Browse Articles

The signature based on interleukin family and receptors identified IL19 and IL20RA in promoting nephroblastoma progression through STAT3 pathway

Foraging resource partitioning between Indian native Apis florea and Apis cerana: unveiling entomological signatures in honey through honey DNA metabarcoding

Cubical and spherical directional array-based particle source detection with poisson statistics

Abstract This paper investigates detecting a far-field dynamic particle source using cubical and spherical directional arrays. First, we present a discussion on likelihood ratio test (LRT), generalized LRT (GLRT) and truncated mean test (TMT) in case of a cubical array, considering scenarios with stationary and moving targets. Further, two underlying sub-cases are considered, including the sets of correlated and independent and identically distributed observations. Next, we consider the case of a spherical array where LRT, GLRT and TMT are discussed. In all cases, we present an analysis in terms of probabilities of detection and false-alarm for the associated hypothesis testing problems. Through simulations, we show that TMT outperforms the other existing tests in the literature, namely the mean difference test, the source intensity test, and the GLRT.

Exome sequencing of a Portuguese cohort of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease implicates the X-linked lysosomal gene GLA

Research on efficient relief logistics planning under massive natural disasters

Assessing microplastic pollution vulnerability in a protected coastal lagoon in the Mediterranean Coast of Egypt using GIS modeling

Abstract Lake Burullus is a coastal wetland and protected area on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Despite the importance of this lake to the livelihood of millions of Egyptians, intensive anthropogenic activities and drainage water input have impacted its water quality. The current work aimed to evaluate the distribution and composition of microplastics (MPs) in Lake Burullus and analyze the impact of non-point pollution sources on their distribution and fate. The results showed that the average concentration of MPs in the open water was significantly lower (165.0 MPs/m3) than that near the drains (835.6 MPs/m3). The thermal analysis indicated the presence of eight thermoplastic polymers, originating from diffuse sources mainly via land-based activities. Moreover, a model was generated using ArcGIS 10.5 to assess the vulnerability of surface water to pollution from non-point sources. This model incorporated factors such as proximity to roads, waterways, land use, and urban areas, in addition to salinity and total suspended solids (TSS). Comprehensive maps were generated to visually illustrate the areas expected to be affected by MPs pollution. The results showed that waterways played an important role in in the transport of MPs to Lake Burullus. In addition, urban areas were identified as pollution hotspots, indicating the impact of land-use changes in urban areas. Salinity and TSS were also identified as important factors affecting the fate of MPs. Implementing strong measures to control land pollution in urban areas and managing wastewater inputs is highly recommended to effectively mitigate the impact of MPs on the ecosystem of Lake Burullus.

Interfacial tension reduction and viscosity control by chemically grafted polymeric surfactant for enhanced oil recovery

Diagnostic accuracy of nanopore sequencing for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis and drug-resistant strains: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Publisher Correction: Presence of EGF ligand restricts the binding ability of EgB4 nanobody to EGFR extracellular domain

A dependence detection heuristic in causal induction to handle nonbinary variables

Value of lung ultrasound scores in assessing extravascular lung water in septic shock patients

Damping behavior of olive trees under trunk shaking

Thermal and desalination performance enhancement of single slope solar still using phase change material

Abstract The study that is being presented focused on the numerical analysis of the melting regime for various phase change materials (PCMs) in order to select an optimal material that would enhance the desalination efficiency of single-slope solar stills. While choosing the PCMs, the following factors were considered, availability, economic viability, environmental friendliness, and thermophysical properties. The study utilised ANSYS Fluent 18.1 to conduct a comparative analysis based on the melting of five different PCMs at different time stamps. The models and results showed that at 5000 s, Fe3O4 nanoparticle-enhanced PCM is the most effective of all the PCMs that were studied. This is because it melted completely before the other PCMs, which included RT35, Lauric Acid, CaCl2·6H2O, and n-octadecane. The best inorganic PCM was discovered to be CaCl2·6H2O, which had a maximum liquid fraction of around 68%. The best organic PCM was determined to be n-octadecane, which had a liquid fraction of nearly 57%. Lauric acid and RT35 achieved maximum liquid fractions of approximately 49% and 41%, respectively.

Reliability analysis of subsea pipeline system based on fuzzy polymorphic bayesian network

Synthesis of new DFNS/ZnTiO3 nanoparticles as a nanocatalyst for the reaction of quinazoline-2, 4(1H, 3H)-dione with CO2

K-mer analysis of long-read alignment pileups for structural variant genotyping

Defying the oxidative-addition prerequisite in cross-coupling through artful single-atom catalysts

Probing the subtle differences between promethium and curium

Abstract Curium and promethium share similar chemical and physical properties thereby complicating their separation. Co-located processing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory results in curium contamination of the fission product stream containing promethium. To gain insight into the difficulty of this separation, the fundamental properties of these elements are experimentally and computationally probed in a 2,2’:6’,2”-terpyridine crystal system. Analysis of the isostructural compounds via single crystal X-ray diffraction and quantum theory of atoms in molecules reveals that bonding between promethium and curium is quite similar in this particular structure type. The small differences in the analysis of these two elements in this isostructural series sheds light on the difficulty required to separate the elements from each other. More so, this study develops the fundamental chemistries of two rare elements in the solid state and experimentally portrays the often-omitted position of promethium within the lanthanide series.

A human model to deconvolve genotype-phenotype causations in lung squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Tractable, patient-relevant models are needed to investigate cancer progression and heterogeneity. Here, we report an alternative in vitro model of lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) using primary human bronchial epithelial cells (hBECs) from three healthy donors. The co-operation of ubiquitous alterations (TP53 and CDKN2A loss) and components of commonly deregulated pathways including squamous differentiation (SOX2), PI3K signalling (PTEN) and the oxidative stress response (KEAP1) is investigated by generating hBECs harbouring cumulative alterations. Our analyses confirms that SOX2-overexpression initiates early preinvasive LUSC stages, and co-operation with the oxidative stress response and PI3K pathways to drive more aggressive phenotypes, with expansion of cells expressing LUSC biomarkers and invasive properties. This cooperation is consistent with the classical LUSC subtype. Importantly, we connect pathway dysregulation with gene expression changes associated with cell-intrinsic processes and immunomodulation. Our approach constitutes a powerful system to model LUSC and unravel genotype-phenotype causations of clinical relevance.

Role of charges in a dynamic disordered complex between an IDP and a folded domain

Abstract Protein complexes involving intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) cover a continuum from IDPs that fully fold upon binding to IDPs that remain fully disordered in the complex. Here we demonstrate a case of charge-driven interactions of a folded domain with an oppositely charged IDP that remains completely disordered in the complex. Using the negatively charged and fully disordered prothymosin α and the positively charged and folded globular domain of histone H1.0, we show that they form a low-micromolar-affinity complex without fixed relative orientations or persistent contacts between specific residues. Using 25 charge variants of the globular domain, we find that the binding affinity can be modulated both by net charge and charge clustering on the folded domain, indicating some selectivity in highly charged complexes. Our results highlight that a folded protein can provide a charged surface onto which an oppositely charged IDP can bind while retaining disorder. We expect that more such complexes exist.