Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time scale of diffusion in molecular and cellular biology

Diffusion is the driver of critical biological processes in cellular and molecular biology. The diverse temporal scales of cellular function are determined by vastly diverse spatial scales in most biophysical processes. The latter are due, among others, to small binding sites inside or on the cell membrane or to narrow passages between large cellular compartments. The great disparity in scales is at the root of the difficulty in quantifying cell function from molecular dynamics and from simulations. The coarse-grained time scale of cellular function is determined from molecular diffusion by the mean first passage time of molecular Brownian motion to a small targets or through narrow passages. The narrow escape theory (NET) concerns this issue. The NET is ubiquitous in molecular and cellular biology and is manifested, among others, in chemical reactions, in the calculation of the effective diffusion coefficient of receptors diffusing on a neuronal cell membrane strewn with obstacles, in the quantification of the early steps of viral trafficking, in the regulation of diffusion between the mother and daughter cells during cell division, and many other cases. Brownian trajectories can represent the motion of a molecule, a protein, an ion in solution, a receptor in a cell or on its membrane, and many other biochemical processes. The small target can represent a binding site or an ionic channel, a hidden active site embedded in a complex protein structure, a receptor for a neurotransmitter on the membrane of a neuron, and so on. The mean time to attach to a receptor or activator determines diffusion fluxes that are key regulators of cell function. This review describes physical models of various subcellular microdomains, in which the NET coarse-grains the molecular scale to a higher cellular-level, thus clarifying the role of cell geometry in determining subcellular function.
Wearable Robotics: Challenges and Trends Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Wearable Robotics, WeRob2016, October 18-21, 2016, Segovia, Spain

The book reports on advanced topics in the areas of wearable robotics research and practice. It focuses on new technologies, including neural interfaces, soft wearable robots, sensors and actuators technologies, and discusses important regulatory challenges, as well as clinical and ethical issues. Based on the 2nd International Symposium on Wearable Robotics, WeRob2016, held October 18-21, 2016, in Segovia, Spain, the book addresses a large audience of academics and professionals working in government, industry, and medical centers, and end-users alike. It provides them with specialized information and with a source of inspiration for new ideas and collaborations. It discusses exemplary case studies highlighting practical challenges related to the implementation of wearable robots in a number of fields. One of the focus is on clinical applications, which was encouraged by the colocation of WeRob2016 with the International Conference on Neurorehabilitation, INCR2016. Additional topics include space applications and assistive technologies in the industry. The book merges together the engineering, medical, ethical and political perspectives, thus offering a multidisciplinary, timely snapshot of the field of wearable technologies.
Sorafenib paradoxically activates the RAS/RAF/ERK pathway in polyclonal human NK cells during expansion and thereby enhances effector functions in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner

Natural killer (NK) cells play a major role in host immunity against leukaemia and lymphoma. However, clinical trials applying NK cells have not been as efficient as hoped for. Patients treated with rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (RAF) inhibitors exhibit increased tumour infiltration by immune cells, suggesting that a combination of RAF inhibitors with immunotherapy might be beneficial. As mitogen‐activated protein kinases (MAPKs) such as raf‐1 proto‐oncogene, serine/threonine kinase (CRAF) regulate NK cell functions, we performed an in‐vitro investigation on the potential of clinically relevant short‐acting tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as potential adjuvants for NK cell therapy: NK cells from healthy human blood donors were thus treated with sorafenib, sunitinib or the pan‐RAF inhibitor ZM336372 during ex‐vivo expansion. Functional outcomes assessed after washout of the drugs included cytokine production, degranulation, cytotoxicity, apoptosis induction and signal transduction with/without target cell contact. Paradoxically, sorafenib enhanced NK cell effector functions in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner by raising the steady‐state activation level. Of note, this did not lead to NK cell exhaustion, but enhanced activity against target cells such as K562 or Daudis mediated via the RAS/RAF/extracellular‐regulated kinase (ERK) pathway, but not via protein kinase B (AKT). Our data will pave the path to develop a rationale for the considered use of RAF inhibitors such as sorafenib for pre‐activation in NK cell‐based adoptive immune therapy.
Adsorption of leather dyes on activated carbon from leather shaving wastes: kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamics studies

ABSTRACT In this work, the adsorption of Acid Black 210 (AB210) and Acid Red 357 (AR357) onto activated carbon prepared from leather shaving wastes (ACLW) was investigated. The activated carbon presented a surface area of 800.4 m²/g with an average pore size of 1.27 nm. The kinetic study showed that the adsorption of both dyes followed the Elovich kinetic model while the AB210 and AR357 isotherm data were well described by the Langmuir and BET models, respectively. Furthermore, the Boyd plot revealed that the adsorption of the leather dyes on activated carbon was mainly governed by film diffusion. The pH had a strong influence on the adsorption, and the higher amounts of dye adsorbed were obtained at pH 2. The obtained activated carbon exhibited a high monolayer adsorption capacity of 573.9 and 204.4 mg/g for AB210 and AR357, respectively. Its high capacity is mainly attributed to its basicity (0.17 mmol/g) and high surface area. Desorption efficiency of the spent activated carbon was found to be 54.3% and 43.0% for AB210 and AR357, respectively. The spontaneity of the process was demonstrated by the negative values of the Gibbs free energy change.
Microsphere-based once-daily modified release matrix tablets for oral administration in angina pectoris

The objective of this research was to develop microsphere-based once-daily modified release tablet formulations of diltiazem hydrochloride (DH), a potent calcium channel blocker used in angina pectoris. For this purpose, DH-loaded microspheres were prepared by the solvent evaporation technique using Eudragit®RS 100. The effect of variation in the drug/polymer ratio on the physical and release characteristics of the microspheres was investigated. After the selection of the suitable microspheres, tablets were compressed using Compritol®888 ATO, Ludipress® and Cellactose®80 as different direct tableting agents and excipients. As a result, modified release tablet formulations of DH-loaded microspheres were designed successfully for oral administration once rather than two or three times a day in angina pectoris.
Storage Stability of Chevon Rolls Incorporated with Ethanolic Extracts of Aloe vera and Cinnamon Bark at Refrigeration Temperature (4±1°C)

The present study was conducted to assess the storage stability of chevon rolls prepared by incorporating various phyto-extracts viz. Control (C), T1 (chevon rolls with 0.40% ethanolic aloe vera extract) and T2 (chevon rolls with 0.25% ethanolic cinnamon extract) during refrigerated storage (4±1°C) under aerobic packaging conditions. Chevon rolls were stored for 35 days and analyzed for pH, oxidative stability, microbial and sensory attributes at a regular interval of 7 days. The pH followed gradual decreasing trend with the advancement of storage period irrespective of treatments. The various oxidative stability parameters such as PA (peroxide value), TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reacting substances) and FFA (free fatty acid value) followed an increasing trend in all products with treated samples (T1 and T2) showed lower value than control. Standard plate count and psychrophilic count were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in treated products than control and microbial count was better maintained in T2 than control. As the days of storage increased, scores for overall acceptability showed significantly (P<0.05) decreasing trends, however the score was recorded highest for T1 during entire storage. Thus chevon rolls could be successfully stored upto 28 days under refrigerated condition (4±1°C) under aerobic packaging.
Fluoroscopic Guided Radiofrequency of Genicular Nerves for Pain Alleviation in Chronic Knee Osteoarthritis: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND Nowadays, pain and disability due to chronic knee arthritis is a very common problem in middle aged people. A lot of modalities for management are available, including conservative analgesics and up to surgical interventions. Radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves is assumed to be an effective less invasive and safe pain alleviation modality. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy of fluoroscopic guided radiofrequency neurotomy of the genicular nerves for alleviation of chronic pain and improvement of function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. STUDY DESIGN A single-blind randomized controlled trial. SETTING Pain management unit, and Rheumatology and Rehabilitation clinics of Assiut University hospitals, Assiut, Egypt. METHODS This study involved 60 patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis. Radiofrequency neurotomy of the genicular nerves was done for 30 patients (Group A) while the other 30 patients (Group C) received conventional analgesics only. The outcome measures included visual analog scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Index (WOMAC), and Likert scale for patient satisfaction in the 2nd week,3rd, and 6th months. RESULTS There were significant differences regarding the VAS in the 2nd week, 3rd, and 6th months between the 2 groups, and a significant difference in total WOMAC index in the 6th month only. There were significant changes when comparing pretreatment values with the values during the whole follow-up period with regard to the VAS and total WOMAC index in both groups. LIMITATIONS No diagnostic block was done prior to radiofrequency. We recommend the use of such a technique on a larger number of OA patients, with a longer follow-up period. CONCLUSION RF can ameliorate pain and disability in chronic knee osteoarthritis in a safe and effective manner. KEY WORDS Chronic pain, radiofrequency (RF), knee osteoarthritis.
Media-based clinical research on selfie-related injuries and deaths.

BACKGROUND The incidence of taking selfies and sharing them on social media as well as selfie-related behaviors is increasing, particularly among young people, possible leading to selfie-related trauma. Therefore, we performed this clinical study to draw attention to selfie-related injuries and deaths. METHODS We analyzed 159 selfie victims from 111 events or accidents, which were reported in the media sources. We evaluated vital results, demography, rhythmicity, preferences, event or accident types, selfie-related risk factors, affected body regions of victims with causes of injury, and death. RESULTS We found that the majority of selfie victims were students. Selfie-related injuries and deaths were reported most frequently in India, the US, and Russia. The most preferred site of taking selfies was the edge of the cliff. The most frequently reported event or accident type was falling from a height. Mostly multiple body parts were affected in selfie-related injuries and deaths. The most frequent causes of selfie-related deaths were multitrauma and drowning. CONCLUSION Selfie-related injuries and deaths have increased in the past years. Particularly, teenagers and young adults are at high risk for selfie-related traumas and deaths; therefore, drastic measures should be taken to reduce their incidence.
Integrated Assessment of Diclofenac Biotransformation, Pharmacokinetics, and Omics-Based Toxicity in a Three-Dimensional Human Liver-Immunocompetent Coculture System

In vitro hepatocyte culture systems have inherent limitations in capturing known human drug toxicities that arise from complex immune responses. Therefore, we established and characterized a liver immunocompetent coculture model and evaluated diclofenac (DCF) metabolic profiles, in vitro–in vivo clearance correlations, toxicological responses, and acute phase responses using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. DCF biotransformation was assessed after 48 hours of culture, and the major phase I and II metabolites were similar to the in vivo DCF metabolism profile in humans. Further characterization of secreted bile acids in the medium revealed that a glycine-conjugated bile acid was a sensitive marker of dose-dependent toxicity in this three-dimensional liver microphysiological system. Protein markers were significantly elevated in the culture medium at high micromolar doses of DCF, which were also observed previously for acute drug-induced toxicity in humans. In this immunocompetent model, lipopolysaccharide treatment evoked an inflammatory response that resulted in a marked increase in the overall number of acute phase proteins. Kupffer cell–mediated cytokine release recapitulated an in vivo proinflammatory response exemplified by a cohort of 11 cytokines that were differentially regulated after lipopolysaccharide induction, including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-1Ra, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, tumor necrosis factor-α, RANTES (regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, macrophage colony-stimulating factor, macrophage inflammatory protein-1β, and IL-5. In summary, our findings indicate that three-dimensional liver microphysiological systems may serve as preclinical investigational platforms from the perspective of the discovery of a set of clinically relevant biomarkers including potential reactive metabolites, endogenous bile acids, excreted proteins, and cytokines to predict early drug-induced liver toxicity in humans.
Investigation of Ni Doped Ge-Te Materials for High Temperature Phase Change Memory Applications

Ni-doped Ge-Te (Ni-GT) material was proposed and investigated for phase change random access memory (PCRAM) applications. With Ni addition, the crystallization temperature, data retention ability and crystallization speed were obviously improved. The surface roughness of crystalline Ni-GT films was decreased by Ni incorporation. Moreover, temperature dependent transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to investigate the phase change behavior of Ni-GT films. All the experimental results demonstrated that Ni-GT material has potential for high-speed PCRAM applications in high temperature environment.
Review and Meta-analysis of Emerging Risk Factors for Agricultural Injury

ABSTRACT Agricultural injury is a significant public health problem globally. Extensive research has addressed this problem, and a growing number of risk factors have been reported. The authors evaluated the evidence for frequently reported risk factors earlier. The objective in the current study was to identify emerging risk factors for agricultural injury and calculate pooled estimates for factors that were assessed in two or more studies. A total of 441 (PubMed) and 285 (Google Scholar) studies were identified focusing on occupational injuries in agriculture. From these, 39 studies reported point estimates of risk factors for injury; 38 of them passed the Newcastle-Ottawa criteria for quality and were selected for the systematic review and meta-analysis. Several risk factors were significantly associated with injury in the meta-analysis. These included older age (vs. younger), education up to high school or higher (vs. lower), non-Caucasian race (vs. Caucasian), Finnish language (vs. Swedish), residence on-farm (vs. off-farm), sleeping less than 7–7.5 hours (vs. more), high perceived injury risk (vs. low), challenging social conditions (vs. normal), greater farm sales, size, income, and number of employees on the farm (vs. smaller), animal production (vs. other production), unsafe practices conducted (vs. not), computer use (vs. not), dermal exposure to pesticides and/or chemicals (vs. not), high cooperation between farms (vs. not), and machinery condition fair/poor (vs. excellent/good). Eighteen of the 25 risk factors were significant in the meta-analysis. The identified risk factors should be considered when designing interventions and selecting populations at high risk of injury.
Difficulties when using video playback to investigate social cognition in California scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica)

Previous research has suggested that videos can be used to experimentally manipulate social stimuli. In the present study, we used the California scrub-jays’ cache protection strategies to assess whether video playback can be used to simulate conspecifics in a social context. In both the lab and the field, scrub-jays are known to exhibit a range of behaviours to protect their caches from potential pilferage by a conspecific, for example by hiding food in locations out of the observer’s view or by re-caching previously made caches once the observer has left. Here, we presented scrub-jays with videos of a conspecific observer as well as two non-social conditions during a caching period and assessed whether they would cache out of the observer’s “view” (Experiment 1) or would re-cache their caches once the observer was no longer present (Experiment 2). In contrast to previous studies using live observers, the scrub-jays’ caching and re-caching behaviour was not influenced by whether the observer was present or absent. These findings suggest that there might be limitations in using video playback of social agents to mimic real-life situations when investigating corvid decision making.
Sorption characteristics of cement composite reinforced with some locally available lignocellulosic materials in Nigeria

The aim of this study was to investigate the sorption property of wood cement composite produced from bagasse (Saccharum officinarum), bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) and coir (Cocos nucifera L). The mass of the fibre varies from 1 to 6% of the mass of cement. The result indicated that the mass fraction has significant effect on the sorption properties of the composites. Water absorption (W.A.) rate increases with increase in the fibre content of the composites. Thickness swelling (T.S.) in all the composites was less than 1.7% at 24 h water immersion at room temperature. There was linear correlation between mass fraction, water absorption and thickness swelling of the composites. The relatively low W.A. capacity and T.S. at content less than 3% of mass of cement suggests that they can be employed in outdoor situations and at this level they are dimensionally stable but beyond this level it is not advisable. Key words: Water absorption, thickness swelling, bamboo, bagasse and coir fibres.
The Relationship Between Midday Napping And Neurocognitive Function in Early Adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective/Background: The impact of midday napping on neurocognitive function in adolescents has not been well established. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-reported midday-napping behaviors and neurocognitive function in early adolescents. Participants: The sample was comprised of 363 early adolescents (12.00 ± 0.38 years old) from Jintan, China. Methods: Midday napping, nighttime sleep duration, and sleep quality were measured by self-reported questionnaires. Neurocognitive function was measured by the Penn Computerized Neurocognitive Battery (accuracy and reaction times). Generalized linear regression was used to analyze the relationships. Results: Sixty-four percent of our sample took more than 3 naps per week, and 70.11% reported nap durations of over 30 min. Participants with higher frequencies or longer durations of midday napping reported significantly better nighttime sleep quality (p < 0.05). Adjusted models showed that frequent nappers (5–7d/week) were significantly associated with heightened accuracy on tasks that measured sustained attention and nonverbal reasoning and faster reaction times on spatial memory compared with other frequency groups (ps < 0.05). For napping duration subgroups, early adolescents who took naps of any length were estimated to have faster reaction speeds on the sustained attention task compared with participants who never napped (ps < 0.05). However, only nappers with a moderate duration (31–60 min) tended to achieve both faster speeds (β = −38.28, p = 0.02) and better accuracy (β = 3.90, p = 0.04) on the sustained attention task. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there is an association between habitual midday napping and neurocognitive function in early adolescents, especially in China, where midday napping is a cultural practice.
A switch in transcription and cell fate governs the onset of an epigenetically-deregulated tumor in Drosophila

Tumor initiation is often linked to a loss of cellular identity. Transcriptional programs determining cellular identity are preserved by epigenetically-acting chromatin factors. Although such regulators are among the most frequently mutated genes in cancer, it is not well understood how an abnormal epigenetic condition contributes to tumor onset. In this work, we investigated the gene signature of tumors caused by disruption of the Drosophila epigenetic regulator, polyhomeotic (ph). In larval tissue ph mutant cells show a shift towards an embryonic-like signature. Using loss- and gain-of-function experiments we uncovered the embryonic transcription factor knirps (kni) as a new oncogene. The oncogenic potential of kni lies in its ability to activate JAK/STAT signaling and block differentiation. Conversely, tumor growth in ph mutant cells can be substantially reduced by overexpressing a differentiation factor. This demonstrates that epigenetically derailed tumor conditions can be reversed when targeting key players in the transcriptional network.
Joint Lemmatization and Morphological Tagging with Lemming

We present LEMMING, a modular loglinear model that jointly models lemmatization and tagging and supports the integration of arbitrary global features. It is trainable on corpora annotated with gold standard tags and lemmata and does not rely on morphological dictionaries or analyzers. LEMMING sets the new state of the art in token-based statistical lemmatization on six languages; e.g., for Czech lemmatization, we reduce the error by 60%, from 4.05 to 1.58. We also give empirical evidence that jointly modeling morphological tags and lemmata is mutually beneficial.