Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical Evaluation of the Modern and Future Origins of Atmospheric River Moisture Over the West Coast of the United States

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are one of the major causes of extreme precipitation and flooding in many regions around the world and have been found to contribute substantially to global poleward moisture transport. However, the evaporative origin of the moisture in ARs remains unclear, at least on climatological timescales. Here we use the water tracer and water isotope‐enabled Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) model to examine the moisture sources of ARs that impact the West Coast of the United States. The climatological distribution of moisture sources is determined for both the modern era and for 2100 under a Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 scenario. It is found that 33 to 53% of the precipitable water over the West Coast of the United States originates from the Northeast Pacific, in particular the midlatitudes and subtropics, although in June‐July‐August more moisture is recycled from continental regions. It is also found that although ARs are at least 70% Northeast Pacific moisture, a significant amount of the moisture is derived from tropical latitudes (>15% from south of 20°N). It is found that in the warmer 2100 climate there is a 39% increase in the magnitude of ARs. In this future epoch, moisture is transported from more remote regions for all seasons and for both ARs and the average climatology. To provide future observational evidence that this model result is robust, it is shown that water isotopes provide an observational constraint on the moisture transport pathways, and thus the possibility to observe changes in moisture source.
Ectoparasites and sett use in European badgers

Abstract The European badger,Meles meles, constructs burrows (‘setts’) of various sizes and types, some of which are very large and complex. The hypothesis that large setts allow badgers to move regularly from one nest chamber to another, thereby avoiding accumulation of ectoparasites, was tested. The ectoparasite load of 32 wild badgers was measured and the daytime sleeping locations of 33 radiocollared individuals, 16 of which were treated with anti-parasite spray, recorded. Untreated badgers were infested with fleas, ticks and lice, and they regularly shifted from one sleeping site to another within a sett, rarely spending more than 2 or 3 consecutive days at the same site. Anti-parasite treatment decreased the frequency with which badgers switched to different nest sites. Badgers did not choose sleeping sites at random when returning to the sett each morning: they tended to return more often than would be expected by chance to a site that they had occupied the previous day, and less often than expected to a site that had been vacated by another member of the group on the preceding night. Badgers may thus remain in the same nest until perceived ectoparasite challenge exceeds a certain threshold and avoid nests recently vacated by a conspecific because the level of infestation of such nests is also likely to exceed the threshold. Use of multiple nests as a defence against ectoparasites may be a common trait in burrowing mammals.
Miniaturization and High-Density Arrangement of Microcantilevers in Proximity and Tactile Sensor for Dexterous Gripping Control

In this paper, in order to perform delicate and advanced grip control like human, a proximity and tactile combination sensor using miniaturized microcantilevers one-fifth the size of previous one as the detection part was newly developed. Microcantilevers were arranged with higher spatial density than in previous works and an interdigitated array electrode to enhance light sensitivity was added. It is found that the interdigitated array electrode can detect light with 1.6 times higher sensitivity than that in previous works and the newly fabricated microcantilevers have enough sensitivity to applied normal and shear loads. Therefore, more accurate detection of proximity distance and spatial distribution of contact force become available for dexterous gripping control to prevent ‘overshooting’, ‘force control error’, and ‘slipping’.
The relationships between physical performance, activity levels and falls in older men.

Background Physical performance and activity have both been linked to fall risk, but the way they are jointly associated with falls is unclear. We investigated how these two factors are related to incident falls in older men. Methods In 2741 men (78.8±5 years) we evaluated the associations between activity and physical performance and how they jointly contributed to incident falls. Activity was assessed by accelerometry. Physical performance was measured by gait speed, dynamic balance (narrow walk), chair stand time, grip strength and leg power. Falls were ascertained by tri-annual questionnaires. Results Men were grouped into four categories based on activity and performance levels. The greatest number of falls (36-43%) and the highest fall rate (4.7-5.4/year among those who fell) (depending on the performance test) occurred in men with low activity/low performance, but most falls (57-64%) and relatively high fall rates (3.0-4.35/year) occurred in the other groups (low activity/high performance, high activity/high performance and high activity/low performance; 70% of men were in these groups). There were interactions between activity, performance (gait speed, narrow walk) and incident falls (p=0.001-0.02); predicted falls/yr. were highest in men with low activity/low performance, but there was also a peak of predicted falls in those with high activity. Conclusions In community-dwelling older men, many falls occur in those with the lowest activity/worst physical performance but fall risk is also substantial with better activity and performance. Activity/physical performance assessments may improve identification of older men at risk of falls, and allow individualized approaches to prevention.
Neurobiological effects of work-related stress: protocol for a case-control neuroimaging study.

INTRODUCTION Stress is one of the greatest burdens of our society and often implies impairments in cognitive and emotional functions. Here, we hypothesise that changes in the brain's dopamine (DA)-based mesocorticolimbic projec-tions in patients with work-related stress (adjustment disorder) will manifest themselves as altered glucose metabolism in relation to neural activity, and as altered DA radiotracer binding potentials at the relevant receptors. METHODS Subjects and healthy controls undergo neuropsychiatric tests and PET/MRI with three tracers: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose to measure glucose metabolism as a marker of neural activity, 11C-raclopride to explore binding potentials in the striatum, and 11C-FLB 457 to study possibly impaired mesocortical dopaminergic transmission in the cortex. To demonstrate differences of glucose metabolism, more than 2 × 41 patients/controls are needed. We expect to find that symptoms of cognitive and motivational reward deficits are attributable to changes in the frontal lobe and striatal glucose metabolism in the majority of patients, and that changes of D2-receptor availability and impaired dopaminergic transmission in the striatum and prefrontal cortex are contributing factors. CONCLUSIONS This project is designed to generate entirely new and objective evidence of stress-induced cerebral illness, and to provide a basis for in-depth research and for a more rational management of this strenuous disorder. FUNDING Private, industrial and public funds. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrails.gov/NCT03334045.
Varg i Skandinavien: statusrapport för vintern 1999-2000

Uppdragsgivare: Naturvardsverket och Samordningsgruppen for bestandsovervakning av stora rovdjur, Sverige, Fylkesmennene i Hedmark, Oslo/Akershus, Ostfold fylker och Direktoratet for naturforvaltning, Norge.
Diffuse Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor: A Rare Presentation

Diffuse involvement of the pancreas in neuroendocrine tumor is a rare presentation, and its appearance on In-111 pentetreotide scan has not been reported earlier in the literature. We present the whole body images from In-111 pentetreotide scan, contrast-enhanced computed tomography images, and histopathology correlation.
Effects of Aerobic Exercise Alone on Lipids in Healthy East Asians: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Aim: The purpose of the current work was to review the effects of regular aerobic exercise on serum lipid and lipoprotein levels in East Asians using meta-analysis. Methods: The randomized controlled trials analyzed involved healthy adults who were East Asians with a mean age ≥ 40 years, an exercise group that only performed regular aerobic exercise, and a control group that did not carry out exercise-related intervention; the trials indicated mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), or triglyceride (TG). The mean difference (MD) was defined as the difference (mean value at post-intervention in the exercise group − mean value at baseline in the exercise group) − (mean value at post-intervention in the control group − mean value at baseline in the control group) in HDL-C, LDL-C, TC, and TG and was calculated for each trial. The weighted MD was calculated with a random-effects model. Results: The meta-analysis examined 994 subjects in 25 studies. The weighted MD in HDL-C, TC, and TG improved significantly (HDL-C, 2.2 mg/dL; TC, − 5.8 mg/dL; TG, − 13.7 mg/dL). The weighted MD in HDL-C and TC contained significant heterogeneity (HDL-C, I2 = 45.1%; TC, I2 = 56.2%). When trials were limited to those involving moderate-intensity exercise (55%–69% of the maximum heart rate) or an exercise volume ≥ 150 min/week, the weighted MD in HDL-C, LDL-C, TC, and TG improved significantly and did not contain significant heterogeneity. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the ideal form of exercise to improve lipid and lipoprotein levels in East Asians is exercise of moderate-intensity and in a volume ≥ 150 min/week.
Dynamics of Inflammatory Response in Autoinflammatory Disorders: Autonomous and Hyperinflammatory States

Autoinflammatory diseases were originally defined as a group of monogenic disorders associated with seemingly unprovoked inflammatory episodes mediated mainly by the innate immune system and without direct involvement of adaptive immunity. The renewed concept encompasses a larger group of disorders including multifactorial diseases, which share the same inflammatory and clinical features with the monogenic disorders. Coining of the “auto” prefix to these inflammatory diseases suggests a constitutively active and self-augmenting innate immune response, but only a subgroup of them including cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS), associated with dominantly inherited gain-of-function NLRP3 variants, fits well with the definition of the “autonomous” inflammatory conditions. However, the “autoinflammation” concept also includes another group of disorders characterized by episodes of exaggerated inflammatory response only when challenged by certain triggers. The dynamics of this latter group can be better defined as a “hyperinflammatory” state, which shares similar characteristics with the innate memory or trained immunity. Differentiation of “autonomous” and “hyperinflammatory” states of autoinflammatory disorders can provide additional insights to understand their pathogenesis and develop better management strategies since both conditions may have different inflammatory dynamics affecting the severity and frequency of clinical findings and treatment responses.
Microbial Degradation of Epoxy

Epoxy resins have a wide range of applications, including in corrosion protection of metals, electronics, structural adhesives, and composites. The consumption of epoxy resins is predicted to keep growing in the coming years. Unfortunately, thermoset resins cannot be recycled, and are typically not biodegradable. Hence, they pose environmental pollution risk. Here, we report degradation of epoxy resin by two bacteria that are capable of using epoxy resin as a sole carbon source. These bacteria were isolated from soil samples collected from areas around an epoxy and polyurethanes manufacturing plant. Using an array of molecular, biochemical, analytical, and microscopic techniques, they were identified as Rhodococcus rhodochrous and Ochrobactrum anthropi. As epoxy was the only carbon source available for these bacteria, their measured growth rate reflected their ability to degrade epoxy resin. Bacterial growth took place only when the two bacteria were grown together, indicating a synergistic effect. The surface morphology of the epoxy droplets changed significantly due to the biodegradation process. The metabolic pathway of epoxy by these two microbes was investigated by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Bisphenol A, 3,3′-((propane-2,2-diylbis(4,1-phenylene))bis(oxy))bis(propane-1,2-diol) and some other constituents were identified as being consumed by the bacteria.
Virulence behavior of uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains in the host model Caenorhabditis elegans

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in humans. Although a number of bacteria can cause UTIs, most cases are due to infection by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). UPEC are a genetically heterogeneous group that exhibit several virulence factors associated with colonization and persistence of bacteria in the urinary tract. Caenorhabditis elegans is a tiny, free‐living nematode found worldwide. Because many biological pathways are conserved in C. elegans and humans, the nematode has been increasingly used as a model organism to study virulence mechanisms of microbial infections and innate immunity. The virulence of UPEC strains, characterized for antimicrobial resistance, pathogenicity‐related genes associated with virulence and phylogenetic group belonging was evaluated by measuring the survival of C. elegans exposed to pure cultures of these strains. Our results showed that urinary strains can kill the nematode and that the clinical isolate ECP110 was able to efficiently colonize the gut and to inhibit the host oxidative response to infection. Our data support that C. elegans, a free‐living nematode found worldwide, could serve as an in vivo model to distinguish, among uropathogenic E. coli, different virulence behavior.
From Colitis to Cancer: An Evolutionary Trajectory That Merges Maths and Biology

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease have an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer, and this risk is related to disease duration, extent, and cumulative inflammation burden. Carcinogenesis follows the principles of Darwinian evolution, whereby somatic cells acquire genomic alterations that provide them with a survival and/or growth advantage. Colitis represents a unique situation whereby routine surveillance endoscopy provides a serendipitous opportunity to observe somatic evolution over space and time in vivo in a human organ. Moreover, somatic evolution in colitis is evolution in the ‘fast lane': the repeated rounds of inflammation and mucosal healing that are characteristic of the disease accelerate the evolutionary process and likely provide a strong selective pressure for inflammation-adapted phenotypic traits. In this review, we discuss the evolutionary dynamics of pre-neoplastic clones in colitis with a focus on how measuring their evolutionary trajectories could deliver a powerful way to predict future cancer occurrence. Measurements of somatic evolution require an interdisciplinary approach that combines quantitative measurement of the genotype, phenotype and the microenvironment of somatic cells–paying particular attention to spatial heterogeneity across the colon–together with mathematical modeling to interpret these data within an evolutionary framework. Here we take a practical approach in discussing how and why the different “evolutionary ingredients” can and should be measured, together with our viewpoint on subsequent translation into clinical practice. We highlight the open questions in the evolution of colitis-associated cancer as a stimulus for future work.
Molecular characterization of breast and lung tumors by integration of multiple data types with functional sparse-factor analysis

Effective cancer treatment is crucially dependent on the identification of the biological processes that drive a tumor. However, multiple processes may be active simultaneously in a tumor. Clustering is inherently unsuitable to this task as it assigns a tumor to a single cluster. In addition, the wide availability of multiple data types per tumor provides the opportunity to profile the processes driving a tumor more comprehensively. Here we introduce Functional Sparse-Factor Analysis (funcSFA) to address these challenges. FuncSFA integrates multiple data types to define a lower dimensional space capturing the relevant variation. A tailor-made module associates biological processes with these factors. FuncSFA is inspired by iCluster, which we improve in several key aspects. First, we increase the convergence efficiency significantly, allowing the analysis of multiple molecular datasets that have not been pre-matched to contain only concordant features. Second, FuncSFA does not assign tumors to discrete clusters, but identifies the dominant driver processes active in each tumor. This is achieved by a regression of the factors on the RNA expression data followed by a functional enrichment analysis and manual curation step. We apply FuncSFA to the TCGA breast and lung datasets. We identify EMT and Immune processes common to both cancer types. In the breast cancer dataset we recover the known intrinsic subtypes and identify additional processes. These include immune infiltration and EMT, and processes driven by copy number gains on the 8q chromosome arm. In lung cancer we recover the major types (adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) and processes active in both of these types. These include EMT, two immune processes, and the activity of the NFE2L2 transcription factor. We validate the breast cancer findings on the METABRIC set and demonstrate the translatability of the TCGA breast cancer factors to METABRIC. In summary, FuncSFA is a robust method to perform discovery of key driver processes in a collection of tumors through unsupervised integration of multiple molecular data types and functional annotation.
Isolation and Characterization of a Distinct Influenza A Virus from Egyptian Bats

Through surveillance, we isolated and characterized an influenza A virus from Egyptian fruit bats. This virus had an affinity to avian-like receptors but was also able to infect mice. Our findings indicate that bats may harbor a diversity of influenza A viruses. Such viruses may have the potential to cross the species barrier to infect other species, including domestic birds, mammals, and, possibly, humans. ABSTRACT Recently, two genetically distinct influenza viruses were detected in bats in Guatemala and Peru. We conducted influenza A virus surveillance among four bat species in Egypt. Out of 1,202 swab specimens, 105 were positive by real-time PCR. A virus was successfully isolated in eggs and propagated in MDCK cells in the presence of N-tosyl-l-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone-treated trypsin. Genomic analysis revealed that the virus was phylogenetically distinct from all other influenza A viruses. Analysis of the hemagglutinin gene suggested a common ancestry with other H9 viruses, and the virus showed a low level of cross-reactivity with serum raised against H9N2 viruses. Bats were seropositive for the isolated viruses. The virus replicated in the lungs of experimentally infected mice. While it is genetically distinct, this virus shares several avian influenza virus characteristics suggesting a more recent avian host origin. IMPORTANCE Through surveillance, we isolated and characterized an influenza A virus from Egyptian fruit bats. This virus had an affinity to avian-like receptors but was also able to infect mice. Our findings indicate that bats may harbor a diversity of influenza A viruses. Such viruses may have the potential to cross the species barrier to infect other species, including domestic birds, mammals, and, possibly, humans.
Cognitive functions underlying prospective memory deficits: A study on traumatic brain injury

Abstract This study investigates prospective memory (PM) deficits as well as the interplay between performance in executive functions (EFs), speed of processing, episodic memory and PM in traumatic brain injury (TBI), differentiating between time based and event based tasks. The Memory for Intentions Screening Test was administrated to a sample of 19 participants with TBI and 50 healthy controls. Tasks probing different EFs (i.e., shifting, updating/working memory, inhibition, and access to long term memory), speed of processing, and episodic memory were also administrated to the TBI group. PM deficits were found in participants with TBI compared to controls. In the role of EFs in PM, only tasks probing updating/working memory and access to the long-term memory showed to play a specific role in PM performance in TBI. However, while updating/working memory was related to both time and event based PM, access to the long term memory was associated to performance on time based PM task only. Speed of processing and retrospective memory abilities do not seem to play a specific role in PM deficit in TBI. Our results provide a better understanding of the PM deficit in TBI, which may contribute to improve existing rehabilitation programs for individuals with TBI.
Responses by breeding birds to heterospecific song and mobbing call playbacks under varying predation risk

We conducted a playback experiment to study the effect of predation risk on the attraction of forest passerines to heterospecific territory songs and mobbing calls during the breeding season. The experiment consisted of five treatments, which were played at different distances from the nests of sparrowhawks, Accipiter nisus: the territory song and mobbing calls of the willow tit, Parus montanus, and of the redwing, Turdus iliacus, with classical music as a control. Song may indicate the absence of predators whereas mobbing indicates a potential danger. We assumed that predation risk increases with decreasing distance to a hawk's nest. Therefore, we predicted that the correlation between the number of species attracted and increasing predation risk would be positive for song and negative for mobbing calls. We also examined the effect of body mass on the species' responses. In general, song and mobbing calls attracted more species than the control. For both willow tit and redwing treatments, mobbing calls elicited the strongest response and these attracted more species the lower the predation risk. Attraction to territory songs, however, did not vary in relation to predation risk. Small bird species (<20 g) showed increasing attraction to mobbing calls with decreasing risk, but large bird species did not. Out results suggest that birds exploit heterospecific signals in their decision making but under the constraints of predation risk.
APLICACIÓN DE ALGORITMOS GENÉTICOS EN OPTIMIZAR LA DISTRIBUCIÓN DE ALETAS EN LOS DISIPADORES DE CALOR

En la actualidad la disipacion de calor en los componentes electronicos de los equipos de computo es un tema de interes mundial, puesto que se ha incrementado la capacidad de procesamiento disminuyendo sus dimensiones. Por consiguiente, la generacion de calor sobre los componentes electronicos aumenta conforme aumenta la capacidad de procesamiento mientras disminuye sus dimensiones afectando el desempeno. Por lo tanto, la busqueda de maximizar la transferencia de calor entre el componente electronico con el disipador de calor conlleva a problemas de optimizacion. Un metodo de busqueda y optimizacion es el algoritmo genetico. En este trabajo se realiza la implementacion, modelacion y simulacion del algoritmo genetico para optimizar la distribucion de aletas de un disipador de calor.