Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exposure to the Gram-Negative Bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa Influences the Lung Dendritic Cell Population Signature by Interfering With CD103 Expression

Lung dendritic cells (DCs) are divided into two major populations, which include CD103+XCR1+ cDC1s and CD11b+Sirpα+ cDC2s. The maintenance of their relative proportions is dynamic and lung inflammation, such as caused by exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, can have a significant impact on the local cDC signature. Alterations in the lung cDC signature could modify the capacity of the immune system to respond to various pathogens. We consequently aimed to assess the impact of the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa on lung cDC1 and cDC2 populations, and to identify the mechanisms leading to alterations in cDC populations. We observed that exposure to P. aeruginosa decreased the proportions of CD103+XCR1+ cDC1s, while increasing that of CD11b+ DCs. We identified two potential mechanisms involved in this modulation of lung cDC populations. First, we observed an increase in bone marrow pre-DC IRF4 expression suggesting a higher propensity of pre-DCs to differentiate towards the cDC2 lineage. This observation was combined with a reduced capacity of lung XCR1+ DC1s to express CD103. In vitro, we demonstrated that GM-CSF-induced CD103 expression on cDCs depends on GM-CSF receptor internalization and RUNX1 activity. Furthermore, we observed that cDCs stimulation with LPS or P. aeruginosa reduced the proportions of intracellular GM-CSF receptor and decreased RUNX1 mRNA expression. Altogether, these results suggest that alterations in GM-CSF receptor intracellular localization and RUNX1 signaling could be involved in the reduced CD103 expression on cDC1 in response to P. aeruginosa. To verify whether the capacity of cDCs to express CD103 following P. aeruginosa exposure impacts the immune response, WT and Cd103-/- mice were exposed to P. aeruginosa. Lack of CD103 expression led to an increase in the number of neutrophils in the airways, suggesting that lack of CD103 expression on cDC1s could favor the innate immune response to this bacterium.
Looking Through the COVID-19 Window of Opportunity: Future Scenarios Arising From the COVID-19 Pandemic Across Five Case Study Sites

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused (and continues to cause) severe disruption in global and local economies and has forced countries, societies, and individuals to adapt quickly to the unprecedented and unpredictable situations. Despite the obvious negative consequences of the pandemic, many have called for efforts to identify transformative opportunities for sustainable development throughout this disorderly time. In the present paper, we explore such potential opportunities in the context of an interdisciplinary, international research project, which is focusing on sustainable marine management in biosphere reserves and marine parks in Southeast Asia. During a virtual workshop conducted as part of the GCRF (Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund) Blue Communities Project, future scenarios were developed depicting the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on five case study sites. All of these sites are in areas of internationally recognized outstanding ecological value (Taka Bonerate Kepulauan-Selayar Biosphere Reserve, Indonesia; Tun Mustapha Park, Sabah, Malaysia; Palawan Biosphere Reserve, Philippines; North Devon Biosphere Reserve, United Kingdom; Cu Lao Cham-Hoi An Biosphere Reserve, Vietnam). At the macro-level, economies, governance structures, and societal norms are undergoing big changes. At the micro-level, the livelihoods, lifestyles, and backyards of local residents have to adapt. Collaboratively, we explored how COVID-19 posed challenges in our five case study sites, but we also focused on the potential COVID-19-related windows of opportunity for future sustainable development. Opportunities could be identified in all three pillars of sustainable development: the environment, the society, and the economy. Although remarkable similarities can be found across all five sites, we conclude that there cannot be a “one-size-fits-all” solution to turn the tide toward achieving sustainable development. Just as before the pandemic, sustainable development starts with engaging with and understanding local environments, challenges, and situations; building on local knowledge; and developing tailor-made solutions for the communities in situ.
Phenotypic and Genotypic Co-receptor Tropism Testing in HIV-1 Epidemic Region of Tanzania Where Multiple Non-B Subtypes Co-circulate

HIV human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) entry inhibitor potency is dependent on viral co-receptor tropisms and thereby tropism determination is clinically important. However, phenotypic tropisms of HIV-1 non-B subtypes have been poorly investigated and the genotypic prediction algorithms remain insufficiently validated. To clarify this issue, we recruited 52 treatment-naïve, HIV-1-infected patients in Tanzania, where multiple HIV-1 non-B subtypes co-circulate. Sequence analysis of 93 infectious envelope clones isolated from their plasma viral RNA revealed the co-circulation of subtypes A1, C, D, and inter-subtype recombinant forms (isRFs). Phenotypic tropism assays revealed that lentivirus reporters pseudotyped with 75 (80.6%) and 5 (5.4%) envelope clones could establish infection toward U87.CD4 cells expressing CCR5 (R5) and CXCR4 (X4), respectively; whereas the remaining 13 (14%) clones could infect both cells. Genotypic analyses by widely used algorithms including V3 net charge, Geno2pheno, WebPSSM, and PhenoSeq showed that almost all phenotypic X4-tropic clones and only 15 of 75 phenotypic R5-tropic clones were concordantly predicted. However, the remaining 60 phenotypic R5-tropic clones were discordantly predicted by at least one algorithm. In particular, 2 phenotypic R5-tropic clones were discordantly predicted by all algorithms tested. Taken together, the results demonstrate the limitation of currently available genotypic algorithms for predicting co-receptor inference among co-circulating multiple non-B subtypes and emerging isRFs. Also, the phenotypic tropism dataset presented here could be valuable for retraining of the widely used genotypic prediction algorithms to enhance their performance.
FOXP3 Inhibits the Metastasis of Breast Cancer by Downregulating the Expression of MTA1

Background FOXP3, as a tumour suppressor gene, has a vital function in inhibiting the metastasis of breast cancer cells, but the mechanisms by which it inhibits metastasis have not been fully elucidated. This study intended to explore a new mechanism by which FOXP3 inhibits breast cancer metastasis. Methods Bioinformatic analysis was performed to identify potential downstream molecules of FOXP3. The function of FOXP3 in inhibiting MTA1 expression at the mRNA and protein levels was verified by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. The interaction between FOXP3 and the MTA1 promoter was verified by transcriptomic experiments. In vitro and in vivo experiments were used to determine whether the regulation of MTA1 by FOXP3 affected the invasion and migration of breast cancer cells. Immunohistochemistry was adopted to explore the correlation between the expression levels of FOXP3 and MTA1 in breast cancer samples. Results Bioinformatics-based sequencing suggested that MTA1 is a potential downstream molecule of FOXP3. FOXP3 downregulated the expression of MTA1 in breast cancer cells by directly inhibiting MTA1 promoter activity. Importantly, FOXP3’s regulation of MTA1 affected the ability of breast cancer cells to invade and metastasize in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, analysis of clinical specimens showed a significant negative correlation between the expression levels of FOXP3 and MTA1 in breast cancer. Conclusion We systematically explored a new mechanism by which FOXP3 inhibits breast cancer metastasis via the FOXP3-MTA1 pathway.
Syphilis Testing as a Proxy Marker for a Subgroup of Men Who Have Sex With Men With a Central Role in HIV-1 Transmission in Guangzhou, China

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to distinguish the role of men who have sex with men (MSM) with or without syphilis testing in HIV-1 transmission and to provide molecular evidence of syphilis testing as a proxy marker for identifying the subgroup of MSM. Methods: HIV-1 transmission clusters were constructed by HIV-TRACE and Cluster Picker using HIV-1 pol sequences from 729 newly diagnosed HIV-infected MSM from 2008 to 2012 in Guangzhou, China. The role of MSM in HIV-1 transmission networks was determined by a node influence measurement and centrality analysis. The association between syphilis testing and factors related to HIV-1 transmission and antiretroviral treatment (ART) were analyzed by the Cox regression model. Results: Among HIV-infected MSM, 56.7% did not test for syphilis at the time of HIV-1 diagnosis. MSM without syphilis testing was a specific subgroup of MSM with a larger closeness centrality and clustering coefficient than the recipients of syphilis testing (P < 0.001), indicating their central position in the HIV-1 transmission networks. The median degree and radiality within HIV-1 transmission networks as well as the median K-shell scores were also greater for MSM without syphilis testing (P < 0.001), suggesting their relatively greater contribution in transmitting HIV-1 than the receipts of syphilis testing. MSM with syphilis testing usually did not disclose their occupation or were more likely to be unemployed or to take non-skilled jobs, to have a history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and to be AIDS patients when diagnosed with HIV-1 infection (P < 0.05). Multivariable Cox regression analysis indicated that syphilis testing per se did not promote the engagement of ART (P = 0.233) or affect the speed of CD4+ T cell count recovery after treatment (P = 0.256). Conclusions: Our study identifies syphilis testing as a proxy marker of a specific subgroup of HIV-infected MSM who refuse syphilis testing during HIV-1 diagnosis with an important role in HIV-1 transmission. Specific prevention and intervention targeting MSM without syphilis testing during HIV-1 care are urgently needed.
The Detrimental Effects of No Trust: Active Decisions of No Trust Cause Stronger Affective and Behavioral Reactions Than Inactive Decisions

In two experimental studies, we investigated the affective (Studies 1 and 2) and behavioral (Study 2) effects of not being trusted. In an adapted version of the Trust Game paradigm, participants were all assigned the position of Person B, and learned that their opponent (Person A) had decided to not let them divide monetary outcomes. This had either been an inactive decision (Person A had not offered them the option to distribute outcomes) or an active decision (Person A had taken away their option to distribute outcomes). Results of both studies reveal that reactions to not being trusted were significantly affected by whether this decision was active or inactive. Active decisions evoked a more negative evaluation toward Person A, led participants to experience more negative emotions, and lowered their satisfaction with the final outcome, even though payoffs and final earnings were held constant between the conditions (Study 1). In addition, when the decision not to trust had been an active decision, participants subsequently behaved less altruistic, as evidenced by significant lower allocations in a subsequent Dictator Game (Study 2). Interestingly, this reduction in altruism was not restricted to encounters with Person A, but also extended to an uninvolved other (Person C).
Cancer Preventive and Therapeutic Potential of Banana and Its Bioactive Constituents: A Systematic, Comprehensive, and Mechanistic Review

Background The banana (Musa spp.) plant produces elongated and edible fruit. The two main parthenocarpic species of banana are Musa accuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla. There are several health-promoting and disease-preventing effects of Musa accuminata Colla, which are attributed to its important bioactive compounds, including phenolics, carotenoids, biogenic amines, phytosterols, and volatile oils, found in the stem, fruit, pseudostem, leaf, flower, sap, inner trunk, root, and inner core. Banana possesses numerous pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antiulcerogenic, hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, leishmanicidal, anthelmintic, and anticancer properties. Various individual studies have reported anticancer effects of different components of the banana plant. However, according to our understanding, an up-to-date, systematic, and critical analysis of existing scientific results has not yet been carried out. Objectives This review aims to include a thorough assessment of banana and its phytochemicals for cancer prevention and therapy with a focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms of action. Methods The available research studies on anticancer activities of banana extracts, fractions and pure compounds were collected using various scholarly databases, such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Scopus, based on predetermined selection criteria. Results Various banana extracts, fractions, and phytoconstituents, including ferulic acid, protocatechualdehyde, 2-pentanone, 4-epicyclomusalenone, cycloeucalenol acetate, and chlorogenic acid, have been shown to exhibit cancer preventative and anticancer activities in breast, cervical, colorectal, esophageal, hepatic, oral, prostate, and skin cancers. Bioactive components present in bananas have exhibited antiproliferative, cell cycle arrest-inducing, apoptotic, anti-adhesive, anti-invasive, and antiangiogenic effects through modulation of diverse, dysregulated oncogenic signaling pathways. Conclusion Based on the critical analysis of available literature, banana products and phytoconstituents show enormous potential for future development of drugs for cancer prevention and therapy. However, more mechanistic studies and well-designed clinical trials should be performed to establish its efficacy.
Overpotential-Induced Introduction of Oxygen Vacancy in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 Surface and Its Impact on Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalytic Activity in Alkaline Solution

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity of La0.67Sr0. 33MnO3 epitaxial thin films was investigated in a KOH solution by using a rotating-disk electrode. We found that while the films exhibit ORR current, the current is not limited by oxygen transport resulting from the film electrode rotation and shows the large hysteresis against the potential sweep direction. This behavior is in stark contrast to the oxygen reduction reaction activity of an electrode ink made from LSMO bulk powder, whose ORR current is oxygen-transport limited. In situ synchrotron X-ray absorption spectroscopy also reveals that the valence state of Mn in the LSMO film surface is lowered under the reducing atmosphere caused by the overpotential. This indicates the overpotential-induced introduction of oxygen vacancies in the film surface. We also show that the ORR current of the LSMO films exposed to the reducing atmosphere is lowered than that of the original surface. These results indicate that the ORR catalytic activity of L.
Detection of Double-layer Air Gap Defects Based on Terahertz Imaging Method

Composite insulators are prone to internal defects and the detection can be more difficult when the defects are overlap in the radial direction. A THz imaging system including THz spectrometer and sample scanning system was designed and set up to detect the defects. The flat sample with double-layer air gap defects of different shapes inside were made to simulate the composite post insulator. We collected reflection waveforms at different locations in the scanning step of 0.5mm based on the THz imaging system. Deconvolution method was used to reduce the pulse width and increase signal-to-noise ratio of the waveform. The method was proven to be effective in making the pulses more distinguishable. Three characteristic parameters, including maximum absolute value, signal power and envelop area were used to imaging the defects. All three parameters were proven to be able to identify double-layer defects which have the depth of 0.40mm and 0.83mm, respectively. Signal power imaging and envelop area imaging have better performances and have different advantages in defect morphology identification and resolution capability.
Microstructure-Dependent Nucleation in Atomic Layer Deposition of Pt on TiO2

The effects of TiO2 microstructure on Pt nucleation and on formation of continuous ultrathin Pt films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) were investigated. Pt was deposited by a metalorganic Pt precursor ((methylcyclopentadienyl)trimethylplatinum) and air as a counter reactant on in situ grown ALD TiO2 surfaces. For the same number of Pt ALD cycles, the Pt surface coverage was found to depend on the thickness of the underlying TiO2. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, it was found that the amorphous microstructure of as-deposited TiO2 transforms into anatase microstructure because of an annealing effect at the elevated Pt ALD temperature, and that this effect is a function of TiO2 thickness. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that continuous growth of ALD Pt occurs on anatase TiO2 whereas island growth occurs on amorphous TiO2. These results indicate that Pt nucleation is significantly affected by the microstructure of TiO2. Effects beyond surface hydrophilicity, such as a catalytic effect, are ne.
Type-Directed Operational Semantics for Gradual Typing (Artifact)

The semantics of gradually typed languages is typically given indirectly via an elaboration into a cast calculus. This contrasts with more conventional formulations of programming language semantics, where the semantics of a language is given directly using, for instance, an operational semantics. This paper presents a new approach to give the semantics of gradually typed languages directly. We use a recently proposed variant of small-step operational semantics called type-directed operational semantics (TDOS). In TDOS type annotations become operationally relevant and can a ff ect the result of a program. In the context of a gradually typed language, such type annotations are used to trigger type-based conversions on values. We illustrate how to employ TDOS on gradually typed languages using two calculi. The first calculus, called λ B g , is inspired by the semantics of the blame calculus, but it has implicit type conversions, enabling it to be used as a gradually typed language. The second calculus, called λ B r , explores a di ff erent design space in the semantics of gradually typed languages. It uses a so-called blame recovery semantics , which enables eliminating some false positives where blame is raised but normal computation could succeed. For both calculi, type safety is proved. Furthermore we show that the semantics of λ B g is sound with respect to the semantics of the blame calculus, and that λ B r comes with a gradual guarantee . All the results have been mechanically formalized in the Coq theorem prover.
Pilot Analysis on Soil Moisture Impact on Underground to Aboveground LoRaWAN Transmissions for IoUT Contexts

Data transmission from the underground can be a relevant task for a wide range of Internet of Things (IoT) applications (e.g., from Smart Agriculture to environmental monitoring) thus paving the way to the recent paradigm of the Internet of Underground Things (IoUT). In this context, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies proved to be reliable solutions for underground to aboveground (UG2AG) data transmission: Long Range (LoRa) modulation and LoRa Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) protocol in particular, demonstrated to be able to transmit from depths down to 1.5 m. Nevertheless, the quality of the transmission channel may significantly vary due to several factors: ranging from soil composition to presence of water. Specifically, soil moisture may have an attenuating effect on the transmitted signal. The aim of this paper is to preliminary analyze the impact of different Volumetric Water Contents (VWCs) in soil on the LoRa transmission channel. Radio parameters are collected by burying a LoRaWAN transmitter inside a plastic case filled up with sand. The underground attenuation is measured reproducing different VWCs by progressively adding different quantities of water: this methodology allows to re-create in laboratory well-defined VWCs unlike a real environment where the actual VWC is due to a plethora of different factors. Results achieved in this paper demonstrate the correlation among VWC and losses though showing the potential feasibility of LoRa links also in case of elevate VWC levels.
An Advanced PV Simulation Model for Electric Vehicles with Photovoltaic Installations

In this paper, we investigate the difference between charging electric vehicles with photovoltaic (PV) installations installed on top of buildings and PV installations embedded into vehicles. In future, photovoltaics will be integrated into hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) as well as into connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) for extending the electrical driving range (EDR) of these types of vehicles. Over the past decade, charging patterns of electric vehicles have been studied extensively and how the costs for electricity affect the time for charging electric vehicles. If PV cells are embedded for example into the roof of an electric vehicle, electricity can be produced wherever the car goes, both, under parking and driving conditions. We discuss how these circumstances will affect and change the calculation of charging patterns for electric vehicles.
GPU-accelerated PIR with Client-Independent Preprocessing for Large-Scale Applications

Multi-Server Private Information Retrieval (PIR) is a cryptographic protocol that allows a client to securely query a database entry from n � 2 servers of which less than t can collude, s.t. the servers learn no information about the query. Highly efﬁcient PIR could be used for large-scale applications like Compromised Credential Checking (C3) (USENIX Secu-rity’19), which allows users to check whether their credentials have been leaked in a data breach. However, state-of-the art PIR schemes are not efﬁcient enough for fast online responses at this scale. In this work, we introduce Client-Independent Preprocessing (CIP) PIR that moves ( t � 1 ) / n of the online computation to a local, client independent, preprocessing phase suitable for efﬁcient batch precomputations. The online performance of CIP-PIR improves linearly with the number of servers n . We show that large-scale applications like C3 with PIR are practical by implementing our CIP-PIR scheme using a parallelized CPU implementation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the ﬁrst multi-server PIR scheme whose preprocessing phase is completely independent of the client, and where online performance simultaneously improves with the number of servers n . In addition, we accelerate for the ﬁrst time the huge amount of XOR operations in multi-server PIR with GPUs. Our GPU-based CIP-PIR achieves an improvement up to factor 2 . 1 ⇥ over our CPU-based implementation for n = 2 servers, and enables a client to query an entry in a 25 GB database within less than 1 second.