Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maternal Adipocyte Connexin43 Gap Junctions Affect Breastmilk Lactose Levels and Neonate Growth in Mice

Simple Summary Breastfeeding offers many health benefits for both mothers and infants. However, overnutrition and a steady increase in obesity in the U.S. has made it harder for many mothers to produce and express breastmilk. Moreover, the quality of breastmilk from obese mothers is frequently compromised in that it contains fewer nutrients and more inflammatory components. In this study, we used mice to model this phenomenon. We found that short-term high-fat feeding at the start of breeding reduces litter size and pups’ body weight. It also impairs adipocyte remodeling during lactation. Connexin43 is the primary building block for gap junctions in the adipose tissue. It is postulated to play an essential role in adipose tissue remodeling to accommodate mammary gland development and breastmilk production. Using genetically engineered mice without Connexin43 in their adipocytes, we demonstrated that the deletion of adipocyte Connexin43 affects the disappearance of adipocytes during lactation and affects milk composition, which is postulated to impair the pups’ growth. Altogether, this study suggests that increasing or enhancing adipocyte Connexin43 gap junctions may help obese mothers produce better breastmilk to support their neonates. Abstract Breastfeeding offers a broad spectrum of health benefits for infants. However, overnutrition and a steady increase in maternal obesity in the U.S. have made it harder for many mothers to produce and express breastmilk, and the quality of milk from obese mothers is also frequently compromised. Adipocytes, the primary cell type in the non-lactating breast, display a drastic morphological and functional change during lactation in mice. Lipid-filled adipocytes undergo lipolysis, and lipid droplets disappear to provide fatty acids and energy for breastmilk production. Once the animal stops lactation, these lipid-depleted adipocytes return as lipid-laden cells. This dynamic remodeling of the tissue is likely the result of active intercellular communications. Connexin43 (Cx43) is the most abundant connexin in the mammary adipose tissue that makes up the gap junctions for direct intercellular communications. Its expression is increased during lactation and reduced in obese mammary adipose tissue, which is resistant to lactation-induced remodeling. However, whether Cx43 is required for adipocyte remodeling and breastmilk production to support neonates’ growth has not been established. In this study, we used doxycycline-inducible adipocyte-specific Cx43-deleted mice and demonstrated that adipocyte Cx43 played a vital role in determining the carbohydrate levels in breastmilk, which may subsequently affect neonates’ growth.
MetaResonance—A Reconfigurable Surface for Holographic Wireless Power Transfer

This article presents a design and systems level implementation of a magnetic resonance-based wireless power transfer system with a novel metasurface layer. This layer shapes the magnetic field through it that results in “MetaResonance. ” This phenomenon is key in transforming an existing surface into an intelligent wireless charger for the following: 1) reconfigurable and on-demand energy shaping that can customizable energy hologram; and 2) beamforming to charge multiple devices. The advantages of MetaResonance over conventional methods such as inductive and magnetic resonance charging, distributed RF and magnetic beamforming, and energy hopping lie in its ability to provide high-power delivery with safety guarantees, high end-to-end efficiency, and customized power distribution profile in three dimensions over the surface. From a systems implementation viewpoint, we achieve this through a power distribution layer at the bottom and the MetaResonance cell array layer at top. We have simulated, fabricated, and built an experimental setup of the proposed MetaResonance wireless power transfer system. Performance results demonstrate the reconfigurability in the power and energy fields over the whole surface with fine granularity. Specifically, the magnetic field can be blocked within 2 cm with more than 95% efficiency while the power transfer efficiency can be improved up to 92.8% by beamforming. We have demonstrated various real-world charging applications concerning consumer electronics, industrial tools, battery packs, and medical device wireless charging.
Plotkin ’ s Structural Operational Semantics

Many meta-languages have been proposed for writing rule-based operational semantics, in order to provide general interpreters and analysis tools. We take a different approach. We develop a meta-language for a skeletal semantics of a language, where each skeleton describes the complete semantic behaviour of a language construct. We define a general notion of interpretation, which provides a systematic and language-independent way of deriving semantic judgements from the skeletal semantics. We provide four generic interpretations of our skeletal semantics to yield: a simple well-formedness interpretation; a concrete interpretation; an abstract interpretation; and a constraint generator for flow-sensitive analysis. We prove general consistency results, establishing that the concrete and abstract interpretations are consistent and that any solution to the constraints generated by the constraint generator must be a correct abstract semantics.
Against the mainstream: the membrane‐associated type I toxin BsrG from Bacillus subtilis interferes with cell envelope biosynthesis without increasing membrane permeability

Toxin‐antitoxin loci, which encode a toxic protein alongside with either RNA or a protein able to counteract the toxicity, are widespread among archaea and bacteria. These loci are implicated in persistence, and as addiction modules to ensure stable inheritance of plasmids and phages. In type I toxin‐antitoxin systems, a small RNA acts as an antitoxin, which prevents the synthesis of the toxin. Most type I toxins are small hydrophobic membrane proteins generally assumed to induce pores, or otherwise permeabilise the cytoplasmic membrane and, as a result, induce cell death by energy starvation. Here we show that this mode of action is not a conserved property of type I toxins. The analysis of the cellular toxicity caused by Bacillus subtilis prophage SPβ‐encoded toxin BsrG revealed that, surprisingly, it neither dissipates membrane potential nor affects cellular ATP‐levels. In contrast, BsrG strongly interferes with the cell envelope biosynthesis, causes membrane invaginations together with delocalisation of the cell wall synthesis machinery and triggers autolysis. Furthermore, efficient inhibition of protein biosynthesis is observed. These findings question the simplistic assumption that small membrane targeting toxins generally act by permeabilising the membrane.
Understanding India’s response to mental health care: a systematic review of the literature and overview of the National Mental Health Programme

India, the second most populous country in the world comprises around 18% of the global population and significantly contributes to the global burden of mental disorders. It was one of the first few LMICs to develop a National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) to address the mental health needs of the population. This paper discusses the history of India’s mental health response and reviews the NMHP to suggest the way forward. This review illustrates that NMHP has made considerable progress in the past few decades and is continuously evolving. Nevertheless, progress made under the programme is in different stages of implementation in different parts of the country with many desired modifications. Addressing the challenges related to governance, human resources, regular flow of funds, utilization and accessibility and a robust monitoring system is pertinent for effective implementation that will potentially improve health outcomes nationally and internationally.
Ganodermaovisporum sp. nov. (Polyporales, Polyporaceae) from Southwest China

Abstract Background Ganoderma is a white-rot fungus with a cosmopolitan distribution and includes several economically important species. This genus has been extensively researched due to its beneficial medicinal properties and chemical constituents with potential nutritional and therapeutic values. Traditionally, species of Ganoderma were identified solely based on morphology; however, recent molecular studies revealed that many morphology-based species are conspecific. Furthermore, some type species are in poor condition, which hinders us from re-examining their taxonomic characteristics and obtaining their molecular data. Therefore, new species and fresh collections with multigene sequences are needed to fill the loopholes and to understand the biological classification system of Ganoderma. New information In a survey of Ganoderma in Guizhou Province, southwest China, we found a new species growing on soil and, herein, it was identified by both morphology and phylogenetic evidence. Hence, we propose a new species, Ganodermaovisporum sp. nov. This species is characterised by an annual, stipitate, laccate basidiome, with a red–brown to brownish-black pileus surface and pale white pores, duplex context, clavate pileipellis terminal cells, trimitic hyphal system, ellipsoid basidiospores with dark brown eusporium bearing coarse echinulae and an obtuse turgid appendix. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that the novel species sisters to G.sandunense with high bootstrap support. Furthermore, the RPB2 sequence of G.sandunense is supplied for the first time. Notably, we re-examined the type specimen of G.sandunense and provide a more precise description of the duplex context, pileipellis terminal cells and basidia. All species collected are described and illustrated with coloured photographs. Moreover, we present an updated phylogeny for Ganoderma, based on nLSU, ITS, RPB2 and TEF1-α DNA sequence data and species relationships and classification are discussed.
Advances in MUC1-Mediated Breast Cancer Immunotherapy

Breast cancer (BRCA) is the leading cause of death from malignant tumors among women. Fortunately, however, immunotherapy has recently become a prospective BRCA treatment with encouraging achievements and mild safety profiles. Since the overexpression and aberrant glycosylation of MUC1 (human mucin) are closely associated with BRCA, it has become an ideal target for BRCA immunotherapies. In this review, the structure and function of MUC1 are briefly introduced, and the main research achievements in different kinds of MUC1-mediated BRCA immunotherapy are highlighted, from the laboratory to the clinic. Afterward, the future directions of MUC1-mediated BRCA immunotherapy are predicted, addressing, for example, urgent issues in regard to how efficient immunotherapeutic strategies can be generated.
Supporting Parents’ Needs as Educational Partners to Enhance Children’s Classroom Learning

Parents are essential in supporting their children's learning and development. Parental support to young learners include helping their children with homework, school projects, collaborating with the teachers, participating in school events and school governance. This study argues for strengthening an inclusive home-school partnership to effectively support their learners. The focus of this study was to explore the parents-school partnership in supporting children's learning. The research applied a qualitative approach using a semi-structured online interview questionnaire via Google forms. Fourteen (14) parents met the inclusion criteria, and interview forms were used in the analysis. The study found that most South African parents have minimal knowledge and understanding of how to support their children’s learning. There is a lack of communication and partnership between the school and home. This will ensure appropriate communication and participation of parents in the school activities. Schools should recognise that the South African context is diverse and should be inclusive in their policies to accommodate all parents. School governing bodies should be enabled to foster the relationship between the schools and parents since they are representative of the parents. The results showed that to strengthen the home-school partnership, schools must be conscious of applying principles that will advocate for inclusiveness and the recognition of the diversity of the parent population.
Pacientes em hemodiálise com fístula arteriovenosa: conhecimento, atitude e prática

Objetivo: Identificar o conhecimento, atitude e pratica dos pacientes em hemodialise sobre autocuidado com fistula arteriovenosa. Metodos: Estudo descritivo, corte transversal e abordagem quantitativa. Envolveu 30 pacientes que realizavam hemodialise por meio de fistula arteriovenosa no Hospital Barao de Lucena. Resultados: 97,7% dos pacientes apresentaram conhecimento inadequado. A atitude foi adequada em 70% dos pesquisados. A pratica de autocuidado com a fistula foi inadequada em 97,7% dos pacientes. Conclusao: Apesar da maioria dos pacientes apresentarem uma atitude adequada em relacao aos cuidados com a fistula, seu conhecimento e pratica foram inadequados. O conhecimento inadequado, provavelmente, influenciou em uma pratica inapropriada. O uso do material escrito pode ser recomendado como um instrumento facilitador para estrategias educativas posteriores, ja que tambem permite uma leitura posterior pelo usuario, possibilitando-lhe a superacao de eventuais duvidas.
Incomplete factorization preconditioning for linear least squares problems

A new family of preconditioners for conjugate gradient-like iterative methods applied to large sparse linear least squares problems, $min\Vert Ax-b\Vert\sb2$, is proposed. The family is based on incomplete Gram-Schmidt (IGS) factorizations of A. Particular attention has been given to the following members of the family: Incomplete Classical Gram-Schmidt (ICGS), Incomplete Modified Gram-Schmidt (IMGS) and Compressed Incomplete Modified Gram-Schmidt (CIMGS) factorizations. The numerical properties of each of these methods have been considered as well as the relationships between the methods concerning the preservation of sparsity, computational efficiency and the quality of the preconditioner. The implementation of these methods has been investigated and all of the important family members have been coded. One of the important topics in this portion of the dissertation is the careful symbolic analysis of the production of the preconditioner and its use during the incomplete factorization phase to avoid excessive unnecessary work. We have also analyzed some of the implications of viewing the incomplete Cholesky (IC) factorization as a limit case of the IGS family. When certain conditions are imposed on the sparsity pattern of the preconditioning matrix, IC is identical to IMGS. Therefore, a sufficient condition on the sparsity pattern for a stable IC factorization can be derived. Based on this condition, two algorithms for modifying a sparsity pattern for which IC may not succeed have been designed. The altered IC method with the pattern modifications (ICPM) has been studied and its performance evaluated. These methods differ from previously proposed methods to guarantee the existence and improve the stability of the IC factorization since they do not require numerical information. Of course, for a particular matrix we can then use numerical information in addition to the pattern modification techniques to further improve the preconditioner. Numerical experiments illustrating the capabilities of the preconditioners are also presented. These include matrices from the standard Harwell-Boeing collection and various test matrices from different practical application problems.
Competitive Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): An Assessment Using In Vitro Metabolism and Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Modeling

Humans are routinely exposed to complex mixtures such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) rather than to single compounds, as are often assessed for hazards. Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) metabolize PAHs, and multiple PAHs found in mixtures can compete as substrates for individual CYPs (e.g., CYP1A1, CYP1B1, etc.). The objective of this study was to assess competitive inhibition of metabolism of PAH mixtures in humans and evaluate a key assumption of the Relative Potency Factor approach that common human exposures will not cause interactions among mixture components. To test this objective, we co-incubated binary mixtures of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and dibenzo[def,p]chrysene (DBC) in human hepatic microsomes and measured rates of enzymatic BaP and DBC disappearance. We observed competitive inhibition of BaP and DBC metabolism and measured inhibition coefficients (Ki), observing that BaP inhibited DBC metabolism more potently than DBC inhibited BaP metabolism (0.061 vs. 0.44 µM Ki, respectively). We developed a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) interaction model by integrating PBPK models of DBC and BaP and incorporating measured metabolism inhibition coefficients. The PBPK model predicts significant increases in BaP and DBC concentrations in blood AUCs following high oral doses of PAHs (≥100 mg), five orders of magnitude higher than typical human exposures. We also measured inhibition coefficients of Supermix-10, a mixture of the most abundant PAHs measured at the Portland Harbor Superfund Site, on BaP and DBC metabolism. We observed similar potencies of inhibition coefficients of Supermix-10 compared to BaP and DBC. Overall, results of this study demonstrate that these PAHs compete for the same enzymes and, at high doses, inhibit metabolism and alter internal dosimetry of exposed PAHs. This approach predicts that BaP and DBC exposures required to observe metabolic interaction are much higher than typical human exposures, consistent with assumptions used when applying the Relative Potency Factor approach for PAH mixture risk assessment.
Investigating Iraqi Teachers' Cognition of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Selected Schools

The present study is a psychological study of Iraqi English teachers' cognition in relation to teaching English as a foreign language. It focuses on teachers' knowledge, belief, knowing, and thinking in teaching English. Thus, this paper discusses what cognitions English teachers have and how these cognitions contribute to improving students' learning. The methodology used in this study is a questionnaire with 20 statements and four multiple choices. The researcher randomly investigated (20) Iraqi secondary schools in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf Governorate with a total number of (60) participants distributed in two phases (30) males and (30) females. As for the importance of the current study, it is significantly held to improve and know English teachers' capabilities and to stand on the main challenges that both teachers and students face in teaching and learning English as a foreign language.
Land clearing area prioritization using GLAD alert data to prevent peat fires in South Sumatera, Indonesia

Peatland clearing and draining are associated with many peat fires in South Sumatera. In 2020 we developed prioritization of peat land clearing areas using GLAD alert data to prevent catastrophic peat fires. GLAD alert data is near real-time alerting system that detects loss of trees, produced by University of Maryland and Global Forest Watch. This research aims to get prioritized area indicating land clearing and to test its reliability to prevent peat fires in South Sumatra. A total of 634 cluster areas indicating peatland clearing were found in between July and September 2020, which 20 of those cluster areas are selected for validation (ground truth). Validation was conducted by field survey and flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in 3 districts, namely Musi Rawas Utara, Banyuasin, and Ogan Komering Ilir. The survey confirmed that 19 clusters experienced forest fires, land clearing, and rejuvenation of plantation. Meanwhile, the others became savanna from previous forest fires and former land clearing by burning. Prioritization areas using GLAD alert data was capable to detect land clearing, but further study is needed to predict peat fires due to peatland clearing.
Synthesis and Systematic Study on the Effect of Different PEG Units on Stability of PEGylated, Integrin-αvβ6-Specific A20FMDV2 Analogues in Rat Serum and Human Plasma

A20FMDV2 is a 20-mer peptide that exhibits high selectivity and affinity for the tumour-related αvβ6 integrin that can compete with extracellular ligands for the crucial RGD binding site, playing a role as a promising αvβ6-specific inhibitor for anti-cancer therapies. Unfortunately, the clinical value of A20FMDV2 is limited by its poor half-life in blood caused by rapid renal excretion and its reported high susceptibility to serum proteases. The incorporation of poly (ethylene glycol) chains, coined PEGylation, is a well-established approach to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of drug molecules. Here, we report a systematic study on the incorporation of a varying number of ethylene glycol units (1–20) into the A20FMDV2 peptide to establish the effects of PEGylation size on the peptide stability in both rat serum and human plasma. In addition, the effect of acetyl and propionyl PEGylation handles on peptide stability is also described. Selected peptide analogues were assessed for integrin-αvβ6-targeted binding, showing good specificity and activity in vitro. Stability studies in rat serum established that all of the PEGylated peptides displayed good stability, and an A20FMDV2 peptide containing twenty ethylene glycol units (PEG20) was the most stable. Surprisingly, the stability testing in human plasma identified shorter PEGs (PEG2 and PEG5) as more resistant to degradation than longer PEGs, a trend which was also observed with affinity binding to integrin αvβ6.
Effect of damping ditch on blasting vibration reduction by field experiment and numerical simulation

In order to analyze the influence of a damping ditch on the blasting vibration, a large number of on-site monitoring tests with or without damping ditch were carried out based on the foundation pit excavation project. Based on the Sadovsky’s empirical formula, the optimized vibration velocity attenuation model was established by using the waveform subsection correspondence method and least square method. The calculation results are in good agreement with the measurement results. The average errors in radial direction and vertical direction are 17.04 % and 10.76 % respectively. A series of finite element models were established to study the influence of the damping ditch geometry on the damping effect. The experimental and numerical results show that the damping ditch can obviously reduce the blasting seismic effect, with the highest damping ratio in the area near blasting source. For different damping ditches, the damping ratio first increases and then decreases proportionally to the increase of distance between the measuring point and the blasting zone. The damping ditch depth has the best damping effect on blasting vibration, followed by the distance between the damping ditch and the blasting source, and finally the damping ditch width, which is consistent with the damping mechanism of theoretical analysis. The attenuation of the surface wave is only related to the damping ditch depth. The research results can provide a reference for the design of blasting vibration isolation.