error of Aksel when the gradient distribution is normal and show that it only grows in O ( √ d log n ), which is the ﬁrst logarithmic upper bound ever proven on the number of workers n assuming an optimal breakdown point. We also report on an empirical evaluation of Aksel on various classiﬁcation tasks, which we compare to alternative GARs against state-of-the-art attacks. Aksel is the only GAR reaching top accuracy when there is actually none or few Byzantine workers while maintaining a good defense even under the extreme case ( s = f ). For simplicity of presentation, we consider a scheme with a single server. However, as we explain in the paper, Aksel can also easily be adapted to multi-server architectures that tolerate the Byzantine behavior of a fraction of the servers.
Pilot Study on Pre-Ozonation Enhanced Drinking Water Treatment Process

The enhancement of TOC, CODMn, and UV254 reduction in the conventional drinking water treatment process by pre-ozonation was investigated in South China on treating dam source water with a pilot plant consisting of pre-ozonation, coagulation-sedimentation, and filtration units. Pre-ozonation enhanced the reduction of NOM in the conventional coagulation-sedimentation and filtration process, and the total removals of UV254, CODMn and TOC were improved for 34.6%, 18.1% and 15.3%, respectively by the adoption of pre-ozonation under an ozone dose (in ozone consumption base) of 0.85 mg/L. The enhancement of UV254 and CODMn removals was mainly achieved through direct ozonation on humic substances, and that for TOC removal was achieved through biodegradation in sand filtration. In comparison with the TOC removal of 38%, a removal of 49% was acquired for SDS-THM under a pre-ozonation dose of 0.80 mg/L, indicating the selective removal of THMFP. The reduction of SDS-THM paralleled the reduction of CODMn to a significant degree, suggesting that the CODMn might be an effective surrogate parameter for SDS-THM if the raw water does not contain the reductive inorganic matters. Although the source water contains 13.2–27. 0μg/L bromide, the formation of bromate was negligible when the ozone dose was below 1.0 mg/L.
Correlação entre características de latossolos e parâmetros de equações de adsorção de cobre e zinco

Copper and zinc adsorption is one of the main phenomena controlling the availability of these metals to plants. As a consequence, studies on the adsorption of such elements in soils may be useful tools to understand the relationship between soil characteristics and retention of these micronutrients. The present study examined the adsorption of copper and zinc in six Latosols (Oxisols) with a wide range of chemical properties. Solutions containing different Cu and Zn concentrations (0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 mg L-1) were equilibrated with soil samples to determine whether Cu and Zn adsorption conformed to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, and to relate the isotherm coefficients to soil properties. The Langmuir and Freundlich were adequate for providing Cu and Zn adsorption coefficients. The clay and organic matter contents, respectively, were the soil characteristics that best correlated to Cu and Zn adsorption to soils. The studied soils presented both higher adsorption energy and higher adsorption capacity for Cu than they did for Zn. The remaining P was not correlated to Zn adsorption coefficients probably due, to the influence of organic matter on its solution equilibrium P determination. This fact may limit the remaining P ability to predict Zn adsorption to soils with high organic matter content.