Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Historic Perspectives on Annonaceous Acetogenins from the Chemical Bench to Preclinical Trials

Studies on the Annonaceous acetogenins began after the first cytotoxic acetogenin, uvaricin, was isolated in 1982. This attractive finding made many medicinal and natural product chemists direct their efforts on the isolation and identification of these classes of compounds. As more Annonaceous acetogenins were isolated, more information about them was uncovered. From their structural identification to the total synthesis of natural product analogues and from cell-based screening and molecular-based targeting to animal testing, the mechanisms of action of the Annonaceous acetogenins became clearer. The purpose of this review is to give an account of recent studies on this class of compounds and their analogues, which will aid us not only in clarifying how the Annonaceous acetogenins act but also in establishing principles for the further development of this class of compounds.
Ultrasonic welding of lap joints of PEI plates with PEI/CF-fabric prepregs

In this study, ultrasonic welding (USW) of lap joints of polyetherimide (PEI) plates (adherends) with carbon fiber (CF) prepregs impregnated with PEI was investigated. No energy director (ED) was used, so binder contents were varied in the prepregs to compensate for the lack of the polymer in the fusion zone. In addition, the effect of the USW parameters on the structure and the mechanical properties of the lap-joints were analyzed. The most homogeneous macrostructure, the maintained structural integrity of both the CF-fabric in the prepregs and the lap-joined PEI adherends, as well as the maximum strength properties (tensile strength) were revealed for the USW joints with the minimum polymer content in the prepreg. In this case, rising the USW time from 400 up to 800 ms radically changed the macrostructure of the fusion zone, while the strength properties did not vary significantly (shear stresses were 42–48 MPa). Computer simulation of the influence of the PEI/CF-fabric ratios in the prepregs on the deformation response of the USW joints showed that the prepreg thicknesses and, accordingly, the PEI/CF ratios did not exert a noticeable effect on the strain–stress (tensile) diagrams, while the determining factor was the adhesion level.
Characteristics of the sample

For the 1997 Senegal Demographic and Health Survey 5040 households were selected for sampling 4855 were located and 4772 were completely surveyed. 8593 of the 9186 eligible women identified in the surveyed households (93.5%) were successfully interviewed as were 4306 men aged 20 and over among the 5253 eligible (82.0%). The number of men per 100 women in the households was 87.6 in rural areas 90.7 in urban areas and 88.8 overall. 47.6% of the sample household members were under age 15 and 4.6% were over age 65. 18.4% of all household heads and 25.7% in urban areas were women. Polygamous men were considered heads only of the residences of their first wives. The average household had 9 members 40% had 9 or more and 20% had 4 or fewer. 70% of households contained at least 3 related adults. 69% of urban and 6% of rural households had electricity. 84% of urban and 24% of rural households had running water. 67% of households had radios and 21% had televisions. 59% of the women surveyed were under 30 years old and 15% were aged 40-49. 27% of the women were single 68% were in union 1% were widowed and 4% were divorced. Ethnically 41% were Wolof 25% were Poular 14% were Serer and 5% each were Mandingue and Diola; 10% belonged to other ethnic groups or were not Senegalese. 44% of the surveyed women resided in urban areas. 67% of the women overall 42% in urban areas and 86% in rural areas were illiterate. Fewer than 13% had secondary or higher education.
FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF MODIFIED PULSATILE CAPSULE FOR CHRONOPHARMACOTHERAPY OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIC PAIN

Objective: The objective of the present study was to design and evaluate pulsincap system for chrono pharmacotherapy of rheumatoid arthritis that combines advantages of both immediate and sustained release technology with the suitable delay of drug release. Methods: Pulsatile drug delivery system based on pulsincap® technology was designed using mucoadhesive microspheres and Tramadol bilayer tablet plugs. The drug-excipient interaction was carried out by FTIR. Hardness, thickness, lag time, and swelling index all play a role in optimizing tablet plugs. The microspheres were examined for parameters such as particle size, surface morphology, encapsulation efficiency, swelling index, % mucoadhesion, and in vitro dissolution. Results: In modified pulsincaps, bilayer tablet plug shows drug release within 40 min and hydrogel plugs shows good swelling index and suitable lag time. In microspheres formulations, MF9 is the most suitable among them as it shows better drug content, particle size, surface morphology, in vitro drug release, and release kinetics. The drug is released right away, followed by the dissolution of the enteric coating at pH 6.8, followed by a suitable delay of 6 hours, and then the maximum amount of drug release is 99.62% at the end of 10th h. Conclusion: The pulsatile delivery system developed with HPMCK4M and tamarindus gum as plugging material showed a satisfactory lag period when compared to Tamarindus gum alone. Drug release can be achieved from treated gelatin capsule and hydrogel plug for a prolonged period by MF9 formulation.
Seasonal drought stress in the Amazon: Reconciling models and observations

[1] The Amazon Basin is crucial to global circulatory and carbon patterns due to the large areal extent and large flux magnitude. Biogeophysical models have had difficulty reproducing the annual cycle of net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon in some regions of the Amazon, generally simulating uptake during the wet season and efflux during seasonal drought. In reality, the opposite occurs. Observational and modeling studies have identified several mechanisms that explain the observed annual cycle, including: (1) deep soil columns that can store large water amount, (2) the ability of deep roots to access moisture at depth when near-surface soil dries during annual drought, (3) movement of water in the soil via hydraulic redistribution, allowing for more efficient uptake of water during the wet season, and moistening of near-surface soil during the annual drought, and (4) photosynthetic response to elevated light levels as cloudiness decreases during the dry season. We incorporate these mechanisms into the third version of the Simple Biosphere model (SiB3) both singly and collectively, and confront the results with observations. For the forest to maintain function through seasonal drought, there must be sufficient water storage in the soil to sustain transpiration through the dry season in addition to the ability of the roots to access the stored water. We find that individually, none of these mechanisms by themselves produces a simulation of the annual cycle of NEE that matches the observed. When these mechanisms are combined into the model, NEE follows the general trend of the observations, showing efflux during the wet season and uptake during seasonal drought.
Querying and ranking news items in the hermes framework

Hermes is a Web-based framework designed to build personalized news services using Semantic Web technologies. It makes use of ontologies for knowledge representation, natural language processing techniques for semantic text analysis, and semantic query languages for specifying the desired information. This paper presents the Hermes Graphical Query Language (HGQL). HGQL makes it possible to create structured queries in Hermes. Structured queries use disjunctive, conjunctive, negation, and pattern operators. In addition, this paper presents a ranking algorithm based on the queries made using HGQL.
Identifying and Evaluating a Suitable Index for Agricultural Drought Monitoring in the Texas High Plains

Drought is a complex and highly destructive natural phenomenon that affects portions of the United States almost every year, and severe water deficiencies can often become catastrophic for agricultural production. Evapotranspiration (ET) by crops is an important component in the agricultural water budget; thus, it is advantageous to include ET in agricultural drought monitoring. The main objectives of this study were to (1) conduct a literature review of drought indices with a focus to identify a simple but simultaneously adequate drought index for monitoring agricultural drought in a semiarid region and (2) using the identified drought index method, develop and evaluate time series of that drought index for the Texas High Plains. Based on the literature review, the Standardized Precipitation‐Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was found to satisfy identified constraints for assessing agricultural drought. However, the SPEI was revised by replacing reference ET with potential crop ET to better represent actual water demand. Data from the Texas High Plains Evapotranspiration network was used to calculate SPEIs for the major irrigated crops. Trends and magnitudes of crop‐specific, time‐series SPEIs followed crop water demand patterns for summer crops. Such an observation suggests that a modified SPEI is an appropriate index to monitor agricultural drought for summer crops, but it was found to not account for soil water stored during the summer fallow period for winter wheat.
Awareness of HIV Status, Prevention Knowledge and Condom Use among People Living with HIV in Mozambique

Objective To determine factors associated with HIV status unawareness and assess HIV prevention knowledge and condom use among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in Mozambique. Design Cross-sectional household-based nationally representative AIDS Indicator Survey. Methods Analyses focused on HIV-infected adults and were weighted for the complex sampling design. We identified PLHIV who had never been tested for HIV or received their test results prior to this survey. Logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with HIV status unawareness. Results Of persons with positive HIV test results (N = 1182), 61% (95% confidence interval [CI] 57–65%) were unaware of their serostatus. Men had twice the odds of being unaware of their serostatus compared with women [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.05, CI 1.40–2.98]. PLHIV in the poorest wealth quintile were most likely to be unaware of their serostatus (aOR 3.15, CI 1.09–9.12) compared to those in the middle wealth quintile. Most PLHIV (83%, CI 79–87%) reported not using a condom during their last sexual intercourse, and PLHIV who reported not using a condom during their last sexual intercourse were more likely to be unaware of their serostatus (aOR 2.32, CI 1.57–3.43) than those who used a condom. Conclusions Knowledge of HIV-positive status is associated with more frequent condom use in Mozambique. However, most HIV-infected persons are unaware of their serostatus, with men and persons in the poorest wealth quintile being more likely to be unaware. These findings support calls for expanded HIV testing, especially among groups less likely to be aware of their HIV status and key populations at higher risk for infection.
Creating Topic-Specific Automatic Multimodal Presentation Mining the World Wide Web Information

The paper describes the integration between web intelligence and character-based software agent manipulation with the notion of autonomous information services. The system, ‘Auto-Presentation’, builds a presentation automatically by parsing, summarizing and correlating information collected from the Internet based knowledge sources after receiving the presentation topic from the user. The system, with the help of a group of character based software-agents, presents automatically the retrieved information about the topic verbally with accompanied slides, different gestures and affects associated with presenter (e.g. the character agents). With a brief literature re-view, in section 1 the basic idea of the system is explained. Section 2 describes the architecture and explains different components of ‘Auto-Presentation’. Section 3 describes necessary algorithms. Section 4 depicts some test results and evaluations. Section 5 concludes the paper with the trail of future work.
Isolation and characterization of novel microsatellite loci for parentage assessment in the lance-tailed manakin (Chiroxiphia lanceolata)

The lance-tailed manakin ( Chiroxiphia lanceolata ) is a lek-breeding bird from Central America in which males court females with complex cooperative displays. To resolve detailed patterns of paternity in the wild, we isolated and characterized 12 novel microsatellite loci in this species. Eleven of these loci were polymorphic (five to 14 alleles), with observed heterozygosities ranging from 0.36 to 0.87 ( N = 574 individuals). We tested for linkage disequilibrium using randomized subsamples of adults to control for known family structure among long-lived and sedentary individuals. These loci will be valuable in resolving paternity among many candidate fathers in this species.
DELLA proteins modulate Arabidopsis defences induced in response to caterpillar herbivory

Upon insect herbivory, many plant species change the direction of metabolic flux from growth into defence. Two key pathways modulating these processes are the gibberellin (GA)/DELLA pathway and the jasmonate pathway. In this study, the effect of caterpillar herbivory on plant-induced responses was compared between wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. and quad-della mutants that have constitutively elevated GA responses. The labial saliva (LS) of caterpillars of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, is known to influence induced plant defence responses. To determine the role of this herbivore cue in determining metabolic shifts, plants were subject to herbivory by caterpillars with intact or impaired LS secretions. In both wild-type and quad-della plants, a jasmonate burst is an early response to caterpillar herbivory. Negative growth regulator DELLA proteins are required for the LS-mediated suppression of hormone levels. Jasmonate-dependent marker genes are induced in response to herbivory independently of LS, with the exception of AtPDF1.2 that showed LS-dependent expression in the quad-della mutant. Early expression of the salicylic acid (SA)-marker gene, AtPR1, was not affected by herbivory which also reflected SA hormone levels; however, this gene showed LS-dependent expression in the quad-della mutant. DELLA proteins may positively regulate glucosinolate levels and suppress laccase-like multicopper oxidase activity in response to herbivory. The present results show a link between DELLA proteins and early, induced plant defences in response to insect herbivory; in particular, these proteins are necessary for caterpillar LS-associated attenuation of defence hormones.
Evaluation of Sample Size Influence on Chemical Characterization and In Vitro Antioxidant Properties of Flours Obtained from Mushroom Stems Coproducts

The mushroom industry generates large amounts of stem co-product. This is generated after mushroom harvest; stems are attached to the growth substratum, and their only use has traditionally been as compost. In this study, we investigated extensively for the first time this co-product and the influence of sample size (L—>0.510 mm; LI—0.510–0.315 mm; SI—0.315–0.180 mm; S—<0.180 mm) on the characterization and antioxidant activity of flours obtained from stem co-products of Agaricus bisporus (ABSF) and Pleurotus ostreatus (POSF). ABSF was rich in protein (14 g/100 g), calcium (428.23–700.77 mg/100 g), and sorbitol (22.57–26.60 g/100 g), while POSF was rich in β-glucans (36.62–40.34 g/100 g) and linoleic acid (20.57–39.86 g/100 g of lipid). Both species were flush in amino acids and had an umami flavour. ABSF showed more elevated values for emulsifying activity than POSF. The S sizes were highlighted for their yield, hydration properties, and oil holding capacity. Furthermore, ABSF-S exhibited heightened antioxidant capacity in vitro, in consonance with the total phenolic compounds observed (0.91 mg/g). However, the antioxidant assays in POSF presented a positive correlation with β-glucan content. Our study suggests that these co-products could have several food-related applications, such as potential for use as an emulsifier, sweetener, or fortifier in the development of functional food, owing to their rich concentrations of fibre, protein, sorbitol, and β-glucans. Nevertheless, it is necessary to understand the interactions of the flours with the potential food matrix prior to proceeding further with food-related applications.
Decision making in a robotic architecture for autonomy

This paper presents an overview of the intelligent decision-making capabilities of the CLARAty robotic architecture for autonomy. CLARAty is a two layered architecture where the top Decision Layer contains techniques for autonomously creating a plan of robot commands and the bottom Functional Layer provides standard robot capabilities that interface to system hardware. This paper focuses on the Decision Layer organization and capabilities. Specifically, the Decision Layer provides a framework for utilizing AI planning and executive techniques, which provide onboard, autonomous command generation and replanning for planetary rovers. The Decision Layer also provides a flexible interface to the Functional Layer, which can be tailored based on user preferences and domain features. This architecture is currently being tested on several JPL rovers.
Effect of Forage or Grain Diets with or without Monensin on Ruminal Persistence and Fecal Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Cattle

ABSTRACT Twelve ruminally cannulated cattle, adapted to forage or grain diet with or without monensin, were used to investigate the effects of diet and monensin on concentration and duration of ruminal persistence and fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7. Cattle were ruminally inoculated with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 (1010 CFU/animal) made resistant to nalidixic acid (Nalr). Ruminal and fecal samples were collected for 11 weeks, and then cattle were euthanized and necropsied and digesta from different gut locations were collected. Samples were cultured for detection and enumeration of NalrE. coli O157:H7. Cattle fed forage diets were culture positive for E. coli O157:H7 in the feces for longer duration (P < 0.05) than cattle fed a grain diet. In forage-fed cattle, the duration they remained culture positive for E. coli O157:H7 was shorter (P < 0.05) when the diet included monensin. Generally, ruminal persistence of NalrE. coli O157:H7 was not affected by diet or monensin. At necropsy, E. coli O157:H7 was detected in cecal and colonic digesta but not from the rumen. Our study showed that cattle fed a forage diet were culture positive longer and with higher numbers than cattle on a grain diet. Monensin supplementation decreased the duration of shedding with forage diet, and the cecum and colon were culture positive for E. coli O157:H7 more often than the rumen of cattle.
Overexpression of the CC-type glutaredoxin, OsGRX6 affects hormone and nitrogen status in rice plants

Glutaredoxins (GRXs) are small glutathione dependent oxidoreductases that belong to the Thioredoxin (TRX) superfamily and catalyze the reduction of disulfide bonds of their substrate proteins. Plant GRXs include three different groups based on the motif sequence, namely CPYC, CGFS, and CC-type proteins. The rice CC-type proteins, OsGRX6 was identified during the screening for genes whose expression changes depending on the level of available nitrate. Overexpression of OsGRX6 in rice displayed a semi-dwarf phenotype. The OsGRX6 overexpressors contain a higher nitrogen content than the wild type, indicating that OsGRX6 plays a role in homeostatic regulation of nitrogen use. Consistent with this, OsGRX6 overexpressors displayed delayed chlorophyll degradation and senescence compared to the wild type plants. To examine if the growth defect of these transgenic lines attribute to disturbed plant hormone actions, plant hormone levels were measured. The levels of two cytokinins (CKs), 2-isopentenyladenine and trans-zeatin, and gibberellin A1 (GA1) were increased in these lines. We also found that these transgenic lines were less sensitive to exogenously applied GA, suggesting that the increase in GA1 is a result of the feedback regulation. These data suggest that OsGRX6 affects hormone signaling and nitrogen status in rice plants.
The Next Step for Multi-Document Summarization: A Heterogeneous Multi-Genre Corpus Built with a Novel Construction Approach

Research in multi-document summarization has focused on newswire corpora since the early beginnings. However, the newswire genre provides genre-specific features such as sentence position which are easy to exploit in summarization systems. Such easy to exploit genre-specific features are available in other genres as well. We therefore present the new hMDS corpus for multi-document summarization, which contains heterogeneous source documents from multiple text genres, as well as summaries with different lengths. For the construction of the corpus, we developed a novel construction approach which is suited to build large and heterogeneous summarization corpora with little effort. The method reverses the usual process of writing summaries for given source documents: it combines already available summaries with appropriate source documents. In a detailed analysis, we show that our new corpus is significantly different from the homogeneous corpora commonly used, and that it is heterogeneous along several dimensions. Our experimental evaluation using well-known state-of-the-art summarization systems shows that our corpus poses new challenges in the field of multi-document summarization. Last but not least, we make our corpus publicly available to the research community at the corpus web page https://github.com/AIPHES/hMDS.
Strength in Numbers: Robust Tamper Detection in Crowd Computations

Popular social and e-commerce sites increasingly rely on crowd computing to rate and rank content, users, products and businesses. Today, attackers who create fake (Sybil) identities can easily tamper with these computations. Existing defenses that largely focus on detecting individual Sybil identities have a fundamental limitation: Adaptive attackers can create hard-to-detect Sybil identities to tamper arbitrary crowd computations. In this paper, we propose Stamper, an approach for detecting tampered crowd computations that significantly raises the bar for evasion by adaptive attackers. Stamper design is based on two key insights: First, Sybil attack detection gains strength in numbers: we propose statistical analysis techniques that can determine if a large crowd computation has been tampered by Sybils, even when it is fundamentally hard to infer which of the participating identities are Sybil. Second, Sybil identities cannot forge the timestamps of their activities as they are recorded by system operators; Stamper analyzes these unforgeable timestamps to foil adaptive attackers. We applied Stamper to detect tampered computations in Yelp and Twitter. We not only detected previously known tampered computations with high accuracy, but also uncovered tens of thousands of previously unknown tampered computations in these systems.
Complete Genome Sequence of the Fruiting Myxobacterium Myxococcus macrosporus Strain DSM 14697, Generated by PacBio Sequencing

ABSTRACT Members of the Myxococcales order initiate a developmental program in response to starvation that culminates in formation of spore-filled fruiting bodies. To investigate the genetic basis for fruiting body formation, we present the complete 8.9-Mb genome sequence of Myxococcus macrosporus strain DSM 14697, generated using the PacBio sequencing platform.