Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How the Social Becomes the Biological: The Interaction between the Genome and the Environment

Dr. Legato: The discussion is meant to address the interaction between the genome and the environment and is essentially a discussion of the role of epigenetics in modifying the phenotype. We think it is one of the most important issues in molecular biology, and resolves the artificial division between what is biological sex and what the role of the environment is in producing the final phenotype. So, with that introduction, I would like to introduce the moderator of this discussion, Gillian Einstein, the Wilfred and Joyce Posluns Chair in Women’s Brain Health and Aging. Gillian, I am going to also introduce and describe the areas of interest of Robert-Paul Juster, Bruce McEwen, and Dr. Barros. Dr. Juster’s research program focuses on chronic stress among diverse social groups. Over the last decade, he has developed expertise in measuring chronic stress, known as the allostatic load, which describes the physiological dysregulations related to chronic stress and unhealthy behaviors. Dr. Bruce McEwen is the Alfred Mirsky Professor and the Head of the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at the Rockefeller University. He has studied extensively the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the effects of stress and sex hormones on the adult and developing brain. His particular contribution for the purposes of this roundtable is his creation of a new understanding of how the brain changes in adult life and during development, with particular emphasis on understanding the impact of stress on the brain and sex differences in human brain function. Dr. Barros is an expert on the link between inflammation and cancer insights into the role of epigenetics in cell differentiation. She is in the Department of Periodontology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gillian, would you like to begin the discussion? Dr. Einstein: Yes. You might all say what is at the top of your list with respect to this topic. Bruce, do you want to go first?
Growth and grazing control of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum in a natural plankton community

Population dynamics of bloom-forming dinoflagellates are regulated both by environmental factors and trophic interactions such as competition and grazing. We investigated trophic interactions of the mixotrophic red tide dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum in coastal waters off southern California, USA. We conducted 2 laboratory experiments using a natural plankton community in which we manipulated the presence of potential competitors/prey (<20 μm) and the presence of zooplankton consumers (<110 μm) through size fractionation. We further tested the grazing impact of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Noctiluca scintillans on L. polyedrum in both size fractions containing natural plankton and in a final experiment using a gradient of different L. polyedrum concentrations in culture. Overall, our experiments demonstrated that nanoplankton presence negatively affected L. polyedrum abundances, indicating that the mixotrophic dinoflagellate could not benefit from the presence of potential prey. L. polyedrum was strongly controlled by N. scintillans in the natural plankton community, while natural microzooplankton, mainly consisting of tintinnids and copepod nauplii, were positively correlated with L. polyedrum abundances. This could indicate an indirect positive effect of natural microzooplankton on L. polyedrum, presumably through feeding on other phytoplankton, resulting in the dinoflagellate’s competitive release. The final experiment investigating the density-dependence of N. scintillans grazing on L. polyedrum demonstrated that N. scintillans is able to increase its population size and control the growth of L. polyedrum after an initial lag phase, and up to a certain cell concentration, and may thus play an important role in bloom regulation and possibly even termination.
Determining some of the quality characteristics of probiotic yogurts manufactured by using microencapsulated Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii

Probiotics can be defined as living microorganisms that positively contribute to human health by regulating the intestinal flora of a host and stimulating the immune system. As stated in many studies carried out in recent years, probiotic microorganisms are known to be very useful for human health. Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii is the only probiotic yeast that has been patented. In this study, it was aimed to determine the physical, rheological, chemical, and microbiological quality parameters of probiotic yogurts manufactured using this yeast microencapsulated via extrusion method during storage. Black cherry jam was used in order to enrich the sensory properties of products and the products were stored for 21 days. Microbiological characteristics such as total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, total coliform, total lactic acid bacteria, total yeast-mold, and viability of the S. boulardii were determined by analyzing the samples. We also investigated sensory properties such as external appearance, consistency (with spoon and by mouth), odor, flavor, and overall acceptability throughout the storage to evaluate the acceptability of the product by consumers.
ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME SEEN FROM THE EYES OF POTENTIAL BENEFICIARIES - DIRECT RESEARCH CARRIED OUT WITH STUDENTS -

The ERASMUS programme was evaluated from a lot of point of views. Depending on the interest of the evaluation, studies were conducted to uncover information related to subjects like: the scope of the programme, the type of participants in the programme, the factors motivating the students to be mobile, the cost and funding of student mobility, the study conditions during the study period, the recognition of achievements during the study period abroad on return, the socio-cultural effect of the mobility (like becoming more “European”), the personal development effects etc. Based on the results of a direct research take on the students of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the "Vasile Alecsandri" University of Bacău, the paper presents a series of results with reference to: the knowledge held by the students with reference to the Erasmus + program, how they he perceives it, the reasons underlying the intention to benefit from the program, as well as those underlying the lack of interest in it. The research carried out was performed on a sample of 116 students from bachelor's degree studies - years II and III of studies selected according to non-probability criteria, so that the obtained results exclusively reveal their point of view.
Pervasive Selection against MicroRNA Target Sites in Human Populations

MicroRNA target sites are often conserved among related species. On the other hand, purifying selection against novel microRNA target sites can also exist. However, the relative impact of conservation versus selection against target sites is still unknown. We investigated these processes in human populations by focusing on polymorphic sites in which one allele is a target site and the other is not. Target allele frequencies were significantly lower than expected at these sites. The analysis of derived allele frequencies revealed that, when the non-target allele is ancestral, the proportion of non-target sites is higher than expected by chance. Conversely, when the target allele is ancestral, the proportion of non-target alleles is also significantly higher than expected. These analyses reveal a selective pressure against microRNA target alleles, which is more effective than selection to conserve target sites. Additionally, microRNA target sites show relatively low levels of population differentiation (Fst). However, when we analyse separately target sites in which the target allele is ancestral in the population, the proportion of SNPs with high Fst significantly increases. These findings support a scenario in which population differentiation (and possible local adaptation) is much more likely in target sites that are lost than in the gain of new target sites. Taking all the results together, we conclude that there is evidence of pervasive selection against microRNA target sites in human populations. The overall impact across untranslated regions is not negligible and should be taken into account when studying the evolution of genomic sequences.
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Some Heterocyclic Compounds

Cancer is one of the most striking diseases that has a potential impact on human health with high mortality rate. During the last century many anticancer agents have emerged but unfortunately, these agents could not provide effective solutions for cancer treatment due to side effects and resistance. All over the world, asking for new anticancer agents is still a major goal for medicinal chemists. Pyrrole and pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine scaffolds are very interesting bioactive core exhibiting several biological activities as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial activities. Herein, we highlighted on the anticancer activity of the pyrrole and pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives which are reported to possess anticancer activity and many of them are in market or still in clinical trials. This work deals with design and synthesis of new pyrrole and pyrrolopyrimidine derivatives. The new compounds were screened for their cytotoxic activity against HepG2 and MCF7in vitro. The most active compounds were evaluated for their VEGFR-2 inhibition in vitro
Active Disturbance Rejection Based Repetitive Learning Control With Applications in Power Inverters

A novel active disturbance rejection based repetitive learning control scheme, including three channels, namely, feedforward, feedback, and disturbance rejection channels, is investigated. The goal of this work is to achieve a high-quality output voltage and robustness to disturbances and uncertainties in the inverter system. The mathematics model of the inverter is replaced by a chain of two integrators to avoid model identification and time-varying parameter estimation when designing the controller. The ignored system dynamics, the uncertainties, and the nonrepetitive factors caused by nonrepetitive disturbances are all defined as part of the total disturbance to be estimated and compensated for, which decreases the controller sensitivity for the system parameters and operating environment. The stability conditions of the control system scheme along the periods are analyzed, and the mitigation of different frequency-band disturbances using the combination control scheme is demonstrated on the frequency spectrum. Finally, the algorithm is validated on a hardware platform, and the tolerability of varying parameters is tested.
Insights of Rv2921c (Ftsy) Gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv To Prove Its Significance by Computational Approach

After seeing the epidemic of tuberculosis in our country and across world according to WHO report, we right now present with an emergence of treatment/research against this disease. In this study, we therefore exaggerate some important aspects of ftsY (Rv2921c) gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( M tuberculosis ) which is a GTP binding and hydrolyzing protein. This gene is 1269bp long and contains four GTP binding motif. The above said protein is involved in Signal Recognition Particle (SRP) pathway. The M tuberculosis SRP pathway comprises of two proteins ffh (Rv2916c), ftsY and a RNA subunit 4.5s RNA. This protein interacts with ffh (Rv2916c) gene and another predicted GTP binding protein known as Rv3362c. The said protein is an important part of protein export system which is an essential process for importing and exporting protein that are synthesized in cytoplasm to plasma membrane and other organelles. Thus, this protein might also be important for pathogenesis. This study enlists the effect of disruption of ftsY gene on its interaction with ffh and secretion system. Hence this study might be an important step in the way of eradication of this disease.
A Survey of Massive MIMO Channel Measurements and Models

Compared with conventional multiple⁃input multiple⁃output (MIMO), massive MIMO system with tens or even hundreds of anten⁃ nas is able to give better performance in capacity and spectral efficiency, which is a promising technology for 5G. Considering this, massive MIMO has become a hot research topic all over the world. In this paper, the channel measurements and models of massive MIMO in recent years are summarized. Besides, the related 256 antenna elements with 200 MHz bandwidth at 3.5 GHz proposed by our team, the verification of rationality of the measurement method, and the spatial evolution of clusters in mobile scenario are provided.
Systematic Development of Sandwich Immunoassays for the Plasma Secretome

The plasma proteome offers a clinically useful window into human health and disease. With recent progress made on the development of highly multiplexed immunoassays with high sample throughput, a remaining need is to establish a pipeline for validating the individual proteins that build such bio-signatures by using targeted assays. In order to streamline such efforts, we developed a workflow to build dual binder sandwich immunoassays (SIA) and chose to evaluate this on proteins predicted to be secreted form cells and tissues. Utilizing the multiplexing capacities of the bead array technology, we first screened ~ 1,800 unique antibody pairs against 209 protein targets and collected data from dilution series of recombinant proteins as well as EDTA plasma. Employing 624 unique antibodies from the Human Protein Atlas, we obtained dilution-dependent curves in plasma and concentration-dependent curves of full-length proteins for 102 (49%) of the targets. For 22 protein assays, the longitudinal, inter-individual and technical performance was determined in a set of plasma samples collected from 18 healthy subjects every third month over one year. Lastly, we compared 14 of these assays with SIAs composed of other binders, proximity extension assays and affinity-free targeted mass spectrometry. Our workflow provides a multiplexed approach to screen for SIA pairs that suggests using at least three antibodies per target. This design is applicable for a wider range of targets of the plasma proteome, while the assays can be applied for discovery but also to validate emerging candidates derived from other platforms.
A Multigap Multiaperture Pseudospark Switch and Its Performance Analysis for High-Voltage Applications

In this article, the development and switching characterization of a coaxial three-gap demountable multigap multiaperture pseudospark switch (MGMA-PSS) prototype is presented. The investigated MGMA-PSS geometry has three gaps which are separated by two cavity drift space regions. A high dielectric constant ferroelectric-based single plasma trigger unit, located within the hollow cathode of the first gap, is used for effective discharge initiation and subsequent synchronous breakdown of the three gaps of the MGMA-PSS. To guarantee long lifetime with high currents and high hold-off voltages and optimized plasma coupling, kidney-shaped ring slot electrodes with baffles are used. Each of the gaps is designed for a minimum voltage hold-off up to 30 kV, with a total voltage hold-off for the MGMA-PSS of approximately 70 kV. Studies of switching behavior are carried out at different operating conditions, such as operating voltages (5–40 kV), hydrogen gas pressures (10–40 Pa), various trigger configurations, and change of circuit parameters [charging capacitance (36, 200, and 380 nF), load resistance (2.7 and $8.3~\Omega $ )]. The short time-scale analysis of the breakdown voltage waveform shows steps in the voltage fall at low gas pressure (< 20 Pa) and low hold-off voltages (< 15 kV), which indicates a too-long time delay in plasma formation and coupling within the drift regions. This effect could not be observed at higher voltages (≥15 kV) and gas pressure (≥20 Pa). The overall performance of the three-gap prototype PSS has been analyzed in terms of hold-off voltage, fall time, current rise time, peak current, delay time, and related parameters.
Prefrontal-posterior coupling mediates emotion transitions and their influence on executive function

Although emotions often result from dynamic experiences with self-regulation unfolding over time, most research has focused on responses to affective stimuli from a rather static perspective. We studied and analyzed emotion transitions, attempting to reveal brain functions related to affect dynamics. EEG responses were examined during exposure to stable versus changing emotion-eliciting images (static vs dynamic conditions) plus their impact on executive function (EF) assessed with the flanker task. During dynamic conditions, reduced prefrontal to posterior EEG coherence in the beta frequency band and greater left frontal activity occurred compared to the static conditions. Among individuals suffering higher chronic stress, subsequent EF was hindered after dynamic conditions. Furthermore, the adverse effects of emotion transitions on EF for more chronically stressed individuals were mediated by prefrontal-posterior coherence in low beta frequency band during emotional image sequences. Emotion appears to influence EF through changes in large-scale synchronization. Individuals high in chronic stress are vulnerable to these effects.
Diversity, disparity, and exploitation in the ray-finned fishes

Author(s): Chang, Jonathan | Advisor(s): Alfaro, Michael E | Abstract: Understanding the process that underlie the disparity in species richness across different taxonomic groups is a fundamental question in evolutionary biology. Several difficulties hinder deeper investigation into this field, namely the lack of high quality phylogenetic and phenotypic data to appropriately test competing hypotheses. I use ray-finned fish (class Actinopterygii), which comprise over half of all vertebrate diversity with 30,000 species in 500 families, as a study system to understand the processes that generate biological diversity. In chapter one, I combine previously-published molecular sequence data to generate a new phylogeny of ray-finned fish containing over 11,000 species and time-calibrate it using over 130 fossils. In chapter two, I develop a new method to collect large amounts of morphological data using crowdsourcing. In chapter three, I develop a new method to estimate completely sampled phylogenies using taxonomic information and birth-death-sampling estimators. In chapter four, I present an accessible web resource to distribute phylogenetic data about actinopterygian fishes. In chapter five, I estimate the distribution of exploitation on the fish tree of life, and test whether certain lineages are disproportionately exploited, and whether certain life history or ecological characteristics predispose species to fishing pressure.
Dating genomic variants and shared ancestry in population-scale sequencing data

The origin and fate of new mutations within species is the fundamental process underlying evolution. However, while previous efforts have been focused on characterizing the presence, frequency, and phenotypic impact of genetic variation, the evolutionary histories of most variants are largely unexplored. We have developed a non-parametric approach for estimating the date of origin of genetic variants that can be applied to large-scale genomic variation data sets. We demonstrate the accuracy and robustness of the approach through simulation and apply it to over 16 million single nucleotide poly-morphisms (SNPs) from two publicly available human genomic diversity resources. We characterize the differential relationship between variant frequency and age in different geographical regions and demonstrate the value of allele age in interpreting variants of known functional and selective importance. Finally, we use allele age estimates to power a rapid approach for inferring the genealogical history of a single genome or a group of individuals.
Binary Search Based Flexible Power Point Tracking Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems

Grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems can provide grid support features by implementing flexible power point tracking (FPPT) strategies. Conventionally, the FPPT algorithms are based on linear search algorithms, such as perturb and observe. These solutions offer good practical results but usually lead to oscillations around the steady-state operating point. The main contribution of this article is to propose a binary search based FPPT (BNS-FPPT) algorithm. BNS is a computer-science-based searching algorithm that performs a logarithmic search within a sorted data array until the target voltage value is found. Compared to sequential searching algorithms, the proposed BNS-FPPT algorithm conducts a nonlinear search and avoids waving around the final value, reducing the steady-state error. In this article, the basics of the BNS-FPPT are described in detail. In addition, experimental results are conducted on a laboratory setup to compare the BNS-FPPT performance against a state-of-the-art solution. The results show that compared to linear search-based FPPT algorithms, the proposed BNS-FPPT is able to provide the required grid support functionalities, and avoid waving around the final operation point.
Reliable methods for identifying animal deaths in
 GPS
 ‐ and satellite‐tracking data: Review, testing, and calibration

1. Assessing mortality factors and survival rates is a cornerstone for the management of threatened and harvestable species. Modern tracking technologies allow unprecedented opportunities to monitor the mortality of individuals for years. However, the methods employed to separate actual deaths from transmitter failures have rarely been validated. 2. Here, we review these previous methods and exploit an intensive satellite-tagging programme on raptorial black kites Milvus migrans to examine through tree models whether any tag-parameter indicators could reliably separate 18 confirmed deaths (recovered corpse) from 32 confirmed cases of radio-failure (tagged individual subsequently observed alive). Classification keys were validated on 21 confirmed deaths or radio-failures from an independent tagging study on two other raptor species. 3. Review of tracking studies on mortality showed that they are exponentially increasing and using a wide variety of indicators (e.g.,