Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exposure Characterization of Haloacetic Acids in Humans for Exposure and Risk Assessment Applications: An Exploratory Study

Disinfected water is the major source of haloacetic acids (HAAs) in humans, but their inter- and intra-individual variability for exposure and risk assessment applications is under-researched. Thus, we measured HAAs in cross-sectional and longitudinal urine and water specimens from 17 individuals. Five regulated HAAs—mono-, di-, and trichloroacetic acid (MCAA, DCAA, and TCAA) and mono- and dibromoacetic acid (MBAA and DBAA)—and one unregulated HAA—bromochloroacetic acid (BCAA)—were measured. Urinary DCAA, MBAA, DBAA, and BCAA levels were always below the limits of detection (LOD). Measured levels and interindividual variability of urinary MCAA were higher than urinary TCAA. Longitudinal urinary specimens showed MCAA levels peaked in after-shower specimens, while TCAA levels remain unchanged. Correlation between urinary MCAA and TCAA was moderate but statistically significant. The prevalence of MCAA and TCAA in urine suggest they can be considered as biomarkers of HAA. Peak urinary MCAA in post-shower specimens suggest MCAA captures short-term exposure via dermal and/or inhalation, while urinary TCAA captures long-term exposure via ingestion. However, further research is warranted in a large pool of participants to test the reliability of MCAA as exposure biomarker.
Quantitative Evaluation of the Eco-Environment in a Coalfield Based on Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Imagery: A Case Study of Yuxian, China

With the exploitation of coalfields, the eco-environment around the coalfields can become badly damaged. To address this issue, “mine greening” has been proposed by the Ministry of Land and Resources of China. The sustainable development of mine environments has now become one of the most prominent issues in China. In this study, we aimed to make use of Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI images obtained between 2005 and 2016 to analyze the eco-environment in a coalfield. Land cover was implemented as the basic evaluation factor to establish the evaluation model for the eco-environment. Analysis and investigation of the eco-environment in the Yuxian coalfield was conducted using a novel evaluation model, based on the biological abundance index, vegetation coverage index, water density index, and natural geographical factors. The weight of each indicator was determined by an analytic hierarchy process. Meanwhile, we also used the classic ecological footprint to calculate the ecological carrying capacity in order to verify the effectiveness of the evaluation model. Results showed that the eco-environment index illustrated a slowly increasing tendency over the study period, and the ecological quality could be considered as “good”. The results of the evaluation model showed a strong correlation with the ecological carrying capacity with a correlation coefficient of 0.9734. In conclusion, the evaluation method is a supplement to the time-series quantitative evaluation of the eco-environment, and also helps us to explore the eco-environment in the mining area.
Insertion Hot Spots of DIRS1 Retrotransposon and Chromosomal Diversifications among the Antarctic Teleosts Nototheniidae

By their faculty to transpose, transposable elements are known to play a key role in eukaryote genomes, impacting both their structuration and remodeling. Their integration in targeted sites may lead to recombination mechanisms involved in chromosomal rearrangements. The Antarctic fish family Nototheniidae went through several waves of species radiations. It is a suitable model to study transposable element (TE)-mediated mechanisms associated to genome and chromosomal diversifications. After the characterization of Gypsy (GyNoto), Copia (CoNoto), and DIRS1 (YNoto) retrotransposons in the genomes of Nototheniidae (diversity, distribution, conservation), we focused on their chromosome location with an emphasis on the three identified nototheniid radiations (the Trematomus, the plunderfishes, and the icefishes). The strong intrafamily TE conservation and wide distribution across species of the whole family suggest an ancestral acquisition with potential secondary losses in some lineages. GyNoto and CoNoto (including Hydra and GalEa clades) mostly produced interspersed signals along chromosomal arms. On the contrary, insertion hot spots accumulating in localized regions (mainly next to centromeric and pericentromeric regions) highlighted the potential role of YNoto in chromosomal diversifications as facilitator of the fusions which occurred in many nototheniid lineages, but not of the fissions.
Creative arts in psychotherapy for traumatized children in South Africa: An evaluation study

Aim To evaluate the feasibility and effect of a 10-session creative arts in psychotherapy group programme on posttraumatic stress symptoms, behavioural problems, and posttraumatic growth, in children who experienced a traumatic event. Design A multicentre non-randomized controlled trial with a treatment and a control condition conducted in South Africa (4 sites). Methods 125 children aged 7 to 13 years were assigned either to the treatment condition receiving creative arts in psychotherapy or a control condition with a low-level supportive programme without treatment. Attrition rates were 63.4% and in total 47 children completed the programme and questionnaires assessing posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic growth and behaviour problems both at baseline and follow-up; 23 in the treatment group and 24 in the control group. Adjusted mean differences were analysed using ANCOVA with bootstrapping. Results Results showed that both hyperarousal symptoms (d = 0.61) and avoidance symptoms (d = 0.41) decreased more in the treatment group compared to the control group. There was no significant effect of the intervention found for reported levels of behavioural problems and posttraumatic growth. Conclusion In spite of severe challenges implementing and executing this pioneering study in underprivileged areas of South Africa, support was found for creative arts in psychotherapy reducing hyperarousal and avoidance symptoms, but not for other symptoms. Valuable lessons were learned on feasibility of implementing this intervention in a developing context.
Molecular Simulation of Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, and Pyrene Adsorption on MCM-41

The adsorption of three typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), naphthalene, phenanthrene, and pyrene with different ring numbers, on a common mesoporous material (MCM-41) was simulated based on a well-validated model. The adsorption equilibriums (isotherms), states (angle distributions and density profiles), and interactions (radial distribution functions) of three PAHs within the mesopores were studied in detail. The results show that the simulated isotherms agreed with previous experimental results. Each of the PAHs with flat molecules showed an adsorption configuration that was parallel to the surface of the pore, in the following order according to the degree of arrangement: pyrene (Pyr) > phenanthrene (Phe) > naphthalene (Nap). In terms of the interaction forces, there were no hydrogen bonds or other strong polar forces between the PAHs and MCM-41, and the O–H bond on the adsorbent surface had a unique angle in relation to the PAH molecular plane. The polarities of different H atoms on the PAHs were roughly the same, while those of the C atoms on the PAHs decreased from the molecular centers to the edges. The increasing area of the π-electron plane on the PAHs with the increasing ring number could lead to stronger adsorption interactions, and thus a shorter distance between the adsorbate and the adsorbent.
High-Accuracy Globally Consistent Surface Reconstruction Using Fringe Projection Profilometry

This paper presents a high-accuracy method for globally consistent surface reconstruction using a single fringe projection profilometry (FPP) sensor. To solve the accumulated sensor pose estimation error problem encountered in a long scanning trajectory, we first present a novel 3D registration method which fuses both dense geometric and curvature consistency constraints to improve the accuracy of relative sensor pose estimation. Then we perform global sensor pose optimization by modeling the surface consistency information as a pre-computed covariance matrix and formulating the multi-view point cloud registration problem in a pose graph optimization framework. Experiments on reconstructing a 1300 mm × 400 mm workpiece with a FPP sensor is performed, verifying that our method can substantially reduce the accumulated error and achieve industrial-level surface model reconstruction without any external positional assistance but only using a single FPP sensor.
An Investigation on Pervasive Technologies for IoT-based Thermal Monitoring

Indoor thermal monitoring is a crucial requirement for home automation, which fits inside the ever-growing Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. The IoT ecosystem aims at connecting every device exploiting specific functions, deployed in a particular place, in order to give the chance to the users to monitor and/or control some aspects of their life, or to demand this task to a proper software. In the thermal monitoring context, IoT provides new opportunities for a dense and/or large-scale distribution of sensors, which have to gather data in order to effectively control the Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system. Several wireless technologies can be exploited for this scope. However, they involve different benefits and drawbacks. In particular, this study is focused on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Bluetooth®, which represent two well-known wireless technological standards used by commercial electronics but suitable also for pervasive IoT systems. These technologies are discussed and compared from several points of view, i.e., flexibility, reliability, battery life and cost of the system. A theoretical analysis highlights their benefits for the application context and evaluates their suitability to dense and large-scale monitoring systems. The theoretical results are supported by an experimental analysis based on the implementation and test of two different systems, one using RFID and the other using Bluetooth technology.
The Apoptotic Pathway Induced by Vincristine in Mouse Proliferating and Resting Normal Lymphocytes and Lymphoma Cell Line

Background: Most anti-cancer drugs target mitosis and induce apoptosis in cancerous cells. In the immune system, proliferation and apoptosis of lymphocytes are indeed essential modulating elements. Objectives: In this study, we have investigated the eﬀect of vincristine on normal resting and normal proliferating lymphocytes comparing with cancerous cells. Methods: Resting and proliferating splenocytes from mice and BCL1 (mouse lymphoma cell line) were cultured with diﬀerent con-centrationsof vincristinefor48hours,andcelllysateswereprepared. Theactivityof caspases3,8,and9incelllysateswasmeasured usingspeciﬁc chromogenicsubstratesDEVD-pNAfor caspase3, IETD-pNAfor caspase8, andLEHD-pNA forcaspase9, the activitycal-culated as µ mol/min/mg protein. Results: IntheBCL1cellline,theactivityof bothcaspases8and9andcaspase3increasedatthepresenceof vincristine(5 µ g/mL). In resting splenocytes, however, only a mild increase in caspase 9 activity was observed without any change in the activity of caspases 8 or 3. In the same situation, the activity of caspase 3 and 9 (but not caspase 8) elevated in proliferating cells exposed to vincristine. Nearly similar results were obtained with higher concentrations of vincristine (up 20 µ g/mL). Conclusions: The results suggesting that vincristine may induce internal pathways of apoptosis in normal and cancerous cells whileextrinsicpathwaywasinducedincancerouscells. Ontheotherhand,theeﬀectsarehighlydependentontheactivationstatus of normal cells, and aﬃrms that responding immune cells should be more seriously noticed when side eﬀects of anticancer drugs are estimated.
Submucosal 1-tunnel endoscopic resection for treating upper gastrointestinal multiple submucosal tumor originating from the muscularis propria layer

Abstract To explore the feasibility and efficacy of submucosal 1-tunnel endoscopic resection (1-tunnel STER) for the treatment of multiple upper gastrointestinal submucosal tumors (GI-SMTs) originating from the muscularis propria (MP) layer. A total of 12 patients with multiple upper GI-SMTs (no less than 2 SMTs) who underwent 1-tunnel STER from April 2013 to October 2017 were included. Clinical data on general characteristics, operation-related parameters, adverse events, and follow-up results were recorded and analyzed. All 12 patients underwent 1-tunnel STER successfully, and the mean operation time was 92.1 ± 40.8 minutes. A total of 30 SMTs were resected, out of which 27 were in the esophagus and 3 were in the stomach. The mean diameter was 15.0 ± 8.2 mm (range, 3–38 mm). All the SMTs were resected en bloc uneventfully. The SMTs comprised 28 leiomyomas and 2 gastric stromal tumors (low risk). No recurrence was noticed during a mean follow-up of 24.9 ± 15.3 months (range, 1–52 months). One-tunnel STER may serve as a feasible and effective technique for the treatment of multiple upper GI-SMTs originating from the MP layer. A large-scale prospective study is warranted for a confirmative conclusion.
Recognition and Repetition Counting for Complex Physical Exercises with Deep Learning

Activity recognition using off-the-shelf smartwatches is an important problem in human activity recognition. In this paper, we present an end-to-end deep learning approach, able to provide probability distributions over activities from raw sensor data. We apply our methods to 10 complex full-body exercises typical in CrossFit, and achieve a classification accuracy of 99.96%. We additionally show that the same neural network used for exercise recognition can also be used in repetition counting. To the best of our knowledge, our approach to repetition counting is novel and performs well, counting correctly within an error of ±1 repetitions in 91% of the performed sets.
Lysine 27 of replication-independent histone H3.3 is required for Polycomb target gene silencing but not for gene activation

Proper determination of cell fates depends on epigenetic information that is used to preserve memory of decisions made earlier in development. Post-translational modification of histone residues is thought to be a central means by which epigenetic information is propagated. In particular, modifications of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27) are strongly correlated with both gene activation and gene repression. H3K27 acetylation is found at sites of active transcription, whereas H3K27 methylation is found at loci silenced by Polycomb group proteins. The histones bearing these modifications are encoded by the replication-dependent H3 genes as well as the replication-independent H3.3 genes. Owing to differential rates of nucleosome turnover, H3K27 acetylation is enriched on replication-independent H3.3 histones at active gene loci, and H3K27 methylation is enriched on replication-dependent H3 histones across silenced gene loci. Previously, we found that modification of replication-dependent H3K27 is required for Polycomb target gene silencing, but it is not required for gene activation. However, the contribution of replication-independent H3.3K27 to these functions is unknown. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to mutate the endogenous replication-independent H3.3K27 to a non-modifiable residue. Surprisingly, we find that H3.3K27 is also required for Polycomb target gene silencing despite the association of H3.3 with active transcription. However, the requirement for H3.3K27 comes at a later stage of development than that found for replication-dependent H3K27, suggesting a greater reliance on replication-independent H3.3K27 in post-mitotic cells. Notably, we find no evidence of global transcriptional defects in H3.3K27 mutants, despite the strong correlation between H3.3K27 acetylation and active transcription.
Smart Sensors Applications for a New Paradigm of a Production Line

Industrial plants are going to face a deep renewing process within the Industry 4.0 scenario. New paradigms of production lines are foreseen in the very near future, characterized by a strict collaboration between humans and robots and by a high degree of flexibility. Such envisaged improvements will require the smart use of proper sensors at very different levels. This paper investigates three different aspects of this industrial renewing process, based on three different ways of exploiting sensors, toward a new paradigm of a production line. The provided contributions, offering various types of innovation and integration, are relative to: (i) a virtual sensor approach for manual guidance, increasing the potentialities of a standard industrial manipulator, (ii) a smart manufacturing solution to assist the operator’s activity in manual assembly stations, through an original exploitation of multiple sensors, and (iii) the development of an advanced robotic architecture for a flexible production line, in which a team of autonomous mobile robots acts as a meta-sensor net supporting traditional automated guided vehicles. Accurate analyses of existing state-of-the-art solutions compared with the proposed ones are offered for the considered issues.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Alter Plant and Soil C:N:P Stoichiometries Under Warming and Nitrogen Input in a Semiarid Meadow of China

Ecological stoichiometry has been widely used to determine how plant-soil systems respond to global change and to reveal which factors limit plant growth. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can increase plants’ uptake of nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), thereby altering plant and soil stoichiometries. To understand the regulatory effect of AMF feedback on plants and soil stoichiometry under global change, a microcosm experiment was conducted with warming and N input. The C4 grass Setaria viridis, C3 grass Leymus chinensis, and Chenopodiaceae species Suaeda corniculata were studied. The results showed that the mycorrhizal benefits for the C4 grass S. viridis were greater than those for the C3 grass L. chinensis, whereas for the Chenopodiaceae species S. corniculata, AMF symbiosis was antagonistic. Under N input and a combination of warming and N input, AMF significantly decreased the N:P ratios of all three species. Under N input, the soil N content and the N:P ratio were decreased significantly in the presence of AMF, whereas the soil C:N ratio was increased. These results showed that AMF can reduce the P limitation caused by N input and improve the efficiency of nutrient utilization, slow the negative influence of global change on plant growth, and promote grassland sustainability.
Long-term effectiveness of a gambling intervention program among children in central Illinois

Youth gambling is an increasing concern. As a response, the “Don’t Gamble Away our Future (DGAOF)” program has been implemented among children in central Illinois. We aim to assess the long-term effectiveness of this school-based youth gambling prevention program in Illinois using the data from 2005 to 2009. The intervention included interactive PowerPoint presentations and prevention materials in parent packets. Students aged 8 to 18 years were eligible to participate in the intervention and the questionnaire pre-post knowledge tests (total score 0–9). Students in 5th grade and above also received a gambling behavior screen test using the Modified South Oaks Gambling Screening for Teens (MSOGST) for identifying probable gamblers. Multivariable generalized mixed models were conducted to detect the effects of a 5-year youth gambling prevention program as controlling potential confounders. A total of 16,262 and 16,421 students completed pre-post tests and MSOGST tests, respectively. Of 16,262, half were female, the majority (76.1%) were from senior high school, and 21.3% received the intervention at least twice. The median gap between interventions was 368 days. Students receiving multiple interventions had higher scores on the pre-test as compared to those receiving a single intervention (P<0.001 for all comparisons among groups), and they demonstrated an increasing trend of awareness about gambling over time (P<0.001 for multiple interventions; P = 0.538 for single intervention). The prevalence of problem gambling had decreased among students receiving the intervention twice as compared to receiving the intervention once (7.9% versus 9.4%; OR = 0.89, 95% CL: 0.82–0.97). However, this effect was not confirmed among students receiving the intervention three or more times. In conclusion, the DGAOF program has demonstrated a positive long-term impact on increasing gambling knowledge and partially reducing pathological gamblers through direct training. It suggests that multiple repeated interventions are important for youth gambling prevention.
Pathology and molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium pinnipedii tuberculosis in native New Zealand marine mammals

Mycobacterium pinnipedii causes tuberculosis in a number of pinniped species, and transmission to cattle and humans has been reported. The aims of this study were to: characterize the pathology and prevalence of tuberculosis in New Zealand marine mammals; use molecular diagnostic methods to confirm and type the causal agent; and to explore relationships between type and host characteristics. Tuberculosis was diagnosed in 30 pinnipeds and one cetacean. Most affected pinnipeds had involvement of the pulmonary system, supporting inhalation as the most common route of infection, although ingestion was a possible route in the cetacean. PCR for the RD2 gene confirmed M. pinnipedii as the causal agent in 23/31 (74%) cases (22 using DNA from cultured organisms, and one using DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue), including the first published report in a cetacean. RD2 PCR results were compared for 22 cases where both cultured organisms and FFPE tissues were available, with successful identification of M. pinnipedii in 7/22 (31.8%). In cases with moderate to large numbers of acid-fast bacilli, RD2 PCR on FFPE tissue provided a rapid, inexpensive method for confirming M. pinnipedii infection without the need for culture. VNTR typing distinguished New Zealand M. pinnipedii isolates from M. pinnipedii isolated from Australian pinnipeds and from common types of M. bovis in New Zealand. Most (16/18) M. pinnipedii isolates from New Zealand sea lions were one of two common VNTR types whereas the cetacean isolate was a type detected previously in New Zealand cattle.