Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Benzoxime carbaldehyde prevents rheumatoid arthritis in a rat model by inhibition of oxidative damage

Purpose: To investigate the effect of benzoxime carbaldehyde (BXCD) on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a rat model. Methods: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned randomly to 5 groups (6 rats per group): normal control, RA, and three treatment groups. Rats in the normal control and RA groups received normal saline, whereas those in the three treatment groups were given 2, 5 or 10 mg/kg of BXCD daily for 30 days by intraperitoneal injection. Pressure pain was analysed using electronic pressure pain detector, while the expressions of interleukin (IL)-6, interleukin (IL)-1β, nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in serum were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Results: Treatment of RA rats with BXCD for 30 days led to significant (p < 0.05) recovery in pain threshold. At a dose of 10 mg/kg, BXCD decreased pain threshold value to a level comparable to that in normal control rats, and decreased arthritis score to 1, relative to arthritis score of 16 in untreated animals. Malondialdehyde (MDA) level was 4-fold higher in untreated RA rats than in normal and BXCD-treated groups. BXCD treatment increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and blocked increases in the blood levels of IL-6, IL-1β, NF-κB p65 unit, and TNF-α. Western blot assay showed that BXCD treatment prevented increase in the level of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in RA rat tissues. Conclusion: These results indicate that BXCD prevents RA in a rat model via inhibition of expressions of inflammatory cytokines and decrease in oxidative stress. Thus, BXCD has a strong potential for the management of RA. Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Pain threshold, Antioxidant enzymes, Inflammation, Inflammatory cytokines
Effect of Grape (Vitis vinifera) Seed Extract on the Physico-Chemical, Microbial and Sensory Characteristics of Chevon Nuggets

The present study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of grape seed extract (GSE) and its effect on the physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory properties of chevon nuggets during frozen storage. Antioxidant potential by various biochemical tests (Antioxidant ability assays, total phenol content, total flavonoid content) were evaluated. The result showed that GSE exhibit high antioxidant ability assays (312.06±1.69 ìg ascorbic acid), total phenol content (190.34±2.26 mg GAE/g), total flavonoid content (83.43±2.36 mg rutin/g). The chevon nugget treated with GSE had significantly (P less than 0.05) lower thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) and free fatty acid % (FFA) compared to control during frozen storage. Addition of GSE significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced the total plate, total psychrophilic and yeast and mold count in chevon nuggets during storage at -18±2oC. The GSE treated chevon nuggets recorded significantly (P less than 0.05) superior score of flavor, juiciness and overall acceptability than control. It can be concluded that GSE has excellent antioxidant properties, could be used as an antioxidant to meat products without affecting its quality and acceptability.
Preliminary findings on the associations between mental health indicators and social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: Our study investigates associations between social isolation and indicators of general mental health, well-being, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and stress in Brazilian adults. Variables to measure aspects to ease the isolation impact (ease-isolating variables) were also included. Method: 539 Brazilian adults were recruited by convenience from March 25 to April 07, 2020. We administered a questionnaire on isolation behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO-5, the GHQ-12, the CLA, the GAD-7, the PSS-10, and the CES-D. To analyze data, we relied upon the network analysis approach. Results: COVID-19 isolation variables showed positive relationships with mental health indicators, and ease-isolating variables presented mixed associations with mental health indicators. For instance, satisfaction with the quality of social interactions connected strongly and positively with the well-being variable, while negatively with loneliness and general psychological symptoms. Conclusions: Our hypotheses were partially confirmed. We can conclude that the damage to mental health associated with social isolation during the pandemic can be minimized by maintaining satisfactory interpersonal relationships. We have three direct recommendations: mental health professionals should (a) elaborate strategies that contemplate the use of virtual tools to alleviate depressive feelings resulting from isolation, (b) give particular attention to risk groups that are most impacted by the isolation imposed by a pandemic situation and may suffer from loneliness, and (c) consider anxiety control strategies for the anxiogenic adverse reaction generated by the worldwide alert in times of disease outbreaks.
Uptake of Radiolabeled and Colloidal Gold–Labeled Chyle Chylomicrons and Chylomicron Remnants by Rat Platelets In Vitro

Abstract This study examined the uptake of chyle chylomicrons (CMs) and chylomicron remnants (CMRs) by rat platelets in vitro. CMs and CMRs were doubly labeled with [3H]arachidonate ([3H]-20:4) and [14C]cholesterol and were incubated with platelets for up to 4 hours. A significant uptake (binding and/or internalization) of CMs by the platelets occurred, as indicated by the parallel increase of [3H]20:4 and [14C]cholesterol in platelets with incubation time. Addition of unlabeled CMs, VLDLs, LDLs, and HDLs decreased the uptake of labeled CMs. The competition experiments suggested that there is both a saturable binding and a nonspecific uptake of CMs. During incubation with CMs, the proportion of [3H]20:4 in phospholipids decreased and that in 1,2-x-diacylglycerol increased. The data indicated that a phospholipase C–mediated degradation of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine occurred, whereas [3H]20:4 in triglyceride and 14C in cholesteryl ester did not change. Electron microscopic studies afte.
Telomeric dysfunction triggers an unstable growth arrest leading to irreparable genomic lesions and entry into cellular senescence

Replicative senescence is the permanent growth arrest caused by gradual telomere attrition occurring at each round of genome replication. Critically shortened telomeres lose their protective shelterin complex and t-loop structure revealing uncapped chromosome ends that are recognized as DNA double-strand breaks causing a p53-dependent DNA damage response (DDR) towards proliferation arrest. Because telomeres are heterogeneous in length within a single cell, the number of short telomeres necessary for senescence onset remains ill defined. Using controlled Tin2-mediated shelterin inactivation, we show that telomere uncapping is not sufficient to trigger senescence. While uncapping generates expected telomeric DNA damage detection, the associated weak DDR allows a rapid bypass of the primary growth arrest and re-entry into the cell cycle despite dysfunctional telomeres. During the ensuing mitosis, fused telomeres lead to additional DNA breaks and to genomic instability including chromosomes bridges or micronuclei, which sustain a secondary entry into stable growth arrest. The loss of p53 prevented both primary and secondary growth arrest, leading to amplified genomic instablility. Our results support a new multistep model for entry into telomere-mediated replicative senescence in normal cells, which is not directly induced by telomere uncapping, but rather by an amplification of DNA lesions caused by telomere fusions that leads to permanent irreparable genome damage.
A Photovoltaic Measurement System for Performance Evaluation and Faults Detection at the Field

Testing and evaluation of the photovoltaic array are important matters for researchers and students in the renewable engineering field. The collected data from the PV power plant gives a clear vision for the power plant production, array efficiency and fault detection. The presented system offers an electronic load connected to the PV array which is slightly increased from zero to the maximum designated value. It displays and stores all the voltage, current, and power measurements. It also calculates the voltage and current at the maximum power point, and the fill factor. All the measured data are documented within an Excel file on the computer; curves are plotted automatically to give the user a complete vision for the array behavior, power faults and the mismatching of the PV modules can be easily detected from these curves. The presented system describes all the electronic circuit schematics, how to select the appropriate electronic components with the proper rated values and offers a low-cost design that can be implemented with ease.
Novel cytokine interactions identified during perturbed hematopoiesis

Hematopoiesis is a dynamic process involving the up- and down-regulation of genes, as well as feed-back loops that stimulate or suppress circulating cytokine concentrations. More complete pictures of the gene regulatory networks that control the production of the blood system have emerged with the advent of single-cell sequencing techniques and refinements to the capabilities of immunoassays. However, information about the regulatory networks of cytokines is still lacking. A novel mathematical technique (convergent cross-mapping, or CCM) allows for the extraction of causal relationships from data, which is of crucial importance for understanding these networks. To reconstruct the cytokine networks within the hematopoietic system we measured the concentrations of 62 cytokines, platelets, and thrombopoietin from an individual with cyclic thrombocytopenia (regular oscillations in the megakaryocytes and platelets) over 84 days. Using CCM, we identified 61 previously unreported cytokine relationships. Our approach is the first broad-scale investigation into causal relationships between cytokines in the blood and suggests a new paradigm for understanding how dynamic regulation occurs during hematopoiesis.
Chiral DNA sequences as commutable reference standards for clinical genomics

Chirality is a geometric property describing any object that is inequivalent to a mirror image of itself. Due to its 5’-3’ directionality, a DNA sequence is distinct from a mirrored sequence arranged in reverse nucleotide order, and is therefore chiral. A given sequence and its opposing chiral partner sequence share many properties, such as nucleotide composition and sequence entropy. Here we demonstrate that chiral DNA sequence pairs also perform equivalently during molecular and bioinformatic techniques that underpin modern genetic analysis, including PCR amplification, hybridization, whole-genome, target-enriched and nanopore sequencing, sequence alignment and variant detection. Given these shared properties, synthetic DNA sequences that directly mirror clinically relevant and/or analytically challenging regions of the human genome are ideal reference standards for clinical genomics. We show how the addition of chiral DNA standards to patient tumor samples can prevent false-positive and false-negative mutation detection and, thereby, improve diagnosis. Accordingly, we propose that chiral DNA standards can fulfill the unmet need for commutable internal reference standards in precision medicine.
A total evidence analysis of the phylogeny of hatchet‐faced treefrogs (Anura: Hylidae: Sphaenorhynchus)

The Neotropical hylid genus Sphaenorhynchus includes 15 species of small, greenish treefrogs widespread in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, and in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Although some studies have addressed the phylogenetic relationships of the genus with other hylids using a few exemplar species, its internal relationships remain poorly understood. In order to test its monophyly and the relationships among its species, we performed a total evidence phylogenetic analysis of sequences of three mitochondrial and three nuclear genes, and 193 phenotypic characters from all species of Sphaenorhynchus. Our results support the monophyly of Sphaenorhynchus with molecular and phenotypic evidence, with S. pauloalvini as the earliest diverging taxon, followed by S. carneus, as the sister taxon of all remaining species of the genus. We recognize three species groups in Sphaenorhynchus (the S. lacteus, S. planicola and S. platycephalus groups), to facilitate its taxonomic study; only three species (S. carneus, S. pauloalvini and S. prasinus) remain unassigned to any group. Sequence data were not available for only two species (S. bromelicola and S. palustris) for which we scored phenotypic data; wildcard behaviour was detected only in S. bromelicola nested inside the S. platycephalus group. On the basis of the resulting phylogenetic hypothesis, we discuss the evolution of oviposition site and a number of phenotypic characters that could be associated with heterochronic events in the evolutionary history of this group.
Genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9 technology in Petunia hybrida

CRISPR-Cas9 technology has been shown to be a very powerful tool to generate targeted mutations in a wide range of species. To evaluate its applicability for standard gene functional analysis in Petunia, we performed a case study aimed at obtaining loss-of-function alleles for six different Petunia genes. Using single guide RNAs (sgRNA), we obtained between 1 to 3 putative null alleles for 5 out of the six genes. Here we describe in detail the obtained results and the protocol used in this study, and discuss some of the technical problems encountered. Although the efficiency of the protocol should be further increased, these results demonstrate that CRISPR-Cas9 technology represents a very useful addition to the available molecular toolkit in petunia. alleles for six different genes. Using single guide RNAs (sgRNA), we obtained between 1 to 3 putative null alleles for 5 out of the 6 genes. These results demonstrate that CRISPR-Cas9 technology can be routinely used for gene editing in petunia. Nevertheless, the whole procedure remains labour intensive and may be further optimized. First of all, starting from around 60 leaf fragments per transformation experiment, we obtained only few regenerated plants, and of these, there was a considerable proportion of false positives (not carrying the T-DNA construct).
Photoperiodic regulation of ovarian steroidogenesis in a tropical rodent, Funambulus pennanti: role of melatonin and MT1

ABSTRACT To elucidate the role of photoperiodically modulated endogenous melatonin and its receptor MT1 in the ovary of a diurnal rodent, adult Indian palm squirrel Funambulus pennanti were exposed to Short Day (SD; 16L:8D) and Long Day (LD; 16L:8D) and compared with natural day controls (NDL; 12L:12D). Plasma 17-β estradiol level was significantly low in SD group while expression of StAR, P450SCC, 17-β HSD, and aromatase showed significant down-regulation in the ovary of squirrels maintained under SD when compared to LD and NDL groups suggesting an overall decrease in steroidogenesis. Expression of ERα in the ovary was significantly lower in SD than both LD and NDL groups, having a positive correlation with plasma estradiol level. Circulatory melatonin level was significantly high in SD-exposed squirrels, while expression of MT1R decreased in the ovary when compared to LD and NDL groups, showing a negative correlation with plasma melatonin levels. Expression of cell proliferation marker Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) was positively correlated to MT1R expression in the ovary being significantly low in SD-exposed squirrels. Our results suggest that even in tropical rodents seasonal variation in photoperiod is responsible for initiating female reproductive activities where circulatory melatonin via MT1R plays an important role.
A Machine Learning Approach to Predict an Early Biochemical Recurrence after a Radical Prostatectomy

Background: Approximately 20–50% of prostate cancer patients experience biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP). Among them, cancer recurrence occurs in about 20–30%. Thus, we aim to reveal the utility of machine learning algorithms for the prediction of early BCR after RP. Methods: A total of 104 prostate cancer patients who underwent magnetic resonance imaging and RP were evaluated. Four well-known machine learning algorithms (i.e., k-nearest neighbors (KNN), multilayer perceptron (MLP), decision tree (DT), and auto-encoder) were applied to build a prediction model for early BCR using preoperative clinical and imaging and postoperative pathologic data. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for detection of early BCR of each algorithm were evaluated. Area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) analyses were conducted. Results: A prediction model using an auto-encoder showed the highest prediction ability of early BCR after RP using all data as input (AUC = 0.638) and only preoperative clinical and imaging data (AUC = 0.656), followed by MLP (AUC = 0.607 and 0.598), KNN (AUC = 0.596 and 0.571), and DT (AUC = 0.534 and 0.495). Conclusion: The auto-encoder-based prediction system has the potential for accurate detection of early BCR and could be useful for long-term follow-up planning in prostate cancer patients after RP.
Unbiased Age-Appropriate Structural Brain Atlases for Chinese Pediatrics

In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of children brain development, structural brain atlases usually serve as important references of pediatric population in which individual images are spatially normalized into a common or standard stereotactic space. However, the existing popular children brain atlases (e.g., National Institutes of Health pediatric atlases, NIH-PD atlases) are made mostly based on MR images from Western populations, and are thus insufficient to characterize the brains of Chinese children due to the neuroanatomical differences that are relevant to genetic and environmental factors. By collecting high-quality T1- and T2- weighted MR images from 328 typically developing Chinese children aged from 6 to 12 years old, we created a set of age-appropriate Chinese pediatric (CHN-PD) atlases using an unbiased template construction algorithm. The CHN-PD atlases included the head/brain templates, the symmetric brain template, the gender-specific brain templates and the corresponding tissue probability atlases. Moreover, the atlases contained multiple age-specific templates with a one-year interval. A direct comparison of the CHN-PD and the NIH-PD atlases revealed remarkable anatomical differences bilaterally in the lateral frontal and parietal regions and somatosensory cortex. While applying the CHN-PD atlases to two independent Chinese pediatric datasets (N = 114 and N = 71, respectively), machine-learning regression approaches revealed higher prediction accuracy on brain ages than the usage of NIH-PD atlases. These results suggest that the CHN-PD brain atlases are necessary and important for future typical and atypical developmental studies in Chinese pediatric population. Currently, the CHN-PD atlases have been released on the NITRC website (https://www.nitrc.org/projects/chn-pd).
Analysis of Various PWM Techniques for Three-phase Asynchronous Motor

This paper presents comparative study of various scalar Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques that are utilized in three-phase drives application. In this paper, various PWM methods are analysed and implemented namely Sinusoidal PWM (SPWM), Zero Sequence PWM (ZSPWM), Conventional Space Vector Modulation (CSVM) and Discontinuous SVM (DSVM). This study includes two new switching sequences referred in this paper as DSVM 15 and Hybrid SVM (HSVM) techniques. Initially, simulation study is carried out with the help of Simulink model. This study includes the effect of different PWM techniques on stator current distortion and switching loss of inverter. Hardware implementations of all mentioned methods, with the help of STM34F407 microcontroller and the auto code generation block set called ‘WAIJUNG’, have been accomplished. Results obtain from the experimentation are compared and analysed on the basis of quality of stator current waveforms and switching losses of inverter.
Antibiotic Resistance and Biofilm Production in Catalase-Positive Gram-Positive Cocci Isolated from Brazilian Pasteurized Milk

Background: Milk is a reservoir for several groups of microorganisms, which may pose health risks. The aim of this work was to assess the antibiotic resistance and biofilm production in catalase-positive Gram-positive cocci isolated from Brazilian pasteurized milk. Methods: The bacteria were isolated using Baird-Parker agar and identified by MatrixAssisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time-Of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometer. Disk diffusion technique was used to evaluate antimicrobial susceptibility. For qualitative evaluation of biofilm production, the growth technique was used on Congo Red Agar. Results: Totally, 33 out of 64 isolates were identified, including Staphylococcus epidermidis (n=3; 4.7%), Macrococcus caseolyticus (n=14; 21.9%), and Kocuria varians (n=16; 25%). Twenty-two isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic. Biofilm production was detected in only 5 isolates of K. varians and 1 isolate of S. epidermidis. All 14 M. caseolyticus isolates were resistant to at least one antibiotic; but, multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates were not detected. Among all K. varians isolates, 4 were resistant to at least one antibiotic from three different classes and were considered to be MDR. Conclusion: The presence of antibiotic-resistant M. caseolyticus, S. epidermidis, and K. varians isolates, especially MDRs, in milk samples highlights the possible role of milk as a reservoir of resistance genes
Characterization of neuronal synaptopodin reveals a myosin V-dependent mechanism of synaptopodin clustering at the post-synaptic sites

The spine apparatus (SA) is an endoplasmic reticulum-related organelle which is present in a subset of dendritic spines in cortical and pyramidal neurons. The synaptopodin protein localizes between the stacks of the spine apparatus and is essential for the formation of this unique organelle. Although several studies have demonstrated the significance of the SA and synaptopodin in calcium homeostasis and plasticity of dendritic spines, it is still unclear what factors contribute to its stability at the synapse and whether the SA is locally formed or it is actively delivered to the spines. In this study we show that synaptopodin clusters are stable at their locations. We found no evidence of active microtubule-based transport for synaptopodin. Instead new clusters were emerging in the spines, which we interpret as the SA being assembled on-site. Furthermore, using super-resolution microscopy we show a tight association of synaptopodin with actin filaments. We identify the actin-based motor proteins myosin V and VI as novel interaction partners of synaptopodin and demonstrate that myosin V is important for the formation and/or maintenance of the SA. SUMMARY STATEMENT Here we demonstrate that the spine apparatus is assembled locally in dendrites. This process, which relies on the presence of synaptopodin and F-actin, is disrupted by interfering with myosin-V activity.