Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential MicroRNA Expression Profile of Colon Cancer Stem Cells Derived from Primary Tumor and HT-29 Cell line

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world. Cancer stem cells (CSC) have been reported in many human tumors and are thought to be responsible for tumor initiation, therapy resistance, progression, relapse, and metastasis. Recent studies revealed that microRNAs (miRNA) play important roles in maintaining stemness of embryonic stem cells and CSCs.ObjectivesWith regard to the crucial role of cancer stem cells in colon cancer initiation and maintenance, the miRNA expression profile in primary and cell line cancer stem cells compared to non-stem cells cancer cells were evaluated.MethodsIn this study, a population of colon CSCs from primary colon cancer and human HT-29 colonic adenocarcinoma cell line was isolated from serum free medium and their microRNA profiles were evaluated using miRNA PCR array.ResultsThe isolated cells with high expression of EPCAMﰠ markers showed greater colony-forming efficiency and higher tumorigenic potential. Furthermore, expression of stemness genes including C-myc, Klf4, Nanog, Sox2 and Oct4 was higher in isolated cancer stem cells. Moreover, miRNA expression profile of colon CSCs was performed using miRNA PCR array. There are 39 differentially expressed miRNAs, 24 of which had lower mean expression in the cancer stem cells samples. By contrast, 15 miRNAs had higher expression levels in CSCs samples. Of these, miR-495, miR-125, and miR-199a were the most significantly up-regulated miRNAs.ConclusionsOur results suggest that miRNAs might play important roles in maintenance and regulation of colon CSCs and specific miRNA expression signatures may contribute to cancer initiation and expansion.
Resolving biological impacts of multiple heat waves: interaction of hot and recovery days

Heat waves are increasing with global warming and have more dramatic biological effects on organisms in natural and agricultural ecosystems than mean temperature increase. However, predicting the impact of future heat waves on organisms and ecosystems is challenging because we still have a limited understanding of how the different components that characterize heat waves interact. Here we take an experimental approach to examine the individual and combine consequences of two important features that characterize heat waves: duration of successive hot days and recovery days between two hot spells. Specifically we exposed individuals of a global agricultural pest, the aphid Sitobion avenae to different heat wave scenarios by factorially manipulating the number of extreme hot days versus normal days and altered which period individuals experienced first in their life cycle. We found that effects of heat waves were driven by a delicate balance of damage during hot periods versus repair during normal periods. Increasing the duration of hot days in heat waves had a negative effect on various demographic rates and life-time fitness of individuals, but magnitude of this effect was typically contingent on the temporal clustering of hot periods. Importantly, this interaction effect indicates that changes in the temporal distribution of extreme hot versus normal days can strongly alter the performance of organisms and dynamics of populations even when the total number of hot days during a given period remains unchanged. Together, these results emphasize the importance of accounting for the temporal distribution and quantitative patterns of extreme temperature events for predicting their consequences of natural and agricultural ecosystems.
DNA-Demethylating Agents Enhance Cytolytic Activity of CD8 T Cells and Anti-Tumor Immunity

Recent studies have shown that DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi) can induce IRF7 activation and Type I/III interferon signaling through dsRNA-mediated viral mimicry in cancer cells. By performing a large pan-cancer analysis using TCGA data, we determined that IRF7 activation is associated with higher CD8 T cell tumor infiltration and higher cytolytic activity across multiple cancer types. Accordingly, we demonstrate that DNMTi treatment results in increased CD8 T cell tumor infiltration, enhanced cytolytic activity and CD8 T cell dependent tumor growth inhibition. Finally, we show that DNMTi triggers a process marked by the induction of viral mimicry directly on CD8 T cells, leading to activation of dsRNA sensing pathway, and up-regulation of T cell activation markers, effector cytokines, and Granzyme B. Taken together, our findings suggest that dsRNA sensing pathway activation in the immune compartment, through pharmacological DNA demethylation, is a viable strategy for boosting anti-tumor immune response.
Evaluation de l'impact du mécanisme du « duty-cycle » sur la qualité de service

La radio est le composant le plus gourmand en energie pour un noeud capteur sans fil, diminuer le pourcentage de temps que celle ci reste active en utilisant des periodes de sommeil permet de minimiser la consommation d'energie du noeud et ainsi, augmenter la duree de vie du reseau de capteurs sans fil. Neanmoins, effectuer du routage sur ce type de reseau reste difficile a cause de l'indisponibilite des noeuds pendant leur phase de sommeil. De nombreux protocoles de routage ont ete proposes pour les reseaux de capteurs sans fil, mais rare sont ceux qui prennent en compte des periodes de sommeil des noeuds. Ce type de politique de mise en veille du composant radio, appelee "low duty-cycle", est pourtant omnipresente dans de nombreux protocole MAC tels que le B-MAC, X-MAC ou le ContikiMAC. Il est donc important de pouvoir evaluer l'impact d'un protocole MAC de ce type sur les performances du routage afin de fournir une certaine garantie de la QoS, notamment en ce qui concerne le delai de bout en bout. Nous evaluons dans cet article l'impact du duty-cycle sur le routage en utilisant le protocole RPL de l'IETF ROLL sur ContikiMAC et nous proposons un modele de simulation permettant d'effectuer un choix judicieux de la valeur du duty-cycle qui va satisfaire les besoins en termes de qualite de service et d'economie d'energie.
Up-Gradation of Power System Protection Schemethrough TCP/IP Using GUI in MATLAB/Simulink

The paper is concerned with the Power System Protection schemes and the resulting design requirement that enhances stability as well as control with the implementation of TCP/IP. It discusses the architecture that upgrades the existing scheme by controlling all the control signals traffic between generating units, transmission system, connected loads and protection devices that are sensitive to control signals using TCP/IP and results are compared using Graphics User Interface (GUI) in MATLAB/Simulink. Protection system describes latest breakers circuit using indirect tripping command from generating units that protects load side through load breakers that receives action signal from local controllers that have a direct communication linkage with main server having strong data base, directly monitors everything through TCP/IP platform using GUI.
The magnetic sense of honey bees - analyses of underlying mechanisms and potential function

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) waggle dance, which is performed inside the hive by forager bees, informs hive mates about a potent food source, and recruits them to its location. It consists of a repeated figure-8 pattern: two oppositely directed turns interspersed by a short straight segment, the “waggle run”. The waggle run consists of a single stride emphasized by lateral waggling motions of the abdomen. Directional information pointing to a food source relative to the sun’s azimuth is encoded in the angle between the waggle run line and a reference line, which is generally thought to be established by gravity. Yet, there is tantalizing evidence that the local (ambient) geomagnetic field (LGMF) could play a role. We tested the effect of the LGMF on the recruitment success of forager bees by placing observation hives inside large Helmholtz coils, and then either reducing the LGMF to 2% or shifting its apparent declination. Neither of these treatments reduced the number of nest mates that waggle dancing forager bees recruited to a feeding station located 200 m north of the hive. These results indicate that the LGMF does not act as the reference for the alignment of waggledancing bees.
Evaluating hydrolyzed yeast in the diet of broiler breeder hens

Abstract One of the greatest challenges for nutritionists is ensuring that breeder hens consume the quantity of nutrients necessary to ensure proper development while also ensuring the production of good quality chicks. However, new studies must investigate how nutrition can positively affect the performance of these poultry. The present study aimed to evaluate hydrolyzed yeast supplementation in the diet of Cobb 500 broiler breeder hens, starting from 25 wk of age, and to evaluate the performance of the hens and their progeny. Broiler breeder hens fed hydrolyzed yeast supplement exhibited better performance compared with the control group. The results of the progeny demonstrated improved performance in chicks from the breeder hens fed the hydrolyzed yeast supplement. However, no improvement was observed in breast or leg yields; only carcass yield improved in these broilers. The results demonstrate that supplementation with hydrolyzed yeast in the diet of broiler breeder hens improves the performance of hens and their progeny.
Are we restoring enough? Simulating impacts of restoration efforts on the suitability of forest landscapes for a locally critically endangered umbrella species

Habitat restoration is often implemented to mitigate the negative effects of intensive forestry on biodiversity. It may be increasingly adopted in future to alleviate additional negative effects of climate change. Ascertaining the restoration effort needed to fulfill project goals is difficult. Insights may be gained through simulating the effects of restoration efforts on landscape dynamics through time. Here we used a spatially explicit landscape simulation model to simulate the effects of different restoration efforts on forest landscapes in Sweden to assess the level of mitigation that is needed to allow viable populations of the locally critically endangered White‐backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos); an umbrella species whose protection may serve the protection of a range of other species. Based on the goals of the protection plan for the species, which reflect its habitat requirements, we evaluated which of several restoration scenarios could fulfill goals with respect to (1) the amount of deciduous forest; (2) the amount of dead wood; and (3) the age of the forest. We found that whereas it may be relatively easy and quick to acquire high levels of dead wood, increasing the proportions of deciduous forest and of old forests require considerably more time and effort. Also, current management actions would not be sufficient to create the required amount of habitat to conserve the White‐backed Woodpecker in our study region. Simulations like ours can provide valuable information about the levels of restoration needed through time to fulfill project goals and may prevent wasting valuable resources, time, effort, and money.
Triple plagiotropic branch in coffee: a new promising mutant?

Coffee tree is a shrub with dimorphic branches. The orthotropic stem grows vertically with two near-horizontal plagiotropic branches, per node, in opposite phyllotaxy. The consecutive nodes of the orthotropic stem are organized in parastichies. We report here mutant plants of Coffea arabica with triple plagiotropic branch, resulted from the whorled phyllotaxy of the orthotropic stem. In mutant plants three plagiotropic branches in the same node are separated by angles of approximately 120o, while in normal plants two plagiotropic branches in the same node are separated by angles of approximately 180o. In mutant plants the angles of the parastichies increase approximately 50o clockwise between consecutive nodes, while in normal plants the angles increase approximately 87o. The plant architecture is changed. The triple plagiotropic branch is a putative mutant with potential to be explored in coffee breeding programs. The hypotheses for the origin of the mutation and the research perspectives are discussed.
Weed Suppression in Cover Crop Monocultures and Mixtures

Interest in planting mixtures of cover crop species has grown in recent years as farmers seek to increase the breadth of ecosystem services cover crops provide. As part of a multidisciplinary project, we quantified the degree to which monocultures and mixtures of cover crops suppress weeds during the fall-to-spring cover crop growing period. Weed-suppressive cover crop stands can limit weed seed rain from summer- and winter-annual species, reducing weed population growth and ultimately weed pressure in future cash crop stands. We established monocultures and mixtures of two legumes (medium red clover and Austrian winter pea), two grasses (cereal rye and oats), and two brassicas (forage radish and canola) in a long fall growing window following winter wheat harvest and in a shorter window following silage corn harvest. In fall of the long window, grass cover crops and mixtures were the most weed suppressive, whereas legume cover crops were the least weed suppressive. All mixtures also effectively suppressed weeds. This was likely primarily due to the presence of fast-growing grass species, which were effective even when they were seeded at only 20% of their monoculture rate. In spring, weed biomass was low in all treatments due to winter kill of summer-annual weeds and low germination of winter annuals. In the short window following silage corn, biomass accumulation by cover crops and weeds in the fall was more than an order of magnitude lower than in the longer window. However, there was substantial weed seed production in the spring in all treatments not containing cereal rye (monoculture or mixture). Our results suggest that cover crop mixtures require only low seeding rates of aggressive grass species to provide weed suppression. This creates an opportunity for other species to deliver additional ecosystem services, though careful species selection may be required to maintain mixture diversity and avoid dominance of winter-hardy cover crop grasses in the spring. Nomenclature: Austrian winter pea, Pisum sativum L. ; canola, Brassica napus L. ; cereal rye, Secale cereale L. , corn, Zea mays L. , forage radish, Raphanus sativus L. , medium red clover, Trifolium pratense L. ; oats, Avena sativa L. ; wheat, Triticum aestivum L.
Impact of DNA accessibility and sequence on eukaryotic origin licensing

Eukaryotic DNA replication is a complex process that requires the coordination of many different proteins to ensure duplication of the genome occurs rapidly and only once during each cell cycle. Establishing a pair of replication forks moving apart from a single starting location is essential for replicating the genome. The first step in this process, termed origin licensing, occurs during G1. During origin licensing, two hexamers of the eukaryotic helicase, Mcm2-7, are loaded at potential origins of replication in a head-to-head orientation. They remain together, inactive, until entry into S phase. Origin licensing depends on three proteins, the originrecognition complex (ORC), Cdc6, and Cdtl, as well as the DNA sequence present at potential origins. Although in S. cerevisiae, ORC binds to a known DNA sequence, where the other proteins, particularly the Mcm2-7 helicase, interact with DNA is not known. To gain additional insights into the initial placement of the Mcm2-7 complex, we used a method to create DNAprotein roadblocks at defined positions within origin DNA. Because both ORC and Mcm2-7 must encircle DNA, these roadblocks prevent stable DNA association. When a single roadblock was used, only defects in ORC-DNA binding were observed, despite that the Mcm2-7 helicase is known to encircle DNA. We hypothesized that sliding of intermediates in the origin licensing process could explain this discrepancy. When we tested this hypothesis by placing an additional roadblock to prevent sliding, severe defects in stable Mcm27 loading, but not ORC recruitment, were observed. Interestingly, in the context where sliding was inhibited, the observed helicase loading was dependent on a particular sequence motif, the B2 element. This sequence is important for origin function in vivo, but a role in origin licensing in vitro has not previously been reported. Placing roadblocks around origin DNA was reminiscent of the nucleosome architecture present in vivo. These natural roadblocks behaved similarly to our artificial roadblocks, and origin licensing was dependent on B2 in both instances. These data suggest that origin licensing is a dynamic process and that the B2 sequence element is important when sliding of origin licensing intermediates is restricted. Thesis Supervisor: Stephen P. Bell Title: Professor of Biology
Covalent modification of primers improves PCR amplification specificity and yield

Abstract We report a method for covalent modification of primers that enhances the specificity of PCR and increases the yield of specific amplification products at the end of PCR. The introduction of thermally stable covalent modifications, such as alkyl groups to the exocyclic amines of deoxyadenosine or cytosine residues at the 3′-ends of primers results in enhanced specificity of reactions. This higher specificity can result in greater sensitivity of detection by reducing competition with non-productive reactions. The reduction in the amplification of unintended byproducts is most apparent when both primers are modified at their respective 3′-ends. The TMs of such modified primers are only slightly affected by the inclusion of these modifiers. The principal mode of action is believed to be driven by the poor enzyme extension of substrates with closely juxtaposed bulky alkyl groups, such as would result from the replication of primer dimer artifact.
Marine crenarchaeotal membrane lipids in decapods: Implications for the TEX86 paleothermometer

Pelagic Crenarchaeota produce glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) as membrane lipids, and the GDGT composition changes according to growth temperature. This forms the basis of the TEX86 paleotemperature proxy. This ratio correlates with sea surface temperature (SST) despite the fact that Crenarchaeota are distributed through the water column. Therefore there must be mechanisms that transport the surface signal to sediments such as repackaging in fecal pellets, marine snow, mass falls after phytoplankton blooms, or daily migration. To study GDGT transport, we analyzed stomachs and intestines of Atlantic and Mediterranean decapods as they are one of the major megafaunal groups, are easy to sample, and occur in both pelagic and benthic environments. GDGTs were found in most decapods' guts. GDGT abundances are significantly lower in intestines, but TEX86‐derived temperatures are not significantly different between stomachs and intestines (<1°C), suggesting that TEX86 values are not altered during gut transit. Atlantic decapods show no difference in TEX86 values between benthic detritivors and pelagic predators. However, Mediterranean decapods show a substantial difference between macroplankton feeders and bentho‐pelagic predators. This is probably related to the freshness of the material consumed. TEX86‐derived temperatures in Atlantic decapods are close to the SST around the time of sampling, in agreement with stomach content analysis that shows fresh organic matter being ingested. For Mediterranean decapods, TEX86 temperatures are significantly higher than SST around the time of sampling. This can be partly attributed to the large variability between decapod specimens and the low amounts of fresh material found in their stomachs.
Empty-Nest Syndrome: Pathway to "Construction or Destruction"

Citation: Al Ubaidi BA (2017) Empty-Nest Syndrome: Pathway to “Construction or Destruction”. J Fam Med Dis Prev 3:064. doi.org/10.23937/2469-5793/1510064 Received: April 06, 2017; Accepted: September 25, 2017; Published: September 27, 2017 Copyright: © 2017 Al Ubaidi BA. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
CARACTERIZACIÓN Y PURIFICACIÓN BIOQUIMICA DE UN INHIBIDOR DE SERINOPROTEASA A PARTIR DE SEMILLAS DE Datura stramonium ( Chamico )

From the seeds of Datura stramonium, the DasI inhibitor of serinoproteases has been purified, by means of exclusion chromatography in Sephadex G-75, SP-Sephadex C-50 and high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). And according to the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE) the molecular mass of the DasI inhibitor was determined to be 9560.0 Da. The Datura stramonium DasI inhibitor inhibits trypsin activity at a concentration of 25æg and the activity of bovine chymotrypsin at 60æg. In addition, according to the amino acid composition analysis (PICO-TAG System), the DasI inhibitor possesses 22.79% acidic amino acids and 24.04% hydrophobic character. The sequence of the f i rs t 30 amino ac ids o f the Ntermina l end o f the DasI inh ib i tor is : MMKCLVLFVSCLFPIVVFSCSFTSQNPICL, and compared to other proteins in the SWISS-PROT database shows homology with the Solanaceae family. Finally, the DasI inhibitor showed antifungal effect against Aspergillus niger when used at a concentration of 5 μg / 20 ml culture broth (Saburaud broth).
Isolation and identification of growth promoting endophytes from Artemisia annua L. and its effects on artemisinin content

Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone, is a well-known antimalarial drug isolated from Artemisia annua L. (Asteraceae). Semi-synthetic derivatives of artemisinin like arteether, artemether, artesunate, etc. have also been explored for antimalarial as well as other pharmacological activities. Endophytes are microorganisms which reside inside the living tissues of host plants and can form symbiotic, parasitic or commensalistic relationship depending on the climatic conditions and host genotype. In this study, endophytic fungi were isolated from the leaves of A. annua and were identified using the conventional as well as molecular taxonomic methods. Endophytes were identified as: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Cochliobolus lunatus, Curvularia pallescens and Acremonium persicum. Growth promoting activity of endophytes has been reported earlier. After treating potted plants of A. annua with elicitor extracts prepared from these endophytic fungi, we observed an increase in the plant biomass as well as artemisinin content.
The impact of early Quaternary climate change on the diversification and population dynamics of a South American cactus species

Climatic oscillations have been suggested to promote speciation and changes in species distributions, mostly in connection with the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the LGM is just the most recent of the 20+ glacial‐interglacial periods that characterise the Quaternary. Here, we investigate the role of climatic changes and geomorphological features in shaping the evolution, distribution and population dynamics of the South American cactus Cereus hildmannianus.