Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating Listeria monocytogenes Growth in Ready‐to‐Eat Chicken Salad Using a Challenge Test for Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment

Currently, there is a growing preference for convenience food products, such as ready‐to‐eat (RTE) foods, associated with long refrigerated shelf‐lives, not requiring a heat treatment prior to consumption. Because Listeria monocytogenes is able to grow at refrigeration temperatures, inconsistent temperatures during production, distribution, and at consumer's household may allow for the pathogen to thrive, reaching unsafe limits. L. monocytogenes is the causative agent of listeriosis, a rare but severe human illness, with high fatality rates, transmitted almost exclusively by food consumption. With the aim of assessing the quantitative microbial risk of L. monocytogenes in RTE chicken salads, a challenge test was performed. Salads were inoculated with a three‐strain mixture of cold‐adapted L. monocytogenes and stored at 4, 12, and 16 °C for eight days. Results revealed that the salad was able to support L. monocytogenes’ growth, even at refrigeration temperatures. The Baranyi primary model was fitted to microbiological data to estimate the pathogen's growth kinetic parameters. Temperature effect on the maximum specific growth rate (μmax) was modeled using a square‐root‐type model. Storage temperature significantly influenced μmax of L. monocytogenes (p < 0.05). These predicted growth models for L. monocytogenes were subsequently used to develop a quantitative microbial risk assessment, estimating a median number of 0.00008726 listeriosis cases per year linked to the consumption of these RTE salads. Sensitivity analysis considering different time–temperature scenarios indicated a very low median risk per portion (<−7 log), even if the assessed RTE chicken salad was kept in abuse storage conditions.
Induction of cyclooxygenase‐1 and ‐2 modulates angiogenic responses to engagement of αvβ3

Summary. Prostaglandins and cyclooxygenase (COX) have been implicated in the angiogenesis that occurs around tumours, but how they are induced is unclear. Prostaglandin formation is regulated by the availability of arachidonic acid and/or COX activity that in turn are controlled by activation of G‐protein‐coupled receptors or kinase receptors. Adhesion receptors provide another potential level of control as they transduce a variety of ‘outside‐in’ signals implicated in inflammation. We examined whether engagement of the vitronectin receptor (αvβ3) modulated prostacyclin (PGI2) formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (EC). Engagement of EC αvβ3 by vitronectin (versus fibronectin or gelatin) or by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) LM609 and LIBS6, enhanced PGI2 generation and also induced expression of both COX‐1 and ‐2 isoforms. αvβ3 engagement also led to vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF) generation and EC proliferation that was attenuated by inhibition of both COX‐1 and COX‐2. COX‐1 inhibition also prevented new vessel formation in an in vitro model of angiogenesis that is αvβ3 dependent. Inhibition of angiogenesis by the COX‐1 inhibitor was partially reversed by removal of the inhibitor or by addition of the stable analogue of PGI2, iloprost. These findings strongly indicate that αvβ3‐mediated angiogenesis is partly due to induction of both isoforms of COX.
Extracellular loops of BtuB facilitate transport of vitamin B12 through the outer membrane of E. coli

Vitamin B12 (or cobalamin) is an enzymatic cofactor essential both for mammals and bacteria. However, cobalamin can be synthesized only by few microorganisms so most bacteria need to take it up from the environment through the TonB-dependent transport system. The first stage of cobalamin import to E. coli cells occurs through the outer-membrane receptor called BtuB. Vitamin B12 binds with high affinity to the extracellular side of the BtuB protein. BtuB forms a β-barrel with inner luminal domain and extracellular loops. To mechanically allow for cobalamin passage, the luminal domain needs to partially unfold with the help of the inner-membrane TonB protein. However, the mechanism of cobalamin permeation is unknown. Using all-atom molecular dynamics, we simulated the transport of cobalamin through the BtuB receptor embedded in an asymmetric and heterogeneous E. coli outer-membrane. To enhance conformational sampling of the BtuB loops, we developed the Gaussian force-simulated annealing method (GF-SA) and coupled it with umbrella sampling. We found that cobalamin needs to rotate in order to permeate through BtuB. We showed that the mobility of BtuB extracellular loops is crucial for cobalamin binding and transport and resembles an induced-fit mechanism. Loop mobility depends not only on the position of cobalamin but also on the extension of luminal domain. We provided atomistic details of cobalamin transport through the BtuB receptor showing the essential role of the mobility of BtuB extracellular loops. A similar TonB-dependent transport system is used also by many other compounds, such as haem and siderophores, and importantly, can be hijacked by natural antibiotics. Our work could have implications for future delivery of antibiotics to bacteria using this transport system.
Safety and Efficacy of Second Ahmed Valve Implant in Refractory Glaucoma

Background: Refractory glaucoma still represents a challenge for ophthalmologists to manage intraocular pressure. The present study aimed to evaluate long term efficacy and safety of a second Ahmed valve implantation after the failure of a first implant in patients with refractory glaucoma and elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Methods: Retrospective, multicenter non-comparative case series. Twenty-eight patients were retrospectively recruited between January 2011 and December 2017. Demographic data, glaucoma type, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, medical therapy, and complications were registered. Three criteria of success were established: Type 1 surgical success: IOP ≤ 15 mmHg and a reduction of IOP ≥ 40% from baseline; Type 2 surgical success: IOP ≤ 18 mmHg and a reduction of IOP ≥ 30% from baseline; and Type 3 surgical success: IOP ≤ 21 mmHg and a reduction of IOP ≥ 20% from baseline. Surgical failure has been established as IOP less than 5 mmHg or over 21 mmHg and less than a 20% reduction of IOP from baseline despite medications in two consecutive visits, light perception loss referable to glaucoma, and the necessity for further glaucoma surgery. Failure was observed in six (21%) patients. (3) Results: Mean IOP and mean glaucoma medication number significantly reduced from baseline after the second implantation, and the surgical success rate at 72 months ranged from 10% to 78% based on the different criteria of success. Failure was observed in six (21%) patients. Conclusions: This study confirmed the safety and efficacy of a second Ahmed valve implantation in patients with refractory glaucoma and elevated IOP at baseline.
Impact of Extrinsic Variation Sources on the Device-to-Device Variation in Ferroelectric FET

Variation due to the intrinsic ferroelectric switching process has been known to cause serious challenges for the FeFET variation control. This work complements that understanding by investigating, for the first time, the impact of extrinsic variation sources on the variation of FeFETs. We show that: 1) poorer electrostatics in a FeFET due to a thicker oxide does not degrade the overall variation when comparing to a baseline FinFET with an equal oxide thickness as the FeFET and a thin oxide reference transistor; 2) variation sources from the ferroelectric parameters constitute a significant portion in the overall FeFET variation, whereas the underlying transistor variation is marginal. These results highlight that besides the intrinsic ferroelectric switching control, ferroelectric parameters uniformity should also be one of the primary optimization targets towards building reliable FeFET-based non-volatile memory.
Genebank Phenomics: A Strategic Approach to Enhance Value and Utilization of Crop Germplasm

Genetically diverse plant germplasm stored in ex-situ genebanks are excellent resources for breeding new high yielding and sustainable crop varieties to ensure future food security. Novel alleles have been discovered through routine genebank activities such as seed regeneration and characterization, with subsequent utilization providing significant genetic gains and improvements for the selection of favorable traits, including yield, biotic, and abiotic resistance. Although some genebanks have implemented cost-effective genotyping technologies through advances in DNA technology, the adoption of modern phenotyping is lagging. The introduction of advanced phenotyping technologies in recent decades has provided genebank scientists with time and cost-effective screening tools to obtain valuable phenotypic data for more traits on large germplasm collections during routine activities. The utilization of these phenotyping tools, coupled with high-throughput genotyping, will accelerate the use of genetic resources and fast-track the development of more resilient food crops for the future. In this review, we highlight current digital phenotyping methods that can capture traits during annual seed regeneration to enrich genebank phenotypic datasets. Next, we describe strategies for the collection and use of phenotypic data of specific traits for downstream research using high-throughput phenotyping technology. Finally, we examine the challenges and future perspectives of genebank phenomics.
Design Insights to Address Low Current ESD Failure and Power Scalability Issues in High Voltage LDMOS-SCR Devices

Power-scalability issues for longer pulse duration discharges (PW>100ns) in high voltage LDMOS-SCR devices is evaluated. The severity of the problem with increasing LDMOS voltage classes is highlighted with a need for newer design strategies. A systematic design approach is presented to evaluate the effect of different design parameters on LDMOS filament and SCR turn-on near the snapback region. Finally design guidelines are presented to improve the power scalability without compromising on its ON-state DC (functional) and Safe Operating Area (SOA) characteristics.
Mitochondrial β‐oxidation in Aspergillus nidulans

β‐Oxidation (β‐ox) occurs exclusively in the peroxisomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts, leading to the supposition that fungi lack mitochondrial β‐ox. Here we present unequivocal evidence that the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans houses both peroxisomal and mitochondrial β‐ox. While growth of a peroxisomal β‐ox disruption mutant (ΔfoxA) was eliminated on a very long‐chain fatty acid (C22:1), growth was only partially impeded on a long‐chain fatty acid (C18:1) and was not affected at all on short chain (C4–C6) fatty acids. In contrast, growth of a putative enoyl‐CoA hydratase mutant (ΔechA) was abolished on short‐chain and severely restricted on long‐ and very long‐chain fatty acids. Furthermore fatty acids inhibited growth of the ΔechA mutant but not the ΔfoxA mutant in the presence of an alternate carbon source (lactose). Disruption of echA led to a 28‐fold reduction in 2‐butenoyl‐CoA hydratase activity in a preparation of organelles. EchA was also required for growth on isoleucine and valine. The subcellular localization of the FoxA and EchA proteins was confirmed through the use of red and green fluorescent protein fusions.
Bearing Fault Detection on IM Using MCSA and Sparse Representation

Nowadays, the monitoring of rotatory machinery is an essential task in the industry, due to its help in specific maintenance programs, increasing the life of the machine, reducing interventions, and getting off costs in spare parts. The bearings are essential pieces of rotatory machinery; thus, monitoring and fault detection are important tasks to maintain their proper functioning. In this paper, a methodology for bearing fault detection on induction motors based on Motor Current Signature Analysis, the Sparse Representation, and Dictionary Learning techniques are presented. The fault detection is possible due to the Sparse Representation is developed with dictionaries trained with specific faults each one, obtaining a minor error with the dictionary related to the same fault of the analyzed signal. In this way, the detection of related to localized defects and distributed defects are possible. Bearings of three-phase and 1-HP induction motors with two load conditions were used to testing. The proposed methodology presents an accuracy greater than 96%.
Of Drugs and Trypanosomatids: New Tools and Knowledge to Reduce Bottlenecks in Drug Discovery

Leishmaniasis (Leishmania species), sleeping sickness (Trypanosoma brucei), and Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi) are devastating and globally spread diseases caused by trypanosomatid parasites. At present, drugs for treating trypanosomatid diseases are far from ideal due to host toxicity, elevated cost, limited access, and increasing rates of drug resistance. Technological advances in parasitology, chemistry, and genomics have unlocked new possibilities for novel drug concepts and compound screening technologies that were previously inaccessible. In this perspective, we discuss current models used in drug-discovery cascades targeting trypanosomatids (from in vitro to in vivo approaches), their use and limitations in a biological context, as well as different examples of recently discovered lead compounds.
IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6): DL and UL MU-MIMO Channel Sounding Compression Schemes Impaired with IQ Imbalance and CFO

This industry-oriented paper analyzes the implementation of the channel sounding compression schemes specified in the novel IEEE 802.11ax wireless local area network (WLAN) amendment, as known as Wi-Fi6, assuming orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ODFM) downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MUMIMO) technologies. It is shown results with the following hardware impairments: phase noise (PN), in-phase and quadrature (IQ) imbalance and carrier frequency offset (CFO). Based on an extensive set of simulation results, which are validated using a first-order approach, we have concluded that the implementation of channel sounding compression schemes can even improve substantially the system performance. This counterintuitive statement can be explained as follows: power increase on the transmitted pilots when the 802.11ax compression channel schemes are implemented allows, depending on the 802.11ax physical layer (PHY) configuration, a better estimation of the channel state information (CSI) even with the implementation of a linear interpolation procedure used to estimate the frequency response for the tones where pilots are not transmitted due to the channel sounding compression mechanism.
Native plant bioaccumulation strategies: a baseline study for biomonitoring the Atlantic Forest.

The atmosphere may act as an important source of chemical elements for the Atlantic Forest, one of the hottest world biodiversity hotspots. However, chemical responses for chemical element availability are not expected to be equal for each plant species. In this sense, the present work encompasses a baseline study for biomonitoring purposes based on the identification of different strategies of native tree species in accumulating chemical elements. Instrumental neutron activation analysis was employed for chemical characterisation of leaf and soil compartments. Results indicated a low level of pollution because the major part of the studied species has shown chemical mass fractions within the expected range in leaf compartment. By estimating leaf-soil bioaccumulation factor, some species were found to accumulate the nutrients Co, Na, Se and Zn, some trace elements Br, Ba, Cs, Hg, Rb, Sc and Sr and the lanthanides Ce, La and Sm despite the environmental variability.
A novel molecular-clinicopathologic nomogram to improve prognosis prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays a crucial part in the development and progress of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The objective was to develop novel molecular-clinicopathological prediction methods for overall survival (OS) and recurrence of HCC. Results: An 8-lncRNA-based classifier for OS and a 14-lncRNA-based classifier for recurrence were developed by LASSO COX regression analysis, both of which had high accuracy. The tdROC of OS-nomogram and recurrence-nomogram indicates the satisfactory accuracy and predictive power. The classifiers and nomograms for predicting OS and recurrence of HCC were validated in the Test and GEO cohorts. Conclusions: These two lncRNA-based classifiers could be independent prognostic factors for OS and recurrence. The molecule-clinicopathological nomograms based on the classifiers could increase the prognostic value. Methods: HCC lncRNA expression profiles from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) were randomly divided into 1:1 training and test cohorts. Based on least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method (LASSO) COX regression model, lncRNA-based classifiers were established to predict OS and recurrence, respectively. OS-nomogram and recurrence-nomogram were developed by combining lncRNA-based classifiers and clinicopathological characterization to predict OS and recurrence, respectively. The prognostic value was accessed by the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (tdROC) and the concordance index (C-index).
Spectrum Occupancy Prediction Exploiting Time and Frequency Correlations Through 2D-LSTM

The identification of spectrum opportunities is a pivotal requirement for efficient spectrum utilization in cognitive radio systems. Spectrum prediction offers a convenient means for revealing such opportunities based on the previously obtained occupancies. As spectrum occupancy states are correlated over time, spectrum prediction is often cast as a predictable time-series process using classical or deep learning-based models. However, this variety of methods exploits time-domain correlation and overlooks the existing correlation over frequency. In this paper, differently from previous works, we investigate a more realistic scenario by exploiting correlation over time and frequency through a 2D-long short-term memory (LSTM) model. Extensive experimental results show a performance improvement over conventional spectrum prediction methods in terms of accuracy and computational complexity. These observations are validated over the real-world spectrum measurements, assuming a frequency range between 832-862 MHz where most of the telecom operators in Turkey have private uplink bands.
An Approach Towards Enhancement of Review Summarization Using Sequence Model And Word Embedding

Traditionally, extraction-based text summarization techniques have simply relied upon statistical measures for extraction of major points in a document. With popularization of deep learning in solving problems in the field of Natural Language Processing, there is a need to incorporate deep learning to improve the effectiveness of summarization methods. In this paper, we explore the results and findings of our approach to improve review summarization as well as to delineate the capabilities of these language models in improving Natural Language Understanding. The aim of our summarization approach is to generate a gist of customers’ feedback of a product which would provide vendors and other customers with the necessary understanding in order to make informed purchases. Our proposed summarization approach is split into four major steps: Keyword Extraction, Sentiment Analysis, Adjective Mining and Sentence Extraction. Afterwards, all the outputs of these steps are combined to provide the user with summary of all reviews about a product.
Ergodic Energy Efficiency of mmWave System Considering Insertion Loss Under Dynamic Subarray Architecture

Energy efficiency (EE) performance of millimeter-wave (mmWave) large-array systems attracts a lot of attention. And insertion loss is an inherent characteristic of hybrid precoding systems, which greatly reduces the system performance. EE analysis considering the insertion loss based on the dynamic array architecture is still an open issue. This paper researches the ergodic EE of mmWave hybrid pre-coding system with the insertion loss, based on the adaptive overlapped subarray (OSA) architecture. The ergodic EE is a more valuable indicator than the instantaneous EE for the system under dynamic architecture. However, it is difficult to directly calculate the precise ergodic EE due to the intractable relationship between EE and the channel matrix. Instead, we simplify the precise ergodic EE to get a lower bound, and analyze the ergodic EE performance based upon the lower bound. By this way, we analyze the ergodic EE performance of two typical hybrid pre-coding schemes taking the dynamic architectures. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of analyses.
A simple method for determining the maturity stages of Northeast Arctic cod (Gadus morhua L.) by in vitro examination of oocytes

Abstract A maturity scale consisting of six stages is defined for cod based upon whole mount preparations of oocytes. Appearance and size of the oocytes in the different stages are described. The cod were collected in the Barent Sea. Upper and lower size limits for the maturing oocytes corresponded well with previous work on cod from southern Norway.
Characterization of a gene encoding ornithine carbamoyltransferase from rice

Abstract Ornithinine carbamoyltransferase (OTC) is an enzyme that catalyzes the key step in arginine biosynthesis in bacteria and plants. OTC is also involved in the urea cycle and deficiency of the enzyme in human leads to disease. The argF gene encoding OTC has been reported in many bacteria and few plants. Here we report the characterization of a gene encoding OTC from rice ( OsOTC ). Analysis of a cDNA se-quence from rice revealed that the full-length open reading frame of OsOTC consisted of 367 amino acids, corresponding to a protein of approximately 39.7 kDa. The predicted amino acid sequence of OsOTC harbor distinct five OTC signature sites and is highly homologous to that of enzymes of plants, animals and many bacterial OTCs. Expression of OsOTC in argF mutants of Escherichia coli showed that the gene was able to functionally complement to the mutant. These results suggest that the OsOTC encode a protein for ornithine carbamoyltransferase in rice. Keywords Arginine, Rice ( Oryza sativa
Occurrence of antibiotic resistant Salmonella isolated from dogs in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Aims: Salmonellosis continues to be a major public health concerned globally. The objective of the study was to determine the occurrence and antimicrobial resistance pattern in Salmonella isolated from non-diarrheic stray and pet dogs in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Methodology and results: A total of 162 dogs were sampled, 15 (9.3%) were positive for Salmonella(stray dogs, n=12; pet dogs, n=3). All the isolates were identified as Salmonella using conventional culture methods and confirmed by PCR-targeting the invA gene. Four different Salmonella serovars were identified upon serotyping including Salmonella Corvallis (53.3%), S.Typhimurium(13.3%), S.Mbandaka(20%), and S. Agona(6.7%). Salmonella isolates were resistant to tetracycline (86.7%), sulphamethazole-trimethoprim (40%), ampicillin (40%), chloramphenicol (33.3%), streptomycin (33.3%), and enrofloxacin (26.7%). None of the isolates was resistant to gentamycin, cephalexin and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Eight isolates (53.3%) were multiple drugs resistant. Conclusion, significance and impact study: High number of canine Salmonella isolates developed resistance and this may likely be public health concern.