Over recent decades, therapeutic proteins have had widespread success in treating a myriad of diseases. Glycosylation, a near universal feature of this class of drugs, is a critical quality attribute that significantly influences the physical properties, safety profile and biological activity of therapeutic proteins. Optimizing protein glycosylation, therefore, offers an important avenue to developing more efficacious therapies. In this review, we discuss specific examples of how variations in glycan structure and glycoengineering impacts the stability, safety, and clinical efficacy of protein-based drugs that are already in the market as well as those that are still in preclinical development. We also highlight the impact of glycosylation on next generation biologics such as T cell-based cancer therapy and gene therapy.

Mental health issues can have significant impacts on individuals and communities and hence on social sustainability. There are several challenges facing mental health treatment, however, more important is to remove the root causes of mental illnesses because doing so can help prevent mental health problems from occurring or recurring. This requires a holistic approach to understanding mental health issues that are missing from the existing research. Mental health should be understood in the context of social and environmental factors. More research and awareness are needed, as well as interventions to address root causes. The effectiveness and risks of medications should also be studied. This paper proposes a big data and machine learning-based approach for the automatic discovery of parameters related to mental health from Twitter data. The parameters are discovered from three different perspectives, Drugs & Treatments, Causes & Effects, and Drug Abuse. We used Twitter to gather 1,048,575 tweets in Arabic about psychological health in Saudi Arabia. We built a big data machine learning software tool for this work. A total of 52 parameters were discovered for all three perspectives. We defined 6 macro-parameters (Diseases & Disorders, Individual Factors, Social & Economic Factors, Treatment Options, Treatment Limitations, and Drug Abuse) to aggregate related parameters. We provide a comprehensive account of mental health, causes, medicines and treatments, mental health and drug effects, and drug abuse, as seen on Twitter, discussed by the public and health professionals. Moreover, we identify their associations with different drugs. The work will open new directions for social media-based identification of drug use and abuse for mental health, as well as other micro and macro factors related to mental health. The methodology can be extended to other diseases and provides a potential for discovering evidence for forensics toxicology from social and digital media.

Native reactive electrophile species (RES) are long-recognized regulators of pathophysiology; yet, knowledge surrounding how RES regulate context-specific biology remains limited. The latest technological advances in profiling and precision decoding of RES sensing and signaling have begun to bring about improved understanding of localized RES regulatory paradigms. However, studies in purified systems—prerequisites for gaining structure/function insights—prove challenging. We here introduce emerging chemical biology tools available to probe RES signaling, and the new knowledge that these tools have brought to the field. We next discuss existing structural data of RES-sensor proteins complexed with electrophilic metabolites or small molecule drugs (limited to < 300 Da), including challenges faced in acquiring homogenous RES-bound proteins. We further offer considerations that could promote enhanced understanding of RES regulation derived from three-dimensional structures of RES-modified proteins.

Cardiac complications of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection have been well-identified since the beginning of the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such conditions can occur of various etiologies, such as respiratory failure and hypoxemia, direct cardiac tissue damage due to viral replication, indirect myocarditis as systemic inflammation, and the interaction of different medications. Recently, with the start of the COVID-19 vaccination programs, COVID-19 vaccine-associated cardiac adverse events (AEs) have emerged and are increasingly being reported. Although these AEs are usually mild and self-limited, they can sometimes cause severe, catastrophic outcomes. This review compares the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of the de novo SARS-CoV-2 infection-related and COVID-19 vaccine-related myocarditis and pericarditis.

Most head and neck cancers are diagnosed in advanced stages, when the curative interventions are no longer possible. The assessment and the multidisciplinary therapeutic approach of the locally advanced cases are difficult since the onset of the disease becomes a significant challenge for the whole attending team (including both the patient and his family) because they have to deal with to an extensive symptomatology (abundant secretions, refractory pain, mutilations predominantly in the cephalic area), with the cure of stomas (tracheostomy, gastrostomy) and with various post-therapeutic sequelae. The present paper reflects the impact of late diagnosis, the complexity of the multimodal specific oncological treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, pal-liative and terminal treatment), the adaptation of medical care to the psycho-emotional structure, having as an example the case of 54-year old patient (with his consent) diagnosed with pharyn-golaryngeal neoplasm who presented himself to “St. Luca” Chronic Disease Hospital, the Oncol-ogy-Palliative Care Department, in September 2021. In patients with locally advanced head and neck cancers, besides the specifically oncological therapeutic decisions, the empathic-emotional connection between the medical team with the patient and his family plays a key role in the ther-apeutic conduct.

Pyrolysis has been applied in the human economy for many years, and it has become a significant alternative to the production of chemical compounds, including biofuels. The article focuses mostly on recent achievements in the technical and processing aspects of pyrolysis. This review provides an overview of the recent advanced pyrolysis technology used in gas, bio-oil, and biochar production. The key parameters to maximize the production of specific chemical compounds were discussed and considered during the construction of the reactors. The emphasis is put on optimizing the process parameters, technical requirements, and renewable energy use in the process and conception to improve the efficiency of product production. The application of pyrolysis gas, oil, and biochar as valuable chemical compounds are related to the intensifying effects of climate change, biofuel production, and waste management in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

Using the nematode C. elegans germline as a model system, we previously reported that PUF-8 (a PUF RNA-binding protein) and LIP-1 (a dual-specificity phosphatase) repress sperm fate at 20°C and the dedifferentiation of spermatocytes into mitotic cells (termed "spermatocyte dedifferentiation") at 25°C. Thus, double mutants lacking both PUF-8 and LIP-1 produce excess sperm at 20°C, and their spermatocytes return to mitotically dividing cells via dedifferentiation at 25°C, resulting in germline tumors. To gain insight into the molecular competence for spermatocyte dedifferentiation, we compared the germline phenotypes of three mutant strains – fem-3(q20gf), puf-8(q725; fem-3(q20gf), and puf-8(q725); lip-1(zh15). Both fem-3(q20gf) and puf-8(q725); fem-3(q20gf) mutants produced excess sperm like puf-8(q725); lip-1(zh15) double mutants. Our results show that spermatocyte dedifferentiation was not observed in fem-3(q20gf) mutants, but it was more aggressive in puf-8(q725); lip-1(zh15) than in puf-8(q725); fem-3(q20gf) mutants. These results suggest that MPK-1 (the C. elegans ERK1/2 MAPK ortholog) activation by removing the function of LIP-1 in the absence of PUF-8 promotes spermatocyte dedifferentiation. This idea was confirmed using Resveratrol (RSV), a potential activator of MPK-1 and ERK1/2 in C. elegans and human cells. Notably, spermatocyte dedifferentiation was significantly enhanced by RSV treatment, and its effect was blocked by mpk-1 RNAi. We, therefore, conclude that PUF-8 and MPK-1 are normally required to inhibit spermatocyte dedifferentiation and tumorigenesis. Since these regulators are broadly conserved, we suggest that similar regulatory circuitry may control cellular dedifferentiation and tumorigenesis in other organisms, including humans.

Mint and to a lesser extent menthol have been used since antiquity for medicinal purposes. Key components of mint and menthol use such as composition and intake, safety and traditional uses are discussed prior to a review of clinical and human performance outcomes in the areas of digestive and respiratory health; antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, nocioception, migraine and headache and emerging evidence regarding COVID 19. Evidence suggests benefit for patients with irritable bowel syndrome and related digestive issues, with analgesic and respiratory effects also noted. Perceptual characteristics relating to thermal comfort and sensation, taste sensitivity and alertness are also considered; these effects are predominantly driven by stimulation of transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) activity resulting in sensations of cooling and freshness, with lesser influence on thirst. Finally, sport performance is considered as a domain that may further elucidate some of the aforementioned underpinning outcomes due to its systemic and dynamic nature, especially when performed in hot environmental conditions.

The vulcanization of rubber compounds is an exothermal process. A carbon black-filled and natural rubber-based (NR) formulation was mixed with different levels of sulfur (0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 6.0 phr) and studied with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) for the determination of the vulcanization enthalpy. It was found that the vulcanization enthalpy is dependent from the amount of sulfur present in the compound and the vulcanization heat released was -18.4 kJ/mol S if referred to the entire rubber compound formulation or -46.0 kJ/mol S if the heat released is referred only to the NR present in the compound. The activation energy for the vulcanization of the rubber compounds was also determined by a DSC study at 49 kJ/mol and found quite independent from the sulfur content of the compounds under study. A simplified thermochemical model is proposed to explain the main reactions occurring during the vulcanization. The model correctly predicts that the vulcanization is an exothermal process although it gives an overestimation of the vulcanization enthalpy which is larger for the EV vulcanization package and smaller for the conventional vulcanization system. If the devulcanization is conducted mechanochemically in order to break selectively the sulfur-based crosslinks, then the natural rubber compounds recovered from used tires can be re-vulcanized again and the exothermicity of such process can be measured satisfactorily with DSC analysis. This paper not only proposes a simplified mechanism of vulcanization and devulcanization but also proposes an analytical method to check the devulcanization status of the recycled rubber compound in order to distinguish truly devulcanized rubber from reclaimed rubber.

Obesity is related to the establishment of chronic inflammation and metabolic diseases, but it can be positively influenced by the regular practice of physical activity. The study aimed to compare the anthropometric, metabolic, and inflammatory parameters of physically active Military Police Officers (MPOs) with those who are less physically active. Sixty male MPOs, low activity (n=28) and physically active (n=32) participated. The following parameters were measured: plasma cytokine levels, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, circulating glucose triglyceride (TAG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, and plasma glutamic oxalacetate transaminase (GOT), glutamic-pyruvate transaminase (GPT), and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities. The physically active group presented lower body fat and reduced TAG and IL-8 levels compared to the low activity group. Moreover, a negative correlation between SPE and SBP, DBP, BPM was detected for the physically active group (p<0.05) but not in the low activity group. Furthermore, the physically active group's work time (WT) values were not correlated with the important metabolic markers SBP, DBP, BPM, GLU, TAG (p>0.05) but could be in the low activity group (p<0.05). These findings highlight the fundamental protective role of physical activity in controlling body composition, subclinical inflammation, and cardiovascular risk in MPOs.

226Ra and 228Ra are typically monitored for groundwater and surface water compliance at legacy U mining and milling sites. Groundwater monitoring results for combined Ra (226Ra+228Ra) reported by the existing contract laboratory at a former U mine and mill Site (Wyoming, USA) have been highly variable and with increasing trends at the Site compliance and background wells since the method was changed in 2005. Sample reanalysis has indicated poor reproducibility and significant analytical error in 228Ra measurements. An interlaboratory comparison was conducted to evaluate the potential causes of the high variability and analytical error. Two different methods were used for 226Ra (M903.0 and M903.1) and 228Ra (M904.0 and Ra-05). 226Ra results were less variable compared to 228Ra, and 228Ra data from the existing laboratory were qualified as estimated with high bias due to detection of 228Ra in the field blank. Compliance with the 226Ra+228Ra groundwater standard was either met or not met, depending on which laboratory conducted the analyses. Specific laboratory techniques, rather than the analytical method, are contributing to elevated 228Ra values being reported. It was recommended that samples whose 226Ra+228Ra results exceed the Site standard in the future be reanalyzed by the existing laboratory with a sample split also being sent to an outside laboratory for confirmatory analysis.

The field of applied behavior analysis has been directly involved in both research and applications of behavioral principles to improve the lives of captive zoo animals. Thirty years ago, Forthman and Ogden (1992) wrote one of the first papers documenting some of these efforts. Since that time, considerable work has been done using behavioral principles and procedures to guide zoo welfare efforts. The current paper re-examines and updates Forthman and Ogden’s original points, with attention to the five categories they detailed: (1) promotion of species-typical behavior, (2) reintroduction and repatriation of endangered species, (3) animal handling, (4) pest control, and (5) animal performances. In addition, we outline three current and future directions for behavior analytic endeavors: (i) experimental analyses of behavior and the zoo, (ii) applied behavior analysis and the zoo, and (iii) within-subject methodology and the zoo. The goal is to provide a framework that can guide future behavioral research in zoos, as well as create applications based on these empirical evaluations.

Mounting evidence supports the connections between exposure to environment types––such as green spaces and biodiversity––and human health. However, the mechanistic links that connect biodiversity (the variety of life) and human health, plus the level of supporting evidence, are less clear. Here, we undertook a scoping review to map the links between biodiversity and human health and summarise the levels of associated evidence using an established weight of evidence framework. Distinct from other reviews, we provide additional context regarding the environment-microbiome-health axis, evaluate the environmental buffering pathway (e.g., biodiversity impacts on air pollution), and draw upon expert opinion to provide case studies on three underrepresented linkages. The case studies include (1) biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples’ health, (2) biodiversity and urban social equity, and (3) biodiversity and COVID-19. We observed a moderate level of evidence to support the environmental microbiota-human health pathway and a moderate-high level of evidence to support broader nature pathways (e.g., green space) to various health outcomes, from stress reduction to enhanced wellbeing and improved social cohesion. However, studies of broader nature pathways did not typically include specific biodiversity metrics, indicating clear research gaps. Further research is required to understand the connections and causative pathways between biodiversity (e.g., using metrics such as taxonomy, diversity/richness, structure, and function) and health outcomes. There are well-established frameworks to assess the effects of broad classifications of nature on human health. These can assist future research in linking biodiversity metrics to human health outcomes. Our case studies on underrepresented linkages highlight the roles of biodiversity and its loss on urban lived experiences, infectious diseases, and Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty and livelihoods. More research and awareness of these socioecological interconnections are needed.

How do sensor research and technologies grow over time? This paper applies the network analysis with a new computational approach to map the structure and evolution of sensor research and technologies over a 30-year time frame (1990-2020).The goal of this study is to analyze the evolution of sensor research for forecasting emerging scientific and technological trajectories. Results show that the scientific interaction within ecosystem (represented with networks) of sensor generates a co-evolution of scientific fields supporting the accelerated growth of different technological tra-jectories, such as: wireless sensors, fiber optic and optical sensors, gas sensors and biosensors. These results suggest main theoretical implications that explain the evolution of sensor research with critical aspects of innovation management to support R&D investments towards new technological trajectories having a high potential of growth.

The diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases are major challenges. Their signs, symptoms, and their clinical severity change throughout the course of the disease. The available treatments for these conditions do not result in complete remission, and their long-term use generates several side effects. The main challenges in this field are the development of more sensitive diagnostic tools, and effective treatments. Studies in patients and animal models reported alterations in monocyte phenotype, activation, and function. These cells play an essential role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory states and have become a target for extracorporeal monitoring and specific intervention. Nanoparticles (NPs) are ultrafine particles that can be used as contrast agents in diagnostic imaging techniques to detect specific cells in inflammatory infiltrates in tissues that are not easily accessible by biopsy. In addition, NPs can be designed to deliver drugs to a cell population or tissue. This review describes several experimental pieces of evidence demonstrating that monocytes and macrophages can specifically uptake various types of NPs, thus becoming detectable in vivo by magnetic resonance imaging and susceptible to be modulated by therapeutic agents. Hence, nanoparticles targeting mononuclear phagocytes represent promising tools for diagnosing and treatment.

Background: Bangladeshi students from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) often struggle with solving many mathematical problems in different pedagogic contexts. They mostly lack the considerable prior learning or strong basics required to cope with the teaching and learning materials used at the undergraduate levels, which leads many students to take readmissions every year. Objective: This research aims at investigating the factors affecting the success and deficit of university undergraduate mathematics students in Bangladesh. The mixed-method research incorporates quantitative and qualitative data analysis on the students' and teachers’ perspectives regarding the issues. The authors focus more on categorizing the reasons influencing effective mathematics pedagogies than on identifying new or unknown causes. Methodology: This study is outlined in three phases. The phases include i. Exploratory qualitative survey ii. Quantitative triangulation survey, iii. Explanatory semi-structured interviews. Findings: First, the qualitative survey exposes the important factors that highlight the student’s success and failure in mathematics. Next, the quantitative data confirm that there are some similarities and dissimilarities between students’ and teachers’ perceptions. Also, the coefficient correlation analysis shows male students lack consistency and passion for study resulting in poor performances. Conversely, female students emphasize the inability to connect mathematical theories to real-life usages, curriculum loads, and unavailable resources as the reasons for underperformance. Finally, the interview data demonstrate the students attribute their failure to inadequate practices, memorizing habits, poor teaching, low motivation, and external distractions. Also, students acknowledge the necessity of steady practice, clear understanding, regular study, and working strategies for successful mathematics education. Teachers emphasize students’ clear concepts, aptitude, motivation, and curiosity for successful learning. Conclusion: This conclusion proposes a fresh start with the local mathematics pedagogic practices by analyzing teacher-student feedback on the success and failure factors impacted by varied individual and contextual elements. The study offers inclusive feedback on the part of both stakeholders. However, an open discussion or interaction between students and teachers might be needed to enhance mutual trust and understanding between them.

Taking a DNA-sequence, a word with letters/bases A, T, G and C, as the relation between the generators of an infinite group $\pi$, one can discriminate two important families: (i) the cardinality structure for conjugacy classes of subgroups of $\pi$ is that of a free group on $1$ to $4$ bases and the DNA word, viewed as a substitution sequence, is aperiodic. (ii) The cardinality structure for conjugacy classes of subgroups of $\pi$ is not that of a free group, the sequence is generally not aperiodic and topological properties of $\pi$ have to be determined differently. The two cases rely on DNA conformations such as A-DNA, B-DNA, Z-DNA, G-quadruplexes, etc. We found a few salient results: Z-DNA, when involved in transcription, replication and regulation in a healthy situation implies (i). The sequence of telomeric repeats comprising $3$ distinct bases, most of the time, satisfies (i). For $2$-base sequences in the free case (i) or non free case (ii), the topology of $\pi$ may be found in terms of the $SL(2,\mathbb{C})$ character variety of $\pi$ and the attached algebraic surfaces. The linking of two unknotted curves --the Hopf link-- may occur in the topology of $\pi$ in cases of biological importance, in telomeres, G-quadruplexes, hairpins and junctions, a feature we already found in the context of models of topological quantum computing. For $3$- and $4$ base sequences, other knotting configurations are noticed and a building block of the topology is the $4$-punctured sphere. Our methods have the potential to discriminate potential diseases associated to the sequences.

Climate change poses a serious threat to global agricultural activity and food production. To address this issue, plant genome editing technologies have been developed to provide an alternative solution for crop improvement. Unlike conventional breeding techniques (e.g., selective breeding and mutation breeding), modern genome editing tools offer more targeted and specific alterations of the plant genome to produce crops with desired traits, such as higher yield and/or stronger resilience to the changing environment. In this review, we discuss the current development and future applications of genome editing technologies in mitigating the impacts of biotic and abiotic stresses on agriculture. We focus specifically on the CRISPR/Cas system, which has been the center of attention in the last few years as a revolutionary genome-editing tool in various species. We also conducted a bibliographic analysis on CRISPR-related papers published from 2012 to 2021 (10 years) to identify trends and possible gaps in the CRISPR/Cas-related plant research. In addition, this review article outlines the current shortcomings and challenges of employing genome editing technologies in agriculture with notes on future prospective. We believe combining conventional and more innovative technologies in agriculture would be the key to optimizing crop improvement beyond the limitations of traditional agricultural practices.

This paper first explains the theory of the origin of force from a new perspective, explaining that the origin of all forces is caused by the "missing of energy in the time dimension" (non-conservation in a certain period of time), and constructs a unified theory of force on this basis. Then, through the unified theory of force, the following phenomena are reinterpreted: (1) The common origin of the inverse square law of gravitation and electromagnetic force; (2) The origin of the repulsive force of electrons and protons at small distances; (3) The mystery of the rotation curve of galaxies and the new explanation of "dark matter"; (4) explain the origin of the magnetic field; (5) Predict that moving magnets have the same radiation effect as charged particles (electron magnetic moments also have radiation effects); (6) Reinterpret Maxwell's displacement current; (7) Reinterpret synchrotron radiation and bremsstrahlung; (8) Explain that the strong and weak forces are short-range forces; (9) Predict the true structure of black holes and the origin of gravitational waves;(10) Possible explanation for the origin of the speed of light.

Export participation and restricted access to external formal credit are two factors attracting meticulous attention from researchers and policymakers, especially in developing countries. Exploring the interactive relationship of these factors in both the static and dynamic models is the purpose of this study. The study uses data sets from small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam for the period 2009 - 2015. The instrumental variable approach is implemented to deal with the endogenous variable problem in the model. The results show an effect of credit constraint on the firms’ exporting status, and continuous exports are likely to reduce the limit of credit constraint.

The non-contact patient monitoring paradigm moves patient care into their homes and enables long-term patient studies. The challenge, however, is to make the system non-intrusive, privacy-preserving, and low-cost. To this end, we describe an open-source edge computing and ambient data capture system, developed using low-cost and readily available hardware. We describe five applications of our ambient data capture system. Namely: (a) Estimating occupancy and human activity phenotyping; (b) Medical equipment alarm classification; (c) Geolocation of humans in a built environment; (d) Ambient light logging; and (e) Ambient temperature and humidity logging. We obtained an accuracy of 94% for estimating occupancy from video. We stress-tested the alarm note classification in the absence and presence of speech and obtained micro averaged F1 scores of 0.98 and 0.93, respectively. The geolocation tracking provided a room-level accuracy of 98.7%. The root mean square error in the temperature sensor validation task was 0.3°C and for the humidity sensor, it was 1% Relative Humidity. The low-cost edge computing system presented here demonstrated the ability to capture and analyze a wide range of activities in a privacy-preserving manner in clinical and home environments and is able to provide key insights into the healthcare practices and patient behaviors.

Ribonucleoproteins (RNP) condensates often contain intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) able to confer an exceptional multifunctionality necessary for gene expression, a process that defines cell types and enables cellular adaptation in metazoans. Centosomes, the microtubule-organizing centers of animal cells, are particularly enriched in disordered proteins but the role of RNPs surrounding the centrosome and the ciliary basal body remains largely unknown. By refining and integrating the existing protein-protein interaction network, spatial proteomics and transcriptomic data, we here report the subcellular and genomic proximity between the spliceosome, a huge nuclear RNP complex that removes introns from a transcribed pre-mRNA, and centrosome/cilia components. We present a comprehensive map of pre-RNA processing factors and other RNA-binding proteins playing a role in the regulation of splicing but localized to the centrosome and cilia. Protein-protein interactions studies reveal that a large number of spliceosome components interact with both centrosome linker and centriolar satellites elements, necessary for cellular division and ciliogenesis. RNAseq data from mouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESC) and human tissues revealed a co-transcriptional coordination program of splicing and centrosome-related genes with relevance to tissue-specific neurosensory disorders and cancer types. Additionally, we found that centrosome and spliceosome genes form linearly and spatially colocalized genomic loci (CEP250, RBBM39, DHX35, and CTNNBL1) conserved in human and mouse genome, then explaining similarities in co-modification and subcellular distribution. Our results suggest that centrosome and cilia constitute cytoplasmic sites for the exchange of molecular machinery with nucleus, storage of RNA splicing and spliceosome condensates previously unrecognized. These complexes in response to external signals, could play an integral part in ciliogenesis and nuclear division to establish and maintain cellular identity in metazoans.

The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors, also known as statins, are administered as first-line therapy for hypercholesterolemia, both as primary and secondary prevention. Besides the lipid-lowering effect, statins have been suggested to inhibit the development of cardiovascular disease through anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vascular endothelial function-improving, plaque-stabilizing, and platelet aggregation-inhibiting effects. The preventive effect of statins on atherothrombotic stroke has been well established, but statins can influence other cerebrovascular diseases. This suggests that statins have many neuroprotective effects in addition to lowering cholesterol. Furthermore, research suggests that statins cause pro-apoptotic, growth-inhibitory, and pro-differentiation effects in various malignancies. Preclinical and clinical evidence suggests that statins inhibit tumor growth and induce apoptosis in specific cancer cell types. The pleiotropic effects of statins on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have been well established; however, the effects of statins on cancer patients have not been fully elucidated and are still controversial. This review discusses the recent evidence on the effects of statins on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. Additionally, this study describes the pharmacological action of statins, focusing on the aspect of ‘beyond lipid-lowering.’

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited disorder characterized by unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy, with or without left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. Single nuclei RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq) of both obstructive and nonobstructive HCM patient samples have revealed alterations in communication between various cell types but a direct and integrated comparison between the two HCM phenotypes has not been reported. We performed a bioinformatic analysis of HCM snRNA-seq datasets from obstructive and nonobstructive patient samples to identify differentially expressed genes and distinctive patterns of intercellular communication. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 37 differentially expressed genes, predominantly in cardiomyocytes but also in other cell types, relevant to aging, muscle contraction, cell motility and the extracellular matrix. Intercellular communication was generally reduced in HCM, affecting the extracellular matrix, growth factor binding, integrin binding, PDGF binding and SMAD binding, but with increases in adenylate cyclase binding, calcium channel inhibitor activity, and serine-threonine kinase activity in nonobstructive HCM. Increases in neuron to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication, in fibroblast to leukocyte and dendritic cell communication and in endothelial cell communication to other cell types, largely through changes in expression of integrin-b1 and its cognate ligands, were also noted. These findings indicate both common and distinct physiological mechanisms affecting the pathogenesis of obstructive and nonobstructive HCM and provide opportunities for personalized management of different HCM phenotypes.

Fibroepithelial lesions (FL) of the breast, in particular Phyllodes tumors (PT) and fibroadenomas, pose a significant diagnostic challenge. There are no generally accepted criteria that distinguish benign, borderline, malignant PT, and FA. Combined genome-wide DNA methylation and copy number variant (CNV) profiling is an emerging strategy to classify tumors. We compiled a series of patient-derived archival biopsy specimens reflecting the FL spectrum and histological mimickers including clinical follow-up data. DNA methylation and CNVs were determined by well-established microarrays. Comparison of the patterns with a pan-cancer dataset assembled from public resources including "The Cancer Genome Atlas" (TCGA) and "Gene Expression Omnibus" (GEO) suggests that FLs form a methylation class distinct from both control breast tissue as well as common breast cancers. Complex CNVs were enriched in clinically aggressive FLs. Subsequent fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis detected respective aberrations in the neoplastic mesenchymal component of FLs only, confirming that the epithelial component is non-neoplastic. Of note, our approach could lead to the elimination of the diagnostically problematic category of borderline PT and allow for optimized prognostic patient stratification. Furthermore, the identified recurrent genomic aberrations such as 1q gains (including MDM4), CDKN2a/b deletions and EGFR amplifications may inform therapeutic decision-making.

We research the interaction between six representative carbon-based nanoparticles (CBNs) and 20 standard amino acids through all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The six carbon-based nanoparticles are fullerene(C60), CNT55L3, CNT1010L3, CNT1515L3, CNT2020L3, and two-dimensional-graphene(Graphene33). Their curvatures decrease sequentially, and all of CNT are single-walled carbon nanotubes. We have observed that as the curvature of CBNs decreases, the adsorption effect of 20 amino acids with them has an increasing trend. In addition, we also used multi-dimensional clustering to analyze the adsorption effects of 20 amino acids on six carbon-based nanoparticles. We observed that the π-π interaction still plays an extremely important role in the adsorption of amino acids on carbon-based nanoparticles. Individual long-chain amino acids and “Benzene-like” Pro also have a strong adsorption effect with carbon-based nanoparticles.

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to identify the age and sex-related associations between marital status with PA and TV time. We used data from Vigitel, an annual telephone survey started in 2006 in Brazil. We applied a complex sample logistic regression model to estimate the odds for PA and TV time comparing marital statuses according to age and sex subgroups, independent of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, self-assessed poor health, and smoking. Our sample included 561,837 individuals with a TV time &gt; 3 h/day (prevalence = 25.2%) and PA &gt; 150 min/week (prevalence = 35%). Compared to single individuals, married men and women were less likely to watch TV more than 3 h/day in participants &gt; 30 years old. When compared to single, married participants were less likely to do more than 150 min of PA/week at younger age groups. Married women older than 40 years were more likely to do more than 150 min of PA/week than the single ones, while there were no differences among married men by age group. In conclusion, married individuals are less likely to spend more than 3 hours a day watching TV than single individuals. Single men and women were more likely to do more than 150 min of PA/week at younger age groups and married women older than 40 years were more likely to do 150 min of PA/week than single women.

IntroductionDiversity is known to be important but diversity of staff working in dental schools in the UK and Ireland is low in comparison with the dental profession and the overall population. AimsTo provide a detailed snapshot of the diversity of dental academic staff in 2021 including staff working in academic and clinical roles.MethodsAn online survey was circulated to dental schools by Dental Schools Council. Questions included dates of graduation and key career milestones, demographics and indicators of esteem. Free text questions were also included.ResultsThere was a high degree of variability in dental academic careers which made direct comparisons difficult. Neither gender nor race appeared to be associated with a faster career progression. Females and those of racialised minority were less represented at the most senior grades. For those who had completed specialty training, racialised minority staff were far less likely to be working at consultant grade than their White equivalents.ConclusionThere are differences in career progression between staff in dental schools. The high amount of individual variability makes these difficult to quantify except at the most senior positions. Qualitative information is needed to contextualise the results and provide additional information.

Paenibacilli are efficient producers of potent agents against bacterial and fungal pathogens, which are of great interest both for therapeutic applications in medicine as well as in agrobiotechnol-ogy. Lipopeptides produced by such organisms play a major role in their inactivation potential. In this work we investigated two lipopeptide complexes, the fusaricidins and the polymyxins, produced by Paenibacillus polymyxa strains DSM 32871 and M1 by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The fusaricidins show potent antifungal activities and are distinguished by an unusual variabil-ity. For strain DSM 32871 we identified numerous yet unknown variants mass spectrometrically. DSM 32871 produces polymyxins of type E (colistins), while M1 forms polymyxins P. For both strains novel, but not yet completely characterized polymyxin species were detected, which pos-sibly are glycosylated. These compounds may be of interest therapeutically, because polymyxins attain increasing attention as last-resort antibiotics against multiresistant pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, the volatilomes of DSM 32781 and M1 were investigated with a GC-MS approach using different cultivation media. Production of volatile organic com-pounds (VOCs) was strain and medium dependent. In particular, strain M1 manifested as an effi-cient VOC-producer that exhibited formation of 25 volatiles in total. A characteristic feature of Paenibacilli is the formation of volatile pyrazine derivatives.

The doctoral defense is an important step towards obtaining the doctoral degree. As such, preparing for the event is necessary. Anecdotal evidence highlights that there is a wide variety of ways in which doctoral candidates prepare for the defense. In this work, I want to explore if there is a relation between the way in which a doctoral candidate prepares for the defense and two important aspects of the defense: the outcome of the defense, and the student perception during and after the defense. For this purpose, I first reviewed the literature on the topic of the preparation for the doctoral defense. Then, I carried out an international survey on the doctoral defense and analyzed the data of the 204 completed surveys with respect to the preparation for the defense using quantitative and qualitative methods. The methods I used included the statistical tests of the correlation between on one hand the preparation and on the other hand the defense outcome and student perception. I used inductive thematic analysis of the open-ended survey questions to gain deeper insight in the way candidates prepared for their defense. I found that candidates most often prepare by making their presentation, reading their thesis, and practicing. The most effective measure is the mock defense, followed by a preparatory course. Reading blogs, books, and chapters is a less effective preparation measure. The conclusion of this work is that doctoral candidates need to understand the format of their defense in order to be able to prepare properly, and that universities should explore either individual pathways to the defense or pilots using a mock defense and/or preparatory course to give their doctoral candidates the necessary tools to prepare for their doctoral defense.

1. Background: The global COVID-19 lockdowns are unique psychological factors, requiring adjustment and coping. This illustrative, South African case study investigated the influence the COVID-19 lockdown context would have on meditation and physical activity. As these were lifestyle patterns the null hypothesis was of no change. 2. Method: The methodology consisted of quantitative and qualitative phases. The quantitative phase was an empirical, case study review of data from the author’s HeartMath and Fitbit electronic devices, as from 9 November 2019 to 31 July 2021. This consisted of coherence and achievement data from the HeartMath Inner Balance application (app), as well as distance and activity data from the Fitbit app. The qualitative phase consisted of the selection and illustration of meditation sessions documented over lockdown. 3. Results: The highly significant increases in physical activity and meditation coherence and achievement collectively indicated significant health promotion over the COVID-19 Lockdown period. Subtle energetic, experiential descriptions of meditation apprehensions resonated and supported these quantitative findings. 4. Conclusions: COVID-19 lockdown has meant transformation, humility, and reordering of priorities. The meditation descriptions amplified information from the HeartMath and Fitbit electronic devices, together co-creating conscious, embodied, relationship science for discussion, instruction, and further research.

Holographic subsurface radar (HSR) is currently not in widespread usage. This is due to an historical perspective in the ground penetrating radar (GPR) community that the high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in most media of interest, and the inability to apply time-varying gain to the continuous wave (CW) HSR signal precludes sufficient effective penetration depth. While it is true that the fundamental physics of HSR, with its use of a CW signal, does not allow amplification of later (i.e. deeper) arrivals in lossy media (as is possible with impulse subsurface radar — ISR), HSR has distinct some distinctive advantages. The most important of these is the ability to do shallow subsurface imaging with a resolution that is not possible with ISR. In addition, the design of an HSR system is simpler than for ISR due to the relatively low-tech transmitting and receiving antennae. This paper provides a review of the main principles of HSR through an optical analogy and describes possible algorithms for radar hologram reconstruction. We also present a review of the history of development of systems and applications for HSR of the “RASCAN” type which is possibly the only holographic subsurface radar that is produced in lots. Among the subsurface imaging and remote sensing applications considered are humanitarian demining, construction inspection, surveys of historic architecture and artworks, nondestructive testing of dielectric aerospace materials, security applications, paleontology, detection of wood-boring insect damage, and others. Each application is illustrated with relevant data acquired in laboratory and/or field experiments.

Background: Meniere disease (MD) is an inner ear disorder associated with comorbidities such as autoimmune diseases or migraine. This study describes clinical and cytokine profile in MD according to the age of onset of the condition. Methods: A cross-sectional study including 83 MD patients: 44 with early onset MD (EOMD, <35 years old), and 39 with late onset MD (LOMD, > 50 years old), 64 patients with migraine and 55 controls was carried out. Clinical variables and cytokines levels of CCL3, CCL4, CCL18, CCL22, CXCL1 and IL-1β were compared among the different groups. Results: CCL18 levels were higher in patients with migraine or MD than in controls. Elevated levels of IL-1β were observed in 11.4% EOMD and in 10.3% LOMD patients and these levels were not dependent on the age of individuals. EOMD had a longer duration of the disease (p=0.004) and a higher prevalence of migraine than LOMD (p=0.045). Conclusions: Patients with EOMD have a higher prevalence of migraine than LOMD, but migraine is not associated with any cytokine profile in patients with MD. The levels of CCL18, CCL3 and CXCL4 were different between patients with MD or migraine and controls.

Bees (Apoidea), the largest and most crucial radiation of pollinators, play a vital role in ecosystem balance. Transposons are widely distributed in nature and are important drivers of species diversity. However, transposons are rarely reported in important pollinators such as bees. Here, we surveyed 37 genomes in Apoidea, annotated the pogo and Tc1/mariner transposons in the genome of each species and performed a phylogenetic analysis to determine their overall distribution. The pogo and Tc1/mariner families showed high diversity and low abundance in the 37 species, and their proportion was significantly higher in solitary bees than in social bees. DD34D/mariner was found to be distributed in almost all species and was found in Apis mellifera, Apis mellifera carnica, Apis mellifera caucasica and Apis mellifera mellifera and Euglossa dilemma may still be active. Using horizontal transfer analysis, we found that DD30D/Tigger, DD33D/Tigger and DD34D/mariner may have experienced horizontal transfer events. The current study displayed the evolution profiles (including diversity, activity, and abundance) of the pogo and Tc1/mariner transposons across 37 species of Apoidea. Our data revealed their contributions to the genomic variations across these species and facilitated in understanding of the genome evolution of this lineage.

In contrast to animals, adult organs in plants are not determined during embryogenesis but gen-erated from meristematic cells as plants advance through development. Plant development in-volves a succession of different phenotypic stages and the transition between these stages is termed phase transition. Phase transitions need to be tightly regulated and coordinated to ensure they occur under optimal seasonal, environmental conditions. Polycarpic perennials transition through vegetative stages and the mature, reproductive stage many times during their lifecycles and, in both perennial and annual species, environmental factors and culturing methods can re-verse the otherwise unidirectional vector of plant development. Epigenetic factors regulating gene expression in response to internal cues and external (environmental) stimuli influencing the plant’s phenotype and development have been shown to control phase transitions. How develop-mental and environmental cues interact to epigenetically alter gene expression and influence these transitions are not well understood and understanding this interaction is important considering the current climate change scenarios, since epigenetic maladaptation could have catastrophic con-sequences for perennial plants in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Here we review studies focussing on the epigenetic regulators of the vegetative phase change and highlight how these mechanisms might act in exogenously induced plant rejuvenation and regrowth following stress.

Chronobiotics is a group of drugs utilized to modify circadian rhythms targeting clock-associated molecular mechanisms. The circadian clock is known as a controller of numerous processes standing behind aging. Hypothesis: KL001 and KS15 targeting CRY, affect lifespan, locomotor activity and circadian rhythm of Drosophila melanogaster. We observed a slight (2%, p<0.001) geroprotective effect on median lifespan (5 µM solution of KL001 in 0.1% DMSO) and a 14% increase in maximum lifespan in the same group. KS15 10 µM solution extended males’ median lifespan by 8% (p <0.05). The statistically significant positive effects of KL001 and KS15 on lifespan were not observed in female flies. KL001 5 µM solution improved locomotor activity in young male imagos (p<0.05) and elevated morning activity peak in aged imagos and modified robustness of circadian rhythms, leaving the period intact. KS15 10 µM solution decreased the locomotor activity in constant darkness and minimized the number of rhythmic flies. KL001 5 µM solution improved by 9% the mean starvation resistance in male flies (p<0.01), while median resistance was elevated by 50% (p<0.0001). This phenomenon may suggest the presence of the mechanism associated with improvement of fat body glucose depos’ utilization in starvation conditions which is activated by dCRY binding KL001.

This study investigates optimal decisions in a green supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a leading retailer considering the green marketing and fairness preferences of member firms. Four Stackelberg game decision models are constructed in which the manufacturer and the re-tailer engage in green marketing separately when the manufacturer has no and has fairness preferences. The impacts of fairness preferences and green marketing on the optimal decision in the green supply chain are comparatively analyzed. The study finds that member firms perform green marketing regardless of the presence or absence of fairness preferences and that such be-havior increases the wholesale price, retail price, and market demand of low-carbon products as well as the profits of member firms and the supply chain. A more interesting finding is that the profit growth of member firms and the supply chain due to the manufacturer’s green marketing is more pronounced than that due to the retailer’s green marketing. When the retailer and the manufacturer engage in conduct green marketing, the manufacturer's fairness preferences have different effects on the wholesale price, retail price, market demand, level of green marketing efforts, member enterprises and profits of supply chain. Therefore, firms should consider the impact of green marketing and fairness preferences to make pricing and performance decisions, so as to achieve efficient operation of the whole supply chain and avoid double marginal effects. Finally, the above conclusions are verified through numerical simulation, providing a reference for the decision-making of member firms in the green supply chain.

Holographic subsurface radar (HSR) is currently not in widespread usage. This is due to an historical perspective in the ground penetrating radar (GPR) community that the high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in most media of interest, and the inability to apply time-varying gain to the continuous wave (CW) HSR signal precludes sufficient effective penetration depth. While it is true that the fundamental physics of HSR, with its use of a CW signal, does not allow amplification of later (i.e. deeper) arrivals in lossy media (as is possible with impulse subsurface radar — ISR), HSR has distinct some distinctive advantages. The most important of these is the ability to do shallow subsurface imaging with a resolution that is not possible with ISR. In addition, the design of an HSR system is simpler than for ISR due to the relatively low-tech transmitting and receiving antennae. This paper provides a review of the main principles of HSR through an optical analogy and describes possible algorithms for radar hologram reconstruction. We also present a review of the history of development of systems and applications for HSR of the “RASCAN” type which is possibly the only holographic subsurface radar that is produced in lots. Among the subsurface imaging and remote sensing applications considered are humanitarian demining, construction inspection, surveys of historic architecture and artworks, nondestructive testing of dielectric aerospace materials, security applications, paleontology, detection of wood-boring insect damage, and others. Each application is illustrated with relevant data acquired in laboratory and/or field experiments.

Environmental genetics-related modern methods are shown as important indicators of various cyanotoxins syntheses, and their knowledge and use are critically analyzed. Microcystins and other cyanotoxins loads and syntheses are related to different drivers, like various chemical elements and compounds (especially nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and their ratio), then to the light, conductivity, temperature, and other climatical and hydrological factors, to which spatial and geographical features (such as the surface of the water bodies) have to be added. The biotic relationships include different specific and supraspecific, uni- and bilateral links between the cyanobacteria, and subsequently their synthesized toxins, and protozoans (or protoctists), chromists, macrophytes, different systematical and ecological groups of zooplankton, and others. The importance of, but also the gaps in, the knowledge and the scarcity of studies involving ectocrines mediated interactions between different groups of algae and plants are highlighted. The paper ends with an interesting classification of lakes' trophicity, illustrated with conceptual diagrams, based on possible scenarios of cyanobacteria behavior.

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) evolve via point mutations and reassortment of viral gene segments. The patterns of reassortment in different host species differ considerably. We investigated the genetic diversity of IAVs in wild ducks and compared it with the viral diversity in gulls. The complete genomes of 38 IAVs of H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2, H3N6, H3N8, H4N6, H5N3, H6N2, H11N6 and H11N9 subtypes isolated from wild mallard duck and gull habitants of a pond in Moscow city, Russia were sequenced. The sequences were closely related to those of avian IAVs isolated in Sweden and the Netherlands. The analysis of phylogenetic trees showed that stable viral genotypes do not persist from year to year in ducks owing to frequent gene reassortment. For comparison, similar analyses were carried out using sequences of IAVs isolated in the same period from ducks and gulls in the Netherlands. Our results revealed a significant difference in diversity and rates of reassorment of IAVs in ducks and gulls.

It remains poorly understood how the life history strategies and transmission ecologies of viruses of plants, arthropods, and vertebrates are interrelated. The present analysis hinges on the virus transmission success. Virus transmission reflects where in the host-body viruses are retained or replicating. Plants, arthropods, and vertebrates share a protective outer-layer, a circulatory system, and reproductive organs. The latter enables vertical virus transmission and associates with virus-host mutualism. Two broadly opposing virus life history strategies are considered. Acute viruses tend to be replicative and are swiftly transmitted to the next host. Instead, persistent viruses keep virus replicating costs and host damage to a minimum. The intertwined life histories and transmission ecologies are accordingly pieced together, based on the virus mono- or instead dual-host tropism, the location of virus retention or replication on or in the host-body, the presence of cyclical or mechanical transmission by arthropods, and of horizontal and vertical host-to-host transmission modes. It is shown that in the arthropod and in the vertebrate animal host, virus circulation in the hemocoel or blood circulation goes hand-in-hand with vertical transmission. Instead, plant phloem viruses do not transmit via seed. The latter is the rule for the plant-only viruses. The risk management implications are discussed in brief.

Background Indicators to evaluate progress towards timely access to safe surgical, anaesthesia, and obstetric (SAO) care were proposed in 2015 by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. Despite being rapidly taken up by practitioners, datapoints from which to derive them were not defined, limiting comparability across time or settings. We convened global experts to evaluate and explicitly define - for the first time - the indicators to improve comparability and support achievement of 2030 goals to improve access to safe affordable surgical and anaesthesia care. Methods and findings The Utstein process for developing and reporting guidelines through a consensus building process was followed. In-person discussions at a two day meeting were followed by an iterative process conducted by email and virtual group meetings until consensus was reached. Participants consisted of experts in surgery, anaesthesia, and obstetric care, data science, and health indicators from high, middle, and low income countries. Considering each of the six indicators in turn, we refined overarching descriptions and agreed upon data points needed for construction of each indicator at current time (basic data points), and as each evolves over 2-5 (intermediate) and >5 year (full) timeframes. We removed one of the original six indicators (one of two financial risk protection indicators was eliminated) and refined descriptions and defined data points required to construct the 5 remaining indicators: geospatial access, workforce, surgical volume, perioperative mortality, and catastrophic expenditure. Conclusions To track global progress toward timely access to quality SAO care, these indicators – at the basic level - should be implemented universally. Intermediate and full evolutions will assist in developing national surgical plans, and collecting data for research studies.

Background: Micronutrients has roles in strengthening and maintaining immune function, but its supplementation and/or deficiency effects on respiratory tract infections are inconclusive. This review aims to systematically assess the associations between micronutrient supplementation or deficiency, with novel coronavirus incidence and disease severity. Methods: Systematic literature searches conducted in 5 electronic databases identified 751 unique studies, of which 33 studies (5 supplementation studies, 1 supplementation and deficiency study, and 27 deficiency studies) were eventually included in this review. Proportions of incidence and severity outcomes in each group, and adjusted summary statistics with their relevant 95% confidence intervaIs (CI) were extracted. Data from 19 studies were pooled in meta-analysis using the generic inverse variance method. Findings: A total of 360,346 patients across 16 countries, with a mean age between 32 and 87.7 years, were involved across 33 studies. All studies were on COVID-19 infections. In individuals without micronutrient deficiency, there was a significant reduction on odds of COVID-19 incidence (pooled OR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.18, 0.78), and ICU admissions or severe/critical disease onset (pooled OR: 0.26, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.89). Insignificant protective effects were observed on other outcome measures – mortality, ICU admission, progression to respiratory-related complications, severe/critical disease onset or requiring respiratory support and hospitalization rate. Conclusion: The absence of micronutrient deficiency significantly reduced COVID-19 incidence and clinical deterioration in hospitalized patients. Usage of micronutrients as prophylaxis and complementary supplement in therapeutic management of COVID-19 patients may be a promising and cost-effective approach warranting in-depth investigation.

The main aim of this article is to examine the inter-relationships among the top cryptocurrencies on the crypto stock market in the presence and absence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nine chosen cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, Eos, BitcoinCash, Binance, Stellar, and Tron and their daily closing price data are captured from coinmarketcap over the period from 9/13/2017 to 9/21/2020. To determine the order of integration, the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF), Phillips-Perron (PP), and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt, and Shin (KPSS) unit root tests were carried out, and all of the cryptocurrencies were found to be integrated of order 1 i.e. I(1). It has been found that there is strong evidence of a long-run relationship between Bitcoin and altcoins irrespective of whether it is pre-pandemic or pandemic period. Hence these cryptocurrencies' prices and their inter-relationship are resilient to the pandemic.

The use of probiotics in reproductive-related dysbiosis is an area of continuous progress due to the growing interest from clinicians and patients suffering recurrent reproductive microbiota disorders. An imbalance in the natural colonization sites related to reproductive health: vaginal, cervicovaginal, endometrial and also pregnancy-related altered microbiota could play decisive role in reproductive outcomes. Oral and vaginal administrations are in continuous discussion regarding the clinical effect pursued, but probiotics as oral supplement therapy is the route administration better studied. To complement and summarise with qualitative and quantitative information of vaginal probiotics clinical studies, the main objective of this work was to retrieve the standardised protocols commonly used and their microbiota modulation capacities. The studies selected were related to treat bacterial vaginosis (BV) as the most commonly disorder, few studies on vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and also administration to stabilise microbiota before in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Probiotic doses administered were similar to oral probiotics protocols, ranging from ≥ 107 CFU/day to 2.5 x 1010 CFU/day, and variable regarding posology duration from 1 day to 12 weeks, being 1 week commonly applied. Moderate modulation was achieved regarding the relative abundance decrease of abnormal microbiota, coinciding with parallel increase in Lactobacillus species.

Repetitive nature of the ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene makes the sequencing of hundreds copies of mammalian 45S rDNA (about 45-kb per copy) extremely difficult and its assembly is often excluded. Increasing evidence shows that 45S rDNA variations (copy number or single nucleotide), structural ribosomal RNA (rRNA) transcript variants, and non-structural rRNA transcripts (sense and anti-sense long noncoding rRNAs that include promoter rRNAs, and rRNA-derived fragments) play essential roles in mammalian development and diseases. Complete pictures of the hundreds copies of 45S rDNA and their rRNA transcripts require further innovation in sequencing techniques that include bioinformatics. The advancements in mammalian rDNA and rRNA sequencings and the discoveries of novel functions of the rDNA variants and rRNA transcripts are discussed here.

Unpaid family caregivers might suffer losses in income as a result of care provision. Here we used data from the baseline survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study to assess the relationship between hours of weekly caregiving provided to grandchildren/parents/parents-in-law and individual’s monthly employment income. Our study sample comprised 3,718 middle-aged Chinese adults who were of working age (45-60 years). For women and men separately, we used a likelihood-based method to determine a caregiving threshold in a two-stage Heckman selection procedure. Instrumental variables were used to rule out the endogeneity of caregiving hours. Our analysis revealed a negative association between caregiving and income for women that depended on a caregiving threshold of 63-hours per week. There was an absence of caregiving-income relationship among men. These results offer new insights into the opportunity costs of unpaid caregiving and support tailored policies to protect the financial well-being of female caregivers.

Aims: Adolescence is a critical period because the brain is involved in the process of maturation that entails cognitive functions. On the way of maturation, an individual’s inhibitory control undergoes many changes and becomes vulnerable to different thrill-seeking like smoking, drinking, and so on. Smoking is highly prevalent among teenagers that are trying to take control of their behaviors in order to join society. They experience antisocial behavior too which is a trait that can lead adolescents to addiction. This trait is an inevitable part of psychopathy. Inhibitory deficits and psychopathy have been widely reported in addiction studies. The current study tried to investigate the relationship between psychopathic traits and behavioral inhibition between male smokers and non-smoker teenage students.Materials & Methods: Statistical sample of this research is 62 teenage students aged 17 years that are divided into smoker and non-smoker groups. The participants have been chosen through random sampling from the population of 10 high schools. The data have been gathered in Kordkoy and Gorgan in Golestan province. Behavioral bias has been measured by Go/NoGo task and psychopathic traits through youth psychopathic traits inventory. Also, the short form of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale test has been executed and used as a control variable.Findings: A meaningful difference has been found between the performance of smoker and non-smoker groups in Go/No Go task and psychopathic traits that are smokers performed weaker in comparison with non-smokers and psychopathic traits of smokers were meaningfully higher than non-smokers. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between these two groups in their Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores.Conclusion: The results have shown that smokers have higher psychopathic traits and lower behavioral inhibition when compared with their non-smoker peers. According to the results of current research, smoking can decline the cognitive functions.

Since the financial crisis in 2008, the U.S. economy has weakened, and the world economy has slowly developed. As the world's leading country, the United States has used many methods to restore the economy. But it does work efficiently. However, there are many issues in developed countries such as domestic social, economic, immigration in the United States/United Kingdom; those are not optimistic. Developed countries have entered a dilemma. The neoliberalism financial system has been unable to move forward. Populists have pointed out that those problems have been causing by globalization. Under the leadership of the Brexit Referendum, President Trump has caused a wave of anti-globalization. Under a series of systems such as the China-US trade war and the US-Mexico border wall repairs, the anti-globalization trend is getting stronger. This article mainly analyzes the in-depth reasons and mechanism research of globalization and anti-globalization alternately—the data obtained from an international method performance study. The results show that anti-globalization is temporary, along with globalization. There are three main factors affecting globalization: the situation of the dominant country, natural disasters, and wars. After so much literature review, I believe that the United States' globalization is gradually weakening, and globalization may return to regionalization under the United States' opposition.

Nano medicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically useful devices in the near future. The current medical field is in dire need of new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include advanced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging. Here in this experimental study, the nano materials used in DNA biosensors like silver nano dots were incorporated as nano biosensors are used for both therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The most important step while preparing a DNA biosensor is the immobilization of DNA probe on the surface of a sensing device such as an electrode. The amount of immobilized DNA probe will influence the accuracy sensitivity, selectivity and life of a DNA biosensor directly. Because of the high surface to volume ratio and excellent biological compatibility, nano materials can enlarge the sensing surface area to increase the amount of immobilized DNA and the DNA mixed with nano materials can keep its biologically activity well.In this study,silver nano dots created in our lab were functionalized with thio nucleides and were used as nano sensor probes in bio bar code assays.

Leucokinins (LKs) constitute a family of neuropeptides identified in numerous insects and many other invertebrates. The LKs act on G-protein coupled receptors that display only distant relations to other known receptors. In adult Drosophila, 26 neurons/neurosecretory cells of three main types express LK. The four brain interneurons are of two types, and these are implicated in several important functions in the fly’s behavior and physiology, including feeding, sleep-metabolism interactions, state-dependent memory formation, as well as modulation of gustatory sensitivity and nociception. The 22 neurosecretory cells (ABLKs) of the abdominal neuromeres coexpress LK and a diuretic hormone (DH44), and together these regulate water and ion homeostasis and associated stress, as well as food intake. In Drosophila larvae, LK neurons modulate locomotion, escape responses, and aspects of ecdysis behavior. A set of lateral neurosecretory cells, ALKs, in the brain express LK in larvae, but inconsistently so in adults. These ALKs coexpress three other neuropeptides and regulate water and ion homeostasis, feeding and drinking, but the specific role of LK is not yet known. This review summarizes Drosophila data on embryonic lineages of LK neurons, functional roles of individual LK neuron types, interactions with other peptidergic systems, and orchestrating functions of LK.

Medical and translational scientific research requires the use of animal models as an initial approach to the study of new therapies and treatments, but when the objective is an exploration of translational potentialities, classical models fail to adequately mimic problems in humans. Among the larger animal models that have been explored more intensely in recent decades, small ruminants, namely sheep and goats, have emerged as excellent options. The main advantages associated to the use of these animals in research works are related to their anatomy and dimensions very similar to those of humans in most physiological systems, in addition to their low maintenance and feeding costs, tendency to be docile, long life expectancies and few ethical complications raised in society. The most obvious disadvantages are the significant differences in some systems such as the gastrointestinal, and the reduced amount of data that limits the comparison between works and the validation of the characterization essays. Despite everything, recently these species have been increasingly used as animal models for diseases in different systems, and the results obtained open doors for their more frequent and advantageous use in the future. The purpose of this review is to summarize the general principles related to the use of small ruminants as animal models, with focus on regenerative medicine, to group the most relevant works and results published recently and to highlight the potentials for the near future in medical research.

All infections are potentially curable as long as the etiological agents are susceptible to antimicrobials. The increased rate at which antimicrobials are becoming ineffective is a global health risk of increasing concern that threatens withdrawal of beneficial antimicrobials for disease control. Increased demand for food of animal origin, in particular eggs, meat and milk has led to intensification and commercial production systems where excessive use and misuse of antimicrobials may prevail. Antimicrobials, handled and used by farmers and animal attendants with no formal education may predispose to incorrect dosages, misuse, incorrect applications and non-adherence to withdrawal periods. A multimethod approach (desk review, field study and interviews) was used. Relevant establishments were also visited. High levels of resistance to penicillin G, chloramphenicol, streptomycin and oxytetracycline have been reported especially for Actinobacter pyogenes, Staphylococcus hyicus, Staphylococcus intermedius and Staphylococcus aureus from dairy cattle with mastitis and in humans. Similar trends were found in poultry where eggs and meat are contaminated with Escherichia coli strains resistant to amoxicillin + clavulanate, sulphamethoxazole and neomycin. An increasing trend of emerging multidrug resistant E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella was also found in food animals. An in-crease in methicillin resistant Staphlococcus aureus (MRSA) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) in the livestock sector in Tanzania have been reported. Specific antimicrobials resistant to were ampicillin, augmentin, gentamicin, cotrimoxazole, tetracycline, amoxicillin, ampicillin, gentamicin, streptomycin, erythromycin, tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, azithromycin, chloramphenicol, tylosin, erythromycin, cefuroxime, norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. An in-creased usage of antimicrobials for prophylaxis, anaphylaxis and therapeutics against pathogens and for growth promotion in livestock, aquaculture and crops production were observed. One Health strategic approach is advocated to combat AMR in the food and agriculture sectors in Tanzania. Practical recommendations include a) legislation review and implementation, b) AMU, AMR and AR awareness and advocacy among stakeholders along the value chain, c) strengthening of surveillance and monitoring programs for AMU, AMR and AR, d) enhance development and use of rapid and innovative diagnostic tests and promotion biosecurity principles and e) good husbandry practices. The utilization of this information to improve public health policies and reduce the burden of AMR will be beneficial.

As a result of this work, a previously unreported benzoxazine monomer based on 3,3'-dichloro-4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane was obtained, characterized by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and its thermal and rheological properties were studied. A comparison between the properties of benzoxazines based on diamines (3,3'-dichloro-4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane and 4,4’-diaminodimethylmethane). The effect of the reaction medium on the structure of the oligomeric fraction and the overall yield of the main product was studied. The synthesized monomers can be used as thermo- and fire-resistant binders for polymer composite materials, as well as hardeners for epoxy resins.

The objectives were to identify conditions under which mothers may be willing to use telelactation and explore associations between participant characteristics, willingness, and beliefs regarding telelactation use. Mothers 2-8 weeks postpartum were recruited from two Florida maternal care sites and surveyed to assess demographics, breastfeeding initiation, and potential telelactation use. Analyses included descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Of the 88 participants, most were white, married, earned less than $50,000 per year, had access to technology, and were willing to use telelactation if it was free (80.7%) or over a secure server (63.6%). Fifty-six percent were willing to use telelactation if it involved feeding the baby without a cover, but only 45.5% were willing if their nipples may be seen. Those with higher odds of willingness to use telelaction under these modesty conditions were experienced using videochat, white, married, and of higher income. Mothers with security concerns had six times the odds of being uncomfortable with telelactation compared to mothers without concerns. While telelactation can improve access to critical services, willingness to use telelactation may depend on conditions of use and sociodemographics. During the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, these findings offer important insights for lactation professionals implementing virtual consultations.

Metal nanoparticles are used to modify/enhance the properties of a polymer matrix for a broad range of applications in bio-nanotechnology. Here, we study the properties of polymer/gold nanoparticle (NP) nanocomposites through atomistic molecular dynamics, MD, simulations. We probe the structural, conformational and dynamical properties of polymer chains at the vicinity of a gold (Au) NP and a functionalized (core/shell) Au NP, and compare them against the behavior of bulk PE. The bare Au NPs were constructed via a systematic methodology starting from ab-initio calculations and an atomistic Wulff construction algorithm resulting in the crystal shape with the minimum surface energy. For the functionalized NPs the interactions between gold atoms and chemically adsorbed functional groups change their shape. As a model polymer matrix we consider polyethylene of different molecular lengths, from the oligomer to unentangled Rouse like systems. By computing the different properties the concept of the interface, and the interphase as well, in polymer nanocomposites with metal NPs are critically examined. Results concerning polymer density profiles, bond order parameter, segmental and terminal dynamics show clearly that the size of the interface / interphase, depends on the actual property under study. In addition, the anchored polymeric chains change the behavior/properties, and especially the chain density profile and the dynamics, of the polymer chain at the vicinity of the Au NP.

Abstract: Early life gut microbiota have been increasingly recognized as major contributors to short and/or long-term human health and diseases. Numerous studies have demonstrated that human gut microbial colonization begins at birth but continues to develop a succession of taxonomic abundances for two to three years until the gut microbiota reaches adult-like diversity and proportions. Several factors, including gestational age (GA), delivery mode, birth weight, feeding types, antibiotic exposure, maternal microbiome and diet influence the diversity, abundance and function of the early life gut microbiota. Gut microbial life is essential for assisting with the digestion of food substances to release nutrients, exerting control over pathogens, stimulating or modulating the immune system and influencing many systems such as the liver, brain, and endocrine system. Microbial metabolites play multiple roles in these interactions. Furthermore, studies provide evidence supporting that imbalances of the gut microbiota in early life, referred to as dysbiosis, are associated with specific childhood or adult disease outcomes, such as asthma, atopic dermatitis, diabetes, allergic diseases, obesity, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and neurological disorders. These findings support that the human gut microbiota may play a fundamental role in the risk of acquiring diseases that may be programmed during the early life stage. In fact, it is critical to explore the role of the human gut microbiota in early life. In this review, we summarize the general understanding of the colonization and development of the gut microbiota in early life, highlighting the recent findings regarding the relationship between the gut microbiota composition and their metabolites, and immune functions, which could significantly influence long-term health and disease. We then review known pathophysiological interactions of the early gut microbiome with a number of well characterized diseases and pose potential etiological mechanisms.

Background: We aimed to assess the association between DII and PD and the mediation effect of DII in the association of PD with systemic inflammation. Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010, 2011-2012 and 2013-2014, participants that received periodontal exam and provided dietary recall data were included. The inflammatory potential of diet was calculated via DII. Periodontitis was defined according to the 2012 case definition. The clinical outcomes of interest were mean periodontal probing (PPD), mean clinical attachment loss (CAL) and thresholds of PPD and CAL. White blood cells (WBC), segmented neutrophils and C-reactive protein (CRP) were used as proxies for systemic inflammation. The periodontal measures were regressed across DII values using adjusted multivariate linear regression. Adjusted mediation analysis appraised the influence of DII in the association of periodontitis and systemic inflammation. 10,178 participants were included. DII was significantly correlated with mean PPD, mean CAL, thresholds of PPD and CAL, WBC, segmented neutrophils and DII (p&lt;0.01). A linear regression logistic adjusted for multiple confounding variables confirmed the association between DII and mean PPD (B = 0.02, Standard Error [SE]: 0.02, p&lt;0.001) and CAL (B = -0.02, SE: 0.01, p&lt;0.001). The association of mean PPD and mean CAL with both white blood cells and segmented neutrophils were mediated by DII (from 2.1 to 3.5%, p&lt;0.001). In the 2009-2010 subset, the association of mean CAL with serum CRP was mediated by DII (52.0%, p&lt;0.01). In conclusion, inflammatory diet and PD may be associated. Also, the inflammatory diet significantly mediated the association of leukocyte counts and systemic inflammation with periodontitis.

With the increased scientific interest in green technologies, many researches have been focused on the production of polymeric composites containing naturally occurring reinforcing particles. Apart from increasing mechanical properties, these additions can have a wide range of interesting effects, such as increasing the resistance to bacterial and fungal colonization. In this work, different amounts of two different natural products, namely neem and turmeric, have been added to polyethylene to act as a natural antibacterial and antifungal product for food packaging applications. Microscopic and spectroscopic characterization showed that fractions up to 5% of these products can be dispersed into low-molecular weight polyethylene, while higher amounts could not be properly dispersed and resulted in an inhomogeneous, fragile composite. In vitro testing conducted with Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans showed a reduced proliferation of pathogens when compared to the polyethylene references. In particular, turmeric, resulted to be more effective against E. coli when compared to neem, while they had similar performances against S. aureus. Against C. albicans, only neem was able to show a good antifungal behavior, at high concentrations. Tensile testing showed that the addition of reinforcing particles reduces the mechanical properties of polyethylene, and, in the case of turmeric, it is further reduced by UV irradiation.

The multidisciplinary nature of the work required for research in the Covid-19 pandemic has created new challenges for health professionals in the battle against the virus. They need to be equipped with novel tools and resources ---that have emerged during the pandemic--- to gain access to breakthrough findings, know the latest developments, and to address their specific needs for rapid data acquisition, analysis, evaluation, and reporting. Because of the complex nature of the virus, the healthcare systems worldwide are severely impacted as the treatment and the vaccine for Covid-19 disease are not yet discovered. This leads to frequent changes in regulations and policies by governments and international organizations. Our analysis suggests that given the abundance of information sources, finding the most suitable tool for a given task is one of such challenges. But health professionals and policymakers need access to the most relevant, reliable, trusted, and latest information and tools that can be used in their day-to-day tasks of Covid-19 research and analysis. In this article, we present our analysis of various novel and important tools that have been specifically developed during the Covid-19 pandemic and that can be used by the health professionals community to help in advancing their analysis and research. These tools comprise of search engines, information repositories for literature and clinical trials, data sources, dashboards, and forecasting models. We present list of the minimally essential tools to serve a multitude of purposes, from hundreds of those developed since the beginning of the pandemic. A critical analysis is provided for the selected tools based on 17 parameters that can be useful for researchers and analysts for their evaluations. These parameters make up our evaluation framework and have not been used previously for analysis and evaluation. Hence, knowledge of the tools will not only increase the productivity but will also allow to explore new dimensions for using existing tools with more control, better management, and greater outcome of their research. In addition, the parameters used in our framework can be applied for future evaluations of similar tools and health professionals can adapt them for evaluation of other tools not covered in this analysis.

Hyperglycemia has been associated with increased inflammatory indexes and larger infarct sizes in patients with obstructive acute myocardial infarction (obs-AMI). In contrast, no studies have explored these correlations in non-obstructive acute myocardial infarction (MINOCA). We investigated the relationship between hyperglycemia, inflammation and infarct size in a cohort of AMI patients that included MINOCA. Patients with AMI undergoing coronary angiography between 2016 and 2020 were enrolled. The following inflammatory markers were evaluated: C-reactive protein, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-platelet ratio (NPR). Myocardial infarct size was measured by peak high sensitivity troponin I (Hs-TnI) levels, left-ventricular-end-diastolic-volume (LVEDV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). The final study population consisted of 2450 patients with obs-AMI and 239 with MINOCA. Hyperglycemia was more prevalent among obs-AMI cases. In all hyperglycemic patients - obs-AMI and MINOCA - NLR, NPR, and LPR were markedly altered. Hyperglycemic obs-AMI subjects exhibited a higher Hs-TnI, a larger LVEDV and a lower LVEF compared to normoglycemic ones. Conversely, MINOCA patients showed similar myocardial damage, irrespective of glycemia. Our data confirm the association of hyperglycemic obs-AMI with elevated inflammatory markers and larger infarct sizes. MINOCA patients exhibited modest myocardial damage, regardless of admission glucose levels.

Electric heating and solid thermal storage system (EHSTSS) is widely used in district clean heating and the flexibility adjustment of combined heat and power (CHP) unit. It has been an effective way to absorb renewable energy. Aiming at the thermal design calculation and experimental verification of EHSTSS, the thermal calculation and the heat transfer characteristics of the EHSTSS are investigated in this paper. Firstly, a thermal calculation method for the EHSTSS is proposed in the paper. The calculation flow and calculation method for key parameters of heating system, heat storage system, heat exchange system and fan-circulating system in the EHSTSS are studied. Then, the instantaneous heat transfer characteristics of the thermal storage system (TSS) in the EHSTSS are analyzed, and the heat transfer process of ESS is simulated by FLUENT software. The uniform temperature distribution in the heat storage and release process of the TSS verifies the good heat transfer characteristics of the EHSTSS. Finally, EHSTSS test verification platform is built, and the historical operation data of the EHSTSS is analyzed. During the heating and release thermal process, the maximum temperature standard deviation of each temperature measurement point is 28.3℃ and 59℃respectively. The correctness of the thermal calculation of the EHSTSS is verified.

The teaching of the lunge technique in fencing is critical in the developmental age. The relations of anthropometrics with kinematics of lunge was studied only in adult fencers, and no study exist in young considering the different level of experience. Our aims were to assess, in young fencers, which factors, between the anthropometric and the kinematics, were mostly connected with lunge performance (speed and excursion) in different genders and expertise levels. Fifteen young fencers participated in this study. Lunge kinematics, anthropometric characteristics and force expressed in vertical jump tests were collected. Maximal lunge velocity resulted mainly correlated with the posterior knee’s extension ((r=0.56, p=0.031). The lunge distance and mean hip velocity were mostly correlated with fencers’ height (r=0.85, p=0.000 and r=0.76, p=0.001) and FFM (r=0.8, p=0.000 and r=0.73, p=0.002). Experts and non-experts show significant differences in fat free mass, area of upper arm, and of thighs (Effect Size = 1,27 – 1,33, p= 0,021-0,035). From our results it emerges that, in this age range, the analysed aspects of lunge performance are mainly correlated with participant’s anthropometry. Moreover, it is already possible in this age span, to find technical differences linked to the experience.

Accurate diagnosis at an early stage of infection is essential for the successful management of any contagious disease. The COVID-19, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a pandemic that has affected 214 countries affecting more than 30.8 million people causing 0.957 million deaths as of third week of September, 2020. The primary diagnosis of the infection is done either by the molecular technique of RT-qPCR by detecting portions of the RNA of the viral genome or through immunodiagnostic tests by detecting the viral proteins or the antibodies produced by the host. As the demand for the test increased rapidly many naive manufacturers entered the market with novel kits and more and more laboratories also entered the diagnostic arena making the test result more error-prone. There are serious debates globally and regionally on the sensitivity and specificity of these tests and about the overall accuracy and reliability of the tests for decision making on control strategies. The significance of the test is also complexed by the presence of asymptomatic carriers, re-occurrence of infection in cured patients as well as by the varied incubation periods of the infection and shifting of the viral location in the host tissues. In this paper, we review the techniques available for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and probable factors that can reduce the sensitivity and specificity of the different test methods currently in vogue. We also provide a check-list of factors to be taken care to avoid fallacious practices to reduce false positive and false negative results by the clinical laboratories

Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have grown rapidly in recent years in the context of computing with smart mobile phones that typically allows the devices to function in an intelligent manner. Popular AI techniques include machine learning and deep learning methods, natural language processing, as well as knowledge representation and expert systems, can be used to make the target mobile applications intelligent and more effective. In this paper, we present a comprehensive view on mobile data science and intelligent apps in terms of concepts and AI-based modeling that can be used to design and develop intelligent mobile applications for the betterment of human life in their diverse day-to-day situation. This study also includes the concepts and insights of various AI-powered intelligent apps in several application domains, ranging from personalized recommendation to healthcare services, including COVID-19 pandemic management in recent days. Finally, we highlight several research issues and future directions relevant to our analysis in the area of mobile data science and intelligent apps. Overall, this paper aims to serve as a reference point and guidelines for the mobile application developers as well as the researchers in this domain, particularly from the technical point of view.

Oriental melons have a relatively short shelf life as they are harvested during the summer season and susceptible to cold-induced injuries. Typical chilling injury when stored at 4℃ is expressed as browning of the fruit suture. To prolong the shelf life and reduce browning of the fruit, the effects of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), X-tend modified atmosphere (MA)/modified humidity (MH) bulk packaging (XF), and polyethylene (PE) packaging, on oriental melons were investigated during storage at 4℃ and 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. The O2 concentrations in PE packages stored at 4℃ and 10℃ ranged from 17.4–18.5%, whereas those in XF packages were reduced to 16.3–16.6%. The CO2 content of XF package (4.2–4.6%) was higher than that of PE package (1.4–1.9%) stored at 4℃ or 10℃. Relative humidity (RH) saturated in the PE packages but not in the XF packages after seven days of storage. Furthermore, PE packages performed better at maintaining melon weight and firmness than XF packages during storage at 10℃ for 14 days and under retail display conditions at 20℃. PE and XF packages effectively reduced the browning index of the peel and white linear sutures of oriental melons compared with the unpackaged control during cold storage at 4℃, and this observation was maintained at the retail display condition at 20℃. The enhanced CO2 levels, reduced O2 levels, and optimal RH values that were provided by the MAP, prevented the browning symptoms and improved the marketability and shelf life of oriental melons.

Multi-morbidity and polypharmacy are common in older people and pose a challenge for health and social care systems especially in context of global population ageing. They are complex and interrelated concepts in the care of older people that require early detection and patient centred decision making that are underpinned by the principles of multidisciplinary led comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). Personalised care plans need to remain responsive and adaptable to the needs of a patient, enabling an individual to maintain their independence.

A global approach towards quality management highlights the need for constructing a new body of knowledge that views the field of global quality from a systems perspective. Based on the results of field experiments, and in light of the need to develop new global quality management terminology, the current article presents several key concepts in this field, with emphasis on a systems-oriented rationale and perspective. As such, the article is an important stage in building this body of knowledge, and towards the conceptualization of key variables used in global quality management, from a systems approach that interacts with the fields of international management and strategic management.

COVID-19 pandemic in first seven months has led to more than 15 million confirmed infected cases and 600,000 deaths. SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent for COVID-19 has proved a great challenge for its ability to spread in asymptomatic stages and a diverse disease spectrum it has generated. This has created a challenge of unimaginable magnitude not only affecting human health and life but also potentially generating a long-lasting socioeconomic impact. Both medical sciences and biomedical research have also been challenged consequently leading to a large number of clinical trials and vaccine initiatives. While known proteins of pathobiological importance are targets for these therapeutic approaches, it is imperative to explore other factors of viral significance. Accessory proteins are one such trait that have diverse roles in coronavirus pathobiology. Here we analyze certain genomic characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 accessory protein ORF8, predict upon its protein features and review current available literature regarding its function. We have also undertaken review of ORF8 homolog ORF8ab from SARS-CoV with a purpose of developing holistic understanding of these proteins for reason that coronaviruses have been infecting humans repeatedly and might continue to do so. Despite low nucleotide and protein identity and differentiating genome level characteristics, there appears to be significant structural integrity and functional proximity between these proteins pointing towards their high significance. There is further need for comprehensive genomics and structural-functional studies to lead towards definitive conclusions regarding their criticality and that can eventually define their relevance to therapeutics development.

Wetlands are carriers of metals and organic pollutants from natural and anthropogenic sources. Studies have shown that sediments are sinks for these pollutants as they carry more than 99% of the total amount of metals which are released as soluble metals into the Lagoon. The University of Lagos, located at Akoka North eastern part of Yaba in Lagos Mainland runs along a highly industrialized and residential area. This paper reports the total metal concentrations in wetland and sediment and their seasonal variations. Wetland and sediment samples were collected for two seasons in 8 sampling sites. Results showed wetland data having lower concentrations of metals as compared to sediments. Wet season had higher concentrations of metals as compared to other season. Total concentrations in wetlands were Cd (1.0-6.0), Cu (1.0-11.0), Cr (0.3-82.7), Zn (2.7-65.0) and Pb (0.3-16.0) all in μg L-1 respectively. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the wet and dry seasons for sediments. Cd was the only metal at acceptable levels while Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations all exceeded levels deemed acceptable by the SABS and the EPA. Therefore, the wetland is in poor health.

Fossils constitute the principal repository of data that allow for independent tests of hypotheses of biological evolution derived from observations of the extant biota. Traditionally, transformational series of structure, consisting of sequences of fossils of the same lineage through time, have been employed to reconstruct and interpret morphological evolution. More recently, a move toward an updated paradigm was fueled by the deliberate integration of developmental thinking in the inclusion of fossils in reconstruction of morphological evolution. The vehicle for this is provided by structural fingerprints – recognizable morphological and anatomical structures generated by (and reflective of) the deployment of specific genes and regulatory pathways during development. Furthermore, because the regulation of plant development is both modular and hierarchical in nature, combining structural fingerprints recognized in the fossil record with our understanding of the developmental regulation of those structures produces a powerful tool for understanding plant evolution. This is particularly true when the systematic distribution of specific developmental regulatory mechanisms and modules is viewed within an evolutionary (paleo-evo-devo) framework. Here, we discuss several advances in understanding the processes and patterns of evolution, achieved by tracking structural fingerprints with their underlying regulatory modules across lineages, living and fossil: the role of polar auxin regulation in the cellular patterning of secondary xylem and the parallel evolution of arborescence in lycophytes and seed plants; the morphology and life history of early polysporangiophytes and tracheophytes; the role of modularity in the parallel evolution of leaves in euphyllophytes; leaf meristematic activity and the parallel evolution of venation patterns among euphyllophytes; mosaic deployment of regulatory modules and the diverse modes of secondary growth of euphyllophytes; modularity and hierarchy in developmental regulation and the evolution of equisetophyte reproductive morphology. More generally, inclusion of plant fossils in the evo-devo paradigm has informed discussions on the evolution of growth patterns and growth responses, sporophyte body plans and their homology, sequences of character evolution, and the evolution of reproductive systems.

Covid-19 fatality rates of 0.37% (Gangelt, Germany) and 0.17% (Santa Clara, USA) have been reported, estimated from serological studies. We show that the two confidence intervals strongly overlap when the uncertainty in the number of deaths is taken into account, so that the two investigations may be regarded as representative of the same population (tentatively: “Western society with no overload of the Health Care System during the pandemic”). Combining the results, the Covid-19 fatality rate is estimated to be found with 95% confidence in the range [0.1%; 0.3%].

Space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry (InSAR) is now a key geophysical tool for surface deformation studies. The European Commission’s Sentinel-1 Constellation began acquiring data systematically in late 2014. The data, which are free and open access, have global coverage at moderate resolution with a 6 or 12-day revisit, enabling researchers to investigate large-scale surface deformation systematically through time. However, full exploitation of the potential of Sentinel-1 requires specific processing approaches as well as the efficient use of modern computing and data storage facilities. Here we present LiCSAR, an operational system built for large-scale interferometric processing of Sentinel-1 data. LiCSAR is designed to automatically produce geocoded wrapped and unwrapped interferograms and coherence estimates, for large regions, at 0.001° resolution (WGS-84 system). The products are continuously updated in a frequency depending on prioritised regions (monthly, weekly or live update strategy). The products are open and freely accessible and downloadable through an online portal. We describe the algorithms, processing, and storage solutions implemented in LiCSAR, and show several case studies that use LiCSAR products to measure tectonic and volcanic deformation. We aim to accelerate the uptake of InSAR data by researchers as well as non-expert users by mass producing interferograms and derived products.

The paper presents models of path and control planning for parking, docking, and movement of autonomous vehicles at low speeds considering space constraints. Given the low speed of motion, and in order to test and approve the proposed algorithms, vehicle kinematic models are used. Recent works on the development of parking algorithms for autonomous vehicles are reviewed. Bicycle kinematic models for vehicle motion are considered for three basic types of vehicles: passenger car, long wheelbase truck, and articulated vehicles with and without steered semitrailer axes. Mathematical descriptions of systems of differential equations in matrix form and expressions for determining the linearization elements of nonlinear motion equations that increase the speed of finding the optimal solution are presented. Options are proposed for describing the interaction of vehicle overall dimensions with the space boundaries, within which a maneuver should be performed. An original algorithm that considers numerous constraints is developed for determining vehicle permissible positions within the closed boundaries of the parking area, which are directly used in the iterative process of searching for the optimal plan solution using nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). The process of using NMPC to find the best trajectories and control laws while moving in a semi-limited space of constant curvature (turnabouts, roundabouts) are described. Simulation tests were used to validate the proposed models for both constrained and unconstrained conditions and the output (state-space) and control parameters' dependencies are shown. The proposed models represent an initial effort to model the movement of autonomous vehicles for parking and has the potential for other highway applications.

In the radar system, detection represents a basic and important stage in the receiver side. The detection process is based on the thresholding criteria; two philosophies of this criteria, constant and adaptive threshold. The constant threshold is simple in design, but it has a mis-detection and does not control the false alarm rate. As for the adaptive threshold, it is powerful in target detection, and better control of the false alarm rate, where it is called Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR). Lots of research in the CFAR design, but the gap in the previous works is that there is no CFAR algorithm can be working with all or most environmental fields and all or most target situations.In this paper, The CFAR, which can work with the most environment and most of the target situations, has been presented. The producing the design and implementation of the new practical CFAR processor is presented. Where, the new CFAR is a combination of the properties of three different CFAR algorithm (CA, OSGO, and OSSO), and from two different families; averaging and statistical. Where it has overperformed of it's is 97.25% for simulation and 96.25% for the implementable version for different target situations. The simulation analysis is made by using Matlab 2015, while the implementation is done by using Xilinx Spartan 700 3a.

Myoelectric control is the cornerstone of many assistive technologies used in clinical practice, such as prosthetics and orthoses, and human-computer interaction, such as virtual reality control. Although the performance of such devices exceeds 90\% in controlled environments, myoelectric devices still face challenges in robustness to variability of daily living conditions. Within this survey, the intrisic physiological mechanisms limiting practical implementations of myoelectric devices were explored: the limb position effect and the contraction intensity effect. The degradation of electromyography (EMG) pattern recognition in the presence of these factors was demonstrated on six datasets, where performance was 13% and 20% lower in realistic environments compared to controlled environments for the limb position and contraction intensity effect, respectively. The experimental designs of limb position and contraction intensity literature were surveyed. Current state-of-the-art training strategies and robust algorithms for both effects were compiled and presented. Recommendations for future limb position effect studies include: the collection protocol providing exemplars of 6 positions (four limb positions and three forearm orientations), three-dimensional space experimental designs, transfer learning approaches, and multi-modal sensor configurations. Recommendations for future contraction intensity effect studies include: the collection of dynamic contractions, nonlinear complexity features, and proportional control.

Using machine learning or deep learning to solve the problem of garbage recognition and classification is an important application in computer vision, but due to the incomplete establishment of garbage datasets and the poor performance of complex network models on smart terminal devices, the existing garbage classification models The effect is not good.This paper presents a waste classification and identification method base on transfer learning and lightweight neural network. By migrating the lightweight neural network MobileNetV2 and rebuild it, The reconstructed network is used for feature extraction, and the extracted features are introduced into the SVM to realize the identification of 6 types of garbage. The model was trained and verified by using 2527 pieces of garbage labeled data in the TrashNet dataset, which ultimately resulted in a classification accuracy of 98.4% of the method, which proves that the method can effectively improve the classification accuracy and time and overcome the problem of weak data and less labeling. The over-fitting phenomenon encountered by small data sets in deep learning makes the model robust.

Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) is a medium-size carnivore that in Europe is restricted to Iberia. The bio-ecology of this species remains to be elucidated in several dimensions, including gut microbiota that is nowadays recognized as a fundamental component of mammals. In this work, we investigated the gut microbiota of this herpestid by single-molecule real-time sequencing of twenty paired male (n=10) and female (n=10) intestinal samples. This culture-independent approach enabled microbial profiling based on 16S rDNA and investigation of taxonomical and functional features. The core gut microbiome of the adult subpopulation was dominated by Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Proteobacteria. Eight genera were uniquely found in adults and five in non-adults. When comparing gut bacterial communities across sex, four genera were exclusive of females and six uniquely found in males. Despite these compositional distinctions, alpha- and beta-diversity analyses showed no statistically significant differences across sex or between adult and non-adult specimens. However, males presented a significantly higher abundance of amino acid and citrate cycle metabolic pathways, compared to the significant overrepresentation in females of galactose’ metabolic pathways. Adults showed a significantly higher abundance of cationic antimicrobial peptide resistance pathways, while non-adults bared a significant overrepresentation of two-component systems associated with antibiotic synthesis, flagellin production and chemotaxis control. This study adds new insights into mongoose bio-ecology palette, highlighting taxonomical and functional microbiome dissimilarities across sex and age classes, possibly related to primary production resources and life-history traits that impact on behavior, diet and gut ecosystem.

Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles excreted by mammalian cells that circulate freely in the bloodstream of living organisms. Exosomes have a lipid bilayer that encloses genetic material used in intracellular communication (e.g., double-stranded DNA, micro-RNAs, and messenger RNA). Recent evidence suggests that dysregulation of this genetic content within exosomes has a major role in tumor progression and in the surrounding microenvironment. Motivated by this discovery, we focused here on using exosomal biomarkers as a diagnostic and prognostic tool for cancer. In this review, we discuss recently discovered exosome-derived proteomic and genetic biomarkers used in cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Although several genetic biomarkers have been validated for their diagnostic values, proteomic biomarkers are still being actively pursued. We discuss both commercial technologies and emerging technologies for exosome isolation and analysis.

Over the past few decades, there have been major advances in crop productivity across the world, which has been made possible through a combination of productivity enhancing technological innovations. Beyond this achievement however, most parts of Africa are still battling with low crop productivity resulting in food shortages and food insecurity. The yields of many staple crops are still far below their agronomic potentials with output increases being attributed largely to area expansion. This paper examines the implications of the current trends of crop/plant productivity for food security and rural livelihood development in Africa using Ghana as a case study. The paper argues that crop production in Africa is becoming a less viable and unattractive livelihood activity with farmers diversifying out of agriculture into non-agricultural activities such as illegal small-scale mining, which have negative consequences on the ability of African countries to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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.

The bacterial flagellum is a motility organelle, consisting of a long helical filament as a propeller and a rotary motor that drives rapid filament rotation to produce thrust. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium has two genes of flagellin, fljB and fliC, for flagellar filament formation and autonomously switches their expression at a frequency of 10^-3–10^-4 per cell per generation. We report here differences in their structures and motility functions under high viscosity conditions. A Salmonella strain expressing FljB showed a higher motility than the one expressing FliC under high viscousity. To examine the reasons for this motility difference, we carried out structural analyses of the FljB filament by electron cryomicroscopy and found that the structure is nearly identical to that of the FliC filament except for the position and orientation of the outermost domain D3 of flagellin. The density of domain D3 was much lower in FljB than FliC, suggesting that domain D3 of FljB is more flexible and mobile than that of FliC. These differences suggest that domain D3 plays an important role not only in changing antigenicity of the filament but also in optimizing motility function of the filament as a propeller under different conditions.

In the paper, the author takes stock of the conceptual reflection and empirical studies described in the current scientific literature on responsible innovation in the context of the emergence of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) concept. RRI has been promoted in the European Union as a part of the Europe 2020 strategy with the objective of making research and innovation more sustainable and inclusive. As more than half of the EU’s firms declare conducting innovation activities RRI problematic becomes more relevant than ever. There remain many open questions, unresolved dilemmas and empirical white spots that call for more research in this field. This paper’s main focus is the problem of RRI acceptance as a global framework for responsible innovation and the scarcity of suitable instruments that may help industry understand and adopt this concept. The main contribution of this paper are: the critical analysis of the RRI concept and its implications for industry, proposing a concept of RRI index for innovating enterprises.

This study investigated the associations of imageability with fear reactivity. Imageability ratings of four word classes: positive and negative (i) emotional and (ii) propriosensitive, neutral and negative (iii) theoretical and (iv) neutral concrete filler, and fear reactivity scores – degree of fearfulness towards different situations (TF score) and total number of extreme fears and phobias (EF score), were obtained from 171 participants. Correlations between imageability, TF and EF scores were tested to analyze how word categories and their valence were associated with fear reactivity. Imageability ratings were submitted to recursive partitioning. Participants with high TF and EF scores had higher imageability for negative emotional and negative theoretical words. The correlations between imageability of negative emotional words and negative theoretical words for EF score were significant. Males showed stronger correlations for imageability of negative emotional words for EF and TF scores. High imageability for positive emotional words was associated with lower fear reactivity in females. These findings were discussed with regard to negative attentional bias theory of anxiety, influence on emotional systems, and gender-specific coping styles. This study provides insight into cognitive functions involved in mental imagery, semantic competence for mental imagery in relation to fear reactivity, and a potential psycholinguistic instrument assessing fear tendency.

The history of Artificial Intelligence (AI) development dates to the 40s. The researchers showed strong expectations until the 70s, when they began to encounter serious difficulties and investments were greatly, reduced. With the introduction of the Industry 4.0, one of the techniques adopted for AI implementation is Machine Learning (ML) that focuses on the machines ability to receive data series and learn on their own. Given the considerable importance of the subject, researchers have completed many studies on ML to ensure that machines are able to replace or relieve human tasks. This research aims to analyze, systematically, the literature on several aspects, including publication year, authors, scientific sector, country, institution, keywords. Analyzing existing literature on AI is a necessary stage to recommend policy on the matter. The analysis has been done using Web of Science and SCOPUS database. Furthermore, UCINET and NVivo 12 software have been used to complete them. Literature review on ML and AI empirical studies published in the last century was carried out to highlight the evolution of the topic before and after Industry 4.0 introduction, from 1999 to now. Eighty-two articles were reviewed and classified. A first interesting result is the greater number of works published by USA and the increasing interest after the birth of Industry 4.0.

Farming systems prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa are exposed and vulnerable to climate change due to their high dependence on rainfall. However, most studies have only estimated the impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity at a regional or national level. We add to this literature by focussing on the sub-national impacts. This study uses 30 years (1981–2011) of yield and weather data in Zambia and applies the Just and Pope model to determine how rainfall and temperature affect yield and yield variability of maize and beans at the national and subnational levels. Results show a negative impact of temperature rise on yield and a positive impact of rainfall rise on yield, above the current mean levels. These results differ by agro-ecological region. Worst-case-scenario predicted impacts using HadGEM-ES2 global circulation model show that major yield decreases (25% for maize and 34% for beans) by 2050 will be in region II and will be driven mainly by temperature increase offsetting the positive gains from rainfall increase. The model mainly under-predicts yield for maize and overpredicts yield for beans. These findings call for agro-ecological region-specific adaptation strategies and well-planned policy interventions to make agriculture more resilient to climate change.

Relapsed leukemia following initial therapeutic response and remission is difficult to treat and causes high patient mortality. Leukemia relapse is due to residual quiescent leukemia cells that escape conventional therapies and later reemerge. Eliminating not only growing but quiescent leukemia cells is critical to effectively treating leukemia and preventing its recurrence. Such therapeutic agents, however, are lacking in the clinic. Here we report that a 4-arylmethyl derivative of the natural anticancer compound curcumin demonstrates a dual effect in eliminating both growing and quiescent leukemia cells. This curcumin derivative, C212, on the one hand, inhibits growing leukemia cells at a higher efficacy than curcumin by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest; it, on the other hand, kills quiescent leukemia cells that are resistant to conventional chemotherapy drugs. Furthermore, C212 drives leukemia cells into and kills them at deep quiescence, avoiding the potential risk associated with awaking therapy-resistant subpopulation of quiescent leukemia cells. Lastly, we show that C212 induces apoptosis and drives cells into deep dormancy at least partially by binding to and inhibiting Hsp90, leading to client protein degradation and protein aggregation. Further elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying the dual function of C212 in eliminating both growing and quiescent leukemia cells will aid the development of novel therapies against leukemia relapse.

The purpose of this work is to define optimal growth conditions for batch culture of the cyanobacterium Arthrospira maxima and the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, Isochrysis galbana and Nannochloropsis gaditana. Thus, we study the effect of three variables on algae growth: i.e., inoculum:culture medium ratio, light:darkness photoperiod and type of culture medium, including both synthetic media and wastewaters. The results showed that the initial inoculum volume did not affect the amount of biomass at the end of the growth (14 days), whereas an excess (18 h) or defect (6 h) in the number of hours of light is determinant for its development. The contribution of nutrients from different culture media modified the growth of the different species. A. maxima was favoured in seawater enriched with Guillard's F/2 as well as C. vulgaris and N. gaditana but in fresh water medium. I. galbana had the greatest growth in the marine environment enriched with Walne’s media. Nitrate was the limiting growth reagent at the end of the exponential phase of growth for C. vulgaris and N. gaditana, while iron was for A. maxima and I. galbana. All species demonstrated their capability to grow in effluents from a wastewater treatment plant and they efficiently consume nitrogen, especially the three microalgae species.

The Casiquiare River is a natural channel that connects two of the greatest rivers in the world, the Orinoco and the Amazon in the South American Continent. The aim of this paper is to present a review and synthesis of the hydrological and sedimentological knowledge of the Casiquiare River, including the first hydro-sedimentary balance of the Casiquiare fluvial system conducted at the bifurcation and at the mouth on September 9-12, 2000, during the expedition ‘Humboldt-Amazonia 2000’. Bathymetric, flow discharge and physico-chemical measurements were made at the inlet and at the outlet of the Casiquiare Channel. The main conclusions of this study indicate that Casiquiare is taking a significant proportion of flow (20 to 30%) from the Upper Orinoco basin to the Amazon basin. Throughout its 356 km-course, this chameleon channel undergoes significant morphological, hydrological and bio-geochemical variations between the inlet and the outlet, whose most visible witnesses are the increase in its width (3 to 4 times), flow (7 to 9 times) and its change in water color (white to black water), under the influence of tributaries coming from vast forest plains.

Among the array of structurally and toxicologically diverse mycotoxins, aflatoxins have attracted the most interest of scientific research due to their high toxicity and incidence in foods and feeds. Despite the undeniable progress made in various aspects related to aflatoxins, the ultimate goal consisting of reducing the associated public health risks worldwide is far from being reached due to multiplicity of social, political, economic, geographic, climatic, and development factors. However, a reasonable degree of health protection is attained in industrialized countries owing to their scientific, administrative, and financial capacities allowing them to use high-tech agricultural management systems. Less fortunate situation exists in equatorial and sub-equatorial developing countries mainly practicing traditional agriculture managed by smallholders for subsistence, and where the climate is suitable for mould growth and aflatoxin production. A situation that worsens by the climatic change being increasingly suitable for aflatoxigenic mold growth and toxin production. Accordingly, it is difficult to harmonize the regulatory standards of aflatoxins worldwide, which prevents agri-foods of developing countries from access to the market of industrialized countries. To tackle the multi-facetted aflatoxin problems, actions should be taken collectively by the international community involving scientific research, technological and social development, environment protection, awareness promotion, etc. International cooperation should foster technology transfer and exchange of pertinent technical information. This review presents the main historical discoveries leading to our present knowledge on aflatoxins and the challenges that should be addressed presently and in the future at various levels to ensure higher health protection for everybody. In short, it aims to elucidate where we come from and where we should go in terms of aflatoxin research/development.

Over the last decade the blockchain technology has emerged to provide solutions to the complexity and privacy challenges of using distributed databases. It reduces the cost for customers by eliminating intermediaries and builds the trust in peer-to-peer communications. Over this time, the concept of blockchain has shifted greatly due to its potential in business growth for enterprises and the rapidly evolving applications in a collaborative smart cities' ecosystem, healthcare, and governance. Many platforms, with different architectures and consensus protocols, have been introduced. Consequently, it becomes challenging for an application developer to choose the right platform. Furthermore, blockchain has misaligned with the goals for efficient green collaborative digital ecosystem. Therefore, it becomes critical to address this gap and to build new frameworks to align blockchain with those goals. In this paper, we discuss the evolution of blockchain architecture and consensus protocols, bringing a retrospective analysis and discussing the rationale of the evolution of the various architectures and protocols, as well as capturing the assumptions conducting to their development and contributions to building collaborative applications. We introduce a classification of those architectures helping developers to choose a suitable platform for applications and providing insights for future research directions in the field to build new frameworks.

The abundance, distribution and composition of marine debris (> 5 cm) and small microplastics (11 μm) from five rivers in South Eastern, Nigeria was investigated. This study provided the first assessment of the type and quantity of marine litter and microplastics in Nigeria. A total of 3487 macrodebris items/m2 were counted with the following distribution; plastics (59 %) > metal (10 %) > cloth (7 %), paper /cardboard (7 %), rubber (7 %) > glass/ceramics (5 %), medical and agro-based waste (3 %) > wood (2 %). The cleanliness of the river assessed with clean coast index (CCI) ranged from “very clean” at Okumpi and Obiaraedu river to “extremely dirty” at Nwangele river. Microplastics abundance ranged from 440 to 1556 particles/L, with high accumulation at downstream. Fragment shape was most abundant while fiber and film followed. The distribution of plastic types was; PET (29 %) > PE (22 %) > PVC (16 %) > PP (14 %) > other (6 %) respectively. Significant relationship was found between the total abundances of microplastics and different macrodebris groups suggesting that microplastics were abundant in areas where the macrodebris abundance was high. Our results provide baseline information for future assessments. Management actions should focus on input prevention including proper waste management, recycling of plastics, and strict penalties for illegal dumping of wastes.

Abstract: Mass spectrometry research laboratories reported multiple probes for ambient ionization in the last years. Combining them with a mechanical moving stage enables automated sampling and imaging applications. We developed a robotic platform, which is based on RepRap 3D-printer components, and therefore easy to reproduce and to adopt for custom prototypes. The minimal step width of the Open LabBot is 12.5 μm, and the sampling dimensions (x, y, z) are 18 × 15 × 20 cm. Adjustable rails in an aluminium frame construction facilitate the mounting of additional parts such as sensors, probes, or optical components. The Open LabBot uses industry-standard G-code for its control. The simple syntax facilitates the programming of the movement. We developed two programs: 1) LABI-Imaging, for direct control via a USB connection and the synchronization with MS data acquisition. 2) RmsiGUI, which integrates all steps of mass spectrometry imaging: The creation of G-code for robot control, the assembly of imzML files from raw data and the analysis of imzML files. We proved the functionality of the system by the automated sampling and classification of essential oils with a PlasmaChip probe. Further, we performed an ambient ionization mass spectrometry imaging (AIMSI) experiment of a lime slice with laser desorption low-temperature plasma (LD-LTP) ionization, demonstrating the integration of the complete workflow in RmsiGUI. The design of the Open LabBot and the software are released under open licenses to promote their use and adoption in the instrument developers’ community.

Inflammatory allergic and nonallergic respiratory pathologies often co-exist. The root cause is not clear. This paper demonstrates that it is ascribable to protons (H⁺) released into cells by exogenous and endogenous acids. The hypothesis of acids as the common cause stems from two considerations: a) it has long been known that exogenous acids present in air pollutants can induce the irritation of epithelial surfaces, particularly the airways, inflammation and bronchospasm; b) according to recent articles, endogenous acids, generated in cells by phospholipases, play a key role in the biochemical mechanisms of initiation and progression of allergic responses. Therefore, the intracellular acidification and consequent Ca²⁺ increase, induced by protons generated by either acid pollutants or endogenous phospholipases, may be the causal mechanism of the multimorbidity of these diseases, and environmental acidity may contribute to their spread.

Infant foods and formulae may contain toxic substances and elements which can be neo-formed contaminants or derived from raw materials or processing. The content of minerals, toxic elements and hydroxymethylfurfural in infant foods and formulae were evaluated. The effect of storage temperature on HMF formation in infant formulae and its potential as a quality parameter was also evaluated. Prune-based foods contained the highest HMF content. HMF significantly increased when storage temperature was elevated to 30 ℃ for 21 days. All trace elements were present in adequate amounts while the concentration of nickel was higher when compared to those of other studies. The study indicates that HMF can be used as quality indicator for product shelf-life and that the concentrations of minerals and toxic elements vary greatly due to the diverse compositions of foods and formulae. Such contaminants need to be monitored as infants represent a vulnerable group compared to adults.

Pipelines are widely used for transportation of hydrocarbon fluids over millions of miles over the world. The structures of the pipelines are designed to withstand several environmental loading conditions to ensure safe and reliable distribution from point of production to the shore or distributions deport. However, leaks in pipeline networks are one of the major causes of innumerable losses in pipeline operators and nature. Incidents of pipeline failure can result in serious ecological disasters, human casualties and financial loss. In order to avoid such menace and maintain safe and reliable pipeline infrastructure, substantial research efforts have been devoted to implementing pipeline leak detection and localisation using different approaches. This paper discusses on pipelines leakage detection technologies and summarises the state-of-the-art achievements. Different leakage detection and localisation in pipeline systems are reviewed and their strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. Comparative performance analysis is performed to provide a guide in determining which leak detection method is appropriate for particular operating settings. In addition, research gaps and open issues for development of reliable pipeline leakage detection systems are discussed.

Cancer cells can acquire a spectrum of stable hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal (E/M) states during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Cells in these hybrid E/M phenotypes often combine epithelial and mesenchymal features and tend to migrate collectively commonly as small clusters. Such collectively migrating cancer cells play a pivotal role in seeding metastases and their presence in cancer patients indicates an adverse prognostic factor. Moreover, cancer cells in hybrid E/M phenotypes tend to be more associated with stemness which endows them with tumor-initiation ability and therapy resistance. Most recently, cells undergoing EMT have been shown to promote immune suppression for better survival. A systematic understanding of the emergence of hybrid E/M phenotypes and the connection of EMT with stemness and immune suppression would contribute to more effective therapeutic strategies. In this review, we first discuss recent efforts combining theoretical and experimental approaches to elucidate mechanisms underlying EMT multi-stability (i.e. the existence of multiple stable phenotypes during EMT) and the properties of hybrid E/M phenotypes. Following we discuss non-cell-autonomous regulation of EMT by cell cooperation and extracellular matrix. Afterwards, we discuss various metrics that can be used to quantify EMT spectrum. We further describe possible mechanisms underlying the formation of clusters of circulating tumor cells. Last but not least, we summarize recent systems biology analysis of the role of EMT in the acquisition of stemness and immune suppression.

Energy and Environment Tax is used globally as a means of environment policy. Energy and Environment tax plays an important role as a driving force for the conversion to environmentally friendly energy. The basic tax principles considered in the design of energy and environmental taxation increases the efficiency of policy instruments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation based on tax principles, namely, equity, efficiency, simplicity, flexibility, and accountability and to suggest directions for improvement. This study applied a methodology that provides policy implications, such as reviewing existing literature and comparing energy and environmental taxes. Results of this study show that South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation is negative in terms of equity, simplicity, and accountability. South Korea’s current energy and environmental tax is regressive to income classes and complex tax structures and it does not objectively measure the impact of energy and environmental taxation. However, energy and environmental taxation is evaluated positively in terms of efficiency and flexibility because it meets the greenhouse gas reduction policy and operates a flexible tax rate. The results of this analysis provide policy implications for reorganizing South Korea’s energy and environmental taxation

Legumes are important sources of nitrogen and, therefore, the nitrogen fixing ability of the legume-rhizobia symbiosis has great potential to improve crop yields or reduce nitrogen fertilizer use. Unfortunately, legumes face serious and increasing threats of both biotic and abiotic stresses among which Fe-deficiency has been increased from past years. Fe nutrient deficiency limits pulse production and nitrogen fixation by specifically affecting any one of the four phases of legume-rhizobium symbiosis. Although Fe in soil is often present in adequate quantities, it is mainly present in insoluble Fe-(III) precipitates, limiting its uptake and utilization. The present review has focused on the iron nutrition and deficiency and probable uptake, transport and metabolism in legumes.

Introduction: The purposes of this study were to seek for overall ratio (OR) and anterior ratio (AR) patients data in normal occlusion and Angle’s malocclusion studies, and to assess if such results support Bolton’s standards as general references. Methods: Pubmed, Medline, CENTRAL and Scholar databases were searched up to February 2018 (CRD42018088438). Gray literature was explored through OpenGray. Non-randomized clinical studies, published in English and assessing Bolton’s OR and AR in normal occlusion and Angle’s malocclusion groups (Class I, Class II, Class II division 1, Class 2 division 2, Class III) patients were included. OR and AR means and standard deviations (SD) were collected. Potential covariates (study design, publication year, country where the study was conducted, number of cases, gender, mesiodistal measurement method, and calibration method) were also extracted. The National Health Heart Lung, and Blood Institute’s Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was used to assess each included studies quality. Pairwise Random-Effects and Multilevel Bayesian Network Meta-Analyses were used to synthesize available data. Results: Fifty-two observational studies were included (8872 participants; male/females 2674/3272; 16 studies lacked gender information). For normal occlusion, global pooled estimates for OR and AR means were 91.74% (95% CI: 91.37-92.10) and 78.24% (95% CI: 77.85-78.63), respectively. We could identify on Angle’s Class III patients meaningful OR and AR mean deviations from normal occlusion (0.89, 95% credible interval [CrI], 0.66-1.12, and 0.66, 95% CrI, 0.38-0.94, respectively), while on Class I patients we found a meaningful mean deviation from normal occlusion only for OR (0.25, 95% CrI, 0.03-0.47). Concerning gender impact, male patients presented higher OR (0.30, 95% CI 0.00-0.59) and AR (0.41, 95% CI 0.00-0.83) mean values than females in Class I. Conclusions: The results show that global pooled OR and AR mean values for normal occlusion patients are slightly above Bolton’s original values. Class I, for OR mean values, and Class III, for both OR and AR, are proportionally larger than normal occlusion patients. Gender had almost no impact on teeth mesiodistal proportion.