Toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems are used primarily to inhibit phage, reduce metabolic activity during stress, and maintain genetic elements. Given the extreme toxicity of some of the toxins of these TA systems, we were curious how the cell silences toxins, if the antitoxin is inactivated or when toxins are obtained without antitoxins via horizontal gene transfer. Here we find that the RalR (type I), MqsR (type II), GhoT (type V), and Hha (type VII) toxins are inactivated primarily by a mutation that inactivates the toxin promoter or via the chromosomal mutations iraM and mhpR.

The toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have been attracting attention due to their role in regulating prokaryotic cell responses to stress and their biotechnological potential. Much recognition has been given to type II TA system of mesophiles, but so far, limited attention has been given to thermophiles. Here, we are presenting the putative type II TA families encoded on the genomes of four Geobacillus strains. We employed the TA finder tool to mine for TA-coding genes and manually curated the results using various tools. We identified 28 putative TA pairs, distributed over 8 TA families. Among the identified TAs, 15 represent putative novel toxins and antitoxins that have been overlooked or annotated as hypothetical proteins in their genome records. We also identified a potentially new TA composite, AbrB-ParE. Furthermore, we are suggesting the Geobacillus acetyltransferase toxin-antitoxin (GacTA) family which potentially represents one of the unique TA families that has a reverse gene order. Moreover, we are proposing a hypothesis on the regulation of the xre-cog2856 gene expression, which seems to involve c-di-AMP. This study aims for highlighting the significance of studying TAs in Geobacillus, since they have special features. It also aims for facilitating future experimental research.

In interepidemic periods, a sapronoses typically employs a variety of mechanisms for maintaining viability of its causative agent in terrestrial parasitic systems, associated with different adaptive strategies utilized by its populations to survive. Unlike spore-forming bacteria, causative agents of sapronoses use resistant cell forms, which is a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state, and persistence. Implementation of these strategies is conditioned by effects of various stress factors of the habitat and is characterized by decreased metabolism, alteration of the morphology and physiology of bacterial cell, and cessation of its replication. It is important that the resistant forms of cells retain virulence and, as favorable conditions come, turn back into the active vegetative form again. The discovery of the genetic modules of bacterial toxin–antitoxin systems in recent years has made it possible to identify a number of complicated regulatory molecular mechanisms responsible for maintaining the pathogenic potential of resistant forms of causative agents of natural-focus sapronoses in interepidemic periods.

Regeneration of lost tail is of great importance to lizards. Anolis carolinensis, a green lizard, is capable of regenerating its tail efficiently after autotomy. Hence, it is considered as a model organism in regeneration study. A. carolinensis shed its tail in order to distract the predator’s attention and thus makes a way to escape. Restoring of the amputated tail takes several days and the mechanism is currently clearly understood. Although save its life, tail regeneration is associated with the impairment of several vital functions in Anoles. In addition, various differences have been observed between original and regenerated tail in terms of mechanism and structure. To date, very little work has been conducted on tail autotomy and regeneration at molecular and genetic level. The genes responsible for regeneration in anoles are identified recently. These genes are evolutionarily conserved through all tetrapod vertebrates. They are, however, in a state of ‘switched-off’ in other vertebrates including humans. Consequently, a throughout study of these so called ‘switched-off’ genes may provide a way of restoring lost organs in human, and thus could revolutionize the modern medical science.

Oilseed plants of the Brassicaceae plant family are cultivated for food, feed and industrial purposes on large-scale in Europe. This review gives an overview of current market-oriented applications of new genomic techniques (NGTs) in relevant Brassicaceae oilseed crops based on a literature survey. In this respect, changes in oil quality, yield, growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stress are goals in oilseed rape (B. napus) and camelina (C. sativa). Environmental risk assessment scenarios are developed for specific NGT applications in Brassicaceae oilseed crops with either a changed oil composition or with fitness related traits. In case of a changed oil composition an increase or decrease of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) demonstrates risks for health and survival of pollinators. In case of fitness related traits other risks were identified, i. e. an increased risk of spread and persistence of NGT plants. Furthermore, there are indications for potential disturbance of interactions with the environment, involving signalling pathways and reaction to stress conditions. It is shown that for a comprehensive risk assessment the technological potential of NGTs, the plants’ biology and the scale of releases have to be considered in combination. Therefore, the release of NGT plants into the environment for agricultural purposes will require risk assessment and monitoring of single traits as well as of combinatorial and long-term cumulative effects. In addition, risk management should develop concepts and measures to control and potentially restrict the scale of releases. This is especially relevant for NGT Brassicaceae in Europe which is a centre of diversity of this plant family.

The wetlands in northeastern Bangladesh are home to some of the most prolific and valuable ecosystems on the planet, offering a wide range of benefits to both the local and wider communities. A limited number of research on this topic have been carried out in various wetlands in coastal hilsa, but none have been located in the northeastern region of Bangladesh. Thus, the goal of this study was to better understand the most commercially relevant species (anadromous hilsa) in northeastern Bangladesh as well as to assess the wetland ecosystem services more thoroughly with the contribution of their fish genetic resources. In addition to laboratory studies, fieldwork was done in the fishing settlements along the Surma River, Hakaluki Haor, and Tanguar Haor. The study classified 77 fish species into 21 subcategories of ecosystem services, of which 56% were not threatened, 17% were vulnerable, and 10% were highly endangered. The species Hilsa was found to be the most economically significant, accounting for 1% of the GDP overall. The study determined if the hilsa stock of the examined wetlands maintains a single or several subpopulations in comparison to other parts of the country when they migrate from saline water to northeastern Bangladesh (freshwater). But when compared to other groups, the FST score was between 0.000 to 0.017, indicating that the populations are identical and that there is genetic material sharing between them. Additionally, these statistics imply that the Sylhet haor and adjacent river systems contain a single stock of Hilsa fish. Nevertheless, a number of stresses and risks, including overexploitation, illicit and destructive fishing, siltation, and natural disasters like flash floods, have been linked to changes in the supply of hilsa and other ecosystem services. This study also emphasizes the necessity of policy attention and research to address the concerns.

Oligopeptide transporters (OPTs) are a group of membrane localized proteins that have a broad range of substrate transport capabilities and contribute to numerous biological processes. However, limited information has been reported on OPTs in higher plants. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the OPT gene family in Medicago truncatula was performed. A total of 26 OPT genes (MtOPT01-MtOPT26) have been identified in the Medicago truncatula genome. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that MtOPTs consisted of two distinct subgroups, 12 MtOPTs belonged to the peptide transport subgroup (PT-OPT) based on their predicted amino acid sequences containing the two highly conserved motifs (NPG and KIPPR) and 14 MtOPTs belonged to yellow stripe subgroup (YS-OPT). The MtOPTs distributed on each of 8 chromosomes in Medicago truncatula. Sequence analysis verified that MtOPTs significant similar to those in other plants. The copy number of MtOPTs was low and the multiply of MtOPTs was simple relatively. Gene structure analysis showed that most of the MtOPTs have various numbers of introns. The multiple of MtOPTs might play different biological roles which were supported by the fact that MtOPTs have a distinct tissue-specific expression pattern. The data obtained in this study will help to better understand the complexity of the MtOPTs gene family and provide new evidence for the function and evolution of the OPT gene family in higher plants.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), caused by a virus within the Poxviridae family and Capripoxvirus genus, induces nodular skin lesions in cattle, spreading through direct contact and insect vectors, significantly affecting global cattle farming. Despite available vaccines, their effectiveness is limited by poor bioavailability and adverse effects. Our study aimed to identify potential inhibitors targeting LSD-associated DNA polymerase protein, selecting LSDV039 for further investigation through comprehensive analysis and computational methods. Virtual screening revealed rhein and taxifolin as potent binders among 380 phytocompounds, with respective affinities of -8.965 and -7.195 kcal/mol. Canagliflozin and tepotinib exhibited strong affinities (-9.858 and -8.856 kcal/mol) among 718 FDA-approved antiviral drugs. Molecular dynamics simulations of canagliflozin, tepotinib, rhein, and taxifolin highlighted taxifolin's superior stability and binding energy. Rhein displayed compactness in RMSD and RMSF but fluctuations in Rg and SASA, while canagliflozin demonstrated stability compared to tepotinib. The study highlights the promising potential of repurposed drugs and phytocompounds as LSD therapeutics. However, extensive validation through in-vitro, in-vivo, and clinical trials is crucial for their practical application.

Abstract: A. baumannii exhibits resilience in harsh environments and progressively develops resistance to diverse antibacterial agents over time. This adaptability poses a significant challenge in treating an infection caused by this bacterium within healthcare settings. The presence of peptidoglycan, a crucial precursor for cell wall synthesis, contributes to this challenge. Peptidoglycan serves not only as a structural support in bacterial cells but also provides protection against adverse environmental conditions. The synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer involves a group of substrates such as N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and N-acetylmuramic acid (MurNAc), within a three-partitioned process occurring in the membrane, periplasmic space, and cytoplasm of each bacterium. Initiated in the cytoplasm and extending to the inner cell membrane, this synthesis starts with the production of nucleotide precursors. The first step involves the synthesis of UDP-GlcNAc, orchestrated by Glm (GlmS, GlmM, and GlmU) enzymes using fructose-6-phosphate. Subsequently, enzymes from the Mur family, namely MurB, MurA, MurD, MurC, MurI, MurF, and MurE, synthesize UDP-N-acetylmuramyl-pentapeptide (UDP-Mpp) from UDP-GlcNAc. Concurrently, on the cytosolic side, the production of membrane-surrounded undecaprenyl phosphate occurs, involving membrane-side proteins MraY and MurG in the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan. This review emphasizes updated information on Mur family proteins, encompassing physicochemical properties, nature of binding site, number and type of binding site residues, functional domain details, three-dimensional structural aspects, and their functions within bacterial cells. Special attention is directed towards their enzymatic role in peptidoglycan biosynthesis due to the limited availability of precursors in the market. Additionally, the review provides a comprehensive summary of existing inhibitors and ongoing efforts in identifying new targeted inhibitors, recognizing these enzymes as potential candidates for antibacterial drug design and discovery.

Many types of banana (Musa spp.)—one of the most economically important horticultural crops—exist, and their ploidy (diploid, triploid, and tetraploid, usually) and genome types (containing A or/and B genome in most cases) differ. At present, observation and genome type detection are commonly used to identify banana germplasm resources. However, the former is tedious, while the latter cannot distinguish categories below genome types. It is therefore urgent that a simple and effective method for identifying banana germplasm resources is established. We sequenced and analyzed the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences of 62 banana germplasm and found that the sequencing peaks, especially the 20 bp region near the 420 bp position (referred to as the “420 bp region”), exhibited relatively recognizable and repeatable polymorphism characteristics. Using the “420 bp region” as a marker, we were able to quickly distinguish bananas belonging to different genome type groups (comprising the AA, AB, AAA, ABB, AAB, ABBB, AAAB, and AAAA groups) or different subgroups in the same genome type group (for example, the Cavendish, Gros Michel, Red, Lakatan, and Ibota Bota subgroups in the AAA group; and the Pisang Raja, Plantain, Pome and Silk subgroups in the AAB group). Moreover, it appeared that Sanger sequencing of ITS could be used for identifying banana hybrid offspring. These results demonstrated that the banana ITS region contains rich genetic information that is useful for genotyping. In general, ITS sequencing simplifies the classification of banana germplasm resources and has potential application in several areas of Musa improvement.

Climate change, growing world population and increasing food demand require higher yields and adaptability of crops, including spring bread wheat. Modern plant breeding based on achievements of genetics has a significant impact on plant resistance to diseases, climate variability and other factors. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) is one of genetics tools for mining of genome loci associated with economically important traits. In the current study, we applied GWAS to reveal QTL for spike productivity and grain quality using a panel of spring varieties of Triticum aestivum L. bred in different decades of the last century in Russia and Germany. The study has enabled to find new genetic markers associated with grain yield and quality. Studying genetic basis of grain yield and quality by comparison of wheat varieties from different breeding periods, including landraces preserved as the source of valuable genetic diversity for breeding and genetic studies, makes it possible not only to understand selection processes in the past, but also to develop strategies for future breeding work.

Several recent studies have indicated that miR-30a plays critical roles in various biological processes and diseases. However, the mechanism of miR-30a participation in the regulation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is ambiguous. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-30a may function as a novel therapeutic target for lung fibrosis by blocking mitochondrial fission, which is dependent on dynamin-related protein-1 (Drp-1). However, the regulatory mechanism between miR-30a and Drp-1 has yet to be investigated. In addition, whether miR-30a can act as a potential therapeutic has not been verified in vivo. In this study, the miR-30a expression in IPF patients was evaluated. Computational analysis and a dual luciferase reporter system assay were used to identify the target gene of miR-30a, and cell transfection was used to confirm this relationship. Ten-eleven translocation 1 (TET1) was validated as a direct target of miR-30a, and the transfection of miR-30a mimic/inhibitor significantly reduced/increased the expression of TET1 protein. Further experiment verified that the interference on TET1(siRNA) could inhibit the hydroxymethlation of the Drp-1 promoter. Finally, miR-30a agomir was designed and applied to identify and validate the therapeutic effect of miR-30a in vivo. Our study demonstrated that miR-30a could inhibit the TET1 expression by base pairing with complementary sites in the 3′ untranslated region to regulate the hydroxymethlation of the Drp-1 promoter. Furthermore, miR-30a could act as a potential therapeutic target for IPF.

The global usage of veterinary antibiotics is significant. These antibiotics can be released into the aquatic environment and exert toxic effects on non-target organisms. To explore the physiological effects of tetracycline antibiotics on aquatic life, the growth characteristics of and toxin release from the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) were studied. Results showed that the toxicity order of the three target antibiotics was TC (tetracycline) > CTC (chlortetracycline hydrochloride) > OTC (oxytetracycline) in terms of inhibition occurrence time and the EC₁₀ and EC₂₅ values. Further, the target antibiotics regulated the production of MC-LR (microcystin-LR) to different degrees. CTC destroyed the M. aeruginosa cells and resulted in a decreased MC-LR release but stimulated the ability to synthesise MC-LR. OTC had a relatively weaker toxicity compared with CTC, while TC was the most toxic among the three antibiotics. Therefore, TC is friendly to the aquatic environment because it simultaneously reduced the intracellular and extracellular MC-LR content. These results aid our understanding of the effects of tetracycline antibiotics on Microcystis aeruginosa, which is important for environmental evaluation and protection. These results are also helpful for guiding the application of veterinary antibiotics in agricultural settings.

This paper proposes an innovative mechatronic piezo-actuated module to control vibrations in modern machine tools. Vibrations represent one of the main issues that compromise seriously the quality of the workpiece. The active vibration control (AVC) device is composed by a host part integrated with sensors and actuators synchronized by a regulator, able to make a self-assessment and adjust to the environmental alteration. This study presents the mechatronic model based on the kinematic and dynamic analysis of the AVC device. To ensure a real time performance, a H2-LQG controller has been developed and validated by simulations involving machine tool, PZT actuator and controller models. The Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) architecture is adopted to control and attenuate the vibrations. A set of experimental tests has been performed to validate the AVC module on a commercial machine tool. The feasibility of the real time vibration damping is demonstrated and the simulation accuracy is evaluated.

Injury to the peritoneum during surgery is followed by a healing process that frequently results in the attachment of adjacent organs by a fibrous mass, referred to commonly as adhesions. Because injuries to the peritoneum during surgery are inevitable, one must understand the mechanisms of adhesion formation to prevent its occurrence. This requires a thorough understanding of the molecular sequence that results in the attachment of injured peritoneum and the development of fibrous tissue. Recent data show that fibroblasts from the injured peritoneum may play a critical role in forming adhesion tissues. Therefore, identifying changes in gene expression patterns in the peritoneal fibroblasts during the process may provide clues to the mechanisms by which adhesion develops. This review presents many papers discussing genes implied in peritoneal adhesion.

Rett Syndrome (RTT) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder predominately diagnosed in females and primarily caused by pathogenic variants in the X-linked gene Methyl-CpG Binding Protein 2 (MECP2). Most often, the disease causing MECP2 allele resides on the paternal X chromosome while a healthy copy is maintained on the maternal X chromosome with inactivation (XCI) resulting in mosaic expression of one allele in each cell. Preferential inactivation of the paternal X chromosome is theorized to result in reduced disease severity; however, establishing such a correlation is complicated by known MECP2 genotype effects and an age dependent increase in severity. To mitigate these confounding factors, we developed an age- and genotype-normalized measure of RTT severity by modeling longitudinal data collected in the US Rett Syndrome Natural History Study. This model accurately reflected individual increase in severity with age and preserved group-level genotype specific differences in severity allowing for the creation of a normalized clinical severity score. Applying this normalized score to a RTT XCI dataset revealed that XCI influence on disease severity depends on MECP2 genotype with a correlation between XCI and severity observed only in individuals with MECP2 variants associated with increased clinical severity. This normalized measure of RTT severity provides the opportunity for future discovery of additional factors contributing to disease severity that may be masked by age and genotype effects.

Background: Chronic lateral epicondylitis challenges the therapeutical approach; underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood; neuropathic pain and central and peripheral sensitization may explain the fact that botulinum toxin was found to play a role in pain and function management. Methods: We searched the literature for MeSH terms: lateral epicondylitis or synonyms and botulinum toxin. Results: We found 14 papers containing trials on botulinum toxin injection into the tendon or into the extensor muscles (particularly extensor carpi radialis brevis and extensor communis digitorum). We followed the administration pathways, doses, timing and side effects. Conclusion: With chronic course, the focus of the therapy shifts from the afflicted tendon to the inserting muscles, as muscle contracture may create a vicious loop to perpetuate and aggravate the disease. Doses, timing and side effects are discussed.

Probiotics are microorganisms infused in products for health benefits including acceleration of nutrient digestion, however, it is also important to ensure the safety prior to incorporation. Here, we present evidence of the ability of two probiotic isolates,Lacticaseibacillus paracasei BCRC-16100 and Lacticaseibacillus paracasei ZFM54, in the (1) enhancement of carbohydrate digestion, (2) tolerance to stress, and (3) antibiotic resistance. Approaches include whole genome sequence (WGS) analysis and bioactivity assays. WGS revealed genes suggesting the ability of the two isolates to promote carbohydrate digestion, tolerance to stress and antibiotic resistance. Carbohydrate digestive ability was confirmed through a biochemical assay where the two isolates cause glucose release from starch. The two isolates also showed versatility in a range of temperature and alcohol concentration. For antibiotic resistance particularly on vancomycin, there are three mechanisms namely transporter control, transcriptional regulation, and efflux pump. Furthermore, promoter and transposable element analysis showed that some of the active antibiotic resistant (AbR) genes can be laterally transferred. Altogether, we show the potential of two probiotic isolates to be incorporated in products for improved carbohydrate digestion and the need to address the removal of active and mobile antibiotic resistance genes that may compromise safety.

Drosophila melanogaster serves as a important research model both for genetic investigations and for the study of metal toxicity, facilitating the elucidation of physiological mechanisms comparable to those of human organisms. In our research, we evaluated the toxicity effect resulting from exposure to various concentrations of lead and copper on the prolificity rates throughout the life cycle (egg-adult) of four genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster: wild-type (control), white, brown, and white-vestigial. During our study, the prolificity rates were examined across three repetitions under the impact of exposure to concentrations of 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, and 4.00 mM of copper (CuSO₄) and lead (Pb(C₂H₃O₂₎₂). Prolificity rates throughout the life cycle exhibited variations as a direct consequence of genetic factors, the concentration of exposure, and the specific type of metal, either copper or lead. The mutant white-vestigial genotype revealed an IC₅₀ concentration for prolificity inhibition at lower doses of 2.00 mM for copper and 4.00 mM for lead, in contrast to the control genotype (wild-type), which exhibited an inhibition concentration rate >IC₅₀ of 4.00 mM only in the case of copper. Our results concluded that the (i) dose influences the prolificity rate in a directly proportional manner, (ii) comparative analyses between copper and lead revealed that copper displayed toxicity across all genotypes within the concentration range of 0.50 mM to 2.00 mM. In contrast, lead exhibited toxicity within the concentration range of 1.00 mM to 4.00 mM, highlighting a (iii) more acute toxicity characteristic in the case of copper. Thus, the results of this research reflect the importance of using Drosophila melanogaster as a genetic model in the comparative study of the interaction between genetic factors and the toxicity of metals, offering significant insights into monitoring their impact and defining the maximum permissible doses on organisms.

Underwater visual detection technology plays a pivotal role in fields such as marine exploration. With the increasing demand for underwater monitoring, the quest for efficient and reliable methods for underwater target recognition has become particularly significant. To address this requirement, this study developed an innovative underwater object detection architecture based on YOLOv8, named YOLOv8-MU, aimed at significantly enhancing detection accuracy.By integrating the LarK module proposed in UniRepLKNet to optimize the backbone network, YOLOv8-MU aims to achieve a larger receptive field without increasing the model’s depth. Further, this research introduces C2fSTR, an innovative method that combines Swin Transformer with the C2f module. Additionally, we have incorporated the SPPFCSPC_EMA module, which combines Cross-Stage Partial Fast Spatial Pyramid Pooling (SPPFCSPC) with attention mechanisms, significantly improving the detection accuracy and robustness of various biological targets. Moreover, by introducing a fusion block based on DAMO-YOLO into the neck of the model, we further enhanced the model’s capability in multi-scale feature extraction. Finally, the adoption of the MPDIoU loss function, designed around vertex distance, effectively tackles the challenges of localization accuracy and boundary clarity in underwater organism detection. Experimental results on the URPC2019 dataset demonstrate that the YOLOv8-MU model achieved an [email protected] of 78.4%, marking improvements of 5.6%, 1.1%, and 4.0% over YOLOv5s, YOLOv7, and YOLOv8n respectively, indicating the leading performance (SOTA) of this method. On the other hand, further evaluation on the URPC2020 dataset confirmed the generalization capability of the YOLOv8-MU architecture, with its [email protected] reaching 80.4%, surpassing various models including YOLOv5x and YOLOv8n, showcasing the wide applicability of our proposed improved model architecture.

Fourteen Russian potato cultivars (cvs.) grown for three years in field plots of VIR (Northwestern region of the Russian Federation) were evaluated for productivity and a number of biochemical parameters of tubers. The 12 parameters that have been evaluated in tubers annually one month after harvesting and after cold storage (at 2 - 4°C) include the content of dry matter, starch, protein, ascorbic acid, carotenoids and β-carotene, anthocyanins, total sugars and monosaccharides (reducing sugars), phenolic compounds, as well as total acidity, and antioxidant activity. The cultivars differed significantly in productivity and biochemical composition of tubers. Dry matter content ranged from 16.40% in cv. ʻKumachʼ to 27.28% in ʻNayadaʼ, starch content ranged from 8.96 % in cvs. ʻFioletovyjʼ, ʻKumachʼ to 20.08% in ‘Sokur’, the total sugar content reached 2.46% in cv. ʻSiverskij’ whereas ‘Sokur’ has the smallest content of reducing sugars in post-harvest tubers. Protein content ranged from 1.02% to 2.77% with the highest accumulation in cv. ʻSokurʼ. Content of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) ranged from 6.3 mg/100 g FW in ʻKrasa Meŝeryʼ to 26.6 mg/100 g FW in cv. ʻKrasavchikʼ. Carotenoids content ranged from 0.157 mg/100 g FW in cv. ‘Nayada’ to 0.645 mg/100 g FW in cv. ʻGrandʼ. Content of anthocyanins in potato ranged from 1.04 mg/100g FW (not colored tubers of cv. ʻKrasa Meŝeryʼ) to 283.04 mg/100g FW (colored tubers of cv. ʻFioletovyiʼ). The nutritional value of tubers (content of dry matter, sugars, starch and protein) was determined to a greater extent (38-49%) by varietal characteristics, rather than by meteorological conditions in vegetation period. The content of vitamin C, carotenoids, protein and anthocyanins varied depending on the year. The highest content of dry matter, starch and carotenoids was noted in tubers harvested in 2019, marked by low temperatures and precipitation deficit in growing season. The conditions of 2020 with low temperatures and excess precipitation were the most favorable for anthocyanin’s accumulation in potato tubers while not for other biochemical parameters. Of the cultivars, ʻSokurʼ had the highest content of dry matter, protein and starch. Cv. ʻFioletovyiʼ had small starch content and high level of anthocyanins. Cv. ʻPlamyaʼ can be recommended for potato products manufacturing due to dry matter content above 20% and reducing sugars content 0.24%..

Human papillomavirus (HPV) uses the cellular trafficking machinery to reach the cell nucleus and initiate a successful infection. The HPV capsid consists of two proteins: L1 (the major capsid protein) and L2 (minor capsid protein), and L2 is known to be responsible for trafficking the viral genome to the nucleus. From previous studies, we know that many cellular proteins interact with L2 and are involved in the trafficking process at different stages of the infectious entry process. To further investigate how HPV-16 achieves successful viral entry, we have performed a mass spectrometry analysis to identify novel interacting proteins that associate with incoming HPV-16 virions. We show that HPV-16 pseudovirions interact with a group of cellular cargo proteins (COPI), and here we confirm that this is mediated by the direct binding of L2, but not L1, to the COPB1 subunit. We also show that the ability of L2 to interact with COPB1 is conserved in both low- and high-risk HPV types. Furthermore, we also show that the interaction is essential for successful infection entry of multiple HPV types, thereby identifying a novel constituent of the infectious entry pathway of the HPV.

Modular steel buildings (MSBs) interlocking inter-module connections (IMCs) have piqued researchers’ interest. However, the existing literature has not yet studied the optimisation of its plate thicknesses. This paper, therefore, focuses on optimising interlocking (IMCs) plate thickness in (MSBs), leveraging previous experimental and numerical simulation methodologies. Various numerical models for four MSBs interlocking (IMCs) with plate thicknesses (4 mm, 6 mm, 10 mm, and 12 mm) were developed under compression loading conditions. The study’s novelty lay in its comprehensive parametric analysis, which evaluated the slip phenomenon in (MSBs) connections and introduced a slip prediction model validated against empirical data. Further innovative machine learning approach was utilised to predict slip values based on applied force through a random forest regression model trained using the 'Treebagger' function. Sensitivity analysis and comparisons with alternative methods were utilised to underscore the reliability and applicability of the findings. The results showed that 11.03 mm was the optimal plate thickness for interlocking (IMCs) in modular steel buildings, with up to 8.08% reduced material costs. Increasing plate thickness boosts its deformation resistance by up to 50.75%. ‘TreeBagger’ random forest for anomaly detection and machine learning improves slip prediction up to 7% at higher force levels.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Despite advancements in treatment, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor due to its aggressive nature and resistance to therapy. CRISPR-based genetic screening has emerged as a powerful tool for identifying genes crucial for tumor progression and treatment resistance, offering promising targets for tumor therapy. In this review, we provide an overview of the recent advancements in CRISPR-based genetic screening approaches and their applications in GBM. We highlight how these approaches have been used to uncover genetic determinants of GBM progression and susceptibility to various therapies. Furthermore, we discuss ongoing challenges and future directions of CRISPR-based screening methods in advancing GBM research.

AB toxins have historically been associated with significant morbidity, mortality through infections such as botulinum, anthrax, cholera, and diphtheria. These AB toxin-mediated diseases remain prevalent in low and middle income countries, with intermittent outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) or whooping cough by Bordetella pertussis in high-income countries. These reports warrant an investigation to better understand the distinct characteristics of AB toxins derived from different pathogens. As toxigenic pathogens broaden their scope and diversity, it amplifies the complexity of the problems posed by their AB toxins. Here, we discuss the history, structure and characteristics of key AB toxins, and report on historical and ongoing research on these toxins. We also explore research avenues that hold great promise in potentially improving clinical management of toxin-mediated diseases in the future.

Several pathotypes of enteric E. coli have been identified. The group represented by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) is of particular interest. Raw milk and raw milk products are significant sources of STEC infection in humans; therefore, identifying pathogens at the herd level is crucial for public health. Most national surveillance programs focus solely on raw milk and raw milk cheeses that are ready for retail sale, neglecting the possibility of evaluating the source of contamination directly at the beginning of the dairy chain. In order to assess the viability of new molecular methodologies applied to raw milk filters enabling the identification of the presence of STEC serotypes in milk production and apply the same methods to identify the presence of these pathogens in calf feces we analyzed, through a commercial real-time PCR assay, a total of 290 samples coming from 18 different dairy herds; 88 bulk tank milk (BTM), 104 raw milk filters (RMF) and 98 calves’ feces samples. In total 3.4% of BTM, 41.4% of RMF and 73.4% of calves’ feces tested positive for stx presence, supporting our hypothesis that BTM is not a suitable matrix to assess the STEC presence at herd level, underestimating it. Our conclusion is that the surveillance program needs critical and extensive improvements such as RMF and calves’ feces analysis implementation in order to be more efficient in detecting and preventing STEC infections. The epidemiology of these infections and the characteristics of the pathogen clearly show how a One Health approach will be pivotal to improve our capabilities to control the spread of these infections.

In many developing countries of the world including Pakistan motorcycle steeling is one of the main issue that needs to be dealt with an iron hand as it leads to economic losses as well as crime increase in the society, according to the DOWN REPORT there were 28609 motorcycle stolen in 2019 and this number has been increased to 34908 in 2020. Now due to the increasing motorcycles stealing crime what measures can we take to reduce the number of motorcycle theft the rule of technology is enormous in this regards specially information technology (IT) , information technology can play an important role in the security of motorcycles from being theft by the thieves, Information technology provide us the GSM based control system which can be very help full to construct a security system for motorcycle in order to make it antitheft.

The difficult current environmental situation, caused by construction industry residues containing ceramic materials could be improved by using these materials as recycled aggregates in mortars, with their processing causing a reduction in their use in landfill, contributing to recycling and also minimizing the consumption of virgin materials. Although some research is currently being carried out into recycled mortars, little is known about their stress-strain (σ-ε); therefore this work will provide the experimental results obtained from recycled mortars with recycled ceramic aggregates (with contents of 0, 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100%), such as: the density, the compression strength, as well as the σ-ε curves representative of their behavior. The values obtained from the analysis process of the results are those of: σ (elastic ranges and failure maximum), ε (elastic ranges and failure maximum), and Resilience and Toughness; in order to finally obtain, through numerical analysis, the equations to predict their behavior (related to their recycled content). At the end of the investigation it is established that mortars with recycled ceramic aggregate contents of up to 20% could be assimilated just like mortars with the usual aggregates, and the prediction equations produced could be used in cases of similar applications.

High resolution information on nucleotide arrangement in the genome of any or-ganism is critical to understand its genetic makeup, function, and evolutionary his-tory. For years, DNA sequencing has provided crucial breakthroughs in the field of genomics and molecular biology. With the advent of technology, Next Generation Sequencing has now transformed the whole genome sequencing prospects, thus unveiling the novel and interesting features of an organism genome that can behold. Next generation sequencing platforms offer realistic approach to identify and anal-yses whole genome with high throughput, accuracy, scalability in a very short time span. Information obtained can be further used in improving our existing healthcare systems, designing novel and personalized therapeutic modules, making the envi-ronment sustainable and proactively preparing ourselves for future pandemics and outbreaks. This article discusses the various NGS technologies and approaches, their advantages, drawbacks, and futuristic usage in different fields. Though still in nascent stages and marred with flaws, with ongoing advancement, NGS will indeed have promising impacts in the future.

The conventional well placement was done manually by using a numerical reservoir simulator, and it required a lengthy trial-and-error process. It required great experience and expertise to manipulate the variables and uncertainties that lie on the reservoir to determine the best placement of the well. In addition, the traditional gradient-based methods such as Line-search and Trust-region were not viable in terms of maximum results obtained. Gradient-based methods were too dependent on the surface gradient of the solution and may only converge to local optima instead of global optima. Complex reservoirs have rough surfaces with high uncertainties, which hinders the traditional gradient-based method from converging to global optima. Thus, genetic algorithms were utilized to automate the manual trial-and-error process and to overcome the limitations of the traditional gradient-based method. The objectives of this study were to analyse the effect of different initial well placement distributions, the number of random solution sizes, and the crossover rate on cumulative oil production. A synthetic reservoir model built using CMG Builder was used as the testing platform for the optimization problems. Well-placement parameterization and optimization set-up were carried out using the CMG CMOST optimization tool. The integration of CMG IMEX and CMOST optimized cumulative oil production based on the objectives of the study. The results obtained showed that the higher number of random solutions used resulted in higher cumulative oil production, with more generations needed to reach the optimum solution. It can be concluded that the larger number of random solutions used increased the probability of reaching the optimum solution, but will take more generations.

The African continent has the highest prevalence of hypertension globally, with South Africa reporting the highest prevalence in Southern Africa. While the influence of genetic variability in the pathogenesis of hypertension is well described internationally, limited reports are available for African populations. This study aimed to assess the association of genetic variants and essential hypertension in a cohort of two ethnic South African population groups. Two hundred and seventy-seven hypertensive and one hundred and seventy-six normotensive individuals were genotyped for 79 variants. Genotyping was performed using the Illumina GoldenGate Assay and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. The association of variants was assessed using the Fisher Exact test under the additive and allelic genetic models, while multivariate logistic regression was used to predict the development of hypertension. Five variants (CYP11B2 rs179998, AGT rs5051 and rs699, AGTR1 rs5186 and ACE rs4646994) were significantly associated with essential hypertension in the cohort under study. Furthermore, AGTR1 rs5186 and AGT rs699 were identified as risk factors for the development of hypertension in both ethnic groups. In two ethnic South African populations an association was observed between Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System (RAAS) related genes and the development of hypertension.

Dysferlinopathies comprise a spectrum of muscular dystrophies characterized by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration due to mutations in the DYSF gene, which encodes the dysferlin protein critical for muscle membrane repair. This review delves into the clinical spectra of dysferlinopathies, their molecular mechanisms, and the spectrum of emerging therapeutic strategies. We explore the phenotypic heterogeneity of dysferlinopathies, highlight the incomplete understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations, and discuss the implications of various DYSF mutations. Furthermore, we examine the utility of animal models in elucidating disease mechanisms and the potential of symptomatic, pharmacological, molecular, and genetic therapies in mitigating the disease's progression. We also consider the roles of diet and metabolism in managing dysferlinopathies, as well as the impact of clinical trials on treatment paradigms. By culminating the complexities inherent in dysferlinopathies, this article emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary approaches, precision medicine, and extensive collaboration in research and clinical trial design to advance our understanding and treatment of these challenging disorders.

Here we present a fast and highly scalable community structure preserving network module detection that recursively integrates graph sparsification and clustering. Our algorithm, called SparseClust, participated in the most recent DREAM community challenge on disease module identification, an open competition to comprehensively assess module identification methods across a wide range of biological networks.

More than 20 years after the discovery of the first anelloviruses (AVs), they still remain a mysterious group of viruses. To date, there is no clear understanding of their impact on the host organism, although information is emerging about their participation in various pathologies. However, it is well known that AVs are an important component of the human virome. In the current study we assessed the abundance of AVs in viromes from four nasal and pharyngeal samples from children with respiratory symptoms using a metagenomic approach. It is worth noting that three patients had known respiratory viruses and one did not have any. Regarding AVs, they were detected in all samples, namely Torque teno mini virus (TTMV). The greatest abundance and diversity of AVs (Torque teno virus (TTV), TTMV and Torque teno midi virus (TTMDV)) were shown in a diseased patient with an absence of respiratory viruses, which may indicate the potential involvement of AVs in the maintenance of respiratory symptoms. An activated immune system to combat the main pathogens, against the background of which the number of AVs decreases, is discussed as a possible reason for the reduced diversity of anellome in other patients. We also compared the results of the metagenomic approach and qPCR for major respiratory viruses, which were in agreement. In addition, metagenomic sequencing made it possible to obtain additional data on viral genomes in order to establish their taxonomic identification and characterize individual viral profiles in patients from the Siberian part of Russia.

While previous research has shown the use of attachable air-caps on windows to efficiently reduce a building’s energy consumption, the air-caps considered had to be attached to the entire window’s surface, thus limiting the occupants’ view and creating the inconvenience of needing to detach and attach the air-caps. In this study, a window-mounted air-cap roller module using Velcro tape that may be easily attached, detached, and rolled up or down was developed and performance tested in a full-scale test bed. It was found that as the area of the air-caps attached on a window increased, the required indoor lighting energy increased. However, the window insulation improved, thus reducing the cooling and heating energy needed. Attaching the air-caps to the entire window surface effectively reduced the building’s energy consumption, but views through the window may be disturbed. Thus, the developed window-mounted air-caps enable an occupant to reduce the building energy consumption and maintain their view according to their need. The findings of this study may contribute to a reduction in building energy consumption without sacrificing a pleasant indoor environment. Further studies may be needed to verify their efficacy under varying indoor and outdoor conditions.

The aim of this work is to introduce new ways to model the I-V characteristic of a PV cell or PV module using straight lines and Bézier curves. This is a complete novel approach, Bézier curves being previously used mainly for computer graphics. The I-V characteristic is divided in three sections, modeled with lines and a quadratic Bézier curve in the first case and with three cubic Bézier curves in the second case. The result proves to be accurate and relies on the fundamental points usually present in the PV cell datasheets: Voc (the open circuit voltage), Isc (the short circuit current), Vmp (the maximum power corresponding voltage) and Imp (the maximum power corresponding current) and the parasitic resistances Rsh0 (shunt resistance at Isc) and Rs0 (series resistance at Voc). The proposed algorithm completely defines all the implied control points and the error is analyzed. The temperature and irradiance influence is also analyzed. The model is also compared using the least squares fitting method. The final validation shows how to use Bézier cubic curves to accurately represent the I-V curves of an extensive range of PV cells and arrays.

Pore Forming Toxins (PFTs), formed mainly by virulence factors of bacteria, belongs to Pore Forming Protein (PFP) family. Secreted as soluble monomers, they bind specific targets in membranes where their oligomerization and insertion place. Lysenin, a member of the PFTs, forms and oligomer after sphingomyelin binding, the so-called prepore, which become inserted forming a pore after a conformational change triggered by a pH decrease. In crowded conditions, oligomers tends to stay in prepore form because the prepore-to-pore transition is sterically blocked. In this study, we investigate the effect of calcium ions in those crowded conditions, finding that calcium act as a trigger for lysenin insertion. We localize the residues responsible for calcium sensitivity in a small α-helix. Our results are not only one of the few complete structural descriptions of prepore-to-pore transitions but the very first that involves a calcium triggering mechanism. The presence of glutamic or aspartic acids in the insertion domains could be an indication that calcium may be a general trigger for PFTs and more generally PFP.

Coxsackievirus A6 (CV-A6) has emerged as the predominant causative agent of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in young children. Since the declaration of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a global pandemic, the incidence of infectious diseases, including HFMD, has decreased markedly. When social mitigation was relaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, re-emergence of HFMD was observed in Gwangju, South Korea, and seasonal characteristics of the disease appeared to have changed. To investigate the molecular characteristics of enterovirus (EV) associated with HFMD during 2022, 277 specimens were collected. Children aged under 5 years accounted for the majority of affected individuals. EV detection and genotyping were performed using real-time RT-PCR and nested RT-PCR followed by sequence analysis. EV detection rate was found to be 82.3%, and the main genotype identified was CV-A6. Sixteen CV-A6 samples were selected for whole genome sequencing. According to phylogenetic analysis, all CV-A6 strains from this study belonged to the sub-genotype D3 clade based on VP1 sequences. Analysis of 3D polymerase phylogeny showed that only the recombinant RF-A group was identified. In conclusion, circulating EV types should be continuously monitored to understand pathogen emergence and evolution during the post-pandemic era.

Bartonella species, intracellular parasitic zoonotic pathogens, has drawn increasing attention for their diverse host range and associated human diseases. This study investigates Bartonella infection in small mammals in Yunnan Province, China, focusing on tissue tropism. 333 small mammals were sampled from 13 species, 3 orders, 4 families, and 4 genera in Heqing and Gongshan Counties. Conventional PCR and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) were utilized for detection and quantification, followed by bioinformatic analysis of obtained DNA sequences. Results show a 31.5% detection rate, varying across species. Notably, Apodemus chevrieri, Eothenomys eleusis, Niviventer fulvescens, Rattus tanezumi, Episoriculus leucops, Anourosorex squamipes, and Ochotona Thibetana exhibited infection rates of 44.4%, 27.7%, 100.0%, 6.3%, 60.0%, 23.5%, and 22.2%, respectively. Genetic analysis identified 30, 10, and 5 strains based on ssrA, rpoB, and gltA genes, with nucleotide identities ranging from 92.1% to 100.0%. Bartonella strains were assigned to B. grahamii, B. rochalimae, B. sendai, B. koshimizu, B. phoceensis, B. taylorii, and a new species identified in the Episoriculus leucops (GS136). Tissue distribution analysis revealed varied copy numbers across different tissues, with the highest load in spleen. These findings underscore Bartonella's diverse species and host range in Yunnan Province, highlighting its broad tissue tropism in small mammals.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) is a periodic maintenance strategy, which has great results for devices in extending their life, increasing productivity, and most importantly, help avoid unexpected breakdowns and their costly consequence. A preventive maintenance scheduling (PMS) is determining the time for carrying out PM, and it represents a sensitive issue in terms of impact on production if the time for the PM process is not optimally distributed. In this study, hybrid heuristic methods were used to solve the PMS problem, as genetic algorithm and Tabu research were adopted. The optimal solution was reached in a short time compared to previous studies in which optimal methods were used, integer programming and nonlinear integer programming. Also, sensitivity analysis was applied to measure the robustness and strength of the method used, where an optimal solution was obtained for all experiments and in record time. This method can be used for power plants in privet or public sectors, to generate an optimal PMS, to save money, and to avoid water or electricity cuts.

Amid the swift progression of the global automobile industry, the aspiration for lightweight vehicle design has surfaced as a crucial approach to boost fuel efficiency and curtail environmental impact. The objective of this study revolves around achieving holistic optimization of vehicle structure via detailed scrutiny of vehicle process characteristics, amalgamated with a Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) optimized by a genetic algorithm (GA) and a topology optimization (TO) method.The process initiates with an examination of the vehicle's technical characteristics, succeeded by an optimization protocol that couples GA with BPNN. This exhaustive optimization procedure derives the best-fit values of design parameters and identifies the globally optimal lightweight design approach. Subsequently, a comprehensive structural optimization is actualized by modifying the topological distribution of the structure.A simulation experiment of the conceptual car body beam skeleton is conducted as a conclusive step, and the anti-collision capacity of the car body beam skeleton is assessed by measuring deformation intrusion. The findings reveal that in the vehicle topology optimization, a comparative analysis of pre and post-optimization results indicates an improved topological density across diverse sections. The topological density of the vehicle's frontal structure escalates from 0.75 to 0.8. Following optimization, the stiffness assessment records a marginal increase (within the range of 0.02–0.05), implying that the lightweight design does not compromise the general rigidity of the structure.The optimized body structure manifests superior crashworthiness in the crash test: the deformation intrusion diminishes by 27% in front-end collisions. In side impacts, the deformation and intrusion at critical points are reduced by 13.15% to 10% respectively. The comprehensive method proposed herein proves to be an efficient strategy to actualize the lightweight design of vehicles.

Abstract: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare disorder of glucose metabolism and is the most common cause of severe and persistent hypoglycemia (hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia, HH) in the neonatal period and childhood. Most cases are caused by mutations in the ABCC8 and KCNJ11 genes that encode the ATP-sensitive potassium channel (KATP). We present the correlation between genetic heterogeneity and the variable phenotype in patients with early-onset hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia caused by ABCC8 gene mutations. In the first patients, which presented persistent severe hypoglycemia since the first day of life, molecular genetic testing revealed the presence of a homozygous mutation in the ABCC8 gene [deletion in the ABCC8 gene c.(2390+1_2391-1)_(3329+1_3330- 1)del] correlated with a diffuse form of hyperinsulinism (the parents being healthy heterozygous carriers). In the second patient, the onset was on the third day of life with severe hypoglycemia, and genetic testing identified a heterozygous mutation in the ABCC8 gene c.1792C>T (p.Arg598*) inherited on the paternal line, which led to the diagnosis of focal form of hyperinsulinism. To locate the focal lesions, (18)F-DOPA (3,4-dihydroxy-6-[18F]fluoro-L-phenylalanine) PET/CT was recommended (an investigation that cannot be carried out in the country), but the parents refused to carry out the investigation abroad. In this case, early surgical treatment could have been curative. In addition, the second child also presented secondary adrenal insufficiency requiring replacement therapy. At the same time, she developed early recurrent seizures that required antiepileptic treatment. We emphasize the importance and of molecular genetic testing for diagnosis, management and genetic counseling in patients with HH.

Training researchers and stakeholders is crucial to mitigate the risks associated with toxins and venom. By sharing knowledge on the responsible use of toxins, venoms, chemicals, and data from biosecurity and cyberbiosecurity perspectives, we empower laboratorians to make informed choices. We need to remember that cultivating a culture of sustainable biosafety and biosecurity is vital for one health. This technical note highlights the essence of safeguarding biosecurity and cyberbiosecurity in toxin and venom research laboratories workshop designed and implemented to boost biosecurity.

We previously showed that feeding mice a diet containing 1% mantle tissue decreased food consumption, leading to death. We also isolated and identified toxic substances in the mantle tissue. In the present study, we investigated the characteristics and stability of mantle tissue toxicity. Treatment of mantle tissue with 1 mM HCl, 1 mM NaOH, 1 mM dithiothreitol, and 1 mM H2O2 and heating did not reduce the toxicity of mantle tissue in mice. These results suggest that mantle toxins are stable in tissues, particularly when exposed to acidic and digestive enzymes. We examined whether mantle tissue exhibited acute toxicity. Diets containing 1% and 20% mantle extract showed similar levels of toxicity, demonstrating that feeding of mantle tissue does not lead to acute toxicity. Finally, we examined the toxicity of the mantle tissue against small intestinal tissue. Chronic feeding of mantle tissue to mice changed the color of the small intestine. Real-time PCR analysis showed that mantle tissue feeding caused changes of inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum stress markers in the small intestine. These results suggest that feeding of mantle tissue causes toxicity after causing initial damage to the small intestinal tissue.

Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, has two virulence plasmids: pXO1 and pXO2. Plasmid pXO2 carries the genes of an antiphagocytic capsule synthesis. Plasmid pXO1 carries the genes pagA, lef, and cya encoding anthrax toxins, as well as atxA, which encodes the main regulator of pathogenicity factor expression. In the present paper, we evaluated the polymorphism of the pagA, lef, cya, and atxA genes for 85 B. anthracis strains belonging to different evolutionary lineages and canSNP groups and three B. cereus strains possessing pXO1-like plasmids. We found 19 genotypes (GT) strongly correlated with the main evolutionary lineages; they were mainly correlated with the canSNP group within these lines. In some cases, one GT combined the strains of several canSNP groups, and some canSNP groups were divided into several GTs. The most interesting of such cases were 1) the formation of a separate GT by strains of the A.Br.008/009 group isolated in the former USSR; 2) the presence of a unique GT in some American strains of the A.Br.Aust94 group; 3) the division of the A.Br.001/002 group into two subgroups, one of which may be a transitional link to the group A.Br.Ames; 4) the fact that European isolates of the B.Br.CNEVA group and Arctic strains of the B.Br.001/002 group have a common GT.

In the field of construction, materials referred to as sustainable are currently undergoing a process of technological development. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the behavior of the fundamental properties of concretes prepared with recycled coarse aggregates that incorporate in their matrix a polyethylene terephthalate-based additive in an attempt to reduce their high porosity. Techniques to measure the gas adsorption, water porosity and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to evaluate the effect of the additive on the physical, mechanical and microstructural properties of these concretes. Porosity reductions of up to 30.60% are achieved with the addition of 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9% of the additive, defining a new state in the behavioral model of the additive (the overdosage point) in the concrete matrix; in addition, the porous network of these concretes and their correlation whit other physical and mechanical properties are also explained.

Obtaining a genetic diagnosis of a primary mitochondrial disease (PMD) is often framed as a diagnostic odyssey. Yet, even after receiving a diagnosis, parents of affected children experience ongoing therapeutic and prognostic uncertainty, and considerable psychosocial challenges. Semi-structured interviews (N= 24) were conducted with parents of 13 children (aged 2-19 years) with a genetically confirmed PMD. Paternal (N=11) and maternal (N=13) perspectives were obtained, and thematic analysis performed on all interviews. A genetic diagnosis was valuable and empowering for parents, despite eliciting varied emotional responses. While the diagnosis helped focus management decisions, families often felt overwhelmed and unsupported in navigating the healthcare system. Most parents reported a serious impact on their romantic relationship. The sources of social support varied with a preference for established friendship and family support networks over disease-specific community support groups. Most parents favored prenatal genetic testing in the event of a future pregnancy. This study provides insight into the lived experiences of parents after a genetic diagnosis of PMD in their children. The findings draw awareness to supportive care needs and highlight important gaps that should be addressed to ensure that parents feel supported within a holistic framework of management for PMDs.

Grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits are some of the major attributes that enhance uptake and utilisation of improved cowpea varieties. Therefore, there is need for a better understanding of the genetic variation and inter-relationships among these quality traits in cowpea to integrate them in cowpea breeding programs. The study was conducted to determine genetic variability among 306 cowpea genotypes for grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits and to understand the interrelationships among these traits for exploitation in breeding programs. The results showed highly significant differences (P

Populational aging is marked by chronic non-communicable diseases, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). IL-10 and IL-1β are pleiotropic cytokines with multiple biological effects linked to metabolic disorders. This cross-sectional study assessed 193 participants' IL-10 and IL-1β serum levels regarding their role in developing MetS, clinical characteristics, and their IL1B rs1143627 and IL10 rs1800890 variants' genotype frequencies in a population over 60. IL-10 levels correlated weakly with HDL levels and fat mass and inversely with triglycerides, glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and estimated average blood glucose levels. IL-10 levels were also indirectly influenced by the patient's T2DM duration, lean mass amount, and bone mineral content. Participants with altered HDL, elevated serum glucose, raised HbA1c levels, or those over 80 had reduced serum IL-10 levels compared to those with normal levels or other age groups, respectively. Women also had higher serum IL-10 levels than men. Dissimilarity, IL-1β levels correlated directly only with the number of total leukocytes and segmented neutrophils, showing only significant variations with self-reported alcohol consumption. Our study also found that those with the IL10 AA genotype (lower IL-10 levels) had a significantly higher risk of developing MetS. These findings may help direct future research and more targeted therapeutic approaches in older adults.

Star image registration is the most important step in the application of astronomical image differencing, stacking and mosaicking, which requires high robustness, accuracy and real--time of the algorithm, but there is no high--performance registration algorithm in this field. In this paper, we propose a star image registration algorithm that relies only on radial module features (RMF) and rotation angle features (RAF), which has excellent robustness, high accuracy, and good real--time performance. The test results on a large amount of simulated and real data show that the comprehensive performance of the proposed algorithm is significantly better than the four classical baseline algorithms in the presence of rotation, insufficient overlapping area, false stars, position deviation, magnitude deviation and complex sky background, which is a more ideal star image registration algorithm.

Microcystis aeruginosa is a common cyanobacteria found in water blooms and often causes ecological harm. Antibiotics are also increasingly used for the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections in aquaculture. However, since most antibiotics cannot be fully metabolized, they enter the water environment and cause ecological impacts. In this paper, the effects of the two quinolone antibiotics (enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin) on the population density and microcystins (MCs) production of Microcystis aeruginosa were studied. It is of great significance for the ecological risk assessment of antibiotics to the water environment. The results showed that the 96h EC50 values of enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin to Microcystis aeruginosa were 56.10mg/L and 49.80mg/L respectively, and the toxicity of ciprofloxacin to Microcystis aeruginosa was slightly stronger than that of enrofloxacin. With the increase of the two quinolone antibiotic concentration, the growth inhibition rate (IR) increased, but when the concentration reached a certain height, the IR would reach its threshold. Long-term exposure to low concentrations of these two quinolone antibiotics is not only more likely to lead to the outbreak of Microcystis aeruginosa, but also increase its toxin production capacity. The highest contents of MCs in enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin groups were 95.539 μg/g and 93.720 μg/g, respectively. The MCs value of these three enrofloxacin treatment groups was more than above 51.8 times that of control group (CK) on the 4th day; from 8th day to 14th day, the MCs value of these three enrofloxacin treatment groups was more than above 3.2 times that of CK group. For another ciprofloxacin, the MCs value of the treatment group was more than 64.98 times that of the CK group on the 4th day, and from 8th day to 14th day, the MCs value of the treatment group was more than 2.7 times that of the CK group. These findings provide crucial management rationale.

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.

The castor plant (Ricinus communis L.) has been known since time immemorial in traditional medicine in the pharmacopeia of Mediterranean and eastern ancient cultures. Moreover, it is still used in folk medicine worldwide. Castor bean has been mainly recommended as anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, anti-bacterial, laxative, abortifacient, for wounds, ulcers, and many other indications. Many cases of human intoxication occurred accidentally or voluntarily with the ingestion of castor seeds or derivatives. Ricinus toxicity depends on several molecules, among them the most important is ricin, a protein belonging to the family of ribosome-inactivating proteins. Ricin is the most studied of this category of proteins and it is also known to the general public, having been used for biocrimes in several cases. Here, the main steps of ricin research are reported with particular regards to its enzymatic activity, structure and cytotoxicity. Moreover, we discuss ricin toxicity for animals and humans, as well as the relation amongst bioterrorism and ricin and its impact on environmental toxicity. Ricin has also been of great utility to develop a number of immunotoxins specific for the elimination of unwanted cells, mainly cancer cells; some of these immunotoxins gave promising results also in clinical trials.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), domesticated in the Amazonian region of South America, presents an important diversity in Ecuador, where it is a main staple food; however, only few Ecuadorian cassava accessions have been included in international molecular assessments. The purpose of this study was to apply suitable cassava mi-crosatellites to characterize the genetic variability of the Ecuadorian cassava collection composed mainly of local landraces from the Coast, Andes and Amazonia regions. The use of microsatellite markers allowed the determination of the genetic diversity of the collection. Seven selected SSR primers, permitted to identify homozygous and hetero-zygous materials within the cassava collection of 133 accessions. The loci presented an average genetic diversity value of 0.7 and an average PIC value of 0.67, which is con-sidered high. Low number of duplicates (8.8%) were identified in the Ecuadorian col-lection which is not fully duplicated at CIAT. Currently, a wide range of cassava diver-sity is still cultivated in multi-crop agro-ecosystem, mainly in the Coast and Amazo-nian regions. Especially in the Amazonian region, due to important cultural uses of cassava by local ethnic communities, more in depth studies in the region could unveil the genetic diversity present in situ today.

The weight coefficients of the diaphragm spring depend on experiences in the traditional optimization. However, this method not only cannot guarantee the optimal solution but it is also not universal. Therefore, a new optimization target function is proposed. The new function takes the minimum of average compress force changing of the spring and the minimum force of the separation as total objectives. Based on the optimization function, the result of the clutch diaphragm spring in a car is analyzed by the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and the solution set of Pareto is obtained. The results show that the pressing force of the diaphragm spring is improved by 4.09%by the new algorithmand the steering separation force is improved by 6.55%, which has better stability and steering portability. The problem of the weight coefficient in the traditional empirical design is solved. The pressing force of the optimized diaphragm spring varied slightly during the abrasion range of the friction film, and the manipulation became remarkably light.

Determining disability prevalence is an important area for population statistics, especially among young adolescents. The Washington Group on Disability Statistics is one source of reporting disabilities through functional difficulties. However, young adolescents self-reporting this measure is in its infancy. The purpose of this study was to carry out an intra-rater test-retest reliability study on a modified set of items for self-reporting functional difficulties. Young adolescents (n=74; boys=64%; age m=13.7, SD=1.8) completed a self-reported version of the child functioning module in a supervised classroom. The second administration took place two weeks later. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Kappa (k) statistics were used to test reliability of the items, and interpretation through Landis & Koch, and Cohen, respectively. The majority of items had substantial or moderate agreement, although there was only fair agreement for self-care (ICC=0.59), concentration (ICC=0.50), and routine (ICC=0.54). Kappa statistics of behaviour were interpreted to be large (k=0.65), and seeing (k=0.49), walking (k=0.49), and speaking (k=0.49) difficulties were moderate. The majority of the items in the self-reported version of the child functioning module can be used in a scale format, although some caution may be required on items of self-care and concentration when used as a dichotomous variable.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder presenting a dysregulated immune response and derangement of the epidermal barrier lipids. The Th2-type cytokines interleukin IL-4 and IL-13 play a prominent role in AD by activating the Janus Kinase/Signal Transduction and Activator of Transcription (JAK/STAT) intracellular signal axis. This study aimed to investigate the role of JAK/STAT in the lipid perturbations induced by Th2 signaling in 3D-epidermal equivalents. We used tofacitinib, a low-molecular-mass JAK inhibitor, to screen for the JAK/STAT-mediated deregulation of lipid metabolism. Th2 cytokines decreased the expression of elongases 1, 3, and 4, and serine-palmitoyl-transferase and increased that of sphingolipid delta(4)-desaturase, and carbonic anhydrase 2. Th2 cytokines inhibited the synthesis of palmitate and caused a depletion of triglycerides. This depletion was associated with altered PC profiles and fatty acid (FA) metabolism. Overall, the ceramide profiles were minimally affected. Except for most sphingolipids and very long chain FAs, the effects of Th2 on lipid pathways were reversed by co-treatment with tofacitinib. An increase in the mRNA levels of CPT1A and ACAT1, reduced by tofacitinib, suggests that Th2 cytokines promote FA beta-oxidation. In conclusion, pharmacological inhibition of JAK/STAT activation prevents the lipid disruption caused by halted homeostasis of FA metabolism.

Thermal safety of lithium-ion traction batteries is a highly concerned issue in the field of electric transportation. The large amount of gas emission during the thermal runaway process of batteries has highly safety hazards such as fire and explosion. Quantitative analysis of emission is one of the important challenges for testing and evaluating battery safety. Focus on quantifying the gas emission through large-scale thermal propagation in battery modules and packs, based on the idea of cell result multiplication, this article conducts thermal runaway emission analysis on single cell and modules, and compares the behavior of thermal runaway and gas emission of the cell and module from the aspects of temperature, pressure, gas composition and battery morphology. The feasibility of the cell result multiplication method was verified from the perspective of experimental data.

Rapid reduction in the $/Wp prices of photovoltaic (solar PV) energy has been proceeded recently, resulting in near exponential deployments with an annual capacity of 200 GW expected by 2020. Achieving high efficiency is necessary for many solar manufacturers to break even. In addition, new innovative installation methods are emerging to complement the improvement of system performance. The floating PV (FPV) solar market space has emerged over the past decade as a method for utilizing the cool ambient environment of the FPV system near the water surface to boost the power output performance of the PV module and ultimately the yield of the PV system. PV module temperature, which is the most critical factor affecting efficiency, ultimately governs the effective performance of solar cells, module, and all semiconductor materials in general. We propose the first ever electrical efficiency equations (${\eta }_{c,FP{V}_1}$ and ${\eta }_{c,FP{V}_2}$) for an FPV module installed on water based on two new predictions of FPV temperature operation models (T_m1 and T_m2), whose coefficients are derived from FPV site data with MATLAB. The theoretical prediction of module temperature shows respective errors of 2% and 4% when compared to the FPVM measured data.

This study is the first report of the successful cultivation of Dinophysis norvegica isolated from Japanese coastal waters (7 of 48 isolated cells were established as the clonal cultures, 14.5%) and their toxin content and production. The strains were maintained at relatively high abundance (>2,000 cells mL-1) for more than one year when fed on Mesodinium rubrum with the addition of Teleaulax amphioxeia. At the end of the one-month incubation, the total amounts of pectenotoxin-2 (PTX2), dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) and okadaic acid (OA) were 132.0-375.0 ng mL-1 (n = 7), 0.7-3.6 ng mL-1 (n = 3) and trace level OA (n = 1), respectively. Similarly, the cell quota of PTX2 and DTX1 were 60.6-152.4 pg cell-1 (n = 7) and 0.5-1.2 pg cell-1 (n = 3), respectively. These data indicated that toxin production varies depending on the strains in this species. In the growth experiment, D. norvegica grew, but it was very slow first 12 days. However, after that they grew exponentially with the maximum growth rate of 0.56 divisions day-1 (during Day 24-27), reaching a maximum concentration of 3,000 cells mL-1 at the end of incubation (Day 36), suggesting that they have a long lag phase. In the toxin production, OA was not at a detectable level (≤ 0.010 ng mL-1) during the 36 days of incubation except for Day 6. The concentration of DTX1 and PTX2 showed similar patterns as described for vegetative growth, but the toxin production still increased on Day 36 (1.3 ng mL-1 and 154.7 ng mL-1 in DTX1 and PTX2, respectively). The findings of this study provide novel information on the toxin content and production in D. norvegica as well as details on the culturing and maintenance of the species.

In the event of an abrupt sunlight reduction scenario there is a time window that occurs between when food stores would likely run out for many countries (~6 months or less) and ~1 year when resilient foods are scaled up. A promising temporary resilient food is leaf protein concentrate (LPC). Although it is possible to extract LPC from tree biomass (e.g. leaves and needles), neither the yields nor the toxicity of the protein concentrates for humans from the most common tree species has been widely investigated. To help fill this knowledge gap, this study uses high-resolution mass spectrometry and an open source toolchain for non-targeted screening of toxins on five common North American coniferous species: Western Cedar, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Western Hemlock, and Lodgepole Pine. The yields for LPC extraction from the conifers ranged from 1% to 7.5%. The toxicity screenings confirm that these trees may contain toxins that can be consumed in small amounts and additional studies including measuring the quantity of each toxin are needed. The results indicate that LPC is a promising candidate to be used as resilient food, but future work is needed before LPCs from conifers can be used as a wide-scale human food.

(1) Background: The diphtheria toxoid antigen is a major component in pediatric and booster combination vaccines and is known to raise a protective humoral immune response upon vaccination. Although antibodies are considered critical for diphtheria protection, little is known about the antigenic determinants that maintain humoral immunity. (2) Methods: One hundred twelve 15-mer peptides covering the entire sequence of DTx protein were prepared by Spot-synthesis. Membrane-bound peptides immunoreactivity with sera from mice immunized with triple DTP vaccine allowed mapping of continuous B-cell epitopes, topological studies, MAPs synthesis, and ELISA development. (3) Results: Twenty epitopes were identified, being 2 in the signal peptide, 5 in the CD, 7 in the HBFT domain, and 5 in the RBD. Two 17-mer (CB/Tx-2/12 and CB/DTx-4-13) derived bi-epitope peptides linked by a Gly-Gly spacer were chemically synthesized. The peptides were used as antigens to coat ELISA plates and assayed with human (huVS) and mice vaccined sera (miVS) for in vitro diagnosis of diphtheria. The assay proved to be highly sensitive (99.96%) and specific (100%) either for huVS and miVS and when compared with a commercial ELISA test, demonstrate high performance. (4) Conclusions: Our work displayed the complete picture of the linear B cell IgG response epitope of the DTx responsible for the protective effect and demonstrated the specificity and eligibility to enter phase IIB studies of some epitopes to develop new and fast diagnostic assays.

T-2 toxin produced by fungi of Fusarium genus is highly toxic to human and animals and has been shown to induce apoptosis in various organs/tissues. Apoptosis and autophagy are interconnected processes and these interactions are important for cellular homeostasis as well as pathogenesis. In this study, we report for the first time that T-2 toxin induced autophagy in human liver cells (L02). We showed that T-2 toxin induced the formation of acidic vesicular organelles, concordant with the time and dose-dependent alterations in LC3-phosphatidylethanolamine conjugate (LC3-II) LC3-I/II and p62/SQSTM1 suggesting an enhanced autophagic flux. The T-2 toxin-induced formation of autophagosome and lysosomal fusion was observed by expressing mRFP-GFP-LC3 in L02 cells by lentiviral transduction, and autophagosome was observed by transmission electron microcopy. We found that while T-2 toxin activated both apoptosis and autophagy, activation of autophagy appears to be a leading event reflecting the protective mechanism of cells against the insults by T-2 toxin. Activating autophagy by rapamycin (RAPA) inhibited the apoptosis while suppressing autophagy by chloroquine greatly enhanced the T-2 toxin-induced apoptosis suggesting the crosstalk of autophagy and apoptosis. In summary, our study showed that activation of autophagy protects liver cells from T-2 toxin-induced apoptosis suggesting autophagy may be targeted for prevention of the T-2 toxin-induced toxicity in human and animals.

Viruses can induce the fusion of infected and neighboring cells, leading to the formation of syncytia. Cell-cell fusion is mediated by viral fusion proteins on the plasma membrane of infected cells that interact with cellular receptors on neighboring cells. Viruses use this mechanism to spread rapidly to adjacent cells or escape host immunity. For some viruses, syncytium formation is a hallmark of infection and a known pathogenicity factor. For others, the role of syncytium formation in viral dissemination and pathogenicity remains poorly understood. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant patients and the leading cause of congenital infections. Clinical HCMV isolates have broad cell tropism but differ in their ability to induce cell-cell fusions, and little is known about the molecular determinants. We developed a system to analyze HCMV glycoprotein B (gB) variants in a defined genetic background. HCMV strains TB40/E and TR were used as vectors to compare the fusogenicity of six gB variants from congenitally infected fetuses with those from three laboratory strains. Five of them conferred the ability to induce fusion of MRC-5 human embryonic lung fibroblasts to one or both backbone strains, as determined by a split GFP-luciferase reporter system. The same gB variants were not sufficient to induce syncytia in infected ARPE-19 epithelial cells, suggesting that additional factors are involved. The system described here allows a systematic comparison of the fusogenicity of viral envelope glycoproteins and may help to clarify whether fusion-promoting variants are associated with increased pathogenicity.

Trichothecene mycotoxin T-2 toxin is an important environmental pollutant and poses a global threat to human and animal health. T-2 toxin could induce nephrotoxicity, however, the precise molecular mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the mice were intraperitoneally administrated with a single dose of 2 mg/kg T-2 toxin. The kidney function and ultrastructural observation were also assessed and found T-2 toxin exposure could cause kidney damage. Transmission electron microscopy showed a significant swelling and vacuolization of the mitochondria of renal cell. A total of 1122, 58, and 391 differential expression genes (DEGs) that were predominantly expressed in kidney tissues at 1 d, 3 d, and 7 d after T-2 toxin exposure, respectively. Early transcriptomic changes at 1 d after exposure were down-regulation of DEGs involved in the cell cycle, p53 signaling pathway, and cellular senescence, while up-regulation of DEGs referred to the ribosome pathway. The temporal variations in gene expression pattern in T-2 toxin exposure in mice kidney were presented and cellular metabolism was disturbed at the exposure recovery period with 7 d. In conclusion, this study, for the first time, provided a comprehensive comparative transcriptomic analysis of gene regulation in T-2 toxin exposure-induced nephrotoxicity at different temporal periods and explored the nephrotoxicity mechanism of T-2 toxin at the mRNA level.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), produced during viral infections, are of emerging interest in understanding infectious processes and host-pathogen interactions. EVs and exosomes in particular have the natural ability to transport nucleic acids, proteins, and other components of cellular or viral origin. Thus, they participate in intercellular communication, immune responses, infectious and pathophysiological processes. Some viruses are known to hijack the cell production and content of EVs for their benefit. Here, we investigated whether two pathogenic flaviviruses i.e. Zika Virus (ZIKV) and Dengue virus (DENV2) could have an impact on the features of EVs. Analysis of EVs produced by infected cells allowed us to identify that the non-structural protein 1 (NS1), described as a viral toxin, was associated with exosomes. This observation could be confirmed under conditions of overexpression of recombinant NS1 from each flavivirus. Using different isolation methods (i.e. exosome isolation kit, size exclusion chromatography, Polyethylene Glycol enrichment, and ELISA capture), we showed that NS1 was present as a dimer at the surface of excreted exosomes and that this association could occur in the extracellular compartment. This finding could be of major importance in a physiological context. Indeed, this capacity of NS1 to address EVs and its implication in the pathophysiology during Dengue or Zika diseases should be explored. Furthermore, exosomes that have demonstrated a natural capacity to vectorize NS1 could serve as useful tools for vaccine development.

Recently, attention mechanisms have developed into an important tool for performance improvement of deep neural networks. In computer vision, attention mechanisms are generally divided into two main branches: spatial and channel attention. Both attention categories have their own advantages. The fusion of both attentions achieves higher performance, on the cost of the computational load. This paper introduces an innovative and lighter n-shifted sigmoid channel and spatial attention (CSA) module to reduce the computational cost and to improve the 3D scene relevant features selection. To validate the proposed attention module, 3D scene object detection in the deep Hough voting point sets is considered as the testing application. The proposed attention module with its piecewise n-shifted sigmoid activation function improves the network’s learning and generalization capacity which effectively predict bounding box parameters directly from 3D scenes and detect objects more accurately. This advantage is achieved by selectively attending to more relevant features of the input data. When used in the deep Hough voting point sets, the proposed attention module outperforms state-of-the-art 3D detection methods on the sizable SUNRGBD dataset. Experiments conducted showed an increase of 12.02 mean accuracy precision (mAP) when compared to the celebrated VoteNet (without attention). It also got 9.92 mAP higher compared to the MLVCNet, and 10.32 mAP higher than the Point Transformer. The proposed model not only decreases the sigmoid vanishing gradient problem but also brings out valuable features by fusing channel-wise and spatial information while improving accuracy results in 3D object detection.

This paper presents the design of a new neuro-generator of pseudorandom number type PRNG Pseudorandom Number Generator, which produces complex sequences with an adequate bit distri-bution. The circuit is connected to a neuronal module with six impulse neurons with different be-haviors: spike frequency adaptation, phasic spiking, mixed mode, phasic bursting, tonic bursting and tonic spiking. This module aims to generate a non-periodic signal that becomes the clock sig-nal for one of the LFSRs Linear Feedback Shift Register that the neuro-generator has. To verify its correct operation, the neuro-generator was subjected to a series of tests where the frequencies of the impulse neurons were modified. This modification allows generating a greater number of pulses at the output of the neuronal module, to obtain sequences with different characteristics that pass different NIST statistical tests National Institute of Standards and Technology of U.S. The results show that the new neuro-generator maintains pseudo-randomness in the sequences obtained with different frequencies and it can be implemented on reconfigurable FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array Virtex 7 xc7vx85t-2ffg1761 device. Therefore, it can be used for applications such as biologi-cal systems.

Human activities and natural events alter the earth’s surface and pose a constant threat to the environment. Thus, accurately monitoring and predicting these changes in a timely manner is crucial to provide solutions and mitigate the environmental consequences beforehand. This research introduces a novel framework, called HCD-Net, for change detection using bi-temporal hyperspectral images. The framework is based on double-stream deep feature extraction and an attention mechanism. The first stream focuses on deep feature extraction through 3D convolution layers and 3D Squeeze-and-Excitation (SE) blocks. The second stream focuses on deep feature extraction through 2D convolution and 2D SE blocks. The extracted deep features are then concatenated and fed to dense layers for decision-making. The efficiency of HCD-Net is compared to the state-of-the-art change detection methods. Additionally, the bi-temporal Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) hyperspectral dataset was used for further evaluation of the change detection results. The results show that HCD-Net has a higher accuracy and the lowest false alarm rate, where the overall classification accuracy is above 96%, and the kappa coefficient is over 0.9.

In this paper, a study of modeling PV cell (solar cell), PV module (solar modules) and PV array solar array) using Matlab/Simulink software is presented. This study is focused on the study to design photovoltaic cell, photovoltaic modules, photovoltaic panels and PV array (solar array) and to analyze the change in PV performance according to changes in different parameters such temperature, solar irradiation, reverse saturation current, series resistance and shunt resistance. This study shows the PV and IV characteristics curve for each model from which MPP (maximum power point) is determined. In this study, different PV and IV characteristic curves are gained for varying temperatures with specified solar irradiation conditions,s and then the MPP is tracked. The highest power output is also compared between the designed PV module and the selected PV module (MX Solar USA MX60-245)

Power semiconductor devices are essential from the operation point of view, size, efficiency and cost, these components are used in a myriad of applications, providing features that make them an important part of the system in which they are operating. This document analyzes and compares the basic structure, properties, design aspects, as well as temperature performance, stability and switching losses, present in devices on silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC) and new generation devices fabricated in gallium nitride (GaN) applied in renewable energy systems. The main objective is determinate the viability of the new generation components, which present a superior performance in view of an increase in efficiency, conductivity, decreases in switching losses, lower resistances and parasitic capacitances as well as higher operating frequency range. Therefore demonstrating the GaN components are a strong and viable candidate to solve some of the problems present in renewable energy systems.

Dye sensitized solar cell technology is having an important role in renewable energy research due to its features and low cost manufacturing processes. Devices based on this technology appear very well suited for integration into glazing systems due to their characteristics of transparency, color tuning and manufacturing directly on glass substrates. Field data of thermal and electrical characteristics of dye sensitized solar modules (DSM) are important since they can be used as input of building simulation models for the evaluation of their energy saving potential when integrated into buildings. However still few works in the literature provide this information. The study here presented wants to contribute to fill this gap providing a thermal and electrical characterization of a DSM in real operating conditions using a method developed in house. This method uses experimental data coming from test boxes exposed outdoor and dynamic simulation to provide thermal transmittance and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of a DSM prototype. The device exhibits an U-value of 3.6 W/m²K, confirmed by an additional measurement carried on in the lab using a heat flux meter, and a SHGC of 0.2, value compliant with literature results. Electrical characterization evidences an increase of module power with respect to temperature causing DSM suitable for integration in building facades.

In this work we looked for a stable and accurate procedure to perform feature selection in datasets with a much higher number of predictors than individuals, as in Genome-Wide Association Studies. Due to the instability in feature selection when many potential predictors are measured, a variable selection procedure is proposed that combines several replications of shrinkage regression models. A weighted formulation is used to define the final predictors. The procedure is applied to investigate Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) predictors associated to Alzheimer’s disease in the Alzheimer’s disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. Two data scenarios are investigated: one considering only the set of SNPs and another with the covariates age, sex, educational level and APOE4 genotype. The SNP rs2075650 and the APOE4 genotype are given as risk factors for AD, which is in line with the literature, and other four new SNPs are pointed, opening new hypotheses for in vivo analyses. These experiments demonstrate the potential of the new method for stable feature selection.

The lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have great potential to produce homoexopolysaccharides (HoPS), have been the subject of extensive research efforts, given their health benefits and physicochemical properties. The HoPS functional properties are determined by structural characteristics of varied molecular weights, types of glycosidic linkages, degrees of branching and chemical composition. The dextransucrases (DSases) are responsible of the synthesis of a kind of HoPS (dextran polymers), which are among the first biopolymers produced at industrial scale with applications in medicine and biotechnology. The concept of glycodiversification opens additional applications for DSases. In that sense the design and characterization of new DSases is of prime importance. Previously, we described the isolation and characterization of a novel extracellular dextransucrase (DSR-F) encoding gene. In this study, from DSR-F, we design a novel chimeric dextransucrase DSR-F-∆SP-∆GBD-CBM2a, where DSR-F-∆SP-∆GBD is fused to the carbohydrate-binding module (CBM2a) of the β-1-4 exoglucanase/xylanase Cex (Xyn10A) of Cellulomonas fimi ATCC 484. This dextransucrase variant is active and without alteration in its specificity. The DSR-F-∆SP-∆GBD-CBM2a is purified by cellulose affinity chromatography for the very first time. Our results indicate that new hybrids and chimeric DSases with novel binding capacity to cellulose can be designed to obtain glyco-biocatalysts from renewable lignocellulosic materials.

With the long-term and large-scale use, herbicides have been well known to influence tritrophic interactions particularly natural enemies of pests in agro-ecosystems. On the other hand, herbivorous insects, especially the generalist pests, have developed antagonistic interaction to different insecticides, toxic plant secondary metabolites and even heavy metals. However, whether exposure to herbicides would affect resistance of insects against insecticides is largely unknown, especially in agricultural pests. Here, we first reported that pre-exposure to two widely used herbicides butachlor and haloxyfop-methyl for 48 h can prime resistance of a generalist agricultural pest Helicoverpa armigera Hübner against insecticide methomyl and fungal toxin aflatoxin B1. In addition, there were no significant differences between control and herbicides-treated caterpillars on weight gain, pupal weight and pupation rates, suggesting that exposure to herbicides induce resistance of H. armigera accompanied with no fitness cost. Moreover, by determining detoxifying enzyme activities and toxicity bioassay with additional inhibitor of cytochrome P450 piperonyl butoxide (PBO), we showed that exposure to herbicides might prime P450-mediated detoxification of H. armigera against insecticide. Based on these results, we propose that exposure to herbicides primes resistance of H. armigera against insecticide by eliciting a clear elevation of predominantly P450 monooxygenase activities in midgut and fat body.

The objective of this study was to investigate age-related changes in cashmere production and the population of active secondary hair follicles in cashmere goats across different age groups, as well as to explore the association between secondary hair follicle activity and oxidative stress. A total of 104 adult Inner Mongolian ewe goats, aged between 2 and 7 years old, were randomly selected as experimental subjects. Skin samples were collected in August 2020 and cashmere samples were collected in April 2021. The cashmere fiber yield, staple length, and diameter showed age-related variations in cashmere goats aged 2 to 7 years (P < 0.05). Cashmere production was higher in goats aged 2-4 years compared to those aged 5-7 years (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the population of primary and secondary hair follicles among goats aged 2 to 7 years. However, the population of active secondary hair follicles varied significantly with age, with the younger group (aged 2-4 years) having a higher population than those aged 5 – 7 years (P < 0.05). A moderate negative correlation was observed between cashmere fiber diameter and the population of active secondary hair follicles (P < 0.05). Age-related variations in skin antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage were observed among cashmere goats aged 2 to 7 years old (P < 0.05). Goats aged 2 to 4 years exhibited higher antioxidant capacity and lower oxidative damage (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the skin antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage exhibited significant positive and negative correlations, respectively, with the population of active secondary hair follicles (P < 0.05). This study presents a novel approach to enhance the activity of secondary hair follicles and improve cashmere production performance through the regulation of oxidative stress.

Shiga-like toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a well-known cause of foodborne acute diarrheic diseases especially in children and the elderly. The potentially fatal complications associated with toxin production range from bloody diarrhoea and ischemic colitis to kidney failure, haemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) and colon perforation. We describe a case and literature review of STEC – induced colitis, highlighting the clinical features, and the necessary tools for the best diagnosis approach and management. Facing challenging differential diagnosis ranging from ischemic colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, to infectious process due to a pathogenic or opportunistic agent, we practiced a step-by-step exploration. Beginning with bacteriological investigation, imagistic screening, and colonoscopy, we could rule out some of initial suppositions and reach the final diagnosis, also considering the pathological results. Although antibiotics are not indicated in this pathology, our patient did receive antibiotics, given the risk of translocation and colon perforation, without associating any complications, as HUS or peritonitis. Detailed and rigorous investigations along with a multi-speciality team are required for a prompt medical support. Coping the symptoms and refraining from further complications are the mainstem of the treatment.

Mosquito-borne viral disease dengue is a global public health problem causing a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations ranging from mild dengue fever to severe dengue with plasma leakage and bleeding which are often associated to fatality. To date, there are no specific medications to treat dengue and prevent the risk of hemorrhage. Dengue is caused by one of the four related antigenically distinct serotypes, DENV-1 to DENV-4. The growing burden that represents the four DENV serotypes has intensified both basic and applied researches to better understand the dengue physiopathology. It has been proposed a significant role for the secreted soluble DENV nonstructural protein 1 (sNS1) glycoprotein in the pathogenesis of severe dengue. Here, we provided an overview on current knowledge about the role of sNS1 in the immunopathogenesis of dengue disease. The reasons for the consideration of sNS1 in the design of future dengue vaccine candidates will be discussed.

Three finger toxins (3FTX) are a group of peptides that affect multiple receptor types. One group of proteins affected by 3FTX are nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR). Structural information on how neurotoxins interact with nAChR is limited and are confined to a small group of neurotoxins. Therefore, in silico methods are valuable in understanding the interactions between 3FTX and different nAChR subtypes, but there are no established protocols to model 3FTX – nAChR interactions. We developed a homology modeling and protein docking protocol to address this issue and tested its success on three different systems. First, neurotoxin peptides co-crystallized with acetylcholine binding protein (AChBP) were re-docked to assess whether Rosetta protein – protein docking can reproduce the native poses. Second, experimental data on peptide binding to AChBP was used to test whether the docking protocol can qualitatively distinguish AChBP-binders from non-binders. Finally, we docked eight peptides with known α7 and muscle-type nAChR binding properties to test whether the protocol can explain the differential activities of the peptides at the two receptor subtypes. Overall, our docking protocol succeeded in predicting both qualitative and specific aspects of 3FTX binding to nAChR and shed light on some unknown aspects of 3FTX binding to different receptor subtypes.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the self-regulated learning and the ability to write scientific papers of students after learning with the Project-Based Digital Science Module (DSM). This research is a mixed methods by analyzing quantitatively and qualitatively. The research instrument used to obtain data is using a product assessment sheet and a self-regulated learning questionnaire. Data analysis uses N-Gain to determine the increase in self-regulated learning scores and student scientific writing skills scores, and uses linear regression analysis to determine the effect of self-regulated learning on student scientific writing skills. The results obtained showed N-Gain score of learning independent is 0,65 and scientific writing ability is 0,94, then significant’s score from linear regression by using SPSS is 0,22 < 0,05. This result showed an increase in self-regulated learning and the ability to write scientific papers of students on each indicator after learning using the Project-Based Digital Science Module (DSM). In addition, based on the results of data analysis, it can be seen that there is an influence of self-regulated learning on the ability to write scientific papers of students after learning using the Project-Based Digital Science Module.

Solar photovoltaic systems are becoming increasingly popular due to their outstanding environmental, economic, and technical characteristics. To simulate, manage, and control photovoltaic (PV) systems, the primary challenge is identifying unknown parameters accurately and reliably as early as possible using a robust optimization algorithm. This paper proposes a newly developed cheetah optimizer (CO) and improved CO (ICO) to extract parameters from various PV models. This algorithm, inspired by cheetah hunting behavior, includes several basic strategies: searching, sitting, waiting, and attacking. Although this algorithm has shown remarkable capabilities in solving large-scale problems, it needs improvement concerning its convergence speed and computing time. Here, an improved CO (ICO) is presented to identify solar power model parameters for this purpose. Single-, double-, and PV module models are investigated to test ICO's parameter estimation performance. Statistical analysis uses minimum, mean, maximum, and standard deviation. Furthermore, to improve confidence in test results, Wilcoxon and Freidman rank nonparametric tests are also performed. Compared to other state-of-the-art optimization algorithms, the ICO algorithm is proven to be highly reliable and accurate when identifying PV parameters.

The outdoor field test of the 4-terminal on Si tandem photovoltaic module (specifically, InGaP/GaAs on Si) was investigated and performance model, considering spectrum change affected by fluctuation of atmospheric parameters, was developed and validated. The 4-terminal on Si tandem photovoltaic module had about 40 % advantage in seasonal performance loss compared with standard InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs 2-terminal tandem photovoltaic module. This advantage is expanded in (subarctic zone) < (temperate zone) < (subtropical zone). The developed and validated model used all-climate spectrum model and considered fluctuation of atmospheric parameters, and can be applied every type of on-Si tandem solar cells.

Pervasive purifying selection on non-synonymous substitutions is a hallmark of papillomavirus genome history. Whereas the role of selection on, and drift of, non-coding DNA elements on HPV diversification is poorly understood. More than a thousand complete genomes representing Alphapapillomavirus types, lineages and SNP variants were examined phylogenetically and interrogated for the number and position of non-coding DNA sequence motifs using Principal Components Analyses, Ancestral State Reconstructions and Phylogenetic Independent Contrasts. For anciently diverged Alphapapillomavirus types, composition of the 4 nucleotides (A,C,G,T), codon usage, trimer usage and 13 established non-coding DNA sequence motifs revealed phylogenetic clusters consistent with genetic drift. Ancestral state reconstruction and Phylogenetic Independent Contrasts revealed ancient genome alterations, particularly for CpG and APOBEC3 motifs. Each evolutionary analytical method we performed supports the unanticipated conclusion that genetic drift and different evolutionary drivers have structured Alphapapillomavirus genomes in distinct ways during successive epochs, even extending to differences in more recently formed variant lineages

Recent technological advancements in conservation genetics and genomics have resulted in diverse tools for aiding conservation of species. The precision and resolution of high throughput sequencing technologies provide valuable insights to aid conservation decisions, but these technologies are often financially unfeasible or unavailable in resource constrained countries. Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers, when combined with sensitive automated detection systems, provide a simple, cheap means to investigate genetic diversity and discriminate closely related species. Here we apply this technology to assess genetic diversity and taxonomic delimitation in the Encephalartos eugene-maraisii species complex, a highly threatened, taxonomically dubious group of cycads in South Africa. Silica dried cycad leaflets were extracted using the Oktopure robot employing Sbeadex chemistry and amplified with fluorescently tagged ISSR primers. Band presence was scored with an ABI 3130 genetic sequencer under three different fluorescence cut-off values. Phenetic analyses were performed in NTSYS software while Bayesian analysis was performed in STRUCTURE, and haplotype network analysis, AMOVA and Tajima’s D statistic was computed with PopART. Our analyses support taxonomic singularity of E. dyerianus, E. dolomiticus and E. eugene-maraisii. Relationships between E. nubimontanus and E. cupidus remain uncertain. E. middelburgensis samples showed no clustering but had poor amplification success. This study demonstrated the suitability of automated ISSR fingerprinting as a method for plant conservation studies, especially in resource-constrained countries.

In this paper we propose a module that uses features learned by a deep convolutional neural network to infer areas of corrosion and segment pixels to corrosion areas of inspection interest. Our segmentation module is based on eigen tree decomposition and information based decision criteria. To interrogate performance we use several state-of-the-art deep learning architectures and compare to our approach. The results indicate that our method produces better results in terms of accuracy and precision, whilst maintaining good (f-score) significance over the entire dataset.

The study examined the effectiveness of developed instructional module on the enhancement of learners’ academic achievements specifically this current situation of COVID-19 pandemic under distance learning delivery modalities. This instructional module in Physics was personally developed by the researcher and intended to used in teaching-learning process in Senior High School under the Department of Education. The participants of the study are the grade 12 SHS students at Aliaga National High School into two groups –the controlled and experimental. The parameters are the content knowledge, alignment to learning competencies, learning tasks, assessment method, design course, friendliness and timeliness. To examine the effectiveness, the experimental research designed was employed. The following findings were made: the mean pre-test scores of two groups had 5.40 and 5.33 which means almost the same while the post-test mean scores of controlled group had 14.40 and experimental group had 17.80 which means the mean scores of experimental group were higher than the mean scores of the controlled groups. The pretest of two groups of participants had value of 14.976 with significant value of .000 and found out “not significant” while the post-test had value of 14.976 with significant value of .000 and interpreted as “significant” therefore the developed instructional module in Physics found “effective” and had impact to students’ academic performance. On the assessment made on the effectiveness of developed instructional module in Physics the overall weighted mean got 3.77 with an interpretation of “Very Satisfactory”. Continuous development and enhance of instructional module is recommended.

Due to an increase of the monocrystalline PV systems installations, for a drive towards the sustainable smart cities in the hot arid developing country such as Pakistan, pose challenges of the performance and degradation issues. Monocrystalline PV module efficiencies are declining and damaging under the continuous exposure to higher surface day-time temperatures in the different parts of the country. A MATLAB simulations were performed based on the validated mathematical approach. This paper investigates the hot arid surface temperature impacts on the performance of PV modules during the summer and winter seasons in Pakistan. The investigations are performed examining the power generating efficiency of the PV system. This paper also investigates the influence of installations of PV-system in the North, South, East and West regions of Pakistan. It was examined that the northern areas of Pakistan are more suitable for maintaining the long-term durability of the PV system. Investigations are performed for the peak summer and peak winter days. During summer months, cooling strategies have to be implemented to overcome the heating effects whilst reducing degradation effect on installed PV-system.

Many remote sensing analytical data products are most useful when they are in an appropriate regional or national projection, rather than globally based projections like Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) or geographic coordinates, i.e., latitude and longitude. Furthermore, leaving data in the global systems can create problems, either due to misprojection of imagery because of UTM zone boundaries, or because said projections are not optimised for local use. We developed the open-source Irish Earth Observation (IEO) Python module to maintain a local remote sensing data library for Ireland. This pure Python module, in conjunction with the IEOtools Python scripts, utilises the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) for its geoprocessing functionality. At present, the module supports only Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI/TIRS data that have been corrected to surface reflectance using the USGS/ESPA LEDAPS/ LaSRC Collection 1 architecture. This module and the IEOtools catalogue available Landsat data from the USGS/EROS archive, and includes functions for the importation of imagery into a defined local projection and calculation of cloud-free vegetation indices. While this module is distributed with default values and data for Ireland, it can be adapted for other regions with simple modifications to the configuration files and geospatial data sets.

With advances in next-generation sequencing(NGS) technologies, large number of multiple types of high-throughput genomics data are available. A great challenge in exploring cancer mechanism is to identify the driver genes from the mutation genes by analyzing and integrating multi-types genomics data. Breast cancer is known as a heterogeneous disease. The identification of subtype-specific driver genes is critical to guide the diagnosis, assessment of prognosis and treatment of breast cancer. We developed an integrated frame based on gene expression profilings and copy number variation(CNV) data to identify breast cancer subtype-specific driver genes. In this frame, we employed statistical machine-learning method to select gene subsets and utilized an module-network analysis method to identify potential candidate driver genes. The final subtype-specific driver genes were acquired by paired-wise comparison in subtypes. To validate specificity of the driver genes, the gene expression data of these genes were applied to classify the patient samples with 10-fold cross validation and the enrichment analysis were also conducted on the identified driver genes. The experimental results show that the proposed integrative method can identify the potential driver genes and the classifier with these genes acquired better performance than with genes identified by other methods.

Shiga toxin (Stx) produced by Escherichia coli is the main pathogenic factor of diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterized by obstruction of renal microvasculature by platelet-fibrin thrombi. It is well known that the oxidative imbalance generated by Stx induces platelet activation, contributing to thrombus formation. Moreover, activated platelets release soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) which in turn contributes to oxidative imbalance, triggering the release of reactive oxidative species (ROS) on various cellular types. The aim of this work was to determine if the interaction between the oxidative response and platelet-derived sCD40L participates in the pathogenic mechanism during HUS. Activated human glomerular endothelial cells (HGEC) by Stx2 induced platelets to adhere to them. Although platelet adhesion did not contribute to endothelial damage, high levels of sCD40L were released to the medium. The release of sCD40L by activated platelets was inhibited by antioxidant treatment. Furthermore, we found increased levels of sCD40L in plasma from HUS patients, which were also able to trigger the respiratory burst in monocytes, in a sCD40L-dependent manner. Thus, we concluded that platelet-derived sCD40L and the oxidative response are reciprocally stimulated during Stx2-associated HUS. This process may contribute to the evolution of glomerular occlusion and the microangiopathic lesions.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) manifests itself primarily in the lungs as pulmonary disease (PTB) and sometimes disseminates to other organs to cause extra-pulmonary TB, such as lymph node TB (LNTB). This study aimed to investigate the role of host genetic polymorphism in immunity related genes to find a genetic basis for such differences. Methods: Sixty-three, Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in twenty-three, TB-immunity related genes including eleven innate immunity (SLCA11, VDR, TLR2, TLR4, TLR8, IRGM, P2RX7, LTA4H, SP110, DCSIGN and NOS2A) and twelve cytokine (TNFA, IFNG, IL2, Il12, IL18, IL1B, IL10, IL6, IL4, IL1RA, IL8 and TNFB) genes were investigated to find genetic associations in both PTB and LNTB as compared to healthy community controls. The serum cytokine levels were correlated for association with the genotypes. Results: PTB and LNTB showed differential genetic associations. The genetic variants in the cytokine genes (IFNG, IL12, IL4, TNFB and IL1RA and TLR2,4 associated with PTB susceptibility and cytokine levels but not LNTB (p &lt; 0.05). Similarly, genetic variants in LTA4H, P2RX7, DCSIGN and SP110 showed susceptibility to LNTB and not PTB. Pathway analysis showed abundance of cytokine related variants for PTB and apoptosis related variants for LNTB. Conclusions: PTB and LNTB outcomes of TB infection have a genetic component and should be considered for any future susceptibility and functional studies.

Here we first report, how cholera toxin (CT) A subunit (CTA), the bacterial enzyme moiety responsible of cell signaling alteration, can take over the exosomal pathway, spread extracellularly and be transmitted in a cell population. A first evidence for long-term transmission of CT toxic effect via extracellular vesicles was obtained in CHO cells. To follow CT intracellular route towards exosome secretion we adopted a strategy apt to convert multivesicular body (MVB) derived exosomes in traceable fluorescent vectors. CT treated Me665 cells, a human melanoma cell line highly expressing caveolin-1 (Cav-1) and GM1, were used to purify and characterize fluorescent exosomes. Our results clearly show association of CT with exosomes together with typical exosomal markers and the HSP90 and PDI molecules, the required membrane translocation elements of CTA to the cytoplasm. Confocal microscopy proved direct CT containing fluorescent exo transfer into CHO cells coupled with the morphological cell change characteristic of CT action. Moreover, direct assessment of cAMP levels in Me665 cells treated with CT containing exo showed an efficient induction of cAMP increase comparable with CT alone. From our results, we can infer that CT can exploit exosome-mediated cell communication to target and extend its pathophysiological action throughout cell tissues.

The horizontal flatbed electrophoresis system has been used for the electrophoresis of protein samples and is often preferred for a two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In currently available equipment, cathode and anode electrodes were placed on top of a gel at each end. An electric field entered from the top of a gel, and its strength was relatively weaker in the bottom part of the gel. Such configuration caused migrating protein bands to lie down forward in the migrating direction. New electrodes, i.e., the clamp-shaped and the double-deck electrodes, were developed to simultaneously apply an electric field from the top and bottom of a gel. Electrophoretic separation with these electrodes made protein bands more focused and improved protein band resolutions. When the FIGE technique was tested together with new electrodes, protein bands were aligned nearly vertically and showed the best electrophoretic resolutions.

Education on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) has increased in the last two decades, specially, through MOOCs. Lately, these reusable online alternatives have tended to be revalorized by HEIs into blended learning activities, posing new challenges for instructors, specially, on how to bridge prior knowledge with in-class activities. Adopting a discursive approach to knowledge, our proposal aims to meet this challenge by identifying student’s ‘representations’, i.e., patterned constructions on disciplinary knowledge. Representations can be found across different cohorts and thus further complemented by instructors. To test this assumption and build our proposal, we analysed student’s representations in two observations. We mapped students’ representations over key I&E definitions (e.g., ‘start-up’) and, to know how prior knowledge may be complemented by instructors, we identified students’ alignment with expert disciplinary knowledge. Firstly, we found that the two cohorts tended to express representations by turning attention to several dimensions, e.g., referring to different types of features or finalities associated with concepts. Secondly, the disciplinary alignment description revealed that students tended to focus on the same components present in experts’ definitions, but with a greater level of generality. Our results have been packaged into a proposal that aims to help instructors scale their blended activities.

Target pests of genetically engineered crops producing both defensive allelochemicals and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins often sequentially or simultaneously uptake allelochemicals, Bt toxins, and/or insecticides. How the three types of toxins interact to kill pests remains underexplored. Here we investigated the interactions of Bt toxin Vip3A, plant allelochemical flavone, and insecticide emamectin benzoate in Spodoptera frugiperda. Simultaneous administration of flavone LC25 + Vip3A LC25, emamectin benzoate LC25 + Vip3A LC25, and flavone LC15 + emamectin benzoate LC15 + Vip3A LC15 but not flavone LC25 + emamectin LC25 yielded a mortality significantly higher than their expected additive mortality (EAM). One-day preexposure to one toxin at LC5 followed by 6-day exposure to the same toxin at LC5 plus another toxin at LC50 showed that the mortality of flavone LC5 + Vip3A LC50, emamectin benzoate LC5 + Vip3A LC50, and Vip3A LC5 + emamectin benzoate LC50, were significantly higher than their EAM, while that of flavone LC5 + emamectin benzoate LC50 was significantly lower than their EAM. No significant difference existed among the mortalities of Vip3A LC5 + flavone LC50, emamectin benzoate LC5 + flavone LC50, and their EAMs. The results suggest that the interactions of the three toxins are largely synergistic (inductive) or additive, depending on their combinations and doses.

Genetic engineering has become an essential element in developing climate-resilient crops and environmental sustainable solutions to respond to the increasing need for global food security. Genome editing using CRISPR/Cas [Clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-associated protein (Cas)] technology is being applied to a variety of organisms, including plants. This technique has become popular because of its high specificity, effectiveness, and low production cost. Therefore, this technology has the potential to revolutionize agriculture and contribute to global food security. Over the past few years, increasing efforts have been seen in its application in developing higher-yielding, nutrition rich, disease resistant, stress-tolerant “crops” fruits and vegetables. Cas proteins such as Cas9, Cas12, Cas13, and Cas14, among others, have distinct architectures and have been used to create new genetic tools that improve features that are important for agriculture. The versatility of Cas has accelerated genomic analysis and facilitated the use of CRISPR/Cas to manipulate and alter nucleic acid sequences in cells of different organisms. This review provides the evolution of CRISPR technology exploring its mechanisms and contrasting it with traditional breeding and transgenic approaches to improve different stress tolerance. We have also discussed the CRISPR/Cas system and explored three Cas proteins that are currently known to exist: Cas12, Cas13, and Cas14 and their potential to generate foreign DNA free or non-transgenic crops that could be easily regulated for commercialization in most countries.

PirAB is a binary protein complex secreted by specific strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) that harbor the pVA1 virulence plasmid and express PirAVp and PirBVp toxins. PirABVp causes acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), a newly emergent penaeid shrimp disease that can cause 70–100% mortality and has resulted in great economic losses since its appearance. The cy-totoxic effect of PirABVp on the epithelial cell of the shrimp hepatopancreas has been extensively reported. Our studies found that the PirBVp subunit has lectin activity and recognizes mucin-like O-glycosidic structures in the shrimp hepatopancreas. The PirAVp subunit may have a stabiliza-tion function of the binary complex. However, we also found that Vp AHPND changes the water microbiota community structure and causes a significant reduction in several bacteria, especially Neptuniibacter spp. We propose that the PirABvp toxin could exhibit a dual role: damage the shrimp hepatopancreas and kill surrounding bacteria.

In this study, we propose a module-type triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) capable of harvesting power from a variety of mechanical energy sources. The potential energy and kinetic energy of water are used for the rotational motion of the generator module, and electricity is generated by the contact/separation generation mode between the two triboelectric surfaces inside the rotating TENG. Through the parametric design of the internal friction surface structure and mass ball, we optimized the output of the proposed structure. To magnify the power, experiments were conducted to optimize the electrical output of the series of TENG units. The electrical signal generated by the module-type TENG can be used as a sensor to recognize the strength and direction of various physical quantities, such as wind or earthquake vibrations.

Psoriasis is considered an immune-mediated disease involving the innate and adaptative immune system triggered by environmental risk factors in genetically susceptible individuals. However, its physiopathology is not fully understood yet. Recent technological advances, specially genome and epigenome-wide studies, have allowed a more sensitive study of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms, allowing an enhanced understanding of its physiopathology and facilitating the development of new drugs. In this review, we aim to summarize the current evidence on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of psoriasis.

This document summarizes the evidence currently available about the effects of the anesthetic agents and techniques used in primary cancer surgery and long-term oncologic outcomes, and the biomolecular mechanisms involved in their interaction..