Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controlled Generation of Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide an exciting source for regenerative therapy because they have the potential to differentiate towards specialized tissues. However, in vitro generation of hPSC-derived cell lineages, such as definitive hematopoietic cells, remains challenging and typically only generates primitive blood cells. In the developing embryo, blood cell emergence is coordinated by spatial and temporal cues that include autocrine/paracrine signaling, oxygen tension, local cell density, and immobilized growth factors. We hypothesize that engineering aspects of the native definitive blood niche in vitro will enable robust generation of adult-like blood progenitor cells. To this end, we have investigated whether hPSC-derived hemogenic endothelial (HE) cells seeded into engineered niches of controlled size, distribution and composition could be optimized to promote differentiation towards phenotypical CD45+ blood cells, including definitive blood precursors. First, we used microwells to initiate hPSC differentiation as size-controlled cell aggregates in serum-free conditions to promote HE induction. These cells display multi-lineage differentiation capabilities (myeloid and lymphoid)
Two-Stage Dual-Nerve Facial Reanimation: Outcomes and Complications in a Series of Pediatric Patients

Background: In facial reanimation via microneurovascular muscle transfer, dual-nerve reinnervation of the muscle capitalizes on the synergistic effects of spontaneous motion from cross facial nerve grafting (CFNG) and increased excursion from masseteric nerve transfer. Two-stage approaches that delay masseteric nerve transfer until the time of the muscle flap increase spontaneity by maximizing muscle reinnervation from the CFNG. While this 2-stage, dual-nerve approach has been described in adults, we present a series of pediatric patients who underwent this reconstructive technique. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all pediatric patients who underwent 2-stage, dual-nerve reconstruction with CFNG and ipsilateral masseteric nerve transfers. Procedures were performed between 2004 and 2016 by 2 surgeons at a single centre. Degree of facial paralysis before and after surgical intervention was measured using House-Brackmann scores. Results: Nine patients with a mean age of 8.6 (range: 5-15 years) years at time of surgery underwent 2-stage, dual-nerve reconstruction. Average time between CFNG and transfer of the free gracilis with masseteric nerve transfer was 13.3 (SD 2.4) months. Mean follow-up was 27.3 months (SD 25.7). Patients demonstrated initiation of voluntary movement on paralyzed side by 3.6 months (SD 0.6) on average, with 3 patients demonstrating spontaneous movement at 3 months. Conclusion: The 2-stage, dual innervation technique using CFNG and delayed ipsilateral masseteric nerve transfer with a free gracilis is a promising reconstructive option to maximize spontaneous expression in pediatric patients. Validated, objective scoring systems for excursion are needed before meaningful comparisons can be made to other reconstructive strategies.
Verification of Red Flag Warnings across the Northwestern U.S. as Forecasts of Large Fire Occurrence

Red Flag Warnings (RFWs) issued by the National Weather Service in the United States (U.S.) are an important early warning system for fire potential based on forecasts of critical fire weather that promote increased fire activity, including the occurrence of large fires. However, verification of RFWs as they relate to fire activity is lacking, thereby limiting means to improve forecasts as well as increase value for end users. We evaluated the efficacy of RFWs as forecasts of large fire occurrence for the Northwestern U.S.—RFWs were shown to have widespread significant skill and yielded an overall 124% relative improvement in forecasting large fire occurrences than a reference forecast. We further demonstrate that the skill of RFWs is significantly higher for lightning-ignited large fires than for human-ignited fires and for forecasts issued during periods of high fuel dryness than those issued in the absence of high fuel dryness. The results of this first verification study of RFWs related to actualized fire activity lay the groundwork for future efforts towards improving the relevance and usefulness of RFWs and other fire early warning systems to better serve the fire community and public.
1HR ON-CALL — Using Simulated ON-CALL to Underpin Experiential Learning in Final Year Medical Students

ABSTRACT A survey of Blackpool Foundation Year One (FY1) doctors found limited training about being on-call. We could not find any direct mention in Tomorrow’s Doctors for preparing undergraduates for this.1 1 Tomorrow’s Doctors: Outcomes and standards for undergraduate medical education [Internet]. 1st ed. 2009 [cited 30 February 2015]. Available from: http://www.gmc-uk.org/Tomorrow_s_Doctors_1214. pdf_48905759. pdf Working out of hours, on-call and with a reduced workforce is a known area of anxiety among junior doctors. With few examples in literature,2 2 Dickinson M, Pimblett M, Hanson J, Davis M. Reflecting reality: pager simulations in undergraduate education. The Clinical Teacher. 2014;11(6):421–424. ,3 3 Fisher J, Martin R, Tate D. Hands on + hands free: simulated on-call interaction. The Clinical Teacher. 2014;11(6):425–428. we developed a novel approach to aiding final-year medical students prepare for this. A simulated teaching programme allowed students to experience the pressures of working on-call. We hoped to imitate stressors within a safe environment. Students were each given a bleep for an hour. Supervisors role-playing a concerned nurse “bleeped” the students. Each task was held in a folder on different wards (no patient interaction or information was involved). They were relatively simple and designed to stimulate resourcefulness, communication and triage skills. Various resources were available including the number for the medical registrar, played by supervisors. The final station was always the unwell patient aimed at drawing the student immediately to this scenario. A facilitated feedback session explored students’ positive and negative experiences, concerns and coping mechanisms. Over the three years of this running, results were resoundingly positive with students taking great confidence from the programme. During the open feedback session, students valued using open wards and having to navigate in an unfamiliar hospital as a realistic preparation for next year. Being on-call is an inevitable part of a junior doctor’s work and we believe there is scope for better preparation within undergraduate training. We have developed an effective and sustainable simulation that has shown excellent results. Due to the positive reaction and low maintenance of the project, we aim to cement our teaching programme as a permanent feature for undergraduate students at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Not all data are equal: Influence of data type and amount in spatial conservation prioritisation

Decisions about land use significantly influence biodiversity globally. The field of spatial conservation prioritisation explores allocation of conservation effort, including for reserve network expansion, targeting habitat restoration, or minimising ecological impacts of development. Inevitably, the utility of such planning depends on the quantity and quality input data, including spatial information on biodiversity, threats, and cost of action. In this work we systematically develop understanding about the significance of these different data types in spatial conservation prioritisation. We clarify the common ways different data types enter an analysis, develop mathematical models to understand the effects of data in spatial prioritisation, and survey literature to establish typical quantities of different types of data used. We use Jackknife analysis to derive the expected change in site values, when a single new data layer is added to a prioritisation. We validate mathematical formulae for expected impacts using simulations. A survey of scientific literature reveals that typical spatial prioritisation analyses include hundreds of biodiversity feature layers (species, habitat types, ecosystem services), but the count of cost, threat or habitat condition layers is typically 0–5. Due to these differences, and the mathematical formulations commonly used to combine data types, the influence of a single cost, threat, or habitat condition data layer can be an order or two higher than the influence of a single biodiversity feature layer. In a classical cost‐effectiveness formulation (benefits divided by costs, B/C) the influence of a single cost layer can even be as large as the joint influence of thousands of species distributions. We also clarify how changes in data impact site values and spatial priority rankings differently, with the latter being further influenced by data correlations, the spread of numeric values inside data layers and other data characteristics. For example, costs influence priorities significantly if cost is positively correlated with biodiversity, but the correlation is the other way around for biodiversity and habitat condition. This work helps conservation practitioners to direct efforts when collating data for spatial conservation planning. It also helps decision makers understand where to focus attention when interpreting conservation plans and their uncertainties.
Analyzing Machine Learning Models with Gaussian Process for the Indoor Positioning System

Recently, there has been growing interest in improving the efficiency and accuracy of the Indoor Positioning System (IPS). The Received Signal Strength- (RSS-) based fingerprinting technique is essential for indoor localization. However, it is challenging to estimate the indoor position based on RSS’s measurement under the complex indoor environment. This paper evaluates three machine learning approaches and Gaussian Process (GP) regression with three different kernels to get the best indoor positioning model. The hyperparameter tuning technique is used to select the optimum parameter set for each model. Experiments are carried out with RSS data from seven access points (AP). Results show that GP with a rational quadratic kernel and eXtreme gradient tree boosting model has the best positioning accuracy compared to other models. In contrast, the eXtreme gradient tree boosting model could achieve higher positioning accuracy with smaller training size and fewer access points.
Talking About Women

The reference to males and females in Portuguese is related to grammatical gender, but the relationship is not straightforward. The grammatical gender system is quite complex and semantically fragile, allowing a very low degree of predictability of the gender value, especially regarding inanimate nouns. Gender contrasts are also problematic. They only apply to some animate nouns and when they occur, they can be diversely fulfilled. Furthermore, this state of affairs is being threatened by social changes that are the output of increasing access of women to social and political rights, and especially to jobs and positions traditionally held only by men. On the other hand, words referring to men and women have a denotative meaning and different connotations. The definitions provided by some early and contemporary dictionaries will be compared. This comparison will demonstrate that these nouns are unevenly tackled. If dictionaries reflect canonical concepts, then the global understanding of male and female concepts are not that different from what they were three hundred years ago.
The Frailty of the Invincible

The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled the frailty of our societies from too many points of view to look away. We need to understand why we were all caught unprepared. On the one hand, we have all short memories. As we forget too quickly, we were unable to recognize key factors influencing response and preparedness to public health threats. For many years, economic evaluation pushed governments all over the world to cut resources for public health systems, with COVID-19 pandemic the question arises: do we spend too much or too little on health care? What is the right amount to spend on health? Moreover, in many countries, the privatisation, or semi-privatisation, of healthcare may give rise to inequitable access to health care for everyone. Although COVID-19 is very “democratic”, its consequences aren’t. According to OECD, income inequality in OECD countries is at its highest level for the past half century. Three main causes have been recognized, technological revolution, globalization, and “financialisation”. In this scenario, lockdown measures adopted to save lives are showing dramatic economic consequences. To address post COVID-19 reconstruction we need to go beyond GDP. As an economic measure this has many shortcomings in describing the real well-being of a country, and since what we measure affects what we do, new paradigms will have to guide the post COVID-19 reconstruction strategies, as the fate of countries and their citizens is at stake.
Enacted stigma experiences and protective factors are strongly associated with mental health outcomes of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Introduction International evidence has found large mental health inequities among transgender people and demonstrates that mental health outcomes are associated with enacted stigma experiences and protective factors. This study aimed to examine the extent of associations of enacted stigma experiences specific to transgender people alongside protective factors with mental health of transgender people in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Methods The 2018 Counting Ourselves survey was a nationwide community-based study of transgender people (N = 1178, Mage = 29.5) living in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The survey assessed a wide range of gender minority stress experiences and protective factors that comprised primary (support from friends and family) and secondary social ties (neighborhood and transgender community belongingness). We calculated the predicted probabilities that transgender people exhibit very high psychological distress level, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal risks with different combinations and exposure profiles of enacted stigma and protective factors. Results Our findings demonstrated that enacted stigma was associated with negative mental health, and support of friends and family was linked to better outcomes across all mental health measures. Beyond primary social ties, sense of belongingness to neighborhood and transgender communities were linked to reduced odds of psychological distress and suicidal ideation. For those scoring high on enacted stigma and low on protective factors, our model revealed a 25% probability of attempting suicide in the last year compared to 3% for those scoring low on enacted stigma and high on protective factors. Conclusions Echoing previous findings, this study demonstrates that transgender people across Aotearoa/New Zealand are less likely to manifest life-threatening mental health outcomes if they experience low levels of enacted stigma and high levels of access to protective factors. Our findings suggest a need to address the enacted stigma that transgender people face across interpersonal and structural settings, and also to enhance social supports that are gender affirmative for this population.
Differential gene expression and the importance of regulatory ncRNAs in acidophilic microorganisms

Gene expression profiles provide insight into how microorganisms respond to changing environmental conditions. However, few studies have integrated expression profile analyses of both coding genes and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to characterize the functional activity of microbial community members. Here, we defined gene expression profiles from environmental and laboratory-grown acidophilic biofilms using RNASeq. In total, 15.8 million Illumina reads were mapped to the genomes of 26 acidophilic microorganisms and nine viruses reconstructed from the Richmond Mine at Iron Mountain, California. More than 99% of the genome was transcribed in three Leptospirillum species, and > 80% in the archaea G-plasma and Ferroplasma Type II. High gene expression by G-plasma and the Leptospirillum Group II UBA strain correlated with extremely acidic conditions, whereas high transcriptional expression of Leptospirillum Group III and Leptospirillum Group II 5way-CG strain occurred under higher pH and lower temperature. While expression of CRISPR Cas genes occurs on the sense strand, expression of the CRISPR loci occurs on the antisense strand in the Leptospirilli. A novel riboswitch associated with the biosynthetic pathway for the osmolyte ectoine was upregulated when each specific Leptospirillum Group II strain was growing under the conditions most favorable for it. Newly described ncRNAs associated with CO dehydrogenase (CODH) suggest regulation of expression of CODH as a CO sensor in mature biofilms in the Leptospirilli. Results reveal the ways in which environmental conditions shape transcriptional profiles of organisms growing in acidophilic microbial communities and highlight the significance of ncRNAs in regulating gene expression. IMPORTANCE Microorganisms play important roles in environmental acidification and in metal-recovery based bioleaching processes. Therefore, characterizing how actively growing microbial communities respond to different environments is key to understanding their role in those processes. Microorganisms express their genes, both coding and non-coding, differently depending on environmental factors, thus evaluating community expression profiles inform about the ecology of actively growing microorganisms. Here we used community transcriptomic analyses to characterize gene expression profiles from biofilm communities growing under extremely acidic conditions. Results expand our knowledge of how acidophilic microorganisms respond to changes in their environment and provide insight into possible gene regulation mechanisms.
Effects of Azadirachtin on Development of Model Insect Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

Azadirachtin (AZA), a plant allelochemical, is used against pest organisms and Lepidopteran species are quite sensitive to this substance. In this study, the developmental effects of AZA on model insect and greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae via force feeding method were investigated. To investigate the effects of different doses of pure AZA (0.2 5 μg/larva), seventh instar larvae were fed by a force feeding method. The results showed that all doses of AZA caused lethal and sublethal effects on the biological parameters of G. mellonella. Larval developmental time increased while that of pupa did not change depending on the increasing doses of AZA. In addition, adult longevity, and weights of pupae and adults decreased at all AZA doses in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, this study, using G. mellonella as a model organism, showed that AZA has insecticidal activity and causes adverse effects on the life history traits of Lepidopteran pest insects.
Behavioural responses to a wealth tax

In this paper, we review the existing empirical evidence on how individuals respond to the incentives created by a net wealth tax. Variation in the overall magnitude of behavioural responses is substantial: estimates of the elasticity of taxable wealth vary by a factor of 800. We explore three key reasons for this variation: tax design, context and methodology. We then discuss what is known about the importance of individual margins of response and how these interact with policy choices. Finally, we use our analysis to systematically narrow down and reconcile the range of elasticity estimates. We argue that a well-designed wealth tax would reduce the tax base by 7–17 per cent if levied at a tax rate of 1 per cent.
Original article Target cell type dependent immune activity of plant extracts in bovine raised under different technologies

Innate and adaptive immune responses, key to appropriate defense against diseases differ in their development dynamics and are both influenced by raising technologies in bovine. This study aimed to identify the differences in activity of plant extracts on neutrophile phagocytic function and blast transformation of lymphocytes/monocytes from bovine raised in extensive and semiintensive systems. Blood samples from dairy cows raised extensively and semi-intensively were subjected to in vitro testing for their phagocytic activity (carbon particle inclusion test) and blast transformation capacity (glucose consumption test). Alcoholic extracts of medicinal plants were used as potential stimulating agents. Stimulation indices (%) were calculated as compared to a glucose control. Minitab 16.0 was used for statistical interpretation. The phagocytosis was highly enhanced by the Silybum marianum L. (Gaernet.) extract in semiintensively raised (0.023 ± 0.04) when compared to the extensively raised cows (0.160 ± 0.069). The S. marianum extract enhanced lymphocyte/monocyte growth more in extensively (55.22 ± 11.10 %) than in the semi-intensively raised animals (50.56 ± 9.82 %), with significant differences when compared to the other extracts (p<0.0002). All the used plant extracts acted inhibiting in the blast transformation test, but to a lesser extent in semi-intensively raised animals. Correlation coefficients between the phagocytosis and blast transformation in the presence of S. marianum extract were non-significant. The immune effects of various plant extracts were dependent on cell type (small phagocytes or lymphocytes/monocytes) and also on the raising system, allowing the choice of immune modulating compounds in dairy cows.
A sustainable flywheel: opportunities from insurance’ business to support nature-based solutions for climate adaptation

Climate related risks generate significant economic, social and humanitarian losses, rising in 2018 to US$ 160bn for overall losses and US$ 80bn for insured losses (Löw 2019). In a 2 ◦C degree warmer world, the climatic risks are highly likely to increase and thus, the losses associated with those risks (e.g. decrease in crop production due to low rainfall and the inherent eurers are considering insurance value ofNB conomic losses) (Masson-Delmotte et al 2018). In France, climate risk related insured losses are expected to raise up to 50%. Caisse Centrale de Réassurance estimates that climate related risks will be responsible for a rise of 35% of average annual losses and 15% due to concentration of assets in risk-prone areas (Moncoulon et al 2016). Because economic and human losses might increase in a changing climate, the question of insurability of risks and affordability of insurance become key. High risks might become uninsurable and the costs of insurance contractsmight upsurge. Simultaneously, the protection gap, the discrepancy between economic losses and the claims covered by insurance, has increased. The economic growth of developing and developed countries has boosted the emergence of insurance policies as well as the rise of insured values (Staib and Puttaiah 2018). The resilience of our societies to both frequent and extreme events require to close the protection gap through strong risk transfer mechanisms. The threats of climate change can lead to opportunities by the (re)insurance sector through their involvement into nature-based loss prevention for climate change adaptation (CCA). The opportunities are framed within the sustainable flywheel business model for the (re)insurance future (figure 1). The flywheel is a virtuous circle that leverages on (re)insurers’ risk modelling expertise to increase knowledge on the consequences of climate change on hazards and on nature-based solutions (NBS). This will maintain affordability of insurance by limiting increasing damage and the industry further participates in investments and partnerships for loss prevention.