Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
cryptotanshinone inhibits esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma in vitro and in vivo through the suppression of sTaT3 activation

Purpose: Esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the most common subtype of esophageal cancer, with a poor clinical outcome. Cryptotanshinone (CTS) is the main bioactive compound from the root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Our study aimed to investigate the anti-cancer effects and molecular mechanisms of CTS on ESCC. Materials and methods: We investigated the anti-tumor activity of CTS on ESCC in vitro and in vivo. Activation of the STAT3 signaling pathway was evaluated in ESCC and HEK-Blue™ IL-6 cells. Cell viability was assessed by the MTT assay. Apoptosis and cell cycle arrest were assessed using flow cytometry. Cell migration was detected by a scratch wound assay. Results: CTS inhibited STAT3 expression and IL-6-mediated STAT3 activation in esophageal cancer cells. Subsequently, CTS dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of esophageal cancer cells via induction of cell apoptosis. Furthermore, CTS suppressed the migration of esophageal cancer cells. In vivo, CTS inhibited tumor growth of EC109 cell in xenograft mice without any obvious effect on body weight. Conclusion: Our results indicated that STAT3 inhibition may be a therapeutic target for esophageal cancer. CTS could provide a potential approach for esophageal cancer therapy by influencing the janus kinase-2/STAT3 signaling pathway.
Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum on intestinal integrity and immune responses of chickens infected with Clostridium perfringens under the free-range or the specific pathogen free environment CURRENT STATUS: ACCEPTED

Background Necrotic enteritis, which is caused by Clostridium perfringens, has resulted in more than $2 billion losses in the poultry industry every year. Due to the ban of antibiotics in feed industry, alternatives like environment improvement and probiotics have been found to be effective as well. In our study, we aim to explore the protective effect of Lactobacillus plantarum on CP infected chickens in two environments. Results The results showed that the Clostridium perfringens administration led to visible and histomorphological gut lesions. In the specific pathogen free or free-range system environment, dietary supplementation with LP obvious increased the ratio of intestinal villus height to crypt depth and the expression of MUC2 mRNA in ileum mucosa, then reduced the mRNA expression level of TNF-α gene in the ileum mucosa. LP treatment significantly reduced the contents of total protein, total superoxide dismutase and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase in serum of the chickens. Conclusions The specific pathogen free environment contributed to the recovery of pre-inflammation of the chickens, and free-range system environment contributed to the repair of damage in the later stages of chicken inflammation. Supplementation of LP in FRS environment was more conducive to the recovery of CP infected in chickens. We aim to explore whether different feeding methods and probiotics can alleviate the adverse effects of necrotizing enteritis by CP on chickens. We also aim to effective measures and a theoretical basis to aid in reduction of losses from NE in the
Genome-wide profiling reveals cancer-related genes with switched alternative polyadenylation sites in colorectal cancer

Background: Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important post-transcriptional regulation in eukaryotic cells. It plays considerable roles in many biological processes and diseases, such as cell differentiation, proliferation and cancer. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide, which is among the top five in incidence and mortality of all cancers in China. Although there have been some studies on the APA of CRC, the normal and carcinoma samples used for genome-wide profiling were not matched. The purpose of this study was to obtain genes with switched 3 ′ -untranslated region (UTR) that may be associated with intracellular regulation of CRC by analyzing APA patterns of strict control groups from clinical patients. Materials and methods: CRC and matched normal tissues were acquired from surgical speci-mens from three CRC patients. Their libraries of 3 ′ -terminal fragments of mRNA with poly(A) tails were constructed by 3T-seq technology and sequenced by Illumina Hiseq X Ten. APA patterns of cancer and matched normal tissues were analyzed by bioinformatics analysis, and a representative gene, GPI , was verified by quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Results: Overall, we identified 35,076 poly(A) sites in total. Compared to the matched normal tissues, we detected 350, 405 and 375 genes with significantly APA-mediated 3 ′ -UTR alteration in cancer tissues of three patients, respectively. Forty-seven genes with switched 3 ′ -UTR were shared in all three patients. In addition, most of these genes have shortened 3 ′ -UTRs, some of which were associated with cancers, such as GPI . Conclusion: Our studies found several genes with switched 3 ′ -UTR in CRC patients, which may provide some important clues for more in-depth study of the cellular regulation in CRC from the perspective of post-transcriptional regulation. It may also help in the search for new biomarkers of CRC.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Differential lung NK cell responses in avian influenza virus infected chickens correlate with pathogenicity

Infection of chickens with low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) virus results in mild clinical signs while infection with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses causes death of the birds within 36–48 hours. Since natural killer (NK) cells have been shown to play an important role in influenza-specific immunity, we hypothesise that NK cells are involved in this difference in pathogenicity. To investigate this, the role of chicken NK-cells in LPAI virus infection was studied. Next activation of lung NK cells upon HPAI virus infection was analysed. Infection with a H9N2 LPAI virus resulted in the presence of viral RNA in the lungs which coincided with enhanced activation of lung NK cells. The presence of H5N1 viruses, measured by detection of viral RNA, did not induce activation of lung NK cells. This suggests that decreased NK-cell activation may be one of the mechanisms associated with the enhanced pathogenicity of H5N1 viruses.
Positive Youth Development

Individual Strengths and Positive Development Programs, Communities and Societies as Contexts for PYD Resilience and Positive Youth Development Positive Youth Development and Developmental Systems Theory Features of the PYD Perspective Empirical Status of The PYD Perspective: The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development Conclusions and Future Directions Keywords: positive youth development; resilience; well-being; thriving; systems theory
Uniaxial versus Biaxial Character of Nematic Equilibria in Three Dimensions

We study global minimizers of the Landau-de Gennes (LdG) energy functional for nematic liquid crystals, on arbitrary three-dimensional simply connected geometries with topologically non-trivial and physically relevant Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our results are specific to the low-temperature limit. We prove (i) that (re-scaled) global LdG minimizers converge uniformly to a (minimizing) limiting harmonic map, away from the singular set of the limiting map; (ii) there exist both a point of maximal biaxiality and a nonempty Lebesgue-null set of uniaxial points near each singular point of the limiting harmonic map (this improves the recent results of \cite{contreraslamy}); (iii) estimates for the size of"strongly biaxial"regions in terms of the reduced temperature $t$. We further show that global LdG minimizers in the restricted class of uniaxial $\Qvec$-tensors cannot be stable critical points of the LdG energy for low temperatures.
Frequency of Food Shopping and Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: A Systematic Review

To examine the relationship between frequency of food shopping and fruit and vegetable (FV) intake in adults. A systematic review, guided by the Cochrane handbook, was conducted across four online databases: PudMed, CINAHL, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library. Studies were included if published in a peer reviewed journal through March 2019, included adults (³ 18 years of age), and were conducted in the United States. Any study using a cross-sectional, longitudinal cohort, or randomized study design that examined the relationship between the exposure variable of frequency of food shopping (defined as purchasing foods at a grocery store, farmer's market, corner store, convenience store, specialty store, mobile produce van) and outcome variable, FV intake was selected. Study quality was reviewed using the Quality Control Checklist. Due to heterogeneity across study designs and variable measurement, the systematic review findings were qualitatively summarized. A total of 1021 records were reviewed after 488 duplicates were removed and 69 were selected for full review. Twenty met inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. The majority of studies (75%) found evidence of a positive association between the frequency of food shopping and FV intake, such that as frequency increased so did FV intake. The majority of studies received a neutral rating for study quality as most studies (85%) had a cross-sectional or longitudinal design and lacked a consistent definition of frequency of food shopping. FV intake was assessed using self-report measures with only one study using 24-hour recalls. There is evidence to show a positive relationship between frequency of food shopping and increased FV intake. More frequent shopping may be an important strategy to incorporate as part of nutrition education, especially within food assistance programs as it may promote FV intake. Given food shopping frequency was broadly defined across food store types that were variable, future research should consider examining if store type influences FV intake. None.
Forest Responses to Rising Atmospheric CO 2 : Causes and Consequences of Increased Fine-Root Production in a CO 2 -Enriched Sweetgum Plantation

I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Colleen Marie Iversen entitled “Forest responses to rising atmospheric CO2: Causes and consequences of increased fine-root production in a CO2-enriched sweetgum plantation. ” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
The association of tidal eFl with exercise performance, exacerbations, and death in COPD

Background: Tidal expiratory flow limitation (EFL T ) is frequently found in patients with COPD and can be detected by forced oscillations when within-breath reactance of a single-breath is $ 0.28 kPa ⋅ s ⋅ L − 1 . The present study explored the association of within-breath reactance measured over multiple breaths and EFL T with 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), exacerbations, and mortality. Methods: In 425 patients, spirometry and forced oscillation technique measurements were obtained on eight occasions over 3 years. 6MWD was assessed at baseline and at the 3-year visit. Respiratory symptoms, exacerbations, and hospitalizations were recorded. A total of 5-year mortality statistics were retrieved retrospectively. We grouped patients according to the mean within-breath reactance ( ∆ Xrs ) , measured over several breaths at baseline, calculated as mean inspiratory–mean expiratory reactance over the sampling period. In addition to the established threshold of EFL T , an upper limit of normal (ULN) was defined using the 97.5th percentile of ∆ Xrs of the healthy controls in the study; 6MWDs were compared according to ∆ Xrs, as normal, $ ULN , EFL T , or $ EFL T . Annual exacerbation rates were analyzed using a negative binomial model in the three groups, supplemented by time to first exacerbation analysis, and dichotomizing patients at the ULN. Results: In patients with COPD and baseline ∆ Xrs below the ULN (0.09 kPa ⋅ s ⋅ L − 1 ), 6MWD was stable. 6MWD declined significantly in patients with ∆ Xrs $ ULN. Worse lung function and more exacerbations were found in patients with COPD with ∆ Xrs $ ULN, and patients with ∆ Xrs $ ULN had shorter time to first exacerbation and hospitalization. A significantly higher mortality was found in patients with ∆ Xrs $ ULN and FEV 1 . 50%. Conclusion: Patients with baseline ∆ Xrs $ ULN had a deterioration in exercise performance, more exacerbations, and greater hospitalizations, and, among those with moderate airway obstruction, a higher mortality. ∆ Xrs is a novel independent marker of outcome in COPD.
Servicio de localización a través de una red umts

Today the need to locate people, objects or things have a growing demand for what Location Services are becoming a very popular service for mobile phone users, for informational purposes, security, entertainment, etc. In the context of positioning methods and general methods used in UMTS networks, this paper attempts to summarize and analyze the different positioning techniques commonly used in Location Services. The methods used in UMTS are: Cell-ID or cell coverage, OTDoA-IPDL or Observed Time Difference of Arrival, and Assisted GPS. From the standpoint of analytical and mathematical, we have proposed an algorithm in Matlab and Simulink to simulate the different methods and the technique used, graphically, thorough and understandable, especially as they intersect curves, circles and spheres, for find the position of the target. With this simulation we try to understand clearly the process of positioning and finally make a comparison between these methods.
Sustainable intensification of rice-wheat cropping systems in India

This paper attempts to analyze the problems facing the rice-wheat cropping systems in India, with a view to finding remedial actions to resume the productivity growth on a sustainable basis, without affecting the natural resources base. While the rice-wheat production system of South Asia is among the world's largest, in spite of the ever expanding population demand, evidence suggests that natural resource degradation may be reducing its productivity. Rice and wheat dominate India's food supply - over seventy percent of the total food grain production - yet, although their average yields increased at about two percent a year between 1960 and 1990, these rates are no longer being maintained. The paper examines the rice wheat productivity trends, and emergence of two rice-wheat production scenarios, to determine the causes of stagnation of productivity growth, i.e., the area's virtually halted expansion, irrigation capacity expanded to the maximum viable point, degradation of natural resources and decline in soil fertility, aggravated by water management related problems. Emerging challenges stipulate the need for interventions at three levels: farm, institution, and policy levels. Given the importance of farmers' participation in research, the report outlines strategic areas for on-farm research: soil fertility, water management, integrated pest management, in addition to diversification of rice-wheat systems, and, raising crop yield ceilings. Similarly, agricultural policy can significantly affect the relative profitability of production practices.
Data-Driven Approaches to Searches for the Technosignatures of Advanced Civilizations

Humanity has wondered whether we are alone for millennia. The discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe, particularly intelligent life, would have profound effects, comparable to those of recognizing that the Earth is not the center of the Universe and that humans evolved from previous species. There has been rapid growth in the fields of extrasolar planets and data-driven astronomy. In a relatively short interval, we have seen a change from knowing of no extrasolar planets to now knowing more potentially habitable extrasolar planets than there are planets in the Solar System. In approximately the same interval, astronomy has transitioned to a field in which sky surveys can generate 1 PB or more of data. The Data-Driven Approaches to Searches for the Technosignatures of Advanced Civilizations_ study at the W. M. Keck Institute for Space Studies was intended to revisit searches for evidence of alien technologies in light of these developments. Data-driven searches, being able to process volumes of data much greater than a human could, and in a reproducible manner, can identify *anomalies* that could be clues to the presence of technosignatures. A key outcome of this workshop was that technosignature searches should be conducted in a manner consistent with Freeman Dyson's"First Law of SETI Investigations,"namely"every search for alien civilizations should be planned to give interesting results even when no aliens are discovered. "This approach to technosignatures is commensurate with NASA's approach to biosignatures in that no single observation or measurement can be taken as providing full certainty for the detection of life. Areas of particular promise identified during the workshop were (*) Data Mining of Large Sky Surveys, (*) All-Sky Survey at Far-Infrared Wavelengths, (*) Surveys with Radio Astronomical Interferometers, and (*) Artifacts in the Solar System.
Incidence of Direct Oral Anticoagulant use in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation and characteristics of users in six European countries (2008-2015) A cross-national drug utilization study

user and treatment characteristics in 8 European healthcare databases representing 6 countries. Methods: Longitudinal drug utilization study from January 2008 to December 2015. A common protocol approach was applied. Annual period incidences and direct standardisation by age and sex were performed. Dose adjustment related to change in age and by renal function as well as concomitant use of potentially interacting drugs were assessed. Results: A total of 186 405 new DOAC users (age ≥ 18 years) were identified. Standardized incidences varied from 1.93 – 2.60 and 0.11 – 8.71 users/10 000 (2011 – 2015) for dabigatran and rivaroxaban, respectively, and from 0.01 – 8.12 users/10 000 (2012 – 2015) for apixaban. In 2015, the DOAC incidence ranged from 9 to 28/10 000 inhabitants in SIDIAP (Spain) and DNR (Denmark) respectively. There were differences in population coverage among the databases. Only 1 database includes the total reference population (DNR) while others are considered a population representative sample (CPRD, BIFAP, SIDIAP, EGB, Mondriaan). They also varied in the type of drug data source (administrative, clinical). Dose adjustment ranged from 4.6% in BIFAP (Spain) to 15.6% in EGB (France). Concomitant use of interacting drugs varied between 16.4% (SIDIAP) and 70.5% (EGB). Cardiovascular comorbidities ranged from 25.4% in Mondriaan (The Netherlands) to 82.9% in AOK Nordwest (Germany). Conclusion: Overall, apixaban and rivaroxaban increased its use during the study period while dabigatran decreased. There was variability in patient characteristics such as comorbidities, potentially interacting drugs and dose adjustment. (EMA/2015/ 27/PH).
Interim procedures for estimating risks associated with exposures to mixtures of chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and-dibenzofurans (CDDs and CDFs) and 1989 update

In 1987, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally adopted an interim toxicity equivalency factor (TEF) procedure (see PB89 125041), which has been used in addressing a variety of situations of environmental contamination involving CDDs and CDFs. The method, published as Interim Procedures for Estimating Risks Associated with Exposures to Mixtures of Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and -Dibenzofurans (CDDs and CDFs), is republished as Part I of the document. Since the 1987 report was published, the EPA has been active in an international project aimed at adopting a common set of TEFs, the International TEFs/89 (I-TEFs/89), to promote consistency in addressing contamination involving CDDs and CDFs. The 1989 Update to the Interim Procedures for Estimating Risks Associated with Exposures to Mixtures of Chlorinated Dibenzo-p-Dioxins and -Dibenzofurans (CDDs and CDFs) identifies EPA's adoption of the I-TEFs/89 as a revision to the method currently in use. The 1989 Update is Part II of the document.
Exposure to violence and self-reported aggression among a sample of high school learners in the Stellenbosch district

The phenomenon of violence is an all-too-common experience for many people around the world. In South Africa the legacy of a system of institutionalised violence has influenced the fabric of this society. The consequences of violence on South African youth are of major concern for the country's future. This research examines the types and contexts of exposure to violence and the types of self-reported aggression in a sample of 426 adolescent learners from three schools in the Stellenbosch District. The role of gender in mediating the type and the location of violence exposure and aggressive behaviour is also explored in this study. A questionnaire consisting of modified versions of the Screen for Adolescent Violence Exposure (SAVE) and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) was administered to 187male and 239 female adolescents from three schools. The sample reported being exposed to moderately high levels of indirect violence in their community. This exposure was significantly correlated to high levels of self-reported aggression. Results from the Analyses of Variance indicated that females were exposed to more physical/verbal abuse at home, while males more frequently witnessed traumatic violence at school and in the community. The learners reported high levels of aggression, particularly with regard to physical aggression, verbal aggression and hostility. From these observations, females were found to be more hostile, while males demonstrated higher levels of physical aggression. Analysis of the gender differences suggested that Stellenbosch University http://scholar.sun.ac.za
Monosynaptic tracing maps brain-wide afferent oligodendrocyte precursor cell connectivity

Neurons form bona fide synapses with oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), but the circuit context of these neuron to OPC synapses remains incompletely understood. Using monosynaptically-restricted rabies virus tracing of OPC afferents, we identified extensive afferent synaptic inputs to OPCs residing in secondary motor cortex, corpus callosum, and primary somatosensory cortex of adult mice. These inputs primarily arise from functionally-interconnecting cortical areas and thalamic nuclei, demonstrating that OPCs have strikingly comprehensive synaptic access to brain-wide functionally-related projection networks. Quantification of these inputs revealed excitatory and inhibitory components that are consistent in number across brain regions and stable in barrel cortex despite whisker trimming-induced sensory deprivation.