Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Produção de biotensoativos a partir de resíduos de óleos e gorduras

O presente trabalho visou a selecao de microrganismos com capacidade de produzir biotensoativos a partir de residuos de oleos e gorduras gerados em restaurantes e industrias alimenticias. Borra de soja, gordura de frango, gordura vegetal hidrogenada e oleo de soja usado em frituras foram estudados como fonte de carbono. Os isolados LMI 6c e LMI 7a, ambos pertencentes ao genero Pseudomonas, foram selecionados como potenciais produtores de biotensoativos. Dentre os residuos propostos, a borra de soja foi considerada o melhor substrato, gerando 9,69 g.L-1 de ramnolipidios e uma tensao superficial de 31 mN/m.
Rho GTPase regulation of reactive oxygen species generation and signalling in platelet function and disease

ABSTRACT Platelets are master regulators and effectors of haemostasis with increasingly recognized functions as mediators of inflammation and immune responses. The Rho family of GTPase members Rac1, Cdc42 and RhoA are known to be major components of the intracellular signalling network critical to platelet shape change and morphological dynamics, thus playing a major role in platelet spreading, secretion and thrombus formation. Initially linked to the regulation of actomyosin contraction and lamellipodia formation, recent reports have uncovered non-canonical functions of platelet RhoGTPases in the regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), where intrinsically generated ROS modulate platelet function and contribute to thrombus formation. Platelet RhoGTPases orchestrate oxidative processes and cytoskeletal rearrangement in an interconnected manner to regulate intracellular signalling networks underlying platelet activity and thrombus formation. Herein we review our current knowledge of the regulation of platelet ROS generation by RhoGTPases and their relationship with platelet cytoskeletal reorganization, activation and function.
COVID-19 diagnosis from chest X-ray images using transfer learning: Enhanced performance by debiasing dataloader

BACKGROUND: Chest X-ray imaging has been proved as a powerful diagnostic method to detect and diagnose COVID-19 cases due to its easy accessibility, lower cost and rapid imaging time. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to improve efficacy of screening COVID-19 infected patients using chest X-ray images with the help of a developed deep convolutional neural network model (CNN) entitled nCoV-NET. METHODS: To train and to evaluate the performance of the developed model, three datasets were collected from resources of “ChestX-ray14”, “COVID-19 image data collection”, and “Chest X-ray collection from Indiana University,” respectively. Overall, 299 COVID-19 pneumonia cases and 1,522 non-COVID 19 cases are involved in this study. To overcome the probable bias due to the unbalanced cases in two classes of the datasets, ResNet, DenseNet, and VGG architectures were re-trained in the fine-tuning stage of the process to distinguish COVID-19 classes using a transfer learning method. Lastly, the optimized final nCoV-NET model was applied to the testing dataset to verify the performance of the proposed model. RESULTS: Although the performance parameters of all re-trained architectures were determined close to each other, the final nCOV-NET model optimized by using DenseNet-161 architecture in the transfer learning stage exhibits the highest performance for classification of COVID-19 cases with the accuracy of 97.1 %. The Activation Mapping method was used to create activation maps that highlights the crucial areas of the radiograph to improve causality and intelligibility. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the proposed CNN model called nCoV-NET can be utilized for reliably detecting COVID-19 cases using chest X-ray images to accelerate the triaging and save critical time for disease control as well as assisting the radiologist to validate their initial diagnosis.
The Differential Diagnosis of Colorectal Polyps Using Colon Capsule Endoscopy

Objective Although colorectal polyps (CPs) can be observed with colon capsule endoscopy (CCE), it is difficult to determine the type of polyp using CCE. The objective of this study was to differentiate adenomatous polyps (APs) from hyperplastic polyps (HPs) with CCE. Methods In this single-center retrospective study, an analysis was conducted on the same CPs with both CCE and colonoscopy (CS) and histopathologically diagnosed as AP or HP. The color difference (ΔE) between the polyp surface and the surrounding mucosa was calculated using the CIE1976 L*a*b* color space method on white light (WL), flexible spectral imaging color enhancement (FICE), and blue mode (BM) CP images. We investigated the ability of the ratio of the color differences (ΔE') to differentiate between APs and HPs. Results The size of all 51 polyps (34 APs, 17 HPs) was 7.5±4.6 mm with CCE and 7.3±4.2 mm with CS, and this difference was not significant (p=0.28). The FICEΔE' of APs was 3.3±1.8, which was significantly higher than the FICEΔE' of HPs (1.3±0.6; p<0.001). A receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that FICEΔE' was useful for differentiating between APs and HPs, with an area under the curve of 0.928 (95% confidence interval, 0.843-1). The sensitivity was 91.2%, and the specificity was 88.2% with a cut-off value of 1.758. Conclusion Using FICE on CCE images of CPs and applying the CIELAB color space method, we were able to differentiate between APs and HPs with high accuracy. This method has the potential to reduce unnecessary CS procedures.
Effect of photobiomodulation therapy on performance and running economy in runners: A randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) on the 3000 m running performance (primary outcome), running economy (RE), metabolic cost and ratings of perceived exertion during running (secondary outcomes). Twenty male endurance athletes performed 4-min treadmill rectangular test at 12 km.h-1 monitored by a gas analyser. After that, PBMT or placebo in each lower limb was applied, followed performed a maximum test of 3000 m. Immediately after 3000 m test, the athletes repeated the treadmill test. Another application of PBMT/placebo was done after the treadmill test, and athletes went back to the laboratory 24 h later to repeat the treadmill test. After a 72 h interval, athletes repeated all procedures with another treatment intervention (PBMT/placebo). Athletes performed the 3000 m running test ~7s faster when treated with PBMT with similar effort score compared placebo condition. The RE remains unchanged immediately post 3000 m running test, nonetheless RE measured post-24 h improved by 5% with PBMT application without changes in metabolic cost. The PBMT pre- and post-conditioning enhanced the 3000 m running performance and improved RE 24 h following the 3000 m test. However, no changes on ratings of perceived exertion and metabolic cost with the application of PBMT.
Recent Advances of DNA Nanostructure‐Based Cell Membrane Engineering

Materials that can regulate the composition and structure of the cell membrane to fabricate engineered cells with defined functions are in high demand. Compared with other biomolecules, DNA has unique advantages in cell membrane engineering due to its excellent programmability and biocompatibility. Especially, the near‐atomic scale precision of DNA nanostructures facilitates the investigation of structure–property relations on the cell membrane. In this review, first the state of the art of functional DNA nanostructures is summarized, and then the overview of the use of DNA nanostructures to engineer the cell membrane is presented. Subsequently, applications of DNA nanostructures in modifying cell membrane morphology, controlling ions transport, and synthesizing high precise liposomes are highlighted. Finally, the challenges and outlook on using DNA nanostructures for cell membrane engineering are discussed.
TRPM2 in ischemic stroke: Structure, molecular mechanisms, and drug intervention

ABSTRACT Ischemic stroke has a high lethality rate worldwide, and novel treatments are limited. Calcium overload is considered to be one of the mechanisms of cerebral ischemia. Transient receptor potential melastatin 2 (TRPM2) is a reactive oxygen species (ROS)-sensitive calcium channel. Cerebral ischemia-induced TRPM2 activation triggers abnormal intracellular Ca2+ accumulation and cell death, which in turn causes irreversible brain damage. Thus, TRPM2 has emerged as a new therapeutic target for ischemic stroke. This review provides data on the expression, structure, and function of TRPM2 and illustrates its cellular and molecular mechanisms in ischemic stroke. Natural and synthetic TRPM2 inhibitors (both specific and nonspecific) are also summarized. The three-dimensional protein structure of TRPM2 has been identified, and we speculate that molecular simulation techniques will be essential for developing new drugs that block TRPM2 channels. These insights about TRPM2 may be the key to find potent therapeutic approaches for the treatment of ischemic stroke.
Combined SVM-PLS Method for Predicting Estrogenic Activities of Organic Chemicals in the Coastal Water

A data set of 517 natural, synthetic and environmental chemicals belonging to a broad range of structural classes have been tested for estrogenic activities (expressed as logREC10) to the estrogen receptor (ER) using a yeast two- hybrid assay. In this study, quantitative structure- activity relationships (QSARs) were determined using two methods, partial least square (PLS) and support vector machine (SVM). The Q 2 cum of the PLS model is 0.678, indicating high robustness and good predictive ability. The correlation coefficient (R) between the observed and the predicted values is 0.870, indicating the predicted values by the final QSAR models were in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. Eight DRAGON descriptors were included in the PLS model, including Mor03p, L3e, R8p, RTv +, R8e, R1p +, R7p + and HATSv, which implies that chemical estrogenic activities are related to atomic properties (atomic Sanderson electronegativities, polarizabilities and van der Waals volumes). Comparison of the results obtained from two models showed that the SVM method exhibited the best overall performances, with a RMS error of 0.145 logREC10 units for the whole set. Moreover, three linear QSAR models were constructed for some specific families based on their chemical structures. These predictive models should be useful to rapidly identify potential estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Low Power Consumption and Reduced Delay Borrow Save Adder Using Dynamic Design Logic

An increase in delay fluctuation and reduction in operating frequency occurs due to low power consumption in Borrow Save Adder (BSA). Therefore, such circuits are not upto expected benefits. A new modulo ex-or adder based on carry correction technique and parallel prefix algorithm is proposed. The n-modulo adder can be divided into four units such as the pre-processing unit, the prefix computation unit, the carry correction unit, and the sum computation unit. In carry correction technique, the output carry from adder computed by prefix computation unit and the final carries is obtained by altering the information carries twice. Also prefix computations is done parallel and carry correction technique is carried out. The proposed modulo adder has better area delay performance and achieves faster operating frequency and it is implemented using Xilinx ISE 9.1/14.2.
Hindi Adaptation of Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Youth Version (PSC-Y)

Background: The Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Youth Version (PSC-Y) is a widely used selfreport measure designed to detect psychosocial dysfunctions in adolescents and youth. PSC-Y has been translated and validated in different languages. However, Hindi translation, as well as psychometric validation of PSC-Y, is yet to be done in India. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to translate the PSC-Y in Hindi language and psychometrically validate it in Indian setting. Method: To ascertain the psychometric properties; the Hindi version of PSC-Y, the Mental Health Inventory, the Adjustment Inventory, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered to 300 secondary and higher secondary students of different schools of Varanasi and nearby places. Furthermore, after one month the Hindi translated version of PSC-Y was re-administered on 178 students. Results: Findings of the present study suggest that the Hindi version of PSC-Y has high testretest reliability (r= 0.82, p< 0.01), and strong internal consistency (Cronbach α = 0.84, p < 0.01; Spearman-Brown r = 0.82, p< 0.01). The concurrent validity of the tool is also good, along with its sensitivity and specificity in detecting anxiety, depression and general mental health.
Riboflavin Soaking of the CoRnea : aChieving optimal DiffuSion

Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) has gained worldwide popularity over the past several years as an effective means of strengthening the cornea and thereby reducing, if not eliminating, the progression of ectatic disorders of the cornea such as keratoconus, pellucid marginal degeneration, and post-LASIK ectasia. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), in the presence of ultraviolet-A (UV-A) light, has been purported to create links between collagen fibers in the cornea. With the creation of these links, the cornea theoretically becomes more rigid and resists further ectatic progression. As an additional benefit, corneal remodeling may result in improved refractive and visual outcomes, although patients must be counseled that refractive correction with contact lenses will still be required. Patients frequently become more contact lens tolerant following CXL. An essential requirement for CXL is obtaining an adequate concentration of riboflavin within the corneal stroma. This step serves two main purposes: (1) Riboflavin acts as a photosensitizer so that UV-A light can complete the CXL process, and (2) riboflavin absorbs excess UV-A so that damage to deeper structures within the eye (the endothelium, lens, and retina) is minimized. In the late 1990s, the first clinical studies of CXL were performed by a group in Dresden led by Theo Seiler, MD, PhD.1,2 The photosensitizer used at that time was 0.1% isotonic riboflavin solution in 20% dextran. This formulation had limited ability to penetrate the intact epithelium. The Dresden protocol therefore required epithelial removal in order to allow better penetration of the riboflavin preparation. Their successful results became the basis for the rapid adoption of this procedure.
Task-Adaptive Robot Learning From Demonstration With Gaussian Process Models Under Replication

Learning from Demonstration (LfD) is a paradigm that allows robots to learn complex manipulation tasks that can not be easily scripted, but can be demonstrated by a human teacher. One of the challenges of LfD is to enable robots to acquire skills that can be adapted to different scenarios. In this letter, we propose to achieve this by exploiting the variations in the demonstrations to retrieve an adaptive and robust policy, using Gaussian Process (GP) models. Adaptability is enhanced by incorporating task parameters into the model, which encode different specifications within the same task. With our formulation, these parameters can be either real, integer, or categorical. Furthermore, we propose a GP design that exploits the structure of replications, i.e., repeated demonstrations with identical conditions within data. Our method significantly reduces the computational cost of model fitting in complex tasks, where replications are essential to obtain a robust model. We illustrate our approach through several experiments on a handwritten letter demonstration dataset.
Response to crowded conditions reveals compact nucleus for amyloid formation of folded protein

Abstract Although the consequences of the crowded cell environments may affect protein folding, function and misfolding reactions, these processes are often studied in dilute solutions in vitro. We here used biophysical experiments to investigate the amyloid fibril formation process of the fish protein apo-β-parvalbumin in solvent conditions that mimic steric and solvation aspects of the in vivo milieu. Apo-β-parvalbumin is a folded protein that readily adopts an amyloid state via a nucleation–elongation mechanism. Aggregation experiments in the presence of macromolecular crowding agents (probing excluded volume, entropic effects) as well as small molecule osmolytes (probing solvation, enthalpic effects) revealed that both types of agents accelerate overall amyloid formation, but the elongation step was faster with macromolecular crowding agents but slower in the presence of osmolytes. The observations can be explained by the steric effects of excluded volume favoring assembled states and that amyloid nucleation does not involve monomer unfolding. In contrast, the solvation effects due to osmolyte presence promote nucleation but not elongation. Therefore, the amyloid-competent nuclei must be compact with less osmolytes excluded from the surface than either the folded monomers or amyloid fibers. We conclude that, in contrast to other amyloidogenic folded proteins, amyloid formation of apo-β-parvalbumin is accelerated by crowded cell-like conditions due to a nucleation process that does not involve large-scale protein unfolding.
The resistance and thermoelectric properties of the transition metals

1—In two recent papers the author has given for the transition metals a theory of electrical conduction which accounts for many of their peculiarities. In Paper I a reason was given for their relatively high resistivities and for the shape of the curves obtained when the resistivity of an alloy such as Ag-Pd is plotted against atomic composition; in Paper II behaviour at high temperatures of Pd and Pt was discussed, and also of the resistance of ferromagnetic metals and of alloys such as constantan (Cu-Ni). In this paper it will be shown that the theory can give an account of some of the thermoelectric properties of these metals and alloys. The thermoelectric properties of ferromagnetic metals are of especial interest, because they have been cited as evidence that the same electrons are responsible for the ferromagnetism as for the conductivity. We shall also give a further discussion of the electrical resistance both of paramagnetic and of ferromagnetic metals and a more detailed comparison with experiments than was attempted in Paper II. In all metals the possible stationary stated of an electron may be divided into zones (the "Brillouin Zones"); for cubic metals the first zone contains 2N states per N atoms; Jones§ has shown that for the bismuth structure a zone exists containing 5N electrons. Two zones may either be separated by a range of forbidden energies, or they may overlap. If all the states of a given zone are occupied, that zone can make no contribution to the conductivity of the metal. In the divalent metals or in bismuth the available electrons could just fill a zone; but, since these metals are conductors, we must assume that there are a certain number N n of "overlapping" electrons in the second zone and an equal number of vacant places or "positive holes" in the first zone. The assumption that n is small compared with unity accounts for the fact that divalent metals and bismuth are poor conductors compared with monovalent metals; it is not necessary to assume that the mean free path is different for the two groups.
Associations between the Dark Triad and online communication behavior: A brief report of preliminary findings

ABSTRACT The recent and rapid growth of user engagement on online and social media platforms has attracted increasing attention from communication scholars. Troublingly, little is known about the relationship between “dark” personalities and online communication behavior. There is a distinct need for communication scholars to investigate the impact of anti-social personality traits on computer- mediated communication behavior. To address this, we conducted a survey (N = 147) among undergraduate students living in the US to identify the association between the three Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and six computer-mediated communication outcomes (e.g., compulsive Internet behavior, opinion leadership, perceived anonymity, media trust, social media self-presentation, and psychological reactance). We also examine gender as a potential moderator. These findings show a distinct relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and computer-mediated communication outcomes, highlighting the importance of considering these psychological individual differences in future research in this area.
Volatile fatty acid production during anaerobic mesophilic digestion of solid potato waste

The production of volatile fatty acids by anaerobic digestion of solid potato waste was investigated using a batch solid waste reactor with a working capacity of 2 dm(-3) at 37degreesC. Solid potato waste was packed into the digester and the organic content of the waste was released by microbial activity by circulating water over the bed, using batch loads of 500g or 1000 g potato waste. The sequence of appearance of the volatile fatty acids was (acetic, propionic); (n-butyric); (n-valeric, iso-valeric, caproic); (iso-butyric). After 300 h digestion of potato waste on a small scale, the fermentation products were chiefly (mg g(-1) total VFAs): acetic acid (420), butyric acid (310), propionic acid (140) and caproic acid (90), with insignificant amounts of iso-butyric acid, n-valeric and iso-valeric acids. When the load of potato solids was increased, the volatile fatty acid content was similar, but butyric acid constituted 110 mg g(-1) and lactic acid 400 mg g(-1) of the total volatile fatty acids. The maximum soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) achieved under the experimental conditions used was 27 and 37 g COD dm(-3) at low and high loadings of potato solids, respectively. The total volatile fatty acids reached 19 g dm(-3) of leachate at both loads of potato solid waste. Gas production was negligible, indicating that methanogenic activity was effectively inhibited. (C) 2004 Society of Chemical Industry. (Less)