Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Face Tilt Is a Dynamic Social Signal That Affects Perceptions of Dimorphism, Attractiveness, and Dominance

Previous research has shown that manipulating the pitch of a face (tilting the face upward or downward) affects the perceived femininity, masculinity, attractiveness, and dominance of the given face. However, previous research has not considered the influence of direct eye gaze on dominance perceptions or the ambiguity surrounding the proposed social signals sent from a static face. The current research used 94 participants across two studies (women = 63%, age: M = 31). Stimuli varied in head pitch angle, eye gaze, and motion/static appearance. Participants rated the stimuli for levels of masculinity, femininity, attractiveness, and dominance. Both studies confirmed that pitching the face upward at incrementally increasing angles resulted in a linear increase in ratings of masculinity, physical dominance, and social dominance and a linear decrease in ratings of femininity, physical attractiveness, and behavioral allure. Study 2 showed that these effects can be dependent on either the perceived structural change of the face or the actual movement of the face, and these are different for each rating category. The perceived dimorphism, attractiveness, and dominance of a face will change dependent on the angle of pitch it is presented but also whether it is moving or not, where it is moving in space, and what direction it is moving.
Effects of screen time and playing outside on anthropometric measures in preschool aged children

Objective In view of the current obesity epidemic, studies focusing on the interplay of playing outside (PO), screen time (ST) and anthropometric measures in preschool age are necessary to guide evidence-based public health planning. We therefore investigated the relationship between average time spent PO and ST from the ages 3 to 6 years and anthropometric measures at 6 years of age. Methods PO and ST of 526 children of the European Childhood Obesity Project (CHOP) were annually assessed by questionnaire from 3 until 6 years of age. Body weight, waist circumference and height were measured at 3 and 6 years of age to calculate Body-Mass-Index z-Scores (zBMI) and waist-to-height ratio (WTH). Linear, logistic and quantile regressions were used to test whether average time spent PO and ST in the 4 year period had an effect on anthropometric measures at age 6 years. Results Longer daily ST was associated with a higher zBMI (P = 0.002) and WTH (P = 0.001) at 6 years of age. No significant associations were found for time spent PO. Each additional hour of average ST during the 4 year period resulted in a 66% higher risk of having a zBMI score over 1 (P < 0.001) and almost twice the risk (94% higher risk) of having an zBMI score over 2 (P < 0.001) at 6 years. Conclusions Excessive ST during preschool age is a risk factor for increased zBMI at 6 years, regardless of time spent PO. Reducing high levels of ST during preschool age, for e.g. at least 1h per week, could help preventing childhood obesity.
Problems with hydromorphone prescribing as a response to the opioid crisis

In January 2018, Dr. Tyndall advocated for prescribing hydromorphone as a response to the presence of illicitly manufactured fentanyl in the street opioid supply. [1][1] Two years later, the opioid crisis has not abated. Between Jan. 1, 2018, and Mar. 31, 2019, 5670 Canadians died an apparent opioid-
Purification and characterization of nisin P produced by a strain of Streptococcus gallolyticus.

Introduction. Against the backdrop of increasing resistance to conventional antibiotics, bacteriocins represent an attractive alternative, given their potent activity, novel modes of action and perceived lack of issues with resistance.Aim. In this study, the nature of the antibacterial activity of a clinical isolate of Streptococcus gallolyticus was investigated.Methods. Optimization of the production of an inhibitor from strain AB39 was performed using different broth media and supplements. Purification was carried out using size exclusion, ion exchange and HPLC. Gel diffusion agar overlay, MS/MS, de novo peptide sequencing and genome mining were used in a proteogenomics approach to facilitate identification of the genetic basis for production of the inhibitor.Results. Strain AB39 was identified as representing Streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus and the successful production and purification of the AB39 peptide, named nisin P, with a mass of 3133.78 Da, was achieved using BHI broth with 10 % serum. Nisin P showed antibacterial activity towards clinical isolates of drug-resistant bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. In addition, the peptide exhibited significant stability towards high temperature, wide pH and certain proteolytic enzymes and displayed very low toxicity towards sheep red blood cells and Vero cells.Conclusion. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first production, purification and characterization of nisin P. Further study of nisin P may reveal its potential for treating or preventing infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bacteria, or those evading vaccination regimens.
Temporal- and spectral-property measurements of narrowband photon pairs from warm double-Λ-type atomic ensemble.

We investigate the temporal and spectral properties of narrowband photon pairs from a double-Λ-type atomic system of a warm 87Rb atomic ensemble. The temporal properties of the narrowband photons are investigated by measuring their auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions. The spectral measurement of the photon pair is obtained by applying the stimulated emission method. We show that the biphoton spectral waveform with a spectral width of ∼6 MHz corresponds to the biphoton temporal waveform with a temporal width of ∼26 ns. We believe that our results can contribute to the characterization of narrowband photons generated from atomic ensembles and aid in the development of new photonic quantum states generated from atomic systems.
Altered Growth and Envelope Properties of Polylysogens Containing Bacteriophage Lambda N−cI− Prophages

The bacterial virus lambda (λ) is a temperate bacteriophage that can lysogenize host Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells. Lysogeny requires λ repressor, the cI gene product, which shuts off transcription of the phage genome. The λ N protein, in contrast, is a transcriptional antiterminator, required for expression of the terminator-distal genes, and thus, λ N mutants are growth-defective. When E. coli is infected with a λ double mutant that is defective in both N and cI (i.e., λN-cI-), at high multiplicities of 50 or more, it forms polylysogens that contain 20–30 copies of the λN-cI- genome integrated in the E. coli chromosome. Early studies revealed that the polylysogens underwent “conversion” to long filamentous cells that form tiny colonies on agar. Here, we report a large set of altered biochemical properties associated with this conversion, documenting an overall degeneration of the bacterial envelope. These properties reverted back to those of nonlysogenic E. coli as the metastable polylysogen spontaneously lost the λN-cI- genomes, suggesting that conversion is a direct result of the multiple copies of the prophage. Preliminary attempts to identify lambda genes that may be responsible for conversion ruled out several candidates, implicating a potentially novel lambda function that awaits further studies.
Investigation of the roles of AgrA and σB regulators in Listeria monocytogenes adaptation to roots and soil.

Little is known about the regulatory mechanisms that ensure the survival of the food-borne bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in the telluric environment and on roots. Earlier studies have suggested a regulatory overlap between the Agr cell-cell communication system and the general stress response regulator σB. Here, we investigated the contribution of these two systems to root colonisation and survival in sterilised and biotic soil. The ability to colonise the roots of the grass Festuca arundinacea was significantly compromised in the double mutant (∆agrA∆sigB). In sterile soil at 25˚C, a significant defect was observed in the double mutant, suggesting some synergy between these systems. However, growth was observed and similar population dynamics were shown in the parental strain, ΔagrA and ΔsigB mutants. In biotic soil at 25˚C, viability of the parental strain declined steadily over a two-week period highlighting the challenging nature of live soil environments. Inactivation of the two systems further decreased survival. The synergistic effect of Agr and σB was stronger in biotic soil. Transcriptional analysis confirmed the expected effects of the mutations on known Agr- and σB-dependent genes. Data highlight the important role that these global regulatory systems play in the natural ecology of this pathogen.
Reconstructing Phylogenetic Relationships Based on Repeat Sequence Similarities

A recent phylogenetic method based on genome-wide abundance of different repeat types proved to be useful in reconstructing the evolutionary history of several plant and animal groups. Here, we demonstrate that an alternative information source from the repeatome can also be employed to infer phylogenetic relationships among taxa. Specifically, this novel approach makes use of the repeat sequence similarity matrices obtained from the comparative clustering analyses of RepeatExplorer 2, which are subsequently transformed to between-taxa distance matrices. These pairwise matrices are used to construct neighbour-joining trees for each of the top most-abundant clusters and they are finally summarized in a consensus network. This methodology was tested on three groups of angiosperms and one group of insects, resulting in congruent evolutionary hypotheses compared to more standard systematic analyses based on commonly used DNA markers. We propose that the combined application of these phylogenetic approaches based on repeat abundances and repeat sequence similarities could be helpful to understand mechanisms governing genome and repeatome evolution.
Time Constrained Multiple-Constant-Multiplication Structures for Real-Time Applications

—To implement multiplications by constants operations, Multiple Constant Multiplication (MCM) structures are often a de facto alternative in Application Speciﬁc Integrated Circuits (ASIC). These structures make use of a series of additions, subtractions and shifts to multiply a given variable by a constant. However, the deﬁnition of the optimized MCM hardware structures for a given constraint set is a NP-complete problem, which has motivated the proposal of many algorithms along the last decade, mainly focused on reducing the number of additions needed to jointly implement a set of constant coefﬁcients. The presented research is focused on a less exploited approach, which tries to optimize the MCM multiplier structure in order to minimize the propagation time based on gate-level metrics. For such purpose, it was proposed a modular and structural adder, to be integrated in each MCM node, that optimally implements each addition operation according to the particular requisites and characteristics of the operands that are being considered at each MCM node. As such, not only does the proposed approach handles the same problems as the other algorithms by reducing the number of adders, but it also tries to start by minimizing the propagation time and only then does it optimize the area. From the conducted simulations, it was observed that the proposed improvement provides an average speed-up of the MCM performance as high as 1.5, at the cost of a consequent increase of the used silicon area.
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding Rabies in El Jadida Region, Morocco

The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding rabies in the El Jadida region, Morocco. We conducted a cross-sectional survey using a structured questionnaire among randomly selected residents across 24 study sites. In total, 407 respondents took part in the survey. The majority (367, 92%) were male and had no formal education (270, 66%). Some (118, 29%) believed that rabies does not affect humans. Most respondents (320, 79%) were aware that vaccination could prevent rabies, but nevertheless did not vaccinate their dogs (264, 64.9%) and allowed their dogs to roam freely in search of food. Some (52.8%) would visit traditional healers for treatment in the event of a dog bite incident. Age and educational level were found to be significantly associated with knowledge, attitudes, and practices (p < 0.05). Although respondents demonstrated some level of knowledge about rabies, overall this study reveals critical gaps in their attitudes and practices. These shortcomings may be associated with a low level of education. Therefore, decision-makers need a new approach to control rabies, with a special focus on public awareness and health education, in order to sustain rabies control programs.
mTOR-Related Cell-Clearing Systems in Epileptic Seizures, an Update

Recent evidence suggests that autophagy impairment is implicated in the epileptogenic mechanisms downstream of mTOR hyperactivation. This holds true for a variety of genetic and acquired epileptic syndromes besides malformations of cortical development which are classically known as mTORopathies. Autophagy suppression is sufficient to induce epilepsy in experimental models, while rescuing autophagy prevents epileptogenesis, improves behavioral alterations, and provides neuroprotection in seizure-induced neuronal damage. The implication of autophagy in epileptogenesis and maturation phenomena related to seizure activity is supported by evidence indicating that autophagy is involved in the molecular mechanisms which are implicated in epilepsy. In general, mTOR-dependent autophagy regulates the proliferation and migration of inter-/neuronal cortical progenitors, synapse development, vesicular release, synaptic plasticity, and importantly, synaptic clustering of GABAA receptors and subsequent excitatory/inhibitory balance in the brain. Similar to autophagy, the ubiquitin–proteasome system is regulated downstream of mTOR, and it is implicated in epileptogenesis. Thus, mTOR-dependent cell-clearing systems are now taking center stage in the field of epilepsy. In the present review, we discuss such evidence in a variety of seizure-related disorders and models. This is expected to provide a deeper insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying seizure activity.
Monitoring the spatio-temporal organization and dynamics of the genome

Abstract The spatio-temporal organization of chromatin in the eukaryotic cell nucleus is of vital importance for transcription, DNA replication and genome maintenance. Each of these activities is tightly regulated in both time and space. While we have a good understanding of chromatin organization in space, for example in fixed snapshots as a result of techniques like FISH and Hi-C, little is known about chromatin dynamics in living cells. The rapid development of flexible genomic loci imaging approaches can address fundamental questions on chromatin dynamics in a range of model organisms. Moreover, it is now possible to visualize not only single genomic loci but the whole genome simultaneously. These advances have opened many doors leading to insight into several nuclear processes including transcription and DNA repair. In this review, we discuss new chromatin imaging methods and how they have been applied to study transcription.
Effects of a Combination of Water-Soluble Coenzyme Q10 and Collagen on Skin Parameters and Condition: Results of a Randomised, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Study

Skin is a complex and dynamic organ that provides a protective interface between the external environment and the body; changes in skin appearance are often the first visible signs of aging. It is well established that nutrients and other bioactive substances have important roles in the structure and functions of human skin; however, the effects of dietary supplementation of such bioactives are much less investigated. The objective of this randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled study was to investigate the effects of liquid food supplement, characterised by a combination of water-soluble coenzyme Q10 (Q10Vital®) and collagen, on dermal density and other skin parameters in comparison to placebo. The trial was performed on 34 healthy women aged 40–65 that received either the test product (n = 17) or the placebo (n = 17) for twelve weeks. Measurements and assessments of skin parameters were performed at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention. We observed improved dermis density, reduced periorbital wrinkle area and the total wrinkle score, and improved skin smoothness. On the other hand, changes in skin hydration, dermis thickness, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and viscoelasticity were not significant.
Establishment and Simulation of 3D Geometric Models of Mini-Pig and Sheep Knee Joints Using Finite Element Analysis

Background Our objective was to establish and compare three-dimensional models of knee joints of mini-pigs and sheep, the 2 most commonly used animal models of osteoarthritis. Material/Methods Three-dimensional geometric models of knee joints were used to assess their biomechanical properties by analysis of the three-dimensional finite element stress load for flexion at 30° and 60°. Results Analysis of multiple tissues indicated that the sheep knee had greater stress peaks than the mini-pig knee at 30° flexion (range: 12.5 to 30.4 Mpa for sheep vs. 11.1 to 20.2 Mpa for mini-pig) and at 60° flexion (range: 17.9 to 43.5 Mpa for sheep vs. 15.9 to 28.9 Mpa for mini-pig). In addition, there was uneven distribution of stress loads in the surrounding ligaments during flexion. Conclusions Our three-dimensional finite element analysis indicated that the mini-pig knee joint had stress values and changes of cartilage, meniscus, and peripheral ligaments that were similar to those of the human knee.
Assessing the role of live poultry trade in community-structured transmission of avian influenza in China

Significance The emergence and transmission of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) pose a threat to public health and result in enormous economic losses. Here we discover an association between the community structure of the poultry trade network and AIV transmission in China by combining virus genomes and statistical modeling of the poultry trade. Importantly, we are able to “replicate” this finding by comparing the dynamics of three strains of AIV (H5N1, H7N9, and H5N6) that currently cocirculate in poultry in China. Given the detection of a continuous process of AIV geographic spread among poultry, our results indicate that at the national scale there are repeatable and potentially predictable patterns that can be used to shape future strategies for AIV control and prevention. The live poultry trade is thought to play an important role in the spread and maintenance of highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses (HP AIVs) in Asia. Despite an abundance of small-scale observational studies, the role of the poultry trade in disseminating AIV over large geographic areas is still unclear, especially for developing countries with complex poultry production systems. Here we combine virus genomes and reconstructed poultry transportation data to measure and compare the spatial spread in China of three key subtypes of AIV: H5N1, H7N9, and H5N6. Although it is difficult to disentangle the contribution of confounding factors, such as bird migration and spatial distance, we find evidence that the dissemination of these subtypes among domestic poultry is geographically continuous and likely associated with the intensity of the live poultry trade in China. Using two independent data sources and network analysis methods, we report a regional-scale community structure in China that might explain the spread of AIV subtypes in the country. The identification of this structure has the potential to inform more targeted strategies for the prevention and control of AIV in China.
Effectiveness of Blended Learning in Nursing Education

Currently, teaching in higher education is being heavily developed by learning management systems that record the learning behaviour of both students and teachers. The use of learning management systems that include project-based learning and hypermedia resources increases safer learning, and it is proven to be effective in degrees such as nursing. In this study, we worked with 120 students in the third year of nursing degree. Two types of blended learning were applied (more interaction in learning management systems with hypermedia resources vs. none). Supervised learning techniques were applied: linear regression and k-means clustering. The results indicated that the type of blended learning in use predicted 40.4% of student learning outcomes. It also predicted 71.9% of the effective learning behaviors of students in learning management systems. It therefore appears that blended learning applied in Learning Management System (LMS) with hypermedia resources favors greater achievement of effective learning. Likewise, with this type of Blended Learning (BL) a larger number of students were found to belong to the intermediate cluster, suggesting that this environment strengthens better results in a larger number of students. BL with hypermedia resources and project-based learning increase students´ learning outcomes and interaction in learning management systems. Future research will be aimed at verifying these results in other nursing degree courses.
mRNAsi Index: Machine Learning in Mining Lung Adenocarcinoma Stem Cell Biomarkers

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), characterized by self-renewal and unlimited proliferation, lead to therapeutic resistance in lung cancer. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expressions of stem cell-related genes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). The stemness index based on mRNA expression (mRNAsi) was utilized to analyze LUAD cases in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). First, mRNAsi was analyzed with differential expressions, survival analysis, clinical stages, and gender in LUADs. Then, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis was performed to discover modules of stemness and key genes. The interplay among the key genes was explored at the transcription and protein levels. The enrichment analysis was performed to annotate the function and pathways of the key genes. The expression levels of key genes were validated in a pan-cancer scale. The pathological stage associated gene expression level and survival probability were also validated. The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was additionally used for validation. The mRNAsi was significantly upregulated in cancer cases. In general, the mRNAsi score increases according to clinical stages and differs in gender significantly. Lower mRNAsi groups had a better overall survival in major LUADs, within five years. The distinguished modules and key genes were selected according to the correlations to the mRNAsi. Thirteen key genes (CCNB1, BUB1, BUB1B, CDC20, PLK1, TTK, CDC45, ESPL1, CCNA2, MCM6, ORC1, MCM2, and CHEK1) were enriched from the cell cycle Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway, relating to cell proliferation Gene Ontology (GO) terms, as well. Eight of the thirteen genes have been reported to be associated with the CSC characteristics. However, all of them have been previously ignored in LUADs. Their expression increased according to the pathological stages of LUAD, and these genes were clearly upregulated in pan-cancers. In the GEO database, only the tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor-interacting protein (TRAIP) from the blue module was matched with the stemness microarray data. These key genes were found to have strong correlations as a whole, and could be used as therapeutic targets in the treatment of LUAD, by inhibiting the stemness features.