Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Review on the Interaction Between the Host GTPase Rab11 and Influenza A Virus

This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the deadliest pandemic outbreaks, commonly referred as the Spanish Flu, that was caused by influenza A virus (IAV). Since then, IAV has been in governmental agendas worldwide, and a lot of effort has been put into understanding the pathogen’s lifecycle, predict and mitigate the emergence of the strains that provoke yearly epidemics and pandemic events. Despite decades of research and seminal contributions there is still a lot to be investigated. In particular for this review, IAV lifecycle that takes place inside the host cell is not fully understood. Two steps that need clarification include genome transport to budding sites and genome assembly, the latter a complex process challenged by the nature of IAV genome that is divided into eight distinct parts. Assembly of such segmented genome is crucial to form fully infectious viral particles but is also critical for the emergence of viruses with pandemic potential that arise when avian and human IAV strains co-infect a host. The host GTPase Rab11 was separately implicated in both steps, and, interestingly these processes are beginning to emerge as being intimately related. Rab11 was initially proposed to be involved in the budding/release of IAV virions. It was subsequently shown to transport progeny genome, and later proposed to promote assembly of viral genome, but the underlying bridging mechanism the two is far from clear. For simplicity, this Rab11-centric review provides an initial separate account of Rab11 involvement in genome transport and in assembly. IAV genome assembly is a complicated molecular biology process, and therefore earned a dedicated section on how/if the viral genome forms a genomic supramolecular complex. Both topics present intricate challenges, outstanding questions, and unique controversies. At the end of the review, I will explore possible mechanisms intertwining IAV vRNP transport and genome assembly. Importantly, Rab11 has recently emerged as a key factor subverted by evolutionary unrelated viral families (Paramyxo, Bunya, and Orthomyxoviruses, among many others) and bacteria (Salmonella and Shigella) relevant to human health. This review provides a framework to identify common biological principles among the lifecycles of these pathogens.
Picoeukaryotic Diversity And Activity in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean Based on rDNA and rRNA High-Throughput Sequencing

Picoeukaryotes play an important role in the biogenic element cycle and energy flow in oligotrophic ecosystems. However, their biodiversity and activity are poorly studied in open ocean systems, such as the northwestern Pacific Ocean, which is characterized by a complex hydrological setting. Here, we investigated the diversity and activity of picoeukaryotes in the northwestern Pacific Ocean using high-throughput sequencing targeting the V9 region of 18S rDNA and rRNA. Our results showed that the DNA picoeukaryotic communities were mainly represented by Mamiellophyceae, MAST, MALV-II, Spirotrichea, Prymnesiophyceae, and MALV-I (69.33% of the total DNA reads), and the RNA communities were dominated by Spirotrichea, Mamiellophyceae, MAST, Pelagophyceae, and MALV-II (67.46% of the total RNA reads). The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was significantly affected by temperature and salinity, and was decreased with the increasing nutrient concentration both in the DNA and RNA surveys. Significant differences were observed in the community composition between DNA-based and RNA-based molecular approaches, and these differences were mainly attributed to Mamiellophyceae, Spirotrichea, and Pelagophyceae. The RNA: DNA ratio was used as a proxy for relative metabolic activity of the individual OTUs. We found that the relative metabolic activities of Mamiellophyceae, Spirotrichea, and Pelagophyceae species in the northwestern Pacific Ocean were highly affected by the nutrient concentration, i.e., the NO3 + NO2 and SiO3 concentration. Overall, our study shed light on picoeukaryotic diversity and distribution in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and revealed the correlation between the diversity, relative metabolic activities of marine picoeukaryotes, and the environmental factors.
Radiation Induces Distinct Changes in Defined Subpopulations of Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells in the Adult Hippocampus

While irradiation can effectively treat brain tumors, this therapy also causes cognitive impairments, some of which may stem from the disruption of hippocampal neurogenesis. To study how radiation affects neurogenesis, we combine phenotyping of subpopulations of hippocampal neural stem and progenitor cells with double- and triple S-phase labeling paradigms. Using this approach, we reveal new features of division, survival, and differentiation of neural stem and progenitor cells after exposure to gamma radiation. We show that dividing neural stem cells, while susceptible to damage induced by gamma rays, are less vulnerable than their rapidly amplifying progeny. We also show that dividing stem and progenitor cells that survive irradiation are suppressed in their ability to replicate 0.5–1 day after the radiation exposure. Suppression of division is also observed for cells that entered the cell cycle after irradiation or were not in the S phase at the time of exposure. Determining the longer term effects of irradiation, we found that 2 months after exposure, radiation-induced suppression of division is partially relieved for both stem and progenitor cells, without evidence for compensatory symmetric divisions as a means to restore the normal level of neurogenesis. By that time, most mature young neurons, born 2–4 weeks after the irradiation, still bear the consequences of radiation exposure, unlike younger neurons undergoing early stages of differentiation without overt signs of deficient maturation. Later, 6 months after an exposure to 5 Gy, cell proliferation and neurogenesis are further impaired, though neural stem cells are still available in the niche, and their pool is preserved. Our results indicate that various subpopulations of stem and progenitor cells in the adult hippocampus have different susceptibility to gamma radiation, and that neurogenesis, even after a temporary restoration, is impaired in the long term after exposure to gamma rays. Our study provides a framework for investigating critical issues of neural stem cell maintenance, aging, interaction with their microenvironment, and post-irradiation therapy.
Role of Decompressive Craniectomy in Ischemic Stroke

Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes for death and disability worldwide. In patients with large space-occupying infarction, the subsequent edema complicated by transtentorial herniation poses a lethal threat. Especially in patients with malignant middle cerebral artery infarction, brain swelling secondary to the vessel occlusion is associated with high mortality. By decompressive craniectomy, a significant proportion of the skull is surgically removed, allowing the ischemic tissue to shift through the surgical defect rather than to the unaffected regions of the brain, thus avoiding secondary damage due to increased intracranial pressure. Several studies have shown that decompressive craniectomy reduces the mortality rate in patients with malignant cerebral artery infarction. However, this is done for the cost of a higher proportion of patients who survive with severe disability. In this review, we will describe the clinical and radiological features of malignant middle cerebral artery infarction and the role of decompressive craniectomy and additional therapies in this condition. We will also discuss large cerebellar stroke and the possibilities of suboccipital craniectomy.
Laparoscopic Reversal of Tubal Sterilization; A Retrospective Study Over 135 Cases

Objectives: To evaluate the pregnancy and delivery rates of laparoscopic tubal reanastomosis. Study Design: From 2003 to 2013, 135 laparoscopic tubal reversals were performed according to the four stitch technique. The parameters studied, included positive pregnancy test, miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, termination of pregnancy, term delivery, post-operative time to conception, post-operative hysterosalpingography, and spermogram. Results: From the 135 patients operated, 93 fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The age of patients varied from 27 to 47 years old. All ages combined, positive β-HCG blood sample rate was 75.3% (95% CI: 65.0–83.4%) and term delivery 52.7% (95%CI: 42.1–3.0%). The age-adjusted pregnancy and delivery rates were as follows: 27–35 y.o. (n = 23) 95.7% (95%CI: 76.0–99.8%) and 73.9% (95%CI: 51.3–88.9%), 36–39 y.o. (n = 40) 77.5% (95%CI: 61.1–88.6%) and 47.5% (95%CI: 31.8–63.7%), 40–42 y.o. (n = 19) 68.4% (95%CI: 43.5–86.4%) and 52.6% (95%CI: 29.5–74.8%), 43–47 y.o. (n = 11) 36.4% (95%CI: 12.4–68.4%) and 27.3% (95%CI: 7.3–60.7%). Conclusions: In our series the pregnancy and delivery rates after laparoscopic reversal of tubal sterilization is estimated at 75.3 and 52.7%, respectively. For women with tubal sterilization and no other infertility factors, reanastomosis can restore anterior natural fertility related to age. Laparoscopic reversal should be proposed systematically to patients and performed by well-trained laparoscopists, avoiding potentially the inconvenient and adverse outcomes of an IVF treatment. Although, it may seem a more cost-effective technique compared to robotically assisted reversal, a prospective randomized trial could answer this question.
Different Transcriptomic Responses to Thermal Stress in Heat-Tolerant and Heat-Sensitive Pacific Abalones Indicated by Cardiac Performance

The Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai is one of the most economically important mollusks in China. Even though it has been farmed in southern China for almost 20 years, summer mortality remains the most challengeable problem for Pacific abalone aquaculture recently. Here, we determined the different heat tolerance ability for five selective lines of H. discus hannai by measuring the cardiac performance and Arrhenius breakpoint temperature (ABT). The Red line (RL) and Yangxia line (YL) were determined as the most heat-sensitive and most heat-tolerant line, respectively. Heart rates for RL were significantly lower than those of the YL at the same temperature (p < 0.05). The differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were enriched in several pathways including cardiac muscle contraction, glutathione metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation, were identified between RL and YL at control temperature (20°C) and heat stress temperature (28.5°C, the ABT of the RL) by RNA-seq method. In the RL, 3370 DEGs were identified between the control and the heat-stress temperature, while only 1351 DEGs were identified in YL between these two temperature tests. Most of these DEGs were enriched in the pathways such as protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain (NOD) like receptor signaling, and ubiquitin mediated proteolysis. Notably, the most heat-tolerant line YL used an effective heat-protection strategy based on moderate transcriptional changes and regulation on the expression of key genes.
Antipsychotic Drug Responsiveness and Dopamine Receptor Signaling; Old Players and New Prospects

Antipsychotic drugs targeting dopamine neurotransmission are still the principal mean of therapeutic intervention for schizophrenia. However, about one third of people do not respond to dopaminergic antipsychotics. Genome wide association studies (GWAS), have shown that multiple genetic factors play a role in schizophrenia pathophysiology. Most of these schizophrenia risk variants are not related to dopamine or antipsychotic drugs mechanism of action. Genetic factors have also been implicated in defining response to antipsychotic medication. In contrast to disease risk, variation of genes coding for molecular targets of antipsychotics have been associated with treatment response. Among genes implicated, those involved in dopamine signaling mediated by D2-class dopamine receptor, including DRD2 itself and its molecular effectors, have been implicated as key genetic predictors of response to treatments. Studies have also reported that genetic variation in genes coding for proteins that cross-talk with DRD2 at the molecular level, such as AKT1, GSK3B, Beta-catenin, and PPP2R2B are associated with response to antipsychotics. In this review we discuss the relative contribution to antipsychotic drug responsiveness of candidate genes and GWAS identified genes encoding proteins involved in dopamine responses. We also suggest that in addition of these older players, a deeper investigation of new GWAS identified schizophrenia risk genes such as FXR1 can provide new prospects that are not clearly engaged in dopamine function while being targeted by dopamine-associated signaling molecules. Overall, further examination of genes proximally or distally related to signaling mechanisms engaged by medications and associated with disease risk and/or treatment responsiveness may uncover an interface between genes involved in disease causation with those affecting disease remediation. Such a nexus would provide realistic targets for therapy and further the development of genetically personalized approaches for schizophrenia.
Methodologies for Assessing Disease Tolerance in Pigs

Features of intensive farming can seriously threaten pig homeostasis, well-being and productivity. Disease tolerance of an organism is the adaptive ability in preserving homeostasis and at the same time limiting the detrimental impact that infection can inflict on its health and performance without affecting pathogen burden per se. While disease resistance (DRs) can be assessed measuring appropriately the pathogen burden within the host, the tolerance cannot be quantified easily. Indeed, it requires the assessment of the changes in performance as well as the changes in pathogen burden. In this paper, special attention is given to criteria required to standardize methodologies for assessing disease tolerance (DT) in respect of infectious diseases in pigs. The concept is applied to different areas of expertise and specific examples are given. The basic physiological mechanisms of DT are reviewed. Disease tolerance pathways, genetics of the tolerance-related traits, stress and disease tolerance, and role of metabolic stress in DT are described. In addition, methodologies based on monitoring of growth and reproductive performance, welfare, emotional affective states, sickness behavior for assessment of disease tolerance, and methodologies based on the relationship between environmental challenges and disease tolerance are considered. Automated Precision Livestock Farming technologies available for monitoring performance, health and welfare-related measures in pig farms, and their limitations regarding DT in pigs are also presented. Since defining standardized methodologies for assessing DT is a serious challenge for biologists, animal scientists and veterinarians, this work should contribute to improvement of health, welfare and production in pigs.
ActionTrip: automating egocentric video production through gestural interaction and landmark awareness

The proliferation of smartphones with video recording and action cameras has empowered users to effortlessly capture everyday moments and activities in video format. This process often results into long video sequences that need to be edited down and summarized in order to be properly archived, shared within social media, or simply projected to family and friends. For those who do not possess video-editing skills, isolating the most appropriate moments is a difficult and time-consuming task. This work presents "ActionTrip", a system that provides gestural user interaction during video-capture, in order to seamlessly tag personal points of interest. In addition, the system captures contextual information about nearby landmarks and information from social networking systems. This combination of personal with social preferences has enabled a single-step final editing process, which presents to the user a small list of points interest (public landmarks and personal preferences), instead of the actual recorded video that might be very long to comprehend. The benefits of this system have been demonstrated through a small-scale case study during the visit and tour in a European city.
Measuring science in our highly digitized world

During the past two decades the availability of scholarly data repositories such as Google Scholar, Elsevier Scopus offered tremendous opportunities to the field of scientometrics to analyze the dynamics of science and help design indicators to evaluate the scientific impact of scholars, journals and academic institutions. Thus, scientometrics transformed fast into the exciting new discipline of Science of Science, which seeks to understand, quantify and predict research activities and the corresponding outcomes. In this article we provide a brief coverage of very recent work related to scientific ranking and impact prediction, aim at deepening our faith to Science of Science and stimulating further efforts in this transdisciplinary field.
Teaching HCI with a studio approach: lessons learnt

HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) education is often referred to as a 'living curriculum', reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the field and the dynamics of many of its components, including interactive technology. Several educators have adopted (and adapted) a design studio approach to HCI courses, especially in MSc and design-oriented postgraduate programs. In this paper, we present an HCI design studio course offered at a department of design engineering in the University of the Aegean, Greece. The approach adopted in the course blends (a) design studio activities: design brief, desk crit, design reviews, portfolio; (b) core HCI and interaction design methods: contextual inquiry, field visits, concept design, wireframes, usability testing, etc. (c) pedagogical principles of problem-based learning (PBL): authentic context, ill-defined problem, work in groups, self-directed learning. We reflect on lessons learnt in a four-year retrospective, on the quality of the use of methods and outcomes, timing and sequencing of activities and intermediate and final assessments. We envisage that this case study provides interesting insights and information to other undergraduate or postgraduate HCI studio courses.
Teaching assistants' interventions in online courses: a comparative study of two massive open online courses

The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of teaching assistants' interventions in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The study of interaction patterns in MOOCs can inform the design and development of mechanisms for more effective learning. We performed an analysis of teaching assistants' interactions in two different MOOCs in different subject matters (technology and humanities). The study revealed notable differences in the characteristics of teaching assistants' interventions within the two courses, in terms of language used, length of messages, response time and length of discourse. The findings of this study provide us with useful insights on current human interventions in MOOC forums, driving our effort in designing future modules to support the large number of students of these courses, with the ultimate objective to improve the learning experience for each individual student of future MOOCs.
Content-based Navigation Within Mathematical Formulae On the Web For Blind Users and Its Impact On Expected User Effort

Learning Mathematics presents many challenges for blind students. The support for reading and navigating within web-based mathematical content is still limited in screen reader software, specially for languages such as Brazilian Portuguese. Lengthy and complex formulae, in particular, may demand significant effor from users who navigate only by keyboard and with linear feedback sound. Current screen readers provide limited support with semantic navigation based on content type. In this paper, we present a study involving the implementation of an initial prototype screen reader as proof-of-concept based on ChromeVox, aggregating new features for direct navigation with semantic mathematical elements, such as fractions, radicals and summation indexes. We also performed a study on the expected user effort of this approach, comparing it with the resources provided by other existing screen readers, namely JAWS, NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access). The estimation was performed using task models based on GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods and Selection Rules) and KLM (Key-Level Model). The results showed that it is feasible to implement forms of navigation based on problem solving, because according to task models there was an expressive reduction in the estimated time to complete tasks.
Abstracting algebraic effects

Proposed originally by Plotkin and Pretnar, algebraic effects and their handlers are a leading-edge approach to computational effects: exceptions, mutable state, nondeterminism, and such. Appreciated for their elegance and expressiveness, they are now progressing into mainstream functional programming languages. In this paper, we introduce and examine programming language constructs that back adoption of programming with algebraic effects on a larger scale in a modular fashion by providing mechanisms for abstraction. We propose two such mechanisms: existential effects (which hide the details of a particular effect from the user) and local effects (which guarantee that no code coming from the outside can interfere with a given effect). The main technical difficulty arises from the dynamic nature of coupling an effectful operation with the right handler during execution, but, as we show in this paper, a carefully designed type system can ensure that this will not break the abstraction. Our main contribution is a novel calculus for algebraic effects and handlers, called λHEL, equipped with local and existential algebraic effects, in which the dynamic nature of handlers is kept in check by typed runtime coercions. As a proof of concept, we present an experimental programming language based on our calculus, which provides strong abstraction mechanisms via an ML-style module system.
A Study on Non-Traditional Factors Affecting Price Differences of Real Estate in Different Regions-Based on 35 Chinese Cities Panel Data

Based on the panel data of 35 Chinese cities from 2002 to 2015, this paper establishes a cluster analysis index system and divides the real estate market into developed markets, developing markets, and backward markets. The static fixed effect model is used to analyze the non-traditional factors that cause price differences in the real estate region. The study finds that medical resources and beautiful environments can significantly increase real estate prices, while educational resources and convenient transportation can significantly reduce real estate prices in developed markets. In the developing markets, convenient transportation can significantly increase real estate prices, while medical resources, education resources and beautiful environments have no significant impact on real estate prices. In backward markets, medical resources can significantly reduce real estate prices, while education resources and beautiful environments have no significant impact on real estate prices. In developed markets, the government should improve the level of education and medical treatment, strengthen the construction of transportation facilities, and rationally arrange the environmental resources in urban areas. In developing markets, the government should rationally plan the construction of transportation facilities. In backward markets, the government should increase the investment in medical resources so as to control the real estate prices within a reasonable level.