Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Androgen receptor signaling mechanisms in bone

Osteoporosis is a common age-related disease that increases the risk of fractures. Androgens are crucial for bone health in males. Although a substantial part of the effects of androgens on the skeleton is mediated via conversion of testosterone to estradiol, direct effects of androgens on the androgen receptor (AR) also contribute to male bone homeostasis. The aim of this thesis is to increase the knowledge about the significance of the AR for bone metabolism to potentially identify bone-specific AR signaling pathways. The thesis is based on studies using several different mouse models with altered AR signaling. In Paper I, we demonstrated that inactivation of the AR in immature osteoblast-lineage cells reduces trabecular but not cortical bone mass. Since antiandrogens are frequently used in the treatment of men with prostate cancer, we investigated the possible skeletal side effects of the recently approved antiandrogen drug enzalutamide (Paper II). Although this drug effectively reduced the weights of androgen-sensitive reproductive tissues, bone mass was reduced moderately and only in the axial skeleton. To determine the importance of the AR for pubertal and adult bone metabolism, avoiding confounding developmental effects, we inactivated the AR in pre-pubertal as well as in young adult male mice (Paper III). We demonstrated that adult AR expression is crucial for trabecular and cortical bone mass maintenance while pubertal AR expression is crucial for normal fat mass homeostasis in adult male mice. The AR activity is regulated by post-translational modifications, including AR SUMOylation. In Paper IV, we demonstrated that AR SUMOylation regulates bone mass but not the weights of androgen-responsive reproductive tissues, suggesting that therapies targeting AR SUMOylation might result in bone-specific anabolic effects with minimal adverse effects in other tissues. The findings in this thesis contribute with important knowledge for the development of new treatment options for men with osteoporosis and safer endocrine treatments, with minimal skeletal side effects, for men with prostate cancer.
Politicians as entertainers - a political performance of the personal

ABSTRACT Appearances on entertainment television constitute opportunities for politicians, not only to convey political messages, but also to perform personality. Most research has focused on the interview setting as the locus of such performances. But in addition to being interviewed, politicians occasionally turn entertainers themselves, dancing, singing, playing instruments or doing comedy. This article analyses such performances as a specific communicative practice that plays a part in the construction of public persona. The analysis is theory driven and based upon the concepts of personalization of politics, performativity and the carnivalesque.Our conclusion is that such performances have the potential to communicate emotive sociality, accentuate celebrity status, construct ordinariness and work as a pre-emptive inoculation against satire and ridicule. There is, however, also a risk to appear undignified and scrupulously populist involved, since the performances negotiate borders of political decency.
The Voices of “At Risk” Young People About Services They Received: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT In Australia young people who are at risk of offending have attracted much media and policy attention. In recent times, policy reform has seen increased funding for social services delivery to support young people at risk of entering, or are currently in, the juvenile justice system. However, there is limited literature that explores how young people experience services delivered to them. This article reports on a systematic literature review exploring the voices of children and youth on social service delivery for young people who have offended or are at risk of offending. The review aimed to identify English language publications in the fifteen-year period from 2004 to 2018, critique their methodological quality, and analyse and describe the findings of identified studies. Through a search of electronic social sciences databases twelve (n = 12) eligible publications were identified, including six qualitative studies, one quantitative study and five reports. The review highlighted a scarcity of research on this topic but provided evidence about how young people who are at risk of offending experienced social services, and their recommendations for effective service delivery. IMPLICATIONS Practitioners need to create supportive, caring, and respectful environments that facilitate young people’s agency and self-determination. Young people need information and clarification but may not always ask for it. Experiences of racism need to be acknowledged and racist attitudes actively addressed.
The effect of copper level in the diet on the distribution,
and biological and immunological responses in a rat model

Copper (Cu) is an important nutrient determining the proper development and functioning of the body (Al-Naimi et al., 2010; Majewski et al., 2017). This microelement stabilizes cell membrane permeability by taking part in oxidation of membrane thiol compounds to disulphides (Kim et al., 2008). It is also a component of numerous enzymes responsible for energy metabolism (e.g., cytochrome c oxidase, ABSTRACT. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of copper (Cu) level in the diet on the distribution, and biological and immunological responses in a rat model. Two experimental groups of rats received a diet containing the recommended (higher) amount (6.5 mg/kg) of CuCO3 (CuH) or a diet containing the reduced (lower) level of Cu (without CuCO3 supplementation; CuL) for 7 or 35 days (T7 and T35, respectively; in total 4 subgroups). Reduced level of Cu caused a decrease in the Cu excretion in faeces and an increase in the Cu level in urine, but in overall the digestibility and utilization indexes of Cu were increased. There was also found a decrease in the Cu content in the plasma and liver in CuL group (results of a 5-day balance tests). After 7 days the reduction of Cu dose caused a decrease in plasma contents of Cu, Zn, Fe, MI (%), GRA (109/l), IgA and IgM; on the other hand the plasma contents of Mg, WBC, LYM (%) and BIL, and activities of ALP and GGT were increased. The elongation of the feeding period from 7 to 35 days in the CuH group caused a decrease of Zn, P, IgA, BIL, TC, TG plasma contents, and activity of ALT, LDH and an increase in WBC, LYM (%), MID (109/l), MI (%), GRA (%), RBC, HB, IgM, IL-6, GLU, UA, ALB and HDL and activities of AST, ALP and GGT. However when the CuL diet was elongated, decreased plasma contents of Cu, IgA, IgM, IL-6, GLU, ALB and BIL, and activity of GGT; and increased plasma contents of Zn, WBC, LYM (%) and GRA (109/l), and activity of ALP were stated in comparison to CuH group. The results of the study suggest that rats partially develop adaptive mechanisms, thanks to which are able to function at a reduced level of Cu in the diet. But, reduced level of Cu in the diet may interfere with the immune response and BIL and ALB metabolisms, playing an antioxidant role in the body. Furthermore, it can be indicated that the level of many blood indicators may depend on the growth of rats, therefore it may not be assumed that the supplementation of Cu in rats is completely unnecessary. Received: 6 March 2018 Revised: 29 May 2018 Accepted: 12 December 2018
The mitochondrial genome of the ambush bug Carcinochelis bannaensis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

Abstract The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the ambush bug, Carcinochelis bannaensis, was determined in this study. The sequenced mitogenome is a typical circular DNA molecule of 15,335 bp, containing 13 protein-coding genes, two rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes and a putative control region. All protein-coding genes initiate with ATN codons and terminate with TAA codons except for COII,COIII and ND5 use a single T residue as the stop codon. All tRNAs have the clover-leaf structure except for the tRNASer(AGN) and the length of them range from 61 to 71 bp. The control region is 797 bp long with an A + T content of 66.3%. The phylogenetic analysis result supports the monophyly of Phymatinae.
Who's who in the western Hermann's tortoise conservation: a STR toolkit and a reference database for wildlife forensic genetic analyses

Illegal trade is threatening tortoise populations worldwide since decades. Nowadays, however, DNA typing and forensic genetic approaches allow to investigate geographic origin of confiscated animals and to relocate them into the wild, provided that suitable molecular tools and reference data are available. Here we assess the suitability of a small panel of microsatellite markers to investigate patterns of illegal translocations and to assist forensic genetic applications in the endangered Mediterranean land tortoise Testudo hermanni hermanni. We used the microsatellite panel to (i) increase the understanding of the population genetic structure in wild populations with new data from previously unsampled geographic areas (overall 461 wild individuals from 28 sampling sites); (ii) detect the presence of non-native individuals in wild populations; and (iii) identify the most likely geographic area of origin of 458 confiscated individuals hosted in Italian seizure and recovery centers. Our analysis initially identified six major genetic clusters corresponding to different geographic macro-areas along the Mediterranean range. Long-distance migrants among wild populations, due to translocations, were found and removed from the reference database. Assignment tests allowed us to allocate approximately 70% of confiscated individuals of unknown origin to one of the six Mediterranean macro-areas. Most of the assigned tortoises belonged to the genetic cluster corresponding to the area where the respective captivity center was located. However, we also found evidence of long-distance origin of confiscated individuals, especially in centers along the Adriatic coast and facing the Balkan regions, a well-known source of illegally traded individuals. Our results clearly show the role for reintroduction projects of the microsatellite panel, which was useful to re-assign most of the confiscated individuals to the respective macro-area of origin. At the same time, the microsatellite panel can assist future forensic genetic applications to detect illegal trade and possess of Testudo hermanni individuals.
Comparative effects of inorganic and organic trace minerals (Zn, Se and Cr) supplementation on expression of ChTLR2b gene in broilers

Poultry is the fastest growing livestock sector in the developing countries. The global poultry sector is expected to continue to grow, as demand for poultry meat is driven by growing needs, population, rising incomes and urbanization. The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of inorganic and organic trace minerals supplementation on expression of ChTLR2b gene in broilers. A total of 216 broilers randomly divided into twelve groups and each group consisting of 18 broilers in 3 replicates. T1 group was kept as control. T2, T3 and T4 group was supplemented with zinc (40 mg/kg of feed) inorganic, organic and 50% organic form respectively. T5, T6 and T7 groups was supplemented with selenium (0.3 mg/kg of feed) from inorganic, organic and 50%organic form respectively. T8, T9 and T10 groups was supplemented with chromium (2 mg/kg of feed) from inorganic, organic form and 50% organic form respectively. T11 and T12 group was supplemented with combination of all 3 minerals from inorganic and organic form respectively. RT-PCR expression analysis of ChTLR2b gene in spleen revealed that maximum up regulation (3.8413 fold) was found in T3 group (supplemented with organic Zn @ 40 mg/Kg of feed), followed by T4 (3.5325 fold) whereas in bursa of fabricius the maximum up regulation (2.8921 fold) was found in T6 group followed by T12 (2.5310 fold ) as compared to control group. Up-regulation of gene expression ChTLR2b in bursa of fabricius and spleen indicates beneficial effect of organic trace minerals in potentiation of immune system in broilers.
Detection of the freezing state and frozen section thickness of fine sand by ultrasonic testing

Determining the freezing state and frozen section thickness is fundamental to assessing the development of artificial frozen walls but is commonly difficult or inaccurate because of a limited number and fixed position of thermometer holes under complex field conditions. We report a novel experimental design that measures soil temperature, water content, and ultrasonic properties to monitor movement of the cryofront (0°C isotherm), water migration, and acoustic parameters during progressive upward freezing of fine sand under laboratory conditions. Ultrasonic testing during different stages of freezing revealed changes in three acoustic parameters (wave velocity, wave amplitude, and frequency spectrum). As the cryofront ascended through the sand at different water contents, wave velocity continually increased, whereas wave amplitude initially decreased and then increased. Wave velocity measurements revealed the cryofront position during freezing, but measurements of wave amplitude did not. The frequency components indicated the frequency of different evolving freezing regions during upward freezing and the freezing state of fine sand during later stages of freezing. The freezing state can be evaluated on the basis of single vs multiple peaks and the kurtosis of frequency spectrum change. An equation developed to predict the thickness of the frozen section and tested against measured values in the laboratory and field showed accuracies of 86.84–99.33%. The equation is used successfully to estimate frozen wall thickness in artificially frozen fine sand in Guangzhou, China.
Tweets on the Go: Gender Differences in Transport Perception and Its Discussion on Social Media

People often base their mobility decisions on subjective aspects of travel experience, such as time perception, space usage, and safety. It is well recognized that different groups within a population will react differently to the same trip, however, current data collection methods might not consider the multi dimensional aspects of travel perception, which could lead to overlooking the needs of large population groups. In this paper, we propose to measure several aspects of the travel experience from the social media platform Twitter, with a focus on differences with respect to gender. We analyzed more than 400,000 tweets from 100,000 users about transportation from Santiago, Chile. Our main findings show that both genders express themselves differently, as women write about their emotions regarding travel (both, positive and negative feelings), that men express themselves using slang, making it difficult to interpret emotion. The strongest difference is related to harassment, not only on transportation, but also on the public space. Since these aspects are usually omitted from travel surveys, our work provides evidence on how Twitter allows the measurement of aspects of the transportation system in a city that have been studied in qualitative terms, complementing surveys with emotional and safety aspects that are as relevant as those traditionally measured.
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Taxus yunnanensis

Abstract The first complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) sequence of Taxus yunnanensis was determined from Illumina HiSeq pair-end sequencing data in this study. The cpDNA is 129,190 bp in length. Like other species of taxus genus, the chloroplast genome of T. yunnanensis has lost one of the large inverted repeats (IRs). The genome contains 116 genes, including 82 protein-coding genes, 4 ribosomal RNA genes, and 30 transfer RNA genes. Further phylogenomic analysis showed that T. yunnanensis closed to T. brevifolia in Lauraceae family.
ANALYSIS OF DOUBLE-PEAK SEASONALITY IN THE AETIOLOGY OF PERINATAL MORTALITY AND CHILDHOOD ACUTE LYMPHOBLASTIC LEUKAEMIA USING THE WALTER– ELWOOD METHOD

Our study demonstrates the use of the Walter–Elwood method in double-peak seasonal variation. The concept of the geometrical model for analysing cyclic variation is described. Monte Carlo simulation procedures are used to compare the performance of the Walter–Elwood and negative binomial regression methods with double-peak seasonality, in both a comparison between the two methods and a power analysis. The results of 10,000 independent Monte Carlo simulations showed that the Walter– Elwood method and the negative binomial regression analysis identified the same peak in 9,956 samples, indicating that the power of both methods is similar in analysing double-peak cyclic trends. Additionally, two epidemiological applications of double-peak seasonality are presented, which were analysed using the Walter–Elwood method. Further, this is the first study to describe the power of the Walter-Elwood method for double peak seasonality. In conclusion, double-peak seasonality could be investigated with the Walter–Elwood method in ecological studies when only the population at risk is available and there is no other variable.
The Effects of Vinyasa Yoga on Cardiovascular and Physical Fitness as well as Psychological Profiles of Well‐being

Studies have shown that runners and yogis have similar cardiovascular fitness profiles and that sun salutations increase the heart rate into cardiovascular endurance zones. Also, yoga has been known as completmentary therapy to improve depression, anxiety and insomnia. However, there has been little studied about how Vinyasa yoga affects the cardiovascular system and psychological well‐being in sedentary humans. Thus, this study seeks to provide further evidence for the role of yoga training in sedentary young adults.
Acute and chronic graft versus host disease after hematopoietic stem cell transplant

Graft versus host disease is one of the main complications of Hematopoietic stem cell, in­volving about 50% to 80% of the patients. Acute GVHD clinical manifestations and therapy is discussed, as well as new NIH criteria for the diagnosis and classification of chronic GVHD. Therapy for both refractory chronic and acute GVHD is an important field of discussion once there is no superiority for the majority of the agents after primary therapy has failed. Hence, this review is meant to be a useful tool of consultation for clinicians who are dealing with this complex complication.
The Future of Legislation, Policy, Risk Analysis, and Management of Non-Native Freshwater Fishes in China

Abstract Policies and legislation for the importation and use of non-native (NN) freshwater fishes have been rapidly evolving in several countries around the world in response to heightened evidence of their adverse ecological and economic impacts. In China, the already large and growing number of NN freshwater fishes being imported from foreign countries or translocated within China has necessitated the development of management strategies supported by policies at both national and regional levels. Despite increasing awareness of the damage caused by NN fishes, such initiatives in China continue to lag behind those already implemented in other countries. This study endeavors to narrow this policy gap by: (i) providing a synoptic overview of the vectors and pathways of NN freshwater fish introductions and dispersal both into and within China; (ii) evaluating existing policies and legislation relative to those currently implemented in Europe, the USA and Canada; (iii) examining the role of decision-support tools for identifying and assessing the risks posed by NN fishes; and (iv) proposing perspectives and possible options for NN fish policies, legislation and management in China.
A Novel Soft Robotic Glove with Positive-negative Pneumatic Actuator for Hand Rehabilitation*

Pneumatic soft robots show great potential application value in the field of hand rehabilitation. This paper presents a novel pneumatic soft robotic glove for hand rehabilitation with a portable pneumatic box. The glove uses positive-negative pneumatic actuator made of bellows, which is very light (only 149g), easy to wear, comfortable, customizable, safe, easy to make, and low-cost. The matching portable pneumatic box is compact in size and lightweight, which not only has six outputting gas paths, but also adjust pressure and flow. Within the allowable range of motion, the glove can assist affected hand to achieve flexion and extension of five fingers, and adduction and abduction of the thumb. The output force of the actuators is experimentally measured. For the flexion/extension actuator, the maximum force is 4.6N when extending and 1.9N when flexing. For the adduction/abduction actuator, the maximum force is 8.1N when adducting and 5.7N when abducting. In addition, demonstration with complete system is performed to do a functional evaluation, which verified the practical availability of the glove in rehabilitation training.
1D/2D Nanomaterials Synergistic, Compressible, and Response Rapidly 3D Graphene Aerogel for Piezoresistive Sensor

Graphene‐based aerogels have been widely studied for their high porosity, good compressibility, and electrical conductivity as piezoresistive sensors. However, the fabrication of graphene aerogel sensors with good mechanical properties and excellent sensing properties simultaneously remains a challenge. Therefore, in this study, a novel nanofiber reinforced graphene aerogel (aPANF/GA) which has a 3D interconnected hierarchical microstructure with surface‐treated PAN nanofiber as a support scaffold throughout the entire graphene network is designed. This 3D interconnected microporous aPANF/GA aerogel combines an excellent compressive stress of 43.50 kPa and a high piezoresistive sensitivity of 28.62 kPa−1 as well as a wide range (0–14 kPa) linear sensitivity. When aPANF/GA is used as a piezoresistive sensor, the compression resilience is excellent, the response time is fast at about 37 ms at 3 Pa, and the structural stability and sensing durability are good after 2600 cycles. Indeed, the current signal value is 91.57% of the initial signal value at 20% compressive strain. Furthermore, the assembled sensors can monitor the real time movement of throat, wrist pulse, fingers, wrist, and knee joints of the human body at good sensitivity. These excellent features enable potential applications in health detection.