Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvement of thiol groups and total antioxidant capacity in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver after treatment with pioglitazone

Abstract Objective The aim of the present study was to evaluate oxidative stress state in non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) patients at the time of diagnosis and by passing three months from the treatment. Methods 37 patients with NAFLD in summer 2019 were enrolled in this study. Also, 37 healthy controls that were matched for sex and age were included as a control group. Oxidative stress parameters such as lipid peroxidation (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and Thiols were measured by standard methods and were then compared with before treatment. Results At the time of diagnosis, MDA levels were significantly increased and FRAP and Thiol levels were significantly decreased. After 3 months of treatment with pioglitazone, MDA levels decreased and FRAP and Thiol group increased. Conclusions Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with the higher levels of MDA and lower serum levels of total antioxidant capacity and Thiol group levels.
Target Quantification and Semi-Target Screening of Undesirable Substances in Pear Juices Using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Quadrupole Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

Fruit juices are common products in modern diets due to the supply of vegetal nutrients combined with its tastiness. Nevertheless, potential contaminants, such as mycotoxins and pesticides, can be present in commercial products due to a potential carry-over. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the presence of 14 Fusarium mycotoxins using a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS)-based extraction followed by an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry in 21 pear juice samples from Italian markets. Up to nine different mycotoxins were detected, particularly an extensive presence of zearalenone (67%, n = 21, mean value = 0.88 ng/mL). Emerging Fusarium mycotoxins enniatins B, B1, A, and A1 were also detected. Additionally, 77 pesticide residues were tentatively identified through a retrospective analysis based on a mass spectral library. The prevalent presence of some non-approved pesticides, such as ethoxyquin (64%, n = 21) and triazophos (55%, n = 21), must be highlighted. The results obtained indicate an extensive contamination of marketed pear juice with undesirable compounds, and they should be taken into consideration when performing risk assessment studies.
Deletion of Tlr3 reduces acute tolerance to alcohol and alcohol consumption in the intermittent access procedure in male mice

Pharmacological studies implicate toll‐like receptor 3 (TLR3) signaling in alcohol drinking. We examined the role of TLR3 in behavioral responses to alcohol and GABAergic drugs by studying Tlr3 −/− mice. Because of opposing signaling between TLR3 and MyD88 pathways, we also evaluated Myd88 −/− mice. Ethanol consumption and preference decreased in male but not in female Tlr3 −/− mice during two‐bottle choice every‐other‐day (2BC‐EOD) drinking. There were no genotype differences in either sex during continuous or limited‐access drinking. Null mutations in Tlr3 or Myd88 did not alter conditioned taste aversion to alcohol and had small or no effects on conditioned place preference. The Tlr3 null mutation did not alter acute alcohol withdrawal. Male, but not female, Tlr3 −/− mice took longer than wild‐type littermates to recover from ataxia by ethanol or diazepam and longer to recover from sedative‐hypnotic effects of ethanol or gaboxadol, indicating regulation of GABAergic signaling by TLR3. Acute functional tolerance (AFT) to alcohol‐induced ataxia was decreased in Tlr3 −/− mice but was increased in Myd88 −/− mice. Thus, MyD88 and TLR3 pathways coordinately regulate alcohol consumption and tolerance to intoxicating doses of alcohol and GABAergic drugs. Despite similar alcohol metabolism and similar amounts of total alcohol consumed during 2BC and 2BC‐EOD procedures in C57BL/6J mice, only 2BC‐EOD drinking induced tolerance to alcohol‐induced ataxia. Ataxia recovery was inversely correlated with level of drinking in wild‐type and Tlr3 −/− littermates. Thus, deleting Tlr3 reduces alcohol consumption by reducing AFT to alcohol and not by altering tolerance induced by 2BC‐EOD drinking.
Formulation and Optimization of Avanafil Biodegradable Polymeric Nanoparticles: A Single-Dose Clinical Pharmacokinetic Evaluation

Avanafil (AVA) is a second-generation phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor. AVA shows high selectivity to penile tissues and fast absorption, but has a bioavailability of about 36%. The aim was to formulate and optimize AVA-biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance AVA bioavailability. To assess the impact of variables, the Box–Behnken design was utilized to investigate and optimize the formulation process variables: the AVA:poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) ratio (w/w, X1); sonication time (min, X2); and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) concentration (%, X3). Particle size (nm, Y1) and EE% (%, Y2) were the responses. The optimized NPs were characterized for surface morphology and permeation. Furthermore, a single-oral dose (50 mg AVA) pharmacokinetic investigation on healthy volunteers was carried out. Statistical analysis revealed that all the investigated factors exhibited a significant effect on the particle size. Furthermore, the entrapment efficiency (Y2) was significantly affected by both the AVA:PLGA ratio (X1) and PVA concentration (X3). Pharmacokinetic data showed a significant increase in the area under the curve (1.68 folds) and plasma maximum concentration (1.3-fold) for the AVA NPs when compared with raw AVA. The optimization and formulation of AVA as biodegradable NPs prepared using solvent evaporation (SE) proves a successful way to enhance AVA bioavailability.
User scheduling for multicast transmission in high throughput satellite systems

Adopting full frequency reuse in high throughput satellite (HTS) systems is expected to cope with huge communication demands and large user populations. Moreover, a kind of multicast transmission, which embeds the data of several users in each frame, can be employed to increase the efficiency of HTS systems. Multicast precoding is usually utilized in such systems to mitigate the co-frequency interference between beams and improve the efficiency of transmission. In this context, considering that the number of users may exceed the number of available communication resources in the system, we investigate user scheduling for the multicast transmission in HTS systems with full frequency reuse and multicast precoding. We perform user scheduling according to the user channel state information and decouple the scheduling problem into two phases: intra-beam and inter-beam scheduling. Intra-beam scheduling determines the users involved in the transmission of each frame with the purpose of reducing the influence of the multicast fashion. For intra-beam scheduling, we put forth a fixed-size user grouping algorithm. In contrast to previous studies, this algorithm takes the interference among beams into consideration during the scheduling. In inter-beam scheduling, user groups belonging to different beams are scheduled to improve the performance of the multiplexed transmission. An inter-beam scheduling algorithm is proposed to improve the fairness among users. The simulation results verify the superiority of the proposed algorithms in terms of fairness and spectral efficiency.
EMERGING VECTOR BORNE DISEASES - RISK FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

In the past vector borne diseases represented a major public helath concern in most tropical and subtropical areas, but today they are an emerging threat for continental and developed countries. Vector borne zoonotic diseases occur when vectors, animal hosts, pathogens and susceptible human population exist at the same time, at the same place. Global climate change is predicted to lead to an increase in vector borne infectious diseases and disease outbreaks. It could affect the range and popultion of pathogens , host and vectors, transmission season, etc. Reliable surveilance for diseases that are most likely to emerge is required. It is expected from veterinarians to play a fudamental role in first of all prevention and then treatment of vector borne diseases in dogs. Canine vector borne diseases represent a complex group of diseases including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, bartonellosis, borreliosis, dirofilariosis, erlichiosis, leishmaniosis. Some of these diseases cause serious clinical symptoms in dogs and some of them have a zoonotic potential with an effect to public health. During a four year period, from 2009-2012, a total number of 236 dog samples were analysed for vector borne diseases (borreliosis, dirofilariosis and leishmaniasis) in routine laboratory work. The analysis were done by serological tests - ELISA for borreliosis, dirofilariosis and leishmaniasis and modified Knott test for dirofilariosis. This number of samples represented 52,91% of total number of samples that were sent for analysis for different infectious diseases in dogs. Annually, on avarege half of the samples brought to the laboratory to analysis for different infectious diseases are analysed for vector borne diseases. In the region of Vojvodina, the folowing vector borne infectious diseases have been found so far in dogs: borreliosis, dirofilariosis, leishmaniasis, erlichiosis and anaplasmosis.
Free Air CO2 Enrichment of potato (Solanum tuberosum, L.): design and performance of the CO2‐fumigation system

Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) systems are used to fumigate unconfined field plots with CO2. As these installations can treat a sufficiently large area without interfering with natural climatic conditions, they are considered important tools for global change research worldwide. However, there is general consensus that elevated capital costs of existing FACE systems as well as high running costs may prevent their application at the required level of scale. A new and small FACE system that was designed to reduce both capital costs and CO2 use, is described in this paper. Due to its intermediate size (8 m diameter) between the smaller Mini‐FACE systems that were developed in Italy and the larger systems designed by the Brookhaven National Laboratory in the USA, it was named Mid‐FACE. The Mid‐FACE was at first developed as a prototype and then used to enrich field grown potato crops in a CO2 concentration gradient experimental design. Technical details of a Mid‐FACE prototype and of the operational set‐up are presented in this paper together with performance data in terms of temporal and spatial control of CO2 concentrations within the experimental area.
Neural crest cells require Meis2 for patterning the mandibular arch via the Sonic hedgehog pathway

ABSTRACT Cranial neural crest cells (cNCCs) originate in the anterior neural tube and populate pharyngeal arches in which they contribute to formation of bone and cartilage. This cell population also provides molecular signals for the development of tissues of non-neural crest origin, such as the tongue muscles, teeth enamel or gland epithelium. Here we show that the transcription factor Meis2 is expressed in the oral region of the first pharyngeal arch (PA1) and later in the tongue primordium. Conditional inactivation of Meis2 in cNCCs resulted in loss of Sonic hedgehog signalling in the oropharyngeal epithelium and impaired patterning of PA1 along the lateral–medial and oral–aboral axis. Failure of molecular specification of PA1, illustrated by altered expression of Hand1/2, Dlx5, Barx1, Gsc and other markers, led to hypoplastic tongue and ectopic ossification of the mandible. Meis2-mutant mice thus display craniofacial defects that are reminiscent of several human syndromes and patients with mutations in the Meis2 gene. Summary: Wnt1-Cre2;Meis2fl/fl mutants have perturbed Shh activity in the oral region of the mandibular arch, which leads to specification failure of NCCs in the tongue primordium and ectopic ossification at the expense of glossogenesis, which are hallmarks of several mouse mutants with eliminated Shh activity.
Proteins required for chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis

Die korrekte Segregation der Chromosomen in Mitose hangt vom richtigen Anheften der Mikrotubuli an die Kinetochore ab. Man spricht von „merotelic kinetochor orientation“ wenn sich die Mikrotubuli der gegenuberliegenden Pole an ein einziges Kinetochor heften. Dieser Zustand sollte vermieden werden, da er die Hauptursache fur Aneuploidie ist, die oft mit der Bildung von Krebs einhergeht. Wir konnten ein neues Protein, namlich Mde4, das mit Pcs1 einen Komplex bildet, in der Spalthefe S. pombe identifizieren. Ahnlich wie in der pcs1Δ Mutante kann man in Abwesenheit von Mde4 so genannte „lagging chromosomes“ beobachten. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit konnten wir mittels einer neuen, auf Laser –Mikrochirurgie basierenden Methode zeigen, dass diese verbleibenden Chromosomen auf Grund von fehlerhafter merotelischer Anheftung an die Mikrotubuli zustande kommen. Weiters konnte gezeigt werden, dass Mde4 durch Cdc2 reguliert wird und Cdc2 eine fruhzeitige Lokalisation von Mde4 an der Metaphase Spindel verhindert. Die Meiose ist eine besondere Form der Zellteilung, in der haploide Keimzellen entstehen. Dies ist Voraussetzung fur die sexuelle Fortpflanzung. Wahrend der Meiose folgen auf eine einzige Replikation der DNA zwei Teilungen, die man als Meiose I und Meiose II bezeichnet. Wahrend Meiose II der mitotischen Zellteilung sehr ahnlich ist, ist die erste meiotische Teilung grundlegend anders. Die Rekombination, gefolgt von der Bildung von Chiasmata und die Monoorientierung der Schwesterkinetochore, stellt sicher, dass die homologen Chromosomen zu entgegengesetzten Zellpolen gezogen werden. Die Spaltung der Cohesin Untereinheit Rec8 entlang der Chromosomenarme durch Seperase lost die erste meiotische Teilung aus. Cohesine in der Nahe der Centromere mussen geschutzt werden um die Schwesterchromatide bis hin zur Anaphase II zusammenzuhalten und ihre korrekte Aufteilung in Meiose II zu garantieren. Mittels Massenspektrometrie haben wir alle Phosphorylierungsstellen in Rec8 identifiziert und gezeigt, dass die Phosphorylierung von Rec8 fur die korrekte Chromosomenaufteilung wahrend der Meiose erforderlich ist. Weiters konnte gezeigt werden, dass die Casein Kinase 1 (CK1) delta/epsilon Isoformen von S. pombe, Hhp1 und Hhp2, fur die vollstandige Phosphorylierung und die Spaltung von Rec8 mittels Seperase zustandig sind. Daruberhinaus wurde ein „high-throughput-screen“ durchgefuhrt um neue Proteine, die an der Chromosomenaufteilung beteiligt sind, zu finden. So ist es gelungen das Protein Dil1 zu identifizieren. Dil1 verhindert eine Nicht-Auftrennung der homologen Chromosomen wahrend der Meiose I. Es ist Teil des Dynein-Pathways und fordert die Paarung homologer Centromere wahrend der meiotischen Prophase.
Dissociative Tendencies Aggregate the Impact of Negative Life Events on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Male Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract Non-suicidal self-injury is a significant global public health problem during adolescence, nevertheless there is a lack of investigations among juvenile offenders. Our cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between negative life events and self-harm, including the effects of dissociation and experiential avoidance that accounted for this link in a sample of underaged male offenders (N = 226; Mage = 16.97, SD = 1.31; 23.5% performed self-harm in the past month). Structural equation modeling showed that dissociation can explain the effect of friendship- and romantic relationship-related negative life events on self-harm. Our findings pointed out that dissociative tendencies could reduce intense emotions stemming from negative life events associated with peer relationships, but consequences of such tendencies might be self-harm in a correctional context.
Interaction of Mannan Binding Lectin with α2 Macroglobulin via Exposed Oligomannose Glycans

The serum collectin mannan-binding lectin (MBL) binds to oligomannose and GlcNAc-terminating glycans present on microorganisms. Using a commercial affinity chromatography resin containing immobilized MBL we screened human and mouse serum for endogenous MBL-binding targets. We isolated the serum protease inhibitor α2 macroglobulin (α2M), a heavily glycosylated thiol ester protein (TEP) composed of four identical 180-kDa subunits, each of which has eight N-linked glycosylation sites. α2M has previously been reported to interact with MBL; however, the interaction was not characterized. We investigated the mechanism of formation of complexes between α2M and MBL and concluded that they form by the direct binding of oligomannose glycans Man5–7 occupying Asn-846 on α2M to the lectin domains (carbohydrate recognition domains) of MBL. The oligomannose glycans are accessible for lectin binding on both active α2M (thiol ester intact) and protease-cleaved α2M (thiol ester cleaved). We demonstrate that MBL is able to interact with α2M in the fluid phase, but the interaction does not inhibit the binding of MBL to mannan-coated surfaces. In addition to α2M, two other members of the TEP family, C3 and C4, which also contain oligomannose glycans, were captured from human serum using the MBL resin. MBL binding may be a conserved feature of the TEPs, dating from their ancestral origins. We suggest that the inhibition of proteases on the surface of microorganisms by an ancestral α2M-like TEP may generate “arrays” of oligomannose glycans to which MBL or other lectins can bind. Binding would lead to opsonization or activation of enzyme systems such as complement.
Essential Role for Both CD80 and CD86 Costimulation, But Not CD40 Interactions, in Allergen-Induced Th2 Cytokine Production from Asthmatic Bronchial Tissue: Role for αβ, But Not γδ, T Cells

CD80 and CD86 interact with CD28 and deliver costimulatory signals required for T cell activation. We demonstrate that ex vivo allergen stimulation of bronchial biopsy tissue from mild atopic asthmatic, but not atopic nonasthmatic, subjects induced production of IL-5, IL-4, and IL-13. Explants from both study groups did not produce IFN-γ, but secreted the chemokine RANTES without any overt stimulation. In addition to allergen, stimulation of asthmatic explants with mAbs to CD3 and TCR-αβ but not TCR-γδ induced IL-5 secretion. Allergen-induced IL-5 and IL-13 production by the asthmatic tissue was inhibited by anti-CD80 and, to a lesser extent, by anti-CD86 mAbs. In contrast, the production of these cytokines by PBMCs was not affected by mAbs to CD80, was inhibited by anti-CD86, and was strongly attenuated in the presence of both Abs. FACS analysis revealed that stimulated asthmatic bronchial tissue was comprised of CD4+ T cells that expressed surface CD28 (75.3%) but little CTLA-4 (4.0%). Neutralizing mAbs to CD40 ligand had no effect on the cytokine levels produced by asthmatic tissue or PBMCs. Collectively, these findings suggest that allergen-specific αβ T cells are resident in asthmatic bronchial tissue and demonstrate that costimulation by both CD80 and CD86 is essential for allergen-induced cytokine production. In contrast, CD86 appears to be the principal costimulatory molecule required in PBMC responses. Attenuation of type 2 αβ T cell responses in the bronchial mucosa by blocking these costimulatory molecules may be of therapeutic potential in asthma.
Long-Term Evaluation and Calibration of Low-Cost Particulate Matter (PM) Sensor

Low-cost light scattering particulate matter (PM) sensors have been widely researched and deployed in order to overcome the limitations of low spatio-temporal resolution of government-operated beta attenuation monitor (BAM). However, the accuracy of low-cost sensors has been questioned, thus impeding their wide adoption in practice. To evaluate the accuracy of low-cost PM sensors in the field, a multi-sensor platform has been developed and co-located with BAM in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, Korea from 15 January 2019 to 4 September 2019. In this paper, a sample variation of low-cost sensors has been analyzed while using three commercial low-cost PM sensors. Influences on PM sensor by environmental conditions, such as humidity, temperature, and ambient light, have also been described. Based on this information, we developed a novel combined calibration algorithm, which selectively applies multiple calibration models and statistically reduces residuals, while using a prebuilt parameter lookup table where each cell records statistical parameters of each calibration model at current input parameters. As our proposed framework significantly improves the accuracy of the low-cost PM sensors (e.g., RMSE: 23.94 → 4.70 μg/m3) and increases the correlation (e.g., R2: 0.41 → 0.89), this calibration model can be transferred to all sensor nodes through the sensor network.
Identifying Managerial Influences on Exporting: Past Research and Future Directions

Research on exporting frequently stresses the role of managerial characteristics as influences on the export behavior of the firm. This article reviews the conceptual, methodological, and empirical insights gained from a systematic analysis of 46 studies conducted on this subject. Undoubtedly, this stream of research has enhanced understanding of the importance of managerial elements in affecting exporting activities. However, conceptually this research is still in its exploratory phase of development, lacking an integral theoretical framework. Certain methodological limitations are also identified, especially with respect to sampling designs, fieldwork procedures, and analytical methods. Empirically, hypothesized associations between managerial factors and export dimensions lead to diverse and sometimes conflicting findings, except for attributes of a general-subjective nature that demonstrate a consistently strong relationship with exporting—particularly in relation to the firm's propensity to export. The review reaches certain significant conclusions and suggests directions for future research in the field.
Leveraging Principal Parts for Morphological Inflection

This paper presents the submission by the CU Ling team from the University of Colorado to SIGMORPHON 2020 shared task 0 on morphological inflection. The task is to generate the target inflected word form given a lemma form and a target morphosyntactic description. Our system uses the Transformer architecture. Our overall approach is to treat the morphological inflection task as a paradigm cell filling problem and to design the system to leverage principal parts information for better morphological inflection when the training data is limited. We train one model for each language separately without external data. The overall average performance of our submission ranks the first in both average accuracy and Levenshtein distance from the gold inflection among all submissions including those using external resources.
EVALUATION OF GROWTH AND FLOWERING POTENTIAL OF ROSA HYBRIDA CULTIVARS UNDER FAISALABAD CLIMATIC CONDITIONS

oC and humidity decreased to 29 %. Number of flowers per bush and diameter of flower decreased as the temperature increased and humidity decreased in contrast to increment in height of the plant and number of primary branches per plant in succeeding months. Interaction between yield traits and months was also significant. Overall, significant variations were observed in each cultivar for length and number of petals per flower, number of prickles, fragrance, flower persistence life and color, bush shape and overall performance with respect to climatic conditions of Faisalabad. It is concluded that the cultivars ‘Autumn Sunset’ and Gruss-an-Teplitz performed better in climatic conditions of Faisalabad.