Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proteomic Alterations in Follicular Fluid of Human Small Antral Follicles Collected from Polycystic Ovaries—A Pilot Study

Polycystic ovaries (PCO) contain antral follicles that arrest growing around 3–11 mm in diameter, perturbing the dominant follicle’s selection and the subsequent ovulatory process. Proteomic alterations of PCO follicular fluid (FF) (i.e., microenvironment in which the oocyte develops until ovulation) have been studied from large follicles in connection with oocyte pickup during ovarian stimulation. The present study aimed to detect proteomic alterations in FF from unstimulated human small antral follicles (hSAF) obtained from PCO. After performing deep-sequencing label-free proteomics on 10 PCO and 10 non-PCO FF samples from unstimulated hSAF (4.6–9.8 mm), 1436 proteins were identified, of which 115 were dysregulated in PCO FF samples. Pathways and processes related to the immune system, inflammation, and oxidative stress appeared to be upregulated in PCO, while extracellular matrix receptors interactions, the collagens-containing extracellular matrix, and the regulation of signaling were downregulated. The secreted proteins SFRP1, THBS4, and C1QC significantly decreased their expression in PCO FF, and this downregulation was suggested to affect future oocyte competence. In conclusion, our study revealed, for the first time, evidence of proteomic alterations occurring in the FF of PCO hSAF that may be related to the dysfunction of follicular growth and subsequent oocyte competence.
PC-Based Laser Machining CNC System

In respect to demand for developing new laser machining equipment, uniqueness of laser machining control is analyzed, architectural structure for laser machining CNC system is studied, and realization technology for key chains is presented, based on which, PC_based laser machining CNC system is developed. The new CNC system has a high reliability, good performance, strong function and low cost, it has a broad application prospect.
A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-enhanced fuzzy geometric mean-fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution approach for suitable hotel recommendation amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Cities around the world have reopened from the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and more and more people are planning regional travel. Therefore, it is a practical problem to recommend suitable hotels to travelers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is also a challenging task since the critical factors that affect hotel selection amid the COVID-19 pandemic may be different from those usually considered. From this perspective, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-enhanced fuzzy geometric mean-fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution approach is proposed in this study for hotel recommendation. The proposed methodology not only considers the critical factors affecting hotel selection amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but also establishes a systematic mechanism, that is, enhanced fuzzy geometric mean, to simultaneously improve the accuracy and efficiency of the recommendation process. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-enhanced fuzzy geometric mean-fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution approach has been successfully applied to recommend suitable hotels to 10 travelers for regional trips amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
GlyNAC (Glycine and N-Acetylcysteine) Supplementation in Mice Increases Length of Life by Correcting Glutathione Deficiency, Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Abnormalities in Mitophagy and Nutrient Sensing, and Genomic Damage

Determinants of length of life are not well understood, and therefore increasing lifespan is a challenge. Cardinal theories of aging suggest that oxidative stress (OxS) and mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to the aging process, but it is unclear if they could also impact lifespan. Glutathione (GSH), the most abundant intracellular antioxidant, protects cells from OxS and is necessary for maintaining mitochondrial health, but GSH levels decline with aging. Based on published human studies where we found that supplementing glycine and N-acetylcysteine (GlyNAC) improved/corrected GSH deficiency, OxS and mitochondrial dysfunction, we hypothesized that GlyNAC supplementation could increase longevity. We tested our hypothesis by evaluating the effect of supplementing GlyNAC vs. placebo in C57BL/6J mice on (a) length of life; and (b) age-associated GSH deficiency, OxS, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal mitophagy and nutrient-sensing, and genomic-damage in the heart, liver and kidneys. Results showed that mice receiving GlyNAC supplementation (1) lived 24% longer than control mice; (2) improved/corrected impaired GSH synthesis, GSH deficiency, OxS, mitochondrial dysfunction, abnormal mitophagy and nutrient-sensing, and genomic-damage. These studies provide proof-of-concept that GlyNAC supplementation can increase lifespan and improve multiple age-associated defects. GlyNAC could be a novel and simple nutritional supplement to improve lifespan and healthspan, and warrants additional investigation.
Facile Preparation of Mechanically Robust and Functional Silica/Cellulose Nanofiber Gels Reinforced with Soluble Polysaccharides

Nanoporous silica gels feature extremely large specific surface areas and high porosities and are ideal candidates for adsorption-related processes, although they are commonly rather fragile. To overcome this obstacle, we developed a novel, completely solvent-free process to prepare mechanically robust CNF-reinforced silica nanocomposites via the incorporation of methylcellulose and starch. Significantly, the addition of starch was very promising and substantially increased the compressive strength while preserving the specific surface area of the gels. Moreover, different silanes were added to the sol/gel process to introduce in situ functionality to the CNF/silica hydrogels. Thereby, CNF/silica hydrogels bearing carboxyl groups and thiol groups were produced and tested as adsorber materials for heavy metals and dyes. The developed solvent-free sol/gel process yielded shapable 3D CNF/silica hydrogels with high mechanical strength; moreover, the introduction of chemical functionalities further widens the application scope of such materials.
Transient security risk assessment of power system based on risk theory and fuzzy reasoning

Based on probability theory,risk theory and fuzzy reasoning are applied to the transient security risk assessment of power system.Quantified risk indices are achieved by using specified severity function to quantify the maximal offsets of frequency and voltage and the margins of angle rotor stability and fault clearing time.The quantified frequency and voltage risk index are used to calculate the steady index by the steady fuzzy controller while the quantified margins of angle rotor stability and fault clearing time are used to calculate the transient index by the transient fuzzy controller.The system transient stability index is calculated by the weighted integration of steady index and transient index.Based on it,the software of transient security risk assessment is developed.Case study of risk indices calculation for a permanent three-phase grounding fault of New England 39-bus test system shows its effectiveness and rationality.
Detecting Nonlinearity in the Dam's Monitoring Data

Nonlinearity analysis of dam's monitoring data is based on the existing of nonlinearity which is tested by all kinds of methods.In the paper,surrogate data method based on bootstrap methods of modern statistics theory is addressed and applied to the nonlinearity testing of Feng Man Dam's monitoring data.The result conclude that there exist nonlinear ingredients in the displacement data and the non linearity is not caused by the static nonlinear transformation measurement,but is the manifest of the dam's dynamic system,which provides the theory basis and testing method for further nonlinear analysis.
Arthropod populations in a sub‐arctic environment facing climate change over a half‐century: variability but no general trend

Dramatic declines of some arthropod populations have recently received a lot of attention. Identified declines have mainly been attributed to changes in agriculture, climate, pathogen prevalence and light pollution, as well as cross‐regional effects of, e.g., drifting pesticides. However, the overall picture is complex and debated, and there is a need for systematically collected long‐term data, not least from areas relatively unaffected by humans. We monitored the abundance of arthropods (mainly insects) in subalpine birch forest in Swedish Lapland over a period of 53 years (1968–2020), in an area comparatively unaffected by human activities. Arthropod abundance was assessed by yearly systematic counts on 24,000 birch shoots, in the second half of June. Animals were categorised into 17 different groups directly upon counting, dependent on taxonomy and life stage (imago, larva). Overall, there was no significant change in arthropod numbers. Nor did estimates of the total biomass of arthropods (using group‐specific indices of the mass of individuals) show any significant trend. Accordingly, there are no signs that the arthropod abundance or biomass on birch in this subarctic study site has gone through the same declines as have been reported from sites in other habitats. The reason may be that the impact of factors identified worldwide as drivers of arthropod declines so far are small or non‐existent because of the low human population density in this area.
A Hierarchical Control Algorithm of Automobile Cruise System

To relieve driver's workload and improve driving safety and comfort,an algorithm with hierarchically configured architecture of adaptive cruise control(ACC) is proposed and it has been applied to vehicle by regulating the electronic throttle.In the upper layer control,a linear control algorithm depended on driver's steady car-following behavior and an alternative safe headway model was designed.In the bottom layer,the closed-loop velocity control strategy was constructed based on inverse query table.The throttle angle look-up table was set-up based on the knowledge acquired from vehicle test and precise velocity adjustment was applied with the increasing mode of PID control.Eventually,the good effect of velocity following was achieved.The cruise control and steady car-following experiments were implemented to verify the effectiveness of proposed control algorithm.The result shows that,the developed ACC controller can mitigate driving fatigue in normal driving situations effectively and has good performance of acceptance and comfort to driver.
The Edible Gray Oyster Fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex Fr.) P. Kumm a Potent Waste Consumer, a Biofriendly Species with Antioxidant Activity Depending on the Growth Substrate

Nowadays, climate change is not the only threat facing our planet. There are also other types of pollution such as waste that poisons soils and water and kills plants, harming humans and animals. Sustainability represents a key issue for the actual Global Citizen. For this reason, our article is dedicated to offering biofriendly solutions to decrease wastes, give them a positive meaning, such as a substrate for an edible oyster fungus with nutritive and biological properties usefully for humans. Three types of wastes such as coconut coir, pine sawdust, and paper waste—representative symbols of pollution in Ecuador—have been tested as suitable growing substrate for the edible fungi Pleurotus ostreatus (Jacq. ex Fr.) P. Kumm by analyzing parameters such as Biological Efficiency, Mushroom Yield, and Productive Rate. The influence of these “waste” substrates on the nutritive (protein content), biological characteristic (antioxidant activity), and the content of human-health-sustaining compounds (phenols, flavonoids) were also evaluated using the Kjeldahal, DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and Folin–Ciocalteu methods. The results indicate that all the waste products represent desirable substrates for growing the edible fungi, with more focus on coconut coir waste (one of the principal pollution problems in Ecuador), but that also achieved the increase in the fungi’s desirable characteristics. Coconut coir waste could be an environmentally friendly solution that also offers for humans additional nutritive and healthy benefits.
The fracture failure of three-dimensional concrete structures subjected to concentrated loadings using the Boundary Element Method

Abstract This study applies the Boundary Element Method (BEM) for the fracture failure modelling of three-dimensional concrete structures subjected to concentrated boundary conditions. The non-requirement of domain mesh by the BEM enables high accuracy in the domain fields assessment in addition to less complex remeshing procedures during crack propagation. However, concentrated boundary conditions often occur in fracture mechanics. The Lagrangian version of the BEM enforces such boundary conditions approximately by small length elements, which lead to numerical instabilities or even inaccurate problem representation. This study proposes a formulation for representing properly concentrated boundary conditions within the Lagrangian BEM framework. Nonlinear fracture mechanics describes the material failure processes herein. The classical cohesive crack approach governs the nonlinear energy dissipation processes, in which constant and tangent operators solve the resulting nonlinear system. Three applications demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed formulation, in which the BEM responses are compared against numerical and experimental results available in the literature.
Formulation of Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System of Cephalexin: Physiochemical Characterization and Antibacterial Evaluation

A cephalexin (CEP) self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) was developed in this study to improve the drug’s oral administration. The CEP-SNEDDS was made utilizing an aqueous titration method employing Lauroglycol 90, Poloxamer 188, and Transcutol-HP. Box-Behnken design (BBD) with three factors at three levels was used for optimization, and their impacts on globule size (nm), transmittance (percent), and emulsification time (s) were assessed. The optimized formulation (Opt-F3) was further tested for zeta potential, refractive index, percent transmittance, thermodynamic stability, in-vitro release, ex vivo permeability, antibacterial activity, and bioavailability. The chosen formulation (Opt-F3) had a globule size of 87.25 ± 3.16 nm, PDI of 0.25, zeta potential of −24.37 mV, self-emulsification duration of 52 ± 1.7 s, and percentage transmittance of 99.13 ± 1.5%, viscosity of 96.26 ± 2.72 cp, and refractive index of 1.29 ± 0.1. It showed a sustained release profile (94.28 ± 5.92 percent in 24 h). The Opt-F3 formulation had 3.95 times the permeability of CEP-dispersion. In comparison to CEP-dispersion, it also demonstrated greater antibacterial efficacy against tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens. The oral bioavailability of Opt-F3 is 3.48 times higher than that of CEP-dispersion, according to an in-vivo investigation. It has been determined that the prepared CEP-SNEDDS may be an advantageous carrier for CEP delivery.
Self-thinning forest understoreys reduce wildfire risk, even in a warming climate

As climatic changes continue to drive increases in the frequency and severity of forest fires, it is critical to understand all of the factors influencing the risk of forest fire. Using a spatial dataset of areas burnt over a 65 year period in a 528 343 ha study area, we examined three possible drivers of flammability dynamics. These were: that forests became more flammable as fine biomass (fuel) returned following disturbance (H1), that disturbance increased flammability by initiating dense understorey growth that later self-thinned (H2), and that climatic effects were more important than either of these internal dynamics (H3). We found that forests were unlikely to burn for a short ‘young’ period (5–7 years) following fire, very likely to burn as the regrowing understorey became taller and denser (regrowth period), then after a total post-disturbance period of 43–56 years (young + regrowth periods), fire became unlikely and continued to decrease in likelihood (mature period). This trend did not change as the climate warmed, although increases in synoptic variability (mean changes in synoptic systems per season) had a pronounced effect on wildfire likelihood overall. Young forest and regrowth forest became increasingly likely to burn in years of greater synoptic variability and the time taken for forests to mature increased, but in years with the most severe synoptic variability, mature forests were the least likely to burn. Our findings offer an explanation for fire behaviour in numerous long-term studies in diverse forest types globally and indicate that, even in the face of a warming climate, ‘ecologically-cooperative’ approaches may be employed that reinforce rather than disrupt natural ecological controls on forest fire. These range from traditional indigenous fire knowledge, to modern targeting of suppression resources to capitalise on the benefits of self-thinning, and minimise the extent of dense regrowth in the landscape.
Development and Biological Evaluation of the First Highly Potent and Specific Benzamide-Based Radiotracer [18F]BA3 for Imaging of Histone Deacetylases 1 and 2 in Brain

The degree of acetylation of lysine residues on histones influences the accessibility of DNA and, furthermore, the gene expression. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are overexpressed in various tumour diseases, resulting in the interest in HDAC inhibitors for cancer therapy. The aim of this work is the development of a novel 18F-labelled HDAC1/2-specific inhibitor with a benzamide-based zinc-binding group to visualize these enzymes in brain tumours by positron emission tomography (PET). BA3, exhibiting high inhibitory potency for HDAC1 (IC50 = 4.8 nM) and HDAC2 (IC50 = 39.9 nM), and specificity towards HDAC3 and HDAC6 (specificity ratios >230 and >2080, respectively), was selected for radiofluorination. The two-step one-pot radiosynthesis of [18F]BA3 was performed in a TRACERlab FX2 N radiosynthesizer by a nucleophilic aliphatic substitution reaction. The automated radiosynthesis of [18F]BA3 resulted in a radiochemical yield of 1%, a radiochemical purity of >96% and a molar activity between 21 and 51 GBq/µmol (n = 5, EOS). For the characterization of BA3, in vitro and in vivo experiments were carried out. The results of these pharmacological and pharmacokinetic studies indicate a suitable inhibitory potency of BA3, whereas the applicability for non-invasive imaging of HDAC1/2 by PET requires further optimization of the properties of this compound.
Enhancing the NOx and soot emissions reduction benefits of a low compression ratio light duty diesel engine by optimization of piston bowl design

In the present work, the benefits of the low compression ratio (LCR) concept on simultaneous reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and soot emissions could be further enhanced by optimizing the piston bowl design using a 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool. A single-cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine was used for the present investigations. In its mass-production version, the engine had a compression ratio (CR) of 18:1 that was considered as the stock CR from which the LCR variants were derived. The initial and unoptimized piston design of the LCR variant with CR of 14:1 was arrived at using an offset bowl geometry from the stock compression ratio variant, and the corresponding benefits were quantified. The NO (nitric oxide) and soot reduction potential of the LCR variant could be further enhanced by adopting a step-by-step optimization procedure focused on the principal parameters of the bowl viz., piston bowl diameter, centre pip depth, reentrancy and bottom profile. Based on numerical investigations, an optimal piston bowl design could be arrived at that can significantly enhance the benefits of the LCR approach on NO and soot emissions. At a reference operating point of 2000 rpm and 40 N-m, by adopting the optimized profile, the NO reduction potential of the LCR variant could be improved from 10.3% to 40.2%. Moreover, the soot reduction potential could also be improved from 79.1% to 84.2%. The benefits of the optimized bowl design were also confirmed by engine dynamometer measurements across the engine’s operating speed range. Thus, it can be concluded that optimization of the piston bowl design specific to the LCR variant could enhance the NOx and soot emission benefits that can help diesel engines comply with the stringent emission regulations.
The Highly Efficient Synthesis of 1,2-Disubstituted Benzimidazoles Using Microwave Irradiation

The benzimidazole ring of the heterocyclic pharmacophores is one of the most widespread and studied systems in nature. The benzimidazole derivative synthesis study is a crucial point for the development of a clinically available benzimidazole-based drug. Here, we report a simple microwave assisted method for the synthesis of 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazoles. The combination of the molar ratio of N-phenyl-o-phenylenediamine:benzaldehyde (1:1) using microwave irradiation and only 1% mol of Er(OTf)3 provides an efficient and environmental mild access to a diversity of benzimidazoles under solvent-free conditions. The proposed method allows for the obtainment of the desired products in a short time and with very high selectivity.
Rubinosporusauriporus gen. et sp. nov. (Boletaceae: Xerocomoideae) from Tropical Forests of Thailand, Producing Unusual Dark Ruby Spore Deposits

Rubinosporus, a new bolete genus from tropical forests of Thailand is introduced with R. auriporus as the type species. The genus is unique among Xerocomoideae in producing dark ruby spore deposits. It can be differentiated from all other Boletaceae genera by the following combination of characters: pileus surface evenly covered with matted tomentum; stipe surface with evenly scattered minute squamules; golden yellow tubular hymenophore, which is relatively thin especially when young; unchanging surfaces and context when bruised or cut; smooth, broadly ellipsoid basidiospores; and dark ruby spore deposits. The Boletaceae-wide and Xerocomoideae-wide phylogenetic analyses based on four-gene data sets (atp6, cox3, rpb2, and tef1) support Rubinosporus as monophyletic and places it in Boletaceae subfamily Xerocomoideae. Full descriptions and illustrations of the new genus and species are presented.