Heart disease is one of the most common diseases in middle-aged citizens. Among the vast number of heart diseases, coronary artery disease (CAD) is considered a common cardiovascular disease with a high death rate. The most popular tool for diagnosing CAD is the use of medical imaging, e.g., angiography. However, angiography is known for being costly and also associated with a number of side effects. Hence, the purpose of this study is to increase the accuracy of coronary heart disease diagnosis by selecting significant predictive features in order of their ranking. In this study, we propose an integrated method using machine learning. The machine learning methods of random trees (RTs), the decision tree of C5.0, support vector machine (SVM), the decision tree of Chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) are used in this study. The proposed method shows promising results and the study confirms that the RTs model outperforms other models.

Since its introduction, Triangulation number has been the most successful and ubiquitous scheme for classifying spherical viruses. However, despite its many successes, it fails to describe the relative angular orientations of proteins, as well as their radial mass distribution within the capsid. It also fails to provide any insight into critical sites of stability, modifications or possible mutations. We show how classifying spherical viruses using icosahedral point arrays, introduced by Keef and Twarock, unveils new geometric rules and constraints for understanding virus stability and key locations for exterior and interior modifications. We present a modified fitness measure which classifies viruses in an unambiguous and rigorous manner, irrespective of local surface chemistry, steric hinderance, solvent accessibility or triangulation number. We then utilize these arrays to explain the immutable surface loops of bacteriophage MS2, the relative reactivity of surface lysines in CPMV and the non-quasiequivalent flexibility of the HBV dimers. We explain how using sister and double arrays can function as predictive tools for site directed modifications in other systems. This success builds on our previous work showing that viruses place their protruding features along the great circles of the asymmetric unit, demonstrating that viruses indeed adhere to these geometric constraints.

Patient derived model systems are important tools for studying novel anti-cancer therapies. Patient derived xenografts (PDXs) have gained favor over the last 10 years as newer mouse strains have improved the success rate of establishing PDXs from patient biopsies. PDXs can be engrafted from head and neck cancer (HNC) samples across a wide range of cancer stages, retain the genetic features of their human source, and can be treated with both chemotherapy and radiation, allowing for clinically relevant studies. Not only do PDXs allow for study of patient tissues in an in vivo model, they can also provide a renewable source of cancer cells for organoid cultures. Herein, we review the uses of HNC patient derived models for radiation research including approaches to establishing both orthotopic and heterotopic PDXs, approaches and potential pitfalls to delivering chemotherapy and radiation to these animal models, biological advantages and limitations, and alternatives to animal studies that still use patient-derived tissues.

Nigella sativa (NS) is an effective medicinal plant possessing noteworthy antioxidant property. In NS, there are more than hundred phyto-chemicals reported, out of which thymoquinone is the utmost active phyto-constituent having sturdy antioxidative property. Thymoquinone is a cyclicdione, when reacts with sodium azide, converts into α-azido ketones i.e its analogs which are handy with extensive range of reactions. Sodium azide induces stress in plants thereby, modulating the antioxidant system. The present investigation was planned to elucidate the effect of sodium azide at different concentrations (5µM, 10µM, 20µM, 50µM, 100µM and 200µM) on its secondary metabolites (mainly thymoquinone) in NS callus culture extract (NSE). The results showed sodium azide effect on thymoquinone content and a concentration dependent boost in antioxidant property. It was also observed that thymoquinone content and percent yield (analyzed by RP-HPLC; Reverse Phase- High Performance Liquid Chromatography) were minimum (0.033±0.006% and 0.420±0.045%, respectively) at 200 µM sodium azide used. Whereas, antioxidant activity (analyzed by DPPH; 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) was found to be maximum (3.873±0.402%) at same dose. Further, analysis was done for inhibition of oxidative DNA damage at different concentrations of sodium azide on NSE, maximum inhibition of DNA damage (0.243±0.017%) was found at 200 µM concentration of sodium azide. When correlated, strong positive correlation was observed between percent yield and percent thymoquinone, antioxidant property and inhibition of DNA damage. Whereas, strong negative correlation was observed between percent yield and antioxidant property, percent thymoquinone and antioxidant property, percent thymoquinone and inhibition of DNA damage. The findings evidently point out that the content of thymoquinone, antioxidant property and inhibition of DNA damage was affected by sodium azide.

We study in this paper the time evolution of stock markets using a statistical physics approach. We consider an ensemble of agents who sell or buy a good according to several factors acting on them: the majority of the neighbors, the market ambiance, the variation of the price and some specific measure applied at a given time. Each agent is represented by a spin having a number of discrete states q or continuous states, describing the tendency of the agent for buying or selling. The market ambiance is represented by a parameter T which plays the role of the temperature in physics: low T corresponds to a calm market, high T to a turbulent one. We show that there is a critical value of T, say T_c, where strong fluctuations between individual states lead to a disordered situation in which there is no majority: the numbers of sellers and buyers are equal, namely the market clearing. The specific measure, by the government or by economic organisms, is parameterized by $H$ applied on the market at the time t₁ and removed at the time t₂. We have used Monte Carlo simulations to study the time evolution of the price as functions of those parameters. In particular we show that the price strongly fluctuates near T_c and there exists a critical value H_c above which the boosting effect remains after H is removed. Our model replicates the stylized facts in finance (time-independent price variation), volatility clustering (time-dependent dynamics) and persistent effect of a temporary shock. The second party of the paper deals with the price variation using a time-dependent mean-field theory. By supposing that the sellers and the buyers belong to two distinct communities with their characteristics different in both intra-group and inter-group interactions, we find the price oscillation with time. Results are shown and discussed.

Abstract: The second part of the paper develops the approach, suggested in the Entropy 2020, 22(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/e22010011 , which relates ordering in physical systems to their symmetrizing. Entropy is frequently interpreted as a quantitative measure of “chaos” or “disorder”. However, the notions of “chaos” and “disorder” are vague and subjective to a much extent. This leads to numerous misinterpretations of entropy. We propose to see the disorder as an absence of symmetry and to identify “ordering” with symmetrizing of a physical system; in other words, introducing the elements of symmetry into an initially disordered physical system. We explore the initially disordered system of elementary magnets exerted to the external magnetic field H ⃗. Imposing symmetry restrictions diminishes the entropy of the system and decreases its temperature. The general case of the system of elementary magnets demonstrating the j-fold symmetry is treated. The interrelation T_j=T/j takes place, where T and T_j are the temperatures of non-symmetrized and j-fold-symmetrized systems of the magnets correspondingly.

Acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart. Palmae, Arecaceae) is a palm plant native to the Brazilian Amazon. It contains many nutrients, such as polyphenols, iron, vitamin E, and unsaturated fatty acids, so in recent years, many of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of acai have been reported. However, the effects of acai on hematopoiesis have not been investigated yet. In the present study, we administered acai extract to mice and evaluated its hematopoietic effects. Acai treatment significantly increased the erythrocytes, hemoglobin, and hematocrit contents compared to controls for four days. We then examined the hematopoietic-related markers following a single injection. Acai administration significantly increased the levels of the hematopoietic-related hormone erythropoietin in blood compared to controls and also significantly upregulated the gene expression of Epo in the kidney. Furthermore, in the mice treated with acai extract, the kidneys were positively stained with the hypoxic probe pimonidazole in comparison to the controls. These results demonstrated that acai increases the number of blood cells through an increased erythropoietin expression via hypoxic action in the kidney. Acai can be expected to improve motility through hematopoiesis.

Different cohort studies documented a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in former extremely low birth weight (ELBW, <1000 g) neonates throughout childhood when compared to term controls. The current aim is to pool these studies to describe the GFR pattern over the pediatric age range. To do so, we conducted a systematic review on studies reporting on GFR measurements in former ELBW cases while GFR data of healthy age-matched controls included in these studies were co-collected. Based on 248 hits, 6 case-control and 3 cohort studies were identified, with 444 GFR measurements in 380 former ELBW cases (median age 5.3-20.7 years). The majority were small (17-78 cases) single center studies, with heterogeneity in GFR measurement (inulin, Cystatin C or creatinine estimated GFR formulae) tools. Despite this, the median GFR (ml/kg/1.73m2) within case-control studies was consistently lower (-13, range -8 to -25%) in cases, so that a relevant minority (15-30%) has chronic kidney disease ≥stage 2 (GFR <90 ml/kg/1.73m2). Consequently, this pooled analysis describes a pattern of reduced GFR in former ELBW cases throughout childhood. Research should focus on perinatal risk factors for impaired GFR and long-term outcome, but is hampered by single center cohorts, study size, and heterogeneity of tools.

The drafting of a new Global Biodiversity Framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy for the European Union (EU) render 2020 a critical crossroad for biodiversity conservation. Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and poorly studied relative to marine and terrestrial biota, despite providing numerous essential ecosystem services. The urgency of the mounting freshwater biodiversity crisis necessitates approaches catered to the unique ecology and threats of freshwater life, which are not adequately addressed by current strategies. We present a set of 15 special recommendations for freshwater biodiversity to guide the CBD’s post-2020 framework and the 2020 EU strategy based on European case studies, both challenges and successes. Our recommendations cover key outcomes and guiding concepts, enabling conditions and methods of implementation, planning and accountability modalities, and cross-cutting issues. They address topics including invasive species, integrated water resources management, strategic conservation planning, data management, and emerging technologies for freshwater monitoring, among others. These recommendations will enhance the ability of global and European post-2020 biodiversity agreements to halt and reverse the rapid global decline of freshwater biodiversity.

The megacities´ sewage creates socioeconomic dependence related to water availability in the nearby zones, especially in countries with hydric stress. The present paper studies the water balance progression of realistic scenarios from 2005 to 2050 in the Mezquital Valley, the receptor of Mexico City untreated sewage since 1886, allowing agriculture irrigation in unsustainable conditions. WEAP model calculated the water demand and supply. Validation was performed with outflows data of the Tula River and simulated three scenarios: 1st) Steady-state based on inertial growth rates, 2nd) Transient scenario concerned climate change outcomes, with minor influence in surface water and hydric stress in 2050; 3rd) Transient scenario perturbed with a planned reduction of 36% in the imported wastewater and the start-up of a massive Water Treatment Plant, allowing drip and sprinkler irrigation since 2030. In the 2005-2017 period, 59% of the agriculture depended on the flood irrigation with megacity sewage. The water balance scenarios evaluated the sectorial supply of the ground and superficial water. Drip irrigation would reduce 42% of agriculture demands, but still does not grant the downflow hydroelectric requirements, aggravated by the lack of wastewater supply since 2030. This research alerts about how present policies compromise future Valley demands.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neuropsychiatric problem with a few core symptoms: weaknesses in social behavior, verbal impairments, repetitive behavior and restricted interests. Beyond the core symptoms, autism has strong association with other disorders such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, schizophrenia among many others. This paper outlines a theory of ASD with capacity to connect heterogeneous ‘core’ symptoms, medical and psychiatric comorbidities as well as other etiological theories of autism in a unifying cognitive framework rooted in neuroscience and genetics. Cognition is embedded into an ever-developing structure modified by experiences, including the outcomes of environment influencing behaviors. We introduce the hypothesis that autism is caused by deficits in component-based cognition and the internal learning reinforcing machinery. Specifically, we outline our Cartesian Factor forming autoencoder like model that supports cognition by breaking combinatorial explosion and discuss the cognitive and neural processes behind our model. The high dimensionality of sensory information poses serious problems, since the brain can handle only 7±2 relevant variables at a time making processes, such as the extraction and encoding of the relevant variables and their efficient manipulation critical. These processes are influenced by previous experiences and the internal reward system. In addition, large delays of distributed information processing should be counteracted by learned predictive models to synchronize sensory, proprioceptive, and cognitive signals and have timely and accurate model-based actions. Impairments in any of these aspects may disrupt learning and execution. Combinations of small impairments may allow the solving of low complexity tasks but may become visible if learned variables and the related metric are improper and imprecise, respectively, especially if their number is large. We claim that social interactions are amongst the most challenging cognitive tasks in terms of the number of variables involved. In turn, they are highly susceptible to combinations of small impairments. We consider impairments as the basic colors of autism, whereas the combinations of diverse impairments make the palette of autism. In turn, social processes can be spoiled in many ways and can lead to diverse comorbidities.

Background: Good clinical practice (GCP) training is the industry standard for ensuring the quality conduct of registrational clinical trials. However, concerns have been raised about whether the current structure and delivery of GCP training sufficiently prepares clinical investigators and their delegates to conduct clinical trials. Methods: We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with 13 clinical investigators and 10 research sponsors to 1) examine characteristics of the quality conduct of sponsored clinical trials, including critical tasks and concerns perceived as essential for trial quality, 2) identify key knowledge and skills required to perform critical tasks, and 3) identify gaps and redundancies in GCP training and areas of improvement to ensure the quality conduct of clinical trials. We used applied thematic analysis to analyze the data. Results: The top three tasks identified as critical for the quality conduct of clinical trials were obtaining informed consent, ensuring protocol compliance, and protecting participants’ health and safety. Respondents acknowledged that GCP principles address each of these critical tasks; however, they described many challenges and burdens of GCP training, including high training frequency and repetitive content. Respondents suggested moving beyond GCP training as a mere check-box activity by making it more effective, engaging, and interactive. They also emphasized that applying GCP principles in a real-world, skills-based environment would increase the relevance of GCP training to investigators and their delegates. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that although investigators and sponsors recognize that GCP training addresses critical tasks necessary to the quality conduct of clinical trials, they articulated the need for significant improvement in the design, content, and presentation of GCP training.

Animal behavior analysis is a crucial tasks for the industrial farming. In an indoor farm setting, extracting Key joints of animal is essential for tracking the animal for longer period of time. In this paper, we proposed a deep network that exploit transfer learning to trained the network for the pig skeleton extraction in an end to end fashion. The backbone of the architecture is based on hourglass stacked dense-net. In order to train the network, key frames are selected from the test data using K-mean sampler. In total, 9 Keypoints are annotated that gives a brief detailed behavior analysis in the farm setting. Extensive experiments are conducted and the quantitative results show that the network has the potential of increasing the tracking performance by a substantial margin.

Federated learning is a decentralized topology of deep learning, that trains a shared model through data distributed among each client (like mobile phones, wearable devices), in order to ensure data privacy by avoiding raw data exposed in data center (server). After each client computes a new model parameter by stochastic gradient decrease (SGD) based on their own local data, all locally-computed parameters will be aggregated in the server to generate an updated global model. Almost all current studies directly average different client computed parameters by default, but no one gives an explanation why averaging parameters is a good approach. In this paper, we treat each client computed parameter as a random vector because of the stochastic properties of SGD, and estimate mutual information between two client computed parameters at different training phases using two methods in two learning tasks. The results confirm the correlation between different clients and show an increasing trend of mutual information with training iteration. However, when we further compute the distance between client computed parameters, we find that parameters are getting more correlated while not getting closer. This phenomenon suggests that averaging parameters may not be the optimum way of aggregating trained parameters.

As a non-antibody scaffold, monobodies based on the fibronectin type III (FN3) domain overcome antibody size and complexity while maintaining analogous binding loops. However, antibodies and their derivatives remain the gold standard for design of new therapeutics. In response, clinical therapeutic proteins based on the FN3 domain are beginning to use native fibronectin function as a point of differentiation. The small and simple structure of monomeric monobodies confers increased tissue distribution and reduced half-life, whilst the absence of disulphide bonds improves stability in cytosolic environments. Where multi-specificity is challenging with an antibody format that is prone to mis-pairing of chains, FN3 domains in the fibronectin assembly already interact with a large number of molecules. As such, multiple monobodies engineered for interaction with therapeutic targets are being combined in a similar beads-on-a-string assembly which improves both efficacy and pharmacokinetics. Furthermore, full length fibronectin is able to fold into multiple conformations as part of its natural function and a greater understanding of how mechanical forces allow for the transition between states will lead to advanced applications that truly differentiate the FN3 domain as a therapeutic scaffold.

A 'little brother' of pain, itch is an unpleasant sensation that creates a specific urge to scratch. To date, various machine-learning based image classifiers (MBICs) have been proposed for quantitative analysis of itch-induced scratch behaviour of laboratory animals in an automated, non-invasive, inexpensive and real-time manner. In spite of MBICs' advantages, the overall performances (accuracy, sensitivity and specificity) of current MBIC approaches remains inconsistent, with their values varying from ~50% to ~99%, for which the reasons underlying have yet to be investigated further, both computationally and experimentally. To look into the variation of the performance of MBICs in automated detection of itch-induced scratch, this article focuses on the experimental data recording step, and reports here for the first time that MBICs' overall performance is inextricably linked to the sharpness of experimentally recorded video of laboratory animal scratch behaviour. This article furthermore demonstrates for the first time that a linearly correlated relationship exists between video sharpness and overall performance (accuracy and specificity, but not sensitivity) of MBICs, and highlight the primary role of experimental data recording in rapid, accurate and consistent quantitative assessment of laboratory animal itch.

Allosteric modulators are ligands that bind to a site on the receptor that is spatially separated from the orthosteric binding site for the endogenous neurotransmitter. Allosteric modulators modulate the binding affinity, potency and efficacy of orthosteric ligands. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are prototypical allosterically-modulated G-protein-coupled receptors. They are a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of psychiatric, neurologic and internal diseases like schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington disease, type 2 diabetes or chronic pulmonary obstruction. Here we review progress made during the last decade in our understanding of their mechanisms of binding, allosteric modulation and in vivo actions of in order to understand the translational impact of studying this important class of pharmacological agents. We overview newly developed allosteric modulators of muscarinic receptors as well as new spin-off ideas like bitopic ligands combining allosteric and orthosteric moieties and photo-switchable ligands based on bitopic agents.

The presence of premature termination codons (PTCs) in transcripts is dangerous for the cell as they encode potentially deleterious truncated proteins that can act with dominant-negative or gain-of-function effects. To avoid synthesis of these shortened polypeptides, several RNA surveillance systems can be activated to decrease the level of PTC-containing mRNAs. Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) ensures an accelerated degradation of mRNAs harboring PTCs by using several key NMD factors such as up-frameshift (UPF) proteins. Another pathway called nonsense-associated altered splicing (NAS) upregulates transcripts that have skipped disturbing PTCs by alternative splicing. Therefore, these RNA quality control processes eliminate abnormal PTC-containing mRNAs from the cells by using positive and negative responses. In this review, we will describe the general mechanisms of NMD and NAS and their respective involvement in the decay of aberrant immunoglobulin and TCR transcripts in lymphoid cells.

Pore-fractures network play a key role in coalbed methane (CBM) accumulation and production, while the impacts of coal facies on the pore-fractures network performance are still poorly understood. In this work, the research on the pore-fracture occurrence of 38 collected coals from Sangjiang-Muling coal-bearing basins with multiple techniques including mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), micro-organic quantitative analysis, and optic microscopy, and its variation controlling of coal face were studied. The MIP curves of 38 selected coals indicating pore structures were subdivided into three typical types including type I of predominant micropores, type Ⅱ of predominant micropores and macropores with good connectivity and type Ⅲ of predominant micropores and macropores with poor connectivity. For coal facies, there are three various coal facies were distinguished, which include lake shore coastal wet forest swamp, the upper delta plain wet forest swamp, tidal flat wet forest swamp with Q-cluster analysis and tissue preservation index - gelification index (TPI-GI) and Wood index - groundwater influence index (WI -GWI). The results show there is positive relationship between tissue preservation index (TPI), wood index (WI) and mesopores (102nm-103nm), while a negative relationship between TPI, WI and macropores/fractures. In addition, groundwater level fluctuations can control the development of type C and D fractures, and the frequency of type C and D fractures shows an ascending trend with increasing GWI, which may be caused by the mineral hydration of the coal. Finally, from the perspective of the pore-fractures occurrence in CBM reservoirs, the wet forest swamp of upper delta plain is considered to be the optimization areas for Sanjiang-Mulinghe coal-bearing basins by a comparative study of various coal facies.

In this experimental report the biocompatibility of elastomeric scaffold structures made via stereolithography employing table-top 3D printer (Ember, Autodesk) and commercial resin FormLabs Flexible (FormLabs) was studied. The samples were manufactured using standard printing and development protocol, which is known to inherit cytotoxicity due to remaining non-polymerized remaining monomers, despite the polymerized material being fully biocompatible. Additional steps were taken to remedy this problem: the fabricated structures were soaked in isopropanol and methanol for different conditions (temperature, duration) in order to leach out the non-polymerized monomers. Also printed structures were UV exposed to assure maximum polymerization degree of the material. Post-processed structures were seeded with myogenic stem cells and the number of live cells was evaluated as an indicator for the material biocompatibility. The straightforward post-processing protocol enhances the biocompatibility by 7 times after 7 days soaking in isopropanol and methanol and is comparable to control (glass and polystyrene) samples. This proposes the approach as a novel and simple method to be widely applicable for dramatic cytotoxicity reduction of optically 3D printed micro-/nano-scaffolds for biomedical applications.

This dataset consists of integral ocean wave parameters of significant wave height (SWH) and mean wave period (MWP) data derived from the Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) on board the ENVISAT satellite over its full life cycle (2002-2012) covering the global ocean. Both parameters are calibrated and validated against buoy data. A cross-validation between the ASAR SWH and radar altimeter (RA) data is also performed to ensure that the SAR-derived wave height data are of the same quality as the RA data. These data are stored in the standard NetCDF format, which are produced for each ASAR wave mode Level1B data provided by the European Space Agency. This is for the first time that a full sea state product is derived from spaceborne SAR data over the global ocean for a decadal temporal scale.

Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are common cartilage and joint diseases that globally affect more than 200 and 20 million people, respectively. Several transcription factors have been implicated in the onset and progression of osteoarthritis, including Runx2, C/EBPβ, HIF2α, Sox4, and Sox11. IL-1β also leads to osteoarthritis through NF-ĸB, IκBζ, and Zn²⁺-ZIP8-MTF1 axis. IL-1, IL-6, and TNFα play a major pathological role in rheumatoid arthritis through NF-ĸB and JAK/STAT pathways. Indeed, inhibitory reagents for IL-1, IL-6, and TNFα provide clinical benefits for rheumatoid arthritis patients. Several growth factors, such as BMP, FGF, PTHrP, and Indian hedgehog, play roles regulating chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation. Disruption and excess of these signaling cause genetic disorders in cartilage and skeletal tissues. FOP, an autosomal genetic disorder characterized by ectopic ossification, is induced by mutant ACVR1. mTOR inhibitors were found to prevent ectopic ossification by ACVR1 mutations. ACH and related diseases are autosomal genetic diseases, which manifest severe dwarfism. CNP is currently the most promising therapy for ACH. In these ways, investigation of cartilage and chondrocyte diseases at molecular and cellular levels sheds light on the development of effective therapies. Thus, identification of signaling pathways and transcription factors implicated in these diseases is important.

This study was conducted to develop a PID control algorithm considering viscosity for the planting depth control system of a rice transplanter using various hydraulic oils at different temperatures and to evaluate the performance of the control algorithm, and compare the performance of the PID control algorithm without considering viscosity and considering viscosity. In this study, the simulation model of the planting depth control system and a PID control algorithm were developed based on the power flow of the rice transplanter (ERP60DS). The primary PID coefficients were determined using the Ziegler–Nichols (Z–N) second method. Routh’s stability criteria were applied to optimize the coefficients. The pole and double zero points of the PID controller were also applied to minimize the sustained oscillations of the responses. The performance of the PID control algorithm was evaluated for three ISO (The International Organization for Standardization) standard viscosity grade (VG) hydraulic oils (VG 32, 46, and 68). The results show that the control algorithm considering viscosity is able to control the pressure of the proportional valve, which is associated with the actuator displacement for various types of hydraulic oils. It was noticed that the maximum pressure was 15.405 bars at 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 ℃ for all of the hydraulic oils. The settling time and steady-state errors were 0.45 s at 100 ℃ for VG 32, and 0% for all of the conditions. The maximum overshoots were found to be 17.50% at 100 ℃ for VG 32. On the other hand, the PID control algorithm without considering viscosity could not control the planting depth, because the response was slow and did not satisfy the boundary conditions. The PID control algorithm considering viscosity could sufficiently compensate for the nonlinearity of the hydraulic system and was able to perform for any of temperature-dependent viscosity of the hydraulic oils. In addition, the rice transplanter requires a faster response for accurately controlling and maintaining the planting depth. Planting depth is highly associated with actuator displacement. Finally, this control algorithm considering viscosity could be helpful in minimizing the tilting of the seedlings planted using the rice transplanter. Ultimately, it would improve the transplanter performance.

Wounding is a serious environmental stress in plants. Oxylipins such as jasmonic acid play an important role in defense against wounding. Mechanisms to adapt to wounding have been investigated in vascular plants; however, those mechanisms in nonvascular plants remain elusive. To examine the response to wounding in Physcomitrella patens, a model moss, a proteomic analysis of wounded P. patens was conducted. Proteomic analysis showed that wounding increased the abundance of proteins related to protein synthesis, amino acid metabolism, protein folding, photosystem, glycolysis, and energy synthesis. 12-Oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) was induced by wounding and inhibited growth. Therefore, OPDA is considered a signaling molecule in this plant. Proteomic analysis of a P. patens mutant in which the PpAOS1 and PpAOS2 genes, which are involved in OPDA biosynthesis, are disrupted showed accumulation of proteins involved in protein synthesis in response to wounding in a similar way to the wild-type plant. In contrast, the fold-changes of the proteins in the wild-type plant were significantly different from those in the aos mutant. This study suggests that PpAOS gene expression enhances photosynthesis and effective energy utilization in response to wounding in P. patens.

The ability to replicate scientific experiments is a cornerstone of the scientific method. Sharing ideas, workflows, data, and protocols facilitates testing the generalizability of results, increases the speed that science progresses, and enhances quality control of published work. Fields of science such as medicine, the social sciences, and the physical sciences have embraced practices designed to increase replicability. Granting agencies, for example, may require data management plans and journals may require data and code availability statements along with the deposition of data and code in publicly available repositories. While many tools commonly used in replicable workflows such as distributed version control systems (e.g. “git”) or scripted programming languages for data cleaning and analysis may have a steep learning curve, their adoption can increase individual efficiency and facilitate collaborations both within entomology and across disciplines. The open science movement is developing within the discipline of entomology, but practitioners of these concepts or those desiring to work more collaboratively across disciplines may be unsure where or how to embrace these initiatives. This article is meant to introduce some of the tools entomologists can incorporate into their workflows to increase the replicability and openness of their work. We describe these tools and others, recommend additional resources for learning more about these tools, and discuss the benefits to both individuals and the scientific community and potential drawbacks associated with implementing a replicable workflow.

The Tumor Microenviroment (TME) is a complex milieu that is increasingly recognized as a key factor in multiple stages of disease progression and responses to therapy as well as escape from immune surveillance. However, the precise contribution of specific immune effector and immune suppressor components of the TME in Burkitt lymphoma (BL) remains poorly understood. In this paper, we applied the computational algorithm CIBERSORT to Gene Expression Profile (GEP) datasets of 40 BL samples to draw a map of immune and stromal components of TME. Furthermore, by VECTRA multispectral immunofluorescence (IF) and multiple immunohistochemistry (IHC), we investigated the TME of an additional series of 40 BL cases and evaluated the possible role of the PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint axis. Our results indicated that M2 polarized macrophages are the most prominent TME component in BL. In addition, we investigated the correlation between PD-L1 and latent membrane protein-2A (LMP2A) expression on tumour cells, highlighting a subgroup of BL cases characterized by a non- canonical latency program of EBV with an activated PD-L1 pathway. In conclusion, our study analysed the TME in BL and identified a tolerogenic immune signature highlighting new potential therapeutic targets.

The radio operation in wireless sensor networks (WSN) in the Internet of Things (IoT) applications are the most common source for power consumption. However, recognizing and controlling the factors affecting radio operation can be valuable for managing the node power consumption. ContikiMAC is a low-power Radio Duty-Cycle protocol in Contiki OS used in WakeUp mode, which is a clear channel assessment (CCA) to check radio status periodically. The time spent to check the radio is of utmost importance for monitoring power consumption. It can lead to false WakeUp or idle listening in Radio Duty-Cycles and ContikiMAC. This paper presents a detailed analysis of radio WakeUp time factors of ContikiMAC. Then, we propose lightweight CCA (LW-CCA) as an extension to ContikiMAC to reduce the percentage of Radio Duty-Cycles in false WakeUps and idle listenings by using dynamic received signal strength indicators (RSSI) status check time. The simulation results in the Cooja simulator show that LW-CCA reduces about 8% energy consumption in nodes while maintaining up to 99% of the packet delivery rate (PDR).

Some management practices, such as maintaining birds under high group density, used in the poultry industry may cause birds stress, leading to injurious behaviors, such as injurious pecking, aggression, and cannibalism. In addition, some management practices used to prevent severe injuries in birds may cause pain. Beak trimming (BT), removal of 1/3 to 1/2 of a beak, is a routine husbandry procedure practiced in laying hens to prevent or reduce injurious behaviors. However, BT causes tissue damage, which may increase somatosensory sensitization of the damaged nerve tissues, resulting in pain (acute, chronic or both) in the treated birds because the beak is a complex, functional organ with an extensive nerve supply. BT has already been heavily regulated or prohibited in several European countries and, in time, this trend will impact the practice used in the United States poultry industry. With the growing public concern for poultry welfare there is a pressing need to identify and develop alternatives to BT. Probiotics defined “as a source of live (viable) naturally occurring microorganisms (direct-fed microbials)” have been used as dietary supplements or functional foods to target gut microbiota (microbiome) for prevention or therapeutic treatment of mental diseases including social stress-induced psychiatric disorders in humans and various experimental animals. In our studies, chickens were used as an animal model to assess if dietary supplementation of probiotic, Bacillus subtilis, reduces injurious behaviors following social challenge. Hens of Dekalb XL strain, an aggressive line, were used in the studies. Our results indicate that dietary supplementation of the Bacillus subtilis based probiotic reduces aggressive behaviors in chickens. These results suggest dietary probiotics could be a suitable strategy for increasing hosts’ health status and welfare conditions.

Groundwater contamination is an ever-growing environmental issue that has attracted much and undiminished attention for the past half century. Groundwater contamination may originate from both anthropogenic (e.g., hydrocarbons) and natural compounds (e.g., nitrate and arsenic); to tackle the removal of these contaminants, different technologies have been developed and implemented. Recently, bioelectrochemical systems (BES) have emerged as a potential treatment for groundwater contamination, with reported in situ applications that showed promising results. Nitrate and hydrocarbons (toluene, phenanthrene, benzene, BTEX and light PAHs) have been successfully removed, due to the interaction of microbial metabolism with poised electrodes, in addition to physical migration due to the electric field generated in a BES. The selection of proper BESs relies on several factors and problems, such as the complexity of groundwater and subsoil environment, scale-up issues, and energy requirements that need to be accounted for. Modeling efforts could help predict case scenarios and select a proper design and approach, while BES-based biosensing could help monitoring remediation processes. In this review, we critically analyze in situ BES applications for groundwater remediation, focusing in particular on different proposed setups, and we identify and discuss the existing research gaps in the field.

Galectin-3 is considered a cancer biomarker and bioindicator of fibrosis and cardiac remodeling, and, therefore, it is desirable to develop convenient methods for its detection. Herein, an approach based on the development of multivalent electrochemical probes with high galectin-3 sensing abilities is reported. The probes consist of multivalent presentations of lactose–ferrocene conjugates scaffolded on poly(amido amine) (PAMAM) dendrimers and gold nanoparticles. Such multivalent lactose–ferrocene conjugates are synthesized by coupling of azidomethylferrocene-lactose building blocks on alkyne-functionalized PAMAM, for the case of the glycodendrimers, and to disulfide‐functionalized linkers that are then used for the surface modification of citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles. The binding and sensing abilities towards galectin 3 of both ferrocene-containing lactose dendrimers and gold nanoparticles have been evaluated by means of isothermal titration calorimetry, UV-vis spectroscopy, and differential pulse voltammetry. The highest sensitivity by electrochemical methods to galectin-3 was shown by lactosylferrocenylated gold nanoparticles, which are able to detect the lectin in nanomolar concentrations.

The hybrid seeds of several important crops with supreme qualities, including yield, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, have been cultivated from decades. Thus far, a major challenge with hybrid seed, it does not hold ability to produce plants with same qualities over subsequent generations. Apomixis exist naturally an asexual mode of reproduction in flowering plants via avoiding meiosis and ultimately leads to seed production. Apomixis possess potential to preserve hybrid vigor for multiple generations for economically important plant genotypes. The evolution and genetics of asexual seed production is unclear and need much more efforts to find its genetic architecture. To fix hybrid vigor synthetic apomixis has been suggested an alternative. The development of MiMe (Mitosis instead of Meiosis) genotypes are utilized further for clonal gametes production. However, the identification and parental origin of genes responsible for synthetic apomixis are less known and need further understanding. Genome modifications utilizing genome editing technologies (GETs) like clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (cas9) a reverse genetics tool has paved way to utilize emerging technologies in plant molecular biology. From the last decade, several genes in important crops have been successfully edited. The vast availability of GETs has made the functional genomics studies easy to conduct in crops important for food security. The disruption of expression of genes specific to egg cell MATRILINEAL (MTL) or BABY BOOM1 (BBM1) through CRISPR/Cas genome editing system can promote haploid plants. The establishment of synthetic apomixis by engineering MiMe genotype by genome editing BBM1 expression or disruption of MTL leads toward clonal seed production. In present review, we discussed the current development in plants by utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology and its possibility of promoting apomixis in crops to preserve hybrid vigour. In addition to this, genetics, evolution, epigenetic modifications and strategy for MiMe genotype development has been discussed in detail.

Merchant marine fleet is under inspections by several parties to ensure maritime regulation compliance. One of the major effects on implementation of regulations by International Maritime Organization (IMO) is indeed Port State Control. This article aims to analyze Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) all detention remarks from 2013 to 2019 for EU15 countries (except Luxemburg and Austria) through an approach based on Analytical Hierarchy Process and demonstrate the results on Geographic Information System (GIS) to guide marine industry on detainable Port State Control remarks and country risk profile. While Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach has been used to indicate the ranking of basic maritime regulations from the perspective of the port state control , GIS help us to demonstrate the regional dispersion amongst EU15. The data of the detained vessel taken from the public website of Paris MOU and each report considered as a professional judgement that causes detention. It has been shown that almost all countries top priorities for regulation are Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and Fire Safety Systems (FSS). Consequently, the results of the study can assist Port State Officers, ship crew, ship owners and managers presenting the facts of their inspection and able to improve themselves. The spatial analysis also expected to guide ship owners and managers to focus their vessel’s deficiencies to prevent sub-standardization.

History is often thought to be dull and boring – where large numbers of facts are memorized for passing exams. But the past informs the present and future, especially in delineating the context surrounding specific events that, in turn, help provide a deeper understanding of their causes and implications. Scientific progress (whether incremental or breakthroughs) is built upon prior work. Chronological examination of computational chemistry’s evolution reveals the existence of major “epochs” (e.g., transition from semi-empirical methods to first principles calculations), and the centrality of key ideas (e.g., Schrodinger equation and Born Oppenheimer approximation) in potentiating progress in the field. The longstanding question of whether computing power (both capacity and speed) or theoretical insights play a more important role in advancing computational chemistry was examined by taking into account the field’s development holistically. Specifically, availability of large amount of computing power at declining cost, and advent of graphics processing unit (GPU) powered parallel computing are enabling tools for solving hitherto intractable problems. On the other hand, this essay argues (using Born Oppenheimer approximation as an example) that theoretical insights’ role in unlocking problems through simple (but insightful) assumptions is often overlooked. Collectively, the essay should be useful as a primer for appreciating major development periods in computational chemistry, from which counterfactual questions illuminate the relative importance of theoretical insights and advances in computer science in moving the field forward.

regulating translational speed and accuracy. Threonylcarbamoyl adenosine (t6A37) and 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl-thiouridine (mcm5s2U34) are critical ASL modifications that have been linked to several human diseases. The model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is viable despite the absence of both modifications, growth is however greatly impaired. The major observed consequence is a subsequent increase in protein aggregates and aberrant morphology. Proteomic analysis of the t6A-deficient strain revealed a global mistranslation leading to protein aggregation without regard to physicochemical properties or t6A-dependent or biased codon usage in parent genes. However, loss of sua5 led to increased expression of soluble proteins for mitochondrial function, protein quality processing/trafficking, oxidative stress response, and energy homeostasis. These results point to a global function for t6A in protein homeostasis very similar to mcm5/s2U modifications.

The purpose of the work is an underwater positioning safety study that used the GNSS-like underwater navigation systems. In the process of research, we used the methods of software modeling of underwater spoofing processes. The spoofing problem consists of three stages: design of spoofers, design of spoofing detection systems, and design of anti-spoofing systems. This article discusses some methods of spoofing detection. We briefly describe the known methods of underwater positioning systems. Unlike GNSS, currently only LNSS (Local Navigation Satellite System) can be considered in this case. Spoofing detection systems with one hydrophone are of great practical importance, as they allow for use of standard hydroacoustic equipment. However, detection of spoofing is not possible in static mode, which is with underwater vehicle at rest. In case of two hydrophones the detection of spoofing in static mode is possible. We discuss the navigation based on the use of an acoustically passive receiver. The receiver “listens” to the buoys and solves the problem of finding its own position using the coordinates of the buoys (such systems are called GNSS-like Underwater Positioning Systems or GNSS-like UPS). Depending on the scale of system service area, GNSS-like UPS-es are divided into global, regional, zonal and local systems. In this article, we take into account only the local class of GNSS-like UPS. The acoustic signal generator transmits a simulation of several buoy signals. If the level of the simulated signal exceeds the signal strength of actual buoys, the UPS receiver will “lock onto” the fake signal and then calculate a false position basing on it. The development of further research should be focused on the creation of hardware and software systems for conducting physical experiments at depths up to 400 m.

The high volume of water in molasses has made this study serious. The reason is that using molasses as a partial replacement without treatment significantly affects the rheological properties of the neat bitumen and increases the likelihood of moisture susceptibility of the hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement structure and create fractures of aggregate particles. Therefore, to use molasses as a partial replacement without affecting the structural integrity of the pavement, this study proposed a treatment method before blending it with petroleum-based bitumen. A series of experiment was conducted to accomplish the objective of this paper, including convectional tests, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) test, amplitude and frequency sweep test, performance grade (PG) determination test, and multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) tests. The IR spectra show that carbonyl index decreased with increasing molasses percent. There was PG improvement from the control grade to PG64 and PG70 when the base binder modified with 5-20% molasses and aged with rollingl thin film oven (RTFO) respectively. At the temperature 58oC nonrecoverable creep compliance at 3.2 kPa (Jnr3.2kPa) was decreased for each percent replacement. This led to improving the rutting potential. As well, at a temperature of 64oC the Jnr value was decreased only for 5% replacement, and then the Jnr value was gradually increased for the remaining percent replacement. Overall, this study revealed that treated molasses can be used as a partial replacement to enhance the rheological properties of the base bitumen and thus it can potentially be used to produce a sustainable bio-asphalt binder.

Salinity is a serious environmental hazard which limits world agricultural production by adversely affects plant physiology and biochemistry. Hence increase tolerance against salt stress is very important. In this study, we explored the function of β-aminobutyric acid (BABA) in enhancing salt stress tolerance in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). After pretreatment with BABA, seedlings were exposed to NaCl (100 mM and 150 mM) for 2 days. Salt stress increased Na content and decreased K content in shoot and root. It disrupted the antioxidant defense system by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS; H2O2 and O2•−), methylglyoxal (MG) content and causing oxidative stress. It also reduced the growth and photosynthetic pigments of seedlings but increased proline (Pro) content. However, BABA pretreatment in salt-stressed seedlings increased ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) contents; GSH/GSSG ratio; and the activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glyoxalase I (Gly I), and glyoxalase II (Gly II) as well as growth and photosynthetic pigments of plants. In addition, compared to salt stress alone BABA increased Pro content, reduced the H2O2, MDA and MG contents and decreased Na content in root and increased K content in shoot and root of rapeseed seedlings.

The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) is activated in response to the phosphorylation of Y705 (pStat3) and has the dual function of signal transduction and activation of transcription. Our previous study suggested that pStat3 is functional during oocyte maturation when transcription is silenced. Therefore, we speculated that pStat3 may have another function. Immunocytochemical analysis revealed that pStat3 emerges at the microtubule asters and spindle and then localizes at the spindle poles concomitant with a Pericentrin during mouse oocyte maturation. When we examined conditionally knocked out Stat3−/− oocytes, we detected Stat3 and pStat3 proteins. The localization of the pStat3 was the same as that of Stat3+/+ oocytes, and the oocyte maturation proceeded normally, suggesting that pStat3 was still functioning. The oocytes were treated either with the Stat3 specific inhibitors, Stattic and BP-1-102, or anti-pStat3 antibody injection. This caused significant abnormal spindle assembly and chromosome mis-location in a dose-dependent manner, in which the pStat3 was either negative or localized improperly. Moreover, development of pre-implantation stage embryos derived from inhibitor-treated oocytes was also hampered significantly after in vitro fertilization. These findings indicate a novel function of pStat3 involved in spindle assembly.

The direct radiative effect of aerosols is taken into account in many limited area numerical weather prediction models using wavelength-dependent aerosol optical depths of a range of aerosol species. We study the impact of aerosol distribution and optical properties on radiative transfer, based on climatological and more realistic near real-time aerosol data. Sensitivity tests were carried out using the single column version of the ALADIN-HIRLAM numerical weather prediction system, set up to use the HLRADIA broadband radiation scheme. The tests were restricted to clear-sky cases to avoid the complication of cloud-radiation-aerosol interactions. The largest differences in radiative fluxes and heating rates were found to be due to different aerosol loads. When the loads are large, the radiative fluxes and heating rates are sensitive to the aerosol inherent optical properties and vertical distribution of the aerosol species. Impacts of aerosols on shortwave radiation dominate longwave impacts. Sensitivity experiments indicated the important effects of highly absorbing black carbon aerosols and strongly scattering desert dust.

A New monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), a known monogalactosylmonoacylglycerol (MGMG) and a known polyunsaturated fatty acid methyl ester (PUFAME) were isolated from the marine dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi. The planar structure of the glycolipids was elucidated using MS and NMR spectroscopic analyses and comparisons to the known glycolipid to confirm its structure. The isolation of PUFAME strongly supports the polyunsaturated fatty acid fragment of these glycolipids. The relative configuration of the sugar was deduced by comparisons of 3JHH values and proton chemical shifts with those of known glycolipids. All isolated compounds MGDG, MGMG and PUFAME (1-3) were evaluated for their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activity. All compounds modulated macrophage responses, with compound 3 exhibiting the greatest anti-inflammatory activity.

With ongoing colony losses driven in part by the Varroa mite and the associated exacerbation of virus load, there is an urgent need to protect honey bees (Apis mellifera) from fatal levels of virus infection and from nontarget effects of insecticides used in agricultural settings. A continuously replicating cell line derived from the honey bee would provide a valuable tool for study of molecular mechanisms of virus – host interaction, for screening of antiviral agents for potential use within the hive, and for assessment of the risk of current and candidate insecticides to the honey bee. However, the establishment of a continuously replicating, honey bee cell line has proved challenging. Here we provide an overview of attempts to establish primary and continuously replicating hymenopteran cell lines, methods for establishing honey bee cell lines, challenges associated with the presence of latent viruses (especially Deformed wing virus), in established cell lines and methods to establish virus-free cell lines. We also describe the potential use of honey bee cell lines in conjunction with infectious clones of honey bee viruses for examination of fundamental virology.

Stress Granule formation is a pro-survival mechanism helping cells to cope with environmental challenges. Stress Granules have been studied for two decades in fundamental research, and are now being examined in the context of human pathogenesis. Here we review studies highlighting stress granules’ involvement in cancer development through translational pattern modification.

Because of the significant enabling role smart meters can play in securing the transition towards sustainable energy distribution, the paper provides insights to support smart meters implementation projects. Energy utilities must propose adequate solutions to manage grid-upgrading projects and, in the meantime, increase efficiency levels. Based on empirical data analysis the paper provides insights aimed at maximize probability of success of smart meters projects. Results show common patterns of variables that may support project undertakers, policymakers and scholar when it comes to analyze projects to predict to maximize opportunities. For smart meters projects to succeed, regulatory stability is essential as long-period investments grids produce benefits for energy utilities, and for society.

A fast calculation method for the full parallax high-resolution hologram is proposed based on the elemental light field image (EI) rendering. A 3D object located near the holographic plane is firstly rendered as multiple EIs with a pinhole array. Each EI is interpolated and multiplied by a divergent sphere wave and interfered with a reference wave to form a hogel. Parallel acceleration is used to calculate the high-resolution hologram because calculation of each hogel is independent. A high-resolution hologram with the resolution of 20,0000×20,0000 pixels is calculated only within 8 minutes. Full parallax high-resolution 3D displays are realized by optical reconstructions.

The current study investigated the impacts of light quality and different levels of fertility on mineral nutrient concentrations in shoot and root tissues of Chinese kale (Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra). ‘Green Lance’ Chinese kale were grown under: 1) fluorescent/incandescent light; 2) 10% blue (447 ± 5 nm) / 90% red (627 ± 5 nm) LED light; 3) 20% blue / 80% red LED light; and 4) 40% blue / 60% red LED light as sole-source lighting at two different levels of fertility. All plants were harvested 30 d after seeding, and shoot and root tissues were analyzed for mineral nutrients. Lighting and fertility interacted to influence kale shoot and root mineral nutrient concentrations. Results indicate sole-source LED lighting used in production can impact mineral nutritional values of baby leafy greens now popular for the packaged market.

Copper smelting slag is a solution of molten oxides created during the copper smelting and refining process, and about 1.5 million tons of copper slag is generated annually in Korea. Oxides in copper smelting slag include ferrous (FeO), ferric oxide (Fe­₂O₃), silica (SiO­₂ from flux), alumina (AI₂O₃), calcia (CaO) and magnesia (MgO). Main oxides in copper slag, which iron oxide and silica, exist in the form of fayalite (2FeO·SiO₂). Since the copper smelting slag contains high content of iron, and copper and zinc. Common applications of copper smelting slag are the value added products such as abrasive tools, roofing granules, road-base construction, railroad ballast, fine aggregate in concrete, etc., as well as the some studies have attempted to recover metal values from copper slag. This research was intended to recovery Fe-Cu alloy, raw material of zinc and produce reformed slag like a blast furnace slag for blast furnace slag cement from copper slag. As a results, it was confirmed that reduction smelting by carbon at temperatures above 1400°С is possible to recover pig iron containing copper from copper smelting slag, and CaO additives in the reduction smelting assist to reduce iron oxide in the fayalite and change the chemical and mineralogical composition of the slag. Copper oxide in the slag can be easily reduced and dissolved in the molten pig iron, and zinc oxide is also reduced to a volatile zinc, which is removed from the furnace as the fumes, by carbon during reduction process. When CaO addition is above 5wt.%, acid slag has been completely transformed to calcium silicate slag and observed like blast furnace slag.

In an era of rapid global change, our ability to understand and predict Earth's natural systems is lagging behind our ability to monitor and measure changes in the biosphere. Bottlenecks in our ability to process information have reduced our capacity to fully exploit the growing volume and variety of data. Here, we take a critical look at the information infrastructure that connects modeling and measurement efforts, and propose a roadmap that accelerates production of new knowledge. We propose that community cyberinfrastructure tools can help mend the divisions between empirical research and modeling, and accelerate the pace of discovery. A new era of data-model integration requires investment in accessible, scalable, transparent tools that integrate the expertise of the whole community, not just a clique of ‘modelers’. This roadmap focuses on five key opportunities for community tools: the underlying backbone to community cyberinfrastructure; data ingest; calibration of models to data; model-data benchmarking; and data assimilation and ecological forecasting. This community-driven approach is key to meeting the pressing needs of science and society in the 21st century.

Fertility management techniques being promoted in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) seek to grow indigenous vegetables economically and sustainably. This study was conducted in a phytotron chamber and compared yield, soil carbon (C) speciation and greenhouse gas (nitrous oxide (N₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂)) emissions from SSA soils of two ecoregions; the dry savanna (lna, Republic of Benin) and rainforest (Ife, Nigeria) cultivated with local amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus) under manure (5 t/ha) and/or urea (80 kg N/ha) fertilization. Vegetable yield ranged from 1753 kg/ac to 3198kg/ac in the rainforest, RF, soils and 1281 kg/ac to 1951 kg/ac in the dry savanna, DS, soils. Yield in the urea treatment was slightly higher compared to the manure+urea treatment, but the difference was not statistically significant. Cumulative CO₂ emissions over 21 days ranged from 497.06 to 579.47 g CO₂ in the RF, and 322.96 to 624.97 g CO₂ in the DS, while cumulative N₂O emissions ranged from 60.53 to 220.86 mg N₂O in the RF, and 24.78 to 99.08 mg N₂O in the DS. In the RF samples, the combined use of manure and urea reduced CO₂ and N₂O emissions but led to an increase in the DS samples. ATR-FTIR analysis showed that the combined use of manure and urea increased the rate of microbial degradation in the soils of the DS, but no such effect was observed in soils of the RF. We conclude that combining manure and urea fertilization has different effects on soils of the two ecoregions, and that RF farmers can reduce agricultural emissions without compromising soil productivity and yield potential.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the association between periampullary diverticulum (PAD) and difficult biliary cannulation, as well as to evaluate the impact of different types of PAD on the cannulation success rate and adverse events. Methods: A total of 636 patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) during the study period were prospectively studied and divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of PAD. In group A, 126 patients had PAD compared with 510 patients in group B without PAD. The primary outcome measurements were ERCP procedures time, selective cannulation techniques, and cannulation difficulty in addition to cannulation success rate and ERCP-related adverse events. The difficult cannulation was analyzed using logistic regression considering age, co-morbidities, the presence of PAD types, and indications as independent factors. Results: The average cohort age was 65.30±16.67 years, and 52.7% were male. Significant higher rates of choledocholithiasis, cholangitis, and biliary pancreatitis were reported in the group of PAD (p<0.05). Successful selective cannulation was achieved in 97.6% in group A and 95.3% in group B (p>0.05). The cannulation time was significantly longer in the presence of PAD (5.1 min, vs. 4.09 min, p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the rate of overall adverse events and post ERCP pancreatic PEP. Conclusion: The presence of PAD did not affect the duration or success of the ERCP procedure. Furthermore, it was associated with longer cannulation time and increase in the cannulation difficulty, especially with PAD type 1.

The article is devoted to applications of 2-dimensional hyperbolic numbers and their algebraic 2ⁿ-dimensional extensions in modeling some genetic and cultural phenomena. Mathematical properties of hyperbolic numbers and of their bisymmetric matrix representations are described in a connection with their application to analyze the following structures: alphabets of DNA nucleobases; inherited phyllotaxis phenomena; Punnett squares in Mendelian genetics; the psychophisical Weber-Fechner law; long literary Russian texts (in their special binary representations). New methods of algebraic analysis of the harmony of musical works are proposed, taking into account the innate predisposition of people to music. The hypothesis is put forward that sets of eigenvectors of matrix representations of basis units of 2ⁿ-dimensional hyperbolic numbers play an important role in transmitting biological information and that they can be considered as one of foundations of coding information at different levels of biological organization. In addition, the hypothesis about some analogue of the Weber-Fechner law for sequences of spikes in single nerve fibers is formulated. The proposed algebraic approach is connected with the theme of a grammar of biology and applications of bisymmetric doubly stochastic matrices. Applications of hyperbolic numbers reveal hidden interrelations between structures of different biological and physical phenomena. They lead to new approaches in mathematical modeling genetic phenomena and innate biological structures.

As of today, 20 disease modifying drugs (DMD) have been approved for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) and, based on their efficacy, they can be grouped into moderate-efficacy DMDs and high-efficacy DMDs. The choice of the drug mostly relies on the judgement and experience of neurologists and the evaluation of therapeutic response can only be obtained by monitoring clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) status during follow up. In an era where therapies are focused on personalization, the aim of this study is to develop a modeling infrastructure to predict the evolution of relapsing MS and the response to treatments. We built a computational modeling infrastructure named UISS (Universal Immune System Simulator) able to simulate the main features and dynamics of the immune system activities. We extended UISS to simulate all the underlying MS pathogenesis and its interaction with the host immune system. This simulator is a multi-scale, multi-organ, agent based simulator with an attached module capable of simulating the dynamics of specific biological pathways at the molecular level. We simulated six MS patients with different relapsing-remitting courses. These patients were characterized on the basis of their age, sex, presence of oligoclonal bands, therapy and MRI lesion load at onset. The simulator framework is made freely available and can be used following the links provided in the availability section. Even though the model can be further personalized employing immunological parameters and genetic information, based on the available data we generated a few simulation scenarios for each patient, including those who matched the real clinical and MRI history. Moreover, for two patients, the simulator anticipated the timing of subsequent relapses, which really occurred, suggesting that UISS may have the potential to assist MS specialists in predicting the course of the disease and the response to treatment.

We enriched and isolated a novel gammproteobacterial methanotroph; strain FWC3, from tropical freshwater wetland, near Nagaon beach, Alibag, India. FWC3 is a coccoid, flesh pink/peach pigmented, non-motile methanotroph and the cells are present in pairs and as tetracocci. The culture can grow on methane (20%) as well as on a wide range of methanol from concentrations (0.02%-5%). Based on the comparison of genome data, FAME analysis, morphological characters and biochemical characters, FWC3 belongs to the tentatively and newly but not validly described genus ‘Methylotetracoccus’ of which only a single species strain was described, Methylotetracoccus oryzae C50C1. The ANI index between FWC3 and C50C1 strains is 94%, and the DDH value is 55.7%, less than the cut-off values 96% and 70%, respectively. The genome size of FWC3 is smaller (3.4 Mbp) compared to that of C50C1 (4.8 Mbp). Additionally, the FAME profile of FWC3 shows differences in cell wall fatty acid profiles compared to Methylotetracoccus oryzae C50C1. Also, there are other differences on the morphological, physiological and genomic levels. We propose FWC3 to be a member of a novel species of the genus Methylotetracoccus, for which the name Methylotetracoccus aquaticus is proposed. Also, an amended description of the genus Methylotetracoccus gen. nov. is given here. FWC3 is available in two international culture collections with the accession numbers: MCC 4198 (Microbial Culture collection, India) and JCM 33786 (Japan Collection of Microorganisms, Japan).

In this study, rheological properties of the bread wheat flour dough from 6 wheat genotypes were determined. For the pereparation of flour, 3 red bread (Pandas, Sagitorya, Pehlivan) and 3 white bread (Kaşifbey, Göktan, Ceyhan-99) were selected as wheat genotype. To determine the rheological properties of the wheat flour dough, farinograph, extensograph, mixolab and glutograph devices were used. According to the results of the Farinograph analysis, the average development time of wheat White and red genotypes were 1.95 minutes and 8.96 minutes, respectively. According to the extensograph results of the flour samples, the most extended stability value was determined with 7.47 min in Ceyhan-99 cultivar. As a result of the research, it was determined that flour yields of red bread varieties were higher other genotypes, gas retention capacities of white bread flours were showed high result in extensograph application and resistance of dough to elongation was higher. In the Mixolab analysis, it determined that white bread wheat varieties have higher values in terms of kneading properties and gluten properties, and red bread wheat varieties have higher values in values of viscosity, amylase value and starch retrogradation.

Liver related diseases are the 3rd leading causes (9.3%) of mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Japan. T2DM is closely associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) which is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a severe form of NAFLD, can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and hepatic failure. There are no established pharmacotherapies for NASH patients with T2DM. Though vitamin E is established as a 1st line agent in NASH without T2DM, its efficacy was recently denied in NASH with T2DM. The effects of pioglitazone on NASH histology with T2DM have extensively been established, but several concerns exist such as body weight gain, fluid retention, cancer incidence, and bone fracture. Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists and sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are expected to ameliorate NASH　(LEAN study, LEAD trial, and E-LIFT study). Among a variety of SGLT2 inhibitors, dapagliflozin have already entered phase 3 trials (DEAN study). A key clinical question is what kinds of anti-diabetic drugs are the most appropriate for the treatment of NASH to prevent progression of hepatic fibrosis resulting in HCC/liver-related mortality without increasing risk at cardiovascular or renal events. The combination therapies such as glucagon receptor agonist/GLP-1 or gastrointestinal peptide /GLP-1 will be under development. This review focuses on antidiabetic agents and future perspectives on the view of the treatment of NAFLD with T2DM.

The evolution and miniaturization of the technologies for processing, storage, and communication have enabled computer systems to process a high volume of information and make decisions without human intervention. Within this context, several systems architectures and models have gained prominences, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Grids (SGs). SGs use communication protocols to exchange information, among which the Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) stands out. In contrast, this protocol does not have integration support with IoT systems that use some already consolidated communication protocols, such as the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP). Thus, this work develops the integration of the protocols OSGP and CoAP to allow the communication between conventional IoT systems and systems dedicated to SGs. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of this integration, with the minimum impact on the flow of commands and data, making possible the use of the developed CoAP-OSGP Interface for Internet of Things (COIIoT).

Corrosion is considered as one of the main factors in the structural performance deterioration of steel members. In this study, experimental and numerical methods were used to assess the reduction in compressive strength of short tubular steel columns with local corrosion damage. The corrosion damage was varied with different depths (0, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, and 6 mm), height (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160, and 180 mm), circumference (0, 90, 180, 270, and 360°), and location along the column. A parametric numerical study was performed to establish a correlation between the residual compressive strength and the severity of corrosion damage. The results showed that as the corrosion depth, height and circumference increased, the compressive strength decreased linearly. As for the corrosion height, the residual compressive strength became constant after decreasing linearly when the corrosion height was greater than the half-wavelength of buckling of the short columns. An equation is presented to evaluate the residual compressive strength of short columns with local corrosion wherein the volume of the corrosion damage was used as a reduction factor in calculating the compressive strength. The percentage error using the presented equation was found to be within 11.4%.

In the absence of a vaccine, current antibiotic-dependent efforts to reduce the prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in high prevalence populations have been shown to result in extremely high levels of antibiotic consumption. No randomized controlled trials have been conducted to validate this strategy and an important concern of this approach is that it may induce antimicrobial resistance. To contribute to this debate, we assessed if mass treatment in the related species, Neisseria meningitidis, was associated with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. To this end, we conducted a historical review of the effect of mass meningococcal treatment programmes on the prevalence of N. meningitidis and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. We found evidence that mass treatment programmes were associated with the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

To harness light-matter interaction at nano-/micro-scale better control tools have to be developed. Here, it is shown that by applying external electric and/or magnetic field, ablation of Si and glass under ultra-short (sub-1~ps) laser pulse irradiation can be controlled via the Lorentz force $\mathbf{F} = e\mathbf{E} + e[\mathbf{v}\times\mathbf{B}]$, where $\mathbf{v}$ is velocity of charge $e$, $\mathbf{E}$ is the applied electrical bias and $\mathbf{B}$ is the magnetic flux density. The external electric E-field was applied during laser ablation using suspended micro-electrodes above glass substrate with an air gap for the incident laser beam. The counter-facing Al-electrodes on Si surface were used to study debris formation patterns on Si. Debris was deposited preferentially towards the negative electrode in the case of glass and Si ablation. Also, an external magnetic field was applied during laser ablation of Si in different geometries and is shown to affect ripple formation. The vectorial nature of the Lorentz force widens application potential of surface modifications and debris formation in external E-/B-fields with potential applications in mass and charge spectroscopes.

Temporary changes in precipitation may lead to sustained and severe drought or massive floods in different parts of the world. Knowing variation in precipitation can effectively help the water resources decision-makers in water resources management. Large-scale circulation drivers have a considerable impact on precipitation in different parts of the world. In this research, the impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on seasonal precipitation over Iran was investigated. For this purpose, 103 synoptic stations with at least 30 years of data were utilized. The Spearman correlation coefficient between the indices in the previous 12 months with seasonal precipitation was calculated, and the meaningful correlations were extracted. Then the month in which each of these indices has the highest correlation with seasonal precipitation was determined. Finally, the overall amount of increase or decrease in seasonal precipitation due to each of these indices was calculated. Results indicate the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), NAO, and PDO have the most impact on seasonal precipitation, respectively. Also, these indices have the highest impact on the precipitation in winter, autumn, spring, and summer, respectively. SOI has a diverse impact on winter precipitation compared to the PDO and NAO, while in the other seasons, each index has its special impact on seasonal precipitation. Generally, all indices in different phases may decrease the seasonal precipitation up to 100%. However, the seasonal precipitation may increase more than 100% in different seasons due to the impact of these indices. The results of this study can be used effectively in water resources management and especially in dam operation.

In light of climate changes, technological development and the use of renewable energy sources are considered very important nowadays, both in newly-designed structures and reconstructed historic building, resulting in the reduction of the commercial energy consumption and CO2 environmental emissions. This paper explores the possibilities of improving the energy efficiency of heritage sacred buildings by utilizing photovoltaic systems. As an exceptionally significant cultural good, the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Belgrade shall serve as a case study, with the aim of examining the methods of mounting photovoltaic (PV) panels, by taking into account the fact that the authenticity and the aesthetic value of this cultural monument must remain intact. A comparative analysis of the two options for installing PV panels on the southwestern roof of the church was performed using simulations in PVgis and PVsist V6.84 software, with the aim of establishing the most efficient option in terms of power generation. The simulation results show that photovoltaic panels can produce 151650 kWh (Option 1) and 150894 kWh (Option 2) per year, while the required amount of energy is 42726.77 kWh. The electricity produced exceeds the electricity requirements for the decorative lighting of the Cathedral Church, so it can be used for other purposes in the sacral complex.

The continuous development in the field of industrial automation and electric mobility has led to the need for more efficient electrical machines with high power density. The improvement of electrical machines slot filling factors is one of the measures to satisfy these requirements. In recent years, this topic has aroused greater interest in the industrial sector, since the evolution of the winding technological manufacturing processes allows an economically sustainable realization of ordered winding arrangements, rather than random ones. Moreover, the manufacture of electrical machines windings must be preceded by an accurate design phase in which it is possible to evaluate the maximum slot filling factor obtainable for a given wire shape and for its dimensions. For this purpose, this paper presents an algorithmic approach for the evaluation of maximum slot filling factors in electrical machines under ideal geometric premise. In particular, this algorithm has a greater degree of flexibility with respect to the algorithm approaches found in the literature, since the study has been extended to round, rectangular and hexagonal wire sections. Furthermore, the slot filling factor calculation was carried out both for standard and non-standard slots. The algorithmic approach proposed can be considered as an additional useful tool for the fast design of electrical machine windings.

Background: Road traffic accident is an event led to personal injury or damage to property that has taken place in an area intended for public transport or generally used for transport and in which at least one of the involved parties has been a moving vehicle. It accounts for 1.25 million deaths per year globally. Ethiopia is among most affected countries. Three years (2014 - 2017) eHMIS surveillance data of Road traffic accident was analyzed to describe the trends of morbidity and mortality based on sex, age, place and time. Methodology: eHMIS Road Traffic accident data was reviewed retrospectively for the last three years; proportions, ratios, tables and graphs were used based on person, place and time variables and interpreted. Analysis was done by Microsoft Excel. Result: Trend of RTA in Ethiopia increased from 58,000 to 90,000 over last three years. Male and adult age group has higher chance of being affected (contributed to 63.64% and 80.6% of total cases respectively). Oromiya region was affected most in 2014/15 and 2015/16 but SNNPR came on top in 2016/17. Harari region had highest incidence of injury; more than 2000 cases per 100000. Cases reached their peak during dry season of region. Conclusion and recommendation: Ethiopia’s burden of RTA was increasing against it’s plan. Being male and adult has greater risk of RTA. SNNPR, Afar, Somali, and Gambella region showed steep increment of trend. Harari region and Dire Dawa has much higher incidence than national level. High level political commitment, immediate decisions and actions are needed to halt problem.

AI research and implementations are growing, and so are the risks associated with AI (Artificial Intelligence) developments, especially when it’s difficult to understand exactly what they do and how they work, both at a localized level, and at deployment, in particular when distributed and on a large scale. Governments are pouring massive funding to promote AI research and education, yet research results and claims, as well as the effectiveness of educational programmes, can be difficult to evaluate given the limited reproducibility of computations based on ML (machine learning) and poor explainability, which in turn limits the accountability of the systems and can cause cascading systemic problems and challenges including poor reproducibility, reliability, and overall lack of trustworthiness. This paper addresses some of the issues in Knowledge Representation for AI at system level, identifies a number of knowledge gaps and epistemological challenges as root causes of risks and challenges for AI, and proposes that neurosymbolic and hybrid KR approaches can serve as mechanisms to address some of the challenges. The paper concludes with a postulate and points to related and future research

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is considered to be one of the leading health issues in Thailand. CVD not only contributes to an increase in the number of hospital admissions year on year but also impacts on the rising health care expenditure for the treatment and long-term care of CVD patients. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the impacts of risk reduction strategies on the number of CVD hospital admissions, Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and the costs of hospitalisation. To estimate such impacts a CVD cost-offset model wasapplied using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. The number of the mid-year population was classified by age, gender and the CVD risk factor profiles from the recent Thai National Health Examination Survey (NHES) IV. This survey was chosen as the baseline population. The CVD risk factor profiles included age, gender, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and smoking status. The Asia-Pacific Collaborative Cohort Study (APCCS) equation was applied to predict the probability of developing CVD over the next eight-year period. Estimates on the following were obtained from the model: (1.) the CVD events both fatal and non-fatal; (2.) the difference between the projected number of deaths and the actual number of deaths in that population; (3.) the number of patients who are expected to live with CVD; (4.) the DALYs from the estimated number of fatal and non-fatal events; (5.) the cost of hospital admissions. Four CVD risk strategy scenarios were investigated as follows: (1.) the do nothing scenario; (2.) the optimistic scenario; (3.) achieve the UN millennium development goal; and (4.) the worst-case scenario. The findings showed that over the next eight years there are likely to be 3,297,428 recorded cases of CVD; 5,870,049 cases of DALYs; and, approximately ฿57,000 million, ($1.9 billion), is projected as the total cost of hospital admissions. However, if the current health policy can reduce the levels of risk factors as defined in the optimistic scenario or such policy meets the specifications of the UN millennium development goal,there would be a significant reduction in the number of hospital admissions. These are estimated to be a reduction of 522,179 male and 515,416 female cases. With these results it is expected that health care costs would save approximately ฿9,000 million, ($298.3 million), for CVD and 900,000 million of DALYs over the next eight years. However, if there is an upward trend in the risk factors as predicted in the worst-case scenario, then there will be an increase of 428,220 CVD cases; consequently, DALYs cases may rise by 766,029 while the hospitalisation costs may increase by approximately ฿7,000 million, ($232.1 million). Based on our findings, reducing the levels of CVD risk factors in the population will drastically reduce: (1.) the number of CVD cases; (2.) DALYs cases; and (3.) health care costs. Therefore it is recommended that the health policy should enhance the primary prevention programs which would be targeted at reducing the CVD risk factors in the population.

In light of climate changes, technological development and the use of renewable energy sources are considered very important nowadays, both in newly-designed structures and reconstructed historic building, resulting in the reduction of the commercial energy consumption and CO₂ environmental emissions. This paper explores the possibilities of improving the energy efficiency of heritage sacred buildings by utilizing photovoltaic systems. As an exceptionally significant cultural good, the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel in Belgrade shall serve as a case study, with the aim of examining the methods of mounting photovoltaic (PV) panels, by taking into account the fact that the authenticity and the aesthetic value of this cultural monument must remain intact. A comparative analysis of the two options for installing PV panels on the southwestern roof of the church was performed using simulations in PVgis and PVsist V6.84 software, with the aim of establishing the most efficient option in terms of power generation. The simulation results show that photovoltaic panels can produce 151650 kWh (Option 1) and 150894 kWh (Option 2) per year, while the required amount of energy is 42726.77 kWh. The electricity produced exceeds the electricity requirements for the decorative lighting of the Cathedral Church, so it can be used for other purposes in the sacral complex.

Although conventional immunohistochemistry for neurotropic Rabies virus (RABV) usually shows a high preference for neurons, non-neuronal cells are also potential target cells and abortive infection of astrocytes is considered a main trigger of innate immunity in the CNS. While in vitro studies indicated differences between field and less virulent lab-adapted RABVs, a systematic and quantitative comparison of astrocyte tropism in vivo is lacking. Here, a recently developed solvent-based tissue clearing technique was used to measure the RABV cell tropism in infected brains. Immunofluorescence analysis of 1 mm-thick tissue slices enabled 3D segmentation and quantification of infection frequencies of astrocytes and neurons. Comparison of highly virulent street virus clones from fox, dog, and raccoon with three lab strains of intermediate and low virulence revealed remarkable differences in the ability to infect astrocytes in vivo. While all viruses and infection routes led to comparable neuron infection frequencies, striking differences were detected for the infection of astrocytes. Consistent and inoculation route-independent astrocyte infection by field viruses, together with route-dependent or undetectable astrocyte infection by lab-adapted or vaccine viruses strongly suggests a model in which the ability to establish productive astrocyte infection in vivo functionally distinguishes field and attenuated lab RABV strains.

Recently we have seen a relaxation of the historic restrictions on the use and subsequent research on the Cannabis plants, generally classified as Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica. What research has been performed to date has centered on chemical analysis of plant flower products, namely cannabinoids and various terpenes that directly contribute to phenotypic characteristics of the female flowers. In addition, we have seen many groups recently completing genetic profiles of various plants of commercial value. To date, no comprehensive attempt has been made to profile the proteomes of these plants. We report herein our progress on constructing a comprehensive draft map of the Cannabis proteome. To date we have identified over 17,000 potential protein sequences. Unfortunately, no annotated genome of Cannabis plants currently exists. We present a method by which “next generation” DNA sequencing output and shotgun proteomics data can be combined to produce annotated FASTA files, bypassing the need for annotated genetic information altogether in traditional proteomics workflows. The resulting material represents the first comprehensive annotated protein FASTA for any Cannabis plant. Using this annotated database as reference we can refine our protein identifications, resulting in the confident identification of 13,000 proteins with putative function. Furthermore, we demonstrate that post-translational modifications play an important role in the proteomes of Cannabis flower, particularly lysine acetylation and protein glycosylation. To facilitate the evolution of analytical investigations into these plant materials, we have created a portal to host resources we have developed from proteomic and metabolomic analysis of Cannabis plant material as well as our results integrating these resources. All data for this project is available to view or download at www.CannabisDraftMap.Org

The present study evaluates the manufacturing parameters effects on the tensile properties of material composed by polylactic acid (PLA) with wood fibers known as Timberfill. The specimens were built through fused filament fabrication (FFF). The influence of four printing parameters (Layer height, Fill density, Printing velocity, and Orientation) are considered through a L27 Taguchi orthogonal array in order to reduce experimental runs. Tensile test is applied to obtain the response variable used as output results to perform the ANOVA calculations. Fill density is the most influential parameter on the tensile strength, followed by building orientation and layer height, whereas the printing velocity shows no significant influence. The optimal set of parameters and levels is found, being 75% fill density, 0○Z-axis orientation, 0.4 mm layer height, and 40 mm/s velocity as the best combination. Applying this combination showed 9.37 MPa in maximum tension. Lastly, five solid Timberfill specimens manufactured via injection molding technology were also tested and the results compared to the printed samples. The values of the elastic modulus, elastic limit, and maximum tension of the injected samples were almost twofold of those were obtained for the FFF samples, but the maximum elongation of injected specimens was fell sharply.

Mammary neoplasms affect a population of intact and elderly female dogs and 50% of these neoplasms are malignant. In order to study this disease, cell culture is as a promising preclinical model, creating the opportunity to deposit cell lines at a cell bank, allowing a great reproducibility of the assays and making the validation of the results more reliable. Another important aspect is the possibility to establish models for the better understanding of tumour characteristics, such as vasculogenic mimicry. VM is related to cancer cells able to generate vascular-like structures from epithelial cells, mimicking the vasculogenic process and it is closely related to patient’s prognosis. Due the importance of cancer cell lines in preclinical models, this study aimed to establish and characterize ten cell lines from canine mammary gland tumours according to immunophenotype and tumorigenicity, and with its ability to form vasculogenic mimicry-like structures in vitro and in vivo. Cell cultures were evaluated for morphology, phenotype, vasculogenic mimicry and tumorigenicity abilities. All cell lines presented spindle shape morphology and expressed concomitant pan-cytokeratin and cytokeratin 8/18. Four cell lines had vasculogenic mimicry ability in vitro and two of them showed in vivo tumorigenic potential and forming VM in the xenotransplant tumour. Cell characterization of those lines will help to create a database for more knowledge of mammary carcinomas in dogs, including studies of tumor behavior and new therapeutic targets.

Diarrhoea contributes significantly in the under-five childhood morality and mortality worldwide. This cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in Ujjain, India from July 2015 to June 2016. Consecutive children aged 1 month to 12 years having “some dehydration” and “dehydration” according to World Health Organization classification were eligible to be included in the study. Other signs and symptoms used to assess severe dehydration were capillary refill time, urine output, and abnormal respiratory pattern. A questionnaire was administered to identify risk factors for severe dehydration, which was the primary outcome. Multivariate logistic regression modeling was used to detect independent risk factors for severe dehydration. The study included 332 children, with mean ± standard deviation age of 25.62 ± 31.85 months; out of which, 70%(95% confidence interval [CI] 65 to 75) were diagnosed to have severe dehydration. The independent risk factors for severe dehydration were: child not exclusive breast fed in the first six months of life (AOR 5.67, 95%CI 2.51 to 12.78; p<0.001), history of not receiving oral rehydration solution before hospitalization (AOR 1.34, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.78; p=0.038), history of not receiving oral zinc before hospitalization (AOR 2.66, 95%CI 1.68 to 4.21; p<0.001) and living in overcrowded conditions (AOR 5.52, 95%CI 2.19 to 13.93; p<0.001). The study identified many risk factors associated with severe childhood dehydration; many of them are modifiable though known and effective public health interventions.

Pectin integrally extracted with water-soluble phytochemicals from waste lemon peel via hydrodynamic cavitation in water directly at pre-industrial scale and further isolated via freeze drying shows exceptionally high antioxidant and non-cytotoxic activity. Preliminary investigation indicates also significant antimicrobial activity. These findings open the route to the development of new nutraceutical agents based on a new bioproduct easily obtained in large amounts from an abundant by-product of the agrofood industry.

14-Deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (deAND), a diterpenoid in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees, acts as a bioactive phytonutrient that can treat many diseases. To investigate the protective effects of deAND on reducing fatty liver disease, male mice were fed a high-fat and high-cholesterol (HFHC) diet without or with 0.05% and 0.1% deAND supplementation. Cholesterol accumulation, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in liver and liver injury were evaluated after deAND treatment. The results show that deAND treatment for 7 weeks reduced plasma alanine aminotransferase activity and lowered hepatic cholesterol accumulation, tumor nuclear factor-α, and histological lesions. 0.1% deAND treatment reduced HFHC diet-induced apoptosis by lowering the caspase 3/pro-caspase 3 ratio. After 11-weeks of deAND treatment, increased NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), capase-1, and interleukin-1β protein levels in liver were suppressed by deAND treatment. In addition, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) mRNA expression, heme oxygenase-1 protein expression, and the activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were increased in mice fed the HFHC diet. However, those activities of antioxidant enzymes or proteins were also upregulated by 0.1% deAND treatment. Furthermore, deAND treatment tended to lower hepatic lipid peroxides. Finally, deAND treatment reversed the depletion of hepatic glutamate level induced by HFHC diet. These results indicate that deAND may ameliorate HFHC diet-induced steatohepatitis and liver injury by increasing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities.

The outcomes of the 2015 Paris Agreement triggered a number of climate impact assessments, such as for floods and droughts, to focus on future time frames corresponding to the years of reaching specific levels of global warming. Yet, the links between the timing of the warming levels and the corresponding greenhouse gas concentration pathways to reach them, remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we compare projected changes of annual mean, extreme high and extreme low river discharges in Europe at 1.5°C and 2°C under scenarios RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 from an ensemble of Regional Climate Model (RCM) simulations. The statistical significance of the difference between the two scenarios for both warming levels is then evaluated. Results show that in the majority of Europe (>95% of the surface area for the annual mean discharge, >98% for high and low extremes), the changes projected in the two pathways are statistically indistinguishable. These results suggest that in studies of changes at specific warming levels the projections of the two pathways can be merged into a single ensemble without major loss of information. With regard to the uncertainty of the unified ensemble, findings show that the projected changes of annual mean, extreme high and extreme low river discharge are statistically significant in large portions of Europe.

Current therapeutic strategies targeting cancer cells within solid tumors have displayed limited success owing to the presence of non-cancer components referred to as the tumor stroma within the tumor microenvironment (TM). These stromal cells, extracellular matrix and blood vessels influence cancer cell response to therapy and play key roles in tumor relapse and resistance. Of the stromal cells present in the TM, a lot of attention has been given to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) as they are the most abundant and are important in cancer initiation, progression and therapy resistance. In this updated review I emphasize the role of CAFs in the regulation of tumor cell behaviour and reveal how CAF-derived factors and signaling influence tumor cell heterogeneity and development of novel strategies to combat cancer. To investigate the expression of CAF markers in tumor tissues versus normal tissues, transcriptomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) databases was used. Bioinformatic analysis reveals differential expression of CAF markers in several cancer types, underscoring the need for further multiomics and biochemical studies on CAFs, CAF subsets and markers. Differences in CAF markers’ expression could be due to different cellular origins as well as the effect of cancer-specific tumor microenvironmental effect on CAFs. Lastly, I present recent advances in therapeutic targeting of CAFs and the success of such endeavours or its lack thereof. It is recommended that for patients’ outcomes to improve, cancer treatment be combinatorial in nature, targeting both cancer cells and stromal cells and interactions.

The mass composition of Particulate Matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in San Joaquin Valley (SJV) is dominated by ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) which is a secondary pollutant. The goal of this research was the investigation of the relationship between emissions, meteorology and PM2.5 concentrations in Fresno for the winter season. It was found that the location of sites near emission sources such as freeways compared with residential sites strongly affected measured PM2.5 concentrations. It was found that although long-term trends showed declines in both emissions and PM2.5 concentrations there was substantial variability between the years in the PM2.5/emissions relationship. Much of the yearly variation in the relationship between emissions and PM2.5 concentrations can be attributed to yearly variations in weather, such as atmospheric stability, precipitation frequency and average wind speed. There are moderate correlations between PM2.5 concentrations and temperature differences between nearby surface stations at varying elevations which explains some of the daily and seasonal variation in PM2.5. Occurrence of precipitation was related to low PM¬2.5 although the higher wind speeds and lower atmospheric stability associated with precipitation likely explain some of the low PM2.5 as well as washout of PM.

Being a chilling-sensitive staple crop, rice (Oryza sativa L.) is vulnerable to climate change. The competence of rice to withstand chilling stress should, therefore, be enhanced through technological tools. The present study employed chemical intervention like application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as nitric oxide (NO) donor and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms of NO-mediated chilling tolerance in rice. At germination stage, germination indicators were interrupted by chilling stress (5.0 ± 1.0°C for 8 h day‒1), while pretreatment with 100 μM SNP markedly improved the indicators. At seedling stage (14-day-old), chilling stress caused stunted growth with visible toxicity along with alteration of biochemical markers, for example, increase in oxidative stress markers (superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde) and osmolytes (total soluble sugar; proline and soluble protein content, SPC), and decrease in chlorophyll (Chl), relative water content (RWC), and antioxidants. However, NO application attenuated toxicity symptoms with improving growth performance which might be attributed to enhanced activities of antioxidants, mineral contents, Chl, RWC and SPC. Furthermore, principal component analysis indicated that water imbalance and increased oxidative damage were the main contributors to chilling injury, whereas NO-mediated mineral homeostasis and antioxidant defense were the critical determinants for chilling tolerance in rice. Collectively, our findings revealed that NO protects against chilling stress through valorizing cellular defense mechanisms, suggesting that exogenous application of NO could be a potential tool to evolve cold tolerance as well as climate resilience in rice.

The economic activities in the romanian rural areas have started to know new horizons with Romania's accession to the European Community. The rural society was and is focused on the level of entrepreneurial behavior strictly on agriculture, with all its derivatives. At present there is a variety of sectors of activity that are found in the rural society, which are waiting to know new dimensions. The higher the number of entrepreneurs, the more job vacancies will be created across different fields of activity. In these circumstances, the number of jobs will increase, and the society in the romanian rural area can enjoy a diversity of the population determined by the various professions of people, but also by the new dimension offered by the entrepreneurial area. This way, it will be done later the repopulation of the Romanian countryside, a national interest issue, after the great majority of the population went to work in the countries of the European Community, having to be forced by the poverty of the romanian rural area, determined by the lack of jobs to ensure a decent standard of living.

Smoking during pregnancy remains one of the most significant risk factors for poor birth outcomes. The Loma Linda University Health Comprehensive Tobacco Treatment Program (CTTP) is the largest maternal tobacco cessation program in San Bernardino County – the largest county in the contiguous US. CTTP is an eight week, incentivized, behavioral intervention for tobacco cessation for pregnant smokers. As part of program evaluation, we used a retrospective cohort design to assess smoking abstinence and to identify predictors of relapse/smoking after enrollment. Among CTTP cohort enrollees (n=233) from 2012-2013 we found: 1) a 28.4% 8 week point prevalence abstinence (PPA), and at a median of 9 months of follow-up after the PPA, 81.6% continued to indicate tobacco cessation, and 2) a high rate of relapse or loss to follow-up (56%). Our modeling of relapse/smoking after enrollment indicated that this was higher in young mothers, non-Hispanic mothers (White, Black), first/third trimester mothers, and rural mothers. The evaluation identified efficacy of the behavioral model at 8 weeks, but that relapse/smoking was occurring in disparity populations. Formative research is needed to expand the programmatic outreach and enrollment of mothers wanting to quit smoking.

The automatic recognition of scanned Medieval manuscripts still represents a challenge due to degradation, non standard layouts, or notations. This paper focuses on the Medieval square notation developed around the 11th century which is composed of staff lines, clefs, accidentals, and neumes which are basically connected single notes. We present a novel approach to tackle the automatic transcription by applying CNN/LSTM networks that are trained using the segmentation-free CTC-loss-function which considerably facilitates the GT-production. For evaluation, we use three different manuscripts and achieve a dSAR of 86.0% on the most difficult book and 92.2% on the cleanest one. To further improve the results, we apply a neume dictionary during decoding which yields a relative improvement of about 5%.

Nerve hydrodissection (HD), a technique used when treating nerve entrapments, involves using an anesthetic or solution such as saline or 5% dextrose solution to separate the nerve from the surrounding tissue, fascia, or adjacent structures. This technique aims to treat neuropathic pain, or pain caused by the nerve. Ultrasound-guided HD of peripheral nerves has gained significant attention in the medical profession and pain management fields in recent years. This is due to a number of high impact publications of randomized control trials demonstrating the efficacy and safety of this technique for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. Even the 20th edition of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine textbook lists injection of 5% dextrose as an alternative local treatment that does not have the side effects of corticosteroids. At present, there is no review of the current literature on this technique. This manuscript will summarize and discuss the following: 1) the different approaches to doing ultrasound-guided HD of nervous structures, 2) its usages in different clinical situations, 3) its clinical pearls, 4) the solution used, and 5) the postulated mechanisms of action.

Up to forty percent of dairy cows develop metritis or endometritis when pathogenic bacteria infect the uterus after parturition. However, resilient cows remain healthy even when exposed to the same pathogens. Here, we provide a perspective on the mechanisms that dairy cows use to prevent postpartum uterine disease. We suggest that resilient cows prevent the development of uterine disease using the three complimentary defensive strategies of avoiding, tolerating and resisting infection with pathogenic bacteria. Avoidance maintains health by limiting the exposure to pathogens. Avoidance mechanisms include intrinsic behaviors to reduce the risk of infection by avoiding pathogens or infected animals, perhaps signaled by the fetid odor of uterine disease. Tolerance improves health by limiting the tissue damage caused by the pathogens. Tolerance mechanisms include neutralizing bacterial toxins, protecting cells against damage, enhancing tissue repair, and reprogramming metabolism. Resistance improves health by limiting the pathogen burden. Resistance mechanisms include inflammation driven by innate immunity and adaptive immunity, with the aim of killing and eliminating pathogenic bacteria. Farmers can also help cows prevent the development of postpartum uterine disease by avoiding trauma to the genital tract, reducing stress, and feeding animals appropriately during the transition period. Understanding the mechanisms of avoidance, tolerance and resistance to pathogens will inform strategies to generate resilient animals and prevent uterine disease.

As of today, there is not any direct report yet of the degree to which missing residues exist for experimentally determined membrane protein (MP) structures, which constitute more than half of current drug targets. With a chain- and position-specific visualisation and a statistical analysis of all MP structures inside PDB (as of September 25, 2019), this article argues that the experimentally uncharted territories (EUTs, i.e., consisting of missing residues) within PDB are pluggable and should be plugged with an experimental data-driven hybrid approach, and calls for continued development of MP structural determination with less and less EUTs, in light of MPs' crucial role in biological and biomedical research, both fundamental and pharmaceutical.

The study presents a comparison of the common Child Restraint Systems (CRS) which reduces the value of dynamic loads affecting the child's body during car accidents. The analyzed systems were: child seats, Combi Booster Seats, and straps adjusting vehicle seat belts to children's sizes. The effectiveness of the analyzed devices was assessed on the basis of experimental tests carried out in the accredited laboratory approving the Child Restraint Systems. The tests were carried out accordingly to the new Regulation No. 129 UN / ECE. Whether the tested devices meet the guidelines of the new Regulations No. 129 despite approval in accordance with Regulation No. 44. Based on the research result, better safety parameters of some new solutions dedicated to children’s safety could be observed. The final results show that there is still space for improving the safety of young vehicle passengers.

Green infrastructure systems are often overdesigned. This may be a byproduct of static sizing (e.g., accounting for a design storm’s runoff volume but not exfiltration rates) or may be deliberate (e.g., buffering against performance loss through time). Regardless, overdesign may compromise plants’ access to water in systems where soil pits are embedded in infiltration beds. It could raise the storm size required for water to reach soil pits, reducing water availability between storms, which could ultimately induce plant physiological stress. This study investigated the hydrological dynamics and water relations of a tree trench system suspected to have been overbuilt and identified factors contributing to, compounding, and mitigating the risk of plant stress. Results provided strong evidence that the abovementioned processes played out. Water in the infiltration bed reached soil pits only once in three years, with that event occurring during a hydrant release. Moreover, minimal water was retained in the soil pit during the event due to the hydraulic properties of the soil media. Through a growing season, one of the two tree types frequently experienced water stress, while the other did so only rarely. These contrasting responses can likely be attributed to roots either being largely confined to the soil pits or reaching a deeper water source. Implications of these results for green infrastructure design are considered.

Banking sector is generally taken out of sample while the sustainability performance, and the financial performance are compared with each other. The core aim of this study is to analyze the effect of the declarations made in the cope of sustainability reports on the financial performance in the banking sector. Seven banks were included in the study which were placed at least one time in BIST Sustainability Index in between 2010-2017 years. Environment, human resources, product liability and community involvement were determined as sustainability criteria and return on assets, return on equity and net interest margin were determined as financial performance criteria. Non-Parametric Statistic Tests and Panel Data Analysis were used for analysis and types, and the sizes of banks were selected as dummy variables. As a result, it is found that the declarations of sustainability reports have a significant effect only on return on assets and have no significant effect on return on equity and net interest margin. And also, when we analyzed the relationship of sustainability criteria and return on assets, we found that the declarations about environment and human resources have negative effects on return on assets.

The energy yield of the Vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (VIPV) differs from that of the standard photovoltaics (PV). It is mainly by the difference of the solar irradiance onto the car-roof and car-bodies as well as its curved-shape. Both meaningful and practical modeling and measurement of the solar irradiance for VIPV are needed to be newly established, not the extension of the current technologies. The solar irradiance was modeled by a random distribution of the shading objects and car-orientation with the correction of the curved surface of the PV modules. The measurement of the solar irradiance onto the car-roof and car-body was done using five pyranometers in five local axes on the car for one year. The measured dynamic solar irradiance onto the car-body and car-roof was used for validation of the solar irradiance model in the car.

This article reports new measurements of laser-induced plasma hypersonic expansion measurements of diatomic molecular cyanide (CN). Focused, high-peak power 1064-nm Q-switched radiation of the order of 1 TW/cm² generates optical breakdown plasma in a cell containing a 1:1 molar gas mixture of N₂ and CO₂ at a fixed pressure of 1.1 × 10⁵ Pascal and in a 100 ml/min flow of the mixture. Line-of-sight (LOS) analysis of recorded molecular spectra indicate the outgoing shockwave at expansion speeds well in excess of Mach number 5. Spectra of atomic carbon confirm an increased electron density near the shock wave, and equally, molecular CN spectra reveal higher excitation temperature near the shockwave. The results are consistent with corresponding high-speed shadow graphs obtained by visualization with an effective shutter speed of five n anosecond. In addition, LOS analysis and application of integral inversion techniques allow inferences about the spatio-temporal distribution of the plasma.

Plants, including Cannabis (Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa) host distinct beneficial microbial communities on and inside their tissues, designated the plant microbiota from the moment that they are planted into the soil as seed. They contribute to plant growth promotion, facilitating mineral nutrient uptake, inducing defense resistance against pathogens, higher yield and modulating plant secondary metabolites. Understanding the microbial partnerships with Cannabis has the potential to affect agricultural practices by improving plant fitness and the production yield of cannabinoids. Much less is known about this beneficial Cannabis-microbe partnership, and the complex relationship between the endogenous microbes associated with various tissues of the plant, particularly, the role that cannabis may play in supporting or enhancing them. This review will focus on Cannabis microbiota studies and the effect of endophytes on the elicitation of secondary metabolites production in Cannabis plants. The aim of this review is to shed light on the importance of Cannabis microbiome and how cannabinoid compounds concentration can be stimulated through symbiotic and or mutualistic relationships with endophytes.

TiC–high Mn steel-bonded carbide with a cellular structure was designed and fabricated by powder metallurgy techniques using coarse and fine TiC particles as the hard phase. This preparation process was carefully investigated and optimized. The microstructure of the TiC steel-bonded carbide was observed using a scanning electron microscope. Results showed that there are two types of microstructures in the TiC steel-bonded carbide: the coarse-grained TiC and fine-grained TiC. The transverse rupture strength and impact toughness of the alloy reach maximum values 2231 MPa and 12.87 J/cm2, respectively when the starting weight ratio of MP-A (containing coarse TiC particles) to MP-B (containing fine TiC particles) is 60:40. Hence, this study serves as a feasible example of how to prepare a high-strength and high-toughness TiC–high Mn steel-bonded carbide.

This study compared the mineral content and bioactive properties of flowers and fruit coming from wild elderberry plants with those of flowers and fruit harvested from elderberry cultivars grown in an orchard. Elderberry fruit and flowers were analysed for the content of selected minerals, phenolic compounds and anthocyanins and for antioxidant activity. Mineral content was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry method, while antioxidant activity and the content of polyphenols and anthocyanins were determined by spectrophotometric methods. Flowers were found to contain more total ash and to have much higher content of most of minerals, except magnesium, which was present in high concentrations in fruit. Fruit showed significantly higher antioxidant activity than flowers, whereas the total phenolic content varied depending on the growing location / cultivar. The material obtained from selected cultivars growing in an orchard had higher antioxidant activity and polyphenol and anthocyanin content than the material obtained from wild plants. Fruit of the ‘Haschberg’ cultivar and flowers of the ‘Sampo’ cultivar had the best bioactive properties of the studied samples.

Phloem-feeding insects strive to offset the disadvantageous effects of stressors to sustain their offspring and survive. Adaptive responses to environmental stress are not well understood under complex influences of companion planting, natural enemies, and host gradient. In this study, under predation by lacewing Chrysoperla carnea Stephens (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), we survey the responses of green peach aphid Myzus persicae Sulzer (Hemiptera: Aphididae), reared on different densities of cabbage Brassica oleracea L. (Brassicales: Brassicaceae) to its shallot companion Allium cepa (L.) var. aggregatum G. Don (Asparagales: Amaryllidaceae). Firstly, aphid aggregative abundance was strongly influenced by shallot perturbation, predator presence and changes in cabbage-host biomass, altering aphid phenotypic plasticity. Interestingly, the shallot and predation negative impacts can be of similar magnitudes. Secondly, changes in the cabbage-host availability and biomass, especially under predation, had a strong impact on aphid traits. Our study underscores the benefits of including shallots as crop-companions in augmenting pest control, but also suggests that the outcome of coupling companion planting with natural enemies is context-dependent and thus should be empirically applied. At the confluence of ecology and agronomy, this work provides insights on how manipulated functional biodiversity may function as an alternative strategy for pestilent herbivory management in model and green-house systems.

Fatty acids (FAs) represent an important class of metabolites, impacting on membrane building blocks and cellular regulatory networks. In nature, prokaryotes are characterized with the most impressing FA structural diversity and the highest relative contents of free fatty acids (FFAs). Thereby, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (order Rhizobiales), often found in symbiosis with legumes, attract a special interest. Indeed, FAs impact on the structure of rhizobial nodulation factors, required for successful infection of plant root. Although the FA patterns can be addressed by GC- and LC-MS, these methods are time-consuming and suffer from compromised sensitivity, low stability of derivatives and artifacts. In contrast, MALDI-TOF-MS represents an excellent platform for high-efficient metabolite fingerprinting, also applicable to FFAs. Therefore, here we propose a simple and straightforward protocol for high-throughput relative quantification of FFAs in rhizobia by the combination of Langmuir technology and MALDI-TOF-MS, which is featured with high sensitivity, accuracy and precision of quantification. Here we propose a step by step procedure comprising rhizobia culturing, pre-cleaning, extraction, sample preparation, mass spectrometric analysis, data processing and post-processing. To demonstrate the analytical potential of the protocol we illustrate it by a case study – comparison the FFA metabolomes of two rhizobia species - Rhizobium leguminosarum and Sinorhizobium meliloti.

The immunomodulatory behaviour of the CCR6/CCL20 axis in multi -system pathophysiology and molecular signalling was investigated at two clinically significant time points, using a Ccr6 - deficient mouse model of spontaneous colitis. Four groups of mice, (C57BL/6J, Ccr6^-/- of C57BL/6J, Winnie x Ccr6 ^-/- and Winnie) were utilized and (I) colonic clinical parameters (2) histology of colon, spleen, kidney and liver (3) T and B lymphocyte distribution in the spleen and MLN by flowcytometry (5) colonic CCL20, phosphorylated PI3K and phosphorylated Akt expression by immunohistochemistry and (6) colonic cytokine expression by RT-PCR were evaluated. CCR6 deficiency was shown to attenuate inflammation in the spleen, liver and gut while renal histology remained unaffected. Marked focal lobular inflammation with reactive nuclear features were observed in hepatocytes and a significant neutrophil infiltration in red pulp with extra medullary hemopoiesis in the spleen existed in Winnie. These changes were considerably reduced in Winnie x Ccr6^-/- with elevated goblet cell numbers and mucus production in the colonic epithelium. Results indicate that Ccr6- deficiency in the colitis model contributes towards resolution of disease. Our findings demonstrate an intricate networking role for CCR6 in immune activation, which is downregulated by Ccr6 deficiency, and could provide newer clinical therapies in colitis.

Robots for communication are developed extensively with emphasis on sympathy. This study deals with the growth of character and the control of its operation accordingly. The child has time to be alone with the nature of his/her robot friend. The child can interact with other people's emotional expressions through a robot. Step by step, the robot character will grow as the child grows. Through design studies, qualitative processes such as {customer experience audit, eye tracking, mental model diagrams, semantic differences} have been executed for the results. The participatory behavior research approach through user travel is mapped from the user's lead to the evidence-based design. This research considers how the synthetic characteristics can be applied to the physical growth of robot toys through the product design process. With the development of robot toy "Buddy", we tried making two variations on the robot to achieve recognizable growth. (1) A one-dimensional height scaling and (2) facial expression including the distance between two eyes on the screen. Observations represented children's reactions when "Buddy" was released to with the children. As an independent synthetic character, the robot was recognized by children who had the designed function. Robots for training may require more experimentation.

Single molecule de novo protein sequencing based on the 'superspecificity' of amino-acyl tRNA synthetases (aaRS) is proposed. An unfolded protein molecule is threaded through a nanopore in an electrolytic cell (e-cell) to expose the terminal residue in the e-cell's trans chamber. After the residue is cleaved with a peptidase, a set of tRNAs, their aaRSs, and ATP are added to trans. An aaRS charges a cognate tRNA molecule with the residue. The charged tRNA (along with the other reactants) is transferred to an extended e-cell with N (20 ≤ N ≤ 61) pores in N individual cis chambers and a single trans chamber. Each pore holds an RNA molecule ending in a unique codon that is exposed in trans. The charged tRNA's anticodon base-pairs with the terminal codon of an RNA. If tRNAs and residues are fluorescently tagged with two different colors, the residue can be identified from the observed position of the color pair. As charging is 'superspecific' identification is unambiguous. The protein molecule in the first e-cell is advanced by one residue and the process repeated. In this approach there is no need for precise pore current or optical intensity measurements. Potential implementation issues are discussed. Several variations, including one in which the terminal residue is cleaved after charging, are also considered.

Background: Activation of the immune-inflammatory response system (IRS) and the compensatory immune-regulatory system (CIRS) play a key role in SCZ and treatment resistant SCZ. There are only few data on immune and endogenous opioid system (EOS) interactions in SCZ and treatment resistant SCZ.Aim of the study: We examined serum β-endorphin, endomorphin-2 (EM2), mu-opioid (MOR) and kappa-opioid (KOR) receptors, and interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 in 60 non responders to treatment (NRTT), 55 partial RTT (PRTT) and 43 normal controls.Results: Serum EM2, KOR, MOR, IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly increased in SCZ as compared with controls. β-endorphin, EM2, MOR and IL-6 were significantly higher in NRTT than in PRTT. There were significant correlations between IL-6, on the one hand, and β-endorphin, EM2, KOR, and MOR, on the other, while IL-10 was significantly correlated with MOR only. A large part of the variance in negative symptoms, psychosis, hostility, excitation, mannerism, psychomotor retardation and formal thought disorders was explained by the combined effects of EM2 and MOR with or without IL-6 while increased KOR was significantly associated with all symptom dimensions. Increased MOR, KOR, EM2 and IL-6 were also associated with neurocognitive impairments including in episodic, semantic and working memory and executive functions.Conclusion: The EOS contributes to SCZ symptomatology, neurocognitive impairments and a non-response to treatment. In SCZ, EOS peptides/receptors may exert CIRS functions, whereas increased KOR levels may contribute to the pathophysiology of SCZ and EM2 and KOR to a non-response to treatment.

Excessive cell phone use contributes to distracted driving, may increase risk for automobile accidents, and a minority of mobile phone users exhibit behaviors consistent with technological addiction. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cell phone beliefs and behaviors could be changed by a brief educational encounter. The Theory of Reasoned Action provided a lens for viewing attitudes and behavior. A one-week pre-post design with a thirty-day follow-up was used with participants (N = 215, 67.0% female, age = 20.0 + 1.6) assigned to a peer led intervention or comparison groups. The intervention included cell-phone educational materials. A short index of cell phone behavior was developed which showed good internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha of .81. The intervention group “agreed” or “strongly-agreed” more than the comparison group on five of the seven areas of cell phone beliefs and behaviors ( p < 0.05, item Cohen’s d = .32 to .47, total d = .50) at one-week following receipt of informational materials. We conclude that attitudes and behaviors regarding cell phones are malleable and susceptible to change in young-adults following a brief psychoeducational intervention.

We show that if $f$ is a non-negative superquadratic function, then $A\mapsto\mathrm{Tr}f(A)$ is a superquadratic function on the matrix algebra. In particular, \begin{align*} \tr f\left( {\frac{{A + B}}{2}} \right) +\tr f\left(\left| {\frac{{A - B}}{2}}\right|\right) \leq \frac{{\tr {f\left( A \right)} + \tr {f\left( B \right)} }}{2} \end{align*} holds for all positive matrices $A,B$. In addition, we present a Klein's inequality for superquadratic functions as $$ \mathrm{Tr}[f(A)-f(B)-(A-B)f'(B)]\geq \mathrm{Tr}[f(|A-B|)] $$ for all positive matrices $A,B$. It gives in particular improvement of Klein's inequality for non-negative convex function. As a consequence, some variants of the Jensen trace inequality for superquadratic functions have been presented.