Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of coffee consumption on DNA stability and redox status in humans

Kaffee ist eines der am haufigsten konsumierten Getranke weltweit. Epidemiologische Studien zeigten einen inversen Zusammenhang zwischen Kaffeekonsum und der Inzidenz von Krankheiten, an deren Auslosung reaktive Sauerstoffspezien beteiligt sind (z.B. Diabetes, neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, Krebs). Es liegen allerdings nur wenige, teilweise widerspruchliche Ergebnisse von humanen Interventionsstudien vor. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Klarung der Frage, ob Kaffeekonsum beim Menschen einen Einfluss auf den oxidativen Status und auf die Stabilitat der Erbsubstanz hat. Deshalb wurden humane Interventionsstudien durchgefuhrt und verschiedene Parameter des oxidativen Stresses bestimmt. Einer der Hauptparameter war die Messung der DNA Stabilitat mit dem Einzelzellgelelektrophorese Test (Komet Assay). Das Prinzip des Komet Assays basiert auf der Messung der DNA Wanderung im elektrischen Feld. Dieses Verfahren wird zunehmend eingesetzt um DNA-schutzende Wirkungen von Nahrungsmittelinhaltsstoffen zu untersuchen. Die Ergebnisse der ersten humanen Pilotstudie (n=8, 600ml/P/T, 5 Tage) zeigten, dass Kaffeekonsum vor oxidativen DNA Schaden schutzt. Bei der darauffolgenden zweiten Arbeit handelte es sich um eine erweiterte Interventionsstudie (n=29, 800 ml/P/T, 5 Tage), die mit einer neu entwickelten Instantkaffeesorte durchgefuhrt wurde. In dieser umfangreichen kontrollierten klinischen Studie wurden dieselben DNA Stabilitatsparameter wie in der ersten Studie gemessen, sowie zusatzliche Parameter des oxidativen Status (z.B. Lipidperoxidation und diverse antioxidativ wirksame Enzyme). In dieser Studie detektierten wir eine Reduktion der endogenen Bildung von oxidierten Purinen und Pyrimidinen, sowie eine Abnahme der Sensitivitat gegenuber ROS (H2O2) induzierten DNA Schaden. Diese Effekte waren jedoch nur im Falle der oxidierten Purine bei den weiblichen Probanden signifikant. Weiters waren die F-2 Isoprostan und 3-Nitrotyrosin Konzentrationen deutlich erniedrigt. Diese zwei Endpunkte sind Biomarker fur bestimmte Krankheiten, wie z.B. neurodegenerative Erkrankungen und Herz-Kreislauferkrankungen. Die dritte Arbeit beschreibt humane Interventionsstudien die mit gefiltertem und ungefiltertem Kaffee durchgefuhrt wurden und deren Auswirkung auf die Glutathione-S-Transferase (GST) Aktivitat. GST ist an der Detoxifizierung von elektrophilen Metaboliten verschiedener genotoxischer Kanzerogene beteiligt und ist auch antioxidativ wirksam. Wir detektierten in diesen Studien eine deutliche Erhohung des Isoenzyms GSTP. Dies erklart moglicherweise die verringerte Sensitivitat der Lymphozyten der Probanden gegenuber der DNA Schadigung induziert durch einen reaktiven Benzo(a)pyrene Metaboliten. Die Ergebnisse der Interventionsstudien deuten darauf hin, dass Kaffeekonsum einen positiven Einfluss auf die DNA Stabilitat hat und liefern eine mogliche Erklarung fur die Befunde von epidemiologischen Studien die zeigen, dass Kaffeekonsum vor Krankheiten schutzt, die mit reaktiven Sauerstoffspezien und DNA Instabilitat in Zusammenhang stehen.
Le réseau d'assainissement urbain : du collecteur au réacteur bio-physico-chimique

Ce travail decrit certains aspects du reseau d'assainissement en tant que reacteur bio-physico-chimique. Les objectifs principaux sont : d'identifier et de quantifier les sources des eaux circulant dans les collecteurs en se basant sur les signatures isotopiques des eaux et des sulfates dissous; de determiner la nature mineralogique des phases porteuses des metaux lourds et d'etudier leur cycle geochimique par MET et MEB couples a la EDXS ; de mettre en evidence la presence d'echange de matiere entre les eaux usees et les biofilms par CLSM et MET et d'etudier les conditions hydrodynamiques impliquees dans cet echange dans un reacteur pilote (Couette-Poiseuille). On montre que les donnees isotopiques permettent d'evaluer la presence des evolutions de concentration des elements transportes dans le reseau. Le role du reseau en tant que reacteur apparait dans l'evolution de la nature mineralogique des phases phosphatees vers l'aval du reseau et dans la precipitation des metaux lourds dans les compartiments anaerobiques sous forme de phases sulfurees neoformees. Les depots des regards de facade et les biofilms sont les lieux de cette neoformation. A l'echelle de la matiere organique, l'auto-epuration est revelee par les echanges entre les biofilms et les matieres en suspension (MES) suite a la presence des fibres de cellulose dans la structure des biofilms et de morceaux de biofilms au sein de la MES. La majeure partie de ces evolutions se situe en amont du reseau ou les contrastes physicochimiques sont les plus importants. Finalement, les experiences modeles au sein du reacteur ont montre l'implication de l'hydrodynamisme dans le detachement des biofilms
Bilevel Information-Aware Distributed Resilient Control for Heterogeneous Microgrid Clusters

This article presents a resilient distributed bilevel cooperation control scheme to achieve load sharing of a heterogeneous microgrid cluster by employing a sparse multiagent communication network. Since communication networks are exposed to relative state-dependent measurement noises (i.e., multiplicative noises) in practice, which terribly reduces the stability and quality of the whole system. To tackle this challenge, a resilient distributed consensus control protocol with a shared communication framework and considering measurement noise disturbances is developed to regulate bidirectional power flow among heterogeneous microgrids for achieving load sharing by controlling bidirectional interconnecting converters. Furthermore, the closed-loop stability analysis of the whole system is carried out, accordingly we derive sufficient conditions to achieve load sharing among all heterogeneous microgrids in the mean square. Moreover, the control gains have been designed to guarantee the convergence. With the proposed scheme, loading sharing among the interconnected microgrids can be achieved proportionally even if the multiplicative noises exist. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy against the communication noises effect is verified by a modified heterogeneous microgrid cluster test network obtained from OPAL-RT real-time simulator.
Klebsiella pneumoniae infection associated septic pulmonary embolism in an emergency department from east China.

BACKGROUND Septic pulmonary embolism (SPE) is attracting more attention as a special pulmonary sign in severe infection. We aimed to describe the clinical and imaging features of Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumonia)-associated SPE in the emergency department. METHODS Records of patients with primarily extrapulmonary infection of K. pneumoniae who were admitted to the emergency department between 2014 and 2019 were retrieved. The identifications of K. pneumoniaeassociated SPE were mainly dependent on the clinical manifestations, typical imaging findings, and presence of a primary source of K. pneumoniae infection. RESULTS A total of 33 cases were identified as SPE with extrapulmonary K. pneumoniae infection. The main clinical manifestations were a febrile/fragile state (100%), respiratory symptoms (18.2%), and digestive symptoms (33.3%). Eight patients (24.2%) developed septic shock, 2 (6.0%) experienced respiratory failure, and 2 (6.0%) complicated endophthalmitis. The major source of infection was liver abscess (n=26, 78.8%), followed by septicemia (n=8, 24.2%), intestinal infection (n=3, 9.1%), and ascites (n=1, 3.0%). The computed tomography (CT) features included the following: peripheral wedge-shaped opacity (n=12, 36.4%), a feeding vessel sign (n=3, 9.1%), multiple nodular lesions (n=5, 15.2%), multifocal lung ill-infiltrations (n=15, 45.5%), patchy ground-glass opacities (n=6, 18.2%), focal consolidations (n=9, 27.3%), lung abscesses (n=4, 12.1%), and pleural effusion (n=21, 63.6%). Re-examination of lung HRCT conducted in 7 patients demonstrated imaging improvement after treatment. CONCLUSIONS K. pneumonia-SPE presented special clinical and imaging characteristics, which bear similarities to the signs of pneumonia, but was potentially catastrophic. Identifying SPE in septic conditions is crucial to improving clinical outcomes.
Cooperative Perception for Connected and Automated Vehicles: Evaluation and Impact of Congestion Control

Automated vehicles make use of multiple sensors to detect their surroundings. Sensors have significantly improved over the years but still face challenges due to the presence of obstacles or adverse weather conditions, among others. Cooperative or collective perception has been proposed to help mitigate these challenges through the exchange of sensor data among vehicles using V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communications. Recent studies have shown that cooperative perception can complement on-board sensors and increase the vehicle’s awareness beyond its sensors field of view. However, cooperative perception significantly increases the amount of information exchanged by vehicles which can degrade the V2X communication performance and ultimately the effectiveness of cooperative perception. In this context, this study conducts first a dimensioning analysis to evaluate the impact of the sensors’ characteristics and the market penetration rate on the operation and performance of cooperative perception. The study then investigates the impact of congestion control on cooperative perception using the Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) framework defined by ETSI. The study demonstrates that congestion control can negatively impact the perception and latency of cooperative perception if not adequately configured. In this context, this study demonstrates for the first time that the combination of congestion control functions at the Access and Facilities layers can improve the perception achieved with cooperative perception and ensure a timely transmission of the information. The results obtained demonstrate the importance of an adequate configuration of DCC for the development of connected and automated vehicles.
Object Classification Using Spectral Images and Deep Learning

Spectral images contain valuable information across the electromagnetic spectrum, which provides a useful tool for classification tasks. Most of the traditional machine learning algorithms for spectral images classification such as support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor, or random forest required complex handcrafted features extraction of the data, in contrast with these approaches deep learning-based methods realize the feature extraction automatically. This paper proposes a procedure to classify spectral images with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approach which consists in the experimental acquisition of two datasets, medicines and honey, the pre-processing of the raw data, the design of the (CNN) and finally the classification results performed by the designed CNN. The results of the first simulation of the proposed CNN-Med show accuracy in the validation set of up to 97.3% for the medicines dataset compared with 94.6% ResNet-18 architecture accuracy and 89.2% AlexNet architecture accuracy. The results of the proposed CNN-Honey show an accuracy, by patches, in the validation set of up to 92.11% for the honey dataset compared with 86.84% ResNet-18 architecture accuracy.
Free the Bugs: Disclosing Blocking Violations in Reactive Programming

In programming, concurrency allows threads to share processing units interleaving and seemingly simultaneous to improve resource utilization and performance. Previous research has found that concurrency faults are hard to avoid, hard to find, often leading to undesired and unpredictable behavior. Further, with the growing availability of multi-core devices and adaptation of concurrency features in high-level languages, concurrency faults occur reportedly often, which is why countermeasures must be investigated to limit harm. Reactive programming provides an abstraction to simplify complex concurrent and asynchronous tasks through reactive language extensions such as the RxJava and Project Reactor libraries for Java. Still, blocking violations are possibly resulting in concurrency faults with no Java compiler warnings. BlockHound is a tool that detects incorrect blocking by wrapping the original code and intercepting blocking calls to provide appropriate runtime errors. In this study, we seek an understanding of how common blocking violations are and whether a tool such as BlockHound can give us insight into the root-causes to highlight them as pitfalls to developers. The investigated Softwares are Java-based open-source projects using reactive frameworks selected based on high star ratings and large fork quantities that indicate high adoption. We activated BlockHound in the project’s test-suites and analyzed log files for common patterns to reveal blocking violations in 7/29 investigated open-source projects with 5024 stars and 1437 forks. A small number of system calls could be identified as root-causes. We here present countermeasures that successfully removed the uncertainty of blocking violations. The code’s intentional logic was retained in all validated projects through passing unit-tests.
The Effect of Long-Term Low-Dose Atropine on Refractive Progression in Myopic Australian School Children

Myopia will affect half the global population by 2050 and is a leading cause of vision impairment. High-dose atropine slows myopia progression but with undesirable side-effects. Low-dose atropine is an alternative. We report the effects of 0.01% or 0.005% atropine eye drops on myopia progression in 13 Australian children aged between 2 and 18 years and observed for 2 years without and up to 5 years (mean 2.8 years) with treatment. Prior to treatment, myopia progression was either ‘slow’ (more positive than −0.5 D/year; mean −0.19 D/year) or ‘fast’ (more negative than −0.5 D/year; mean −1.01 D/year). Atropine reduced myopic progression rates (slow: −0.07 D/year, fast: −0.25 D/year, combined: before: −0.74, during: −0.18 D/year, p = 0.03). Rebound occurred in 3/4 eyes that ceased atropine. Atropine halved axial growth in the ‘Slow’ group relative to an age-matched model of untreated myopes (0.098 vs. 0.196 mm/year, p < 0.001) but was double that in emmetropes (0.051 mm/year, p < 0.01). Atropine did not slow axial growth in ‘fast’ progressors compared to the age-matched untreated myope model (0.265 vs. 0.245 mm/year, p = 0.754, Power = 0.8). Adverse effects (69% of patients) included dilated pupils (6/13) more common in children with blue eyes (5/7, p = 0.04). Low-dose atropine could not remove initial myopia offsets suggesting treatment should commence in at-risk children as young as possible.
Modeling Time Series Data with Deep Learning: A Review, Analysis, Evaluation and Future Trend

Time series modeling is a challenging and demanding problem. In the recent year, deep learning (DL) has attracted huge attention in many fields of research, including time series analysis and forecasting. While the methods of DL are very broad and wide, we aim to review the most recent and impactful deep learning papers in order to provide insights from the notable DL models and evaluation methods on time series problems. Our main objective is to review and analyse the advantages and disadvantages of different models, evaluation methods, future trends and techniques of solving time series problem with DL.
ATTITUDES OF TEACHERS TOWARDS L1 USE IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM IN THE CONTEXTS OF TURKEY AND KYRGYZSTAN

In an attempt to achieve perfect English language proficiency, all learners face the same issue: the inevitable use of their L1 in an English classroom. Various studies have identified different attitudes and reasons for teachers’ and students’ L1 use in English classroom. The aim of this paper is to identify teachers’ attitude towards L1 use and reveal the reason for their particular attitude through the use of the open-ended questionnaires. Teachers’ attitude was distinguished in terms of teachers’ and students’ L1 use. Apart from that teachers’ questionnaires attempted to identify activities that are best carried out through L1 and TL. As this study comprises teachers from universities of Turkey and Kyrgyzstan the difference between their attitudes has been also investigated. Qualitative data obtained from the questionnaires was collected, coded and analyzed with the help of the NVivo12 software program. The research findings revealed that overall attitude of teachers towards their own use of L1 is positive. However substantial difference has been observed between the attitudes of Turkish and Kyrgyz teachers. Results obtained from teachers’ survey revealed that majority of teachers from Turkish context tend to have positive attitude with regard to teachers’ L1 employment than their Kyrgyz colleagues. Moreover no considerable difference has been observed in terms of the teachers’ attitude towards students’ L1 use. Similarly no substantial difference has been observed between the attitudes of Turkish and Kyrgyz teachers towards students’ use of L1. Finally, activities best carried out through L1 and TL based on the teachers’ view have been listed and discussed. Research findings also revealed that teachers and students employed L1 mainly for pedagogical reasons. Results also suggest that limited and judicious use of L1 can be served as a facilitating tool to improve TL proficiency.
ENTHALPY BY ENERGY BALANCE FOR AERODYNAMIC HEATING FACILITY AT NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER ARC JET COMPLEX

The NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Arc Jet Facilities’ Aerodynamic Heating Facility (AHF) has been instrumented for the Enthalpy By Energy Balance (EB2) method. Diagnostic EB2 data is routinely taken for all AHF runs. This paper provides an overview of the EB2 method implemented in the AHF. The chief advantage of the AHF implementation over earlier versions is the non-intrusiveness of the
Recent Advances in Barrier Layer of Cu Interconnects

The barrier layer in Cu technology is essential to prevent Cu from diffusing into the dielectric layer at high temperatures; therefore, it must have a high stability and good adhesion to both Cu and the dielectric layer. In the past three decades, tantalum/tantalum nitride (Ta/TaN) has been widely used as an inter-layer to separate the dielectric layer and the Cu. However, to fulfill the demand for continuous down-scaling of the Cu technology node, traditional materials and technical processes are being challenged. Direct electrochemical deposition of Cu on top of Ta/TaN is not realistic, due to its high resistivity. Therefore, pre-deposition of a Cu seed layer by physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is necessary, but the non-uniformity of the Cu seed layer has a devastating effect on the defect-free fill of modern sub-20 or even sub-10 nm Cu technology nodes. New Cu diffusion barrier materials having ultra-thin size, high resistivity and stability are needed for the successful super-fill of trenches at the nanometer scale. In this review, we briefly summarize recent advances in the development of Cu diffusion-proof materials, including metals, metal alloys, self-assembled molecular layers (SAMs), two-dimensional (2D) materials and high-entropy alloys (HEAs). Also, challenges are highlighted and future research directions are suggested.
A review of user training methods in brain computer interfaces based on mental tasks

Mental-tasks based brain–computer interfaces (MT-BCIs) allow their users to interact with an external device solely by using brain signals produced through mental tasks. While MT-BCIs are promising for many applications, they are still barely used outside laboratories due to their lack of reliability. MT-BCIs require their users to develop the ability to self-regulate specific brain signals. However, the human learning process to control a BCI is still relatively poorly understood and how to optimally train this ability is currently under investigation. Despite their promises and achievements, traditional training programs have been shown to be sub-optimal and could be further improved. In order to optimize user training and improve BCI performance, human factors should be taken into account. An interdisciplinary approach should be adopted to provide learners with appropriate and/or adaptive training. In this article, we provide an overview of existing methods for MT-BCI user training—notably in terms of environment, instructions, feedback and exercises. We present a categorization and taxonomy of these training approaches, provide guidelines on how to choose the best methods and identify open challenges and perspectives to further improve MT-BCI user training.
c-Src kinase inhibits osteogenic differentiation via enhancing STAT1 stability

The proto-oncogene Src is ubiquitously expressed and is involved in cellular differentiation. However, the role of Src in embryonic stem (ES) cell osteogenic differentiation is largely unknown. Using the small molecule inhibitor PP2, c-Src specific siRNAs, and tet-inducible lentiviral vectors overexpressing active c-Src, we delineated an inhibitory role of c-Src in osteogenic differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and mouse MC3T3-E1s preosteoblasts. Active c-Src was shown to restrict the nuclear residency of Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and its transcriptional activity with no detectable effect on Runx2 expression level. Furthermore, we showed Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 1 (STAT1) was indispensable to the inhibitory role of c-Src on Runx2 nuclear localization. Specifically, higher levels of active c-Src increased STAT1 half-life by inhibiting its proteasomal degradation, thereby increasing the cytoplasmic abundance of STAT1. More abundant cytoplasmic STAT1 bound and anchored Runx2, which restricted its nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and ultimately reduced Runx2 transcriptional activity. Collectively, this study has defined a new mechanism by which c-Src inhibits the transcriptional regulation of osteogenesis from mESCs in vitro.
Uncharted routes: exploring the relevance of auxin movement via plasmodesmata

ABSTRACT Auxin is an endogenous small molecule with an incredibly large impact on growth and development in plants. Movement of auxin between cells, due to its negative charge at most physiological pHs, strongly relies on families of active transporters. These proteins import auxin from the extracellular space or export it into the same. Mutations in these components have profound impacts on biological processes. Another transport route available to auxin, once the substance is inside the cell, are plasmodesmata connections. These small channels connect the cytoplasms of neighbouring plant cells and enable flow between them. Interestingly, the biological significance of this latter mode of transport is only recently starting to emerge with examples from roots, hypocotyls and leaves. The existence of two transport systems provides opportunities for reciprocal cross-regulation. Indeed, auxin levels influence proteins controlling plasmodesmata permeability, while cell–cell communication affects auxin biosynthesis and transport. In an evolutionary context, transporter driven cell–cell auxin movement and plasmodesmata seem to have evolved around the same time in the green lineage. This highlights a co-existence from early on and a likely functional specificity of the systems. Exploring more situations where auxin movement via plasmodesmata has relevance for plant growth and development, and clarifying the regulation of such transport, will be key aspects in coming years. This article has an associated Future Leader to Watch interview with the author of the paper. Summary: The review discusses the occurrence and biological relevance of auxin transport via plasmodesmata in plants. Physical modes of transport of this hormone, feedbacks on its movement and evolutionary aspects are included.