Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations Between Prenatal Sleep and Psychological Health: A Systematic Review.

STUDY OBJECTIVES This systematic review aimed to examine the: 1) strength of associations between prenatal sleep (i.e., duration, quality, and insomnia) and psychological health (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress); and 2) moderating influence of sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., maternal age, gestational age/trimester, parity, marital and socioeconomic status [SES]), body mass index (BMI), and meeting sleep recommendations. METHODS A systematic search was conducted using PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and CINHAL to identify studies with at least one sleep measure and a psychological health outcome. Effect sizes (ES) were calculated by associations between individual components of sleep and psychological health (e.g., sleep quality-depression). RESULTS Reviewed studies (N =32) included 14,648 participants and yielded 219 ES. ES for anxiety/stress were combined due to insufficient data to analyze individually. Average strengths of associations for sleep duration-depression (ES=.52) and -anxiety/stress (ES=.48), sleep quality-depression (ES=.55) and -anxiety/stress (ES=.58), and insomnia-depression (ES=.67) ranged from medium to large. Marital status, parity, BMI, and meeting sleep recommendations moderated sleep duration-depression and -anxiety/stress. SES, gestational age/trimester, parity, and BMI moderated sleep quality-depression and anxiety/stress associations. CONCLUSIONS Poor sleep quality and depression are prevalent during pregnancy and may negatively impact maternal and fetal outcomes. Moderating effects suggest that pregnant women of different BMI status and gestational age differ in their sleep habits and depression and anxiety/stress levels. Findings highlight the need to better understand the impact of these associations on maternal-fetal outcomes to inform interventions to improve sleep and psychological health.
Performance of continuous glucose monitoring devices during intensive exercise conditions in people with diabetes: the Mont Blanc experience

With increasing use of both flash glucose monitoring and real-time continuous glucose monitoring and the reliance of users on these readings, accuracy is important, in particular during intensive exercise. We investigated the performance of the FreeStyle Libre 1 flash glucose monitor and the Guardian Connect EnliteTM real-time continuous glucose monitor by comparing readings with self-monitored blood glucose values during intensive exercise.
Inter-Subunit Assisted Folding of DNA Binding Domains in Dimeric Catabolite Activator Protein.

The abundance of protein dimers and multidomain proteins is a testimony to their importance in various cellular functions. Several mechanisms exist, explaining how they assemble. The energy landscape theory has shown that irrespective of the mechanism followed, folding and binding of dimers and multi domain proteins are funneled processes. Using a structure based model we have characterized the folding landscape and dimerisation mechanism of the DNA binding domain (DBD) in a complex multidomain, homodimeric transcription factor, Catabolite Activator Protein (CAP). The DBD is tethered to the nucleotide binding domain (NBD) of CAP. Our investigation revealed that as the tethered DBD of CAP transitions from an unfolded to the folded state, complementary folding and backtracking occur between the individual subunits within the DBD. This redistributes the entropies of the DBDs in both the subunits and might play a role in consequently modulating the free energy surface to reduce the entropic folding barrier. This redistribution of entropies forms the basis of an unusual inter-subunit assisted folding mechanism whereby each subunit acts as a chaperone for the other. We have also investigated the effect of tethering on the folding landscape of DBD and found that the folding landscape can change depending on the tethering conditions.
Complete Genome Sequence of Lignin-Degrading Streptomyces sp. Strain S6, Isolated from an Oil Palm Plantation in Malaysia

Streptomyces spp. are bacteria that are responsible for the degradation of aromatic compounds and produce secondary metabolites. Here, we present a complete genome sequence of Streptomyces sp. strain S6, which was isolated from an oil palm plantation, with a 7.8-Mbp liner chromosome, a GC content of 72%, and 4,266 coding sequences. ABSTRACT Streptomyces spp. are bacteria that are responsible for the degradation of aromatic compounds and produce secondary metabolites. Here, we present a complete genome sequence of Streptomyces sp. strain S6, which was isolated from an oil palm plantation, with a 7.8-Mbp liner chromosome, a GC content of 72%, and 4,266 coding sequences.
The combined effect of eye movements improve head centred local motion information during walking

Eye movements play multiple roles in human behaviour—small stabilizing movements are important for keeping the image of the scene steady during locomotion, whilst large scanning movements search for relevant information. It has been proposed that eye movement induced retinal motion interferes with the estimation of self-motion based on optic flow. We investigated the effect of eye movements on retinal motion information during walking. Observers walked towards a target, wearing eye tracking glasses that simultaneously recorded the scene ahead and tracked the movements of both eyes. By realigning the frames of the recording from the scene ahead, relative to the centre of gaze, we could mimic the input received by the retina (retinocentric coordinates) and compare this to the input received by the scene camera (head centred coordinates). We asked which of these coordinate frames resulted in the least noisy motion information. Motion noise was calculated by finding the error in between the optic flow signal and a noise-free motion expansion pattern. We found that eye movements improved the optic flow information available, even when large diversions away from target were made.
Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells enhance autophagy and help protect cells under hypoxic and retinal detachment conditions

Our study aimed to evaluate the protective role and mechanisms of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in hypoxic photoreceptors and experimental retinal detachment. The cellular morphology, viability, apoptosis and autophagy of hypoxic 661w cells and cells cocultured with BMSCs were analysed. In retinal detachment model, BMSCs were intraocularly transplanted, and then, the retinal morphology, outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness and rhodopsin expression were studied as well as apoptosis and autophagy of the retinal cells. The hypoxia‐induced apoptosis of 661w cells obviously increased together with autophagy levels increasing and peaking at 8 hours after hypoxia. Upon coculturing with BMSCs, hypoxic 661w cells had a better morphology and fewer apoptosis. After autophagy was inhibited, the apoptotic 661w cells under the hypoxia increased, and the cell viability was reduced, even in the presence of transplanted BMSCs. In retina‐detached eyes transplanted with BMSCs, the retinal ONL thickness was closer to that of the normal retina. After transplantation, apoptosis decreased significantly and retinal autophagy was activated in the BMSC‐treated retinas. Increased autophagy in the early stage could facilitate the survival of 661w cells under hypoxic stress. Coculturing with BMSCs protects 661w cells from hypoxic damage, possibly due to autophagy activation. In retinal detachment models, BMSC transplantation can significantly reduce photoreceptor cell death and preserve retinal structure. The capacity of BMSCs to reduce retinal cell apoptosis and to initiate autophagy shortly after transplantation may facilitate the survival of retinal cells in the low‐oxygen and nutrition‐restricted milieu after retinal detachment.
NDT_A_206624 1671..1677

Point your SmartPhone at the code above. If you have a QR code reader the video abstract will appear. Or use: https://youtu.be/2G17m4oyiwg Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a mainly lethal and highly debilitating condition, is increasing worldwide. However, the underlying mechanism has not been fully elucidated and effective therapy is needed. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which form a major class of noncoding RNAs, have emerged as novel targets for regulating physiological functions and mediating numerous neurological diseases. Notably, gene expression profile analyses have demonstrated aberrant changes in lncRNA expression in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of rats, mice and human after TBI. lncRNAs may be associated with multiple pathophysiological processes following TBI and might play a crucial role in complications of TBI, such as traumatic optic neuropathy due to the regulation of specific signaling pathways. Some lncRNAs have also been found to be therapeutic targets for motor and cognitive recovery after TBI. lncRNAs may be promising biomarkers for TBI diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis prediction. However, further research isneeded to clarify the underlying mechanisms and therapeutic effects of lncRNAs on TBI. We review the current progress of studies on lncRNAs in TBI to draw more attention to their roles in this debilitating condition.
Approximation Schemes via Width/Weight Trade-offs on Minor-free Graphs

In this paper, we prove a new scaling lemma for vertex weighted minor free graphs that allows for a smooth trade-off between the weight of a vertex set S and the treewidth of G− S. More precisely, we show the following. There exists an algorithm that given an H-minor free graph G, a weight function w : V (G) → Q and integers t and s, runs in polynomial time, and outputs a subset S ⊆ V (G) of weight at most d log n ·opt(G,w, t)/s such that the treewidth of G − S is at most c · st. Here, d and c are fixed constants that depend only on H, and opt(G,w, t) is the (unknown) minimum weight of a subset U ⊆ V (G) such that the treewidth of G− U is at most t. This lemma immediately yields the first polynomial-time approximation schemes (PTASes) for Weighted Treewidth-η Vertex Deletion, for η ≥ 2, on graphs of bounded genus and the first PTAS for Weighted Feedback vertex Set on H-minor free graphs. These results effortlessly generalize to include weighted edge deletion problems, to all Weighted Connected Planar F-Deletion problems, and finally to quasi polynomial time approximation schemes (QPTASes) for all of these problems on H-minor free graphs. For most of these problems even constant factor approximation algorithms, even on planar graphs, were not previously known. Additionally, using the scaling lemma we subsume, simplify and extend the recent framework of Cohen-Addad et al. [STOC 2016] for turning constant factor approximation algorithms for “ubiquitous” problems into PTASes for the same problems on graphs of bounded genus. Specifically, we obtain PTASes for ubiquitous problems without the requirement of having a constant factor approximation. While the statement of the scaling lemma is inspired by an analogous lemma by CohenAddad et al. [STOC 2016] for edge contractions on weighted graphs of bounded genus, as well as a scaling lemma by Fomin et al. [SODA 2011] for unweighted graphs, the proof is entirely different. The proof detours via three different linear programming relaxations for the Weighted Treewidth-η Vertex Deletion problems and a strengthening of a recent rounding procedure of Bansal et al. [SODA 2017] enhanced by the classic Klein-Plotkin-Rao Theorem [STOC 1993]. ∗University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. fomin@ii.uib. no †University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA. daniello@ucsb.edu ‡The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, HBNI, Chennai, India. saket@imsc.res.in §Ben-Gurion University, Beersheba, Israel. meiravze@bgu.ac. il
Reverse-Safe Data Structures for Text Indexing

textabstractWe introduce the notion of reverse-safe data structures. These are data structures that prevent the reconstruction of the data they encode (i.e., they cannot be easily reversed). A data structure D is called z-reverse-safe when there exist at least z datasets with the same set of answers as the ones stored by D. The main challenge is to ensure that D stores as many answers to useful queries as possible, is constructed efficiently, and has size close to the size of the original dataset it encodes. Given a text of length n and an integer z, we propose an algorithm which constructs a z-reverse-safe data structure that has size O(n) and answers pattern matching queries of length at most d optimally, where d is maximal for any such z-reverse-safe data structure. The construction algorithm takes O(nω log d) time, where ω is the matrix multiplication exponent. We show that, despite the nω factor, our engineered implementation takes only a few minutes to finish for million-letter texts. We further show that plugging our method in data analysis applications gives insignificant or no data utility loss. Finally, we show how our technique can be extended to support applications under a realistic adversary model.
University of Groningen Dynamics of Rad9 Chromatin Binding and Checkpoint Function Are Mediated by Its Dimerization and Are Cell Cycle-Regulated by CDK1 Activity Granata,

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rad9 is required for an effective DNA damage response throughout the cell cycle. Assembly of Rad9 on chromatin after DNA damage is promoted by histone modifications that create docking sites for Rad9 recruitment, allowing checkpoint activation. Rad53 phosphorylation is also dependent upon BRCT-directed Rad9 oligomerization; however, the crosstalk between these molecular determinants and their functional significance are poorly understood. Here we report that, in the G1 and M phases of the cell cycle, both constitutive and DNA damage-dependent Rad9 chromatin association require its BRCT domains. In G1 cells, GST or FKBP dimerization motifs can substitute to the BRCT domains for Rad9 chromatin binding and checkpoint function. Conversely, forced Rad9 dimerization in M phase fails to promote its recruitment onto DNA, although it supports Rad9 checkpoint function. In fact, a parallel pathway, independent on histone modifications and governed by CDK1 activity, allows checkpoint activation in the absence of Rad9 chromatin binding. CDK1-dependent phosphorylation of Rad9 on Ser11 leads to specific interaction with Dpb11, allowing Rad53 activation and bypassing the requirement for the histone branch. Citation: Granata M, Lazzaro F, Novarina D, Panigada D, Puddu F, et al. (2010) Dynamics of Rad9 Chromatin Binding and Checkpoint Function Are Mediated by Its Dimerization and Are Cell Cycle–Regulated by CDK1 Activity. PLoS Genet 6(8): e1001047. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen. 1001047 Editor: Gregory P. Copenhaver, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States of America Received December 24, 2009; Accepted July 2, 2010; Published August 5, 2010 Copyright: 2010 Granata et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by grants from AIRC and Fondazione Cariplo to PP and MM-F, the European Union FP6 Integrated Project DNA repair contract number 512113 to PP and NFL, a NUIG college fellowship to RK, and a Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator award 07/IN1/B958 to NFL. CMA was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/42128/2007, Portugal). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: marco.muzifalconi@unimi.it (MM-F); paolo.plevani@unimi.it (PP) . These authors contributed equally to this work.
The Glacial Origins of Relict Pingos, Wales, UK

Ramparted depressions (doughnut-shaped debris-cored ridges with peatand/or sediment-filled central basins) are commonly perceived to represent the relict collapsed forms of permafrost ground-ice mounds (i.e. pingos or lithalsas). In Wales, UK, ramparted depressions of Late Pleistocene age have been widely attributed to permafrost-related processes. However, a variety of alternative glacial origins for these enigmatic landforms are also consistent with the available geological and geomorphological evidence, although previous studies have barely considered such alternative processes of formation. Fromdetailed geophysical, sedimentological and remote-sensing studies at two field sites, we demonstrate that: (i) thewastage of stagnating glacier ice is a viable alternative explanation for the formation of ramparted depressions in Wales; (ii) the glacial geomorphology and geology of these landforms is analogous to supraglacial and subglacial landforms from the last Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets; (iii) these landforms have significant potential for characterising the nature of deglaciation around the margins of the Irish Sea during the last glacial cycle, and may record evidence for the overextension and stagnation of the south-eastern margin of the Irish Sea Ice Stream; and (iv) investigations of ramparted depressions within formerly glaciated terrains must consider both glacial and periglacial mechanisms of formation.
Modelling human speech recognition in challenging noise maskers using machine learning

: The advantage and limitations of utilizing automatic speech recognition (ASR) techniques for modelling human speech recognition are investigated for a set of ‘‘critical’’ speech maskers for which many standard models of human speech recognition fail. A deep neural net (DNN)-based ASR system utilizing a closed-set sentence recognition test is used to model the speech recognition threshold (SRT) of normal-hearing listeners for a variety of noise types. The benchmark data from Schubotz et al. (2016) include SRTs measured in conditions with an increasing complexity in terms of spectro-temporal modulation (from stationary speech-shaped noise to a single interfering talker). The DNN-based model as proposed in Spille et al. (2018) produces a higher prediction accuracy than baseline models (i.e., SII, ESII, STOI, and mr-sESPM) even though it does not require a clean speech reference signal (as is the case for most auditory model-based SRT predictions). The most accurate predictions are obtained with multi-condition training with known noise types and ASR features that explicitly account for temporal modulations in noisy sentences. Another advantage of the approach is that the DNN can serve as valuable analysis tool to uncover signal recognition strategies: For instance, by identifying the most relevant cues for correct classiﬁcation in modulated noise, it is shown that the DNN is listening in the dips. Finally, we present preliminary data indicating that the WER of the model can be replaced with an estimate of the WER, which does not require the transcript of utterances during test time and therefore eliminates an important limitation of the previous model that prevents it from being used in real-world scenarios.
Traditional and Modern Biomaterials Science Uses of Spider Webs (Arachnida: Araneae)

Spiders and their webs are generally despised, yet many cultures, including traditional ones, have held these arachnids and their silky products in high-esteem. Spider webs have been used to stop bleeding; uses in painting, textile-making, and fishing are also known. Limited scientific evidence seems to support the usefulness of spider webs to stop bleeding from small cuts. In modern biomaterials science, spider webs are considered model systems due to their strength and flexibility. Consequently, intense efforts are underway to understand the functional molecular structure of the proteinaceous silk threads, to synthesize the proteins in the laboratory without the spiders, and to understand what uses spider webs have, particularly in medicine. Promising results using in vitro models suggest that bioengineered spider web fibers could have a place in future reconstructive surgery.
WORKING PAPER SERIES INFERRING INEQUALITY WITH HOME PRODUCTION Job

We are grateful to Mark Aguiar, Anmol Bhandari, Jonathan Heathcote, Erik Hurst, Richard Rogerson, Kjetil Storesletten, Gianluca Violante, three anonymous referees, and various seminar participants for useful comments. Karabarbounis thanks the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for generous financial support. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Federal Reserve System, or the National Bureau of Economic Research.
VIRTUAL EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MICROSTRUCTURE DESIGN OF DUAL PHASE STEEL FOR OPTIMAL FORMABILITY

The highly competitive automotive market demands both lightweight and safe vehicles. These requirements can be met using advanced high strength steels. Dual phase steels are widely used in automotive applications for structural parts and crash columns because of their high strength, high work hardening index and reasonable ductility. In this research, the plastic behaviour and formability of dual phase steels are analysed and correlated with microstructure via virtual experiments. Different virtual dual phase microstructures were generated for this study, composed of a highly formable ferrite steel matrix with different volume fractions of martensite. The work hardening, plastic anisotropy, yield loci and formability performance are analysed using virtual experimentation. The results indicate that the strength of dual phase steels increases with increasing volume fraction of martensite. The plastic anisotropy r-value of dual phase steels is dominated by the ferrite texture but it decreases with an increasing amount of martensite, particularly when the volume fraction is greater than 20%. The presence of martensite reduces deep drawing formability in general. However, it increases the stretching factor and the maximum value is reached when the martensite fraction is in the range 10-20%. It is concluded that a good formability of dual phase steel is possible if the volume fraction of martensite is low and the -fibre texture of ferrite is strong.