Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel Hybrid Peptide Cathelicidin 2 (1-13)-Thymopentin (TP5) and Its Derived Peptides with Effective Antibacterial, Antibiofilm, and Anti-Adhesion Activities

The increasing numbers of infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens highlight the urgent need for new alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides have the potential to be promising alternatives to antibiotics because of their effective bactericidal activity and highly selective toxicity. The present study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial, antibiofilm, and anti-adhesion activities of different CTP peptides (CTP: the original hybrid peptide cathelicidin 2 (1-13)-thymopentin (TP5); CTP-NH2: C-terminal amidated derivative of cathelicidin 2 (1-13)-TP5; CTPQ: glutamine added at the C-terminus of cathelicidin 2 (1-13)-TP5) by determining the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), minimal bactericidal concentrations (MBCs), propidium iodide uptake, and analysis by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy). The results showed that CTPs had broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against different gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, with MICs against the tested strains varying from 2 to 64 μg/mL. CTPs at the MBC (2 × MIC 64 μg/mL) showed strong bactericidal effects on a standard methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain ATCC 43300 after co-incubation for 6 h through disruption of the bacterial membrane. In addition, CTPs at 2 × MIC also displayed effective inhibition activity of several S. aureus strains with a 40–90% decrease in biofilm formation by killing the bacteria embedded in the biofilms. CTPs had low cytotoxicity on the intestinal porcine epithelial cell line (IPEC-J2) and could significantly decrease the rate of adhesion of S. aureus ATCC 43300 on IPEC-J2 cells. The current study proved that CTPs have effective antibacterial, antibiofilm, and anti-adhesion activities. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of the possible antibacterial and antibiofilm mechanisms of CTPs, which might be an effective anti-MDR drug candidate.
Hyperoxemia and Death of the Critically Ill: Is There a Problem of Confounding by Indication or Outcome?

1. Culver DA, Behr J, Belperio JA, Corte TJ, de Andrade JA, Flaherty KR, et al. Patient registries in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2019;200:160–167. 2. Cottin V, Annesi-Maesano I, Günther A, Galvin L, Kreuter M, Powell P, et al.; Ariane-IPF Clinical Research Collaboration consortium. The Ariane-IPF ERS Clinical Research Collaboration: seeking collaboration through launch of a federation of European registries on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Eur Respir J 2019;53: 1900539. 3. King TE, Pardo A, Selman M. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Lancet 2011; 378:1949–1961. 4. Winterbottom CJ, Shah RJ, Patterson KC, Kreider ME, Panettieri RA Jr, Rivera-Lebron B, et al. Exposure to ambient particulate matter is associated with accelerated functional decline in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Chest 2018;153: 1221–1228.
Development of an energy-dense biscuit suitable for primary school learners for the South African National School Nutrition Programme

South Africa has a well established National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). Despite rescheduling the mealtime to two hours after the start of the school day to accommodate learners who come to school on an empty stomach, a gap still exists as many children start their learning day with low energy and concentration levels. A cost-effective, energy-dense snack served at the start of the school day can be a solution to sustain learners until the main meal is served. Cross-sectional surveys were used to determine the snack preferences of children and the product development process was used to develop a suitable snack. An energy-dense peanut butter biscuit was developed based on those surveys as well as a scoping review of previous snack studies. The energy-dense developed product provided 1388kJ (61.0%) of energy from fat, 688kJ (30.2%) of energy from carbohydrates and 201kJ (8.8%) of energy from protein per 100g. The biscuit conformed to microbial testing standards. Shelf-life analysis projected a shelf-life of five weeks fresh and five months in food grade packaging. Sensory results showed that there was no significant difference in sensory scores across gender (p=0.691) and age (p=0.706). More of the learners (n=56, 69.1%) found the biscuit to be ‘Super good’ than the other ratings (p<.0005). When compared with similar biscuit products currently on the market, it was found that the developed biscuit was the most reasonably priced. The developed biscuit has the potential to serve as a solution to hidden hunger for children that come to school on an empty stomach. This versatile snack solution has potential for continuity of use even during periods of national crisis as with COVID-19, when learners’ nutritional needs may be most vulnerable.
Host specialization is ancestral in Torymus (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) cynipid gall parasitoids

The host range of parasitoids varies greatly among species: Some only parasitize one to a few hosts (specialists), while others parasitize multiple species or a variety of host types (generalists). The direction of most host range shifts in parasitoid groups, that is from generalist to specialist or, alternatively, from specialist to generalist, is unknown. To explore the origin of host range shifts, we studied a clade within the genus Torymus (Hymenoptera, Chalcidoidea) that includes both generalist and specialist parasitoids of Cynipidae (Hymenoptera). We analysed the phylogenetic relationships of the species of Torymus on the basis of two gene fragments (cox1 and ITS2) of 246 specimens and performed an ancestral state reconstruction of the specialist/generalist trait. Our results revealed the following: (a) The ancestral state of this group of Torymus is specialist, with the generalist state evolving through a loss of specialization. (b) The species Torymus cyaneus and Torymus flavipes both have a strong genetic structure, suggesting the existence of different biological identities. (c) There has been a host plant shift in the lineage(s) leading to Torymus rubi and Torymus bedeguaris from galls on Quercus to those on Rosaceae. (d) The alien species Torymus sinensis and the native European species Torymus notatus are phylogenetically closely related. (e) Speciation within Torymus was likely associated with the diversification of their cynipid hosts, which itself was driven by the dramatic changes in climate and vegetation that occurred during the Miocene.
Lbl2Vec: An Embedding-based Approach for Unsupervised Document Retrieval on Predefined Topics

In this paper, we consider the task of retrieving documents with predefined topics from an unlabeled document dataset using an unsupervised approach. The proposed unsupervised approach requires only a small number of keywords describing the respective topics and no labeled document. Existing approaches either heavily relied on a large amount of additionally encoded world knowledge or on term-document frequencies. Contrariwise, we introduce a method that learns jointly embedded document and word vectors solely from the unlabeled document dataset in order to find documents that are semantically similar to the topics described by the keywords. The proposed method requires almost no text preprocessing but is simultaneously effective at retrieving relevant documents with high probability. When successively retrieving documents on different predefined topics from publicly available and commonly used datasets, we achieved an average area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value of 0.95 on one dataset and 0.92 on another. Further, our method can be used for multiclass document classification, without the need to assign labels to the dataset in advance. Compared with an unsupervised classification baseline, we increased F1 scores from 76.6 to 82.7 and from 61.0 to 75.1 on the respective datasets. For easy replication of our approach, we make the developed Lbl2Vec code publicly available as a ready-to-use tool under the 3-Clause BSD license.
Targeting Oxidative Stress: Novel Coumarin-Based Inverse Agonists of GPR55

Oxidative stress is associated with different neurological and psychiatric diseases. Therefore, development of new pharmaceuticals targeting oxidative dysregulation might be a promising approach to treat these diseases. The G-protein coupled receptor 55 (GPR55) is broadly expressed in central nervous tissues and cells and is involved in the regulation of inflammatory and oxidative cell homeostasis. We have recently shown that coumarin-based compounds enfold inverse agonistic activities at GPR55 resulting in the inhibition of prostaglandin E2. However, the antioxidative effects mediated by GPR55 were not evaluated yet. Therefore, we investigated the antioxidative effects of two novel synthesized coumarin-based compounds, KIT C and KIT H, in primary mouse microglial and human neuronal SK-N-SK cells. KIT C and KIT H show antioxidative properties in SK-N-SH cells as well as in primary microglia. In GPR55-knockout SK-N-SH cells, the antioxidative effects are abolished, suggesting a GPR55-dependent antioxidative mechanism. Since inverse agonistic GPR55 activation in the brain seems to be associated with decreased oxidative stress, KIT C and KIT H possibly act as inverse agonists of GPR55 eliciting promising therapeutic options for oxidative stress related diseases.
Electromagnetic Field Stimulation Attenuates Phasic Nociception after Complete Spinal Cord Injury in Rats

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most incapacitating pathologies, leading to huge rehabilitation challenges besides a social-economic burden on SCI patients and their families. There is no complete curative treatment available so far. Non-invasive and patient-friendly use of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field stimulation (EMF) has emerged as a therapeutic and rehabilitation option. In this study, we tested whole-body EMF stimulation on thoracic complete SCI-induced nociception including sensorimotor deficits in rats. The EMF application significantly attenuated hyperalgesia and allodynia to thermal, electrical, and chemical stimuli from 6 weeks onwards as well as restoration of spinal reflexes, viz., H-reflex and nociceptive flexion reflex at the study endpoint (week 8). Besides, massively increased glutamate at the SCI injury site was observed in SCI rats with no treatment, which was also attenuated significantly by EMF stimulation. Spinal cord histology of the injury area showed a decrease in lesion volume and glial population in the EMF-stimulated rats. These findings indicate the beneficial role of EMF stimulation after thoracic complete SCI in adult male rats and, thereby, a beneficial patient-friendly rehabilitation tool.
Monitoring and correcting: why women read and men comment online

ABSTRACT Using a probability sample of online news commenters and comment readers from the United States, we investigate gender differences in online commenting. We focus on two distinct behaviors in these spaces: commenting and reading and the motivations behind these practices. Our results indicate that men are more likely to leave online comments, while women are more likely to read online comments and not comment. Men are more likely than women to report commenting for corrective or information giving reasons. Women are more likely than men to report reading comments in order to gauge the public’s opinions. Moreover, these patterns of behavior were not dependent on topic – both men and women were equally likely to cite these reasons on both political topics and other news stories. We consider these results in light of the ongoing influence of gender role socialization and discuss their implications for public discourse engagement and opinion expression.
Visualization of Mitochondrial Ca2+ Signals in Skeletal Muscle of Zebrafish Embryos with Bioluminescent Indicators

Mitochondria are believed to play an important role in shaping the intracellular Ca2+ transients during skeletal muscle contraction. There is discussion about whether mitochondrial matrix Ca2+ dynamics always mirror the cytoplasmic changes and whether this happens in vivo in whole organisms. In this study, we characterized cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca2+ signals during spontaneous skeletal muscle contractions in zebrafish embryos expressing bioluminescent GFP-aequorin (GA, cytoplasm) and mitoGFP-aequorin (mitoGA, trapped in the mitochondrial matrix). The Ca2+ transients measured with GA and mitoGA reflected contractions of the trunk observed by transmitted light. The mitochondrial uncoupler FCCP and the inhibitor of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), DS16570511, abolished mitochondrial Ca2+ transients whereas they increased the frequency of cytosolic Ca2+ transients and muscle contractions, confirming the subcellular localization of mitoGA. Mitochondrial Ca2+ dynamics were also determined with mitoGA and were found to follow closely cytoplasmic changes, with a slower decay. Cytoplasmic Ca2+ kinetics and propagation along the trunk and tail were characterized with GA and with the genetically encoded fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, Twitch-4. Although fluorescence provided a better spatio-temporal resolution, GA was able to resolve the same kinetic parameters while allowing continuous measurements for hours.
Profiling Media Outlets and Audiences on Facebook: COVID-19 Coverage, Emotions and Controversy

The outburst of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by a steeply rise of worldwide media coverage of the phenomena, in which social media were deemed as critical platforms and became a popular place to receive and share information, as well as express personal views. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of an ongoing work devoted to analysing the media coverage of the COVID-19 outburst in Portugal (March-May 2020), the subsequent emotional engagement of audiences and the entropy-based emotional controversy generated. Using a cross-sectional descriptive methodology, we analyse the activity of the three major news outlets in the country for the category of general news. Our results reveal three distinct profiles of media coverage, negativity as the core engine for interacting with news and spreading information, negative and volatile Facebook reactions ("Angry", "Haha" and "Wow") as main inputs for controversy, prevailing on COVID-19 news, and a general tendency of audiences to share controversial news.
The plastoglobule-localized AtABC1K6 is a Mn2+-dependent protein kinase necessary for timely transition to reproductive growth

The Absence of bc1 Complex (ABC1) is an ancient, atypical protein kinase family that emerged prior to the archaeal-eubacterial divergence. Loss-of-function mutants in ABC1 genes are linked to respiratory defects in microbes and humans, and to compromised photosynthetic performance and stress tolerance in plants. However, demonstration of protein kinase activity remains elusive, hampering their study. Here, we investigate a homolog from Arabidopsis thaliana, AtABC1K6, and demonstrate in vitro protein kinase activity as autophosphorylation, which we replicate with a human ABC1 ortholog. We show that AtABC1K6 protein kinase activity requires an atypical buffer composition, including Mn2+ as divalent cation co-factor and a low salt concentration. AtABC1K6 associates with plastoglobule lipid droplets of A. thaliana chloroplasts, along with five paralogs. Protein kinase activity associated with isolated A. thaliana plastoglobules was inhibited at higher salt concentrations, but could accommodate Mg2+ as well as Mn2+, indicating salt sensitivity, but not the requirement for Mn2+, may be a general characteristic of ABC1s. Loss of functional AtABC1K6 impairs the developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. This phenotype is complemented by the wild-type sequence of AtABC1K6 but not by a kinase-dead point mutant in the unique Ala-triad of the ATP-binding pocket, demonstrating the physiological relevance of the protein’s kinase activity. We suggest that ABC1s are bona fide protein kinases with a unique regulatory mechanism. Our results open the door to detailed functional and mechanistic studies of ABC1s and plastoglobules. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The Absence of bc1 Complex (ABC1) is an ancient, atypical protein kinase family with enigmatic physiological roles in a wide range of species including plants, humans and microbes. While mutants demonstrate their critical role for organismal survival, their study has been severely hampered by the previous inability to determine catalytic function. Here, we demonstrate in vitro protein kinase activity with an A. thaliana homolog, AtABC1K6. Loss of functional AtABC1K6 impairs the developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. The lack of phenotypic complementation with a kinase-dead point mutant demonstrates the physiological relevance of the protein’s kinase activity. Our results present the experimental means to investigate the targets, functions, and regulation of ABC1s.
Synthetic Routes to the Surface Functionalization of Core-shell Nanoparticles Through the Copper(I)-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition

The objective of this dissertation was to construct core-shell colloidal particles with a thermoplastic shell containing alkyne units for CuAAC; establish a method to remove the thermoplastic shell for characterization; measure their optical and thermodynamic properties; and discover further applications with this particle morphology. Recent trends have shown a re-emergence of research centered around colloidal particles due to their usefulness in biological applications. Colloids around ca. 100 nm show good stability when suspended in aqueous solutions and are not quickly removed by the body. Thus, particles can be modified with fluorescent chromophores to act as biosensors or could be created to contain therapeutic drugs and act as a vehicle for drug delivery. The possibility of colloids being used as biological agents received a large boost with the classification of a series of reactions known as click chemistry; specifically the Copper(I)-catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition (CuAAC). CuAAC allowed for two materials to be covalently attached if one material contained an azide and the other contained a terminal alkyne. The attractiveness of CuAAC for polymer colloids is due to the highyielding nature of the reation and that it could be carried out at mild conditions in aqueous solutions. This affords an endless variety of functionalities that could incorporated to the surface of polymer colloids with the only drawback being the inability to thoroughly characterize the success of CuAAC reactions on the colloidal surface. In this current project, ca. 130 nm core-shell particles with a thermoplastic shell are surfacefunctionalized with optically active moieties via CuAAC and used for the following applications: (1) Seeded emulsion polymerization of a soluble shell with a controlled alkyne surface density: A general methodology for producing ca. 100 nm core-shell colloidal particles in which the shell has an elevated alkyne functionality and yet remains thermoplastic is presented. The availability of accessible alkyne groups on the surface of the aqueous-phase particles allows for the in situ surface
Enhancement of Solubility and Nanonization of Phenolic Compound in Extrudate from Angelica gigas Nakai by Hot Melt Extrusion using Surfactant

Background: The root of Angelica gigas Nakai is used as a traditional herbal medicine in Korea for the treatment of many diseases. However, the poor water solubility of the active components in A. gigas Nakai is a major obstacle to its bioavailability. Methods and Results: This work aimed at enhancing the solubility of the active compounds of A. gigas Nakai by a chemical (using a surfactant) and physical (hot melt extrusion, HME) crosslinking method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed multiple peaks in the case of the extrudate solids, attributable to new functional groups including carboxylic acid, alkynes, and benzene derivatives. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis showed that the extrudate soilid had a lower glass transition temperature (Tg) and enthalpy (ΔH) (Tg : 43°C, ΔH : < 6 J/g) as compared to the non-extrudate (Tg : 68.5°C, ΔH : 123.2) formulations. X-ray powder diffraction analysis revealed the amorphization of crystalline materials in the extrudate solid. In addition, enhanced solubility (53%), nanonization (403 nm), and a higher amount of extracted phenolic compounds were achieved in the extrudate solid than in the non-extrudate (solubility : 36%, nanonization : 1,499 nm) formulation. Among the different extrudates, acetic acid and span 80 mediated formulations showed superior extractions efficiency. Conclusions: HME successfully enhanced the production of amorphous nano dispersions of phenolic compound including decursin from extrudate solid formulations.
Low Dose of Direct Oral Anticoagulants after Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion

The optimal antithrombotic strategy following left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is not yet clearly established. Low-dose non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOAC) might represent a valid alternative, but data regarding their usage is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of low-dose NOAC compared to single (SAPT) or dual antiplatelet therapies (DAPT) after LAAO. We included consecutive patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who underwent LAAO and received low-dose apixaban, SAPT, or DAPT at discharge. The primary objective of this study included an efficacy endpoint (thromboembolic events and device related thrombosis (DRT)) and a safety endpoint (incidence of major bleeding) within the first three months after LAAO. A total of 139 patients were included. This group involved SAPT in 26 (18%), DAPT in 73 (53%), and apixaban in 40 (29%) patients. Follow-up at three-months showed no significant differences in the primary efficacy endpoint (2 (8%) SAPT, 3 (4%) DAPT and 0 (0%) apixaban; p value = 0.25). In contrast, the primary safety endpoint occurred more frequently in DAPT patients (7 (10%) DAPT, 0 (0%), SAPT and 0 with apixaban; p value = 0.03). Combining both efficacy and safety outcomes, low dose apixaban had a lower rate of events (2 (8%) with SAPT, 9 (12%) with DAPT and 0 (0%) with apixaban; p = 0.046). Low-dose apixaban after LAAO may be a valid alternative to DAPT and SAPT as depicted by the reduction in the occurrence of major bleedings and combined DRT/major bleedings respectively. Randomized data will be necessary to validate this strategy.
Low Profile Dual-Band Shared Aperture Array for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication

In this paper, we present a non-standalone dual-band shared aperture antenna array that operates at both the current Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) band (viz. 5.9 GHz) and the future 5G millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band (viz. 28 GHz) allocated for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications. The design consists of a 2×2 differentially fed patch array operating at 5.9 GHz, co-printed with a 1×2 series fed array operating at 28 GHz on a single layer substrate. In particular, the shared aperture array operates from 5.84-5.94 GHz (DSRC band) with a 100 MHz impedance bandwidth and from 27.75 - 28.47 GHz (5G mm-wave band) with a 720 MHz impedance bandwidth. Gain improvement of ~1.44 dB at 28 GHz is observed as a result of the higher order modes generated by the 5.9 GHz array. The shared aperture array was fabricated and measured showing a gain of ~9.97 dBi at ~5.9 GHz and 12.3 dBi at 28 GHz. The ports of the array are highly isolated with measured isolation >55 dB at the DSRC band and >33 dB at the 5G mm-wave band.