Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Folate-conjugated crosslinked biodegradable micelles for receptor-mediated delivery of paclitaxel

The poor stability of micellar drug delivery systems in vivo due to large volume dilution and interactions with blood pool often leads to premature drug release with low targetability and therapeutic efficacy. Here, we designed folate-conjugated interfacially crosslinked biodegradable micelles consisting of poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(acryloyl carbonate)-b-poly(D,L-lactide) (PEG-PAC-PLA) and folate-PEG-PLA (FA-PEG-PLA) block copolymers for receptor-mediated delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) into KB cells. Micelles with varying amounts of folate ligands were prepared at 0–20 wt. % of FA-PEG-PLA. The resulting micelles, either with or without PTX loading, were readily crosslinked by UV irradiation. The crosslinked micelles had much smaller sizes and better stability as compared to the non-crosslinked controls. Notably, these micelles achieved high drug loading efficiencies of 70–88% at an initial PTX loading content of 10 wt. %. The in vitro release studies revealed that crosslinked micelles exhibited significantly inhibited PTX release at low micelle concentrations. MTT assays in KB cells showed that the crosslinked micelles were non-toxic while the toxicity of PTX-loaded micelles, either crosslinked or non-crosslinked, increased with increasing folate contents. Remarkably, at 12 h incubation time folate-decorated PTX-loaded crosslinked micelles composed of 20 wt. % of FA-PEG-PLA displayed markedly higher toxicity to KB cells than free PTX (33% versus 50% cell viability), which is most likely due to their much more efficient cellular uptake through FA receptor-mediated endocytosis. Flow cytometry studies showed that folate-decorated FITC-labeled crosslinked micelles were much more efficiently taken up by KB cells than controls without folate ligands. These results indicate that ligand-conjugated interfacially crosslinked PEG-PLA micelles have great potential in targeted cancer therapy.
Mangrove Forests Supported by Peaty Habitats on Several Islands in the Western Pacific.

Six types of mangrove forests were distinguished on Kosrae Island (50°20’ N.L.; 163°00’ E.L.) and Pohnpei Island (6°55’ N.L.; 158°14’ E.L.) in Micronesia and Bohol Island (10°00’ N.L.; 124°30’ E.L.) in the Philippines based on phytosociological investigations. They are the Rhizophora stylosa forest on an inorganic habitat along the seaward fringe of a mangrove area, the Nypa fruticans thicket and the Barringtonia racemosa forest supported by clay deposits at the landward fringe of a mangrove region, and the Rhizophora apiculata-Avicennia marina forest, the Sonneratia alba-Bruguiera gymnorrhiza forest and the Xyrocarpus granatum-B. gymnorrhiza forest characteristically inhabiting peaty habitats. Accumulation of mangrove peat should be limited to a range corresponding to the upper half of the intertidal zone because mangrove forests themseves are restricted to this range. This range is estimated to be 75 cm or so in the areas investigated. A habitat with a peat layer equivalent to this range in thickness was usually found under the S. alba-B. gymnorrhiza forest. This type of forest is thought to have developed under the present, stable sea level condition through autogenic succession from the R. stylosa forest. On the other hand, a much thicker peat layer supporting the X. granatum-B. gymnorrhiza forest was found in the investigated area. Development of such a thick peat layer is assumed to have been proceeded by a rise in sea level, followed by filling up of the area with organic matter provided by the mangrove forest itself. Thus, this type of forest was considered to have been formed from the S. alba-B. gymnorrhiza forest through an autogenic process of succession in spite of the external effect of a rise in sea level.
Continuous Electrical Conductivity Variation in M3(hexaiminotriphenylene)2 (M = Co, Ni, Cu) MOF Alloys.

We report continuous fine-scale tuning of band gaps over 0.4 eV and of electrical conductivity over four orders of magnitude in a series of highly crystalline binary alloys of two-dimensional electrically conducting metal-organic frameworks M3(HITP)2 (M = Co, Ni, Cu; HITP = 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexaiminotriphenylene). Isostructurality in the M3(HITP)2 series permits the direct synthesis of binary alloys (MxM'3-x)(HITP)2 (MM' = CuNi, CoNi, and CoCu) with metal compositions precisely controlled by precursor ratios. We attribute the continuous tuning of both band gaps and electrical conductivity to changes in free carrier concentrations and to subtle differences in interlayer displacement (D) or spacing (S), both of which are defined by metal substitution. The activation energy of (CoxNi3-x)(HITP)2 alloys scales inversely with increasing the Ni percentage, confirming thermally-activated bulk transport.
A novel biosafety level 2 compliant tuberculosis infection model using a ΔleuDΔpanCD double auxotroph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and Galleria mellonella

ABSTRACT Mammalian infection models have contributed significantly to our understanding of the host-mycobacterial interaction, revealing potential mechanisms and targets for novel antimycobacterial therapeutics. However, the use of conventional mammalian models such as mice, are typically expensive, high maintenance, require specialized animal housing, and are ethically regulated. Furthermore, research using Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is inherently difficult as work needs to be carried out at biosafety level 3 (BSL3). The insect larvae of Galleria mellonella (greater wax moth), have become increasingly popular as an infection model, and we previously demonstrated its potential as a mycobacterial infection model using Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Here we present a novel BSL2 complaint MTB infection model using G. mellonella in combination with a bioluminescent ΔleuDΔpanCD double auxotrophic mutant of MTB H37Rv (SAMTB lux) which offers safety and practical advantages over working with wild type MTB. Our results show a SAMTB lux dose dependent survival of G. mellonella larvae and demonstrate proliferation and persistence of SAMTB lux bioluminescence over a 1 week infection time course. Histopathological analysis of G. mellonella, highlight the formation of early granuloma-like structures which matured over time. We additionally demonstrate the drug efficacy of first (isoniazid, rifampicin, and ethambutol) and second line (moxifloxacin) antimycobacterial drugs. Our findings demonstrate the broad potential of this insect model to study MTB infection under BSL2 conditions. We anticipate that the successful adaptation and implementation of this model will remove the inherent limitations of MTB research at BSL3 and increase tuberculosis research output.
Red noise increases extinction risk during rapid climate change

As the global climate is changing rapidly, there is a need to make conservation decisions to facilitate species' persistence under climate change. Models employed to make predictions regarding the impacts of climate change on species' distributions, and ultimately persistence, typically assume that interannual variability in environmental conditions is independent between years. However, the colour of environmental noise has been shown to affect extinction risk in populations occupying spatially static environments, and should therefore affect persistence during climate change. This study aims to investigate the importance of noise colour for extinction risk during climate‐induced range shifts.
Different roles of interleukin 6 and interleukin 11 in the liver: implications for therapy

ABSTRACT The interleukin 6 (IL6) family of proteins regulate important cellular processes and act through a variety of signaling pathways via a shared gp130 receptor. In the liver, there is a large body of evidence showing a protective and pro-regenerative role for IL6 cis and trans signaling. While a few studies suggest a pathological role for IL6 trans-signaling in the liver. IL11 is often thought of as similar to IL6 and redundancy has been inferred. However, recent studies reveal that IL6R and IL11RA are expressed on dissimilar cell types and these cytokines actually have very different roles in biology and pathology. In the liver, IL6R is mostly expressed on immune cells, whereas IL11RA is highly expressed on hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells, both of which exhibit autocrine IL11 activity. In contrast to the beneficial effects of IL6 in the liver, IL11 causes liver disease and its expression in stromal and parenchymal cells leads to fibrosis, inflammation, steatosis and hepatic failure. In this review, we address IL6 and IL11 in the context of liver function. We end by discussing the possibility of IL6 gain-of-function versus IL11 inhibition as therapeutic approaches to treat liver disease. 1,2
The Association between Periodontitis and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Recent studies have suggested an association between periodontitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) although the results were inconsistent. The current systematic review and meta- analysis was conducted with the aim to comprehensively investigate this possible association by identifying all relevant studies and combining their results together. METHODS A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through December 2019 to identify all studies that compared the risk of NAFLD among patients with periodontitis to individuals without periodontitis. Effect estimates from each study were extracted and combined using the random-effect, generic inverse variance method of DerSimonian and Laird. RESULTS A total of five studies with 27,703 participants fulfilled the eligibility criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. All five studies reported the magnitude of association between NAFLD and periodontitis that was diagnosed based on the periodontal pocket depth of > 3.5-4 mm. The pooled OR of unadjusted analysis was 1.48 (95%CI: 1.15-1.89; I 2 92%). However, when adjusted results from the primary studies were used, pooled OR decreased to 1.13 and lost its statistical significance (95%CI: 0.95-1.35; I 2 67%). Three studies reported the magnitude of association between NAFLD and periodontitis that was diagnosed based on a clinical attachment level of ≥ 3 mm. The pooled OR of unadjusted analysis was 1.13 (95%CI: 1.07-1.20; I 2 0%). However, when adjusted results from the primary studied were used, pooled OR decreased to 1.08 and lost its statistical significance (95%CI: 0.94-1.24; I 2 58%). CONCLUSIONS The study found a significant association between periodontitis and NAFLD. However, the association lost its significance when various metabolic parameters were adjusted, suggesting that those metabolic conditions, not periodontitis itself, were predisposing factors for NAFLD.
Effervescent tablet-assisted demulsified dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on solidification of floating organic droplet for determination of methadone in water and biological samples prior to GC-flame ionization and GC-mass spectrometry.

A novel effervescent tablet-assisted demulsified dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on the solidification of floating organic droplet was developed to determine methadone prior to GC-flame ionization detection and GC-mass spectrometry. In this method, a tablet composed of citric acid, sodium carbonate, and 1-undecanol was utilized. The resulting effervescent tablet generated carbon dioxide in situ to disperse 1-undecanol in the sample. Thus, the dispersive and extraction processes were performed in one synchronous step. An aliquot of acetonitrile as the demulsifier solvent was used for the separation of two phases instead of centrifugation. Under optimal conditions, the developed method was linear up to 50000 μg L-1 with correlation coefficients higher than 0.99. Moreover, limits of detection and limits of the quantification were in the range of 3-10 μg L-1 and 7-30 μg L-1 in water and biological samples, respectively. Intra-day and inter-day precisions (n = 6) of the spiked methadone at a concentration level of 50 μg L-1 were over ranges of 5.1-6.8 % and 5.7-7.1 %, respectively. The preconcentration factors and recovery values were obtained in the range of 140-145 and 98.1% to 101.6% in real samples, respectively. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Cranberry Polyphenolic Extract Exhibits an Antiobesity Effect on High-Fat Diet-Fed Mice through Increased Thermogenesis.

BACKGROUND Although polyphenol-rich cranberry extracts reportedly have an antiobesity effect, the exact reason for this remains unclear. OBJECTIVES In light of the reported health benefits of the polyphenolic compounds in cranberry, we investigated the effects and mechanism of a cranberry polyphenolic extract (CPE) in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. METHODS The distributions of individual CPE compounds were characterized by HPLC fingerprinting. Male C57BL/6J mice (4 wk old) were fed for 16 wk normal diet (ND, 10% fat energy) or HFD (60% fat energy) with or without 0.75% CPE in drinking water (HFD + CPE). Body and adipose depot weights, indices of glucose metabolism, energy expenditure (EE), and expression of genes related to brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis, and inguinal/epididymal white adipose tissue (iWAT/eWAT) browning were measured. RESULTS After 16 wk, the body weight was 22.5% lower in the CPE-treated mice than in the HFD group but remained 17.9% higher than in the ND group. CPE treatment significantly increased EE compared with that of the ND and HFD groups. The elevated EE was linked with BAT thermogenesis, and iWAT/eWAT browning, shown by the induction of thermogenic genes, especially uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1), and browning-related genes, including Cd137, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily (Tnfrsf9). The mRNA expression and abundance of uncoupling protein 1 in BAT of CPE-fed mice were 5.78 and 1.47 times higher than in the HFD group, and 0.61 and 1.12 times higher than in the ND group, respectively. Cd137 gene expression in iWAT and eWAT of CPE-fed mice were 2.35 and 3.13 times higher than in the HFD group, and 0.84 and 1.39 times higher than in the ND group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Dietary CPE reduced but did not normalize HFD-induced body weight gain in male C57BL/6J mice, possibly by affecting energy metabolism.
Assessment of Psychiatric Symptomatology in Bilingual Psychotic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Language plays an important role in psychiatric conditions. Language disturbances are core symptoms of psychiatric ailments, and language is the main diagnostic tool to assess psychopathological severity. Although the importance of language in psychiatry, the effect of bilingualism, and more specifically of using the mother language or a later acquired language at the time of assessing psychotic symptoms, has been scarcely studied and, thus, remains unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to ascertain whether differences exist in the severity of psychopathology in psychotic patients when assessed either in the mother language or in an acquired language. Of 3121 retrieved references from three databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase) and complementary searches, four studies—including 283 psychotic patients—were included in the review. The meta-analytical combined effect suggested that more overall symptomatology is detected when clinical assessment is conducted in the mother language rather than in the acquired language (very low quality evidence, random effects model standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.44, 95% CI = 0.19 to 0.69, p value = 0.0006, I2 = 90%). Considering the growing migration flows and the increasing number of bilingual people in the world population, the effect of the chosen language at the time of conducting psychopathological assessments of psychotic patients is a clinically relevant issue. Based on our findings, we recommend that clinical interviews with bilingual psychotic patients should be conducted, when feasible, in the patient’s mother language.
Is mutation analysis of β-catenin useful for the diagnosis of desmoid-type fibromatosis? A systematic review.

BACKGROUND An accurate diagnosis is crucial to determine the treatment modality for desmoid-type fibromatosis, although the histopathological diagnosis is occasionally difficult to make. Many desmoid-type fibromatosis have been reported to have hotspot mutation of β-catenin gene (CTNNB1). In the present study, we performed a systematic review to verify the usefulness of CTNNB1 mutation analysis in the diagnosis of desmoid-type fibromatosis. METHODS A literature search from January 1990 to August 2017 was conducted. Three reviewers independently assessed and screened the literature for eligibility and determined the final articles to be evaluated. Data regarding the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and usefulness of CTNNB1 mutation analysis in the diagnosis of desmoid-type fibromatosis were recorded. We rated each report according to the Grading of Recommendations Development and Evaluation approach. RESULTS The search yielded 90 studies, seven of which were included after the first and second screenings. The positive rate of CTNNB1 mutation in desmoid-type fibromatosis was 86.8%, but the cohort of six of the seven reports was already diagnosed histopathologically as desmoid-type fibromatosis. Therefore, the usefulness of CTNNB1 mutation analysis in a cohort that is difficult to diagnose histopathologically is not clear in this review. Nevertheless, CTNNB1 mutation showed very high specificity in desmoid-type fibromatosis, indicating the usefulness of CTNNB1 mutation analysis in its diagnosis in combination with histological examination. CONCLUSION Because the lack of data precludes any useful comparison with histological diagnosis, the evidence level is low. However, considering its specificity, CTNNB1 mutation analysis may be useful in cases in which the histopathological diagnosis is difficult.
Bioentity2vec: Attribute- and behavior-driven representation for predicting multi-type relationships between bioentities

Abstract Background The explosive growth of genomic, chemical, and pathological data provides new opportunities and challenges for humans to thoroughly understand life activities in cells. However, there exist few computational models that aggregate various bioentities to comprehensively reveal the physical and functional landscape of biological systems. Results We constructed a molecular association network, which contains 18 edges (relationships) between 8 nodes (bioentities). Based on this, we propose Bioentity2vec, a new method for representing bioentities, which integrates information about the attributes and behaviors of a bioentity. Applying the random forest classifier, we achieved promising performance on 18 relationships, with an area under the curve of 0.9608 and an area under the precision-recall curve of 0.9572. Conclusions Our study shows that constructing a network with rich topological and biological information is important for systematic understanding of the biological landscape at the molecular level. Our results show that Bioentity2vec can effectively represent biological entities and provides easily distinguishable information about classification tasks. Our method is also able to simultaneously predict relationships between single types and multiple types, which will accelerate progress in biological experimental research and industrial product development.
Phylogenetic Relationships among Subfamily Groups in the Hydropsychidae (Trichoptera) with Diagnoses of the Smicrideinae, New Status, and the Hydropsychinae

Subfamily-level groups of the Hydropsychidae Curtis are reassessed, using phylogenetic principles sensu Hennig for the first time. A historical overview of the Hydropsychinae Ulmer and the inconsistent placement of Smicridea McLachlan and allied genera is presented. The subfamily Hydropsychinae as presently defined is found to be paraphyletic. The study establishes monophyly of Hydropsychinae, confirms Macronematinae Ulmer plus smicrideine genera as the sister group, and investigates the status of the Smicrideini Flint 1974 within the family. Diplectrona zealandensis Mosely and Kimmins is found to be the sister group of Smicridea and allies. Hydropsychoidea sensu Weaver and Morse (1986, Journal of the North American Benthological Society 5:153) exclusive of Hydropsychidae are used as outgroup taxa. Analysis based on all larval instars suggests direction of character evolution for certain characters. A proposal is made for removal of the genera Smicridea, Smicrophylax Neboiss, and Asmicridea Mosely and Kimmins from the Hydropsychinae sensu Flint, elevating them to Smicrideinae, new subfamily, new status.
Lights triggered differential accumulation of antioxidant and antidiabetic secondary metabolites in callus culture of Eclipta alba L.

Eclipta alba L. , also known as false daisy, is well known and commercially attractive plant with excellent hepatotoxic and antidiabetic activities. Light is considered a key modulator in plant morphogenesis and survival by regulating important physiological cascades. Current study was carried out to investigate growth and developmental aspects of E. alba under differential effect of multispectral lights. In vitro derived callus culture of E. alba was exposed to multispectral monochromatic lights under controlled aseptic conditions. Maximum dry weight was recorded in culture grown under red light (11.2 g/L) whereas negative effect was observed under exposure of yellow light on callus growth (4.87 g/L). Furthermore, red light significantly enhanced phenolics and flavonoids content (TPC: 57.8 mg/g, TFC: 11.1 mg/g) in callus cultures compared to rest of lights. HPLC analysis further confirmed highest accumulation of four major compounds i.e. coumarin (1.26 mg/g), eclalbatin (5.00 mg/g), wedelolactone (32.54 mg/g) and demethylwedelolactone (23.67 mg/g) and two minor compounds (β-amyrin: 0.38 mg/g, luteolin: 0.39 mg/g) in red light treated culture whereas stigmasterol was found optimum (0.22 mg/g) under blue light. In vitro based biological activities including antioxidant, antidiabetic and lipase inhibitory assays showed optimum values in cultures exposed to red light, suggesting crucial role of these phytochemicals in the enhancement of the therapeutic potential of E. alba. These results clearly revealed that the use of multispectral lights in in vitro cultures could be an effective strategy for enhanced production of phytochemicals.
Parasitoid searching efficiency links behaviour to population processes

Parasitoid searching efficiency is central to parasitoid-host population dynamics, to the evolution of parasitoid and host behaviour, and to the application of parasitoids as natural enemies of insect pests in biological control. Students of parasitoid behaviour attempt to explain variability in parasitoid searching behaviour, while population dynamicists are more concerned with variation in the outcome of parasitism and how this affects the spatial distribution of host mortality and population stability. Unfortunately the links between behaviour and population processes have been rarely explicitly made. Parasitoid searching efficiency potentially links behaviour to population processes since it affects the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of host attacks. But which behaviours determine searching efficiency? In the present paper I attempt to identify some of these key behaviours. They involve responses to cues that help parasitoids to assess important characteristics of the spatial distribution of their hosts such as which food plants hosts are feeding on, the host distribution pattern on food plants and the host density and patch quality. Plant information plays an essential role in many of these processes. In the present paper I will discuss both the behavioural mechanisms involved and the potential effect for population processes. [KEYWORDS: population dynamics, foraging behaviour, tritrophic relationships, learning, spatial ecology]