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Lipid accumulation product (LAP) has a positive effect on spinal bone mineral density (BMD). However, once LAP levels exceed 27.26, the rate of spinal BMD increase slow down or even decline. This indicates a biphasic relationship between lipid metabolism and BMD, suggesting potential benefits within a certain range and possible adverse effects beyond that range. This study aimed to investigate the potential association between LAP index and BMD in US adults, as well as to explore the presence of a potential saturation effect in this relationship. This study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning from 2007 to 2018. A multiple stepwise regression model was employed to examine the association between LAP index and total spinal BMD. Additionally, a generalized additive model and a smooth curve fitting algorithm were utilized to examine the relationship, and saturation effect study was conducted to determine the saturation level. The calculation formula of LAP used in the study was: (LAP = (waist circumstances (WC) (cm) – 58) × triglyceride (TG) (mmol/L)) for women, and (LAP = (WC (cm) – 65) × TG (mmol/L)) for men. The study involved a total of 7913 participants aged 20 years or older. Through multiple stepwise regression analysis, it was found that individuals with higher LAP scores exhibited higher total spinal BMD. In both the crude and partially adjusted models, total spinal BMD was significantly higher in the highest LAP quartile (Q4) compared to the lowest LAP quartile (Q1) (P < 0.05). Utilizing a generalized additive model and smooth curve, a nonlinear relationship between LAP and total spinal BMD was observed. Furthermore, the study identified the saturation value of LAP to be 27.26, indicating a saturation effect. This research highlights a nonlinear relationship between LAP and total spinal BMD, along with the presence of a saturation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the role of long non-coding RNA (IncRNA) GMDS-DT in the development of osteoporosis and ts potential molecular mechanism. Methods: GMDS-DT expression in normal and osteoporosis (OP) bone tissues was screened and validated by qRT-PCR. GMDS-DT expression in mouse of different months was also detected by qRT-PCR. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) and plasmid were used to knock down or overexpress GMDS-DT in bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC). Western Blot, qRT-PCR, MTT, colony forming assay, EDU, Flow cytometry, and osteoblast differentiation test were used to detect its effects on BMSC senescence, proliferation, differentiation and oxidative stress. The interaction between GMDS-DT and HNRNPA1 was explored by RNA pull-down and RIP. Results: GMDS-DT was significantly downexpressed in OP BMSC. The level of GMDS-DT in mouse BMSC also decreased with the increase of age. Knocking down GMDS-DT could reduce cell antioxidant capacity, reduce cell proliferation and differentiation, accelerate cell senescence, while overexpression of GMDS-DT could reverse these effects. Mechanistic studies revealed that GMDS-DT could interact with HNRNPA 1, thereby promoting the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes in BMSC, enhancing cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, and delaying cell senescence. Conclusion: LncRNA GMDS-DT regulates the proliferation and differentiation of BMSC through its antioxidant effect, delaying the occurrence and development of osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we analyzed the performance of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based mixed Underwater Power Line Communication-Radio Frequency (UPLC-RF) network. In this network, a buoy located at the sea is used as a relay to transmit signals from the underwater signal source to the UAV through the PLC link. We assume that the UPLC channel obeys a log-normal distribution and that the RF link follows the Rician distribution. Using this model, we obtained the closed-form expressions for the Outage Probability (OP), Average Bit-error-rate (ABER), and Average Channel Capacity (ACC). In addition, the asymptotic analysis of the OP and ABER was performed, and an upper bound for the average capacity was obtained. Finally, the analytical results were verified by Monte Carlo simulation thereby demonstrating the effect of impulse noise and the altitude of the UAV on network performance.

In this article, exact expressions are presented for the probability density function, cumulative distribution function, moment generating function, and higher-order moments of the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio, considering the product and the sum of the products of $N$ $\alpha$-$\mathcal {F}$ variates with pointing errors. New expressions for the outage probability (OP), bit error probability (BEP), ergodic channel capacity, and the area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUC) are deduced, as well as the asymptotic ones. The obtained expressions are used to assess the influence of various channels and system parameters on the system performance. We analyze a scenario considering dual-hop terahertz links and another regarding reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS)-assisted systems. All expressions derived in this work are new, and Monte Carlo simulations corroborate the analytical curves shown.

At present, the rapid development of artificial intelligence has provided technical support for many applications, including wireless communication, image recognition, text analysis and other scenarios. Simultaneously, the evaluation of the transmission performance for wireless communication networks is also indispensable. In this paper, based on the proposed wireless relay system experiencing Beaulieu-Xie (BX) fading, we investigate the transmission performance on considering model with derived outrage probability (OP). In order to realize real-time transmission evaluation, an improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA) intelligent OP prediction method based on back-propagation (BP) neural network is proposed. The results of simulation show that compared with BP and improved cuckoo search algorithm based on BP (ICS-BP) prediction methods, the prediction accuracy of improved sparrow search algorithm based on BP (ISSA-BP) is increased by 50.7%.

Cu–Zn (brass) materials are widely used in drinking water equipment, including valves, taps, and fittings. However, this brass suffers significant corrosion when buried in aggressive soil. The aim of this study is to investigate the corrosion resistance of three α-brasses (Br1, Br2 and Br3) buried in aggressive soil of the MNASRA region, located in the province of Kenitra, north-west Morocco. This study was carried out by means of potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and open circuit potential (OCP) measurements. A pilot plant was designed to simulate the environment in which the materials were used, and the same materials were buried on the site where they were used for a period of two years. The results show an increase in i corr from 3050 at 24 h to 5400 μA cm−2 at 2016 h for Br3 and from 1330 to 2550 μA cm−2 for Br 2. However, Rp decreases from 181.9 to 2.8 kΩ cm2 for Br3 and from 489.9 to 85.2 kΩ cm2 for Br 2 , indicating that the Br3 and Br2 alloys have undergone significant corrosion in the aggressive soil respectively. Where as a decrease in i corr from 1.280 at 24 h to 0.430 μA cm−2 at 2016 h for Br1. Nevertheless, Rp increased from 192.1 to 881.7 kΩ cm2 indicating an improvement in corrosion resistance due to the formation of a denser protective film on its surface. Moreover, the results show that the presence of a high phosphorus (P) and aluminum (Al) content with a lower percentage of iron (Fe) has a beneficial effect and leads to good corrosion resistance. These results are in agreement with the SEM/EDS and XRD analyses, as well as with the results obtained on-site after two years of immersion by SEM and OP analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel downlink cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access scheme (C-NOMA) is proposed with various receiver diversity combiner techniques, such as maximal-ratio-combiner, equal gain combiner and selection combiner technique over η - μ fading channel. In addition, a user pairing is deployed for the proposed system model to reduce system complexity. To be more specific, to serve NOMA scheme, two users are selected out of multiple users in the proposed system model. The mathematical expressions of outage probability (OP) for the selected users are derived with M branch diversity combiner over η - μ fading channel, thereby the outage of the user pairing is obtained and analysed. Furthermore, the impact of various parameters such as number of receiver antennas M , user pairing, imperfect successive interference cancellation and target rate of users γ th , on OP are examined. From the analytical and simulation results it is evident that the proposed system outperforms the C-OMA system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plexiform neurofibromas are the hallmark of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and significantly contribute to the overall burden of disease. While surgical excision has long been the only available therapy, the MEK inhibitor (MEKi) selumetinib has been approved as a non-surgical treatment option for these tumors in 2020 (USA) and 2021 (Europe), respectively. However, selumetinib will result in tumor shrinkage only after several months of therapy and might not prevent malignant transformation of a plexiform neurofibroma that occurs with a frequency of 10–15%. Here, we demonstrate that surgical excision might be the therapy of choice in some plexiform neurofibromas despite the availability of MEKi therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the phenomenon of acute poisoning and organ damage caused by organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) has been a frequent occurrence. Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most widely used organophosphorus pesticides. The main active components of ginseng stems and leaves are total ginseng stem-and-leaf saponins (GSLSs), which have various biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. We speculate that these could have great potential in the treatment of severe diseases and the relief of organophosphorus-pesticide-induced side effects; however, their mechanism of action is still unknown. At present, our work aims to evaluate the effects of GSLSs on the antioxidation of CPF in vivo and in vitro and their potential pharmacological mechanisms. Mice treated with CPF (5 mg/kg) showed severe intestinal mucosal injury, an elevated diamine oxidase (DAO) index, the decreased expression of occlusive protein-1 (ZO-1) and occlusive protein, an impaired intestinal mucosal oxidation system and intestinal villi relaxation. In addition, chlorpyrifos exposure significantly increased the contents of the inflammatory factor TNF-α and the oxidative-stress-related indicators superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione SH (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC); elevated the level of lipid peroxide malondialdehyde (MDA); reversed the expression of Bax and caspase; and activated NF-κB-related proteins. Interestingly, GSLS supplementation at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly reversed these changes after treatment. Similar results were observed in cultured RAW264.7 cells. Using flow cytometry, Hoechst staining showed that GSLSs (30 μg/mL, 60 μg/mL) could improve the cell injury and apoptosis caused by CPF and reduce the accumulation of ROS in cells. In conclusion, GSLSs play a protective role against CPF-induced enterotoxicity by inhibiting NF-κB-mediated apoptosis and alleviating oxidative stress and inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preclinical efforts to improve medical countermeasures against organophosphate (OP) chemical threat agents have largely focused on adult male models. However, age and sex have been shown to influence the neurotoxicity of repeated low-level OP exposure. Therefore, to determine the influence of sex and age on outcomes associated with acute OP intoxication, postnatal day 28 Sprague-Dawley male and female rats were exposed to the OP diisopropylfluorophosphate (DFP; 3.4 mg/kg, s.c.) or an equal volume of vehicle (∼80 µL saline, s.c.) followed by atropine sulfate (0.1 mg/kg, i.m.) and pralidoxime (2-PAM; 25 mg/kg, i.m.). Seizure activity was assessed during the first 4 h post-exposure using behavioral criteria and electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings. At 1 d post-exposure, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was measured in cortical tissue, and at 1, 7, and 28 d post-exposure, brains were collected for neuropathologic analyses. At 1 month post-DFP, animals were analyzed for motor ability, learning and memory, and hippocampal neurogenesis. Acute DFP intoxication triggered more severe seizure behavior in males than females, which was supported by EEG recordings. DFP caused significant neurodegeneration and persistent microglial activation in numerous brain regions of both sexes, but astrogliosis occurred earlier and was more severe in males compared to females. DFP males and females exhibited pronounced memory deficits relative to sex-matched controls. In contrast, acute DFP intoxication altered hippocampal neurogenesis in males, but not females. These findings demonstrate that acute DFP intoxication triggers seizures in juvenile rats of both sexes, but the seizure severity varies by sex. Some, but not all, chronic neurotoxic outcomes also varied by sex. The spatiotemporal patterns of neurological damage suggest that microglial activation may be a more important factor than astrogliosis or altered neurogenesis in the pathogenesis of cognitive deficits in juvenile rats acutely intoxicated with OPs.

Citrus fruits are widely consumed worldwide due to their nutritional and health benefits. However, the disposal of citrus waste poses significant environmental challenges. Orange peels (OP) are a substantial by-product of fruit processing and hold great potential as a source for bioethanol production, promoting investment in utilizing agricultural waste for biofuel purposes. OP offers a cost-effective substrate for producing value-added compounds, including bioethanol. Autoclaved-water treated OP biomass exhibited the highest release of reducing sugars (68.2%) this results supported by SEM images of that Autoclaving has definite effect on the structure of the OP particles. Among the five tested microbes, Candida tropicalis was selected as a promising bioethanol candidate due to its ethanol tolerance and ability to utilize xylose. Preliminary screening using Plackett-Burman Design (PBD) was conducted to identify six influential factors affecting the fermentation process at three levels, determining the optimum response region for bioethanol production by C. tropicalis. The significant variables were further investigated using Response Surface Methodology-Central Composite Rotatable Design (RSM-CCRD) at five levels, a novel approach in this study. The addition of cysteine and resazurin as reducing agents increased bioethanol production by 2.9 and 2.1 times, respectively, from the treated OP. Under the optimized conditions obtained from RSM-CCRD, bioethanol production reached 16.7 mg/mL per mg/ml reducing sugars. Implementing all the optimized conditions, including an initial pH of 5.75, 3% yeast extract, 2.25 g/L cysteine, 4% inoculum size, 0.6 g/L ZnSO4, 0.29 g/L MgSO4, 0.3 g/L MnSO4, and substrate treatment with active charcoal before fermentation, the bioethanol yield increased by 2.2 times after three days of fermentation using co-cultures of C. tropicalis and Kluyveromyces marxianus. The fermentation process was conducted at 30 °C and 150 rpm. Exploring OP as a low-cost renewable substrate and employing efficient microorganisms open new avenues for bioethanol production.

A revolutionary concept for enhancing the geographical differentiations in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) is cooperation. Similar to multi-antenna systems such as Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, cooperative communication systems may enhance performance and geographical diversity. These systems are also easier to develop with dispersed hardware and traditionally constrained resources. In order to boost VANET efficiency with regard to certain network restrictions like energy efficiency (EE), network capacity (NC), and outage probability (OP), more network solutions are inspired by cooperative communication despite the fact that various successful research on VANET coupled with cooperative communications is mentioned, they have certain basic issues that they do not clearly address. This article primary goal is to develop and suggest an optimization technique for choosing the fewest possible multi-hops among source and destination for a cooperative VANET. The signal is transferred from the source to the cooperating nodes (their relays) and to their comparable destination during the first time slot of the first phase. In order to solve a multi-objective function including goal throughput and OP, how to choose the ideal amount of relays or hops to allow for flexible communication is the main problem being tackled here. The selection of the best source and destination multi-hop is significantly aided by the use of the novel Dimension-based Cat Swarm Optimization (D-CSO). The suggested model was shown to have a reasonable convergence rate and a fair performance over the whole network via the performance assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic occupational exposure to organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) is consistently associated with deficits on behavioral tests when compared to unexposed comparison groups. However, a dose-response relationship has yet to be established, leading some to doubt an association between occupational OP exposure and behavioral deficits. Pesticide application teams in Egypt who are primarily exposed to one OP, chlorpyrifos (CPF), were recruited into a field assessment. Trail Making A and the more challenging Trail Making B tests were administered to 54 engineers (who supervise the pesticide application process, usually from the side of the field), 59 technicians (who guide the pesticide applicators in the field), 31 applicators (who mix and apply pesticides using knapsack sprayers), and 150 controls (who did not work in the fields) at two different times during the OP application season as well as immediately after applications had ended and 1.5 months later. All participants were males since only males work on pesticide application teams in Egypt. Urinary levels of 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCPy), a specific metabolite of CPF, confirmed the pattern of lower to higher CPF exposures from engineers to technicians to applicators, and these were all greater than urinary metabolite levels in controls. A consistent relationship between job title and performance speed on the behavioral task was observed: Controls had the best (fastest) performance on Trail Making A and B tests throughout the application season, and applicators had significantly slower performance than engineers on Trail Making A (p = 0.015) and B (p = 0.003). However, individual urinary TCPy, blood acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) levels did not predict individual performance. This study identifies a dose-related effect based on job title, which serves as a surrogate for chronic exposure in that differing job titles exhibit varying group exposure levels. The results establish that chronic occupational exposure to chlorpyrifos is neurotoxic and suggest that the classic biomarkers of recent CPF exposure are not predictive of chronic exposure effects.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has emerged as a promising solution for enabling massive connectivity in future wireless networks. A great deal of research has extensively considered the implementation of the NOMA with other technologies such as multi-antenna and cooperative communications. Most of the previous studies focused on investigating the downlink NOMA networks, while the uplink papers received relatively less attention. Besides, the majority of the current studies on uplink NOMA schemes have neglected practical limitations. Motivated by this, we investigate the uplink single-input multiple-output cooperative NOMA (SIMO-CNOMA) performance in the presence of hardware impairment (HWI), imperfect channel state information (ipCSI), and imperfect successive interference cancellation (ipSIC). We expand the scope of the proposed system to encompass multiple relay schemes, within which the selection relay technique is executed. We derive the outage probability (OP) and the system throughput of the considered system over the Rayleigh fading channels. In this respect, we provide performance analysis for different combinations of relays and antennas. The OP and system throughput analytical expressions are validated through computer simulations. In addition, the effects of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC on the performance of the uplink SIMO-CNOMA are discussed. The results show that the system’s performance can be improved with an increase in the relays and antenna numbers. Also, there is an error floor at the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in ideal conditions (i.e., in the absence of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC), and the error floor is increased in non-ideal conditions (i.e., in the presence of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC). The arbitrary number of users in the presence of non-ideal conditions increases the error and reduces the system’s performance. Finally, although the performance gains obtained through the use of multiple antennas and relays, the adverse effects of HWI, ipCSI, and ipSIC on system performance cannot be avoided.

Open data offer the opportunity to economically combine data into large-scale datasets, fostering collaboration and re-use in the interest of treating researchers’ resources as well as study participants with care. Whereas advantages of utilising open data might be self-evident, the production of open datasets also challenges individual researchers. This is especially true for open data that include personal data, for which higher requirements have been legislated. Mainly building on our own experience as scholars from different research traditions (life sciences, social sciences and humanities), we describe best-practice approaches for opening up research data. We reflect on common barriers and strategies to overcome them, condensed into a step-by-step guide focused on actionable advice in order to mitigate the costs and promote the benefit of open data on three levels at once: society, the disciplines and individual researchers. Our contribution may prevent researchers and research units from re-inventing the wheel when opening data and enable them to learn from our experience.

Citrus fruits are widely consumed worldwide due to their nutritional and health benefits. However, the disposal of citrus waste poses significant environmental challenges. Orange peels (OP) are a substantial by-product of fruit processing and hold great potential as a source for bioethanol production, promoting investment in utilizing agricultural waste for biofuel purposes. OP offers a cost-effective substrate for producing value-added compounds, including bioethanol. Autoclaved-water treated OP biomass exhibited the highest release of reducing sugars (68.2%) this results supported by SEM images of that Autoclaving has definite effect on the structure of the OP particles. Among the five tested microbes, Candida tropicalis was selected as a promising bioethanol candidate due to its ethanol tolerance and ability to utilize xylose. Preliminary screening using Plackett-Burman Design (PBD) was conducted to identify six influential factors affecting the fermentation process at three levels, determining the optimum response region for bioethanol production by C. tropicalis. The significant variables were further investigated using Response Surface Methodology-Central Composite Rotatable Design (RSM-CCRD) at five levels, a novel approach in this study. The addition of cysteine and resazurin as reducing agents increased bioethanol production by 2.9 and 2.1 times, respectively, from the treated OP. Under the optimized conditions obtained from RSM-CCRD, bioethanol production reached 16.7 mg/mL per mg/ml reducing sugars. Implementing all the optimized conditions, including an initial pH of 5.75, 3% yeast extract, 2.25 g/L cysteine, 4% inoculum size, 0.6 g/L ZnSO4, 0.29 g/L MgSO4, 0.3 g/L MnSO4, and substrate treatment with active charcoal before fermentation, the bioethanol yield increased by 2.2 times after three days of fermentation using co-cultures of C. tropicalis and Kluyveromyces marxianus. The fermentation process was conducted at 30 °C and 150 rpm. Exploring OP as a low-cost renewable substrate and employing efficient microorganisms open new avenues for bioethanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About three million Muslims are traveling annually to Makkah in Saudi Arabia to perform the rituals of Hajj (i.e. the pilgrimage), the fifth pillar of Islam. It requires the pilgrims to move to several holy sites while performing the Hajj ritual, including Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah sites. However, pilgrims spend most of their time in prepared tent-camps at the Mina site during the days of Hajj. Among the challenges that the organizers face in the Hajj is the distribution of pilgrims over the camps of Mina while considering a range of constraints, which is considered a real-world optimization problem. This paper introduces a hyper-heuristic approach to optimize the distribution process of pilgrims over Mina tent-camps in an efficient manner, named the hyper-heuristic Mina tents distribution algorithm (HyMTDA). The proposed algorithm, iteratively, selects one heuristic among four predefined low-level heuristics to produce a new solution; thereafter the late move acceptance strategy is applied as a judgment to accept or reject the new solution. The performed simulations show that the proposed HyMTDA can effectively explore the search space and avoid falling into local minima during the iterations process. Moreover, comparisons show that HyMTDA outperforms other heuristic algorithms in the literature in terms of solution quality and convergence rate.

In recent years, the phenomenon of acute poisoning and organ damage caused by organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) has been a frequent occurrence. Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most widely used organophosphorus pesticides. The main active components of ginseng stems and leaves are total ginseng stem-and-leaf saponins (GSLSs), which have various biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tumor activities. We speculate that these could have great potential in the treatment of severe diseases and the relief of organophosphorus-pesticide-induced side effects; however, their mechanism of action is still unknown. At present, our work aims to evaluate the effects of GSLSs on the antioxidation of CPF in vivo and in vitro and their potential pharmacological mechanisms. Mice treated with CPF (5 mg/kg) showed severe intestinal mucosal injury, an elevated diamine oxidase (DAO) index, the decreased expression of occlusive protein-1 (ZO-1) and occlusive protein, an impaired intestinal mucosal oxidation system and intestinal villi relaxation. In addition, chlorpyrifos exposure significantly increased the contents of the inflammatory factor TNF-α and the oxidative-stress-related indicators superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione SH (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC); elevated the level of lipid peroxide malondialdehyde (MDA); reversed the expression of Bax and caspase; and activated NF-κB-related proteins. Interestingly, GSLS supplementation at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg significantly reversed these changes after treatment. Similar results were observed in cultured RAW264.7 cells. Using flow cytometry, Hoechst staining showed that GSLSs (30 μg/mL, 60 μg/mL) could improve the cell injury and apoptosis caused by CPF and reduce the accumulation of ROS in cells. In conclusion, GSLSs play a protective role against CPF-induced enterotoxicity by inhibiting NF-κB-mediated apoptosis and alleviating oxidative stress and inflammation.

Fatalities from organophosphate (OP) insecticide result from both occupational and deliberate exposure; significantly impacting human health. Like nerve agents, insecticides are neurotoxins which target and inhibit acetylcholinesterases (AChE) in central and peripheral synapses in the cholinergic nervous system. Post-exposure therapeutic countermeasures generally include administration of atropine with a pyridinium aldoxime e.g. pralidoxime, to reactivate the OP-inhibited AChE. However, commonly used oximes inefficiently cross the bloodbrain barrier and are rapidly cleared and their benefit is debated. Recent findings have demonstrated the ability of a novel zwitterionic, centrally acting, brain penetrating oxime (RS194B) to reverse severe symptoms and rapidly reactivate sarin-inhibited AChE in macaques, but it has not been tested following OP pesticide poisoning. In the present study, the symptoms following a lethal dose of inhaled paraoxon (100ug/kg), were shown to mimic those in insecticide poisoned individuals and were also rapidly reversed in macaques by post-exposure IM administration of 80mg/kg of RS194B. This occurred with a concomitant reactivation of AChE to 40-100% in

Obtaining fit-to-use data associated with diverse aspects of biodiversity, ecology and environment is challenging since often it is fragmented, sub-optimally managed and available in heterogeneous formats. Recently, with the universal acceptance of the FAIR data principles, the requirements and standards of data publications have changed substantially. Researchers are encouraged to manage the data as per the FAIR data principles and ensure that the raw data, metadata, processed data, software, codes and associated material are securely stored and the data be made available with the completion of the research.We have developed BEXIS2 as an open-source community-driven web-based research data management system to support research data management needs of mid to large-scale research projects with multiple sub-projects and up to several hundred researchers. BEXIS2 is a modular and extensible system providing a range of functions to realise the complete data lifecycle from data structure design to data collection, data discovery, dissemination, integration, quality assurance and research planning. It is an extensible and customisable system that allows for the development of new functions and customisation of its various components from database schemas to the user interface layout, elements and look and feel.During the development of BEXIS2, we aimed to incorporate key aspects of what is encoded in FAIR data principles. To investigate the extent to which BEXIS2 conforms to these principles, we conducted the self-assessment using the FAIR indicators, definitions and criteria provided in the FAIR Data Maturity Model. Even though the FAIR data maturity model is developed initially to judge the conformance of datasets, the self-assessment results indicated that BEXIS2 remarkably conforms and supports FAIR indicators. BEXIS2 strongly conforms to the indicators Findability and Accessibility. The indicator Interoperability is moderately supported as of now; however, for many of the lesssupported facets, we have concrete plans for improvement. Reusability (as defined by the FAIR data principles) is partially achieved.This paper also illustrates community deployment examples of the BEXIS2 instances as success stories to exemplify its capacity to meet the biodiversity and ecological data management needs of differently sized projects and serve as an organisational research data management system.

Korean religion and folklore are abundant in legends and beliefs about the serpent. Cheju island is a particularly precious source of information about snake-worship, not only because its relative isolation from the mainland enabled it to preserve certain beliefs longer than the peninsula, but also because its distinctive, indigenous culture gave rise to a peculiar belief-system by adopting elements from the outside world. We also have more information on the snake-lore in Cheju due to the accounts of Confucian officers delegated to the island and, more importantly, the body of specific shamanic narratives, the ponp’uris. Ponp’uris – origin stories of the worship of certain deities or shrines, recited during shamanic rites (kut) – are invaluable sources for research. Not only do they reflect historical and religious events, but also the endeavour of Cheju people to interpret and come to terms with these tendencies. Through ponp’uris and rituals associated with them people could respond to these situations, and even if only symbolically, restore order: they could release suppressed resentment and pain, and overcome Confucianist oppression by expressing their cultural identity, or adopt elements of other beliefs in order to survive.

Compared with a monostatic radar, airborne distributed coherent radar (ADCR) has been widely applied thanks to its flexibility, greater degree of freedom, stronger detection, and anti-jamming ability. Unlike distributed ground-based radar, the precondition for ADCR to perform tasks is maintenance of stable wireless communication links among the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Therefore, the communication channel modeling of ADCR is very important. This paper mainly analyzes the performance of a communication system composed of radar UAVs, communication UAV (relay), and ground base station. The probability density function (PDF) and outage probability (OP) of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the ground terminal are derived analytically in the cases of transmission power error, UAV position error, and multi-path fading. Numerical simulation shows the validity of the derived results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Heart failure takes up an increasing portion of everyday cardiology practice. The accumulation of knowledge about the range of phenotypes and the therapeutic responses across the spectrum of heart failure leads to dynamic reconsideration of the best classifi cation schemes and also of the offi cially recommended therapeutic guidelines. At the moment the lack of clearly structured therapy recommendations for patients with heart failure with mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF) poses a lot of questions before the clinician. Their answers, as well as the patient’s clinical stabilization, require a high level of fl uency in latest clinical practices, creative usage of diagnostics and available therapeutics, and competent interdisciplinary long-term follow up. We present a case report of a patient with a relatively typical clinical profi le and suggest a possible therapeutic strategy.

Abstract Given the associated health risks, various kinds of methods have been developed to appraise the oxidative potential of particulate matter. However, a standardized experimental approach to assessing the oxidative potential has not yet been established. Researchers need to apply reasonable approaches pertinent to the characteristics of the samples and the purposes of the respective studies and to understand the limitations of each approach. In the present study, the dithiothreitol-based analytical methods of measuring the oxidative potential of particulate matter were appraised for factors that affect the experimental results, such as the sampling substrate, extraction solution, and dithiothreitol reaction. This study reveals the limitations of each experimental approach, which stem from hydrophilic and hydrophobic characteristics, according to simulated lung fluid reactions. Analyses of a Teflon filter and simulated lung fluid were suggested as the most useful procedures based on the results of prior studies.

Conventional environmental health research is primarily focused on isolated chemical exposures, neglecting the complex interactions between multiple pollutants that may synergistically or antagonistically influence toxicity, thereby posing unexpected health risks. In this study, we address this knowledge gap by introducing an explainable machine learning (ML) approach with Feature Localized Intercept Transformed-Shapley Additive Explanations (FLIT-SHAP) designed to extract the dose-response relationships of specific pollutants in mixtures. In contrast to traditional SHAP, FLIT-SHAP can localize the global intercept to elucidate mixture effects, which is crucial for understanding the oxidative potential (OP) of ambient particulate matter (PM). Assessing multi-pollutant OP using FLIT-SHAP revealed both synergistic (55–63 %) and antagonistic (25–42 %) effects in laboratory-controlled OP data, but an antagonistic (33–66 %; lower OP) effect in ambient PM. Notably, the FLIT-SHAP approach demonstrated higher prediction accuracy (R 2 = 0.99) compared to the additive model (R 2 = 0.89) when evaluated against real-world PM samples. Quinones, such as phenanthrenequinone, play a more significant role in PM 2.5 than previously recognized. Through this study, we highlighted the potential of FLIT-SHAP to enhance toxicity predictions and aid decision-making in the field of environmental health. [Display omitted] • A new ML/explainable AI approach, namely, FLIT-SHAP, was developed. • It can extract dose-response relationships from multi-pollutant toxicity data. • It predicted lower OP for real PM samples implying antagonistic interactions. • It demonstrated higher prediction accuracy than the traditional additive model. • It emphasized the significance of quinones for OP of PM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sambucus williamsii Hance var. miquelii (SWH) is a precious wild Chinese herb whose fruit, rhizome, leaves and root bark can be used as medicine. Sambucus Linn has pharmacological effects such as anti-osteoporosis, promoting fracture healing, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory. In this study, the main chemical components of the alcoholic extracts from SWH were rapidly identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole orbit trap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC- HRMS MS), and a total of 42 compounds were characterized from the alcoholic extracts of SWH. The results of network pharmacological validation showed that kaempferol, quercetin, luteolin, isorhamnetin and morroniside were the main active components, and KEGG enrichment demonstrated that SWH mainly affected the signaling pathways such as PI3K-Akt, TNF and FoxO by modulating the related targets such as AKT1, PIK3R1, EGFR, RELA SRC and PTGS2. The molecular docking results showed binding solid activity between the main active components of SWH and the targets. The network pharmacology was validated by establishing an animal model of osteoporosis (OP) in rats by gavage administration of vitamin A acid. The results of the pharmacological experiments showed that SWH could improve the degree of bone loss in the femur of osteoporotic rats, increase the number of trabeculae and decrease trabeculae porosity, up-regulate the Ca and P content in the serum of OP rats, down-regulate the scope of ALP and BGP in the serum, and promote the calcification of the bone matrix, and then exert the anti-OP efficacy. In this study, network pharmacology and pharmacological experiments verified the pharmacological mechanism of SWH in anti-OP rats. This provides a theoretical basis for the research and development of anti-OP drugs and a reference for the application of other traditional Chinese medicines in treating OP diseases. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriate pricing of companies initials public offering shares entering the capital market for the first time is crucial for both business owners and investors. But the pricing of these stocks is influenced by many quantitative and qualitative factors. Nonlinear intelligent systems such as neural networks and genetic algorithms are good tools for accurately predicting initial public offering stock prices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to predict the stock price of the initial public offering using a neural network based on genetic algorithm and compare the bid price of the model with Op. The statistical population of the study are 421 companies listed on the stock exchange that entered the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2009 and 2017. The statistical sample was reduced to 144 companies according to the mentioned filters. Leading neural network and genetic algorithm have been used to analyse the data. The results showed that the predicted research model for pricing the initial public offering shares is a desirable and optimal model. Comparing the bid price of the model with OP, also showed that the projected price of the model, while being close to OP and meeting the relative price, can fulfil the expectations of investors and company owners in proper pricing of initial public offering shares.

This article describes an international community-based effort to create metadata guiding principles for adopting and using richer metadata and advancing its application in scholarly communications. These principles can facilitate the dissemination, discoverability and use/reuse of many types of research and scholarly outputs. While much work remains to be done, these principles serve as a starting point for the evolution of processes that span communities including publishers, researchers, scholars, authors and other creators, librarians, curators, custodians, and consumers of scholarly works.These aspirational Metadata 2020 Principles are designed to encompass the needs of our entire community while ensuring thoughtful, purposeful, and reusable metadata resources. They provide a framework for all of us to be good metadata citizens. They also provide a foundation for considering related work from Metadata 2020 and must be interpreted within the legal and practical context in which we operate. They are intended to guide the broadest possible cross-section of our community in improving research communications, publishing, and discoverability.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified hundreds of genetic loci for osteoporosis (OP) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), individually, however, a large proportion of the total trait heritability remains unexplained. Previous studies demonstrated that these two diseases may share some common genetic determination and risk factors, but they were generally focused on individual trait and failed to identify the common variants that play key functional roles in the etiology of these two diseases. Here, we performed a conditional false discovery rate (cFDR) analysis to identify novel pleiotropic variants shared between them by integrating two independent GWASs with summary statistics for total body bone mineral density (TB-BMD, a major risk factor for osteoporosis) (n = 66,628) and RA (n = 58,284). A fine-mapping approach was also applied to identify the most probable causal variants with biological effects on both TB-BMD and RA. As a result, we found 47 independent pleiotropic SNPs shared between TB-BMD and RA, and 40 of them were validated in heel ultrasound estimated BMD (eBMD), femoral neck BMD (FN-BMD) or lumbar spine (LS-BMD). We detected one SNP (rs13299616) was novel and not identified by previous BMD or RA-related studies. Combined with fine-mapping and GWAS-eQTL colocalization analyses, our results suggested that locus 1p13.2 (including PTPN22, MAGI3, PHTF1, and RSBN1) was an important region to regulate TB-BMD and RA simultaneously. These findings provide new insights into the shared biological mechanisms and functional genetic determinants between OP and RA, and novel potential targets for treatment development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The balance of osteoblasts and marrow adipocytes from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) maintains bone health. Under aging or other pathological stimuli, BM-MSCs will preferentially differentiate into marrow adipocytes and reduce osteoblasts, leading to osteoporosis. Long non-coding RNA differentiation antagonizing non-protein coding RNA (DANCR) participates in the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs, but the mechanism by which DANCR regulates the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs has not been fully explained. We observed that DANCR and prospero homeobox 1 (PROX1) were downregulated during osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs, while miR-1301-3p had an opposite trend. DANCR overexpression decreased the levels of alkaline phosphatase, RUNX2, osteocalcin, Osterix in BM-MSCs after osteogenic induction, but DANCR silencing had the opposite result. Moreover, DANCR sponged miR-1301-3p to regulate PROX1 expression. miR-1301-3p overexpression reversed the suppressive role of DANCR elevation on the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs. Also, PROX1 elevation abolished the promoting role of miR-1301-3p overexpression on the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs. In conclusion, DANCR suppressed the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs through the miR-1301-3p/PROX1 axis, offering a novel mechanism by which DANCR is responsible for the osteogenic differentiation of human BM-MSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A negative correlation was observed between serum MMP3 levels and BMD. • High serum MMP3 levels were also found to be associated with high abnormal bone metabolism. • Serum MMP3 may be a useful biomarker for predicting OP in this population. Osteoporosis (OP) is a common complication of postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Herein, the objective of our study was to explore the correlation between serum matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) and OP among postmenopausal women with RA to foster better diagnosis and treatment. A total of 208 elderly postmenopausal women with RA were included in this study, with 83 patients diagnosed with OP after RA diagnosis and 125 patients without OP. Serum MMP3 levels and bone mineral density (BMD) were measured and compared. The predictive value of serum MMP3 for OP in this population was also analyzed using receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. Postmenopausal women with RA and OP diagnosis had markedly higher serum MMP3 levels, compared to those without OP. ROC analysis showed that serum MMP3 had predictive value for OP. Additionally, a negative correlation was observed between serum MMP3 levels and BMD. High serum MMP3 levels were also found to be associated with high abnormal bone metabolism. We found that serum MMP3 levels are strongly correlated with OP in postmenopausal women with RA and that elevated levels of serum MMP3 are linked to low BMD and high abnormal bone metabolism. Serum MMP3 may be a useful biomarker for predicting OP in this population, and could potentially aid in the development of targeted prevention and treatment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with a monostatic radar, airborne distributed coherent radar (ADCR) has been widely applied thanks to its flexibility, greater degree of freedom, stronger detection, and anti-jamming ability. Unlike distributed ground-based radar, the precondition for ADCR to perform tasks is maintenance of stable wireless communication links among the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Therefore, the communication channel modeling of ADCR is very important. This paper mainly analyzes the performance of a communication system composed of radar UAVs, communication UAV (relay), and ground base station. The probability density function (PDF) and outage probability (OP) of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the ground terminal are derived analytically in the cases of transmission power error, UAV position error, and multi-path fading. Numerical simulation shows the validity of the derived results.

Given the associated health risks, various kinds of methods have been developed to appraise the oxidative potential of particulate matter. However, a standardized experimental approach to assessing the oxidative potential has not yet been established. Researchers need to apply reasonable approaches pertinent to the characteristics of the samples and the purposes of the respective studies and to understand the limitations of each approach. In the present study, the dithiothreitol-based analytical methods of measuring the oxidative potential of particulate matter were appraised for factors that affect the experimental results, such as the sampling substrate, extraction solution, and dithiothreitol reaction. This study reveals the limitations of each experimental approach, which stem from hydrophilic and hydrophobic characteristics, according to simulated lung fluid reactions. Analyses of a Teflon filter and simulated lung fluid were suggested as the most useful procedures based on the results of prior studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]