Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Parasympathetic neurons originate from nerve-associated peripheral glial progenitors

Exploiting nervous paths already traveled The parasympathetic nervous system helps regulate the functions of many tissues and organs, including the salivary glands and the esophagus. To do so, it needs to reach throughout the body, connecting central systems to peripheral ones. Dyachuk et al. and Espinosa-Medina et al. explored how these connections are established in mice (see the Perspective by Kalcheim and Rohrer). Progenitor cells that travel along with the developing nerves can give rise to both myelinforming Schwann cells and to parasympathetic neurons. That means the interacting nerves do not have to find each other. Instead, the beginnings of the connections are laid down as the nervous system develops. Science, this issue p. 82, p. 87; see also p. 32 Parasympathetic neurons are born from Schwann cell precursors located in the nerves that carry preganglionic fibers. [Also see Perspective by Kalcheim and Rohrer] The peripheral autonomic nervous system reaches far throughout the body and includes neurons of diverse functions, such as sympathetic and parasympathetic. We show that the parasympathetic system in mice—including trunk ganglia and the cranial ciliary, pterygopalatine, lingual, submandibular, and otic ganglia—arise from glial cells in nerves, not neural crest cells. The parasympathetic fate is induced in nerve-associated Schwann cell precursors at distal peripheral sites. We used multicolor Cre-reporter lineage tracing to show that most of these neurons arise from bi-potent progenitors that generate both glia and neurons. This nerve origin places cellular elements for generating parasympathetic neurons in diverse tissues and organs, which may enable wiring of the developing parasympathetic nervous system.
Ediacaran metazoan reefs from the Nama Group, Namibia

Building coral reefs in ancient times 540 million years ago, in the dawn before the Cambrian explosion, evolution was setting the stage for the global rise of animals. Before they took over the seas, the earliest animals developed strategies to defend themselves against predators. These strategies, which remain common today, include forming skeletons and building reefs. Penny et al. discovered a massive fossil reef deposit in Namibia made up of tiny coneshaped early animals known as Cloudina. The reef, which is 20 million years older than other ancient reefs, was probably formed as the Cloudina adapted to benefit from reefs, which protect the animals and allow them to feed more efficiently. Science, this issue p. 1504 Animal reefs from 550 million years ago suggest a complex ecosystem before the Cambrian explosion. Reef-building in metazoans represents an important ecological innovation whereby individuals collectively enhance feeding efficiency and gain protection from competitors and predation. The appearance of metazoan reefs in the fossil record therefore indicates an adaptive response to complex ecological pressures. In the Nama Group, Namibia, we found evidence of reef-building by the earliest known skeletal metazoan, the globally distributed Cloudina, ~548 million years ago. These Cloudina reefs formed open frameworks without a microbial component but with mutual attachment and cementation between individuals. Orientated growth implies a passive suspension-feeding habit into nutrient-rich currents. The characteristics of Cloudina support the view that metazoan reef-building was promoted by the rise of substrate competitors and predators.
Structures of PI4KIIIβ complexes show simultaneous recruitment of Rab11 and its effectors

How to recruit membrane trafficking machinery PI4KIIIβ is a lipid kinase that underlies Golgi function and is enlisted in biological responses that require rapid delivery of membrane vesicles, such as during the extensive membrane remodeling that occurs at the end of cell division. Burke et al. determined the structure of PI4KIIIβ in a complex with the membrane trafficking GTPase Rab11a. The way in which the proteins interact gives PI4KIIIβ the ability to simultaneously recruit Rab11a and its effectors on specific membranes. Science, this issue p. 1035 A lipid kinase interacts with target membranes, a membrane trafficking guanosine triphosphatase, and its effectors simultaneously. Phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases (PI4Ks) and small guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) are essential for processes that require expansion and remodeling of phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P)–containing membranes, including cytokinesis, intracellular development of malarial pathogens, and replication of a wide range of RNA viruses. However, the structural basis for coordination of PI4K, GTPases, and their effectors is unknown. Here, we describe structures of PI4Kβ (PI4KIIIβ) bound to the small GTPase Rab11a without and with the Rab11 effector protein FIP3. The Rab11-PI4KIIIβ interface is distinct compared with known structures of Rab complexes and does not involve switch regions used by GTPase effectors. Our data provide a mechanism for how PI4KIIIβ coordinates Rab11 and its effectors on PI4P-enriched membranes and also provide strategies for the design of specific inhibitors that could potentially target plasmodial PI4KIIIβ to combat malaria.
Brazilian Journal of Microbiology (2012):

There is not much information available regarding the prevalence of the genotypes of Helicobacter pylori isolates in Turkey, particularly in eastern Turkey. The aims of this study were to detect the prevalence of different genotypes of H. pylori in Turkish patients with gastrointestinal complaints and to determine the relationship of these genotypes with clinical outcome and sex. One hundred forty H. pylori isolates were examined for the presence of its genotypes by the PCR. We found that the prevalence of vacAs1, vacAs2, cagA, cagE, iceA1, iceA2 and babA2 genes were 88.6%, 11.4%, 71.4%, 35.7%, 41.4%, 58.6%, and 62.1%, respectively. The most predominant vacA subtype was s1a (81.4%). The most vacA allelic combination detected were vacAs1m1 (65.2%) and s1m2 (53.9%) in patients with peptic ulcer and gastritis, respectively. The only vacAs1 isolate was significantly associated with gastritis and peptic ulcer (p<0.05). The vacAs1a, ml, slml and babA2 genes were significantly associated with peptic ulcer (p<0.05), whereas m2 gene was significantly associated with only gastritis (p<0.05). The difference between sex and genotypes was statistically significant among the cagA, vacAs1, iceA2 and babA2 genes. This study reported for the first time the prevalence of H. pylori genotypes in patients with gastrointestinal complaints in eastern Turkey. Further studies are needed to understand epidemiological importance of the genotypes of H. pylori isolates in this region and the association between the virulence genes and clinical outcome in different regions.
EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity

Extra steps by Member States are needed to protect farmed and grassland ecosystems In December 2013, the European Union (EU) enacted the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014–2020, allocating almost 40% of the EU's budget and influencing management of half of its terrestrial area. Many EU politicians are announcing the new CAP as “greener,” but the new environmental prescriptions are so diluted that they are unlikely to benefit biodiversity. Individual Member States (MSs), however, can still use flexibility granted by the new CAP to design national plans to protect farmland habitats and species and to ensure long-term provision of ecosystem services.
Tailor made dynamic programming for edge matching

The authors present an edge pixel matching algorithm based on dynamic programming. Unlike classical dynamic programming methods, where a path is searched for across a graph of the whole space of edge pixels, the approach allows the optimal path to be within a constrained search space, and thus tremendously cutting off the searching time. The knowledge of the camera parameters lends itself to reduce the general problem of image-to-image correspondence problem into a scanline-to-scanline matching problem. That is, once a pair of stereo images is rectified so that the epipolar lines are horizontal scanlines, a pair of corresponding edges in the right and left images should be searched for only within the same horizontal scanlines.
Genomic Diversity and Admixture Differs for Stone-Age Scandinavian Foragers and Farmers

Hunters and Farmers The Neolithic period in Europe saw the transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming. Previous genetic analyses have suggested that hunter-gatherers were replaced by immigrant farmers. Skoglund et al. (p. 747, published online 24 April) sequenced one Mesolithic and nine Neolithic Swedish individuals to examine the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Substantial genetic differentiation was observed between hunter-gatherers and farmers: There was lower genetic diversity within the hunter-gatherers and gene flow from the hunter-gatherers into the farmers but not vice versa. Population dynamics of Scandinavian Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers differ from those of early farmers. Prehistoric population structure associated with the transition to an agricultural lifestyle in Europe remains a contentious idea. Population-genomic data from 11 Scandinavian Stone Age human remains suggest that hunter-gatherers had lower genetic diversity than that of farmers. Despite their close geographical proximity, the genetic differentiation between the two Stone Age groups was greater than that observed among extant European populations. Additionally, the Scandinavian Neolithic farmers exhibited a greater degree of hunter-gatherer–related admixture than that of the Tyrolean Iceman, who also originated from a farming context. In contrast, Scandinavian hunter-gatherers displayed no significant evidence of introgression from farmers. Our findings suggest that Stone Age foraging groups were historically in low numbers, likely owing to oscillating living conditions or restricted carrying capacity, and that they were partially incorporated into expanding farming groups.
Fecal Microbiota Transplant

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) has steadily increased in incidence since the 1990s, with an associated increase in recurrence and severity, which has in turn lead to more intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. The development of recurrent CDI, in particular, has been associated with increasing patient morbidity and mortality as well as an immense financial burden on the health care system. Recently, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has received much publicity as an effective means of treatment for recurrent CDI. The goal of this review is to provide evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of CDI, with a particular focus on FMT and its utilization in the ICU.
Emerging Fungal Infections

The epidemiology of invasive fungal infections is evolving. Yeasts other than Candida albicans and moulds other than Aspergillus fumigatus have emerged as significant causes of invasive mycoses in severely immunocompromised patients. Whereas in some instances these changes may be related to medical interventions, such as the use of prophylactic antifungal agents, in the majority of cases, they seem to be a consequence of changes in the host. More severe immunosuppression or different types of immune suppression impact both risk and the infections that occur. These factors have altered the epidemiology of infection in organ transplant recipients, premature newborns and critically ill patients. Our review discusses the epidemiology of some fungal infections that have emerged in the past few years, with an emphasis on the potential factors associated with their emergence and on practical implications of these epidemiological changes. In addition, some special characteristics noted in children and neonates are addressed separately.
Microplastics in the seas

Concern is rising about widespread contamination of the marine environment by microplastics. Plastic debris in the marine environment is more than just an unsightly problem. Images of beach litter and large floating debris may first come to mind, but much recent concern about plastic pollution has focused on microplastic particles too small to be easily detected by eye (see the figure). Microplastics are likely the most numerically abundant items of plastic debris in the ocean today, and quantities will inevitably increase, in part because large, single plastic items ultimately degrade into millions of microplastic pieces. Microplastics are of environmental concern because their size (millimeters or smaller) renders them accessible to a wide range of organisms at least as small as zooplankton, with potential for physical and toxicological harm.
Dynamics and quantitative analysis of the synthesis of fermentative aromas by an evolved wine strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We performed a dynamic and quantitative analysis of the synthesis of fermentative aromas by an aromatic wine yeast, ECA5, obtained by adaptive evolution. During fermentation at pilot scale on synthetic and natural musts, ECA5 produced volatile compounds (higher alcohols and their acetates, ethyl esters) at higher rates than the ancestral strain, with the exception of propanol. Marked differences in the chronology of synthesis of several compounds were observed between the two strains. Overproduction of phenyl ethanol occurred mainly during the growth phase for ECA5, consistent with its higher flux through the pentose phosphate pathway, which plays a key role in biosynthetic processes. The kinetics of production of isobutanol and isoamyl alcohol were differently affected by different media (synthetic or natural must) and, in particular, according to the nature of the sterols in the media (ergosterol or phytosterols). We also observed differences in the chronology of synthesis of ethyl acetate and isoamyl acetate or ethyl esters, suggesting that the regulation of the synthesis of these compounds in the evolved strain differs from that in the ancestral strain. This study shows that a dynamic analysis of volatile compounds, using high acquisition frequency online gas chromatography, can provide novel insights into the synthesis and regulation of aromas and is thus a potentially powerful tool for strain characterization. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Activation of cytoplasmic dynein motility by dynactin-cargo adapter complexes

How dynein makes the right moves The molecular motor cytoplasmic dynein moves a wide range of different intracellular cargoes. Dynein's activity in vivo requires another protein, dynactin, but exactly why that should be has been very unclear. Although in vitro experiments have provided some evidence that dynactin increases dynein's processivity, the resulting dynein motility has never come close to matching dynein's cargo-transporting activity in living cells. Now, McKenney et al. show that tripartite complexes of dynein, dynactin, and an adaptor molecule are highly processive in vitro, moving the sort of distances that dynein transports cargo in vivo (see the Perspective by Allan). Science, this issue p. 337; see also p. 271 Single-molecule studies reveal a mechanism to activate the molecular motor cytoplasmic dynein in a cargo-specific manner. [Also see Perspective by Allan] Cytoplasmic dynein is a molecular motor that transports a large variety of cargoes (e.g., organelles, messenger RNAs, and viruses) along microtubules over long intracellular distances. The dynactin protein complex is important for dynein activity in vivo, but its precise role has been unclear. Here, we found that purified mammalian dynein did not move processively on microtubules in vitro. However, when dynein formed a complex with dynactin and one of four different cargo-specific adapter proteins, the motor became ultraprocessive, moving for distances similar to those of native cargoes in living cells. Thus, we propose that dynein is largely inactive in the cytoplasm and that a variety of adapter proteins activate processive motility by linking dynactin to dynein only when the motor is bound to its proper cargo.
Regulating gene drives

Regulatory gaps must be filled before gene drives could be used in the wild Genes in sexually reproducing organisms normally have, on average, a 50% chance of being inherited, but some genes have a higher chance of being inherited. These genes can increase in relative frequency in a population even if they reduce the odds that each organism will reproduce. Aided by technological advances, scientists are investigating how populations might be altered by adding, disrupting, or editing genes or suppressed by propagating traits that reduce reproductive capacity (1, 2). Potential beneficial uses of such “gene drives” include reprogramming mosquito genomes to eliminate malaria, reversing the development of pesticide and herbicide resistance, and locally eradicating invasive species. However, drives may present environmental and security challenges as well as benefits.
A Model for Dynamic Services Discovery over Largely Distributed Providers Based on QoS and Business Processes Contexts

This paper addresses the problem of BPM and SOA integration presenting a model of dynamic discovery of services as an approach to improve the agility of SOA-based applications. Many researches have tackled the discovery problem. However, in general they fail in discovering the most suitable service regarding business processes needs. The main contribution of this work is to offer a comprehensive, integrated, open and standard-based environment which considers functional and non-functional requirements besides business processes' contexts. The discovery acts over largely distributed service providers over the Internet (published in several UDDIs) making use of proper QoS and UBL ontologies and accessed under the SaaS model. An electronic catalog is also developed to assist the SOA designer to better capture business processes requirements and contexts.
Parenting from before conception

At fertilization, the gametes endow the embryo with a genomic blueprint, the integrity of which is affected by the age and environmental exposures of both parents. Recent studies reveal that parental history and experiences also exert effects through epigenomic information not contained in the DNA sequence, including variations in sperm and oocyte cytosine methylation and chromatin patterning, noncoding RNAs, and mitochondria. Transgenerational epigenetic effects interact with conditions at conception to program the developmental trajectory of the embryo and fetus, ultimately affecting the lifetime health of the child. These insights compel us to revise generally held notions to accommodate the prospect that biological parenting commences well before birth, even prior to conception.
Electronic Control of Circularly Polarized Light Emission

The handedness of circularly polarized light, which is normally controlled by rotating filters, was switched by the electric field direction in a light-emitting device. [Also see Report by Zhang et al.] Circularly polarized (CP) light has many applications, including circular dichroism spectroscopy (to determine the secondary structure of proteins), three-dimensional (3D) displays, spintronics, and even quantum computation. However, CP light is usually created with optical filters, and changing the handedness (left or right) of the polarization requires mechanical rotation of the filters. Alternatively, chiral organic lightemitting diodes with a fixed circular polarization or spin light-emitting diodes, which require an external magnetic field, could be used. On page 725 of this issue, Zhang et al. (1) demonstrate CP electroluminescence from monolayers and multilayers of tungsten diselenide (WSe2) and other transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). The handedness of the CP light is directly controlled by the direction of the in-plane electric field. This effect is not only interesting for applications, but also reveals the “valley” properties of the electronic bands of 2D TMDs.
A scalable machine learning online service for big data real-time analysis

This work describes a proposal for developing and testing a scalable machine learning architecture able to provide real-time predictions or analytics as a service over domain-independent big data, working on top of the Hadoop ecosystem and providing real-time analytics as a service through a RESTful API. Systems implementing this architecture could provide companies with on-demand tools facilitating the tasks of storing, analyzing, understanding and reacting to their data, either in batch or stream fashion; and could turn into a valuable asset for improving the business performance and be a key market differentiator in this fast pace environment. In order to validate the proposed architecture, two systems are developed, each one providing classical machine-learning services in different domains: the first one involves a recommender system for web advertising, while the second consists in a prediction system which learns from gamers' behavior and tries to predict future events such as purchases or churning. An evaluation is carried out on these systems, and results show how both services are able to provide fast responses even when a number of concurrent requests are made, and in the particular case of the second system, results clearly prove that computed predictions significantly outperform those obtained if random guess was used.
A hole-conductor–free, fully printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cell with high stability

Improved perovskite photovoltaic performance A recent entry in the solar cell race is perovskite cells, named for the structure adopted by salt made from metal halides and organic cations that absorb the light and generate charges. The charges generated have to be transferred to a metal oxide (typically titanium oxide), and some of these charge carriers are lost in the transfer. Mei et al. made this process more efficient by growing a more crystalline perovskite with fewer defects inside porous versions of titanium and zirconium oxide. They added a second organic cation that stuck to the pore walls and directed the growth of the perovskite crystals. The improved solar cells operated for more than 1000 hours under full sunlight. Science, this issue p. 295 A mixed organic phase perovskite grown in mesoporous templates boosts solar cell stability. We fabricated a perovskite solar cell that uses a double layer of mesoporous TiO2 and ZrO2 as a scaffold infiltrated with perovskite and does not require a hole-conducting layer. The perovskite was produced by drop-casting a solution of PbI2, methylammonium (MA) iodide, and 5-ammoniumvaleric acid (5-AVA) iodide through a porous carbon film. The 5-AVA templating created mixed-cation perovskite (5-AVA)x(MA)1-xPbI3 crystals with lower defect concentration and better pore filling as well as more complete contact with the TiO2 scaffold, resulting in a longer exciton lifetime and a higher quantum yield for photoinduced charge separation as compared to MAPbI3. The cell achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 12.8% and was stable for >1000 hours in ambient air under full sunlight.