Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel 16-Genes Signature Scoring System as Prognostic Model to Evaluate Survival Risk in Patients with Glioblastoma

Previous studies have found that gene expression levels are associated with prognosis and some genes can be used to predict the survival risk of glioblastoma (GBM) patients. However, most of them just built the survival-related gene signature, and personal survival risk can be evaluated only in group. This study aimed to find the prognostic survival related genes of GBM, and construct survival risk prediction model, which can be used to evaluate survival risk by individual. We collected gene expression data and clinical information from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. Cox regression analysis and LASSO-cox regression analysis were performed to get survival-related genes and establish the overall survival prediction model. The ROC curve and Kaplan Meier analysis were used to evaluate the prediction ability of the model in training set and two independent cohorts. We also analyzed the biological functions of survival-related genes by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. We identified 99 genes associated with overall survival and selected 16 genes (IGFBP2, GPRASP1, C1R, CHRM3, CLSTN2, NELL1, SEZ6L2, NMB, ICAM5, HPCAL4, SNAP91, PCSK1N, PGBD5, INA, UCHL1 and LHX6) to establish the survival risk prediction model. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicted that the risk score could predict overall survival independent of age and gender. ROC analyses showed that our model was more robust than four existing signatures. The sixteen genes can also be potential transcriptional biomarkers and the model can assist doctors on clinical decision-making and personalized treatment of GBM patients.
Targeting GPCRs and Their Signaling as a Therapeutic Option in Melanoma

Simple Summary Sixteen G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been involved in melanogenesis or melanomagenesis. Here, we review these GPCRs, their associated signaling, and therapies. Abstract G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) serve prominent roles in melanocyte lineage physiology, with an impact at all stages of development, as well as on mature melanocyte functions. GPCR ligands are present in the skin and regulate melanocyte homeostasis, including pigmentation. The role of GPCRs in the regulation of pigmentation and, consequently, protection against external aggression, such as ultraviolet radiation, has long been established. However, evidence of new functions of GPCRs directly in melanomagenesis has been highlighted in recent years. GPCRs are coupled, through their intracellular domains, to heterotrimeric G-proteins, which induce cellular signaling through various pathways. Such signaling modulates numerous essential cellular processes that occur during melanomagenesis, including proliferation and migration. GPCR-associated signaling in melanoma can be activated by the binding of paracrine factors to their receptors or directly by activating mutations. In this review, we present melanoma-associated alterations of GPCRs and their downstream signaling and discuss the various preclinical models used to evaluate new therapeutic approaches against GPCR activity in melanoma. Recent striking advances in our understanding of the structure, function, and regulation of GPCRs will undoubtedly broaden melanoma treatment options in the future.
Stochastic versus Fuzzy Models—A Discussion Centered on the Reliability of an Electrical Power Supply System in a Large European Hospital

This paper discusses the Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety (RAMS) of an electrical power supply system in a large European hospital. The primary approach is based on fuzzy logic and Petri nets, using the CPNTools software to simulate and determine the most important modules of the system according to the Automatic Transfer Switch. Fuzzy Inference System is used to analyze and assess the reliability value. The stochastic versus fuzzy approach is also used to evaluate the reliability contribution of each system module. This case study aims to identify and analyze possible system failures and propose new solutions to improve the system reliability of the power supply system. The dynamic modeling is based on block diagrams and Petri nets and is evaluated via Markov chains, including a stochastic approach linked to the previous analysis. This holistic approach adds value to this type of research question. A new electrical power supply system design is proposed to increase the system’s reliability based on the results achieved.
Structural and Physicochemical Properties of Tunisian Quercus suber L. Starches for Custard Formulation: A Comparative Study

The aim of the present study was to extract starch from acorn (Quercus suber L.) fruits using water and alkaline methods. Structural and functional properties of extracted starches were investigated and compared to those of corn and modified starches in order to determine their innovative potential application in food industry. The yield of extraction using the two methods was about 48.32% and 48.1%. The isolated starches showed low moisture, fat and protein contents, revealing high purity and quality. Additionally, the starch extracted using the alkaline method (AAS) showed higher lightness (60.41) when compared to starch isolated using hot water (WAS). However, the lightest white color was found for studied commercial starches. Moreover, AAS starch exhibited the highest swelling power, solubility and water absorption, followed by WAS and commercial starches. Results showed that extracted acorn starches were characterized by greater enthalpy and gelatinization temperatures. Similar observations were noted using FT-IR spectra analysis for all analyzed starches. In addition, granule starches observed using scanning electron microscopy were found to be spherical and ovoid. However, from the analysis by X-ray diffraction, a crystalline pattern of C-type was found for acorn starches, while commercial starches presented an A-type pattern. As an innovative food application, these underexploited acorn starches were valued and served to produce new custards with improved functional properties and better microstructure when compared to commercial custard.
Habitat quality assessment of Alpine Streams using ARISE: a classification tool for Alpine RIver and Stream Ecosystems in Khunjerab National Park Gilgit, Pakistan

Abstract This study is based on detailed multidisciplinary field investigations with the use of the Alpine River and Stream Ecosystems (ARISE) Classification to assess spatial and temporal patterns of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in relation to altitudinal and channel stability gradients. We expected the field validation through the use of an innovative ARISE classification approach of alpine aquatic ecosystems by collecting physicochemical variables and benthic macroinvertebrate community data from various stream locations of Khunjerab National Park (Pakistan). The significant differences in physicochemical habitat structure and altitudinal changes of benthic macroinvertebrate communities (i.e., richness, abundance, and diversity) were observed among the ARISE classification categories. For instance, the early spring categories had high Shannon-Wiener index (1.377) than summer (1.267), while summer season categories had high turbidity (>5NTU). Early spring mercury nival (0.00083 mg/L) and aluminum nivo-kernal (0.25 mg/L) were also found above permissible levels according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The multivariate statistical techniques showed a strong correlation among physicochemical and biological parameters of stream classification categories suggesting the increased applicability of the use of the ARISE classification approach. This study is expected to contribute to the advancement in the method of the stream monitoring program and improve conservation and management of the alpine benthic macroinvertebrate diversity further in Pakistan, the Asian Himalayas, and beyond. HIGHLIGHTS The ARISE categories of alpine streams were evaluated using physicochemical and biological indicators in Khunjerab National Park, Pakistan. The distinctive ARISE classification reflects community composition and structure (density, diversity, evenness, and richness) and additionally biotic and diversity indices. Baseline information is presented to understand the current features for the conservation and management of alpine lotic ecosystems.
Coloured Petri Nets-Based Modeling and Validation of Insulin Infusion Pump Systems

Safety and effectiveness are crucial quality attributes for insulin infusion pump systems. Therefore, regulatory agencies require the quality evaluation and approval of such systems before the market to decrease the risk of harm, motivating the usage of a formal Model-Based Approach (MBA) to improve quality. Nevertheless, using a formal MBA increases costs and development time because it requires expert knowledge and thorough analyses of behaviors. We aim to assist the quality evaluation of such systems in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner, providing re-usable project artifacts by applying our proposed approach (named MBA with CPN—MBA/CPN). We defined a Coloured Petri nets MBA and a case study on a commercial insulin infusion pump system to verify and validate a reference model (as a component of MBA/CPN), describing quality assessment scenarios. We also conducted an empirical evaluation to verify the productivity and reusability of modelers when using the reference model. Such a model is relevant to reason about behaviors and quality evaluation of such concurrent and complex systems. During the empirical evaluation, using the reference model, 66.7% of the 12 interviewed modelers stated no effort, while 8.3% stated low effort, 16.7% medium effort, and 8.3% considerable effort. Based on the modelers’ knowledge, we implemented a web-based application to assist them in re-using our proposed approach, enabling simulation-based training. Although a reduced number of modelers experimented with our approach, such an evaluation provided insights to improve the MBA/CPN. Given the empirical evaluation and the case study results, MBA/CPN showed to be relevant to assess the quality of insulin infusion pump systems.
Persistence of High Percentage of Peripheral Activated CD8+ T Cells Predict Cytologic HPV-Related Dysplasia in cART-Treated, HIV-Positive Subjects

Abstract Background People with HIV are at increased risk of human papillomavirus (HPV) disease progression, given the persistence of immune activation and residual inflammation despite effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). Whether a low CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio, known to mirror peripheral immune dysfunction, is associated with squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) is unknown. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study on cART-treated HIV-positive subjects undergoing screening for HPV-related dysplasia (anal/cervical cytology and HPV genotyping). SIL was defined as the presence of either atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), low-grade SILs, or high-grade SILs. Demographic and viro-immunological parameters (T-cell count, CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio, CD8+ CD38+ T-cell percentage) at the time of screening were analyzed by the chi-square test, Mann-Whitney test, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 419 cART-treated subjects were included. Half of the patients had cervical/anal SIL. Individuals with SIL were more commonly males, were men who have sex with men, were coinfected with Treponema pallidum, had been treated with integrase inhibitor (INSTI)–based cART regimens, and had a shorter time since HIV diagnosis and cART initiation than subjects with normal cytology. CD38+ CD8+ T-cell percentage, but not the CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio, correlated with SILs. HPV infection, especially with multiple and high-risk genotypes, was confirmed to be associated with SIL. In multivariate analysis, the only factors independently associated with cervical/anal dysplasia were HPV infection and harboring higher percentages of peripheral activated CD38+ CD8+ T cells. Conclusions HPV infection is the major driver of dysplasia in the setting of HIV infection. In this study, CD8+ CD38+ T cells were an independent predictor of dysplasia in cART-treated subjects, while CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio was not. In the setting of HIV–HPV coinfection, CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio may not fully capture the alterations of HPV-specific immunity.
Distribution of Copy Number Variation in SYT11 Gene and Its Association with Growth Conformation Traits in Chinese Cattle

Simple Summary It is known that many different breeds of cattle are widely distributed in China. However, due to a lengthy selection of draught direction, there are obvious shortcomings in Chinese cattle, such as less meat production, slow weight gain, poor meat quality, and a lack of specialized beef cattle breeds. Animal breeding heavily benefits from molecular technologies, among which molecular genetic markers were widely used to improve the economic traits of beef cattle. Because the copy number variation (CNV) involves a longer DNA sequence or even the entire functional gene, it may have a greater impact on the phenotype. Recent studies have indicated that CNVs are widespread in the Chinese cattle genome. By investigating the effects of CNVs on gene expression and cattle traits, we aim to find those genomic variations which could significantly affect cattle traits, and which could provide a basis for genetic selection and molecular breeding of local Chinese cattle. Abstract Currently, studies of the SYT11 gene mainly focus on neurological diseases such as schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. However, some studies have shown that the C2B domain of SYT11 can interact with RISC components and affect the gene regulation of miRNA, which is important for cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis, and therefore has an impact on muscle growth and development in animals. The whole-genome resequencing data detected a CNV in the SYT11 gene, and this may affect cattle growth traits. In this study, CNV distribution of 672 individuals from four cattle breeds, Yunling, Pinan, Xianan, and Qinchuan, were detected by qPCR. The relationship between CNV, gene expression and growth traits was further investigated. The results showed that the proportion of multiple copy types was the largest in all cattle breeds, but there were some differences among different breeds. The normal type had higher gene expression than the abnormal copy type. The CNVs of the SYT11 gene were significantly correlated with body length, cannon circumference, chest depth, rump length, and forehead size of Yunling cattle, and was significantly correlated with the bodyweight of Xianan cattle, respectively. These data improve our understanding of the effects of CNV on cattle growth traits. Our results suggest that the CNV of SYT11 gene is a protentional molecular marker, which may be used to improve growth traits in Chinese cattle.
Impact of Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering on Meteorological Droughts in West Africa

This study assesses changes in meteorological droughts in West Africa under a high greenhouse gas scenario, i.e., a representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5), and under a scenario of stratospheric aerosol geoengineering (SAG) deployment. Using simulations from the Geoengineering Large Ensemble (GLENS) project that employed stratospheric sulfate aerosols injection to keep global mean surface temperature, as well as the interhemispheric and equator-to-pole temperature gradients at the 2020 level (present-day climate), we investigated the impact of SAG on meteorological droughts in West Africa. Analysis of the meteorological drought characteristics (number of drought events, drought duration, maximum length of drought events, severity of the greatest drought events and intensity of the greatest drought event) revealed that over the period from 2030–2049 and under GLENS simulations, these drought characteristics decrease in most regions in comparison to the RCP8.5 scenarios. On the contrary, over the period from 2070–2089 and under GLENS simulations, these drought characteristics increase in most regions compared to the results from the RCP8.5 scenarios. Under GLENS, the increase in drought characteristics is due to a decrease in precipitation. The decrease in precipitation is largely driven by weakened monsoon circulation due to the reduce of land–sea thermal contrast in the lower troposphere.
Secondary Structures of Proteins Follow Menzerath–Altmann Law

This article examines the presence of the empirical tendency known as the Menzerath–Altmann Law (MAL) on protein secondary structures. MAL is related to optimization principles observed in natural languages and in genetic information on chromosomes or protein domains. The presence of MAL is examined on a non-redundant dataset of 4728 proteins by verifying significant, negative correlations and testing classical and newly proposed formulas by fitting the observed trend. We conclude that the lengths of secondary structures are specifically dependent on their number inside the protein sequence, while possibly reflecting the formula proposed in this paper. This behavior is observed on average but is individually avoidable and possibly driven by a latent cost function. The data suggest that MAL could provide a useful guiding principle in protein design.
Short-Term Effects of Reclamation of Aquaculture Ponds to Paddy Fields on Soil Chemical Properties and Bacterial Communities in Eastern China Coastal Zone

Large areas of tidal flats were previously developed into aquaculture ponds and were recently encouraged to be converted into paddy fields to fulfill food and economic needs in China. However, the influences of short-term rice cultivation at the reclaimed aquaculture ponds on soil chemical properties and bacterial communities are poorly understood. To address this issue, we collected mineral soil samples at 0–20 and 20–40 cm depths from non-cultivated soils and paddy fields after being reclaimed from aquaculture ponds in Nantong, China, and identified soil bacterial communities using high-throughput sequencing. The results suggested that rice cultivation significantly increased the accumulation of total soil carbon (TC) and dissolved organic carbon (WSOC). The pH, ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO3−) and available phosphorus (AP) varied with the reclamation duration but did not show a unanimous tendency. Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Planctomycetes dominated the bacterial community in both non-cultivated and cultivated soils after reclamation regardless of cultivation ages and soil depth. The variations in the diversity and composition of the soil microbial community were mainly associated with electrical conductivity (EC), WSOC, TC, NH4+ and NO3− in non-cultivated and cultivated lands. Here, we found that short-term rice cultivation at the reclaimed aquaculture ponds strongly influenced soil bacterial communities and chemical properties, especially in the 0–20 cm depth, in the coastal regions.
COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Myocarditis: A Descriptive Study of 40 Case Reports

After the surging rise in the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved emergency approval of vaccinations to prevent life-threatening complications of COVID-19 infection. These vaccines are BNT162b2, mRNA-1273. Later, the FDA also approved JNJ-78436735. COVID-19 vaccination does not have major side effects, but there are some concerning adverse events reported right after vaccination. Myocarditis is one of them. Based on our analysis of 40 case reports, we are presenting the epidemiology and clinical picture of myocarditis related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Based on our analysis, we found that the majority of cases were seen in males with 90% predominance, and these cases were seen in the age group of 29.13 years old (mean, SD of 14.39 years). In 65% of cases, patients took the BNT162b2 vaccine; 30% of cases were reported with the mRNA-1273 vaccine; and 5% of cases with JNJ-78436735. Of all the cases, 80% of them are reported after the second dose of the vaccine with either Moderna or Pfizer. The characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine-related myocarditis were analyzed in this study. We identified several findings, ranging from age, gender, type of vaccination, presentation of symptoms, and diagnosis modality. This depicts the picture of COVID-19 vaccine-related myocarditis and what physicians should expect when dealing with the disease. Our analysis showed that more cases were reported after receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine compared to mRNA-1273 and JNJ-78436735 vaccines. Further research needs to be conducted to analyze the underlying cause of this association.
Why does listening matter inside the organization? The impact of internal listening on employee-organization relationships

ABSTRACT This study examined whether and how listening in the internal communication context may influence the quality of employee-organization relationships. This study proposed employee psychological need satisfaction as the potential underlying mechanism that mediates the relationship between internal listening and employee relational outcomes. An online survey was conducted with 443 employees across various industries in the United States. The key findings of this study showed that employee perceptions of internal organizational listening were positively associated with employees’ perceived relationships with their organization. In addition, employee psychological need satisfaction positively mediated the effects of both organizational and supervisory listening on the quality of employee-organization relationships. This study advances the theorizing of listening from an internal communication perspective and contributes to the growing body of knowledge in relationship management.
Dynamics and Control of Typical Orbits around Saturn

This paper investigates the dynamics of some typical orbits around Saturn, including sun-synchronous orbits, repeating ground track orbits, frozen orbits, and stationary orbits, and corresponding control methods mainly based on the mean element theory. The leading terms of Saturn’s aspheric gravitational field, J2 and J4 terms, are used when designing the orbits around Saturn. Two control methods of sun-synchronous orbits, including initial inclination-biased method and periodic inclination-biased method, are used to damp the local time drift at the descending node, which is caused by solar gravitation and atmospheric drag. The compensation of semimajor axis and maneuver period to maintain the recursive feature of repeating ground orbits are calculated. While only J2 and J3 terms are taken into account, we examine the argument that the perigee of frozen orbits around Saturn should be 270 deg to promise meaningful eccentricity. The perturbations of inclination and eccentricity of stationary orbits due to solar gravitation and solar radiation pressure are presented. Meanwhile, the preliminary control strategies of inclination perturbation and eccentricity perturbation are naturally introduced.