Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delineation of myotoxicity induced by HMG-CoA-reductase-inhibitors in human skeletal muscle cells

tumor factor TNF CHAPS; ABSTRACT: The 3-Hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are widely used and well tolerated cholesterol-lowering drugs. In rare cases side effects occur in skeletal muscle, including myositis or even rhabdomyolysis. However, the molecular mechanisms are not well understood that lead to these muscle-specific side effects. Here we show that statins cause apoptosis in differentiated human skeletal muscle cells. The prototypical representative of statins, simvastatin, triggered sustained intracellular Ca 2+ transients leading to calpain activation. Intracellular chelation of Ca 2+ completely abrogated cell death. Moreover, ryanodine also completely prevented the simvastatin induced calpain activation. Nevertheless, an activation of the ryanodine receptor by simvastatin could not be observed. Downstream of the calpain activation simvastatin led to a translocation of Bax to mitochondria in a caspase 8 independent manner. Consecutive activation of caspase 9 and 3 execute apoptotic cell death which was in part reversed by the co-administration of mevalonic acid. Conversely, the simvastatin induced activation of calpain was not prevented by mevalonic acid. These data delineate the signalling cascade that leads to muscle injury caused by statins. Our observations also have implications for improving the safety of this important medication and explain to some extent why physical exercise aggravates skeletal muscle side effects.
Anti-inflammatory and anti-neuropathic effects of a novel quinic acid derivative from Acanthus syriacus

Objective: Acanthus syriacus (AS) is one of the valuable herbal plants with immunomodulatory potentials. The aim of this study is to assemble a phytochemical investigation of A. syriacus exploring its anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive properties, identification of its most active compound(s) and elucidating their structure and determining their mechanisms of action. Materials and Methods: Bio-guided fractionation and isolation-schemes were used utilizing RP-HPLC, CC, 1H- and 13C-NMR, and biological-models were used to evaluate their effects against inflammation and neuropathic-pain (NP). Results: The outcomes showed that the most active fraction (FKCA) of AS was identified. Two of the three components of FKCA were identified by chromatographic-methods, while the third compound was isolated, its structure was elucidated and its was named Kromeic acid (KRA); FKCA contained Ferulic acid (27.5%), kromeic acid (48.1%), and chlorogenic acid (24.4%). AS, FKCA and KRA showed significant (p˂0.05) anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive potentials in the management of allodynia and thermal-hyperalgesia in NP. AS and FCKA showed comparatively equipotent antinociceptive-effects. FKCA showed higher antinociceptive effects than KRA suggesting additive-effects among FKCA components. The anti-inflammatory, insulin secretagogue, oxidative-stress reducing, and protective effects against NO-induced neuronal-toxicity might be amongst the possible mechanisms of tested compounds to alleviate NP. Conclusion: Here, we report the isolation and structure elucidation of a novel quinic-acid derivative, KRA. A. syriacus, FKCA, and KRA might be used as a novel complementary approach to ameliorate a variety of painful-syndromes.
Effects of Seedling Type and Age on The Yield and Yield-Related Traits of Transplanted Maize (Zea mays L.) in Burie District, Northwestern Ethiopia

አህፅሮት ይህ የመስክ ሙከራ የተሰራው በቡሬ ወረዳ እንደ ጎርጎሮሲያኑ የዘመን አቆጣጠር 2018 የክረምት ወቅት ሲሆን የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማዎችም የበቆሎን ችግኝ አፍልቶ በማዛመት የዕድገትና የምርት አሰጣጡ ላይ ያለውን ተፅዕኖ ለማየት ነው። ከቅርብ ጊዜ ወዲህ በቡሬ ወረዳ ክረምቱ ቶሎ የመውጣትና ርጥበቱ ቶሎ የመድረቅ በዚህም የተነሳ የበቆሎ ምርት መቀነስ የተለመደ እየሆነ መጥቷል። ይህ ሙከራ የተለያዩ ሁለት የችግኝ አፈላል ዘዴዎች (መደብ እና በፕላስቲክ ላይ) እንዲሁም አምስት (ከ1 እስከ 5 የእውነተኛ ቅጠል) የችግኝ የዕድገት ደረጃን እና የተለመደውን በቀጥታ መዝራት እንደ ማወዳደሪያነት በማካተት ራንደማይዝድ ኮምፕሌት ብሎክ ዲዛይን (RCBD) የሚባል ቴክኒክ በመጠቀም በሶስት ድግግሞሽ ተሰርቷል። በተለያዩ የምርት መለኪያ መንገዶች እና በኢኮኖሚያዊ አዋጭነት መሰረት በቆሎን በፕላስቲክ አፍልቶ ባለ አራት ቅጠል ሲሆን ማዛመት ከሌላው የችግኝ ዓይነት እና የዕድገት ደረጃ ብሎም በቀጥታ ከመዝራት በተሻለ የበቆሎ ምርትን ማሳደግ እንደተቻለ ተረጋግጧል፡፡ ሆኖም ሙከራው ለአንድ ዓመት ብቻ የተሰራ በመሆኑ ድጋሜ ተሰርቶ ልዩነቱን በደንብ ማረጋገጥ ቢቻል ጥሩ ነው። Abstract The field experiment was conducted during the rainy season of 2018 in the Burie district to evaluate the effect of types and growth stages of seedlings on yield and yield-related traits of transplanted maize (Zea mays L.). In the District, terminal moisture stress and grain yield loss become the common challenges in maize production. The experiment was conducted in factorial combinations of two types of seedlings (bare-rooted and polybagged) and five levels of seedling’s growth stages (seedlings of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 true leaf/ves) pulse one control (direct-seeded). The treatments were laid down in RCBD with three replications. Data on yield and yield-related parameters were collected following standard procedures and subjected to analysis of variance using SAS software; and mean separation for significant treatments was done by LSD. Both main effects affected the number of grains cob-1, grain and stover yield highly significantly. Types of seedlings significantly affected the number of cobs plant-1, cob length, the number of grains row-1, and biomass yield. The number of cobs plant-1, cob length, number of grains row-1and biomass yield was also highly significantly affected by seedlings growth stages. The interaction effect was highly significant on a number of cobs plant-1, grain and stover yield and very highly significant on harvest index. The highest (10.7t ha-1) grain yield of maize was found from the transplantation of polybagged seedlings at four-leaf stages. This treatment combination also gave the highest net benefit with an acceptable range of marginal rate of return. Therefore, transplanting of polybagged seedlings at four true leaf stages is economically feasible and can be recommended tentatively for Burie District and similar agro-ecologies. However, to come up with a concrete recommendation, it is advised to repeat the study in similar agro-ecologies of maize production.
The Creation of Social Norms under Weak Institutions

Formal regulations often fail to ensure sustainable management of natural resources. An alternative approach could rely on the interaction of norm-based interventions and social sanctions. Our lab-in-the-field experiment with fishermen at Lake Victoria studies how a norm-based intervention, namely, social information about high or low levels of previous cooperation, affects behavior and beliefs in a prisoner’s dilemma game with or without weak social sanctioning. Providing different social information succeeds in creating different norms of cooperation, but only if sanctioning is possible: cooperation rates start at a high level and stay at a high level when social information emphasizes cooperation but start at a low level and stay at a low level when social information emphasizes defection. Without social sanctioning, cooperation rates decline, irrespective of the social information. Particularly participants with close connection to others in their experimental session conform to the behavior that is emphasized by the social information message under sanctioning.
Direct yellow degradation by combined Fenton-enzymatic process

Abstract The removal of direct yellow 106 (DY106, C.I.40300) by a combined process of Fenton oxidation and enzymatic degradation in a sequential or mixed batch reactor is discussed. Experiments were first conducted with the enzymatic and chemical oxidation processes separately in order to determine the effects of various parameters such as pH, ferrous ion, hydrogen peroxide, dye and enzyme concentrations on the overall yield and kinetics of both processes. Decolourization was followed by UV-visible spectroscopy and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that 89.5 % of DY106 were removed by enzymatic treatment after only 2 min, while 10 min of contact time were necessary to eliminate more than 98 % of 50 mg/L by Fenton’s process. A high performance was achieved under optimized conditions by the mixed combined process with time reduction down to 5 min. The study was also conducted to evaluate the efficiency of combined Fenton’s reaction as a pre-treatment and post treatment process combined with C-peroxidase at different ferrous ions concentrations. The optimal doses of Fe2+ were 2.5 mM, 1m M and 0.8 mM for Fenton, Fenton-enzymatic sequential and mixed processes. Intermediate products absorbing in UV range were detected for single Fenton or enzymatic treatment but were eliminated in all combined enzymatic-Fenton processes. Phytotoxicity tests showed that no toxicity was detected after treatment by combined process.
Effect Of Benzyl Adenine And Gibberellic Acid On The Vegetative Growth And Flowering Of Chrysanthemum Plant

Gabrel Farag1, Mahmoud Khattab2 And Ali El Naggar2 1Fac.Agric. Benghazi Uni.Libya. 2Fac.Agric. Alex.Uni. Depart OF Flori-Orndm. Hort.and Landscape Gardening. BSTRACT The present study was carried out during two successive seasons of 2016 and 2017 in nursery of Department of Floriculture, Ornamental Horticulture and Garden Design Faculty of Agriculture University of Alexandria at Shatby to investigate the effect of foliar spraying three times of four concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) of each of benzyl adenine and gibberellic acid singly or in combinations (16 treatments) on the vegetative growth, flowering characteristics and some chemical analysis of Chrysanthemum morifolium cv. “Zambla White”. Results indicated that using benzyl adenine alone at 100 – 200 ppm led to significant increases of some studied parameters (branch dry weight, period from showing color to full opening stage, flowering duration on plant, inflorescence dry weight and total carotenoids content). Besides, using gibberellic acid alone at 200 ppm gave significant increases of all the studied parameters of Chrysanthemum plant. While using benzyl adenine at 100 ppm combined with gibberellic acid at 200 ppm gave the maximum increases of all the studied parameters, compared with the other treatments. From the previous results generally it can be recommended to spray Chrysanthemum morifolium cv. "Zambla White" three times during the vegetative growth period with benzyl adenine at 100 ppm combined with gibberellic acid at 200 ppm to activate the vegetative growth of the plants and produced early flowering with a high quality.
The 2015–2016 carbon cycle as seen from OCO-2 and the global in situ network

Abstract. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 has been on orbit since 2014, and its global coverage holds the potential to reveal new information about the carbon cycle through the use of top-down atmospheric inversion methods combined with column average CO2 retrievals. We employ a large ensemble of atmospheric inversions utilizing different transport models, data assimilation techniques, and prior flux distributions in order to quantify the satellite-informed fluxes from OCO-2 Version 7r land observations and their uncertainties at continental scales. Additionally, we use in situ measurements to provide a baseline against which to compare the satellite-constrained results. We find that within the ensemble spread, in situ observations, and satellite retrievals constrain a similar global total carbon sink of 3.7±0.5 PgC yr−1, and 1.5±0.6 PgC yr−1 for global land, for the 2015–2016 annual mean. This agreement breaks down in smaller regions, and we discuss the differences between the experiments. Of particular interest is the difference between the different assimilation constraints in the tropics, with the largest differences occurring in tropical Africa, which could be an indication of the global perturbation from the 2015–2016 El Niño. Evaluation of posterior concentrations using TCCON and aircraft observations gives some limited insight into the quality of the different assimilation constraints, but the lack of such data in the tropics inhibits our ability to make strong conclusions there.
Surfactant enhanced biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in oily sludge.

Bioremediation has been recognized as an effective method to treat petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants. However, the biodegradation of crude oil contaminated sludge could be a time-consuming and low-efficiency process. One of the reasons is that petroleum hydrocarbons in the sludge are unavailable for utilization by microorganisms. Surfactants have the potential to increase the bioavailability of such pollutants due to their capability of reducing the surface and interfacial tension and increasing the solubility of hydrocarbons in water. In this study, the production of biological surfactants during sludge bioremediation was observed using surface tension measurement method, and this would provide valuable information for developing an effective bioremediation process. The addition of two different chemical surfactants (Igepal CO-630 and Cedephos FA-600) and a biosurfactant (Rhamnolipids) were tested using a laboratory respirometer, and the effects of such surfactants on the biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in the oil refinery sludge were investigated. All surfactants were found to be effective for improving microbial growth at low concentration. Igepal CO-630 at 400 mg/kg, Cedephos FA-600 at 400 mg/kg and Rhamnolipids at 200 mg/kg were found most effective in improving the reduction of TPH (C10-C50) compared to the control sample without any addition of surfactants. Better oxygen availability to soils contaminated with hydrocarbon sludge enhances both microbial growth and TPH reduction in the samples when surfactant concentrations were optimized. --P.i.
Physical and Optical Characterization of Manganese Ions in Sodium-Zinc -Phosphate Glass Matrix

In order to investigate the significant modifications induced by incorporation of manganese ions in sodiumzinc-phosphate glass matrix, a glass system of chemical formula 40P2O5-40ZnO-(20-x)Na2O-xMnO (where, x varied from 1 to 6 mol%) was prepared using the traditional melt quenching technique. The values of the glass density were increased and those of the molar volume were decreased by increasing the content of MnO. In addition, the concentration of manganese ions and the related field strength were increased while the corresponding inter-ionic spacing and polaron radius were decreased. The spectroscopic studies of all samples were carried out over (190-2500 nm) spectral range. The optical transmission of the prepared glass in the visible-near IR spectral range is enhanced by increasing the MnO content where it reaches a maximum value of about 86% at concentration 3% of MnO. This excellent transmission in such spectral range suggested the use of the present glass in many technological applications such as optical filters, IR domes, modulators, laser windows and lenses especially for Nd:YAG lasers. The optical band gap energy and the Urbach energy were determined. The refractive index was found to be decreased by increasing the MnO concentration from 1% to 3% then increased by increasing the MnO concentration from 3% to 6%. Other related physical parameters such as dielectric constant, electric susceptibility, molar polarizibility and metallization criterion were evaluated. The results predicted the working of the present glass in the range of nonlinear optical materials.
Exciton Dynamics and Self-Trapping of Carbocyanine J-Aggregates in Polymer Films

Spectral properties and morphologies of 1,1′-disulfobutyl-3,3′-diethyl-5,5′,6,6′-tetrachlorobenzimidazolylcarbo-cyanine (TDBC) J-aggregates formed in two different types of polymer films (neutral spin-coated and charged layered) were studied using steady-state, picosecond, and femtosecond spectroscopies as well as optical and atomic force microscopies. It was found that the J-aggregates adopt different morphologies in the films: quasi one-dimensional rod-like in the spin-coated films and two-dimensional island-like in the layered films. The TDBC J-aggregates exhibit very similar absorption and fluorescence spectra in different films, but their fluorescence lifetimes and quantum yields differ strongly (∼4% for spin-coated films and ∼0.5% for layered films). By pump-probe spectroscopy, three different contributions to the population dynamics and relaxation to lower lying levels are identified with exciton–exciton annihilation dominating the observed kinetics. Low-temperature experiments reveal strong excito.
Synthesis and detection of dna damage

SYNTHESIS AND DETECTION OF DNA DAMAGE by Xun Gao The biological effects of DNA alkyl adducts are difficult to evaluate at the cellular level due to their instability. Synthesis of oligonucleotides that contain a single N7-alkylguanine has become a vital tool to achieve the above goal. However, the instability of N7alkyguanines is not compatible with the phosphoramidite chemistry used by solid -phase oligonucleotide synthesis either. Development of chemically stable analogues of unstable DNA lesions enables accurate study of polymerase bypass. The design and successful synthesis of N7-hydroxyethyl-9-deaza-2′-deoxyguanosine and N7-oxoethyl9-deaza-2′-deoxyguanosine as the stable analogues of N7-hydroxyethyl2′deoxyguanosine and N7-oxoethyl-2′-deoxyguanosine, respectively, are reported. The synthesis of these two nucleosides whose N7 side chains are protected by TBS for the convenience of conversion to phosphoramidites are also developed. The C-glycosidic bonds of these compounds are demonstrated to be stable under strong acidic and basic conditions. These analogues will become versatile tools to study the replication and repair of DNA alkylation damages. DNA oxidation product 8-oxoGua has been suggested as a biomarker for early cancer diagnosis. An artificial receptor for the free base of 8-oxoGua on a triplex DNA backbone was previously developed. However, accurate detection of 8-oxoGua in urine samples was affected by the presence of a large excess of guanine. Herein, a unique strategy to convert such a receptor to a colorimetric biosensor by conjugating DNA strands to gold nanoparticles (GNP) is developed. Binding of 8-oxoGua to the receptor caused the conjugation of GNP, resulting in diagnostic red-to-purple color changes. The presence of multiple binding cavities enhances the binding-induced stabilization effect and widened the temperature window used for detection. By simply incubating our sensor with a sample, 8-oxoGua can be detected at submicromolar concentrations with a UV–vis spectrometer or even by naked eye. The detection limit in a urine matrix is determined as 126 nM and the response range covers a major portion of the biologically relevant concentration range. SYNTHESIS AND DETECTION OF DNA DAMAGE
Hydrogen oxidation on oxygen-rich IrO2(110)

ABSTRACT We investigated the adsorption and oxidation of H2 on O-rich IrO2(110) using temperature programmed reaction spectroscopy (TPRS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Our results show that H2 dissociation occurs efficiently on O-rich IrO2(110) at low temperature and initiates from an adsorbed H2 σ-complex on the coordinatively-unsaturated Ir atoms (Ircus). We find that on-top oxygen atoms (Oot), adsorbed on the Ircus sites, promote the desorption-limited evolution of H2O during subsequent oxidation of the adsorbed hydrogen on IrO2(110) while suppressing reaction-limited production of H2O via the recombination of bridging HO groups (HObr) (~500 to 750 K) during TPRS. The desorption-limited TPRS peak of H2O shifts from ~490 to 550 K with increasing Oot coverage, demonstrating that Oot atoms stabilize adsorbed OH and H2O species. DFT predicts that molecularly-adsorbed H2 dissociates on O-rich IrO2(110) at low temperature and that the resulting H-atoms redistribute to produce a mixture of HObr and HOot groups, with equilibrium favouring HOot groups. Our calculations further predict that subsequent H2O evolution occurs through the recombination of HObr/HOot and HOot/HOot pairs, and that these reactions represent desorption-limited pathways because the dissociative chemisorption of H2O is favoured over molecular adsorption on IrO2(110). The higher stability of HOot groups and their preferred formation causes the higher-barrier HOot/HOot recombination reaction to become the dominant pathway for H2O formation with increasing Oot coverage, consistent with the experimentally-observed upshift in the H2O TPRS peak temperature. Graphical abstract
Functionalized Graphene Derivatives: Antibacterial Properties and Cytotoxicity

In this work, the authors prepared and characterized two different graphene oxides: one chemically synthesized (GO sample) and the other one electrochemically synthesized (GO(LiCl)). Both samples were fully characterized with atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, X-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and Z-potential. The antibacterial properties of both graphene oxides were studied using Gram-negative Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 by spectrophotometer and viable cell count as indirect and direct methods, respectively. Results demonstrated that the GO(LiCl) exhibited a significant antibacterial activity compared to GO that showed a bacteriostatic effect on both pathogens. Electron microscopy analysis confirmed the antibacterial effects of both graphene oxides toward the pathogens, especially working at 80 μg/mL, for 24 h. Additional studies were also performed and both GO samples were not cytotoxic at 2 μg/mL toward neuroblastoma cells. Moreover, 2 μg of GO was suitable to carry the minimum effective dose (5.74 ng/mL) of kinase inhibitor S29 (1-(2-chloro-2-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl)-N-(4-fluorobenzyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d] pyrimidin-4-amine), providing negligible side effects related to the S29 treatment (this latter being specifically active on the neuroblastoma cell lines (SK-N-BE(2))).
Evaluation and comparison of MAIAC, DT and DB aerosol products
over China

Abstract. A new Multiangle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm has been applied in Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor and recently provides globally high spatial resolution Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) products at 1 km. Meanwhile, several improvements are modified in classical Dark Target (DT) and Deep Blue (DB) aerosol retrieval algorithms in MODIS collection 6.1 products. However, validation and comparison for MAIAC, DT and DB algorithms is still lacking in China. In this paper, a comprehensive assessment and comparison of AOD products at 550 nm wavelength based three aerosol retrieval algorithms in MODIS sensor using ground-truth measurements from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites over China during 2000 to 2017 is presented. In general, after quality assurance (QA) filter, the coefficient of determination (R2=0.854), correlation coefficient (R=0.929), root-mean-square error (RMSE=0.178), mean bias (Bias=0.019) and the fraction fall within expected error (Within_EE=67.10 %, EE=±(0.05+0.15×AOD)) results for MAIAC algorithm show better accuracy than those from DT and DB algorithms. While the R2, R, RMSE, Bias and Within_EE of DT algorithm are 0.817, 0.930, 0.192, 0.077, 55.36 %, respectively, those corresponding statistics for DB algorithm are 0.827, 0.921, 0.190, 0.018, 63.32 %. Moreover, the spatiotemporal completeness for MAIAC (29.69 %) product is also better than DT (8.00 %) and DB (19.50 %) products after QA filter. In addition, the land type dependence characteristic, view geometry dependence, spatiotemporal retrieval accuracy and spatial variation pattern difference for three products are also analyzed in details.