Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tryptophan 2, 3-dioxygenase promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells

Tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO2) is a key rate-limiting enzyme in the kynurenine pathway and promotes tumor growth and escape from immune surveillance in different types of cancer. The present study aimed to investigate whether TDO2 serves a role in the development of ovarian cancer. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting were used to detect the expression of TDO2 in different cell lines. The effects of TDO2 overexpression, TDO2 knockdown and TDO2 inhibitor on ovarian cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion were determined by MTS, colony formation and Transwell assays. The expression of TDO2 in ovarian cancer tissues, normal ovarian tissues and fallopian tube tissues were analyzed using the gene expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Genotype-Tissue Expression project. Immune cell infiltration in cancer tissues was evaluated using the single sample gene set enrichment analysis algorithm. The present study found that RasV12-mediated oncogenic transformation was accompanied by the upregulation of TDO2. In addition, it was demonstrated that TDO2 was upregulated in ovarian cancer tissues compared with normal ovarian tissues. TDO2 overexpression promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells, whereas TDO2 knockdown repressed these phenotypes. Treatment with LM10, a TDO2 inhibitor, also repressed the proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cells. The present study indicated that TDO2 can be used as a new target for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Texas Public Agencies’ Tweets and Public Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Natural Language Processing Approach

Background The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by different morbidity and mortality rates across different states, cities, rural areas, and diverse neighborhoods. The absence of a national strategy for battling the pandemic also leaves state and local governments responsible for creating their own response strategies and policies. Objective This study examines the content of COVID-19–related tweets posted by public health agencies in Texas and how content characteristics can predict the level of public engagement. Methods All COVID-19–related tweets (N=7269) posted by Texas public agencies during the first 6 months of 2020 were classified in terms of each tweet’s functions (whether the tweet provides information, promotes action, or builds community), the preventative measures mentioned, and the health beliefs discussed, by using natural language processing. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to explore how tweet content predicted public engagement. Results The information function was the most prominent function, followed by the action or community functions. Beliefs regarding susceptibility, severity, and benefits were the most frequently covered health beliefs. Tweets that served the information or action functions were more likely to be retweeted, while tweets that served the action and community functions were more likely to be liked. Tweets that provided susceptibility information resulted in the most public engagement in terms of the number of retweets and likes. Conclusions Public health agencies should continue to use Twitter to disseminate information, promote action, and build communities. They need to improve their strategies for designing social media messages about the benefits of disease prevention behaviors and audiences’ self-efficacy.
Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity With Activation-Dependent Scaling for Receptive Fields Development

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) is one of the most popular and deeply biologically motivated forms of unsupervised Hebbian-type learning. In this article, we propose a variant of STDP extended by an additional activation-dependent scale factor. The consequent learning rule is an efficient algorithm, which is simple to implement and applicable to spiking neural networks (SNNs). It is demonstrated that the proposed plasticity mechanism combined with competitive learning can serve as an effective mechanism for the unsupervised development of receptive fields (RFs). Furthermore, the relationship between synaptic scaling and lateral inhibition is explored in the context of the successful development of RFs. Specifically, we demonstrate that maintaining a high level of synaptic scaling followed by its rapid increase is crucial for the development of neuronal mechanisms of selectivity. The strength of the proposed solution is assessed in classification tasks performed on the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology (MNIST) data set with an accuracy level of 94.65% (a single network) and 95.17% (a network committee)—comparable to the state-of-the-art results of single-layer SNN architectures trained in an unsupervised manner. Furthermore, the training process leads to sparse data representation and the developed RFs have the potential to serve as local feature detectors in multilayered spiking networks. We also prove theoretically that when applied to linear Poisson neurons, our rule conserves total synaptic strength, guaranteeing the convergence of the learning process.
Applications of western blot technique: From bench to bedside

Western blot (WB) or immunoblot is a workhorse method. It is commonly used by biologists for study of different aspects of protein biomolecules. In addition, it has been widely used in disease diagnosis. Despite some limitations such as long time, different applications of WB have not been limited. In the present review, we have summarized scientific and clinical applications of WB. In addition, we described some new generation of WB techniques.
Surface modification of ZnO quantum dots by organosilanes and oleic acid with enhanced luminescence for potential biological application

Luminescent ZnO-QDs is a promising candidate for biological application, especially due to their low toxicity. Nevertheless, colloidal ZnO-QDs prepared by sol–gel route are unstable in water and incompatible with lipophilic systems, hindering their application in biology and medicine. To tackle the problem, this study reports three different strategies for surface modification of ZnO-QDs by: (i) hydrophilic (3-glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane (GPTMS), (ii) hydrophobic hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HTMS) and then by (iii) oleic acid (OA) and HTMS bilayer. Capped ZnO-QDs by GPTMS and HTMS were performed by hydrolysis and condensation reactions under basic catalysis, leading to the formation of siloxane layer, involving strong interaction between the silanes with hydroxylated surface of ZnO, thereby creating a covalent bond—ZnO–O–Si. Alternatively, OA and HTMS were employed as hydrophobic agent to form a bilayer barrier surrounding the nanoparticles (NPs). Capped ZnO-QDS were analyzed by techniques including: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, as well as the monitoring of excitonic peak of ZnO by UV–vis absorption spectroscopy. Photoluminescence measurements confirmed the importance of capping agents. Bare ZnO-QDs powder showed lowest photoluminescence intensity and displacement to yellow region when compared with ZnO-QDs capped, which present a higher photoluminescence in the green region. The above results can be related to changes of the concentration of oxygen vacancies (Vo) and also by increased presence of surface defect density. Silane capping represents the best choice for high stability and photoluminescence enhancement of ZnO-QDs.
The antidiabetic drug troglitazone protects against PrP (106–126)-induced neurotoxicity via the PPARγ-autophagy pathway in neuronal cells

Prion diseases, which involve the alteration of cellular prion protein into a misfolded isoform, disrupt the central nervous systems of humans and animals alike. Prior research has suggested that peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor (PPAR)γ and autophagy provide some protection against neurodegeneration. PPARs are critical to lipid metabolism regulation and autophagy is one of the main cellular mechanisms by which cell function and homeostasis is maintained. The present study examined the effect of troglitazone, a PPARγ agonist, on autophagy flux in a prion peptide (PrP) (106–126)-mediated neurodegeneration model. Western blot analysis confirmed that treatment with troglitazone increased LC3-II and p62 protein expression, whereas an excessive increase in autophagosomes was verified by transmission electron microscopy. Troglitazone weakened PrP (106–126)-mediated neurotoxicity via PPARγ activation and autophagy flux inhibition. A PPARγ antagonist blocked PPARγ activation as well as the neuroprotective effects induced by troglitazone treatment, indicating that PPARγ deactivation impaired troglitazone-mediated protective effects. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that troglitazone protected primary neuronal cells against PrP (106–126)-induced neuronal cell death by inhibiting autophagic flux and activating PPARγ signals. These results suggested that troglitazone may be a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders and prion diseases.
The circulating floating bed reactor: effect of particle size distribution of the carrier on ammonia conversion

Three Circulating Floating Bed Reactors (CFBR) R1, R2 and R3 with 20% v/v of a plastic carrier with different size distribution were operated to study the effect of the particles size of the carrier on biomass accumulation and nitrification performance. Operating conditions were similar in the three systems: ammonia concentrations around 50 mg-N–NH4+/ L, ammonia loading rates up to 1.2 kg N–NH4+/m3·d and temperatures between 14 and 27°C. Accumulation of nitrite was observed until day 65th. This w as result both of the inhibition of nitrite oxidation by free ammonia until day 20th and the insignificant accumulation of a biomass with low nitrite oxidising capacity between days 20 and 65th. Ammonia conversion rate and removal efficiency were higher in the reactor with lower particle size, R3 (nitrification rate of 1.1 kg N–NH4+/m3·d and ammonia removal of 97% at 16°C), than in R2 or R1 (nitrification rate of 1.0 kg N–NH4+/m3·d and ammonia removal of 90% at 16°C). The better efficiency in R3 was obtained as a result of the higher specific surface of the biofilm developed. Biomass activity was similar in the three reactors (2.2 and 1.12 g N/g protein · d at 30 and 15°C, respectively). Both the biomass evolution with time and biomass retention in the systems was practically not influenced by the size of particle. Biomass concentration of 1.2 g protein/L was retained in the carrier and up to 20% of the newly produced biomass was retained in the CFBRs.
Mismatch repair deficiency and clinicopathological characteristics in endometrial carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Loss of mismatch repair (MMR) occurs frequently in endometrial carcinoma (EC) and is an important prognostic marker. However, the frequency of MMR deficiency (D-MMR) in EC remains inconclusive. This systematic review and meta-analysis addressed this inconsistency and evaluated related clinicopathology. Methods Electronic databases were searched for articles: PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Wiley Online Library. Data were extracted from 25 EC studies of D-MMR to generate a clinical dataset of 7,459 patients. A random-effects model produced pooled estimates of D-MMR EC frequency with 95% confidence interval (CI) for meta-analysis. Results The overall pooled proportion of D-MMR was 24.477% (95% CI, 21.022 to 28.106) in EC. The Lynch syndrome subgroup had 22.907% pooled D-MMR (95% CI, 14.852 to 32.116). D-MMR was highest in type I EC (25.810) (95% CI, 22.503 to 29.261) compared to type II (13.736) (95% CI, 8.392 to 20.144). Pooled D-MMR was highest at EC stage and grades I–II (79.430% and 65.718%, respectively) and lowest in stages III–IV and grade III (20.168% and 21.529%). The pooled odd ratios comparing D-MMR to proficient MMR favored low-stage EC disease (1.565; 0.894 to 2.740), lymphovascular invasion (1.765; 1.293 to 2.409), and myometrial invasion >50% (1.271; 0.871 to 1.853). Conclusions Almost one-quarter of EC patients present with D-MMR tumors. The majority has less aggressive endometrioid histology. D-MMR presents at lower tumor stages compared to MMR-proficient cases in EC. However other metastatic parameters are comparatively higher in the D-MMR disease setting.
The latest trend in neuromuscular monitoring: return of the electromyography

To reduce the risk of residual neuromuscular blockade, neuromuscular monitoring must be performed. Acceleromyography (AMG)-based neuromuscular monitoring was regarded as “clinical gold standard” and widely applied. However, issues related to patient’s posture and overestimation of train-of-four ratio associated with AMG-based neuromuscular monitoring have increased. Recently, electromyography (EMG)-based neuromuscular monitoring is receiving renewed attention, since it overcomes AMG’s weaknesses. However, both AMG-based and EMG-based systems are useful when certain considerations are followed. Ultimately, to assure the patient’s good outcomes, the choice of monitoring system is not as important as the monitoring itself, which should be always implemented in such patients.
Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview–Revised (SITBI-R): Reliability, Validity, and Inter-Informant Agreement in an Adolescent Sample

ABSTRACT Objective The present study sought to evaluate the psychometric properties and inter-informant agreement of the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview-Revised (SITBI-R) in adolescents and their parents. Method Suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents from the community (N = 206), ages 12–19 years, were administered the SITBI-R during a lab visit. Approximately half of the adolescents’ parents opted to complete a parent assessment, including the SITBI-R, on behalf of their child. Inter-rater reliability, convergent validity, and inter-informant agreement were assessed. Results The SITBI-R exhibited overall excellent inter-rater reliability and good convergent validity in adolescents. Parent-adolescent agreement ranged from fair to poor across most outcomes, with parents tending not to report past self-injurious thoughts and behaviors endorsed by their children. Conclusions The present study suggests that the SITBI-R can be extended for use with adolescents. Future research should evaluate moderators and implications of parent-adolescent disagreement, particularly with regard to suicide risk.
Relating Competitive Golfers’ Perceived Emotions and Performance

The present study examined relationships between golfers’ self-perceived emotions (e.g., irritability, nervousness, tension), task-oriented coping, perceived control, and performance during a golf competition. We implemented a process-oriented golf analysis in which competitors rated these variables hole-by-hole in a competitive golf round. Within a two-level Bayesian multivariate autoregressive model, we showed that (a) within persons, emotions and task-oriented coping were reactions that stemmed from performance on the previous hole; and (b) between persons, player skill level predicted both better scores and the ability to limit the influence of negative affect on performance. These findings highlight the complex nature of the relationship between emotions and performance. Future studies might use a similarly ecologically valid research design to more precisely measure aspects of time and potentially moderating effects of player skill level and personality. An increased understanding of the dynamic relationship between emotions and performance can promote the development of effective psychological interventions for optimal performance outcomes.
Investigation of perceived risks and their outcome variables in the context of robotic restaurants

ABSTRACT The purpose of the current study was to understand how to effectively manage perceived risks in the context of robotic restaurants. In order to test the research model, which included 11 hypotheses, this study collected 419 samples in South Korea. The results of the PCA showed that there were five types of perceived risks. In addition, all five perceived risks had negative impacts on attitude, which positively affected intentions to use, word-of-mouth intentions, and willingness to pay more. Lastly, product involvement played an important moderating role in the relationship between attitude and willingness to pay more.
On the Validity of Validation: A Commentary on Rufat, Tate, Emrich, and Antolini’s “How Valid Are Social Vulnerability Models?”

In “How Valid Are Social Vulnerability Models? ” (Rufat et al. 2019), the authors compared social vulnerability models using Hurricane Sandy landfall event outcomes as their evaluation example. Using spatial regression, they compared four vulnerability models across four Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) outcomes to determine the empirical validity of each model. The FEMA outcomes include assistance applicants, affected renters, housing flood damage, and property loss. Although the article presents a statistically complex and seemingly open-and-shut case for using the authors’ social vulnerability profiles method in examining disaster outcomes, the argument includes several misunderstandings and weaknesses, especially regarding the intent and applicability of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index and database (CDC SVI). An outline of our concerns and a brief description of our own ongoing validation efforts follow an overview of the CDC SVI.
Harvesting strategies as evidence for 4000 years of camas (Camassia quamash) management in the North American Columbia Plateau

One of the greatest archaeological enigmas is in understanding the role of decision-making, intentionality and interventions in plant life cycles by foraging peoples in transitions to and from low-level food production practices. We bring together archaeological, palaeoclimatological and botanical data to explore relationships over the past 4000 years between people and camas (Camassia quamash), a perennial geophyte with an edible bulb common across the North American Pacific Northwest. In this region throughout the late Holocene, people began experimenting with selective harvesting practices through targeting sexually mature bulbs by 3500 cal BP, with bulb harvesting practices akin to ethnographic descriptions firmly established by 1000 cal BP. While we find no evidence that such interventions lead to a selection for larger bulbs or a reduction in time to maturity, archaeological bulbs do exhibit several other domestication syndrome traits. This establishes considerable continuity to human intervention into camas life cycles, but these dynamic relationships did not result in unequivocal morphological indications of domestication. This approach to tracking forager plant management practices offers an alternative explanatory framework to conventional management studies, supplements oral histories of Indigenous traditional resource management and can be applied to other vegetatively propagated species.
Learning to stop: a unifying principle for legged locomotion in varying environments

Evolutionary studies have unequivocally proven the transition of living organisms from water to land. Consequently, it can be deduced that locomotion strategies must have evolved from one environment to the other. However, the mechanism by which this transition happened and its implications on bio-mechanical studies and robotics research have not been explored in detail. This paper presents a unifying control strategy for locomotion in varying environments based on the principle of ‘learning to stop’. Using a common reinforcement learning framework, deep deterministic policy gradient, we show that our proposed learning strategy facilitates a fast and safe methodology for transferring learned controllers from the facile water environment to the harsh land environment. Our results not only propose a plausible mechanism for safe and quick transition of locomotion strategies from a water to land environment but also provide a novel alternative for safer and faster training of robots.
Suppression of shot noise in a spin–orbit coupled quantum dot

We study theoretically the transport properties of electrons in a quantum dot system with spin–orbit coupling. By using the quantum master equation approach, the shot noise and skewness of the transport electrons are calculated. We obtain super-Poisson noise behaviour by investigating the full counting statistics of the transport system. We discover super-Poisson behaviour is more obvious with the spin polarization increasing. More importantly, we discover the suppression of shot noise induced by spin–orbit coupling. The value of shot noise is gradually decreasing when spin–orbit coupling strength increases.
Quantifying pyrodiversity and its drivers

Pyrodiversity or variation in spatio-temporal fire patterns is increasingly recognized as an important determinant of ecological pattern and process, yet no consensus surrounds how best to quantify the phenomenon and its drivers remain largely untested. We present a generalizable functional diversity approach for measuring pyrodiversity, which incorporates multiple fire regime traits and can be applied across scales. Further, we tested the socioecological drivers of pyrodiversity among forests of the western United States. Largely mediated by burn activity, pyrodiversity was positively associated with actual evapotranspiration, climate water deficit, wilderness designation, elevation and topographic roughness but negatively with human population density. These results indicate pyrodiversity is highest in productive areas with pronounced annual dry periods and minimal fire suppression. This work can facilitate future pyrodiversity studies including whether and how it begets biodiversity among taxa, regions and fire regimes.
DDAH2 suppresses RLR-MAVS–mediated innate antiviral immunity by stimulating nitric oxide–activated, Drp1-induced mitochondrial fission

DDAH2 inhibits antiviral signaling by promoting mitochondrial fission. Dialed down by DDAH2 Viral RNAs stimulate innate immune responses by activating RIG-I–like receptors (RLRs) that cause the aggregation of the adaptor protein MAVS on mitochondria. Huang et al. identified dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH2) as a negative regulator of RLR-mediated antiviral responses in mouse and human cells. Viral infection induced DDAH2 to translocate to mitochondria, where it stimulated the nitric oxide (NO)–dependent activation of the mitochondrial fission protein Drp1. The resulting mitochondrial fragmentation blocked MAVS-dependent antiviral signaling. Mice lacking DDAH2 showed improved antiviral responses. RLR signaling also negatively regulated DDAH2 activity, suggesting that DDAH2 is important for fine-tuning cellular antiviral responses. The RIG-I–like receptor (RLR) signaling pathway is pivotal for innate immunity against invading viruses, and dysregulation of this molecular cascade has been linked to various diseases. Here, we identified dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 2 (DDAH2) as a potent regulator of the RLR-mediated antiviral response in human and mouse. Overexpression of DDAH2 attenuated RLR signaling, whereas loss of DDAH2 function enhanced RLR signaling and suppressed viral replication ex vivo and in mice. Upon viral infection, DDAH2 relocated to mitochondria, where it induced the production of nitric oxide (NO) and the activation of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), which promoted mitochondrial fission and blocked the activation of innate immune responses mediated by mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS). TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1), a kinase downstream of MAVS, inhibited DDAH2 by phosphorylating DDAH2 at multiple sites. Our study thus identifies a reciprocal inhibitory loop between the DDAH2-NO cascade and the RLR signaling pathway that fine-tunes the antiviral immune response.