Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Against the Flow: The Colonisation of the Lesotho Highlands by Freshwater Limpets

To date, limited research has taken place on the evolutionary history of biodiversity in the high-altitude zones of southern Africa, particularly the Lesotho Highlands. The few studies that do exist point to similar high-altitude zones being either prolific museums (i.e., refugia and cradles) for cold-evolved species or sinks for temperate species post the Last Glacial Maximum, yet the role this zone has played for freshwater biodiversity is unknown for almost all freshwater taxa. In this study, we address this lack of knowledge by looking at the phylogeography of the freshwater limpet genus, Burnupia, across its southern and eastern African range, but particularly focusing on the Lesotho Highlands. We used COI data to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the genus, quantify phylogenetic species diversity, test both isolation by distance (IBD) and by elevation (IBE) and model ancestral area estimation “in” and “out” of the Highlands to determine: 1) The diversity and endemicity of Burnupia spp. in the Highlands in comparison to the broader southern African region and 2) when did the colonisation of the Highlands happen. Our results showed that at least two of the nine southern African phylogenetic species delimited occur in the Highlands (which appears average for the geographical extent of this area in comparison to the broader southern African region) and that the genus has been present in the Lesotho Highlands for somewhere between 1.38–0.23 million years. However, we found the endemicity of at least one of the two Highland species, supported by weak but significant IBD and IBE in Burnupia. Therefore we favour the notion that the Highlands are likely an important haven for cold-evolved species. As our results also generated a lot of data useful for Burnupia systematics, we discuss some taxonomic implications of our findings.
Short-Term Nationwide Airport Throughput Prediction With Graph Attention Recurrent Neural Network

With the dynamic air traffic demand and the constrained capacity resources, accurately predicting airport throughput is essential to ensure the efficiency and resilience of air traffic operations. Many research efforts have been made to predict traffic throughputs or flight delays at an airport or over a network. However, it is still a challenging problem due to the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of the highly interacted air transportation systems. To address this challenge, we propose a novel deep learning model, graph attention neural network stacking with a Long short-term memory unit (GAT-LSTM), to predict the short-term airport throughput over a national air traffic network. LSTM layers are included to extract the temporal correlations in the data, while the graph attention mechanism is used to capture the spatial dependencies. For the graph attention mechanism, two graph modeling methods, airport-based graph and OD-pair graph are explored in this study. We tested the proposed model using real-world air traffic data involving 65 major airports in China over 3 months in 2017 and compared its performance with other state-of-the-art models. Results showed that the temporal pattern was the dominate factor, compared to the spatial pattern, in predicting airport throughputs over an air traffic network. Among the prediction models that we compared, both the proposed model and LSTM performed well on prediction accuracy over the entire network. Better performance of the proposed model was observed when focusing on airports with larger throughputs. We also conducted an analysis on model interpretability. We found that spatiotemporal correlations in the data were learned and shown via the model parameters, which helped us to gain insights into the topology and the dynamics of the air traffic network.
Metformin, Rapamycin, or Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Pretreatment Attenuate Cognitive Impairment After Cerebral Hypoperfusion by Inhibiting Microglial Phagocytosis

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the second leading form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease (AD) plaguing the elder population. Despite the enormous prevalence of VCI, the biological basis of this disease has been much less well-studied than that of AD, with no specific therapy currently existing to prevent or treat VCI. As VCI mainly occurs in the elderly, the role of anti-aging drugs including metformin, rapamycin, and nicotinamide mono nucleotide (NMN), and the underlying mechanism remain uncertain. Here, we examined the role of metformin, rapamycin, and NMN in cognitive function, white matter integrity, microglial response, and phagocytosis in a rat model of VCI by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO). BCCAO-induced chronic cerebral hypoperfusion could cause spatial working memory deficits and white matter lesions (WMLs), along with increasing microglial activation and phagocytosis compared to sham-operated rats. We found the cognitive impairment was significantly improved in BCCAO rats pretreated with these three drugs for 14 days before BCCAO compared with the vehicle group by the analysis of the Morris water maze and new object recognition tests. Pretreatment of metformin, rapamycin, or NMN also increased myelin basic protein (MBP, a marker for myelin) expression and reduced SMI32 (a marker for demyelinated axons) intensity and SMI32/MBP ratio compared with the vehicle group, suggesting that these drugs could ameliorate BCCAO-induced WMLs. The findings were confirmed by Luxol fast blue (LFB) stain, which is designed for staining myelin/myelinated axons. We further found that pretreatment of metformin, rapamycin, or NMN reduced microglial activation and the number of M1 microglia, but increased the number of M2 microglia compared to the vehicle group. Importantly, the number of MBP+/Iba1+/CD68+ microglia was significantly reduced in the BCCAO rats pretreated with these three drugs compared with the vehicle group, suggesting that these drugs suppress microglial phagocytosis. No significant difference was found between the groups pretreated with metformin, rapamycin, or NMN. Our data suggest that metformin, rapamycin, or NMN could protect or attenuate cognitive impairment and WMLs by modifying microglial polarization and inhibiting phagocytosis. The findings may open a new avenue for VCI treatment.
Exonuclease 1 is a Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents a global health challenge. Effective biomarkers are required for an early diagnosis to improve the survival rates of HCC patients. Exonuclease 1 (EXO1) plays a significant role in the DNA repair and recombination mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic roles of EXO1 in HCC. Methods: We analyzed the EXO1 expression levels in various cancers including HCC from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. RNA sequencing data were analyzed using the R packages to determine differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between high- and low-EXO1 expressing HCC tissues from the TCGA–LIHC database. A Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to determine the association between EXO1 expression and immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoint genes and TP53. MethSurv and CBioPortal databases were used to evaluate the DNA methylation changes and genetic alterations in the EXO1 gene. A logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the association between EXO1 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics of the HCC patients. The diagnostic and prognostic predictive values of EXO1 were evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier (K-M) survival curves, diagnostic receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, nomogram model, and Cox regression analysis. Results: EXO1 expression levels were significantly higher in the tumor tissues and serums of HCC patients compared to the corresponding controls. The DEGs associated with EXO1 were significantly enriched in the cell proliferation pathways. EXO1 expression levels significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint genes, and TP53 in the HCC tissues. The DNA methylation status in five CpG islands of the EXO1 gene was associated with the prognosis of HCC. EXO1 expression levels in the HCC tissues were associated with the tumor grades, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels, and the tumor stages. Cox regression analysis showed that EXO1 was a potential independent risk factor for the overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) of HCC patients. ROC curve analysis showed that EXO1 expression levels accurately distinguished HCC tissues from the adjacent normal liver tissues. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that EXO1 was a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, and a promising therapeutic target in HCC.
Factors Related to Metabolic Syndrome Development and Recovery in Chinese Adults: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Objective This study was a prospective assessment of the epidemiological characteristics of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in cities in Northeast China. We explored the factors that affect the occurrence and outcome of MetS according to sex. Design and Methods This was a longitudinal survey assessing MetS status among 750 urban community residents in China. At baseline, the intra-abdominal fat area was measured by MRI, simple anthropometric parameters (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), etc.) were used to evaluate fat distribution; blood pressure and blood lipid profile were measured; an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was used to detect blood glucose; questionnaires were used to investigate lifestyles. Follow-up was conducted after 1.5 years (follow-up rate was 66.93%) to analyze the incidence of MetS and the influencing factors of MetS outcomes according to sex. Results The 1.5-year cumulative incidence of MetS in the survey area was 25.40%. Men with visceral obesity were more likely to develop MetS than those with subcutaneous obesity (OR=9.778, p<0.05). Increased BMI (OR=1.379) and blood uric acid (BUA)>416 mmol/L (OR=2.318) were associated with the occurrence of MetS in men (all p<0.05). At the initial visit, BUA>356.9 mmol/L (OR=3.538), increased BMI (OR=1.212), and increased HbA1c (OR=2.577) were associated with the occurrence of MetS in women (all p<0.05). After 1.5 years, 25.37% of MetS patients no longer had MetS. Elevated diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (OR=1.097) and increased visceral fat (OR=1.023) at the initial visit made men with MetS less likely to recover from MetS (all p<0.05). Higher High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) at the initial visit made women with MetS more likely to recover from MetS (β: -3.509, OR=0.003, p<0.05). Conclusion There are different risk factors for MetS in different genders. Hyperuricemia is a risk factor for the onset of MetS in both men and women.
Distinct Fates of Chemokine and Surrogate Molecule Gradients: Consequences for CCR7-Guided Dendritic Cell Migration

Chemokine-guided leukocyte migration is a hallmark of the immune system to cope with invading pathogens. Intruder confronted dendritic cells (DCs) induce the expression of the chemokine receptor CCR7, which enables them to sense and migrate along chemokine gradients to home to draining lymph nodes, where they launch an adaptive immune response. Chemokine-mediated DC migration is recapitulated and intensively studied in 3D matrix migration chambers. A major caveat in the field is that chemokine gradient formation and maintenance in such 3D environments is generally not assessed. Instead, fluorescent probes, mostly labelled dextran, are used as surrogate molecules, thereby neglecting important electrochemical properties of the chemokines. Here, we used site-specifically, fluorescently labelled CCL19 and CCL21 to study the establishment and shape of the chemokine gradients over time in the 3D collagen matrix. We demonstrate that CCL19 and particularly CCL21 establish stable, but short-distance spanning gradients with an exponential decay-like shape. By contrast, dextran with its neutral surface charge forms a nearly linear gradient across the entire matrix. We show that the charged C-terminal tail of CCL21, known to interact with extracellular matrix proteins, is determinant for shaping the chemokine gradient. Importantly, DCs sense differences in the shape of CCL19 and CCL21 gradients, resulting in distinct spatial migratory responses.
Assessment of Blood Pressure Using Only a Smartphone and Machine Learning Techniques: A Systematic Review

Regular monitoring of blood pressure (BP) allows for early detection of hypertension and symptoms related to cardiovascular disease. Measuring BP with a cuff requires equipment that is not always readily available and it may be impractical for some patients. Smartphones are an integral part of the lives of most people; thus, detecting and monitoring hypertension with a smartphone is likely to increase the ability to monitor BP due to the convenience of use for many patients. Smartphones lend themselves to assessing cardiovascular health because their built-in sensors and cameras provide a means of detecting arterial pulsations. To this end, several image processing and machine learning (ML) techniques for predicting BP using a smartphone have been developed. Several ML models that utilize smartphones are discussed in this literature review. Of the 53 papers identified, seven publications were evaluated. The performance of the ML models was assessed based on their accuracy for classification, the mean error measure, and the standard deviation of error for regression. It was found that artificial neural networks and support vector machines were often used. Because a variety of influencing factors determines the performance of an ML model, no clear preference could be determined. The number of input features ranged from five to 233, with the most commonly used being demographic data and the features extracted from photoplethysmogram signals. Each study had a different number of participants, ranging from 17 to 5,992. Comparisons of the cuff-based measures were mostly used to validate the results. Some of these ML models are already used to detect hypertension and BP but, to satisfy possible regulatory demands, improved reliability is needed under a wider range of conditions, including controlled and uncontrolled environments. A discussion of the advantages of various ML techniques and the selected features is offered at the end of this systematic review.
The [i]Arabidopsis[/i] nitrate transporter NRT2.4 plays a double role in roots and shoots of nitrogen-starved plants

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. The [i]Arabidopsis[/i] nitrate transporter NRT2.4 plays a double role in roots and shoots of nitrogen-starved plants Takatoshi Kiba, Ana-Belen Feria-Bourrellier, Florence Lafouge, Lina Lezhneva, Stephanie Boutet-Mercey, Mathilde Orsel, Virginie Bréhaut, Anthony Miller, Francoise Daniel-Vedele, Hitoshi Sakakibara, et al.
Polyclonal activation of an IgA subclass against Staphylococcus aureus cell membrane antigen in post-methicillin-resistant S.aureus infection glomerulonephritis

1. Jeganathan R, Harkin DW, Lowry P, Lee B. Iatrogenic subclavian artery pseudo-aneurysm causing airway compromise: treatment with percutaneous thrombin injection. J Vasc Surg 2004; 40: 371–374 2. Akgun S, Civelek A, Baltacioglu F, Ekici G. Related articles, links successful endovascular repair of a subclavian artery pseudoaneurysm. Nephrol Dial Transplant 1999; 14: 2219–2221 3. Moffatt SD, Mitchell RS. Endovascular stent management of thoracic aneurysms and dissections. In: Cohn LH, Edmunds LH Jr, eds. Cardiac Surgery in the Adult. McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003: 1191–1204 4. Sheiman RG, Mastromatteo M. Iatrogenic femoral pseudoaneurysms that are unresponsive to percutaneous thrombin injection: potential causes. Am J Roentgen 2003; 181: 1301–1304
Quality of Life of Households Engaged in the Oyster Mushroom Project in Maseru

prosperity and social connectedness. This study sought to in terms of living conditions of households engaged in the access to The study adopted a quantitative design and used a question as they were low and unstable. as they mainly used pit latrines and piped systems that are on was satisfactory. ords: Health, Household income, Water and sanitation,
Azaz, Ahmad and Strohbuecker, Stephanie and Tufarelli, Cristina and Sottile, Virginie (2017) Expression of a SOX1 overlapping transcript in neural differentiation and cancer

SOX1 is a member of the SOXB1 subgroup of transcription factors involved in early embryogenesis, CNS development and maintenance of neural stem cells. The structure and regulation of the human SOX1 locus has been less studied than that of SOX2, another member of the SOXB1 subgroup for which an overlapping transcript has been reported. Here we report that the SOX1 locus harbours a SOX1 overlapping transcript (SOX1-OT), and describe expression, splicing variants and detection of SOX1-OT in different stem and cancer cells. RT-PCR and RACE experiments were performed to detect and characterise the structure of SOX1-OT in neuroprogenitor cultures and across different cancer cell lines. SOX1-OT was found to present a complex structure including several unannotated exons, different transcript variants and at least two potential transcription start sites. SOX1-OT was found to be highly expressed in differentiated neural stem cells across different time points of differentiation, and its expression correlated with SOX1 gene expression. Concomitant expression of SOX1 and SOX1-OT was further observed in several cancer cell models. While the function of this transcript is unknown, the regulatory role reported for other lncRNAs strongly suggests a possible role for SOX1-OT in regulating SOX1 expression, as previously observed for SOX2. The elucidation of the genetic and regulatory context governing SOX1 expression will contribute to clarifying its role in stem cell differentiation and tumorigenesis.
and In Vivo Sensitivity In Vitro b Defect in T Cell TGF-Ligase Cbl-b Results in a Multifunctional Cutting Edge: Deficiency in the E3 Ubiquitin

Mice deficient in the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b have CD28-independent T cells and develop autoimmunity. We previously reported that Cbl-b (cid:2) / (cid:2) CD4 (cid:3) CD25 (cid:2) T effector cells are resistant in vitro to the antiproliferative effects of CD4 (cid:3) CD25 (cid:3) regulatory T cells and TGF- (cid:1) . We have now asked whether the resistance noted in Cbl-b (cid:2) / (cid:2) T cells is restricted solely to TGF- (cid:1) ’s antiproliferative effects, whether the TGF- (cid:1) resistance has in vivo relevance, and whether a defect can be identified in the TGF- (cid:1) signaling pathway. We now demonstrate the following: 1) in vitro, Cbl-b deficiency prevents the TGF- (cid:1) mediated induction of Foxp3 (cid:3) functional regulatory T cells; 2) in vivo, Cbl-b (cid:2) / (cid:2) mice show a significantly enhanced response to a tumor that is strictly TGF- (cid:1) regu-lated; and 3) Cbl-b (cid:2) / (cid:2) T effector cells have defective TGF- (cid:1) -mediated Smad2 phosphorylation. These studies are the first to document that the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b plays an integral role in T cell TGF- (cid:1) signaling, and that its absence results in multifunctional TGF- (cid:1) related defects that have important disease-related
Analysis of Growth Models of Japanese Quails (Coturnix Coturnix japonica) in Nigeria

This study, aimed at comparing the growth curve parameters and determining the best nonlinear model for Japanese quails was conducted at the Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Two hundred and thirty-five (235) Japanese quails were purchased at day old from a reputable hatchery in Ibadan and reared in cages, after two weeks of brooding on deep litter. Body weights (g) were taken weekly from hatch till the birds were 25 weeks old. The average of the weekly body weights was fitted to four non-linear models, namely Gompertz, Logistic, Brody and Von Bertalanffy to define the growth pattern and examine the existence of differences in the growth pattern described by the models. Models were compared using Coefficients of determination (R2), Mean square error (MSE), size of Residual standard deviation (RSD), Akaike’s information criteria (AIC) and Percentage forecast error. The R2 values were high for all models: 0.980, 0.979, 0.973 and 0.973 for Von Bertalanffy, Gompertz, Logistic and Brody, respectively. The Mean square error and Akaike’s information criteria values were 65.744 and 107.449; 64.685 and 107.043; 51.363 and 101.277; 49.731 and 100.470 for the Logistic, Brody, Gompertz and Von Bertalanffy models, respectively. Residual standard deviations were 8.979, 8.539, 7.847 and 7.832 with corresponding Percentage forecast error (PCFE) values of 16.315, 11.523, 12.948 and 13.687 for the Brody, Logistic, Gompertz and Von Bertalanffy models respectively. The Von Bertalanffy model was the most suitable for explaining the growth of the Japanese quails based on these goodness of fit criteria: The highest R2 (0.980), lowest Mean square error (49.731), Residual standard deviation (7.832) and Akaike’s information criteria (100.470).
The Role of First-Line Managers in Healthcare Change Management: A Ghanaian Context

One of the key concerns in healthcare management is the management of change. The ability to change, adapt and evolve is the only sustainable competitive advantage in today’s healthcare environment. Managing change effectively requires a system of actors, all moving in unison and fulfilling different roles. One actor vital to organizational change success, but neglected both in research and in practice is the first-line manager. Employing cross-sectional survey, this study surveyed 54 first-line managers of two hospitals in Ghana to understand the actual role first-line managers assume during the implementation of change. Secondary objectives were to: identify the skills and competencies these managers need, key challenges they face, and the level of support they receive from top managers in the performance of their change management roles. Six key roles were identified: information diffusion, change advocacy, employee training and development, liaison, resource allocation, and supervision. Technical competencies, effective communication, ability to coach staff through change, problem solving skills and conflict management, and effective team building and team leadership were the five important competencies considered by the first-line managers. Top management support was low, while inadequate training was found to be the main barrier/challenge to the first-line managers’ change management role. With these findings, healthcare managers and policy makers can design appropriate training programmes for lower level managers and invest in their training and development to benefit enormously from the important role they assume during change efforts.