Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Screening donor groups of organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Based on an experimentally synthesized dye D5 (also named d01 in this work), we designed and screened a series of dyes d02–d06 with different electron donors, such as diphenyl ethylene benzene, phenothiazine and perylene and d07–d12, by modifying the donor of d06 using different electron-donating groups. The results indicate that the donor in d12 is a promising electron donor. Therefore, we further designed six novel D–π–A structures of BUCT7–BUCT12 by using the electron donor in d12 as a donor, any two of 3,4-ethylenedioxy thiophene (EDOT), thienothiophene and dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d] thiophene (s-DTT) groups as a π-conjugated bridge, and dicyanovinyl carboxylic acid and dicyanovinyl sulfonic acid as the acceptors. The calculated results indicate that BUCT7–BUCT12 dyes show smaller HOMO–LUMO energy gaps, higher molar extinction coefficients and obvious redshifts compared to the experimentally synthesized d01 dye. In particular, the newly designed BUCT8 dye not only exhibits a redshift of 134 nm and a higher molar extinction coefficient with an increment of 74.1% compared to d01 dye, but also has an extremely broad absorption spectrum covering the entire visible range up to the near-IR region of 1000 nm. In addition, we also found that the dyes with dicyanovinyl sulfonic acid as the electron acceptor are superior to the ones with dicyanovinyl carboxylic acid.
Discretization and Optimization using Graphs: One-Dimensional Algorithm

We consider the problem of discretizing one-dimensional, real-valued functions as graphs. The goal is to find a small set of points, from which we can approximate the remaining function values. The method for approximating the unknown values is interpolation on a discrete graph structure. From the discrete graph structure, we build a refined approximation to the function over its domain. This fine approximation can then be used for problems such as optimization, which we illustrate by identifying local minima.
Vergence Eye Movements: From Basic Science to Clinical Application - Foreword to the Special Issue

The abstract book of the last European Conference on Eye Movements [1] lists abstracts of 373 presentations, but less than five percent investigate vergence eye movements, i.e. the coordination of the right and left eye. Why then a special issue on this neglected issue? Human vision under natural conditions involves both eyes in coordination controlled by interacting processes subsumed under the concept of vergence. Further, vergence is important for people in their daily lives since disorders of vergence can have serious consequences: ophthalmologists deal with squinting patients on the basis of heterophoria and heterotropia testing, eye strain or visual complaints can be related to impaired vergence dynamic or less accurate static vergence, remediation by optometrist includes vergence training or prism eye glasses, etc.
Vpr drives massive cellular proteome remodelling in HIV-1 infection

Viral infection causes global remodelling of the cellular proteome. We previously mapped the temporal changes in abundance of thousands of proteins in HIV-1 infected cells (Greenwood & Matheson, 2016). While a small proportion of these changes were attributable to specific HIV-1 accessory proteins, most were unexplained. Here, we use complementary unbiased mass spectrometry-based approaches to demonstrate that a single viral protein, Vpr, is both necessary and sufficient to cause the vast majority of these changes. This global protein regulation requires substrate binding and degradation via DCAF1, but is mostly independent of Vpr-mediated cell cycle arrest. Combined approaches of pulsed-Stable Isotope Labelling with Amino Acids in Cell Culture (pulsed-SILAC) and immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry (IP-MS) identified at least 38 such cellular proteins directly targeted for degradation by Vpr. Thus, whilst other HIV-1 accessory proteins downregulate a small number of host factors, Vpr degrades multiple protein targets, causing systems-level remodelling of the cellular proteome. Impact statement HIV infection causes massive changes to the cellular proteome and a single HIV protein, Vpr, is necessary and sufficient to drive almost all these changes by degrading multiple host proteins.
Polymer‐TiO2 Nanocomposites: A Route Towards Visually Transparent Broadband UV Filters and High Refractive Index Materials

Colloids of TiO2, where rutile was the only crystal modification which could be detected, with ca. 2.5 nm average particle diameter were synthesized by hydrolysis of TiCl4 in acidic solutions. The as-prepared particles were incorporated in polymers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVAL), partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAC88), polyvinylpyrrolidone, and poly(4-vinylpyridine). Nanocomposites transparent in the visible range were obtained. The highest TiO2 contents in such materials were achieved with PVAL and PVAC88, with TiO2 contents of ca. 35 wt. -% (i.e. 10.5 vol.-%). In particular, the nanocomposites with TiO2 contents above 24 wt. -% acted as efficient UV filters for radiation up to ca. 360 nm. At very low TiO2 contents, an absorption maximum of the embedded TiO2 particles was observed at 225 nm with an extinction coefficient of 140 000 cm−1 and a full width at half maximum of 45 nm, i.e. not only the absorption at the maximum at 225 nm but also at the flank of this band contributed significantly to the broadband UV absorption in the nanocomposites at higher TiO2 fractions. The incorporation of TiO2 enhanced the refractive index of the nanocomposites: for instance a refractive index of 1.609 was measured for a nanocomposite comprising 10.5 vol.-% TiO2 in PVAL, compared with 1.521 for the pristine polymer. TEM image of a section of a nanocomposite of poly(vinyl alcohol) and 11 wt. -% TiO2 (appearing dark).
Dissociable brain mechanisms for long-term memory of disgust- and fear- related associations

Many associative memory traces are charged with emotion that can either impair or enhance subsequent retrieval. Various factors may influence such emotion effects, including the nature of associations and type of emotions. We show that long-term recognition memory of very close verbal associations was enhanced for emotionally charged material, and these effects differed between two negative emotion categories matched for arousal level. Specifically, memory was better for word pairs related to disgust than word pairs related to fear. Furthermore, these two emotions distinctively modulated neural processes during encoding and its relationship with retrieval, regardless of arousal evoked by word pairs. Amygdala and perirhinal cortex activity were associated with enhanced memory for disgust-related unitizations, whereas better memory for fear-related unitizations engaged parahippocampal cortex and hippocampus. Finally, the magnitude of amygdala activation during encoding was related to the subsequent fidelity of hippocampal activity patterns during retrieval. These results show that dissociable neural pathways and reinstatement mechanisms are involved in associative memory for different emotion categories and that arousal alone cannot fully explain emotional influences on associative memory.
Avaliação de três diferentes métodos para o controle de monogenéticos e Capillaria sp. (Nematoda: Capillariidae) parasitos de acará-bandeira (Pterophyllum scalare, Liechtenstein, 1823)

The aim of this assay was to evaluate three methods for control of helminth parasites of angel fish fry. Fifteen young were used for the initial parasites counts: the average number of monogeneans in the gills was 50 ± 28, and that of nematodes in the intestine was 14 ± 9. Statistical test was used following randomized delineation (RD) with four treatments and 15 replicates for the parameters of average infestation, and a RD of four treatments and three repetitions for the prevalence parameter. The used treatments were: T1 - consisted in change of fish from one to another aquarium; T2 - fish fed with ration containing 1,000 mg of levamisole/kg+2,000 mg of praziquantel/kg, with aquarium change; T3 - fish submitted to aquarium change and treatment (bath) with 15 mg of formalin (37%) per liter of water for 6 alternated days; and the Control. The analysis of the results shows that the aquarium change and the treatment with formalin decrease the number of monogenean parasites (p < 0.01); however, significant differences with relation to the prevalence of this parasite were not found, demonstrating that although the decrease of the number, it was present in all fish. For nematodes, significant decrease in the number was observed (p < 0.01) in the fish treated with ration containing levamisole and praziquantel, and the decrease of prevalence can also be verified in the aquarium change and ration treatments, meaning that some fish did not present the parasite after the treatment. In conclusion, the treatment with formalin was efficient for the monogenean parasites control, however a constant accomplishment is necessary, since even after the treatment the fish presented the parasites, and the treatment with ration was efficient for the nematodes control. It was still verified that the change of aquarium allowed a smaller number of parasites, indicating there were a smaller infestation rate due to the break of the parasite life cycle.
Solubility and Kinetic Release Studies of Naproxen and Ibuprofen in Soluble Epichlorohydrin-β-cyclodextrin Polymer

Naproxen (NAP) and ibuprofen (IBU) are poor water soluble anti-inflammatory drugs. A water-soluble epichlorohydrin-β-cyclodextrin polymer (β-CDEPI) was synthesized in a highly basic aqueous solution and at a molar ratio β-CD/EPI of 1:12. Drug solubility and kinetic release of NAP and IBU from the inclusion complexes they form with β-CDEPI as host was studied. Water solubility for both drugs in the presence of this polymer increased (NAP 0.28 mmol and IBU 0.40 mmol per gram of β-CDEPI). The apparent inclusion constants for both drugs in β-CDEPI were calculated from the solubility-phase diagrams with Kincl values of 4300 ± 100 L.mol− 1 for NAP and 5100 ± 300 L.mol− 1 for IBU. Kinetic release of Ibuprofen gave a pure Fick trend (t1/2) behavior. However, for Naproxen a zero order was obtained (t). These results indicate that the nature and bulkiness of the drugs are ruling these kinetic behaviors in the environment of a highly branched polymer.
Do Shareholder Activism Effect Corporate Governance and Related Party Transactions: Evidences from India?

The study investigates the relationship between corporate governance performance, related party transactions and shareholder activism among listed firms in India. The study provides valuable insights into the impact of shareholder activism on corporate governance performance (CGP) and the occurrence of related party transactions (RPTs). Results infer a significant difference in overall CGP between the firms subjected to shareholder activism and firms not subjected to shareholder activism. The study proposes significant evidence on the close monitoring of the governance practices of the firm by activists’ investor and they respond immediately to any evidence of poor governance practice of the firm. A significant difference was found in the amount of sales to RP prior to the incidence of SA than the post incidence of SA for the firms subjected to SA. However, no such difference was found with respect to other major components of RP.
Neurocognition-inspired design with machine learning

Abstract Generating designs via machine learning has been an on-going challenge in computer-aided design. Recently, deep learning methods have been applied to randomly generate images in fashion, furniture and product design. However, such deep generative methods usually require a large number of training images and human aspects are not taken into account in the design process. In this work, we seek a way to involve human cognitive factors through brain activity indicated by electroencephalographic measurements (EEG) in the generative process. We propose a neuroscience-inspired design with a machine learning method where EEG is used to capture preferred design features. Such signals are used as a condition in generative adversarial networks (GAN). First, we employ a recurrent neural network Long Short-Term Memory as an encoder to extract EEG features from raw EEG signals; this data are recorded from subjects viewing several categories of images from ImageNet. Second, we train a GAN model conditioned on the encoded EEG features to generate design images. Third, we use the model to generate design images from a subject’s EEG measured brain activity. To verify our proposed generative design method, we present a case study, in which the subjects imagine the products they prefer, and the corresponding EEG signals are recorded and reconstructed by our model for evaluation. The results indicate that a generated product image with preference EEG signals gains more preference than those generated without EEG signals. Overall, we propose a neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence design method for generating a design taking into account human preference. The method could help improve communication between designers and clients where clients might not be able to express design requests clearly.
Selecting Aragonez Genotypes Able to Outplay Climate Change–Driven Abiotic Stress

High temperatures and extreme drought are increasingly more frequent in Portugal, which represents a strong threat to viticulture in certain regions of the country. These multifactorial abiotic stresses are threatening viticultural areas worldwide, and the problem can hardly be overcome only by changing cultural practices. This scenario has raised a major challenge for plant scientists to find ways to adapt existing varieties to the new conditions without loss of their characteristic flavors, yield, and associated varietal character of wines. Aragonez (syn. Tempranillo) is one such variety, widely cultivated in Portugal and Spain, with specific characteristics associated with terroir. In this context, insight into intravarietal variability to enable its exploitation for selection becomes an important tool to mitigate the effect of multifactorial stresses driven by climate changes. The present work describes an innovative selection approach: selection for abiotic stress tolerance, measured by the leaf temperature of clones under environmental conditions of drought and extreme heat. This evaluation was complemented with values of yield and quality characteristics of the must (pH, acidity, °Brix, and anthocyanins). The application of this methodology was done in an experimental population of 255 clones of Tempranillo for 3 years. The genotypes were then ranked according to their level of tolerance to abiotic stress without loss of yield/quality. To understand the differences at the transcription level that could account for such variability, several of the most tolerant and most sensitive genotypes were analyzed for key genes using reverse transcriptase–quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The results enabled the selection of a group of genotypes with increased tolerance to stress, in relation to the average of the variety, which maintained the typical must quality of Aragonez. In parallel, several transcripts previously acknowledged as markers for abiotic stress tolerance were identified in several clones and are possible targets for plant breeding and genetic modification and/or to develop screening procedures to select genotypes better adapted to the abiotic stress driven by climate change.
Natural Products that Target the NLRP3 Inflammasome to Treat Fibrosis

Fibrosis is a common pathway followed by different organs after injury, and it can lead to parenchymal scarring, cellular dysfunction, and even organ failure. The NLRP3 inflammasome is a multiprotein complex composed of the sensor molecule NLRP3, the adaptor apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC), and the effector protease caspase-1. Overactivation of the NLRP3 inflammasome triggers the abundant secretion of IL-1β and IL-18, induces pyroptosis, and promotes the release of a swathe of proinflammatory proteins, all of which contribute to fibrogenic processes in multiple organs. In recent years, screening bioactive natural compounds for NLRP3 inhibitors to alleviate fibrosis has gained broad interest from the scientific community because of the associated cost-effectiveness and easy access. In this review, we systematically and comprehensively summarize the natural products, including terpenoids, phenols, and alkaloids, among others, and the plant-derived crude extracts, that have been reported to ameliorate fibrosis via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and highlight the underlying mechanisms. Among all the compounds, diterpenoids is the most promising candidates for inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and improving fibrosis, as they possess combined inhibitory effect on NLRP3 inflammasome assembly and NF-κB signaling pathway. All the information may aid in the development of therapeutic strategies for the treatment of fibrotic diseases.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Tanreqing Inhibits Quorum Sensing Systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can infect a wide variety of hosts including humans, plants, and animals. The production of virulence factors is the determinant of the infection paradigm and is under orchestrated regulation via cell-to-cell communication process called quorum sensing (QS). To disable QS circuits and prevent bacterial infections, a large battery of anti-QS agents, particularly from traditional Chinese medicine have been developed. Here, we used P. aeruginosa as a model microorganism to investigate the effect of traditional Chinese medicine Tanreqing (TRQ) formula on bacterial pathogenicity. Phenotypic analysis showed that TRQ treatment could completely inhibit the production of phenazine pyocyanin and moderately inhibit the production of virulence factors such as rhamnolipids, elastase, and alkaline protease. Further transcriptomic analyses revealed that TRQ treatment could significantly attenuate the expression of QS-regulated genes in P. aeruginosa and TRQ-treated P. aeruginosa regulon shared a large overlap with QS regulon. Component contribution to QS inhibition shed light on the indispensable role of all five components in TRQ formula. Further genetic analysis indicated that upstream regulators of QS systems, including two-component systems GacS/GacA and PprA/PprB, were both inhibited by TRQ treatment. Finally, our TRQ formula could efficiently protect Caenorhabditis elegans from killing by P. aeruginosa. Altogether, we have proved TRQ formula as an effective and specific agent to attenuate bacterial virulence and combat bacterial infections.
Large-Scale Assessment of Health-Related Physical Fitness in French Older Adults: Feasibility and Validity

Objectives: This study aims to assess the validity, internal consistency, implementation, and feasibility of a sequence of tests, the Vitality Test Battery, designed to measure physical fitness, at a large scale in French older adults. Methods: A total of 528 volunteers (age ≥60 years) took the battery of 10 tests: 6-min walk, trunk strength, hand grip strength, medicine ball throwing, 30-s chair stand, flexibility, balance, plate tapping, ruler drop, and dual task. Results: Internal consistency was high, with the Cronbach alpha coefficients at around 0.77, explaining 64% of the variance. The test–retest correlations (0.3–0.6) between the items were acceptable and displayed an internal consistency property. Although five components explained 65% of the variance, all the items were kept because their eigenvalues were near to 0.9. External consistency was validated by a significant decrease in fitness scores (p < 0.001) with age and body mass index. Discussion: The Vitality Test Battery is a safe, valid tool for assessing physical fitness in persons aged over 60 years.
Psychometric Evaluation and Comparison of Two Gaming Disorder Measures Derived From the DSM-5 and ICD-11 Frameworks

Gaming disorder was listed as a condition for further study in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013, and measures of the disorder have mushroomed in the years since. The Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) was developed after gaming disorder was officially included in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in 2018. However, it remains unknown whether the GDT, which is based on the ICD-11 framework, is psychometrically similar to or different from the popular nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS9-SF) based on the DSM-5 framework. To address this important but unexplored issue, the present study evaluated and compared the psychometric properties of the GDT and IGDS9-SF in a sample of 544 adult gamers (56.2% men; mean age = 28.8, SD = 8.55). The results revealed both measures to have good reliability, structural validity, and criterion validity, with the exception of one IGDS9-SF item with a low factor loading. Moreover, the IGDS9-SF exhibited scalar measurement invariance for gender and age but only partial metric invariance for employment status, whereas the GDT exhibited scalar measurement invariance for all three demographic characteristics. Finally, the GDT displayed incremental validity over the IGDS9-SF in explaining gaming time, but not social anxiety and depressive symptoms. This study thus contributes to the literature by comparing measures derived from distinct gaming disorder diagnostic frameworks empirically. Recommendations for the selection of gaming disorder measures by researchers and practitioners are discussed.
Association Between Hearing Characteristics/Prognosis and Vestibular Function in Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss With Vertigo

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients with vertigo have a poorer prognosis. However, the factors associated with hearing recovery remain uncertain. This retrospective study was to evaluate the association between hearing characteristics/hearing recovery and the patterns of vestibulocochlear lesions in SSNHL patients with vertigo. Patients were classified into groups according to the patterns of vestibular dysfunction. We not only compared hearing characteristics and prognosis among subgroups but also determined the potential association between vestibular lesion location and hearing recovery. The shapes of the audiogram differed significantly between patients with normal vestibular function and patients with vestibular dysfunction (p = 0.022). Patients whose audiogram indicated profound hearing loss were 3.89 times more likely to have vestibular dysfunction than those whose audiogram shape indicated low-frequency hearing loss (95% CI, 1.02–14.86, p = 0.047). Patients who had saccule dysfunction were 0.11 times as likely to have hearing recovery than those who had normal saccule function (95% CI, 0.11–0.31, p = 0.001). When adjusted for sex and age, patients who had saccule dysfunction were 0.07 times as likely to have hearing recovery than those who had normal saccule function (95% CI, 0.02–0.22, p = 0.001). Abnormal results following cVEMP testing may be a potential predictive factor for poor hearing recovery.