Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Health from the Middle-Out: A New Analytical Perspective

Obstacles to collaborative public health frameworks such as Health in All Policies continue to emerge. Partnership-based public health programs present opportunities to study how public servants and practitioners address these barriers in real time. To this end, we utilized “Middle-Out,” a socio-technical analytical approach that highlights the importance of Middle Actors-stakeholders positioned between policymakers and grassroots—to policy diffusion, innovation and collaboration in public health. We conducted participatory observation in administrative settings of Israel’s National Program to Promote Active, Healthy Lifestyle, 30 stakeholder interviews and document analysis. We examined two dimensions of impact from the Middle-Out: Directions of Influence—Middle-Up, Middle-Down and Sideways, and Modes of Influence—Enabling, Mediating and Aggregating. Through Middle-Out’s lens, our analysis transcends visible benchmarks such as legislation and macro-level resource-allocation, focusing, instead, on elusive administrative spaces within which Middle Actors shape policies, steer funding and facilitate continuity. Incorporating Middle-Out into public health’s conceptual toolbox, we conclude, can improve understanding of complex public health policy arenas, increase recognition of critical socio-technical changemakers and catalyze more effective design of policy tools and strategies that specifically harness Middle Actors’ strengths and qualities.
Geophysical Investigations II-Magnetotelluric measurements for determining the subsurface salinity and porosity structure of Amchitka Island, Alaska

The hydrogeology of small islands such as Amchitka is characterized by a layer of freshwater overlying a saltwater layer. The freshwater is derived from rainfall and discharges offshore. The salt water is typically stagnant and a dynamic balance determines the depth of the fresh to saltwater interface. Often the change from fresh to saltwater takes place over a broad transition zone, with gradually increasing salinity deeper beneath the surface. Hydrogeological modeling of the groundwater system has provided estimates of the timing and quantities of radionuclides that could be released from the underground nuclear explosions on Amchitka Island. A key variable in this modeling is the depth of the fresh to salt water transition. However, there is very little data available to constrain hydrogeological models of Amchitka Island. Deep salinity measurements were made in a few boreholes prior to the underground explosions. Remote sensing of subsurface electrical resistivity using electromagnetic exploration methods is a complementary technique for mapping the salinity and porosity of the subsurface. The magnetotellurics (MT) method uses naturally occurring radio waves with frequencies 1000-0.001 Hz to determine the resistivity of the Earth. During the 2004 CRESP Amchitka Island Expedition, magnetotelluric data were collected on profiles that passed across each of the three test sites. The specific questions to be addressed were:
Peroxidase inhibitory and antioxidant constituents from Juniperus L. species guided by HPTLC-bioautography and molecular docking studies

Abstract The application of a newly developed HPTLC-bioautography assay for detecting peroxidase enzyme inhibitors in plant extracts in addition to bioautography methods for detecting antioxidant compounds resulted in the isolation of a new biflavonoid 3′-methoxy sahranflavone along with two known biflavonoids and three flavonoids from the leaves and cones of Juniperus communis, J. horizontalis and J. chinensis. The structures of all compounds were elucidated by means of 1 D and 2 D NMR and MALDI-TOF MS technique in addition to comparison to literature data. Quantitative estimation of antiperoxidase and antioxidative capacity based on DPPH free radical scavenging activity and β-carotene bleaching of extracts, active fraction and constituents was achieved by applying validated high resolution image analyses techniques. 3′-methoxy sahranflavone and quercetrin possessed high mutual antiperoxidase and antioxidant activities. Molecular docking simulations were performed to reveal the interaction of isolated compounds with human myeloperoxidase enzyme on the molecular level indicating the potential anti-inflammatory activity of 3′-methoxy sahranflavone and quercetrin. Graphical Abstract
CRK5 Protein Kinase Contributes to the Progression of Embryogenesis of Arabidopsis thaliana

The fine tuning of hormone (e.g., auxin and gibberellin) levels and hormone signaling is required for maintaining normal embryogenesis. Embryo polarity, for example, is ensured by the directional movement of auxin that is controlled by various types of auxin transporters. Here, we present pieces of evidence for the auxin-gibberellic acid (GA) hormonal crosstalk during embryo development and the regulatory role of the Arabidopsis thaliana Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase-Related Kinase 5 (AtCRK5) in this regard. It is pointed out that the embryogenesis of the Atcrk5-1 mutant is delayed in comparison to the wild type. This delay is accompanied with a decrease in the levels of GA and auxin, as well as the abundance of the polar auxin transport (PAT) proteins PIN1, PIN4, and PIN7 in the mutant embryos. We have previously showed that AtCRK5 can regulate the PIN2 and PIN3 proteins either directly by phosphorylation or indirectly affecting the GA level during the root gravitropic and hypocotyl hook bending responses. In this manuscript, we provide evidence that the AtCRK5 protein kinase can in vitro phosphorylate the hydrophilic loops of additional PIN proteins that are important for embryogenesis. We propose that AtCRK5 can govern embryo development in Arabidopsis through the fine tuning of auxin-GA level and the accumulation of certain polar auxin transport proteins.
Neuronal Transmembrane Chloride Transport Has a Time-Dependent Influence on Survival of Hippocampal Cultures to Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation

Neuronal ischemia results in chloride gradient alterations which impact the excitatory–inhibitory balance, volume regulation, and neuronal survival. Thus, the Na+/K+/Cl− co-transporter (NKCC1), the K+/ Cl− co-transporter (KCC2), and the gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABAA) receptor may represent therapeutic targets in stroke, but a time-dependent effect on neuronal viability could influence the outcome. We, therefore, successively blocked NKCC1, KCC2, and GABAA (with bumetanide, DIOA, and gabazine, respectively) or activated GABAA (with isoguvacine) either during or after oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). Primary hippocampal cultures were exposed to a 2-h OGD or sham normoxia treatment, and viability was determined using the resazurin assay. Neuronal viability was significantly reduced after OGD, and was further decreased by DIOA treatment applied during OGD (p < 0.01) and by gabazine applied after OGD (p < 0.05). Bumetanide treatment during OGD increased viability (p < 0.05), while isoguvacine applied either during or after OGD did not influence viability. Our data suggests that NKCC1 and KCC2 function has an important impact on neuronal viability during the acute ischemic episode, while the GABAA receptor plays a role during the subsequent recovery period. These findings suggest that pharmacological modulation of transmembrane chloride transport could be a promising approach during stroke and highlight the importance of the timing of treatment application in relation to ischemia-reoxygenation.
Relevance of single-nucleotide polymorphism +62 G>A to the expression of resistin gene affecting serum resistin levels in metabolic syndrome in Egyptian population.

BACKGROUND Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a clinical condition consisting of risk factors associated with type two diabetes and developing cardiovascular disease. It has been suggested that resistin is a linkage between obesity, inflammation and type two diabetes. This study aims to investigate whether resistin gene (RETN) polymorphism (+62G>A) is linked to MS and resistin levels among the Egyptian population. METHODS This study was performed with 310 Egyptian volunteers: 160 MS subjects and 150 controls. Anthropometric parameters and biochemical variables were determined. The RETN +62G>A polymorphism was genotyped by PCR-RFLP technique. RESULTS The resistin levels of the MS group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Resistin levels were positively correlated with anthropometric parameters and liver biomarkers in the MS group. According to RETN +62G>A polymorphism, carriers with the A allele (GA/AA) had significantly increased resistin levels than subjects with the GG genotype, consequently, the RETN +62G>A polymorphism was found to be related to MS, biochemical parameters and anthropometric variables. CONCLUSIONS These findings propose that the RETN +62G>A polymorphism has a great impact on the circulating resistin concentrations, and that resistin levels are strongly related to MS. Therefore, this RETN polymorphism is related to the risk of the prevalence of MS in the Egyptians.
High-Cycle, Low-Cycle, Extremely Low-Cycle Fatigue and Monotonic Fracture Behaviors of Low-Carbon Steel and Its Welded Joint

Low-carbon steels are commonly used in welded steel structures and are exposed to various fatigue conditions, depending on the application. We demonstrate that the various transitions in the fracture mode during fatigue testing can be distinguished by their different cyclic response curves and microstructural features after fracture. Fractography, surface damage micrographs, and microstructural evolution clearly indicated the transition of the fracture modes from high-cycle to low-cycle, extremely low-cycle fatigue, and monotonic behavior. The high-cycle fatigue mode showed initial cyclic softening, followed by cyclic stabilization, and showed inclusion-induced crack initiation at fish-eyes, while the low-cycle fatigue mode showed initial cyclic hardening followed by cyclic stabilization, where fractography images showed obvious striations. In addition, the extremely low-cycle fatigue mode showed no cyclic stabilization after initial cyclic hardening, which was characterized by quasi-cleavage fractures with a few micro-dimples and transgranular cracking, while the monotonic fracture mode predominantly showed micro-dimples.
Critical Assessment of Streptomyces spp. Able to Control Toxigenic Fusaria in Cereals: A Literature and Patent Review

Mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species on cereals represent a major concern for food safety worldwide. Fusarium toxins that are currently under regulation for their content in food include trichothecenes, fumonisins, and zearalenone. Biological control of Fusarium spp. has been widely explored with the aim of limiting disease occurrence, but few efforts have focused so far on limiting toxin accumulation in grains. The bacterial genus Streptomyces is responsible for the production of numerous drug molecules and represents a huge resource for the discovery of new molecules. Streptomyces spp. are also efficient plant colonizers and able to employ different mechanisms of control against toxigenic fungi on cereals. This review describes the outcomes of research using Streptomyces strains and/or their derived molecules to limit toxin production and/or contamination of Fusarium species in cereals. Both the scientific and patent literature were analyzed, starting from the year 2000, and we highlight promising results as well as the current pitfalls and limitations of this approach.
Borrelia miyamotoi Activates Human Dendritic Cells and Elicits T Cell Responses

Key Points Dendritic cells recognize and mount an immune response against B. miyamotoi. Recognition of B. miyamotoi is partially mediated by TLR2. Dendritic cells stimulated with B. miyamotoi induce proliferation of T cells. The spirochete Borrelia miyamotoi has recently been shown to cause relapsing fever. Like the Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, B. miyamotoi is transmitted through the bite of infected ticks; however, little is known about the response of the immune system upon infection. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a central role in the early immune response against B. burgdorferi. We investigated the response of DCs to two different strains of B. miyamotoi using in vitro and ex vivo models and compared this to the response elicited by B. burgdorferi. Our findings show that B. miyamotoi is phagocytosed by monocyte-derived DCs, causing upregulation of activation markers and production of proinflammatory cytokines in a similar manner to B. burgdorferi. Recognition of B. miyamotoi was demonstrated to be partially mediated by TLR2. DCs migrated out of human skin explants upon inoculation of the skin with B. miyamotoi. Finally, we showed that B. miyamotoi–stimulated DCs induced proliferation of naive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells to a larger extent than B. burgdorferi. In conclusion, we show in this study that DCs respond to and mount an immune response against B. miyamotoi that is similar to the response to B. burgdorferi and is able to induce T cell proliferation.
Addressing Critiques of the Proposed CMS Metric of Organ Procurement Organ Performance: More Data Isn't Better.

BACKGROUND CMS has proposed a rule change to redefine the metric by which organ procurement organizations (OPOs) are evaluated. The metric relies on CDC data on inpatient deaths from causes consistent with donation among patients <75 years of age. Concerns have been raised that this metric does not account for rates of ventilation, and prevalence of cancer and severe sepsis, without objective data to substantiate or refute such concerns. METHODS We estimated OPO-level donation rates using CDC data, and used AHRQ/HCUP data from 43 State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) to calculate 'adjusted' donation rates. RESULTS The CMS metric and the ventilation-adjusted CMS metric were highly concordant in absolute terms (Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients ≥0.95). In the Bland-Altman plot, 100% (48/48) of paired values (SDs of the CMS and 'ventilation adjusted' metrics) were within 1.96SDs of the mean difference, with near-perfect correlation in Passing and Bablok regression (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient: 0.97. The CMS metric and the ventilation/cancer/sepsis-adjusted metric were highly concordant in absolute terms (Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients ≥0.94). In the Bland-Altman plot, 97.9% (47/48) of paired values (SDs of the CMS and 'ventilation/cancer/sepsis adjusted' metrics) were within 1.96SDs of the mean difference, with near-perfect correlation in the Passing and Bablok regression (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient: 0.97). CONCLUSIONS These conclusions should provide CMS, and the transplant community, with comfort that the proposed CMS metric using CDC inpatient death data as a tool to compare OPO is not compromised by its lack of inclusion of ventilation or other comorbidity data.
Azathioprine Has a Deleterious Effect on the Bone Health of Mice with DSS-Induced Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) often present poor bone health and are 40% more at risk of bone fracture. Studies have implicated autophagy in IBD pathology and drugs used to treat IBD stimulate autophagy in varying degrees, however, their effect on the skeleton is currently unknown. Here, we have utilised the dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) model of colitis in mice to examine the effects of the thiopurine drug azathioprine on the skeleton. Ten-week-old male mice (n = 6/group) received 3.0% DSS in their drinking water for four days, followed by a 14-day recovery period. Mice were treated with 10 mg/kg/day azathioprine or vehicle control. Histopathological analysis of the colon from DSS mice revealed significant increases in scores for inflammation severity, extent, and crypt damage (p < 0.05). Azathioprine provided partial protection to the colon, as reflected by a lack of significant difference in crypt damage and tissue regeneration with DSS treatment. MicroCT of vehicle-treated DSS mice revealed azathioprine treatment had a significant detrimental effect on the trabecular bone microarchitecture, independent of DSS treatment. Specifically, significant decreases were observed in bone volume/tissue volume (p < 0.01), and trabecular number (p < 0.05), with a concurrent significant increase in trabecular pattern factor (p < 0.01). Immunohistochemical labelling for LC3 revealed azathioprine to induce autophagy in the bone marrow. Together these data suggest that azathioprine treatment may have a deleterious effect on IBD patients who may already be at increased risk of osteoporotic bone fractures and thus will inform on future treatment strategies for patient stratification.
Modelling the Climatic Drivers of Cholera Dynamics in Northern Nigeria Using Generalised Additive Models

Nigeria is one of the countries with high risk of cholera disease. This study modelled the disease dynamics in terms of its interannual variability using climatic variables and other confounding factors in proxy. Monthly counts of clinically diagnosed hospital-reported cases of cholera were obtained from three hospitals in northern Nigeria for 25-year period spanning 1990-2014. Generalized additive models were fitted to aggregated monthly cholera counts. Explanatory variables include monthly time series of maximum and minimum temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall from weather stations nearest to the hospitals, and the number of cases in the previous month. The effects of other unobserved seasonally-varying climatic and non-climatic risk factors that may be related to the disease were collectively accounted for as a flexible monthly-varying smooth function of time in the generalized additive models, s(t). Results reveal that the most important explanatory climatic variables are the monthly means of daily maximum temperature and monthly rainfall totals. Accounting for s(t) in the generalized additive models explains more of the monthly variability of cholera compared to those models that do not account for the unobserved factors that s(t) represents. And this emphasises the importance of including other factors. The skill score statistics of a model version with all explanatory variables lagged by 1-month suggest the potential to predict cholera cases in northern Nigeria up to a month in advance to aid decision makers.
Comprehensive analysis of protein acetyltransferases of human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Abstract Tuberculosis (TB), a leading infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain, takes four human lives every minute globally. Paucity of knowledge on M. tuberculosis virulence and antibiotic resistance is the major challenge for tuberculosis control. We have identified 47 acetyltransferases in the M. tuberculosis, which use diverse substrates including antibiotic, amino acids, and other chemical molecules. Through comparative analysis of the protein file of the virulent M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain and the avirulent M. tuberculosis H37Ra strain, we identified one acetyltransferase that shows significant variations with N-terminal deletion, possibly influencing its physicochemical properties. We also found that one acetyltransferase has three types of post-translation modifications (lysine acetylation, succinylation, and glutarylation). The genome context analysis showed that many acetyltransferases with their neighboring genes belong to one operon. By data mining from published transcriptional profiles of M. tuberculosis exposed to diverse treatments, we revealed that several acetyltransferases may be functional during M. tuberculosis infection. Insights obtained from the present study can potentially provide clues for developing novel TB therapeutic interventions.
In Vitro Digestibility, In Situ Degradability, Rumen Fermentation and N Metabolism of Camelina Co-Products for Beef Cattle Studied with a Dual Flow Continuous Culture System

Simple Summary Currently, vegetable protein sources such as soybean meal and rapeseed meal are expensive and with volatile prices. These economic circumstances are driving the research of potential new protein resources for beef cattle diets that can reduce the ration cost without compromising animal productive yields. As possible candidates, camelina meal and camelina expeller have been studied; they are co-products with a high protein percentage, obtained after oil extraction from the oil seeds of Camelina sativa. The objectives of this study were to characterize these camelina co-products and ascertain if they could be useful ingredients for beef cattle diets. The results indicate that the diets formulated with camelina meal and camelina expeller do not show differences in the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis compared to the current reference proteins, camelina meal diet being the most similar to soybean meal and rapeseed meal diets, and camelina expeller the diet with the highest fermentation potential. The results of soybean meal as an individual ingredient reveal more differences with camelina co-products. In vivo studies are necessary to draw conclusions, but in vitro results obtained suggest that camelina meal and camelina expeller are potential substitutes for rapeseed meal in beef cattle diets. Abstract Camelina meal (CM) and camelina expeller (CE) were compared with soybean meal (SM) and rapeseed meal (RM). Trial 1 consisted of a modified Tilley and Terry in vitro technique. Trial 2 was an in situ technique performed by incubating nylon bags within cannulated cows. Trial 3 consisted in dual-flow continuous culture fermenters. In Trial 1, CM, CE and RM showed similar DM digestibility and OM digestibility, and SM was the most digestible ingredient (p < 0.05). Trial 2 showed that CE had the numerically highest DM degradability, but CP degradability was similar to RM. Camelina meal had a DM degradability similar to SM and RM and had an intermediate coefficient of CP degradability. In Trial 3, CE diet tended to present a higher true OM digestibility than SM diet (p = 0.06). Total volatile fatty acids (VFA) was higher in CE and CM diets than in SM diet (p = 0.009). Crude protein degradation tended to be higher (p = 0.07), and dietary nitrogen flow tended to be lower (p = 0.06) in CE diet than in CM diet. The efficiency of microbial protein synthesis was not affected by treatment (p > 0.05). In conclusion, CE and CM as protein sources differ in CP coefficient of degradability but their results were similar to RM. More differences were detected with regard to SM.
Numerical Analysis of the Correlation between Arc Plasma Fluctuation and Nanoparticle Growth–Transport under Atmospheric Pressure

A time-dependent two-dimensional (2D) axisymmetric simulation was conducted for arc plasma with dynamically fluctuating fluid generating iron nanoparticles in a direct-current discharge condition. The nonequilibrium process of simultaneous growth and transport of nanoparticles is simulated using a simple model with a low computational cost. To ascertain fluid dynamic instability and steep gradients in plasma temperature and particle distributions, a highly accurate method is adopted for computation. The core region of the arc plasma is almost stationary, whereas the fringe fluctuates because of fluid dynamic instability between the arc plasma and the shielding gas. In the downstream region, the vapor molecules decrease by condensation. The nanoparticles decrease by coagulation. These results suggest that both of the simultaneous processes make important contributions to particle growth. The fluctuation of nanoparticle number density in a distant region exhibits stronger correlation with the temperature fluctuation at the plasma fringe. The correlation analysis results suggest that the distribution of growing nanoparticles distant from the arc plasma can be controlled via control of temperature fluctuation at the arc plasma fringe.