Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling Sepsis-Associated ARDS Using a Lung Endothelial Microphysiological System

Acute respiratory distress syndrome due to non-pulmonary causes exhibits prominent endothelial activation which is challenging to assess in critically ill patients. Preclinical in vivo models of sepsis and ARDS have failed to yield useful therapies in humans, perhaps due to interspecies differences in inflammatory responses. Use of microphysiological systems (MPS) offer improved fidelity to human biological responses and better predict pharmacological responses than traditional culture. We adapted a lung endothelial MPS based on the LumeNEXT platform to evaluate the effect of plasma from critically ill sepsis patients on endothelial permeability, adhesion molecule expression and inflammatory cytokine production. Lumens incubated with sepsis plasma exhibited areas of contraction, loss of cellular coverage, and luminal defects. Sepsis plasma-incubated lumens had significantly increased permeability compared to lumens incubated with healthy donor plasma. ICAM-1 expression increased significantly in lumens incubated with sepsis plasma compared with those incubated with healthy control plasma, while concentrations of IL-6, IL-18, and soluble VEGF-R1 increased in sepsis plasma before and after incubation in the MPS compared with healthy control plasma. Use of the lung endothelial MPS may enable interrogation of specific mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction that promote ARDS in sepsis patients.
Complex genomic landscape of inversion polymorphism in Europe’s most destructive forest pest

In many species, polymorphic inversions underlie complex phenotypic polymorphisms and appear to facilitate local adaptation in the face of gene flow. Multiple polymorphic inversions can co-occur in a genome, but the prevalence, evolutionary significance, and limits to complexity of genomic inversion landscapes remain poorly understood. Here, we examine genome-wide variation in one of Europe’s most destructive forest pests, the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus, scan for polymorphic inversions, and test whether inversions are involved in key adaptations in this species. We sampled 244 individuals from 18 populations across the species’ European range and, using a whole-genome resequencing approach, identified 27 polymorphic inversions covering at least 28% of the genome. The inversions vary in size and in levels of intra-inversion recombination, are highly polymorphic across the species range, and often overlap, forming an extremely complex genomic architecture. We show that the heterogeneous inversion landscape is likely maintained by the combined action of several evolutionary forces and that inversions are enriched in odorant receptor genes encoding key elements of recognition pathways for host plants, mates, and symbiotic fungi. Our results indicate that the genome of this major forest pest of growing social, political, and economic importance harbors one of the most complex inversion landscapes described to date and is pushing the limits of genomic architecture complexity.
A comparison of Landsat ETM+, SPOT HRV, Ikonos, ASTER, and airborne MASTER data for coral reef habitat mapping in South Pacific islands

The performances of the Landsat-7 ETM+, ASTER, SPOT HRV, and Ikonos satellite sensors and the airborne MASTER (MODIS‐ASTER simulator) were compared for coral reef habitat mapping in South Pacific reefs. This unique image data set provided different spatial resolution (4 m for Ikonos to 30 m for Landsat-7 ETM+), spectral resolution (two visible bands for SPOT-HRV to five visible bands for MASTER) and digitization (8‐16 bits). We focused on two islands (Tahiti and Moorea, French Polynesia) with barrier and fringing structures representative of reefs of South Pacific volcanic islands. Five levels of benthic habitat complexity were defined (with three, four, five, seven, and nine classes). Using a supervised maximum likelihood algorithm, the comparisons suggested several trends in sensor performances. Overall accuracies of Landsat-7 ETM+ compared well with sensors with higher spatial (Ikonos) or spectral (MASTER) resolution for low or moderate habitat complexity mapping. For high-complexity mapping (nine classes), Ikonos performed best, suggesting that high spatial resolution is important. For low- and moderate-complexity mapping, MASTER performed best, suggesting that spectral resolution and digitization seem more critical. However, these trends must be discussed cautiously in the light of various factors before any generalization can be made. These factors include issues in reconciling-scaling ground-truth data at multiple spatial and thematic scale, reefs specificities, and environmental conditions during image acquisition.
A label-free approach for relative spatial quantitation of c-di-GMP in microbial biofilms

Microbial biofilms represent an important lifestyle for bacteria and are dynamic three dimensional structures. Cyclic dimeric guanosine monophosphate (c-di-GMP) is a ubiquitous signaling molecule that is known to be tightly regulated with biofilm processes. While measurements of global levels of c-di-GMP have proven valuable towards understanding the genetic control of c-di-GMP production, there is a need for tools to observe the local changes of c-di-GMP production in biofilm processes. We have developed a label-free method for the direct detection of c-di-GMP in microbial colony biofilms using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI). We applied this method to the enteric pathogen Vibrio cholerae, the marine symbiont V. fischeri, and the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 and detected spatial and temporal changes in c-di-GMP signal that accompanied genetic alterations in factors that synthesize and degrade the compound. We further demonstrated how this method can be simultaneously applied to detect additional metabolites of interest in a single experiment.
β-catenin-mediated activation of Wnt target genes utilizes a biomolecular condensate-dependent mechanism

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays numerous, essential roles in animal development and tissue/stem cell maintenance. The activation of genes regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling requires the nuclear accumulation of β-catenin, a transcriptional co-activator. β-catenin is recruited to many Wnt-regulated enhancers through direct binding to T-cell factor/Lymphoid enhancer factor (TCF/LEF) family transcription factors. β-catenin has previously been reported to form phase-separated biomolecular condensates (BMCs), which was implicated as a component of β-catenin’s mechanism of action. This function required aromatic amino acid residues in the intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) at the N- and C-termini of the protein. In this report, we further explore a role for β-catenin BMCs in Wnt target gene regulation. We find that β-catenin BMCs are miscible with LEF1 BMCs in vitro. We characterized a panel of β-catenin mutants with different combinations of aromatic residue mutations in human cell culture and Drosophila melanogaster. Our data support a model in which aromatic residues across both IDRs contribute to BMC formation in vitro and signaling activity in vivo. Although different Wnt targets have different sensitivities to loss of β-catenin’s aromatic residues, the activation of every target examined was compromised by aromatic substitution. These mutants are not defective in nuclear import, and residues in the N-terminal IDR with no previously known role in signaling are clearly required for the activation of various Wnt readouts. Consistent with this, deletion of the N-terminal IDR results in a loss of signaling activity, which can be rescued by the addition of heterologous IDRs enriched in aromatic residues. Overall, our work supports a model in which the ability of β-catenin to form biomolecular condensates in the nucleus is tightly linked to its function as a transcriptional co-regulator.
Shifts in attention drive context-dependent subspace encoding in anterior cingulate cortex during decision making

Attention is a cognitive faculty that selects part of a larger set of percepts, driven by cues such as stimulus saliency, internal goals or priors. The enhancement of the attended representation and inhibition of distractors have been proposed as potential neural mechanisms driving this selection process. Yet, how attention operates when the cue has to be internally constructed from conflicting stimuli, decision rules, and reward contingencies, is less understood. Here we recorded from populations of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area implicated in ongoing error monitoring and correction during decision conflicts, in a challenging attention-shifting task. In this task, mice had to attend to the rewarded modality when presented identical auditory and visual stimuli in two contexts without direct external cues. In the ACC, the irrelevant stimulus continuously became less decodable than the relevant stimulus as the trial progressed to the decision point. This contrasted strongly with our previous findings in V1 where both relevant and irrelevant stimuli were equally decodable throughout the trial. Using analytical tools and a recurrent neural network (RNN) model, we found that the linearly independent representation of stimulus modalities in ACC was well suited to context-gated suppression of a stimulus modality. We demonstrated that the feedback structure of lateral connections in the RNN consisted of excitatory interactions between cell ensembles representing the same modality and mutual inhibition between cell ensembles representing distinct stimulus modalities. Using this RNN model showing signatures of context-gated suppression, we predicted that the level of contextual modulation of individual neurons should be correlated with their relative responsiveness to the two stimulus modalities used in the task. We verified this prediction in recordings from ACC neurons but not from recordings from V1 neurons. Therefore, ACC effectively operates on low-dimensional neuronal subspaces to combine stimulus related information with internal cues to drive actions under conflict.
Gait adaptation to asymmetric hip stiffness applied by a robotic exoskeleton

Wearable exoskeletons show significant potential for improving gait impairments, such as interlimb asymmetry. However, a more profound understanding of whether exoskeletons are capable of eliciting neural adaptation is needed. This study aimed to characterize how individuals adapt to bilateral asymmetric joint stiffness applied by a hip exoskeleton, similar to split-belt treadmill training. Thirteen unimpaired individuals performed a walking trial on the treadmill while wearing the exoskeleton. The right side of the exoskeleton acted as a positive stiffness torsional spring, pulling the thigh towards the neutral standing position, while the left acted as a negative stiffness spring pulling the thigh away from the neutral standing position. The results showed that this intervention applied by a hip exoskeleton elicited adaptation in spatiotemporal and kinetic gait measures similar to split-belt treadmill training. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed intervention for retraining symmetric gait.
MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (MOJEM)

It is evident that academic self-management is one of the skills which predict and improve students’ academic outcomes. The present study investigated students’ academic self-management skills (ASMS) by studying their self-regulated learning strategies (SRLs) and explored whether SRLs predict students’ academic performance, as well as gender and year of study differs in SRLs among undergraduate students in Malaysia. The study was conducted with a quantitative survey methodology by distributing a questionnaire to six public universities in Malaysia. A total of 317 university undergraduate students participated in the current study of self-regulated online learning questionnaire (SOL-Q). Hypothesis testing was done by using inferential analysis in SPSS Version 22. Quantitative data analysis showed that students have a medium level of SRLs. The results varied based on the study years of the students in SRLs, but, not on their gender. The metacognitive skills are found influential on students’ academic outcomes (GPA). The study has reflected the need to enhance students' SRLs to develop 21st-century skills for life-long learning. The implications of the results for language learning and educational practices may be suitable for students and instructors of the faculty.
MALAYSIAN ONLINE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT (MOJEM)

The fallen standard of education in Nigeria over the past two decades shows that lecturers lack the required teaching qualification, characteristics and competence required to effectively do their job. Given this submission, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to enhance lecturers’ performance based on an examination of three key factors and their interrelationship. It argues that lecturers who demonstrate higher level of teaching qualifications, characteristics and competence would perform better than those who do not. The current paper contributes to literature by discussing teaching qualifications, characteristics and competence in the university context which previous studies have neglected.
Moderating Effects of Governance Quality on the Relationship between Stock Liquidity and Dividend in Emerging Market Countries

The paper examines the moderating effects of governance quality on stock liquidity and dividend relationship. Past empirical studies on the link between stock liquidity and dividend suggest there are mixed findings between them. A negative relationship suggests stock liquidity and dividend are a substitute which aligns with the liquidity hypothesis. On the other hand, a positive relationship between stock liquidity and dividend suggests stock liquidity informational effect increases a firm’s incentive to pay dividends. Moderating factors could have contributed to such mixed findings. Therefore, this study suggested governance quality could be one of the moderating factors that contributed to the inconsistency findings. Governance quality has been known to mitigate information asymmetry that made firm pay more dividends by formulating and promoting sound policies. Thus, this study aimed to ascertain the moderating factors of governance quality on the relationship between stock liquidity and dividend. By using a sample from 22 emerging market countries, we adopted logistic panel random effect to estimate the model. Adopting the governance quality measurements developed by the World Bank, our empirical results found that political stability, government effectiveness, regulation quality and control of corruption are among the factors that moderated the relationship between stock liquidity and dividend.
Tectonic geomorphology and Holocene paleoseismicity of the Molesworth section of the Awatere Fault, South Island, New Zealand

Abstract The Molesworth section comprises a 55 km long, N72°E‐striking reach of the 175 km long dextral‐reverse(? ) Awatere Fault, which has an overall trend of N55–60°E. Well‐preserved fault scarps display normal‐oblique slip, with vertical offsets up to 30 m and horizontal offsets up to 72 m on latest glacial terraces (age c. 10 000 yr B.P.), equating to a mean slip rate of c. 8 mm/yr. The two latest paleo‐carthquakes on the main fault trace are bracketed by 14C and weathering‐rind age estimates of 522–597 cal. yr B.P. and c. 2500–4500 years ago, respectively, and display single‐event horizontal offsets of 6–8 and 4–8 m. The two latest paleoearthquakes on the 9.5 km long upper Wairau splay fault yield sufficiently different ages (751–873 cal. yr B.P. and 1296–2923 cal. yr B.P.) that they are inferred to be different from the events on the main trace. The large displacements per event imply ruptures much longer than the 55 km length of the Molesworth section. This disparity suggests that this geometricall.
Diffusion-Weighted MR Imaging Perihematoma Edema by Use of Human Brain Hemorrhage: Quantification of

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Animal models have clearly shown a critical role for extravascular blood in the initiation of the vasogenic edema associated with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Nevertheless, the relevance of these observations to the human disease process has not been evaluated. With a prospectively collected cohort of nine patients, we report the relation between intraparenchymal blood clot volume and elevation of perihematoma brain tissue (and homologous contralateral brain tissue) apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). METHODS: Patients with acute and subacute supratentorial ICH were prospectively evaluated by using diffusion-weighted imaging. ADC was measured in perihematoma tissue and in homologous contralateral regions. The relationship between ADC and volume of hematoma was determined by using linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Nine patients were enrolled in the study. The mean hematoma volume was 30.8 cc (range, 2.6–74 cc). The ADC in the perihematoma regions was 172.5 (cid:1) 10 (cid:2) 5 mm 2 /s (range, 120.1–302.5 (cid:1) 10 (cid:2) 5 mm 2 /s) and in the contralateral corresponding regions of interest was 87.6 (cid:1) 10 (cid:2) 5 mm 2 /s (range, 76.5–102.1 (cid:1) 10 (cid:2) 5 mm 2 /s) ( P (cid:3) . 02). The Pearson correlation coefficient for the ADC in surrounding edema and hematoma volume was 0.7 ( P (cid:3) . 04). The correlation coefficient between hematoma volume and contralateral hemisphere ADC was 0.8 ( P (cid:3) . 02). CONCLUSION: We report a significant direct correlation between ICH volume and degree of ADC elevation in perihematoma and ADC values in contralateral corresponding brain tissue. These findings suggest a dose-effect interaction between volume and concentration of blood products and intensity of response that brain tissue exhibits in blood-mediated edema. Prospective natural history and interventional studies are required to confirm this biologically meaningful correlation in patients with ICH
'The Devil is in the Details' - Sex Differences in Simple Bargaining Games

The study of gender differences in social preferences has shown mixed results, preventing economists and other social scientists from drawing definitive conclusions on this topic. Several original investigations and experimental reviews have hypothesized that the main reason of this heterogeneity of results is the myriad of experimental designs used to study gender differences. In this paper we test this hypothesis by making male and female participants to face two different but related experimental games and two different information treatments. Through this 2x2 factorial design, we obtain results in line with some recent papers: women are sensitive to the design and context of the experiment in ways that men are not. In addition, we go further providing a well-grounded account on the importance of the context for female decision-making.
Quasi‐hydrostatic compression of magnesium oxide to 52 GPa: Implications for the pressure‐volume‐temperature equation of state

Room temperature static compression of MgO (periclase) was performed under nearly hydrostatic conditions using energy dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell with methanol-ethanol (to 10 GPa) or helium (to 52 GPa) as a pressure-transmitting medium. Highly precise cell parameters were determined with an average relative standard deviation 〈Δa/a〉 = 0.0003 over all the experimental pressure range. Fixing the bulk modulus K0T = 160.2 GPa, a fit of the data to the third-order Birch-Murnaghan equation of state yields: V0 = 74.71±0.01 A3, (∂K0T/∂P)T = 3.99±0.01. A fit of different P-V-T datasets, ranging to 53 GPa and 2500 K, to a Birch-Murnaghan-Debye thermal equation of state constrained the Gruneisen parameter γ0 = 1.49±0.03, but not its volume dependence q, which was constrained to 1.65±0.4 by thermodynamic theory. A model based on a constant value of q cannot explain the ultrahigh pressure (P = 174–203 GPa) shock compression data. We developed a model in which q decreases with compression from 1.65 at 0.1 MPa to 0.01 at 200 GPa. This model, within the framework of the Mie-Gruneisen-Debye assumptions, satisfactorily describes the low-pressure static data (〈ΔV/V〉 = 0.4% to 53 GPa) and the high-pressure Hugoniot data (〈ΔV/V〉 <1% to 203 GPa). Average values of the thermal expansion coefficient α range between 14.1±2.8 and 16.3 ± 2.7 × 10−6 K−1 at P = 174–203 GPa. The pressure dependence of the melting temperature yields an initial pressure derivative ∂Tm/∂P = 98 K/GPa. Our analysis shows that it is possible to develop a simple model of the volume dependence of the Gruneisen parameter that can successfully describe the P-V-T equation of state of MgO from ambient conditions to 203 GPa and 3663 K.
Layered Pedagogies of Instruction and Restorative Justice: A Kindergarten Case Study of Community and Belonging

The current climate of education often results in surveillance of outcomes and accountability in early childhood learning and management, especially in schools serving Black, Indigenous, and Children of Color. Historically, classroom management has been about controlling students, the environment, and ultimately what and how learning takes place. In response, centering restorative justice as a humanizing approach to classroom management is necessary to focus on equity. However, this focus can be filled with tensions and conflicting philosophies against the status quo in schools. Likewise, classroom community practices, including punitive and restorative discipline, are typically looked at separately from academic learning, without consideration of the interconnected pedagogical decisions that undergird experiences for students. Positioning an either/or mentality can result in a dichotomy of what is good and bad in education that obscures the complexities and nuance of teachers’ work. This interpretive case study examines intersections of academics and community building to understand a sense of belonging in an early childhood classroom. This study illustrates how one kindergarten community navigated opposing perspectives and pedagogies. Discourse analysis revealed findings of how the class traversed the complexity of languaging to build community in a context self-identified as restorative, while also implementing highly structured literacy curricula, and a mix of discipline philosophies. This study humanizes tensions experienced within the constraints of the current educational system as teachers and young children build towards restorative justice as a way of being.
Workforce Development Needs to Address Early Childhood Mental Health within the Childcare and Early School Years Setting

Supporting infant and early childhood mental health is a vital component of school readiness, but suspension or expulsion from early childhood educational settings can have a lasting impact on a child. The Pyramid Model for Social and Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children (PM) framework and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) are two models to address preschool suspension and expulsion, while promoting young children’s healthy social emotional development. Both models require a qualified workforce. In Maryland, several initiatives are underway to address workforce development needs and to create pipelines of professionals trained in infant and early childhood mental health. These include statewide coordination of PM and IECMHC programming, the creation of new guidelines and pipelines for IECMHC service providers, workforce development, specific focus on equity within PM and IECMHC programs statewide, and an expansion of these efforts into early elementary school.