Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential microRNA and metabolic expressions in neuroendocrine and cervical carcinomas

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of many biological processes involved in cancer development and progression. However, the functional roles of miRNAs in some cancer types are still poorly understood. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the expressions, targets and functions of specific miRNAs in cervical, adrenocortical and Merkel cell carcinoma. In Paper I, we characterized the functional roles of miR-944, a miRNA with higher expression in cervical cancer. We showed that miR-944 promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Using Ago2 PAR-CLIP sequencing, we identified 58 candidate targets of miR-944 and validated HECW2 and S100PBP as direct targets of miR-944 by luciferase reporter assays. This study reveals the oncogenic role and novel targets of miR-944 in human cervical cancer cells, suggesting its important role in cervical cancer development and its potential implications as a biomarker of cervical carcinoma or as a therapeutic target. In Paper II, we showed that the IGF2-H19 locus was consistently deregulated in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). We used available proteomic data, to identify a subset of proteins inversely correlated to miRNAs of the IGF2-H19 locus. Interestingly, several of the proteins are involved in mitochondrial respiration, such as NDUFC1, a subunit of mitochondrial respiratory complex I. NDUFC1 was observed to be down-regulated in our ACC cohort and was a predicted miR483-5p target. Inhibition of miR-483-5p in ACC cells increased NDUFC1 expression and reduced both glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, suggesting that miR-483-5p controls major energy metabolism and its high expression is required to fuel cellular activies in ACC
Adapting to Extreme Heat: Social, Atmospheric, and Infrastructure Impacts of Air-Conditioning in Megacities—The Case of New York City

Extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and intense. In cities, the urban heat island (UHI) can often intensify extreme heat exposure, presenting a public health challenge across vulnerable populations without access to adaptive measures. Here, we explore the impacts of increasing residential air-conditioning (AC) adoption as one such adaptive measure to extreme heat, with New York City (NYC) as a case study. This study uses AC adoption data from NYC Housing and Vacancy Surveys to study impacts to indoor heat exposure, energy demand, and UHI. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, coupled with a multilayer building environment parameterization and building energy model (BEP–BEM), is used to perform this analysis. The BEP–BEM schemes are modified to account for partial AC use and used to analyze current and full AC adoption scenarios. A city-scale case study is performed over the summer months of June–August 2018, which includes three different extreme heat events. Simulation results show good agreement with surface weather stations. We show that increasing AC systems to 100% usage across NYC results in a peak energy demand increase of 20%, while increasing UHI on average by 0.42 °C. Results highlight potential trade-offs in extreme heat adaptation strategies for cities, which may be necessary in the context of increasing extreme heat events.
OF THE PAKISTAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES : B . Life and Environmental Sciences

Food colors are essential ingredients of modern processed foods. Betalain can be used as a natural color source for various foods due to its nutritional and safety value. This natural and water soluble dye occurs either as red-violet betacyanin or the yellow-orange betaxanthins. Betalain plays a vital role in human health due to its pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anti-lipidemic, antimicrobial, antitumor, antiviral and anticancer potential. There are many eatable sources of betalain e.g., Opuntia stricta (cactus fig), Opuntia ficus-indica (barbary fig), Beta vulgarius (red beet), Amaranathus tricolor (Amaranath), Celosia argentea (silver cock’s comb) and Chenopodium quinoa Wild. Red beetroot provides carotenoids, glycine, betanin, saponins, betacyanin, folates, polyphenols and flavonoids. Amaranthus is an important source of vitamin C, vitamin B, soluble fiber, betacyanin and shows significant antimalarial and antimicrobial activity. Celosia argentea Linn provides carbohydrates, vitamins, dietary minerals and high amount of betalain. Chenopodium quinoa contains high content of vitamins and minerals. Betalain of Opuntia ficus-indica fruits (barbary fig) possesses strong anti-proliferative activity. Extract of prickly pear (cactus fig) pulp which contains betalain, can act as an antibiotic agent in cases of wounds, digestive and urinary tract infections and inflammations. It also has significant inhibitory effect against humanoid ovarian tumor and cervical cancer cells. Optimum pH for maximum stability of betanin lies between pH 5.5 and 5.8. Betalain stability is affected by long term exposure to oxygen/air, light in the presence of oxygen, high temperature and water activity (aw) but it is highly stable in the presence of low moisture.
The Moderating Role of Trust in The Relationship Between Fairness Perceptions and Income Tax Voluntary Compliance in Nigeria

Fairness perception in Nigeria has been a subject of concern, due to the low level of tax compliance by individual. This study examined the moderating role of trust in explaining voluntary tax compliance in Nigeria. For that purpose, a cross sectional study was conducted. 249 questionnaires were collected from the 450 questionnaires issued to the owners of micro enterprises in Jigawa State Nigeria. The data was analyzed using SPSS and PLS to answer the research questions. The Partial Least Square (PLS) path modeling was used in examining the relationship between fairness perceptions and voluntary tax compliance, trust and voluntary tax compliance and the moderating role of trust between fairness perception and voluntary tax compliance. Moreover, the results reveal that fairness perceptions have a positive and significance relationship on voluntary tax compliance and trust in authority has significant and positive relationships with voluntary tax compliance. Additionally, trust moderates the relationship between fairness perceptions and voluntary tax compliance. Based on the result obtained this study conclude that owners of micro enterprises in Jigawa State Nigeria believed that, based on the trust they have in the present government, they can voluntarily and willingly pay their taxes without any coercion. The study has the potential highlight to the Nigerian government on the way to improve voluntary tax compliance among citizens. The study also contributes to the shortage of accounting literature on taxation in Nigeria and also contribute to the existing body of accounting literature as a whole. Key word: Voluntary tax compliance, fairness perception, trust.
Can Collegiate Hockey Players Accurately Predict Regional and Total Body Physiologic Changes throughout the Competitive Season?

A collegiate athlete’s body composition can fluctuate due to factors such as nutrition, sleep, and training load. As changes in body composition can affect an athlete’s level of performance, it may be beneficial if athlete’s can accurately predict these changes throughout a season. The purpose of this study was to determine how well a group of 23 male collegiate hockey players (age = 22.44 ± 1.16 years, height = 181.30 ± 6.99 cm, weight = 86.41 ± 8.32 kg) could predict their regional and total body lean and fat tissue mass throughout a hockey season (September to March). Total body, trunk, lower body, and upper body compositional changes were measured at the beginning and at the end of the competitive season using dual energy X-Ray absorptiometry (DXA). At the end of the season, a questionnaire was completed by each participant to explore how they perceived their body composition changes (losses or gains in lean tissue and fat mass) throughout the season. Overall, players had a difficult time identifying actual changes in lean tissue and fat mass throughout the season. Upper body fat and lean tissue changes were perceived most accurately, while perceptions of body fat were related to android adiposity but not visceral adiposity. These findings suggest that some regional areas of body composition changes may happen without being noticed. For strength and conditioning coaches, if athletes are made aware of these changes before they become exaggerated, proper dietary, and training adaptations can be made to enhance performance.
Glucocerebrosidase mutations and neuropsychiatric phenotypes in Parkinson’s disease and dementia: review and meta-analyses. Running title: Review of GBA and neuropsychiatric phenotypes Authors:

Heterozygous mutations in glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) are a major genetic risk factor for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Recently, there has been a considerable focus on the relationship between GBA mutations and emergence of cognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric symptoms in these diseases. Here, we review the literature in this area, with a particular focus, including meta-analysis, on the key neuropsychiatric symptoms of cognitive impairment, psychosis, and depression in Parkinson’s disease. Our meta-analysis demonstrated that GBA mutations are associated with a 2.4-fold increased risk of cognitive impairment. In addition, our novel meta-analyses of psychosis and depression showed a 1.8and 2.2-fold increased risk respectively associated with GBA mutations, although due to possible bias and heterogeneity the depression findings should be interpreted with caution. While the precise mechanisms which increase susceptibility to neurodegeneration in GBA carriers are not known, evidence of greater cortical Lewy body pathology, reduced patterns of cortical activation, and hippocampal pathology in animal models are all consistent with a direct effect of GBA mutations on these symptoms. Extension of this work in DLB and individuals without neurodegeneration will be important in further characterizing how GBA mutations increase risk for PD and DLB and influence disease course.
Effects of Tillage Systems and Cropping Patterns on Soil Physical Properties in Mozambique

Conservation agriculture (CA) practices are advocated to reduce soil degradation, resulting in more sustainable food production as compared to conventional tillage (CT). In this study, the short-term effects of two tillage systems in combination with cropping patterns on selected soil physical parameters on four experimental sites in Mozambique were studied. The study sites differ according to their climatic conditions, soil types, and crop adaptation. Tillage systems evaluated were CA and CT, while the cropping pattern had four levels of sole cropping and three levels of intercropping. In general, soil physical properties showed significant changes due to the tillage systems, but the cropping pattern and their interaction with tillage systems did not yield significant impacts on the soil physical properties. CA increased bulk density, penetration resistance, and saturated hydraulic conductivity as compared to CT. A significant difference due to the tillage system was observed across the four sites, and in general, evaporation was higher in CT compared to CA. The presence of crop residues in CA contributed to lower evaporation. Thus, in the short term, CA practices could be a sustainable option to conserve soil water through higher infiltration and less evaporation.
STABILITY ANALYSIS FOR YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING TRAITS IN EARLY PIGEON PEA UNDER IRRIGATED CONDITIONS

The field experiment were conducted during kharif 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 to know the stable performance of early pigeon pea genotypes under irrigated condition. Nine genotypes of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) were evaluated in RBD with three replications for four years. Variances due to genotypes and environments were significant for all the characters except number of pods/plant. Simultaneous consideration of stability parameters showed that ‘METH 121’, had better stability over the environments under irrigated conditions. Genotypes viz., ‘TT 2000’ and ‘TAT 9903’ were better for favourable environments, whereas ‘MA 29’ was suitable for unfavourable environments.
Public Space and Value of Real Estate: An Analysis of the Case of the Dona Lindu Park in the City of Recife, Brazil Resumo

In 2011 the Park Dona Lindu Park was opened in Boa Viagem neighborhood at Recife. This article investigates the impact on real estate price in the region around the Park. For this, we used the hedonic price method with the identification strategy via differences-in-differences and find an approximate value of 7.7% appreciation of the properties within a radius of 600 meters of D. Lindu and in the region between 600 and 1000 meters away from the Park there was a negative impact on the real estate prices of 11.9%. Palavra-Chaves: Dona Lindu, Hedonic Metod, Differences-in-Differences, Urban Economics, Green Areas, Public Parks e Valoration of Real Estate.
Essays on Testing Long-Run Abnormal Stock Returns

This paper presents a modest attempt to review the existing methodologies for measuring short-run abnormal performance of firms following certain corporate events. In doing so, the study discusses different parametric as well as nonparametric testing procedures available in the literature. Reviewing the prior literature reveals that the nonparametric sign and rank tests are better specified than parametric procedures. However, in case of detecting the short-run anomalies, we document that nonparametric tests have higher power relative to standard parametric approaches.
Quality of Tomatoes as Influenced by Bio-Chemicals and Controlled Atmosphere during Storage

A study was conducted to assess the potential of neem leaf extract, Aloe vera gel and Chitosan on the quality of two tomato cultivars (Sahil& Rio Grande) during storage in comparison with traditional post-harvest fungicide thiophanate methyl. Total soluble solids, acidity, color, respiration rate and ethylene production of bio-pesticides, treated tomatoes were compared (at 7 day interval, till 35 days) with those of treated tomatoes (thiophanate methyl) and control sample. Treated tomatoes (both varieties) were stored at 10oC and 75% humidity without CO2 and with 3% CO2 for 35 days in two different environment chambers. The selected parameters which affect the post-harvest quality loss were significantly controlled in the treated tomatoes (neem leaf extract and stored with 3% CO2) as compared to control and all other treatments except thiophanate methyl that also showed a significant effect.
Nexus Between Corporate Governance and Firm Performance in Malaysia: Supervised Machine Learning Approach

In the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 which had significantly affected Malaysia’ economy, there has been a renewed emphasis on corporate governance in order to make companies more effective and to further mitigate risks. However, despite the importance of the emerging technology companies in Malaysia in consideration of the modern internet age, there has not been many studies conducted on the Malaysian technology sector in respect of corporate governance. This study aims to partially bridge the research gap by investigating the relationship between selected corporate governance attributes and financial performance of Malaysian technology companies. This study involves 27 Malaysian technology companies listed on Bursa Malaysia, using annual data from the year 2010 to 2014. A multiple regression analysis was iii employed to examine the relationship between selected corporate governance attributes of the companies and their financial performance, relying on the financial ratios, namely Return on Assets and Return on Equity. Measures of corporate governance attributes employed are independent directors on the board, board gender diversity and independent audit committee. The results showed that board gender diversity had a positive impact on the financial performance of Malaysian technology companies, while the effects of independent directors and independent audit committee are not established
The influence of patients' knowledge of hypertension on the control of their blood pressure: Qualitative study

Introduction: Hypertension is a significant risk factor for stroke, myocardial infarction, and heart failure. Maintaining adequate blood pressure helps preventing cardiovascular complications. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge about hypertension and associated factors in controlling high blood pressure among hypertensive outpatients in the municipality of Bačka Topola, Republic of Serbia. Methods: The outpatients who visited their doctors and agreed to fill out an anonymous questionnaire were included in the survey conducted in March 2019 at the Primary Health Care Center of the municipality of Bačka Topola. The questions were related to the sociodemographic characteristics and medication-associated factors of significance for assessment of the outpatients’ knowledge about antihypertensive drugs. Results: The mean age of patients was 62.9±10.7 years. Most frequently prescribed antihypertensive drugs were ACE inhibitors (80.8%) followed by beta blockers (46.8%), calcium channel blockers (22.6%) and diuretics (21%), fixed dose antihypertensive drugs were used by 4.8% patients. Majority of adequate knowledge participants had well controlled blood pressure (91.4%), while only 37.1% of average knowledge participants had well controlled blood pressure. The other factors related to poor blood pressure control and lower level of knowledge about hypertension were older age, female gender, lower level of education, less frequent visits to the GP, patients with more than one antihypertensive drug, patients with longer duration of hypertension treatment and patients who were not paying copayment for their antihypertensive drugs. Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that the patients’ knowledge about hypertension and associated factors regarding the treatment of hypertension play an important role in maintaining blood pressure at the safe level. Therefore, educational campaigns are the key factors for the quality and satisfactory knowledge about use of antihypertensive drugs and management of hypertension.
DRONE NOISE REDUCTION VIA RADIATION EFFICIENCY CONSIDERATIONS

This paper is the first in a series which investigates counter-rotating drone engine noise reduction from a radiation efficiency perspective. This paper takes two design guidelines suggested in the literature for counter-rotating open rotor airplane engine technology and shows how they can be carried over to counter-rotating drone technology. These earlier design guidelines state that a large number of blades should be used on each rotor, and that the number of blades on each rotor should be the same. This paper then goes on to state the theoretical background behind a third design guideline. The third design guideline suggests using dissimilar rotational speeds on the two rotors in order to separate the tonal components of counter-rotating drone engines into separate frequency bins, while retaining the advantages associated with having the same number of blades on the two rotors.
UTILIZATION OF TANNIC ACID BY BACTERIA IN TROPICAL AQUATIC AND SOIL ENVIRONMENTS

Two bacterial strains designated as EO1 and EO2, were isolated by selective culture enrichment from Lagos lagoon water and mangrove soil samples. They were subsequently identified based on morphological and physiological characteristics as well as 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Klebsiella pneumoniae strain EO1 and Pantoea cypripedii strain EO2 with accession numbers KX355800 and KX355801. Microbial growth assessment was performed in triplicates under aerobic batch conditions. The two isolates were capable of utilizing tannic acid, gallic acid, glucose, succinate, benzoic acid, and protocatechuic acid as sole carbon sources. Growth experiments along with enzymatic studies indicated that the organisms hydrolyzed tannic acid through gallic acid and pyrogallol as metabolic intermediates. The organisms have potential for the elimination of polyphenolic pollutants such as gallotannins associated with wood residues in Nigerian estuarine environments.
Seasonal watershed-scale influences on nitrogen concentrations across the Upper Mississippi River basin

ABSTRACT In the Upper Mississippi River basin, after spring fertilizer application, total nitrogen concentration [TN] in streams drops by ~73% from June to September, consistent with effects of seasonal nutrient loading. We hypothesized that this seasonal variability might be affected by land cover (e.g. wetland, cultivated area extent). To test this hypothesis, we adopted a linear mixed-effects modeling approach including periodic functions. However, inclusion of wetland area was not indicated, suggesting that increased model complexity associated with inclusion of contemporary wetland extent was unjustified. While consideration of cultivated extent in relation to mean annual [TN] was shown to improve performance, no evidence was observed that cultivated extent could enhance explanation of intra-annual [TN]. Improved understanding of cause and effect will require improved spatiotemporal data on nitrogen sources and additional critical field experimentation, which in turn is expected to set the stage for advancement in physically- or process-based modeling of nutrient concentrations.
Metabolic Diversity of Thermophilic Bacteria from Hot Springs in Algeria

Hydrothermal samples have been collected from hot springs in the northeast of Algeria (57– 98°C). The samples in question are considered as extreme ecosystems. The first spring (57°C) have the highest thermophiles isolation rates. Three thermophilic aerobic strains have been purified. The isolates have an optimum growth temperature of about 45 to 70 °C and pH (6.5 – 8.0). The isolates exhibited extracellular amylase, protease and nitrate-reductase activities at high temperature and showed an antibacterial activity against at least one of the test-bacteria studied using the agar cylinder method. The study of their morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics suggests that these isolates belong to the genera Pseudomonas sp. , Thermus sp. and Geobacillus sp. Such studies are needed to understand the microbial communities that are native to the hot springs and their interest in biotechnology.
Facing the First-line in Metastatic Non-small-cell Lung Cancer – Immunotherapy and Chemotherapy

Journal Publication Date: 15 September 2020 Over the last few years, the treatment of metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has completely changed due to the advent of immunotherapy, which dramatically improved prognosis in patients without any driver alterations. First, three distinct immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), nivolumab, pembrolizumab and atezolizumab, became the standard secondor later-line treatments in both squamous and non-squamous NSCLC; later pembrolizumab replaced first-line chemotherapy in advanced NSCLC characterised by programmed death ligand 1 expression of at least 50%. Based on the significant efficacy and safety results using single-agent immunotherapy, ICIs in combination with other ICIs or chemotherapy, have been largely evaluated. In particular, since 2018, several studies combining ICIs and platinum-based chemotherapy as first-line treatment showed impressive results quickly resulting in a promising new standard of care for the near future.