Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Involvement of Vacuolar Sequestration and Active Transport in Tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Hop Iso- (cid:1) -Acids (cid:1) †¶

The hop plant, Humulus lupulus L. , has an exceptionally high content of secondary metabolites, the hop (cid:1) -acids, which possess a range of beneﬁcial properties, including antiseptic action. Studies performed on the mode of action of hop iso- (cid:1) -acids have hitherto been restricted to lactic acid bacteria. The present study investigated molecular mechanisms of hop iso- (cid:1) -acid resistance in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Growth inhibition occurred at concentrations of hop iso- (cid:1) -acids that were an order of magnitude higher than those found with hop-tolerant prokaryotes. Chemostat-based transcriptome analysis and phenotype screening of the S . cerevisiae haploid gene deletion collection were used as complementary methods to screen for genes involved in hop iso- (cid:1) -acid detoxiﬁcation and tolerance. This screening and further analysis of deletion mutants conﬁrmed that yeast tolerance to hop iso- (cid:1) -acids involves three major processes, active proton pumping into the vacuole fermentation (48). In the present study, we investigated the tolerance mechanisms of laboratory strains of S . cerevisiae that had not been previously adapted to hop acids. The lowest concentration of hop iso- (cid:1) -acids used in the present study is ca. 10-fold higher than the MIC reported for hop-resistant L .
Why Iron Deﬁciency Is Important in Infant Development 1–3

Infants who experience iron deﬁciency during the ﬁrst 6–12 mo of life are likely to experience persistent effects of the deﬁciency that alter functioning in adulthood. A lack of sufﬁcient iron intake may signiﬁcantly delay the development of the central nervous system as a result of alterations in morphology, neurochemistry, and bioenergetics. Depending on the stage of development at the time of iron deﬁciency, there may be an opportunity to reverse adverse effects, but the success of repletion efforts appear to be time dependent. Publications in the past several years describe the emerging picture of the consequences of iron deﬁciency in both human and animal studies. The mechanisms for iron accumulation in the brain and perhaps redistribution are being understood. The data in human infants are consistent with altered myelination of white matter, changes in monoamine metabolism in striatum, and functioning of the hippocampus. Rodent studies also show effects of iron deﬁciency during gestation and lactation that persist into adulthood despite restoration of iron status at weaning. These studies indicate that gestation and early lactation are likely critical periods when iron deﬁciency will result in long-lasting damage. J. Nutr. 138: 2534–2536, 2008.
High-Performance Stacked Ensemble Model for Stride Length Estimation with Potential Application in Indoor Positioning Systems

The pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR) infrastructure-independent positioning method is of particular interest for many researchers due to its effectiveness in indoor positioning systems. The PDR technique consists of three main components including stride detection, movement heading estimation and stride length estimation (SLE). Among those, SLE results can be utilized in numerous applications, such as indoor positioning, disease diagnosis, incident detecting for patient warning, etc. Traditional solutions for estimating stride length usually have simple structures with short calculation time but they do not ensure the expected accuracy as desired. To enhance the estimated stride length, recently, many solutions employing deep learning based techniques such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Long Short Term Memory (LSTM), have been developed to improve the SLE result. Although the accuracy in SLE has been improved compared to traditional methods, these deep learning based solutions still remain some limitations, such as complex structure and huge training parameters. This paper proposes some solutions of using machine learning based stacked ensemble model and simple machine learning algorithm to improve the accuracy of SLE while satisfying requirements such as simple structures, short execution time. The experimental results on real field data show that the proposed approaches outperform other state-of-the-art deep learning based methods on both SLE accuracy and computation time by at least 12% more accurate and seven times faster, respectively.
Strain-Speciﬁc Differences in the Impact of Human TRIM5 (cid:1) , Different TRIM5 (cid:1) Alleles, and the Inhibition of Capsid-Cyclophilin A Interactions on the Infectivity of HIV-1 (cid:1) †

HIV-1 infectivity is strongly restricted by TRIM5 (cid:1) from certain primate species but has been described as being only marginally susceptible to human TRIM5 (cid:1) . In this study, we evaluated the effects of the modulation of human TRIM5 (cid:1) activity (pretreatment of target cells with alpha interferon, expression of a pre-miRNA targeting TRIM5 (cid:1) , and/or overexpression of TRIM5 (cid:2) ), the inhibition of cyclophilin A (CypA)-CA interactions, and the expression of different allelic variants of human TRIM5 (cid:1) on the infectivity of a series of recombinant viruses carrying different patient-derived Gag-protease sequences. We show that HIV-1 displays virus-speciﬁc differences in its sensitivity to human TRIM5 (cid:1) and in its sensitivity to different TRIM5 (cid:1) alleles. The effect of inhibiting CypA-CA were separated by electrophoresis into 10% SDS-PAGE gels, transferred to Protran BA85 membranes (Whatman), and blocked in Li-Cor blocking buffer (7 h at 20°C). To detect hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged TRIM5 (cid:1) isoforms, the membranes were probed with a peroxidase-conjugated rat anti-HA epitope antibody (3F10; Roche) (1/10,000 for 18 h at 4°C) and revealed using CCL Advance (GE Healthcare). To detect actin, used as a loading control, the same membrane was subsequently incubated with a rabbit antiactin antibody (A2066; Sigma) (1/5,000 fo r 1 h at20°C), washed, incubated with IRDye 800CW-conjugated donkey anti-rabbit IgG antibody (1/10,000 for 45 min at 20°C), and scanned using an Odyssey Infrared imaging system (Li-Cor).
Effect of Acetylated Wood Flour or Coupling Agent on Moisture, UV, and Biological Resistance of Extruded Woodfiber-Plastic Composites

Although moisture sorption in woodfiber-thermo­ plastic composites (WPCs) is slower than in unmodified solid wood, it still affects strength and ultimately results in decay of the material in moist outdoor exposure condi­ tions. Chemical modification of the hydroxyl groups of wood with acetic anhydride esterifies the hydroxyl mak­ ing the wood more hydrophobic and dimensionally sta­ ble. Coupling agents are known to promote bonding be­ tween the plastic and unmodified wood fibers when added to WPCs. The objective of this study was to investi­ gate several methods of decreasing moisture sorption and, consequently, fungal degradation in WPCs. Three WPC blends were extruded into 3- by 12- by 90-mm speci­ mens: In addition, a stearate lubricant was used in all three blends to aid processing. Specimens were precondition­ ed before running a modified ASTM D 1413 soil block test either by 2-week water soaking or 1,000 hour exposure in an ultraviolet weatherometer and then 2-week water soaking. Acetylation of the wood fiber decreased mois­ ture content and fungal decay compared with unmodi­ fied WPC controls. Mechanical properties decreased ini­ tially in composites containing acetylated WF but were not further affected by preconditioning or decay com­ pared with unmodified WPC controls.
Blockade of GABA A Receptors Facilitates Induction of NMDA Receptor-Independent Long-Term Potentiation

Blockade of GABA A recep- tors facilitates induction of NMDA receptor-independent long-term potentiation. J. Neurophysiol. 81: 2814–2822, 1999. An N -methyl- D - aspartate (NMDA)-independent form of long-term potentiation (LTP), which depends on postsynaptic, voltage-dependent calcium channels (VDCCs), has been demonstrated in area CA1 of hippocampus. GABA acting at GABA A receptors limits postsynaptic depolarization during LTP induction. Blockade of GABA A receptors should therefore enhance activation of postsynaptic VDCCs and facilitate the induction of this NMDA receptor-independent, VDCC-dependent LTP. In agreement with this hypothesis, pharmacological blockade of GABA A receptors in the in vitro rat hippocampal slice increased the magnitude of LTP resulting from a normally effective, high-frequency (200 Hz) tetanic stimulation protocol. In addition, GABA A receptor blockade allowed a lower frequency (25 Hz) and normally ineffective tetanic stimulation protocol to induce this form of LTP. Intracellular recordings from CA1 pyramidal cells revealed that blocking GABA A receptors during tetanic stimulation allowed greater postsynaptic de- polarization, increased the number of postsynaptic action potentials ﬁred during the tetanization, and also increased the duration of syn- aptically evoked action potentials. To mimic the increased action potential ﬁring observed when GABA A receptors were blocked, we paired 25-Hz antidromic stimulation with 25-Hz orthodromic stimulation. Paired antidromic (cid:49) orthodromic 25-Hz stimulation induced NMDA receptor-independent LTP, whereas neither antidromic nor orthodromic stimulation alone induced LTP. Increased action potential ﬁring can therefore at least partially account for the facilitation of NMDA receptor-independent LTP caused by blockade of GABA A receptors. This conclusion is consistent with prior studies demonstrat- ing that action potentials are particularly effective stimuli for the gating of VDCCs in CA1 pyramidal cell dendrites.
Successful pregnancy following blastocyst cryopreservation using super-cooling ultra-rapid vitriﬁcation

BACKGROUND: Blastocysts were cryopreserved by a new two-step ultra-rapid cooling in super-cooled liquid nitrogen ( 2 205 8 C). METHODS: There were 308 mouse blastocysts collected from fertile B6CBF1 mice and 249 human blastocysts collected from 51 couples treated with IVF. The blastocysts were super-cooled by a Vit-Master e and cryoloops after treatment in 50 and 100% vitriﬁcation solution (VS) for 2 min and 30 s, respectively. The 100% VS was composed of 20% ethylene glycol, 20% dimethylsulphoxide and 0.5 mol/l sucrose in human tubular ﬂuid medium with 20% human serum albumin. The embryos were warmed after treatment in 0.25 and 0.125 mol/l sucrose for 2 and 3 min, respectively. The survival of embryos was observed after re-swell. RESULTS: The survival rate (SR) and hatching rate (HR) of mouse blastocysts in the super-cooled, the cryosolution-treated and control groups were not signiﬁcantly different (SR, 87, 95.5 and 100%; HR, 50, 33 and 44.6%, respectively; P > 0.05). After 96 super-cooled human blastocysts were warmed, 60 survival blastocysts were transferred into 13 patients. The successful SR and pregnancy rate (PR) for the super-cooled blastocyst group were 77.1% (74 out of 96) and 53.8% (seven out of 13). CONCLUSION: The ultra-rapid vitriﬁcation of blastocysts with a successful SR and PR could be used to replace classical slow cooling.
Effect of the Hadley Circulation on the Reﬂection of Planetary Waves in Three-Dimensional Tropospheric Flows

The nonlinear behavior of quasi-stationary planetary waves excited by midlatitude orographic forcing is considered in a three-dimensional primitive equation model that includes a representation of the Hadley circulation. The Hadley circulation is forced by Newtonian cooling to a zonally symmetric reference temperature and vertical diffusion on the zonally symmetric component of the ﬂow. To quantify the effect of the Hadley circulation on wave propagation, breaking, and nonlinear reﬂection, an initial state with no meridional ﬂow, but with the same zonal ﬂow as the Hadley state, is also considered. In order to allow the propagation of large-scale waves over extended periods, Rayleigh friction is applied at low levels to delay the onset of baroclinic instability.Asinthe absence of a Hadley circulation, the waves in the Hadley state propagate toward low latitudes where the background ﬂow is weak and the waves are therefore likely to break. Potential vorticity ﬁelds on isentropic surfaces are used to diagnose wave breaking. Nonlinear pseudomomentum conservation relations are used to quantify the absorption–reﬂection behavior of the wave breaking region. In the presence of a Hadley circulation representative of winter conditions, the nonlinear reﬂection requires more forcing to get established, but a reﬂected wave train is still present in the numerical simulations, both for a longitudinally symmetric forcing and for the more realistic case of an isolated forcing. The effect of the thermal damping on the waves is more severe in the current three-dimensional simulations than in the shallow water case considered in an earlier study. Both the directly forced wave train and the reﬂected wave train are quite barotropic in character; however, in the shallow water case one is essentially assuming an inﬁnite vertical scale.
Entropy of eye movement during rapid automatized naming

Numerous studies have focused on the understanding of rapid automatized naming (RAN), which can be applied to predict reading abilities and developmental dyslexia in children. Eye tracking technique, characterizing the essential ocular activities, might have the feasibility to reveal the visual and cognitive features of RAN. However, traditional measures of eye movements ignore many dynamical details about the visual and cognitive processing of RAN, and are usually associated with the duration of time spent on some particular areas of interest, fixation counts, revisited fixation counts, saccadic velocities, or saccadic amplitudes. To cope with this drawback, we suggested an entropy-based method to measure eye movements for the first time, which first mapped eye movements during RAN in a time-series and then analyzed the time-series by a proper definition of entropy from the perspective of information theory. Our findings showed that the entropy was more sensitive to reflect small perturbation (e.g., rapid movements between focuses in the presence of skipping or omitting some stimulus during RAN) of eye movements, and thus gained better performance than traditional measures. We also verified that the entropy of eye movements significantly deceased with the age and the task complexity of RAN, and significantly correlated with traditional eye-movement measures [e.g., total time of naming (TTN)] and the RAN-related skills [e.g., selective attention (SA), cognitive speed, and visual-motor integration]. Our findings may bring some new insights into the understanding of both RAN and eye tracking technique itself.
Assessment of causal associations between handgrip strength and cardiovascular diseases: A two sample mendelian randomization study

Background Several observational studies have identified that handgrip strength was inversely associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Nevertheless, causality remains controversial. We conducted Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to examine whether handgrip strength and risk of CVDs are causally associated. Methods We identified 160 independent single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for right-hand grip strength and 136 independent SNPs for left-hand grip strength at the genome-wide significant threshold (P < 5 × 10−8) from UK Biobank participants and evaluated these in relation to risk of CVDs. MR estimates was calculated using the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method and multiple sensitivity analysis was further conducted. Results Genetical liability to handgrip strength was significantly associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI), but not stroke, hypertension, or heart failure. Additionally, there was significant association between right-hand grip strength and atrial fibrillation (OR, 0.967; 95% CI, 0.950–0.984; p = 0.000222), however, suggestive significance was found between left-hand grip strength and atrial fibrillation (OR, 0.977; 95% CI, 0.957–0.998; p = 0.033). Results were similar in several sensitivity analysis. Conclusion Our study provides support at the genetic level that handgrip strength is negatively associated with the risk of CAD, MI, and atrial fibrillation. Specific handgrip strength interventions on CVDs warrant exploration as potential CVDs prevention measures.
Brain mechanisms linking language processing and open motor skill training

Given the discovery of a distributed language and motor functional network, surprisingly few studies have explored whether language processing is related to motor skill training. To address this issue, the present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare whole-brain activation between nonexperts and experts in table tennis, an open skill sport in which players make rapid decisions in response to an ever-changing environment. Whole-brain activation was assessed in 30 expert table tennis players with more than 7 years’ experience and 35 age-matched nonexpert college students while they performed both a size and a semantic judgment task of words presented on a monitor. Compared with nonexperts, expert table tennis players showed greater activation in the left middle occipital gyrus and right precuneus while judging the size of the words versus during baseline fixation. They also showed greater activation in the left lingual gyrus during the semantic judgment task versus during baseline fixation. Our findings indicate that the visual regions engaged in language processing are associated with open motor skill training.
Cervicovaginal microbiota significantly changed for HPV-positive women with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion

Lower female genital tract is colonized by a variety of microbes (cervicovaginal microbiota, CVM) which associate with the risk of genital infection. This study characterized CVM for 149 Chinese women with different status of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL): no HPV infection (HPV-), HPV infection without significant SIL (HPV+NoSIL), HPV infection with low-grade SIL (HPV+LSIL) and HPV infection with high-grade SIL (HPV+HSIL). Analysis results showed CVM has dramatically changed in HPV+HSIL group when compared to HPV+LSIL group, but it exhibited no significant differences between HPV- and HPV+NoSIL groups as well as between HPV+NoSIL and HPV+LSIL groups. In consistence, random forest analysis found more notable differences in HPV+HSIL vs HPV+LSIL comparison than in other comparisons. In addition, depletion of Lactobacillus in CVM was more to be frequently identified in SIL-positive women as compared to SIL-negative individuals. Our findings suggested that significant CVM differences occurred when SIL developed to HSIL which was caused by persistent HPV infection.
Bactericidal and anti-biofilm effects of uncharged and cationic ultrasound-responsive nitric oxide microbubbles on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms

Bacterial biofilms are a major and ongoing concern for public health, featuring both inherited genetic resistance traits and a conferred innate tolerance to traditional antibiotic therapies. Consequently, there is a growing need for novel methods of drug delivery, to increase the efficacy of antimicrobial agents. This research evaluated the anti-biofilm and bactericidal effects of ultrasound responsive gas-microbubbles (MBs) of either air or nitric oxide, using an in vitro Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm model grown in artificial wound medium. The four lipid-based MB formulations evaluated were room-air MBs (RAMBs) and nitric oxide MBs (NOMBs) with no electrical charge, as well as cationic (+) RAMBs+ and NOMBs+. Two principal treatment conditions were used: i) ultrasound stimulated MBs only, and ii) ultrasound stimulated MBs with a sub-inhibitory concentration (4 µg/mL) of the antibiotic gentamicin. The total treatment time was divided into a 60 second passive MB interaction period prior to 40 second ultrasound exposure; each MB formulation was tested in triplicate. Ultrasound stimulated RAMBs and NOMBs without antibiotic achieved reductions in biofilm biomass of 93.3% and 94.0%, respectively. Their bactericidal efficacy however was limited, with a reduction in culturable cells of 26.9% and 65.3%, respectively. NOMBs with sub-inhibitory antibiotic produced the most significant reduction in biofilm biomass, corresponding to a 99.9% (SD ± 5.21%); and a 99.9% (SD ± 0.07%) (3-log) reduction in culturable bacterial cells. Cationic MBs were initially manufactured to promote binding of MBs to negatively charged biofilms, but these formulations also demonstrated intrinsic bactericidal properties. In the absence of antibiotic, the bactericidal efficacy of RAMB+ and NOMB+ was greater that of uncharged counterparts, reducing culturable cells by 84.7% and 86.1% respectively; increasing to 99.8% when combined with antibiotic. This study thus demonstrates the anti-biofilm and bactericidal utility of ultrasound stimulated MBs, and specifically is the first to demonstrate the efficacy of a NOMB for the dispersal and potentiation of antibiotics against bacterial biofilms in vitro. Importantly the biofilm system and complex growth-medium were selected to recapitulate key morphological features of in vivo biofilms. The results us offer new insight for the development of new clinical treatments, for example, in chronic wounds.
Effects of large-scale Sargassum fusiforme culture on phytoplankton community structure and water quality

The large-scale cultivation of S. fusiforme was hypothesized to effectively improve water quality and environmental characteristics. Specifically, such cultivation could promote habitat restoration effects by increasing DO and pH levels in addition to decreasing nitrogen and phosphorus levels within cultivation area waters. Phytoplankton diversity could also reflect the quality and health of waters. This study explored the effects of large-scale cultivation of Sargassum fusiforme on the biodiversity and the ecosystem of a phytoplankton community in the coastal waters of Dongtou island, China. S. fusiforme cultivation increased DO and pH values within the area but decreased N contents of the cultivation area waters. A total of 75 phytoplankton species were identified based on morphological identification, while a parallel survey of phytoplankton communities using high-throughput cultivation-independent sequencing identified 601 phytoplankton OTUs. Large scale cultivation of S. fusiforme was associated with increased phytoplankton diversity as reflected by multiple alpha and beta diversity metrics. These data suggested that S. fusiforme cultivation could affect phytoplankton community structure when the S. fusiforme biomass reached maximum levels. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that S. fusiforme played an important role in controlling the dynamics of phytoplankton communities in coastal ecosystems. Thus, the results suggested that S. fusiforme cultivation could enhance phytoplankton community biodiversity. Overall, this study demonstrated that large-scale cultivation of S. fusiforme in coastal regions was an effective approach for mitigating environmental problems in marine ecosystems.