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DarNERcorp is a manually annotated named entity recognition (NER) dataset in the Moroccan dialect, also called Darija. The dataset consists of 65,905 tokens and their corresponding tags according to BIO scheme. 13.8% of the tokens are named entities spanning four categories: person, location, organization, and miscellaneous. The data were scraped from the Moroccan Dialect section of Wikipedia and processed and annotated using open-source libraries and tools. The data are useful for the Arabic natural language processing (NLP) community as they address the lack in dialectal Arabic annotated corpora. This dataset can be used to train and evaluate named entity recognition systems in dialectal and mixed Arabic.

The purpose of current investigation was to explore the scope of integrating an anaerobic digester in a decentralized municipal wastewater treatment plant for in-situ treatment of household waste. The present work intends to identify the potential of sewage sludge and food waste for biogas generation. The study was conducted in lab scale continuous stirred tank reactor having a working volume of 6.5 L at mesophilic temperature. The paper mill sludge was used as inoculum and was stabilised using food waste substrate for initial 50 days in batch mode. Co-digestion of food waste (FW) and bio-flocculated sewage sludge (BFS) was performed using continuous feeding for maintaining OLR of 2.5 gVSL−1D−1at HRT of 4 days for 120 days. 2% FW and 98% BFS (by volume) was feeded in the reactor throughout the experimental duration. The highest VFA accumulation of 1902 mg L−1 were observed and maximum bio-methane yield was found to be 127.05 mLCH4 g−1 VSadded. The pH with current feeding ratio was found stable during the reactor operation without adding external alkalinity source.

Nanomaterials have many advantages over bulk materials, including enhanced surface-to-volume proportion as well as magnetic traits. It has been a steady rise in research with using nanomaterials in various biomedical fields in the past few decades. Constructing nanomaterials has emerged as a leading research primary concern in order to discover specialized biomedical applications. Since, their advantageous properties including chemical stability, non-toxicity, bio - compatibility, relatively high magnetization, and strong magnetic vulnerability, nanoparticles of iron oxide had already influenced implementations in different biomedical fields. Nanomaterials can be divided up into four nanomaterials such as metallic nanomaterials, bimetallic or alloy nanomaterials, metal oxide nanomaterials, as well as magnetic nanomaterials. Hence, the purpose of this review is to conduct such in discussion on emerging advancements in nanomaterials for biomedical, with such a special emphasis upon those options of nanomaterials including metallic nanomaterials: Au and Ag, bimetallic nanomaterials: Fe-Co and Fe-Pt, and metal oxides: TiO 2 and CeO 2 . Securing this information gap will result in a better comprehension of the contribution of nanomaterial type and subsequent huge-scale applications in aspects of both their potential and challenges., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Cisplatin is an anticancer agent marred by nephrotoxicity. Limiting this adverse effect may allow the use of higher doses to improve its efficacy. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway plays a critical role in nephrogenesis and repair of renal diseases. BIO, a small molecule agonist of this pathway, exerted a protective effect in adriamycin nephropathy and promoted nephrogenesis. The aim of this study, therefore, was to investigate whether Wnt/β-catenin agonist BIO could protect against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vivo and in vitro, as well as its possible mechanism., Main Methods: Male mice and human renal proximal tubular cells (HK-2) were subjected to cisplatin to study reno-protective effect of BIO. Renal function, cell viability, tubular apoptosis, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and proliferative level were analyzed respectively. Additionally, xenograft model was induced to investigate if BIO would impair the antitumor effect of cisplatin., Key Findings: Cisplatin increased serum creatinine levels and promoted histological renal injury as well as oxidative stress levels. Besides, renal apoptotic level and the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins, Bax/bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase3 included, in the kidney were increased. All these features were decreased by BIO, which also activated Wnt/β-catenin pathway in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Similarly, accompanied by the motivation of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, BIO exerted a positively protective effect on HK-2 challenged cisplatin. Last, the chemotherapeutic effects of cisplatin in xenograft mice of ovary tumor models and in lung cancer cells weren't compromised by BIO., Significance: Wnt/β-catenin agonist BIO has the potential to prevent cisplatin nephrotoxicity without compromising its anti-proliferation efficacy., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The identification of small molecular inhibitors, which were reported to promote the derivation of mouse and human embryonic stem cells (ESCs), provides a potential strategy for the derivation of domesticated ungulate ESCs. In present study, goat inner cell mass (ICM) derived cells in the double inhibition (2i) condition, in which, mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAP2K) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) were inhibited by PD0325901 and BIO respectively, were characterized. The results showed that goat ICM derived cells in 2i medium adding leukaemia inhibitor factor (LIF) possessed a mouse ES-like morphology. But these cells had much compromised proliferation capacity, resulting in difficulty in expansion. In 2i alone medium, goat ICM derived cells possessed primate ES-like morphology. These cells expressed pluripotent markers and could differentiate into derivatives of three germ layers in vitro. However, these cells could not be proliferated in long-term (persisted for 15 passages) because of spontaneously neural differentiation. Additionally, goat ICM derived cells could be inducing differentiated into neural lineage in vitro. Although goat ESCs could not be established in PD0325901 and BIO alone medium, this derivation condition provides a useful research system to find signaling molecular those regulate early embryonic development and pluripotency in goat., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in neuronal growth; however, the downstream regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we investigated whether BDNF exerts its neurotrophic effects through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in human embryonic spinal cord neurons in vitro. We found that neuronal growth (soma size and average neurite length) was increased by transfection with a BDNF overexpression plasmid. Western blotting and real-time quantitative PCR showed that expression of the BDNF pathway components TrkB, PI3K, Akt and PLC-γ was increased by BDNF overexpression. Furthermore, the Wnt signaling factors Wnt, Frizzled and Dsh and the downstream target β-catenin were upregulated, whereas GSK-3β was downregulated. In contrast, when BDNF signaling was downregulated with BDNF siRNA, the growth of neurons was decreased. Furthermore, BDNF signaling factors, Wnt pathway components and β-catenin were all downregulated, whereas GSK-3β was upregulated. This suggests that BDNF affects the growth of neurons in vitro through crosstalk with Wnt signaling, and that GSK-3β may be a critical factor linking these two pathways. To evaluate this possibility, we treated neurons with 6-bromoindirubin-3'-oxime (BIO), a small molecule GSK-3β inhibitor. BIO reduced the effects of BDNF upregulation/downregulation on soma size and average neurite length, and suppressed the impact of BDNF modulation on the Wnt signaling pathway. Taken together, our findings suggest that BDNF promotes the growth of neurons in vitro through crosstalk with the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and that this interaction may be mediated by GSK-3β., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Steroid hormone Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) (natural estrogens (17-β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), estriol (E3), synthetic estrogen (17-α-ethinylestradiol (EE2)), natural androgen (testosterone) (tes) and natural progestogen (progesterone) (pro)) at an activated sludge wastewater works (WWW), were quantitated using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The steroid hormone profile in the adjacent surface water was also determined. Pro was the most abundant (41%, 408 ng/L) in the influent, followed by tes (35%, 343 ng/L) and E2 (12%, 119 ng/L). E1 was the most abundant (35%, 23 ng/L) in effluent, followed by E2 (30%, 20 ng/L) and tes (17%, 11 ng/L). Chemical removal efficiencies of the steroid hormones by the WWW averaged 92%. High removal efficiency was observed for pro (98% ± 2) and tes (96% ± 1), compared to natural (72-100%) and synthetic estrogen (90% ± 3), with biodegradation being the major removal route for pro and tes. The lowest removal for E2 is in spring (65%), and maximum removal is in winter (95%). Natural (E2, E1) and synthetic estrogen (EE2) were major contributors to influent (E2 = 69%) and effluent (E2 = 73%) estrogenic potency. The estrogenic potency removal averaged 85% (range: 73-100). Risk assessment of the steroid hormones present in wastewater effluent, and surface water, indicated that EE2 and E2 pose the highest risk to human health and fish. EE2 was found to be much more resistant to biodegradation, compared to E2, in surface water. Estrone, as the breakdown product of E2 and EE2 in wastewater, appears to be suitable as an indicator of EDCs. The study suggests that a battery of tests: quantitative chemical assay, bioassay for estrogenic activity and risk assessment methods, collectively, are preferred in order to make meaningful, accurate conclusions regarding potential adverse effects of EDCs present in treated wastewater effluent or surface water, to the aquatic environment, human health, and wildlife systems., (© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Definitive endoderm (DE) differentiation from mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) monolayer cultures has been limited by poor cell survival or low efficiency. Recently, a combination of TGFβ and Wnt activation with BMP inhibition improved DE induction in embryoid bodies cultured in suspension. Based on these observations we developed a protocol to efficiently induce DE cells in monolayer cultures of mESCs. We obtained a good cell yield with 54.92% DE induction as shown by Foxa2, Sox17, Cxcr4 and E-Cadherin expression. These DE-cells could be further differentiated into posterior foregut and pancreatic phenotypes using a culture protocol initially developed for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation. In addition, this mESC-derived DE gave rise to hepatocyte-like cells after exposure to BMP and FGF ligands. Our data therefore indicate a substantial improvement of monolayer DE induction from mESCs and support the concept that differentiation conditions for mESC-derived DE are similar to those for hESCs. As mESCs are easier to maintain and manipulate in culture compared to hESCs, and considering the shorter duration of embryonic development in the mouse, this method of efficient DE induction on monolayer will promote the development of new differentiation protocols to obtain DE-derivatives, like pancreatic beta-cells, for future use in cell replacement therapies., (© 2013.)

Background: Melanin for skin pigmentation is synthesized from tyrosine via an enzymatic cascade that is controlled by tyrosinase (TYR), tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP1), and dopachrome tautomerase/tyrosinase related protein 2 (Dct/TRP2), which are the targets of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). MITF is a master regulator of pigmentation and a target of β-catenin in Wnt/β-catenin signaling during melanocyte differentiation. Stem cells have been used in skin pigmentation studies, but the mechanisms were not determined for the conditioned medium (CM)-mediated effects., Objectives: In this study, the inhibition and mechanisms of melanin synthesis were elucidated in B16 melanoma cells and UV-B irradiated C57/BL-6 mice that were treated with human neural stem cell-conditioned medium (NSC-CM)., Methods: B16-F10 melanoma cells (1.5×10(4)cells/well) and the shaved dorsal skin of mice were pretreated with various amount (5, 10, 20, 50, and 100%) of NSC-CM. Melanin contents and TYR activity were measured by a Spectramax spectrophotometer. The expression of TYR, TRP1, Dct/TRP2, MITF, β-catenin and Wnt inhibitors were evaluated by RT-PCR and western blot. The dorsal skin samples were analyzed by immunofluorescence with various antibodies and compared with that control of tissues., Results: Marked decreases were evident in melanin content and TYR, TRP1, DCT/TRP2, MITF, and β-catenin expression in B16 cells and C57/BL-6 mice. NSC-CM negatively regulated Wnt/β-catenin signaling by decreasing the expression of β-catenin protein, which resulted from robust expression of Wnt inhibitors Dickkopf-1 (DKK1) and secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (sFRP2)., Conclusions: These results demonstrate that NSC-CM suppresses melanin production in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that factors in NSC-CM may play an important role in deregulation of epidermal melanogenesis., (Copyright © 2013 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. All rights reserved.)