Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of tendon elastic energy and electromyographic activity pattern on jumping height and pre-stretch augmentation during jumps with different pre-stretch intensity

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate the effects of tendon elastic energy and electromyographic activity patterns (ratio of pre-landing to concentric: mEMG PLA/CON; ratio of eccentric to concentric; mEMG ECC/CON) on jump performance. Twenty-nine males performed five kinds of unilateral jumps using only ankle joint (no-countermovement jump: noCMJ; countermovement jump: CMJ; drop jumps at 10, 20 and 30 cm drop height: DJ10, DJ20 and DJ30). Jumping height, pre-stretch augmentation and electromyographic activity of the plantar flexor muscles were measured. The elastic energy of the Achilles tendon was measured during isometric contractions. Relative tendon elastic energy (to body mass) was highly correlated with jumping heights of CMJ, DJ10 and DJ20 but not with noCMJ and DJ30, whereas that was significantly correlated with pre-stretch augmentation in CMJ, but not with three DJs. The mEMG PLA/CON was significantly correlated with the pre-stretch augmentation of DJ20 and DJ30, but not with DJ10, whereas the mEMG ECC/CON was significantly correlated with the pre-stretch augmentation of DJ20 and DJ30, but not with CMJ and DJ10. These results suggested that jumping exercises with low pre-stretch intensity benefited from tendon elastic energy, but those with high pre-stretch intensity benefited from electromyographic activity patterns.
Adaptive learning embedding features to improve the predictive performance of SARS-CoV-2 phosphorylation sites

Abstract Motivation The rapid and extensive transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to an unprecedented global health emergency, affecting millions of people and causing an immense socioeconomic impact. The identification of SARS-CoV-2 phosphorylation sites plays an important role in unraveling the complex molecular mechanisms behind infection and the resulting alterations in host cell pathways. However, currently available prediction tools for identifying these sites lack accuracy and efficiency. Results In this study, we presented a comprehensive biological function analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a clonal human lung epithelial A549 cell, revealing dramatic changes in protein phosphorylation pathways in host cells. Moreover, a novel deep learning predictor called PSPred-ALE is specifically designed to identify phosphorylation sites in human host cells that are infected with SARS-CoV-2. The key idea of PSPred-ALE lies in the use of a self-adaptive learning embedding algorithm, which enables the automatic extraction of context sequential features from protein sequences. In addition, the tool uses multihead attention module that enables the capturing of global information, further improving the accuracy of predictions. Comparative analysis of features demonstrated that the self-adaptive learning embedding features are superior to hand-crafted statistical features in capturing discriminative sequence information. Benchmarking comparison shows that PSPred-ALE outperforms the state-of-the-art prediction tools and achieves robust performance. Therefore, the proposed model can effectively identify phosphorylation sites assistant the biomedical scientists in understanding the mechanism of phosphorylation in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Availability and implementation PSPred-ALE is available at https://github.com/jiaoshihu/PSPred-ALE and Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8330277).
Spontaneous metastasis xenograft models link CD44 isoform 4 to angiogenesis, hypoxia, EMT and mitochondria‐related pathways in colorectal cancer

Hematogenous metastasis limits the survival of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Here, we illuminated the roles of CD44 isoforms in this process. Isoforms 3 and 4 were predominantly expressed in CRC patients. CD44 isoform 4 indicated poor outcome and correlated with epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and decreased oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) in patients; opposite associations were found for isoform 3. Pan‐CD44 knockdown (kd) independently impaired primary tumor formation and abrogated distant metastasis in CRC xenografts. The xenograft tumors mainly expressed the clinically relevant CD44 isoforms 3 and 4. Both isoforms were enhanced in the paranecrotic, hypoxic tumor regions but were generally absent in lung metastases. Upon CD44 kd, tumor angiogenesis was increased in the paranecrotic areas, accompanied by reduced hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α and CEACAM5 but increased E‐cadherin expression. Mitochondrial genes and proteins were induced upon pan‐CD44 kd, as were OxPhos genes. Hypoxia increased VEGF release from tumor spheres, particularly upon CD44 kd. Genes affected upon CD44 kd in xenografts specifically overlapped concordantly with genes correlating with CD44 isoform 4 (but not isoform 3) in patients, validating the clinical relevance of the used model and highlighting the metastasis‐promoting role of CD44 isoform 4.
Study of Fingerprint Enhancement and Matching

Fingerprint is the oldest and popular form of bio-metric identification. Extract Minutiae is most used method for automatic fingerprint matching, every person fingerprint has some unique characteristics called minutiae. But studying the extract minutiae from the fingerprint images and matching it with database is depend on the image quality of finger impression. To make sure the performance of finger impression identification we have to robust the quality of fingerprint image by a suitable fingerprint enhancement algorithm. Here we work with a quick finger impression enhancement algorithm that improve the lucidity of valley and ridge structure based on estimated local orientation and frequency. After enhancement of sample fingerprint, sample fingerprint is matched with the database fingerprints, for that we had done feature extraction, minutiae representation and registration. But due to Spurious and missing minutiae the accuracy of fingerprint matching affected. We had done a detail relevant finger impression matching method build on the Shape Context descriptor, where the hybrid shape and orientation descriptor solve the problem. Hybrid shape descriptor filter out the unnatural minutia paring and ridge orientation descriptor improve the matching score. Matching score is generated and utilized for measuring the accuracy of execution of the proposed algorithm. Results demonstrated that the algorithm is exceptionally satisfactory for recognizing fingerprints acquired from diverse sources. Experimental results demonstrate enhancement algorithm also improves the matching accuracy.
CCL2 promotes metastasis and epithelial–mesenchymal transition of non‐small cell lung cancer via PI3K/Akt/mTOR and autophagy pathways

Abstract In non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastasis is the most common phenotype, and autophagy plays a vital role in its regulation. However, there are limited data on how autophagy‐related genes and metastasis‐related genes affect NSCLC progression. Our goal was to identify the genes that regulate autophagy and metastasis in NSCLC, and to assess the underlying mechanisms in this current study. RNA sequencing data from public databases were used to screen differentially expressed autophagy‐ and metastasis‐associated genes. Enrichment analyses and immune correlations were conducted to identify hub genes and potential regulating pathways in NSCLC. In this study, we found that CCL2 expression was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and high CCL2 level was correlated with strong infiltration in lung tissues from NSCLC patients. Overexpression of CCL2 can enhance the metastasis of NSCLC cells in nude mice. Furthermore, CCL2 activated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling pathway axis, promoted epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), and blocked the autophagic flux in NSCLC cells. Therefore, our results indicate that CCL2 promotes metastasis and EMT of NSCLC via PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis and autophagy signalling pathways. We believe that CCL2 could be a probable target for the diagnosis and therapeutics of NSCLC, and this study may expand our understanding of lung cancer.
ADP Ribosylation Factor 4 (Arf4) Regulates Radial Migration through N-Cadherin Trafficking during Cerebral Cortical Development

Abstract During the development of the cerebral cortex, N-cadherin plays a crucial role in facilitating radial migration by enabling cell-to-cell adhesion between migrating neurons and radial glial fibers or Cajar–Reztius cells. ADP ribosylation factor 4 (Arf4) and Arf5, which belong to the Class II Arf small GTPase subfamily, control membrane trafficking in the endocytic and secretory pathways. However, their specific contribution to cerebral cortex development remains unclear. In this study, we sought to investigate the functional involvement of Class II Arfs in radial migration during the layer formation of the cerebral cortex using mouse embryos and pups. Our findings indicate that knock-down of Arf4, but not Arf5, resulted in the stalling of transfected neurons with disorientation of the Golgi in the upper intermediate zone (IZ) and reduction in the migration speed in both the IZ and cortical plate (CP). Migrating neurons with Arf4 knock-down exhibited cytoplasmic accumulation of N-cadherin, along with disturbed organelle morphology and distribution. Furthermore, supplementation of exogenous N-cadherin partially rescued the migration defect caused by Arf4 knock-down. In conclusion, our results suggest that Arf4 plays a crucial role in regulating radial migration via N-cadherin trafficking during cerebral cortical development.
Camarasaurus, Amphicoelias, and other sauropods of Cope

Introduction In 1902 the Cope Collection of Fossil Reptiles was presented to the American Museum of Natural History by President Morris K. Jesup. It included all of Cope’s types and other dinosaur material of Morrison age from the vicinity of Canyon City, Colorado. Several of these types antedated in definition Marsh’s types from beds of similar age. Cope’s references were full, but accompanied by few figures; Marsh’s came later and were adequately illustrated. Marsh also issued, in the publications of the United States Geological Survey, two more or less complete summaries of the characters of these animals, which were fully illustrated and widely distributed; consequently they became well established in the literature, while Cope’s are still unrecognized and imperfectly known. Our object has been to describe and determine as fully as possible Cope’s types, especially of the Opisthoccelia, the most important of which is that of Camarasaurus. This generic name antedates .
Paramecium (Oligohymenophorea, Ciliophora) diversity in Thailand sheds light on the genus biogeography and reveals new phylogenetic lineages

Paramecium (Ciliophora, Oligohymenophorea) is a good model to study ciliate biogeography. Extensive sampling mainly in northern hemisphere has led to 16 valid morphological species description thus far. However, a majority of hard‐to‐reach regions, including South East Asia, are underinvestigated. Our study combined traditional morphological and molecular approaches to reveal the biodiversity of Paramecium in Thailand from more than 110 samples collected in 10 provinces. Representatives of seven morphological species were identified from our collection, including the rare species, such as P. gigas and P. jenningsi. Additionally, we detected five different sibling species of the P. aurelia complex, described a new cryptic species P. hiwatashii n. sp. phylogenetically related to P. caudatum, and discovered a potentially new genetic species of the P. bursaria species complex. We also documented a variety of bacterial cytoplasmic symbionts from at least nine monoclonal cultures of Paramecium.
Film-Forming Polymers for Inhibition of Hydroxyapatite Dissolution: A Screening Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of film-forming polymer solutions of different concentrations and pH values, either associated or not with sodium fluoride (F; 225 ppm F−), when applied during the initial stage of salivary pellicle formation, to prevent the dissolution of hydroxyapatite (HA), which was determined by the pH-stat method. Polyacrylic acid (PA), chitosan, sodium linear polyphosphate (LPP), polyvinyl methyl ether/maleic anhydride (PVM/MA), and propylene glycol alginate (PGA) were tested in three concentrations (lower, medium, and higher), two pH values (native or adjusted), and either associated or not with F. Distilled water, F, and stannous ion+fluoride (Sn/F; 225 ppm F− and 800 ppm Sn2+, as SnCl2) solutions were the controls, totalizing 63 groups. HA crystals were pretreated with human saliva for 1 min to allow pellicle formation, then immersed in the experimental solutions (1 min), and exposed to saliva for another 28 min. Subsequently, they were added to a 0.3% citric acid solution (pH = 3.8), connected to a pH-stat system that added aliquots of 28 μL 0.1 N HCl for a total reaction time of 5 min. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s tests (α = 0.05). For PA alone, the concentrations of 0.1% (native pH), 0.06%, and 0.08% (both pH adjusted) showed significantly lower HA dissolution than the negative control. PA concentrations of 0.1% and 0.08%, of both pH values, improved the effect of F against HA dissolution to a near-identical value as Sn/F. All solutions containing chitosan and LPP significantly reduced HA dissolution in comparison with the control. For chitosan, the concentration of 0.5% (in both pH values) improved the effect of F. LPP at 0.5% (native pH) and all associations of LPP with F outperformed the effect of F. Some PVM/MA solutions significantly reduced HA dissolution but PVM/MA could not improve the protection of F. PGA was incapable of reducing HA dissolution or improving F effect. It was concluded that chitosan, LPP, and some PA and PVM/MA solutions used alone were capable of reducing HA dissolution. Only PA, chitosan, and LPP were able to enhance fluoride protection, but for PA and chitosan, this was influenced by the polymer concentration.
Toxicity of Polystyrene Nanoplastics in the Liver and Intestine of Normal and High‐Fat‐Diet Juvenile Zebrafish

Nanoplastics (NPs) are widely found and threaten environmental and biological safety, because they do not degrade completely. We aimed to preliminarily explore the toxicity of NPs in obese children, because childhood obesity is a growing global health concern. We used zebrafish as a vertebrate toxicological model to examine the hepatic lipid metabolism and gut microbiota in juvenile zebrafish exposed to 1000 μg/L polystyrene NPs and a high‐fat diet (HFD) using Raman spectroscopy, pathological examination, transcriptome analysis, and 16S sequencing techniques. Our study showed that polystyrene NPs perturb the lipid metabolism and gut microbiota stability in zebrafish. Furthermore, the combined effects of polystyrene NPs and HFD resulted in gastrointestinal injury. Our study is one of the first to investigate the toxicity of polystyrene NPs to normal‐diet and HFD juvenile zebrafish using confocal Raman spectroscopy. Our results show the importance of a healthy diet and a reduction in the use of plasticware. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:147–158. © 2023 SETAC
Bioaccumulation of metals in timber and edible fruit trees growing on reclaimed coal mine overburden dumps

A field study was carried out (IB-valley areas, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited) to assess the bioaccumulation of heavy metals in the tree species, changes in physicochemical and nutritional properties of mine soils, and bioavailability of metals. Only limited amount of topsoil was added in the plantation pits in the ratio of 1:4 (topsoil: weathered mine spoils), which significantly improved pH and fertility. Out of the six analysed metals, the highest concentration was found for Fe followed by Mn > Zn > Cu > Cd > Ni in mine soils. Metal accumulation and bioconcentration factor (BCF) for each metal were calculated for edible fruit (Mangifera indica, Anacardium occidentale, Psidium guajava, Artocarpus heterophyllus and Syzygium cumini) and timber trees (Acacia mangium, Eucalyptus spp., Techtona grandis and Gravellia robusta). Higher metal accumulations were observed in edible fruit trees than control plants growing in garden soil. Significant variations of metal accumulations were observed amongst timber tree species with higher BCF values. Present study suggested that in spite of addition of topsoil, no significant improvement was observed for the bioavailable metal concentration in the mine soils. Additional care should be undertaken, if edible fruit trees are considered for afforestation of coal mine spoils.
A comparison of conventional and alternative cropping systems using alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) : an agroecosystem analysis

Natural Systems Agriculture is based on an understanding that natural systems are self-sustaining due to regulatory mechanisms resulting from natural selection that ensure the long-term maintenance of all components of the ecosystem. The objective of this study was to determine if agroecosystems modeled after nature exhibit advantages over conventional agroecosystems. Five treatments were examined: wheat monoculture, alfalfa monoculture, strip-cropped alfalfa and wheat, and two alfalfa-wheat intercrops (one no-till and one conservation-till). Monocultures produced high yields, as did strip-crop and conservation-till intercrop treatments. Although yields for no-till intercrops were low, protein values were high. Soil fertility was enhanced by the presence of alfalfa. Surface decomposition decreased under conventional tillage. Insect pests preferred alfalfa and were more abundant in treatments containing high percentages of alfalfa, as were predator groups. Benefits to yield, fertility, decomposition, and pest control were observed for the alternative agroecosystems, compared to the conventional monoculture systems, studied.
Produção de hortaliças no sistema orgânico: efeito nos atributos físicos do solo

O uso intensivo das terras, comum na producao de hortalicas, tem causado a degradacao da qualidade fisica do solo, estando intensamente relacionada com as praticas de cultivos adotadas nesses sistemas produtivos. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar as alteracoes dos atributos fisicos do solo em cultivo de hortalicas no sistema orgânico, usando como comparacao o sistema convencional e o sistema sob fl oresta (tratamento referencia). O estudo foi realizado no municipio de Colombo – PR em encostas agricolas (sub-bacias) com manejo do solo e das culturas conduzido pelos agricultores. Amostras de solo (classifi cado como Cambissolo Haplico Tb Distrofi co tipico) foram coletadas nas profundidades de 0-20 cm para avaliacao da densidade do solo, porosidade total, macroporosidade, microporosidade, diâmetro medio de agregados e condutividade hidraulica saturada. A densidade e porosidade do solo no sistema orgânico foi diferente do sistema sob fl oresta. Em contrapartida, para o diâmetro medio de agregados e condutividade hidraulica saturada, o sistema orgânico foi semelhante ao sistema sob fl oresta. De um modo geral, os resultados sugerem que o sistema orgânico apresenta melhor qualidade fisica que o sistema convencional no que se refere a estabilidade dos agregados e condutividade hidraulica, embora nao apresente diferencas em relacao a densidade e porosidade. As diferencas texturais entre as areas cultivadas podemter determinado melhor a qualidade fisica do solo sob sistema convencional (textura media) em relacao ao sistema orgânico (textura argilosa).
On the Classification of Weierstrass Elliptic Curves over $\mathbb{Z}_n$

The development of secure cryptographic protocols and the subsequent attack mechanisms have been placed in the literature with the utmost curiosity. While sophisticated quantum attacks bring a concern to the classical cryptographic protocols present in the applications used in everyday life, the necessity of developing post-quantum protocols is felt primarily. In post-quantum cryptography, elliptic curve-base protocols are exciting to the researchers. While the comprehensive study of elliptic curves over finite fields is well known, the extended study over finite rings is still missing. In this work, we generalize the study of Weierstrass elliptic curves over finite ring $\mathbb{Z}_n$ through classification. Several expressions to compute critical factors in studying elliptic curves are conferred. An all-around computational classification on the Weierstrass elliptic curves over $\mathbb{Z}_n$ for rigorous understanding is also attached to this work.
The Value-Sensitive Conversational Agent Co-Design Framework

Conversational agents (CAs) are gaining traction in both industry and academia, especially with the advent of generative AI and large language models. As these agents are used more broadly by members of the general public and take on a number of critical use cases and social roles, it becomes important to consider the values embedded in these systems. This consideration includes answering questions such as 'whose values get embedded in these agents? ' and 'how do those values manifest in the agents being designed? ' Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to present the Value-Sensitive Conversational Agent (VSCA) Framework for enabling the collaborative design (co-design) of value-sensitive CAs with relevant stakeholders. Firstly, requirements for co-designing value-sensitive CAs which were identified in previous works are summarised here. Secondly, the practical framework is presented and discussed, including its operationalisation into a design toolkit. The framework facilitates the co-design of three artefacts that elicit stakeholder values and have a technical utility to CA teams to guide CA implementation, enabling the creation of value-embodied CA prototypes. Finally, an evaluation protocol for the framework is proposed where the effects of the framework and toolkit are explored in a design workshop setting to evaluate both the process followed and the outcomes produced.
Simulating high-pressure surface reactions with molecular beams.

Using a reactive molecular beam with high kinetic energy (Ekin), it is possible to speed gas-surface reactions involving high activation barriers (Eact), which would require elevated pressures (P0) if a random gas with a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is used. By simply computing the number of molecules that overcome the activation barrier in a random gas at P0 and in a molecular beam at Ekin = Eact, we establish an Ekin-P0 equivalence curve, through which we postulate that molecular beams are ideal tools to investigate gas-surface reactions that involve high activation energies. In particular, we foresee the use of molecular beams to simulate gas surface reactions within the industrial-range (>10 bar) using surface-sensitive ultra-high vacuum (UHV) techniques, such as X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). To test this idea, we revisit the oxidation of the Cu(111) surface combining O2 molecular beams and XPS experiments. By tuning the kinetic energy of the O2 beam in the range of 0.24-1 eV, we achieve the same sequence of surface oxides obtained in ambient pressure photoemission (AP-XPS) experiments, in which the Cu(111) surface was exposed to a random O2 gas up to 1 mbar. We observe the same surface oxidation kinetics as in the random gas, but with a much lower dose, close to the expected value derived from the equivalence curve.
Field-testing items using artificial intelligence: Natural language processing with transformers

Five thousand variations of the RoBERTa model, an artificially intelligent"transformer"that can understand text language, completed an English literacy exam with 29 multiple-choice questions. Data were used to calculate the psychometric properties of the items, which showed some degree of agreement to those obtained from human examinee data.