Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heavy metals leaching behavior and ecological risks in water and wastewater treatment sludges

Single (0.005 M DTPA), sequential (six-step) and kinetic (0.05 M EDTA) extractions were performed to assess Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn mobilization and their potential ecological risks in Abuja (Nigeria) water (WTS) and wastewater (WWTS) treatment sludges. Total metal levels (mg/kg) in WTS and WWTS, respectively were: Cd(3.67 and 5.03), Cr(5.70 and 9.03), Cu(183.59 and 231.53), Ni(1.33 and 3.23), Pb(13.43 and 17.87), Zn(243.45 and 421.29). DTPA furnished metal extraction yields (%) in WTS and WWTS, respectively as: Cd(11 and 6), Cr (15 and 7), Cu(17 and 13), Ni(23 and 3), Pb(11 and 12), and Zn(37 and 33). The metals were associated with the soluble/exchangeable, carbonate, Mn/Fe-oxide, organic matter and residual forms to varying degrees. Kinetic extractions cumulatively leached metal concentrations akin to the mobilizable fractions extracted sequentially and the leaching data fitted well into the Elovich model. Metal mobilities were concordant for the three leaching procedures and varied in the order:WTS>WWTS. Calculated ecological risk indices suggested moderate and considerable metal toxicity in WTS and WWTS, respectively with Cd as the worst culprit. The findings may be useful in predicting heavy metals bioavailability and risks in the sludges to guide their disposal and use in land applications.
OPTH_A_336600 4467..4473

Ophthalmology Department, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt Background and Aim: COVID-19 infection is a respiratory disease but it can have ophthalmological manifestations as well. This study aimed to investigate the ophthalmological implications of COVID-19 either during the course of the disease or after recovery. Methods: A retrospective study included the records of 425 COVID-19 patients, proved by positive PCR swabs. The records were collected from three isolation hospitals in Gharbeya Governorate, Egypt. Results: The mean age of the studied group was 41.73 ± 13.59, and 216 (50.8%) of them were males. One hundred and thirty one (30.8%) patients had ophthalmological manifestations. Among the entire patients, the most common ophthalmological presentation was conjunctivitis in 111 patients (26.1%), followed by neuro-retinal affection in 9 (2.1%), secondary fungal orbital cellulitis in 6 (1.4%), episcleritis in 3 (0.7%) and keratitis in 2 (0.5%) patients. All of the observed ophthalmological implications occurred either during the course of the disease (concurrent) or after recovery, except for the fungal orbital cellulitis which occurred only after recovery. Conclusion: COVID-19 could cause different eye manifestations. Recovery from the main disease does not guarantee eye safety, especially in high-risk patients.
Extracellular ATP as a Trigger for Apoptosis or Programmed Cell Death

Extracellular ATP is shown here to induce programmed cell death (or apoptosis) in thymocytes and certain tumor cell lines. EM studies indicate that the ATP-induced death of thymocytes and susceptible tumor cells follows morphological changes usually associated with glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis of thymocytes. These changes include condensation of chromatin, blebbing of the cell surface, and breakdown of the nucleus. Cytotoxicity assays using doublelabeled cells show that ATP-mediated cell lysis is accompanied by fragmentation of the target cell DNA. DNA fragmentation can be set off by ATP but not the nonhydrolysable analogue ATP'yS nor other nucleoside-5'-triphosphates. ATP-induced DNA fragmentation but not ATP-induced 5tCr release can be blocked in cells pretreated with inhibitors of protein or RNA synthesis or the endonuclease inhibitor, zinc; whereas pretreatment with calmidazolium, a potent calmodulin antagonist, blocks both DNA fragmentation and 51Cr release. The biochemical and morphological changes caused by ATP are preceded by a rapid increase in the cytoplasmic calcium of the susceptible cell. Calcium fluxes by themselves, however, are not sufficient to cause apoptosis, as the poreforming protein, perforin, causes cell lysis without DNA fragmentation or the morphological changes associated with apoptosis. Taken together, these results indicate that ATP can cause cell death through two independent mechanisms, one of which, requiring an active participation on the part of the cell, takes place
Circuits for Integer Factorization: A Proposal

The number ﬁeld sieve takes time L 1 . 901 ··· + o (1) on a general-purpose computer with L 0 . 950 ··· + o (1) bits of memory; here L is a particular subexponential function of the input size. It takes the same time on a parallel trial-division machine, such as Cracker or TWINKLE, of size L 0 . 950 ··· + o (1) . It takes time only L 1 . 185 ··· + o (1) on a machine of size L 0 . 790 ··· + o (1) explained in this paper. This reduction of total cost from L 2 . 852 ··· + o (1) to L 1 . 976 ··· + o (1) means that a ((3 . 009 · · · + o (1)) d )-digit factorization with the new machine has the same cost as a d -digit factorization with previous machines.
Full Title: State-dependent alterations in CSF Abeta42 levels in cognitively intact elderly with late life major depression Short Title: State-dependent alterations in CSF Abeta42

Depression has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as either an increased risk factor for its development or as a prodromal symptom. The neurobiological basis for such association, however, remains poorly understood. Numerous studies have examined whether changes in amyloid beta (Aβ) metabolism, which are implicated in AD pathogenesis, are also found in depression. In this paper, we investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ indices, in healthy cognitively normal elderly with late-life major depression (LLMD) and controls, by using a longitudinal approach, which is a novel contribution to the literature. Significantly lower levels of CSF Aβ42 were observed in the LLMD group at baseline and were associated with more severe depressive symptoms. During longitudinal follow up, the depressed group remained cognitively unchanged, but was significantly less depressed than at baseline. A greater improvement in depressive symptoms was associated with increases in CSF Aβ42 levels in both groups. Increases in CSF Aβ42 and Aβ40 were also associated with increased CSF total tau levels. Our results suggest that LLMD may be associated with state-dependent effects of CSF Aβ42 levels. Future studies should determine if the association reflects state-dependent changes in neuronal activity and/or brain amyloid burden in depression.
Resonance parameters of the ρ meson from lattice QCD

We perform a non-perturbative lattice calculation of the P-wave pion-pion scattering phase in the ρ -meson decay channel using two ﬂavors of maximally twisted mass fermions at pion masses ranging from 480 MeV to 290 MeV. Making use of ﬁnite-size methods, we evaluate the pion-pion scattering phase in the center-of-mass frame and two moving frames. Applying an eﬀective range formula, we ﬁnd a good description of our results for the scattering phase as a function of the energy covering the resonance region. This allows us to extract the ρ -meson mass and decay width and to study their quark mass dependence.
MOLECULAR CANCER THERAPEUTICS | CANCER BIOLOGYAND TRANSLATIONAL STUDIES EWS-FLI1–regulated Serine Synthesis and Exogenous Serine are Necessary for Ewing Sarcoma Cellular Proliferation and Tumor Growth

Despite a growing body of knowledge about the genomic landscape of Ewing sarcoma, translation of basic discoveries into targeted therapies and significant clinical gains has remained elusive. Recent insights have revealed that the oncogenic transcription factor EWS-FLI1 can impact Ewing sarcoma cellular metabolism, regulating expression of 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH), the first enzyme in de novo serine synthesis. Here, we have examined the importance of serine metabolism in Ewing sarcoma tumorigenesis and evaluated the therapeutic potential of targeting serinemetabolism in preclinicalmodels of Ewing sarcoma. We show that PHGDH knockdown resulted in decreased Ewing sarcoma cell proliferation, especially under serine limitation, and significantly inhibited xenograft tumorigenesis in preclinical orthotopic models of Ewing sarcoma. In addition, the PHGDH inhibitor NCT-503 caused a dose-dependent decrease in cellular proliferation. Moreover, we report a novel drug combination in which nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) inhibition, which blocks production of the PHGDH substrate NADþ, synergizedwithNCT-503 to abolish Ewing sarcoma cell proliferation and tumor growth. Furthermore, we show that serine deprivation inhibited Ewing sarcoma cell proliferation and tumorigenesis, indicating that Ewing sarcoma cells depend on exogenous serine in addition to de novo serine synthesis. Our findings suggest that serine metabolism is critical for Ewing sarcoma tumorigenesis, and that targeting metabolic dependencies should be further investigated as a potential therapeutic strategy for Ewing sarcoma. In addition, the combination strategy presented herein may have broader clinical applications in other PHGDH-overexpressing cancers as well.
CMAR_A_287509 1529..1539

1Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, 200011, People’s Republic of China; 2Shanghai Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Endocrine Related Diseases, Shanghai, 200011, People’s Republic of China; 3Public Health School of Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Pathology, Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, 200011, People’s Republic of China
Young People’s Early Offending: The Context of Strained Leisure Careers

Criminology has witnessed a growth of interest in the later stages of criminal careers with less attention given to providing an understanding of the onset of offending which goes beyond identifying precipitative or ‘risk’ factors. Drawing on findings from a study of young people’s offending careers in Ireland, this paper provides a contextualized understanding of the onset of crime located in young people’s biographical experiences and transition through youth more specifically. It focuses on one particular dimension of this process, suggesting that early offending can be understood as emerging in the context of strained leisure careers. The findings also highlight the close interaction between the development of young people’s leisure careers and their experiences of the local neighbourhood and social networks. It argues that responses to the early stages of youth offending must widen their focus from the individual to incorporate an understanding of broader socio ‐ economic and cultural contexts.
Capsule genesofStreptococcuspneumoniae in£uencegrowth invitro

Recently, we showed that the in vitro lag phase correlates with the pneumococcal serotype. This study investigated the role of capsule genes in bacterial growth using strain D39. Deletion of the entire capsule operon induced a significantly prolonged lag phase in Todd Hewitt broth (P = 0.0002). However, partial deletions showed a different influence on the lag phase. Supplementation of media with 5% fetal bovine serum restored normal growth, at least partially, in mutants with a prolonged lag phase. Therefore, pneumococcal capsule gene products influence bacterial growth in vitro in strain D39.
DNA methylation analysis of WIF1 and DKK4 in cervical precancerous lesions and cancer

Epigenetic gene silencing by excessive methylation was found in many tumors. Methylation of tumor suppressor genes is often found in cervical cancer, which is an important pathogenetic factor of oncologic process. The objective of this study was to identify gene methylation of WIF1 and DKK4 events and their usefulness in distinguishing cancer and precancerous lesions from normal cervical cells that could eventually be added to standard diagnostic testing for cervical precancer. We examined methylation index of WIF1 and DKK4 genes in the tissue specimen of 42 women: CIN I in 9 cases, CIN II in 11 cases and CIN III in 10 cases, 7 samples included invasive cancer and control group of 5 normal cases. In analysis of methylation level of WIF1 and DKK4 genes aberrant methylation of WIF1 gene was found in women with CIN+ and aberrant methylation of DKK4 gene was found in all women. There was a trend of methylation level increase according to the severith of the precancerous lesions with the maximum mnethylation levels in cases of invasive cervical cancer. Methylation indexes determination in WIF-1 and DKK-4 genes is a perspective method of cervical cancer diagnostics.
The discontinuity issue of total orders on metric spaces and its consequences for mathematical morphology

We address here the problem of discontinuities of total orders in a metric space and its implications for mathematical morphology. We ﬁrst give a rigorous formulation of the problem. Then, a new approach is proposed to tackle the discontinuity issue by adapting the order to the image to be processed. Given an image and a total order we deﬁne a cost that evaluates the importance of the discontinuities for morphological processing. The proposed order is then built as a minimization of this cost function. One of the strength of the proposed framework is its generality: the only ingredient required to build the total order is the graph of distances between values of the image. The adapted order can be computed for any image valued in a metric space where the distance is explicitly known. We present results for color images, diffusion tensor images (DTI) and images valued in the hyperbolic upper half-plane.
THE SURFACE DISTRIBUTION OF BALMER EMISSION ON YY GEMINORUM.

The Ha and Hfi emission lines in the eclipsing flare star YY Gem have been photoelectrically scanned during primary and secondary eclipse. An increase of 25% in the equivalent width of the emission lines is seen near = 0. We interpret this change as due to a plage region on the near side of the secondary (uneclipsed) star. Under some circumstances the disk of one star may occult a plage region on the more distant component. Decreases of emission-line intensity would then be seen, and spectrophotometric observations could determine the size and longitude extent of a plage on YY Gem. Key words: eclipsing binaries - flare stars - BY Dra variable
Spatial and temporal changes of plankton assemblages in Atrai River, Bangladesh

The present study investigates the changes in plankton assemblages and the causal factors at Atrai River in Bangladesh. Monthly sampling of plankton and water quality parameters were performed. Plankton assemblages were characterized with high dominance of phytoplankton (88%), while zooplankton represented only 12% in the plankton community. A total of 49 genera of plankton and 11 genera of zooplankton were identified. The distance-based linear model (DistLM) detected temperature, pH, water transparency and dissolved oxygen (P=0.001) as key environmental factors predicting the changes in plankton assemblages in the study region. The changes in abundance and distribution of plankton are primarily driven by the variability of temperature and pH following water transparency and dissolved oxygen in the Atrai River. The outcomes of this study improve our understanding of the variability in plankton community and regulating environmental drivers in the river system.
THE CONTRAST IN TRACE ELEMENT CHEMISTRY AND VOLATILE COMPOSITION BETWEEN FLUID INCLUSIONS IN FIBROUS AND OCTAHEDRAL DIAMONDS

Studies of fluid inclusions in diamonds have been limited by several factors. One factor is that studies have focused on fibrous diamonds, because they contain abundant fluid inclusions. Octahedral diamonds almost never host fluid inclusions, at least that are documented easily. Here the term “octahedral” is used here to refer to genesis by non-fibrous, facetted {111} growth, not necessarily the eventual morphology. A second limitation is that the fibrous diamonds studied are relatively young compared to the majority of octahedral diamonds. These two factors mean that our knowledge of fluid equilibrated with diamond is limited to young, fibrous diamond-forming fluids. This study focuses on two unique diamond suites to address these issues: Archean fibrous diamonds and fluid inclusion-bearing octahedral diamonds.
A Review on the Relation between Population Density and UFO Sightings

In the search for patterns of the UFO phenomenon, the relationship of sightings to population density has historically shown contradictory results. After more than 40 years of studies, there is not yet a clear conclusion on whether the relationship between the number of reports and population density is direct or inverse. We have reviewed some of these works and found out how to reconcile all of them. We found that there is a direct relationship between the number of sightings and population density; however, the increase in number of reports is not proportional but sublineal with respect to the increase in population.
U SING L INE X T ESTER A NALYSIS FOR E ARLINESS AND P LANT H EIGHT T RAITS IN S UNFLOWER ( H ELIANTHUS ANNUUS L.)

Pakistan Abstract Line x tester analysis, involving four lines and four testers were made in sunflower for four parameters. The variance due to GCA and SCA showed that gene action was predominantly additive for days to first flowering (DFF), days to hundred percent flowering (DH%F) and plant height (PH), whereas predominance of non-additive genetic effect was discovered for days to maturity (DM). Both additive and non-additive genetic interaction was important for morpho-physiological characters in sunflower. The line TS-18 was the best general combiner for characters like DFF and PH, whereas line TS-17 was the best general combiner for DH%F and DM. The tester R-25 proved to be the best general combiner for DFF, DH%F and DM, whereas the tester 291RGI proved to be the best general combiner for PH. The SCA estimates were highest in cross TS-335 x TR-9 for DFF, TS-18 x R-25 for DH%F and DM. For PH, the best SCA cross was TS-18 x 291RGI. The best GCA parents as TS-17, TS-18, R-25 and 291RGI are recommended, which may be exploited for varietal improvement in different cross combination especially in synthetic production, whereas the three best SCA crosses are recommended to be the best hybrids for cultivation and be included in the national uniformity yield trial for its exploration in multilocation. Additive type of gene action was observed for DFF, DH%F and PH. These characters may further be improved through simple selection method in early generation, whereas non-additive type of gene action was observed for DM, which is desirable for heterosis breeding and may be exploited in hybrid seed
The mD − bM Problem of Dirac Gauginos and its Solutions

We examine the effective low-energy theory of the adjoint sector of Dirac gaugino models and its UV completions, and identify the main source of tuning. A holomorphic scalar adjoint mass square (the “bM term”) is generated at the same order (1-loop) as the Dirac gaugino mass (the “mD term”), leading to the problematic relation bM ∼ 16πmD, somewhat analogous to the μ−Bμ problem of gauge mediation. We identify the leading operators of the low-energy effective theory contributing to the adjoint sector, and evaluate them in various UV completions, confirming the existence of this problem. We suggest a solution by introducing messenger mixing and tuning the relevant parameters. We also present a novel dynamical model for Dirac gauginos based on a strongly coupled SUSY QCD theory, where the additional adjoint M is identified with a confined meson, the U(1) with a baryon-number like symmetry, and the messengers with the confined baryons. We find a SUSY breaking vacuum with a non-vanishing D-term, which after tuning the messenger mixing angles gives rise to a realistic gaugino and squark sector. ar X iv :1 31 0. 45 04 v3 [ he pph ] 2 4 M ar 2 01 4
Resilience and Social Support-Giving Scales: Conceptual and Empirical Validation.

OBJECTIVES This report introduces National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) data users to 2 new measures-one that assesses older adults' resilience, defined as personal attributes that indicate an adaptive reserve that can be drawn on during adversity, and a second that expands on existing measures of social support received from others to also assess social support given to close others. METHOD Data from 4,604 NSHAP respondents born 1920-1965 were used to conduct psychometric analyses and validation of our measures of resilience and social support-giving. RESULTS Scale reliabilities were acceptable for the 4-item resilience scale, and the 2-item scales for family support-giving and friend support-giving. The 2 spousal support-giving items did not cohere well as a single scale. The resilience scale exhibited significant correlations with criterion validation variables, even after adjusting for correlated personality traits. The support-giving scales, and the spousal support-giving items, also exhibited significant correlations with criteria, and with the resilience scale, even after adjusting for social support receipt. Scale means exhibited demographic differences. DISCUSSION The resilience and social support-giving measures have acceptable psychometric characteristics (with the exception of spousal support-giving), convergent validity, and predictive utility net of related variables. NSHAP data users are offered several suggestions (key points) in the use of these measures in future research.
Occurrence and Determination of Antibiogram of Salmonella Isolates from Nigerian Indigenous Breeds of Chicken in Umudike and Environs

Salmonellosis is a major disease of poultry that can be contracted by ingestion of contaminated poultry and poultry products. It has remained a major disease of global health significance and the situation especially in Nigeria has been aggravated by the increasing rate of antimicrobial resistance. Despite the many studies on prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Salmonella in birds, little or nothing has been said on the situation in Nigerian indigenous birds. Hence, this study was conducted to determine the occurrence and antimicrobial resistance pattern of salmonella isolates from indigenous Nigerian breeds of chicken in Umudike environs. Cloacae swabs from 50 local birds were screened for Salmonella. A prevalence rate of 30% from the local birds was recorded The Antibiogram was determined using disk diffusion technique. Organisms showed multiple drug resistance. All isolates were sensitive to Ofloxacin but resistance to Augmentin, Amoxicillin and Co-trimoxazole were the most common.