Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Innate Immune Program in Formation of Tumor-Initiating Cells from Cells-of-Origin of Breast, Prostate, and Ovarian Cancers

Simple Summary Tumor-initiating cells, also known as cancer stem cells, are a subset of cancer cells in a tumor that sustain the tumor and are often responsible for therapy resistance and relapse. Developmentally, they are evolved from the cellular origin of their corresponding cancer type and, as a result, may inherit some expression programs from the cellular origin. This review aims to summarize data from the literature showing that several hormone-related cancers (i.e., breast, prostate, and ovarian) have a preferred luminal progenitor origin. These luminal progenitors express a common innate immune program (e.g., Toll-like receptors and their associated genes). Tumor-initiating cells originated from such luminal progenitors may inherit this program, which may contribute to their formation via activation of Toll-like receptor pathways and crosstalk with immune cells (e.g., macrophages). We propose a potential strategy to eliminate such tumor-initiating cells by enhancing immunotherapy via further activation of their inherited innate immune pathways. Abstract Tumor-initiating cells (TICs), also known as cancer stem cells (CSCs), are cancer cells that can initiate a tumor, possess self-renewal capacity, and can contribute to tumor heterogeneity. TICs/CSCs are developed from their cells-of-origin. In breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers, progenitor cells for mammary alveolar cells, prostate luminal (secretory) cells, and fallopian tube secretory cells are the preferred cellular origins for their corresponding cancer types. These luminal progenitors (LPs) express common innate immune program (e.g., Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling)-related genes. Microbes such as bacteria are now found in breast, prostate, and fallopian tube tissues and their corresponding cancer types, raising the possibility that their LPs may sense the presence of microbes and trigger their innate immune/TLR pathways, leading to an inflammatory microenvironment. Crosstalk between immune cells (e.g., macrophages) and affected epithelial cells (e.g., LPs) may eventually contribute to formation of TICs/CSCs from their corresponding LPs, in part via STAT3 and/or NFκB pathways. As such, TICs/CSCs can inherit expression of innate-immunity/TLR-pathway-related genes from their cells-of-origin; the innate immune program may also represent their unique vulnerability, which can be explored therapeutically (e.g., by enhancing immunotherapy via augmenting TLR signaling).
Research on Structure Optimization and Internal flow of Cyclone in Catalytic Cracking Device

The third stage cyclone (TTS) in the catalytic cracking device is the pivotal part to separate and recover catalyst particles, and it can ensure the normal operation of follow-up process. Internal flow patterns in it are particularly important for the selection and use of the equipment. In this paper, the structure parameters of the PV third stage cyclone of 2.8 million tons/year catalytic cracking device in a chemical plant are determined. Simulation of the turbulent 3D flow has been done with Reynolds stress model (RSM) and discrete phase model (DPM). Velocity and pressure drop patterns in the cyclone, effects of the inlet duct dimension on the separation performance and pressure drop, and the motion and separation efficiency of different diameter particles were analyzed. The results indicate that the flow field inside the cyclone forms a typical Rankin vortex flow pattern, and simulated pressure drops agree well with experimental results, which validates the numerical simulation method. When the inlet area is unchanged, the separation efficiencies first increase and then decrease with the increase of inlet height, and the optimal ratio of inlet height to cyclone's body diameter is 0.58. The migration trajectory of small particles have great randomness, and they are easy to escape from the vortex finder affected by the gas flow. The large particles rotate along the relatively large diameter and can be separated well. These results can provide the reference for the flow mechanism analysis and the industrial application of TTS.
Canadians Adults Fail Their Dietary Quality Examination Twice

For many years, dietary quality among Canadians has been assessed using an index that gives criticized scores and does not allow for comparison with Americans. In Canadians aged ≥19 years, we aimed to (1) determine the dietary quality by using a more widely used evidence-based index that has shown associations with health outcomes, the alternative Healthy Eating Index (aHEI-2010); (2) assess changes in aHEI-2010 score and its components between 2004 and 2015; and (3) identify factors associated with aHEI-2010 score. We relied on the Canadian Community Health Survey 2004 (n = 35,107) and 2015 (n = 20,487). We used adjusted linear models with a time effect to compare the total aHEI-2010 score and its components. The overall aHEI-2010 score increased from 36.5 (95%CI: 36.2–36.8) in 2004 to 39.0 (95%CI: 38.5–39.4) in 2015 (p < 0.0001). Participants with less than a high school diploma showed the lowest score and no improvement from 2004 to 2015 (34.8 vs. 35.3, p = 0.4864). In each period, higher scores were noted among immigrants than non-immigrants (38.3 vs. 35.9 in 2004, p < 0.0001; 40.5 vs. 38.5 in 2015 p < 0.0001), and lower scores were observed in current smokers (33.4 vs. 37.1 in 2004, p < 0.0001; 34.5 vs. 39.9 in 2015, p < 0.0001). The use of the aHEI-2010 tool suggests a lower score among Canadians than the previous index, more comparable to the score among Americans.
Phase field modeling microstructural evolution of Fe-Cr-Al systems at thermal treatment

A phase field model to study dynamics of microstructure transformations and the evolution of defect structure during heat treatment of Fe-Cr-Al systems is developed. Statistical and kinetic properties of evolving microstructure and defect structure in alloys with different content of alloying elements and at different temperatures were studied. Point defects rearrangement during precipitation is discussed in details. Universality of statistical distributions over precipitate size is revealed for considered class of alloys.
Room temperature defect related electroluminescence from ZnO homojunctions grown by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

ZnO homojunction light-emitting diode was grown on single-crystal GaAs (100) substrate by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. This diode was comprised of N–In codoped p-type ZnO and unintentionally doped n-type ZnO film. Ohmic contact on n-type ZnO layer and GaAs substrate was formed by Zn∕Au and Au∕Ge∕Ni alloyed metal electrodes, respectively. An electroluminescence emission associated with defects was observed from the ZnO homojunction under forward current injection at room temperature. The I-V characteristics of the homojunction showed a threshold voltage of ∼4V under forward bias.
Edge-preserving metal artifact reduction

Metal implants in the field of measurement lead to strong artifacts in CT images and reduce the image quality and the diagnostic value severely. We introduce frequency split metal artifact reduction (FSMAR), a conceptually new MAR method which is designed to reduce metal artifacts and preserve details and edges of structures even close to metal implants. There are many MAR methods which simply replace unreliable parts of the projection data by inpainting. FSMAR is a combination of an inpainting-based MAR method with a frequency split approach. Normalized metal artifact reduction (NMAR) is chosen as the inpainting-based MAR method in this work. The high frequencies of the original image, where all rawdata were used for the reconstruction, are combined with an NMAR-corrected image. NMAR uses a normalization step to reduce metal artifacts without introducing severe new artifacts. Algorithms using a frequency split were already used in CT for example to reduce cone-beam artifacts. FSMAR is tested for patient datasets with different metal implants. The study includes patients with hip prostheses, a neuro coil, and a spine fixation. All datasets were scanned with modern clinical dual source CT scanners. In contrast to other MAR methods, FSMAR yields images without the usual blurring close to metal implants.
Notes on the Introduced Small Mammals of Tinian, Mariana Islands

Abstract: The negative effects of introduced small mammals have been well documented on islands, but their presence in the Mariana Islands warrants special attention, as they are an important prey species of the introduced brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis), which devastated the avifauna of Guam and remains a threat for introduction to nearby islands. The U.S. Navy has a major presence in the Mariana Islands and is charged with maintaining biosecurity protocols when transporting equipment between islands. We conducted small mammal trapping on Tinian, located approximately 165 km northeast of Guam, in 2017 as a baseline survey of introduced species distribution in areas used for military training. These data will facilitate long-term monitoring of introduced small mammals and early detection of newly established species. We also report an updated Catch Per Unit Effort index of small mammal abundance and tested for differences in capture success across species and between two trap types: Sherman live traps and Victor snap traps. We confirmed general patterns of abundance and distribution from previous sampling on Tinian: Rattus diardii and Suncus murinus were common and widespread, Mus musculus less common and more patchy in distribution, R. norvegicus rare, and R. exulans not detected. Comparisons between Sherman and Victor traps showed important differences in species-specific capture rates on Tinian and aligned with previous research from the Mariana Islands.
Repeatability estimates in longitudinal data on guava trees

: The use of longitudinal measurements is an essential practice both in Psidium guajava L. breeding and in other perennial crops in which covariance structures can be introduced to explain the form of dependence between measurements. Hence, this study aimed to analyze six covariance structures to identify one that best described the correlation between the repeated measurements in time in traits of guava full-sib families. The repeatability coefficient for each trait was estimated and the minimum number of evaluations required for estimates representing the population was determined. The work was performed based on average data of three yield-related variables from nine harvests of a guava tree population evaluated from 2011 to 2018. The best model was chosen based on the Akaike and Schwarz Bayesian information criterion. The autoregressive covariance structure best represented the dependencies among families between crops for all traits. The number of variables of fruits and total yield per plant presented repeatability estimates higher than 0.5 and may be essential traits for indirect selection of others, such as fruit mass, which had an estimated repeatability of 0.24, proving low regularity in the repetition of the character from one cycle to another. It was also possible to define four harvests as the minimum acceptable number of observations necessary on the same individual for these traits; therefore, the repetitions represented the individuals.
Economic, cognitive, and social paths of education to health-related behaviors: evidence from a population-based study in Japan

Background There is substantial evidence on the association between lower education and unhealthy behaviors. However, the mechanism underlying this association remains unclear. This study aimed to examine whether income, health literacy, and social support mediate the association between education and health-related behaviors. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted in metropolitan areas in Japan from 2010 to 2011 among residents aged 25–50 years. Data from 3663 participants were used in this study. Health literacy was measured using the Communicative and Critical Health Literacy scale. Health-related behaviors were current smoking, poor dietary habits, hazardous drinking, and lack of exercise. Poisson regression analyses with robust variance estimators were conducted to examine the associations between education and these health-related behaviors. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted to estimate the magnitudes of the mediating effects of income, health literacy, and social support on these associations. Results Less educated participants had higher risks of all unhealthy behaviors. Income mediated the associations of education with smoking (6.4%) and exercise (20.0%). Health literacy mediated the associations of education with dietary habits (15.4%) and exercise (16.1%). Social support mediated the associations of education with dietary habits (6.4%) and exercise (7.6%). The education–drinking association was mediated by income in the opposite direction (−10.0%). The proportions of the total effects mediated by income, health literacy, and social support were 9.8% for smoking, 24.0% for dietary habits, −3.0% for drinking, and 43.7% for exercise. Conclusions These findings may provide clues for designing effective interventions to reduce educational inequalities in health-related behaviors. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1265/ehpm.22-00178.
Cancer-Specific Delivery of Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) and Their Application to Cancer Immunotherapy

Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are rapidly emerging as a potential therapeutic strategy for cancer therapy by inducing the degradation of tumor-overexpressing oncogenic proteins. They can specifically catalyze the degradation of target oncogenic proteins by recruiting E3 ligases and utilizing the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Since their mode of action is universal, irreversible, recyclable, long-lasting, and applicable to ‘undruggable’ proteins, PROTACs are gradually replacing the role of conventional small molecular inhibitors. Moreover, their application areas are being expanded to cancer immunotherapy as various types of oncogenic proteins that are involved in immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. However, poor water solubility and low cell permeability considerably restrict the pharmacokinetic (PK) property, which necessitates the use of appropriate delivery systems for cancer immunotherapy. In this review, the general characteristics, developmental status, and PK of PROTACs are first briefly covered. Next, recent studies on the application of various types of passive or active targeting delivery systems for PROTACs are introduced, and their effects on the PK and tumor-targeting ability of PROTACs are described. Finally, recent drug delivery systems of PROTACs for cancer immunotherapy are summarized. The adoption of an adequate delivery system for PROTAC is expected to accelerate the clinical translation of PROTACs, as well as improve its efficacy for cancer therapy.
A review: studying the effect of graphene nanoparticles on mechanical, physical and thermal properties of polylactic acid polymer

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a linear aliphatic polyester thermoplastic made from renewable sources such as sugar beet and cornstarch. Methods of preparation of polylactic acid are biological and chemical. The advantages of polylactic acid are biocompatibility, easily processing, low energy loss, transparency, high strength, resistance to water and fat penetration and low consumption of carbon dioxide during production. However, polylactic acid has disadvantages such as hydrophobicity, fragility at room temperature, low thermal resistance, slow degradation rate, permeability to gases, lack of active groups and chemical neutrality. To overcome the limitations of PLA, such as low thermal stability and inability to absorb gases, nanoparticles such as graphene are added to improve its properties. Extensive research has been done on the introduction of graphene nanoparticles in PLA, and all of these studies have been studied. In this study, we intend to study a comprehensive study of the effect of graphene nanoparticles on the mechanical, thermal, structural and rheological properties of PLA/Gr nanocomposites and also the effect of UV rays on the mechanical properties of PLA/Gr nanocomposites.
Kinematics of the Molecular Hydrogen from the Planetary Nebula NGC 2346

We present scanning Fabry-Perot observations of the planetary nebula NGC 2346 at the near-infrared vibrationally excited line H2 S(1) 1–0 at 2.122 μm. The kinematics matches a model of two ellipsoids with an outflow velocity proportional to the distance of the gas from the central star and moving radially outward. The stronger emission is located in an equatorial torus expanding at 16 km s-1. It is likely that a shock between 6 and 16 km s-1, depending on the assumed velocity of the red giant envelope (0 to 10 km s-1), excites the molecular gas. Depending on those limiting values for the shock velocity, the density of the preshock gas falls in the range (0.3–1.7) × 104 cm-3, and consequently the mass of the molecular gas in the nebula is estimated to be between 0.34 and 1.85 M⊙, much larger than the mass of the ionized gas, and marginally in agreement with the estimate coming from CO observations alone.
Variable Stiffness Linear Actuator Based on Differential Drive Fiber Jamming

Variable stiffness technologies have been widely adopted in soft robotics, also combining them with different actuation technologies and demonstrating the potential to increase the range of possible applications of soft systems, such as soft continuum manipulators. However, in most cases, the variable stiffness capabilities of these soft system are far from satisfying the application requirements. With the aim to explore new possibilities to fill this gap, in this work, we present a novel variable stiffness linear actuator (VSLA) based on the combination of composite fiber jamming and the inverse pneumatic artificial muscles working principle. The differential pressure driving approach adopted to control the VSLA decouples the actuator deformation from the variable stiffness capabilities, and this makes the VSLA a suitable candidate for the realization of new kind of continuous arms. Moreover, the VSLA novel architecture introduced in this article was analytically modeled considering the interaction among constituent elements and performances in different loading conditions have been computed. The results obtained from the experimental tests validated the model goodness in terms of assumptions made and showed remarkable variable stiffness capabilities, with a maximum jamming ratio that reaches 21.3.
Enacting individual ambidexterity in design entrepreneurship

Abstract Design demands achieving a balance between creative and routine activities. This balance is vital to ensure the survival and prosperity of design entrepreneurs’ businesses. This paper examines how design entrepreneurs enact individual ambidexterity to carry out both creative (exploration) and routine (exploitation) activities in their own businesses. Empirically, it draws on interviews with 23 designers who founded micro businesses, where they carry out design, production, marketing, and sales activities. Our findings show that individual ambidexterity was smoothly enacted to handle design and production tasks in an intertwined fashion, thus reaching a compromise between exploration and exploitation, while it was hindered by the contradiction between ‘the sales mindset’ and ‘the creative mindset’ designers encountered when faced with marketing activities. On the other hand, ‘the business mindset’, which primarily belongs to the non-creatives’ world, was considered as valuable and essential for a creative professional choosing an entrepreneurial career path.
Studies on the infrared thermography technique for quantitative nondestructive evaluation of surface crack and delamination of multilayer structures

In this paper, some research on the Laser Infrared Thermography (LIT) and the Eddy Current Infrared Thermography (ECIT) for quantitative nondestructive testing and evaluation of surface cracks and delamination of multilayer structures are introduced. At first, a Laser Array Spots Thermography (LAST) method for inspection of surface cracks in metallic structures is presented. LAST related measurement and image processing methods for inspection and quantitative evaluation of crack profiles are introduced in detail. Second, LIT technique and numerical analysis methods for detection and sizing of interface delamination of multilayer structures are introduced aiming at application to the in-vessel structures of Tokamak fusion reactors, such as the first wall panels of blanket modules. At last, some studies on the quantitative nondestructive evaluation of delamination of thermal barrier coating system of gas turbine blades with ECIT are given. The numerical methods for forward analysis of heat generation and transfer process of infrared thermography, and for inverse analysis of defect size with infrared thermography signals are emphasized in this paper, in addition with experimental validations of both the numerical methods and the new inspection techniques.
Extracting factors for students’ motivation in studying mathematics

The purpose of this article is to identify factors that statistically explain the variation and the measures on the level of motivation of a sample of mathematics students in a university. Specifically, this analysis will identify groups of similar items and reduce the number of variables used in a study. This article explains the use of exploratory factor analysis in extracting factors of personal belief and motivational factors among students in learning mathematics. The adaptation of these factors can be used for assessing academic performance in relation to motivation level. By identifying these factors, the mathematics educators or researchers will be able to find ways to improve the condition of the factors and also to further investigate the factors based on confirmatory approaches.
Ray Deflection through a Medium Having a Continuously Varying Refractive Index

A method is outlined for computing the ray deflection through a medium having a continuously varying refractive index. General equations are developed by applying the calculus of variations to Fermat’s principle of optics. These equations are applied to the case of a dielectric material having a linear variation with distance in its refractive index and also to the case of a foam dielectric having a linear variation in density. A set of universal curves is presented for the case of a plane dielectric sheet having a linearly varying dielectric constant. The general equations presented here can also be applied to the design of lenses and optical devices having a continuously varying refractive index.
Selected Biopolymers’ Processing and Their Applications: A Review

Petroleum-based polymers are used in a multitude of products in the commercial world, but their high degree of contamination and non-biodegradability make them unattractive. The development and use of polymers derived from nature offer a solution to achieve an environmentally friendly and green alternative and reduce waste derived from plastics. This review focuses on showing an overview of the most widespread production methods for the main biopolymers. The parameters affecting the development of the technique, the most suitable biopolymers, and the main applications are included. The most studied biopolymers are those derived from polysaccharides and proteins. These biopolymers are subjected to production methods that improve their properties and modify their chemical structure. Process factors such as temperature, humidity, solvents used, or processing time must be considered. Among the most studied production techniques are solvent casting, coating, electrospinning, 3D printing, compression molding, and graft copolymerization. After undergoing these production techniques, biopolymers are applied in many fields such as biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, food packaging, scaffold engineering, and others.