Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptation of acneic and non acneic strains of Cutibacterium acnes to sebum‐like environment

Cutibacterium acnes, former Proprionibacterium acnes, is a heterogeneous species including acneic bacteria such as the RT4 strain, and commensal bacteria such as the RT6 strain. These strains have been characterized by metagenomic analysis but their physiology was not investigated until now. Bacteria were grown in different media, brain heart infusion medium (BHI), reinforced clostridial medium (RCM), and in sebum like medium (SLM) specifically designed to reproduce the lipid rich environment of the sebaceous gland. Whereas the RT4 acneic strain showed maximal growth in SLM and lower growth in RCM and BHI, the RT6 non acneic strain was growing preferentially in RCM and marginally in SLM. These differences were correlated with the lipophilic surface of the RT4 strain and to the more polar surface of the RT6 strain. Both strains also showed marked differences in biofilm formation activity which was maximal for the RT4 strain in BHI and for the RT6 strain in SLM. However, cytotoxicity of both strains on HaCaT keratinocytes remained identical and limited. The RT4 acneic strain showed higher inflammatory potential than the RT6 non acneic strain, but the growth medium was without significant influence. Both bacteria were also capable to stimulate β‐defensine 2 secretion by keratinocytes but no influence of the bacterial growth conditions was observed. Comparative proteomics analysis was performed by nano LC‐MS/MS and revealed that whereas the RT4 strain only expressed triacylglycerol lipase, the principal C. acnes virulence factor, when it was grown in SLM, the RT6 strain expressed another virulence factor, the CAMP factor, exclusively when it was grown in BHI and RCM. This study demonstrates the key influence of growth conditions on virulence expression by C. acnesand suggest that acneic and non acneic strains are related to different environmental niches.
The Impact of National Culture on Employees' Attitudes Toward Heavy Work Investment: Comparative Approach Romania vs. Japan

This paper aims to study the heavy work investment’s association with different forms of motivation, as well as the positive or negative effects of this investment on a personal and professional level, in the context of two very different national cultures: Romania and Japan. A questionnaire-based survey involving 822 employees in both Romania and Japan was carried out for data collection. The main results, obtained through structural equation modeling, suggest that intrinsic motivation could lead Romanian and Japanese employees to increase their investment of time and effort in work. On the other hand, the intensity of work will be positively reflected in their job satisfaction and professional performance and will lead to reduction in work-family conflict and turnover intention, while the massive investment of time will have opposite consequences. All these relationships are statistically different for employees in Romania and Japan, thus supporting the moderating effect of national culture. These results could be useful to both employees and managers in Romania and Japan to decide on the time and effort should be invested in work, considering both their positive and negative effects for employee and organization.
Until work do us part: Labour migration and occupational stratification in non-cohabiting marriage

While recent decades have seen considerable research on cohabitation without marriage, the study of marriage without cohabitation has not fared as well. Prior work on the latter has emphasized the importance of occupational stratification, but ignored the social context around occupation, particularly regarding labour mobility and economic development. In this paper, we outline the significance of contemporary labour mobility and concomitant occupational stratification for the risk of non-cohabiting marriage, and use data from the IPUMS–International project to provide a cross-national accounting of non-cohabiting marriage. We focus on two issues: first, how does prevalence vary across countries, across time, and with respect to economic development? Second, how do the core dynamics of labour mobility—including migration, occupational status, and economic development—influence the probability of non-cohabiting marriage? Results indicate broad cross-national differences in prevalence, increasing risk over time, and a pattern of accumulating risk associated with multifaceted social disadvantage.
Effects of Vasopressors on Cerebral Circulation and Oxygenation: A Narrative Review of Pharmacodynamics in Health and Traumatic Brain Injury

The clinical use of vasoactive drugs aims to improve hemodynamic variables and thereby maintain or restore adequate perfusion and oxygenation in accordance with metabolic demands. A main focus in the management of patients with brain pathology during surgery and neurointensive care is restoring and/or maintaining adequate cerebral perfusion pressure in order to ensure cerebral blood flow in accordance with metabolic demands. One commonly used clinical strategy is the administration of vasoactive drugs aiming to increase mean arterial blood pressure and thereby cerebral perfusion pressure. Here, we first describe the anatomic and physiological basis for the cerebrovascular effects of vasopressor agents. Next, we review the pharmacodynamics of commonly used vasopressors under normal circumstances and in the presence of head injury. We further discuss the role of blood-brain barrier disruption and microvascular dysfunction with regard to the effects of the reviewed vasopressor agents.
Additively Manufactured Parts Made of a Polymer Material Used for the Experimental Verification of a Component of a High-Speed Machine with an Optimised Geometry—Preliminary Research

This paper describes a novel method for the experimental validation of numerically optimised turbomachinery components. In the field of additive manufacturing, numerical models still need to be improved, especially with the experimental data. The paper presents the operational characteristics of a compressor wheel, measured during experimental research. The validation process included conducting a computational flow analysis and experimental tests of two compressor wheels: The aluminium wheel and the 3D printed wheel (made of a polymer material). The chosen manufacturing technology and the results obtained made it possible to determine the speed range in which the operation of the tested machine is stable. In addition, dynamic destructive tests were performed on the polymer disc and their results were compared with the results of the strength analysis. The tests were carried out at high rotational speeds (up to 120,000 rpm). The results of the research described above have proven the utility of this technology in the research and development of high-speed turbomachines operating at speeds up to 90,000 rpm. The research results obtained show that the technology used is suitable for multi-variant optimization of the tested machine part. This work has also contributed to the further development of numerical models.
Retrenchment Strategy and Firm Performance: Evidence from Malaysian Construction Companies

With the latest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate of 4.7% form the 4th Quarter of 2018 which shows an uprising trend in the Malaysian economy, it is no exception for managers to implement a strategy due to the order from the higher authorities which us to conduct a retrenchment strategy. This order falls toward specific sectors such as manufacturing, financial services and construction sector which is to be done to increase firm performance. With the construction sector that is more likely to be listed in PN17 (Amir Hisyam,2018) it gives more attention for the researcher to focus more on the sector with it being the second highest rate of loss of employment in Malaysia. Hence this research aims to investigate the relationship between retrenchment strategy and firm performance for a sample of 49 listed construction companies in Malaysia which is to be chosen if the firms has the following criteria that needed by this study over the period of 2008 – 2018. Afterwards this study will investigate the effects of the firm performance towards potential investor’s decision as the contributing component of this study is implementing Return on Equity as well as Tobin’s Q in the dependent variable. By using regression model in STATA software alongside with multiple tests to examine the data of the firms, the study hopes to find acceptable results to determine the relationship among the variables. Later in the study the results show that the main variable which is retrenchment has no significant influence towards any of the firm performance. The study will contribute to Malaysia construction firms, investors and managers by showing how in the current state of the country does practicing retrenchment strategy affects the firm performance.
The effect of diet on hypertensive pathology: is there a link via gut microbiota-driven immune-metabolism?

Over the past decade, the immune system has emerged as an important component in the aetiology of hypertension. There has been a blooming interest in the contribution of the gut microbiota, the microbes that inhabit our small and large intestine, to blood pressure (BP) regulation. The gastrointestinal tract houses the largest number of immune cells in our body, thus, it is no surprise that its microbiota plays an important functional role in the appropriate development of the immune system through a coordinated sequence of events leading to immune tolerance of commensal bacteria. Importantly, recent evidence supports that the gut microbiota can protect or promote the development of experimental hypertension and is likely to have a role in human hypertension. One of the major modulators of the gut microbiota is diet: diets that emphasise high fibre intake, such as the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, promote expansion of protective microbes that release gut metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids, which are immune-, BP- and cardio-protective, likely acting through G-coupled protein receptors. In contrast, diets lacking fibre or high in salt and fat, such as the Western diet, reduce prevalence of commensal microbial species and support a pathogenic and pro-inflammatory environment, including the release of the pro-atherosclerotic trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). Here we review the current understanding of the gut microbiota-driven immune dysfunction in both experimental and clinical hypertension, and how these changes may be addressed through dietary interventions.
scRNAss: a single-cell RNA-seq assembler via imputing dropouts and combing junctions

MOTIVATION Full-length transcript reconstruction is essential for single-cell RNA-seq data analysis, but dropout events, which can cause transcripts discarded completely or broken into pieces, pose great challenges for transcript assembly. Currently available RNA-seq assemblers are generally designed for bulk RNA sequencing. To fill the gap, we introduce scRNAss, a method that applies explicit strategies to impute lost information caused by dropout events and a combing strategy to infer transcripts using scRNA-seq. RESULTS Extensive evaluations on both simulated and biological datasets demonstrated its superiority over the state-of-the-art RNA-seq assemblers including StringTie, Cufflinks and Class2. In particular, it showed a remarkable capability of recovering unknown "novel" isoforms and highly computational efficiency compared to other tools. AVAILABILITY scRNAss is free, open-source software available from https://sourceforge.net/projects/single-cell-rna-seq-assembly/files/. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are Available at Bioinformatics Online.
Synthesis and Acid-Responsiveness of an Insulated π-Conjugated Polymer Containing Spiropyrans in Its Backbone

A π-conjugated polymer containing spiropyrans (SPs), which could be almost completely converted to protonated merocyanines (MCH+) and back to the SP form by adding an acid and a base, respectively, was developed. The insulation of the π-conjugated polymer, referred to as insulated spiropyran-containing poly(p-phenylene ethynylene) (ins-SP-PPE), using permethylated α-cyclodextrins (PM α-CD) suppressed the π-π interaction between the polymer chains containing MCH+, and the installation of PM α-CD improved the switching ability of SPs. The polymer exhibited repeatable acidochromism with almost complete conversion between the SP and MCH+ forms. Photoluminescence measurements were conducted and the acid-induced luminescence quenching of the polymer in the solution was observed, which stemmed from energy transfer from the PPE to MCH+ moieties. In the solid state, the quantum yield of ins-SP-PPE was more than twice that of the uninsulated polymer, which derived from the insulation effects. The acid-induced luminescence quenching was also observed in the solid state.
Boundary Attack++: Query-Efficient Decision-Based Adversarial Attack

Decision-based adversarial attack studies the generation of adversarial examples that solely rely on output labels of a target model. In this paper, decision-based adversarial attack was formulated as an optimization problem. Motivated by zeroth-order optimization, we develop Boundary Attack++, a family of algorithms based on a novel estimate of gradient direction using binary information at the decision boundary. By switching between two types of projection operators, our algorithms are capable of optimizing $L_2$ and $L_\infty$ distances respectively. Experiments show Boundary Attack++ requires significantly fewer model queries than Boundary Attack. We also show our algorithm achieves superior performance compared to state-of-the-art white-box algorithms in attacking adversarially trained models on MNIST.
CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM CITRUS LIMON ( L . ) AND EVALUATING THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON THYROID HORMONE AND CELLULAR TOXICITY

The present study was carried out to estimate the vital effects of the water and alcohol extract of Citrus limon (L.) seeds in thyroids hormone levels secretion in adults female Albino rats. Plant Seeds was extracted with distilled water and alcohol using ethanol. Then phytochemical compound detected using classical methods and thin layer chromatography (TLC). animal’s groups were injected with L-Thyroxine and plant extracts. Blood samples were collected from all animals after the end of the trial time of 10 days. The results of study showed that the water and ethanol extract contain many bioactive substances, including carbohydrates, tannins, glycoside, saponin, terpenes, alkaloids and phenols. Meanwhile, Glycosides detection by (TLC) plate from water and alcohol extracts of C. limon showed 4 and 5 bands using the BAW (4: 1: 5) solvent system respectively, 4 and 5 bands with alkaloids, showed 4 and 5 bands of terpenoids compound, 4; 5 spots with tannins compounds were observed.
Thermocapillary long waves in a liquid film flow. Part 1. Low-dimensional formulation

We consider the dynamics of a thin liquid film falling down a uniformly heated wall. The heating sets up surface tension gradients that induce thermocapillary stresses on the free surface, thus affecting the evolution of the film. We model this thermocapillary flow by using a gradient expansion combined with a Galerkin projection with polynomial test functions for both velocity and temperature fields. We obtain equations for the evolution of the velocity and temperature amplitudes at first- and second-order in the expansion parameter. These equations are fully compatible close to criticality with the Benney long-wave expansion. Models of reduced dimensionality for the evolution of the local film thickness, flow rate and interfacial temperature only, are proposed.
Theory and empirics of Markusen type multinationals

Research on multinational firms’ activity has been conducted widely since late 1980s. The literature is differentiated into three types: horizontal FDI, vertical FDI, and three-country FDI, represented by export platform FDI. There are other methods of differentiation of the literature by approach, for example, the pure theory approach represented by Krugman and Melitz and the numerical simulation approach represented by Markusen. This paper surveys Markusen type literature by firm type. There is little literature focused on intermediate goods trade, although intermediate goods trade is considered to be strongly related to the production patterns of MNEs. In this paper, we introduce a model to explicitly treat intermediate goods trade and present simulation analysis for empirical estimation.
Title Gender difference in N 170 elicited under oddball task

Background: Some studies have reported gender differences in N170, a face-selective event-related potential (ERP) component. This study investigated gender differences in N170 elicited under oddball paradigm in order to clarify the effect of task demand on gender differences in early facial processing. Findings: Twelve males and 10 females discriminated targets (emotional faces) from non-targets (emotionally neutral faces) under an oddball paradigm, pressing a button as quickly as possible in response to the target. Clear N170 was elicited in response to target and non-target stimuli in both males and females. However, females showed more negative amplitude of N170 in response to target compared with non-target, while males did not show different N170 responses between target and non-target. Conclusions: The present results suggest that females have a characteristic of allocating attention at an early stage when responding to faces actively (target) compared to viewing faces passively (non-target). This supports previous findings suggesting that task demand is an important factor in gender differences in N170.
Data for free: Fewer-shot algorithm learning with parametricity data augmentation

We address the problem of teaching an RNN to approximate list-processing algorithms given a small number of input-output training examples. Our approach is to generalize the idea of parametricity from programming language theory to formulate a semantic property that distinguishes common algorithms from arbitrary non-algorithmic functions. This characterization leads naturally to a learned data augmentation scheme that encourages RNNs to learn algorithmic behavior and enables small-sample learning in a variety of list-processing tasks.
The Comparison of Emphatic Tendencies of the Management Department Students.

The aim of the current research is to make a comparison between the university students majoring at the department of sport management at Kafkas University and Atatürk University in terms of empathy level. For data collection, “Emphatic Tendency Scale”, which was developed by Dökmen (1994) and which included 20 items, was administered to a total of 463 participants consisting of 174 female and 289 male students. For data analysis, SPSS 16 programme was used for statistical procedures such as frequency analysis for demographic information, independent sample t-test for the comparison of empathy level of gender and university and one-way Anova and Tukey for the comparison of empathy level in terms of age and grade. The results of the study revealed that there were statistically significant differences in gender and empathy level (p=,028), age and empathy level (p=,026), grade and empathy level (p=,039).
DEVELOPING GEOMETRIC THINKING SKILLS THROUGH DYNAMIC DIAGRAM TRANSFORMATIONS

The paper draws on an experiment conducted in a secondary school mathematics classroom in Greece which sought to investigate the transformation of students’ skills following the use of the Sketchpad dynamic diagram transformations by comparing pre and post paper-pencil tests. We conclude that the dynamic geometry software is an effective component in the conceptualization of the solution to the problem through reasoning and can help students develop higher-order thinking skills.
ACKT: A Proposal for a Novel Score to Predict Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation after Surgical Treatment of Meningioma in Geriatric Patients

Simple Summary Meningiomas are most commonly benign intracranial tumors, and surgical resection represents the treatment modality of choice. However, especially for patients of higher age and with increasing comorbidities, brain surgery might be accompanied by the need for postoperative prolonged intensive care, which might impair intended operative benefit. In the present study, we therefore analyzed prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) as an indicator variable for such intensive care treatment with regard to potential effects on mortality after meningioma resection in patients aged 70 years and older. We found that patients with postoperative PMV exhibited a profoundly increased probability to die within 1 year after surgery. Based on these findings, we identified risk factors for postoperative PMV occurrence and developed an easy-to-use score which allows us to estimate the risk of PMV occurrence preliminary to the surgical resection. We believe that this score might help to more sufficiently guide patients in the course of risk–benefit assessment and preoperative counseling. Abstract Indication for surgical treatment in patients with intracranial meningioma must include both clinical aspects and an individual risk–benefit stratification, especially in geriatric patients. Prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) has not been investigated for its potential effects in patients with meningioma. We therefore analyzed the impact of PMV on mortality in geriatric patients who had undergone meningioma resection. Between 2009 and 2019, 261 patients aged ≥ 70 years were surgically treated for intracranial meningioma at our institution. PMV was defined as postoperative invasive ventilation of >7 days. Postoperative PMV was present in 17 of 261 geriatric meningioma patients (7%). Twenty-five geriatric patients (10%) died within 1 year after surgery. A scoring system (“ACKT”) based on the variables of age, preoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) value, Karnofsky performance scale and tumor size supports prediction of postoperative PMV (sensitivity 73%, specificity 84%). PMV is significantly associated with increased mortality after surgical treatment of meningiomas in geriatric patients. Furthermore, we suggest a novel score (“ACKT”) to preoperatively estimate the risk of PMV occurrence, which might help to guide future risk–benefit assessment and patient counseling in the geriatric meningioma population.
Cellular aspects of the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis

Purpose of review Lupus nephritis is a common severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus. Despite recent advances in therapeutics and understanding of its pathogenesis, there are still substantial unmet needs. This review discusses recent discoveries in these areas, especially the role of tubulointerstitial inflammation (TII) in lupus nephritis. Recent findings Non-white ethnicity is still a major risk and poor prognostic factor in lupus nephritis. TII and fibrosis have been found to be associated with worse renal outcome but the current lupus nephritis treatment guidelines and trials are based on the degree of glomerular inflammation. In combination with mycophenolate mofetil, a B-cell-targeted therapy (belimumab) and a calcineurin inhibitor (voclosporin) have shown efficacy in recent lupus nephritis trials. However, response rates have been modest. While lupus glomerulonephritis results from immune complex deposition derived from systemic autoantibodies, TII arises from complex processes associated with in situ adaptive cell networks. These include local antibody production, and cognate or antigen-induced interactions between T follicular helper cells, and likely other T-cell populations, with antigen presenting cells including B cells, myeloid dendritic cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Summary Better understanding of the pathogenesis of TII will identify novel therapeutic targets predicted to improve outcomes in our patients with lupus nephritis.