Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Boundary effects on electrophoresis of colloidal cylinders

An exact analytical study is presented for the electrophoresis of an infinite insulating cylinder in the proximity of an infinite plane wall parallel to its axis. The electric field is exerted perpendicular to the particle axis in two fundamental cases: normal to a conducting plane and parallel to a non-conducting wall. The electrical double layers adjacent to solid surfaces are assumed to be thin with respect to the particle radius and the gap thickness between surfaces. The two-dimensional electrostatic and hydrodynamic governing equations are solved in the quasi-steady limit using bipolar coordinates and the typical electric-field-line, equipotential-line and streamline patterns are exhibited. Corrections to Smoluchowski's equation for the electrophoretic velocities of the particle are determined in simple closed forms as a function of λ, the ratio of particle radius to distance of the particle axis from the wall. Interestingly, the electrophoretic mobility of the cylinder in the direction parallel to a dielectric plane increases monotonically as the particle approaches the wall and becomes infinity when the particle touches the wall. For the motion of a cylinder normal to a conducting plane, the presence of the wall causes a reduction in the electrophoretic velocity, which goes to zero as λ → 1. It is found that boundary effects on the electrophoresis of a cylinder are much stronger than for a sphere at the same value of λ. The boundary effects on the particle mobility and on the fluid flow pattern in electrophoresis differ significantly from those of the corresponding sedimentation problem with which comparisons are made.
Isotopic (δ 2H and δ 13C) tracing the provenance and fate of individual fatty acids fueling migrating animals: A case study of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)

Introduction Among long-distance migratory insects, the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is one of the most iconic, whose journey is fueled by nectar from flowering plants along the migratory route which may involve up to 3,500 km. Understanding how and where monarchs obtain their dietary resources to fuel migratory flight and ensure overwintering stores would provide new insights into the migratory strategy of this species and subsequently help focus conservation efforts. Methods This pilot study was designed as a first attempt to assess the composition, dynamics, and isotopic (δ2H, δ13C) composition of essential and non-essential fatty acids (FA) acquired or manufactured de novo from larval host milkweed (Asclepias spp.) by monarch butterflies and from adult emergence to overwintering. Results Data from controlled laboratory isotopic tracer tests suggested that adult monarchs convert their dietary energy mainly into 16:0 and 18:1 fatty acids and store them as neutral lipids in their abdomen. FA isotopic composition reflects not only dietary sources but also subsequent isotopic fractionation from metabolism. On the other hand, δ2H values of essential omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) correlated with δ2HWing, as markers of an individual’s geographic origin and indicated the importance of larval diet. Additionally, in wild-type females, high isotopic fractionation in δ13CALA between neutral and polar lipids might indicate increased bioconversion activity during gravidity. Finally, δ2HLIN showed positive H isotope fractionation from larval dietary sources, indicating that catabolic processes were involved in their manufacture. Furthermore, δ2HLIN showed a negative correlation with δ2HWing values, which could potentially be useful when investigating individual life-history traits, such as migratory catabolic efforts or periods of fasting. Discussion This interpretation was supported by significant larger variations in δ2HLIN and δ2HLIN overwintering monarchs compared to other FA. Altogether, our results provide the first evidence that the H isotopic analysis of individual fatty acids in migrating and overwintering monarchs can be used to infer the nutritional history of individuals including the provenance of nectaring sites used to fuel key life history events.
The emerging role of DEAD/H-box helicases in hepatitis B virus infection

DEAD/H-box helicases are an essential protein family with a conserved motif containing unique amino acid sequences (Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp/His). Current evidence indicates that DEAD/H-box helicases regulate RNA metabolism and innate immune responses. In recent years, DEAD/H-box helicases have been reported to participate in the development of a variety of diseases, including hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, which is a significant risk factor for hepatic fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. Furthermore, emerging evidence suggests that different DEAD/H-box helicases play vital roles in the regulation of viral replication, based on the interaction of DEAD/H-box helicases with HBV and the modulation of innate signaling pathways mediated by DEAD/H-box helicases. Besides these, HBV can alter the expression and activity of DEAD/H-box helicases to facilitate its biosynthesis. More importantly, current investigation suggests that targeting DEAD/H-box helicases with appropriate compounds is an attractive treatment strategy for the virus infection. In this review, we delineate recent advances in molecular mechanisms relevant to the interplay of DEAD/H-box helicase and HBV and the potential of targeting DEAD/H-box helicase to eliminate HBV infection.
Responses of tree seedlings to understory filtering by the recalcitrant fern layer in a subtropical forest

The recalcitrant understory fern layer is an important ecological filter for seedling regeneration, yet how the fern layer influences seedling regeneration dynamics remains unclear. Here we transplanted 576 seedlings of four dominant tree species, Castanopsis fargesii, Lithocarpus glaber, Schima superba and Hovenia acerba, to the treatments of Diplopterygium glaucum retention and removal under an evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern China. We monitored the survival, growth and biomass data of these seedlings for 28 months, and then used generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the treatment effects on seedling survival, growth, biomass and root-shoot ratio. Our results showed that fern retention significantly inhibited the seedling establishment of all four species. During the seedling development stage, the seedling relative growth rate of L. glaber decreased under fern retention, which was not the case for the other three species. Root-shoot ratio of C. fargesii and L. glaber increased significantly under fern retention. Our findings provide new evidence of the filtering effect of a recalcitrant fern understory. Notably, we observed that the response of tree seedlings to the recalcitrant fern understory was more sensitive in the establishment stage. Finally, our work highlights that the filtering effect of the recalcitrant fern understory changes depending on the regeneration stages, and that shade-tolerant species, C. fargesii and L. glaber were even more affected by fern disturbed habitats, suggesting that effective management should attempt to curb forest fern outbreaks, thus unblocking forest recruitment.
Food preferences in a generalist pollen feeder: A nutritional strategy mainly driven by plant carbohydrates

Introduction Animal nutritional strategies have been extensively studied in vertebrates, where generalism at the individual scale is the rule. In insect herbivores, the determinants of the nutritional strategy of individual-scale generalists remain poorly studied, and the focus has been placed mainly on the influence of plant defense. Moreover, the integration of a physiological dimension in such studies remains rare. Here, we investigated the determinants of the nutritional strategy of pre-diapausing pollen beetles, Brassicogethes aeneus, with a focus on the influence of macronutrients. Before their diapause, pollen beetles are known to feed from plants belonging to many different families. This raises three questions: (i) Is the generalism of pollen beetles a populational consequence of individuals specialized on different plant families? (ii) Do individuals feed at random on flowers available or do they have a particular nutritional strategy? and (iii) In case of non-random feeding choices, do pollen macronutrients explain this nutritional strategy? Methods To answer these questions, we used a series of laboratory experiments including feeding choice tests on flowers and artificial substrates, quantification of pollen nutrient content, quantification of the insect energetic budget, and performance experiments. Results We show that pollen beetles are generalist at the individual scale, and that clear and stable food preferences are established over a few hours in a multi-choice context. Pollen beetles prefer to feed on flowers with a carbohydrate-rich pollen, and this preference is adaptive since performance correlates positively with the plant carbohydrate content. This better performance may be explained by the fact that individuals feeding on carbohydrate-rich resources accumulate more glycogen and total energetic reserves. Discussion This study represents one of the few evidences of generalism at the individual scale in an herbivorous insect. It provides a better understanding of the nutritional strategy of a non-bee pollen feeder and shows the importance of carbohydrates in this strategy. It highlights the need to combine assessments of the plant macronutrient content and insect energetic budget in an adaptive framework to better understand the nutritional strategies of herbivores.
Human milk microbial species are associated with mild growth deficits during early infancy among Guatemalan mother–infant dyads

Growth faltering is common in Guatemalan indigenous communities, but the possibility that it may be related to milk microbial composition has not been explored. For this cross-sectional study, unrelated mother–infant dyads (n = 64) from eight communities in the remote Western Highlands of Guatemala were recruited. Milk samples and infant length-for-age and weight-for-age Z-scores were collected at two stages of lactation: early (6–46 days postpartum, n = 29) or late (109–184 days postpartum, n = 35). Within each stage of lactation, infants were subdivided into mildly underweight [weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ) < –1 SD] or normal weight (WAZ ≥ –1 SD) and mildly stunted [length-for-age Z-score (LAZ) < –1.5 SD] or non-stunted (LAZ ≥ –1.5 SD). 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing was used to identify milk microbial communities, and DESeq2 was used to compare the differential abundance (DA) of human milk microbiota at the species level for WAZ and LAZ subgroups at each stage of lactation. A total of 503 ESVs annotated as 256 putative species across the 64 human milk samples were identified. Alpha diversity did not differ, but beta-diversity redundancy analysis identified four distinct clusters among the four WAZ (p = 0.004) and LAZ subgroups (p = 0.001). DA identified 15 different taxa in the WAZ and 11 in the LAZ groups in early lactation and 8 in the WAZ and 19 in the LAZ groups in late lactation. Mothers’ milk had more DA taxa of oropharyngeal and environmental bacteria with opportunistic activities in the LAZ < –1.5 SD infants, whereas the LAZ ≥ –1.5 SD had DA taxa with potential probiotic and antimicrobial inhibitory activity against pathogens. In particular, milk microbial communities of infants not classified as underweight or stunted had more beneficial species including Lactococcus_lactis. These findings suggest the potential associations between the milk microbiome at the species level with infant growth prior to 6 months of age. These data provide important evidence of the associations between the human milk microbiome and the growth of breastfed infants.
Models including preoperative plasma levels of angiogenic factors, leptin and IL-8 as potential biomarkers of endometrial cancer

Background The diversity of endometrial cancer (EC) dictates the need for precise early diagnosis and pre-operative stratification to select treatment options appropriately. Non-invasive biomarkers invaluably assist clinicians in managing patients in daily clinical practice. Currently, there are no validated diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for EC that could accurately predict the presence and extent of the disease. Methods Our study analyzed 202 patients, of whom 91 were diagnosed with EC and 111 were control patients with the benign gynecological disease. Using Luminex xMAP™ multiplexing technology, we measured the pre-operative plasma concentrations of six previously selected angiogenic factors – leptin, IL-8, sTie-2, follistatin, neuropilin-1, and G-CSF. Besides basic statistical methods, we used a machine-learning algorithm to create a robust diagnostic model based on the plasma concentration of tested angiogenic factors. Results The plasma levels of leptin were significantly higher in EC patients than in control patients. Leptin was higher in type 1 EC patients versus control patients, and IL-8 was higher in type 2 EC versus control patients, particularly in poorly differentiated endometrioid EC grade 3. IL-8 plasma levels were significantly higher in EC patients with lymphovascular or myometrial invasion. Among univariate models, the model based on leptin reached the best results on both training and test datasets. A combination of age, IL-8, leptin and G-CSF was determined as the most important feature for the multivariate model, with ROC AUC 0.94 on training and 0.81 on the test dataset. The model utilizing a combination of all six AFs, BMI and age reached a ROC AUC of 0.89 on both the training and test dataset, strongly indicating the capability for predicting the risk of EC even on unseen data. Conclusion According to our results, measuring plasma concentrations of angiogenic factors could, provided they are confirmed in a multicentre validation study, represent an important supplementary diagnostic tool for early detection and prognostic characterization of EC, which could guide the decision-making regarding the extent of treatment.
Understanding the impact of environmental variability and fisheries on the red sea urchin population in Baja California

Introduction The red sea urchin fishery is one of the most important fisheries in Baja California and the only urchin fishery in México; yet little is known on understanding how local, regional, and oceanic environmental variability may affect red sea urchin populations. Methods We analyzed how food availability, predator abundance and environmental variability could affect red sea urchin populations developing generalized linear models under different temperature conditions: Pre-heat wave, heat wave, and post–heatwave, including sites where sea surface temperature was above, below, and on average. Models included: a) biological variables: Macrocystis pyrifera (kelp) biomass, red sea urchin (Mesocentrotus franciscanus) density, sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher), kelp bass (Paralabrax clathratus) and spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) catches, and b) oceanographic variables: sea surface temperature, wave power, upwelling index, multivariate El Niño index and North Pacific Gyre Oscillation index. Results Between 65 and 82% of the variability observed in red sea urchin populations was explained by different combinations of variables, depending on the thermal condition analyzed. We observed that local environmental variability, such as food availability and predator harvest are highly important factors in determining red sea urchin population changes, compared to regional and oceanic scale variables such as upwelling, El Niño, or the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation. Results show that the relative importance of these variables changed depending on the spatial and temporal scale being analyzed, meaning that under “normal or average” conditions one set of variables is important, compared to extreme environmental conditions such as El Niño or “the Blob” when a different set of variables explained the observed variability. Urchin predators’ catches were correlated with urchin density during the pre-heatwave scenario, suggesting that under “average temperature” conditions the effect of fishing on predators, and consequently on urchin density is higher than local temperature, the most important variable during warm conditions. Discussion This study suggests that in Baja California, red sea urchin harvest has become the most important red sea urchin population control, so efforts should be encouraged and supported by state and federal agencies to promote more resilient ecosystems in the face of environmental uncertainty. Improving management of the commercial species that inhabit kelp forest, could yield benefits for the entire ecosystem, fishers, and the red sea urchin population in Mexico.
Achog1 is required for the asexual sporulation, stress responses and pigmentation of Aspergillus cristatus

Aspergillus cristatus is the dominant fungus during the fermentation of Fuzhuan brick tea; hypotonic conditions only induce its sexual development to produce ascospores, while hypertonic conditions only induce its asexual development to produce conidia, indicating that osmotic stress can regulate spore production in A. cristatus. However, the underlying regulatory mechanism is unclear. In this study, the role of Achog1, which is homologous to hog1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, in sporulation, different kinds of stress responses and pigment production was investigated. Deletion mutants of Achog1 were obtained by homologous recombination. Phenotypic observations showed that the time required to produce conidia was delayed, and the number of conidia produced was significantly reduced in the deletion mutants of Achog1 in hypertonic media, indicating that Achog1 plays a positive role in asexual development. Stress sensitivity tests showed that ΔAchog1 strains were sensitive to hyperosmolarity, and the order of the sensitivity of ΔAchog1 to different osmotic regulators was 3 M sucrose >3 M NaCl >3 M sorbitol. Moreover, the deletion mutants were sensitive to high oxidative stress. pH sensitivity tests indicated that Achog1 inhibited the growth of A. cristatus under alkaline stress. Additionally, pigmentation was decreased in the Achog1 deletion mutants compared with the WT. All the above developmental defects were reversed by the reintroduction of the Achog1 gene in ΔAchog1. Pull-down and LC–MS/MS analysis showed that the expression levels of proteins interacting with Achog1 were significantly different under low and high osmotic stress, and proteins related to conidial development were present only in the cultures treated with hyperosmotic stress. Transcription profiling data showed that Achog1 suppressed the expression of several genes related to asexual development, osmotic and oxidative stress resistance. On the basis of gene knockout, pull-down mass spectrometry and RNA-seq analyses, a regulatory pathway for Achog1 was roughly identified in A. cristatus.
Identifying the risk of dyslexia in bilingual children: The potential of language-dependent and language-independent tasks

This study investigates the linguistic processing and non-linguistic cognitive abilities of monolingual and bilingual children with and without reading difficulties and examines the relationship between these skills and reading. There were 72 Italian-speaking children: 18 monolingual good readers (MONO-GR, Mage = 10;4), 19 monolingual poor readers (MONO-PR, Mage = 10;3), 21 bilingual good readers (BI-GR, Mage = 10;6), and 16 bilingual poor readers (BI-PR, Mage = 10;6). All bilingual children spoke Italian as their L2. Children completed a battery of standardized Italian reading tests, language-dependent tasks: nonword repetition (NWR), sentence repetition (SR), and phonological awareness (PA), and language-independent tasks: timing anticipation, beat synchronization, inhibition control, auditory reaction time, and rapid automatized naming (RAN). Poor readers scored below good readers on the language-dependent tasks, including NWR, PA, and SR. Beat synchronization was the only language-independent task sensitive to reading ability, with poor readers showing greater variability than good readers in tapping to fast rhythms. SR was the only task influenced by language experience as bilinguals underperformed monolinguals on the task. Moreover, there were weak to moderate correlations between performance on some language-dependent tasks (NWR, PA), language-independent tasks (inhibition control, RAN), and reading measures. Performance on the experimental tasks (except for RAN) was not associated with the length of exposure to Italian. The results highlight the potential of NWR, PA, SR, and beat synchronization tasks in identifying the risk of dyslexia in bilingual populations. Future research is needed to validate these findings and to establish the tasks’ diagnostic accuracy.
Multisystem immune-related adverse events due to toripalimab: Two cases-based review

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have significantly improved the survival of patients with advanced tumors. However, immune-related adverse events (irAEs) caused by ICIs, especially high-grade irAEs, are of growing concern. High-grade multisystem irAEs due to toripalimab, a programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor, have been rarely reported. Two patients with malignant metastatic tumors were treated with anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. However, both patients developed high-grade multisystem irAEs based on myocarditis, with chest discomfort and malaise as the main clinical manifestation. Both patients had an elevation of cardiac enzymes, abnormal electrocardiography and left ventricular wall motion. Patient 2 was also diagnosed with organizing pneumonia. Immunotherapy was suspended. High-dose intravenous methylprednisolone was immediately initiated. The patients’ symptoms were significantly relieved in a short period of time. Immunosuppressants were discontinued at the 6th month follow-up in patient 1 without relapse. However, patient 2 was lost to follow up due to financial reasons. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding ICI-associated myocarditis-pneumonia due to toripalimab, indicating the significance of early recognition and management of high-grade multisystem irAEs in clinical practice.
Biochar improved the composting quality of seaweeds and cow manure mixture and altered the microbial community

The beneficial effects of biochar addition during composting have been proved for many feedstocks, like manures and crop straws. However, the effect of biochar on the quality of composting product with seaweed as the feedstock and the bacterial response has not been investigated. In this study, the wheat straw biochar addition on the quality of the composting product and the bacterial response was explored at the rate of 0–10%. The results showed that biochar addition at the optimal rate (5%, w/w) could increase the germination index and the ratio of the optical density of humic acid at 460 nm to that at 660 nm (E4/E6) of the composting product, which indicated the decreased biotoxicity and enhanced compost maturity. The significant increase of the nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) content of the composting product proved the improvement of N cycling during composting process with biochar addition. The bacterial community of composting product was shifted and the relative abundance of some beneficial taxa (e.g., Muricauda and Woeseia) was significantly increased with biochar addition. Furthermore, the relative abundance of some bacterial genes related to amino acid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism was also increased with biochar addition. The results of our study provided the positive effect of biochar addition on the composting of seaweed and could help to produce high quality seaweed fertilizer by composting with biochar addition.