Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
In-vitro evaluation of novel titania-containing borate bioactive glass scaffolds.

Titanium-containing borate bioactive glass scaffolds (0, 5, 15 and 20 mol%, identified as BRT0, BRT1, BRT3 and BRT4) with a microstructure similar to that of human trabecular bone, were prepared and evaluated in vitro for potential bone loss applications in revision total knee arthroplasty (rTKA). Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) cell viability assays of scaffold ion release extracts revealed that BRT0 scaffolds (0 mol% titanium) inhibited cell proliferation and activity at day 14. At day 30, all scaffold extracts decreased cell proliferation and activity significantly. However, live/dead cell assay results demonstrated that degradation products from all the scaffolds had no inhibitory effect on cell viability. Significant bactericidal efficacies of BRT3 extracts against Escherishia coli (Gram-negative) and BRT1 extracts against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis (both Gram-positive bacteria) were demonstrated. Finally, evaluation of the cell / bioactive glass surface interactions showed well-spread cells on the surface of the BRT3 glass discs and BRT1 and BRT3 scaffolds, when compared to BRT0 and BRT4 scaffolds. The results indicate that by changing the Ti4+ : B3+ ratio, the ion release and consequently cell proliferation could be improved. In-vitro results in this study demonstrate that BRT3 scaffolds could be a promising candidate for addressing bone loss in rTKAs; however, in-vivo studies would be required to evaluate the effect of a dynamic environment on the cell and tissue response to the fabricated scaffolds. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The genera of the myrmicine ant tribe Dacetonini are revised and redefined. A phylogenetic analysis, new classification and key to genera are presented. Diagnoses of the genera and groups of genera are given and known aspects of their biology, taxonomy and distribution are summarized. The functional morphology of the mandible is investigated; two modes of action are differentiated and their significance is discussed. Nine genera are recognized: Acanthognathus, Colobostruma, Daceton, Epopostruma, Mesostruma (gen. rev.), Microdaceton, Orectognathus, Pyramica (gen. rev.) and Strumigenys. Seventeen names in the genus-group are newly synonymized with Pyramica: Asketogenys, Chelystruma, Cladarogenys, Codiomyrmex, Codioxenus, Dorisidris, Dysedrognathus, Epitritus, Glamyromyrmex, Gymnomyrmex, Kyidris, Neostruma, Pentastruma, Serrastruma, Smithistruma, Tingimyrmex and Trichoscapa.
Rapid progressive central precocious puberty: diagnostic and predictive value of basal sex hormone levels and pelvic ultrasound

Abstract Objectives Data on the predictive values of parameters included in the diagnostic work-up for precocious puberty (PP) remain limited. We detected the diagnostic value of basal sex hormone levels, pelvic ultrasound parameters and bone age assessment for activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in girls with PP, in order to help in the decision to perform GnRH testing. Patients and methods We retrospectively considered 177 girls with PP. According to puberty evolution, the girls were divided into two groups: rapid progressive central precocious puberty (RP-CPP) and non/slowly progressive/transient forms (SP-PP). In all patients we considered Tanner stage, basal luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol (E2) values, bone age, and pelvis examination. We assessed the diagnostic value of each variable and identified the number of pathological parameters that best identify patients with RP-CPP. Results Basal LH ≥ 0.2IU/L, E2 level ≥ 50 pmol/L, uterine longitudinal diameter ≥ 3.5 cm, transverse uterine diameter ≥ 1.5 cm, endometrial echo and ovarian volume ≥ 2 cm3 were significantly associated with RP-CPP (p ≤ 0.01). The ability to diagnose RP-CPP was enhanced with increasing number of pathological hormonal and instrumental parameters (p < 0.001). With more than three parameters detected, sensitivity and specificity reached 58% (95%CI 48–67) and 85% (95%CI 74–92), respectively, with a PPV = 86% (95%CI 76–93) and PPN = 54% (95%CI 43–54); the area under the ROC curve was 0.71 (95%CI 0.65–0.78). Conclusion Despite the availability of different tests, diagnosing RP-CPP remains difficult. A diagnosis model including at least three hormonal and/or ultrasound parameters may serve as a useful preliminary step in selecting patients who require GnRH testing for early detection of RC-PP.
Tolerance of the shrimp Litopenaeus stylirostris, Stimpson 1894, to environmental stress: interindividual variability and selection potential for stress‐resistant individuals

Our study showed that osmoregulatory capacity (OC) of shrimp from the same clutch displayed interindividual variability. When environmental salinity decreases, this variability increases. Thus, at isoosmotic point (sea-water salinity ≈26), the coefficient of variation calculated for measured OC was 2.7%, whereas it was 8.2% for sea-water salinity ≈1.5. In terms of haemolymph osmolality, the interindividual difference can reach up to 45.8% for the same water salinity level. The mean OC of individuals that have survived a series of salinity and temperature shocks is significantly greater than the mean value recorded within their original population. This increase in OC was maintained beyond the one or two moulting periods that these shrimp experienced during our experiment.
Low-Cost INS/GNSS Integration Algorithm Aided by Multi-Constraints Applied to Vehicle Navigation

The low-cost inertial navigation system/global navigation satellite system (INS/GNSS) integration has been widely used to vehicle navigation. However, the positioning performance often declines due to the weak satellite signals. This paper presents a new approach to improve the accuracy of the vehicle navigation. In contrast to the current methods, a new velocity constraint model is developed to aid the estimation of the navigation errors. The altitude accuracy of GNSS is challenged in comparison with its position in the horizonal plane. Thus, an auxiliary low-cost barometer is used to obtain the height as well. The experimental results demonstrate the benefit of the proposed multi-constraints aiding algorithm.
APE1 Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Proliferation through GFRα1/Src/ERK Axis-Cascade Signaling in Response to GDNF

Pancreatic cancer is the worst exocrine gastrointestinal cancer leading to the highest mortality. Recent studies reported that aberrant expression of apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APE1) is involved in uncontrolled cell growth. However, the molecular mechanism of APE1 biological role remains unrevealed in pancreatic cancer progression. Here, we demonstrate that APE1 accelerates pancreatic cancer cell proliferation through glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)/glial factor receptor α1 (GFRα1)/Src/ERK axis-cascade signaling. The proliferation of endogenous APE1 expressed-MIA PaCa-2, a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line, was increased by treatment with GDNF, a ligand of GFRα1. Either of downregulated APE1 or GFRα1 expression using small interference RNA (siRNA) inhibited GDNF-induced cancer cell proliferation. The MEK-1 inhibitor PD98059 decreased GDNF-induced MIA PaCa-2 cell proliferation. Src inactivation by either its siRNA or Src inhibitor decreased ERK-phosphorylation in response to GDNF in MIA PaCa-2 cells. Overexpression of GFRα1 in APE1-deficient MIA PaCa-2 cells activated the phosphorylation of Src and ERK. The expression of both APE1 and GFRα1 was gradually increased as progressing pancreatic cancer grades. Our results highlight a critical role for APE1 in GDNF-induced pancreatic cancer cell proliferation through APE1/GFRα1/Src/ERK axis-cascade signaling and provide evidence for future potential therapeutic drug targets for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
NewsScatter: Topic Similarity in Social Media

News organisations that use social media sites (such as Twitter) rapidly generate a large volume of data every day. Data visualisation is an effective way to represent microblogging data graphically in order to increase understanding of what news organisations are reporting over a given time period. This paper focuses on visualising the tweets (posts on Twitter) of a broad cross-section of English-language news outlets over time, with the goal of developing an interactive web-based visualisation system that summarises the output of news outlets’ tweets as a scatter plot where each point refers to a news outlet. Such a visualisation could enable interested parties to explore similarities and differences among what news outlets report based on the frequency with which specific words are used.
A Period-Specific Combined Traffic Flow Prediction Based on Travel Speed Clustering

Short-term traffic flow forecasting has always been an interesting research at the fields of Intelligent Transportation Systems. This paper presents a time-based combined traffic flow prediction model based on field data collected by loop detectors at signalized intersections, which are used to signal optimization, route choice, traffic monitoring, etc. Firstly, the traffic flow and corresponding travel speed by hour is processed for error elimination and correlation analysis. Secondly, time of day is divided into three groups (peak, flat-peak and low-peak period) in terms of hourly travel speed clustering such as to separately develop prediction formula for each period with avoiding the overfitting of a single 24-hour model. And then, a combined prediction model based on time partition is proposed for 24-hour traffic flow forecasting, which adopts grey theory model for flat-peak and low-peak periods and back-propagation artificial neural network for peak hours, respectively. Finally, in tests that used field data from Xingzhong Rd, Zhongshan, China, the developed combined method based on speed clustering shows promise in reducing mean absolute error, mean absolute percentage error and mean squared error. Further exploration with excessive experiments for comparison analysis exhibits that the period-specific combined model conducts a more accurate and reliable prediction than the individual model and existing combined ones with the same structure for 24-hour.
Development of osteogenic chitosan/alginate scaffolds reinforced with silicocarnotite containing apatitic fibers

Porous composite scaffolds of chitosan-alginate (CH-AL) reinforced by biphasic calcium phosphate fibers containing silicon (Si) were prepared using the freeze-drying method. The fibers were synthesized using a homogenous precipitation method with differing reaction times and were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and ICP-OES. Fibers produced with no Si incorporation using two different reaction times of 4 d and 8 d comprised two phases of hydroxyapatite (∼93-96 wt%) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP). No new phases were observed by adding 0.8 wt% of Si during 4 d of precipitation. However, the addition of Si to fibers synthesized within 8 d under reflux conditions produced biphasic fibers with 1.9 wt% Si which consisted of a new phase of silicocarnotite (∼94 wt%) associated with the β-TCP phase. The whisker-like fibers were 10–200 µm in length and 0.2–5 µm in width. The physicochemical, mechanical, and biological properties of composite scaffolds fabricated by adding different fiber contents and types were investigated. The scaffolds exhibited favorable microstructures with a high porosity (66–88%) and the interconnected pores varied in size between 40 and 250 µm. Scaffolds containing silicocarnotite showed a significant improvement in their mechanical properties and in vitro bioactivity (using SBF testing and characterization of the apatite layer by ATR-FTIR and SEM/EDS) as well as proliferation, mineralization and adhesion of MG63 cells, when evaluated by MTT assay, alkaline phosphatase, and SEM. Scaffolds reinforced with silicocarnotite fibers also exhibited better mechanical properties and water uptake, compared to ones containing incorporated fibers made of Si. Composite scaffolds reinforced by 50 wt% fibers precipitated after 8 d were superior in terms of their mechanical properties and achieved a compressive strength and modulus of 272 kPa and 4.9 MPa, respectively, which is 400% greater than CH-AL scaffolds. The results indicate that the addition of Si into biphasic fibers, leading to the formation of silicocarnotite, makes silicocarnotite a potential candidate for the bioactive reinforcement of composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.
Population Dynamics of Phytoplankton and Viruses in a Phosphate-limited Mesocosm and their Effect on DMSP and DMS Production

The effect of phosphate limitation on viral abundance, phytoplankton bloom dynamics and production of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) and dimethyl sulphide (DMS) was investigated in seawater mesocosm enclosures, in a Norwegian fjord, during June 1995. Daily estimates of viral concentrations, based on transmission electron microscope (TEM) counts, varied on an apparently random basis in each of the enclosures. A largeSynechococcusspp. bloom developed in an enclosure which was maintained at a high N:P ratio, simulating phosphate-deplete growth conditions. Following phosphate addition to this enclosure, there was a large increase in estimated virus numbers shortly before an apparent collapse of theSynechococcusbloom. It is tentatively suggested that lysogenic viruses were induced following phosphate addition to the phosphate-limited enclosures, and that these observations add to a growing body of evidence which supports the hypothesis that nutrient availability may be responsible for the switch between lysogeny and lytic production. High DMS concentrations and viral numbers were observed on the demise of the flagellate (predominantlyEmiliania huxleyi) and diatom blooms, but overall there was no significant correlation. Highest concentrations of DMSP were associated with blooms ofE. huxleyi, for which an intracellular concentration of 0·5 pg cell−1(SD, 0·06) was calculated. Good correlation of DMSP withSynechococcusspp. cell numbers was observed, suggesting that these species of picoplankton may be significant producers of DMSP. No effects of phosphate limitation on DMS and/or DMSP production were evident from the data.
Microbiological Quality Assessment Of A Compost Produced From Animal Waste And Vegetables

Daily composting has been identified as the best method for final disposal of carcasses, but the potential risk of pathogen transmission seriously limits its use. In this study we assessed the microbiological quality and biosafety of a compost produced in an experimental unit of daily mortality composting at Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil. We know that mature compost presents a good composition of the most important agricultural chemical components and also the aqueous solutions do not inhibit the Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) and Lactuca sativa (lettuce) germination as well its development. To study the microbiological safety, samples were evaluated to determine the presence of coliforms, Salmonella sp, and several soil-borne phytopathogenic fungi (Rhizoctonia spp, Fusarium spp, Pythium spp, Phytophthora spp). These evaluations were carried out using selective and differential microbiological culture media. The composition of bacterial population in mature compost was also determined by the 16SrRNA gene sequencing in the Illumina System. The presence of STEC, EHEC, and EPEC pathogenic bacteria E. coli genes of virulence was not verified by molecular techniques. Salmonella and phytopathogenic fungi presence were negative. Coliform levels were 1160 UFC/kg, and the most common bacteria observed by 16S rRNA gene were from Firmicutes and Proteobacteria phylum. The results show that a daily mortality composting method is effective to reduce pathogenic microorganisms but it does not terminate all of them. Thus it can be used as fertilizer, except to crops intended for human or animal direct consumption. Additional tests must be performed to assure the absence of some pathogens such as viruses. WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 191, www.witpress. com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) © 2014 WIT Press doi:10.2495/SC141242 The Sustainable City IX, Vol. 2 1469
Fixed-Time Leader-Following Flocking for Nonlinear Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems

This work focuses on the fixed-time leader-following flocking for multi-agent systems. Different from the previous continuous inherent dynamic <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$f(x_{i},v_{i},t)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for agent <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$i$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, a new nonlinear discontinuous one is firstly proposed in this paper. Employing non-smooth techniques, graph theory and fixed-time stability theory, the fixed-time leader-following flocking is achieved. Moreover, an upper bound of the settling time is independent of initial states. In addition, two illustrative examples are given to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.
The Significance of Bacteriophage in Bacterial Classification

SUMMARY: A given race of phage grows in a relatively limited range of bacteria. A coli phage, for instance, will not lyse a staphylococcus or a corynebacterium. Within these limits, however, some phages have a much wider host-range than others: some attack only one or a few bacterial strains; some a whole species; and some can lyse members of several species which on other grounds are considered to be not too distantly related. For instance, some pasteurella phages also attack strains of Salmonella and Shigella (Lazarus & Gunnison, 1947). The phage-sensitivity of a strain as a basis for bacterial classification can be interpreted in two ways, just as there are two levels at which bacterial classification can itself be regarded. That is to say, either as just another phenotypic character which the two strains may have in common; or at the level of the genetic material, the nucleic acid, so that, if two bacterial strains interact with the same phage at the genetic level, each of the strains is manifesting some degree of genetic compatibility with the phage, and thus with each other.
Drug Resistance Prediction Using Deep Learning Techniques on HIV-1 Sequence Data

The fast replication rate and lack of repair mechanisms of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) contribute to its high mutation frequency, with some mutations resulting in the evolution of resistance to antiretroviral therapies (ART). As such, studying HIV drug resistance allows for real-time evaluation of evolutionary mechanisms. Characterizing the biological process of drug resistance is also critically important for sustained effectiveness of ART. Investigating the link between “black box” deep learning methods applied to this problem and evolutionary principles governing drug resistance has been overlooked to date. Here, we utilized publicly available HIV-1 sequence data and drug resistance assay results for 18 ART drugs to evaluate the performance of three architectures (multilayer perceptron, bidirectional recurrent neural network, and convolutional neural network) for drug resistance prediction, jointly with biological analysis. We identified convolutional neural networks as the best performing architecture and displayed a correspondence between the importance of biologically relevant features in the classifier and overall performance. Our results suggest that the high classification performance of deep learning models is indeed dependent on drug resistance mutations (DRMs). These models heavily weighted several features that are not known DRM locations, indicating the utility of model interpretability to address causal relationships in viral genotype-phenotype data.
Application and Preparation Progress of Stable Isotope Reference Materials in Traceability of Agricultural Products

Abstract In the field of food traceability analysis, stable isotope ratio analysis is a relatively new technology. The measurement and calibration of isotope data depends on stable isotope reference materials. The isotope reference materials commonly used are chemical matrix. These reference materials are inappropriate-especially for food matrix origin analysis. This review focuses on the research progress on stable isotope reference materials by (1) classification of stable isotope reference materials, (2) application of stable isotope reference materials, and (3) research progress of preparation of stable isotope reference materials. Selecting appropriate isotope reference materials will help improve the effectiveness of stable isotope ratio analysis in food traceability. By cooperation with different laboratories, high-quality isotope reference materials can be prepared to add new food matrix types to provide more choices for users.
Review on safety of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae

Abstract The entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin is widely used for biocontrol of pest insects, and many commercial products are on the market or under development. The aim of this review is to summarise all relevant safety data of this fungus, which are necessary for the commercialisation and registration process. The review contains the following sections: (1) identity, (2) biological properties (history, natural occurrence and geographical distribution, host range, mode of action, production of metabolites/toxins, effect of environmental factors), (3) methods to determine and quantify residues, (4) fate and behaviour in the environment (mobility and persistence in air, water and soil), (5) effects on non-target organisms (microorganisms, plants, soil organisms, aquatic organisms, predators, parasitoids, honey bees, earth worms, etc.), (6) effects on vertebrates (fish, amphibia, reptiles, and birds), and (7) effects on mammals and human health (allergy, pathogenicity/toxicity). On the basis of the presented knowledge, M. anisopliae is considered to be safe with minimal risks to vertebrates, humans and the environment.