Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeting Viral Methyltransferases: An Approach to Antiviral Treatment for ssRNA Viruses

Methyltransferase enzymes have been associated with different processes within cells and viruses. Specifically, within viruses, methyltransferases are used to form the 5′cap-0 structure for optimal evasion of the host innate immune system. In this paper, we seek to discuss the various methyltransferases that exist within single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) viruses along with their respective inhibitors. Additionally, the importance of motifs such as the KDKE tetrad and glycine-rich motif in the catalytic activity of methyltransferases is discussed.
Self-efficacy as a predictor of the individual's future links with the employing organization

Purpose: This study analyzes the influence of the perception of self-efficacy on the commitment, entrenchment, and consent bonds that the individual will establish with the employing organization. Design/methodology/approach: This is a longitudinal panel-type survey composed of two data collections: one applied before the individual joined the organization, and the other applied nine months after joining the contracting company. Findings: The main results show the commitment established by individuals, with the contracting organization, can be predicted by the perceived self-efficacy of the individual measured before joining the organization. This suggested that the organization gives preference, at the time of hiring, to individuals with greater self-efficacy, as they will tend to develop higher commitment bond when compared to workers with lower self-efficacy. Besides the dispositional factors, other aspects arising from the individual/organization relationship will be involved in the development of the bond, and will be up to the company’s people management team to ensure adequate conditions for the building of a strong affective bond. Research limitations/implications: To better understand future linkage, other variables need to be tested to verify what are the main antecedents of the future linkage of the individual. A gap left here is the absence of data collection through interviews, which would enrich quantitative data, as well the addition of new variables not tested. Originality/value: Inserted in the efforts to predict how the new individual's future relationship with the employing institution will be, this study relates self-efficacy to future commitment, entrenchment, and consent, something that does not exist in the literature.
Consumers as co-creators in community-based tourism experience: Impacts on their motivation and satisfaction

Abstract A tourism experience is a continuous process. Yet, the following question remains an outstanding issue: How to account for a memorable experience when the experience encompasses periods that occur before, during, and after visiting a destination? Community-based tourism (CBT) allows visitors to establish a positive experience by playing an active role before, during, and after visiting a destination. The aim of this study is to create a comprehensive research framework to examine the overall experience of tourists when they act as co-creators. The survey design was used to collect 239 valid samples after tourists participated in a CBT activity situated in a traditional fishing village. Based on statistical results from partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), this study demonstrates that: (1) There was a more positive impact on co-creation of the CBT experience for tourists with a recreational motivation than those with a learning motivation. (2) Co-creation of the CBT experience had positive impacts on both satisfaction with the CBT experience itself and satisfaction with the impact of the CBT experience on their lives overall. (3) Satisfaction with the impact of CBT on life overall had a higher positive influence on revisit intention than did satisfaction with just the CBT experience. Furthermore, the results of analysis in this study are helpful to community associations or destination marketing organizations to create attractive experience activities.
Treatment and Systemic Sclerosis Interstitial Lung Disease Outcome: The Overweight Paradox

(1) Background: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is frequently associated with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). The progressive form of SSc-ILD often limits patient survival. The aim of our study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics and predictors of lung function changes in SSc-ILD patients treated in a real-world setting. (2) Methods: All SSc-ILD cases previously confirmed by rheumatologists and a multidisciplinary ILD team between January 2017 and June 2019 were included (n = 54). The detailed medical history, clinical parameters and HRCT were analyzed. The longitudinal follow-up for pulmonary symptoms, functional parameters and treatment were performed for at least 2 years in no treatment, immunosuppression and biological treatment subgroups. (3) Results: In SSc-ILD patients (age 58.7 ± 13.3 years, 87.0% women), the main symptoms included dyspnea, cough, crackles and the Raynaud’s phenomenon. The functional decline was most prominent in untreated patients, and a normal body mass index (BMI < 25 kg/m2) was associated with a significant risk of deterioration. The majority of patients improved or were stable during follow-up. The progressive fibrosing-ILD criteria were met by 15 patients, the highest proportion being in the untreated subgroup. (4) Conclusions: SSc-ILD patients who are overweight are at a lower risk of the functional decline and progressive phenotype especially affecting untreated patients. The close monitoring of lung involvement and a regular BMI measurement are advised and early treatment interventions are encouraged.
Toward a Politics of Disaster: Losses, Values, Agendas, and Blame

Offering exemplars from around the world, including China, Mexico, Nicaragua, and California, this paper argues that disasters must be understood and analyzed more deeply and more often as explicitly political events. The paper also argues that because politics is the “authoritative allocation of values, “ the politics-disaster nexus revolves around the allocation of several important values: life safety in the pre-event period, survival in the emergency phase, and “life chances” in the recovery and reconstruction periods. The paper concludes by suggesting that the literatures on agenda control and causal stories/blame management are particularly useful points of departure for analyzing disasters as intrinsically political events-
The effect of higher modes on earthquake fatigue damage to steel moment frames

Without their guidance, completing this work would not have been possible. Thanks are also due to Professor Robert L. Nigbor for being a tremendous source of support and inspiration for the author during his graduate work at USC. The author also wants to thank Mr. Peter Maranian of Brandow and Johnston, Inc. for his interest in the project and for providing helpful resources throughout the course of study.
Zircon U–Pb dating and geochemistry of intrusive rocks in the Shangdan suture zone of the Qinling Orogenic Belt: petrogenesis and tectonic implications

We studied the zircon U–Pb ages, whole-rock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotopic compositions of a Paleozoic gabbro–diabase–granite association in the Shangdan suture zone to constrain the petrogenesis of these intrusive rocks and identify their tectonic implications. These rocks have distinctive crystallization ages: the Guchenggou gabbro yielded zircon U–Pb ages of 424–423 Ma, the average age of the Yueritan diabase was 411 Ma and the Danfeng granites yielded zircon U–Pb ages of 414–411 Ma. The Guchenggou gabbro was formed by partial melting of a phlogopite-bearing garnet lherzolite modified by subduction fluids in a continental arc setting. The Yueritan diabase was generated by mixing a phlogopite-bearing garnet lherzolite modified by subduction melts with continental crustal rocks in a post-collision setting. The Danfeng granites were weakly peraluminous I-type granites formed by mixing juvenile crust with metagreywackes at high temperatures and pressures in a tectonic environment transitioning from compression to extension. We suggest that the subduction of the Shangdan Ocean induced the formation of the gabbro. The diabases and granites are related to relamination of the continental crust in response to the collision of the North Qinling Belt with the South Qinling Belt, suggesting that closure of the Shangdan Ocean may have occurred at c. 410 Ma.
The Effect of Respiration, pH, and Citrate Co-Metabolism on the Growth, Metabolite Production and Enzymatic Activities of Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris E30

Leuconostoc mesenteroides includes strains used as starter and/or adjunct cultures for the production of several fermented foods. In this study, the effect of anaerobic and respiratory cultivations, as well as of citrate supplementation and different pH values, was evaluated on growth, biomass, metabolite, and enzymatic activities (pyruvate oxidase, POX; NADH-dependent oxidase, NOX; NADH-dependent peroxidase, NPR) of Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris E30. We compared the respiration-increased growth rate and biomass production of Leuc. mesenteroides E30 to anaerobic cultivation. A supplementation of citrate impaired the growth rate of the respiratory cells. As expected, anaerobic cultures did not consume oxygen, and a similar trend in oxygen uptake was observed in respiratory cultures. The aerobic incubation caused changes in the metabolic pattern, reducing the production of ethanol in favour of acetic acid. Citrate was already exhausted in the exponential phase and did not affect the yields in acetic acid and ethanol. NOX activity increased in the presence of oxygen, while catalase was also detected in the absence of hemin. The absence of H2O2 suggested its degradation by NPR and catalase. Respiratory cultivation provided benefits (increase in growth rate, biomass, and activity in antioxidant enzymes) for Leuc. mesenteroides E30. Therefore, the exploitation of respiratory phenotypes may be useful for the formulation of competitive starter or adjunct cultures.
Discontinuation of atorvastatin use in hospital is associated with increased risk of mortality in COVID‐19 patients

Abstract Background Statins are a commonly used class of drugs, and reports have suggested that their use may affect COVID‐19 disease severity and mortality risk. Objective The purpose of this analysis was to determine the effect of discontinuation of previous atorvastatin therapy in patients hospitalized for COVID‐19 on the risk of mortality and ventilation. Methods Data from 146,413 hospitalized COVID‐19 patients were classified according to statin therapy. Home + in hospital atorvastatin use (continuation of therapy); home + no in hospital atorvastatin use (discontinuation of therapy); no home + no in hospital atorvastatin use (no statins). Logistic regression was performed to assess the association between atorvastatin administration and either mortality or use of mechanical ventilation during the encounter. Results Continuous use of atorvastatin (home and in hospital) was associated with a 35% reduction in the odds of mortality compared to patients who received atorvastatin at home but not in hospital (odds ratio [OR]: 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.59–0.72, p < .001). Similarly, the odds of ventilation were lower with continuous atorvastatin therapy (OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.64–0.77, p < .001). Conclusions Discontinuation of previous atorvastatin therapy is associated with worse outcomes for COVID‐19 patients. Providers should consider maintaining existing statin therapy for patients with known or suspected previous use.
Dissecting the mechanism of cytokine release induced by T-cell engagers highlights the contribution of neutrophils

ABSTRACT T cell engagers represent a novel promising class of cancer-immunotherapies redirecting T cells to tumor cells and have some promising outcomes in the clinic. These molecules can be associated with a mode-of-action related risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in patients. CRS is characterized by the rapid release of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-1β and immune cell activation eliciting clinical symptoms of fever, hypoxia and hypotension. In this work, we investigated the biological mechanisms triggering and amplifying cytokine release after treatment with T cell bispecific antibodies (TCBs) employing an in vitro co-culture assay of human PBMCs or total leukocytes (PBMCs + neutrophils) and corresponding target antigen-expressing cells with four different TCBs. We identified T cells as the triggers of the TCB-mediated cytokine cascade and monocytes and neutrophils as downstream amplifier cells. Furthermore, we assessed the chronology of events by neutralization of T-cell derived cytokines. For the first time, we demonstrate the contribution of neutrophils to TCB-mediated cytokine release and confirm these findings by single-cell RNA sequencing of human whole blood incubated with a B-cell depleting TCB. This work could contribute to the construction of mechanistic models of cytokine release and definition of more specific molecular and cellular biomarkers of CRS in the context of treatment with T-cell engagers. In addition, it provides insight for the elaboration of prophylactic mitigation strategies that can reduce the occurrence of CRS and increase the therapeutic index of TCBs.
What do Teachers do to Show They Care? Learning From the Voices of Early Adolescents

This mixed methods study examined how middle school students (ages 11–13) in middle-class neighborhoods in Western Canada characterized a caring teacher. Specifically, qualitative content analysis was conducted on 199 sixth and seventh grade students’ written responses to the question “What are three things that teachers do to show they care? ” Guided by recent work in the area of mindfulness in teaching, we identified 19 themes: one was categorized as General Teaching (e.g., “They teach”), and 18 that were grouped into one of three thematic categories associated with mindful teaching: Calm (e.g., calm/not reactive), Clear (e.g., democratic communication), and Kind (e.g., empathy). In their descriptions of caring teachers, almost all students (97.5%) used Kind themes, while many used Clear themes (41%); with fewer students using Calm (13.6%) or General Teaching (10.6%) themes. Chi square analyses revealed that girls were more likely to mention Clear themes compared to boys, while boys were more likely to use the specific themes of nurturance and helpfulness. Additional demographic differences were also explored. This research adds to the growing body of studies aimed at elucidating the role of mindful teaching in caring student-teacher relationships, particularly from the perspectives of early adolescents.
Arguing for Criminal Justice Reform: Examining the Effects of Message Framing on Policy Preferences

Abstract Across the U.S., policy makers are enacting criminal justice reform while limiting many of those reforms to low-level, non-violent offenders. Given the power the public wields in shaping policy, it is necessary to consider which arguments for reform are most effective and who is viewed as most deserving of those reforms. The current study finds that varying the argument for reform, such as highlighting racial inequities, does not affect support for reform policies, regardless of the type of offender. Additionally, although respondents generally supported reform policies, results revealed significantly less support for implementing those reforms for violent offenders. Finally, findings indicate that individuals who believe violent crime is more of a Black phenomenon are less likely to support reform. These findings demonstrate that, to enact broader reform, it is necessary to address the public’s preexisting opinions about crime more so than debate which rhetorical arguments should be used.
Optimizing the Control of Decentralized Rainwater Harvesting Systems for Reducing Urban Drainage Flows

The practice of rainwater harvesting (RWH) has been studied extensively in recent years, as it has the potential to alleviate some of the increasing stress on urban water distribution systems and drainage networks. Within the field, an approach of real-time control of rainwater storage is emerging as a method to improve the ability of RWH systems to reduce runoff and urban drainage flows. As applying real-time control on RWH tanks means releasing water that could be used for supply, applying controlled-release policies often hinders the RWH system’s ability to supply water. The suggested study presents an approach that has the potential to improve the capability of a distributed network of RWH systems to mitigate peak drainage flows while substantially reducing the impact on harvested rainwater availability. The suggested method uses a genetic algorithm to generate release policies, which are tailored for any given rain event and initial conditions. The algorithm utilizes the modeled drainage system’s response to a given rainfall pattern and manages to substantially reduce peak drainage flows with little impact on available rainwater when compared to the conventional no-release alternative and other active release methods.
Chinese Admission Warning Strategy for Predicting the Hospital Discharge Outcome in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective: To develop and validate an admission warning strategy that incorporates the general emergency department indicators for predicting the hospital discharge outcome of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in China. Methods: This admission warning strategy was developed in a primary cohort that consisted of 605 patients with TBI who were admitted within 6 h of injury. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to develop the early warning strategy of selected indicators. Two sub-cohorts consisting of 180 and 107 patients with TBI were used for the external validation. Results: Indicators of the strategy included three categories: baseline characteristics, imaging and laboratory indicators. This strategy displayed good calibration and good discrimination. A high C-index was reached in the internal validation. The multicenter external validation cohort still showed good discrimination C-indices. Decision curve analysis (DCA) showed the actual needs of this strategy when the possibility threshold was 0.01 for the primary cohort, and at thresholds of 0.02–0.83 and 0.01–0.88 for the two sub-cohorts, respectively. In addition, this strategy exhibited a significant prognostic capacity compared to the traditional single predictors, and this optimization was also observed in two external validation cohorts. Conclusions: We developed and validated an admission warning strategy that can be quickly deployed in the emergency department. This strategy can be used as an ideal tool for predicting hospital discharge outcomes and providing objective evidence for early informed consent of the hospital discharge outcome to the family members of TBI patients.
A Rare Presentation of Spontaneous Spinal Epidural Hematoma as Spinal Cord Compression and Complete Paraplegia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) is a serious but infrequent cause of profound neurological compromise of acute onset. It is often an atraumatic occurrence, and in around half of the cases, no etiology is identified. However, several causes such as arteriovenous malformation in the spine, use of anticoagulants in various cardiovascular diseases, and spinal trauma have been incriminated for its development. Here we encountered a case of SSEH following unregulated use of anticoagulants after a mitral valve replacement surgery. The patient had complete paraplegia with bowel and bladder involvement. The case was treated with decompressive laminectomy with regularization of her coagulation profile. Although she presented late to the healthcare center for the treatment, she showed a remarkable neurological improvement with gaining power worth near independent ambulation after one year of follow-up.
A Numerical Analysis of Dynamic Slosh Dampening Utilising Perforated Partitions in Partially-Filled Rectangular Tanks

Conventional liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo vessels are imposed with tank-fill limitations as precautions to prevent structural damage and stability-loss due to high-impact sloshing, enforcing cargo volume-fills to be lower than 10% or higher than 70% of the tank height. The restrictions, however, limit commercial operations, specifically when handling spot trades and offshore loading/unloading at multiple ports along a shipping route. The study puts forward a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) sloshing analysis of partially-filled chamfered rectangular tanks undergoing sinusoidal oscillatory kinetics with the use of the explicit volume-of-fluid and non-iterative time-advancement schemes. Establishing a 20% to 60% fill-range, the sloshing dynamics were acknowledged within an open-bore, partitioned, and perforated-partitioned tank when oscillating at frequencies of 0.5 Hz and 1 Hz. The overall torque and static pressure induced on the tank walls were investigated. High-impact slamming at the tank roof occurred at 40% and 60% fills, however, the implementation of the partition and perforated-partition barriers successfully reduced the impact due to suppression and dissipation of the wave dynamics.
Blue-Sky Albedo Reduction and Associated Influencing Factors of Stable Land Cover Types in the Middle-High Latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during 1982-2015

Land surface albedo (LSA) directly affects the radiation balance and the surface heat budget. LSA is a key variable for local and global climate research. The complexity of LSA variations and the driving factors highlight the importance of continuous spatial and temporal monitoring. Snow, vegetation and soil are the main underlying surface factors affecting LSA dynamics. In this study, we combined Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) products and ERA5 reanalysis products to analyze the spatiotemporal variation and drivers of annual mean blue-sky albedo for stable land cover types in the middle-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (30~90°N) from 1982 to 2015. Snow cover (SC) exhibited a decreasing trend in 99.59% of all pixels (23.73% significant), with a rate of −0.0813. Soil moisture (SM) exhibited a decreasing trend in 85.66% of all pixels (22.27% significant), with a rate of −0.0002. The leaf area index (LAI) exhibited a greening trend in 74.38% of all pixels (25.23% significant), with a rate of 0.0014. Blue-sky albedo exhibited a decreasing trend in 98.97% of all pixels (65.12% significant), with a rate of −0.0008 (OLS slope). Approximately 98.16% of all pixels (57.01% significant) exhibited a positive correlation between blue-sky albedo and SC. Approximately 47.78% and 67.38% of all pixels (17.13% and 25.3% significant, respectively) exhibited a negative correlation between blue-sky albedo and SM and LAI, respectively. Approximately 10.31%, 20.81% and 68.88% of the pixel blue-sky albedo reduction was mainly controlled by SC, SM and LAI, respectively. The decrease in blue-sky albedo north of 40°N was mainly caused by the decrease in SC. The decrease in blue-sky albedo south of 40°N was mainly caused by SM reduction and vegetation greening. The decrease in blue-sky albedo in the western Tibetan Plateau was caused by vegetation greening, SM increase and SC reduction. The results have important scientific significance for the study of surface processes and global climate change.