Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining the impact of media use during the COVID-19 pandemic on environmental engagement

The COVID-19 pandemic led to global public health campaigns enacting strict orders to slow the spread of the disease. The public health initiatives were communicated broadly through diverse news sources and social media channels, spreading both factual information and misinformation about the environmental benefits related to the shelter-in-place orders. This quantitative study of United States residents (N = 1,048), guided by selective exposure theory, examined if demographics, news and/or social media source use, and public knowledge of environmental changes that took place as a result of COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders predicted intent to engage in environmentally-conscious behavior. Results indicated demographics and social media used predicted intent to engage in environmentally-conscious behaviors. Intent to engage in environmental behaviors is critical for environmental sustainability and the media may provide one avenue for engaging the public in environmental behaviors. Discussion points include environmental communication strategies and understanding messaging strategies within the politicization process of communicating about environmental issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chromosome instability in neuroblastoma: A pathway to aggressive disease

For over 100-years, genomic instability has been investigated as a central player in the pathogenesis of human cancer. Conceptually, genomic instability includes an array of alterations from small deletions/insertions to whole chromosome alterations, referred to as chromosome instability. Chromosome instability has a paradoxical impact in cancer. In most instances, the introduction of chromosome instability has a negative impact on cellular fitness whereas in cancer it is usually associated with a worse prognosis. One exception is the case of neuroblastoma, the most common solid tumor outside of the brain in children. Neuroblastoma tumors have two distinct patterns of genome instability: whole-chromosome aneuploidy, which is associated with a better prognosis, or segmental chromosomal alterations, which is a potent negative prognostic factor. Through a computational screen, we found that low levels of the de- ubiquitinating enzyme USP24 have a highly significant negative impact on survival in neuroblastoma. At the molecular level, USP24 loss leads to destabilization of the microtubule assembly factor CRMP2 - producing mitotic errors and leading to chromosome missegregation and whole-chromosome aneuploidy. This apparent paradox may be reconciled through a model in which whole chromosome aneuploidy leads to the subsequent development of segmental chromosome alterations. Here we review the mechanisms behind chromosome instability and the evidence for the progressive development of segmental alterations from existing numerical aneuploidy in support of a multi-step model of neuroblastoma progression.
Design and evaluation of a prototype solar energy driven onion curing system using CFD modeling

In developing countries like Ethiopia, where the time of harvesting coincides with the dry season, farmers cure onion bulbs naturally on the field. Field curing generally takes longer than artificial curing and results in more losses and reduced quality of the bulbs due to increased risks for infestations and uncontrolled suboptimal drying conditions. Large-scale artificial curing systems are expensive and electrical energy supply is limited in rural areas. A CFD model was employed to design an alternative and sustainable onion curing system that can be deployed on the field in rural areas. The developed CFD model was validated by comparing the predicted air velocity, temperature, and mass loss to measured values on a prototype curing system operated on a field in Ethiopia. A good agreement between the model and experimental value was observed for the time profiles of temperature at different positions in the bulk of onions during curing, expressed by a root mean square error of 1.1°C in the temperature range from 28 to 47°C, 0.16 m s−1 in the velocity range from 0.1 to 2.5 m s−1, and 0.565% for the mass loss that ranged up to 6.35%. The developed model was used to assess the air velocity, temperature, and relative humidity distribution in order to get an insight into the uniformity of curing of onion bulbs using the develop alternative curing system. For all of the examined curing durations, the drying air temperature variation inside 80% of the porous medium was < 3°C. In the remaining 20% of the porous medium, a temperature variation of up to 6°C was observed. Thus, the newly designed and developed curing system was found to cure the onion bulbs uniformly. Moreover, its performance was evaluated experimentally and the onions were cured to a desirable level of curing for long-term storage within a total curing duration of 48 h. It is vital to consider bulb shrinkage, particularly in the neck, in order to further improve the model mass loss prediction.
Time-dependent alteration in the chemoreflex post-acute lung injury

Acute lung injury (ALI) induces inflammation that disrupts the normal alveolar-capillary endothelial barrier which impairs gas exchange to induce hypoxemia that reflexively increases respiration. The neural mechanisms underlying the respiratory dysfunction during ALI are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the chemoreflex in mediating abnormal ventilation during acute (early) and recovery (late) stages of ALI. We hypothesized that the increase in respiratory rate (fR) during post-ALI is mediated by a sensitized chemoreflex. ALI was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats using a single intra-tracheal injection of bleomycin (Bleo: low-dose = 1.25 mg/Kg or high-dose = 2.5 mg/Kg) (day 1) and respiratory variables- fR, Vt (Tidal Volume), and VE (Minute Ventilation) in response to 10% hypoxia (10% O2, 0% CO2) and 5% hypercapnia/21% normoxia (21% O2, 5% CO2) were measured weekly from W0-W4 using whole-body plethysmography (WBP). Our data indicate sensitization (∆fR = 93 ± 31 bpm, p < 0.0001) of the chemoreflex at W1 post-ALI in response to hypoxic/hypercapnic gas challenge in the low-dose bleo (moderate ALI) group and a blunted chemoreflex (∆fR = −0.97 ± 42 bpm, p < 0.0001) at W1 post-ALI in the high-dose bleo (severe ALI) group. During recovery from ALI, at W3-W4, both low-dose and high-dose groups exhibited a sensitized chemoreflex in response to hypoxia and normoxic-hypercapnia. We then hypothesized that the blunted chemoreflex at W1 post-ALI in the high-dose bleo group could be due to near maximal tonic activation of chemoreceptors, called the “ceiling effect”. To test this possibility, 90% hyperoxia (90% O2, 0% CO2) was given to bleo treated rats to inhibit the chemoreflex. Our results showed no changes in fR, suggesting absence of the tonic chemoreflex activation in response to hypoxia at W1 post-ALI. These data suggest that during the acute stage of moderate (low-dose bleo) and severe (high-dose bleo) ALI, chemoreflex activity trends to be slightly sensitized and blunted, respectively while it becomes significantly sensitized during the recovery stage. Future studies are required to examine the molecular/cellular mechanisms underlying the time-course changes in chemoreflex sensitivity post-ALI.
Prevalence and multilocus genotyping of Giardia duodenalis in Holstein cattle in Yunnan, China

Giardia duodenalis is an important zoonotic protozoon, which can infect a variety of animals, causing diarrhea and even death of animals or humans. Dairy cattle have been implicated as important sources of human G. duodenalis. However, the information about the prevalence and genetic diversity of G. duodenalis in dairy cattle in China's Yunnan Province remains limited. This study investigated the occurrence and multilocus genotyping of G. duodenalis of Holstein cattle in Yunnan Province, China. A total of 524 fresh fecal samples of Holstein cattle were randomly collected from 8 farms in Yunnan. In this study, 27.5% (144/524) of tested samples were positive for G. duodenalis infection. The highest infection ratio was found in preweaned calves (33.7%), and the infection rates of postweaned calves, growing cattle, and adult cattle were 24.5%, 23.0%, and 17.3%, respectively. The sequence analysis of SSU rRNA gene showed that the predominant assemblage of G. duodenalis in this study was assemblage E (97.9%, 141/144), whereas assemblage A was identified only in three samples (2.1%, 3/144). All G. duodenalis-positive samples were further assayed with nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting β-giardin (bg), triosephosphate isomerase (tpi), and glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh) genes, and 87, 41, and 81 sequences were obtained, respectively. Mixed infection of assemblages A and E of G. duodenalis was detected in three samples. Multilocus genotyping yielded 23 multilocus genotypes (MLGs). This is the first study that reveals the prevalence data of G. duodenalis in Holstein cattle in Yunnan Province, and the results of this study provided baseline data for the prevention and control of G. duodenalis infection in Holstein cattle in Yunnan Province, China.
Proteomic analysis of T. qataranse exposed to lead (Pb) stress reveal new proteins with potential roles in Pb tolerance and detoxification mechanism

Soil lead (Pb) contamination is one of the environmental problems facing the modern world. Sources of Pb in soil include industrial activities such as mining and smelting processes, agricultural activities such as application of insecticide and municipal sewage sludges, and urban activities such as use of lead in gasoline, paints, and other materials. Phytoremediation is the direct use of living green plants and is an effective, cheap, non-invasive, and environmentally friendly technique used to transfer or stabilize all the toxic metals and environmental pollutants in polluted soil or groundwater. Current work in this area is invested in elucidating mechanisms that underpin toxic-metal tolerance and detoxification mechanisms. The present study aims to gain insight into the mechanisms of Pb tolerance in T. qataranse by comparative proteomics. MALDI-TOF/MS and in silico proteome analysis showed differential protein expression between treated (50 mg kg⎯1 Pb) and untreated (0 mg kg⎯1 Pb) T. qataranse. A total of eighty-six (86) differentially expressed proteins, most of which function in ion and protein binding, antioxidant activity, transport, and abiotic response stress, were identified. In addition, essential stress-regulating metabolic pathways, including glutathione metabolism, cellular response to stress, and regulation of HSF1-mediated heat shock response, were also enriched. Also, at 52- and 49-kDa MW band areas, up to six hypothetical proteins with unknown functions were identified. Of these, protein AXX17_AT2G26660 is highly rich in glycine amino acid residues (up to 76%), suggesting that it is a probable glycine-rich protein (GRP) member. Although GRPs are known to be involved in plant defense against abiotic stress, including salinity and drought, there is no report on their role on Pb tolerance and or detoxification in plants. Further enrichment analysis in the current study reveals that the hypothetical proteins do not interact with known proteins and are not part of any enriched pathway. However, additional research is needed to functionally validate the role of the identified proteins in Pb detoxification mechanism.
Associations of the serum kynurenine pathway metabolites with P50 auditory gating in non-smoking patients with first-episode schizophrenia

Objective Our study aimed to investigate the associations between the serum level of kynurenine pathway (KP) metabolites and P50 auditory gating in non-smoking patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES). Materials and methods In this study, 82 non-smoking patients with FES and 73 healthy controls (HC). P50 auditory gating was measured using a fully functional digital 64-channel EEG system, and the components included S1 amplitude, S2 amplitude, gating ratio (S2/S1), and amplitude difference (S1–S2). Serum levels of kynurenine and kynurenine acid were assessed using a combination of liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Psychopathology was assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results The serum kynurenine (251.46 ± 65.93 ng/ml vs. 320.65 ± 65.89 ng/ml, t = –6.38, p < 0.001), and kynurenine acid levels (5.19 ± 2.22 ng/ml vs. 13.26 ± 4.23 ng/ml, t = –14.73, p < 0.001), S1 amplitude [2.88 (1.79, 3.78) μV vs. 3.08 (2.46, 4.56) μV, Z = –2.17, p = 0.030] and S1–S2 [1.60 (0.63, 2.49) μV vs. 1.92 (1.12, 2.93) μV, Z = –2.23, p = 0.026] in patients with FES were significantly lower than those in HC. The serum kynurenine and kynurenine acid levels were negatively associated with S1–S2 (r = –0.32, p = 0.004 and r = –0.42, p < 0.001; respectively) and positively correlated with S2/S1 ratio (r = 0.34, p = 0.002 and r = 0.35, p = 0.002; respectively) in patients. Conclusion Our findings suggested that neuroactive metabolites of the KP might play an important role in sensory gating deficit in first episode patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, metabolites of the KP may be a new target for the treatment of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.
Senecavirus A seroprevalence and risk factors in United States pig farms

Senecavirus A (SVA) is a non-enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the Picornaviridae family. Senecavirus A is constantly associated with outbreaks of vesicular disease in pigs and has been reported in several countries since its first large-scale outbreak in 2014. Senecavirus A's clinical disease and lesions are indistinguishable from other vesicular foreign animal diseases (FAD). Therefore, an FAD investigation needs to be conducted for every SVA case. For this reason, SVA has been attributed as the cause of an alarming increase in the number of yearly FAD investigations performed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The objectives of this study were to estimate the seroprevalence of SVA antibodies in breeding and growing pig farms in the United States and to determine the farm-level risk factors associated with seropositivity. A total of 5,794 blood samples were collected from 98 and 95 breeding and growing pig farms in 17 states. A farm characteristics questionnaire was sent to all farms, to which 80% responded. The responses were used to conduct logistic regression analyses to assess the risk factors associated with SVA seropositivity. The estimated farm-level seroprevalences were 17.3% and 7.4% in breeding and growing pig farms, respectively. Breeding farms had 2.64 times higher odds of SVA seropositivity than growing pig farms. One key risk factor identified in breeding farms was the practice of rendering dead animal carcasses. However, the adoption of a higher number of farm biosecurity measures was associated with a protective effect against SVA seropositivity in breeding farms.
Variational Approach to Damage Induced by Drainage in Partially Saturated Granular Geomaterials

Within the context of immiscible biphasic flow in porous media, when the nonwetting fluid invades the pore spaces which are a priori saturated with the wetting fluid, capillary forces dominate if the pore network is formed by fine-grained soils. Owing to the cohesion-less frictional behavior of such soils, a capillary force–driven fracturing phenomenon has been put forward by some researchers. Unlike the purely mechanistic tensile force–driven mode-I fracturing that typically has been attributed to the formation of desiccation cracks in soils, attempts to model this alternate capillarity-driven mechanism have not yet been realized at a continuum scale. However, the macro-scale counterpart of the capillary energy associated with the various pore-scale menisci is well-established as the interfacial energy characterized by the soil-water retention curve. An investigation of the possible contribution of this interfacial energy in supplying the dissipation related to fracture initiation is the essence of this work, inspired by the vast literature on gradient damage modeling.
From regeneration to osteoarthritis in the knee joint: The role shift of cartilage-derived progenitor cells

A mount of growing evidence has proven that cartilage-derived progenitor cells (CPCs) harbor strong proliferation, migration, andmultiple differentiation potentials over the past 2 decades. CPCs in the stage of immature tissue play an important role in cartilage development process and injured cartilage repair in the young and active people. However, during maturation and aging, cartilage defects cannot be completely repaired by CPCs in vivo. Recently, tissue engineering has revealed that repaired cartilage defects with sufficient stem cell resources under good condition and bioactive scaffolds in vitro and in vivo. Chronic inflammation in the knee joint limit the proliferation and chondrogenesis abilities of CPCs, which further hampered cartilage healing and regeneration. Neocartilage formation was observed in the varus deformity of osteoarthritis (OA) patients treated with offloading technologies, which raises the possibility that organisms could rebuild cartilage structures spontaneously. In addition, nutritionmetabolismdysregulation, including glucose and free fatty acid dysregulation, could influence both chondrogenesis and cartilage formation. There are a few reviews about the advantages of CPCs for cartilage repair, but few focused on the reasons why CPCs could not repair the cartilage as they do in immature status. A wide spectrum of CPCs was generated by different techniques and exhibited substantial differences. We recently reported that CPCs maybe are as internal inflammation sources during cartilage inflammaging. In this review, we further streamlined the changes of CPCs from immature development to maturation and from healthy status to OA advancement. The key words including “cartilage derived stem cells”, “cartilage progenitor cells”, “chondroprogenitor cells”, “chondroprogenitors” were set for latest literature searching in PubMed and Web of Science. The articles were then screened through titles, abstracts, and the full texts in sequence. The internal environment including long-term inflammation, extendedmechanical loading, and nutritional elements intake and external deleterious factors were summarized. Taken together, these results provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanism of CPC proliferation and differentiation during development, maturation, aging, injury, and cartilage regeneration in vivo.
Cosmological fluctuation growth in bimetric MOND

I begin to look at the growth of weak density inhomogeneities of nonrelativistic matter, in bimetric-MOND (BIMOND) cosmology. Far from making an exhaustive study, I concentrate on one attractive cosmological scenario, which employs matter-twin-matter-symmetric versions of BIMOND, and, furthermore, assumes that, on average, the universe is symmetrically populated in the two sectors. MOND effects are totally absent in an exactly symmetric universe, apart from the significant possible appearance of a cosmological constant, $\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{\sim}({a}_{0}/c{)}^{2}$. MOND effects\char22{}local and cosmological\char22{}do enter when density inhomogeneities that differ in the two sectors appear and develop. MOND later takes its standard form in systems that are islands dominated by pure matter, as are presumably the well scrutinized systems such as galaxies. I derive the nonrelativistic (weak-field-slow-motion) equations governing small-scale fluctuation growth. The equations split into two uncoupled systems, one for the sum, the other for the difference, of the fluctuations in the two sectors. The former is governed strictly by Newtonian dynamics, and describes standard growth of fluctuations. The latter is governed by MOND dynamics, which entails stronger gravity, and nonlinearity even for the smallest of perturbations. These cause the difference to grow faster than the sum, leading to anticorrelated perturbations, conducing to matter-twin-matter segregation (which continues for high overdensities). The nonlinearity also causes interaction between nested perturbations on different scales. Because matter and twin matter (TM) repel each other in the MOND regime, matter inhomogeneities grow not only by their own self-gravity, but also through shepherding by flanking twin matter overdensities (and vice versa). The relative importance of gravity and pressure in the MOND system (analog of the Jeans criterion), depends also on the strength of the perturbation. MOND gravity, which scales as the square root of the difference perturbation, holds sway over pressure for any mass, for weak enough perturbations. The development of structure in the universe, in either sector, thus depends crucially on two initial fluctuation spectra: that of matter alone and that of the matter-TM difference. I also discuss the backreaction on cosmology of BIMOND effects that appear as ``phantom matter'' (interpreted by some as ``dark matter''), resulting from inhomogeneity differences between the two sectors.
Photoperiod-independent diurnal feeding improved the growth and feed utilization of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) by inducing food anticipatory activity

A three-month culture experiment was designed to assess the effects of photoperiod and feeding regime on growth, feed utilization, and food anticipatory activity (FAA) of juvenile rainbow trout. The experiment included two photoperiods: 24L:0D (LL) and 12L:12D (LD); three feeding regimes: random feeding (R), mid-dark stage feeding (D), and mid-light stage feeding (L). A total of six treatment groups (R-LL, D-LL, L-LL, R-LD, D-LD, L-LD) were defined. The experimental results showed that the growth and feed utilization of the scheduled feeding groups (D and L groups) were significantly higher than those of the R group under both photoperiods, and there was no statistical difference between the D and L groups. A typical FAA was observed in the L group, independent of the photoperiod. Also, the digestive enzyme activity of the L group was synchronized by the feeding time under both photoperiods. There were rhythms in serum levels of glucose (GLU), triglyceride (TG), and total-cholesterol (T-CHO) in the D and L groups. Serum GLU also had a rhythm in the R group, but the peaks occurred at the feeding point (LL group) or after the feeding point (LD group), reflecting a possible passive rise in GLU after feeding. Serum cortisol was higher in the R group than in the scheduled feeding group, indicating that random feeding caused stress to juvenile rainbow trout. Serum insulin levels were found to increase before feeding in all three feeding regimes, probably reflecting the anticipation of food induced by the last meal. Serum melatonin levels were suppressed by the LL group. Serum 5-HT levels were synchronized by meal time in the R and L groups. Finally, rhythms of appetite-related genes were observed under all three feeding regimes, and more genes were rhythmic under LL, suggesting that food can strongly synchronize the feeding rhythm of juvenile rainbow trout when lacking light zeitgeber. In summary, this study concluded that diurnal feeding (L group) independent of photoperiod induced typical FAA in juvenile rainbow trout and that the LD (12L:12D) photoperiod and L (mid-light phase) feeding were recommended in the juvenile rainbow trout aquaculture.