Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
miR‐301b and NR3C2 co‐regulate cells malignant properties and have the potential to be independent prognostic factors in breast cancer

This study intends to address the function of miR‐301b/nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group C member 2 (NR3C2) in breast cancer. The Cancer Genome Atlas database was processed to investigate the expression of miR‐301b/NR3C2 in breast cancer samples, as well as the relationship between their expression and the prognosis of the patients. Cox regression analysis was performed to determine whether miR‐301b/NR3C2 was an independent predictor of the patient's prognosis. Associations between miR‐301b and NR3C2 were analyzed by prediction website, dual‐luciferase assay, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses were implemented to detect gene expression. The relevant biological characteristics of MCF7 and BCAP‐37 cells were tested by cell counting kit‐8, colony formation, and transwell assays. Lower expression of NR3C2, which was closely related to the bad prognosis of breast cancer patients, was presented in breast cancer samples and can be used as an independent predictor. miR‐301b, as an upstream regulator of NR3C2, was highly expressed in breast cancer samples and can be used as an independent predictor as well. Notably, a higher level of miR‐301b and lower level of NR3C2 were related to the reduced overall survival in patients with breast cancer. The proliferative and migratory behaviors of cells were elevated or blocked after overexpression of miR‐301b or NR3C2, respectively. However, the above situation was attenuated after together upregulation of miR‐301b and NR3C2. The present data afforded evidence that miR‐301b may be a tumor‐promoting miRNA in breast cancer, and that miR‐301b/NR3C2 axis mediated tumor development from cell proliferation and migration.
MiR-33a-5p targets NOMO1 to modulate human cardiomyocyte progenitor cells proliferation and differentiation and apoptosis

Abstract Purpose MicroRNA (miRNA) is known to be involved in the pathological process of congenital heart disease (CHD), and nodal modulator1 (NOMO1) is a critical determinant of heart formation. The present study aims to discover the effect of miR-33a-5p and NOMO1 on CHD. Methods Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect expressions of miR-33a-5p mimic or inhibitor and overexpressed NOMO1 plasmid orNOMO1 knockdown. Human cardiomyocyte progenitor cells (hCMPCs) proliferation was measured by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) at 24, 48 and 72 h. Flow cytometry was applied to investigate hCMPCs cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Expressions of cell apoptotic proteins Bax, Cleaved(C) caspase-3 and Bcl-2, and expressions of cardiomyocyte differentiation markers GATA4, troponin T (cTnT) and myocyte enhancer factor2C (MEF2C) in hCMPCs were identified by qRT-PCR and western blot. Target genes and potential binding sites of NOMO1 and miR-33a-5p were predicted with Targetscan 7.2, and was confirmed through dual-luciferase reporter assay. Results Up-regulation of miR-33a-5p inhibited hCMPCs proliferation, cell cycle G0/S transition but promoted hCMPCs apoptosis, which was partially mitigated by overexpressed NOMO1. NOMO1 was the target gene of miR-33a-5p. Expressions of Bax and C caspase-3 were enhanced but expressions of Bcl-2, GATA4, cTnT and MEF2C were reduced by up-regulation of miR-33a-5p, which was partially mitigated by overexpressed NOMO1. Conclusion Up-regulation of miR-33a-5p inhibited hCMPCs proliferation, cell cycle G0/S transition and differentiation into cardiomyocytes but promoted apoptosis via targeting NOMO1.
The Change Processes in Selective Attention during Adulthood. Inhibition or Processing Speed?

Abstract Selective attention is involved in multiple daily activities. Several authors state that it experiences a decline after 20 years, although there is no agreement regarding the cognitive processes that explain it. Two theories dominate the discussion: The theory of inhibitory inefficiency and the theory of processing speed. At the same time, it has been suggested that there could be complementary relations between both; however, it is not clear what the contribution of inhibition and processing speed is on the changes of selective attention. Therefore, the present study proposes to analyze this contribution, in adults between 20 and 80 years old. To assess selective attention and inhibitory control, two indices of a visual search task were obtained in which participants must identify a target stimulus among a set of distracting stimuli. To evaluate the processing speed, a response speed task was used. The main results indicate that, from the age of 60, a gradual decrease in selective attention begins and that this decline can be largely explained by a decrease in processing speed and inhibitory control. We discuss about the literature on the development of selective attention, the contribution of processing speed, and the inhibitory inefficiency hypothesis.
Breast Cancer Screening Trends among Lower Income Women of New York: A Time-Series Evaluation of a Population-Based Intervention.

Objective This study aimed to compare the screening rate trends of mammography among New York State's lower-income women and the higher-income women from 1988 to 2010, and evaluate the potential influence of New York State's Breast Cancer Early Detection Program (introduced in 1994) on the mammography use rates of lower-income women. Materials and Methods Lower-income women are defined as women aged 40 and over whose household income is lower than 250% of the single member household federal poverty level (FPL) in the year that they participated in the survey. Higher-income women are defined as women aged 40 and over whose income is greater than 250% of the five-person household FPL. Data were obtained from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Interrupted time series analysis was conducted to examine screening rates before and after the launch of the Breast Cancer Early Detection program. Results Among the lower-income women, the pre-intervention mammography screening rate significantly increased by an average of 15.21% every two years. However, after implementation of the Breast Cancer Early Detection Program, this rate of increase significantly slowed (slope change=-13.67, p=0.00016). The lower-income women and the higher-income women experienced a similar trend change after the intervention started. Conclusion This study found limited evidence that the Breast Cancer Early Detection Programme significantly contributed to the state-wide increase in mammography screening rate among lower-income women from 1988 to 2010. Future studies should examine the influence of structural and individual barriers inhibiting uptake of mammography screening among lower-income women.
Factors Predictive of Outcome in Inferior Turbinate Surgery

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the various preoperative predictive factors of inferior turbinate surgery and to find possible factors that predict an optimal subjective response using 3 common surgical techniques—radiofrequency ablation (RFA), diode laser, and microdebrider-assisted inferior turbinoplasty (MAIT)—in a randomized, prospective study with a 1-year follow-up. Methods: The patients filled a visual analogue scale (VAS) questionnaire regarding the severity of nasal obstruction prior to and 1 year after surgery. A VAS score improvement of 3 points or more was chosen as an optimal subjective response. Univariate and multivariate regressions were used to evaluate the effect of the predictive factors. In total, 80 patients attended a 1-year control visit. Results: In the multivariate analysis, patients without anterior septal deviation had a statistically significantly higher odds ratio of a satisfactory subjective response compared to patients with anterior septal deviation (5.6; 95% CI: 1.4-23.1; P = .02). Patients treated with RFA had a statistically significantly higher odds ratio of an optimal subjective response compared to patients treated with MAIT (9.0; 95% CI: 1.5-54.2; P = .02). Conclusions: Anterior septal deviation seems to decrease the likelihood of an optimal subjective response to inferior turbinate surgery, which supports the consideration of concomitant septoplasty at least in clear cases to optimize the subjective response. Radiofrequency ablation had a significantly higher likelihood of an optimal subjective response compared to MAIT. Further investigations regarding the findings are needed.
A simple manual method to estimate water-equivalent diameter for calculating size-specific dose estimate in chest computed tomography.

OBJECTIVES The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) Task Groups (TG) 204 and 220 introduced a method to estimate patient dose by introducing the Size-Specific Dose Estimate (SSDE). They provided patient size-specific conversion factors that could be applied to volumetric CT Dose Index CTDIvol to estimate patient dose in terms of SSDE based on either effective diameter (Deff) or water equivalent diameter (Dw). Our study presented an alternative method to manually estimate SSDE for the everyday clinical routine chest CT that can be readily used and does not require sophisticated computer programming. METHODS For 16 adult patients undergoing chest CT, the method employed an average relative electron density (ρelung = 0.3) for the lung tissue and a ρetissue of 1.0 for the other tissues to scale the lateral thickness and compute the effective lateral thickness on the patient's axial image. The proposed method estimated a "corrected" Deff (Deffcorr) to replace Dw and compared results with TG220 and a second method proposed by Huda et al, for the same set of CT studies. RESULTS The results showed comparable behavior for all methods. There is overall agreement especially between this study and TG220. Largest differences were +13.3% and+15.9% from TG220 and Huda values, respectively. Patient size correlation showed strong correlation with the TG220 and Huda et al methods. CONCLUSIONS A simple, quick manual method to estimate CT patient radiation dose in terms of SSDE was proposed as an alternative where sophisticated computer programming is not available. It can be readily used during any clinical chest CT scanning. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE The paper is novel as it presents simple, quick manual method to estimate CT patient radiation dose in chest imaging. The process can be used as alternative in cases no sophisticated computer programming is available.
Tackling the equivalent mutant problem in real-time systems: the 12 commandments of model-based mutation testing

Mutation testing can effectively drive test generation to reveal faults in software systems. However, it faces a typical efficiency issue as it can produce many mutants that are equivalent to the original system, making it impossible to generate test cases from them. We consider this problem when model-based mutation testing is applied to real-time system product lines, represented as timed automata. We define novel, time-specific mutation operators and formulate the equivalent mutant problem in the frame of timed refinement relations. Further, we study in which cases a mutation yields an equivalent mutant. Our theoretical results provide guidance to system engineers, allowing them to eliminate mutations from which no test case can be produced. Our evaluation, based on a proof-of-concept tool and an industrial case from the automotive domain, confirms the validity of our theory and demonstrates that our approach can eliminate many of the equivalent mutants (88% in our case study).
Adult Cranioplasty and Perioperative Patient Safety: Does Plastic Surgery Facility Volume Matter?

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Abstract Cranioplasty lies at the intersection of neurosurgery and plastic surgery, though little is known about the impact of plastic surgery involvement. The authors hypothesized that adult cranioplasty patients at higher volume plastic surgery facilities would have improved inpatient outcomes. Adult cranioplasty encounters were extracted from the National Inpatient Sample from 2012 to 2014 based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes. Regression models included the following variables: age, gender, race/ethnicity, Elixhauser Comorbidity Index, payer, hospital size, region, and urban/teaching status. Outcomes included odds of receiving a flap, perioperative patient safety indicators, and mortality. The weighted sample included 49,305 encounters with diagnoses of neoplasm (31.2%), trauma (56.4%), infection (5.2%), a combination of these diagnoses (3.9%), or other diagnoses (3.2%). There were 1375 inpatient mortalities, of which 10 (0.7%) underwent a flap procedure. On multivariable regression, higher volume plastic surgery facilities and all diagnoses except uncertain neoplasm were associated with an increased likelihood of a flap procedure during the admission for cranioplasty, using benign neoplasm as a reference (P < 0.001). Plastic surgery facility volume was not significantly associated with likelihood of a patient safety indicator event. The highest volume plastic surgery quartile was associated with lower likelihood of inpatient mortality (P = 0.008). These findings support plastic surgery involvement in adult cranioplasty and suggest that these patients are best served at high volume plastic surgery facilities.
Radiofrequency Identification Tagging in Ornamental Shrubs: An Application in Rose

Plant tagging using radiofrequency identification (RFID) microchips is attractive for ornamental shrubs, such as rose (Rosa spp.), due to their high market value, wide distribution, health certification system, and numerous uses. Differently from other woody species for which methods of microchip implantation have been tested, rose tagging requires the possibility of insertion within canes of less than 10 mm diameter, such as those typically found in the rose nursery setting. Moreover, the possibility of tagging after grafting without changing common plant production procedures and aesthetic value are important considerations. Toward this aim, a new method of microchip insertion was developed. To test its effects on roses, two cultivars were subjected to a tagging procedure, and histological observations of tissues around the microchip and growth analysis of plant canes were performed. Microchip implantation did not cause xylem necrosis in 8- to 9-mm-diameter canes, but in lower diameter canes wilt of the lateral shoot and detriments in growth were observed compared with control plants. The tagged roses were tracked by a database developed for rose information, field log, and botanical sheet retrieval. Our findings suggest that rose plants can be safely tagged with a RFID microchip following suitable selection of cane calliper as early as the nursery phase without negative effects on plant appearance.
Costs and Benefits of Implementing Sensor-controlled Irrigation in a Commercial Pot-in-Pot Container Nursery

S . Irrigation scheduling in ornamental plant production is complex due to the large number of species grown by individual growers and the need to consider plant, environment, and substrate conditions to make correct irrigation decisions on a daily or more frequent basis. The engineering team in our project has developed a smart wireless sensor node that is capable of integrating outputs from a range of soil moisture and environmental sensors to schedule irrigation events. In addition, an advanced monitoring and control software enables growers to manage irrigation based on set-point or model-based protocols, which are then independently executed by the nodes, enhancing or replacing human decision making. During 2012, we implemented a sensor-controlled vs. grower-controlled irrigation study at a pot-in-pot nursery in Tennessee. Sensor networks were installed in two separate production blocks of 3-year-old dogwood ( Cornus ﬂorida ‘Cherokee Brave’) and 2-year-old red maple ( Acer rubrum ‘Autumn Blaze’) trees grown in 15- and 30-gal containers, respectively. One row of trees in each block was irrigated based on the average reading of soil moisture sensors inserted in individual trees using micro- pulse irrigation, i.e., sensor controlled. Trees in the adjacent row and the rest of the block were independently irrigated by the grower using standard practices, i.e., grower controlled. Sensor volumetric water content (VWC) readings and irrigation volumes were logged by nodes on a 15-min basis and were relayed to a base station on the farm. For the study period between Mar. 2012 and Nov. 2012, average daily water applied by the grower-controlled irrigation to the dogwood block was 0.92 gal/tree, compared with 0.34 gal/tree applied using sensor-controlled irrigation; for red maple, these values were 1.72 gal/tree and 1.13 gal/tree, respectively. No signiﬁcant differences in tree caliper or quality were noted between the two irrigation treatments in either species over the
Deciphering the COVID‐19 cytokine storm: Systematic review and meta‐analysis

The coronavirus pandemic has affected more than 20 million people so far. Elevated cytokines and suppressed immune responses have been hypothesized to set off a cytokine storm, contributing to ARDS, multiple‐organ failure and, in the most severe cases, death. We aimed to quantify the differences in the circulating levels of major inflammatory and immunological markers between severe and nonsevere COVID‐19 patients.
Host-Parasite Coevolution and Sex Do interactions between biological enemies maintain genetic variation and cross-fertilization?

ost eukaryotic organisms reproduce by cross-fertilization, at least during some part of their life cycle. Given the costs incurred by cross-fertilization, this pattern indicates that there is some general advantage associated with meiosis and genetic exchange. Conversely, it would seem that there must be some severe disadvantages associated with the various kinds of uniparental reproduction, such as parthenogenesis and self-fertilization. This article fleshes out some of the recent ideas on parasite-mediated selection for cross-fertilization. At the heart of this subject is the idea of time-lagged, frequency-dependent selection. Natural selection of this kind is just as the name implies-selection against common genotypes but with a delay. Such selection is likely to be common in interactions between biological enemies such as parasites and their hosts. Parasites are under strong selection to infect the most common host genotypes, but because they cannot instantaneously track genetic changes in the host population, there is likely to be a lag in time. This kind of interaction can easily lead to sustained oscillations in host and parasite gene frequencies and hence the maintenance of genetic variation (Clarke 1976, Hamilton 1993,
Enhancing productivity and quality of fodder maize through soil and foliar zinc nutrition

A field experiment was conducted at Forage Research and Management Centre, NDRI, Karnal during Kharif season of 2014 and 2015 to study the effect of zinc application on productivity and quality of fodder maize. The treatment consists of two fodder maize cultivars African tall and J-1006 in main plot and six zinc sulphate treatments viz. No zinc sulphate, 10 kg/ha ZnSO4 as basal dose, 20 kg/ha ZnSO4 as basal dose, 0.5% one foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 30 DAS, 0.5% two foliar spray of ZnSO4 at 30 and 45 DAS and 10 kg/ha ZnSO4 as basal dose+0.5% one foliar spray at 30 DAS in subplots of split plot design. Soil and foliar applied zinc sulphate had significantly improved green fodder, dry matter yield and quality parameters viz leaf length, leaf width, leaf stem ratio of both the cultivars tested. From the results of two year study, it can be concluded that maize fodder productivity and quality can be enhanced with Zinc fertilization.
Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus decline and emissions from the iron industry

Long-term emissions of calcium-containing dusts from an iron factory influenced soil pH, vegetation and perhaps contributed to the capercaillie Tetrao urogallus decline in the study area in eastern Germany. Dramatic changes of the ground vegetation were observed in time (vegetation analyses in 1956, 1965, 1983 and 1990–1993) and along the pH-gradient. Near the emission source the mean number of plant species has increased from 15 to 65 since 1956. Ericaceae (Vaccinium myrtillus, V. vitis-idea, Calluna vulgaris), which are essential to capercaillie for food and cover, were replaced by Senecio fuchsii, Digitalis purpurea, Dactylis glomerata, Calamagrostis epigeios, Rubus idea, Myringia trinerva, and Urtica dioica. The decline in capercaillie numbers was correlated with the eutrophication effects of the emissions as measured by the increase of plant species diversity. Increasing plant species diversity may also favour small rodents and thereby the density of predators (such as the red fox Vulpes vulpes and wild boar Sus scrofa), as indicated by the increased hunting bags. Therefore, the increased predation on capercaillie nests and chicks that was documented on the study area over time may be a secondary effect of air-borne pollution.
INTEGRIN α6β4 PROMOTES PANCREATIC CANCER INVASION BY ALTERING DNA REPAIR-MEDIATED EPIGENETICS

OF DISSERTATION INTEGRIN α6β4 PROMOTES PANCREATIC CANCER INVASION BY ALTERING DNA REPAIR-MEDIATED EPIGENETICS Integrin α6β4 is upregulated in pancreatic carcinoma, where signaling promotes metastatic properties, in part by altering the transcriptome. Such alterations can be accomplished through DNA demethylation of specific promoters, as seen with the prometastatic gene S100A4. I found that signaling from integrin α6β4 dramatically upregulates expression of amphiregulin (AREG) and epiregulin (EREG), ligands for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and that these ligands promote pancreatic carcinoma invasion. To determine if AREG and EREG are regulated by DNA methylation, pancreatic cancer cells with low AREG and EREG expression were treated with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-CdR), resulting in stable overexpression of AREG and EREG, and this induction required signaling from integrin α6β4. Similarly, treatment of cells with high integrin α6β4 with the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine inhibited gene expression of AREG and EREG. Whole genome bisulfite sequencing on pancreatic cancer cells reveled hypomethylation of the promoter regions of AREG and EREG when integrin α6β4 is high, and these regions correspond to H3K27Ac, indicative of enhancer location. Interestingly, I also observed genome-wide DNA demethylation, and a large proportion of altered CpGs correspond to potential enhancers. It is currently accepted that active DNA demethylation occurs via DNA repair. I tested this hypothesis by treating cells with Gemcitabine, which inhibits multiple components of DNA repair, including DNA demethylation mediated by GADD45A. Gemcitabine treatment resulted in marked reduction in AREG and EREG expression. To further test the involvement of GADD45A, I used RNAi-mediated knockdown or cDNA overexpression to alter GADD45A levels. In both instances, AREG and EREG expression positively correlated with GADD45A, particularly when integrin α6β4 is high, indicating that GADD45A is a rate-limiting step in AREG and EREG overexpression. Similarly, using stable shRNA, I show that Thymine DNA Glycosylase (TDG), and TET1 known modulators of DNA demethylation, are required for AREG and EREG expression in integrin α6β4 high cells, and nuclear localization of TDG is much higher in cells with high integrin α6β4. Using a specific inhibitor I found that AREG and EREG expression is dependent on Parp-1. Finally, I determined that integrin α6β4 signaling enhances cells ability to respond to and survive in the presence of DNA damage, and that active DNA repair is required for integrin α6β4 mediated DNA demethylation. Taken together, these data indicate that DNA repair is required to maintain overexpression of AREG and EREG in response to signaling from integrin α6β4 and that integrin α6β4 promotes this overexpression by enhancing DNA repair.