Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The similarity between alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) and phytase (EC 3.1.3.8) activities in rat intestine and their importance in phytate-induced zinc deficiency

1. The activities of alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) and phytase (EC3.1.3.8) were similarly distributed in the small intestine of rats. Regional differences in activity were reflected by similar differences in the capacity of ligated intestinal segments to hydrolyse phytate in vivo. Activities were greatest in the duodenum and lowest in the terminal ileum. 2. Specific activities of both enzymes were tenfold greater in the brush border fraction of duodenal mucosa compared with entire mucosal homogenates. 3. Brush-border alkaline phosphatase and phytase activities required both magnesium and zinc ions for maximal activity. 4. Zn deficiency induced by feeding a diet low in Zn (0.5 mg Zn/kg) caused similar reductions in activity of both enzymes. 5. Zn deficiency induced by feeding diets marginally adequate in Zn (12 mg/kg) and phytate (10g/kg) caused reductions in alkaline phosphatase, phytase activities and phytate hydrolysis in vivo. 6. It is suggested that phytase activity is a manifestation of alkaline phosphatase and the significance of this in relation to phytate-induced Zn deficiency is discussed.
A simple approach to preserve keratinized mucosa around implants using a pre-fabricated implant-retained stent: a report of two cases

Purpose There is no consensus regarding the relationship between the width of keratinized mucosa and the health of peri-implant tissues, but clinicians prefer to provide enough keratinized mucosa around dental implants for long-term implant maintenance. An apically positioned flap during second stage implant surgery is the chosen method of widening the keratinized zone in simple procedures. However, the routine suture techniques used with this method tend to apply tension over the provisional abutments and decrease pre-existing keratinized mucosa. To overcome this shortcoming, a pre-fabricated implant-retained stent was designed to apply vertical pressure on the labial flap and stabilize it in a bucco-apical direction to create a wide keratinized mucous zone. Methods During second stage implant surgery, an apically displaced, partial thickness flap with a lingualized incision was retracted. A pre-fabricated stent was clipped over the abutments after connecting to the provisional abutment. Vertical pressure was applied to displace the labial flap. No suture was required and the stent was removed after 10 days. Results A clinically relevant amount of keratinized mucosa was achieved around the dental implants. Buccally displaced keratinized mucosa was firmly attached to the underlying periosteum. A slight shrinkage of the keratinized zone was noted after the healing period in one patient, but no discomfort during oral hygiene was reported. Clinically healthy gingiva with enough keratinized mucosa was achieved in both patients. Conclusions The proposed technique is a simple and time-effective technique for preserving and providing keratinized tissue around dental implants
Baicalin Downregulates RLRs Signaling Pathway to Control Influenza A Virus Infection and Improve the Prognosis

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of baicalin on controlling the pulmonary infection and improving the prognosis in influenza A virus (IAV) infection. PCR and western blot were used to measure the changes of some key factors in RLRs signaling pathway. MSD electrochemiluminescence was used to measure the expression of pulmonary inflammatory cytokines including IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p70, and KC/GRO. Flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of Th1, Th2, Th17, and Treg. The results showed that IAV infection led to low body weight and high viral load and high expression of RIG-I, IRF3, IRF7, and NF-κB mRNA, as well as RIG-I and NF-κB p65 protein. However, baicalin reduced the rate of body weight loss, inhibited virus replication, and downregulated the key factors of the RLRs signaling pathway. Besides, baicalin reduced the high expression inflammatory cytokines in lung and decreased the ratios of Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg to arouse a brief but not overviolent inflammatory response. Therefore, baicalin activated a balanced host inflammatory response to limit immunopathologic injury, which was helpful to the improvement of clinical and survival outcomes.
Mental Health and Chronic Disease

By 2015, worldwide, 1.2 billion children aged 5-14 years will have some kind of significant chronic disease. Although scientific evidence indicates that children with chronic illness have more mental health issues than their healthy peers, many controversies and gaps in the literature exist. It is imperative that an understanding of the effects of chronic illness upon the mental health status of children and adolescents be undertaken. This chapter uses a biopsychosocial perspective to investigate the connection between chronic illness and mental health. The intent of the chapter is to suggest ways that medical and mental health professionals can provide services to chronically ill children and adolescents that foster positive mental health through the achievement of all developmental tasks with as little psychological stress as possible.
Plant Growth - A Note on the Vegetative Growth in Dioscorea deltoidea

An increasingly detailed understanding of plant growth and development continues to emerge through a combination of experimental and analytical approaches. The present study includes a brief record of observations on the vegetative growth in the yam plant Dioscorea deltoidea, in the neighborhood of its procurement place-Dachigam National Park, Kashmir. The plant adapted quite well at the comparatively lower elevation, allowing the reasonable measurements to be made, and providing a spark of hope for its use, as an economical species, as well as serving as a point forward for its conservation.
Photosynthesis and water-use efficiency: A comparison between invasive (exotic) and non-invasive (native) species

Invasive species have been hypothesized to out-compete natives though either a Jack-of-all-trades strategy, where they are able to utilize resources effectively in unfavourable environments, a master-of-some, where resource utilization is greater than its competitors in favourable environments, or a combination of the two (Jack-and-master). We examined the invasive strategy of Berberis darwinii in New Zealand compared with four co-occurring native species by examining germination, seedling survival, photosynthetic characteristics and water-use efficiency of adult plants, in sun and shade environments. Berberis darwinii seeds germinated more in shady sites than the other natives, but survival was low. In contrast, while germination of B. darwinii was the same as the native species in sunny sites, seedling survival after 18 months was nearly twice that of the all native species. The maximum photosynthetic rate of B. darwinii was nearly double that of all native species in the sun, but was similar among all species in the shade. Other photosynthetic traits (quantum yield and stomatal conductance) did not generally differ between B. darwinii and the native species, regardless of light environment. Berberis darwinii had more positive values of δ13C than the four native species, suggesting that it gains more carbon per unit water transpired than the competing native species. These results suggest that the invasion success of B. darwinii may be partially explained by combination of a Jack-of-all-trades scenario of widespread germination with a master-of-some scenario through its ability to photosynthesize at higher rates in the sun and, hence, gain a rapid height and biomass advantage over native species in favourable environments.
Streptozotocin-Induced Adaptive Modification of Mitochondrial Supercomplexes in Liver of Wistar Rats and the Protective Effect of Moringa oleifera Lam

The increasing prevalence of diabetes continues to be a major health issue worldwide. Alteration of mitochondrial electron transport chain is a recognized hallmark of the diabetic-associated decline in liver bioenergetics; however, the molecular events involved are only poorly understood. Moringa oleifera is used for the treatment of diabetes. However, its role on mitochondrial functionality is not yet established. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of M. oleifera extract on supercomplex formation, ATPase activity, ROS production, GSH levels, lipid peroxidation, and protein carbonylation. The levels of lipid peroxidation and protein carbonylation were increased in diabetic group. However, the levels were decreased in Moringa-treated diabetic rats. Analysis of in-gel activity showed an increase in all complex activities in the diabetic group, but spectrophotometric determinations of complex II and IV activities were unaffected in this treatment. However, we found an oxygen consumption abolition through complex I-III-IV pathway in the diabetic group treated with Moringa. While respiration with succinate feeding into complex II-III-IV was increased in the diabetic group. These findings suggest that hyperglycemia modifies oxygen consumption, supercomplexes formation, and increases ROS levels in mitochondria from the liver of STZ-diabetic rats, whereas M. oleifera may have a protective role against some alterations.
Soluble α-Klotho as a Novel Biomarker in the Early Stage of Nephropathy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Objective Although α-klotho is known as an anti-aging, antioxidant, and cardio-renal protective protein, the clinical implications of soluble α-klotho levels in patients with diabetes have not been evaluated. Therefore, this study evaluated whether plasma and urinary α-klotho levels are associated with albuminuria in kidney disease in diabetes. Research Design and Methods A total of 147 patients with type 2 diabetes and 25 healthy control subjects were enrolled. The plasma and urine concentrations of α-klotho were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Plasma α-klotho (572.4 pg/mL [95% CI, 541.9–604.6 pg/mL] vs. 476.9 pg/mL [95% CI, 416.9–545.5 pg/mL]) and urinary α-klotho levels (59.8 pg/mg creatinine [95% CI, 43.6–82.0 pg/mg creatinine] vs. 21.0 pg/mg creatinine [95% CI, 9.7–45.6 pg/mg creatinine]) were significantly higher in diabetic patients than non-diabetic controls. Among diabetic patients, plasma α-klotho concentration was inversely associated with albuminuria stages (normoalbuminuria, 612.6 pg/mL [95% CI, 568.9–659.6 pg/mL], microalbuminuria, 551.8 pg/mL [95% CI, 500.5–608.3 pg/mL], and macroalbuminuria, 505.7 pg/mL [95% CI, 439.7–581.7 pg/mL] (p for trend = 0.0081), while urinary α-klotho levels were remained constantly high with increasing urinary albumin excretion. Conclusions Soluble α-klotho levels in plasma and urine may be novel and useful early markers of diabetic renal injury.
Local delivery of phenylephrine using hollow microneedles as a treatment of fecal incontinence

SUMMARY A hollow microneedle was used to deliver a phenylephrine (PE) solution into the sphincter muscle locally with minimal pain. PE was administered at two spots, on the left and the right of the anus of a rat, through perianal skin. Increasing the dose of PE using the new method increased resting anal pressure but it did not increase blood pressure. The local delivery of PE using a hollow microneedle system demonstrated a promising method for the treatment of fecal incontinence with few side effects.
Fault-tolerant operation with 1-phase open in parallel-connected motor

This paper proposes a fault-tolerant operation for 3-phase surface mounted permanent magnet machines in which a parallel-connected motor drives a same mechanical shaft. A healthy 3-phase motor and a faulted 3-phase motor with 1-phase open are operated in parallel. In the stationary reference frame, the d-axis component affects only to the healthy 3-phase motor, whereas both of motors share the q-axis component. It is possible to operate the motor continuously even in a fault circumstance. In this paper, separated d-and q-axis current controllers utilize torque under both normal and the fault conditions of 1-phase open. The output torque is generated up to a sum of the rated torque of healthy and faulted motors. The proposed control method has robust characteristics, which is proved by stability analysis using system transfer function. This paper also presents a method of reducing the torque ripple caused by the correlated voltage circuit. Accordingly, a cost-effective and enhanced reliability system is implemented without any configuration adjustment. The simulation results are presented to verify the performance of proposed fault-tolerant operation.
Capacitor voltage balancing of a nested T-type four-level inverter using space vector modulation

In this paper, a control method for capacitor voltage balancing of a nested T-type four-level inverter is proposed. The nested T-type inverter has less number of components compared to the available four-level inverters which makes this topology attractive for high-power medium-voltage applications. In order to control voltages of flying capacitors, a Space Vector Modulation (SVM) strategy is developed that employs the switching state redundancies. Performance of the control method is investigated in the MATLAB/Simulink environment under different operating conditions.
Imatinib in systemic mastocytosis: a phase IV clinical trial in patients lacking exon 17 KIT mutations and review of the literature

Resistance to imatinib has been recurrently reported in systemic mastocytosis (SM) carrying exon 17 KIT mutations. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of imatinib therapy in 10 adult SM patients lacking exon 17 KIT mutations, 9 of which fulfilled criteria for well-differentiated SM (WDSM). The World Health Organization 2008 disease categories among WDSM patients were mast cell (MC) leukemia (n = 3), indolent SM (n = 3) and cutaneous mastocytosis (n = 3); the remainder case had SM associated with a clonal haematological non-MC disease. Patients were given imatinib for 12 months −400 or 300 mg daily depending on the presence vs. absence of > 30% bone marrow (BM) MCs and/or signs of advanced disease–. Absence of exon 17 KIT mutations was confirmed in highly-purified BM MCs by peptide nucleic acid-mediated PCR, while mutations involving other exons were investigated by direct sequencing of purified BM MC DNA. Complete response (CR) was defined as resolution of BM MC infiltration, skin lesions, organomegalies and MC-mediator release-associated symptoms, plus normalization of serum tryptase. Criteria for partial response (PR) included ≥ 50% reduction in BM MC infiltration and improvement of skin lesions and/or organomegalies. Treatment was well-tolerated with an overall response rate of 50%, including early and sustained CR in four patients, three of whom had extracellular mutations of KIT, and PR in one case. This later patient and all non-responders (n = 5) showed wild-type KIT. These results together with previous data from the literature support the relevance of the KIT mutational status in selecting SM patients who are candidates for imatinib therapy.
Optical Equalizers for Bandwidth-Limited Transmitters and PAM-Based Fiber Optic Links

Optical feed-forward equalization (FFE) of a single-mode fiber link has been studied theoretically. It is demonstrated that a simple short optical FFE having three to five taps can provide significant performance improvement of bandwidth-limited transmitters for both short and long reach links compared with the nonequalized scenario. Since optical FFEs can simultaneously operate on multiple wavelength division multiplexing channels, they can provide a simple, low power, and cost-effective solution for high-speed optical communication links.
Pulsed magnets with high field intensity for laser-plasma experiments and TDS spectroscopy

The studies of different physical processes in presence of strong magnetic fields are one of the everlasting problems in experimental physics. Development of techniques and investigation of complex dynamics leads to the implementation of magnetic systems with fields more than 20 T. The laser-plasma experiments [1] and time-domain spectroscopy [2] are one of the outstanding applications for strong magnetic fields. Conventional magnetic systems based on large superconducting magnets are not convenient for ultrafast spectroscopy due to remote access to the magnet coil and unavoidable dispersive elements. The solution is to use the small-scale pulsed systems, which provide easy alignment and strong field at the same time.
Persistent Salmonellosis Causes Pancreatitis in a Murine Model of Infection

Pancreatitis, a known risk factor for the development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, is a serious, widespread medical condition usually caused by alcohol abuse or gallstone-mediated ductal obstruction. However, many cases of pancreatitis are of an unknown etiology. Pancreatitis has been linked to bacterial infection, but causality has yet to be established. Here, we found that persistent infection of mice with the bacterial pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) was sufficient to induce pancreatitis reminiscent of the human disease. Specifically, we found that pancreatitis induced by persistent S. Typhimurium infection was characterized by a loss of pancreatic acinar cells, acinar-to-ductal metaplasia, fibrosis and accumulation of inflammatory cells, including CD11b+ F4/80+, CD11b+ Ly6Cint Ly6G+ and CD11b+ Ly6Chi Ly6G− cells. Furthermore, we found that S. Typhimurium colonized and persisted in the pancreas, associated with pancreatic acinar cells in vivo, and could invade cultured pancreatic acinar cells in vitro. Thus, persistent infection of mice with S. Typhimurium may serve as a useful model for the study of pancreatitis as it relates to bacterial infection. Increased knowledge of how pathogenic bacteria can cause pancreatitis will provide a more integrated picture of the etiology of the disease and could lead to the development of new therapeutic approaches for treatment and prevention of pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.
A current-fed DC-DC converter using two transformers with reducing current ripple and wide input range

A current-fed DC-DC converter is proposed for the fuel cells, which is suitable for the wide voltage conversion gain application. With the proposed control strategy, wide ZVS range can be achieved. Furthermore, there is no input current ripple in this way, which is beneficial for the fuel cells. The typical working mode of the proposed converter is given. The ZVS conditions for every switch are discussed in detail in this paper. The parameters design basing on the ZVS condition is also demonstrated. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the simulation and experimental results of an 800W prototype.
Honorable Mention : A Tragedy Exposed ? Clear Growth Medium Reveals Roots Competing

A Tragedy of the Commons (ToC) models many systems of human exploitation of natural resources. In a plant-systems application of ToC, multiple plants compete over shared nutrients and space. Tragically these resources become exhausted due to their open-access to multiple plants. Our study focuses on determining whether two competing plants pay a reproductive cost due to ToC. We predict that plants create a ToC and subsequently pay a reproductive cost. We quantify a ToC by measuring a plant’s reproductive mass as well as its total root mass. Typically, ToC lowers reproductive mass and raises total root mass. Our study uses barriers to manipulate interplant competition. One group is grown 1 cm apart to promote root competition and another group is split by impermeable barriers to prevent competition. We specifically used ultra-clear growth medium (Gellan Gum with Hoagland’s solution) in order to photograph roots as they grow in vivo. Root imaging allows for computational analysis of root architecture which we expect to respond to a ToC. Preliminary results of plant masses show no significant effects from competition. This is thought to be due to high soil nutrient values. Hurdles include proving validity of the photographic analysis. The projects future involves optimizing nutrient level and validating photographic analysis via multiple circumferential pictures.
Beam Design and User Scheduling for Nonorthogonal Multiple Access With Multiple Antennas Based on Pareto Optimality

In this paper, the problem of transmit beam design and user scheduling is investigated for multiuser (MU) multiple-input single-output (MISO) nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) downlink. First, Pareto-optimal beam design is solved for two-user MISO broadcast channels (BCs) with successive interference cancelation (SIC), and certain properties of Pareto-optimal beam vectors are obtained. Based on this result, a beam design and user scheduling method is proposed for MU-MISO NOMA. In the proposed method, simultaneously served users are grouped into multiple clusters with two users in each cluster, and a hierarchical beam structure composed of zero forcing intercluster beamforming and two-user Pareto-optimal intracluster beamforming is applied. The proposed method has the ability to control the rates of strong and weak users and hence provides great flexibility to MU-MISO NOMA operation. In addition, the problem of Pareto-optimal beam design for general $M$ -user MISO BCs with SIC is solved.
Context-aware local Intrusion Detection in SCADA systems: A testbed and two showcases

This paper illustrates the use of a testbed that we have developed for context-aware local intrusion detection. This testbed is based on the co-simulation framework Mosaik and allows for the validation of local intrusion detection mechanisms at field stations in power distribution networks. For two cases, we show how this testbed assists with studying the effectiveness of two local IDS mechanisms under different kinds of attacks.
PROFHMM_UNC: Introducing a Priori Knowledge for Completing Missing Values of Multidimensional Time-Series

We present a new method for estimating missing values or correcting unreliable observed values of time dependent physical fields. This method, is based on Hidden Markov Models and Self-Organizing Maps, and is named PROFHMM_UNC. PROFHMM_UNC combines the knowledge of the physical process under study provided by an already known dynamic model and the truncated time series of observations of the phenomenon. In order to generate the states of the Hidden Markov Model, Self-Organizing Maps are used to discretize the available data. We make a modification to the Viterbi algorithm that forces the algorithm to take into account a priori information on the quality of the observed data when selecting the optimum reconstruction. The validity of PROFHMM_UNC was endorsed by performing a twin experiment with the outputs of the ocean biogeochemical NEMO-PISCES model.