Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A symbiotic bacterium of shipworms produces a compound with broad spectrum anti-apicomplexan activity

Apicomplexan parasites cause severe disease in both humans and their domesticated animals. Since these parasites readily develop drug resistance, development of new, effective drugs to treat infection caused by these parasites is an ongoing challenge for the medical and veterinary communities. We hypothesized that invertebrate-bacterial symbioses might be a rich source of anti-apicomplexan compounds because invertebrates are susceptible to infections with gregarines, parasites that are ancestral to all apicomplexans. We chose to explore the therapeutic potential of shipworm symbiotic bacteria as they are bona fide symbionts, are easily grown in axenic culture and have genomes rich in secondary metabolite loci [1,2]. Two strains of the shipworm symbiotic bacterium, Teredinibacter turnerae, were screened for activity against Toxoplasma gondii and one strain, T7901, exhibited activity against intracellular stages of the parasite. Bioassay-guided fractionation identified tartrolon E (trtE) as the source of the activity. TrtE has an EC50 of 3 nM against T. gondii, acts directly on the parasite itself and kills the parasites after two hours of treatment. TrtE exhibits nanomolar to picomolar level activity against Cryptosporidium, Plasmodium, Babesia, Theileria, and Sarcocystis; parasites representing all branches of the apicomplexan phylogenetic tree. The compound also proved effective against Cryptosporidium parvum infection in neonatal mice, indicating that trtE may be a potential lead compound for preclinical development. Identification of a promising new compound after such limited screening strongly encourages further mining of invertebrate symbionts for new anti-parasitic therapeutics.
Gibberellins and the photoperiodic control of leaf growth in Poa pratensis

The role of gibberellins (GAs) in photoperiodic control of leaf elongation in Poa pratensis was studied by both application of exogenous GAs and analysis of endogenous GAs. Leaf elongation was strongly increased under long day (LD, 24 h) conditions at both 9 and 21°C, leaf length at 9°C LD being similar to that in plants grown in short days (SD, 8 h) at 21°C. However, even at 21°C leaf elongation was enhanced by LD. Exogenous GA, could completely compensate for LD at both 9 and 21°C. Gibberellins A 20 , A 19 and A 44 could also partly replace LD, but they were significantly less active than GA 1 . GA 53 was inactive when applied to plants grown at 9°C in SD and exhibited only marginal activity at 9°C LD and 21°C SD. The total level of GAs of the early 13-hydroxylation pathway (A 53 , A 44 , A 19 , A20 and A 1 ) increased rapidly when plants were transferred from SD to LD at 9°C. After transfer from 9 to 21°C, there was an increase in GA levels at both LD and SD, followed by a decrease under LD conditions. In all cases, GA 19 was the predominant GA, accounting for 60 to 80% of the analysed GAs. Levels of the bioactive GA 1 were low and increased transiently by LD four days after transfer from SD to LD. At both temperatures, the ratio GA 53 :GA 44 was strongly reduced by LD. Also the rate of conversions of GA 19 to GA 20 and GA 20 to GA, at 9°C was enhanced by LD compared with SD. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that photoperiodic regulation of leaf elongation in Poa pratensis is GA-mediated, and they indicate a photoperiodic control of oxidation of GA 53 to GA 44 and GA 19 to GA 20 , and perhaps also of 38-hydroxylation of GA 20 to GA 1 .
Assessing the Mental Health of Brazilian Students Involved in Risky Behaviors

Adolescence, which is the transition from childhood to adulthood, is marked by emotional sensitivity and inconsistency and may be affected by mental health problems. In order to fill the gap related to the risky behaviors in students in Brazil, our cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the relationship between risky behaviors and indicators of mental health of Brazilian students. We used the data from the National School Health Survey to analyze the relationship between risk behaviors and three symptoms of mental health issues: feeling of being alone, number of close friends, and trouble sleeping due to worries. The sample consisted of 102,072 students in Brazil (48.3% boys and 51.7% girls), aged between 11 to 19 years. The risk behaviors evaluated were substance use, sedentary lifestyle, sexual behavior, and suffering violence and bullying. We have performed a multivariate analysis based on the Poisson regression model, and the measure of effect used was the prevalence ratio (PR) with confidence intervals (CI) of 95%. Our results showed that students with symptoms of mental health issues were involved in risky behaviors, including drug use and unsafe sex. Thus, mental illness outcomes may be associated with risky behaviors, or mental health may be impaired by them. Given these findings, in-school programs focused on improving mental health outcomes should be developed.
Classification of standing and sitting phases based on in-socket piezoelectric sensors in a transfemoral amputee

Abstract A transfemoral prosthesis is required to assist amputees to perform the activity of daily living (ADL). The passive prosthesis has some drawbacks such as utilization of high metabolic energy. In contrast, the active prosthesis consumes less metabolic energy and offers better performance. However, the recent active prosthesis uses surface electromyography as its sensory system which has weak signals with microvolt-level intensity and requires a lot of computation to extract features. This paper focuses on recognizing different phases of sitting and standing of a transfemoral amputee using in-socket piezoelectric-based sensors. 15 piezoelectric film sensors were embedded in the inner socket wall adjacent to the most active regions of the agonist and antagonist knee extensor and flexor muscles, i. e. region with the highest level of muscle contractions of the quadriceps and hamstring. A male transfemoral amputee wore the instrumented socket and was instructed to perform several sitting and standing phases using an armless chair. Data was collected from the 15 embedded sensors and went through signal conditioning circuits. The overlapping analysis window technique was used to segment the data using different window lengths. Fifteen time-domain and frequency-domain features were extracted and new feature sets were obtained based on the feature performance. Eight of the common pattern recognition multiclass classifiers were evaluated and compared. Regression analysis was used to investigate the impact of the number of features and the window lengths on the classifiers’ accuracies, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test significant differences in the classifiers’ performances. The classification accuracy was calculated using k-fold cross-validation method, and 20% of the data set was held out for testing the optimal classifier. The results showed that the feature set (FS-5) consisting of the root mean square (RMS) and the number of peaks (NP) achieved the highest classification accuracy in five classifiers. Support vector machine (SVM) with cubic kernel proved to be the optimal classifier, and it achieved a classification accuracy of 98.33 % using the test data set. Obtaining high classification accuracy using only two time-domain features would significantly reduce the processing time of controlling a prosthesis and eliminate substantial delay. The proposed in-socket sensors used to detect sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit movements could be further integrated with an active knee joint actuation system to produce powered assistance during energy-demanding activities such as sit-to-stand and stair climbing. In future, the system could also be used to accurately predict the intended movement based on their residual limb’s muscle and mechanical behaviour as detected by the in-socket sensory system.
Graft-versus-Host Disease-like Syndrome in Malignant Thymoma

Allogenic transfusion of immunocompetent T lymphocytes into an immunodeficient recipient is necessary for the development of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). The gastrointestinal tract is one of the most involved organs in human GVHD, and single-cell necrosis with apoptotic change and crypt abscess are characteristic histopathologic features. The thymus is important in immune regulation, and dysregulation of the immune system can be expected once its microenvironment is disrupted. We report the case of a 38-year-old woman with malignant thymoma without transplantation or transfusion history who initially presented with myasthenia gravis and clinically developed a GVHD-like syndrome with characteristic GVHD-like colitis on colonoscopy. We propose that disruption of the thymic microenvironment caused a dysregulated immune system and development of a GVHD-like syndrome.
Evolution of antimalarial drug resistance markers in the reservoir of Plasmodium falciparum infections in the Upper East Region of Ghana.

BACKGROUND The majority of Plasmodium falciparum infections, constituting the reservoir in all ages, are asymptomatic in high transmission settings in Africa. The role of this reservoir in the evolution and spread of drug resistance was explored. METHODS Population genetic analyses of the key drug resistance-mediating polymorphisms were analysed in a cross-sectional survey of asymptomatic P. falciparum infections across all ages in Bongo District, Ghana. RESULTS Seven years after the policy change to artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in 2005, the Pfcrt K76 and Pfmdr1 N86 wild-type alleles, have nearly reached fixation and have expanded via soft selective sweeps on multiple genetic backgrounds. By constructing the Pfcrt-Pfmdr1-Pfdhfr-Pfdhps multilocus haplotypes we found that the alleles at these loci were in linkage equilibrium and that multidrug resistant parasites haven't expanded in this reservoir. For Pfk13, 32 non-synonymous mutations were identified, however, none were associated with ACT resistance. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence and selection of alleles/haplotypes by antimalarials were similar to that observed among clinical cases in Ghana indicating they do not represent two sub-populations with respect to these markers. Thus, the P. falciparum reservoir in all ages can contribute to the maintenance and spread of antimalarial resistance.
Progress and challenges in freshwater conservation planning

1. Freshwater ecosystems and their associated biota are among the most endangered in the world. This, combined with escalating human pressure on water resources, demands that urgent measures be taken to conserve freshwater ecosystems and the services they provide. Systematic conservation planning provides a strategic and scientifically defensible framework for doing this. 2. Pioneered in the terrestrial realm, there has been some scepticism associated with the applicability of systematic approaches to freshwater conservation planning. Recent studies, however, indicate that it is possible to apply overarching systematic conservation planning goals to the freshwater realm although the specific methods for achieving these will differ, particularly in relation to the strong connectivity inherent to most freshwater systems. 3. Progress has been made in establishing surrogates that depict freshwater biodiversity and ecological integrity, developing complementarity-based algorithms that incorporate directional connectivity, and designing freshwater conservation area networks that take cognizance of both connectivity and implementation practicalities. 4. Key research priorities include increased impetus on planning for non-riverine freshwater systems; evaluating the effectiveness of freshwater biodiversity surrogates; establishing scientifically defensible conservation targets; developing complementarity-based algorithms that simultaneously consider connectivity issues for both lentic and lotic water bodies; developing integrated conservation plans across freshwater, terrestrial and marine realms; incorporating uncertainty and dynamic threats into freshwater conservation planning; collection and collation of scale-appropriate primary data; and building an evidence-base to support improved implementation of freshwater conservation plans. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Loss of the Acetyltransferase NAA50 Induces Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Immune Responses and Suppresses Growth1[OPEN]

Knockout of the broadly conserved N-terminal acetyltransferase NAA50 in Arabidopsis thaliana induces endoplasmic reticulum stress, leading to severe dwarfism and induction of defense responses. Stress signaling in plants is carefully regulated to ensure proper development and reproductive fitness. Overactive defense signaling can result in dwarfism as well as developmental defects. In addition to requiring a substantial amount of energy, plant stress responses place a burden upon the cellular machinery, which can result in the accumulation of misfolded proteins and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Negative regulators of stress signaling, such as ENHANCED DISEASE RESISTANCE 1 (EDR1), ensure that stress responses are properly suspended when they are not needed, thereby conserving energy for growth and development. Here, we describe the role of an uncharacterized N-terminal acetyltransferase, NAA50, in the regulation of plant development and stress responses in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Our results demonstrate that NAA50, an interactor of EDR1, plays an important role in regulating the tradeoff between plant growth and defense. Plants lacking NAA50 display severe developmental defects as well as induced stress responses. Reduction of NAA50 expression results in arrested stem and root growth as well as senescence. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the loss of NAA50 results in constitutive ER stress signaling, indicating that NAA50 may be required for the suppression of ER stress. This work establishes NAA50 as essential for plant development and the suppression of stress responses, potentially through the regulation of ER stress.
A novel allele of the Arabidopsis phytochelatin synthase 1 gene conferring high sensitivity to arsenic and antimony

To identify genes involved in arsenite [As(III)] tolerance, we screened for As(III)-sensitive mutants using ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-mutagenized seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana. One mutant with high sensitivity to As(III) was isolated from the screening. It had a mutation in Glu52 of phytochelatin synthase 1 (AtPCS1), and introduction of the wild-type AtPCS1 gene rescued the phenotype, confirming that the mutant represented a new allele of atpcs1 (termed as cad1-7). The expression of AtPCS1 from cad1-7 and cad1-3, a second allele of atpcs1, complemented As-sensitive yeast, but not plants. Our study suggests that AtPCS1 activity is differentially regulated between plants and yeast.
The Benefits of Physical Exercise on Mental Disorders and Quality of Life in Substance Use Disorders Patients. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Physical exercise seems to have a promising effect on numerous variables related to the recovery of drug-dependent patients. However, some contradictions are found in the literature. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to identify the effect of physical exercise on mental disorders, quality of life, abstinence, and craving, and make a comparison of the effect of exercise depending on the type of program. A search for articles was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Studies were selected that measured the acute effects or long-term effect (≥2 weeks) of exercise in patients who met criteria for alcohol use disorders or substance use disorders. A total of 59 studies were included. An effect of exercise on mental disorders (standardized mean differences (SMD) = 0.66 (confidence interval (CI): 0.46, 0.86); z = 6.50; p < 0.00001) and quality of life (SMD = 0.69 (95% CI: 0.53, 0.84); z = 8.65; p < 0.00001) was identified. Subgroup analysis revealed an effect of exercise in craving (SMD = 0.80 (CI: 0.07, 1.53); z = 2.15, p = 0.03), stress (SMD = 1.11 (CI: 0.31, 1.91); = 2.73; p = 0.006), anxiety (SMD = 0.50 (CI: 0.16, 0.84); z = 2.88; p = 0.004) and depression (SMD = 0.63 (CI: 0.34, 0.92); z = 4.31; p < 0.0001). Body–mind activities and programs based on improving physical conditions produced similar results in mental disorders and quality of life. Available evidence indicates that physical exercise, both body–mind and physical fitness programs, can be effective in improving mental disorders, craving, and quality of life in drug-dependent patients.
Metabolomic-/Lipidomic-based Analysis of Plasma to Diagnose Hepatocellular Ballooning in Patients with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Multicenter Study.

AIM Liver biopsy is still required for the diagnosis of hepatocellular ballooning and inflammation, which are important histological feature of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We conducted this multicenter, cross-sectional study to identify novel blood markers for the diagnosis of hepatocellular ballooning. METHODS We enrolled 176 patients, and 132 patients proven by liver biopsy as having NAFLD were classified as non-ballooning (ballooning grade 0) (n = 83) or ballooning (ballooning grade 1 and 2) (n = 49) by a central pathology review. We performed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and lipidomics with plasma. RESULTS As correlates of hepatocellular ballooning, among the clinical parameters, serum type IV collagen 7S correlated the most significantly with the ballooning grade (correlation coefficient [CC] = 0.463; P < 0.001). Among the metabolic-/lipidomic-markers, phosphatidylcholine (PC)(aa-44:8) correlated the most significantly with the ballooning grade (CC = 0.394; P < 0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of type IV collagen 7S, choline, and lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) (e-18:2), was 0.846 (95% confidence interval: 0.772-0.919). CONCLUSIONS Plasma levels of PC were positively correlated, and those of lysophosphatidylcholine and LPE were negatively correlated with hepatocellular ballooning in NAFLD patients. These noninvasive metabolic-/lipidomic-based plasma tests might be useful to distinguish between cases of NAFLD with and without hepatocellular ballooning.
Comparative Study on Vibration Fatigue Characteristics of Fuel Tank Material in Fuel and Air Media

To quantify the influence of the fuel medium on the fatigue performance of fuel tank materials, a comparative study was performed on the vibration fatigue characteristics of parent material specimens in fuel and air media. A fluid–solid coupling model was established based on the virtual mass method. Meanwhile, vibration fatigue tests of Q235BF specimens were performed in fuel and air media. The quantitative relation of the fatigue life of specimens in the air medium and that in the fuel medium was obtained. Fracture observation and energy spectrum analysis revealed the influence law of fuel on notches of specimens. The modal analysis of the finite element model proves that the stress of the specimens in the fuel medium is larger than that in the air medium. In this condition, they have shorter life. Finally, four approaches were used to calculate the fatigue life of the specimens to compare with the test life. The reasonable fatigue life prediction method was obtained in the case of fuel and air media.
Aspects of the spawning biology of the Brazilian sardine, Sardinella brasiliensis (Steindachner, 1879), (Clupeidae)

Biological data, size frequency distribution of intraovarian oocytes, maturity indices and histological observations of the gonads were used to assess the spawning cycle of S. brasiliensis, sampled September 1981–August 1982 throughout the main fishing area off the Brazilian coast (22°S to 28°S). Post-ovulatory follicles are described and classified, and the incidence of mature females displaying these structures was calculated. The main findings were (a) spawning occurred during the spring and summer with a maximum in December and January; (b) spawning occurred throughout the area studied; (c) spawning was fractional; (d) average batch fecundity was 26 000 oocytes per female, or 393 eggs g−1; (e) spawning frequency reached values of approximately 50% during the spawning peak, but was sensibly lower during the other months of spawning activity.
Perspectives from South African dietitians on infant and young child feeding regulations

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to determine the knowledge, perceptions and practices of dietitians in South Africa regarding the Regulations Relating to Foodstuffs for Infants and Young Children (R991). Design: A mixed methods, cross-sectional design was used. Setting: Quantitative data were collected using an online survey (n 282) and qualitative data by means of two focus group discussions (n 12). Participants: Participants were dietitians registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Results: Dietitians’ average knowledge score was 64·8 % ± 12·5. Those working in infant and young child feeding had a 5 % higher knowledge score (95 % CI 1·4, 8·6, P = 0·01). Perceptions towards the Regulations were generally positive, and the majority of practices were compliant. Positive perceptions seemed to correlate with compliant practices. The most frequently selected enabler to the implementation of the Regulations was ‘Increase in other initiatives which support, protect and promote breastfeeding’, and the most frequently selected barrier was ‘Lack of awareness of the Regulation among health care providers’. The major themes from the focus group discussions comprised: less knowledge among dietitians and mothers about products controlled under the Regulations, non-compliance of other health care providers, the dietitians’ role in support and enforcement, the discrepancy between practice in private and public sectors and a lack of enforcement. Conclusions: South Africa has taken a bold step in legislating the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and should upscale programmes to ensure consistent monitoring and enforcing of the Regulations.
Wad Medani and Soldado viruses from ticks (Ixodoidea) in West Africa.

A total of 2282 ticks representing at least 12 species was collected in Senegal and Mauritania during 1977 and tested for virus in suckling mice. Wad Medani virus was recovered from 8 lots of Rhipicephalus guilhoni and 1 lot of R. e. evertsi collected from domestic animals. Soldado virus was isolated from 14 lots of Ornithodoros capensis taken from debris in nests of Grey-headed Gulls ( Larus cirrhocephalus ).