Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual-Modified Lignin-Assembled Multilayer Microsphere with Excellent Pb2+ Capture

With the continuous research on lignin-based sorbents, there are still limitations in the research of spherical sorbents with a high adsorption capacity for Pb2+. In order to solve the problem of low adsorption effect, alkali lignin (AL) was modified and assembled to increase the adsorption active sites. In this work, we used dual-modified lignin (DML) as a raw material to assemble a singular lignin-based multilayer microsphere (LMM) with sodium alginate (SA) and dopamine. The prepared adsorbent had various active functional groups and spherical structures; the specific surface area was 2.14 m2/g and the average pore size was 8.32 nm. The adsorption process followed the Freundlich isotherm and the second-order kinetic model. Therefore, the LMM adsorbed Pb2+ ascribed by the electrostatic attraction and surface complexation; the adsorption capacity was 250 mg/g. The LMM showed a selective adsorption performance for Pb2+ and the adsorption capacity followed the order Pb2+ (187.4 mg/g) > Cu2+(168.0 mg/g) > Mn2+(166.5 mg/g). After three cycles, the removal efficiency of Pb2+ by the LMM was 69.34%, indicating the reproducibility of LMM.
Endoplasmic reticulum stress triggered autophagy and regulated the phenotype transformation of rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts via the IRE1/JNK pathway

Background Previous studies have indicated that endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress may actively promote the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by evoking autophagy. However, the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. This study aimed to explore the mechanism of the ER stress-autophagy pathway in regulating the phenotype transformation of rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts (RASFs). Methods Synovial tissue was obtained from RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patients during joint replacement surgery. ER stress/autophagy signature markers were examined in synovial tissue by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot, and immunohistochemistry. Phenotype transformation of RASFs, including increased cell proliferation and invasion capability, was measured by CCK-8 assay and transwell invasion assay. Signaling pathways were further investigated and inositol requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) was down-regulated in RASFs by transfecting specific short hairpin RNA-ERN1 (shRNA-ERN1) carried by lentiviral vectors. Results The expression of ER stress/autophagy pathway-associated proteins, including GRP78, IRE1, protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), and LC3, was significantly increased in RA synovium compared with OA synovium. After stimulation with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in vitro, the proliferation and invasion ability of RASFs were upregulated, while this phenomenon could be inhibited by 4-PBA (ER stress inhibitor) or 3-MA (autophagy inhibitor). The expression of IRE1 and p-JNK in particular, occurred in an obviously time-dependent manner after stimulation with TNF-α. Moreover, the proliferation and invasion of RASFs were inhibited after transfection with sh-RNA-ERN1 to downregulate IRE1 expression. Conclusions ER stress triggered autophagy via the IRE1/JNK pathway to regulate the phenotype transformation of RASFs, indicating an important role of the ER stress-autophagy pathway in the pathological process of synovitis in RA.
Evidence for the evolution of native plant response to mycorrhizal fungi in post‐agricultural grasslands

Abstract Plant–microbe interactions play an important role in structuring plant communities. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are particularly important. Nonetheless, increasing anthropogenic disturbance will lead to novel plant–AMF interactions, altering longstanding co‐evolutionary trajectories between plants and their associated AMF. Although emerging work shows that plant–AMF response can evolve over relatively short time scales due to anthropogenic change, little work has evaluated how plant AMF response specificity may evolve due to novel plant–mycorrhizal interactions. Here, we examine changes in plant–AMF interactions in novel grassland systems by comparing the mycorrhizal response of plant populations from unplowed native prairies with populations from post‐agricultural grasslands to inoculation with both native prairie AMF and non‐native novel AMF. Across four plant species, we find support for evolution of differential responses to mycorrhizal inocula types, that is, mycorrhizal response specificity, consistent with expectations of local adaptation, with plants from native populations responding most to native AMF and plants from post‐agricultural populations responding most to non‐native AMF. We also find evidence of evolution of mycorrhizal response in two of the four plant species, as overall responsiveness to AMF changed from native to post‐agricultural populations. Finally, across all four plant species, roots from native prairie populations had lower levels of mycorrhizal colonization than those of post‐agricultural populations. Our results report on one of the first multispecies assessment of local adaptation to AMF. The consistency of the responses in our experiment among four species provides evidence that anthropogenic disturbance may have unintended impacts on native plant species' association with AMF, causing evolutionary change in the benefit native plant species gain from native symbioses.
Rhetorical Structure of Research Acknowledgment Sections in Master’s Thesis Manuscripts

This study was conducted to establish the rhetorical patterns of master’s thesis acknowledgment sections in different masters’ degree programs of one of the leading state universities in the Philippines. The analysis of the fifty-one (51) randomly sampled research acknowledgments revealed that the research acknowledgments from different programs follow the general framework proposed by Hyland (2004). However, some specific moves and steps in the acknowledgments sections under study are not consistent with the model provided by Hyland. This implies that the research acknowledgment section can be written in a variety of styles depending on the orientation of the writer.
Point Prevalence and Antibiogram of Cefotaxime-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Isolated from Food Animals and In-Contact Humans at Abattoirs, Animal Market, and Farms in Southeast, Nigeria

The spread of cefotaxime-resistant (CTX-R) Enterobacteriaceae in food animals constitutes a serious public health risk especially to humans in close proximity. We determined the point prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profile of CTX-R Enterobacteriaceae among food animals and in-contact humans in Southeast Nigeria. A total of 1,440 animals (cattle – 416, chicken – 296, goat – 287, pig – 283, sheep – 158) faecal and 406 human hand swab samples were randomly collected, enriched in peptone broth overnight and the Enterobacteriaceae were isolated on cefotaxime (5μg/ml) supplemented MacConkey agar. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed on 430 randomly selected isolates from Abia (124), Ebonyi (170), and Enugu (145). The overall point prevalence of CTX-R Enterobacteriaceae in Southeast Nigeria was 84% (1549/1846) while the rates ranged between 76 ± 2.0% (95% CI 72 – 80%) to 88 ± 1.8 % (95% CI 84 – 91%) among the five states. All the 430 isolates subjected to AST were resistant to cefotaxime, ampicillin, and aztreonam while 91%, 80%, 76%, and 66% were resistant to ceftazidime, sulfamethoxazole /trimethoprim, tetracycline, and streptomycin respectively. Less than 40% of the isolates were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, norfloxacin, enrofloxacin, meropenem, and ofloxacin. The predominant resistance pattern in this study was ceftazidime-cefotaxime-aztreonam-ampicillin-streptomycin sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim-tetracycline. The resistances observed among the isolates varied between abattoir, animal market and farms isolates. However, over 96% of the isolates had a multiple antibiotic resistance index (MARI) greater than 0.2, indicating a high-risk source of contamination.
A New Bio-Inspired Hybrid Cable-Driven Robot (HCDR) to Design More Realistic Snakebots

Bioinspired robots are useful tools to study complex biomechanical processes of animal locomotion. Key movements and kinematic parameters are under the control of experimenters, which is impossible to perform when experimenting with living animals. The primary challenge to test biological hypotheses is designing realistic robots taking inspiration from swimming snakes. Yet, underlying biomechanics of undulatory swimming i.e., anguilliform swimming, remains poorly understood. Many of underwater snakebots are made of rigid segments that form a broken-line system, unlike the skeleto-muscular systems of living snakes include more than 200 vertebrae, conferring an extreme fluidity. This paper introduces a novel design based on hybrid continuum cable driven robot (HCDR) developed through interaction with biologists and roboticists. This Biology-Push design significantly increases the fluidity and freedom of the robot's motion. Thus, improved mimic snake's locomotion is given using cable-driven to represent linkages between muscles and vertebrae providing good fluidity. In addition, the association of rigid and flexible parts allows a homogeneous distribution of actuators and masses to design autonomous swimming snake robot. Combining literature data and kinematic of swimming snakes’ analyses, we implemented a kinematic model to control prototype’ motion in both a plane and a volume. Finally, a comparative study between the device kinematics and the snake's movements is carried out.
Towards an efficient indicator of habitat quality for Eastern Curlews on their intertidal feeding areas

ABSTRACT Migratory shorebirds feed in intertidal wetlands during the winter non-breeding season, to meet their daily needs and accumulate reserves for the flight to their breeding grounds. However, these habitats may be impacted by development. Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) populations are declining in Australia, where we assessed relationships among the curlews’ feeding behaviours, prey types, broad substrate types, feeding microhabitat preferences, and population density, across 11 tidal flats in Moreton Bay, South East Queensland, Australia. Most prey were crustaceans, of varied size. Within flats, the types and rates of feeding actions, and feeding success, varied with sex, microhabitat and tidal stage. Among different flats, the estimated rate of prey biomass intake was strongly correlated with curlew density, explaining 57 per cent of its variation (2–77 birds/100 ha); whereas neither feeding attempts nor successful feeding acts per unit time were good density predictors. Substrate resistance was negatively correlated with both biomass intake and curlew density, because curlews were able to use their long bills to extract larger prey from deep burrows in more penetrable flats. The curlews, therefore, chose feeding areas directly according to food supply, but the substrate penetrability provides a promising rapid indicator of regional-scale variation in habitat quality.
Design and functional testing of a novel blood pulse wave velocity sensor

The multiphotodiode array (MPA) is a novel transmission photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to measure pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the finger. To validate the MPA, a setup was built to generate a red laser dot traveling over the MPA with known and constant scanning velocities. These scanning velocities were chosen to include speeds at least twice as high as those found in the normal range of PWV in healthy populations and were set at 12.9, 25.8, 36, or 46.7 m/s. The aim of this study was to verify the functionality of the MPA: performing local noninvasive PWV measurements. To illustrate the applicability of the MPA in clinical practice, an in vivo pilot study was conducted using the flow-mediated dilation (FMD) technique. The in vitro accuracy of the MPA was ±0.2%, 0.3%, 0.5%, and 0.6% at the applied scanning velocities. The MPA can measure PWVs with a maximum deviation of 3.0%. The in vivo pilot study showed a PWV before the FMD of 1.1±0.2 m/s. These results suggest that this novel MPA can reliably and accurately measure PWV within clinically relevant ranges and even well beyond.
The Role of Inflammatory Cytokines in the Pathogenesis of Colorectal Carcinoma—Recent Findings and Review

The inflammatory process plays a significant role in the development of colon cancer (CRC). Intestinal cytokine networks are critical mediators of tissue homeostasis and inflammation but also impact carcinogenesis at all stages of the disease. Recent studies suggest that inflammation is of greater importance in the serrated pathway than in the adenoma-carcinoma pathway. Interleukins have gained the most attention due to their potential role in CRC pathogenesis and promising results of clinical trials. Malignant transformation is associated with the pro-tumorigenic and anti-tumorigenic cytokines. The harmony between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors is crucial to maintaining homeostasis. Immune cells in the tumor microenvironment modulate immune sensitivity and facilitate cancer escape from immune surveillance. Therefore, clarifying the role of underlying cytokine pathways and the effects of their modulation may be an important step to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy.
CCL3 Promotes Proliferation of Colorectal Cancer Related with TRAF6/NF-κB Molecular Pathway

Chemokine C-C motif chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3) plays an important role in the invasion and metastasis of malignant tumors. For developing new therapeutic targets and antitumor drugs, the effect of chemokine CCL3 and the related cytokine network on colorectal cancer should be investigated. This study used cell, tissue, and animal experiments to prove that CCL3 is highly expressed in colorectal cancer and confirmed that CCL3 can promote the proliferation of cancer cells, and its expression is closely related to TRAF6/NF-κB molecular pathway. In addition, protein chip technology was used to examine colorectal cancer tissue samples and identify the key factors of chemokine CCL3 and the toll-like receptors/nuclear factor-κB (TLR/NF-κB) pathway in cancer and metastatic lymph nodes. Furthermore, the lentiviral vector technology was employed for transfection to construct interference and overexpression cell lines. The experimental results reveal the mechanism of CCL3 and TNF receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6)/NF-κB pathway-related factors and their effects on the proliferation of colon cancer cells. Finally, the expression and significance of CCL3 in colorectal cancer tissues and its correlation with clinical pathology were studied by immunohistochemistry. Also, the results confirmed that CCL3 and C-C motif chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) were expressed in adjacent tissues, colorectal cancer tissues, and metastatic cancer. The expression level was correlated with the clinical stage and nerve invasion. The expression of chemokine CCL3 and receptor CCR5 was positively correlated with the expression of TRAF6 and NF-κB and could promote the proliferation, invasion, and migration of colorectal cancer cells through TRAF6 and NF-κB.
QuadRunner: A Transformable Quasi-Wheel Quadruped

This paper presents QuadRunner, a transformable quasi-wheel legged robot that achieves both quadruped locomotion and wheel locomotion by exploiting a novel semicircular leg-wheel design with a Trotting Wheel gait. We built upon the Stanford Doggo open architecture platform and integrated it with a transformable leg-wheel design to enhance its locomotion capabilities. On its gait control, improvements were made to its trot gait kinematics with end-effector considerations as well as the design of a new trotting wheel gait. Our proposed locomotion strategy found that the robot's legged locomotion improves by an average speed of 10%. In addition, wheel to leg transition takes around 300 ms, and the speed of its wheel locomotion can reach more than five times its body-length/s (2.2 m/s) on flat terrain. Lastly, detailed experiments are conducted to observe the wheel-leg transition performance and gait verification under the absence of foot contact sensors.
A Novel Passive Mechanism for Flying Robots to Perch onto Surfaces

Perching onto objects can allow flying robots to stay at a desired height at low or no cost of energy. This paper presents a novel passive mechanism for aerial perching onto smooth surfaces. This mechanism is made from a bistable mechanism and a soft suction cup. Different from existing designs, it can be easily attached onto and detached from a surface, but it can also hold a large weight when attached to a surface. Further, the mechanism can still work when the suction cup is not precisely aligned with the surface, alleviating the requirement for precise motion control of flying robots. The attachment and detachment are facilitated by the bistable mechanism, while the strong holding is enabled by a locking mechanism that can disable the bistable mechanism. We conduct experiments to characterize the required forces for successful attachments and detachments. We also equip the perching mechanism onto a quadcopter to demonstrate it can be successfully used for perching onto smooth surfaces (e.g., glass).
Human-Like Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Vehicles Based on Spatiotemporal Geometric Transformation

Human-driven vehicles and different levels of autonomous vehicles are expected to coexist on roads in the future. However, autonomous systems behave differently from their human-driver counterparts, these two behaviors are incompatible with one another, thereby negatively impacting traffic efficiency and safety. Herein, we present the construction of human-like trajectories for use in autonomous vehicles as a possible solution to this issue. We present a trajectory planning method based on the spatiotemporal geometric transformation of driving scenarios to generate human-like trajectories. Speed and safety redundancy data were collected through driving tests to understand human driving behaviors. Self-driving scenarios were abstracted as a Lorentz coordinate system under a three-dimensional Minkowski space-time. A surrounding-manifold tensor equation was established using differential geometry theory to depict the relationship between the trajectory constraints and the geometric spatiotemporal background. A metric tensor field can be solved from the equation to construct the corresponding “volcano space-time,” which is a three-dimensional general Riemannian space for placing the subject vehicle and the surroundings. The geodesics of the volcano space-time are solved using the geodesic equation and are projected back into the three-dimensional Minkowski space-time. Geodesic trajectories were fitted as Bézier curves in this study and corrected according to the vehicle dynamics constraints for trackability. In simulation and real vehicle tests, trajectories generated using the proposed algorithm exhibited collision avoidance and trackability, and the algorithm offered behaviors that were similar to those of human drivers under the same scenarios.
Detecting fake-review buyers using network structure: Direct evidence from Amazon

Significance Online reviews significantly impact consumers’ decisions and are seen as crucial to the success of online markets. Despite this, the prevalence of fake reviews is arguably higher than ever, despite two decades of academic research on identifying and regulating them. We use data in which we directly observe which products buy fake reviews, and study how to identify them. We show that products buying fake reviews are highly clustered in the product reviewer network, due to their reliance on common reviewers. This allows us to detect them with high accuracy using both supervised and unsupervised methods. Unlike approaches relying on reviews’ text, this approach is more robust to manipulation by sellers. Moreover, it is scalable and generalizable to many settings.
Esculentoside A could attenuate apoptosis and inflammation in TNBS-induced ulcerative colitis via inhibiting the nuclear translocation of NF-κB

Background Esculentoside A (EsA) has had a remarkable curative effect on a variety of experimental acute and chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. However, the role of EsA in the pathological process of ulcerative colitis (UC) is still unknown. Methods Rat colonic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were identified by immunofluorescence. The effect of EsA and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the viability, proliferation, and apoptosis of SMCs was explored via 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EdU) staining, flow cytometry, and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining, respectively. The changes of apoptosis-related proteins were performed via western blotting. The expression and nuclear translocation of NF-κB were detected via western blotting, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and immunofluorescence staining, respectively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α. Results The EsA treatment greatly up-regulated the viability of LPS-suppressed SMCs. The LPS-induced cell apoptosis was significantly reversed by EsA treatment, which was achieved via down-regulating Bax and cleaved caspase-3 expression and up-regulating Bcl-2 expression. In addition, LPS-induced IL-6, TNF-α expression and NF-κB activation were also largely decreased when treated with EsA. In vivo, the TNBS-induced colon injury including crypt destruction and crypt deformation, disorder, epithelial cell remains or complete destruction, and inflammatory cell infiltration was recovered by EsA treatment. The secretion of IL-6 and TNF-α in the serum of the model group was also down-regulated by EsA treatment. The expression of Bax, cleaved caspase-3, and Bcl-2 showed similar trends as those observed in the in vitro experiments. Conclusions Our data provides supportive evidence that EsA can relieve the symptoms of UC and be used as a drug candidate for the treatment of UC.
Characterization of the elastic modulus of ceramic–metal composites with physical and mechanical properties by ultrasonic technique

Abstract The scope of this study, that is, the effect of the elastic modulus obtained by ultrasonic method on the physical and mechanical properties of tungsten carbide (WC)-based ceramic–metal composites, which have Ni and Co metallic binder composition produced by powder metallurgy and represented by high strength and hardness criteria, was investigated. In order to obtain composite samples in the study, it was sintered in a microwave furnace at different temperatures to combine the powder particles prepared at the rate of 60% Ni, 20% Co, and 20% WC by weight. Then, the velocities and longitudinal attenuation values of longitudinal and shear ultrasonic waves along the composite sample were measured using the ultrasonic pulse-echo method. The elastic modulus of the composites was determined using ultrasonic velocities and sample density. Hardness testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were also performed. The results show that the elastic modulus increases with the increase in sintering temperature and ultrasonic wave speeds, but decreases with the longitudinal attenuation value, considering the SEM images and XRD analysis. There is also a linear relationship between elastic modulus and stiffness.