Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome-Wide Analysis of miR159 Gene Family and Predicted Target Genes Associated with Environmental Stress in Dendrobium officinale: A Bioinformatics Study

Dendrobium officinale (D. officinale) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine with high economic value. MicroR159 (miR159) is an ancient and conserved microRNA (miRNA) family in land plants, playing roles in the progress of growth and development, as well as the stress response. In order to find out functions of miR159 in D. officinale, multiple bioinformatic approaches were employed and 10 MIR159 genes were found, localizing on seven chromosomes and an unanchored segment of the D. officinale genome. All of the precursor sequences of Dof-miR159 could form a stable stem-loop structure. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the MIR159 genes of D. officinale were divided into five clades. Furthermore, the conservation analysis suggested that the 2 to 20 nt region of miR159 mature sequences were highly conserved among family members. The promoter analysis of MIR159s showed that the majority of the predicted cis-elements were related to environmental stress or hormones. In total, five classes of genes were predicted to be the target genes of Dof-miR159s, including GAMYB transcription factors, which had been confirmed in many other land plants. The expression patterns of predicted target genes revealed their potential roles in the growth and development of D. officinale, as well as in cold and drought stress responses. In conclusion, our results illustrated the stress-related miR159-targeted genes in D. officinale, which could provide candidate genes for resistance breeding in the future.
Elk forage response to prescribed fire in Boyes meadow, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California

Prescribed fire should increase plant and forage biomass for herbivores in meadows, but the response is likely to be influenced by environmental conditions. Across 15 years prescribed fires occurred every two to four years in September in Boyes meadow, Humboldt County, California. We measured the presence or absence of prescribed fires in September, climatic conditions one month later, Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus roosevelti) abundance, and the biomass of elk forage in January. From analysis of a linear mixed effects model we found that prescribed fires increased forage biomass the first January post-burn and even more so a year after the burn. Forage biomass two years post-burn decreased but was still more than three to four years post-burn. October precipitation had a positive effect on forage biomass but we detected no influence from low temperature in October or elk abundance. Given that prescribed fire increased elk forage biomass two years later, continuing to burn Boyes meadow on a three to four year rotation is suggested.
Study on the Prognostic Values of TTC36 Correlated with Immune Infiltrates and Its Methylation in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains an incurable disease with a very poor clinical outcome. The purpose of this article was to investigate whether the expression or methylation of tetrapeptide repeat domain 36 (TTC36) could be used as a prognostic marker in hepatocellular carcinoma. TCGA database was used to obtain information on HCC gene expression and the associated clinical features of HCC patients. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened between 374 HCC specimens and 50 nontumor specimens. The expression and prognostic value of TTC36 were analyzed. The correlations between TTC36 and cancer immune infiltrates were investigated via TIMER. In this study, HCC specimens and nontumor specimens were compared and 35 DEGs were found between them. Among the 35 DEGs, the expression of TTC36 was significantly reduced in HCC samples compared with nontumor samples. Survival tests revealed that patients with low TTC36 expression had a shorter overall survival than patients with high TTC36 expression. TTC36 was found to be an independent predictive factor for HCC in both univariate and multivariate regression analyses. TTC36 was negatively regulated by TTC36 methylation, leading to its low expression in HCC tissues. Immune analysis revealed that TTC36 expression has significant correlations with B cell, T cell CD4+, neutrophil, macrophage, and myeloid dendritic cell. Finally, TTC36 expression was dramatically reduced in HCC cells, and overexpression greatly suppressed HCC cell proliferation and invasion, according to our experimental results. Overall, our data suggested that TTC36 could be applied as a prognostic marker for predicting outcome and immune infiltration in HCC.
The Effect of Low-Intensity Shock Wave Therapy on Moderate Erectile Dysfunction: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial

Purpose: We conducted the first double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of low-intensity shock wave therapy (LiST) exclusively in patients with moderate erectile dysfunction. Materials and Methods: Seventy patients were randomized to 12 sessions of LiST (35) or sham therapy (35) twice weekly. Patients were evaluated at 1 and 3 months after completion of treatment. The proportion of participants attaining minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in the International Index of Erectile Function–Erectile Function (IIEF-EF) and the effect of LiST on erectile function, as well as on safety, were the study outcomes. Results: At 3 months, MCID was attained by 27 (79%) patients in the LiST group compared to 0 patients in the sham group. The risk difference between the 2 groups was 79% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 66–93, p <0.001) and the baseline-adjusted mean between-group-difference in the IIEF-EF was 4.4 points (95% CI: 3.4–5.4, p <0.001). At 1 month, MCID was attained by 20 (59%) patients in the LiST group compared to 1 (2.9%) patient in the sham group. The risk difference between the 2 groups was 56% (95% CI: 38–73, p <0.001) and the baseline-adjusted mean between-group-difference in the IIEF-EF was 3.9 points (95% CI: 2.7–5.2, p <0.001). Conclusions: Twelve sessions of LiST twice weekly for 6 weeks with a treatment protocol of 5,000 impulses, 0.096 mJ/mm2 energy flux density and 5 Hz frequency are highly effective in patients with moderate erectile dysfunction. Still, further long-term randomized studies are warranted to corroborate our findings.
Evaluate to remove azo dye Chrysoidine Y of activated carbon material produced from bamboo leaves

Activated carbons (ACs) are well known as the most commonly used adsorbent in water and wastewater treatment. They have many advantage characteristics such as high surface area, large pores and diverse surface functional groups with the high stability of chemical, mechanical and thermal. The aims of this study are to fabricate and evaluate the ability to remove the azo dye Chrysoidine Y in the water of three activated carbon materials from bamboo leaves, including AC30 (6500C/30 minutes); AC45 (6500C/45 minutes) and AC60 (6500C/60 minutes). The material characteristics determined by SEM, EDX, FTIR and BET methods, etc. showed that all three samples had high C content (over 72%) and appeared functional groups with the capacity of removing azo dye as C = C; C - O - C, O - H. The FTIR results indicated that three samples have adsorption spectra from 400÷4000 cm-1 with characteristic bonds such as C = O, O - H, C - C, C = C. When 20 ml of a solution containing 0.25; 0.5; 1 and 2 g of AC30, AC45 and AC60 materials were added the azo dye volume varied from 2, 3, 4 and 5 ml of Chrysoidine Y, the lowest and highest adsorption capacity were recorded of 133.64 and 361.2 mg/g, respectively. With the highest BET surface area up to 108,9202 m2/g, the AC60 material sample achieved a maximum efficiency of 100% at a reaction time of 30 minutes with a Chysoidine dye/distilled water volume ratio of 2/18 (ml), pH 9, adsorbent content of 0.25 g. The results also showed that the activated carbon from bamboo leaves is a potential sorbent material in removing the azo dye in water.
Multidimensional context of technical nursing education: triangulation of meanings attributed by teachers

ABSTRACT Objective: To unveil and discuss the meanings attributed by teachers to the teacher-student relationship in the multidimensional context of technical nursing education. Method: Qualitative research, supported by the representational theory of meaning, carried out with nine nurses who teach the technical nursing course at a technical school linked to a federal university in the northeastern region of Brazil. Results: The following meanings were revealed: student profile; lack of preparation and financial resources; reduction in performance and even course interruption; students’ disinterest and resistance; academic support and qualified structure; opportunity for grants; teachers’ dedication and holistic view; respect, ethics, and interactivity; concern with student learning and performance, and heterogeneous group. Conclusion: Social and financial difficulties and students’ disinterest are the limitations that most hinder teaching effectiveness. On the other hand, the teachers’ holistic view, dedication, support, and the availability of resources and academic support are the main multidimensional characteristics of living in this scenario.
Random Access Networks with Spatial Reuse

Providing ultra-reliable, low-latency and massive access is a technical challenge that demands a redesign of current Media Access Control (MAC) layer in wireless cellular networks. This work focuses on studying the conventional slotted ALOHA protocol and ways to improve its efficiency with the objective of providing a solution to the massive access of terminals. In particular, we concentrate on the case where multiple neighboring cells use the same resources, so that the system operates under inter-cell interference. While in conventional slotted ALOHA, terminals transmit with a fixed probability, in our scenario we propose instead to exploit channel-state information at terminals so as to define (minimum) signal-to-noise and (maximum) interference conditions, under which a terminal is allowed to transmit. We conduct a theoretical analysis for a simple scenario with Rayleigh fading where the system throughput is shown to scale linearly with the number of coexisting cells and in logarithmic scale with the number of terminals per cell.
A REVIEW OF CONTROL METHODS OF WIND TURBINE SYSTEMS WITH PERMANENT MAGNET SYNCHRONOUS GENERATOR

Abstract. The paper presents a review of control methods of the wind energy conversion systems with permanent magnet synchronous generator. The modern vector control methods for converter system of variable-speed wind energy conversion have been described. In order to improve the energy efficiency of wind turbine, the maximum power point tracking algorithm has been applied. To verify the effectiveness of the considered configuration and its control strategy, the selected simulation studies have been performed. The obtained study results showed the high effectiveness of the considered configuration and its control methods.
FAMILY RELIGIOUSNESS, PEER RELIGIOUSNESS, AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY SUPPORTIVENESS AS DEVELOPMENTAL CONTEXTS OF ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT RELIGIOUS DEIDENTIFICATION

The purpose of the present study, grounded in relational developmental systems theory, was to use longitudinal data to examine the roles of individual, family, peer, and religious community predictors of religious deidentification in adolescence and young adulthood. The sample included 2,842 youth (ages 13–17) who identified with a religion at the baseline wave of the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). First, Wave 1 individual (worship service attendance, youth group attendance, religious importance, prayer, and doubt), family (parent worship service attendance, parent religious importance, and family religious conversations), peer (number of religious friends, number of friends attending religious youth groups, and friend religious conversations), and religious community (engagement and dialogue) predictors were identified that significantly predicted deidentification by Waves 2 or 3. Second, when comparing Wave 1 individual, family, peer, and religious community scale scores as predictors of Wave 3 deidentification, only individual and family religiousness were significant. Third, we tested a mediation model whereby Wave 2 individual religiousness mediated relations between Wave 1 family, peer, and religious community scale scores and Wave 3 deidentification. All three indirect paths were significant, with the largest effect for family. Thus, individual, family, peer, and religious community factors all play a role in religious deidentification, but the family may be the most salient developmental context of religious development.
Understanding Emotions in Children with Developmental Disabilities during Robot Therapy Using EDA

Recent technological advancements have led to the emergence of supportive robotics to help children with developmental disabilities become independent. In conventional research, in robot therapy, experiments are often conducted by operating the robot out of the subject’s sight. In this paper, robot therapy using a system that can autonomously recognize the emotions of a child with developmental disabilities and provide feedback was developed. The aim was to quantitatively infer emotional changes in children using skin conductance (EDA) during robot therapy. It was demonstrated that the robot could recognize emotions autonomously and provide feedback to the subjects. Additionally, a quantitative evaluation was conducted using EDA. By analyzing the symptoms related to developmental disorders, it may be possible to improve the recognition rate and tailor therapy based on symptoms.
The RNA Polymerase Inhibitor Corallopyronin A Has a Lower Frequency of Resistance Than Rifampicin in Staphylococcus aureus

Corallopyronin A (CorA) is active against Gram-positive bacteria and targets the switch region of RNA polymerase. Because of the high frequency of mutation (FoM) leading to rifampicin resistance, we determined the CorA FoM in S. aureus using fluctuation analysis at 4 × minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Resistant mutants were characterized. S. aureus strains HG001, Mu50, N315, and USA300 had an MIC of 0.25 mg/L. The median FoM for CorA resistance was 1.5 × 10−8, 4.5-fold lower than the median FoM of 6.7 × 10−8 for rifampicin, and was reflected in a 4-fold lower mutation rate for CorA than rifampicin (6 × 10−9 for CorA vs. 2.5 × 10−8 for rifampicin). In CorA-resistant/rifampicin-sensitive strains, the majority of amino acid exchanges were S1127L in RpoB or K334N in RpoC. S. aureus Mu50, a rifampicin-resistant clinical isolate, yielded two further exchanges targeting amino acids L1131 and E1048 of the RpoB subunit. The plating of >1011 cells on agar containing a combination of 4 × MIC of rifampicin and 4 × MIC of CorA did not yield any growth. In conclusion, with proper usage, e.g., in combination therapy and good antibiotic stewardship, CorA is a potential antibiotic for treating S. aureus infections.
Guided wave–based approach for ice detection on wind turbine blades

An efficient ice detection system is an important tool to optimize the de-icing processes in wind turbines operating in cold climate regions. The aim of this work is to study the application of guided wave for ice detection on wind turbine blades. Computational model is developed to simulate guided wave propagation on composite structures. The model has been validated with experimental data obtained in cold climate laboratory. Effect of ice accretion on composite structures is studied in the time, frequency and wavenumber domains. In each case, post-processing algorithms as well as icing index are introduced which are sensitive to accumulated ice on the composite structure. The algorithms and icing index are applied to both simulation results and experimental data. Analysis of the obtained results has shown that the guided wave–based approach can be used for developing ice detection systems for wind turbine blades.
Sinusoidal anti-coupling symmetric strip waveguides on a silicon-on-insulator platform

Sinusoidal anti-coupling (AC) symmetric waveguides provide a means to design dense waveguide arrays that have minimal inter-waveguide crosstalk for high-density integration of photonic circuits. Also, the polarization sensitivity of sinusoidal AC symmetric waveguides and the reduction of wavelength dependence that is achieved by the sinusoidal waveguides can be used to design broadband polarization beam splitters (PBSs) for polarization diversity systems. In this thesis, I demonstrate the use of sinusoidal bends to suppress the optical power exchange between pairs of symmetric strip waveguides for both transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) modes as well as to separate the TE and TM modes into two output symmetric strip waveguides on a silicon-on-insulator platform. I design, model, simulate, and analyze sinusoidal AC symmetric waveguide pairs for both the TE and TM modes. Then, based on the TE sinusoidal AC waveguide structure, I design, simulate, and analyze a PBS using a symmetric directional coupler (DC) with sinusoidal bends. I also compare the modal dispersions of the sinusoidally-bent symmetric DC, which is used in the PBS, with the modal dispersions of an equivalent straight symmetric DC. I measure the fabricated test devices and evaluate their performances. The TE sinusoidal AC device, which has a gap width of 200 nm, has an average crosstalk suppression ratio (SR) of 38.2 dB, and the TM sinusoidal
Analysis of Three-Dimensional Spatial Selectivity for Rician Channel

The spatial selectivity of multipath fading determines the spatial diversity strategy to increase the performance of the communication system. This paper analyses the three-dimensional (3-D) spatial selectivity of Rician channel to strive to alleviate the current lack of analytical studies. A 3-D multipath angular power density (APD) model for Rician channel is proposed. Analytical expressions of the 3-D multipath shape factors are given based on the APD using the multipath shape factors theory. Finally, some important spatial fading statistics like the fading rate variance, level crossing rate (LCR), average fade duration (AFD), spatial correlation and coherence distance are derived, and the analysis on the impact of 3-D spatial angular directions on these spatial fading statistics is presented through simulations. The results would provide useful insight on quantifying and simplifying the analysis and design of the 3-D multiple input multiple output (MIMO) beamforming technology and smart antenna arrays.
Revisiting the Risk Factors for Endometriosis: A Machine Learning Approach

Endometriosis is a condition characterized by implants of endometrial tissues into extrauterine sites, mostly within the pelvic peritoneum. The prevalence of endometriosis is under-diagnosed and is estimated to account for 5–10% of all women of reproductive age. The goal of this study was to develop a model for endometriosis based on the UK-biobank (UKB) and re-assess the contribution of known risk factors to endometriosis. We partitioned the data into those diagnosed with endometriosis (5924; ICD-10: N80) and a control group (142,723). We included over 1000 variables from the UKB covering personal information about female health, lifestyle, self-reported data, genetic variants, and medical history prior to endometriosis diagnosis. We applied machine learning algorithms to train an endometriosis prediction model. The optimal prediction was achieved with the gradient boosting algorithms of CatBoost for the data-combined model with an area under the ROC curve (ROC-AUC) of 0.81. The same results were obtained for women from a mixed ethnicity population of the UKB (7112; ICD-10: N80). We discovered that, prior to being diagnosed with endometriosis, affected women had significantly more ICD-10 diagnoses than the average unaffected woman. We used SHAP, an explainable AI tool, to estimate the marginal impact of a feature, given all other features. The informative features ranked by SHAP values included irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and the length of the menstrual cycle. We conclude that the rich population-based retrospective data from the UKB are valuable for developing unified machine learning endometriosis models despite the limitations of missing data, noisy medical input, and participant age. The informative features of the model may improve clinical utility for endometriosis diagnosis.
Exploring the Effects of University Campus Decentralization to Students’ Mode Choice

Mobility patterns and travel behavior aspects of students traveling to universities, are gaining attention, as the completion of such every day trips are rather complicated. University students form a social group, essentially autonomous in terms of mode choice decision making. Understanding the mode choice decision process, may reveal the most appropriate interventions for achieving sustainable transport goals. The current study aims to examine various aspects of university students’ travel bahaviour such as travel distance, travel time, comfort and safety in the city of Xanthi, Greece. Moving a step forward, the paper provides a better understanding of students’ travel patterns in two different environments due to the University relocation from an urban environment to a more isolated one. For this purpose, a questionnaire survey is conducted where students describe their travel habits before and after the relocation. In addition, students are given a choice set comprised of eight different factors hypothesized to internalize the effect of the relocation on mode choice for the trips to and from the University and they are asked to prioritize them ranking them from the most significant one to the least important. For the analysis two Multinomial Logit models are developed. The results verify initial considerations; distance and time are the most important factors for both cases while the use of public transport instead of walking increases the importance of economy and safety.
Integration of eQTL Analysis and GWAS Highlights Regulation Networks in Cotton under Stress Condition

The genus Gossypium is one of the most economically important crops in the world. Here, we used RNA-seq to quantify gene expression in a collection of G. arboreum seedlings and performed eGWAS on 28,382 expressed genes. We identified a total of 30,089 eQTLs in 10,485 genes, of which >90% were trans-regulate target genes. Using luciferase assays, we confirmed that different cis-eQTL haplotypes could affect promoter activity. We found ~6600 genes associated with ~1300 eQTL hotspots. Moreover, hotspot 309 regulates the expression of 325 genes with roles in stem length, fresh weight, seed germination rate, and genes related to cell wall biosynthesis and salt stress. Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) identified 19 candidate genes associated with the cotton growth and salt stress response. The variation in gene expression across the population played an essential role in population differentiation. Only a small number of the differentially expressed genes between South China, the Yangtze River region, and the Yellow River region sites were located in different chromosomal regions. The eQTLs found across the duplicated gene pairs showed conservative cis- or trans- regulation and that the expression levels of gene pairs were correlated. This study provides new insights into the evolution of gene expression regulation in cotton, and identifies eQTLs in stress-related genes for use in breeding improved cotton varieties.