Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Removing energy with an exoskeleton reduces the metabolic cost of walking

Store energy and save energy Many devices have been developed to harvest energy from walking or running, but their use often comes at cost to the wearer in the form of increased metabolic demand. Shepertycky et al. designed a device that can harvest mechanical energy from a natural walking gait and convert it to useable electrical energy while also reducing the metabolic energy consumption of the user (see the Perspective by Riemer et al.). The key to achieving “something from nothing” comes from designing the device to use muscle-centric control of the knee exoskeleton resistance to reduce active muscle force during the late part of the leg swing cycle. Science, aba9947, this issue p. 957; see also abh4007, p. 909 The metabolic cost of walking can be reduced purely by removing kinetic energy using an exoskeleton. Evolutionary pressures have led humans to walk in a highly efficient manner that conserves energy, making it difficult for exoskeletons to reduce the metabolic cost of walking. Despite the challenge, some exoskeletons have managed to lessen the metabolic expenditure of walking, either by adding or storing and returning energy. We show that the use of an exoskeleton that strategically removes kinetic energy during the swing period of the gait cycle reduces the metabolic cost of walking by 2.5 ± 0.8% for healthy male users while converting the removed energy into 0.25 ± 0.02 watts of electrical power. By comparing two loading profiles, we demonstrate that the timing and magnitude of energy removal are vital for successful metabolic cost reduction.
Can neuroscience help to understand narcissism? A systematic review of an emerging field

Abstract Narcissism is a Janusian personality construct, associated with both grandiose self-assuredness and dominance, as well as vulnerable insecurity and reactivity. Central questions of intra- and interpersonal functioning in narcissism are still a matter of debate. Neuroscience could help to understand the paradoxical patterns of experience and behavior beyond the limitations of self-reports. We provide a systematic review of 34 neuroscience studies on grandiose, vulnerable, pathological narcissism, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), spanning experimental investigations of intra- and interpersonal mechanisms, research on neurophysiological and neuroendocrine aspects of baseline function, and brain structural correlates. While neuroscience has scarcely directly studied vulnerable narcissism, grandiose narcissism is associated with heightened vigilance to ego threat and stress responses following ego threat, as well as heightened stress indicators in baseline measures. Such responses are not commonly observed in self-reports, highlighting the potential of neuroscience to augment our understanding of self-regulatory dynamics in narcissism. Interpersonal functioning is characterized by deficits in social–affective processes. Both involve altered activity within the salience network, pointing to a double dissociation regarding the expression of narcissism and self/other oriented situational focus. Findings are summarized in an integrative model providing testable hypotheses for future research along with methodological recommendations.
New Solid Forms of the Anti-HIV Drug Etravirine: Salts, Cocrystals, and Solubility

Thirteen new solid forms of etravirine were realized in the process of polymorph and cocrystal/salt screening to improve the solubility of this anti-HIV drug. One anhydrous form, five salts (hydrochloride, mesylate, sulfate, besylate, and tosylate), two cocrystals (with adipic acid and 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid), and five solvates (formic acid, acetic acid, acetonitrile, and 2:1 and 1:1 methanolates) were obtained. The conformational flexibility of etravirine suggests that it can adopt four different conformations, and among these, two are sterically favorable. However, in all 13 solid forms, the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) was found to adopt just one conformation. Due to the poor aqueous solubility of the API, the solubilities of the salts and cocrystals were measured in a 50% ethanol–water mixture at neutral pH. Compared to the salts, the cocrystals were found to be stable and showed an improvement in solubility with time. All the salts were dissociated within an hour, except the tosyla.
Mortality audit of cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 positivity or COVID-19

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted cancer care services globally. The present review of cause of deaths was conducted in a tertiary care cancer center in the North East India. In our institute, all cancer patients requiring admission for surgery, chemotherapy, and other daycare procedures require testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). From 09 July 2020 to 16 May 2021, 119 cancer patients with SARS-CoV-2 positive report or COVID-19 have been admitted at our institute Covid ward. A total of 19 cancer patients with COVID-19 succumbed. Of 19 deaths, 13 (68.4%) patients were men and 6 (31.6%) patients were women. The age range from 27 years to 74 years (median =55 years). Vomiting alone or with diarrhea was the most common symptom requiring admission after testing (4/19, 21.0%), followed by bleeding from primary tumour site (3/19, 15.7%). The antecedent and underlying cause of deaths in 19 (100%) patients was cancer. SARS-CoV-2 infection should not be a hindrance for cancer treatment and management.
Relationships between endogenous circadian period, physiological and cognitive parameters and sex in aged non-human primates

The biological clock exhibits circadian rhythms, with an endogenous period tau close to 24h. The circadian resonance theory proposes that lifespan is reduced when endogenous period goes far from 24h. It has been suggested that daily resetting of the circadian clock to the 24h external photoperiod might induce marginal costs that would accumulate over time and forward accelerate aging and affect fitness. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the link between the endogenous period and biomarkers of aging in order to investigate the mechanisms of the circadian resonance theory. We studied 39 middle-aged and aged Microcebus murinus, a nocturnal non-human primate whose endogenous period is about 23.1h, measuring the endogenous period of locomotor activity, as well as several physiological and behavioral parameters (rhythm fragmentation and amplitude, energetic expenditure, oxidative stress, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) concentrations and cognitive performances) in both males and females. We found that aged males with tau far from 24h displayed increased oxidative stress. We also demonstrated a positive correlation between tau and IGF-1 concentrations, as well as learning performances, in males and females. Together these results suggest that a great deviation of tau from 24h leads to increased biomarkers of age-related impairments. Summary Statement This manuscript describes how the misalignment between the endogenous circadian period and the 24h of the environmental periodicity impacts aging biomarkers and accelerates cognitive decline.
Purification of functional Plasmodium falciparum tubulin allows for the identification of parasite-specific microtubule inhibitors

Cytoskeletal proteins are essential for parasite proliferation, growth, and transmission, and therefore represent promising drug targets. While αβ-tubulin, the molecular building block of microtubules, is an established drug target in a variety of cancers, we still lack substantial knowledge of the biochemistry of parasite tubulins, which would allow us to exploit the structural divergence between parasite and human tubulins. Indeed, mechanistic insights have been limited by the lack of purified, functional parasite tubulin. In this study, we isolated Plasmodium falciparum tubulin that is assembly-competent and shows specific microtubule dynamics in vitro. We further present mechanistic evidence that two compounds selectively interact with parasite over host microtubules and inhibit Plasmodium microtubule polymerization at substoichiometric compound concentrations. The ability of compounds to selectively disrupt protozoan microtubule growth without affecting human microtubules provides the exciting possibility for the targeted development of novel antimalarials.
Estimating the Dynamic Range of Quantitative Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy

In recent years, there have been significant advances in quantifying molecule copy number and protein stoichiometry with single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM). However, as the density of fluorophores per diffraction-limited spot increases, distinguishing between detection events from different fluorophores becomes progressively more difficult, affecting the accuracy of such measurements. Although essential to the design of quantitative experiments, the dynamic range of SMLM counting techniques has not yet been studied in detail. Here we provide a working definition of the dynamic range for quantitative SMLM in terms of the relative number of missed localizations or blinks, and explore the photophysical and experimental parameters that affect it. We begin with a simple two-state model of blinking fluorophores, then extend the model to incorporate photobleaching and temporal binning by the detection camera. From these models, we first show that our estimates of the dynamic range agree with realistic simulations of the photoswitching. We find that the dynamic range scales inversely with the duty cycle when counting both blinks and localizations. Finally, we validate our theoretical approach on dSTORM datasets of photo-switching Alexa647 dyes. Our results should help guide researchers in designing and implementing SMLM-based molecular counting experiments.
nf-LO: A Scalable, Containerized Workflow for Genome-to-Genome Lift Over

The increasing availability of new genome assemblies often comes with an impaired amount of associated genomic annotations, limiting the range of studies that can be performed. A common workaround is to lift over annotations from better annotated genomes. However, generating the files required to perform a liftover is computationally and labour intensive and only a limited number are currently publicly available. Here we present nf-LO (nextflow-LiftOver), a containerised and scalable Nextflow pipeline that enables liftovers within and between any species for which assemblies are available. nf-LO will consequently facilitates data interpretation across a broad range of genomic studies.
Genomic Selection for End-Use Quality and Processing Traits in Soft White Winter Wheat Breeding Program with Machine and Deep Learning Models

Breeding for grain yield, biotic and abiotic stress resistance, and end-use quality are important goals of wheat breeding programs. Screening for end-use quality traits is usually secondary to grain yield due to high labor needs, cost of testing, and large seed requirements for phenotyping. Hence, testing is delayed until later stages in the breeding program. Delayed phenotyping results in advancement of inferior end-use quality lines into the program. Genomic selection provides an alternative to predict performance using genome-wide markers. Due to large datasets in breeding programs, we explored the potential of the machine and deep learning models to predict fourteen end-use quality traits in a winter wheat breeding program. The population used consisted of 666 wheat genotypes screened for five years (2015-19) at two locations (Pullman and Lind, WA, USA). Nine different models, including two machine learning (random forest and support vector machine) and two deep learning models (convolutional neural network and multilayer perceptron), were explored for cross-validation, forward, and across locations predictions. The prediction accuracies for different traits varied from 0.45-0.81, 0.29-0.55, and 0.27-0.50 under cross-validation, forward, and across location predictions. In general, forward prediction accuracies kept increasing over time due to increments in training data size and was more evident for machine and deep learning models. Deep learning models performed superior over the traditional ridge regression best linear unbiased prediction (RRBLUP) and Bayesian models under all prediction scenarios. The high accuracy observed for end-use quality traits in this study support predicting them in early generations, leading to the advancement of superior genotypes to more extensive grain yield trailing. Furthermore, the superior performance of machine and deep learning models strengthen the idea to include them in large scale breeding programs for predicting complex traits.
Reexamination of the Origin of Slow Relaxation in Semidilute Polymer Solutions—Reptation Related or Not?

The origin of the slow relaxation observed in dynamic laser light scattering (LLS) measurements of semidilute polymer solutions remains controversial. Even though the chain reptation is invisible in dynamic LLS, the slow relaxation was still attributed to the reptation induced density fluctuation by those who believe that there is no other slow relaxation except the reptation. To clarify such a point, we purposely studied dynamics of semidilute solutions of narrowly distributed 4-arm star polystyrene (Mw = 1.1 × 105 g/mol and Mw/Mn = 1.02) chains in cyclohexane, wherein the chains are not entangled but topologically constrained. Our results reveal that there still exists a slow relaxation mode besides a fast one that is related to the diffusion of short chain segments (“blobs”) in the semidilute regime, clearly excluding its possible reptation origin. The average diffusion coefficient (⟨Df⟩) and scattering intensity (⟨If⟩) related to the fast mode are scaled to the polymer concentration (C) as ⟨Df⟩ ∼ C0.5.
Fast Photoswitchable Molecular Prosthetics Control Neuronal Activity in the Cochlea

Artificial control of neuronal activity enables studies of neural circuits and restoration of neural function. Direct, rapid, and sustained photocontrol of intact neurons could overcome shortcomings of established electrical stimulation such as poor selectivity. We have developed fast photoswitchable ligands of glutamate receptors to establish such control in the auditory system. The new photoswitchable ligands produced photocurrents in untransfected neurons upon covalently tethering to endogenous glutamate receptors and activating them reversibly with visible light pulses of few milliseconds. As a proof of concept of these molecular prostheses, we apply them to the ultrafast synapses of auditory neurons of the cochlea that encode sound and provide auditory input to the brain. This drug-based method affords kilohertz rate stimulation of auditory neurons of adult gerbils without genetic manipulation that would be required for their optogenetic control. The new photoswitchable ligands are also broadly applicable to spatiotemporally control fast spiking interneurons in the brain.
Filter Bank Multi Carrier Signal System for Frequency Selective Channels

Received: 16 September 2020 Accepted: 22 March 2021 Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC) frameworks are a subclass of multicarrier (MC) frameworks. The essential guideline, separating spectrum into many thin sub channels, may not be new, MC frameworks have seen wide appropriation. These days, multicarrier regulation frameworks dependent on the discrete Fourier transforms are usually used to transmit over recurrence particular channels subject to forceful noise aggravations. In any case, these handsets experience the ill effects of poor sub channel spectral control, that is, the measure of inter channel impedance isn't unimportant. It very well may be indicated that the framework execution reduces when it is dependent upon an unsettling influence with a large portion of its energy focused on a narrow frequency band. This Paper aims that identify the Filter Bank Multi Carrier (FBMC) performance. The MIMO system combined with the FBMC then identifies the over Frequency Selective Channel (FSC). Here the analysis for FSC, Flat fading model FBMC and system with MMSE equalization. The Prototype filters are analyzing the system performance characteristics. The Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the MIMO FBMC system for the given spectrum. The proposed systems are best to compare all existing technique and we measure the spectral efficiency of the system.
Weed Detection in Images of Carrot Fields Based on Improved YOLO v4

The accurate weed detection is the premise for precision prevention and control of weeds in fields. Machine vision offers an effective means to detect weeds accurately. For precision detection of various weeds in carrot fields, this paper improves You Only Look Once v4 (YOLO v4) into a lightweight weed detection model called YOLO v4-weeds for the weeds among carrot seedlings. Specifically, the backbone network of the original YOLOv4 was replaced with MobileNetV3-Small. Combined with depth-wise separable convolution and inverted residual structure, a lightweight attention mechanism was introduced to reduce the memory required to process images, making the detection model more efficient. The research results provide a reference for the weed detection, robot weeding, and selective spraying.
Approaching Protein Barriers: Emerging Mechanisms of Replication Pausing in Eukaryotes

During nuclear DNA replication multiprotein replisome machines have to jointly traverse and duplicate the total length of each chromosome during each cell cycle. At certain genomic locations replisomes encounter tight DNA-protein complexes and slow down. This fork pausing is an active process involving recognition of a protein barrier by the approaching replisome via an evolutionarily conserved Fork Pausing/Protection Complex (FPC). Action of the FPC protects forks from collapse at both programmed and accidental protein barriers, thus promoting genome integrity. In addition, FPC stimulates the DNA replication checkpoint and regulates topological transitions near the replication fork. Eukaryotic cells have been proposed to employ physiological programmed fork pausing for various purposes, such as maintaining copy number at repetitive loci, precluding replication-transcription encounters, regulating kinetochore assembly, or controlling gene conversion events during mating-type switching. Here we review the growing number of approaches used to study replication pausing in vivo and in vitro as well as the characterization of additional factors recently reported to modulate fork pausing in different systems. Specifically, we focus on the positive role of topoisomerases in fork pausing. We describe a model where replisome progression is inherently cautious, which ensures general preservation of fork stability and genome integrity but can also carry out specialized functions at certain loci. Furthermore, we highlight classical and novel outstanding questions in the field and propose venues for addressing them. Given how little is known about replisome pausing at protein barriers in human cells more studies are required to address how conserved these mechanisms are.
Effect of Binding Energies on the Encounter Desorption

The abundance of interstellar ice constituents is usually expressed with respect to the water ice because, in denser regions, a significant portion of the interstellar grain surface would be covered by water ice. The binding energy (BE) or adsorption energy of the interstellar species regulates the chemical complexity of the interstellar grain mantle. Due to the high abundance of water ice, the BE of surface species with the water is usually provided and widely used in astrochemical modeling. However, the hydrogen molecules would cover some part of the grain mantle in the denser and colder part of the interstellar medium. Even at around ∼10 K, few atoms and simple molecules with lower adsorption energies can migrate through the surface. The BE of the surface species with H2 substrate would be very different from that of a water substrate. However, adequate information regarding these differences is lacking. Here, we employ the quantum chemical calculation to provide the BE of 95 interstellar species with H2 substrate. These are representative of the BEs of species to a H2 overlayer on a grain surface. On average, we notice that the BE with the H2 monomer substrate is almost ten times lower than the BE of these species reported earlier with the H2O c-tetramer configuration. The encounter desorption of H and H2 was introduced [with E D ( H , H 2 ) = 45 K and E D ( H 2 , H 2 ) = 23 K ] to have a realistic estimation of the abundances of the surface species in the colder and denser region. Our quantum chemical calculations yield higher adsorption energy of H2 than that of H [ E D ( H , H 2 ) = 23–25 K and E D ( H 2 , H 2 ) = 67–79 K]. We further implement an astrochemical model to study the effect of encounter desorption with the present realistic estimation. The encounter desorption of the N atom [calculations yield E D ( N , H 2 ) = 83 K ] is introduced to study the differences with its inclusion.
Metabolic Hormone Profiles in Breast Milk From Mothers of Moderate-Late Preterm Infants Are Associated With Growth From Birth to 4 Months in a Sex-Specific Manner

Background: Differing environmental conditions experienced by mother-infant dyads may influence composition of the milk received by the infant. As a consequence, diverse milk compositional profiles may contribute to different postnatal outcomes, especially in infants facing adverse perinatal environments. We investigated whether variability in milk concentrations of key metabolic hormones is associated with different growth outcomes in infants born preterm, a perinatal complication known to impact on infant growth. Methods: Human milk samples were collected from 169 mothers of 191 infants enrolled in the DIAMOND trial, a randomized trial of nutrition for moderate-late preterm infants, at 5 and 10 days postpartum and again at 4 months' corrected age and analyzed for leptin, adiponectin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1. Infant weight and body composition were measured at birth, discharge and 4 months' corrected age. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine correlations between milk hormone concentrations, weight z-scores and body composition at discharge and 4 months' corrected age, and weight gain from birth to 4 months' corrected age. Sex-specific interactions were examined. Results: Higher milk IGF-1 concentrations on day 5 after birth were associated with greater infant fat-free mass at 4 months' corrected age. Milk IGF-1 concentrations at 4 months were positively associated with fat mass and fat-free mass at 4 months in boys but not girls. Milk leptin concentrations on day 5 after birth were positively associated with fat mass at discharge from hospital, but negatively associated with fat mass at 4 months' corrected age. No significant association was found for milk adiponectin concentrations. Conclusion: Milk IGF-1 and leptin concentrations in mothers of moderate-late preterm babies are associated with different growth and body composition through to 4 months' corrected age and these associations are often different in boys and girls. The sex-specific effects of nutrient and hormone exposure during early life in preterm infants warrants further investigation to optimize the nutritional care these infants receive, particularly in hospital, where the same nutrition is provided to boys and girls.