Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of key enzymes linked to type 2 diabetes by compounds isolated from Aframomum melegueta fruit

Abstract Context: The use of Aframomum melegueta K. Schum. (Zingiberaceae) fruit for treatment of diabetes has recently been established in Nigeria. However, compounds responsible for the antidiabetic action have not been identified. Objective: The present study carried out the bioassay-guided isolation of possible bioactive compounds responsible for the antidiabetic action of A. melegueta fruit. Materials and methods: The A. melegueta fruit was sequentially extracted using ethyl acetate (EtOAc), ethanol and water, and the most active extract (EtOAc) was subjected to column chromatography on a silica gel column using solvent gradient systems of hexane (HEX):EtOAc and EtOAc:MeOH and the isolation of compounds was guided by α-glycosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activities at various concentrations (30–240 μg/mL). Results: According to the results, 3 arylalkanes, 6-paradol (1), 6-shogaol (2) and 6-gingerol (3) and a pentacyclic triterpene, oleanolic acid (4) were isolated from A. melegueta fruit. All the compounds exhibited inhibitory effects against α-amylase and α-glucosidase. 6-Gingerol (3) and oleanolic acid (4) showed higher inhibitory activity against α-amylase (IC50: 6-gingerol: 81.78 ± 7.79 μM; oleanolic acid: 91.72 ± 1.63 μM) and α-glucosidase (IC50: 6-gingerol: 21.55 ± 0.45 μM; oleanolic acid: 17.35 ± 0.88 μM) compared to the standard drug, acarbose and other isolated compounds. The kinetics of the enzyme action of the compounds showed a noncompetitive mode of inhibition. Conclusion: The data of this study suggest that the 6-gingerol (3) and oleanolic acid (4) showed higher α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory action and therefore could be responsible for the antidiabetic activity of A. melegueta fruit.
Aging of secondary organic aerosol from α-pinene ozonolysis: Roles of hydroxyl and nitrate radicals

This work investigates the oxidative aging of preformed secondary organic aerosol (SOA) derived from α-pinene ozonolysis (∼100 ppbv hydrocarbon [HCx] with excess of O3) within the University of California–Riverside Center for Environmental Research and Technology environmental chamber that occurs after introduction of additional hydroxyl (OH) and nitrate (NO3) radicals. Simultaneous measurements of SOA volume concentration, hygroscopicity, particle density, and elemental chemical composition (C:O:H) reveal increased particle wall-loss-corrected SOA formation (1.5%, 7.5%, and 15.1%), increase in oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O/C; 15.6%, 8.7%, and 8.7%), and hydrophilicity (4.2%, 7.4%, and 1.4%) after addition of NO (ultraviolet [UV] on), H2O2 (UV on), and N2O5 (dark), respectively. The processing observed as an increase in O/C and hydrophilicity is attributed to OH and NO3 reactions with first-generation vapor products and UV photolysis. The rate of increase in O/C appears to be only sufficient to achieve semivolatile oxygenated organic aerosol (SV-OOA) on a day time scale even at the raised chamber radical concentrations. The additional processing with UV irradiation without addition of NO, H2O2, or N2O5 is observed, adding 5.5% wall-loss-corrected volume. The photolysis-only processing is attributed to additional OH generated from photolysis of the nitrous acid (HONO) offgasing from chamber walls. This finding indicates that OH and NO3 radicals can further alter the chemical composition of SOA from α-pinene ozonolysis, which is proved to consist of first-generation products. Implications: Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) may undergo aging processes once formed in the atmosphere, thereby altering the physicochemical and toxic properties of aerosol. This study discusses SOA aging of a major biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC; α-pinene) after it initially forms SOA. Aging of the α-pinene ozonolysis system by OH (through NO or H2O2 injection), NO3 (through N2O5 injection), and photolysis is observed. Although the reaction rate appears to be only sufficient to achieve semivolatile oxygenated organic aerosol (SV-OOA) level of oxygenation on a 1-day scale, it is important that SOA aging be considered in ambient air quality models. Aging in this study is attributed to further oxidation of gas-phase oxidation products of α-pinene ozonolysis. Supplemental Materials: Supplemental materials are available for this paper. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association for information on the referenced α-pinene ozonolysis reaction and chamber reactor temperature.
Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli, faecal coliforms and coliphage in animal feeds

Aims: Animal feeds (n = 226), collected from pastures or feeding troughs on UK farms and from feed manufacturers’ bulk stores, were analysed for Escherichia coli harbouring shiga‐toxin genes (stx), faecal coliforms, coliphages and stx‐harbouring bacteriophages.
Opiates and play dominance in juvenile rats.

Social play between pairs of individually housed juvenile rats was studied by measuring pinning frequencies occurring during rough-and-tumble play. Low doses of morphine increased play, and opioid blockade with naloxone reduced play. Dominance, as measured by which pinned which most, was markedly reduced by naloxone and slightly increased by morphine. These effects were most apparent when animals were treated with these drugs continuously from the beginning of play testing. Although the respective drugs tended to reverse established dominance patterns (i.e., naloxone made dominant animals more submissive, and morphine made submissive animals more dominant), it was apparent that previously established social learning limited the effectiveness of these manipulations. In general, the results are consistent with the proposition that brain opioids are important in controlling the vigor of social relations.
Glutathione S-transferase M1, T1, and P1 Polymorphisms and Ovarian Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Cytosolic glutathione S-transferase (GST) comprises multiple isoenzymes that catalyze reactions between glutathione and lipophilic compounds with electrophilic centers, resulting in the neutralization of toxic compounds, xenobiotics, and products of oxidative stress. Several studies have examined whether GST polymorphisms (GSTM1 null/present genotype, GSTT1 null/present genotype, and GSTP1 Ile105Val) represent risk factors for ovarian cancer, as they all may denote reduced enzyme activity. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the associations between the aforementioned polymorphisms and ovarian cancer risk. Methods: The MEDLINE database was searched up to September 2009 using the appropriate terms. Case-control studies with no mutually overlapping populations were selected. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) were appropriately derived from fixed-effects or random-effects models. Meta-regression with publication year was also performed. Results: Eight studies regarding GSTM1 null polymorphism status (2357 cases and 3044 controls), 6 studies concerning GSTT1 null polymorphism (1923 cases and 2759 controls), and 3 studies on GSTP1 Ile105Val were included in the meta-analysis. The GSTM1 null genotype was not associated with an increased risk for ovarian cancer (pooled OR, 1.031; 95% confidence interval, 0.867-1.226; random effects). The GSTT1 null genotype was not associated with an increased ovarian cancer risk (pooled OR, 0.934; 95% confidence interval, 0.804-1.086; random effects); similarly, no significant associations were demonstrated for GSTP1 Ile105Val. Conclusions: The examined GSTM1, GSTT1, and GSTP1 genotype polymorphisms do not seem to confer any additional risk for ovarian cancer. Given that the studies included in this meta-analysis involve mainly white populations, these results cannot be extrapolated on other populations, and additional data are needed for future race-specific analyses.
A Tale of Two Skill Premia

"The paper proposes a theory of demography that helps chart the evolution of skill premia both in England during its first and second Industrial Revolutions, and in the American 20th century. Skill-premia fell in England during the first Industrial Revolution to below 50%, staying below 50% through the entire 19th century, and fell in the U.S. during the first half of the 20th century. These facts are at odds with most theories of industrialization, which tend to imply rising premia as natural concomitants to economic growth. I develop a simple model of economic demography to help solve this puzzle. Conjecturing that households wished to maximize both their levels of income and the levels of education of their children, I demonstrate how rising education levels, non-monotonic fertility rates, and falling skill premia can all be explained within one theory. "
Metabolically healthy but obese, a matter of time? Findings from the prospective Pizarra study.

BACKGROUND Prospective longitudinal studies evaluating the relevance of "Metabolically Healthy but Obese" (MHO) phenotype at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and cardiovascular diseases are few and results are contradictory. METHODS As a representative of the general population, 1051 individuals were evaluated in 1997-1998 and re-evaluated after 6 years and 11 years. Subjects without known T2D were given an oral glucose tolerance test. Anthropometric and biochemical variables were measured. Four sets of criteria were considered to define MHO subjects besides body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2): A: Homeostatic Model of Assessment-Insulin Resistance Index (HOMA-IR) <90th percentile; B: HOMA-IR <90th percentile, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol >40 mg/dL in men and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol >50 mg/dL in women, triglycerides <150 mg/dL, fasting glucose <110 mg/dL, and blood pressure ≤140/90 mm Hg; C: HOMA-IR <90th percentile, triglycerides <150 mg/dL, fasting glucose <110 mg/dL, and blood pressure ≤140/90 mm Hg; D: HOMA-IR <90th percentile, triglycerides <150 mg/dL, and fasting glucose <110 mg/dL. Subjects with T2D at baseline were excluded from the calculations of incidence of T2D. RESULTS The baseline prevalence of MHO phenotype varied between 3.0% and 16.9%, depending on the set of criteria chosen. Metabolically nonhealthy obese subjects were at highest risk for becoming diabetic after 11 years of follow-up (odds ratio = 8.20; 95% confidence interval = 2.72-24.72; P < .0001). In MHO subjects the risk for becoming diabetic was lower than in metabolically nonhealthy obese subjects, but this risk remained significant (odds ratio = 3.13; 95% confidence interval = 1.07-9.17; P = .02). In subjects who lost weight during the study, the association between MHO phenotype and T2D incidence disappeared, even after adjusting for HOMA-IR. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that MHO is a dynamic concept that should be taken into account over time. As a clinical entity, it may be questionable.
Identifying risk factors for tardive dyskinesia among long-term outpatients maintained with neuroleptic medications. Results of the Yale Tardive Dyskinesia Study.

OBJECTIVES To describe the incidence of tardive dyskinesia (TD) in the Yale TD Study and to identify demographic, treatment, and clinical risk factors for TD occurrence. DESIGN An ongoing prospective cohort study in which subjects have been examined every 6 months since 1985. SETTING The outpatient division of the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven. SUBJECTS Three hundred ninety-eight adult outpatients who had been maintained with neuroleptics for 3 months to 33 years at intake and who were free of persistent TD at intake with no history of persistent TD movements. OUTCOME MEASURE New cases of persistent TD were defined as the presence of mild or more severe dyskinetic movements at two successive follow-up visits, using the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. RESULTS As of July 1, 1990, there were 62 new persistent cases of TD, yielding an average incidence rate of 0.053 per year and a 5-year risk of 20%. The TD rate was positively affected by age, being nonwhite, and neuroleptic dose, and it was inversely affected by years of previous exposure. Little or no effects were found for age at first neuroleptic exposure, type of neuroleptic, use of other psychiatric medications, and psychiatric diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS For outpatients maintained for many years with neuroleptics, dose should be minimized to reduce the risk of TD. This strategy does not appear to be negated by prescribing frequent changes in dosage. Although the TD rate is greatest during the first 5 years of neuroleptic treatment, new persistent cases continue to occur many years after first exposure.
An adaptive octree textures painting algorithm

Traditional Texturing using a set of two dimensional image maps is an established and widespread practice. However, it is difficult to parameterize a model in texture space, particularly with representations such as implicit surfaces, subdivision surfaces, and very dense or detailed polygonal meshes. Based on an adaptive octree textures definition, this paper proposes a direct reverse-projecting pixel-level painting approach which has less storage requirements to general octree textures maps. In addition, it depends on texture lookup in the GPU, which particularly lookup faster than the non-GPU program.
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy for Chronic Pancreatitis Patients With Stones After Pancreatic Surgery

Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pancreatic extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (P-ESWL) in chronic pancreatitis (CP) patients with pancreatic stones after previous pancreatic surgery. Methods This is a single-center study prospectively conducted in pained CP patients undergoing P-ESWL. Patients with a pancreatic surgery history (PSH) were included in the PSH group, and patients without a PSH during the same period were assigned to the control group. The primary outcomes included complications associated with P-ESWL and pain relief. Secondary outcomes included stone clearance and improved quality-of-life scores. Results From March 2011 to October 2014, P-ESWLs were performed on 1017 patients (50 in the PSH group, 967 in the control group). No significant difference was observed in the frequency of occurrence of P-ESWL complications between the PSH group and control group (14.0% vs 13.2%, P = 0.877). At follow-up (2.6 years; range, 1.0–4.5 years), pain relief was achieved in 36 patients (75.0%), and 37 patients (77.1%) experienced complete stone clearance. No significant differences were observed between these patients and the matched controls. Conclusions For CP patients who develop painful stones after pancreatic surgery, P-ESWL safely achieves significant pain relief and stone clearance, preventing the need for a repeat surgery.
Determination of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity of Black Cumin (Nigella sativa) Seed Quinone Compounds

In this study, the antioxidant capacities of main quinone constituents of Nigella sativa seeds, namely dithymoquinone (1), thymohydroquinone (2) and thymoquinone (3), were compared using DPPH and ORAC methods. The best scavenging activity was produced by 2, which showed a remarkable activity of 2.60 Trolox equivalents (TE) in a concentration range between 1.6 and 6.4 μg/mL and IC50 value of 2.4 μg/mL in ORAC and DPPH assays, respectively. Contrastingly, 3 possessed only weak DPPH scavenging efficacy (IC50 = 170 μg/mL) but significant antioxidative action of 1.91 TE in ORAC assay. No effect has been observed for 1. Additionally, modified protocol for synthesis of 2 has been developed with aim to enhance its availability for further studies as well as for its future potential use. Based on the results of this study, we conclude that 2 could be considered as a compound with prospective antioxidative properties.
Clinical spectrum and prognostic value of CNS MOG autoimmunity in adults

Objective To describe clinical and radiologic features associated with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies (MOG-Ab) in a large French nationwide adult cohort, to assess baseline prognostic features of MOG-Ab-associated diseases after a first acute demyelinating syndrome, and to evaluate the clinical value of MOG-Ab longitudinal analysis. Methods Clinical data were obtained from 197 MOG-Ab-positive patients ≥18 years of age. Complete imaging data were available in 108, and 54 serum samples were eligible for longitudinal evaluation. For survival analysis comparison, 169 aquaporin-4 antibody (AQP4-Ab)-positive patients from the NOMADMUS database were included. Results Median age at onset was 36.46 (range 18.0–76.8) years, and patients were predominantly white (92.9%) with male:female ratio, 1.1. Clinical phenotype at onset included optic neuritis or myelitis in 90.86%, isolated brainstem or encephalopathy syndromes in 6.6%, and a combination of syndromes in 2.5%. Distinctive brain MRI findings in MOG-Ab-positive patients were thalamic and pontine lesions. Cortical and leptomeningeal lesions were found in 16.3% and 6.1%, respectively. The probability of reaching a first relapse after 2 and 5 years was 44.8% and 61.8%, respectively. MOG-Ab-positive patients were at lower risk at presentation of further clinical relapse (hazard ratio [HR] 0.45, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.26–0.79) compared to AQP4-Ab-positive individuals. MOG-Ab-positive individuals had a lower risk of reaching Disability Status Scale score of 3.0 (HR 0.46, 95% CI 0.22–0.94) and visual acuity of 20/100 (HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.07–0.72). Finally, MOG-Ab titers were higher at relapse than in remission (p = 0.009). Conclusion In adults, MOG-Ab-associated disease extends beyond clinical and radiologic abnormalities in the optic nerve and spinal cord. Despite the relapsing course, the overall visual and motor outcome is better compared with AQP4-Ab-positive patients.
Application of UWB modules in indoor navigation system

The paper presents a concept of an indoor navigation system, using Ultra Wideband (UWB) radio modules. The system can be used to provide for position awareness inside buildings where no other means of positioning systems are available or the quality of the positioning service is poor. The system is composed of several beacons and mobile modules that are used inside the building. The beacons and mobile stations are equipped with UWB ranging modules and Two-Way Time-of-Flight technique is used for ranging. The structure of the proposed system, its mathematical model, positioning algorithm and chosen simulation results are presented in the paper.
Correspondence analysis: Comparing wordlists across specialised corpora

Correspondence Analysis (CA) is one of the multivariate analyses, which can be adopted to investigate statistical similarities and differences across corpora. This study demonstrates the application of CA in a corpus-based study of lexical items of specialised corpora, focusing mainly on highly frequent and significant words in the context of English for Electronics and Computer Engineering. The CA conducted with the most frequent, most keyed, and most key-keyed wordlists of specialised corpora reveals the consistency in the findings, in terms of differentiating the corpora from each other as well as highlighting words which characterise each corpus in the study. Thus, this confirms the potential use of the CA as a tool for language description. The results provide interesting insights into the complex interrelationship between the corpora. In addition, the identification of words which make up a specialised corpus allows further investigation into their lexical behavior in the specialised texts for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) pedagogical considerations.
A critical role for nucleoporin 358 (Nup358) in transposon silencing and piRNA biogenesis in Drosophila

Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that bind Piwi proteins to silence transposons and to regulate gene expression. In Drosophila germ cells, the Aubergine (Aub)-Argonaute 3 (Ago3)–dependent ping-pong cycle generates most germline piRNAs. Loading of antisense piRNAs amplified by this cycle enables Piwi to enter the nucleus and silence transposons. Nuclear localization is crucial for Piwi function in transposon silencing, but how this process is regulated remains unknown. It is also not known whether any of the components of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) directly function in the piRNA pathway. Here, we show that nucleoporin 358 (Nup358) and Piwi interact with each other and that a germline knockdown (GLKD) of Nup358 with short hairpin RNA prevents Piwi entry into the nucleus. The Nup358 GLKD also activated transposons, increased genomic instability, and derailed piRNA biogenesis because of a combination of decreased piRNA precursor transcription and a collapse of the ping-pong cycle. Our results point to a critical role for Nup358 in the piRNA pathway, laying the foundation for future studies to fully elucidate the mechanisms by which Nup358 contributes to piRNA biogenesis and transposon silencing.
Special Topic: Catalysis—Facing the Future Heterogeneous catalysis for green chemistry based on nanocrystals

Modern society has an ever-increasing demand for environmentally friendly catalytic processes. Catalysis research is working towards a solution through the development of effective heterogeneous catalysts for environment-related applications. Nanotechnologies have provided effective strategies for the preparation of nanocrystals (NCs) with well-defined sizes, shapes and compositions. Precise control of these NCs provides an important foundation for the studies of structure-performance relationships in catalysis, which is critical to the design of NCs with optimized catalytic performances for practical applications. We focus on recent advances in the development of bottom-up strategies to control NCs structures for some key catalytic applications, including CO oxidation, selective oxidation of alcohols, semihydrogenation of alkynes, and selective hydrogenation of unsaturated aldehydes and nitrobenzene. These key applications have been a popular research focus because of their significance in green chemistry. Herein we also discuss the scientific understandings of the active species and active structures of these systems to gain an insight for rational design of efficient catalytic systems for these catalytic reactions. systems associated with green chemistry or environ-ment protection: CO oxidation, selective gas-phase oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes/ketones, selective hydrogenation of aldehydes and nitrobenzene and semihydrogenation of alkynes.
A hardware-efficient lowpass filter design for biomedical applications

A hardware-efficient lowpass filter design technique based on an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) filter architecture is proposed for the detection of general action potentials and nerve spikes in noisy signals. The EWMA VLSI architecture is compared with a basic moving average (MA) architecture and it is found that the EWMA technique is the most economical in terms of space of the two. In addition, a rule of thumb is given for converting a MA filter to the proposed filter. In the comparison, it was found that an EWMA filter is almost 85% more hardware-efficient than an MA filter.