Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hololectin Interdomain Linker Determines Asparaginyl Endopeptidase-Mediated Maturation of Antifungal Hevein-Like Peptides in Oats

Heveins and hevein-containing (hev-) lectins play important roles in stress and pathogenic responses in plants but cause health concerns in humans. Hev-hololectins contain multiple modular hev-peptide domains and are abundantly present in cereals and pseudocereals. However, it is unclear why some cereal hev-hololectins are presented as different forms of proteolytically processed proteoforms. Here we show the precursor architectures of hev-hololectins lead to different processing mechanisms to give either hololectins or hevein-like peptides. We used mass spectrometry and datamining to screen hev-peptides from common cereals, and identified from the oat plant Avena sativa nine novel hevein-like peptides, avenatide aV1–aV9. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP) can be responsible for the maturation of the highly homologous avenatides from five oat hev-hololectin precursors, each containing four tandemly repeating, hev-like avenatide domains connected by AEP-susceptible linkers with 13–16 residues in length. Further analysis of cereal hev-hololectins showed that the linker lengths provide a distinguishing feature between their cleavable and non-cleavable precursors, with the cleavables having considerably longer linkers (>13 amino acids) than the non-cleavables (<6 amino acids). A detailed study of avenatide aV1 revealed that it contains eight cysteine residues which form a structurally compact, metabolic-resistant cystine-knotted framework with a well-defined chitin-binding site. Antimicrobial assays showed that avenatide aV1 is anti-fungal and inhibits the growth of phyto-pathogenic fungi. Together, our findings of cleavable and non-cleavable hololectins found in cereals expand our knowledge to their biosynthesis and provide insights for hololectin-related health concerns in human.
Load Distribution and Fatigue Cost Estimates of Heavy Truck Loads on Louisiana State Bridges

iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . v IMPLEMENTATION STATEMENT . vii TABLE OF CONTENTS . ix LIST OF FIGURES . xiii LIST OF TABLES . xix INTRODUCTION . 1 OBJECTIVE . 3 SCOPE . 5 METHODOLOGY . 7 Description and Location of the Bridge . 7 Instrumentation of the Bridge . 8 Field Test . 14 Analysis Overview . 18 Method of Approach . 20 TRIDIMENTIONAL Girder Element Type IPSL . 21 PLATE Deck Element Type SBCR . 21 Prismatic Space Truss Members . 22 Modeling Assumptions . 22 Bridge Geometry . 22 Aspect Ratio . 24 Boundary Conditions . 24 Moving Load Analysis . 25 Regression Analysis for the Truck Weights . 26 Truck Parameters . 29 Data Collection and Preprocessing . 29 Regression Analysis . 30 Evaluation of Fatigue . 32 Fatigue in Louisiana State Bridges . 32 Identification of Critical Bridges for Study . 32 Analysis of Bridge Girders . 33 Long-term Effects and Cost . 34
Steps Toward Modelling the Past and Future North Sea Ecosystem With a Focus on Light Climate

With ongoing manmade climate change, it is important to understand its impact on regional ecosystems. Furthermore, it is known that the North Sea light climate is subject to ongoing change. The combined effects of climate change and coastal darkening are investigated in this work. We used a three-dimensional ecosystem model, forced with data from a climate model, to project three plausible biogeochemical states for the years 2050–2054, following three representative concentration and shared socioeconomic pathways (RCP2.6-SSP1, RCP4.5-SSP2 and RCP8.5-SSP5). We also performed a historic experiment for the years 1950–1954 and 2000–2004 for comparison. Our results suggest significant reductions of phytoplankton biomass as a consequence of sinking nutrient levels for all future scenarios. Additionally, a modelling study was carried out, in which we raised background SPM levels by 40% to reflect potential changes in the future. This revealed that for RCP2.6-SSP1, the ecosystem is more sensitive to changes in the light climate than for the other scenarios, due to higher nutrient availability.
Potential Fungi Isolated From Anti-biodegradable Chinese Medicine Residue to Degrade Lignocellulose

Traditional Chinese medicine is one of the ancient medicines which is popular in Asian countries, among which the residue produced by the use of anti-biodegradables is endless, and causes significant adverse impacts on the environment. However, the high acidity of anti-biodegradable residues and some special biological activities make it difficult for microorganisms to survive, resulting in a very low degradation rate of lignocellulose in naturally stacked residues, which directly impedes the degradation of residues. We aimed to identify the fungal strains that efficiently biodegrade anti-biodegradable residue and see the possibility to improve the biodegradation of it and other agricultural wastes by co-cultivating these fungi. We isolated 302 fungal strains from anti-biodegradable residue to test hydrolysis ability. Finally, we found Coniochaeta sp. , Fomitopsis sp. , Nemania sp. , Talaromyces sp. , Phaeophlebiopsis sp. which inhabit the anti-biodegradable residues are capable of producing higher concentrations of extracellular enzymes. Synergistic fungal combinations (viz., Fomitopsis sp. + Phaeophlebiopsis sp.; Talaromyces sp. + Coniochaeta sp. + Fomitopsis sp.; Talaromyces sp. + Fomitopsis sp. + Piloderma sp. and Talaromyces sp. + Nemania sp. + Piloderma sp.) have better overall degradation effect on lignocellulose. Therefore, these fungi and their combinations have strong potential to be further developed for bioremediation and biological enzyme industrial production.
Regenerative Calcium Currents in Renal Primary Cilia

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a leading cause of end-stage renal disease. PKD arises from mutations in proteins, one a Ca2+-conducting channel, expressed in the primary cilia of renal epithelial cells. A common hypothesis is that Ca2+ entering through ciliary ion channels may reduce cystogenesis. The cilia have at least two Ca2+-conducting channels: polycystin-2 (PC2) and TRPV4 (transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channel, subfamily V, member 4), but how substantially they can increase intraciliary Ca2+ is unknown. By recording channel activities in isolated cilia, conditions are identified under which the channels can increase free Ca2+ within the cilium by at least 500-fold through regenerative (positive-feedback) signaling. Ca2+ that has entered through a channel can activate the channel internally, which increases the Ca2+ influx, and so on. Regenerative signaling is favored when the concentration of the Ca2+ buffer is reduced or when a slower buffer is used. Under such conditions, the Ca2+ that enters the cilium through a single PC2 channel is sufficient to almost fully activate that same channel. Regenerative signaling is not detectable with reduced external Ca2+. Reduced buffering also allows regenerative signaling through TRPV4 channels, but not through TRPM4 (TRP subfamily M, member 4) channels, which are activated by Ca2+ but do not conduct it. On a larger scale, Ca2+ that enters through TRPV4 channels can cause secondary activation of PC2 channels. I discuss the likelihood of regenerative ciliary Ca2+ signaling in vivo, a possible mechanism for its activation, and how it might relate to cystogenesis.
Nicotinamide Riboside Supplementation for Treating Elevated Systolic Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Midlife and Older Adults

Background Aging is the primary risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death worldwide. Age-related increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) link advancing age to cardiovascular disease risk. A key mechanism mediating the increase in SBP with aging is stiffening of the large elastic arteries, which occurs due to increases in oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular smooth muscle tone. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a key molecule in energy metabolism and cellular functioning which declines with advancing age and chronic disease. Dietary supplementation with NAD+ precursors, such as nicotinamide riboside, boosts NAD+ bioavailability and may improve cardiovascular health. Here, we present the protocol for a randomized, controlled trial investigating the efficacy of 3 months of oral supplementation with nicotinamide riboside for decreasing SBP and arterial stiffness in midlife and older adults with initial above-normal (120–159 mmHg) SBP (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03821623). The primary outcome is casual (resting) SBP and secondary outcomes include 24-h SBP and aortic stiffness. Other outcomes include assessment of safety; tolerability; adherence; diastolic BP; systemic NAD+ bioavailability; and circulating biomarkers of oxidative stress, inflammation, and sympathoadrenal activity. Methods A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, single-site parallel-group design clinical trial will be conducted in 94 (47/group) midlife and older (age ≥ 50 years) adults with initial above-normal SBP. Participants will complete baseline testing and then will be randomized to either nicotinamide riboside (500 mg, 2×/day, NIAGEN®; ChromaDex Inc.) or placebo supplementation. Outcome measures will be assessed again after 3 months of treatment. Discussion This study is designed to establish the safety and efficacy of the NAD+ boosting compound, nicotinamide riboside, for reducing casual and 24-h SBP and aortic stiffness in midlife and older adults with above-normal SBP at baseline, a population at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. Clinical Trial Registration [www.ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT03821623].
The First Cbk-Like Phage Infecting Erythrobacter, Representing a Novel Siphoviral Genus

Erythrobacter is an important and widespread bacterial genus in the ocean. However, our knowledge about their phages is still rare. Here, a novel lytic phage vB_EliS-L02, infecting Erythrobacter litoralis DSM 8509, was isolated and purified from Sanggou Bay seawater, China. Morphological observation revealed that the phage belonged to Cbk-like siphovirus, with a long prolate head and a long tail. The host range test showed that phage vB_EliS-L02 could only infect a few strains of Erythrobacter, demonstrating its potential narrow-host range. The genome size of vB_EliS-L02 was 150,063 bp with a G+C content of 59.43%, encoding 231 putative open reading frames (ORFs), but only 47 were predicted to be functional domains. Fourteen auxiliary metabolic genes were identified, including phoH that may confer vB_EliS-L02 the advantage of regulating phosphate uptake and metabolism under a phosphate-limiting condition. Genomic and phylogenetic analyses indicated that vB_EliS-L02 was most closely related to the genus Lacusarxvirus with low similarity (shared genes < 30%, and average nucleotide sequence identity < 70%), distantly from other reported phages, and could be grouped into a novel viral genus cluster, in this study as Eliscbkvirus. Meanwhile, the genus Eliscbkvirus and Lacusarxvirus stand out from other siphoviral genera and could represent a novel subfamily within Siphoviridae, named Dolichocephalovirinae-II. Being a representative of an understudied viral group with manifold adaptations to the host, phage vB_EliS-L02 could improve our understanding of the virus–host interactions and provide reference information for viral metagenomic analysis in the ocean.
Human Language Technologies - The Baltic Perspective: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference Baltic HLT 2012 - Volume 247 Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications

Human language technologies continue to play an important part in the modern information society. This book contains papers presented at the fifth international conference Human Language Technologies - The Baltic Perspective (Baltic HLT 2012), held in Tartu, Estonia, in October 2012. This book will be of interest to all those whose work involves the use and application of computational linguistics and related disciplines.IOS Press is an international science, technical and medical publisher of high-quality books for academics, scientists, and professionals in all fields. Some of the areas we publish in: -Biomedicine -Oncology -Artificial intelligence -Databases and information systems -Maritime engineering -Nanotechnology -Geoengineering -All aspects of physics -E-governance -E-commerce -The knowledge economy -Urban studies -Arms control -Understanding and responding to terrorism -Medical informatics -Computer Sciences
Quest For The Perfect Cap: The Prototype Hanford Barrier 15 Years Later-10419

Engineered surface barriers are recognized as a remedial alternative to the removal, treatment and disposal of near- surface contaminants at a variety of waste sites within the DOE complex. One outstanding issue that has impacted stakeholder acceptance of this technology is the limited amount of performance data and the uncertainty in using them to predict long-term performance. In 1994, a 2-ha multi-component barrier was constructed over an existing waste disposal site using natural materials. The 4.5-m thick barrier includes a 1-m thick silt loam surface layer with 15% pea gravel to control erosion as well as a capillary break, an asphaltic concrete layer at the base, and two protective side-slope configurations. The cover was designed to meet a 0.5 mm/yr drainage criterion and is instrumented to monitor stability as well water balance components. A treatability test conducted from 1994-1998 included irrigation at a rate of 480 mm/yr including a simulated 1000-yr return storm each March, in which 68 mm of water was applied over an 8 hr period. Monitoring has been almost continuous for the last 15 yrs and has focused on barrier stability, vegetative cover, evidence of plant and animal intrusion, and the main components of the water balance, including precipitation, runoff, storage, drainage, and deep percolation. The total precipitation received from October 1994 through August 2008 was 3311 mm on the northern half (formerly irrigated), and 2638 mm on the southern, non-irrigated half. Water storage in the fine-soil layer shows a cyclic pattern, increasing in the winter and decreasing in the spring and summer to a lower limit of around 100 mm, regardless of precipitation, in response to evapotranspiration. The functional portion of the barrier and its side slopes are structurally stable. Over the 15 years, only three runoff events have been observed but the 600-mm design storage capacity has never been exceeded. Total percolation ranged from near zero amounts under the soil-covered plots to over 600 mm under the side slopes but an asphalt layer prevented any of this water from reaching the buried waste. A relatively high ground cover of native plants still persists after the initial revegetation although the number of species decreased from 35 in 1994 to 15 in 2009. The vegetative cover, in addition to the silt-loam-gravel admix, proved effective in minimizing erosion but a recent removal of vegetation from the north half resulted in significant soil movement. There is ample evidence of insect and small mammal use suggesting that the barrier is beginning to function like a recovering ecosystem. These data have proven useful in the development of more rigorous methods for evaluating long-term performance and quantifying associated risk and uncertainty using numerical models.
The Effect of Clinical Learning Environment on Occupational Risk Perception of Nursing Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The clinical learning environment provide students with the opportunity to transfer knowledge, skills and concepts learned from lessons to practice and has an important role in nursing education. Nursing students are at occupational risks such as physical, biological, chemical, ergonomic, and psychological risks that nurses face in their work environments in clinical environments. They are prone to accidents and diseases throughout their training. To determine the relationship between nursing students' clinical learning environment and their occupational risk perceptions. Methods : This descriptive and cross-sectional study, conducted with 552 nursing studens who agreed to participate. The data was collected using a questionnaire form, the “Occupational risk perception scale in nursing students” and the “Clinical Learning Environment Scale” . The number and percentage distribution, multiple linear regression were used evaluation of data. Results: The total score of the Occupational Risk Perception in Nursing Students was 71.36±8.17, the total score of the Clinical Learning Environment Scale was 62.30±9.02. The factors contributing to the occupational risk perception of students were determined as the clinical learning environment perception, age, gender, the anxiety caused by the communication problems between individuals in clinical settings and the level of knowlwdge about protection from sharp injuries. Conclusion: This study highlights that there is a relationship between the clinical learning environment and occupational risk perception in nursing. Nursing students reported positively perceive the clinical learning environments and their occupational risk perceptions are high. Selecting clinical learning environments such that targeted clinical learning is encouraged and all measures are taken against occupational risks may impact how perceive occupational risk perception. Strategies are needed to address to organize clinic-oriented training programs at regular intervals to increase the occupational risk perception. Impact statement: Selecting clinical learning environments such that targeted clinical learning is encouraged will be able to provide better perceive occupational risk perception.
Cardiovascular implications in adolescent and young adult hypertension

Background : Hypertension is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States, affecting an estimated 3.5% of children and adolescents. It can be adversely affect most organ systems but is particularly detrimental to the heart and vascular systems. The reper-cussions can be gauged through well-established measures of cardiovascular function including left ventricular mass index (LVMI), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), carotid intima media thickness (cIMT), and aortic stiffness. Cardiovascular function is also affected by underlying etiologies of hypertension including chronic kidney disease, polycystic kidney disease, coarctation of the aorta, adrenal disorders, renal artery stenosis, obstructive sleep apnea, as well as various drugs and medications (decongestants, stimulants, Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), and steroids). Methods : An exhaustive literature search was conducted for clinical data regarding pediatric hypertension. Sixty-seven articles were incorporated with data on 189,477 subjects total. The data was then extracted and categorized as relating to hypertension incidence, LVMI, LVH, cIMT, and/or aortic stiffness. Results : The prevalence of pediatric ( < 18 years) hypertension extracted from 47 studies from 1994 to 2018 averaged 4%. The LVMI assessed over 7 studies (n = 661) averaged 39.3 g/m 2 . 7 in the hypertensive cohort and 30.1 g/m 2 . 7 in the control cohort. The cIMT assessed over 7 studies (n = 580) averaged 0.55 mm in the hypertensive cohort and 0.49 mm in the control cohort. Ambulatory arterial stiffness parameters assessed over 5 studies (n = 573) in the normotensive cohort averaged 99.73 mmHg, 69.81 mmHg, 76.85 mmHg, and 46.90 mmHg, for SBP, DBP, MAP, and PP respectively. Ambulatory arterial stiffness parameters assessed over 5 studies (n = 573) in the hypertensive cohort averaged 129.56 mmHg, 73.69 mmHg, 95.08 mmHg, and 56.80 mmHg, for SBP, DBP, MAP, and PP respectively . Conclusions : The significance of pediatric hypertension is emphasized by evidence of early cardiovascular disease as demonstrated by non-invasive measures including cIMT and arterial stiffness parameters, and target organ damage and including LVH and LVMI factors. Thus, early diagnosis and treatment of high blood pressure is paramount for improving long term cardiovascular health and preventing long term morbidity and mortality.
Current Status of Acupuncture in Relieving Pain after Joint Replacement

Total joint replacement (TJR) is the most economical, effective and practical orthopedic method for the treatment of end-stage joint diseases in humans. Patients still experience varying degrees of joint pain and swelling during their recovery, and severe pain increases the risk of complications. Existing pain management methods such as self-controlled analgesia, analgesia drugs, nerve block, etc. may lead to adverse gastrointestinal reactions, urinary retention, spinal nerve syndrome, etc. Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy is prominent, effective and safe in various acute and chronic pain diseases. The research on TJR mainly focuses on the intervention of pain after hip and knee arthroplasty, using a variety of methods such as ordinary acupuncture, electroacupuncture, ear acupuncture, warm acupuncture, wrist ankle acupuncture and so on. Through a variety of ways to directly dredge the human body’s meridians, har-monize Yin and Yang Qi and blood, and improve the Yin and Yang operation of viscera and blood, so as to quickly achieve the purpose of pain relief. In this paper, the clinical application of acupuncture in the treatment of knee and hip joint pain after replacement is reviewed.
NIST 2020 CTS Speaker Recognition Challenge Evaluation Plan

Following the success of the 2019 Conversational Telephone Speech (CTS) Speaker Recognition Challenge, which received 1347 submissions from 67 academic and industrial organizations, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be organizing a 2020 CTS Challenge, the next iteration of an ongoing series of speaker recognition evaluations conducted by NIST since 1996. The objectives of the evaluation series are (1) for NIST to effectively measure system-calibrated performance of the current state of technology, (2) to provide a common test bed that enables the research community to explore promising new ideas in speaker recognition, and (3) to support the community in their development of advanced technology incorporating these ideas. The evaluations are intended to be of interest to all researchers working on the general problem of text-independent speaker recognition. To this end, the evaluations are designed to focus on core technology issues and to be simple and accessible to those wishing to participate. Similar to the 2019 CTS Challenge, the 2020 evaluation will feature a leaderboard-style challenge offering an open/unconstrained training condition (see Section 2.2), but using CTS recordings extracted from multiple data sources containing multilingual speech. In addition, unlike the 2019 CTS Challenge, no Development set will be released for the 2020 CTS challenge, and it will feature public leaderboards with live results on the progress subset as well as periodically updated results from the test subset. This document describes the task, the performance metric, data, and the evaluation protocol as well as rules/requirements for the 2020 CTS Challenge. A regular speaker recognition evaluation (SRE) has also been planned for late 2020. The evaluation plan for the regular SRE20 will be described in another document. Note that in order to participate in the regular evaluation, one must first complete the CTS Challenge. Participation in the 2020 CTS Challenge is open to all who find the evaluation of interest and are able to comply with the evaluation rules set forth in this plan. There is no cost to participate in the challenge and the evaluation web platform, data, and the scoring software will be available free of charge. Participating teams in the 2020 CTS Challenge will have the option1 to attend the post-evaluation workshop to be held in June 2021. Information about evaluation registration can be found on the announcement website2.