Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Positive Brain – Resting State Functional Connectivity in Highly Vital and Flourishing Individuals

The World Health Organization has defined health as “complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (World Health Organization, 1948). An increasing number of studies have therefore started to investigate “the good life. ” However, the underlying variation in brain activity has rarely been examined. The goal of this study was to assess differences in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between regular healthy individuals and healthy individuals with a high occurrence of flourishing and subjective vitality. Together, flourishing, a broad measure of psycho-social functioning and subjective vitality, an organismic marker of subjective well-being comprise the phenomenological opposite of a major depressive disorder. Out of a group of 43 participants, 20 high-flourishing (highFl) and 18 high-vital (highSV) individuals underwent a 7-min resting state period, where cortical activity in posterior brain areas was assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Network-based statistics (NBS) of FC yielded significantly different FC patterns for the highFl and highSV individuals compared to their healthy comparison group. The networks converged at areas of the posterior default mode network and differed in hub nodes in the left middle temporal/fusiform gyrus (flourishing) and the left primary/secondary somatosensory cortex (subjective vitality). The attained networks are discussed with regard to recent neuroscientific findings for other well-being measures and potential mechanisms of action based on social information processing and body-related self-perception.
Unraveling Novel Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration Through a Large-Scale Forward Genetic Screen in Drosophila

Neurodegeneration is characterized by progressive loss of neurons. Genetic and environmental factors both contribute to demise of neurons, leading to diverse devastating cognitive and motor disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases in humans. Over the past few decades, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has become an integral tool to understand the molecular, cellular and genetic mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. Extensive tools and sophisticated technologies allow Drosophila geneticists to identify and study evolutionarily conserved genes that are essential for neural maintenance. In this review, we will focus on a large-scale mosaic forward genetic screen on the fly X-chromosome that led to the identification of a number of essential genes that exhibit neurodegenerative phenotypes when mutated. Most genes identified from this screen are evolutionarily conserved and many have been linked to human diseases with neurological presentations. Systematic electrophysiological and ultrastructural characterization of mutant tissue in the context of the Drosophila visual system, followed by a series of experiments to understand the mechanism of neurodegeneration in each mutant led to the discovery of novel molecular pathways that are required for neuronal integrity. Defects in mitochondrial function, lipid and iron metabolism, protein trafficking and autophagy are recurrent themes, suggesting that insults that eventually lead to neurodegeneration may converge on a set of evolutionarily conserved cellular processes. Insights from these studies have contributed to our understanding of known neurodegenerative diseases such as Leigh syndrome and Friedreich’s ataxia and have also led to the identification of new human diseases. By discovering new genes required for neural maintenance in flies and working with clinicians to identify patients with deleterious variants in the orthologous human genes, Drosophila biologists can play an active role in personalized medicine.
Pressure Selects Dominant Anaerobic Methanotrophic Phylotype and Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in Coastal Marine Lake Grevelingen Sediment

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled to sulfate reduction is mediated by, respectively, anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB). When a microbial community from coastal marine Lake Grevelingen sediment, containing ANME-3 as the most abundant type of ANME, was incubated under a pressure gradient (0.1- 40 MPa) for 77 days, ANME-3 was more pressure sensitive than the SRB. ANME-3 activity was higher at lower (0.1, 0.45 MPa) over higher (10, 20 and 40 MPa) CH4 total pressures. Moreover, the sulfur metabolism was shifted upon changing the incubation pressure: only at 0.1 MPa elemental sulfur was detected in a considerable amount and SRB of the Desulfosarcina / Desulfococcus genera were more enriched at elevated pressures than the Desulfobulbus. This study provides evidence that ANME-3 can be constrained at shallow environments (45 m depth), despite the scarce bioavailable energy, because of its pressure sensitivity. Besides, the association between ANME-3 and SRB can be steered by changing solely the incubation pressure. The ANME-3 cells present in the marine Lake Grevelingen possess high specific AOM-SR rates and thus, can be of great potential to be applied in the industry after enrichment.
TaSnRK2.9, a Sucrose Non-fermenting 1-Related Protein Kinase Gene, Positively Regulates Plant Response to Drought and Salt Stress in Transgenic Tobacco

Sucrose non-fermenting 1-related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) family members play crucial roles in plant abiotic stress response. However, the precise mechanism underlying the function of SnRKs has not been thoroughly elucidated in plants. In this research, a novel SnRK2 gene, TaSnRK2.9 was cloned and characterized from common wheat. The expression of TaSnRK2.9 was upregulated by polyethylene glycol (PEG), NaCl, H2O2, abscisic acid (ABA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and ethrel treatments. TaSnRK2.9 was mainly expressed in wheat young root, stamen, pistil, and lemma. Overexpressing TaSnRK2.9 in transgenic tobacco enhanced plants’ tolerance to drought and salt stresses both in young seedlings and mature plants with improved survival rate, seed germination rate, and root length. Physiological analyses suggest that TaSnRK2.9 improved antioxidant system such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and glutathione (GSH) to reduce the H2O2 content under drought or salt stress. Additionally, TaSnRK2.9 overexpression plants had elevated ABA content, implying that the function of TaSnRK2.9 may be ABA-dependent. Moreover, TaSnRK2.9 increased the expression of some ROS-related, ABA-related, and stress-response genes under osmotic or salt treatment. TaSnRK2.9 could interact with NtABF2 in yeast two-hybrid assay, and increased the expression of NtABF2 under mannitol or NaCl treatment in transgenic tobacco plants. In conclusion, overexpression of TaSnRK2.9 in tobacco conferred plants tolerance to drought and salt stresses through enhanced ROS scavenging ability, ABA-dependent signal transduction, and specific SnRK-ABF interaction.
Adding Blue to Red Supplemental Light Increases Biomass and Yield of Greenhouse-Grown Tomatoes, but Only to an Optimum

Greenhouse crop production in northern countries often relies heavily on supplemental lighting for year-round yield and product quality. Among the different spectra used in supplemental lighting, red is often considered the most efficient, but plants do not develop normally when grown solely under monochromatic red light (“red light syndrome”). Addition of blue light has been shown to aid normal development, and typical lighting spectra in greenhouse production include a mixture of red and blue light. However, it is unclear whether sunlight, as part of the light available to plants in the greenhouse, may be sufficient as a source of blue light. In a greenhouse high-wire tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), we varied the percentage of blue supplemental light (in a red background) as 0, 6, 12, and 24%, while keeping total photosynthetically active radiation constant. Light was supplied as a mixture of overhead (99 μmol m-2 s-1) and intracanopy (48 μmol m-2 s-1) LEDs, together with sunlight. Averaged over the whole experiment (111 days), sunlight comprised 58% of total light incident onto the crop. Total biomass, yield and number of fruits increased with the addition of blue light to an optimum, suggesting that both low (0%) and high (24%) blue light intensities were suboptimal for growth. Stem and internode lengths, as well as leaf area, decreased with increases in blue light percentage. While photosynthetic capacity increased linearly with increases in blue light percentage, photosynthesis in the low blue light treatment (0%) was not low enough to suggest the occurrence of the red light syndrome. Decreased biomass at low (0%) blue light was likely caused by decreased photosynthetic light use efficiency. Conversely, decreased biomass at high (24%) blue light was likely caused by reductions in canopy light interception. We conclude that while it is not strictly necessary to add blue light to greenhouse supplemental red light to obtain a functional crop, adding some (6–12%) blue light is advantageous for growth and yield while adding 24% blue light is suboptimal for growth.
Combating Vaccine Hesitancy: Teaching the Next Generation to Navigate Through the Post Truth Era

Despite scientific evidence supporting the fact that vaccines are fundamental tools for preventing infectious diseases, a percentage of the population still refuses some or all of them. Vaccine hesitancy has become a widespread issue, and its complexity lies in the great variety of factors that can influence decisions about immunization, which are not just vaccine-related concerns, but also involve personal and societal levels. Our research group performed an extensive literature review to analyze: (1) different age groups, their relation to the problem and their characteristics; (2) the most important information (key messages) about immunization that could be used to counteract hesitancy; and (3) best approaches to transmit the messages to the target groups. We propose a long-term approach to overcome vaccine hesitancy that involves the education of children and adolescents on the basics about immunization and critical thinking, using different communication channels.
miR396-OsGRFs Module Balances Growth and Rice Blast Disease-Resistance

Fitness cost is a common phenomenon in rice blast disease-resistance breeding. MiR396 is a highly conserved microRNA (miRNA) family targeting Growth Regulating Factor (OsGRF) genes. Mutation at the target site of miR396 in certain OsGRF gene or blocking miR396 expression leads to increased grain yield. Here we demonstrated that fitness cost can be trade-off in miR396-OsGRFs module via balancing growth and immunity against the blast fungus. The accumulation of miR396 isoforms was significantly increased in a susceptible accession, but fluctuated in a resistant accession upon infection of Magnaporthe oryzae. The transgenic lines over-expressing different miR396 isoforms were highly susceptible to M. oryzae. In contrast, overexpressing target mimicry of miR396 to block its function led to enhanced resistance to M. oryzae in addition to improved yield traits. Moreover, transgenic plants overexpressing OsGRF6, OsGRF7, OsGRF8, and OsGRF9 exhibited enhanced resistance to M. oryzae, but showed different alteration of growth. While overexpression of OsGRF7 led to defects in growth, overexpression of OsGRF6, OsGRF8, and OsGRF9 resulted in better or no significant change of yield traits. Collectively, our results indicate that miR396 negatively regulates rice blast disease- resistance via suppressing multiple OsGRFs, which in turn differentially control growth and yield. Therefore, miR396-OsGRFs could be a potential module to demolish fitness cost in rice blast disease-resistance breeding.
Frog Skin Innate Immune Defences: Sensing and Surviving Pathogens

Amphibian skin is a mucosal surface in direct and continuous contact with a microbially diverse and laden aquatic and/or terrestrial environment. As such, frog skin is an important innate immune organ and first line of defence against pathogens in the environment. Critical to the innate immune functions of frog skin are the maintenance of physical, chemical, cellular, and microbiological barriers and the complex network of interactions that occur across all the barriers. Despite the global decline in amphibian populations, largely as a result of emerging infectious diseases, we understand little regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the innate immune function of amphibian skin and defence against pathogens. In this review, we discuss the structure, cell composition and cellular junctions that contribute to the skin physical barrier, the antimicrobial peptide arsenal that, in part, comprises the chemical barrier, the pattern recognition receptors involved in recognizing pathogens and initiating innate immune responses in the skin, and the contribution of commensal microbes on the skin to pathogen defence. We briefly discuss the influence of environmental abiotic factors (natural and anthropogenic) and pathogens on the immunocompetency of frog skin defences. Although some aspects of frog innate immunity, such as antimicrobial peptides are well-studied; other components and how they contribute to the skin innate immune barrier, are lacking. Elucidating the complex network of interactions occurring at the interface of the frog's external and internal environments will yield insight into the crucial role amphibian skin plays in host defence and the environmental factors leading to compromised barrier integrity, disease, and host mortality.
The AGC Kinase YpkA Regulates Sphingolipids Biosynthesis and Physically Interacts With SakA MAP Kinase in Aspergillus fumigatus

Sphingolipids (SL) are complex lipids and components of the plasma membrane which are involved in numerous cellular processes, as well as important for virulence of different fungal pathogens. In yeast, SL biosynthesis is regulated by the “AGC kinases” Ypk1 and Ypk2, which also seem to connect the SL biosynthesis with the cell wall integrity (CWI) and the High Osmolarity Glycerol (HOG) pathways. Here, we investigate the role of ypkAY PK1 in SL biosynthesis and its relationship with the CWI and the HOG pathways in the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. We found that ypkA is important for fungal viability, since the ΔypkA strain presented a drastically sick phenotype and complete absence of conidiation. We observed that under repressive condition, the conditional mutant niiA::ypkA exhibited vegetative growth defects, impaired germination and thermosensitivity. In addition, the ypkA loss of function caused a decrease in glycosphingolipid (GSL) levels, especially the metabolic intermediates belonging to the neutral GSL branch including dihydroceramide (DHC), ceramide (Cer), and glucosylceramide (GlcCer), but interestingly a small increase in ergosterol content. Genetic analyzes showed that ypkA genetically interacts with the MAP kinases of CWI and HOG pathways, mpkA and sakA, respectively, while only SakA physically interacts with YpkA. Our results suggest that YpkA is important for fungal survival through the regulation of GSL biosynthesis and cross talks with A. fumigatus MAP kinase pathways.
Handbook Of Proteolytic Enzymes

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Moving‐Target Tracking Based on Particle Filter with TDOA/FDOA Measurements

In this letter, we propose a moving‐target tracking algorithm based on a particle filter that uses the time difference of arrival (TDOA)/frequency difference of arrival (FDOA) measurements acquired by distributed sensors. It is shown that the performance of the proposed algorithm, based on the particle filter, outperforms the one based on the extended Kalman filter. The use of both the TDOA and FDOA measurements is shown to be effective in the moving‐target tracking. It is proven that the particle filter deals with the nonlinear nature of the moving‐target tracking problem successfully.
OKKAM: Enabling Entity-centric Information Integration in the Semantic Web

Like to the way the WWW provided a global space for the seamless integration of small hypertexts into a global, open, decentralized and scalable publication space, the Semantic Web has the vision to provide a global spacefor the seamless integration of knowledge bases into a global, open, decentralized and scalable knowledge space, whose domain is extended beyond the realm of digital objects, and relations are extended beyond hyperlinks. But unlike the WWW, where reference to documents through hyperlinks is provided in an unambiguous and architectural way, the Semantic Web in its current state suffers from an identity and reference problem for the entities it describes, a problem which hinders significantly the integration of Semantic Web knowledge on the data level. The cause for this problem is that to date there exists no suitable infrastructure which would enable the systematic re-use of global identifiers for entities, which could solve the mentioned issues by making some of the assumptions that the Semantic Web bases on a reality. The objective of this work is thus to provide such an infrastructure. We will describe the notion of an Entity Name System (ENS) as a global approach for providing re-usable identifiers for entities. A prototype implementation of such an ENS - called OKKAM - has been developed, is operational, and is part of the novel contributions of this work. Additionally, a set of new applications that make use of the ENS will be illustrated, as well as analyses and experimentation results which base on the ENS. The main contribution of this work is the provision of an ENS, an infrastructural component for the Semantic Web which enables a-priori information integration in a novel way, and enables the development of novel applications and information management paradigms.
Handwriting difficulty screening tool based on dynamic data from drawing process

Children with handwriting difficulty are advised to join an intervention program to rectify the problem at an early stage. However, the available screening tools suffer from subjectivity judgement while lack of expertise reduces the chance for every student to be screened. Yet, digitalized screening tools that use dynamic data from writing activities are only applicable to those who know the language. These limitations had led this study to develop an objective handwriting difficulty screening tool based on dynamic data of drawings. Three attributes extracted from 120 sets of dynamic data from drawing process were found to be significant in differentiating below-average writers from average writers. The attributes were then used to train Support Vector Machine prediction model. To test the validity and reliability of the prediction model, additional sets of data were acquired from 36 pupils. The performance of the tool was compared with the results from the Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire (HPSQ) that employs teachers’ observations on pupils’ handwriting ability. With 78% reliability, 69% of the predictions made by the developed tool was in accordance with the teachers’ observation. Most importantly, 53% of the average writers were screened as having handwriting problems. This denotes the objectivity of the developed tool in identifying below-average writers who failed to be recognized through teacher’s observation.
Aproximaciones cualitativas al estudio de obesidad: nuevas contribuciones a la comprensión de la nutrición humana

It has been epidemiologically and clinically demonstrated that obesity constitutes a main public health problem worldwide. This paper poses the need for assuming the qualitative characteristics necessary for a complete perspective regarding the psychological, social and cultural dimensions of such complex phenomenon within a framework of interdisciplinary healthcare and nutritional studies. Including qualitative approaches when studying human nutrition and food specifically focuses on the growing problem of obesity and being overweight and emphasises the need to move towards understanding human obesity from a contextual approach and recognising the specific experience of the obese. It has been assumed that qualitative studies will provide a fresh approach to social and cultural elements, thereby increasing understanding obesity from a medicine-based approach and making a significant contribution to problem characterisation and designing and introducing action aimed at its resolution which has been based on interdisciplinary dialogue and the rigorous and creative use of qualitative approaches' methodologies and techniques.
An equalization method using preliminary decisions for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing systems in channels with frequency selective fading

An improved equalizing scheme to be used in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems in fading multipath channels is presented. The suggested scheme uses a conventional least mean square algorithm with an additional tuning coefficient to speed up the adaptation of the equalizer. The performance of this method is compared with methods that have been used previously with OFDM. For the performance evaluation, a frequency selective fading channel model with an exponential power delay profile is applied.
A Fast Implementation of DPM-Based Facial Landmark Localization

Face detection, pose estimation and facial landmark localization are three fundamental problems in pattern recognition. These three tasks have high request of algorithm efficiency and accuracy. Zhu and Ramanan proposed a model based on mixture of tree structures to solve the three tasks simultaneously and it obtains state-of-the-art result. However, the efficiency of their algorithm is relatively low. Our improved algorithm combines Viola Jones detector and tree-structured model and achieves a speed-up of tens of times even hundreds of times of original algorithm on ordinary laptop according to images of different sizes.