Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Relieves Angiotensin II–Induced Senescence in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells by Raising Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide–Dependent SIRT1 Activity

Objective—α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) is a subtype of nAChR and has been reported to be involved in hypertension end-organ damage. In this study, we tested the role of α7nAChR in angiotensin II (Ang II)–induced senescence of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Approach and Results—Expression of α7nAChR was not influenced by Ang II. Ang II induced remarkable senescent phenotypes in rodent and human VSMCs, including increased senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, phosphorylation of H2A.XSer139, phosphorylation of Chk1Ser317, reduced replication, and downregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Activation of α7nAChR with a selective agonist PNU-282987 blocked Ang II–induced senescence in cultured VSMCs. Moreover, PNU-282987 treatment attenuated the Ang II infusion–induced VSMC senescence in wild-type but not in α7nAChR−/− mice. PNU-282987 reduced the Ang II–enhanced reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and the expression of NADPH oxidase 1, NADPH oxidase 4, and .
CFD-DEM Simulation of Biomass Pyrolysis in Fluidized-Bed Reactor with a Multistep Kinetic Scheme

The pyrolysis of biomass in a fluidized-bed reactor is studied by a combination of a CFD-DEM algorithm and a multistep kinetic scheme, where fluid dynamics, heat and mass transfer, particle collisions, and the detailed thermochemical conversion of biomass are all resolved. The integrated method is validated by experimental results available in literature and a considerable improvement in predicting the pyrolysis product yields is obtained as compared to previous works using a two-fluid model, especially the relative error in the predicted tar yield is reduced by more than 50%. Furthermore, the evolution of light gas, char and tar, as well as the particle conversion, which cannot easily be measured in experiments, are also revealed. Based on the proposed model, the influences of pyrolysis temperature and biomass particle size on the pyrolysis behavior in a fluidized-bed reactor are comprehensively studied. Numerical results show that the new algorithm clearly captures the dependence of char yield on pyrolysis temperature and the influence of heating rate on light gas and tar yields, which is not possible in simulations based on a simplified global pyrolysis model. It is found that, as the temperature rises from 500 to 700 °C, the light gas yield increases from 17% to 25% and char yield decreases from 22% to 14%. In addition, within the tested range of particle sizes (<1 mm), the impact on pyrolysis products from particle size is relatively small compared with that of the operating temperature. The simulations demonstrate the ability of a combined Lagrangian description of biomass particles and a multistep kinetic scheme to improve the prediction accuracy of fluidized-bed pyrolysis.
Range-wide spatial mapping reveals convergent character displacement of bird song

A long-held view in evolutionary biology is that character displacement generates divergent phenotypes in closely related coexisting species to avoid the costs of hybridisation or ecological competition, whereas an alternative possibility is that signals of dominance or aggression may instead converge to facilitate coexistence among ecological competitors. Although this counter-intuitive process—termed convergent agonistic character displacement—is supported by recent theoretical and empirical studies, the extent to which it drives spatial patterns of trait evolution at continental scales remains unclear. By modeling variation in song structure of two ecologically similar species of Hypocnemis antbird across western Amazonia, we show that their territorial signals converge such that trait similarity peaks in the sympatric zone, where intense interspecific territoriality between these taxa has previously been demonstrated. We also use remote sensing data to show that signal convergence is not explained by environmental gradients and is thus unlikely to evolve by sensory drive (i.e. acoustic adaptation to the sound transmission properties of habitats). Our results suggest that agonistic character displacement driven by interspecific competition can generate spatial patterns opposite to those predicted by classic character displacement theory, and highlight the potential role of social selection in shaping geographical variation in signal phenotypes of ecological competitors.
Effects of Lovastatin Therapy on Susceptibility of LDL to Oxidation During α-Tocopherol Supplementation

Abstract—A randomized, double-masked, crossover clinical trial was carried out to evaluate whether lovastatin therapy (60 mg daily) affects the initiation of oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL) in cardiac patients on α-tocopherol supplementation therapy (450 IU daily). Twenty-eight men with verified coronary heart disease and hypercholesterolemia received α-tocopherol with lovastatin or with dummy tablets in random order. The two 6-week, active-treatment periods were preceded by a washout period of at least 8 weeks. The oxidizability of LDL was determined by 2 methods ex vivo. The depletion times for LDL ubiquinol and LDL α-tocopherol were determined in timed samples taken during oxidation induced by 2,2-azobis(2,4-dimethylvaleronitrile). Copper-mediated oxidation of LDL isolated by rapid density-gradient ultracentrifugation was used to measure the lag time to the propagation phase of conjugated-diene formation. α-Tocopherol supplementation led to a 1.9-fold concentration of reduced α-tocopherol in.
Performance Comparisons of Fractional Slot Surface-Mounted Permanent Magnet Machines With Slot-Harmonic-Only Windings

Fractional-slot slot harmonic only windings (SHOW), featured by multi-layer and varied coil turn ratios, contain only the torque-generating component and its slot harmonics in stator magnetomotive force (MMF), which makes them attractive. This paper establishes general design principles of SHOW considering different slot/pole combinations and makes detailed comparisons between SHOW and double layer (DL) windings for surface-mounted permanent magnet (SPM) machines. Firstly, fractional slot windings are classified into several categories. Similarity in distribution factors of MMF harmonics is illustrated, based on which, harmonics elimination principle of SHOW is explained. Then, general equations for calculating optimal coil turn ratios for SHOW are derived. Practical ratios approximating the optimal ones are also presented and evaluated. Furthermore, in order to show the superiorities of SHOW, 12-slot/10-pole (12s10p) and 24S10P SPM machines with SHOW are comprehensively studied and compared with their DL counterparts in terms of torque ripple, overload capability, rotor magnet loss, stator iron loss and radial electromagnetic force harmonics. Finally, 12S10P and 24S10P prototypes with SHOW are fabricated and tested for verifications.
STEM CELL TECHNOLOGY IN PERIPHERAL NERVE RESTORATION

Peripheral nerve injuries are a significant problem in the medical and socio-economic plan, as they are accompanied by a high incidence of disability by people of working age. In recent decades, significant progress has been made in the restorative surgery of the peripheral nervous system, in particular through the introduction into clinical practice of microsurgical techniques. However, the problem of restoring the peripheral nerve after its traumatic injury has not been resolved yet. A review article addresses the current state of developing stem cell technologies for peripheral nerve repair. Basic concepts of peripheral nerve regeneration after traumatic injury, methods of their restoration in experimental and clinic conditions are considered. The prospect of using stem cells of different origins is shown in the experiment by many authors, and the positive effect of stem cells on peripheral nerve regeneration is explained by their ability to secrete many trophic factors and differentiation to a neural phenotype. An essential issue in the tissue engineering approach is the choice of the optimal material to be used as a scaffold for large size peripheral nerve defects grafting. The article focuses on the main types of stem cells, as well as their combinations with biopolymers, which have shown efficiency in the experiment. Despite the advances in the use of the latest technologies, the search for the necessary components is underway to provide the most favorable conditions for peripheral nerve regeneration in the clinic.
Input Test Suites for Program Repair: A Novel Construction Method Based on Metamorphic Relations

Test-suite-based automated program repair (APR) techniques acquire information from an input test suite to guide the repair process, aiming to produce a repair that can pass all test cases of the input test suite. Obviously, the input test suite has a critical impact on the repair effectiveness of APR techniques. This article reports on a study of the APR input test suites from a new perspective. We first propose a novel method of constructing the APR input test suites, using information derived from violated metamorphic relations. We then empirically evaluate our construction method using three APR techniques (Angelix, CETI, and GenProg), comparing it with random and code-coverage-based construction methods that are used as the experimental control. The results show that our approach is complementary to these two input test suite construction methods. This article illustrates a new use of metamorphic relations for program repair.
A competition–defence trade‐off both promotes and weakens coexistence in an annual plant community

Competition–defence trade‐offs have long been thought to promote plant coexistence and increase species diversity. However, insights from modern coexistence theory clarify that such trade‐offs alone cannot sustain coexistence. Coexistence also requires stabilising niche differences and the ability of competitor populations to persist under consumer pressure. Despite the breadth of potential consequences of competition–defence trade‐offs, we have little mechanistic understanding of how they affect diversity in natural communities. We investigated the effects of seed harvesting by ants on coexistence in an annual plant community. We parameterised a model of plant competitive population dynamics with data from two field experiments: (a) plant demographic rates and competition coefficients determined by growing plants alone and against intra‐ and interspecific competitor density gradients; (b) plant fitness losses to ant consumers determined by measuring seed removal from experimental depots. We tested for a trade‐off between a plant species’ demographic potential and its susceptibility to consumption and then determined the bounds of ant effects on pairwise and multispecies coexistence by comparing model projections with and without seed consumption. Ants harvested seeds of all plant species, but they strongly preferred the competitively superior large seeded species, inducing a competition–defence trade‐off. Unequal seed loss to ants changed competition‐based fitness hierarchies, affecting both the number and identities of plant species pairs that were predicted to coexist compared to a scenario without ants. The trade‐off most often prevented coexistence by severely disadvantaging the superior competitor or excluding species directly through overconsumption, and a simulated reduction in the overall consumption rate opened few additional opportunities for coexistence. Ant exacerbation of average fitness differences was particularly disruptive to multispecies coexistence, where niche differences were insufficient to stabilise the coexistence of plant triplets and quadruplets. Synthesis. Our results show that the presence of a competition–defence trade‐off in a community with stabilising niche differences does not always increase diversity. Instead, the full range of diversity outcomes—positive and negative changes in species number and changes in the identity of the dominant—are possible. Taken together, our results support the emerging paradigm that consumers have wide‐ranging impacts on plant diversity and suggest that variation in consumer pressure may be an important driver of large‐scale diversity patterns.
The chemistry of reactive dyes and their application processes

Abstract: Reactive dyes have proven to be one of the most successful classes of modern synthetic dyes. The reasons for this success lie in their shade versatility, their flexibility in application and the all-round good fastness properties obtained from dyeings produced with reactive dyes on wool, silk, cotton and regenerated cellulosic fibres. The chemistry of the different reactive groups used, the chemistry of reactive dye manufacture and the chemical principles behind their application to cellulosic fibres and polyamide fibres are reviewed.
Integrative analyses of multi-tissue Hi-C and eQTL data demonstrate close spatial proximity between eQTLs and their target genes

Gene regulation is important for cells and tissues to function. At the genomic level, it has been studied from two aspects, the identification of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and identification of long-range chromatin interactions. It is important to understand their relationship, such as whether eQTLs regulate their target genes through physical chromatin interaction. Although previous studies have suggested enrichment of eQTLs in regions with a high chromatin interaction frequency, it is unclear whether this relationship is consistent across different tissues and cell lines and whether there would be any tissue-specific patterns. Here, we performed integrative analyses of eQTL and high-throughput chromatin conformation capture (Hi-C) data from 11 human primary tissue types and 2 human cell lines. We found that chromatin interaction frequency is positively correlated with the number of genes having eQTLs, and eQTLs and their target genes are more likely to fall in the same topologically associating domains than that expected from randomly generated control datasets. These results are consistent across all tissues and cell lines we evaluated. Moreover, in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, spleen, hippocampus, pancreas and aorta, tissue-specific eQTLs are enriched in tissue-specific frequently interacting regions. These results reveal a more detailed picture of the complicated relationship between different mechanisms of gene regulation. Author summary Whole-genome gene regulation has been studied in tissues and cell lines from multiple perspectives, including identification of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) and identification of long-range chromatin interactions. These two complementary approaches focus on different aspects of gene regulation, one being statistical across individuals while the other being physical within a sample. Integrating results from these two approaches will help us understand their relationships, such as whether eQTLs regulate their target genes through physical chromatin interaction. We performed comprehensive analyses using data from multiple human tissues and cell lines, and showed that chromatin interaction frequency is positively associated with eQTL results in all evaluated tissues and cell lines. The observed relationships also displayed tissue-specific pattern in some tissues. Our results revealed a more detailed picture of the complicated relationship between the different mechanisms of gene regulation.
Strong SiC Porous Ceramic Obtained by Sintering of Reticulated Aligned SiC Nanowires

High strength SiC porous ceramic with reticular pore structure is assembled by cross-lamination of layers comprised by aligned SiC nanowire (SiCNWs) struts printed through direct ink writing. SiCNWs networks exhibit a structure with highly interconnected porosity and an architecture formed by aligned SiCNWs struts. The effects of sintering temperature on the structures, phase evolutions and mechanical properties were studied. The high aspect ratio of SiCNWs was kept well at sintering temperature lower than 1900 °C. The bulk density, porosity and median pore diameter of aligned SiCNWs porous ceramics sintered at 1850 °C were 1.49 g/cm, 54.6% and ~1 μm, respectively. Due to the effect of orientation and high strength of SiC nanowire struts, compressive strength of (245.5±0.7) MPa is achieved.
Secure e-health cloud framework for patients' EHR storage and sharing for Indian Government healthcare model

Medical field is experiencing a huge paradigm shift from traditional healthcare model to electronic healthcare model. Cloud computing facilitates healthcare industry to provide continuous, on­demand services anytime, anywhere. Cloud computing facilitates management but it is also challenging to provide privacy and security in cloud computing. In this paper we propose a secure, privacy­preserving health cloud which allows data exchange between hospitals, healthcare centres, doctors and patients. To accomplish security and privacy, we implement homomorphic encryption (HE), which allows computations to be carried out on encrypted data without even decrypting them. To achieve secure sharing of data among authorized entities, proxy re­encryption (PRE) scheme is combined with homomorphic encryption. Our secure e­health cloud framework achieves performance improvement compared to the Paillier cryptosystem.
One-Step Isolation of Monoterpene Indole Alkaloids from Psychotria leiocarpa Leaves and Their Antiviral Activity on Dengue Virus Type-2

The leaf MeOH extract of Psychotria leiocarpa (Rubiaceae) showed in vitro non-cytotoxic and anti-dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV2) activity in human hepatocarcinoma cell lineage (HepG2). A one-step and cost-effective reversed-phase solid-phase extraction method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) parameters allowed the isolation, directly from this bioactive extract, of the monoterpene indole alkaloids: N-glucopyranosyl vincosamide (1), vincosamide (2) and strictosidinic acid (3). The chemical structures were characterized based on 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV and high-resolution mass spectra (HRMS). The methodology has also allowed yielding a polyphenolic-rich fraction that was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to diode array detection and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS) revealing two flavonol triglycosides (4, 5) and three caffeoylquinic acid isomers (6-8). Compound 3 is reported for the first time in P. leiocarpa and all the phenolic compounds (4-8) are described for the first time in the genus Psychotria. Compounds 1-3 showed to be non-cytotoxic and anti-dengue active towards DENV2, highlighting vincosamide (2).
A STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA SILENCING ORPROVIDING VOICES TO THE MARGINALISEDYOUTH IN INDIA

Youth in India is still a significant marginalised section of the society. To better understand marginalisation, it alludes to ways in which specific person or a whole community is shovelled beyond the edges of the general society. Many of these marginalised young sections in developing countries like India have weakened or severed family ties, subjected to social stigmatisation and are not connected to institutions such as schools, clubs and workplaces. Such Socially marginalised youth sections are prone to exploitation during all the stages of their life cycle as well as are striped off of their fundamental human and legal rights. This paper analyses the vulnerabilities that these marginalised youth sections are exposed to in relation to weakened social and family relationships, discrimination due to social stigmas, facing incompetences at work place, proneness to physical and sexual abuse, walking towards the fallacious path of drugs and how social media is acting as a facilitating platform to give voice to these marginalised youth sections. This paper critically and empirically examines both constructive and destructive capacity of social media in the lives of this section as well as the future implications of this scenario.
Development of a Broad Bandwidth Helmholtz Coil for Biomagnetic Application

The alternating uniform magnetic field is useful for the biomagnetic study with magnetic nanoparticles. However, for the coil system driven by the magnetic field generator with a conventional low-voltage power source, it is challenging to achieve the desired field strength with a large coil due to the large impedance at higher frequencies. This article proposed a Helmholtz coil system that can generate the dc and ac magnetic field up to 1.3 kHz with low distortion. In order to overcome the inductive load, a computer-controlled parallel capacitor array was designed and built to tune the series coil–capacitor circuit to the resonant frequency. Experimental results show that the coil system has a bandwidth over 1 kHz with a 1% uniform region covering the $10\,\,\times10$ mm sample area. The proposed system is promising for the application in biomagnetic assay using the tunnel magnetoresistance sensors.
DESIGN OF A DUAL-BAND ANTENNA SYSTEM FOR LTE-M AND LTE-MIMO BY EXPLOITING THE CHARACTERISTIC MODE THEORY

In this article, a compact dual-band antenna system for LTE-M (700–900 MHz) and LTE2500 dedicated to mobile handsets is presented. The system consists of a dual-band Planar Inverted-F Antenna (PIFA) for LTE-M and LTE-2500 bands where this designed PIFA is frequency reconfigurable in the LTE-M band. Additionally, another PIFA is designed to cover the LTE-2500 band to enable Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication for this band. Frequency reconfiguration between 700 MHz and 900 MHz is performed by a varactor diode biased from the RF port using a decoupling circuit to separate DC and RF signals. The compactness of the system and the good isolation between the two antennas were obtained thanks to the study of the characteristic modes of the mobile phone chassis, where the ideal positions of the antennas can be easily obtained. A prototype of our system was fabricated where good frequency reconfiguration and good MIMO performance (TARC and envelope correlation) were achieved.