Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nrt1 and Tna1-Independent Export of NAD+ Precursor Vitamins Promotes NAD+ Homeostasis and Allows Engineering of Vitamin Production

NAD+ is both a co-enzyme for hydride transfer enzymes and a substrate of sirtuins and other NAD+ consuming enzymes. NAD+ biosynthesis is required for two different regimens that extend lifespan in yeast. NAD+ is synthesized from tryptophan and the three vitamin precursors of NAD+: nicotinic acid, nicotinamide and nicotinamide riboside. Supplementation of yeast cells with NAD+ precursors increases intracellular NAD+ levels and extends replicative lifespan. Here we show that both nicotinamide riboside and nicotinic acid are not only vitamins but are also exported metabolites. We found that the deletion of the nicotinamide riboside transporter, Nrt1, leads to increased export of nicotinamide riboside. This discovery was exploited to engineer a strain to produce high levels of extracellular nicotinamide riboside, which was recovered in purified form. We further demonstrate that extracellular nicotinamide is readily converted to extracellular nicotinic acid in a manner that requires intracellular nicotinamidase activity. Like nicotinamide riboside, export of nicotinic acid is elevated by the deletion of the nicotinic acid transporter, Tna1. The data indicate that NAD+ metabolism has a critical extracellular element in the yeast system and suggest that cells regulate intracellular NAD+ metabolism by balancing import and export of NAD+ precursor vitamins.
Techniques for Improving the Labelling Process of Sentiment Analysis in the Saudi Stock Market

Sentiment analysis is utilised to assess users’ feedback and comments. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in this topic due to the spread and expansion of social networks. Users’ feedback and comments are written in unstructured formats, usually with informal language, which presents challenges for sentiment analysis. For the Arabic language, further challenges exist due to the complexity of the language and no sentiment lexicon is available. Therefore, labelling carried out by hand can lead to mislabelling and misclassification. Consequently, inaccurate classification creates the need to construct a relabelling process for Arabic documents to remove noise in labelling. The aim of this study is to improve the labelling process of the sentiment analysis. Two approaches were utilised. First, a neutral class was added to create a framework of reliable Twitter tweets with positive, negative, or neutral sentiments. The second approach was improving the labelling process by relabelling. In this study, the relabelling process applied to only seven random features (positive or negative): “earnings” (ارباح), “losses” (خسائر), “green colour” (باللون_الاخضر), “growing” (زياده), “distribution” (توزيع), “decrease” (انخفاض), “financial penalty” (غرامة), and “delay” (تاجيل). Of the 48 tweets documented and examined, 20 tweets were relabelled and the classification error was reduced by 1.34%.
Factors affecting well-being in adults recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis

This article examines role stress, key psychosocial variables, and well-being in adults recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis must often learn to balance disease and role-related responsibilities. This was cross-sectional, descriptive study (N = 80). Data were analyzed using correlation coefficients and linear regression models. Participants were predominantly female (78%), married, and employed. Mean age and disease duration were 54.2 years and 24.2 months, respectively. The findings suggest that well-being is influenced by feelings of being self-efficacious and having balance in their roles and less to do with social support received from others.
Cats and Carbohydrates: The Carnivore Fantasy?

The domestic cat’s wild ancestors are obligate carnivores that consume prey containing only minimal amounts of carbohydrates. Evolutionary events adapted the cat’s metabolism and physiology to this diet strictly composed of animal tissues and led to unique digestive and metabolic peculiarities of carbohydrate metabolism. The domestic cat still closely resembles its wild ancestor. Although the carnivore connection of domestic cats is well recognised, little is known about the precise nutrient profile to which the digestive physiology and metabolism of the cat have adapted throughout evolution. Moreover, studies show that domestic cats balance macronutrient intake by selecting low-carbohydrate foods. The fact that cats evolved consuming low-carbohydrate prey has led to speculations that high-carbohydrate diets could be detrimental for a cat’s health. More specifically, it has been suggested that excess carbohydrates could lead to feline obesity and diabetes mellitus. Additionally, the chances for remission of diabetes mellitus are higher in cats that consume a low-carbohydrate diet. This literature review will summarise current carbohydrate knowledge pertaining to digestion, absorption and metabolism of carbohydrates, food selection and macronutrient balancing in healthy, obese and diabetic cats, as well as the role of carbohydrates in prevention and treatment of obesity and diabetes mellitus.
Hyperspectral data influenced by sample matrix: the importance of building relevant reference spectral libraries to map materials of interest

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) and mapping are increasingly used for visualization and identification of nanoparticles (NPs) in a variety of matrices, including aqueous suspensions and biological samples. Reference spectral libraries (RSLs) contain hyperspectral data collected from materials of known composition and are used to detect the known materials in experimental samples through a one‐to‐one pixel “mapping” process. In some HSI studies, RSLs created from raw NPs were used to map NPs in experimental samples in a different matrix; for example, RSLs created from NPs in suspension to map NPs in biological tissue. Others have utilized RSLs created from NPs in the same matrix. However, few studies have systematically compared hyperspectral data as a function of the matrix in which the NPs are found and its impact on mapping results. The objective of this study is to compare RSLs created from metal oxide NPs in aqueous suspensions to RSLs created from the same NPs in rat tissues following in vivo inhalation exposure, and to investigate the differences in mapping that result from the use of each RSL. Results demonstrate that the spectral profiles of these NPs are matrix dependent: RSLs created from NPs in positive control tissues mapped to experimental tissues more appropriately than RSLs created from NPs in suspension. Aqueous suspension RSLs mapped 0‐602 out of 500,424 pixels per tissue image while tissue RSLs mapped 689‐18,435 pixels for the same images. This study underscores the need for appropriate positive controls for the creation of RSLs for mapping NPs in experimental samples.
Stochastic search using the natural gradient

To optimize unknown 'fitness' functions, we present Natural Evolution Strategies, a novel algorithm that constitutes a principled alternative to standard stochastic search methods. It maintains a multinormal distribution on the set of solution candidates. The Natural Gradient is used to update the distribution's parameters in the direction of higher expected fitness, by efficiently calculating the inverse of the exact Fisher information matrix whereas previous methods had to use approximations. Other novel aspects of our method include optimal fitness baselines and importance mixing, a procedure adjusting batches with minimal numbers of fitness evaluations. The algorithm yields competitive results on a number of benchmarks.
AGL61 Interacts with AGL80 and Is Required for Central Cell Development in Arabidopsis1[W][OA]

The central cell of the female gametophyte plays a role in pollen tube guidance and in regulating the initiation of endosperm development. Following fertilization, the central cell gives rise to the seed's endosperm, which nourishes the developing embryo within the seed. The molecular mechanisms controlling specification and differentiation of the central cell are poorly understood. We identified AGL61 in a screen for transcription factor genes expressed in the female gametophyte. AGL61 encodes a Type I MADS domain protein, which likely functions as a transcription factor. Consistent with this, an AGL61-green fluorescent protein fusion protein is localized to the nucleus. In the context of the ovule and seed, AGL61 is expressed exclusively in the central cell and early endosperm. agl61 female gametophytes are affected in the central cell specifically. The morphological defects include an overall reduction in size of the central cell and a reduced or absent central cell vacuole. When fertilized with wild-type pollen, agl61 central cells fail to give rise to endosperm. In addition, synergid- and antipodal-expressed genes are ectopically expressed in agl61 central cells. The expression pattern and mutant phenotype of AGL61 are similar to those of AGL80, suggesting that AGL61 may function as a heterodimer with AGL80 within the central cell; consistent with this, AGL61 and AGL80 interact in yeast two-hybrid assays. Together, these data suggest that AGL61 functions as a transcription factor and controls the expression of downstream genes during central cell development.
The Absoluteness of Semantic Processing: Lessons from the Analysis of Temporal Clusters in Phonemic Verbal Fluency

Background For word production, we may consciously pursue semantic or phonological search strategies, but it is uncertain whether we can retrieve the different aspects of lexical information independently from each other. We therefore studied the spread of semantic information into words produced under exclusively phonemic task demands. Methods 42 subjects participated in a letter verbal fluency task, demanding the production of as many s-words as possible in two minutes. Based on curve fittings for the time courses of word production, output spurts (temporal clusters) considered to reflect rapid lexical retrieval based on automatic activation spread, were identified. Semantic and phonemic word relatedness within versus between these clusters was assessed by respective scores (0 meaning no relation, 4 maximum relation). Results Subjects produced 27.5 (±9.4) words belonging to 6.7 (±2.4) clusters. Both phonemically and semantically words were more related within clusters than between clusters (phon: 0.33±0.22 vs. 0.19±0.17, p<.01; sem: 0.65±0.29 vs. 0.37±0.29, p<.01). Whereas the extent of phonemic relatedness correlated with high task performance, the contrary was the case for the extent of semantic relatedness. Conclusion The results indicate that semantic information spread occurs, even if the consciously pursued word search strategy is purely phonological. This, together with the negative correlation between semantic relatedness and verbal output suits the idea of a semantic default mode of lexical search, acting against rapid task performance in the given scenario of phonemic verbal fluency. The simultaneity of enhanced semantic and phonemic word relatedness within the same temporal cluster boundaries suggests an interaction between content and sound-related information whenever a new semantic field has been opened.
Associations between genetic variants associated with body mass index and trajectories of body fatness across the life course: a longitudinal analysis.

Background The genetic associations with trajectories of body fatness over the life course remain unknown. Methods We used a group-based modelling approach to identify trajectories of body fatness from age 5 years up to 65 for 7277 women from the Nurses' Health Study and 4645 men from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. We created a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 97 variants associated with adulthood body mass index (BMI) and estimated its association with trajectories using logistic regression. Results We identified four distinct trajectories: lean-medium, medium-medium, lean-heavy and medium-heavy. The GRS increased across the four groups in that order (P < 0.001); 47% of women and 45% of men in the first decile of the GRS were in the lean-medium group, and these proportions reduced to 26% and 28%, respectively, for the highest decile. The corresponding proportions in the medium-heavy group were 8% and 5%, increasing to 21% and 14%, respectively. For women, compared with the odds of being in the lean-medium group, a 10-allele increment in the GRS was associated with a 40% [95% confidence interval (CI), 27-54%], 43% (30-58%), and 115% (91-143%) increase in the odds of being in the medium-medium, lean-heavy and medium-heavy groups, respectively. For men, the corresponding increases in the odds were 26% (12-42%), 27% (13-43%), and 81% (53-115%), respectively. Conclusions Individuals with genetic variants for adulthood BMI were more likely to maintain a heavy body shape and gain weight throughout life. These findings support a persistent effect of genetic variants on body fatness across the lifespan.
Effects of Benzo(e)Pyrene, a Toxic Component of Cigarette Smoke, on Müller Cells (MIO-M1) in vitro

Purpose: To understand the cellular and molecular basis of the association between cigarette smoking and age-related macular degeneration (AMD), we examined the effect of Benzo(e)Pyrene (B(e)P), a toxic element in cigarette smoke, on a Müller cell line (MIO-M1). Results: There was a significant decrease in cell viability of the MIO-M1 cells which were treated with three concentrations of B(e)P (200 μM, 100 μM and 50 μM). The increase in ROS/RNS production in comparison with their respected controls was significant for the concentrations of 200 μM, 100 μM, and 50 μM. The ΔΨМ was significantly decreased after treatment with B(e)P at 200 μM , 100 μM and 50 μM. Caspase-3/7 activity was significantly increased for cells treated with 200 μM, 100 μM, 50 μM compared to DMSO controls. There was marked DNA fragmentation in cells exposed to B(e)P 200 μM. Conclusions: B(e)P causes oxidative damage and apoptosis of MIO-M1 cells. Müller cells function as primary glial cells. They also have the potential to undergo dedifferentiation into multipotent progenitor cells. Disruption of these important functions by B(e)P may contribute to the significant risk that smoking has for development of AMD. Abbreviations: AMD: Age Related Macular Degeneration; B(e)P: Benzo(e)Pyrene; RPE: Retinal Pigment Epithelial; HMVEC: human microvascular endothelial cells; MIO-M1: Human Muller Cells; ROS/ RNS: Reactive Oxidation Species/Reactive Nitrogen Species; DMSO: Dimethyl Sulfoxide; H2DCFDA: 2’,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate; ΔΨm: Mitochondrial Membrane Potential.
Definition of the To Be Named Ligament and Vertebrodural Ligament and Their Possible Effects on the Circulation of CSF

Few studies have been conducted specifically on the dense connective tissue located in the posterior medial part of the cervical epidural space. This study was undertaken to examine the presence of this connection between the cervical dura mater and the posterior wall of spinal canal at the level of C1–C2. 30 head-neck specimens of Chinese adults were used. Gross dissection was performed on the suboccipital regions of the 20 specimens. Having been treated with the P45 plastination method, 10 specimens were sliced (9 sagittal and 1 horizontal sections). As a result, a dense fibrous band was identified in the nuchal ligament of 29 specimens (except for one horizontal section case). This fascial structure arose from the tissue of the posterior border of the nuchal ligament and then projected anteriorly and superiorly to enter the atlantoaxial interspace. It was termed as to be named ligament (TBNL). In all 30 specimens the existence of a fibrous connection was found between the posterior aspect of the cervical dura mater and the posterior wall of the spinal canal at the level of the atlas to the axis. This fibrous connection was identified as vertebrodural ligament (VDL). The VDL was mainly subdivided into three parts, and five variations of VDL were identified. These two structures, TBNL and VDL, firmly link the posterior aspect of cervical dura mater to the rear of the atlas-axis and the nuchal region. According to these findings, the authors speculated that the movements of the head and neck are likely to affect the shape of the cervical dural sleeve via the TBNL and VDL. It is hypothesized that the muscles directly associated with the cervical dural sleeve, in the suboccipital region, may work as a pump providing an important force required to move the CSF in the spinal canal.
Dietary capsaicin and antibiotics act synergistically to reduce non-alcoholic fatty liver disease induced by high fat diet in mice

The prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is increasing rapidly worldwide. However, effective strategies for combating high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity, fatty liver and metabolic disorder are still limited, and outcomes remain poor. In the present study, we evaluated the combined actions of dietary capsaicin and antibiotics on HFD-induced physiological abnormalities in mice. C57BL/6 male mice were fed with HFD (60% calories from fat) for 17 weeks, and the resultant pathophysiological effects were examined. Antibiotic treatment markedly attenuated gut inflammation and leakiness induced by HFD, whereas capsaicin showed limited effects on the gut. However, dietary capsaicin significantly increased PPAR-α expression in adipose tissue, while antibiotics had no such effect. Animals treated with a combination of capsaicin and antibiotics had the smallest body weight gain and fat pad index, as well as the lowest hepatic fat accumulation. Combination treatment also maximally improved insulin responsiveness, as indicated by insulin tolerance tests. These results suggest the co-treatment of capsaicin and antibiotics, a novel combination strategy, would play synergistically to attenuate the HFD-induced obesity, fatty liver and metabolic disorder.
Bitter Melon Crop Yield Prediction using Machine Learning Algorithm

This research paper aimed to determine the crop bearing capability of bitter melon or bitter gourd more commonly called “Ampalaya” in the Filipino language. Images of bitter melon leaves were gathered from Ampalaya farms and these were used as main data of the research. The leaves were classified as good and bad through their description. The research used Machine Learning Algorithm through Convolutional Neural Network. Training of data was through the capabilities of Keras, Tensor Flow and Python worked together. In conclusion, increasing number of images could enable a machine to learn the difference between a good and a bad Ampalaya plant when presented an image for prediction.
Real-Time Energy Management Based on the Prediction of Hybrid Vehicle's Future States

This paper proposes an optimal predictive energy management strategy for hybrid vehicle. The proposed strategy is designed according to a hierarchical control layers. The highest level (third) can predict battery state of charge; vehicle power consumption; Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and Electrical Motor (EM) current optimal efficiencies. In the second level, an optimal controller is developed to generate the optimal EM and ICE torques set points. Then, in the first level, there are robust controllers to regulate the set points of each vehicle subsystems. A MATLAB/TruckMaker simulation results show that the proposed strategy increases vehicle energy efficiency w.r. t. other strategy.
Adaptive Learning for Celebrity Identification With Video Context

In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised learning strategy to address the problem of celebrity identification. The video context information is explored to facilitate the learning process based on the assumption that faces in the same video track share the same identity. Once a frame within a track is recognized confidently, the label can be propagated through the whole track, referred to as the confident track. More specifically, given a few static images and vast face videos, an initial weak classifier is trained and gradually evolves by iteratively promoting the confident tracks into the “labeled” set. The iterative selection process enriches the diversity of the “labeled” set such that the performance of the classifier is gradually improved. This learning theme may suffer from semantic drifting caused by errors in selecting the confident tracks. To address this issue, we propose to treat the selected frames as related samples-an intermediate state between labeled and unlabeled instead of labeled as in the traditional approach. To evaluate the performance, we construct a new dataset, which includes 3000 static images and 2700 face tracks of 30 celebrities. Comprehensive evaluations on this dataset and a public video dataset indicate significant improvement of our approach over established baseline methods.
Source-Identifying Biomarker Ions between Environmental and Clinical Burkholderia pseudomallei Using Whole-Cell Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS)

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, which is an endemic disease in Northeast Thailand and Northern Australia. Environmental reservoirs, including wet soils and muddy water, serve as the major sources for contributing bacterial infection to both humans and animals. The whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been applied as a rapid, accurate, and high-throughput tool for clinical diagnosis and microbiological research. In this present study, we employed a whole-cell MALDI-TOF MS approach for assessing its potency in clustering a total of 11 different B. pseudomallei isolates (consisting of 5 environmental and 6 clinical isolates) with respect to their origins and to further investigate the source-identifying biomarker ions belonging to each bacterial group. The cluster analysis demonstrated that six out of eleven isolates were grouped correctly to their sources. Our results revealed a total of ten source-identifying biomarker ions, which exhibited statistically significant differences in peak intensity between average environmental and clinical mass spectra using ClinProTools software. Six out of ten mass ions were assigned as environmental-identifying biomarker ions (EIBIs), including, m/z 4,056, 4,214, 5,814, 7,545, 7,895, and 8,112, whereas the remaining four mass ions were defined as clinical-identifying biomarker ions (CIBIs) consisting of m/z 3,658, 6,322, 7,035, and 7,984. Hence, our findings represented, for the first time, the source-specific biomarkers of environmental and clinical B. pseudomallei.