Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Voluntary wheel running reveals sex-specific nociceptive factors in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, neurodegenerative autoimmune disease associated with sensory and motor dysfunction. Although estimates vary, ∼50% of patients with MS experience pain during their disease. The mechanisms underlying the development of pain are not fully understood, and no effective treatment for MS-related pain is available. Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that voluntary exercise (wheel running) can reduce nociceptive behaviours at the disease onset in female mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model used to study the immunopathogenesis of MS. However, given the established sex differences in the underlying mechanisms of chronic pain and MS, we wanted to investigate whether wheel running would also be effective at preventing nociceptive behaviours in male mice with EAE. C57BL/6 mice of both sexes were given access to running wheels for 1 hour/day until the disease onset, when nociceptive behaviour was assessed using von Frey hairs. Daily running effectively reduced nociceptive behaviour in female mice, but not in male mice. We explored the potential biological mechanisms for these effects and found that the reduction in nociceptive behaviour in female mice was associated with reduced levels of inflammatory cytokines from myelin-reactive T cells as well as reduced dorsal root ganglia excitability as seen by decreased calcium responses. These changes were not seen in male mice. Instead, running increased the levels of inflammatory cytokines and potentiated Ca2+ responses in dorsal root ganglia cells. Our results show that voluntary wheel running has sex-dependent effects on nociceptive behaviour and inflammatory responses in male and female mice with EAE.
Unethical but not Illegal: Uncovering the Persuasive Messages Leveraged by Providers of the "Real" Online Social Impressions

Due to the drastically elevated prominence of social networking sites (SNS), online social impressions such as views, comments, followers, subscribers, likes, and dislikes have become a valuable currency that translates to popularity, credibility, and even financial gains. Aside from machine-generated impressions, a growing industry known as crowdturfing utilizes human workers to provide “real” social impressions as-a-service. Although crowdturfing platforms are often seen as a clear example of deceptive conduct, they justify their business by leveraging well-crafted persuasive strategies and ethical appeals. Given the increasingly significant role of online impressions on shaping people's views and opinions, the servitization of these impressions calls for a clearer understanding. To address this call, we set out to investigate 1) What persuasive strategies do crowdturfing agents leverage to promote their service offerings? ; and 2) To what extent these offerings can be ethically justified? Our analysis reveals utilization of three key persuasive strategies - namely, educational messages, bragging messages, and reassuring messages. Moreover, we find that they use various ethical appeals which largely depend on the conception of what 'real' means. The theoretical and practical significance of these findings are discussed.
Sleep hygiene in adolescents with asthma

Abstract Objective: Youth with asthma are at-risk for sleep difficulties due to nocturnal asthma symptoms. Sleep hygiene, or the ability to practice consistent sleep behaviors and habits, impacts youth sleep quality and may, as a result, influence daytime cognitive functioning. The current study sought to examine the impact sleep hygiene has on sleep quality, health-related quality of life (HRQL) and sustained attention among adolescents with asthma. It was hypothesized that worse sleep hygiene would be associated with poorer sleep quality, lower school-related and overall HRQL and worse sustained attention. Methods: Participants included 41 adolescents with persistent asthma (Mage = 14.83, SD = 1.28; 51.2% male) recruited from a pediatric pulmonology clinic. Participants completed the adolescent sleep hygiene scale (ASHS), Adolescent Sleep Wake Scale (ASWS) and the Pediatric Quality of Life Index 4.0 generic core scales (PedsQL). Participants also completed the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), an objective test of sustained attention. Results: Higher sleep hygiene scores were related to higher reported sleep quality (β = 0.377, p = 0.015, f2 = 0.166), higher reported school-related HRQL (β = 0.321, p = 0.040, f2 = 0.115) and better sustained attention (β = 0.327, p = 0.045, f2 = 0.120). Conclusions: Sleep hygiene may be an important factor in sleep quality and deficits in daytime dysfunction including sustained attention and school-related quality of life. As adolescents with asthma are at heightened risk for these outcomes associated with disturbed sleep, sleep hygiene may serve as an important domain for clinical intervention.
Charting the Emerging Business Ecosystem of Fintechs and banks: seven Types of Collaborative Business Models

The competition and the collaboration of established banks and challenging fintechs are expected to dramatically change the future financial services business ecosystem. An ecosystem’s ability to attract new firms and to continuously evolve is of strategic importance for incumbent companies as well as for those who decide to join the ecosystem. In our study, we analyzed the business models of 286 international fintechs and banks. Based on this analysis, we present seven types of business models in which fintechs and banks collaborate. With these types, we contribute to research on fintechs by providing novel insights on how the ecosystem moves from competition among banks towards coopetition between banks and fintechs.
The “Difficult” Colorectal Polyps and Adenomas: Practical Aspects

Background: Colonoscopy is the gold standard for adenoma detection. All endoscopists who perform colonoscopy must by mandate be skilled to perform polypectomy. However, there are significant differences between endoscopists in terms of the polyp detection rate and in the effectiveness of polypectomy. Summary: Most polyps identified can be managed by conventional polypectomy and do not pose a significant challenge for resection to an adequately skilled and trained endoscopist. Up to 15% of polyps may be considered “difficult”, unsuitable for conventional endoscopic removal because of size, morphology, site, or access grade. Endoscopist-, patient- and polyp-specific viewpoints influence the management of difficult polyps. Advances in endoscopic resection techniques have led to extended indications for polypectomy. Conventional endoscopic removal of colorectal polyps is associated with a small but not negligible incidence of complications, most commonly bleeding and perforation. Advanced techniques for difficult polyps can potentially cause significant, even life-threatening complications. In addition, in the presence of “difficult” polyps, complications are more common. Key Messages: Multiple techniques are now available for the resection of difficult polyps. The endoscopist should individualize the appropriate approach for the treatment of difficult polyp in order to maximize oncological safety, efficacy and minimize complications and unnecessary surgery.
Complex Structural PPT1 Variant Associated with Non-syndromic Canine Retinal Degeneration

Rod and cone photoreceptors are specialized retinal neurons that have a fundamental role in visual perception, capturing light and transducing it into a neuronal signal. Aberrant functioning of rod and/or cone photoreceptors can ultimately lead to progressive degeneration and eventually blindness. In man, many rod and rod-cone degenerative diseases are classified as forms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Dogs also have a comparable disease grouping termed progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). These diseases are generally due to single gene defects and follow Mendelian inheritance.We collected 51 DNA samples from Miniature Schnauzers affected by PRA (average age of diagnosis ∼3.9 ±1 years), as well as from 56 clinically normal controls of the same breed (average age ∼6.6 ±2.8 years). Pedigree analysis suggested monogenic autosomal recessive inheritance of PRA. GWAS and homozygosity mapping defined a critical interval in the first 4,796,806 bp of CFA15. Whole genome sequencing of two affected cases, a carrier and a control identified two candidate variants within the critical interval. One was an intronic SNV in HIVEP3, and the other was a complex structural variant consisting of the duplication of exon 5 of the PPT1 gene along with a conversion and insertion (named PPT1dci). PPT1dci was confirmed homozygous in a cohort of 22 cases, and 12 more cases were homozygous for the CFA15 haplotype. Additionally, the variant was found homozygous in 6 non-affected dogs of age higher than the average age of onset. The HIVEP3 variant was found heterozygous (n = 4) and homozygous wild-type (n = 1) in cases either homozygous for PPT1dci or for the mapped CFA15 haplotype. We detected the wildtype and three aberrant PPT1 transcripts in isolated white blood cell mRNA extracted from a PRA case homozygous for PPT1dci, and the aberrant transcripts involved inclusion of the duplicated exon 5 and novel exons following the activation of cryptic splice sites. No neurological signs were detected among the dogs homozygous for the PPT1dci variant. Therefore, we propose PPT1dci as causative for a non-syndromic form of PRA (PRAPPT1) that shows incomplete penetrance in Miniature Schnauzers, potentially related to the presence of the wild-type transcript. To our knowledge, this is the first case of isolated retinal degeneration associated with a PPT1 variant.
When Colleagues Fail: Examining the Role of Information Security Awareness on Extra-Role Security Behaviors

Although prior information security research predominantly focuses on organizational in-role security behaviors (e.g., information security policy (ISP) compliance), the role of extra-role security behaviors – secure actions unspecified in ISPs but beneficial to organizations – has not seen nearly as much attention. At the same time, employees’ awareness manifests itself as prerequisite for security behavior but without research having really understood all of its potential impacts. Therefore this study examines the role of information security awareness (ISA) in enhancing extra-role security behaviors in addition to in-role security behaviors. In particular, we propose that general ISA enhances promotive extra-role security behaviors (i.e., helping and voice) and ISP awareness fosters prohibitive extra-role security behaviors (i.e., stewardship and whistle-blowing). Data was collected from a field study, where employees responded to incoming emails from co-workers and supervisors asking for password sharing, unsafe data sharing via private emails, as well as the use of private cloud services and unauthorized software. Our findings show that general ISA and ISP awareness are indeed driving both inrole and extra-role security behaviors. We discuss our implications for theory and practice, and conclude with interesting avenues for further research.
Cdc42 negatively regulates endocytosis during apical membrane maintenance in live animals

Lumen establishment and maintenance are fundamental for tubular organs physiological functions. Most of the studies investigating the mechanisms regulating this process have been carried out in cell cultures or in smaller organisms, whereas little has been done in mammalian model systems in vivo. Here we used the salivary glands of live mice to examine the role of the small GTPase Cdc42 in the regulation of the homeostasis of the intercellular canaliculi, a specialized apical domain of the acinar cells, where protein and fluid secretion occur. Depletion of Cdc42 in adult mice induced a significant expansion of the apical canaliculi, whereas depletion at late embryonic stages resulted in a complete inhibition of their postnatal formation. In addition, intravital subcellular microscopy revealed that reduced levels of Cdc42 affected membrane trafficking from and toward the plasma membrane, highlighting a novel role for Cdc42 in membrane remodeling through the negative regulation of selected endocytic pathways.
Desert plant bacteria reveal host influence and beneficial plant growth properties

Deserts, such as those found in Saudi Arabia, are one of the most hostile places for plant growth. However, desert plants are able to impact their surrounding microbial community and select beneficial microbes that promote their growth under these extreme conditions. In this study, we examined the soil, rhizosphere and endosphere bacterial communities of four native desert plants Tribulus terrestris, Zygophyllum simplex, Panicum turgidum and Euphorbia granulata from the Southwest (Jizan region), two of which were also found in the Midwest (Al Wahbah area) of Saudi Arabia. While the rhizosphere bacterial community mostly resembled that of the highly different surrounding soils, the endosphere composition was strongly correlated with its host plant phylogeny. In order to assess whether any of the native bacterial endophytes might have a role in plant growth under extreme conditions, we analyzed the properties of 116 cultured bacterial isolates that represent members of the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Our analysis shows that different strains have highly different biochemical properties with respect to nutrient acquisition, hormone production and growth under stress conditions. More importantly, eleven of the isolated strains could confer salinity stress tolerance to the experimental model plant Arabidopsis thaliana suggesting some of these plant-associated bacteria might be useful for improving crop desert agriculture.
The Potato Virus X TGBp2 Protein Plays Dual Functional Roles in Viral Replication and Movement

Many plant viruses contain three partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs), termed the triple gene block (TGB), for intercellular movement. However, how the corresponding three proteins coordinate their functions remains obscure. In the present study, we provided multiple lines of evidence supporting the notion that PVX TGBp2 functions as the molecular adaptor bridging the interaction between the RdRp/dsRNA body and TGBp3 by forming “chain mail”-like structures in the RdRp/dsRNA body, which can also enhance viral replication. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the replication and movement of PVX and possibly also other TGB-containing plant viruses. ABSTRACT Plant viruses usually encode one or more movement proteins (MP) to accomplish their intercellular movement. A group of positive-strand RNA plant viruses requires three viral proteins (TGBp1, TGBp2, and TGBp3) that are encoded by an evolutionarily conserved genetic module of three partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs), termed the triple gene block (TGB). However, how these three viral movement proteins function cooperatively in viral intercellular movement is still elusive. Using a novel in vivo double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) labeling system, we showed that the dsRNAs generated by potato virus X (PVX) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) are colocalized with viral RdRp, which are further tightly covered by “chain mail”-like TGBp2 aggregates and localizes alongside TGBp3 aggregates. We also discovered that TGBp2 interacts with the C-terminal domain of PVX RdRp, and this interaction is required for the localization of TGBp3 and itself to the RdRp/dsRNA bodies. Moreover, we reveal that the central and C-terminal hydrophilic domains of TGBp2 are required to interact with viral RdRp. Finally, we demonstrate that knockout of the entire TGBp2 or the domain involved in interacting with viral RdRp attenuates both PVX replication and movement. Collectively, these findings suggest that TGBp2 plays dual functional roles in PVX replication and intercellular movement. IMPORTANCE Many plant viruses contain three partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs), termed the triple gene block (TGB), for intercellular movement. However, how the corresponding three proteins coordinate their functions remains obscure. In the present study, we provided multiple lines of evidence supporting the notion that PVX TGBp2 functions as the molecular adaptor bridging the interaction between the RdRp/dsRNA body and TGBp3 by forming “chain mail”-like structures in the RdRp/dsRNA body, which can also enhance viral replication. Taken together, our results provide new insights into the replication and movement of PVX and possibly also other TGB-containing plant viruses.
A Miniaturized Microstrip Dual-Band Bandpass Filter using Folded UIR for Multimode WLANs

─ A novel microstrip dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) using folded half-wavelength uniform impedance resonator (UIR) with high selectivity is presented. The proposed filter with two tuneable passbands has advantages such as compact size and simple structure. The passband frequencies have been adjusted for 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz wireless local area networks (WLANs). The overall size is reduced by 30 % in comparison with the two section radial stepped impedance resonator (SIR). The measured insertion loss is less than 0.18 dB and 0.5 dB in the first and second passbands, respectively. Also the measured return loss is more than 30 dB and 20.73 dB in the first and second passbands, respectively. There is a good agreement between the measured and the
The Relationship between Scrupulosity, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Its Related Cognitive Styles

Results: Results showed that there were significant relationships between scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms total score (r=0.275, P<0.05); also scrupulosity and obsessive beliefs (r=0.558, P<0.01); and scrupulosity and thought-action fusion (r=0.506, P<0.01). Results also revealed that the variations in scrupulosity scores could be best predicted by ‘anxiety’ and ‘Importance and Control of Thoughts. ’ Scrupulosity is a subtype of OCD and is obsessive in nature. Conclusion: As explained by cognitive-behavioral theories of religious OCD, scrupulosity is closely related to the ‘Importance of Thoughts and Controlling Thoughts,’ as well as moral and probability ‘Thought-action Fusion. ’ The results were in accordance with the findings of comparable studies on Christian samples. Results were explained according to Islamic views, and the implications for research and practice were discussed. A B S T R A C T Article info:
Policy dialogue under the new aid approach: which role for medium-sized donors? Theoretical reflections and views from the field

The new aid approach (NAA) pays particular attention to the politico-institutional dimension of development. It is largely centred around a reform-driven governance agenda. Donors must facilitate and support reform, and this implies that they move away from micro-managed and donor-driven projects towards more aligned and harmonized modalities of aid like capacity building TA and budget support, which are allocated and spent according to recipient priorities. But the trust that donors have is seldom complete, and the quid pro quo of working with and through the recipient is a policy dialogue (PD) where donors can advise the government but also exert some pressure. In this paper we look critically at the policy dialogue between recipient government and donors in order to find out if and to what extent a medium-sized donor, can play a role and add value to the PD. To start with we enumerate seven principles that we think underlie the NAA, which we then contrast with what can be realistically expected from donors and recipient governments from a political economy perspective.
Identification of Critical Building Blocks in PLM System Implementation in the Automotive Supply Chain

In today’s industrialised world, manufacturers must adapt and evolve their Product Development (PD) processes through the adoption of bespoke ICT tools. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and its associated tools are one option manufacturers may choose to assist in this change. However, PLM tools are not always viable due to costs associated and system integration issues; therefore, careful selection and consideration of the most appropriate tool, which meets company requirements, needs to be taken before selection and implementation. This paper presents a case study of a Tier 1 supplier in the automotive industry, identifying the critical building blocks for successful implementation and integration of a PLM system in to their manufacturing operations. A framework is proposed to assist manufacturers in identifying and ranking the building blocks which should be considered when implementing such PLM tools.
Fan Beam Projection Based Features to Recognize Handwritten Kannada Numerals

The traditional goal of the feature extractor is to characterize an object by making numerical measurements. Good features are those whose values are similar for objects belonging to the same category and distinct for objects in different categories. In this paper the Fan beam projection, a variation of Radon transform is proposed for extracting the features of handwritten Kannada numerals. Features were computed using fan-beam geometry. For Fan-beam, 55 diverging beams are taken. Fan-beam takes projections at different angles by rotating the source around the center pixel at θ degree intervals. These projection data is considered as feature vector. For Fan-beam the average of the projections of one direction was taken which is the average of 55 parallel projections. Hence size of feature vector for one numeral is 1×360. For classification K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) classifier is used. The proposed algorithm is experimented on nearly 1000 images of handwritten Kannada numerals and appreciable results are obtained.
Spray volume distribution pattern and droplet size spectrum from ceramic nozzles

ABSTRACT Droplet size spectrum and uniformity of spray volume distribution are important parameters for selecting spray nozzles. The objective of this study was to evaluate the average spray volume distribution and droplet size spectrum from ceramic nozzles. The spray volume distribution pattern was evaluated on a test table for hydraulic spray nozzles using spray heights of 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, and 0.8 m, and working pressures of 500, 600, and 700 kPa. Computer simulations were used to analyze the spray volume distribution using arrangements of bar heights, working pressures, and spacing between spray nozzles in a bar of 12 m. The droplet size spectrum from the spray nozzles was evaluated using a randomized complete experimental design in a 2 × 3 split-plot arrangement consisting of two types of nozzles (ATR-1.0, and TVI-800075) and three working pressures (500, 600, and 700 kPa), with four replications. The uniformity of spray volume distribution was improved when using ATR-1.0 spray nozzles spaced 0.4 or 0.6 m apart, regardless of the working pressure. Regarding the droplet size spectrum, the volume median diameter decreased with increasing the working pressure for both types of nozzles, reaching 210 μm (ATR-1.0) and 483 μm (TVI-800075). Contrastingly, the percentage of droplets with diameter smaller than 100 μm increased with increasing working pressure; the target coverage presented the same trend, with 8.4% of coverage when using ATR nozzles with working pressure of 700 kPa.