Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of organic fertilizer on soil nutrient status, enzyme activity, and bacterial community diversity in Leymus chinensis steppe in Inner Mongolia, China

The long-term impact of human exploitation and environmental changes has led to a decline in grassland productivity and soil fertility, which eventually results in grassland degradation. The application of organic fertilizer is an effective improvement measure; however, it is still not fully understood how the addition of organic fertilizer influences grassland soil fertility and plant composition. A set of experiments were conducted in Inner Mongolia in China to reveal the tradeoff between steppe plants and soil microorganisms and the eco-physiological mechanisms involved, and how the addition of vermicompost and mushroom residues affect microbial diversity, enzyme activities, and the chemical properties of soil in degraded Leymus chinensis grassland. Organic fertilizer improved the soil nutrient status and shaped distinct bacterial communities. Compared with the control the available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) contents were highest under treatments a3 and b3, and the aboveground biomass was highest under the b3 treatment. Soil sucrase activities increased by 7.88% under the b3 treatment. Moreover, the richness index significantly increased by 7.07% and 7.23% under the a1 and b2 treatments, respectively. The most abundant Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were detected in the organic fertilizer treatment. A linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) indicated that the bacterial community was significantly increased under the b3 treatment. A canonical correspondence analysis (RDA) and spearman correlation heatmap confirmed that total P (TP) and urease were the key driving factors for shaping bacterial communities in the soil. Our results indicated that the application of large amounts of vermicompost and mushroom residues increased the availability of nutrients and also enhanced the biodiversity of soil bacterial communities in L. chinensis grasslands, which will contribute to the sustainable development of agro-ecosystems.
Group Consensus in Finite Time for Fractional Multiagent Systems With Discontinuous Inherent Dynamics Subject to Hölder Growth

This article is concerned with the global Mittag–Leffler group consensus and group consensus in finite time for fractional multiagent systems (FMASs), where the inherent dynamics is modeled to be discontinuous, and subject to the local Hölder nonlinear growth in a neighborhood of continuous points. First, a fractional differential inequality on convex functions and a global convergence principle in finite time for absolutely continuous functions are developed, respectively. Second, two new distributed control protocols are designed to realize the consensus between the follower agents in each subgroup and respective leaders. In addition, under the fractional Filippov differential inclusion framework, by applying the Lur’e Postnikov-type convex Lyapunov functional approach and Clarke’s nonsmooth analysis technique, some sufficient conditions with respect to the global Mittag–Leffler group consensus and group consensus in finite time are addressed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), respectively. Moreover, the settling time for the group consensus in finite time is estimated accurately. Finally, two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the validity of the proposed scheme and theoretical results.
Role of Growth Factor Signaling in Cancer

Growth factors may be defined as any group of protein that stimulate the growth of specific tissues and play an important role in promoting cellular differentiation and cellular division. Growth factors impart one of the important hallmark of cancer i.e sustaining proliferative signaling. They may act through paracrine, autocrine and endocrine signaling to effect growth and proliferation of cancer cells. They may act through various signaling cascades like MAPK, PI3K/AKT, JAK/STAT etc to activate their downstream mediates affecting various pathlogical and physiological functions. Abrupt signaling patterns of growth factors can induce oncogenic transformations. An enhanced understanding of these pathways can help targeting neoplastic transformation at an early stage. This review summarizes various mechanisms for targeted therapeutics against growth factor in cancer and their future prospective.
Recruiting Nurses via Social Media for Survey Studies.

BACKGROUND Nurses are a difficult population to recruit for research. Barriers to recruitment of nurses include survey fatigue, hospital structures and institutional review boards as gatekeepers to accessing participants, and limited generalizability of findings. Social media present innovative opportunities to recruit participants for survey research. However, there is limited information about best practices for recruiting nurses through social media. OBJECTIVES The aim of this report was to examine the advantages and disadvantages of and determine the best practices for recruiting nurses for survey studies via social media. METHODS We examined recruitment strategies of three survey studies involving nurse participants. Each study used social exchange theory and leverage saliency theory to guide recruitment. The studies included were: (a) Travel Nurse Onboarding study which recruited participants from a single closed group on Facebook; (b) Presenteeism and Nursing study where participants were recruited using association listservs, health care organizations, and paid ads and postings on social media; and (c) the Pain and Nursing study in which participants were recruited through social media, association listservs, and in person at conferences. RESULTS Social media offer accessible, low-cost, high-yield approaches to recruitment of nurses for survey studies. DISCUSSION Useful strategies for crafting effective recruitment via social media are presented, including how, where, when, and how often to post. The generalizability of social media research is also discussed. Suggestions are provided for researchers using social media as well as guidelines for institutional review boards to address grey areas of social media research. Data integrity protection techniques are proposed to ensure social media survey data are not corrupted by malicious bots. This report outlines best practices for the recruitment of nurses for survey studies using social media.
[Association of age distribution with the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in lung tissues in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection: reflections from the study of RAS pathway expression in mice].

OBJECTIVE To study the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and other key molecules of the RAS pathway in normal mice at different developmental stages, and to provide ideas for understanding the infection mechanism of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as well as the diagnosis and treatment of children with COVID-19. METHODS The mice at different developmental stages were enrolled, including fetal mice (embryonic days 14.5 and 18.5), neonatal mice (0, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days old), young mice (28 and 42 days old), and adult mice (84 days old). The lung tissues of all fetal mice from 4 pregnant mice were collected at each time point in the fetal group. Four mice were sampled in other age groups at each time point. Whole transcriptome resequencing was used to measure the mRNA expression of AGT, ACE, ACE2, Renin, Agtr1a, Agtr1b, Agtr2, and Mas1 in mouse lung tissue. RESULTS The expression of ACE2 in the lungs showed changes from embryonic stage to adult stage. It increased gradually after birth, reached a peak on day 3 after birth, and reached a nadir on day 14 after birth (P<0.05). The expression of AGT reached a peak on days 0 and 7 after birth and reached a nadir on day 21 after birth (P<0.05). The expression of ACE increased rapidly after birth and reached a peak on day 21 after birth (P<0.05). Agtr1a expression reached a peak on day 21 after birth (P<0.05). Agtr2 expression gradually decreased to a low level after birth. Renin, Agtr1b, and Mas1 showed low expression in lung tissues at all developmental stages. CONCLUSIONS At different developmental stages of mice, ACE2 has dynamic expression changes, with high expression in early neonatal and adult mice. The other key molecules of the RAS pathway have their own expression patterns. These suggest that the difference in clinical features between children and adults with COVID-19 might be associated with the different expression levels of ACE2 in the different stages, and further studies are needed for the mechanism.
One stem cell program to rule them all?

Many species of animals have stem cells that they maintain throughout their lives, which suggests that stem cells are an ancestral feature of all animals. From this, we take the viewpoint that cells with the biological properties of ‘stemness’—self‐renewal and multipotency—may share ancestral genetic circuitry. However, in practice is it very difficult to identify and compare stemness gene signatures across diverse animals and large evolutionary distances? First, it is critical to experimentally demonstrate self‐renewal and potency. Second, genomic methods must be used to determine specific gene expression in stem cell types compared with non‐stem cell types to determine stem cell gene enrichment. Third, gene homology must be mapped between diverse animals across large evolutionary distances. Finally, conserved genes that fulfill these criteria must be tested for role in stem cell function. It is our viewpoint that by comparing stem cell‐specific gene signatures across evolution, ancestral programs of stemness can be uncovered, and ultimately, the dysregulation of stemness programs drives the state of cancer stem cells.
The Use of a “Go/Go” Cognitive Bias Task and Response to a Novel Object to Assess the Effect of Housing Enrichment in Sheep (Ovis aries)

ABSTRACT It is widely acknowledged that environmental enrichment can improve animals’ welfare and emotional state. This study used cognitive bias and response to a novel object to assess the effect of enriched housing on emotional state in sheep. Eighteen sheep were trained to discriminate between high-quality and low-quality reward locations using a go/go task. Sheep were allocated to a housing treatment (enriched or standard) for three weeks. Judgment bias tests were conducted using three ambiguous, unrewarded locations across three days, followed by assessing responses to a novel object. Effects of anxiety levels shown in training on responses to ambiguous locations and to the presence of a novel object were assessed. Enriched-housed sheep tended to have shorter latencies to approach ambiguous positions than standard-housed sheep (P = 0.08), particularly to the near and middle locations. Sheep from standard housing tended to have shorter latencies to approach food with the novel object present than sheep from enriched hosing (P = 0.06). This study shows that enrichment can affect emotional state and that go/go tasks can be successful in sheep and should be considered in future studies of emotional state.
Advances in airway management and mechanical ventilation in inhalation injury

Purpose of review Airway management, mechanical ventilation, and treatment of systemic poisoning in burn patients with inhalation injury remains challenging. This review summarizes new concepts as well as open questions. Recent findings Several life-threatening complications, such as airway patency impairment and respiratory insufficiency, can arise in burn patients and require adequate and timely airway management. However, unnecessary endotracheal intubation should be avoided. Direct visual inspection via nasolaryngoscopy can guide appropriate airway management decisions. In cases of lower airway injury, bronchoscopy is recommended to remove casts and estimate the extent of the injury in intubated patients. Several mechanical ventilation strategies have been studied. An interesting modality might be high-frequency percussive ventilation. However, to date, there is no sound evidence that patients with inhalation injury should be ventilated with modes other than those applied to non-burn patients. In all burn patients exposed to enclosed fire, carbon monoxide as well as cyanide poisoning should be suspected. Carbon monoxide poisoning should be treated with an inspiratory oxygen fraction of 100%, whereas cyanide poisoning should be treated with hydroxocobalamin. Summary Burn patients need specialized care that requires specific knowledge about airway management, mechanical ventilation, and carbon monoxide and cyanide poisoning.
Is guideline-driven prophylaxis for venous thromboembolism common practice in the South African private hospital setting?

Background Prophylactic venous thromboembolism (VTE) strategies have the greatest impact on patient outcomes. Both global and local guidelines support VTE prophylaxis for hospitalised patients. However, studies have reported that these measures are routinely under-prescribed. This study evaluated prescribing patterns of VTE prophylaxis in one of the largest South African (SA) private hospital groups. Methods A quantitative, retrospective analysis of the hospital group’s patient database was conducted for patients admitted between 01 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. Those younger than 18 years with trauma or suffering from contraindications to anticoagulation were excluded. Additionally, patients with warfarin billed were also excluded as they possibly required therapeutic anticoagulation. Included prophylactic measures were compared with published SA guidelines by abstracting prophylaxis type and dosing, according to corresponding individual patients’ VTE risk ratings. Results Amongst the 373 020 patients included as the study population, 77% required prophylaxis. Of these, 38.36% (n = 85 486) received guideline-appropriate prophylactic measures during their hospital stay. Patients in whom prophylaxis was indicated, only 24.56% (n = 42 715) complied with the SA guidelines. The most commonly used prophylactic measures were enoxaparin (89.09%) and fondaparinux (2.68%). Prophylactic measures differed per speciality, with the most compliant amongst intensivists. A low uptake of the risk assessment model use (n = 222 860, 59.75%) was, however, reported for this data set. Conclusion Less than 24.56% of patients who required prophylaxis received guideline-appropriate interventions. Further studies should focus on understanding differences in practice and improving acceptance and application of guideline-driven care.
Evaluation of Existing Methods for High-Order Epistasis Detection

Finding epistatic interactions among loci when expressing a phenotype is a widely employed strategy to understand the genetic architecture of complex traits in GWAS. The abundance of methods dedicated to the same purpose, however, makes it increasingly difficult for scientists to decide which method is more suitable for their studies. This work compares the different epistasis detection methods published during the last decade in terms of runtime, detection power and type I error rate, with a special emphasis on high-order interactions. Results show that in terms of detection power, the only methods that perform well across all experiments are the exhaustive methods, although their computational cost may be prohibitive in large-scale studies. Regarding non-exhaustive methods, not one could consistently find epistasis interactions when marginal effects are absent. If marginal effects are present, there are methods that perform well for high-order interactions, such as BADTrees, FDHE-IW, SingleMI or SNPHarvester. As for false-positive control, only SNPHarvester, FDHE-IW and DCHE show good results. The study concludes that there is no single epistasis detection method to recommend in all scenarios. Authors should prioritize exhaustive methods when sufficient computational resources are available considering the data set size, and resort to non-exhaustive methods when the analysis time is prohibitive.
Opsin 3-Gαs Promotes Airway Smooth Muscle Relaxation Modulated by G Protein Receptor Kinase 2.

Recently, we characterized blue light-mediated relaxation (photorelaxation) of airway smooth muscle (ASM) and implicated the involvement of opsin 3 (OPN3), an atypical opsin. In the present study, we characterized the cellular signaling mechanisms of photorelaxation. We confirmed the functional role of OPN3 in blue light photorelaxation using trachea from OPN3 null mice (maximal relaxation 52±13% compared to wild type mice 90±4.3%, p<0.05). We then demonstrated co-localization of OPN3 and Gs using co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) and proximity ligation assays (PLA) in primary human ASM cells, which was further supported by an increase in cAMP in mouse trachea treated with blue light compared to dark controls (23±3.6 vs. 14±2.6 pmol cAMP/ring, p<0.05). Downstream PKA involvement was shown by inhibiting photorelaxation using Rp-cAMPS (p<0.0001). Moreover, we observed converging mechanisms of desensitization by chronic β2-agonist exposure in mouse trachea, and correlated this finding with co-localization of OPN3 and GRK2 in primary human ASM cells. Finally, an overexpression model of OPN1LW (a red light photoreceptor in the same opsin family) in human ASM cells showed an increase in intracellular cAMP levels following red light exposure compared to non-transfected cells (48±13 vs. 13±2.1 pmol cAMP/mg protein, p<0.01), suggesting a conserved photorelaxation mechanism for wavelengths of light that are more tissue penetrant. Together, these results demonstrate that blue light photorelaxation in ASM is mediated by the OPN3 receptor interacting with Gs, which increases cAMP levels, activating PKA and modulated by GRK2.
Comparison of three filter paper-based devices for safety and stability of viral sample collection in poultry

ABSTRACT General diagnosis of poultry viruses primarily relies on detection of viruses in samples, but many farms are located in remote areas requiring logistic transportation. Filter paper cards are a useful technology that offer an alternative for collecting and preserving samples without hazardous exposure. The goal of this study was to compare three filter papers: the Flinders Technology Associates filter (FTA®) card, dried blood spot (DBS) card and qualitative filter paper (FP) grade 2 to collect poultry samples. In particular, we have used Newcastle disease virus (NDV) to evaluate safety and a Marek’s disease virus (MDV) attenuated vaccine (CVI988) to evaluate stability of viral DNA. This experiment was divided into two parts. The first part was to determine the DNA stability and detection limit of CVI988 in samples collected in different paper supports after four storage times (3, 7, 14 and 30 days post spot). The second part was to determine the safety of papers by evaluating the viral inactivation efficacy using NDV as a representative virus. Results showed that all papers could preserve CVI988 DNA at all times, with a detection limit of 0.5 PFU/5 µl for FTA® and DBS cards, and 5 PFU/5 µl for FP. Our results showed that the NDV remained viable and infectious on the DBS card and FP, while no viable virus was detected on the FTA® card, suggesting that the FTA® card was safest to use. Therefore, the use of the DBS card and FP for infectious sample collection should be discouraged and reconsidered. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS The detection limits of the FTA® card, DBS card and FP for CVI988 detection were 0.5, 0.5 and 5 PFU/5 µl, respectively. All three filter papers could preserve viral DNA for at least 30 days of post spot. The DBS card and FP are not suitable for collecting NDV samples, which is one of the major economical threats for the poultry industry worldwide.
A Comprehensive in Silico Analysis of the Functional and Structural Impact of Non-Synonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Human KRAS Gene

The protein product of the normal KRAS gene performs an essential function in normal tissue signaling, and the mutation of a KRAS gene is an essential step in the development of many cancers. Despite the reported association of KRAS gene mutations with human disease susceptibility, the comprehensive computational analysis of coding, noncoding and regulatory SNPs, and their functional impacts on protein level, still remains unknown. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the functional and structural impact of non-synonymous (nsSNP) that are deleterious to KRAS structure and function. A sequence homology-based approach was adopted for screening nsSNPs in KRAS, including nine different in silico prediction algorithms; SIFT, PROVEAN, MutPred, SNP&GO, PhD-SNP, PANTHER, I-Mutant 2.0, MUpo and DUET. Moreover, to understand how mutations can affect the strength of the interactions that bind proteins together we submitted data to ELASPIC servers and evolutionary conservation data was obtained from the ConSurf web server. The PDB structure of KRAS protein was obtained from RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 4QL3) and Structural theoretical models of KRAS were created using mutation3D and chimera servers. Our results demonstrate that 14 nsSNPs in the antiviral KRAS gene may be deleterious to KRAS structure and function.14 deleterious and high-risk nsSNPs were identified in KRAS gene. 11 of these are located at highly conserved amino acid sites in the protein domain (RAS). Additionally, we detected 4 nsSNPs in the core residues of the protein and 10 SNPS at interface. Finally, we classified six SNPs as top high-risk (Q61E, A146T, N116S, K147E, G60R and A59V) which may alter the putative structure of KRAS’s domain, particularly in G1, G2, G3, G4 and G5 motif regions. These same regions are critical to the protein's structure and function. This study adopted an extensive in silico analysis of the highly polymorphic KRAS gene and will be a valuable resource for future targeted mechanistic and population-based studies.
Hydrogels from serum albumin in a molten globule‐like state

We demonstrate that a molten globule‐like (MG) state of a protein, usually described as a compact yet non‐folded conformation that is only present in a narrow and delicate parameter range, is preserved in the high concentration environment of the protein hydrogel. We reveal mainly by means of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy that bovine serum albumin (BSA) retains the known basic MG state after a hydrogel has been formed from 20 wt% precursor solutions. At pH values of ~11.4, BSA hydrogels made from MG‐BSA remain stable for weeks, while gels formed at slightly different (~0.2) pH units above and below the MG‐state value dissolve into viscous solutions. On the contrary, when hydrophobic screening agents are added such as amphiphilic, EPR‐active stearic acid derivatives (16‐DOXYL‐stearic acid, 16‐DSA), the MG‐state based hydrogel is the least long‐lived, as the hydrophobic interaction of delicately exposed hydrophobic patches of BSA molecules is screened by the amphiphilic molecules. These bio‐ and polymer‐physically unexpected findings may lead to new bio‐compatible MG‐based hydrogels that display novel properties in comparison to conventional gels.