Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mitochondrial epigenetics: an unnoticed phenomenon in mitochondrial gene expression

Epigenetics provides important information regarding maintenance of the gene expression profile. Extensive studies have shown that nuclear DNA nucleotides as well as histone proteins surrounding this DNA undergo different modifications and thus help in regulating the nuclear gene expression. Mitochondrial DNA is equally important like nuclear DNA for survival of the cell. However, whether mtDNA also undergoes similar epigenetic changes for the regulation of gene expression, is largely unknown. In the recent past, a number of studies have shown some covalent modifications, such as methylation or hydroxymethylation in the mtDNA, which is proposed to play a pivotal epigenetic role in regulating the replication and transcription of mtDNA. Post-translational modifications of mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) are also suggested to be important for epigenetic modulations in mtDNA. These observations introduce a novel concept of mitochondrial epigenetics that can be defined as the study of changes in the mtDNA that can modify heritable phenotype in mitochondria itself without changing the mtDNA sequence. But the detailed mechanism through which mtDNA undergoes epigenetic modifications, as well as its regulation, is not much clear. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a well-known cause for different types of diseases and recently it has also been shown that mtDNA is differentially methylated in various neurological and metabolic diseases. In most of these diseases, this differential methylation was found to be associated with altered mitochondrial gene expression, but the exact mechanism through which mtDNA methylation controls the gene expression, remains elusive. In this review, the mitochondrial epigenetic modifications and their relationship with the regulation of mitochondrial gene expression has been summarized. The mitochondrial epigenetic modifications in different diseases and its significance in pathogenesis has also been highlighted.
Detection and prevalence of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated from poultry farms in Blitar, Indonesia

Permatasari DA, Witaningrum AM, Wibisono FJ, Effendi MH. 2020. Detection and prevalence of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strain isolated from poultry farms in Blitar, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4642-4647. Antibiotics are commonly used as therapy and disease control in humans and animals. However, the widespread use of antibiotics may also trigger the rise of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study the occurrence of Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) of Klebsiella pneumoniae from poultry farms in Blitar. Chicken cloacal swabs from 63 poultry farms (32 broilers and 31 layers) were taken randomly, using total samples 160 broilers and 155 layers. The collected swab samples were inoculated on MacConkey agar medium for isolation and identification. Single colony was isolated after primary positive cultures and identified by using the IMViC test and TSIA. 28 (8.88%) out of samples were found positive for Klebsiella pneumoniae. The antimicrobial confirmation test showed that 53.57% of the K. pneumoniae isolates were Multi-Drug Resistance (MDR) bacteria. The percentage of MDR bacteria against different antibiotics included ampicillin 75%, Erythromycin 42.86%, Tetracycline 35.72%, Sulfamethoxazole 32.14% and Streptomycin 21.4%. This study confirmed that the percentage of resistant isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae from 5 antimicrobial agents of broiler chicken are higher than layer chicken. The presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is a threat to public health and livestock. The impact of these conditions leaves a limited treatment option as chicken farmers in Indonesia still using antibiotics without veterinarian supervision.
Contrast to Divide: Self-Supervised Pre-Training for Learning with Noisy Labels

The success of learning with noisy labels (LNL) methods relies heavily on the success of a warm-up stage where standard supervised training is performed using the full (noisy) training set. In this paper, we identify a "warm-up obstacle": the inability of standard warm-up stages to train high quality feature extractors and avert memorization of noisy labels. We propose "Contrast to Divide" (C2D), a simple framework that solves this problem by pre-training the feature extractor in a self-supervised fashion. Using self-supervised pre-training boosts the performance of existing LNL approaches by drastically reducing the warm-up stage's susceptibility to noise level, shortening its duration, and improving extracted feature quality. C2D works out of the box with existing methods and demonstrates markedly improved performance, especially in the high noise regime, where we get a boost of more than 27% for CIFAR-100 with 90% noise over the previous state of the art. In real-life noise settings, C2D trained on mini-WebVision outperforms previous works both in WebVision and ImageNet validation sets by 3% top-1 accuracy. We perform an in-depth analysis of the framework, including investigating the performance of different pre-training approaches and estimating the effective upper bound of the LNL performance with semi-supervised learning. Code for reproducing our experiments is available at https://github.com/ContrastToDivide/C2D.
Growth and Dry Matter Partitioning Efficiency of Blackgram Genotypes Influenced by Leaf Curl Disease under Natural Field Conditions

India is the largest producer and consumer of pulses in the world (Chauhan et al., 2016). Blackgram is one of the most important pulse crop grown in India. It is also the third most cultivated pulse crop in terms of area after pigeonpea and chickpea with a production of 35.6 lakh tones during 2017-18 (ASG, 2018). Blackgram is also a nutritionally important crop with a good amount of dietary protein content.
Effects of personalised motor imagery on the development of a complex weightlifting movement

ABSTRACT While recent research has indicated that personalised motor imagery (MI) interventions are beneficial to skill performance, little research has investigated the influence of personalised MI on performance of complex weightlifting movements. In addition, this research has rarely compared the efficacy of personalised scripts with instructor-generated scripts and has focused mainly on performance outcomes as opposed to examining the performance processes. A total of 16 individuals novice in the power clean were randomly allocated to one of two conditions: personalised MI, or instructor-generated MI. Participants engaged in a 6-week training intervention, completing three power clean sessions per week. Scripts were listened to five times each week. Results indicated no significant between-condition differences for total forward displacement at 1RM and 90% 1RM (both p = 0.27), but there was a significant difference at 80% of 1RM for total forward displacement between conditions (p = 0.04, g = −0.94). Differences between conditions for rearward displacement were not significant at any intensities (p = 0.54). No significant (p = 0.16–0.97) between-condition differences in kinetic variables were detected at any intensity over the 6-week training period. Findings indicate that the differences in script content do not influence the development of complex weightlifting movements. A large degree of variation was evident when observing the SD’s of technical variables for each group which may have contributed to the present results. Future research should seek analysis techniques that allows for further investigation of movement variability and how this impacts the efficacy of personalised MI.
Représentation sociale et modèles normatifs dans un contexte biculturel

La recherche presentee ici s'inscrit dans le champ d'etude des representations sociales et des normes, en lien avec une problematique d'appartenance biculturelle chez des jeunes filles franco-maghrebines. Afin d'etudier l'influence des normes sur les reponses des sujets, on utilise des consignes specifiques dites consignes de substitution, amenant les sujets a repondre au nom de quelqu'un d'autre. L'analyse de regression multiple montre la relation entre les reponses des sujets consecutives a une consigne standard (sans substitution) et les reponses des sujets faisant suite a une consigne de substitution. Les reponses des sujets sont ainsi largement influencees par des modeles normatifs.
Chronic Pesticides Exposure and Thyroid Functions among Farmers in Almnaif District - Ismailia Governorate, Egypt

Background: There is growing evidence that environmental exposure, specifically to pesticides, a potential risk factor for endocrine system malfunction. Aim: The study aims at contributing to improve the wellbeing and productivity of farmers through a better understanding of chronic pesticides exposure and its effect on thyroid functions. Patients and Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 43 farmers with active involvement in the preparation, storage, and spraying of the pesticides and 43 participants not occupationally exposed to pesticides. All participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics, pesticides exposure characteristics, and safety measures. The blood levels of plasma cholinesterase enzyme, and thyroid hormones (TSH, T4) were measured for all participants. Results: The mean duration of exposure was 20.60±11.06 years. The pesticide-exposed farmers had a statistically significant lower level of plasma cholinesterase enzyme (3969.93±1841.84 U/L) compared to the control group (4879.29±1950.08 U/L) (p =0.032). While the exposed group had a lower level of thyroxine hormone (T4) (6.91±1.91 µg/dl) compared to the control group (7.79±2.10µg/dl), with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p =0.045). Conclusion: Exposure to organophosphates and carbamates affects thyroid function in the form of a decrease in the circulating level of thyroxine hormone, increase in the TSH level.
Recycled Aggregate Concrete Made with Silica Fume: Experimental Investigation

This research deals with the behavior of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). In this study an experimental work was undertaken. The study examines the effect of using recycled coarse aggregate (RCA) on the workability and the mechanical performance of RAC. The influences of using silica fume (SF) as cement replacement material on the performance of RAC were also examined. Silica fume was used at four contents (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). The total number of mixes was six. Four mixes of RAC made with these four contents of SF, one RAC mix was made without SF and one mix was made with natural coarse aggregate (NCA) as a reference mix. The outcomes of this study reveal that workability and mechanical performance of RAC are lower than that made with NCA. Also, Silica fume has an adverse influence on workability of the RAC. However, the silica fume possesses a positive influence on mechanical properties of RAC. Silica fume can be used at contents of (10-20)% of cement mass to obtain mechanical performance for the RAC comparable to the concrete includes NCA.
Swinging female labor demand – How the public sector influences gender wage gaps in Europe

We incorporate an economy’s sectoral structure into a standard theoretical framework to explain the influence of relative demand and supply effects on the gender wage gap. Using micro data covering 30 European countries over the 2003-2013 period, we construct a unique macro panel of gender wage gaps. We demonstrate that the public sector has causally determined half of the decrease in the gender wage gap over the period, thus acting as a ’swing demander’ for female labor. We further prove that it is exclusively demand factors and not composition effects that are driving this result.
A Circular Invariant Convolution Model-Based Mapping for Multimodal Change Detection

The large and ever-increasing variety of remote sensing sensors used in satellite imagery today explains why detecting changes between identical locations in images that are captured, at two separate times, from heterogeneous capturing systems is a major and challenging recent research problem in the ﬁeld of satellite imaging for fast and accurate determination of temporal changes. This work presents an original concentric circular invariant convolution model that aims at projecting the ﬁrst satellite image into the imaging modality of the second image. This allows the two images to have identical statistics so that one can then e ﬀ ectively use a classical monomodal change detection method. The invariant circular convolution kernel parameters are estimated in the least squares sense using a conjugate gradient routine whose optimal direction is determined by a quadratic line search algorithm. After the projection of the before image into the imaging modality domain associated with the after image is achieved, a basic pixel-by-pixel di ﬀ erence permits the estimation of a relevant soft di ﬀ erence map which is segmented into two classes by a multilevel Markovian technique. A series of experiments conducted on several pair of satellite images acquired under di ﬀ erent imaging modalities, resolution scales, noise characteristics, change types and events, validates the e ﬀ ectiveness of this strategy. The experimentation shows that the proposed model can process di ﬀ erent image pairs with less re-striction about the source images and natural event, coming from di ﬀ erent sensors or from the same sensor, for detecting natural changes.
Bloodstream Infections Caused By Carbapenemresistant Enterobacteriaceae: Risk Factors, Treatment and Effects on Mortality

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis that threatens the success of modern medical approaches. This is due to the emergence, spread, and persistence of multidrug-resistant bacteria, especially carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Materials and Methods: In this study, bloodstream infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae in our hospital were investigated retrospectively. As design, a retrospective cohort case-control study was used. Patients with CRE induced bloodstream infections (CREBSI) were identified as the case group while patients with carbapenem-susceptible Enterobacteriaceae induced bloodstream infections (CSEBSI) were identified as the control group. Demographic characteristics, risk factors, clinical and mortality data and treatment results were compared in both groups. Results: Mean age of the case and control groups was 68.9 ± 17.0 years and 59.3 ± 18.0 years, respectively. Age (p= 0.006), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) (p= 0.002), and hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU) (p= 0.001) were found as risk factors for CREBSI. Previous use of antibiotics was identified as independent risk factors for CREBSI. Mortality indicators for all patients with bloodstream infection were identified to be diabetes mellitus (DM) (p= 0.041), APACHE-II score (p< 0.001), CCI (p= 0.005), and use of any antibiotic before culture (p< 0.001) in the univariate analysis. The only and independent mortality indicator was detected to be APACHE-II score in all patients with both CREBSI and CSEBSI (p< 0.001,ORadj: 1.3; 95% CI, 1.2-1.5). The presence of CREBSI was not identified as a risk factor for mortality in the multivariate analysis (p= 0.074). Survival time was longer in the case group patients who received combination therapy compared to the monotherapy patients. Conclusion: CREBSI threatens elderly patients, patients with comorbidity, patients hospitalized in the ICU for a long period of time and former use of antibiotics. Since all patients with both CREBSI and CSEBSI have a single and independent mortality indicator APACHE-II score, unnecessary antibiotic use can be avoided. In addition, strict infection control measures should be taken to control these infections.
Performance of Zero-till Bio-mulching on Different Pulses under Maize-legume Sequence

Background: After harvesting of kharif crops, lack of sufficient soil moisture availability limit the cultivation of rabi crops in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. So a huge area remains fallow during the rabi season mainly because of infrastructure to harvest and to utilize the bountiful rains of the monsoon. So, agronomic measures to conserve the soil moisture are very suitable for the region because of their low cost and capability to reduce soil erosion. In this region, maize stalk are not used as fodder for animals and are usually burnt or kept outside the field. Similarly, during rainy season, there is plenty of water hyacinth and paddy straw found around cultivated areas. Retention of crop residues and weed biomass on the soil surface in combination with zero tillage initiates process that lead to improve soil quality and overall enhancement of resource use efficiency. Methods: The trials were conducted for consecutive two years (2017-18 and 2018-19) in split plot design with three main plot treatments as cropping system after Maize, viz, i) Maize-chickpea (CS1) ii) Maize-lentil (CS2) iii) Maize-lathyrus (CS3); with five sub-plot treatments as mulching i) No-mulching (Residue Removal) (M0) ii) In-situ Maize stalk mulching (M1) iii) In-situ maize stalk mulch + Water hyacinth (5 t/ha) (M2) iv) In-situ maize stalk mulch + Paddy straw (5 t/ha) (M3) v) In-situ maize stalk mulch + Water hyacinth (2.5 t/ha) + Paddy straw (2.5 t/ha) (M4) but the individual rabi crop’s data were analyzed in Randomized Block Design (RBD) as the individual crops have different growth characteristics. Result: Experiments result revealed that mulching with M3- In-situ maize stalk mulch + Paddy straw (5 t/ha) is the best practice for growing pulses under zero-till condition after Maize in Maize-legume cropping system. Growing of pulses in different cropping system under zero-till condition not only will increase the cropping intensity and production of pulses in the country but also will increase the fertility of the soil.
Students depend on the Pythagorean theorem: Analysis by the three parallel design of abstraction thinking problem

Based on students’ geometry knowledge, there are contrast and less relevant skills goals being prepared for the students. Students are more dominant in learning how to apply procedural knowledge so there is a need for students to use the Pythagorean theorem when facing a triangle properties problem. Therefore, this case study aims to analyze how students’ conceptual knowledge depends on the Pythagorean theorem. The analysis uses a cognitive diagnostic assessment framework through the three parallel design of abstraction problem. This study was conducted for students at the senior high school. The findings are the Pythagorean theorem as a result of thinking abstraction at least two of the three design problem formations, including for the effect of claims and metacognitive knowledge them. There is a disconnected conceptual system between the products of thought and the claims elicited so that abstraction is not optimal. Development for in-depth understanding of conceptual experience is needed in the instructional intervention so that more adequate reasoning.
The Fate and Transport of Viruses through Surface Water Constructed Wetlands

Coliphage removal efficiency and the effects of wetland hydrology on virus transport were determined for constructed wetlands in San Jacinto, CA. Mathematical models were used to further characterize virus transport. MS2, an F-specific RNA (FRNA) coliphage was used as a model for human enteric viral behavior. Two wetland types were studied, a one-phase cell and three-phase cell. These wetlands received unchlorinated secondary effluent at a constant rate. The mean residence time in the wetlands was 9 ± 3 d as determined using bromide as a conservative tracer. Assuming 100% porosity, a plug flow model predicts this mean residence time within the experimental standard deviation (8 d). This suggests that a negligible volume was occupied by vegetation and settled solids. The convection-dispersion equation adequately simulated the residence time distribution of the conservative tracer. MS2 removal in the wetlands was experimentally determined to be 97 ± 3%. There was no distinction between the two wetland types in terms of removal efficiency. The average coliphage decay rate was calculated to be 0.44 per day. However, the error involved with using the first order decay rate was high, 83 ± 12%. Therefore, first order decay does not adequately describe removal processes within the wetland. Most virus removal occurred within the first 3 m (k = 4.0 ± 1.8 d -1 ) with a removal efficiency of 85.3 ± 0.6%. The remainder had a decay rate of 0.20 ± 0.17 d -1 with a removal efficiency of 56 ± 33%.
Systematic uncertainties in the AMS-02 antiproton excess

Alessandro Cuocoa, Jan Heisig∗b, Lukas Klamta, Michael Korsmeiera,c,d and Michael Krämera a Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany b Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology (CP3), Université catholique de Louvain, Chemin du Cyclotron 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium c Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy d Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy
DISTRIBUTION AND SPATIAL PATTERN ANALYSIS ON MALNUTRITION CASES: A CASE STUDY IN PONTIANAK CITY

Based on the Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in 2018, malnutrition cases in West Kalimantan reached 23.8 percent. In 2015, Pontianak City documented 27 cases of malnutrition. Then, the cases increased in 2016 and 2017 as many as 29 and 41 cases. The utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) is required as a method for public health surveillance and monitoring. This study aims to analyze the distribution of malnutrition cases based on several clinical and non-clinical factors using GIS between 2016 to 2017. The dependent variable was malnutrition cases and the independent variables included household income level, parent’s educational level, comorbidities factors, and distance to the primary health care service. A total of 65 cases of malnutrition in Pontianak City were collected from six sub-districts in Pontianak City. This research was a cross-sectional study. The results showed that of 65 cases of malnutrition occurred on under 5-year-old children in Pontianak in 2016-2017, malnutrition cases taking place in East Pontianak sub-district were 29 cases (44.6%). In addition, malnutrition with clinical symptoms was reported 63 cases (96.9%), while the distance from home to primary health care less than 1 km was 32 cases (49.23%). The study also revealed that malnutrition with comorbidities were 78,5%. Finally, household income levels with malnutrition were below Pontianak regional minimum wage (Rp 2,515,000/month or $176,88). The mapping of malnutrition cases using Geographic Information Systems can facilitate the nutrition programmer in Pontianak City Health Office and Public Health Centre in intervening the social determinant of health to overcome malnutrition.
An Unusual Presentation of Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease: The Great Masquerader

Castleman disease is an uncommon, non-clonal, lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by lymphadenopathy and symptoms related to hypercytokinemia. Clinically it is classified as unicentric and multicentric disease. Multicentric disease is further subclassified as HHV8 associated disease and idiopathic disease, which is the rarest subtype. The incidence of idiopathic disease is estimated to be 5 per million person years. The diagnosis of Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman disease is complicated by an array of clinical mimics and non-specific symptoms. We report a rare case of Idiopathic Multicentric Castleman disease in a young female where a detailed pathological work up helped to secure the diagnosis and exclude its mimics.