Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of Angiotensin II Type I Pathway Reduced Tumor Growth and Ameliorates Fibrosis/inflammation Associated with Colorectal Cancer

Dysregulation of the angiotensin-II Type-I receptor (AT1R) and its pathway was reported to associate with poor-prognosis in several malignancies, including colorectal-cancer (CRC). We have explored the therapeutic-potential of targeting AT1R using valsartan, and its pharmacologicalinteraction with Fluorouracil (5-FU) in CRC. Anti-proliferative function was evaluated in 2-/3dimensional cells and in vivo models. Anti-proliferative, anti-migratory, apoptotic function and effect on cell-cycle was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), wound-healing test, and Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), respectively, while gene-expression was determined at mRNA/protein levels. By histogical analysis and measuring of oxidative/antioxidant markers, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory properties of valsartan. Valsartan suppressed cell-growth and impacted the anti-tumor-activities of 5-FU by apoptosisinduction. Valsartan inhibited the cells migration by perturbation of Matrix metalloproteinase Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 22 July 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202007.0508. v1 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. (MMP1). Furthermore, valsartan inhibited tumor-growth and metastasis, and this was more notable in valsartan/5-FU combination-treated-group. The mechanism was plausible to be via the induction of Reactive-oxygen-species (ROS) and down-regulation of Superoxide-dismutase (SOD), thiol/catalase (CAT) as well as Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β). Valsartan may protect cells against intestinal fibrosis by modulation of profibrotic and pro-inflammatory components include fibronectin, Interleukin) IL-1β (, Tumor necrosis factor alpha) TNF-α (, Interferon gamma) INF-γ (, and Monocyte Chemotactic Protein 1 (MCP-1). Our findings demonstrated that targeting the AT1R receptor may inhibit tumor-growth and ameliorate fibrosis and inflammation associated with CRC via modulation of AT1 and TGF-β pathways.
A REVIEW: IMAGE QUALITY ASSESSMENT WITHOUT USING REFERENCE IMAGE

Image quality assessment is a procedure ofevaluating the quality of an image and in the past few years, the desire of image-based applications has grown hugely; therefore the significance of methodical and accurate assessment of the quality of the image is necessary. For many image processing applications assessing the quality of the image is elementary, whereas the purpose of image quality assessment (IQA) method are to automate the estimation of the quality of images in simultaneously with human quality perception. This paper presents a survey of the objective of blind image quality assessment (BIQA) methods. It is to anticipate the automatic image quality scores without any require to reference images
Database Management of Automated Weather Station and Rain gauge of IMD

: The paper exemplify aspects concerning the importance of using cloud computing technology for processing of the information from IMD Station Incharges. The IMD stations are used for monitoring application via variety of sensors. There are some limitations in memory, communication, computation, energy, quantifiability and economical management of the sensors from time to time from IMD stations. The cloud computing is required for powerful, immense superior computing and large storage infrastructure for data processing which can be used for storing IMD maintenance information from completely different stations. The chat-bot will be used for help, reminder, knowledge retrieve etc. Here officers will act with operators, the information should be hold on by utilizing cloud computing technology as a result of this permits computing, storage and software system services (SaaS) with customization prospects and virtualization at low value. The Cloud Computing will offer associate open, flexible, and reconfigurable platform (PaaS) for observance and dominant maintenance applications.
Enhancement Of Atmospheric Turbulence Distorted Images Using Wavelet Packet Transform

: Image enhancement is the process of sharpening image feature so that it is more suitable for some specific applications where the quality of the image is important for human perception. Here a multi-image enhancement technique which is based on wavelet packet transform is presented for the images distorted by atmospheric turbulence, where multiple low resolution images are processed to form a single high quality enhanced image. In wavelet packet transform both the approximation coefficients, which is the low frequency portion, and detailed coefficients, which is the high frequency portion of the previous levels, are used for processing in the next level. So without losing any part, the image can be represented with time-frequency information. This finds application in feature extraction and object recognition. Here first step is aligning the Region of Interest (ROI) from all input images using phase correlation method. Then it is combined in transform domain with the help of wavelet packet transform. Performance comparison parameters are calculated for the output image and it is compared with the parameters obtained from other techniques.
Cyto-biological effects of microRNA-424-5p on human colorectal cancer cells

MicroRNA (miR)-424-5p is overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC); however, its role, clinical significance and underlying molecular mechanism have remained to be fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was to investigate the roles of miR-424-5p in CRC and the underlying mechanisms. It was demonstrated that miR-424-5p is overexpressed in CRC, based on bioinformatics analysis using The Cancer Genome Atlas TCGA and analysis of tissue samples from patients with CRC from The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, and the expression of miR-424-5p was associated with the depth of invasion and Dukes' staging. In CRC cells, the oncogenic roles of miR-424-5p were also verified by Cell Counting Kit-8, wound healing and Transwell assays. To identify target genes, all transcripts were compared between miR-424-5p mimic-transfected SW480 cells and mimic control cells by transcriptome sequencing. Subsequently, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. The DEGs were revealed to be significantly enriched in the GO terms ‘serine hydrolase activity,’ ‘serine-type peptidase activity’ and ‘serine-type endopeptidase activity’. KEGG signaling pathway analysis indicated that the DEGs were significantly enriched in ‘endocytosis’, ‘regulation of actin cytoskeleton’, ‘Wnt signaling pathway’ and ‘ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis signaling pathway’. These results suggested that miR-424-5p is a potential target in the treatment of CRC.
Identification of key pathways and genes shared between Crohn's disease and breast cancer using bioinformatics analysis

Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) have a high risk of developing breast cancer, suggesting that there may be shared molecular mechanisms underlying CD and breast cancer. The purpose of the present study was to identify the critical genes and pathways underlying these molecular similarities using bioinformatics analysis. Publicly available microarray expression data from the Gene Expression Omnibus were analyzed, and a total of 53 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the CD (vs. controls) and breast cancer (vs. controls) groups were identified. These common DEGs were then subjected to Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses. Subsequently, a gene interaction network of the DEGs was constructed using Cytoscape software, with its plug-in cytoHubba and Molecular Complex Detection. The gene interaction network and module analysis demonstrated that prostaglandin G/H synthase 2, interleukin (IL)1β and CXCL8 were the major hub genes in the upregulated overlapping DEGs. The upregulated overlapping DEGs are found to be enriched in both the IL-17 and NF-kB signaling pathways. Taken together, the critical pathways and genes identified in the present study may help improve our understanding of why and how CD may contribute to the development of breast cancer.
Perspectives from the frontline: A pharmacy department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Purpose The global coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created unprecedented strains on healthcare systems around the world. Challenges surrounding an overwhelming influx of patients with COVID-19 and changes in care dynamics prompt the need for care models and processes that optimize care in this medically complex patient population. The purpose of this report is to describe our institution’s strategy to deploy pharmacy resources and standardize pharmacy processes to optimize the management of patients with COVID-19. Methods This retrospective, descriptive report characterizes documented pharmacy interventions in the acute care of patients admitted for COVID-19 during the period April 1 to April 15, 2020. Patient monitoring, interprofessional communication, and intervention documentation by pharmacy staff was facilitated through the development of a COVID-19–specific care bundle integrated into the electronic medical record. Results A total of 1,572 pharmacist interventions were documented in 197 patients who received a total of 15,818 medication days of therapy during the study period. The average number of interventions per patient was 8. The most common interventions were regimen simplification (15.9%), timing and dosing adjustments (15.4%), and antimicrobial therapy and COVID-19 treatment adjustments (15.2%). Patients who were admitted to an intensive care unit care at any point during their hospital stay accounted for 66.7% of all interventions documented. Conclusion A pharmacy department’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was optimized through standardized processes. Pharmacists intervened to address a wide scope of medication-related issues, likely contributing to improved management of COVID-19 patients. Results of our analysis demonstrate the vital role pharmacists play as members of multidisciplinary teams during times of crisis.
Transcriptomic analysis of COVID-19 lungs and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples reveals predominant B cell activation responses to infection

The outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (named, COVID-19), caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, represents a worldwide severe threat to public health. It is of the utmost importance to characterize the immune responses against the SARS-CoV-2 and the mechanisms of hyperinflammation, in order to design better therapeutic strategies for COVID-19. In the present study, a transcriptomic analysis was performed to profile the immune signatures in lung and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from COVID-19 patients and controls. Our data concordantly revealed increased humoral responses to infection. The elucidation of the host responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection may further improve our understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis and suggest better therapeutic strategies.
Weather and the Population Dynamics of Insects: Integrating Physiological and Population Ecology

The study of weather effects in insect ecology should focus on how physiological and behavioral characteristics of individual organisms translate into population and community dynamics. I present four case studies in which both the physiological mechanisms by which weather variation affects individuals and the consequences of such variation for fitness variation or population dynamics have been examined: (1) Larval metabolism and population variation in generation time; (2) thermoregulation, reproductive success, and population fluctuations in pierid butterflies; (3) temperature mediation of the interaction between ladybird beetles and pea aphids; and (4) weather effects on host-plant quality and population regulation in a woodland butterfly. The results emphasize two general roles that weather can play in population ecology: that of a limiting factor that determines the relative importance of various biotic determinants of population dynamics, and that of a source of environmental variation that affects physiological rate processes and thereby mediates interspecific interactions. Changing the focus of inquiry from mechanisms of population regulation to the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors reestablishes the conceptual importance of weather for population ecology.
Modulation of protein S and growth arrest specific 6 protein signaling inhibits pancreatic cancer cell survival and proliferation

Thrombotic complications and hypercoagulopathies are commonly associated with the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Although the mechanistic link between the two phenomena is uncertain, there is evidently an increase in procoagulant proteins and a decrease in anticoagulants in PDAC patients. For example, the anticoagulant protein S (PS) is decreased during the progression of PDAC, a condition that possibly contributes to the hypercoagulopathies. PS is also an important signaling molecule that binds a family of tyrosine kinase receptors known as TAM (Tyro3, Axl and Mer) receptors; TAM receptors are often upregulated in different cancers. Growth Arrest Specific 6 or GAS6 protein, a homolog of PS, is also a TAM receptor family ligand. The downstream signaling pathways triggered by this ligand-receptor interaction perform diverse functions, such as cell survival, proliferation, efferocytosis, and apoptosis. Targeting the TAM receptors to treat cancer has had limited success; side effects are a significant obstacle due to the widespread numerous functions of TAM receptors. In the present study, it was revealed that PS-TAM interaction was pro-apoptotic, whereas GAS6-mediated TAM signaling promoted proliferation and survival in select PDAC cell lines. Furthermore, by regulating the balance between these two signaling pathways (by overexpressing PS or knocking down GAS6), the proliferative potential of the cells was decreased. Both long-term and short-term effects of natural PS overexpression were comparable to the treatment of the cells with the drug UNC2025, which inhibits the Mer-receptor. The present study lays the foundation for investigation of PS as a therapeutic agent to control cancer progression and to concurrently arrest thrombotic events.
Curcumin enhances anti-cancer efficacy of either gemcitabine or docetaxel on pancreatic cancer cells

Curcumin is a natural compound extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa), which has been reported to be a promising anti-cancer drug in various human cancers. However, the effects of combination treatment of curcumin with gemcitabine or docetaxel on pancreatic cancer remains elusive. In the present study, the combinatory effects of curcumin with either gemcitabine or docetaxel on the proliferation, apoptosis, migration as well as invasion of PC cells were investigated. Calcusyn software was used to determine whether curcumin has is synergistic with gemcitabine or docetaxel. Combination index values from combinational use were all lower than 1, indicating the synergism of curcumin with gemcitabine or docetaxel on PC cells in vitro. EdU assay showed that curcumin could enhance the ability of gemcitabine or docetaxel to inhibit the proliferation of PC cells. Furthermore, the results from transmission electron microscope, DAPI staining experiments and western blot analysis revealed that curcumin may trigger apoptosis of PC cells via PARP/caspase-3 signaling pathway and reinforced pro-apoptotic ability of either gemcitabine or docetaxel. In addition, curcumin exhibited marked suppressive ability on metastasis of PC cells by wound healing and matrigel-transwell assay. Mechanistically, upregulation of TIMP1/TIMP2 with concomitant downregulation of MMP2/MMP9/N-cadherin proteins may be involved in this process. In conclusion, curcumin showed synergistic anti-cancer effects with either gemcitabine or docetaxel on PC cells.
Genetic diversity affects the strength of population regulation in a marine fish

Variation is an essential feature of biological populations, yet much of ecological theory treats individuals as though they are identical. This simplifying assumption is often justified by the perception that variation among individuals does not have significant effects on the dynamics of whole populations. However, this perception may be skewed by a historic focus on studying single populations. A true evaluation of the extent to which amongindividual variation affects the dynamics of populations requires the study of multiple populations. In this study, we examined variation in the dynamics of populations of a livebearing, marine fish (black surfperch; Embiotoca jacksoni). In collaboration with an organization of citizen scientists (Reef Check California), we were able to examine the dynamics of eight populations that were distributed throughout ~700 km of coastline, a distance that encompasses much of this species’ range. We hypothesized that genetic variation within a local population would be related to the intensity of competition and to the strength of population regulation. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether genetic diversity (measured by the diversity of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes) was related to the strength of population regulation. Lowdiversity populations experienced strong density dependence in population growth rates and population sizes were regulated much more tightly than they were in highdiversity populations. Mechanisms that contributed to this pattern include links between genetic diversity, habitat use, and spatial crowding. On average, lowdiversity populations used less of the available habitat and exhibited greater spatial clustering (and more intense competition) for a given level of density (measured at the scale of the reef). Although the populations we studied also varied with respect to exogenous characteristics (habitat complexity, densities of predators, and interspecific competitors), none of these characteristics was significantly related to the strength of population regulation. In contrast, an endogenous characteristic of the population (genetic diversity) explained 77% of the variation in the strength of population regulation (95% CI: 27–94%). Our results suggest that the genetic and phenotypic composition of populations can play a major role in their dynamics.
Quantifying the Human Health Benefits of Using Satellite Information to Detect Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms and Manage Recreational Advisories in U.S. Lakes

Significant recent advances in satellite remote sensing allow environmental managers to detect and monitor cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB), and these capabilities are being used more frequently in water quality management. A quantitative estimate of the socioeconomic benefits generated from these new capabilities, known as an impact assessment, was missing from the growing literature on cyanoHABs and remote sensing. In this paper, we present an impact assessment framework to characterize the socioeconomic benefits of satellite remote sensing for detecting cyanoHABs and managing recreational advisories at freshwater lakes. We then apply this framework to estimate the socioeconomic benefits of satellite data that were used to manage a 2017 cyanoHAB event in Utah Lake. CyanoHAB events on Utah Lake can pose health risks to people who interact with the blooms through recreation. We find that the availability of satellite data yielded socioeconomic benefits by improving human health outcomes valued at approximately $370,000, though a sensitivity analysis reveals that this central estimate can vary significantly ($55,000–$1,057,000 in benefits) as a result of different assumptions regarding the time delay in posting a recreational advisory, the number of people exposed to the cyanoHAB, the number of people who experience gastrointestinal symptoms, and the cost per case of illness.
Feeding habits and their variation of seasnail(Liparis tanakae)in the central and southern Yellow Sea

Based on seven bottom trawl surveys conducted in the central and southern Yellow Sea,which covered the range of 120°-124°E,33°-37.5°N,in seven months from January 2006 to July 2009,total of 3 005 stomach samples of seasnail Liparis tanakae with body length of 18-525 mm were collected.Stomach content analysis,cluster analysis and trophic level were used to study the feeding habits and their ontogenetic variation and monthly variation.The results showed that seasnail is important fish species in food web and plays an important role in the marine ecosystems of the Yellow Sea.Seasnail fed on more than 60 prey species.Crangon affinis was the dominant prey item of seasnail,and Enedrias fangi became the dominant prey item instead of anchovy Engraulis japonicus.The feeding habits of seasnail had significant monthly and ontogenetic variations.Seasnail mainly fed on benthon at less than 50 mm body length;on zooplankton,benthon and demersal shrimps at 51-100 mm body length;When it mainly fed on demersal shrimps at 101-350 mm body length,the frequency of fish in the food increased gradually with increasing fish size,whereas the frequency of demersal shrimps decreased;It mainly fed on demersal shrimps and fish at greater than 350 mm body length.Therefore,there were three shifts in feeding habits in the fish at about 50 mm,100 mm and 350 mm body length,respectively.Seasnail at different body lengths belonged to different functional groups in the Yellow Sea ecosystem.Seasnail with less than 50 mm body length belonged to benthivores functional group,fish with 51-100 mm body length belonged to generalist predators functional group,fish with 101-350 mm body length belonged to shrimp predators functional group,and fish with greater than 350 mm belonged to shrimp/fish predators functional group.The food composition of seasnail varied monthly.Cluster analysis revealed that feeding habits in seven months could be divided into four groups.The body length was the main factors that cause monthly variation in feeding habits of seasnail.Seasnail was one kinds of fish with higher feeding activity in the Yellow Sea,but the feeding activity,as indicated by the percentage of empty stomachs(PES)and mean stomach fullness index(MSFI),varied significantly among different classes of sizes and different months.The PES and MSFI each had highest value at 101-150 mm and 51-100 mm size classes,respectively,then all decreased with increasing fish size.So,seasnail with small size obtained higher feeding activity by higher food consumption,but fish with larger size obtained higher feeding activity by higher feeding opportunity.By integration of the PES and MSFI in each month,seasnail had two feeding peaks in August and January in a year.