Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of Pathogenic Tau and Aβ Protein Spreading in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is pathologically defined by extracellular accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides generated by the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP), strings of hyperphosphorylated Tau proteins accumulating inside neurons known as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and neuronal loss. The association between the two hallmarks and cognitive decline has been known since the beginning of the 20th century when the first description of the disease was carried out by Alois Alzheimer. Today, more than 40 million people worldwide are affected by AD that represents the most common cause of dementia and there is still no effective treatment available to cure the disease. In general, the aggregation of Aβ is considered an essential trigger in AD pathogenesis that gives rise to NFTs, neuronal dysfunction and dementia. During the process leading to AD, tau and Aβ first misfold and form aggregates in one brain region, from where they spread to interconnected areas of the brain thereby inducing its gradual morphological and functional deterioration. In this mini-review article, we present an overview of the current literature on the spreading mechanisms of Aβ and tau pathology in AD since a more profound understanding is necessary to design therapeutic approaches aimed at preventing or halting disease progression.
Comparative Transcriptome and Proteome Analysis of Salt-Tolerant and Salt-Sensitive Sweet Potato and Overexpression of IbNAC7 Confers Salt Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Salt stress is one of the major devastating factors affecting the growth and yield of almost all crops, including the crucial staple food crop sweet potato. To understand their molecular responses to salt stress, comparative transcriptome and proteome analysis of salt-tolerant cultivar Xushu 22 and salt-sensitive cultivar Xushu 32 were investigated. The results showed the two genotypes had distinct differences at the transcription level and translation level even without salt stress, while inconsistent expression between the transcriptome and proteome data was observed. A total of 16,396 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 727 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified. Wherein, 1,764 DEGs and 93 DEPs were specifically expressed in the tolerant genotype. Furthermore, the results revealed that the significantly upregulated genes were mainly related to the regulation of ion accumulation, stress signaling, transcriptional regulation, redox reactions, plant hormone signal transduction, and secondary metabolite accumulation, which may be involved in the response of sweet potato to salt stress and/or may determine the salt tolerance difference between the two genotypes. In addition, 1,618 differentially expressed regulatory genes were identified, including bZIP, bHLH, ERF, MYB, NAC, and WRKY. Strikingly, transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing IbNAC7 displayed enhanced salt tolerance compared to WT plants, and higher catalase (CAT) activity, chlorophyll and proline contents, and lower malondialdehyde (MDA) content and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation were detected in transgenic plants compared with that of WT under salt stress. Furthermore, RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analysis displayed that the expression of many stress-related genes was upregulated in transgenic plants. Collectively, these findings provide revealing insights into sweet potato molecular response to salt stress and underlie the complex salt tolerance mechanisms between genotypes, and IbNAC7 was shown as a promising candidate gene to enhance salt tolerance of sweet potato.
Molecular Mechanisms of Action of Emodin: As an Anti-Cardiovascular Disease Drug

Emodin is a natural occurring anthraquinone derivative isolated from roots and barks of numerous plants, molds, and lichens. It is found to be an active ingredient in different Chinese herbs including Rheum palmatum and Polygonam multiflorum, and it is a pleiotropic molecule with diuretic, vasorelaxant, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-ulcerogenic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects. Moreover, emodin has also been shown to have a wide activity of anti-cardiovascular diseases. It is mainly involved in multiple molecular targets such as inflammatory, anti-apoptosis, anti-hypertrophy, anti-fibrosis, anti-oxidative damage, abnormal, and excessive proliferation of smooth muscle cells in cardiovascular diseases. As a new type of cardiovascular disease treatment drug, emodin has broad application prospects. However, a large amount of evidences detailing the effect of emodin on many signaling pathways and cellular functions in cardiovascular disease, the overall understanding of its mechanisms of action remains elusive. In addition, by describing the evidence of the effects of emodin in detail, the toxicity and poor oral bioavailability of mice have been continuously discovered. This review aims to describe a timely overview of emodin related to the treatment of cardiovascular disease. The emphasis is to summarize the pharmacological effects of emodin as an anti-cardiovascular drug, as well as the targets and its potential mechanisms. Furthermore, the treatment of emodin compared with conventional cardiovascular drugs or target inhibitors, the toxicity, pharmacokinetics and derivatives of emodin were discussed.
Referent Cueing, Position, and Animacy as Accessibility Factors in Visually Situated Sentence Production

Speakers’ readiness to describe event scenes using active or passive constructions has previously been attributed—among other factors—to the accessibility of referents. While most research has highlighted the accessibility of agents, the present study examines whether patients’ accessibility can be modulated by means of visual preview of the patient character (derived accessibility), as well as by manipulating the animacy status of patients (inherent accessibility). Crucially, we also examined whether effects of accessibility were amenable to the visuospatial position of the patient by presenting the patient character either to the left or to the right of the agent. German native speakers were asked to describe drawings depicting event scenes while their gaze and speech were recorded. Our results show that making patients more accessible using derived and inherent accessibility factors led to more produced passives, shorter speech onsets, and a reduction of fixations on patients. Complementing previous research on agent accessibility, our findings demonstrate that the accessibility of patients affected both sentence production and looking behavior. While effects were observed for both inherent and derived accessibility, they appeared to be more pronounced for the latter. Regarding character position, we observed a significant effect of position on participants’ gaze patterns and structural choices, suggesting that position itself can be considered an accessibility-related factor. Importantly, the position of a patient also interacted with our manipulation of its accessibility via visual preview. Participants produced more passives after preview than no preview for left-positioned but not for right-positioned patients, demonstrating that effects of patient accessibility (i.e., visual preview) were susceptible to character position. A similar interaction was observed for participants’ viewing patterns. These findings provide the first evidence that the position of a referent is a factor that interacts with other accessibility-related factors (i.e., cueing), emphasizing the need of controlling for position effects when testing referent accessibility.
VHSV Single Amino Acid Polymorphisms (SAPs) Associated With Virulence in Rainbow Trout

The Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) is an OIE notifiable pathogen widespread in the Northern Hemisphere that encompasses four genotypes and nine subtypes. In Europe, subtype Ia impairs predominantly the rainbow trout industry causing severe rates of mortality, while other VHSV genotypes and subtypes affect a number of marine and freshwater species, both farmed and wild. VHSV has repeatedly proved to be able to jump to rainbow trout from the marine reservoir, causing mortality episodes. The molecular mechanisms regulating VHSV virulence and host tropism are not fully understood, mainly due to the scarce availability of complete genome sequences and information on the virulence phenotype. With the scope of identifying in silico molecular markers for VHSV virulence, we generated an extensive dataset of 55 viral genomes and related mortality data obtained from rainbow trout experimental challenges. Using statistical association analyses that combined genetic and mortality data, we found 38 single amino acid polymorphisms scattered throughout the complete coding regions of the viral genome that were putatively involved in virulence of VHSV in trout. Specific amino acid signatures were recognized as being associated with either low or high virulence phenotypes. The phylogenetic analysis of VHSV coding regions supported the evolution toward greater virulence in rainbow trout within subtype Ia, and identified several other subtypes which may be prone to be virulent for this species. This study sheds light on the molecular basis for VHSV virulence, and provides an extensive list of putative virulence markers for their subsequent validation.
Evaluation of nutrient status of kale and spinach as affected by sewage sludge and mineral fertilizers

Abstract The main objective of this study is to investigate the cumulative effect of mineral fertilizers and sewage sludge on nutrient status of kale (Brassica oleracea L. cv. ‘GM Dari’) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea L. cv. ‘Shalimar Green’). The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized block design with nine treatments including: no fertilizer or sewage sludge as a control (T 1), 25% Sewage Sludge + 0% Recommended fertilizer dose (RFD) (T 2), 50% Sewage Sludge + 0% RFD (T 3), 75% Sewage Sludge + 0% RFD (T 4), 100% Sewage Sludge + 0% RFD (T 5), 25% Sewage Sludge + 75% RFD (T 6), 50% Sewage Sludge + 50% RFD (T 7), 75% Sewage Sludge + 25% RFD (T 8), and 0% Sewage Sludge + 100% RFD (T 9). The recommended fertilizer doses are made to apply fertilizers to meet the nutrient requirements of the crop and to build up the nutrient level in the soil to a critical soil test level over a planned time frame usually recommended by agronomists. The results of the study showed that the concentration of all macro nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg), micro nutrients (Mn, Cu, Zn, and Fe) and heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Pb, and Ni) in both kale and spinach were significantly highest in the plots treated with 75% sludge + 25% NPK, whereas, the values of these elements in control treatments were recorded to be the lowest. However, the total nitrogen content in spinach and lead concentration in kale remained significantly higher under the treatment of 50% sludge + 50% NPK. The study lead to an important conclusion that the treatment of soil with 75% sewage sludge + 25% NPK can improve the nutrient accumulation in these plants thereby enhancing yield production.
Genetic variant rs72613567 of HSD17B13 gene reduces alcohol‐related liver disease risk in Chinese Han population

Recently, the variant rs72613567:TA in the 17‐beta‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 13 (HSD17B13) has been associated with reduced levels of ALT and AST and a reduced risk of alcohol‐related liver disease (ALD) in the European population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between the polymorphisms of HSD17B13 and ALD, liver serum markers and patatin‐like phospholipase domain‐containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) p.I148M in the Chinese Han population.
Prevalence of HIV/STIs and correlates with municipal characteristics among female sex workers in 13 Mexican cities.

OBJECTIVE To identify correlates of HIV/STI prevalence among 13 cities with varying sizes of female sex worker (FSW) populations and municipal characteristics in Mexico. MATERIALS AND METHODS FSWs underwent interviews and testing for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Logistic regression explored variations in HIV/STI prevalence. RESULTS Among FSWs (n=1 092), prevalence across 13 sites was: HIV: 0.4% (range: 0%-1.4%): syphilis: 7.8% (range: 0%-17.2%); chlamydia: 15.3% (range: 5.7%-32.2%); gonorrhea:2.9% (range 0%-13.8%), and any HIV/STI: 23% (range: 9.9%- 46%). Municipalities with high human development scores and a lower municipal marginalization index had higher odds of combined HIV/STI prevalence. After controlling for sitespecific variability in municipal characteristics, greater risk of HIV/STIs was associated with lower education, having a spouse diagnosed or treated for an STI, unaffordability of condoms, and having non-Mexican clients. CONCLUSIONS Prevalence of HIV/STIs varies across Mexican municipalities indicating the need for surveillance to identify hotspots for targeted resource allocation.
Spatio-temporal variation in egg-laying dates of nestbox-breeding varied tits (Poecile varius) in response to spring pre-breeding period temperatures at long-term study sites in South Korea and Japan

ABSTRACT Climate change can alter and disrupt the phenology and phenological interaction between organisms from various trophic levels in forest ecosystems. In temperate forests, the breeding phenology of birds is correlated to local microclimate, especially spring temperature to match the timing of food availability. Recent studies revealed that the temperature warming is more pronounced in high-elevation areas (elevation-dependent warming), while the breeding phenology shift of birds in this condition needs further investigation. We studied the annual change in the egg-laying dates of varied tits (Poecile varius) and a pre-breeding temperature index in three plots located along with the elevational gradient in South Korea and a low-elevation plot in Japan. We found strong support for disproportionate rates of changes in higher elevation for warming trends in pre-breeding period and advances in egg-laying dates over the last decade. Next, we compared three segments of 36-year data from Akazu Research Forest. The evidence from pre-breeding temperature during 36 years indicates that we could detect the change in thermal environment and breeding phenology with longer years of data, especially in lower elevation regions. This result shows the need for long-term research to understand the change in local temperatures and the ecology of forest birds. Our study presents evidence of elevation-dependent phenological advance in avian breeding activities and discusses the need for systematic long-term research on multiple taxa and climatic drivers in Asia.
Forensic prevention outpatient clinic: a treatment evaluation study

ABSTRACT In forensic psychiatry, secondary prevention implies avoiding offences in individuals who are at high risk but have not committed serious offenses in the past. For this purpose, the forensic prevention outpatient clinic at the Ansbach District Hospital was established to provide risk assessment and treatment. To test the treatment effect of the forensic prevention outpatient clinic in terms of dynamic risk factors and global level of functioning, an observational study with a prospective longitudinal design (up to two years) was conducted, which included treatment (n = 70) and control (n = 52) groups. After Holm-Bonferroni correction, the treatment interaction effect (time × group) was significant for one of the three dependent variables (i.e., the Historical Clinical Risk Management-20 [HCR-20] Clinical and Risk as well as the Global Assessment of Functioning’s [GAF] subtotals). The dynamic risk operationalized by the R-scale of the HCR-20 decreased at a significantly higher rate across time in the treatment than in the control group. However, this effect was not robust against propensity score matching. The findings highlight the potential of secondary prevention for individuals who are at a high risk of committing serious offenses. Replications in larger samples are needed, ideally in randomized controlled trials.
Effect of long-term application of inorganic fertilizers, farm yard manure and lime on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) productivity, quality and nutrient content in an acid alfisol

Abstract The effect of long-term addition of fertilizers and amendments on productivity, quality and nutrient content of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in an acid Alfisol was evaluated in field experiment at the research farm of the Department of Soil Science, Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (CSKHPKV) Palampur, Himachal Pradesh (India). The Long-Term Fertilizer Experiment was initiated during 1972 in randomized block design (RBD) with 11 treatments which were replicated three times. The soil of the experimental area was silt loam and classified taxonomically as “Typic Hapludalf”. The highest productivity of wheat (2822 kg ha−1) was recorded in the treatment comprising the recommended dose of fertilizer along with farmyard manure (FYM) @ 10t ha−1 and was statistically comparable with 100% NPK + lime (2589 kg ha−1). Continuous application of nitrogen (N) alone through urea (100%) in an acid alfisol has resulted in zero yield of wheat. Application of FYM and lime along with recommended doses of fertilizers improved all the crop quality parameters viz. crude protein, gluten, ash, fat, fiber and carbohydrate as compared to control and imbalanced fertilization for the last 45 years led to decline in crop quality parameters. Nutrient content in wheat grain i.e., phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe) content was also the highest in FYM amended treatment and lowest in control. Whereas, calcium (Ca) content was the highest in lime amended plot and the lowest in control.
Regular ArticlePhylogenetics and Ecology: As Many Characters as Possible Should Be Included in the Cladistic Analysis☆

As many data as possible must be included in any scientific analysis, provided that they follow the logical principles on which this analysis is based. Phylogenetic analysis is based on the basic principle of evolution, i.e., descent with modification. Consequently, ecological characters or any other nontraditional characters must be included in phylogenetic analyses, provided that they can plausibly be postulated heritable. The claim of Zrzavý (1997, Oikos 80, 186–192) or Luckow and Bruneau (1997, Cladistics 13, 145–151) that any character of interest should be included in the analysis is thus inaccurate. Many characters, broadly defined or extrinsic (such as distribution areas), cannot be considered as actually heritable. It is argued that we should better care for the precise definition and properties of characters of interest than decide a priori to include them in any case in the analysis. The symmetrical claim of de Queiroz (1996, Am. Nat. 148, 700–708) that some characters of interest should better be excluded from analyses to reconstruct their history is similarly inaccurate. If they match the logical principles of phylogenetic analysis, there is no acceptable reason to exclude them. The different statistical testing strategies of Zrzavý (1997) and de Queiroz (1996) aimed at justifying inclusion versus exclusion of characters are ill-conceived, leading respectively to Type II and Type I errors. It is argued that phylogenetic analyses should not be constrained by testing strategies that are downstream of the logical principles of phylogenetics. Excluding characters and mapping them on an independent phylogeny produces a particular and suboptimal kind of secondary homology, the use of which can be justified only for preliminary studies dealing with broadly defined characters.
Glycerol in Australian Wines and Factors Influencing Its Formation

The glycerol content of a wide range of representative Australian wines ranged from 1.36 to 9.94 grams per liter. Dry red wines contained more glycerol than dry white wines, and flor sherries contained considerably less. The strain of yeast strongly influenced the amount of glycerol present in experimental wines made under controlled conditions. Significantly more glycerol was formed by fermentation at 25° than at 15°C, and yeast-temperature interactions occurred. Addition of 100 ppm sulphur dioxide increased the amount of glycerol formed, and the increase was greater at pH 3.3 than at pH 3.8. Yeast strain-pH-SO 2 interactions also occurred. The variety of grape used ( Vitis vinifera ) influenced the amount of glycerol formed under comparable conditions, and more glycerol was formed from riper grapes. The mechanism of glycerol formation in wine is discussed in the light of the results.
On the nature of associative information in recognition memory

In a typical associative-recognition task, participants must distinguish between intact word pairs (both words previously studied together) and rearranged word pairs (both words previously studied but as part of different pairs). The familiarity of the individual items on this task is uninformative because all of the items were seen before, so the only way to solve the task is to rely on associative information. Prior research suggests that associative information is recall-like in nature and may therefore be an all-or-none variable. The present research reports several experiments in which some pairs were strengthened during list presentation. The resulting hit rates and false alarm rates, and an analysis of the corresponding receiver operating characteristic plots, suggest that participants rely heavily on item information when making an associative-recognition decision (to no avail) and that associative information may be best thought of as a some-or-none variable.
Liquid nitrogen cryotherapy of common warts: cryo‐spray vs. cotton wool bud

Background Viral warts represent a large workload for dermatology departments. Cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen is the most widely used method of treatment by dermatologists and is increasingly used by general practitioners in the U.K. Existing data relating to the response to cryotherapy are virtually all derived from the use of a cotton wool bud as the applicator. There is an increasing trend to use the cryo‐spray to freeze warts and it has been assumed that this is equally effective. In view of the workload involved it is important to test this assumption.