Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive immune response in residents of the Russian Arctic zone and South Ossetia

The human body in adverse living conditions, such as in the Arctic, goes through the risk of impairing functional systems including the immune system. These disturbances lead to appear states of weakness or hyperactivity of the organism protective function. This study investigates the state of the adaptive immune response of 40-60-year-old women living in the Russian Arctic and South Ossetia. The indirect immunoperoxidase assay with monoclonal antibodies was used to analyze the immune parameters of lymphoid subpopulations in 40-60-year-old women living in Nadym city in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and in Tskhinval city in South Ossetia. After analyzing the received data, the deficiency of mature T-lymphocytes (CD3+) was found in 96-100% of the examined individuals. We also revealed a decrease in the concentration of T-helper (CD4+) and B-activated (HLA-DR+) cells in 30% of Arctic zone cases and in 50% of the southern zone cases on the background of increasing concentrations of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes. A deficiency of cells with apoptosis receptors (CD95+) was registered mainly in Tskhinval women (80%). Thus, it can be assumed that the deficiency of mature lymphoid cells with a receptor (CD3+) leads to disruption of the T-cell pool of the immune response and delay of the adaptive immune response overall. The increase in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte count indicates the stress state of the adaptive immune component to compensate for the lack of T-helper and B-activated cells concentration. Additional comprehensive studies are needed to identify environmental factors having a significant impact on the mechanism of the adaptive immune response development.
Visual and Cognitive Demands of Using Apple CarPlay, Google’s Android Auto and Five Different OEM Infotainment Systems

Many in-vehicle information systems (IVIS), also known as infotainment systems, involve complex interactions to perform a task that requires the press of a button, a touch screen or a voice command. These interactions may distract motorists from driving by diverting their eyes and attention from the road and hands from the steering wheel. Prior research sponsored by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety provided a comprehensive assessment of 30 vehicles from a variety of manufacturers and the demand generated by the built-in (native) IVIS when using it to do things like give a voice command to send a text message. However, many manufacturers now provide access to Apple’s CarPlay® and Google’s Android Auto®, which allow the driver to pair a smartphone with the vehicle to perform IVIS tasks through the vehicle’s interface.
Programmation multi-accélérateurs unifiée en OpenCL

Le standard OpenCL propose une interface de programmation adaptable a differents types d'accelerateurs (GPU, CPU, CELL. . . ). Pour chaque architecture, il revient aux applications d'effectuer explicitement les partitionnements et les transferts de donnees ainsi que les placements des tâches sur les accelerateurs disponibles, ce qui est tres difficile. Neanmoins, nous montrons que le standard OpenCL peut egalement etre utilise avec une implementation qui masque les differents accelerateurs aux applications et ne lui en presente qu'un seul (virtuel). Les transferts de donnees et les placements des tâches sont alors realises par l'implementation. Nous montrons que ce modele de programmation permet d'exploiter efficacement et de facon unifiee des architectures heterogenes.
Exploring and exploiting cuticle biosynthesis for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in wheat and barley

Wheat and barley are widely distributed cereal crops whose yields are adversely affected by environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and attacks of pathogens and pests. As the interphase between aerial plant organs and their environments, hydrophobic cuticle largely consists of a cutin matrix impregnated and sealed with cuticular waxes. Increasing evidence supports that the cuticle plays a key role in plant adaptation to abiotic and biotic stresses, which could be harnessed for wheat and barley improvement. In this review, we highlighted recent advances in cuticle biosynthesis and its multifaceted roles in abiotic and biotic stress tolerance of wheat and barley. Current strategies, challenges, and future perspectives on manipulating cuticle biosynthesis for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in wheat and barley are discussed.
Hydrosocial research for better understanding, managing, and modeling human-nature interactions

COPYRIGHT © 2022 Ricart and Kirk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Hydrosocial research for better understanding, managing, and modeling human-nature interactions
Attentional disengagement effect based on relevant features

In visual search tasks, distractors similar to the target can attract our attention and affect the speed of attentional disengagement. The attentional disengagement refers to shifting attention away from stimuli that are not relevant to the task. Previous studies mainly focused on the attentional disengagement of one feature dimension. However, the mechanisms of different feature dimensions on attentional disengagement in single and conjunction visual search remain unclear. In the current study, we adopted the oculomotor disengagement paradigm and used saccade latency as an indicator to explore the effects of different feature dimensions of center stimuli on attentional disengagement. In both single and conjunction feature search tasks, participants began each search by fixating on a center stimulus that appeared simultaneously with search display but would not be the target. Participants were instructed to ensure the first saccade to the target location. In Experiments 1A (single feature search) and 1B (conjunction feature search), we found that the attentional disengagement was significantly delayed or accelerated when center stimuli shared color features with the target or salient distractor, but not in shape feature. Moreover, we found that the difference between the two feature dimensions might be caused by their different search difficulty (Experiment 1C). Therefore, in Experiment 2, we matched the difficulty of searching for color and shape tasks before exploring whether there were differences in the effects of different feature dimensions on attentional disengagement. However, the results in Experiment 2 were similar to those in Experiment 1A, indicating that the different effects of feature dimensions on attentional disengagement were caused by feature asymmetry. Therefore, in Experiment 3, we improved the salient discernibility of shape dimension and matched color search to it. The results showed that although the attentional disengagement was delayed in shape dimension, it was still smaller than that in color dimension. Our results supported that goal-oriented attention sets were the main cause of delayed attentional disengagement. By series of experiments, we found that the utilization of different feature dimensions was associated with task difficulty and the features asymmetry in both single and conjunction visual search.
The non-conservative distribution pattern of organic matter in Rajang, a tropical river with peatland in its estuary

Abstract. South-east Asian peatland-draining rivers have attracted much attention due to their high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) yield and high CO2 emissions under anthropogenic activities. In August 2016, we carried out a field investigation of the Rajang river and estuary, a tropical system located in Sarawak, Malaysia. The Rajang has peatland in its estuary while the river basin is covered by tropical rainforest. DOC δ13C in the Rajang ranged from −28.7 ‰ to −20.1 ‰ and a U-shaped trend from river to estuary was identified. For particulate organic carbon (POC), the δ13C ranged between −29.4 ‰ to −31.1 ‰ in the river and a clear increasing trend towards more δ13C -enriched with higher salinity existed in the estuary. In the estuary, there was a linear conservative dilution pattern for dissolved organic matter composition (as quantified by D/L amino acids enantiomers) plotted against DOC δ13C, whereas when plotted against salinity dissolved D/L amino acids enantiomers values were higher than the theoretical dilution value. Together, these data indicate that the addition of DOC in estuary (by peatland) not only increased the DOC concentration, but also altered its composition, by adding more bio-degraded, 13C-depleted organic matter into the bulk dissolved organic matter. Alteration of organic matter composition (adding of more degraded subpart) was also apparent for the particulate phase, but patterns were less clear. The Rajang was characterized by DOC / DON ratios of 50 in the river section, with loss of DON in the estuary increased the ratio to 140, suggesting the unbalanced export pattern for organic carbon and nitrogen, respectively. Under anthropogenic activities, further assessment of organic carbon to nitrogen ratio is needed.
Multi Owner Data Sharing in Cloud

—With the character of low maintenance, cloud computing provides an economical and efficient solution for sharing group resource among cloud users. Unfortunately, sharing data in a multi-owner manner while preserving data and identity privacy from an untrusted cloud is still a challenging issue, due to the frequent change of the membership. In this paper, we propose a secure multiowner data sharing scheme, named Mona, for dynamic groups in the cloud. By leveraging group signature and dynamic broadcast encryption techniques, any cloud user can anonymously share data with others. Meanwhile, the storage overhead and encryption computation cost of our scheme are independent with the number of revoked users. In addition, we analyze the security of our scheme with rigorous proofs
Effects of video-based training on anticipation and decision-making in football players: A systematic review

The training of athletes’ anticipation and decision-making skills has received increasing attention from researchers, who developed and implemented training programs to achieve this. Video-based training (VBT) has become a popular method in anticipation and decision-making skills training. However, little is known about the benefits of implementing VBT in soccer. This systematic review considered the results of studies on VBT aiming to develop decision-making and anticipation skills in football players, and analyzed its effects. Literature published up to March 2022 was systematically searched on the scientific electronic databases Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SportDiscus, and Google Scholar. In total, 5,749 articles were identified. After screening the records according to the set exclusion and inclusion criteria, ten articles were considered eligible, including six longitudinal studies and four acute studies. Eight of the ten included studies (80%) showed that VBT group performance in anticipation or decision-making skills was significantly better at post-test than at pre-test, as evidenced by improvements in response accuracy (RA), response times (RT), mean distance scores (MDS) and passing decision-making performance. In six studies that included the no video-based training (NVBT) group, results showed that athletes in the VBT group performed better in anticipation or decision-making skills than in the NVBT group, as evidenced by improvements in RA and RT performance. The studies used different methods for VBT, both explicit and implicit training effectively improved participants’ anticipation and decision-making skills. In addition, the implementation of the “first-person” perspective (i.e., the player’s perspective) and virtual reality (VR) improved the presentation of video stimuli, effectively improving anticipation and decision-making. The findings of this review suggest that VBT is beneficial in developing anticipation and decision-making judgments in football players. However, some findings were inconsistent with previous studies due to differences in intervention duration and experimental protocols, and further studies are needed. Furthermore, future research should actively seek to design appropriate retention tests and transfer tests to truly understand the benefits of VBT for athletes.
Antioxidant therapy for patients with oral lichen planus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Aims: This study aimed to systematically review the efficacy and safety of antioxidants for patients with Oral lichen planus (OLP). Methods: Databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Google Scholar, were searched up to 30 April 2022, for randomized controlled trials on the antioxidant therapy of OLP. The following endpoints were analyzed: pain score, clinical score, pain resolution rate, clinical resolution rate, and adverse effects. Results: A total of 19 studies met the inclusion criteria, and 17 studies with 704 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The findings showed that antioxidant therapy could significantly reduce the pain score [standardized mean difference −0.72 (−1.36, −0.07), P = 0.03, I2 = 87%, PI2 < 0.00001] and clinical score [SMD −2.06 (−3.06, −1.06), P < 0.0001, I2 = 94%, PI2 < 0.00001] of patients with OLP and improve the pain resolution rate [risk ratio (RR) 1.15 (1.01, 1.31), P = 0.04, I2 = 45%, PI2 = 0.09] and clinical resolution rate [RR 1.40 (1.10, 1.78), P = 0.006, I2 = 72%, PI2 = 0.002]. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that antioxidant therapy was beneficial for patients with OLP, and antioxidants might be used to treat OLP. Systematic Review Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier CRD4202233715.
Reverse effects of Streptococcus mutans physiological states on neutrophil extracellular traps formation as a strategy to escape neutrophil killing

Bacteria in nature are present in different lifestyles with distinct characteristics. Streptococcus mutans is the etiologic pathogen of dental caries and could easily gain access into the bloodstream after oral surgery and adopt a biofilm lifestyle, resulting in infective endocarditis. A growing amount of evidence have revealed that the large web-like structure composed of extracellular DNA and antimicrobial proteins released by neutrophils, named Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs), play an active role in the defense against bacterial invasion. The present study demonstrated that NETs formation was discriminatively affected by S. mutans biofilm and its planktonic counterpart. The free-floating planktonic S. mutans exhibited an active NETs response, whereas the biofilm community exhibited a reverse negative NETs response. Besides, impaired biofilm killing correlated with the decrease in NETs production. Unlike planktonic cells, biofilm avoided the burst of reactive oxygen species (ROS) when co-culture with neutrophils, and the NADPH-oxidase pathway was partially involved. A mice infection model also supported the distinguishing response of neutrophils challenged by different lifestyles of S. mutans. In conclusion, different bacterial physiological states can affect the distinct response of the host–microbe interaction, thus contributing to the anti-pathogen immune response activation and immune surveillance survival.
An Enterobacter cloacae strain NG-33 that can solubilize phosphate and promote maize growth

It is critical to identify and evaluate efficient phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) that enable P uptake from unavailable forms, and therefore improve the phosphorus (P) uptake efficiency of crops. The Enterobacter cloacae strain NG-33, belonging to PSB, was isolated and identified from calcareous rhizosphere soils in Nonggang National Reserve, Guangxi, China. The stain NG-33 could reduce the pH of the medium to below 5.6, and had the ability to release soluble phosphorus (P; 180.7 μg ml−1) during the culture in the National Botanical Research Institute’s Phosphate medium (NBRIP), and produced such organic acids as gluconic acid (4,881 mg L−1), acetic acid (346 mg L−1), and indole-3-acetic acid (20.4 μg ml−1). It could also convert inorganic P in AlPO4 (Al-P) and FePO4 (Fe-P) into soluble P, with conversion efficiencies of 19.2 μg ml−1 and 16.3 μg ml−1, respectively. Under pot experiments and when compared controls without inoculating NG-33, the shoot and root biomass of maize seedlings showed increases by 140% for shoot biomass and by 97% for root biomass in loamy soil (P sufficient) inoculated with NG-33. In sandy soil (P deficit) supplemented with tricalcium phosphate and inoculated with NG-33, the soluble P content was significantly higher, 58.6% in soil and 33.6% in roots, meanwhile, the biomass of shoots and roots increased by 14.9 and 24.9%, respectively. The growth-promoting effects coupled to the significant increase in leaf net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance of plants grown in NG-33-inoculated soil. Inoculating NG-33 could significantly improve the diversity and richness of bacterial population and altered the dominant bacterial population in soil.
Genesis of Pyrite Concretions: Constraints from Mineral and Geochemical Features of Longtan Formation in Anhui Province, Eastern China

The occurrence of pyrite concretions in the Permian Longtan Formation sheds light on the paragenesis, formation conditions and regional paleoenvironment. We analyzed the mineral and geochemical characteristics of pyrite concretions using scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) from the Longtan Formation shales in Anhui, Eastern China. These pyrite concretions consist of two types, each with a distinct nucleus and outer layer: The former is mainly made up of quartz, bivalve fragments and minor gypsum, ankerite, siderite and pyrite, the latter consists of pyrite (FeS2) in the voids of quartz. Based on the correlation matrix and geochemical/mineralogical affinity, trace elements in the pyrite concretions fall into three groups, that is, I (Sr, Ba, Rb and K) in calcic minerals from bivalve-bearing nucleus, II (Nb, Ta, Zr and Hf) in certain heavy minerals and III (V, Cr, Co and Ni) in pyrites. Mineral assemblage and paragenetic analysis show that the formation of pyrite concretions can be divided into three stages: (1) deposition of bivalve-bearing nucleus, (2) lithification of diatoms and (3) diagenesis of pyrite. Mineral and geochemical indicators suggest that the formation environment of pyrite concretions has undergone a major shift from lagoon with intense evaporation, to strong reducing marsh.
Extracellular vesicles produced by the human gut commensal bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron elicit anti-inflammatory responses from innate immune cells

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) produced by gut commensal bacteria have been proposed to play an important role in maintaining host homeostasis via interactions with the immune system. Details of the mediators and pathways of BEV-immune cell interactions are however incomplete. In this study, we provide evidence for the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties of extracellular vesicles produced by the prominent human gut commensal bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt BEVs) and identify the molecular mechanisms underlying their interaction with innate immune cells. Administration of Bt BEVs to mice treated with colitis-inducing dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) ameliorates the symptoms of intestinal inflammation, improving survival rate and reducing weight loss and disease activity index scores, in association with upregulation of IL-10 production in colonic tissue and in splenocytes. Pre-treatment (conditioning) of murine bone marrow derived monocytes (BMDM) with Bt BEVs resulted in higher ratio of IL-10/TNFα production after an LPS challenge when compared to LPS pre-conditioned or non-conditioned BMDM. Using the THP-1 monocytic cell line the interactions between Bt BEVs and monocytes/macrophages were shown to be mediated primarily by TLR2. Histone (H3K4me1) methylation analysis showed that Bt BEVs induced epigenetic reprogramming which persisted after infectious challenge, as revealed by increased levels of H3K4me1 in Bt BEV-conditioned LPS-challenged BMDM. Collectively, our findings highlight the important role of Bt BEVs in maintaining host immune homeostasis and raise the promising possibility of considering their use in immune therapies.
Machine learning approaches for cognitive state classification and brain activity prediction: A survey

The application of machine learning approaches to decode cognitive states through functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is one of the emerging fields of research over the past decade. Multivoxel Pattern Analysis (MVPA) treats the activation of multiple voxels from the fMRI data as a pattern to decode the brain states using machine learning based classifiers. The potential in designing a classifier to accurately classify the discriminating cognitive states has attracted great attention from machine learning researchers. Interest has been evinced in particular to the application of such classifiers to study brain functions, diagnose mental diseases, detect deception and develop a brain-computer-interface. This paper surveys the recent development of machine learning approaches in cognitive state classification and brain activity prediction. Comparative studies of various techniques have been investigated to appreciate their merits and demerits. Furthermore, feature selection is discussed in this survey as an important preprocessing step in MVPA because it incorporates those features that will be integrated in the classification task of fMRI data, thereby improving the performance of the classifier. Features can be selected by restricting the analysis to specific anatomical regions or by computing univariate (voxel-wise) or multivariate statistics. Besides a summary and the future perspective of this field, an extensive list of bibliography is included for the community of interest.
How does independent director affect tunneling?—Evidence from social networks

Given the influence of controlling shareholders on the company, it is important to analyze how independent directors can protect minority shareholders’ interests using the information and resources obtained from social networks. This paper studies the impact of director networks on controlling shareholders’ tunneling behavior in China over the period 2002–2020. Using social network analysis, this paper finds that controlling shareholders’ appropriation to minority shareholders is mitigated in companies with well-connected independent directors. These results remain consistent after a series of robustness and endogeneity tests. This study also reveals that internal controls play a mediating role between director networks and tunneling behavior. In addition, the study indicates that the restraining effect of director networks on controlling shareholders’ tunneling behavior is more pronounced in companies with weaker audit monitoring and poorer transparency. In conclusion, the results reveal that well-connected independent directors play an important role in protecting minority shareholders’ interests.