Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High ACTN1 Is Associated with Poor Prognosis, and ACTN1 Silencing Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Metastasis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Purpose Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common malignancy of the oral cavity. As the survival rate of OSCC patients is low, it is crucial to explore new markers and therapeutic targets for early diagnosis of the disease. A high level of actinin alpha 1 (ACTN1) in patients could serve as an independent prognostic factor of acute myeloid leukemia. However, the role of ACTN1 in OSCC remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of ACTN1 in OSCC. Methods ACTN1 protein levels in tissues were determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. The correlation of ACTN1 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. The effect of ACTN1 knockdown on cell proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and the cell cycle was evaluated using Western blotting, Cell Counting Kit‑8 (CCK8) assays, flow cytometry analysis, transwell assays, wound﻿-healing assays, and nude mouse models of subcutaneous xenograft and pulmonary metastasis. Results Based on the total score of ACTN1 IHC staining analysis, ACTN1 expression was found to be low in 10 normal mucosal tissues, 48 normal mucosal tissues adjacent to OSCC, and 19 OSCC tissues, but high in 29 OSCC tissues. ACTN1 protein levels were significantly associated with the clinical stage and node metastasis, and a high ACTN1 protein level indicated poor prognosis. Moreover, ACTN1 expression was an independent predictor of poor prognosis of OSCC. Using in vitro assays, we found that ACTN1 knockdown could induce cell cycle arrest, promote apoptosis, and inhibit EMT and cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in the OSCC cell lines, SCC-15 and HSC-3. Moreover, ACTN1 knockdown inhibited subcutaneous tumor growth and pulmonary metastasis in vivo. Conclusion ACTN1 levels were significantly associated with the clinical stage and node metastasis, and a high ACTN1 protein level indicated poor prognosis. Moreover, ACTN1 knockdown could suppress cell proliferation and metastasis of OSCC. Our results suggested that ACTN1 may serve as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of OSCC.
Research on the Wear Behavior of the Fixed Cone Liner of a Cone Crusher Based on the Discrete Element Method

Taking reducing the wear of the fixed cone liner of a cone crusher as the starting point, the movement and geometry parameters of the cone crusher are studied using the discrete element method. To improve the service life and working efficiency of the whole cone crusher. The UG model and discrete element Yade model of the cone crusher are established, and the different shapes of the tin ore are represented using Yade’s preprocessor through eight different ways of particle combination and superposition. The static friction coefficient between the manganese ore and the cone crusher is studied and calibrated using the slope method. The relative error between the Yade and test results is 1.58%, and the calibration result is 0.44. The repose angle of the manganese ore is studied using the collapse method. The repose angle increases with the increase of the static friction coefficient and the dynamic friction coefficient, but the change trend is different. The effect of the dynamic friction coefficient on the repose angle is obviously greater than that of the static friction coefficient. The dynamic friction coefficient obtained by Yade is 0.042. Taking the swing distance, rotating speed, and bottom angle of the fixed cone as the orthogonal experimental factors of Yade, the regression equation of the fixed cone liner was obtained through the nonlinear processing of SPSS 25.0. According to Matlab R2017b, the influences of the swinging distance, rotating speed, and bottom angle of the fixed cone on the fixed cone liner are obtained. According to Yade’s research results, the order of the influence degree of liner wear is: the rotating speed of moving cone, the swinging distance of the fixed cone, and the base angle of fixed rotation. When the swinging distance of the fixed cone is 146 mm, the rotating speed of the moving cone is 198 rpm, the fixed rotation bottom angle is 28°, and the minimum value of the liner wear is 23 mm. Yade’s results are consistent with the change trend of the wear amount of the bushing obtained from the test. The research results show the correctness of using the Yade method to study the wear of the fixed cone liner of a cone crusher, which provides a theoretical basis for reducing the wear of the fixed cone liner of a cone crusher, and puts forward a new method to study the wear of relevant parts of a fixed cone crusher. At the same time, the research results are of great significance for achieving energy-saving in mining enterprises.
Does Modification of Amalgomer with Propolis Alter Its Physicomechanical Properties? An In Vitro Study

Objective To assess if incorporating ethanolic extract of propolis into ceramic-reinforced glass ionomer (Amalgomer CR) might have an influence on its physicomechanical properties. Materials and Methods Three groups were assessed; group I: Amalgomer CR (control) and two experimental groups (II and III) of propolis added to the liquid of Amalgomer CR with 25 and 50 v/v %, respectively. Evaluation parameters were color stability, compressive strength, microhardness, and surface roughness. Representative specimens of each group were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the results, followed by a Tukey post hoc test (p < 0.05). Results Nonsignificant color change for both groups of modified Amalgomer CR. Meanwhile, the two experimental groups exhibited a significant increase in both compressive strength and microhardness. Simultaneously, there was a significant difference in roughness values among groups with the lowest roughness values exhibited by the 50 v/v % propolis concentration. Conclusions Modification of Amalgomer CR with 50 v/v % propolis may increase its mechanical properties without compromising its esthetic. Clinical Significance. Modification of Amalgomer CR by 50 v/v % propolis is supposed to be a hopeful restorative material with favorable characteristics.
Biochemical factors conferring shoot tolerance to oxidative stress in rice grown in low zinc soil

Zinc deficiency reduces rice growth and yield, and this is, in part, due to leaf damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). The aim of this study was to identify biochemical mechanisms conferring tolerance to Zn deficiency-induced oxidative stress. A field experiment and three nutrient solution experiments were conducted with the intolerant genotype IR74 and recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between IR74 and the tolerant landrace Jalmagna. After 2 weeks of growth in low Zn soil, stress symptoms developed in leaves of IR74, but not in the tolerant RIL46. Activity of antioxidant enzymes showed clear treatment effects, but did not explain tolerance of RIL46. On the contrary, the intolerant IR74 showed higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (POX), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) under Zn deficiency. This contrasted with a constitutively higher level of total and reduced ascorbic acid (AsA) in RIL46. Three further nutrient solution experiments focussed on enzymes and reducing substrates of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle. The first experiment included the highly sensitive RIL76 in addition to the genotypes used in the field trial, to test whether the patterns of antioxidant response observed in the field were specific to the genotypes used. This genotype had similarly low AsA level as IR74, but did not respond to Zn deficiency with an increase in enzyme activity, leading to even more pronounced leaf symptoms. In a second experiment, co-segregation of AsA concentration and Zn deficiency tolerance was confirmed in five genotypes from the IR74/Jalmagna quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping population. A third experiment was conducted to determine whether the observed patterns of antioxidant response were specific to Zn deficiency or would also apply to oxidative stress caused by iron deficiency. Although high AsA level apparently conferred tolerance under both types of stress, the enzymatic response to iron deficiency differed from that to Zn deficiency. In particular, APX activity showed a decrease instead of an increase under low iron stress. In conclusion, we suggest that a high AsA level is a promising target for developing rice genotypes with tolerance to oxidative stress.
Phenotypic and Genotypic Assessment of Antibiotic Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteria Isolated from Retail Meat

Background Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria are determined to be one of the main causes of foodborne diseases. Purpose This survey was done to assess the genotypic and phenotypic profiles of antibiotic resistance of S. aureus bacteria isolated from retail meat. Methods Four-hundred and eighty-five retail meat samples were collected and examined. S. aureus bacteria were identified using culture and biochemical tests. The phenotypic profile of antibiotic resistance was examined using the disk diffusion method. The genotypic pattern of antibiotic resistance was determined using the polymerase chain reaction. Results Forty-eight out of 485 (9.89%) raw retail meat samples were contaminated with S. aureus. Raw retail buffalo meat (16%) had the highest incidence of S. aureus, while raw camel meat (4%) had the lowest. S. aureus bacteria exhibited the uppermost incidence of resistance toward tetracycline (79.16%), penicillin (72.91%), gentamicin (60.41%), and doxycycline (41.666%). The incidence of resistance toward chloramphenicol (8.33%), levofloxacin (22.91%), rifampin (22.91%), and azithromycin (25%) was lower than other examined antibiotics. The most routinely detected antibiotic resistance genes were blaZ (58.33%), tetK (52.08%), aacA-D (33.33%), and ermA (27.08%). Cat1 (4.16%), rpoB (10.41%), msrA (12.50%), grlA (12.50%), linA (14.58%), and dfrA1 (16.66%) had the lower incidence rate. Conclusion Raw meat of animals may be sources of resistant S. aureus which pose a hygienic threat about the consumption of raw meat. Nevertheless, further investigations are essential to understand supplementary epidemiological features of S. aureus in retail meat.
A COMPARISON OF TWO ULTRASONIC TECHNIQUES FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF FAT THICKNESS AND RIB EYE AREA IN CATTLE

A comparison of two ultrasonic techniques, A-mode and B-scan, using two commercially produced ultrasonic machines, Krautkramer Model USM 2F (A-mode) and Scanogram Model 721 (B-scan), was made for the measurement of fat thickness and rib eye area in cattle. Two experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 included 107 Hereford steers of approximately 454 kg liveweight and experiment 2 included 65 heifers of mixed breeding of approximately 375 kg liveweight. The B-scan results in both experiments were analyzed by two interpreters and the A-mode results were analyzed by one interpreter in experiment 1 and by two interpreters in experiment 2. All cattle were slaughtered after measuring with ultrasonics, and corresponding carcass measurements were taken 48 h postmortem. Both ultrasonic techniques were approximately equal in accuracy (σd) and precision (r) for the measurement of fat thickness. The correlations (r) and standard deviation of differences (σd) for the rib eye area estimates were highly dependent upon o.
Quantification of neighbourhood‐dependent plant growth by Bayesian hierarchical modelling

1 The effects of neighbours on the growth of individual plants are fundamental to dynamics in plant populations and can be described by means of mathematical functions, so‐called competition kernels, in formal spatiotemporal models. Little is known about the form and components such functions should have. 2 We evaluate some properties of kernel functions using data on the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana plants in replicated, even‐aged stands of many individuals. Because of the essential non‐independence of plant growth in stands, we employed a Bayesian hierarchical modelling approach to estimate values and uncertainties of kernel parameters in location‐dependent models of interacting plants. 3 During the experiment plant size and a simple measure of neighbourhood crowding became strongly correlated, plants tending to be small where local crowding was intense, indicating that local competition was an important process in the growth of the plants. 4 Competitive interactions between plants of different sizes were strongly asymmetric, the larger individual acquiring a disproportionately greater share of resources. Competition increased with plant size and attenuated rapidly at distances of a few centimetres, but the exact shape of the attenuation function was less important. 5 Kernel functions with the same kind of structural features were similar in their predictive ability. However, a simple zone‐of‐influence model, based on overlap of pairs of individuals, with competition favouring the larger individual, was arguably the most parsimonious. 6 Neighbourhood competition in stands of even‐aged plants may be successfully captured with relatively simple kernel functions. The results should inform and enhance the formal theory of spatiotemporal plant population and community dynamics. Bayesian hierarchical modelling is a powerful tool with which to analyse complex, spatially dependent data, and has potential as a widely applicable statistical approach for plant ecology.
Shaping the Arabidopsis Transcriptome through Alternative Splicing

Alternative splicing is a molecular tool of the cell to generate more than one messenger RNA from the same gene. Through variable combinations of exons blueprints for different proteins are assembled from one and the same pre-messenger RNA, thus increasing the complexity of the proteome. Moreover, through alternative splicing different transcript variants with different stabilities and different regulatory motifs can be generated, leading to variation in the transcriptome. The importance of alternative splicing in plants has been increasingly recognized in the last decade. Alternative splicing has been found during abiotic and biotic stress and during development. Here, recent advancements in the understanding of alternative splicing in higher plants are presented. Mechanistic details and functional consequences of alternative splicing are discussed with a focus on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Anxiety in Chinese University Students

COVID-19 had become a pandemic raising concerns of widespread panic and increasing anxiety and stress in individuals all over the world (World Health Organization, 2020a). Lots of countries had closed their schools. As the first country to do so, Chinese colleges and universities were making use of different modes of learning, including online-learning based on different platforms to achieve the goal suggested by Ministry of Education in China, “suspending classes without suspending learning,” since middle February. This paper is the first one which aims to investigate the anxiety of Chinese university students after the outbreak of COVID-19 right before the start of new spring term. 3611 university students (female: male = 1.48:1) aged between 18 to 24 from all over China were enrolled to this study from a top university in China. The Self-Rating Anxiety Scale – SAS (Zung, 1971) was used to assess anxiety 2 days before the start of new spring term in middle February. All four-year undergraduate students were included in the study. The mean SAS score was 40.53 (SD = 10.15), significantly higher than the national norm (Mean = 29.78, SD = 10.07, and p ≤ .001), and there were still 557 (15.43%, Mean = 58.75, and SD = 8.9) students met the cutoff of 50 and were screened positive. Comparisons among sexes, grades and majors were also conducted. Significant differences were found between all males and all female (p ≤ .001), and between all students majoring arts and sciences in the anxiety sample (n = 557, p = 0.05). The results also showed that the mean SAS scores were not correlated with the regions they came from/lived in. This study concluded that the Chinese university students showed higher anxiety for COVID-19.
Challenges and Prospects for Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Pathways Consistent With the Paris Agreement

Global emissions pathways that would limit warming to 1.5 or well below 2°C, consistent with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement, rely on substantial reductions of agricultural greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide) along with reaching net zero carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Failure to reduce agricultural emissions would require even more rapid cuts of carbon dioxide emissions and could jeopardize the ability to limit warming to 1.5°C. Modeled pathways that achieve the necessary agricultural emission reductions do so by pricing agricultural emissions. However, there is a large gap between such model scenarios and reality when it comes to the agricultural sector. To date, no single country currently exposes agricultural emissions to any mandatory carbon price and current evidence suggests considerable reluctance to the application of other climate policies with comparable stringency to agriculture. A more realistic view is needed if we are to avoid modeled emission scenarios providing an overly optimistic picture of mitigation potentials from the agricultural sector. There are entry points for mitigation of agricultural greenhouse gases outside government price policies, but many questions remain around their scalability and efficacy. A comprehensive and accelerated effort will be needed to bridge the gap from modeled emissions to realistic policy pathways.
Eye-Tracking in Educational Multi-Touch Games: Design-Based (interaction) research and great visions

Collaborative learning with educational games on multi-touch tabletop devices opens chances, challenges and questions which make contemporary approaches in learning analytics meet their boundaries. Multi-modality might help here, and eye-tracking is a promising data source in the effort to a better understanding of the learners’ behaviour. This article describes our previous work regarding serious games on large multi-touch tabletop displays, developed to teach computer science theory topics in a collaborative and entertaining way, our previous research efforts and challenges and obstacles we met on our way. Eye-tracking will improve our understanding of the learners’ behaviour while they are not interacting with the game, enhance the construction of coherent learner models and might even provide a subtle way of control on a medium of public interaction. The benefits of our work can be used to enhance the game mechanics and support shy or students with disabilities. We present our plan of action which follows a design-based research approach and includes the motivation for our work and our short- and long-term goals.
Modeling with Node Popularities for Autonomous Overlapping Community Detection

Overlapping community detection has triggered recent research in network analysis. One of the promising techniques for finding overlapping communities is the popular stochastic models, which, unfortunately, have some common drawbacks. They do not support an important observation that highly connected nodes are more likely to reside in the overlapping regions of communities in the network. These methods are in essence not truly unsupervised, since they require a threshold on probabilistic memberships to derive overlapping structures and need the number of communities to be specified a priori. We develop a new method to address these issues for overlapping community detection. We first present a stochastic model to accommodate the relative importance and the expected degree of every node in each community. We then infer every overlapping community by ranking the nodes according to their importance. Second, we determine the number of communities under the Bayesian framework. We evaluate our method and compare it with five state-of-the-art methods. The results demonstrate the superior performance of our method. We also apply this new method to two applications, showing its superb performance on practical problems.
A Mono-bidomain Electrophysiological Simulation Method for Electrical Defibrillation Research

Computational simulation is highly useful to study the mechanisms and methods of electrical defibrillation. However, current simulation methods have considerable limitations, such as inability to obtain the virtual electrode polarization and tremendous computational load. In order to solve these problems, we proposed a Mono-Bidomain simulation method that synthesizes the characteristics of the passive bidomain model and the active monodomain model to simulate the effect of active bidomain simulation. The distribution of virtual electrodes is obtained on the passive bidomain model by applying an electrical shock on the defibrillation electrodes at the moment of defibrillation, and the transmembrane potential of every myocardial node is converted into a transmembrane stimulus current; then the current is applied to the active monodomain model to get the propagation of ventricular electrical activity after defibrillation. Using this method, we simulated the changes of electrical activity of point and plate stimuli schemes on the ideal 2D and 3D tissue models, respectively. It shows that the simulation result of this method is very close to that of the active bidomain simulation, and the maximum average error of upstroke time is less than 2.5 ms, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method. This method can improve the simulation efficiency by greatly reducing the computational time and flexibly adjusting the electrode configurations, and provides a new means for the simulation study of arrhythmia electrotherapy.
Reproductive biology, size and age compositions and growth of the batoid Urolophus paucimaculatus, including comparisons with other species of the Urolophidae

The biology of Urolophus paucimaculatus in south-western Australian waters has been examined and compared with that of the co-occurring Urolophus lobatus, Trygonoptera personata and Trygonoptera mucosa. These four species represent the only two genera of the Urolophidae. Urolophus paucimaculatus conceives in early/mid-summer and gives birth in late spring/early summer, closely paralleling the situation with U. lobatus. Although Trygonoptera species likewise have a 10–12-month gestation period, they conceive and give birth in late autumn to mid-winter. The marked intergeneric differences in birth time help account for pronounced intergeneric differences in the diets of their newly born young. By birth, Urolophus paucimaculatus attains ~50% of its asymptotic size. The relatively large mean disc width of the four urolophids at birth, i.e. 105–128 mm, accounts for the small litters of these species (1–2 young per litter). Size at maturity and maximal size and age of each species are greater for females than males and are greater for Trygonoptera than Urolophus species. The growth of U. paucimaculatus and the other urolophids throughout pre- and postnatal life can be described by a single smooth growth curve. The maintenance of a constant pattern of growth from conception is remarkable because the diet and behaviour of these elasmobranchs changes radically at parturition.