Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumption of Spinach and Tomato Modifies Lipid Metabolism, Reducing Hepatic Steatosis in Rats

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently a serious and growing clinical problem in developed and developing countries and is considered one of the most frequent chronic liver diseases in the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functionality of dietary carotenoids provided by tomato and spinach in the dietary treatment of steatosis. Twenty-two Sprague-Dawley rats with induced steatosis were grouped into three groups and fed standard diet (CD group) and two experimental diets supplemented with 12.75% (LC12.75 group) and 25.5% (HC25.5 group) of a mixture of spinach and tomato powder. Rats fed carotenoid-rich feeds showed an improvement in the plasma biomarkers of steatosis, with lower levels of glucose, total cholesterol, VLDL, TG, proteins, ALT and AST. Likewise, a decrease in oxidative stress was observed, with a significant reduction of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma (up to 54%), liver (up to 51.42%) and urine (up to 78.89%) (p < 0.05) and an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity (ORAC) (up to 73.41%) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, carotenoid-rich diets led to an accumulation of carotenoids in the liver and were inversely correlated with the content of total cholesterol and hepatic triglycerides, increasing the concentrations of MUFA and PUFA (up to 32.6% and 48%, respectively) (p < 0.05). The accumulation of carotenoids in the liver caused the modulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism, and we particularly observed an overexpression of ACOX1, APOA1 and NRIH2 (LXR) and the synthesis of the proteins. This study suggests that dietary carotenoids from spinach and tomato aid in the dietary management of steatosis by reversing steatosis biomarkers.
Dental Calculus as a Potential Biosource for Human Papillomavirus Detection in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objective: The infection of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) plays a role in the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). A poor oral hygiene and dental calculus may cause the infection to persist. Therefore, this study aimed to assess whether this dental calculus could serve as a potential biosource in early detection of HPVs in patients with OSCC. Methods: DNA was isolated from the dental calculus of people diagnosed with OSCC, and MY09/11 primer set was used to detect the presence of HPV. The positive samples were further sequenced and aligned using megablast NCBI BLAST tool to identify the HPV genotype. Results: Electrophoresis examination showed that 4 of 14 samples collected (29%) had a clear single band, of which three had 97% to 99% similarity to a high-risk genotype HPV-58. Meanwhile, the other sample had 99% similarity to an unclassified papillomaviridae. Conclusion: Dental calculus is a promising source of HPV in oral cavity and could be used as a biomarker for early detection.
Remove or retain: ecosystem effects of woody encroachment and removal are linked to plant structural and functional traits.

The impacts of woody encroachment and removal on ecosystems are highly variable and thought to be related to the traits of the individual woody species. Decisions on whether to remove or to retain woody plants are hampered by a lack of empirical evidence of the relationship between woody traits and the ecosystem consequences of their removal or retention. We used a global meta-analysis of 149 ecosystem attributes from 172 woody species to evaluate the relative effects of woody plant traits and abiotic environmental variables on the ecosystem consequences of woody encroachment and removal. The ecosystem consequences were closely related to woody plant traits. For example, encroachment of plants characterized by high structural traits (e.g. tall, mixed tap and fibrous roots) reduced ecosystem composition while removal of plants characterized by high functional traits (e.g. nitrogen fixing, deciduous) reduced ecosystem function. Structural and functional traits of woody plants mainly regulated soil stability during woody encroachment and herbaceous cover after woody removal. Conversely, environmental conditions mainly affected herbaceous cover under encroachment and soil stability under removal scenarios. We demonstrate that the ecosystem consequences of encroachment and removal are closely linked to the structural and functional traits of the target woody species. Furthermore, biotic (woody plant traits) and abiotic (climate, soils) factors have different impacts on regulating trade-offs between ecosystem responses under these two management scenarios. Our study provides empirical support for management decisions on whether to retain or remove different woody taxa under various environments across the globe.
Intravenous Albumin for Mitigating Hypotension and Augmenting Ultrafiltration during Kidney Replacement Therapy

Among its many functions, owing to its oversized effect on colloid oncotic pressure, intravascular albumin helps preserve the effective circulatory volume. Hypoalbuminemia is common in hospitalized patients and is found especially frequently in patients who require KRT either for AKI or as maintenance hemodialysis. In such patients, hypoalbuminemia is strongly associated with morbidity, intradialytic hypotension, and mortality. Intravenous albumin may be administered in an effort to prevent or treat hypotension or to augment fluid removal, but this practice is controversial. Theoretically, intravenous albumin administration might prevent or treat hypotension by promoting plasma refilling in response to ultrafiltration. However, clinical trials have demonstrated that albumin administration is not nearly as effective a volume expander as might be assumed according to its oncotic properties. Although intravenous albumin is generally considered to be safe, it is also very expensive. In addition, there are potential risks to using it to prevent or treat intradialytic hypotension. Some recent studies have suggested that hyperoncotic albumin solutions may precipitate or worsen AKI in patients with sepsis or shock; however, the overall evidence supporting this effect is weak. In this review, we explore the theoretical benefits and risks of using intravenous albumin to mitigate intradialytic hypotension and/or enhance ultrafiltration and summarize the current evidence relating to this practice. This includes studies relevant to its use in patients on maintenance hemodialysis and critically ill patients with AKI who require KRT in the intensive care unit. Despite evidence of its frequent use and high costs, at present, there are minimal data that support the routine use of intravenous albumin during KRT. As such, adequately powered trials to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous albumin in this setting are clearly needed.
ApoE4 attenuates cortical neuronal activity and impairs memory in young apoE4 rats

The E4 allele of apolipoprotein E (apoE4) is the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, apoE4 may cause innate brain abnormalities before the appearance of AD related neuropathology. Understanding these primary dysfunctions is vital for early detection of AD and the development of therapeutic strategies for it. Recently we have shown impaired extra-hippocampal memory in young apoE4 mice – a deficit that was correlated with attenuated structural pre-synaptic plasticity in cortical and subcortical regions. Here we test the hypothesis that these early structural deficits impact learning via changes in basal and stimuli evoked neuronal activity. We recorded extracellular neuronal activity from the gustatory cortex (GC) of three-month-old humanized apoE4 and wildtype rats, before and after conditioned taste aversion (CTA) training. Despite normal sucrose drinking behavior before CTA, young apoE4 rats showed impaired CTA learning, consistent with our previous results in apoE4 mice. This behavioral deficit was correlated with decreased basal and taste-evoked firing rates in both putative excitatory and inhibitory GC neurons. Single neuron and ensemble analyses of taste coding demonstrated that apoE4 neurons could be used to correctly classify tastes, but were unable to undergo plasticity to support learning. Our results suggest that apoE4 impacts brain excitability and plasticity early in life and may act as an initiator for later AD pathologies. Significant statement The ApoE4 allele is the strongest genetic risk-factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), yet the link between apoE4 and AD is still unclear. Recent molecular and in-vitro studies suggest that apoE4 interferes with normal brain functions decades before the development of its related AD neuropathology. Here we recorded the activity of cortical neurons from young apoE4 rats during extra-hippocampal learning to study early apoE4 neuronal activity abnormalities, and their effects over coding capacities. We show that apoE4 drastically reduces basal and stimuli-evoked cortical activity in both excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The apoE4-induced activity attenuation did not prevent coding of stimuli identity and valence, but impaired capacity to undergo activity changes to support learning. Our findings support the hypothesis that apoE4 interfere with normal neuronal plasticity early in life; a deficit that may lead to late-onset AD development.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Quality of Educational Process: A Student Survey

The paper presents the results of a students’ survey carried out at “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania, on the quality of educational process on online platforms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study was addressed to students from the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports. The results of survey highlighted that most of students were satisfied with the measures taken by the university during the lockdown period and the way the teaching—learning-assessment process took place. However, some negative aspects were reported as: lack of an adequate infrastructure for some students, less effective teacher-student communication and interaction, impossibility of performing practical applications, lack of socialization, lack of learning motivation, less objective examination (e.g., possibility of cheating), possibility of physical and mental health degradation (e.g., too much time spent in front of screens, installation of a sedentary lifestyle). Consequently, for the new academic year, effective, and efficient measures must be implemented by the management of the university to remove, as much as possible, these negative issues and to improve the performance of online educational process.
Radiation Response of Human Cardiac Endothelial Cells Reveals a Central Role of the cGAS-STING Pathway in the Development of Inflammation

Radiation-induced inflammation leading to the permeability of the endothelial barrier may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate potential mechanisms in vitro at the level of the proteome in human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCECest2) that were exposed to radiation doses of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 2.0 and 10 Gy (60Co-γ). Proteomics analysis was performed using mass spectrometry in a label-free data-independent acquisition mode. The data were validated using bioinformatics and immunoblotting. The low- and moderate-dose-irradiated samples (0.25 Gy, 0.5 Gy) showed only scarce proteome changes. In contrast, an activation of DNA-damage repair, inflammation, and oxidative stress pathways was seen after the high-dose treatments (2 and 10 Gy). The level of the DNA damage response protein DDB2 was enhanced early at the 10 Gy dose. The expression of proteins belonging to the inflammatory response or cGAS-STING pathway (STING, STAT1, ICAM1, ISG15) increased in a dose-dependent manner, showing the strongest effects at 10 Gy after one week. This study suggests a connection between the radiation-induced DNA damage and the induction of inflammation which supports the inhibition of the cGAS-STING pathway in the prevention of radiation-induced cardiovascular disease.
One- and Two-Step Anaerobic Digestion of Solid Agroindustrial Residues

Large quantities of solid organic residues are generated during the processing of vegetable matters in agro-industry. In general, these residues are structureless and contain more than 80 % water, so that composting is hindered. A possible alternative for the stabilization of these residues may be the anaerobic methanogenic degradation, which has the additional advantage of biogas formation. For the development of an efficient and reliable anaerobic treatment process, two novel digestion systems with one- and two-step operation have been built in pilot-scale and tested with different agro-industrial residues. The results have shown that for residues with a C:N-ratio above 15 the one-step process should be used preferably, whereas protein-rich residues with a C:N-ratio below 10 can be treated only in the two-step process. For the different agro-industrial residues it was found that about 50 - 70 % of the organic matter can be degraded within retention times of 10 - 20 days. The biogas production was typically 300 -500 m3 per ton of dry organic matter.
Vigor determination of okra seeds by respiratory activity

Seed companies increasingly need to obtain reliable results on seed vigor. Therefore, the objective was to verify the efficiency of the respiratory activity measurement, by the CO2 released, to classify the vigor of okra seed lots. For this, five seed lots of okra cv. “Santa Cruz 47” were used. In order to determine seed physiological quality, the following tests were performed: germination, seedling emergence, emergence speed index, shoot length, total dry matter, potassium leaching, electrical conductivity and respiratory activity. Mean values of germination and vigor were compared by Tukey’s test. Respiratory activity was correlated with germination and other vigor tests by the Pearson’s correlation. The results indicate that CO2 measurement is a promising method to identify vigor differences between okra seed lots.
The protective impact of Trans-Cinnamaldehyde (TCA) against the IL-1β induced inflammation in vitro osteoarthritis model by regulating PI3K/AKT pathways.

INTRODUCTION Osteoarthritis (OA) is a severe joint degeneration disease in elderly people described by the advanced degradation of articular cartilage, which ultimately leads to chronic pain. Trans-cinnamaldehyde (TCA) exerted its anti-inflammatory function in numerous disease syndromes; however, its role in the pathogenesis of OA remains unknown. The current research aimed to explore the potential protective impact of TCA in the progression of osteoarthritis in vitro. MATERIAL AND METHODS Human knee articular chondrocytes were treated with 10 ng/ml IL-1β alone for 24 h or in a combination in a pretreatment with TCA at different concentrations (2, 5, 10 µg/mL, 24 h). The viability and cell apoptosis were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry methods. The protein levels of IL-8, PGE2, and TNF-α and the levels of phosphorylated AKT and PI3K were evaluated using ELISA assay. Moreover, RT-qPCR was used to measure the relative mRNA expression of MMP-13, iNOS, COX-2, and ADAMTS-5 in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes. RESULTS Our results revealed that the treatment with TCA had no effect on chondrocytes' proliferation and apoptosis. Moreover, the protein levels of IL-8, TNF-α, and PGE2 were considerably reduced in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes treated with different concentrations of TCA. Furthermore, the mRNA expression of MMP-13, iNOS, COX-2, and ADAMTS-5 and the phosphorylation of AKT and PI3K were markedly reduced in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes with the increase in the concentration of TCA. CONCLUSIONS Trans-cinnamaldehyde inhibited the inflammation induced by IL-1β in chondrocytes through the PI3K/AKT pathway, which suggests that TCA might serve as a potential therapeutic agent for osteoarthritis treatment.
Effects of TNF-α antagonist infliximab on fructose-induced metabolic syndrome in rats

Public health issues have been raised regarding fructose toxicity and its serious metabolic disorders. Deleterious effects of high fructose intake on insulin sensitivity, body weight, lipid homeostasis have been identified. The new millennium has witnessed the emergence of a modern epidemic, the metabolic syndrome (MS), in approximately 25% of the world’s adult population. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of the TNF-α antagonist infliximab on fructose-induced MS in rats. Rats were administered fructose (10%) in drinking water for 12 weeks to induce the experimental MS model. infliximab (5 mg/kg) was injected once weekly intraperitoneally starting on the 13th week for 4 weeks. Increase in body weight, blood glucose level, serum triglycerides (TGs), adiponectin level and blood pressure were present in MS rats. They also prompted increases in serum of leptin, TNF-α, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Treatment with infliximab did not affect body weight, hyperglycemia or hypertension, but decreased serum TGs and increased serum HDL-c levels. Infliximab also decreased adiponectin levels. Surprisingly, infliximab increased MDA above its value in the MS group. These results reflect the fact that infliximab affects the manifestations of MS in rats. Though infliximab reduced TGs, increased HDL-c levels, reversed adiponectin resistance occurred by fructose, the drug failed to combat MS-mediated hyperglycemia, hypertension, and elevated MDA above the insult.
Effets de différents modèles de stress sur le développement lymphocytaire

Les vols spatiaux sont source de nombreux stress conduisant a un affaiblissement du systeme immunitaire. L’efficacite de ce systeme repose notamment sur la diversite des repertoires de recepteurs aux antigenes presents a la surface des lymphocytes B (BCR) et T (TCR) permettant de reconnaitre un grand nombre d’antigenes differents. Au cours de cette these, j’ai etudie la diversite des recepteurs a l’antigene dans trois modeles animaux differents : l’amphibien Pleurodeles waltl, le modele murin de suspension anti‐orthostatique (micropesanteur simulee) et le modele murin CUMS (pour « Chronic Unpredictable Mild Socio‐environmental stressors ») qui fait appel a des stress sociaux et environnementaux chroniques similaires a ceux rencontres lors des vols spatiaux. L’etude des repertoires de chaines lourdes d’anticorps IgM et IgY de P. waltl a montre que ceux‐ci presentent une diversite importante, faisant de cet animal un bon modele pour etudier les effets d’un vol spatial sur le systeme immunitaire humoral. Nous avons aussi montre que l’exposition a la suspension anti‐orthostatique durant 21 jours diminue la lymphopoiese B mais n’affecte que moderement la diversite du repertoire de chaines lourdes d’IgM. Ces resultats ont ete compares a ceux obtenus avec des souris âgees afin de savoir si la suspension anti‐orthostatique induit un vieillissement accelere du systeme immunitaire. Meme si nous avons note des similitudes interessantes entre ces deux groupes de souris, nous avons constate que l’effet du vieillissement sur le repertoire d’IgM est plus important que celui de la suspension anti‐orthostatique, suggerant que le temps d’exposition au modele anti‐orthostatique devrait etre augmente pour accentuer ses effets sur le repertoire d’anticorps. Quant au modele CUMS, nous avons montre que son application durant la gestation n’impacte pas la lymphopoiese T chez les souriceaux nouveau‐nes mais affecte 25% de leur repertoire de chaines lourdes β du TCR. Ces resultats suggerent que des stress socio‐environnementaux chroniques, meme de faibles intensites, pourraient modifier les capacites de reconnaissance antigenique de l’hote
The Properties of Liquid and Solid Helium

DOWNLOAD HERE Matter at low temperatures , P. V. E. McClintock, D. J. Meredith, J. K. Wigmore, Jul 1, 1984, Science, 258 pages. Helium-3 and helium-4 , W. E. Keller, 1969, Science, 431 pages. Proceedings, Volume 13, Part 2 , Klaus D. Timmerhaus, W. J. O'Sullivan, E. F. Hammel, 1972, Science, . Low Temperature Physics & Chemistry , , 1972, Science, . A supplement to "Helium. " , EvgeniÐ”ÂMikhaÐ”Â-lovich LifshitÐ¿Ñ‘Â sÐ¿Ñ‘ÐŽ, Willem Hendrik Keesom, Ð”â€“levter Andronikashvili, 1959, Science, 167 pages. Liquid Helium , G. Careri, 1963, , 442 pages. Helium 4 , Zygmunt M. Galasiewicz, 1971, Science, 338 pages. Proceedings, Volume 2 , , 1960, Science, . Fundamental Properties of Quantum Solid Helium-4 , James Christian Day, 2008, Helium, 254 pages. The recent torsional oscillator results of Kim and Chan seem to suggest a super-solid phase transition in solid 4He, at 200 mK, confined in Vycor. We have used a capacitive . An introduction to liquid helium , John Wilks, David Sheridan Betts, 1987, Science, 187 pages. The behavior of liquid 3He and 4He provides one of the best and most direct examples in nature of the influence of quantum statistics on the bulk properties of matter. This . Low temperature physics & chemistry proceeding, Joseph R. Dillinger, 1958, , 676 pages. Proceedings , Ohio State University. Research Foundation, United States. Air Force. Office of Scientific Research, 1957, Science, 233 pages.
Speaking Anxiety of First Semester Students of English Education Department at Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta in 2018

SPEAKING ANXIETY OF FIRST SEMESTER STUDENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AT MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA IN 2018 ABSTRACT DYAH PERMATA SIWI LAMILA. A320140067. SPEAKING ANXIETY OF FIRST SEMESTER STUDENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DE-PARTMENT AT MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF SURAKARTA IN 2018. Research Paper. School of Teacher Training and English end Education. Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta 2020, 66 Pages. Speaking is one way of someone to convey an intent or purpose such as making a presentation or speech in public, asking and answering questions, asking for help or just talking with friends or family. But speaking is also a problem of some people who have excessive anxiety and fear of being criticized by others, so some of them choose to silent. This can be said as speaking anxiety. The study aims to identify the types of speaking anxiety, describe the types of speaking anx-iety that often arise, and describe the causes of first semester student from De-partment of English Education at Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta in 2018 who experience speaking anxiety. This research was analyzed using qualitative descriptive methods. The target fom this study were 18 students from Department of English Education of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta in 2018. In this study, the writer used the theory of speaking anxiety classification from Tercan and Kenan (2015) and the theories from Ghufron and Rini (2009) to identify the causes of speaking anxiety. Based on speaking anxiety classification by Tercan and Kenan (2015) there are three types of anxiety, namely trait anxiety, state anxi-ety and situation-speaking anxiety. In this study, the writer found 7 data of trait anxiety, 8 data of state anxiety, and 6 data of situation-specific anxiety. State anx-iety is the dominant anxiety found in first semester students while situation-specific anxiety is the least and trait anxiety is only 5% different from the percent-age of the data. And then for the causes of student speaking anxiety based on the theory of Ghufron and Rini (2009) there are two causes, namely internal and ex-ternal. The writer found 6 internal causes, such as unconfortable, nervous, psyco-logically disturbed, worry for making mistakes, shame, and negative thinking. While for external causes the writer found 3 causes, namely fear of the lecturers, fear of being mocked and laughed, and fear in front of many people. The results showed that the cause of anxiety was dominant coming from the students them-selves. Keywords: Speaking Anxiety, Causes of Speaking Anxiety.