Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ex-chitin-g news on drug-induced fungal epitope unmasking

ABSTRACT The microbial cell wall is an essential cellular organelle commonly targeted by antimicrobials. It is also a battleground of innate immune recognition where microbes can evade immune recognition by masking essential cell wall components. A recent study (A. S. Wagner, S. W. Lumsdaine, M. M. Mangrum, and T. B. Reynolds, mBio https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00074-23, 2023) provides insight into how echinocandin antifungals cause exposure of proinflammatory β(1,3)-glucan by driving excess chitin production in the weakened cell wall. Although many environmental and biological activities perturb cell wall integrity and regulate β(1,3)-glucan exposure, we still know little about which intracellular signaling components regulate the cell wall changes that result in disrupted cell wall architecture. Wagner et al. showed that calcineurin and the Mkc1p kinase regulate chitin deposition and β(1,3)-glucan unmasking. They further identified chitin synthesis as a key driving force in cell wall structure disruption leading to epitope exposure. Their findings highlight how fungal cell wall dynamics have important implications for antifungal immunity and future drug development.
Neuromorphic Computing via Fission‐based Broadband Frequency Generation

The performance limitations of traditional computer architectures have led to the rise of brain‐inspired hardware, with optical solutions gaining popularity due to the energy efficiency, high speed, and scalability of linear operations. However, the use of optics to emulate the synaptic activity of neurons has remained a challenge since the integration of nonlinear nodes is power‐hungry and, thus, hard to scale. Neuromorphic wave computing offers a new paradigm for energy‐efficient information processing, building upon transient and passively nonlinear interactions between optical modes in a waveguide. Here, an implementation of this concept is presented using broadband frequency conversion by coherent higher‐order soliton fission in a single‐mode fiber. It is shown that phase encoding on femtosecond pulses at the input, alongside frequency selection and weighting at the system output, makes transient spectro‐temporal system states interpretable and allows for the energy‐efficient emulation of various digital neural networks. The experiments in a compact, fully fiber‐integrated setup substantiate an anticipated enhancement in computational performance with increasing system nonlinearity. The findings suggest that broadband frequency generation, accessible on‐chip and in‐fiber with off‐the‐shelf components, may challenge the traditional approach to node‐based brain‐inspired hardware design, ultimately leading to energy‐efficient, scalable, and dependable computing with minimal optical hardware requirements.
Organic films on atmospheric aerosol particles, fog droplets, cloud droplets, raindrops, and snowflakes

Surface-active organic molecules are common constituents of atmospheric aerosol particles, raindrops, and snowflakes. If these compounds are present as surface films, transfer of gases into the atmospheric water systems could be impeded, evaporation could be slowed, and the aqueous chemical reactions could be influenced. To investigate these possibilities, we have reviewed the chemical literature pertaining to organic films on aqueous surfaces: their composition, structure, properties, and effects. We then review the surface-active organic compounds in atmospheric water. We report the results of new measurements of surface tension of aqueous solutions of common atmospheric organic compounds (β-pinene, n-hexanol, eugenol, and anethole) and demonstrate that the compounds produce films with properties similar to those of the more well known surfactants. We conclude that organic films are probably common on atmospheric aerosol particles and that they may occur under certain circumstances on fog droplets, cloud droplets, and snowflakes. If present, they will increase the lifetimes of aerosol particles, fog droplets, and cloud droplets, both by inhibiting water vapor evaporation and by reducing the efficiency with which these atmospheric components are scavenged. The presence of the films will not cause a significant reduction of solar radiation within the aqueous solution. It appears likely, however, that the transport of gaseous molecules into and out of the aqueous solution will be impeded by factors of several hundred or more when organic films are present. Since incorporated gas molecules provide much of the oxidizing potential of atmospheric water droplets, the organic films will play a major role in droplet chemistry by strongly inhibiting solution oxidation.
Long-term vegetation changes in the northern Scandinavian forest limit: a human impact-climate synergy?

A palaeoecological study was performed in the northern Scandinavian mountain range in Sweden. The aim was to study vegetation changes and shifts in forest limit altitudes during the last 5000 years in a tree-less archaeological site (Adamvalta) situated below the regional forest limit, and in a forested reference area with similar geological features but without archaeological evidence of human presence (Ajdevaratj). The suitability of uncritically using forest limit changes as indicators of climate change is also discussed. The study included analyses of pollen, pollen accumulation rates (PAR), macrofossils and loss-on-ignition. The results indicate vegetation changes in both areas plausibly caused by climate c. 3800 BP and c. 500 400 BP. However, at Adamvalta, settlements were established c. 1300 750 BP, close to the mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovi) forest limit. About 800 BP, the birch forest cover at Adamvalta decreased and the vegetation developed into an alpine heath, as a result of human-induced deforestation. The following ‘Little Ice Age’, in combination with human impact from the sixteenth century onwards, prevented forest recovery, and the site remains treeless. Such vegetation changes were not recorded at Adjevaratj. It is deduced that the present position of the forest limit at Adamvalta is governed by a combination of factors where previous human impact and climate have been the major driving forces determining the long-term vegetation development. Hence, a thorough knowledge of the site history is important when forest limits are used as a proxy for climate change.
An inventory of invasive alien species in China

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major global challenge requiring urgent action, and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011–2020) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) includes a target on the issue. Meeting the target requires an understanding of invasion patterns. However, national or regional analyses of invasions are limited to developed countries. We identified 488 IAS in China’s terrestrial habitats, inland waters and marine ecosystems based on available literature and field work, including 171 animals, 265 plants, 26 fungi, 3 protists, 11 procaryots, and 12 viruses. Terrestrial plants account for 51.6% of the total number of IAS, and terrestrial invertebrates (104 species) for 21.3%. Of the total numbers, 67.9% of plant IAS and 34.8% of animal IAS were introduced intentionally. All other taxa were introduced unintentionally despite very few animal and plant species that invaded naturally. In terms of habitats, 64.3% of IAS occur on farmlands, 13.9% in forests, 8.4% in marine ecosystems, 7.3% in inland waters, and 6.1% in residential areas. Half of all IAS (51.1%) originate from North and South America, 18.3% from Europe, 17.3% from Asia not including China, 7.2% from Africa, 1.8% from Oceania, and the origin of the remaining 4.3% IAS is unknown. The distribution of IAS can be divided into three zones. Most IAS are distributed in coastal provinces and the Yunnan province; provinces in Middle China have fewer IAS, and most provinces in West China have the least number of IAS. Sites where IAS were first detected are mainly distributed in the coastal region, the Yunnan Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The number of newly emerged IAS has been increasing since 1850. The cumulative number of firstly detected IAS grew exponentially.
Prospecciones paleoincnológicas en el sinclinal de louaridéne (Alto Atlas, Marruecos). 2: Parte oriental

In 2007, the dinosaur footprints research group of the Universities of Rabat and La Rioja began the mapping of the Iouaridene ichnological sites. The initial problems were the footprints number - several thousands for some scientits- the ichnotaxonomy, and their geographical and geological distribution. Our first results (west Iouaridene area) were published in 2008. In addition to two ichnotaxons defined here, we have studied: gigantic theropod and ornithopod footprints; semipantigrade theropod ichnites and the largest world theropod trackway are new contributions to Iouaridene dinosaur footprints knowledge. In this work, are demostrated the following questions: i) the maximun number of footprints in the Iouaridene sincline is less than 2000; ii) in the east area there is minor density of sites and the number of footprints that in the west part; iii) the greatest number of semiplantigrade theropod ichnites; iv) the fosiliferous levels reduction from 20 to one. Probably, the four properties geographically related - stratigraphic, number, density (sites and footprints) and the diversity of semiplantigrade ichnites - are other singenetic relations.
Earthquake relocation in the Ardenne (Belgium): identification of active structures in intraplate context

Notable tectonic activity exists in the Belgian Ardenne and Eifel mountains in Germany. The strongest known seismic event in northwest Europe occurred in this area, near the Belgian city of Verviers, on 18 September 1692 with a magnitude estimated around 6 1/4 [1]. In the seismic hazards and risks perspectives, it is important to provide « scientifically supported » hypothesis on the possible seismogenic structure that generated the earthquake but also to realize an inventory of the sources of large earthquakes. Therefore, we used present day seismic patterns to identify and characterize the active structures. The precise earthquakes relative locations obtained by relocating all events are evidencing some earthquake alignments and groupings. We also carried out reconnaissance surveys in the area where a well-located seismic sequence occurred in 1989-1990. These surveys include different methods: ERT, GPR, H/V, relative gravity measurement, etc. The results are very promising in identifying the main geological structures that could be associated with the Hockay fault zone.
Composition of Pig Manures and Wastewaters under the Gan Qing Fen System in China

A large scale pig farm located in the North West of Beijing that applies the gan qing fen manure management system was selected and a continuous sampling of manures and wastewaters was performed from June to October 2009. Samples were collected once a week based on the pig production cycle, namely gestation, farrowing, weaning and fattening. Analysis of nutrients and heavy metals were determined by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP). Total Nitrogen (TN) was determined by the Kjeldahl method. The main results showed that pig manures were characterized by high nutrients and heavy metals contents that might be due to the solid fraction separation from the liquid fraction under the gan qing fen manure management system. Further, piggery wastewaters were characterized by very low concentrations of nutrients and heavy metals as result of their dilution with flushing water mainly used for cleaning the pigsties. Manure and wastewaters samples from weaning pigs contained the highest concentrations of nutrients and heavy metals that could be due to high supplementation rates of these minerals in the weaner diets. In general, it seems that the manual daily collection of pig manures in the gan qing fen system is an efficient practice in order to maintain nutrient contents in pig manures but the use of flushing water should be reduced as it can lead to further environmental pollution.
Late Quaternary left‐lateral slip rate of the Haiyuan fault, northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Slip rates of major active strike‐slip faults within and around the Tibetan Plateau provide constraints for understanding the dynamics of continental deformation in general because large slip rates can be taken to imply localized deformation between rigid blocks and low slip rates on faults are more consistent with distributed deformation. Several major strike‐slip faults have been studied during the last 3 decades. As one of important active strike‐slip faults in and around the Tibetan Plateau, the slip rate of the Haiyuan fault has been discrepantly estimated to be high by proponents of “escape tectonics” or low by others and GPS observations. To better constrain its slip rate and then to better understand the mechanics of intracontinental deformation, we try to more carefully consider offset geomorphic features and age constraints along the Haiyuan fault. In this paper, we select three sites where both upper and lower bounds of slip rate can be obtained. We find that slip rates are 4.2 ± 0.8 mm/yr at the Shaomayin, 4.5 ± 0.7 mm/yr at Gaowanzi, and 5.0 ± 2.5 mm/yr at Huangliangtan site. Combinations of these rates with those published previously yield an average slip rate of 4.5 ± 1.0 mm/yr on the Haiyuan fault. This rate agrees with the present‐day slip rate of 4.3 ± 1.5 mm/yr measured by GPS, 4.2–8 mm/yr by interferometric synthetic aperture radar, and ∼5 mm/yr through paleoseismological studies. The temporal consistency suggests a steady state process of strain accumulation and release along the Haiyuan fault. The low slip rate suggests that the Haiyuan fault, similar to the Altyn Tagh fault, does not transfer a significant portion of the convergence between India and Asia out of India's path into Eurasia but merely redistributes crustal thickening.
A two‐parameter climate elasticity of streamflow index to assess climate change effects on annual streamflow

This study extends the single parameter precipitation elasticity of streamflow index into a two parameter climate elasticity index, as a function of both precipitation and temperature, in order to assess climatic effects on annual streamflow. Application of the proposed index to two basins indicates that the single parameter precipitation elasticity index may give a general relationship between precipitation and streamflow in some cases, but that it cannot reflect the complicated non‐linear relationship among streamflow, precipitation and temperature. For example, for the Spokane River basin the climate elasticity of streamflow index varies from 2.4 to 0.2, for a precipitation increase of 20%, as temperature varies from 1°C lower to 1.8°C higher than the long term mean. Thus a 20% precipitation increase may result in a streamflow increase of 48% if the temperature is 1°C lower but only a 4% increase if the temperature is 1.8°C higher than the long‐term mean. The proposed method can be applied to other basins to assess potential climate change effects on annual streamflow. The results of the two case studies can inform planning of long‐term basin water management strategies taking into account global change scenarios.
The diversity and distribution of modern planktic foraminiferal small subunit ribosomal RNA genotypes and their potential as tracers of present and past ocean circulations

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene of planktic spinose foraminifers shows that morphospecies may represent clusters of different and often highly divergent genotypes. In some cases the level of divergence may justify separate taxonomic status as distinct “cryptic” species. Molecular evolution rate estimates, based on fossil record evidence, suggest that the cryptic divergences may have occurred many millions of years ago. An investigation of their distribution in the Caribbean (tropical zone), Coral Sea and Mediterranean Sea (subtropical zone), and Southern California Bight (transitional zone) indicates that genotypes are transported across water mass boundaries, and it is proposed that the direction of gene flow follows the prevailing global ocean surface circulation pattern. At the present time the prevailing currents transport tropical/subtropical genotypes from the Pacific to Atlantic around the South African Cape. Cooler water transitional genotypes may transit from Pacific to Atlantic in gene corridors opened during glacial periods.
Multi-Scale Tokens-Aware Transformer Network for Multi-Region and Multi-Sequence MR-to-CT Synthesis in a Single Model

The superiority of magnetic resonance (MR)-only radiotherapy treatment planning (RTP) has been well demonstrated, benefiting from the synthesis of computed tomography (CT) images which supplements electron density and eliminates the errors of multi-modal images registration. An increasing number of methods has been proposed for MR-to-CT synthesis. However, synthesizing CT images of different anatomical regions from MR images with different sequences using a single model is challenging due to the large differences between these regions and the limitations of convolutional neural networks in capturing global context information. In this paper, we propose a multi-scale tokens-aware Transformer network (MTT-Net) for multi-region and multi-sequence MR-to-CT synthesis in a single model. Specifically, we develop a multi-scale image tokens Transformer to capture multi-scale global spatial information between different anatomical structures in different regions. Besides, to address the limited attention areas of tokens in Transformer, we introduce a multi-shape window self-attention into Transformer to enlarge the receptive fields for learning the multi-directional spatial representations. Moreover, we adopt a domain classifier in generator to introduce the domain knowledge for distinguishing the MR images of different regions and sequences. The proposed MTT-Net is evaluated on a multi-center dataset and an unseen region, and remarkable performance was achieved with MAE of 69.33 ± 10.39 HU, SSIM of 0.778 ± 0.028, and PSNR of 29.04 ± 1.32 dB in head & neck region, and MAE of 62.80 ± 7.65 HU, SSIM of 0.617 ± 0.058 and PSNR of 25.94 ± 1.02 dB in abdomen region. The proposed MTT-Net outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both accuracy and visual quality.
OMIP‐097: High‐parameter phenotyping of human platelets by spectral flow cytometry

Using spectral flow cytometry, we developed a 16‐color panel for analysis of platelet phenotype and function in human whole blood. The panel contains markers of clinical relevance and follows an optimized protocol for the high‐parameter phenotyping of (phosphatidylserine positive) procoagulant platelets. Inclusion of established markers, such as CD62P and PAC‐1, allows the subsetting of classic (proinflammatory and proaggregatory) phenotypes, while addition of novel markers, such as TLR9, allows the resolution of platelets with nonclassic functions. Multiple inducible (C3b, CD63, CD107a, CD154, and TLT‐1) and constitutive (CD29, CD31, CD32, CD36, CD42a, CD61, and GPVI) markers are also measurable, and we demonstrate the use of automatic gating for platelet analysis. The panel is widely applicable to research and clinical settings and can be readily modified, should users wish to tailor the panel to more specific needs.
Ayurvedic preparations of Raudra Rasa inhibit agonist‐mediated platelet activation and restrict thrombogenicity without affecting cell viability

Ayurveda is considered to be one of the most ancient forms of medicine still practiced. The Ayurvedic preparation Raudra Rasa and its derivatives have been widely employed against cancer since the 12th century, but the effect of these traditional formulations on platelet function and signaling has not previously been examined. Here we demonstrate that Raudra Rasa and its derivatives significantly reduce thrombin‐induced integrin activation and granule secretion in platelets, as observed by reduced PAC‐1 binding and P‐selectin externalization, respectively. These formulations also inhibited thrombin‐stimulated phosphatidylserine exposure, mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation, and mitochondrial transmembrane potential in platelets. Consistent with the above, Raudra Rasa significantly reduced thrombin‐induced tyrosine phosphorylation of the platelet proteins, as well as phosphorylation of the enzymes AKT and GSK‐3β. In summary, Raudra Rasa inhibits agonist‐mediated platelet activation without affecting cell viability, suggesting it may have therapeutic potential as an anti‐platelet/anti‐thrombotic agent.
Beyond my Real Body: Characterization, Impacts, Applications and Perspectives of “Dissimilar” Avatars in Virtual Reality

In virtual reality, the avatar - the user's digital representation - is an important element which can drastically influence the immersive experience. In this paper, we especially focus on the use of “dissimilar” avatars i.e., avatars diverging from the real appearance of the user, whether they preserve an anthropomorphic aspect or not. Previous studies reported that dissimilar avatars can positively impact the user experience, in terms for example of interaction, perception or behaviour. However, given the sparsity and multi-disciplinary character of research related to dissimilar avatars, it tends to lack common understanding and methodology, hampering the establishment of novel knowledge on this topic. In this paper, we propose to address these limitations by discussing: (i) a methodology for dissimilar avatars characterization, (ii) their impacts on the user experience, (iii) their different fields of application, and finally, (iv) future research direction on this topic. Taken together, we believe that this paper can support future research related to dissimilar avatars, and help designers of VR applications to leverage dissimilar avatars appropriately.
Predictors of Healthcare Utilization in Family Caregivers of Persons With a Primary Malignant Brain Tumor

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Negative physical health results from the emotional stress of providing care to a family member with a primary malignant brain tumor; however, the downstream effects on caregivers' healthcare utilization (HCU) are unknown. This analysis examined associations between caregivers' emotional health and markers of HCU during the 6 months after patients' diagnoses. METHODS: Caregivers' self-report HCU data from a longitudinal study with 116 neuro-oncology caregivers were analyzed. Healthcare utilization was operationalized as number of prescription medications, reporting visits to primary care providers (PCPs), nature of PCP visit, number of comorbid conditions, and change in comorbid conditions. Potential predictors were caregivers' depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale), hours providing care per day, mastery (Pearlin and Schooler), and burden (Caregiver Reaction Assessment). Logistic mixed effects modeling were used. RESULTS: Caregivers with higher levels of depressive symptoms (P < .01), anxiety (P = .02), burden related to schedule (P = .02), and abandonment (P < .01) were more likely to report worsening comorbid conditions. Those with higher mastery (P = .02) were less likely to report worsening comorbid conditions. Caregivers who had a PCP visit and reported higher burden related to feelings of self-esteem (P = .03) were more likely to report an illness-related visit. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest a relationship between neuro-oncology caregivers' emotional health and their HCU. Data highlight the importance of caregivers' PCPs identifying caregivers at risk for deteriorating health and increased HCU and intervene to ensure caregivers' self-care.