Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Four new species of Russula subsection Roseinae from tropical montane forests in western Panama

Species of the genus Russula are key components of ectomycorrhizal ecosystems worldwide. Nevertheless, their diversity in the tropics is still poorly known. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of the diversity of Russula species classified in subsection Roseinae based on specimens recently collected in tropical montane rainforests in western Panama. A five gene multilocus phylogeny based on the nuclear markers ITS nrDNA, MCM7, RPB1, RPB2 and TEF-1α was constructed to identify the systematic position of 22 collections from Panama. Four new species, Russula cornicolor, Russula cynorhodon, Russula oreomunneae and Russula zephyrovelutipes are formally described and illustrated. None of the four species are sister species and they are more closely related to North American or Asian species. Two of the newly described species were associated with the ectomycorrhizal tree species Oreomunnea mexicana, while the other two species were associated with Quercus species. All four species are so far only known from mountains in western Panama.
Low bone turnover is associated with plain X-ray vascular calcification in predialysis patients

Background Vascular calcification (VC) is a common finding in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and predicts subsequent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in this population. Vascular calcification is linked to disordered mineral metabolism and has been associated with bone histomorphometry changes in CKD. However, data on predialysis patients is scarce. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on a cohort of 56 CKD patients not yet on dialysis, who underwent a transiliac bone biopsy for histomorphometric evaluation after double tetracycline labeling. Patients had no previous exposure to calcium salts, vitamin D agents, steroids or bisphosphonates. Vascular calcification was assessed at the time of biopsy, using Kauppila (plain X-ray of the lateral lumbar spine) and Adragão (plain X-ray of the pelvis and hands) scores. Results Vascular calcification was seen in two-thirds of the cohort. Subjects with VC were more likely to be male and have diabetes, and had significantly higher sclerostin and osteoprotegerin circulating levels than those without VC. The histomorphometric analysis showed that bone formation rate was significantly lower in VC compared to non-VC patients. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, bone formation rate was independently associated with the presence of VC. Conclusions Vascular calcification is highly prevalent in predialysis patients, especially in those with diabetes. The independent association between bone formation rate and VC provides evidence of an important interaction between bone and vessel in CKD. Our results suggest that low bone turnover is a non-traditional risk factor for cardiovascular disease in predialysis patients.
Medical students’ engagement in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: The influence of psychological factors on readiness to volunteer

Objective: To avert staff shortages during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in spring 2020, the medical faculties of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) appealed to their students to volunteer for relief work. In this study, we examine the influence of psychological factors on the students’ decisions to respond to this call or not. Methodology: We report on a cross-sectional study based on an online survey among medical students at the TUM and LMU. The survey consisted of a questionnaire containing items on motivation and other factors related to the decision for or against volunteering. Questions were also asked about anxieties regarding COVID-19 and the occurrence of depressive symptoms, as well as about resilience. Results: Responses from 244 participants were analysed. Students’ decisions to volunteer revealed both altruistic and introjected motivations. For those students who did not volunteer, time overlaps and workload related to other activities played an important role. Between the two groups, no significant difference was detected in terms of their resilience and COVID-19-related anxieties. However, the non-volunteering students reported a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Sense of duty and the desire to help were, according to the students, the most important reasons for volunteering. Depressive symptoms and lack of time made volunteering less likely. Resilience and COVID-19-related anxieties do not seem to have had any influence on the decision to volunteer or not.
Pollen transport networks reveal highly diverse and temporally stable plant–pollinator interactions in an Appalachian floral community

Abstract Floral visitation alone has been typically used to characterize plant–pollinator interaction networks even though it ignores differences in the quality of floral visits (e.g. transport of pollen) and thus may overestimate the number and functional importance of pollinating interactions. However, how network structural properties differ between floral visitation and pollen transport networks is not well understood. Furthermore, the strength and frequency of plant–pollinator interactions may vary across fine temporal scales (within a single season) further limiting our predictive understanding of the drivers and consequences of plant–pollinator network structure. Thus, evaluating the structure of pollen transport networks and how they change within a flowering season may help increase our predictive understanding of the ecological consequences of plant–pollinator network structure. Here we compare plant–pollinator network structure using floral visitation and pollen transport data and evaluate within-season variation in pollen transport network structure in a diverse plant–pollinator community. Our results show that pollen transport networks provide a more accurate representation of the diversity of plant–pollinator interactions in a community but that floral visitation and pollen transport networks do not differ in overall network structure. Pollen transport network structure was relatively stable throughout the flowering season despite changes in plant and pollinator species composition. Overall, our study highlights the need to improve our understanding of the drivers of plant–pollinator network structure in order to more fully understand the process that govern the assembly of these interactions in nature.
Engineered Fibroblast Extracellular Vesicles Attenuate Pulmonary Inflammation and Fibrosis in Bleomycin-Induced Lung Injury

Pulmonary fibrosis is a progressive disease for which no curative treatment exists. We have previously engineered dermal fibroblasts to produce extracellular vesicles with tissue reparative properties dubbed activated specialized tissue effector extracellular vesicles (ASTEX). Here, we investigate the therapeutic utility of ASTEX in vitro and in a mouse model of bleomycin-induced lung injury. RNA sequencing demonstrates that ASTEX are enriched in micro-RNAs (miRs) cargo compared with EVs from untransduced dermal fibroblast EVs (DF-EVs). Treating primary macrophages with ASTEX reduced interleukin (IL)6 expression and increased IL10 expression compared with DF-EV-exposed macrophages. Furthermore, exposure of human lung fibroblasts or vascular endothelial cells to ASTEX reduced expression of smooth muscle actin, a hallmark of myofibroblast differentiation (respectively). In vivo, intratracheal administration of ASTEX in naïve healthy mice demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no changes in body weight, lung weight to body weight, fibrotic burden, or histological score 3 weeks postexposure. In an acute phase (short-term) bleomycin model of lung injury, ASTEX reduced lung weight to body weight, IL6 expression, and circulating monocytes. In a long-term setting, ASTEX improved survival and reduced fibrotic content in lung tissue. These results suggest potential immunomodulatory and antifibrotic properties of ASTEX in lung injury.
Who keeps on working? The importance of resilience for labour market participation

Background It is widely recognized that individuals’ health and educational attainments, commonly referred to as their human capital, are important determinants for their labour market participation (LMP). What is less recognised is the influence of individuals’ latent resilience traits on their ability to sustain LMP after experiencing an adversity such as a health shock. Aim We investigate the extent to which resilience is independently associated with LMP and moderates the effect of health shocks on LMP. Method We analysed data from two consecutive waves of a Norwegian prospective cohort study. We followed 3,840 adults who, at baseline, were healthy and worked full time. Binary logistic regression models were applied to explain their employment status eight years later, controlling for age, sex, educational attainment, health status at baseline, as well as the occurrences of three types of health shocks (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, psychological problems). Individuals’ resilience, measured by the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), entered as an independent variable and as an interaction with the indicators of health shocks. In separate models, we explore the role of two further indicators of resilience; locus of control, and health optimism. Results As expected, health shocks reduce the probability to keep on working full-time. While both the RSA and the two related indicators all suggest that resilience increases the probability to keep on working, we did not find evidence that resilience moderates the association between health shocks and LMP. Conclusion Higher levels of resilience is associated with full-time work as individuals age.
Assessing Potential Circadian, Diurnal, and Ultradian Variations in Skin Biophysical Properties

A variety of skin measurements are routinely made in various clinical and research settings to evaluate the skin’s biophysical properties for diagnostic and research purposes. Such measurements include transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin pH, sebum, skin blood flow (SBF), and tissue dielectric constant (TDC) as a measure of skin water. Given the various reported circadian, diurnal, and possible ultradian and other temporal variations in skin physiological processes, it is of value to have clarity as to possible temporal variations in skin’s biophysical properties associated with such processes. It was thus the purpose of this investigation to review and detail key elements of what is currently known regarding such variations and to provide a characterization that will permit informed judgments as to the sensitivity of the timing of measurements to optimize measurement reproducibility. Understanding these variations and their possible oscillatory effects on skin biophysical properties may aid physicians in providing optimal treatment timing for dermatological conditions and offer researchers insight into optimal measurement timing. The major findings of the present investigation that systematically searched multiple databases and critically examined pertinent findings, revealed that of the several skin parameters reviewed, which included TEWL, pH, sebum, SBF, TDC, and thickness, each had at least one study describing a statistically significant within-a-day temporal change. The magnitude of these changes varied and may be large enough to be seriously considered when assessing these parameters in clinical and research settings. However, inconsistencies in reported temporal variations suggest that further systematic research is well warranted especially with respect to temporal within-a-day and day-to-day variabilities of TEWL, TDC, and mechanical properties. At present, the impact of this type of confounding variability on reported values for skin biophysical parameters is unclear and worthy of further clarification.
Criteria ruling particle agglomeration

Most of the technically important properties of nanomaterials, such as superparamagnetism or luminescence, depend on the particle size. During synthesis and handling of nanoparticles, agglomeration may occur. Agglomeration of nanoparticles may be controlled by different mechanisms. During synthesis one observes agglomeration controlled by the geometry and electrical charges of the particles. Additionally, one may find agglomeration controlled by thermodynamic interaction of the particles in the direction of a minimum of the free enthalpy. In this context, one may observe mechanisms leading to a reduction of the surface energy or controlled by the van der Waals interaction. Additionally, the ensemble may arrange in the direction of a maximum of the entropy. Simulations based on Monte Carlo methods teach that, in case of any energetic interaction of the particles, the influence of the entropy is minor or even negligible. Complementary to the simulations, the extremum of the entropy was determined using the Lagrange method. Both approaches yielded identical result for the particle size distribution of an agglomerated ensemble, that is, an exponential function characterized by two parameters. In this context, it is important to realize that one has to take care of fluctuations of the entropy.
The interplay of protein engineering and glycoengineering to fine‐tune antibody glycosylation and its impact on effector functions

The N‐glycan pattern of an IgG antibody, attached at a conserved site within the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region, is a critical antibody quality attribute whose structural variability can also impact antibody function. For tailoring the Fc glycoprofile, glycoengineering in cell lines as well as Fc amino acid mutations have been applied. Multiple glycoengineered Chinese hamster ovary cell lines were generated, including defucosylated (FUT8KO), α‐2,6‐sialylated (ST6KI), and defucosylated α‐2,6‐sialylated (FUT8KOST6KI), expressing either a wild‐type anti‐CD20 IgG (WT) or phenylalanine to alanine (F241A) mutant. Matrix‐assisted laser desorption ionization‐time of flight mass spectrometry characterization of antibody N‐glycans revealed that the F241A mutation significantly increased galactosylation and sialylation content and glycan branching. Furthermore, overexpression of recombinant human α‐2,6‐sialyltransferase resulted in a predominance of α‐2,6‐sialylation rather than α‐2,3‐sialylation for both WT and heavily sialylated F241A antibody N‐glycans. Interestingly, knocking out α‐1,6‐fucosyltransferase (FUT8KO), which removed core fucose, lowered the content of N‐glycans with terminal Gal and increased levels of terminal GlcNAc and Man5 groups on WT antibody. Further complement‐dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) analysis revealed that, regardless of the production cells, WT antibody samples have higher cytotoxic CDC activity with more exposed Gal residues compared to their individual F241A mutants. However, the FUT8KO WT antibody, with a large fraction of bi‐GlcNAc structures (G0), displayed the lowest CDC activity of all WT antibody samples. Furthermore, for the F241A mutants, a higher CDC activity was observed for α‐2,6‐ compared to α‐2,3‐sialylation. Antibody‐dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) analysis revealed that the defucosylated WT and F241A mutants showed enhanced in vitro ADCC performance compared to their fucosylated counterparts, with the defucosylated WT antibodies displaying the highest overall ADCC activity, regardless of sialic acid substitution. Moreover, the FcγRIIIA receptor binding by antibodies did not always correspond directly with ADCC result. This study demonstrates that glycoengineering and protein engineering can both promote and inhibit antibody effector functions and represent practical approaches for varying glycan composition and functionalities during antibody development.
Endocrine Manifestations and New Developments in Mitochondrial Disease

Abstract Mitochondrial diseases are a group of common inherited diseases causing disruption of oxidative phosphorylation. Some patients with mitochondrial disease have endocrine manifestations, with diabetes mellitus being predominant but also include hypogonadism, hypoadrenalism, and hypoparathyroidism. There have been major developments in mitochondrial disease over the past decade that have major implications for all patients. The collection of large cohorts of patients has better defined the phenotype of mitochondrial diseases and the majority of patients with endocrine abnormalities have involvement of several other systems. This means that patients with mitochondrial disease and endocrine manifestations need specialist follow-up because some of the other manifestations, such as stroke-like episodes and cardiomyopathy, are potentially life threatening. Also, the development and follow-up of large cohorts of patients means that there are clinical guidelines for the management of patients with mitochondrial disease. There is also considerable research activity to identify novel therapies for the treatment of mitochondrial disease. The revolution in genetics, with the introduction of next-generation sequencing, has made genetic testing more available and establishing a precise genetic diagnosis is important because it will affect the risk for involvement for different organ systems. Establishing a genetic diagnosis is also crucial because important reproductive options have been developed that will prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease because of mitochondrial DNA variants to the next generation.
Anemia Etiology in Ethiopia: Assessment of Nutritional, Infectious Disease, and Other Risk Factors in a Population-based Cross-sectional Survey of Women, Men, and Children.

BACKGROUND While the causes of anemia at an individual level (such as certain nutritional deficiencies, infections, and genetic disorders) are well defined, there is limited understanding of the relative burden of anemia attributable to each cause within populations. OBJECTIVE To estimate the proportion of anemia cases attributable to nutritional, infectious disease, and other risk factors among women, men, and children in six regions of Ethiopia. METHODS A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted. Data were obtained from 2520 women of reproductive age (15-49 years), 1,044 adult men (15-49 years), and 1,528 children (6-59 months). Participants provided venous blood samples for assessment of hemoglobin concentration, ferritin, folate, vitamin B12, C-reactive protein, and malaria infection. Stool samples were collected to ascertain helminth infection status. Sociodemographic questionnaires and a 24-hour diet recall were administered. Population-weighted prevalences of anemia and risk factors were calculated. Multivariable-adjusted associations of risk factors with anemia and partial population attributable risk percentages (pPAR%) were estimated using generalized linear models. RESULTS Anemia prevalence was 17% (95% CI: 13%, 21%) among women, 8% (6%, 12%) among men, and 22% (19%, 26%) among children. Low serum ferritin contributed to 11% (-1%, 23%) of anemia cases among women, 9% (0%, 17%) among men, and 21% (4%, 34%) among children. The proportion of anemia attributable to low serum folate was estimated at 25% (5%, 41%) among women and 29% (11%, 43%) among men. Dietary iron intake was adequate for nearly all participants, while inadequacy was common for folate and vitamin B12. Inflammation and malaria were responsible for less than one in ten anemia cases. CONCLUSIONS Folate deficiency, iron deficiency, and inflammation appear to be important contributors to anemia in Ethiopia. Folic acid food fortification, targeted iron interventions, and strategies to reduce infections may be considered as potential public health interventions to reduce anemia in Ethiopia.
Evaluation of Soybean Entries in the Pan-African Trials for Response to Coniothyrium glycines, the Cause of Red Leaf Blotch.

Red leaf blotch, caused by the fungus Coniothyrium glycines, is an important disease of soybean known to cause yield losses across soybean growing regions in Africa. Fungicides are one option to manage this disease, but utilization of host resistance may be a better option suited for smallholder soybean farmers in Africa. Fifty-nine soybean entries were evaluated for red leaf blotch severity in nine field locations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. Disease incidence was 100% and disease severity differed (P < 0.01) among entries at eight of the nine locations. Mean severity rating ranged from 1.4 to 3.2 based on 0 to 5 scale with higher disease severities recorded in Ethiopia followed by Zambia. Seven of the 59 entries were common to all nine locations and had severity ranging from 1.7 to 2.9. The cultivar SC Signal had the lowest red leaf blotch severity ratings in the combined analysis. Based on correlations of weather variables to red leaf blotch severity, mean rainfall from planting to assessment date had a positive correlation (r = 0.90; P = 0.010) as did wind speed (r = 0.74; P = 0.0235). Other variables, such as temperature and relative humidity, did not correlate to red leaf blotch severity. This is the most comprehensive report to date on the disease incidence in the region, which for the first time demonstrates an association between rainfall and wind speed with red leaf blotch severity. It also represents the first extensive report evaluating soybean genotypes for resistance against red leaf blotch under multiple environments.
Neural Network Output-Feedback Consensus Fault-Tolerant Control for Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Intermittent Actuator Faults

In this article, the distributed adaptive neural network (NN) consensus fault-tolerant control (FTC) problem is studied for nonstrict-feedback nonlinear multiagent systems (NMASs) subjected to intermittent actuator faults. The NNs are applied to approximate nonlinear functions, and a NN state-observer is developed to estimate the unmeasured states. Then, to compensate for the influence of intermittent actuator faults, a novel distributed output-feedback adaptive FTC is then designed by co-designing the last virtual controller, and the problem of “algebraic-loop” can be solved. The stability of the closed-loop system is proven by using the Lyapunov theory. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed FTC approach is validated by numerical and practical examples.
Monte Carlo modelling of an x-ray chamber for providing inactivation exposures to viruses

The Monte Carlo radiation transport code MCNP6 has been used to model dosimetry for biological pathogen samples placed within a MultiRad 225 irradiation chamber, in order to inform virus deactivation protocols. Full characterisations of the photon spectra generated by the chamber’s x-ray tube were achieved for both 190 and 220 kV potentials, with and without aluminium and copper beam filters of different thicknesses. Dose rate maps to air and water within the chamber were then derived, along with corresponding conversion coefficient data. The maps were determined for samples located both on a shelf and on a dry ice refrigeration chamber, at different distances from the source. The potential depth-dose profiles through samples were also investigated. The optimum choice of filter for use in virus inactivation procedures will rely on a compromise between dose homogeneity and dose rate.