Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in the steroidogenic cells of the ovaries in small ruminants-A review

The small ruminant ovary possesses 5 types of steroidogenic cells, namely (i) theca and (ii) granulosa cells in the developing and atretic follicles, (iii) small and (iv) large luteal cells in the corpus luteum, and (v) the interstitial gland cells (transformed cells of theca interna of atretic follicles). Theca cells relnain steroidogenically active throughout folliculogenesis, whereas the granulosa cells perform steroidogenic activity only in the antral follicles. The granulosa and theca cells luteinize to fonn granulosa and theca luteal cells respectively. The theca interna cells of atretic follicles transform themselves into interstitial gland tissue. After performing their steroidogenic functions for a specific time, these cells regress back to somatic cells under an altered hormonal milleu. Much literature is available on specific aspects of ovarian steroidogenic tissues. The present review article was planned to integrate all the infonnation on steroidogenic cells and to pin point the areas of future research. The steroidogenic cells of small ruminants are characterized by common electron microscopic features like an agranular endoplasmic reticulum, presence of diffuse lipoproteins, Goigi complexes, lipid droplets and vesicular mitochondria with tubular cristae. These ultrastructural entities undergo cyclic variations in their structure and function. During regression, the mitochondria become vacuolated and irregular in shape, while the Golgi complexes show heterogenicity in their distribution and vesicles. Vacuoles of different shapes and sizes, with varying electron density, are encountered. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum decreases in size and the nucleus is characterized by degenerative apoptotic changes such as pinching off the pyknotic vesicles, containing condensed nuclear nlaterial. Most of these cells degenerate while the remaining cells regress back to normal somatic cells. Somatic cells under the influence of intraovarian and extraovarian endocrine and growth factors differentiated into specific steroidogenic cells. After performing the specified functions for the specific phase of reproduction, these influencing factors are either withdrawn or de novo synthesized factors trigger the regression of these cells back to the somatic tissues. These cells also reveal cyclic ultrastructural variations in different phases of reproduction, which have been discussed in relation to their functions in small ruminants.
Transcatheter Aortic‐Valve Replacement with a Self‐Expanding Valve in Low‐Risk Patients

BACKGROUND Transcatheter aortic‐valve replacement (TAVR) is an alternative to surgery in patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at increased risk for death from surgery; less is known about TAVR in low‐risk patients. METHODS We performed a randomized noninferiority trial in which TAVR with a self‐expanding supraannular bioprosthesis was compared with surgical aortic‐valve replacement in patients who had severe aortic stenosis and were at low surgical risk. When 850 patients had reached 12‐month follow‐up, we analyzed data regarding the primary end point, a composite of death or disabling stroke at 24 months, using Bayesian methods. RESULTS Of the 1468 patients who underwent randomization, an attempted TAVR or surgical procedure was performed in 1403. The patients' mean age was 74 years. The 24‐month estimated incidence of the primary end point was 5.3% in the TAVR group and 6.7% in the surgery group (difference, ‐1.4 percentage points; 95% Bayesian credible interval for difference, ‐4.9 to 2.1; posterior probability of noninferiority >0.999). At 30 days, patients who had undergone TAVR, as compared with surgery, had a lower incidence of disabling stroke (0.5% vs. 1.7%), bleeding complications (2.4% vs. 7.5%), acute kidney injury (0.9% vs. 2.8%), and atrial fibrillation (7.7% vs. 35.4%) and a higher incidence of moderate or severe aortic regurgitation (3.5% vs. 0.5%) and pacemaker implantation (17.4% vs. 6.1%). At 12 months, patients in the TAVR group had lower aortic‐valve gradients than those in the surgery group (8.6 mm Hg vs. 11.2 mm Hg) and larger effective orifice areas (2.3 cm2 vs. 2.0 cm2). CONCLUSIONS In patients with severe aortic stenosis who were at low surgical risk, TAVR with a self‐expanding supraannular bioprosthesis was noninferior to surgery with respect to the composite end point of death or disabling stroke at 24 months. (Funded by Medtronic; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02701283.)
Anatomical, histomorphological and molecular classification of cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinoma constitutes a heterogeneous group of malignancies that can emerge at any point of the biliary tree. Cholangiocarcinoma is classified into intrahepatic, perihilar and distal based on its anatomical location. Histologically, conventional perihilar/distal cholangiocarcinomas are mucin‐producing adenocarcinomas or papillary tumours; intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas are more heterogeneous and can be sub‐classified according to the level or size of the displayed bile duct. Cholangiocarcinoma develops through multistep carcinogenesis and is preceded by dysplastic and in situ lesions. Definition and clinical significance of precursor lesions, including biliary intraepithelial neoplasia, intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile duct, intraductal tubulopapillary neoplasms and mucinous cystic neoplasm, are discussed in this review. A main challenge in diagnosing cholangiocarcinoma is the fact that tumour tissue for histological examination is difficult to obtain. Thus, a major clinical obstacle is the establishment of the correct diagnosis at a tumour stage that is amenable to surgery which still represents the only curable therapeutic option. Current standards, methodology and criteria for diagnosis are discussed. Cholangiocarcinoma represents a heterogeneous tumour with regard to molecular alterations. In intrahepatic subtype, mainly two distinctive morpho‐molecular groups can currently be discriminated. Large‐duct type intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma shows a high mutation frequency of oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, such as KRAS and TP53 while Isocitrate Dehydrogenase 1/2 mutations and Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2‐fusions are typically seen in small‐duct type tumours. It is most important to ensure the separation of the given anatomical subtypes and to search for distinct subgroups within the subtypes on a molecular and morphological basis.
Self-Organization and Artificial Life

Self-organization can be broadly defined as the ability of a system to display ordered spatiotemporal patterns solely as the result of the interactions among the system components. Processes of this kind characterize both living and artificial systems, making self-organization a concept that is at the basis of several disciplines, from physics to biology and engineering. Placed at the frontiers between disciplines, artificial life (ALife) has heavily borrowed concepts and tools from the study of self-organization, providing mechanistic interpretations of lifelike phenomena as well as useful constructivist approaches to artificial system design. Despite its broad usage within ALife, the concept of self-organization has been often excessively stretched or misinterpreted, calling for a clarification that could help with tracing the borders between what can and cannot be considered self-organization. In this review, we discuss the fundamental aspects of self-organization and list the main usages within three primary ALife domains, namely “soft” (mathematical/computational modeling), “hard” (physical robots), and “wet” (chemical/biological systems) ALife. We also provide a classification to locate this research. Finally, we discuss the usefulness of self-organization and related concepts within ALife studies, point to perspectives and challenges for future research, and list open questions. We hope that this work will motivate discussions related to self-organization in ALife and related fields.
Antiphospholipid Antibodies Overlapping in Isolated Neurological Syndrome and Multiple Sclerosis: Neurobiological Insights and Diagnostic Challenges

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterized by arterial and venous thrombosis, pregnancy morbidity and fetal loss caused by pathogenic autoantibodies directed against phospholipids (PL) and PL-cofactors. Isolated neurological APS may represent a significant diagnostic challenge, as epidemiological, clinical and neuroimaging features may overlap with those of multiple sclerosis (MS). In an open view, MS could be considered as an organ-specific anti-lipid (phospholipid and glycosphingolipid associated proteins) disease, in which autoreactive B cells and CD8+ T cells play a dominant role in its pathophysiology. In MS, diverse autoantibodies against the lipid-protein cofactors of the myelin sheath have been described, whose pathophysiologic role has not been fully elucidated. We carried out a review to select clinical studies addressing the prevalence of antiphospholipid (aPL) autoantibodies in the so-called MS-like syndrome. The reported prevalence ranged between 2% and 88%, particularly aCL and aβ2GPI, with predominant IgM isotype and suggesting worse MS prognosis. Secondarily, an updated summary of current knowledge on the pathophysiological mechanisms and events responsible for these conditions is presented. We draw attention to the clinical relevance of diagnosing isolated neurological APS. Prompt and accurate diagnosis and antiaggregant and anticoagulant treatment of APS could be vital to prevent or at least reduce APS-related morbidity and mortality.
The Human FcγRII (CD32) Family of Leukocyte FcR in Health and Disease

FcγRs have been the focus of extensive research due to their key role linking innate and humoral immunity and their implication in both inflammatory and infectious disease. Within the human FcγR family FcγRII (activatory FcγRIIa and FcγRIIc, and inhibitory FcγRIIb) are unique in their ability to signal independent of the common γ chain. Through improved understanding of the structure of these receptors and how this affects their function we may be able to better understand how to target FcγR specific immune activation or inhibition, which will facilitate in the development of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in patients where FcγRII activity may be desirable for efficacy. This review is focused on roles of the human FcγRII family members and their link to immunoregulation in healthy individuals and infection, autoimmunity and cancer.
Fast Interactive Object Annotation With Curve-GCN

Manually labeling objects by tracing their boundaries is a laborious process. In Polygon-RNN++, the authors proposed Polygon-RNN that produces polygonal annotations in a recurrent manner using a CNN-RNN architecture, allowing interactive correction via humans-in-the-loop. We propose a new framework that alleviates the sequential nature of Polygon-RNN, by predicting all vertices simultaneously using a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN). Our model is trained end-to-end, and runs in real time. It supports object annotation by either polygons or splines, facilitating labeling efficiency for both line-based and curved objects. We show that Curve-GCN outperforms all existing approaches in automatic mode, including the powerful DeepLab, and is significantly more efficient in interactive mode than Polygon-RNN++. Our model runs at 29.3ms in automatic, and 2.6ms in interactive mode, making it 10x and 100x faster than Polygon-RNN++.
Introduction to the Special Issue on Multisensory Space - Perception, Neural Representation and Navigation.

We perceive our surrounding environment using all of our senses in parallel, building a rich multisensory representation of space (Chebat et al., 2018a; Harrar et al., 2018). This multisensory representation can be used to move through our environment (Chebat et al., 2011, 2015) and to interact spatially with our surroundings or to locate objects (Tal and Amedi, 2009) and to judge their speed and relative location in space (Sors et al., 2017). In turn, this representation is also influenced by our bodily sensations (Filbrich et al., 2017). Vision is the most suited sense to assist spatial perception (Strelow, 1985) and also certainly the most studied, but how essential is vision to the process by which we navigate? Although certain spatial abilities in auditory and tactile spatial tasks are slightly compromised by early blindness (Gori et al., 2014, 2017), people who are congenitally blind (CB) are still capable of avoiding obstacles through cluttered and complex environments in everyday life (Kellogg, 1962), of completing and integrating paths and remembering locations (Loomis et al., 2012), and are able to generate cognitive representations of space stemming from the remaining intact senses (Fortin et al., 2006; Thinus-Blanc and Gaunet, 1997). In addition, they also preserve the ability to recognize a traveled route and represent spatial information mentally (Marmor and Zaback, 1976; Passini et al., 1990). Moreover, CB can outperform the sighted in certain spatial tasks
A Comparison of the Qualitative Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Quantitative Frequency Ratio Techniques in Predicting Forest Fire-Prone Areas in Bhutan Using GIS

Forest fire is an environmental disaster that poses immense threat to public safety, infrastructure, and biodiversity. Therefore, it is essential to have a rapid and robust method to produce reliable forest fire maps, especially in a data-poor country or region. In this study, the knowledge-based qualitative Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the statistical-based quantitative Frequency Ratio (FR) techniques were utilized to model forest fire-prone areas in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. Seven forest fire conditioning factors were used: land-use land cover, distance from human settlement, distance from road, distance from international border, aspect, elevation, and slope. The fire-prone maps generated by both models were validated using the Area Under Curve assessment method. The FR-based model yielded a fire-prone map with higher accuracy (87% success rate; 82% prediction rate) than the AHP-based model (71% success rate; 63% prediction rate). However, both the models showed almost similar extent of ‘very high’ prone areas in Bhutan, which corresponded to coniferous-dominated areas, lower elevations, steeper slopes, and areas close to human settlements, roads, and the southern international border. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire points were overlaid on the model generated maps to assess their reliability in predicting forest fires. They were found to be not reliable in Bhutan, as most of them overlapped with fire-prone classes, such as ‘moderate’, ‘low’, and ‘very low’. The fire-prone map derived from the FR model will assist Bhutan’s Department of Forests and Park Services to update its current National Forest Fire Management Strategy.
Wheel Running Improves Motor Function and Spinal Cord Plasticity in Mice With Genetic Absence of the Corticospinal Tract

Our previous studies showed that mutant mice with congenital absence of the corticospinal tract (CST) undergo spontaneous remodeling of motor networks to partially compensate for absent CST function. Here, we asked whether voluntary wheel running could further improve locomotor plasticity in CST-deficient mice. Adult mutant mice were randomly allocated to a “runners” group with free access to a wheel, or a “non-runners” group with no access to a wheel. In comparison with non-runners, there was a significant motor improvement including fine movement, grip strength, decreased footslip errors in runners after 8-week training, which was supported by the elevated amplitude of electromyography recording and increased neuromuscular junctions in the biceps. In runners, terminal ramifications of monoaminergic and rubrospinal descending axons were significantly increased in spinal segments after 12 weeks of exercise compared to non-runners. 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EDU) labeling showed that proliferating cells, 90% of which were Olig2-positive oligodendrocyte progenitors, were 4.8-fold more abundant in runners than in non-runners. In 8-week runners, RNAseq analysis of spinal samples identified 404 genes up-regulated and 398 genes down-regulated, and 69 differently expressed genes involved in signal transduction, among which the NF-κB, PI3K-Akt and cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling were three top pathways. Twelve-week training induced a significant elevation of postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95), synaptophysin 38 and myelin basic protein (MBP), but not of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Thus, locomotor training activates multiple signaling pathways, contributes to neural plasticity and functional improvement, and might palliate locomotor deficits in patients.
Knowledge Graph Development for App Store Data Modeling

These days usage of mobile applications has become quite a normal part of our lives, since every day we use our smartphones for communication, entertainment, business and even education. A high demand on various apps has led to significant growth of supply. Large number of apps offered, in turn, has led to complications in user's search of the one perfectly suitable application. In this paper the authors have made an attempt to solve the problem of facilitating the search in app stores. With the help of a websites crawling software a sample of data was retrieved from one of the well-known mobile app stores and divided into 11 groups by types. Afterwards these groups of data were used to construct a Knowledge Schema - a graphic model of interconnections of data that characterize any mobile app in the selected store. This Schema creation is the first step in the process of developing a Knowledge Graph that will perform applications grouping to facilitate users search in app stores.
Soft metamaterials with dynamic viscoelastic functionality tuned by pre-deformation

The small amplitude dynamic response of materials can be tuned by employing inhomogeneous materials capable of large deformation. However, soft materials generally exhibit viscoelastic behaviour, i.e. loss and frequency-dependent effective properties. This is the case for inhomogeneous materials even in the homogenization limit when propagating wavelengths are much longer than phase lengthscales, since soft materials can possess long relaxation times. These media, possessing rich frequency-dependent behaviour over a wide range of low frequencies, can be termed metamaterials in modern terminology. The sub-class that are periodic are frequently termed soft phononic crystals although their strong dynamic behaviour usually depends on wavelengths being of the same order as the microstructure. In this paper we describe how the effective loss and storage moduli associated with longitudinal waves in thin inhomogeneous rods are tuned by pre-stress. Phases are assumed to be quasi-linearly viscoelastic, thus exhibiting time-deformation separability in their constitutive response. We illustrate however that the effective incremental response of the inhomogeneous medium does not exhibit time-deformation separability. For a range of nonlinear materials it is shown that there is strong coupling between the frequency of the small amplitude longitudinal wave and initial large deformation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Rivlin's legacy in continuum mechanics and applied mathematics’.
Chimaeras and ghosts: solving a chimaeric specimen and two neglected orchid names

We present nomenclatural and taxonomic studies of selected species and names of Neotropical Orchidaceae currently placed in Bifrenaria, Cleistes, and Pleurothallis, but once classified in ten different genera. Several nomenclatural and taxonomic actions are proposed, including changes in nomenclatural status, typifications, and taxonomic rearrangements by indication of the correct name to be used, re-evaluation of previously proposed synonyms, and new synonyms. The accepted names remaining after the study are: Cleistes rosea Lindl. f. rosea (relevant synonyms: C. angeliana Campacci, C. castaneoides Hoehne, and Epistephium monanthum Poepp. & Endl.); Cleistes rosea f. augusta (Hoehne) Meneguzzo & Van den Berg, comb. nov. (for Pogonia rosea var. augusta Hoehne); Cleistes speciosa Gardner [relevant synonyms: C. caloptera Rchb. f. & Warm. , C. metallina (Barb. Rodr.) Schltr. , and C. monantha (Barb. Rodr.) Schltr. ]; Bifrenaria harrisoniae (Hook.) Rchb. f. (for Maxillaria spathacea Lindl.); and Pleurothallis quadrifida (Lex.) Lindl. [for the homotypic pair Gomesa stricta Spreng. and Rodriguezia stricta (Spreng.) Steud. ].
Advance of Multiplex PCR in Rapid Detecting Transgenic Soybean Oil

Transgenic food safety is a high-profile public health issue in worldwide, especially transgenic soybean (Glycine max L.) oil. To rapidly and effectively detect transgenic components of soybean oil, in the present study, we isolated DNA from transgenic soybean oil by modified method, and employed the multiplex PCR method to identify targeted genes, including CaMV35S promoter, Nos terminator, NPTII, CP4-EPSPS and endogenous gene Lectin. The research aims to build a method which is accurate, rapid and reliable for detection of genetically modified soybeans oil. The targeted gene including DNA was successfully established by the improved method, and then amplified by PCR. Five genes are simultaneously specifically detected. Commercial soybean, genetically modified soy bean and oil were detected with the Multiplex PCR. The improved method of DNA extraction was rapid and accurate to extract high quality total DNA which was amplified by PCR. The method could eliminate the PCR inhibitor. A way of detecting the genetically modified soybean and Oil was set up in this study.
Efficient Nighttime Biogenic SOA Formation in a Polluted Residual Layer

Organic nitrates formed from nighttime reaction between anthropogenic nitrate radicals (NO3) and biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) are an important but highly uncertain source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Here we report on the enhanced nighttime biogenic SOA formation observed in a polluted residual layer over Sacramento, California, the morning of 15 June 2010 during the Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES). Trajectory analysis showed that the residual layer air, containing isoprene and trace amounts of monoterpenes left over after nighttime oxidation, was influenced by the San Francisco Bay Area emissions the previous evening. The residual layer aerosol was also enriched in nitrate, with about 64% of it estimated to be in the form of organic nitrates. The nitrate:organic mass ratio of the SOA was about 0.47 ± 0.044, which corresponds to the range typically found in isoprene mononitrates. Assuming the SOA was composed of organic mononitrates, its nominal molecular weight was estimated at 186 ± 11 g mol−1, consistent with the highly functionalized isoprene hydroxynitrates that have been observed in the particle phase in the southeast United States. Overall, our findings show that the efficiency of nighttime biogenic SOA formation, expressed as the change in organic aerosol mass relative to carbon monoxide (∆OA/∆CO), equals ~100 μg m−3 ppmv and is comparable to the range previously estimated for enhanced daytime SOA formation from mixed anthropogenic and biogenic emissions during CARES. Assuming the SOA was formed from isoprene oxidation by NO3, we estimated mass yields of up to 0.55, consistent with previous field estimates.