Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual functions of eicosapentaenoic acid‐rich microalgae: enrichment of yolk with n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and partial replacement for soybean meal in diet of laying hens

&NA; Microalgae (Nannochloropsis sp., NS), with high contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and crude protein, may be one of the important n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) sources and potential protein feed ingredient. The purposes of this study were to enrich yolk with n‐3 PUFA by dietary EPA‐rich NS supplementation and to evaluate whether it is feasible to partly substitute for soybean meal in laying hens diet. A total of 360 37‐wk‐old healthy Lohmann Brown laying hens, with similar laying rate and body weight, were randomly allotted to 5 groups (6 replicates, 12 birds/replicate) and fed 5 experimental diets (0, 1, 2, 4, and 8% NS) for 4 wk. The hen performance and egg quality (except yolk color) were not affected (P > 0.05) by the NS supplemental diets. Yolk color score was increased as NS supplementation in diets (P < 0.001), and peaked on about the seventh day in all NS supplemental groups. The concentration of total n‐3 PUFA was increased (P < 0.001), while total n‐6 PUFA and n‐6/n‐3 ratio were decreased (P < 0.001) in yolk with increasing NS levels in diets. The 8% NS group had highest docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and total n‐3 PUFA levels, reaching 111.6 mg DHA and 148.6 mg total n‐3 PUFA per egg. Maximum DHA, total n‐3 PUFA, very long‐chain (LC‐) n‐3 PUFA, and LC‐PUFA levels were all observed at day 13 of NS supplementation. In conclusion, dietary NS supplementation enriched yolk with n‐3 PUFA (especially DHA) and enhanced yolk color score without adverse effects on performance and egg quality, and indicated the practical feasibility of partial replacement for soybean meal in laying hens diet.
The partner’s experience of traumatic brain injury and its recovery

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) presents significant challenges to the partner of the person with the TBI and to the relationship they share. Struggling to deal with those challenges can have a significant impact on the psychological well-being of the partner, and on the quality and stability of the relationship. Compared with the general population, partners generally report higher levels of anxiety, stress and depression [1,2]; and lower levels of positive well-being, quality of life and life satisfaction [1,2]. Although there may be improvements [2], these difficulties can persist for many years after the TBI [3]. In terms of the impact on the relationship, methodological inadequacies in the research mean that there is, as yet, no clear answer to the question of whether TBI increases the rate of marital breakdown compared with the general population [4]. However, on measures of overall marital quality and satisfaction, partners tend to give their current relationship a poorer rating in comparison to the general population and to the preinjury relationship [4,5]. The primary aim of this overview is to summarize research about the partner’s negative experiences of TBI that may explain this damaging impact that the injury can have on their psychological well-being and the relationship. Understanding the experiences that contribute to the impact will highlight issues that need to be addressed in supporting couples after a TBI. The overview describes experiences both in the initial stages and in the longer term. It addresses the partner’s experience of more severe TBI (i.e., one that requires hospitalization and has long-lasting effects) rather than mild TBI. It should be noted that, although all the research papers cited in the review included at least some participants who were the partners of someone with a more severe TBI, a substantial number used mixed samples that contained participants who had other forms of brain injury (e.g., stroke), other familial relationships with the person with the injury (e.g., parents) or experience of mild TBI. Some partners have more positive experiences of TBI and this research, which is more limited in extent, will also be summarized. Understanding positive experiences may shed light on why some partners cope better than others.
When Diet and Exercise Aren’t Enough: The Added Benefits of Connection, Community, and Psychosocial Support in Navigating Breast Cancer Treatment

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women, and many lifestyle factors have been linked to an elevated risk for development of the disease. This case provides an example of how breast cancer can occur even in people who engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors, yet underscores the importance of exercise, healthy dietary patterns, and addressing psychological distress in supporting women through their treatment and beyond.
Non-neutralizing antibodies increase endogenous circulating Ang1 levels

ABSTRACT Ang1 is a soluble ligand to receptor Tie2, and increasing the circulating Ang1 level may improve vascular stabilization under certain disease conditions. Here, we found that the circulating Ang1 level was significantly increased in cynomolgus monkeys treated with non-neutralizing anti-Ang1 antibodies. Improving the antibodies’ pharmacokinetic properties by IgG Fc mutations further increased the circulating Ang1 level. However, the mutations decreased the thermal stability of the molecules, which may limit their use as therapeutic antibodies. Nevertheless, we showed that non-neutralizing antibodies may have therapeutic potential by increasing the level of a target molecule in the circulation.
Target Recognition of SAR Images via Matching Attributed Scattering Centers with Binary Target Region

A target recognition method of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images is proposed via matching attributed scattering centers (ASCs) to binary target regions. The ASCs extracted from the test image are predicted as binary regions. In detail, each ASC is first transformed to the image domain based on the ASC model. Afterwards, the resulting image is converted to a binary region segmented by a global threshold. All the predicted binary regions of individual ASCs from the test sample are mapped to the binary target regions of the corresponding templates. Then, the matched regions are evaluated by three scores which are combined as a similarity measure via the score-level fusion. In the classification stage, the target label of the test sample is determined according to the fused similarities. The proposed region matching method avoids the conventional ASC matching problem, which involves the assignment of ASC sets. In addition, the predicted regions are more robust than the point features. The Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) dataset is used for performance evaluation in the experiments. According to the experimental results, the method in this study outperforms some traditional methods reported in the literature under several different operating conditions. Under the standard operating condition (SOC), the proposed method achieves very good performance, with an average recognition rate of 98.34%, which is higher than the traditional methods. Moreover, the robustness of the proposed method is also superior to the traditional methods under different extended operating conditions (EOCs), including configuration variants, large depression angle variation, noise contamination, and partial occlusion.
TÜRKİYE’DE YENİLENEBİLİR ENERJİ POTANSİYELİ, ÜRETİMİ, TÜKETİMİ ve CARİ İŞLEMLER DENGESİ İLİŞKİSİ

Turkiye gibi gelismekte olan pek cok ulkenin temel makroekonomik problemlerinden biri cari islemler dengesinin acik vermesidir. Ulkelerin istikrarli bir sekilde buyuyebilmeleri icin bu temel problemle bas edebilmesi oldukca onemlidir. Turkiye’nin cari islemler acigi incelediginde, bu acigin onemli bir bolumunun enerji ithalatindan kaynaklandigi gorulmektedir. Turkiye, cari islemler dengesini saglayabilmesi ve uzun vadede istikrarli bir ekonomik yapi icin enerji ithalatina olan bagimliligi azaltmasi gerekmektedir. Bu calismada, oncelikle Turkiye’nin yenilenebilir enerji uretim potansiyeli, yenilenebilir enerji uretimi ve enerji tuketimi arastirilmistir. Turkiye'nin yenilenebilir enerji kaynaklarindan yeterli duzeyde faydalanmadigi anlasilmistir. Sonra, Turkiye'nin cari dengesi ve enerji ithalati arasindaki iliski incelenmistir. Turkiye’nin yenilenebilir enerji uretimini arttirmasi icin enerji politikalari onerilmistir.
Lifestyle Approaches and Glucose Intolerance

Glucose intolerance is a global health concern that encompasses glucose metabolism abnormalities such as impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and type 2 diabetes (T2D). There is an urgent need to focus on the prediabetes (ie, IGT and IFG) stage before the disease actually occurs. The progression from IGT to T2D can be prevented or delayed by modifying the lifestyles in high-risk individuals, and these health benefits are well documented in various ethnicities with prediabetes across the world. Specifically, consuming a healthy diet (high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, fiber, and whole grains), losing weight, quitting smoking, consuming alcohol in moderation, and increasing physical activity can improve glucose tolerance and reduce the risk of T2D. Also, pharmacological agents and botanicals can be used to manage glucose intolerance if the implementation of lifestyle changes is challenging. Pharmacological treatments have been successful in managing glucose intolerance; however, they have adverse effects. Also, more research on botanicals is warranted before a definitive recommendation can be made for their use in managing glucose intolerance. To make progress on this worldwide problem, efforts are needed to improve the awareness of prediabetes, increase promotion of healthy behaviors, and improve the availability of evidence-based lifestyle intervention programs to the community.
Metagenomic sequencing provides insights into microbial detoxification in the guts of small mammalian herbivores (Neotoma spp.)

Microbial detoxification of plant toxins influences the use of plants as food sources by herbivores. Stephen's woodrats (Neotoma stephensi) specialize on juniper, which is defended by oxalate, phenolics and monoterpenes, while closely related N. albigula specialize on cactus, which only contains oxalate. Woodrats maintain two gut chambers harboring dense microbial communities: a foregut chamber proximal to the major site of toxin absorption, and a cecal chamber in their hindgut. We performed several experiments to investigate the location and nature of microbial detoxification in the woodrat gut. First, we measured toxin concentrations across gut chambers of N. stephensi. Compared to food material, oxalate concentrations were immediately lower in the foregut, while concentrations of terpenes remained high in the foregut, and were lowest in the cecal chamber. We conducted metagenomic sequencing of the foregut chambers of both woodrat species and cecal chambers of N. stephensi to compare microbial functions. We found that most genes associated with detoxification were more abundant in the cecal chambers of N. stephensi. However, some genes associated with degradation of oxalate and phenolic compounds were more abundant in the foregut chambers. Thus, microbial detoxification may take place in various chambers depending on the class of chemical compound.
Healthcare Quality and Efficiency in Taiwan

Background: This study constructed a novel performance evaluation system with changed the traditional DEA definition of the resources of medical staffs. It will be closer to the fact and have better performance evaluation. Methods: This study used the hospital administrative data from the open data of Minister of Health and Welfare and Bureau of National Health Insurance, 2014, there are 163 hospitals. Conclusions: This study found that there are although there are some performance evaluation system, it still have inconsistent efficacy rate among different levels and districts hospitals. The different hospital has their own quality improvement focuses. This study found that at least 70% hospitals have relative better performance. The medical cost in hospitals is not only factor of efficacy. Combination of healthcare quality and medical cost will present the real performance.
Individual and Environmental Barriers to Successful Aging

The cornerstone to successful aging is maintaining a consistent physical activity routine and healthy diet. This is particular important for aging adults to preserve their independence. However, for low-income aging adults there are significant individual and environmental barriers that reduce their ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Understanding how environmental supports can be found in existing programs geared toward older adults is a way to insure long-term behavioral changes.
Fam65b Phosphorylation Relieves Tonic RhoA Inhibition During T Cell Migration

We previously identified Fam65b as an atypical inhibitor of the small G protein RhoA. Using a conditional model of a Fam65b-deficient mouse, we first show that Fam65b restricts spontaneous RhoA activation in resting T lymphocytes and regulates intranodal T cell migration in vivo. We next aimed at understanding, at the molecular level, how the brake that Fam65b exerts on RhoA can be relieved upon signaling to allow RhoA activation. Here, we show that chemokine stimulation phosphorylates Fam65b in T lymphocytes. This post-translational modification decreases the affinity of Fam65b for RhoA and favors Fam65b shuttling from the plasma membrane to the cytosol. Functionally, we show that the degree of Fam65b phosphorylation controls some cytoskeletal alterations downstream active RhoA such as actin polymerization, as well as T cell migration in vitro. Altogether, our results show that Fam65b expression and phosphorylation can finely tune the amount of active RhoA in order to favor optimal T lymphocyte motility.
Differential Regulation of Adhesion and Phagocytosis of Resting and Activated Microglia by Dopamine

Microglia, the immune competent cells of the central nervous system (CNS), normally exist in a resting state characterized by a ramified morphology with many processes, and become activated to amoeboid morphology in response to brain injury, infection, and a variety of neuroinflammatory stimuli. Many studies focused on how neurotransmitters affect microglia activation in pathophysiological circumstances. In this study, we tried to gain mechanistic insights on how dopamine (DA) released from neurons modulates cellular functions of resting and activated microglia. DA induced the reduction of the number of cellular processes, the increase of cell adhesion/spreading, and the increase of vimentin filaments in resting primary and BV2 microglia. In contrast to resting cells, DA downregulated the cell spreading and phagocytosis of microglia activated by LPS. DA also significantly downregulated ERK1/2 phosphorylation in activated microglia, but not in resting microglia. Downregulation of ERK1/2 by DA in activated microglia required receptor signaling. In contrast, we found a significant increase of p38MAPK activity by DA treatment in resting, but not in activated microglia. These latter effects required the uptake of DA through the high-affinity transporter but did not require receptor signaling. Activation of p38MAPK resulted in the increase of focal adhesion number via phosphorylation of paxillin at Ser83. These results indicate that DA might have a differential, depending upon the activation stage of microglia, impact on cellular functions such as adhesion and phagocytosis.
Characterization of cis-acting elements that control oscillating alternative splicing

ABSTRACT Alternative splicing (AS) in response to changing external conditions often requires alterations in the ability of sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins to bind to cis-acting sequences in their target pre-mRNA. While daily oscillations in AS events have been described in several organisms, cis-acting sequences that control time of the day-dependent AS remain largely elusive. Here we define cis-regulatory RNA elements that control body-temperature driven rhythmic AS using the mouse U2af26 gene as a model system. We identify a complex network of cis-regulatory sequences that regulate AS of U2af26, and show that the activity of two enhancer elements is necessary for oscillating AS. A minigene comprising these U2af26 regions recapitulates rhythmic splicing of the endogenous gene, which is controlled through temperature-regulated SR protein phosphorylation. Mutagenesis of the minigene delineates the cis-acting enhancer element for SRSF2 within exon 6 to single nucleotide resolution and reveals that the combined activity of SRSF2 and SRSF7 is required for oscillating U2af26 AS. By combining RNA-Seq with an siRNA screen and individual-nucleotide resolution cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP), we identify a complex network of SR proteins that globally controls temperature-dependent rhythmic AS, with the direction of splicing depending on the position of the cis-acting elements. Together, we provide detailed insights into the sequence requirements that allow trans-acting factors to generate daily rhythms in AS.
Submerged Osmotic Processes: Design and Operation to Mitigate Mass Transfer Limitations

Submerged forward osmosis (FO) is of high interest for bioreactors, such as osmotic membrane bioreactor, microalgae photobioreactor, food or bioproduct concentration where pumping through pressurized modules is a limitation due to viscosity or breakage of fragile components. However, so far, most FO efforts have been put towards cross flow configurations. This study provides, for the first time, insights on mass transfer limitations in the operation of submerged osmotic systems and offer recommendations for optimized design and operation. It is demonstrated that operation of the submerged plate and frame FO module requires draw circulation in the vacuum mode (vacuum assisted osmosis) that is in favor of the permeation flux. However, high pressure drops and dead zones occurring in classical U-shape FO draw channel strongly disadvantage this design; straight channel design proves to be more effective. External concentration polarization (ECP) is also a crucial element in the submerged FO process since mixing of the feed solution is not as optimized as in the cross flow module unless applying intense stirring. Among the mitigation techniques tested, air scouring proves to be more efficient than feed solution circulation. However, ECP mitigation methodology has to be adapted to application specificities with regards to combined/synergetic effects with fouling mitigation.
Helical Structures Mimicking Chiral Seedpod Opening and Tendril Coiling

Helical structures are ubiquitous in natural and engineered systems across multiple length scales. Examples include DNA molecules, plants’ tendrils, sea snails’ shells, and spiral nanoribbons. Although this symmetry-breaking shape has shown excellent performance in elastic springs or propulsion generation in a low-Reynolds-number environment, a general principle to produce a helical structure with programmable geometry regardless of length scales is still in demand. In recent years, inspired by the chiral opening of Bauhinia variegata’s seedpod and the coiling of plant’s tendril, researchers have made significant breakthroughs in synthesizing state-of-the-art 3D helical structures through creating intrinsic curvatures in 2D rod-like or ribbon-like precursors. The intrinsic curvature results from the differential response to a variety of external stimuli of functional materials, such as hydrogels, liquid crystal elastomers, and shape memory polymers. In this review, we give a brief overview of the shape transformation mechanisms of these two plant’s structures and then review recent progress in the fabrication of biomimetic helical structures that are categorized by the stimuli-responsive materials involved. By providing this survey on important recent advances along with our perspectives, we hope to solicit new inspirations and insights on the development and fabrication of helical structures, as well as the future development of interdisciplinary research at the interface of physics, engineering, and biology.
Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Improve HDL Function by Inhibiting Myeloperoxidase-Mediated Oxidation in Patients With Metabolic Syndrome

OBJECTIVE Phagocyte-derived myeloperoxidase (MPO) and proinflammatory HDL are associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and increased cardiovascular disease risk. Therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLCs), such as a Mediterranean diet and exercise, decrease this risk. However, the link among TLCs, HDL, and MPO-mediated oxidative stress remains unclear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In this study, we characterized changes in cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC), a metric of HDL function; MPO-mediated oxidation; and the HDL proteomic profile in 25 patients with MetS who underwent 12 weeks of TLCs. RESULTS After 12 weeks, before significant changes to HDL levels, most MetS components improved as a result of the TLCs. CEC was significantly increased, and HDL MPO oxidation products, 3-chlorotyrosine and 3-nitrotyrosine, were decreased with TLCs. The changes in CEC were inversely related to the unit changes in 3-chlorotyrosine after we controlled for changes in the other MetS components. TLCs did not remodel the HDL proteome. CONCLUSIONS In summary, TLCs improved HDL function by inhibiting MPO-mediated oxidative stress even before appreciable changes in HDL levels.
The Formation of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membranes with Tailored Properties via Vapour/Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation

The present investigation reports as it is possible to prepared polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes for microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) applications, by using triethyl phosphate (TEP) as non–toxic solvent in accordance with the Green Chemistry. Casting solutions containing different concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) were prepared in order to study its effect on the final membrane morphology and properties. The possibility to finely modulate membrane properties was also investigated by applying two different membrane preparation techniques, the Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS) and its coupling with Vapour Induced Phase Separation (VIPS). Membranes’ morphology was detected by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Thickness, porosity, contact angle, pore size and water permeability were also recorded. Both the PEG content in the dope solution and the selected time intervals during which the nascent films were exposed to established relative humidity and temperature were found to play a crucial role in membrane formation. In particular, it was demonstrated as, by varying PEG content between 10 and 20 wt %, and by setting the exposure time to humidity at 0/2.5/5/7.5 min, membranes with different pore diameter and bicontinuous structure, suitable for UF and MF applications, could be easily obtained.
Protein Secondary Structure Prediction from Amino Acid Sequence Using Artificial Neural Network

In this research, the learning based solely on amino acid sequences were conducted using ANN. By considering various conditions such as window size, dropout, optimizer, etc., it was shown that the highest accuracy of predicting whether the amino acid is part of α-helix or not was about 74%, and whether the amino acid is part of α-helix, β-sheet or the other structures was about 50%. Our model has a limitation that highest accuracy is bound to a certain value. However, it has a significance of embodying the protein secondary structure prediction model that learns only from amino acid sequences; it is simpler than multiple sequence alignment, the widely used method in protein secondary structure prediction.