Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 72‐h exposure study with eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and the nanomaterial graphene oxide

Graphene is a 2‐dimensional nanomaterial with unique mechanical, thermal, electrical, and optical properties. With increasing applications of graphene‐family nanomaterials (GFNs) in electronics, biomedicine, and surface coatings, concern for their impacts on aquatic ecosystems is rising. Current information on the toxicity of GFNs, including graphene oxide, is scarce. Filter‐feeding bivalves, such as eastern oysters, are good models for nanomaterial exposure studies. We present results from a 72‐h static renewal oyster study using 1 and 10 mg/L graphene oxide, which, to our knowledge, is the first report on in vivo effects of graphene oxide exposures in marine bivalves. Water samples were analyzed for graphene oxide concentration and size assessments. Gill and digestive gland tissues were evaluated for lipid peroxidation and glutathione‐S‐transferase (GST) activity. In addition, gill sections were fixed for histopathological analyses. Elevated lipid peroxidation was noted in oysters exposed to 10 mg/L graphene oxide. No significant changes in GST activity were observed, but reduced total protein levels were found in digestive gland tissues of exposed oysters at both concentrations. Loss of mucous cells, hemocytic infiltration, and vacuolation were observed in gills of exposed oysters. The results indicate that short‐term graphene oxide exposures can induce oxidative stress and epithelial inflammation and adversely affect overall oyster health. Further investigations regarding the fate and sublethal effects of graphene oxide are critical to understanding the risks associated with a rapidly growing graphene consumer market. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:820–830. Published 2019 Wiley Periodicals Inc. on behalf of SETAC. This article is a US government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.
Optimization and scale up of itaconic acid production from potato starch waste in stirred tank bioreactor

Present study used Aspergillus terreus strain C1 isolated from mangrove soil for itaconic acid (IA) production from potato starch waste. Fermentation parameters were optimized by classical one factor approach and statistical experimental designs, such as Plackett‐Burman and response surface designs. Anionic deionization of potato waste was found to be a very effective, economic, and easy way of improving IA production. The increase in IA production by deionization was found to correlate with removal of phosphate. In our knowledge, this is the first report on application of deionization of potato waste to enhance IA production. Other parameters like inoculum development conditions, pH, presence of peptone and certain salts in the medium also significantly affected IA production. IA production by strain C1 increased 143‐fold during optimization when compared with the starting condition. The optimized IA level (35.75 g/L) was very close to the maximum production predicted by RSM (38.88 g/L). Bench scale production of IA was further optimized in 3‐L stirred tank reactor by varying parameters like agitation and aeration rate. The maximum IA production of 29.69 g/L was obtained under the agitation speed of 200 rpm and aeration rate of 0.25 vvm. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report on IA production from potato starch waste at bioreactor level. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 35: e2774, 2019.
Biodegradable Micelles for NIR/GSH-Triggered Chemophototherapy of Cancer

The chemotherapy of stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems (SDDSs) is a promising method to enhance cancer treatment effects. However, the low efficiency of chemotherapy drugs and poor degradation partly limit the application of SDDSs. Herein, we report doxorubicin (DOX)-loading mixed micelles for biotin-targeting drug delivery and enhanced photothermal/photodynamic therapy (PTT/PDT). Glutathione (GSH)-responsive mixed micelles were prepared by a dialysis method, proportionally mixing polycaprolactone-disulfide bond-biodegradable photoluminescent polymer (PCL-SS-BPLP) and biotin-polyethylene glycol-cypate (biotin-PEG-cypate). Chemically linking cypate into the mixed micelles greatly improved cypate solubility and PTT/PDT effect. The micelles also exhibited good monodispersity and stability in cell medium (~119.7 nm), low critical micelles concentration, good biodegradation, and photodecomposition. The high concentration of GSH in cancer cells and near-infrared light (NIR)-mediated cypate decomposition were able to achieve DOX centralized release. Meanwhile, the DOX-based chemotherapy combined with cypate-based NIR-triggered hyperthermia and reactive oxygen species could synergistically induce HepG2 cell death and apoptosis. The in vivo experiments confirmed that the micelles generated hyperthermia and achieved a desirable therapeutic effect. Therefore, the designed biodegradable micelles are promising safe nanovehicles for antitumor drug delivery and chemo/PTT/PDT combination therapy.
Mobile-Edge Computation Offloading for Ultradense IoT Networks

The emergence of massive Internet of Things (IoT) mobile devices (MDs) and the deployment of ultradense 5G cells have promoted the evolution of IoT toward ultradense IoT networks. In order to meet the diverse quality-of-service and quality of experience demands from the ever-increasing IoT applications, the ultradense IoT networks face unprecedented challenges. Among them, a fundamental one is how to address the conflict between the resource-hungry IoT mobile applications and the resource-constrained IoT MDs. By offloading the IoT MDs’ computation tasks to the edge servers deployed at the radio access infrastructures, including macro base station (MBS) and small cells, mobile-edge computation offloading (MECO) provides us a promising solution. However, note that available MECO research mostly focused on single-tier base station scenario and computation offloading between the MDs and the edge server connected to the MBS. Little works can be found on performing MECO in ultradense IoT networks, i.e., a multiuser ultradense edge server scenario. Toward this end, we provide this paper to study the MECO problem in ultradense IoT networks, and propose a two-tier game-theoretic greedy offloading scheme as our solution. Extensive numerical results corroborate the superior performance of conducting computation offloading among multiple edge servers in ultradense IoT networks.
Reliability and validity evidence of a new interpretation bias task in patients diagnosed with drug use disorder: a preliminary study of the Word Association Task for Drug Use Disorder (WAT-DUD)

ABSTRACT Background: Interpretation bias tasks such as word association tests have shown a moderate relation with substance use, but most studies have been conducted in nonclinical samples and these tasks are difficult to rate. Objectives: To provide: (1) reliability evidence of the Word Association Task for Drug Use Disorder (WAT-DUD), a novel and easy-to-rate instrument for measuring interpretation bias and (2) validity evidence based on the relationship between the WAT-DUD and variables associated with patterns of drug use and treatment outcomes. Methods: 186 patients (67 outpatients and 119 inpatients, 90% males) participated in the study. The task consisted of a simultaneous conditional discrimination where an image (either explicit or ambiguous) was the sample and two words (drug-related or not) served as comparison stimuli. The Substance Dependence Severity Scale, the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire-Now, and the Multidimensional Craving Scale were also used. Results: The ambiguous images items showed adequate reliability in terms of internal consistency (α = .80) and test–retest reliability (79.7% on average). The interpretation of images as drug-related was positively correlated with craving for cocaine (r = .20; p = .029), alcohol (r = .30; p = . 01), and alcohol withdrawal (r = .31; p = .01) along with severity of alcohol dependence (r = .23; p = .04). No relationship was found with the severity of cocaine dependence, or its symptoms of abstinence. Conclusion: WAT-DUD shows psychometric properties that support its use in research contexts, although more research is needed for its use in the clinical setting.
Overexpression of SrUGT76G1 in Stevia alters major steviol glycosides composition towards improved quality

Summary Steviol glycosides (SGs) are extracted from Stevia leaves for use as a natural sweetener. Among SGs, stevioside is most abundant in leaf extracts followed by rebaudioside A (Reb A). However, Reb A is of particular interest because of its sweeter and more pleasant taste compared to stevioside. Therefore, the development of new Stevia varieties with a higher Reb A to stevioside ratio would be desirable for the production of higher quality natural sweeteners. Here, we generated transgenic Stevia plants overexpressing Stevia UDP‐glycosyltransferase 76G1 (SrUGT76G1) that is known to convert stevioside to Reb A through 1,3‐β‐d‐glucosylation in vitro. Interestingly, by overexpressing SrUGT76G1, the Reb A to stevioside ratio was drastically increased from 0.30 in wild‐type (WT) plants up to 1.55 in transgenic lines without any significant changes in total SGs content. This was contributed by a concurrent increase in Reb A content and a decrease in stevioside content. Additionally, we were able to find an increase in the Reb C to dulcoside A ratio in transgenic lines. Using the glutathione S‐transferase‐tagged SrUGT76G1 recombinant protein for an in vitro glucosyltransferase assay, we further demonstrated that Reb C can be produced from the glucosylation of dulcoside A by SrUGT76G1. Transgenic Stevia plants having higher Reb A to stevioside ratio were visually indistinguishable from WT plants. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the overexpression of SrUGT76G1 in Stevia is an effective way to generate new Stevia varieties with higher proportion of the more preferred Reb A without compromising on plant development.
Plant-specific ribosome biogenesis factors in Arabidopsis thaliana with essential function in rRNA processing

Abstract rRNA processing and assembly of ribosomal proteins during maturation of ribosomes involve many ribosome biogenesis factors (RBFs). Recent studies identified differences in the set of RBFs in humans and yeast, and the existence of plant-specific RBFs has been proposed as well. To identify such plant-specific RBFs, we characterized T-DNA insertion mutants of 15 Arabidopsis thaliana genes encoding nuclear proteins with nucleotide binding properties that are not orthologues to yeast or human RBFs. Mutants of nine genes show an altered rRNA processing ranging from inhibition of initial 35S pre-rRNA cleavage to final maturation events like the 6S pre-rRNA processing. These phenotypes led to their annotation as ‘involved in rRNA processing’ - IRP. The irp mutants are either lethal or show developmental and stress related phenotypes. We identified IRPs for maturation of the plant-specific precursor 5′-5.8S and one affecting the pathway with ITS2 first cleavage of the 35S pre-rRNA transcript. Moreover, we realized that 5′-5.8S processing is essential, while a mutant causing 6S accumulation shows only a weak phenotype. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of the maturation of the plant-specific precursor 5′-5.8S for plant development as well as the occurrence of an ITS2 first cleavage pathway in fast dividing tissues.
Exocyst subunit Sec6 is positioned by microtubule overlaps in the moss phragmoplast prior to cell plate membrane arrival

ABSTRACT During plant cytokinesis a radially expanding membrane-enclosed cell plate is formed from fusing vesicles that compartmentalizes the cell in two. How fusion is spatially restricted to the site of cell plate formation is unknown. Aggregation of cell-plate membrane starts near regions of microtubule overlap within the bipolar phragmoplast apparatus of the moss Physcomitrella patens. Since vesicle fusion generally requires coordination of vesicle tethering and subsequent fusion activity, we analyzed the subcellular localization of several subunits of the exocyst, a tethering complex active during plant cytokinesis. We found that the exocyst complex subunit Sec6 but not the Sec3 or Sec5 subunits localized to microtubule overlap regions in advance of cell plate construction in moss. Moreover, Sec6 exhibited a conserved physical interaction with an ortholog of the Sec1/Munc18 protein KEULE, an important regulator for cell-plate membrane vesicle fusion in Arabidopsis. Recruitment of the P. patens protein KEULE and vesicles to the early cell plate was delayed upon Sec6 gene silencing. Our findings, thus, suggest that vesicle-vesicle fusion is, in part, enabled by a pool of exocyst subunits at microtubule overlaps, which is recruited independently of vesicle delivery. Summary: A time-resolved localization screen of multiple subunits of the exocyst complex throughout moss cytokinesis shows that each subunit has a unique spatiotemporal recruitment pattern.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Noninvasive Markers of Steatosis, NASH, and Liver Fibrosis in HIV-Monoinfected Individuals at Risk of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD): Results From the ECHAM Study

Background: HIV-monoinfected individuals are at high risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Noninvasive tests of steatosis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and fibrosis have been poorly assessed in this population. Using liver biopsy (LB) as a reference, we assessed the accuracy of noninvasive methods for their respective diagnosis: magnetic resonance imaging proton-density-fat-fraction (MRI-PDFF), FibroScan/controlled attenuation parameter (CAP), and biochemical tests. Methods: We enrolled antiretroviral therapy–controlled participants with persistently elevated transaminases and/or metabolic syndrome, and/or lipodystrophy. All had hepatic MRI-PDFF, FibroScan/CAP, FibroTest/NashTest/SteatoTest, APRI, FIB-4, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease–fibrosis score. A LB was indicated if suspected significant fibrosis (FibroScan ≥7.1 kPa and/or FibroTest ≥0.49). Performance was considered as good if area under a receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCs) was >0.80. Results: Among the 140 patients with suspected significant fibrosis out of the 402 eligible patients, 49 had had a LB: median age of 54 years (53–65), body mass index: 26 kg/m2 (24–30), steatosis in 37 (76%), NASH in 23 (47%), and fibrosis in 31 (63%) patients [F2: 7 (14%); F3: 6 (12%); and F4: 2 (4%)]. Regarding steatosis, MRI-PDFF had excellent and CAP good performances with AUROCs at 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.96 to 1.00) and 0.88 (0.76 to 0.99), respectively, whereas the AUROCs of SteatoTest was 0.68 (0.51 to 0.85). Regarding fibrosis (≥F2), APRI and FIB-4 had good performance with AUROCs at 0.86 (0.74 to 0.98) and 0.81 (0.67 to 0.95). By contrast, FibroScan and FibroTest had poor AUROCs [0.61 (0.43 to 0.79) and 0.61 (0.44 to 0.78)], with very low specificity. Regarding NASH, alanine aminotransferase ≥36 IU/L had good performance with AUROCs of 0.83 (0.71 to 0.94), whereas the NashTest had an AUROC of 0.60 (0.44 to 0.76). Conclusions: In HIV-monoinfected patients, MRI-PDFF and FibroScan/CAP are highly accurate for the diagnosis of steatosis. The alanine aminotransferase level and APRI should be considered for the detection of NASH and fibrosis.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF THE CEREBRAL BLOOD VOLUME FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF EXPERIMENTAL BRAIN TUMOR NEOVASCULARIZATION

CEREBRAL BLOOD VOLUME FRACTION (CBVF) MAPPING BY MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) CAN PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRESSION OF TUMOR ANGIOGENESIS WITHOUT HARMFUL SIDE-EFFECTS. IN THIS WORK, A NOVEL MRI METHOD FOR IN VIVO CBVF MAPPING IS DEVELOPED: THE RAPID STEADY STATE T1 (RSST1) METHOD. THE METHOD IS BASED ON A TWO-COMPARTMENT MODEL, INTRA- AND EXTRAVASCULAR, WITHOUT WATER EXCHANGE, AND ON THE LONGITUDINAL RELAXIVITY OF INTRAVASCULAR MRI CONTRAST AGENTS (CAS). THIS METHOD HAS BEEN VALIDATED ON HEALTHY WISTAR RATS AT 2.35 T (CBVF: 2 TO 3%) AND ITS SENSITIVITY HAS BEEN EVALUATED IN A HYPERCAPNIA EXPERIMENT (CBVF INCREASE OF 1%/MMHG CO2). IN ORDER TO APPLY THIS METHOD FOR MONITORING DISEASE EVOLUTION OR TREATMENT EFFICACY, CAS ARE EVALUATED THAT DO NOT LEAK ACROSS THE BLOOD BRAIN BARRIER DURING THE MEASURING TIME. TWO EXPERIMENTAL CA, GD-ACX AND SINEREM WERE USED ON TWO RAT GLIOMA MODELS C6 AND RG2. THE CBVF MEASURES IN TUMOR TISSUE OBTAINED WITH GD-ACX ARE CONFIRMED BY A HISTOLOGIC VASCULAR MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS. CBVF MAPPING WITH SINEREM NECESSITATES ACQUISITIONS WITH SHORT ECHO TIME. THE MEASURES WERE COMPARED WITH THOSE OBTAINED BY A DELTAR2*-BASED STEADY STATE METHOD USING THE SAME SINEREM INJECTION. IN CASE OF CA EXTRAVASATION, SUCH AS OCCURS IN TUMOR TISSUE WITH CAS APPROVED FOR CLINICAL USE, THE CBVF ALONG WITH THE TRANSFER COEFFICIENT Κ (A MEASURE RELATED TO THE ENDOTHELIAL PERMEABILITY) WERE OBTAINED BY PHARMACOKINETIC TWO-COMPARTMENT ANALYSIS OF DYNAMIC RSST1 ACQUISITIONS. IN CONCLUSION, THE RSST1 METHOD IN CONJUNCTION WITH APPROPRIATE CAS CAN BE USED FOR LONGITUDINAL ANGIOGENESIS STUDIES TO QUANTIFY THE CBVF AND THE VASCULAR PERMEABILITY.
A porous fibrous hyperelastic damage model for human periodontal ligament: Application of a microcomputerized tomography finite element model

The periodontal ligament (PDL) is a soft biological tissue that connects the tooth with the trabecular bone of the mandible. It plays a key role in load transmission and is primarily responsible for bone resorption and most common periodontal diseases. Although several numerical studies have analysed the biomechanical response of the PDL, most did not consider its porous fibrous structure, and only a few analysed damage to the PDL. This study presents an innovative numerical formulation of a porous fibrous hyperelastic damage material model for the PDL. The model considers two separate softening phenomena: fibre alignment during loading and fibre rupture. The parameters for the material model characterization were fitted using experimental data from the literature. Furthermore, the experimental tests used for characterization were computationally modelled to verify the material parameters. A finite element model of a portion of a human mandible, obtained by microcomputerized tomography, was developed, and the proposed constitutive model was implemented for the PDL. Our results confirm that damage to the PDL may occur mainly because of overpressure of the interstitial fluid, while large forces must be applied to damage the PDL fibrous network. Moreover, this study clarifies some aspects of the relationship between PDL damage and the bone remodelling process.
Simulation sociale et simulacre structural

La simulation sociale est un domaine de recherche dont les principes explicites sont la formalisation informatique des processus sociaux. Il s’agit ici d’interroger cette methode d’« experience de pensee » assistee par informatique, ou des agents « autonomes, heterogenes, et a la rationalite limitee en interactions locales dans un espace defini » (Epstein, 1999) reproduisent des phenomenes dynamiques dits « bottom-up ». En eclairant, ici, l’histoire et les ambitions de la simulation sociale, .
Determining the Neuron Weights of Fuzzy Neural Networks Using Multi-Populations Particle Swarm Optimization for Rainfall Forecasting

Rainfall trends forecasting is essential for several fields, such as airline and ship management, flood control and agriculture and it can be solved by Fuzzy Neural Networks (FNN) approach. However, one of the challenges in implementing the FNN algorithm is to determine the neuron weights. In comparison to Gradient Descent approach, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) has been the common approach used to determine neuron weights that result in a more accurate output. However, one of the weaknesses of PSO approach is it tends to convergence after iteration. To overcome this weakness, this study uses a multi-population mechanism to improve the result of PSO approach. The result shows that FNN optimized by PSO with the multi-population mechanism provided a better result than FNN optimized by standard PSO approach and by Gradient Descent approach. Besides, FNN optimized by PSO with multi-population mechanism is capable to produce a better result than the standard Multi-layer Neural Networks optimized by PSO.
A pilot study on nutrients, antimicrobial proteins, and bacteria in commerce‐free models for exchanging expressed human milk in the USA

Expressed human milk can be donated or sold through a variety of channels, including human milk banks, corporations or individuals, or peer-to-peer milk sharing. There is a paucity of research regarding the nutrient and bioactive profiles of expressed human milk exchanged through commerce-free scenarios, including peer-to-peer milk sharing. The study objective was to evaluate the macronutrient, antimicrobial protein, and bacteria composition in expressed human milk acquired via commerce-free arrangements. Expressed human milk samples were collected from the following commerce-free scenarios: milk expressed for a mother's or parent's own infant (MOM; N = 30); unpasteurized milk donated to a non-profit milk bank (BANKED; N = 30); milk expressed for peer-to-peer milk sharing (SHARED; N = 31); and health professional-facilitated milk sharing where donors are serologically screened and milk is dispensed raw (SCREENED; N = 30). Analyses were conducted for total protein, lactose, percent fat and water, lysozyme activity, immunoglobulin A (IgA) activity, total aerobic bacteria, coliform, and Staphylococcus aureus. No bacterial growth was observed in 52/121 samples, and 15/121 had growth greater than 5.0 log colony-forming units/mL. There was no evidence of differences by groups (p > .05) in lactose, fat, water, lysozyme activity, sIgA activity, aerobic bacteria, coliforms, and S. aureus. Mean protein values (95% confidence interval) were 1.5 g/dL (1.4, 1.6) for BANKED, 1.4 g/dL (1.3, 1.5) for MOM, 1.6 g/dL (1.5, 1.7) for SCREENED, and 1.5 g/dL (1.4, 1.6) for SHARED, which was not significantly different (p = .081). This research contributes to growing literature on the risks and benefits of uncompensated, peer-to-peer milk sharing.