Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Inhibition of RAD51 by siRNA and Resveratrol Sensitizes Cancer Stem Cells Derived from HeLa Cell Cultures to Apoptosis

Cervical cancer is the second most frequent tumor type in women worldwide with cases developing clinical recurrence, metastasis, and chemoresistance. The cancer stem cells (CSC) may be implicated in tumor resistance to therapy. RESveratrol (RES), a natural compound, is an antioxidant with multiple beneficial activities. We previously determined that the expression of RAD51 is decreased by RES. The aim of our study was to examine molecular mechanism by which CSC from HeLa cultures exhibit chemoresistance. We hypothesized CSC repair more efficiently DNA breaks and that RAD51 plays an important role in this mechanism. We found that CSC, derived from cervical cancer cell lines, overexpress RAD51 and are less sensitive to Etoposide (VP16). We inhibited RAD51 in CSC-enriched cultures using RES or siRNA against RAD51 messenger RNA and observed a decrease in cell viability and induction of apoptosis when treated simultaneously with VP16. In addition, we found that inhibition of RAD51 expression using RES also sensitizes CSC to VP16 treatment. Our results suggest that resveratrol is effective to sensitize cervical CSC because of RAD51 inhibition, targeting high RAD51 expressing CD49f-positive cells, which supports the possible therapeutic application of RES as a novel agent to treat cancer.
Long‐term data collection at USDA experimental sites for studies of ecohydrology

The science of ecohydrology is characterized by feedbacks, gradual trends and extreme events that are best revealed with long‐term experimental studies of hydrological processes and biological communities. In this review, we identified 81 US Department of Agriculture (USDA) experimental watersheds, forests and ranges with data records of more than 20 years measuring important ecosystem dynamics such as variations in vegetation, precipitation, climate, runoff, water quality and soil moisture. Through a series of examples, we showed how USDA long‐term data have been used to understand key ecohydrological issues, including (1) time lag between cause and effects, (2) critical thresholds and cyclic trends, (3) context of rare and extreme events and (4) mechanistic feedbacks for simulation modelling. New analyses of network‐wide, long‐term data from USDA experimental sites were used to illustrate the potential for multi‐year, multi‐site ecohydrological research. Three areas of investigation were identified to best exploit the unique spatial distribution and long‐term data of USDA experimental sites: convergence, cumulative synthesis and autocorrelation. This review underscored the need for continuous, interdisciplinary data records spanning more than 20 years across a wide range of ecosystems within and outside the conterminous USA to address major crosscutting problems facing ecohydrology. Conversely, the heightened interest in ecohydrology has impacted USDA experimental sites by encouraging new long‐term data collection efforts and adapting existing long‐term data collection networks to address new science issues. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Whodunnit? Crime Drama as a Case for Natural Language Understanding

In this paper we argue that crime drama exemplified in television programs such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an ideal testbed for approximating real-world natural language understanding and the complex inferences associated with it. We propose to treat crime drama as a new inference task, capitalizing on the fact that each episode poses the same basic question (i.e., who committed the crime) and naturally provides the answer when the perpetrator is revealed. We develop a new dataset based on CSI episodes, formalize perpetrator identification as a sequence labeling problem, and develop an LSTM-based model which learns from multi-modal data. Experimental results show that an incremental inference strategy is key to making accurate guesses as well as learning from representations fusing textual, visual, and acoustic input.
International Journal of Nanomedicine Dovepress Gold-functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles Restrict Growth of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and their derivatives (aminosilane and gold-coated) have been widely investigated in numerous medical applications, including their potential to act as antibacterial drug carriers that may penetrate into bacteria cells and biofilm mass. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a frequent cause of infection in hospitalized patients, and significant numbers of currently isolated clinical strains are resistant to standard antibiotic therapy. Here we describe the impact of three types of SPIONs on the growth of P. aeruginosa during long-term bacterial culture. Their size, structure, and physicochemical properties were determined using transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. We observed significant inhibition of P. aeruginosa growth in bacterial cultures continued over 96 hours in the presence of gold-functionalized nanoparticles (Fe 3 O 4 @Au). At the 48-hour time point, growth of P. aeruginosa, as assessed by the number of colonies grown from treated samples, showed the highest inhibition (decreased by 40%). These data provide strong evidence that Fe 3 O 4 @Au can dramatically reduce growth of P. aeruginosa and provide a platform for further study of the antibacterial activity of this nanomaterial.
Comparing Thermographic, EEG, and Subjective Measures of Affective Experience During Simulated Product Interactions

inconclusive evidence of triangulation between the three methods, although a strong positive association was established between changes in forehead temperature and changes in total EEG activity. Further analysis revealed that the sample group was complex: half displayed higher temperatures on the right side and half displayed higher temperatures on the left side throughout the test. Analysis of these smaller groups revealed significant correlations between IRT, EEG, and ASR. The results support the view that IRT has potential use in the measurement of cognitive work and affective state changes during user-product interactions and suggest that further work is required to establish a more definitive relationship between forehead temperature dynamics and af fect.
Feeding Reduces Serum Concentration of Endogenous Bioactive (1-84), but Not Total Intact Parathyroid Hormone in Female Sprague-Dawley Rats

Background: Interpretation of parathyroid hormone (PTH) measurements requires an understanding of its structural conformation. PTH reflects calcium intake and vitamin D status but is commonly measured in the fasted state using 2nd generation assays, known to cross-react with PTH 7-84 fragments, which is not observed with 3rd generation assays. The objective was to determine if plasma PTH in the fed and non-fed state differ while controlling for diurnal rhythm and the generation of PTH assay. Methods: Blood was sampled, 2 d apart, from Sprague-Dawley rats (30 males and 30 females) in both fed and non-fed states at 20 wk of age (weight: 470.2 ± 23.2 g) for measurement of ionized calcium (iCa), total intact (INT) and bioactive 1-84 (BIO) PTH. Differences between groups were tested using a GLIMMIX model with sex and feeding state as fixed effects and individual rats as a random effect. Results: Females had a lower iCa than males (F: 1.43 ± 0.01 vs M: 1.46 ± 0.01 mmol/L, P = 0.03). In males and females, there was no difference between fed and non-fed groups when PTH was assessed using the INT PTH assay (M Fed: 21.6 ± 1.3 vs M Non-fed: 22.6 ± 2.3 pmol/L, P = 0.59; F Fed: 19.3 ± 1.5 vs F Non-fed: 22.8 ± 2.9 pmol/L, P = 0.39). However, in females only, PTH measured using the BIO PTH, was significantly lower in the fed group versus the non-fed (Fed: 8.4 ± 0.8 vs Non-fed: 16.7 ± 3.4 pmol/L, P = 0.05). Conclusions:
Biofilm exopolysaccharides: a strong and sticky framework.

Biofilms probably comprise the normal environment for most microbial cells in many natural and artificial habitats, and as such are complex associations of cells, extracellular products and detritus either trapped within the biofilm or released from cells which have lysed as the biofilm ages (Christensen, 1989). The main ‘cement ’ for all these cells and products is the mixture of polysaccharides secreted by the cells established within the biofilm. Probably the nearest analogy is processed food, in which a mixture of macromolecules of all types interact in variousways to form a recognizable structure. Within such a structure, cells, water, ions and soluble low-and high-molecular-mass products are trapped. In many biofilms, as in food, the hydrated polysaccharides may be in a semi-solid state. The major component in the biofilm matrix is water – up to 97% (Zhang et al., 1998), and the characteristics of the solvent are determined by the solutes dissolved in it. The exact structure of any biofilm is probably a unique feature of the environment in which it develops. As pointed out by Stoodley et al. (1999a), nutritional and physical conditions greatly affect the nature of laboratory biofilms and this is equally true for other types. Wimpenny & Colasanti (1997) have also suggested that biofilm structure is largely determined by the concentration of substrate. They further postulated that such differences also validate at least three conceptual models of biofilms – heterogeneous mosaics, structures penetrated by water channels, and dense confluent biofilms.
Thermal processing techniques for improving protein-enriched beverage production

Title Thermal processing techniques for improving protein-enriched beverage production Author(s) Kelleher, Clodagh Publication date 2019 Original citation Kelleher, C. 2019. Thermal processing techniques for improving protein-enriched beverage production. PhD Thesis, University College Cork. Type of publication Doctoral thesis Rights © 2019, Clodagh Kelleher. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
Tumor immunotherapy: drug-induced neoantigens (xenogenization) and immune checkpoint inhibitors

More than 40 years ago, we discovered that novel transplantation antigens can be induced in vivo or in vitro by treating murine leukemia with dacarbazine. Years later, this phenomenon that we called “Chemical Xenogenization” (CX) and more recently, “Drug-Induced Xenogenization” (DIX), was reproduced by Thierry Boon with a mutagenic/carcinogenic compound (i.e. N-methyl-N’-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine). In both cases, the molecular bases of DIX rely on mutagenesis induced by methyl adducts to oxygen-6 of DNA guanine. In the present review we illustrate the main DIX-related immune-pharmacodynamic properties of triazene compounds of clinical use (i.e. dacarbazine and temozolomide). In recent years, tumor immunotherapy has come back to the stage with the discovery of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICpI) that show an extraordinary immune-enhancing activity. Here we illustrate the salient biochemical features of some of the most interesting ICpI and the up-to-day status of their clinical use. Moreover, we illustrate the literature showing the direct relationship between somatic mutation burden and susceptibility of cancer cells to host’s immune responses. When DIX was discovered, we were not able to satisfactorily exploit the possible presence of triazene-induced neoantigens in malignant cells since no device was available to adequately enhance host’s immune responses in clinical settings. Today, ICpI show unprecedented efficacy in terms of survival times, especially when elevated mutation load is associated with cancer cells. Therefore, in the future, mutation-dependent neoantigens obtained by appropriate pharmacological intervention appear to disclose a novel approach for enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of ICpI in cancer patients.
Constructing Visual News: Technological Changes in Photo Editors' Newswork

: This study has three goals: to assess what technologies are used by photo editors to construct visual news; to determine changes in photo editors' work routines; and to assess essential technological and professional skills of photo editors. A national mail survey of photo editors at the top 100 U.S. daily newspapers was conducted. The study employed a four-page self-administered questionnaire containing both closed-ended and open-ended questions about usage types, work routines, technology and visual literacy skills, attitudes toward technology, along with concerns about certain problems identified in the literature. The results of this survey suggest that with the latest implementation of technology in newspapers, a change in photo editors' work routines has started to emerge. These subtle changes include the use of technology to mange time, help with photo gathering and production, easier access to wire images, makes work easier, and expands the amounts of news and images available. Yet, also brings to light a new set of issues as to photo editing, and continues concerns regarding the ethics of photo imaging. This study also suggests that perceptions measuring visual literacy, visual storytelling, professional skills, and attitudes toward technology were shown to measure their constructs. The items used to measure these attitudes concerning the effectiveness of visual literacy and professional skills in news production along with perceptions regarding technology provides a promising measure of news professionals' attitudes regarding the work they do and the knowledge they possess to do it.
Magnetic-field-model based analysis of two-phase magnetically coupled resonant wireless power transfer system

Wireless power transfer (WPT) that is essentially based on electromagnetic induction has been attracted increasing attention recently. Most of the previous work revealed that the transfer characteristics of the system would be greatly influenced by the spatial positions between the sending coils and the receiving coils. This paper focuses on a two-phase magnetically coupled resonant (MCR) WPT system, which incorporates two orthogonal sending coils excited by two equivalent ac sources with phase-shift angle control and a single receiving coil, and investigates the distribution of magnetic field around the sending coils under different angular misalignment of the receiving coil. The calculation of the magnitude of magnetic field, the induced voltage, and the output power are given in detail, along with the simulation verification by Maxwell. Finally, a prototype is built and tested to verify the theoretical analysis.
A regional 3D coupled ecosystem model of the Benguela upwelling system

A regional 3-dimensional ecosystem model is presented designed to simulate the nutrient and oxygen dynamics in the Benguela upwelling system. Strong upwelling driven by the southern trade winds supply cold, nutrient rich water. This supports a high primary production and results in a large flux of sinking detritus. Hence, a thick organic-rich mud belt is characteristic for the Namibian continental shelf. Both biological and hydrodynamic processes contribute to the very specific geochemistry on the Namibian shelf. Notably high rates of sulfate reduction in the sediment generate high concentrations of dissolved hydrogen sulfide in the surface sediment layers and may be released intermittently to the water column. Large chemoautotrophic sulfur bacteria thrive on hydrogen sulfide and form conspicuous mats on the sediment. Denitrification and nitrification are important components of the nitrogen cycle and anaerobic ammonium oxidation is known to play a significant role as a nitrogen sink in the Benguela upwelling system. Organisms at higher trophic levels like zooplankton play an important role for mineralisation but also for the vertical and lateral transport of organic matter. The physical model component is MOM-4 (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, GFDL). The ecosystem model is a NPZDmodel (Nutrients-Phytoplankton-Zooplankton-Detritus) and is an extension of the ecosystem model ERGOM (Fennel & Neumann, 2004). Three phytoplankton and three zooplankton functional types are distinguished. All ecologically relevant processes mediated by prokaryotes in this ecosystem are implemented and the environmental conditions (e.g. oxygen concentration, temperature etc.) define the metabolic rates. The regional ecosystem model is tailored to the specific oxygen and sulfur dynamics on the shelf and simulates both processes in the water column and in the sediment. This model has been developed within the GENUS-project (Geochemistry and Ecology of the Namibian Upwelling System) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, reference number 03F0497A). It is an endorsed project of the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER).
The pathophysiological role of dendritic cell subsets in psoriasis

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by an erythematous scaly plaque of the skin and is occasionally accompanied by systemic complications. In the psoriatic lesions, an increased number of cytokine-producing dendritic cells and activated T cells are observed, which indicate that psoriasis is a prototype of an immune-mediated dermatosis. During the last decade, emerging studies demonstrate novel roles for the dendritic cell subsets in the process of disease initiation and maintenance of psoriasis. In addition, recently discovered anti-psoriatic therapies, which specifically target inflammatory cytokines produced by lesional dendritic cells, bring much better clinical improvement compared to conventional treatments. These new therapies implicate the crucial importance of dendritic cells in psoriasis pathogenesis. This review will summarize and discuss the dendritic cell subsets of the human skin and their pathophysiological involvement in psoriasis based on mouse- and patient-oriented studies. [BMB Reports 2014; 47(2): 60-68]
Defensive ant, aphid and caterpillar mimicry in plants?

Here we describe three apparently novel types of visual insect mimicry in plants. In the first type, plants of Xanthium trumarium L. have dark spots and flecks that resemble ants (Formicidae) in size and shape in the epidermis of stems, branches and petioles, and plants of Arisarum vulgare Targ. -Tozz. have them on petioles and inflorescence stems. In the second type, the dark anthers of Paspalum paspaloides (Michaux) Scribner (=P. distichum) are the size, shape and colour of aphids (Homoptera; Aphidoidea) and they sway in the wind like swivelling aphids. Similarly, the stems of Alcea setosa (Boiss.) Alef. are covered with dark flecks that look like aphids. Finally, immature pods of three wild annual legumes (Lathyrus ochrus (L.) DC. ; Pisum fulvum Sm. ; Vicia peregrina L. ) have conspicuous reddish spots, arranged along the pods, that appears to mimic lepidopteran caterpillars. In one of the species (V. peregrina) two different mimicking morphs were found. We propose that these morphological traits may serve as herbivore repellent cues and are part of the defence system of the plants. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2002, 77, 393–398.
Telemedicine What have we learned?

As the health care industry is facing many challenges and is undergoing extensive change, telemedicine is in the position to address these challenges and be an important part of health care’s development. Telemedicine has been used for approximately a half century, in which researchers have explored the different technologies utilized, clinical outcomes, cost benefits, perceptions, and adoption challenges of its use. This paper reviews and summarizes these findings and presents possible future research endeavors. Examining what is known about telemedicine can aid in the development of innovative, sustainable and beneficial health technologies that could positively impact health care delivery and outcomes.
Performance of Concrete with Fly Ash and Kaolin Inclusion

Waste materials of environmental risks, costly landfill disposal can be utilized in cement and concrete applications. Partial replacement of cement in engineering projects reduces the cost of construction with ecological benefits. The type and mix ratio affects the strength and workability of cement-concrete matrices. This research deals with the replacement of Class F fly ash and kaolin with cement used in concrete. Replacement of 10% fly ash with cement improves the comprehensive strength of concrete in 28 days period, and the workability is increased by 53.8%. The kaolin replacement reduced both the strength and workability of concrete.
Isolation of Potential Probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus Strains from Traditional Fermented Mare Milk Produced in Sumbawa Island of Indonesia

To explore potential probiotics in the traditional foods of Indonesia, fermented mare milk produced in Sumbawa Island was investigated in this study. Gram stain, catalase activity, gas production, cell morphology, carbohydrate utilization pattern, and 16S rDNA sequencing were performed to identify isolated lactic acid bacteria. To assess their probiotic ability, tolerance of low pH, bile salts, artificial gastrointestinal fluids, and adhesion properties to extracellular matrices, were examined. In total 27 strains, 25 Lactobacillus rhamnosus and two Lactobacillus fermentum, were obtained. Among the isolated lactobacilli, three Lb. rhamnosus strains, FSMM15, FSMM22, and FSMM26, were selected as candidates for probiotics, using Lb. rhamnosus GG as index. In vitro binding assay of the three strains against several extracellular matrix proteins revealed that FSMM15 and FSMM26 gave greater binding ratios of mucin/bovine serum albumin (BSA) and significantly higher adhesive abilities to fibronectin than Lb. rhamnosus GG. FSMM22 showed significantly higher adhesion to laminin than Lb. rhamnosus GG.
A simple and rapid test of physical performance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Impaired physical performance is common in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but its assessment can be difficult in routine clinical practice. We compared the timed up and go (TUG) test and other easily applied assessments of physical performance with the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD). In a longitudinal study of comorbidities in COPD, submaximal physical performance was determined in 520 patients and 150 controls using the TUG test and 6MWD. Spirometry, body composition, handgrip strength, the COPD assessment test, St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and the modified Medical Research Council dyspnoea scale were also determined. Patients and controls were similar in age, body mass index, and sex proportions. The TUG in the patients was greater than that in the control group, P=0.001, and was inversely related to 6MWD (r=−0.71, P<0.001) and forced expiratory volume in one second predicted (r=−0.19, P<0.01) and was directly related to the SGRQ activity (r=0.39, P<0.001), SGRQ total (r=0.37, P<0.001), and total COPD assessment test scores (r=0.37, P<0.001). The TUG identified the difference in physical performance between patients and controls. The TUG test and validated questionnaires provide a measure of physical performance, which is rapid and could be used in clinical practice.
Opinion Target Extraction from Arabic News Articles Using shallow Features

Target identification is one of the important tasks related to opinion mining. Indeed, there are few works in this field that deals with Arabic Language because of the lack of annotated corpora. In this paper, we propose to investigate the problem of opinion target identification from Arabic news articles using Conditional Random Fields (CRF) as discriminative framework. Opinion target recognition task consists in determining terms forming the target span. To the best of our knowledge, there is no similar work done in this field for Arabic language and especially for news articles. Experiments show that we can perform excellent results with consideration of semantic correlation between words and without relying on deep syntactic features. Our proposed method identifies opinion target with 95% F-measure, for a given opinion word using bi-gram feature, words in context and other features.