julilili42/papers huggingface dataset:
Transmedia Character Studies
2023-03-13

Transmedia Character Studies provides a range of methodological tools and foundational vocabulary for the analysis of characters across and between various forms of multimodal, interactive, and even non-narrative or non-fictional media. This highly innovative work offers new perspectives on how to interrelate production discourses, media texts, and reception discourses, and how to select a suitable research corpus for the discussion of characters whose serial appearances stretch across years, decades, or even centuries. Each chapter starts from a different notion of how fictional characters can be considered, tracing character theories and models to approach character representations from perspectives developed in various disciplines and fields. This book will enable graduate students and scholars of transmedia studies, film, television, comics studies, video game studies, popular culture studies, fandom studies, narratology, and creative industries to conduct comprehensive, media-conscious analyses of characters across a variety of media.
Phosphoglucomutase comes into the spotlight
2023-03-13

This article comments on: Ortega-Martínez P, Roldán M, Díaz-Troya S, Florencio FJ. 2023. Stress response requires an efficient glycogen and central carbon metabolism connection by phosphoglucomutases in cyanobacteria. Journal of Experimental Botany 74, 1532–1550
Tailoring Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ surface Josephson junctions
2023-03-13

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (BSCCO) single crystals are promising for high-temperature superconducting electronic devices with ultimate performance. Recently, tailoring superconductivity in ultra-thin BSCCO locally has received wide attention and interest. In this work, we focus on controlling the superconductivity of the uppermost CuO2 double layer of the BSCCO crystal. Gold electrodes are deposited onto the freshly cleaved BSCCO surface by a high-vacuum in situ evaporation technique at room temperature, and then surface Josephson junctions (SJJs) between the two outermost superconducting CuO2 double layers are fabricated as a probe to evaluate the superconductivity of the uppermost double layer. We find that the junction transition temperature Tc′ as well as its critical current density jc depend systematically and reproducibly on the deposition rate of the gold electrode. The electric properties of the SJJs, spanning the range from completely degraded to almost as good as the intrinsic Josephson junctions inside the bulk, systematically reveal the evolutionary process of superconductivity of the uppermost BSCCO layer, extending the range for practical applications.
Designing Effective Multi-Target Drugs and Identifying Biomarkers in Recurrent Pregnancy Loss (RPL) Using In Vivo, In Vitro, and In Silico Approaches
2023-03-13

Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) occurs in approximately 5% of women. Despite an abundance of evidence, the molecular mechanism of RPL’s pathology remains unclear. Here, we report the protective role of polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) during RPL. We aimed to construct an RPL network utilizing GEO datasets and identified hub high-traffic genes. We also investigated whether the expressions of PLK1 were altered in the chorionic villi collected from women with RPL compared to those from healthy early pregnant women. Gene expression differences were evaluated using both pathway and gene ontology (GO) analyses. The identified genes were validated using in vivo and in vitro models. Mice with PLK1-overexpression and PLK1-knockdown in vitro models were produced by transfecting certain plasmids and si-RNA, respectively. The apoptosis in the chorionic villi, mitochondrial function, and NF-κB signaling activity was evaluated. To suppress the activation of PLK1, the PLK1 inhibitor BI2536 was administered. The HTR-8/SVneo and JEG-3 cell lines were chosen to establish an RPL model in vitro. The NF-κB signaling, Foxo signaling, PI3K/AKT, and endometrial cancer signaling pathways were identified via the RPL regulatory network. The following genes were identified: PLK1 as hub high-traffic gene and MMP2, MMP9, BAX, MFN1, MFN2, FOXO1, OPA1, COX15, BCL2, DRP1, FIS1, TRAF2, and TOP2A. Clinical samples were examined, and the results demonstrated that RPL patients had tissues with decreased PLK1 expression in comparison to women with normal pregnancies (p &lt; 0.01). In vitro, PLK1 knockdown induced the NF-κB signaling pathway and apoptosis activation while decreasing cell invasion, migration, and proliferation (p &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, the in vivo model proved that cell mitochondrial function and chorionic villi development are both hampered by PLK1 suppression. Our findings revealed that the PLK1/TRAF2/NF-κB axis plays a crucial role in RPL-induced chorionic villi dysfunction by regulating mitochondrial dynamics and apoptosis and might be a potential therapeutic target in the clinic.
Association of Estrogen Receptor 1 (ESR1) PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms and peripheral ESR1 mRNA levels with Alzheimer's disease
2023-03-13

Abstract Objectives Estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1) gene polymorphisms are associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ESR1 mRNA transcription is affected by polymorphisms in the first intronic region of the gene. ESR1 PvuII rs2234693 (NM 000125.3:c.453-397T &gt; C) and XbaI rs9340799 (NM 000125.3:c.453-351A &gt; G) polymorphisms have been shown to be associated with AD. In this study, we sought to determine the association of PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms with AD. We also examined whether PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms affect disease susceptibility by influencing ESR1 mRNA expression. Methods Genotyping was performed in 424 AD patients and 302 controls. The polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme digestion was used to determine the prevalence of the ESR1 polymorphisms. ESR1 mRNA expression was analyzed in blood cells of 85 patients and 53 age-matched controls by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results Our results showed no significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of ESR1 PvuII and XbaI polymorphisms between patients and controls but frequencies of the PvuII C and XbaI G alleles were significantly higher in patients with the APOE ε4 allele. ESR1 mRNA levels were significantly lower in AD patients compared with controls (p = 0.001). XbaI A allele is significantly associated with lower ESR1 mRNA levels (p = 0.044) and this association remained significant after adjusting for age, gender and APOE ε4 carrier status (p = 0.035). Conclusion Our study showed that the distribution of PvuII and XbaI alleles were associated with the APOE ε4 allele. The XbaI polymorphism may be associated with a higher risk of AD by altering ESR1 mRNA levels.
"edmund is trans he told me himself": Recognition in transgender Shakespeare fan fiction
2023-03-13

Recent years have seen a rise in transgender fiction—especially transgender fan fiction. In the latter practice, we find characters reimagined as transgender subjects with their unique circumstances remolded or recontextualized to make sense as a trans* narrative. This is a look at the process of recognition taking place in the creation of these works of fan fiction—both in the way of recognizing a character's suitability to carry transgender meaning and in how recognition plays a part in the transgender narrative presented.
Ice wedge polygon stability on steep slopes in West Greenland related to temperature and moisture dynamics of the active layer
2023-03-13

Abstract Ice wedge polygons on steep slopes have generally been described as being covered by periglacial sediments and, typically, the active layer on slopes becomes mobile during thaw periods, which can lead to solifluction. In West Greenland close to the ice margin, however, the active layer and ice wedge polygons are stable despite their occurrence on steep slopes with inclinations of ≥30°. We conducted a soil survey (including sampling for soil analyses and radiocarbon dating) in the Umimmalissuaq valley and installed a field station ~4 km east of the current ice margin to monitor soil temperature and water tension at depths of 10, 20 and 35 cm of the active layer on a steep, north‐facing slope in the middle of an ice wedge polygon from 2009 to 2015. Thawing and freezing periods lasted between 2 and 3 months and the active layer was usually completely frozen from November to April. We observed simultaneous and complete water saturation at all three depths of the active layer in one summer for 1 day. The amount of water in the active layer apparently was not enough to trigger solifluction during the summer thaw, even at slope inclinations above 30°. In addition, the dense shrub tundra absorbs most of the water during periods between thawing and freezing, which further stabilizes the slope. This process, together with the dry and continental climate caused by katabatic winds combined with no or limited frost heave, plays a crucial role in determining the stability of these slopes and can explain the presence of large‐scale stable ice wedge polygon networks in organic matter‐rich permafrost, which is about 5,000 years old. This study underlines the importance of soil hydrodynamics and local climate regime for landscape stability and differing intensities of solifluction processes in areas with strong geomorphological gradients and rising air temperatures.
Comment on egusphere-2023-86
2023-03-13

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Proxy-based reconstructions and climate model simulations of surface temperature trends during the Holocene disagree: While reconstructions show a cooling during the mid- and late Holocene, climate models show a continuous warming &ndash; a contradiction known as the Holocene temperature conundrum. Despite extensive research, the reason for the disagreement remains unclear. Both, missing processes in the models as well as biases in the proxies and the resulting reconstructions are possible sources of the conundrum. Here we compare our TransEBM v1.2 climate simulation as well as additional climate models of different complexity and Holocene temperature trends from the Temperature12k dataset (Kaufman et al., 2020b), with regards to model-data and model-model agreement. We show that models of all complexities disagree with mid-Holocene temperature trends in reconstructions and that this disagreement is almost independent of proxy and archive type. While, models show the highest agreement with summer temperature trends in reconstructions, our study shows that a trivial summer bias in proxies is not sufficient to explain the conundrum. Further effort to disentangle seasonal biases in proxies and the testing of potential misrepresentations in climate models, like anthropogenic land-use, in form of sensitivity experiments are needed to resolve the Holocene conundrum.
LogD-based modelling and ΔlogD as a proxy for pH-dependent action of ionizable chemicals reveal the relevance of both neutral and ionic species for fish embryotoxicity and possess great potential for practical application in the regulation of chemicals
2023-03-14

Depending on the ambient pH, ionizable substances are present in varying proportions in their neutral or charged form. The extent to which these two chemical species contribute to the pH-dependant toxicity of ionizable chemicals and whether intracellular ion trapping has a decisive influence in this context is controversially discussed. Against this background, we determined the acute toxicity of 24 ionizable substances at up to 4 different pH values on the embryonic development of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, and supplemented this dataset with additional data from the literature. The LC<sub>50</sub> for some substances (diclofenac, propranolol, fluoxetine) differed by a factor of even >10<sup>3</sup> between pH5 and pH9. To simulate the toxicity of 12 acids and 12 bases, six models to calculate a pH-dependant logD value as a proxy for the uptake of potentially toxic molecules were created based on different premises for the trans-membrane passage and toxic action of neutral and ionic species, and their abilities to explain the real LC<sub>50</sub> data set were assessed. Using this approach, we were able to show that both neutral and charged species are almost certainly taken up into cells according to their logD-based distribution, and that both species exert toxicity. Since two of the models that assume all intracellular molecules to be neutral overestimated the real toxicity, it must be concluded, that the toxic effect of a single charged intracellularly present molecule is, on the average, lower than that of a single neutral molecule. Furthermore, it was possible to attribute differences in toxicity at different pH values for these 24 ionizable substances to the respective deltas in logD at these pH levels with high accuracy, enabling particularly a full logD-based model on the basis of logP<sub>ow</sub> as a membrane passage descriptor to be used for predicting potential toxicities in worst-case scenarios from existing experimental studies, as stipulated in the process of registration of chemicals and the definition of Environmental Quality Standards (EQS).
Pattern completion and disruption characterize contextual modulation in the visual cortex
2023-03-14

Vision is fundamentally context-dependent, with neuronal responses influenced not just by local features but also by surrounding contextual information. In the visual cortex, studies using simple grating stimuli indicate that congruent stimuli - where the center and surround share the same orientation - are more inhibitory than when orientations are orthogonal, potentially serving redundancy reduction and predictive coding. Understanding these center-surround interactions in relation to natural image statistics is challenging due to the high dimensionality of the stimulus space, yet crucial for deciphering the neuronal code of real-world sensory processing. Utilizing large-scale recordings from mouse V1, we trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to predict and synthesize surround patterns that either optimally suppressed or enhanced responses to center stimuli, confirmed by in vivo experiments. Contrary to the notion that congruent stimuli are suppressive, we found that surrounds that completed patterns based on natural image statistics were facilitatory, while disruptive surrounds were suppressive. Applying our CNN image synthesis method in macaque V1, we discovered that pattern completion within the near surround occurred more frequently with excitatory than with inhibitory surrounds, suggesting that our results in mice are conserved in macaques. Further, experiments and model analyses confirmed previous studies reporting the opposite effect with grating stimuli in both species. Using the MICrONS functional connectomics dataset, we observed that neurons with similar feature selectivity formed excitatory connections regardless of their receptive field overlap, aligning with the pattern completion phenomenon observed for excitatory surrounds. Finally, our empirical results emerged in a normative model of perception implementing Bayesian inference, where neuronal responses are modulated by prior knowledge of natural scene statistics. In summary, our findings identify a novel relationship between contextual information and natural scene statistics and provide evidence for a role of contextual modulation in hierarchical inference
Sciatic nerve fractional anisotropy and neurofilament light chain protein are related to sensorimotor deficit of the upper and lower limbs in patients with type 2 diabetes
2023-03-14

Background Diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSPN) is one of the most prevalent and poorly understood diabetic microvascular complications. Recent studies have found that fractional anisotropy (FA), a marker for microstructural nerve integrity, is a sensitive parameter for the structural and functional nerve damage in DSPN. The aim of this study was to investigate the significance of proximal sciatic nerve’s FA on different distal nerve fiber deficits of the upper and lower limbs and its correlation with the neuroaxonal biomarker, neurofilament light chain protein (NfL). Materials and methods Sixty-nine patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and 30 healthy controls underwent detailed clinical and electrophysiological assessments, complete quantitative sensory testing (QST), and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance neurography of the sciatic nerve. NfL was measured in the serum of healthy controls and patients with T2DM. Multivariate models were used to adjust for confounders of microvascular damage. Results Patients with DSPN showed a 17% lower sciatic microstructural integrity compared to healthy controls ( p &amp;lt;0.001). FA correlated with tibial and peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) (r=0.6; p &amp;lt;0.001 and r=0.6; p &amp;lt;0.001) and sural sensory NCV (r=0.50; p &amp;lt;0.001). Participants with reduced sciatic nerve ́s FA showed a loss of function of mechanical and thermal sensation of upper (r=0.3; p&amp;lt;0.01 and r=0.3; p &amp;lt;0.01) and lower (r=0.5; p &amp;lt;0.001 and r=0.3; p =&amp;lt;0.01) limbs and reduced functional performance of upper limbs (Purdue Pegboard Test for dominant hand; r=0.4; p &amp;lt;0.001). Increased levels of NfL and urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) were associated with loss of sciatic nerve ́s FA (r=-0.5; p &amp;lt;0.001 and r= -0.3, p = 0.001). Of note, there was no correlation between sciatic FA and neuropathic symptoms or pain. Conclusion This is the first study showing that microstructural nerve integrity is associated with damage of different nerve fiber types and a neuroaxonal biomarker in DSPN. Furthermore, these findings show that proximal nerve damage is related to distal nerve function even before clinical symptoms occur. The microstructure of the proximal sciatic nerve and is also associated with functional nerve fiber deficits of the upper and lower limbs, suggesting that diabetic neuropathy involves structural changes of peripheral nerves of upper limbs too.
Superresolution imaging with multiparameter quantum metrology in passive remote sensing
2023-03-14

We study super-resolution imaging theoretically using a distant n-mode interferometer in the microwave regime for passive remote sensing, used e.g., for satellites like the "soil moisture and ocean salinity (SMOS)" mission to observe the surface of the Earth. We give a complete quantum mechanical analysis of multiparameter estimation of the temperatures on the source plane. We find the optimal detection modes by combining incoming modes with an optimized unitary that enables the most informative measurement based on photon counting in the detection modes and saturates the quantum Cram\\'er-Rao bound from the symmetric logarithmic derivative for the parameter set of temperatures. In our numerical analysis, we achieved a quantum-enhanced super-resolution by reconstructing an image using the maximum likelihood estimator with a pixel size of 3 km, which is ten times smaller than the spatial resolution of SMOS with comparable parameters. Further, we find the optimized unitary for uniform temperature distribution on the source plane, with the temperatures corresponding to the average temperatures of the image. Even though the corresponding unitary was not optimized for the specific image, it still gives a super-resolution compared to local measurement scenarios for the theoretically possible maximum number of measurements.
Neuroimaging in Primary Coenzyme-Q10-Deficiency Disorders
2023-03-14

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an endogenously synthesized lipid molecule. It is best known for its role as a cofactor within the mitochondrial respiratory chain where it functions in electron transfer and ATP synthesis. However, there are many other cellular pathways that also depend on the CoQ10 supply (redox homeostasis, ferroptosis and sulfide oxidation). The CoQ10 biosynthesis pathway consists of several enzymes, which are encoded by the nuclear DNA. The majority of these enzymes are responsible for modifications of the CoQ-head group (benzoquinone ring). Only three enzymes (PDSS1, PDSS2 and COQ2) are required for assembly and attachment of the polyisoprenoid side chain. The head-modifying enzymes may assemble into resolvable domains, representing COQ complexes. During the last two decades, numerous inborn errors in CoQ10 biosynthesis enzymes have been identified. Thus far, 11 disease genes are known (PDSS1, PDSS2, COQ2, COQ4, COQ5, COQ6, COQ7, COQ8A, COQ8B, COQ9 and HPDL). Disease onset is highly variable and ranges from the neonatal period to late adulthood. CoQ10 deficiency exerts detrimental effects on the nervous system. Potential consequences are neuronal death, neuroinflammation and cerebral gliosis. Clinical features include encephalopathy, regression, movement disorders, epilepsy and intellectual disability. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most important tool for diagnostic evaluation of neurological damage in individuals with CoQ10 deficiency. However, due to the rarity of the different gene defects, information on disease manifestations within the central nervous system is scarce. This review aims to provide an overview of brain MRI patterns observed in primary CoQ10 biosynthesis disorders and to highlight disease-specific findings.
A multi-wavelength view of the multiple activity cycles of ϵ Eridani
2023-03-14

ε Eridani is a highly active young K2 star with an activity cycle of about 3 yr established using Ca II H&amp; K line index measurements ( S MWO ). This relatively short cycle has been demonstrated to be consistent with X-ray and magnetic flux measurements. Recent work suggested a change in the cyclic behaviour. Here, we report new X-ray flux and S MWO measurements and also include S MWO measurements from the historical Mount Wilson program. This results in an observational time baseline of over 50 yr for the S MWO data and of over 7 yr in X-rays. Moreover, we include Ca II infrared triplet (IRT) index measurements ( S Ca IRT ) from 2013 to 2022 in our study. With the extended X-ray data set, we can now detect the short cycle for the first time using a periodogram analysis. Near-simultaneous S MWO data and X-ray fluxes, which are offset by 20 days at most, are moderately strongly correlated when only the lowest activity state (concerning short-term variability) is considered in both diagnostics. In the S MWO data, we find strong evidence for a much longer cycle of about 34 yr and an 11-yr cycle instead of the formerly proposed 12-yr cycle in addition to the known 3-yr cycle. The superposition of the three periods naturally explains the recent drop in S MWO measurements. The two shorter cycles are also detected in the S Ca IRT data, although the activity cycles exhibit lower amplitudes in the S Ca IRT than in the S MWO data. Finally, the rotation period of ε Eri can be found more frequently in the S MWO as well as in the S Ca IRT data for times near the minimum of the long cycle. This may be explained by a scenario in which the filling factor for magnetically active regions near cycle maximum is too high to allow for notable short-term variations.