Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heritability of regional brain volumes in large-scale neuroimaging and genetic studies

Brain genetics is an active research area. The degree to which genetic variants impact variations in brain structure and function remains largely unknown. We examined the heritability of regional brain volumes (p ~ 100) captured by single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in UK Biobank (n ~ 9000). We found that regional brain volumes are highly heritable in this study population. We observed omni-genic impact across the genome as well as enrichment of SNPs in active chromatin regions. Principal components derived from regional volume data are also highly heritable, but the amount of variance in brain volume explained by the component did not seem to be related to its heritability. Heritability estimates vary substantially across large-scale functional networks and brain regions. The variation in heritability across regions was not related to measurement reliability. Heritability estimates exhibit a symmetric pattern across left and right hemispheres and are consistent in females and males. Our main findings in UK Biobank are consistent with those in Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (n ~ 1100), Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (n ~ 600), and Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics (n ~ 500) datasets, with more stable estimates in UK Biobank.
Viroid‐derived small RNA induces early flowering in tomato plants by RNA silencing

Summary Viroid infection often leads to early flowering in the host plant. This report describes the targeting of the FRIGIDA‐like protein 3 (FRL3) mRNA in tomato plants by a small RNA derived from the conserved left terminal region of the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). This targeting leads to the silencing of the FRL3 mRNA. Viroid infection assays using a severe variant of PSTVd induced early flowering in tomato plants by the down‐regulation of greater amounts of the target than did a mild PSTVd variant. The targeting of the FRL3 mRNA by RNA silencing was validated by both an artificial microRNA experiment transiently expressing viroid‐derived small RNAs in tomato plants, and by 5′ RNA ligase‐mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). These data unambiguously demonstrated the role of small RNAs in the early flowering seen in viroid‐infected plants.
A male's seminal fluid increases later competitors’ productivity

Polyandrous females allow for sexual selection to persist after mating. In the event that females successfully mate with more than one male, sperm competition can occur. Seminal fluid proteins can indirectly affect a male's success in sperm competition through reducing the remating behaviour of females and can directly influence sperm competition through directly displacing competitor sperm or inducing females to eject it. These direct effects on competitor sperm are thought to contribute to the ‘second male advantage’, whereby the second male to mate sires the majority of offspring. Here, we show an additional mechanism where seminal proteins already present within a mated female appear to enhance offspring production of later competitor males, and contribute to second male advantage. Counter to expectation, increased offspring production was not due to a priming effect of greater early female productivity, nor was it through a general and consistent increase in offspring production. Instead, enhanced productivity was solely through lengthening the time that offspring are sired by the second male, indicating that seminal proteins from the first male to mate may enhance second male advantage through a presumably unintended protective effect on subsequent competitor sperm.
Genome wide analyses uncover allele-specific RNA editing in human and mouse

Abstract RNA editing is one of the most common RNA level modifications that potentially generate amino acid changes similar to those resulting from genomic nonsynonymous mutations. However, unlike DNA level allele-specific modifications such as DNA methylation, it is currently unknown whether RNA editing displays allele-specificity across tissues and species. Here, we analyzed allele-specific RNA editing in human tissues and from brain tissues of heterozygous mice generated by crosses between divergent mouse strains and found a high proportion of overlap of allele-specific RNA editing sites between different samples. We identified three allele-specific RNA editing sites cause amino acid changes in coding regions of human and mouse genes, whereas their associated SNPs yielded synonymous differences. In vitro cellular experiments confirmed that sequences differing at a synonymous SNP can have differences in a linked allele-specific RNA editing site with nonsynonymous implications. Further, we demonstrate that allele-specific RNA editing is influenced by differences in local RNA secondary structure generated by SNPs. Our study provides new insights towards a better comprehension of the molecular mechanism that link SNPs with human diseases and traits.
Metal–organic framework derived cobalt phosphosulfide with ultrahigh microwave absorption properties

Nanostructure composites of ferromagnetic materials embedded in nanoporous carbon (NC) derived from metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted enormous attention due to their potential application in many fields, such as microwave absorption, energy storage, and conversion. The rational design of nanocomposites holds a determinant factor for overcoming the challenges involving the microwave absorption performance. Herein, CoS2/NC, CoP/NC, and CoS2−xPx/NC with a rhombic dodecahedral structure have been successfully fabricated by using the template cobalt-based MOFs (ZIF-67). A morphology analysis indicates that ferromagnetic nanoparticles are embedded in NC matrix. It is obvious that the rhombic dodecahedron can be maintained after the phosphorization and sulfurization of Co/NC derived from the thermal decomposition of ZIF-67. The microwave absorption performance can obviously be improved by the phosphorization and sulfurization of Co/NC. CoS2−xPx/NC exhibits an excellent microwave absorption property and the minimum reflection loss (RL) of CoS2−xPx/NC can reach −68 dB at 14.6 GHz with a thickness of 1.5 mm. An RL value less than −10 dB can be achieved in the microwave frequency range of 12.7–17.3 GHz (4.6 GHz) with a thickness of 1.5 mm for CoS2−xPx/NC. This article offers a novel way to fabricate cobalt-based materials/carbon composites for an excellent microwave absorber.
Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells exert therapeutic effect in a rat model of cavernous nerves injury

Postradical prostatectomy erectile dysfunction (pRP‐ED) is a major health issue. There has been a shortage of an effective treatment method until now. In this study, a total of 48 adult male Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats were randomly equally divided into four groups, including group 1—sham surgery with cavernous nerve exposure plus vehicle, group 2—bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI) plus vehicle, group 3—BCNI plus adipose‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs)‐derived exosomes (ADSC‐Exo), and group 4—BCNI plus bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cell (BMSCs)‐derived exosomes (BMSC‐Exo). Twenty‐one days following surgery, erectile function was measured before tissue harvest. Histologic and Western blot analyses were then performed. Exosomes were capable of internalization into human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in vitro and could be detected in the corpus cavernosum in vivo. The nNOS expression in the penile dorsal nerves (DN) and major pelvic ganglion (MPG), protein level of neurofilament in the DN, endothelial markers vWF, alpha smooth muscle actin (α‐SMA), the ratio of smooth muscle to collagen content were obviously lower in BCNI group compared with the sham group, while ADSC‐Exo and BMSC‐Exo groups resulted in significant restoration of the above histopathological changes. Moreover, BCNI treated with ADSC‐Exo or BMSC‐Exo had significantly higher mean intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio compared with BCNI group. The results demonstrated that both ADSC‐Exo and BMSC‐Exo treatment could significantly alleviate pathological changes and improve the erectile function in BCNI‐related rats. Exosomes derived from ADSCs and BMSCs may be a potential agent for pRP‐ED treatment.
What is the true tuberculosis mortality burden? Differences in estimates by the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease study.

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) periodically provide global estimates of tuberculosis (TB) mortality. We compared the 2015 WHO and GBD TB mortality estimates and explored which factors might drive the differences. Methods We extracted the number of estimated TB-attributable deaths, disaggregated by age, HIV status, sex and country from publicly available WHO and GBD datasets for the year 2015. We 'standardized' differences between sources by adjusting each country's difference in absolute number of deaths by the average number of deaths estimated by both sources. Results For 195 countries with estimates from both institutions, WHO estimated 1 768 482 deaths attributable to TB, whereas GBD estimated 1 322 916 deaths, a difference of 445 566 deaths or 29% of the average of the two estimates. The countries with the largest absolute differences in deaths were Nigeria (216 621), Bangladesh (49 863) and Tanzania (38 272). The standardized difference was not associated with HIV prevalence, prevalence of multidrug resistance or global region, but did show correlation with the case detection rate as estimated by WHO [r = -0.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): -049; -0.24] or, inversely, with case detection rate based on GBD data (r = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.31; 0.54). Countries with a recent national prevalence survey had higher standardized differences (higher estimates by WHO) than those without (P = 0.006). After exclusion of countries with recent prevalence surveys, the overall correlation between both estimates was r = 0.991. Conclusions A few countries account for the large global discrepancy in TB mortality estimates. The differences are due to the methodological approaches used by WHO and GBD. The use and interpretation of prevalence survey data and case detection rates seem to play a role in the observed differences.
Pre‐ and early postnatal nicotine exposure exacerbates autoresuscitation failure in serotonin‐deficient rat neonates

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of death during the first year of life and abnormalities linked to serotonin (5‐HT) have been identified in many SIDS cases. Cigarette smoking and associated exogenous stressors, e.g. developmental nicotine exposure, may compound these serotonergic defects and any associated defects in cardiorespiratory function. Using neonatal rodent pups subjected to medullary 5‐HT deficiency and perinatal nicotine exposure, we examined the impact of this interplay of factors on the neonates’ ability to autoresuscitate at specific ages. In perinatal nicotine‐exposed 5‐HT deficient pups, impaired autoresuscitation along with significantly delayed post‐anoxic recovery of normal breathing and heart rate was observed at postnatal day 10 (P10). We found that the interaction between 5‐HT deficiency and perinatal nicotine exposure can significantly increase pups’ vulnerability to environmental stressors and exacerbate defects in cardiorespiratory protective reflexes to repetitive anoxia during the development period.
Heterogeneous Integration of CMOS Sensors and Fluidic Networks Using Wafer-Level Molding

Direct sensing in liquids using CMOS-integrated optical and electrical sensors is attractive for lab-on-chip applications, where close physical proximity between sample and sensor can obviate optical lenses, enhance electrical sensitivity, and decrease noise due to parasitics. However, controlled delivery of fluid samples to the chip surface presents an ongoing challenge for lab-on-CMOS development, where traditional wire-bond packaging prevents integration of planar microfluidics. In this paper, we present a method for scalable heterogeneous integration of microfluidic channels and silicon-integrated circuit substrates using a commercial fan-out wafer-level packaging approach. The planar surface supports multiple approaches for fluidic integration; we present both a stacked laser-cut fluidic assembly and the fabrication of monolithic SU-8 microchannels over the IC surface. As a proof-of-principle, both electrical and fluidic routing are provided to a custom 0.18-$\mu$ m CMOS optical sensor IC, and optical transmission and fluorescence measurement experiments are demonstrated.
An overview of offshore wind energy resources in Europe under present and future climate

Long‐term sustainable development of European offshore wind energy requires knowledge of the best places for installing offshore wind farms. To achieve this, a good knowledge of wind resources is needed, as well as knowledge of international, European, and national regulations regarding conflict management, marine environment conservation, biodiversity protection, licensing processes, and support regimes. Such a multidisciplinary approach could help to identify areas where wind resources are abundant and where conflicts with other interests are scarce, support measures are greater, and licensing processes are streamlined. An overview of offshore wind power studies at present, and of their future projections for the 21st century, allows for determining the optimal European locations to install or maintain offshore wind farms. Only northern Europe, the northwest portion of the Iberian Peninsula, the Gulf of Lyon, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the northwest coast of Turkey show no change or increase in wind power, revealing these locations as the most suitable for installing and maintaining offshore wind farms in the future. The installation of wind farms is subject to restrictions established under international law, European law, and the domestic legal framework of each EU member state. Europe is moving toward streamlining of licensing procedures, reducing subsidies, and implementing auction systems.
Investigating racial differences in clinical and pathological features of prostate cancer in South African men.

BACKGROUND Men with West African ancestry living in Europe and North America are at higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, are diagnosed at a younger age, and have more severe disease characteristics. Published reports present a conflicting picture of the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to study the clinical and pathological features of men undergoing prostate biopsy from different racial backgrounds in South Africa in an attempt to characterise the disease locally. Our hypothesis was that black African men presenting to our service had more severe disease characteristics than other patients. METHODS All patients who underwent a prostate biopsy at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town from July 2008 to July 2014 were studied. For each patient, data were collected on age, self-assigned race, presenting symptoms, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, prostate volume, and histological diagnosis. RESULTS A total of 1016 patients were studied. 162 (15.9%) were black and 854 (84.1%) were coloured (mixed ancestry), white, or Asian. Black patients were compared as a group to the coloured, white and Asian patients. The black patients in the series had higher PSA values (mean 167.8 vs 47.7, median 16.4 vs 10.9, p < 0.001), were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer (57.4% vs 44.5%, p = 0.003), were more likely to present with locally advanced cancer (T3/4 16.1% vs 8.9%, p = 0.028), and were more likely to have high grade disease (Gleason ≥ 8 45.2% vs 30.5%, p = 0.011). There was no difference in age, presenting symptoms, or prostate volume. CONCLUSION The black men diagnosed with prostate cancer at Groote Schuur Hospital had significantly worse clinical and pathological characteristics than the non-black men. Interpreting these differences as representative of a more common or aggressive disease among black men is not possible due to study limitations.
Digital dialogues and community 2.0 : after avatars, trolls and puppets

Introduction: New imaginings. Part 1 Communities, exiles and resistance: The inevitable exile: A missing link in online community discourse Call it hyper activism: politicising the online Arab public sphere and the quest for authenticity and relevance What's in a name? Digital resources and resistance at the global periphery I have seen the future, and it rings. Part 2 Structures for sharing Strangers in the swarm Status (update) anxiety: social networking, Facebook and community Becoming Mireila: A virtual ethnography through the eyes of an avatar Taste is the enemy of creativity: Disability, YouTube and a new. Part 3 Professions, production, consumptions: The sound of a librarian: the politics and potential of podcasting in difficult times The invisible (wo)man The impact of the video-equipped DSLR Why media literacy is transformative of the Irish education system: a statement in advocacy YouTube Academy. Part 4 Fandom, consumption and community: Live fast, die young, become immortal All we hear is Lady-o Gaga: Popular Culture 2.0 Copyright and couture: the Comme il Faut experience When community becomes a commodity Conclusion: white men rule?
Monitoring the Relative Blood Pressure Using a Hydraulic Bed Sensor System

We propose a nonwearable hydraulic bed sensor system that is placed underneath the mattress to estimate the relative systolic blood pressure of a subject, which only differs from the actual blood pressure by a scaling and an offset factor. Two types of features are proposed to obtain the relative blood pressure, one based on the strength and the other on the morphology of the bed sensor ballistocardiogram pulses. The relative blood pressure is related to the actual by a scale and an offset factor that can be obtained through calibration. The proposed system is able to extract the relative blood pressure more accurately with a less sophisticated sensor system compared to those from the literature. We tested the system using a dataset collected from 48 subjects right after active exercises. Comparison with the ground truth obtained from the blood pressure cuff validates the promising performance of the proposed system, where the mean correlation between the estimate and the ground truth is near to 90% for the strength feature and 83% for the morphology feature.
A Meta-Recognition Based Skin Marks Matching Algorithm with Feature Fusion for Forensic Identification

Soft biometrics, such as skin marks, play an important role in forensic identification, for they cannot only supplement hard biometrics to improve the overall identification performance, but may also serve as supportive evidence when hard biometrics is not available. Skin marks are small and difficult to be accurately detected due to different lighting conditions, poses as well as individual variation in their skin marks. In this paper, we propose a meta-recognition based skin marks matching algorithm to address these challenges for forensic identification. The algorithm combines both the geometric information in spatial distribution of skin marks and the appearance information of individual skin mark to establish the correspondence between two images. A multi-level skin marks matching scheme is adopted and fusion of scores is carried out at different levels using a meta-recognition method. The experimental results show that the new algorithm provides over 22% of improvement in terms of rank-1 accuracy over the previously proposed method.
Suppression of nbe‐miR166h‐p5 attenuates leaf yellowing symptoms of potato virus X on Nicotiana benthamiana and reduces virus accumulation

Summary MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play essential roles in plant development. There is increasing evidence that changed expression of miRNAs in virus‐infected plants contributes to the development of viral symptoms. Here, we analysed the altered expression of miRNAs of Nicotiana benthamiana in response to Potato virus X (PVX) by Illumina Solexa sequencing. One of the 21 miRNAs significantly affected, nbe‐miR166h‐p5, was closely associated with viral symptoms. Using the Tobacco rattle virus‐based miRNA suppression (VbMS) system, we found that the suppression of nbe‐miR166h‐p5 in plants caused leaves to turn dark green with increased chlorophyll. When PVX was inoculated on nbe‐miR166h‐p5‐suppressed plants, the leaf yellowing symptom of PVX was largely attenuated with less reduction in chlorophyll content, and the accumulation of PVX was decreased. nbe‐miR166h‐p5 was also up‐regulated in plants infected by Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), and its suppression attenuated the leaf yellowing symptom of TuMV and decreased viral accumulation. Three potential targets of nbe‐miR166h‐p5 were identified. The results indicate the association of nbe‐miR166h‐p5 with symptoms of PVX and also with those of TuMV, providing useful information on the relationship between miRNA and viral infection.
Uncontrolled Hypertension Is Common in Glaucoma Clinics

BACKGROUND To determine the magnitude of uncontrolled hypertension and smoking among patients visiting an eye clinic, and ascertain if referral to care providers is effective. METHODS Information on smoking status and blood pressure (BP) was collected among patients ≥18 years visiting an eye clinic. Those with high BP (systolic: ≥140 mm Hg and/or diastolic: ≥90 mm Hg) received a pamphlet on harms of hypertension on vision and were referred to a primary care physician. Smokers received a pamphlet on negative effects of smoking on vision and were offered referral to a tobacco quitline. Patients were followed up for referral outcome within 10 weeks from screening. RESULTS Screening: A total of participants screened included 140 (29.5%) with high BP and 31 (6.6%) current smokers. In the high BP group, 92 (66%) subjects were previously diagnosed with hypertension. Follow-up: Of the 140 participants with elevated BP, 84 (60%) responded to follow-up. Among these 84 participants, 57 (67.9%) had consulted primary care, of whom 5 (8.8%) reported being newly diagnosed with hypertension, and 11 (19.3%) reported a change in their antihypertensive prescription. Among the 31 smokers, 24 (77.4%) were willing for quitline referral. Sixteen (66.7%) of these patients responded to follow-up, 8 (50%) of whom reported participation in a smoking-cessation program with 1 patient (6.3%) successfully quitting smoking. CONCLUSIONS Nearly one-third of patients attending an eye clinic had elevated BP, and a smaller, but substantial, number of patients were current smokers. Eye clinics may serve as point for identification and referral of these patients with unmet needs.
Emergence of Resistance to Colistin During the Treatment of Bloodstream Infection Caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase–Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae

Abstract We report the emergence of colistin resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)–producing Klebsiella pneumoniae after 8 days of colistin-based therapy, resulting in relapse of bloodstream infection and death. Disruption of the mgrB gene by insertion of a mobile genetic element was found to be the mechanism, which was replicated in vitro after exposure to subinhibitory concentrations of colistin and meropenem.