Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Suppressor of cytokine signaling 3-derived peptide as a therapeutic for inflammatory and oxidative stress-induced damage to the retina

Purpose Inflammation and oxidative stress are contributing factors to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other retinal diseases. We tested a cell penetrating peptide from the kinase inhibitory region of intracellular checkpoint inhibitor Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 (R9-SOCS3-KIR) peptide for its ability to blunt the inflammatory or oxidative pathways leading to AMD. Methods We used Anaphylatoxin C5a to mimic the effect of activated complement, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and TNFα to stimulate inflammation, and paraquat to induce mitochondrial oxidative stress. We used a human RPE cell line (ARPE-19) as proliferating cells and a mouse macrophage cell line (J774A.1) to follow cell propagation by microscopy or cell titer assays. We evaluated inflammatory pathways by monitoring nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65 and MAP kinase p38, and we used qRT-PCR and Western blots to evaluate induction of inflammatory markers. In differentiated ARPE-19 monolayers, we evaluated the integrity of tight junction proteins by microscopy and measurement of transepithelial electrical resistance. We used intraperitoneal injection of sodium iodate to test the ability of R9-SOC3-KIR to prevent RPE and retinal injury as assessed by fundoscopy, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and histology. Results R9-SOCS3-KIR treatment suppressed C5a-induced nuclear translocation of the NF-kB activation domain p65 in undifferentiated ARPE-19 cells. TNF-mediated damage to tight junction proteins in RPE and the loss of transepithelial electrical resistance were prevented in the presence of R9-SOCS3-KIR. R9-SOCS3-KIR prevented the increased expression of genes related to inflammation in response to C5a treatment. R9-SOCS3-KIR also blocked lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induction of cyclooxygenase and inflammatory markers including IL-6, MCP1, COX-1 and IL-1β. R9-SOCS3-KIR prevented paraquat mediated cell death and enhanced the levels of antioxidant effectors. Daily eye drop instillation of R9-SOCS3-KIR protected against retinal injury caused by i.p. administration of sodium iodate. Conclusion R9-SOCS3-KIR blocks the induction of inflammatory signaling in cell culture and reduces retinal damage in a widely used model of RPE/retina oxidative injury. Since this peptide can be administered by corneal instillation, this treatment may offer a convenient way to slow the progression of ocular diseases arising from inflammation and chronic oxidative stress.
Vascular injury associated with ethanol intake is driven by AT1 receptor and mitochondrial dysfunction

Background Renin-angiotensin (Ang II)-aldosterone system (RAAS) is crucial for the cardiovascular risk associated with excessive ethanol consumption. Disturbs in mitochondria have been implicated in multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, if mitochondria dysfunction contributes to ethanol-induced vascular dysfunction is still unknown. We investigated whether ethanol leads to vascular dysfunction via RAAS activation, mitochondria dysfunction, and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS). Methods Male C57/BL6J or mt-keima mice (6–8-weeks old) were treated with ethanol (20% vol./vol.) for 12 weeks with or without Losartan (10 mg/kg). Results Ethanol induced aortic hypercontractility in an endothelium-dependent manner. PGC1α (a marker of biogenesis), Mfn2, (an essential protein for mitochondria fusion), as well as Pink-1 and Parkin (markers of mitophagy), were reduced in aortas from ethanol-treated mice. Disturb in mitophagy flux was further confirmed in arteries from mt-keima mice. Additionally, ethanol increased mtROS and reduced SOD2 expression. Strikingly, losartan prevented vascular hypercontractility, mitochondrial dysfunction, mtROS, and restored SOD2 expression. Both MnTMPyP (SOD2 mimetic) and CCCP (a mitochondrial uncoupler) reverted ethanol-induced vascular dysfunction. Moreover, L-NAME (NOS inhibitor) and EUK 134 (superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetic) did not affect vascular response in ethanol group, suggesting that ethanol reduces aortic nitric oxide (NO) and H2O2 bioavailability. These responses were prevented by losartan. Conclusion AT1 receptor modulates ethanol-induced vascular hypercontractility by promoting mitochondrial dysfunction, mtROS, and reduction of NO and H2O2 bioavailability. Our findings shed a new light in our understanding of ethanol-induced vascular toxicity and open perspectives of new therapeutic approaches for patients with disorder associated with abusive ethanol drinking.
NetAn: A Python Toolbox Leveraging Network Topology for Comprehensive Gene Annotation Enrichments

Summary Gene annotation enrichment analysis is the gold standard for studying the biological context of a set of genes, but available tools often overlook important network properties of the underlying gene regulatory system. This paper introduces the NETwork ANnotation enrichment package, NetAn, which augments annotation analysis with approaches such as the inference of closely related genes to include local neighbors in the analysis, and the separation of over-representation analyses based on network clustering, cliques, and the extraction of separate components. By using NetAn, an example of how such approaches enhance the identification of pertinent annotations in human gene sets is demonstrated. Availability and Implementation The software is implemented in Python under a GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE V3, and can be downloaded from https://github.com/rasma774/netan. Contact rasmus.magnusson@his.se Supplementary Information The code relevant to this article is available in the doc/article material folder of the NetAn repository.
Astronomy and Computing

c t Given the ever-increasing number of time-domain astronomical surveys, employing robust, interpre-tative, and automated data-driven classification schemes is pivotal. Based on graph theory, we present new data-driven classification heuristics for spectral data. A spectral classification scheme of Type II supernovae (SNe II) is proposed based on the phase relative to the maximum light in the V band and the end of the plateau phase. We utilize a compiled optical data set that comprises 145 SNe and 1595 optical spectra in 4000–9000 Å. Our classification method naturally identifies outliers and arranges the different SNe in terms of their major spectral features. We compare our approach to the off-the-shelf umap manifold learning and show that both strategies are consistent with a continuous variation of spectral types rather than discrete families. The automated classification naturally reflects the fast evolution of Type II SNe around the maximum light while showcasing their homogeneity close to the end of the plateau phase. The scheme we develop could be more widely applicable to unsupervised time series classification or characterization of other functional data.
Analyse et modélisation de l'acidification en mer Méditerranée

L’objectif de cette these est de contribuer a l’estimation des concentrations du CO2 anthropique (CANT) et de l’acidification en Mer Mediterranee, ainsi que d’estimer les variations futures de cette acidification. Dans un premier temps, il est necessaire d’etudier la formation et le devenir des masses d’eau en Mediterranee, ainsi que la distribution des parametres hydrologiques (temperature, salinite, oxygene dissous) et du systeme des carbonates (alcalinite totale et carbone inorganique total) en se basant sur des donnees collectees durant la mission MedSeA, realisee entre le 2 mai et le 2 juin 2013. Les masses d’eau ont ete caracterisees et des regressions lineaires entre l’alcalinite totale et la salinite (AT-S) d’une part, et entre le carbone total inorganique et la salinite (CT-S) d’autre part, ont ete etablies pour chaque sous-bassin mediterraneen. De plus, le calcul des coefficients de melange des masses d’eau dans les deux bassins mediterraneens principaux, permet d’etudier l’evolution des masses d’eau dans cette mer entre les annees 2008 et 2013. Dans un deuxieme temps, les concentrations du CANT sont estimees par l’approche TrOCA. Toutes les eaux mediterraneennes semblent contaminees par le CO2 anthropique avec des concentrations (entre 35,2 et 101,9 µmol kg-1 au dessous de 300 m) bien plus elevees que celles enregistrees dans les autres oceans. Le CANT est donc, malheureusement, efficacement transfere de l’atmosphere vers les eaux mediterraneennes. En general, le bassin Oriental est moins contamine par le CANT que le bassin Occidental. La variation d’acidification (ΔpHpreindustrielle-2013) en Mer Mediterranee varie de 0,055 a 0,156 unites de pH. Elle indique que toutes les eaux mediterraneennes sont deja acidifiees, surtout celles du bassin Occidental ou le ΔpH est rarement inferieur a 0,1 unite de pH. En se basant sur le scenario le plus optimiste de l’IPCC (B1, 2001), le modele etabli dans cette etude predit en 2100 une augmentation de l’acidification egale a 0,5263 dans le bassin Oriental et 0,5571 dans le bassin Occidental. Avec le scenario le plus pessimiste d’IPCC (A1F1 ; 2001), on prevoit en 2100 une augmentation de ΔpH egale a 1,3998 et 1,4103 respectivement dans le bassin Oriental et le bassin Occidental. De plus, ce modele indique que le niveau d’acidification est tres rapide actuellement et aura tendance a augmenter d’une facon encore plus rapide dans quelques annees. Bien que les deux bassins mediterraneens sont sursatures respectivement en calcite et en aragonite, le bassin Occidental est caracterise par des concentrations plus faibles en ions carbonates et des degres de saturation inferieurs a ceux enregistres dans l’autre bassin. Ceci indique qu’a long terme la diminution du pH pourrait influencer la dissolution des ions carbonates et ensuite l’activite biologique de plusieurs organismes marins, surtout les calcifiants.
Deletion of FAT1 in hybrid EMT cells stimulates the migration of neighboring non-mutant cells through secretion of extracellular vesicles

Cells in hybrid state of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) have been shown to be responsible for tumor cell metastasis. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the morphological changes and acquisition of invasive phenotypes in hybrid EMT cells are still unknown. Here, we introduced the deletion of a proto-cadherin and well described oncogene, FAT1, in skin carcinoma cells to generate a hybrid state of EMT. Surprisingly, the FAT1 knock-out (KO) cells were less motile than the parental non-mutated cell line they were derived from. However, we observed that FAT1 KO cells secrete specific factors in the form of extra-cellular vesicles into their microenvironment, which promote the migration of surrounding non-mutant cells. When stimulated with these extracellular vesicles, groups of non-mutated parental cells collectively migrated faster and formed finger-like instabilities at the migrating front. Furthermore, we found that the actomyosin contractility of FAT1 KO cells in hybrid EMT states was much lower than the parental cells. It appeared that the factors secreted by FAT1 KO cells relaxed the traction forces in recipient cells. This force release likely fostered the scattering and migration of non-mutated cells surrounding FAT1 mutant cells. Thus, we characterized a non-autonomous promotion of cell invasiveness in the cancer cells surrounding FAT1-deficient cells. Figure: Schematic showing how FAT1 deletion stimulates the migration of neighboring non mutant cells. FAT1 KO cells secrete extracellular vesicles that carry factors that promote migration of non-mutant control cells, possibly through relaxation of traction forces in the recipient cells.
CONVENTION ON MIGRATORY SPECIES

The geographical designations employed in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the CMS Secretariat (or the United Nations Environment Programme) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The responsibility for the contents of the document rests exclusively with its author. Summary:
The Impact of Wide-Scale Sport Events on Local Development: An Assessment of the XXth Torino Olympics Through the Sustainability Report

This paper examines the process and outcome of the sustainability reporting on the last Olympic Winter Games, held in Torino in February 2006, basing on the experience of Bocconi University as scientific partner in such process. Compared to previous Games, Torino Olympics were characterized by a structured sustainability strategy, whose accountability process turns out to be useful in analysing and discussing the contribution to territorial development for hosting areas related to the organisation of the event.
Hexagonal Nested Loop Fractal Antenna for Quad Band Wireless Applications

Abstract A compact hexagonal nested loop fractal antenna with L shaped slot on the ground plane is presented for multiband applications. In this paper, the effect of fractal iterations and position of L-slot on ground plane are optimized for better performance of the antenna. Multiple hexagon loops excite multiple resonant modes at 1.7, 2.4, 3.1, 4.5 and 6 GHz and an L-shaped slot on the ground plane helps to achieve wide bandwidth response with better impedance matching in the 4.25–6.41 GHz frequency band. An equivalent circuit of the proposed antenna is modelled and the same is verified using ADS. Reflection coefficient and radiation pattern are presented to further confirm the performance of the proposed design for wireless applications. The proposed antenna is fabricated on a low-cost FR4 substrate of dimensions 40×32×1.6 mm3 and measured results show good agreement with simulation results.
On the Mechanics of Lutoclines and Fluid Mud

ROSS, M.A., and MEHTA, A.J., 1989. On the Mechanics of Lutoclines and Fluid Mud. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 5. Fort Lauderdale (Florida). ISSN 0749-0208. The need to predict cohesive sediment transport rates in estuaries requires that the characteristics of the vertical suspension profile including lutocline and fluid mud layers be quantitatively understood. Cohesive sediment suspensions behave as stratified flows with mixing non-linearly dependent on concentration gradient. Additional complexity arises from the non-linear settling velocity dependence on concentration. Lutoclines form and persist in local regions of vertical diffusive flux minima. Near-bed fluid mud layers develop from rapid bed erosion or suspension deposition rates relative to upward mixing fluxes. The upper interface of the fluid mud layer, also a lutocline, represents a local maximum in the net (sum of settling and diffusion) downward settling flux. The lower fluid mud/bed interface, defined on the basis of soil mechanical properties, is in general quite different from the zero velocity plane. This is because the zero velocity plane is very sensitive to the time histories of the hydrodynamic and rheological properties of the suspension, while the bed level is primarily dependent on the degree of consolidation and stress loading. ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Concentration profiles, estuarine sediments, mud transport, sedimentation.
Sampling Biases and New Ways of Addressing the Significance of Trauma in Neandertals.

SAMPLING BIASES AND NEW WAYS OF ADDRESSING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRAUMA IN NEANDERTALS by Virginia Hutton Estabrook Chair: Milford H. Wolpoff There is a popular perception that trauma was quite frequent in Neandertals because of harsh environmental conditions and their strenuous lifestyle. Many well-known individual Neandertals exhibit injuries, but they are mostly well-preserved, male and old. In previous examinations of patterns of trauma in Neandertals, frequencies of trauma by element were not addressed and the samples of Neandertals used represented neither a specific Neandertal population nor a demographically representative sample. The hypothesis that trauma in Neandertals occurs more frequently than in other groups has never been systematically tested. This thesis reports the development and results of new methods designed to address this question in a statistically valid manner.
The Adaptive Cline at LDH ( Lactate Dehydrogenase ) in Killifish Fundulus heteroclitus Remains Stationary After 40 Years of Warming Estuaries

Journal of Heredity 2014:105(4):566–571 doi:10.1093/jhered/esu016 Advance Access publication March 11, 2014 Brief Communications 567 adult or juvenile life (Duvernell et al. 2008; Able et al. 2012). Estuarine habitat along the Atlantic coast of the United States exhibits a dramatic transition in mean sea surface temperature from about 10 °C in the north to about 23°C in the south. Fundulus heteroclitus inhabits this transitional zone, and its ability to adapt to these temperature fluctuations has been suggested to be in part the result of variation in the metabolic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) expressed principally in muscle tissue. LDH in Fundulus has been one of the most well-studied latitudinal clines in evolutionary biology and has been cited to have temperature-dependent kinetic characteristics that associate with differences in swimming performance, metabolism, developmental rates, as well as survivorship at high temperatures (Powers et al. 1991). The gene that codes for LDH has 2 allozyme alleles distinguished by a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, Powell et al. 1992). These allozyme alleles vary in frequency in a clinal fashion along the coast, where populations of F. heteroclitus in Maine are fixed for 1 allele, whereas those in Georgia are fixed for the other allele (Powers and Place 1978). A field survey of LDH alleles in Long Island indicated higher southern allele frequencies in populations near a warm water outflow from a nuclear power plant (Mitton 1973). Although these studies point to selection as a major driver of the LDH cline in Fundulus (Brown and Chapman 1991; Powers et al. 1991; Crawford and Powers 1992), it remains a possibility that neutral fixation of LDH and historical population differentiation played a role in the observed clinal pattern (Hilbish 1996; Strand et al. 2012). Powers and Place (1978) originally described the LDH cline in F. heteroclitus from samples collected in 1970–1972. Between 1970–1972 and 2008–2009, estuarine water temperatures have risen an average of 0.6 °C and 2.2 °C during summer and winter months, respectively (Figure 1; see also Maul et al. 2001; Nixon et al. 2004; Allen et al. 2008), and the distribution and abundance of several nearshore species have shifted northward (e.g., Jones et al. 2009, 2010; Nye et al. 2009). Given the strong evidence that LDH plays a role in thermal tolerance, we re-examined the LDH cline to test for microevolutionary response to warming estuaries. Although the original 1970–1972 survey utilized allozyme technology, we estimated allele frequencies of 2010 fishes at a SNP that determines electrophoretic differences at LDH (see Powell et al. 1992). We predicted that a range-wide response to increasing estuarine temperatures would shift the midpoint of the historical cline toward northern latitudes.
Effects of Debt Financing on Financial Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

© 2023 Immaculate Wayua Naomi. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. African Journal of Commercial
WORK STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG EFL TEACHERS WORKING IN KUWAIT PUBLIC SCHOOLS

: The focus of the study is to measure the stress and job satisfaction among EFL Teachers working in public schools in Kuwait. Several research questions were introduced to examine the relationships of the research variables. These questions and the hypotheses were as follow: (a) What is the average level of job satisfaction expressed by EFL teachers working in public schools in Kuwait? (b) Is there a gender difference in the average satisfaction among expressed EFL teachers working in public schools in Kuwait? and (c) What are the most predictable factors to job satisfaction among expressed EFL teachers working in public schools in Kuwait? Teachers were administered the modified Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). This study indicates that Kuwait EFL teachers were either dissatisfied with their job due to their work stress environment or exposure to their job and supervision requirements. Areas such as leadership and peers, school infrastructure, the school’s relationship with its local community, workload, staff supervision, class size, school communication networks, and ability utilization were the most satisfying areas reported. Meanwhile, compensation, school policies, and supervision-human relations were least satisfied in this study. A replication study involving a larger sample of males would be useful to add to our empirical database in this area.
Predicting Location-Based Green Energy Availability in Smart Buildings

Today, renewal energies have been gaining more attention across the globe due to their clean energy production. Solar energy is the most abundant renewable resource of energy on earth. Solar power represents a clean and green energy source in the energy transition era. Accordingly, the photovoltaic (PV) solar panel system is the most common way in which solar energy is captured. Companies that generate energy need to predict the amount of energy sold in the electricity pool day-ahead or intra-day to maintain power production and demand in balance. Additionally, the Return on Investment (ROI) is what everyone wants to know for investing in PV solar panels. Therefore, one of the concerns about solar panels is their efficiency due to the low reliability of certain renewable sources, including the variation of the weather conditions. Solar panels are highly dependent on how much sunlight they receive, and it’s difficult to predict the amount of power generated by solar panels. Thus, reducing uncertainty is a solution by an energy forecasting tool that can predict the output of solar panels throughout the year. In this research, a detailed procedure is proposed to forecast the output power of PV solar panels by different machine learning models. The goal is to achieve a best-fitting model which is more accurate by inspecting the data precisely. Several predictive models will be compared to identify the best and most suitable ones for the described case.
MULTISCALE MODELING AND SIMULATION OF NANOPARTICLE- REINFORCED DAMPING MATERIALS

Placement of numerous nanoparticles (CNT, BN, SiC etc.) into material matrix could be an advanced material design concepts showing the effect that molecule-level mechanism can have not only on strength of material, but also on vibration damping properties over the broader operational conditions. In these conditions, carbon nanotubes can act as a simple nanoscale spring and thus could be modeled via some continuum and structural mechanics approaches. However, the mechanisms involved in such materials need to be understood and the relevance to damping identified. The focus in this paper is directed toward the modeling approaches to a problem of multiscale vibration damping systems, providing a review of state of the art in damping behavior of CNT-reinforced polymeric materials, an analysis of energy dissipation mechanisms across the length scales, modeling strategies and their applications for prediction of damping. Computational results are compared to experimental outcomes. Our findings showed that nanoparticle-reinforced materials might be however good for damping applications, but reliable and reproducible multiscale modeling tools are still required.