Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discogenic pain: Who cares?

Chronic low back pain has a huge impact on daily living and a negative economic and professional effect. It is a matter of debate and concern for all health professionals involved, particularly spine surgeons. Recent discoveries on the innervation and biochemical properties of the intervertebral disc clarify the role of this structure as a possible cause of chronic low back pain. However, multiple causes may be present in the same patient making the diagnosis a challenging process. Discogenic pain is defined as a chronic low back pain induced by a degenerative disc disease. There are no specific characteristics of discogenic pain, although it has a higher incidence in younger age, it is usually localized medially in the back, worsens with axial loading and improves with recumbence. In the last decades we have assisted the emergence of multiple treatment techniques. However, neither the conservative treatment nor the interventional management has strong evidence in treating discogenic pain. Randomized control clinical trials are sought to improve patient outcome. Meanwhile, we believe each patient should be approached on an individual base. Discogenic pain: we care.
Susceptibility of human macrophages to Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in vitro

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an obligate intracellular gram-negative bacterium, which causes respiratory infections in humans and may participate in the development of chronic diseases like atherosclerosis, chronic obstructive lung disease, adult-onset asthma and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It can infect various cell types, e.g. vascular endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and monocyte-derived macrophages in vitro. It has been speculated that circulating macrophages disseminate the infection in the body, and that genetically susceptible individuals become chronically infected. Quantification of C. pneumoniae growth inside cultured cells is needed when studying e.g. the effect of drugs or host cell factors on infectivity and replication. Conventionally this has been done by immunofluorescence staining and microscopic counting of chlamydial inclusions. However, this method is usable only if the cell numbers do not fluctuate in cell culture vials and the inclusions are uniform. In macrophages, inclusions are often aberrant, their sizes vary and multiple inclusions are also seen. Therefore we developed a new method based on the real-time PCR quantification of chlamydial genomes adjusted to the number of human genomes and used it to quantify the exact amounts of C. pneumoniae in infected cells. The susceptibility of monocyte-macrophages from healthy individuals to C. pneumoniae infection in vitro was studied first. Intracellular growth of C. pneumoniae was used as an indicator of susceptibility to infection, and it was compared to serum levels of CRP, soluble CD14, human HSP-IgG, human HSP-IgA, C. pneumoniae IgG and IgA antibodies. The growth of C. pneumoniae in infected macrophages was highly variable, ranging from 0 to 638 chlamydial genomes per human genome. C. pneumoniae growth associated positively with serum C. pneumoniae IgA (titer ≥10) and hHSP-IgG and negatively with soluble CD14 concentration. The association between chlamydial IgA antibodies, hHSP-IgG and C. pneumoniae growth was statistically significant only among men. Age did not correlate with the growth. Therefore we hypothesize that persons whose macrophages cannot restrict the growth of C. pneumoniae are more prone to chronic infection by this agent. In the next study, we evaluated the effects of innate immunity genes CD14 -260 C>T, TLR2 Arg753Gln, TLR4 Asp299Gly, LBP Phe436Leu and IL-6 -174 G>C polymorphisms on C. pneumoniae growth in human macrophages in vitro. The growth of C. pneumoniae was highest in CD14 -260 C>T TT genotype cells and the difference to CC or CT genotype was statistically significant. The G-allele of the IL6 -174 G>C polymorphism had a positive influence on chlamydial growth; the difference was statistically significant only between CC and GC genotypes. TLR2 Arg753Gln, TLR4 Asp299Gly, LBP Phe436Leu polymorphisms showed no effect on chlamydial growth.
Interaction of thiolated amino acids and peptide onto the gold nanoparticle surface: Radical scavenging activity

The interaction of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with thiolated amino acid, L-cysteine, and peptide, glutathione, is reported. Additionally, thioglycolic acid has also been employed to study the effect of other functional groups such as amine on interparticle interaction mechanism. The functionalized AuNPs have been characterized through UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The plasmon-plasmon interactions amongst the functionalized AuNPs are found to be dependent on ligand concentration, pH and salt environment. The assembly of AuNPs mediated by L-Cys and GSH has been monitored by the evolution of the surface plasmon resonance absorption. The optical spectra of AuNPs is shifted to the red region, indicating dipole-dipole interactions in the AuNPs assembly. The selfassembly is more pronounced in the case of amino acid and tripeptide, due to the zwitterion-type electrostatic interactions between amino acid groups of L-Cys/GSH bound to different NPs. Furthermore, the scavenging behavior of the studied thiolated ligands and the corresponding AuNPs has been studied by using 1,1-diphenyl 2-picryl hydrazil radical. AuNPs significantly reduces the radical scavenging ability of thiolated antioxidants.
Coarse root architecture of three boreal tree species growing in mixed stands

Root system architecture determines many of the vital functions of a tree, e.g. stability of anchorage and resource uptake. The shoot:root ratio is determined through the allocation of resources. Studies on below-ground architectural elements in boreal mixed forests are relatively scarce despite the fact that knowledge on below-ground interactions and allocation changes in relation to stand developmental stage and soil fertility is needed both in ecological and silvicultural research. In this study, sixty tree root systems of three different tree species, Betula pendula, Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris, were excavated in five mixed forest stands in order to quantify differences between the species and sites in terms of rooting behaviour. Root architecture differed greatly between the species, implying different solutions for the functions of root systems. Half of the P. sylvestris had developed a taproot as a response to anchorage needs, while P. abies correspondingly had pronounced secondary growth of proximal roots. Betula pendula had the most extensive root system, illustrating the greater demand of deciduous trees for water. Betula pendula was also the most sensitive to soil fertility: it favoured exploration on the poorest site, as illustrated by the high total root length, whereas on the most fertile site its strategy was to efficiently exploit soil resources through increased branching intensity. The results obtained in this study provide basic knowledge on the architectural characteristics of boreal tree root systems for use by forestry professionals and modellers.
SEMI – GLOBAL MERGING OF DIGITAL SURFACE MODELS FROM MULTIPLE STEREOPAIRS

Abstract. The semi-global optimization algorithm, which approximates a global 2D smoothness constraint by combining several 1D constraints, has been widely used in the field of image dense matching for digital surface model (DSM) generation. However, due to occlusion, shadow and textureless area of the matching images, some inconsistency may exist in the overlapping areas of different DSMs. To address this problem, based on the DSMs generated by semi-global matching from multiple stereopairs, a novel semi-global merging algorithm is proposed to generate a reliable and consistent DSM in this paper. Two datasets, each covering 1 km2, are used to validate the proposed method. Experimental results show that the optimal DSM after merging can effectively eliminate the inconsistency and reduce redundancy in the overlapping areas.
DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT OF CONCRETE USING WASTE FOUNDRY SAND AS PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF FINE AGGREGATE

Due to ever increasing quantities of waste materials and industrial by-products, solid waste management is the prime concern in the world. Scarcity of land-filling space and because of its ever increasing cost, recycling and utilization of industrial by-products and waste materials has become an attractive proposition to disposal. There are several types of industrial by-products and waste materials. The utilization of such materials in concrete not only makes it economical, but also helps in reducing disposal concerns. One such industrial by-product is Waste Foundry Sand (WFS). This paper investigate the effect of waste foundry sand content on compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and chloride ion permeability of M30 (46 MPa) Grade of concrete. Fine aggregate was replaced by 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% of WFS by mass. All tests were conducted at the age of 28 and 365 days.
Evolution of an Acoustic Modem for μAUVs

The use of small autonomous underwater vehicles as mobile sensor networks is topic of many recent research projects. The swarm deployment of those robots enables a variety of flexible and low-cost use cases, such as port monitoring or marine research. For swarm interaction an underwater communication device is needed. For this purpose, we developed an acoustic modem , which fits into small autonomous underwater vehicles, is comparably cheap and offers reliable communication of up to 50m. During research with this modem, we discovered inadequacies, like low computing and insufficient transmission power. This paper presents an evolution of the modem, still beeing modular and low-cost, but having more computing power and an extended transmission range. Jan Heitmann, Lucas Bublitz, Timo Kortbrae, and Christian Renner. Evolution of an Acoustic Modem for Micro AUVs. In Proc. of the 16th GI/ITG KuVS Fachgespräch Sensornetze, FGSN ’17, Hamburg, Germany, Sept. 2017. it , Lucas Bublitz, Timo Kortbrae, and Christian Renner. Evolution of an Acoustic Modem for μAUVs. In Proc. of t Expert Talk Sensor Networks, FGSN ’17, Hamburg, Germany, Sept. 2017.
uorum sensing autoinducers enhance biofilm formation and power roduction in a hypersaline microbial fuel cell

Intensive hydraulic fracturing of shale oil and gas reservoirs and other industrial activities can produce large volumes of high-organic-strength and high-salinity wastewaters that are difficult to treat by conventional technologies. Microbial fuel cells (MFC) can treat high-strength wastewater while generating electricity. We enhanced anodic biofilm formation by the extremophile Halanaerobium praevalens, a prevalent species in saline oil and gas reservoirs, in a hypersaline MFC (100 g/L NaCl), by promoting quorum sensing (QS) through addition of exogenous QS signals (i.e., Pseudomonas aeruginosa QS signal alanaerobium praevalens
Estrogenic Activities of UV Stabilizers Used in Food Contact Plastics and Benzophenone Derivatives Tested by the Yeast Two-Hybrid Assay

UV stabilizers used in food contact plastics were tested for their estrogenic activity by the yeast two-hybrid assay. Among 11 kinds of UV stabilizers, 2-hydroxy- 4-methoxybenzophenone and 2,2′-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone displayed estrogenic activity, while salicylate, benzoate and benzotriazole derivatives and a benzophenone derivative had no activity. Therefore, benzophenone and 19 kinds of hydroxylated derivatives were further studied. Of these, 15 chemicals showed estrogenic activity. The strongest activity was by 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone, 4-hydroxy-4′-chlorobenzophenone, 4-hydroxybenzophenone and 2,3,4-trihydroxybenzophenone. Their activities were stronger than that of bisphenol A which was recognized as a potential endocrine disruptor. The following structure-activity relationships of benzophenones were obtained. The activity of the benzophenones with a hydroxyl group at the 3 or 4-position was positive and rather strong, though that of other benzophenones without a hydroxyl group at the 3 or 4-position was negative or weakly positive. The effect of the hydroxyl group in the phenol moiety were in order of 4- > 3- >> 2-position. A hydroxyl group added at the 2-position of the 4-hydroxylated benzene ring enhanced the activity. On the other hand, a hydroxyl group added to the benzene ring of the hydrophobic moiety reduced the binding, while the chloro group enhanced it. Some of these relationships might possibly hold for other estrogenic chemicals that possess two benzene rings.
Classroom environment, students' perceptions of assessment, academic efficacy and attitude to science: a LISREL analysis

This chapter reports a study linking students' perceptions of learning environments and assessment with academic efficacy and attitude to science in Australian secondary schools. Five scales of the What Is Happening In this Class questionnaire were used to assess the learning environment. A specially validated instrument, the Students' Perceptions of Assessment Questionnaire assessed five assessment characteristics: Congruence with Planned Learning, Authenticity, Student Consultation, Transparency and Diversity. Scales to assess attitude to science and one academic efficacy scale were employed as outcome measures. MUltiple regression and structural equation modelling with LISREL 8.3 were used to study relationships among these variables and the extent to which a postulated model fitted the data. Results showed that classroom environment and student perceptions of assessment were significant positive predictors of academic efficacy and attitude to science.
Classification of EEG signals of familiar and unfamiliar face stimuli exploiting most discriminative channels

The objective of the study is to classify electroencephalogram signals recorded in a familiar and unfamiliar face recognition experiment. Frontal views of familiar and unfamiliar face images were shown to 10 volunteers in different sessions. In contrast to previous studies, no marker button was used during the experiment. Participants had to decide whether the displayed face was familiar or unfamiliar at the instant of stimulus presentation. The signals were analyzed in the preprocessing, channel selection, feature extraction, and classification stages. The novel two-feature extraction and eight-channel selection methods were applied to the analyses. Sixteen classification results were compared and the best performance was investigated. Consequently, the highest average classification accuracy was obtained at 72.67% when piecewise constant modeling feature extraction and relative entropy channel selection methods were used.
Prudent case-based prediction when experience is lacking

An inexperienced predictor is asked to qualitatively rank eventualities according to their plausibility, given past cases. Inexperience means that, resampling past cases (with replacement) fails to generate a suitably diverse set of rankings. (4-diversity requires that each of the 4! strict rankings of four eventualities arises for some sample.) Along with other essential consistency requirements, 4-diversity yields a matrix representation that may be viewed as an empirical likelihood function (Gilboa and Schmeidler, 2003). We impose 2-diversity and derive a similar representation: provided the predictor is prudent enough to ensure that the arrival of novel cases will not force her into being dogmatic, intransitive or into revising her existing rankings. We build on this to establish a formal tradeoff between inexperience and the cognitive or computational cost of more abstract resampling.
Comparative study between ARX and ARMAX system identification

System Identification is used to build mathematical models of a dynamic system based on measured data. To design the best controllers for linear or nonlinear systems, mathematical modeling is the main challenge. To solve this challenge conventional and intelligent identification are recommended. System identification is divided into different algorithms. In this research, two important types algorithm are compared to identifying the highly nonlinear systems, namely: Auto-Regressive with eXternal model input(ARX) and Auto Regressive moving Average with eXternal model input (Armax) Theory. These two methods are applied to the highly nonlinear industrial motor.
Cell Stem Cell Resource DynamicChromatinRemodelingMediatedbyPolycomb Proteins Orchestrates Pancreatic Differentiation of Human Embryonic StemCells

Ruiyu Xie,1 Logan J. Everett,2 Hee-Woong Lim,2 Nisha A. Patel,1 Jonathan Schug,2 Evert Kroon,3 Olivia G. Kelly,3 Allen Wang,1 Kevin A. D’Amour,3 Allan J. Robins,3 Kyoung-Jae Won,2 Klaus H. Kaestner,2 and Maike Sander1,* 1Department of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0695, USA 2Department of Genetics and Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA 3ViaCyte Inc., 3550 General Atomics Court, San Diego, CA 92121, USA *Correspondence: masander@ucsd.edu http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.stem. 2012.11. 023
The ecology of herbivore‐induced silicon defences in grasses

Summary Silicon as a defence against herbivory in grasses has gained increasing recognition and has now been studied in a wide range of species, at scales from individual plants in pots to plant communities in the field. The impacts of these defences have been assessed on herbivores ranging from insects to rodents to ungulates. Here, we review current knowledge of silicon mediation of plant–herbivore interactions in an ecological context. The production of silicon defences by grasses is affected by both abiotic and biotic factors and by their interactions. Climate, soil type and water availability all influence levels of silicon uptake, as does plant phenology and previous herbivory. The type of defoliation matters and artificial clipping does not appear to have the same impact on silicon defence induction as herbivory which includes the presence of saliva. Induction of silicon defences has been demonstrated to require a threshold level of damage, both in the laboratory and in the field. In recent studies of vole–plant interactions, the patterns of induction were found to be quantitatively similar in glasshouse compared with field experiments, in terms of both the threshold required for induction and timing of the induction response. The impacts of silicon defences differ between different classes of herbivore, possibly reflecting differences in body size, feeding behaviour and digestive physiology. General patterns are hard to discern however, and a greater number of studies on wild mammalian herbivores are required to elucidate these, particularly with an inclusion of major groups for which there are currently no data, one such example being marsupials. We highlight new research areas to address what still remains unclear about the role of silicon as a plant defence, particularly in relation to plant–herbivore interactions in the field, where the effects of grazing on defence induction are harder to measure. We discuss the obstacles inherent in scaling up laboratory work to landscape-scale studies, the most ecologically relevant but most difficult to carry out, which is the next challenge in silicon ecology.
Chemical methods for the characterization of proteolysis in cheese during ripening

La proteolyse, qui est le phenomene principal et le plus complexe intervenant dans la maturation de la plupart des fromages, a ete le sujet de nombreuses etudes. Toute une gamme de techniques analytiques a ete developpee afin de permettre une meilleure comprehension de ce phenomene. Les methodes de suivi de la proteolyse peuvent etre classees en deux grands chapitres, traites dans cette revue : les techniques non specifiques, et les techniques specifiques. Les techniques non specifiques incluent la quantification de l'azote soluble dans les divers extraits, et s'interessent aussi a la liberation des groupements reactifs. Les techniques specifiques, principalement la chromatographie ou l'electrophorese, sont celles permettant de separer les peptides ou les acides amines libres. Ces diverses techniques sont souvent combinees dans la strategie de purification de la fraction azotee du fromage afin de pouvoir isoler individuellememt les peptides. Les methodes d'identification des peptides, ainsi que les differentes strategies de suivi de proteolyse dans diverses varietes de fromages sont discutees dans cette revue.
SCREENING AND IDENTIFICATION OF AQUATIC BACTERIOCINOGENIC BACILLUS STRAINS INHIBITING CLINICAL METHICILLIN RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AND VANCOMYCIN RESISTANT ENTEROCOCCUS FROM PAKISTAN

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to screen and identify novel bacteriocinogenic strains from marine, fresh and estuarine water bodies which can serve as alternatives to the antibiotics, as an antibiotic resistance is on the rise. Methods: Altogether seven fresh, brackish, and marine water samples from various regions of Sindh were collected. All the aquatic bacterial strains were isolated by standard plate count and overlay methods. The bacteriocinogenic strains were screened by spot agar, stab and overlay, cross streak and agar well-diffusion techniques. Results: Of the total 146 isolates, 41 (28%) were bacteriocinogenic, among which 28 (68%) were isolated from freshwater, 12 (29%) from marine and 1 (3%) from brackish water. The most significant bacteriocinogenic strains among the isolates were identified as Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus simplex, Bacillus macerans and Bacillus circulans. When tested against 17 significant pathogens, these strains could inhibit various clinical drug-resistant Gram-positive pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and Corynebacterium diptheriae. Furthermore, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. were observed to be sensitive against two bacteriocinogenic strains of B. coagulans. Furthermore, 59% of the aquatic isolates were sensitive against one of the bacteriocinogenic strain indicating competitive antagonism phenomenon. Conclusion: This research study reveals the bacteriocinogenic potential of indigenous aquatic isolates against drug resistant clinical pathogens as well as against fish pathogens.
Genome-wide comparative analysis of the codon usage pattern in Flaviviridae family

Flaviviridae family is a group of viruses that cause several deadly diseases like Dengue Fever Virus, Zika Virus, Japanese Encephalitis Virus, and Hepatitis C Virus etc. The codon usage analysis can serve as a tool to understand about the molecular evolution and regulation of viral gene expression. The objective of this study is to fi nd the key determinants of codon usage in the family. In this study, the codon usage pattern for 114 genomes of Flaviviridae family (with four genus Flavivirus, Hepacivirus, Pegivirus, Pestivirus) was analysed through codon usage indices (like NC, RSCU, ENC, PCA) and multivariate statistical methods. Our results show that among the four genus Flavivirus and Pestivirus show similarity in preferred base on the count of being AG rich. On the other hand, Pegivirus and Hepacivirus show similarity in preferred base on the count of being GC rich. The overall codon usage bias in the entire family is slightly biased. RSCU analysis showed that Flavivirus and Pestivirus prefer AG ending codons, whereas Pegivirus and Hepacivirus show preference to GC ending codons. Many unclassifi ed members show similarity with members of genus Flavivirus in choices of codon. The ENC -GC3 plot show that mutation pressure is dominating evolutionary driving force in making codon usage preferences. The study represents comprehensive analysis of codon usage pattern and help to better understand the mechanism of codon usage bias.