Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) Induced Changes in Growth, Some Biochemical Attributes, and Mineral Accumulation in Two Cultivars of Mung Bean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek]

ABSTRACT Addition of cadmium, lead, and cadmium + lead (Cd, Pb, and Cd+Pb) to growth medium leads to a reduction in seed germination, length, fresh and dry biomass of shoots and roots, total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and soluble proteins in plants. This study was undertaken on two mungbean cultivars (MN-92 and MN-98). Application of these metals in the growth medium reduced the bioabsorption of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K). Concentrations of all the metals were greater in the roots than in the shoots except for K, which was greater in the shoots. Mungbean cultivar NM-98 performed better than NM-92 in response to heavy-metal toxicity. Overall, the metal-induced physiobiochemical changes resulted in reduced growth of both mungbean cultivars.
Synergistic and biocidal effects of HEDP-Zn2+ - CTAB system on the inhibition of corrosion of mild steel in neutral aqueous environment

The synergistic effect of HEDP and Zn2+ on the inhibition of corrosion of mild steel in neutral aqueous environment containing 60 ppm chloride has been evaluated by the classical weight-loss method. It is found that the formulation consisting of 50 ppm HEDP and 50 ppm Zn2+ offers an inhibition efficiency of 98%. Addition of a biocide viz., N-cetyl-N, N, N-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), to the above formulation, upto a concentration of 100 ppm does not reduce the inhibition efficiency. It is interesting to note that the formulation consisting of 50 ppm HEDPP, 50 ppm Zn2+ 50 ppm CTAB has 99% corrosion inhibition efficiency and 100% biocidal efficiency. The mechanistic aspects of corrosion inhibition have been studied, in a holistic way, based on the results obtained from polarisation study, X-ray diffraction technique, uv-visible reflectance, FTIR and luminescence spectra. It is observed that the protective film consists of Fe2+ - HEDP complex, Fe2+ - CTAB complex and Zn(OH)2. The protective film is found to be luminescent
Embracing Scientific Humility and Complexity: Learning “What Works for Whom” in Youth Psychotherapy Research

ABSTRACT Clinical psychological scientists have spent decades attempting to understand “what works for whom” in the context of youth psychotherapy, toward the longstanding goal of personalizing psychosocial interventions to fit individual needs and characteristics. However, as the articles in this Special Issue jointly underscore, more than 50 years of psychotherapy research has yet to help us realize this goal. In this introduction to the special issue, we outline how and why “aspiration-method mismatches” have hampered progress toward identifying moderators of youth psychotherapy; emphasize the need to embrace etiological complexity and scientific humility in pursuing new methodological solutions and propose individual and structural strategies for better-aligning clinical research methods with the goal of personalizing mental health care for youth with diverse identities and treatment needs.
Social Comparison Orientation and Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization: Roles of Envy on Social Networking Sites and Body Satisfaction

Although some studies have explored the psychological and behavioral outcomes of social comparison orientation (SCO), few have explored the associations of SCO with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. The current study aimed to investigate the associations of SCO with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization, and considered envy on social networking sites (SNS) as a mediator and body satisfaction as a moderator in these relations. To test our expectations, 941 adolescents aged between 10 and 16 years (M = 13.15, SD = 1.18) completed multiple questionnaires, namely the Social Comparison Orientation Scale, the Revised Cyber Bullying Inventory, an envy scale revised for the SNS context, and the Body Areas Satisfaction Scale. Correlation analysis revealed that cyberbullying perpetration and cyberbullying victimization were significantly and positively correlated with SCO and envy on SNS, and significantly and negatively correlated with body satisfaction. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that envy on SNS played a mediating role in the associations of SCO with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization. The results of SEM and simple slope test analysis indicated that body satisfaction weakened the direct association of SCO with envy on SNS and further weakened the indirect associations of SCO with cyberbullying perpetration and victimization via envy on SNS. Specifically, individuals with high levels of SCO were more likely to feel envious on SNS, and further tended to bully others and be bullied online when they were dissatisfied with their bodies. In other words, positive body satisfaction protected individuals with high levels of SCO from cyberbullying perpetration and victimization by decreasing their feelings of envy on SNS.
Internet of things-based energy-efficient optimized heuristic framework to monitor sportsperson's health.

BACKGROUND Recently, wearable technologies have gained attention in diverse applications of the medical platform to guarantee the health and safety of the sportsperson with the assistance of the Internet of things (IoT) device. The IoT device's topology varies due to the shift in users' orientation and accessibility, making it impossible to assign resources, and routing strategies have been considered the prominent factor in the current medical research. Further, for sportspersons with sudden cardiac arrests, hospital survival rates are low in which wearable IoT devices play a significant role. OBJECTIVE In this paper, the energy efficient optimized heuristic framework (EEOHF) has been proposed and implemented on a wearable device of the sportsperson's health monitoring system. METHOD The monitoring system has been designed with cloud assistance to locate the nearest health centers during an emergency. The wearable sensor technologies have been used with an optimized energy-efficient algorithm that helps athletes monitor their health during physical workouts. The monitoring system has fitness tracking devices, in which health information is gathered, and workout logs are tracked using EEOHF. The proposed method is applied to evaluate and track the sportsperson's fitness based on case study analysis. RESULTS The simulation results have been analyzed, and the proposed EEOHF achieves a high accuracy ratio of 97.8%, a performance ratio of 95.3%, and less energy consumption of 9.4%, delay of 13.1%, and an average runtime of 98.2% when compared to other existing methods.
Disrupted Access to Therapies and Impact on Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic for Children With Motor Impairment and Their Caregivers

Supplemental digital content is available in the text. Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to rehabilitation therapies and the impact of changes in therapy access on the physical and mental well-being of children with motor impairment and their caregivers. Design Caregivers of children younger than 18 yrs with childhood-onset motor impairment (primarily cerebral palsy) completed an anonymous survey through the online platform REDCap between May 5 and July 13, 2020. Results The survey was completed by 102 participants. Before the pandemic, 92 of 102 children (90%) were receiving one or more therapies; at the time surveyed, 55 children (54%) were receiving any therapies (P < 0.001). More than 40% of the sample reported increased child stress, decreased physical activity, and/or decline in mobility/movement. Participants who reported a decrease in number of therapies at the time surveyed more frequently reported lower satisfaction with treatment delivery (P < 0.001), a decline in child’s mobility (P = 0.001), and increased caregiver stress (P = 0.004). Five qualitative themes were identified from open-ended question responses related to therapies and well-being. Conclusions Access to pediatric rehabilitation therapies was disrupted during COVID-19. Disrupted access may be related to impact on physical and mental health. With the expansion of telehealth, caregiver and child feedback should be incorporated to optimize benefit.
Immune system and COVID-19 by sex differences and age

In COVID-19 disease, are reported gender differences in relation to severity and death. The aim of this review is to highlight gender differences in the immune response to COVID-19. The included studies were identified using PubMed, until 30 October 2020. The search included the following keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, gender, age, sex, and immune system. Literature described that females compared to males have greater inflammatory, antiviral, and humoral immune responses. In female, estrogen is a potential ally to alleviate SARS-COV-2 disease. In male, testosterone reduces vaccination response and depresses the cytokine response. In the older patients, and in particular, in female older patients, it has been reported a progressive functional decline in the immune systems. Differences by gender were reported in infection diseases, including SARS-CoV-2. These data should be confirmed by the other epidemiological studies.
Artificial Intelligence–Based Chatbot for Anxiety and Depression in University Students: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Artificial intelligence–based chatbots are emerging as instruments of psychological intervention; however, no relevant studies have been reported in Latin America. Objective The objective of the present study was to evaluate the viability, acceptability, and potential impact of using Tess, a chatbot, for examining symptoms of depression and anxiety in university students. Methods This was a pilot randomized controlled trial. The experimental condition used Tess for 8 weeks, and the control condition was assigned to a psychoeducation book on depression. Comparisons were conducted using Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon tests for depressive symptoms, and independent and paired sample t tests to analyze anxiety symptoms. Results The initial sample consisted of 181 Argentinian college students (158, 87.2% female) aged 18 to 33. Data at week 8 were provided by 39 out of the 99 (39%) participants in the experimental condition and 34 out of the 82 (41%) in the control group. On an average, 472 (SD 249.52) messages were exchanged, with 116 (SD 73.87) of the messages sent from the users in response to Tess. A higher number of messages exchanged with Tess was associated with positive feedback (F2,36=4.37; P=.02). No significant differences between the experimental and control groups were found from the baseline to week 8 for depressive and anxiety symptoms. However, significant intragroup differences demonstrated that the experimental group showed a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms; no such differences were observed for the control group. Further, no significant intragroup differences were found for depressive symptoms. Conclusions The students spent a considerable amount of time exchanging messages with Tess and positive feedback was associated with a higher number of messages exchanged. The initial results show promising evidence for the usability and acceptability of Tess in the Argentinian population. Research on chatbots is still in its initial stages and further research is needed.
Size Dependence of the Surface Plasmon Resonance Damping in Metal Nanospheres

The impact of quantum confinement on the width of the surface plasmon resonance of a metal nanoparticle is theoretically investigated in a model system formed by a silver nanosphere in different environments. Calculations are performed using the time-dependent local density approximation (TDLDA) for nanoparticle diameters up to about 11 nm, permitting precise quantification of the surface plasmon broadening due to size reduction. As expected, this is found to be inversely proportional to the particle diameter, but with an amplitude strongly depending on the environment (increasing by a factor of 4 when changing from vacuum to alumina). This is ascribed to the fact that damping is governed by the electronic surface spill-out (inherent in any quantum model) and thus strongly depends on the surface profile of the confining potential, that is, on the particle surface conditions.
Reliable Resolution of Full-Length Huntingtin Alleles by Quantitative Immunoblotting.

BACKGROUND Therapeutics that lower mutant huntingtin (mHTT) have shown promise in preclinical studies and are in clinical development for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD). Multiple assays have been developed that either quantify mHTT or total HTT but may not accurately measure levels of wild type HTT (wtHTT) in biological samples. OBJECTIVE To optimize a method that can be used to resolve, quantify and directly compare levels of full length wtHTT and mHTT in HD samples. METHODS We provide a detailed quantitative immunoblotting protocol to reproducibly resolve full length wtHTT and mHTT in multiple HD mouse and patient samples. RESULTS We show that this assay can be modified, depending on the sample, to resolve wtHTT and mHTT with a wide range of polyglutamine differences (ΔQs 22-179). We also demonstrate that this method can be used to quantify allele-selective lowering of mHTT using an antisense oligonucleotide in HD patient-derived cells. CONCLUSION This quantitative immunoblotting method can be used to reliably resolve full length HTT alleles with ΔQs≥22 and allows for direct comparison of wtHTT and mHTT levels in HD samples.
Leprosy in medieval Denmark: Exploring life histories through a multi-tissue and multi-isotopic approach.

OBJECTIVES By focusing on two Danish leprosaria (Naestved and Odense; 13th-16th c. CE) and using diet and origin as proxies, we follow a multi-isotopic approach to reconstruct life histories of patients and investigate how leprosy affected both institutionalized individuals and the medieval Danish community as a whole. MATERIALS AND METHODS We combine archaeology, historical sources, biological anthropology, isotopic analyses (δ13 C, δ15 N, δ34 S, 87 Sr/86 Sr) and radiocarbon dating, and further analyze bones with different turnover rates (ribs and long bones). RESULTS The δ13 C, δ15 N and δ34 S results indicate a C3 terrestrial diet with small contributions of marine protein for leprosy patients and individuals from other medieval Danish sites. A similar diet is seen through time, between males and females, and patients with and without changes on facial bones. The isotopic comparison between ribs and long bones reveals no significant dietary change. The δ34 S and 87 Sr/86 Sr results suggest that patients were local to the regions of the leprosaria. Moreover, the radiocarbon dates show a mere 50% agreement with the arm position dating method used in Denmark. CONCLUSIONS A local origin for the leprosy patients is in line with historical evidence, unlike the small dietary contribution of marine protein. Although only 10% of the analyzed individuals have rib/long bone offsets that undoubtedly show a dietary shift, the data appear to reveal a pattern for 25 individuals (out of 50), with elevated δ13 C and/or δ15 N values in the ribs compared to the long bones, which points toward a communal type of diet and reveals organizational aspects of the institution.
Finding Hybrid Incompatibilities Using Genome Sequences from Hybrid Populations

Abstract Natural hybrid zones offer a powerful framework for understanding the genetic basis of speciation in progress because ongoing hybridization continually creates unfavorable gene combinations. Evidence indicates that postzygotic reproductive isolation is often caused by epistatic interactions between mutations in different genes that evolved independently of one another (hybrid incompatibilities). We examined the potential to detect epistatic selection against incompatibilities from genome sequence data using the site frequency spectrum (SFS) of polymorphisms by conducting individual-based simulations in SLiM. We found that the genome-wide SFS in hybrid populations assumes a diagnostic shape, with the continual input of fixed differences between source populations via migration inducing a mass at intermediate allele frequency. Epistatic selection locally distorts the SFS as non-incompatibility alleles rise in frequency in a manner analogous to a selective sweep. Building on these results, we present a statistical method to identify genomic regions containing incompatibility loci that locates departures in the local SFS compared with the genome-wide SFS. Cross-validation studies demonstrate that our method detects recessive and codominant incompatibilities across a range of scenarios varying in the strength of epistatic selection, migration rate, and hybrid zone age. Our approach takes advantage of whole genome sequence data, does not require knowledge of demographic history, and can be applied to any pair of nascent species that forms a hybrid zone.
Triple barcoding for a hyperparasite, its parasitic host, and the host itself: a study of Cyclocotyla bellones (Monogenea) on Ceratothoa parallela (Isopoda) on Boops boops (Teleostei)

Cyclocotyla bellones Otto, 1823 (Diclidophoridae) is a monogenean characterised by an exceptional way of life. It is a hyperparasite that attaches itself to the dorsal face of isopods, themselves parasites in the buccal cavity of fishes. In this study, Cy. bellones was found on Ceratothoa parallela (Otto, 1828), a cymothoid isopod parasite of the sparid fish Boops boops off Algeria in the Mediterranean Sea. We provide, for the first time, molecular barcoding information of a hyperparasitic monogenean, the parasitic crustacean host, and the fish host, with COI sequences.
Spatially displaced excitation contributes to the encoding of interrupted motion by a retinal direction-selective circuit

Spatially distributed excitation and inhibition collectively shape a visual neuron’s receptive field (RF) properties. In the direction-selective circuit of the mammalian retina, the role of strong null-direction inhibition of On-Off direction-selective ganglion cells (On-Off DSGCs) on their direction selectivity is well-studied. However, how excitatory inputs influence the On-Off DSGC’s visual response is underexplored. Here, we report that On-Off DSGCs have a spatially displaced glutamatergic receptive field along their horizontal preferred-null motion axes. This displaced receptive field contributes to DSGC null-direction spiking during interrupted motion trajectories. Theoretical analyses indicate that population responses during interrupted motion may help populations of On-Off DSGCs signal the spatial location of moving objects in complex, naturalistic visual environments. Our study highlights that the direction-selective circuit exploits separate sets of mechanisms under different stimulus conditions, and these mechanisms may help encode multiple visual features.
Race Moderates the Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Self-care Confidence in Patients With Heart Failure

Background African Americans are at the highest risk of developing heart failure (HF) compared with other races and are hospitalized at 7 to 8 times the rate of Whites. Poor overall self-care, low self-care confidence, and lower levels of perceived social support are factors related to increased risk for hospitalizations in HF. Yet, limited evidence is available regarding the factors that may differentially impact self-care confidence by race in patients with HF. Objective The aim of this study was to examine to what extent race moderates the relationship between perceived social support and self-care confidence. Method This is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from African American and White patients with HF in North America (n = 429). Patients completed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Self-Care Confidence Scale of the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index. A moderation analysis was conducted using hierarchal linear regression. Results Sample mean age was 60.8 ± 11.5 years, 22.4% were African American, and 54.7% were in New York Heart Association class I or II. Moderation analyses yielded a significant interaction of perceived social support and race, showing White patients, not African Americans, have significantly different self-care confidence scores depending on level of social support: White, b = 0.224, 95% confidence interval [0.046–0.094], t = 5.65, and P < . 001; African American, b = −0.776, 95% confidence interval [−0.049 to 0.060], t = 0.212, and P = . 832. Conclusions Our findings show a variable effect of perceived social support on self-care confidence as a function of race, suggesting the need for further research to develop and test interventions tailored to race and levels of social support in HF.
Plasma apoE is Elevated in Metabolic Syndrome: Importance of Large Very Low Density and Low Density Lipoprotein Particles

Background: Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is carried by all major lipoprotein classes in plasma and is likely to contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. We set out to determine the extent to which plasma apoE is related to various VLDL, LDL and HDL subfractions in subjects with and without metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods: Plasma lipids, lipoprotein subfractions (nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) and plasma apoE were determined in 60 subjects with and 62 subjects without MetS (APOE e2/e2 carriers excluded). Results: Plasma apoE was higher in MetS, coinciding with increased total and large VLDL particles, as well as total LDL particles (p 0.30). Plasma apoE was unrelated to HDL particle concentration (p=0.88). Conclusions: Plasma apoE is elevated in MetS in conjunction with increased concentrations of (large) VLDL and LDL particles. These novel findings provide a rationale to explore whether preferential association of apoE with (large) VLDL and LDL could modify its influence on atherosclerosis development.
Accurate method for rapid biomass quantification based on specific absorbance of microalgae species with biofuel importance

The development of microalgae culture technology has been an integral part to produce biomass feedstock to biofuel production. Due to this, numerous attempts have been made to improve some operational parameters of microalgae production. Despite this, specialized research in cell growth monitoring, considered as a fundamental parameter to achieve profitable applications of microalgae for biofuels production, presents some opportunity areas mainly related to the development of specific and accurate methodologies for growth monitoring. In this work, predictive models were developed through statistical tools that correlate a specific micro‐algal absorbance with cell density measured by cell count (cells∙per ml), for three species of interest for biofuels production. The results allow the precise prediction of cell density through a logistic model based on spectrophotometry, valid for all the kinetics analysed. The adjusted determination coefficients ( radj2 ) for the developed models were 0·993, 0·995 and 0·994 for Dunaliella tertiolecta, Nannochloropsis oculata and Chaetoceros muelleri respectively. The results showed that the equations obtained here can be used with an extremely low error (≤2%) for all the cell growth ranges analysed, with low operational cost and high potential of automation. Finally, a user‐friendly software was designed to give practical use to the developed predictive models.