Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative study of sucrose plasticised bioplastic derivatives with selected petro-plastics

Corresponding author: agwamba.ernest@gmail.com ABSTRACT The major setback with most bioplastics plastics in terms of high production cost, and there poor mechanical properties like low tensile strength and percentage extension. This study explore the availability and affordability of mango starch as some of its mechanical properties with High density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low density polyethylene (LDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and Polyurethane (PU). Mango starch was used to synthesize bioplastic de aqueous HCl concentration and Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as additive and the mechanical properties of the derived biofilms was measured and compared with the selected Petro-plastics films. It wa higher young modulus of 5.658 GPa than that obtained for PVC (4.682 GPa), and PU (3.771 GPa) but show no significant difference and significantly higher than that of HDPE (0.049 GPa), and LDPE (0.063 GP is significantly lower than PU and PVC, but showed a young modulus that is higher than LDPE and HDPE with no significant difference (p < 0.05). The FTIR spectra indicate that hydrogen bond was formed in the bulk matrix of the bioplastic derivatives at a band region of 3600 -600 cm wavenumber with broad discrete peaks.
Therapuetic Targeting Of Macrophage Populations By Oncolytic Vesicular Stomatitis Virus

The human immune system is dedicated to ridding the body of foreign pathogens. However, in the context of cancer members of the innate and adaptive immune systems, M2 macrophages in particular, contribute to tumor growth and metastasis and are thus associated with poor patient prognosis. Metastasis is defined by the acquired ability of cancer cells to invade surrounding tissues and vasculature and is completed upon colonization of distant sites. As these patients respond poorly to traditional treatment options, the need for additional therapies has emerged. The therapies of interest in this thesis are oncolytic viruses that kill cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. This includes oncolytic vesicular stomatitis virus, which has not only demonstrated tumoricidal capabilities, but the ability to modulate immune cells to elicit anti-viral responses. This thesis seeks to investigate if different strains of this oncolytic virus, a recombinant wild-type (rwt) virus and a matrix (M) protein mutant (rM51R-M) virus, can infect and target pro-tumor M2 macrophages and inhibit their stimulatory role in cancer growth and metastasis. To explore this objective, monocytes, M0, M1, and M2 macrophages were infected with rwt virus or rM51R-M virus whereupon viral replication, cell death, phenotypic switching, and podosome formation were analyzed.
Diversity patterns and community characteristics of the fish assemblage of a West African lagoon

Abstract. Coastal lagoons are important habitats in West Africa, being also irreplaceable for many species of fish. The community structure and the diversity patterns of their fish assemblages have however been poorly studied so far. In order to evaluate the community structure and diversity metrics of fish assemblages of one of these lagoons (Lake Togo, Togo), we surveyed four stations that were different in terms of morphological and ecological characteristics, from July to September 2017. The fishing gears were recorded and catches of small-scale fisheries were analyzed. A total of 40 species in 37 genera, 24 families and 10 orders were recorded, with Cichlidae (six species), followed by Eleotridae (five species) and Gobiidae (three species) being the most diverse families. The most abundant species in the catches were: Sarotherodon melanotheron, Coptodon guineensis, Chrysischthys nigrodigitatus and Ethmalosa fimbriata. Strict estuarine species (Es) were the most represented forms in the catches. Calculated indices of diversity showed that Lake Togo has moderate diversity and a poor organization of individuals within species.
Various Aspects of Astroparticle Physics and the Implications for Dark Matter Searches

Cosmic rays offer an opportunity to search for dark matter, if the latter decays or annihilates into standard model particles. In the first part of this work, we address an excess that was claimed to be seen in the cosmic ray antiproton spectrum. Carefully evaluating the uncertainties of the analysis as well as their correlations, we show that the significance hardly exceeds 1σ. In the absence of an anomaly, we derive limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section that disfavor thermal WIMPs below roughly 500 GeV. To go further, we question the general setup of typical homogeneous diffusion models. We point out that the measured positron and electron+positron spectrum at TeV energies are consistent with the astrophysical background prediction, if energy losses are not relevant. We propose alternative models of cosmic ray propagation that capture these properties, and discuss the consistency with various astrophysical measurements. It turns out that secondary electrons+positrons at TeV energy require short escape time ≤ 0.1 Myr. We show that this implies that the cosmic rays at these energies have seen an average density of interstellar matter of a few particles per cm3. This number is so far consistent with observations, but requires further investigation, e.g. through starlight extinction maps or γ-ray surveys. In the last part we look at four explicit models of dark matter with a small coupling to the visible sector through the electromagnetic interaction, namely through a dark photon portal or through an electric or magnetic dipole moment. The small couplings prohibit thermalization with the standard model sector in the early universe, such that typical constraints for dark matter masses in the keV range are avoided. Instead, the dark matter may have been produced through annihilations and decay of standard model particles into the dark sector, so-called 'freeze-in' production. The parameters that reproduce the observed relic abundance can partially be constrained by stellar cooling arguments and upcoming direct detection experiments
Using vertical distribution to separate fish from crustaceans in a mixed species trawl fishery

A major challenge in mixed fisheries is achieving acceptable size selectivity for morphologically different species using the same fishing gear. Separator trawls can have different selective properties in the upper and lower compartments and provide successful separation of species. We used a horizontally divided codend with small square meshes (40 mm) and a simple frame to stimulate fish to swim into the upper compartment. The majority of the fish were separated successfully from Nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus), but their preference were uniform. Less than 10% of the Nephrops entered the upper compartment. Length-based analysis revealed three patterns of separation efficiency among nine commercial species: length-dependent separation and preference for the upper or lower compartments. The separation efficiency should be improved for small roundfish and flatfish. There was little diel effect on the separation efficiency. The preference of fish for a compartment, taking the relative height of that compartment into account, was established for this and similar previous studies to enable comparison of results. We recommend length-based analysis to account for the fished population when interpreting results.
Determination of vegetation cover index under different soil management systems of cover plants by using an unmanned aerial vehicle with an onboard digital photographic camera

The permanent monitoring of vegetation cover is important to guarantee a sustainable management of agricultural activities, with a relevant role in the reduction of water erosion. This monitoring can be carried out through different indicators such as vegetation cover indices. In this study, the vegetation cover index was obtained using uncalibrated RGB images generated from a digital photographic camera on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In addition, a comparative study with 11 vegetation indices was carried out. The vegetation indices CIVE and EXG presented a better performance and the index WI presented the worst performance in the vegetation classification during the cycles of jack bean and millet, according to the overall accuracy and Kappa coefficient. Vegetation indices were effective tools in obtaining soil cover index when compared to the standard Stocking method, except for the index WI. Architecture and cycle of millet and jack bean influenced the behavior of the studied vegetation indices. Vegetation indices generated from RGB images obtained by UAV were more practical and efficient, allowing a more frequent monitoring and in a wider area during the crop cycle.
Factors Related to Dental Caries, Periodontal Disease, and Psychological effect of those diseases: A Structural Equation Modeling and Artificial Neural Network model comparative approach

Exceptional growth in the development of oral health of various populations worldwide over the last three decades cannot lessen tribulations in dental caries, periodontal disease, and psychological problems, which are still prevalent in many communities, especially among the poor socioeconomic groups in developing countries like India. Dental caries and periodontal disease are exceedingly related to the lifestyle associated risk factors and various daily habits including smoking and tobacco chewing. Dietary habit is one of the prime causative behind the formation of dental caries and simultaneously the dietary habit is greatly influenced by the person’s socio-economic status. In this study to explore the factors related to dental caries and periodontal disease and how these diseases manipulate the mental health of the people, some SEMs and some ANN models are also formed. At last both models are compared and explained about their purposes and usability for further applications.
Optimisation of the Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Oneknife Unicornfish, Naso thynnoides (Cuvier 1829) Skin Gelatin

Protein hydrolysates are products of splitting protein into peptides, which has been shown to provide superior nutritive benefits than the parent material. Hydrolysis can be carried out enzymatically or by using acid or alkali treatments. In this study, conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis of unicornfish Naso thynnoides (Cuvier 1829) skin gelatin was optimised through response surface methodology (RSM) to yield the highest degree of hydrolysis. Extracted skin gelatin was hydrolysed using a crude preparation of neutral protease from Bacillus sp. The considered optimum hydrolysis conditions were: enzyme concentration of 2.11 % (v/v), the temperature of 47.60 °C and hydrolysis time of 137.45 min resulting in 29.12 % degree of hydrolysis (DH) point prediction value. Foaming capacity expressed as foaming expansion percentage (FE) was also considered as a surface model response. Response surface methodology predicted an optimum FE value of 11.14 % with optimal conditions as follows: enzyme concentration of 2.13 % (v/v), the temperature of 54.16 °C and hydrolysis time of 147.73 min.
Adjuvant TKI therapy in resected EGFR-mutant non-small-cell lung cancer—ready for prime time?

Transl Lung Cancer Res 2020;9(5):1728-1731 | http://dx.doi. org/10.21037/tlcr-20-615 The treatment landscape of metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the 21 century was initially defined by the discovery of oncogene driver mutations and the promise of personalised therapy. Since the practice changing data from the IPASS study that showed EGFR inhibitors improve progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with sensitising EGFR mutations compared to platinum-doublet chemotherapy (1), multiple druggable oncogene driver alterations have been identified, including ALK, ROS-1, RET and NTRK rearrangements and BRAF, KRAS, MET and HER2 mutations (2). Indeed, rapid advances have ensued in recent years with highly selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) demonstrating durable PFS and improved toxicity profiles. One such example is osimertinib, a third generation TKI which recently became the new first-line standard-of-care for the management of EGFR-mutant advanced NSCLC based on an improved overall survival (OS) compared to first generation EGFR TKIs (3). However, despite improvement in PFS outcomes observed with these TKIs, only a subset of patients experience durable disease control and the majority inevitably succumb to disease progression as a consequence of drug resistance. While extensive research is currently underway to better understand mechanisms of circumventing drug resistance and developing highly potent TKIs, the current reality of ‘cure’ is confined to early stage lung cancers. In fact, with growing public awareness and adoption of lung cancer screening programmes, the proportion of early stage lung cancers is likely to increase in years to come. While surgery or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy are the mainstays of treatment, the risk of disease relapse from mirometastatic disease remains a concern. The LACE meta-analysis demonstrated a hazard ratio of death of 0.89 (95% CI, 0.82 to 0.96, P=0.005) and 5-year absolute benefit of 5.4% from adjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy (4), which tempered some of the results from individual studies. It is important to remember that these studies were from an era before molecular testing was routinely performed and when there was a high probability of disease understaging i.e., before PET scanning became more widely-adopted. Nevertheless, it is clear that adjuvant chemotherapy has a role in improving OS rates post-surgical resection. What is unclear however is if novel therapies which have so elegantly demonstrated benefit in the advanced setting could have a survival impact in the early stage setting. To date, there have been a number of studies testing EGFR inhibitors in the adjuvant setting, all with their own limitations. The earlier clinical trials BR19 (gefitinib vs. placebo) and RADIANT (erlotinib vs. placebo) were designed prior to molecular selection by mutation status Editorial
Human lung organoids develop into adult airway-like structures directed by physico-chemical biomaterial properties

Tissues derived from human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) often represent early developmental time points. Yet, when transplanted into immunocompromised mice, these hPSC-derived tissues further mature, which has been enhanced with biomaterial scaffolds, gaining tissue structure and cell types similar to the native adult lung. Our goal was to define the physico-chemical biomaterial properties, including the polymer type, degradation, and pore interconnectivity of the scaffolds. Transplantation of human lung organoids (HLOs) on microporous poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG) scaffolds or polycaprolactone (PCL) produced organoids that formed tube-like structures that resembled both the structure and cellular diversity of an adult lung airway. Microporous scaffolds formed from poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel scaffolds inhibit maturation and the HLOs remain as lung progenitors. The structures formed from cells that occupy multiple pores within the scaffold, and pore interconnectivity and polymer degradation contributed to the maturation. Finally, the overall size of the generated airway structure and the total size of the tissue was influenced by the material degradation rate. Collectively, these biomaterial platforms provide a set of tools to promote maturation of the tissues and to control the size and structure of the organoids.
Changes in Soil C:N:P Stoichiometry and Microbial Structure along Soil Depth in Two Forest Soils

The effects of interactions of soil type and soil depth on soil C:N:P stoichiometry and microorganisms are poorly understood. In this study, soil samples (0–10, 10–20, 20–30, 30–50, 50–100 cm) were collected from two soil types (Haplic luvisols and Eutric cambisols) in Sabina przewalskii Kom. forest of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The soil C:N ratio and soil microbial biomass (SMB) measured using phospholipid fatty acid in Eutric cambisols were significantly higher than in Haplic luvisols, while soil C:P and N:P ratios were the opposite. In the two soil types, the soil C:N ratio significantly increased with soil depth, and the soil C:P and N:P ratios declined. Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that soil depth directly affected soil C, N and P contents. Soil type and soil depth could directly affect soil fungal and bacterial biomass, and indirectly affect both of them through soil bulk density. Meanwhile soil fungal biomass was influenced by soil depth through Total C. These results highlighted that the vertical distribution of soil bacteria could largely be attributed to changes of soil fungi depending on soil carbon resources.
The roles of allopatric fragmentation and niche divergence in intraspecific lineage diversification in the common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans)

Understanding the roles of allopatric fragmentation and niche divergence in intraspecific lineage diversification is central to our comprehension of how new species arise and evolve. Here we integrate an extensive multilocus dataset with species distribution models to address these topics in genetically differentiated population lineages of the common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans).
Reading Academic Citations: How Professors and Graduate Students Read for Different Purposes.

Citations provide truncated yet socially complex information about sources in academic texts which students are obliged to read, comprehend, and then ultimately produce as part of an academic discourse community. While researchers have observed a developmental process whereby students produce citations during source-based writing, little work has investigated the reading stage when students visually encounter citations. In this study, we explored academic reading behaviors by examining eye movements of 27 graduate students and 18 professors as they read 6 authentic research texts for various purposes (summary, analysis, synthesis). Results of factorial ANOVAs showed no differences between students and professors but did reveal that both groups spent far less time looking at citations than surrounding text and that reading purposes affected citation reading behavior. These results indicate that students and professors read academic citations in similar ways. Further, the findings suggest that synthesizing sources, not just summarizing or analyzing them, results in greater attention to citations; thus, students developing their academic writing and citation skills may benefit from synthesizing multiple sources.
Experience marketing: a study of the conceptual aspects

Abstract The main objective of this study was to review the evolution and current concepts of experience marketing according to the main authors who were dedicated to the understanding of this field. The subject is part of the Marketing Science Institute Research Priorities, which points out the prevalence of studies for the marketing field. Although the subject is present in the national and international literature, there are few conceptual studies. Given the importance of the topic, this research proposes a form of understanding the phenomenon of experience marketing, exploring a conceptual approach based on the critical appreciation of concepts related to experience marketing adopting the dimensions proposed by Schmitt (1999, 2002, 2006, 2010) and the typology proposed by Lanier Junior and Rader (2015). The research considers that the level of explanatory capacity and the level of intentionality of an experiment may vary for each consumer in the same experiment. Experience marketing emerges as the new wave of contemporary marketing, and provides the most consumer loyalty and relationship, which are elements emphasized in this area of study.
Bioacústica como método de avaliação do comportamento em pastejo de novilhas Girolando

RESUMO Objetivou-se validar o método de análise de dados bioacústicos na descrição do comportamento em pastejo de novilhas em área de integração lavoura-pecuária (iLP) e floresta (iLPF). Foram utilizadas oito novilhas Girolando (¾Holandês x ¼Gir) com média de 25±6,8 meses de idade e 268±83kg de peso vivo (PV), distribuídas em delineamento crossover 2x2 (dois sistemas x dois períodos de avaliação). A coleta de dados para análise bioacústica foi realizada utilizando-se gravadores MP3. Esses dados foram analisados pelo software Audacity® para identificação das atividades de pastejo, ruminação e ócio. Concomitantemente, o comportamento também foi avaliado pelo método de observação visual, realizado no período de 8 até 16 horas, em intervalos de 15 minutos. Não houve diferença (P>0,05) entre médias dos tempos (minutos) de pastejo, ruminação e ócio registrados pelos métodos de bioacústica e avaliação visual, sendo, respectivamente, 127 vs. 137; 122 vs. 113 e 238 vs. 216, no sistema iLP, e 134 vs. 103; 130 vs. 165 e 233 vs. 203, no sistema iLPF. Por meio desses resultados, foi possível concluir que o método da bioacústica é uma importante ferramenta para avaliar o comportamento de pastejo em diferentes sistemas de produção a pasto, com a vantagem de possibilitar o registro de atividades durante o período noturno, além de maior praticidade e precisão do que o método observacional.
CNVkit-RNA: Copy number inference from RNA-Sequencing data

RNA-sequencing is most commonly used to measure gene expression, but it is possible to extract genotypic information from RNA-sequencing data, too. Point mutations and translocations can be detected when they occur in expressed genes, however, there are few software solutions to infer copy number information from RNA-sequencing data. This is because a gene’s expression is dictated by a number of variables, including, but not limited to, copy number variation. Here, we report new functionalities within the software package CNVkit that enable copy number inference from RNA-sequencing data. First, CNVkit removes technical variation in gene expression associated with GC-content and transcript length. Next, CNVkit assigns a weight, dictated by several variables, to each transcript with the net effect of preferentially inferring copy number from highly and stably expressed genes. We benchmarked our approach on 105 melanomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas project and observed a high degree of concordance (R = 0.739) between our estimates and those from array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) on the same samples. After initial configuration, the software requires few inputs, is able to process a batch of up to 100 samples in less than ten minutes, and can be used in conjunction with pre-existing features of CNVkit, including visualization tools. Overall, we present a rapid, user-friendly software solution to infer copy number information from gene expression data.
Three Colletotrichum Species Responsible for Anthracnose on Synsepalum dulcificum (Miracle Fruit)

By 2016, fruit rot and two different leaf diseases (leaf spot and leaf blight) were found on Synsepalum dulcificum (miracle fruit) in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Kagoshima prefectures of Japan. From the lesions, abundant conidial masses and acervuli of three Colletotrichum species, two of which produced sexual state, were observed. We conducted a pathogenicity assay using these Colletotrichum species on healthy fruits and leaves of S. dulcificum. Our artificial inoculation tests showed symptoms of disease on tested fruit and leaf and indicated all three Colletotrichum species as causal agents of anthracnose on S. dulcificum. Based on morphological characters and molecular phylogenetic analyses using ITS, GAPDH, ACT, CAL and TUB2 loci, these species were identified as Colletotrichum aenigma (MAFF 246750), C. siamense (MAFF 246751) and C. karstii (MAFF 245966). They have been previously reported as plant pathogenic fungi elsewhere in the world. This is the first report of fruit rot, leaf blight and leaf spot on S. dulcificum caused by these three Colletotrichum species.