Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Allocation of Resources in Visual Working Memory and Multiple Attentional Templates

In a visual search task, sensory input is matched to a representation of the search target in visual working memory (VWM). This representation is referred to as attentional template. We investigated the conditions that allow for more than a single attentional template. The attentional template of color targets was measured by means of the contingent attentional capture paradigm. We found that attentional templates did not differ between search with 1 and 2 memorized target colors, suggesting that dual target search allowed for multiple attentional templates. In the same paradigm, we asked participants to memorize target and distractor color with equal precision. Both were presented before the search task. An attentional template was set up for the target, but not for the distractor color, suggesting that keeping a color in VWM does not automatically result in the creation of multiple attentional templates. Importantly, the precision of recall of the distractor color was worse than the precision of recall of the target color, regardless of instructions, suggesting that participants always allocated fewer VWM resources to the distractor color. Thus, 2 attentional templates may be set up, but only when the 2 colors receive an equal amount of resources in VWM (i.e., in dual target search). In contrast, when 1 item is deprioritized because of task demands, it receives fewer resources in VWM and multiple attentional templates cannot be established. Thus, unequal roles in the search task prevented the simultaneous operation of multiple attentional templates in VWM.
Dysregulation of interferon regulatory genes reinforces the concept of chronic immune response in myelodysplastic syndrome pathogenesis

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) is associated with disruption of stem cell development which may be related to splicing factors, DNA repair genes, methylation of tumor suppressor genes, and immune derangement. Chronic inflammatory diseases associated with activated innate immune signalizing pathways usually precede MDS, creating the hypothesis that chronic innate immune signalizing in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) may be related to MDS pathogenesis. Overexpression of immune‐related genes in HSC is reported in over 50% of MDS patients. Innate and adaptive immune response are, in many facets, controlled by interferon regulatory factors (IRFs), traditionally described as transcriptional regulators of type I interferons (IFNs) and IFN‐inducible genes. IRF family is composed of nine genes (IRF‐ 1 ‐ IRF‐9) which are associated with immunosurveillance, cancer development, and, recently, endogenous retrovirus activation with regulation of PD‐1 ligands. In cancer, epigenetic silencing through methylation occurs as frequent as mutation, leading to silencing of tumor suppressor genes. In MDS, there is strong evidence that methylation occurs principally during evolution from initial forms of MDS to advanced forms of MD. Due to chronic immune response dysregulation in MDS, we evaluated the IRFs (IRF1‐IRF9) and its methylation status during initial and advanced forms of MDS. One hundred eleven MDS patients were diagnosed according to WHO classification/R‐IPSS score (Table 1). IRF expressions (bone marrow [BM] mononuclear cells) were evaluated regarding MDS variables (Table 1). Ten BM samples obtained from BM donors were controls. The study was approved by the Ethic Committee of Federal University of Ceara‐Brazil (#2.426.005). Informed consent was obtained from all patients and controls. Conventional G‐Band karyotype was performed as previously reported. Gene expression was evaluated by real time PCR with TaqMan Assays, and ACTB and B2M were chosen as endogenous after Bestkeeper analysis. The samples were analyzed in duplicate and based on 2. DNA modification by bisulphite conversion and quantitative methylation of IRFs was done as previously reported and analyzed by sequence detector system ViiA and RUO Software v1.2
Trends in Multidisciplinary Hazard and Disaster Research: A 1982–2017 Case Study

From 1982 to 2017, 539 unique awards studying extreme events and natural disasters have been funded by the Infrastructure Management and Extreme Events (IMEE), Decision, Risk and Management Science (DRMS), Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE), and Hazard Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (Hazard SEES) programs under the National Science Foundation, totaling approximately $450 million. The relationships between discipline, topic, and funding are explored through review of the data on each award's active dates, amount of funding received, specific hazards and disasters studied, and principal investigator (PI) and co‐PI affiliations. A positive correlation between award funding and increasingly larger multidisciplinary teams of PIs on projects is observed. However, these teams of four or more PIs only account for about 18% of the total number of awards. In terms of topic, projects applicable to general hazard/disaster research encompass the largest portion of awards, but not the greatest funding per award on average. Additionally, both the number of awards per year and the total funds allotted per year show an increasing trend. Finally, some of the trends in project team discipline with relation to hazards show a shift to equal numbers of engineers and social scientists on multidisciplinary teams while others remain fairly homogeneous in their team dynamics. This article provides unique perspectives on how to better allocate funds through extensive topic and funding analysis. This work is a brief analysis of trends in the hazard and disaster research community, focusing on multidisciplinary project teams and their correlation to funding amounts and research areas.
Generation of Nppa‐tagBFP reporter knock‐in mouse line for studying cardiac chamber specification

Nppa is a cardiac hormone which plays critical roles in regulating salt–water balance. Its expression is restricted to the atria of the healthy post‐natal heart. During heart development, spatio‐temporal expression of Nppa is dynamically changed within the heart and becomes restricted to the atria upon birth. In contrast to its atrial specific expression after birth, Nppa is re‐expressed in the adult ventricles in response to cardiac hypertrophy. To study cardiac chamber specification during development and pathological cardiac remodeling during heart disease, we generated a novel Nppa reporter mouse line by knocking‐in a tagBFP reporter cassette into 3′‐UTR of the Nppa gene without disrupting the endogenous gene. Our results demonstrated dynamic tagBFP expression in the developing heart, recapitulating the spatiotemporal expression pattern of endogenous Nppa. We also found that Nppa‐tagBFP is induced in the ventricle during pathological remodeling. Taken together, Nppa‐tagBFP reporter knock‐in mouse model described in this article will serve as a valuable tool to study cardiac chamber specification during development as well as pathological cardiac remodeling.
Advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms that maintain normal haemostasis

Blood clot formation to stem bleeding from an injured blood vessel arises from a complex series of cellular and biochemical events, which, when dysregulated, predispose to an increased risk of thrombosis or bleeding. Similarly, haemostatic regulation of clot growth and size is exquisitely controlled by a series of anticoagulant ‘checkpoints', that exert their inhibitory activity at distinct stages in the steps leading to clot formation. Although the major plasma protein constituents required for haemostasis have now been largely elucidated and the molecular events that lead to clot formation are well understood, defining a fuller appreciation of the importance, location and regulation of each haemostatic process remains a fertile area of ongoing research. In this review article, we first provide an overview of the original ‘waterfall' or ‘cascade' hypothesis of blood coagulation as it was defined in the 1960s. We subsequently discuss how this original model has been refined over time to incorporate accumulating data that has enabled a more nuanced consideration of the role of specific proteins, receptors and lipids in dictating the spatial and temporal development of a blood clot.
Control algorithms and capabilities of universal UAV

The area of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) has been studied for a long time. They are actively used for military purposes. Nowadays, their application in everyday life to solve the problems of ordinary people has become relevant. There are many UAV designs, but the issue of an effective universal UAV design has not been fully addressed. In this paper, it is proposed to consider a variant of the universal UAV design, which differs from existing solutions and requires the development of its own rules for generating a PWM signal, control and stabilization algorithms, and the assessment of technical characteristics and application possibilities. The paper provides a brief description of the main differences of the proposed universal design from other solutions. It is proposed to consider the necessary control algorithms for UAVs of universal design, which were tested on the developed mathematical model of the UAV flight process of universal design. The basic equations of motion of this UAV are presented. The optimal technical characteristics and examples of using the electric version of the UAV of universal design to solve the problem of processing the field when powered by rechargeable batteries or an electric cable are considered.
Key Challenges in Designing CHO Chassis Platforms

Following the success of and the high demand for recombinant protein-based therapeutics during the last 25 years, the pharmaceutical industry has invested significantly in the development of novel treatments based on biologics. Mammalian cells are the major production systems for these complex biopharmaceuticals, with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines as the most important players. Over the years, various engineering strategies and modeling approaches have been used to improve microbial production platforms, such as bacteria and yeasts, as well as to create pre-optimized chassis host strains. However, the complexity of mammalian cells curtailed the optimization of these host cells by metabolic engineering. Most of the improvements of titer and productivity were achieved by media optimization and large-scale screening of producer clones. The advances made in recent years now open the door to again consider the potential application of systems biology approaches and metabolic engineering also to CHO. The availability of a reference genome sequence, genome-scale metabolic models and the growing number of various “omics” datasets can help overcome the complexity of CHO cells and support design strategies to boost their production performance. Modular design approaches applied to engineer industrially relevant cell lines have evolved to reduce the time and effort needed for the generation of new producer cells and to allow the achievement of desired product titers and quality. Nevertheless, important steps to enable the design of a chassis platform similar to those in use in the microbial world are still missing. In this review, we highlight the importance of mammalian cellular platforms for the production of biopharmaceuticals and compare them to microbial platforms, with an emphasis on describing novel approaches and discussing still open questions that need to be resolved to reach the objective of designing enhanced modular chassis CHO cell lines.
Efficacy of a Mobile Social Networking Intervention in Promoting Physical Activity: Quasi-Experimental Study

Background Technological interventions such as mobile apps, Web-based social networks, and wearable trackers have the potential to influence physical activity; yet, only a few studies have examined the efficacy of an intervention bundle combining these different technologies. Objective This study aimed to pilot test an intervention composed of a social networking mobile app, connected with a wearable tracker, and investigate its efficacy in improving physical activity, as well as explore participant engagement and the usability of the app. Methods This was a pre-post quasi-experimental study with 1 arm, where participants were subjected to the intervention for a 6-month period. The primary outcome measure was the difference in daily step count between baseline and 6 months. Secondary outcome measures included engagement with the intervention and system usability. Descriptive and inferential statistical tests were conducted; posthoc subgroup analyses were carried out for participants with different levels of steps at baseline, app usage, and social features usage. Results A total of 55 participants were enrolled in the study; the mean age was 23.6 years and 28 (51%) were female. There was a nonstatistically significant increase in the average daily step count between baseline and 6 months (mean change=14.5 steps/day, P=.98, 95% CI –1136.5 to 1107.5). Subgroup analysis comparing the higher and lower physical activity groups at baseline showed that the latter had a statistically significantly higher increase in their daily step count (group difference in mean change from baseline to 6 months=3025 steps per day, P=.008, 95% CI 837.9-5211.8). At 6 months, the retention rate was 82% (45/55); app usage decreased over time. The mean system usability score was 60.1 (SD 19.2). Conclusions This study showed the preliminary efficacy of a mobile social networking intervention, integrated with a wearable tracker to promote physical activity, particularly for less physically active subgroups of the population. Future research should explore how to address challenges faced by physically inactive people to provide tailored advices. In addition, users’ perspectives should be explored to shed light on factors that might influence their engagement with the intervention.
Immunity‐targeted approaches to the management of chronic and recurrent upper respiratory tract disorders in children

Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs), including rhinitis, nasopharyngitis, tonsillitis and otitis media (OM), comprise of 88% of total respiratory infections, especially in children. Therefore effective prevention and treatment of RTIs remain a high priority worldwide. Preclinical and clinical data highlight the rationale for the use and effectiveness of immunity‐targeted approaches, including targeted immunisations and non‐specific immunomodulation in the prevention and management of recurrent upper RTIs.
A novel two-step procedure for tourism demand forecasting

ABSTRACT Tourism demand forecasting is a critical process in the planning of tourism utilities. In recent years, Internet search indices have been popularly used as tourism demand indicators. However, due to the complex relationship between tourism demand and the search index and the vast amounts of search engine data, the traditional econometric and artificial intelligence models could not be enough to complete the prediction task. Under this scenario, this paper proposes a novel two-step method to improve tourism demand prediction accuracy. Firstly, a double-boosting algorithm is proposed to select the keywords and their lags from the potential relevant high-dimensional search queries. Second, the ensemble Support Vector Regression (SVR) based Deep belief Network (DBN) approach is adopted to capture the possible non-linear relationship and to improve the forecasting performance through deep learning combination. The empirical results demonstrate that this procedure significantly outperforms other benchmark models when forecasting monthly Hong Kong tourist arrivals.
DOĞRUDAN YABANCI YATIRIMLARIN ÜLKEYE ÖZGÜ BELİRLEYİCİLERİ: YÜKSELEN PİYASA EKONOMİLERİ İÇİN PANEL VERİ ANALİZİ

Bu calisma, 2000-2015 doneminde 27 yukselen piyasa ekonomisinde dogrudan yabanci yatirim girislerini etkileyen ulkeye ozgu faktorleri incelemektedir. Calismada panel regresyon yontemi kullanilmaktadir. Panel regresyon sonuclari, inceleme donemi itibariyle piyasa hacminin, disa aciklik derecesinin, altyapinin ve politik istikrarin yukselen piyasa ekonomilerine yonelen dogrudan yabanci yatirimlar uzerinde pozitif etkisi oldugunu, makroekonomik istikrarsizligin ve kuresel finansal krizin ise negatif etkiye sahip oldugunu gostermektedir. Ancak isgucu maliyetleri ile dogrudan yabanci yatirimlar arasinda anlamli bir iliski tespit edilememistir. Bulgular daha yuksek kisi basina gelir seviyesine sahip, dis ticarete acik, saglam altyapiya ve makroekonomik istikrara sahip ulkelerin dogrudan yabanci yatimlar icin cazibe merkezi oldugunu gostermektedir. Ayrica ulkelerin yasal sistemindeki ve mulkiyet haklarindaki ilerlemeler dogrudan yabanci yatirimlari olumlu etkilemektedir.
Rho kinase activity and atrial fibrillation: insights from chronic kidney disease and dialysis patients.

A trial fibrillation is the most frequent occurring cardiac arrhythmia and it is related to common cardiac disease conditions such as coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, valvular heart disease and hypertension, this latter accounting for more cases of atrial fibrillation than any other risk factor [1]. Evidence on cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to atrial fibrillation are scanty and come essentially from studies on the role of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) and its signaling in the cellular mechanisms leading to atrial fibrillation, such as inflammation, collagen synthesis, left atrial structural remodeling and fibrosis [2]. The importance of the RAAS in atrial fibrillation has also been confirmed by a significant reduction of new onset atrial fibrillation with RAAS inhibition through mechanisms besides the reduction of blood pressure per se [1,2]. Another important piece of mechanistic evidence has been recently provided with the key involvement of Rho kinase (ROCK) pathway in the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that may lead to atrial fibrillation [3]. It has been demonstrated, in fact, an increased expression of ROCK and myosin phosphatase targeting subunit 1 (MYPT-1), essential protein involved in the ROCK signaling, in left atrial appendage biopsies of atrial fibrillation patients compared with those with sinus rhythm. ROCK expression correlated with that of MYPT-1 and with the expression of Connexin40 (Cx40), an integral membrane protein, fundamental for the rapid cell–cell transfer of action potential in the heart. These data have provided the rationale to propose a pathophysiologic/causal role of ROCK in the induction of myocardial alterations leading to atrial fibrillation [3]. Additional support for the role of ROCK signaling in the induction of myocardial alterations leading to atrial fibrillation as well as additional evidence for the relevance of ROCK in cardiovascular-renal diseases could come from our findings in patients with high cardiovascular risk such as stages 3–4 chronic kidney diseases (CKD) and dialysis patients [4]. The demonstration, in fact, of increased MYPT1 phosphorylation, a known marker of ROCK activity [5], in CKD and dialysis patients compared with healthy individuals we have provided [4], might make the impact of the increased ROCK activity in these patients really important for the induction of atrial fibrillation, in addition to the impact on cardiovascular-renal remodeling. Moreover, higher levels of phosphorylated MYPT-1 were present in
Lyme Disease and Severe Hyperbilirubinemia: A Rare Presentation of Lyme Disease

A 39-year-old-man presented to the emergency room with a complaint of febrile jaundice and diffuse arthralgia. The patient had a temperature of 100°F, severe jaundice, and scleral icterus. Laboratory workup showed severe hyperbilirubinemia and elevated serum creatinine, and the rest of the serum chemistry was unremarkable. The ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen was normal. The patient had a recent history of travel to an endemic area for Lyme disease. After an extensive workup, all other possible etiologies had been ruled out, and the patient was started on empirical doxycycline by considering the patient’s recent history of travel. Serum serologic test confirmed Lyme disease. His bilirubin and creatinine improved gradually. His fever subsided in three days, and he was discharged with outpatient follow-up. Although hyperbilirubinemia is rare in Lyme disease, it should be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients with severe jaundice and a recent history of travel.
The eye — a window to cardiovascular diseases

Microvascular alterations can parallel and even precede development of cardiovascular disease. Ocular bulb, due to transparent anatomical elements provides a unique opportunity to examine microcirculation non-invasively and in vivo by means of scanning laser Doppler flowmetry. This device enables to obtain both structural and functional parameters of retinal microvasculature. Alterations observed in retinal arterioles, i.e. lumen narrowing, increased wall-to-lumen ratio, rarefaction or reduced retinal capillary flow, have been independently associated with cardiometabolic diseases: hypertension, heart failure, coronary artery disease, stroke, chronic kidney disease and diabetes. Therefore, examination of easily accessible retinal microcirculation may provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying various diseases, serve as a marker of target organ damage and add valuable information to cardiovascular risk stratification.
The Implementation of Deep Learning Using Convolutional Neural Network to Classify Based on Stomata Microscopic Image of Curcuma Herbal Plants

There are so many types of herbal plants that come from the same genus. The similarity of features in herbal plants makes it difficult to distinguish. Especially in the pharmaceutical field, which is very risky for making mistakes. The part of plants that is often used as ingredients for herbal medicines is the leaves, so research on leaves and their constituent organelles is very important for the pharmaceutical world. Therefore, an approach is needed to identify the types of organelles present in the leaves, where the organelles most frequently studied are the stomata. So, a neural network approach is needed to distinguish plant characteristics in the same genus. In this research there are 2 species of plants in the Curcuma genus, namely turmeric and ginger. This research was conducted by implementing Deep Learning using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with the help of the Gabor filter process and feature extraction using the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM). The study was conducted using 160 microscopic images of Curcuma herbal plants as training data with training accuracy of 93.1% and test data of 40 images with an accuracy of 92.5%.