Mutation Testing is a fault-based software testing technique that has been widely studied for over three decades. The literature on Mutation Testing has contributed a set of approaches, tools, ...developments, and empirical results. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis and survey of Mutation Testing. The paper also presents the results of several development trend analyses. These analyses provide evidence that Mutation Testing techniques and tools are reaching a state of maturity and applicability, while the topic of Mutation Testing itself is the subject of increasing interest.
Objective
Changes in gut microbiota have been linked to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but knowledge is limited. Our study aimed to provide an in‐depth understanding of the contribution of gut ...microbiota to the immunopathogenesis of SLE.
Methods
Fecal metagenomes from 117 patients with untreated SLE and 52 SLE patients posttreatment were aligned with 115 matched healthy controls and analyzed by whole‐genome profiling. For comparison, we assessed the fecal metagenome of MRL/lpr mice. The oral microbiota origin of the gut species that existed in SLE patients was documented by single‐nucleotide polymorphism–based strain‐level analyses. Functional validation assays were performed to demonstrate the molecular mimicry of newly found microbial peptides.
Results
Gut microbiota from individuals with SLE displayed significant differences in microbial composition and function compared to healthy controls. Certain species, including the Clostridium species ATCC BAA‐442 as well as Atopobium rimae, Shuttleworthia satelles, Actinomyces massiliensis, Bacteroides fragilis, and Clostridium leptum, were enriched in SLE gut microbiota and reduced after treatment. Enhanced lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis aligned with reduced branched chain amino acid biosynthesis was observed in the gut of SLE patients. The findings in mice were consistent with our findings in human subjects. Interestingly, some species with an oral microbiota origin were enriched in the gut of SLE patients. Functional validation assays demonstrated the proinflammatory capacities of some microbial peptides derived from SLE‐enriched species.
Conclusion
This study provides detailed information on the microbiota of untreated patients with SLE, including their functional signatures, similarities with murine counterparts, oral origin, and the definition of autoantigen‐mimicking peptides. Our data demonstrate that microbiome‐altering approaches may offer valuable adjuvant therapies in SLE.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. It involves progressive impairment of cognitive function. A growing number of neuroprotective compounds have been identified with ...potential anti-AD properties through in vitro and in vivo models of AD. Quercetin, a natural flavonoid contained in a wide range of plant species, is repeatedly reported to exert neuroprotective effects in experimental animal AD models. However, a systematic analysis of methodological rigor and the comparison between different studies is still lacking. A systematic review uses a methodical approach to minimize the bias in each independent study, providing a less biased, comprehensive understanding of research findings and an objective judgement of the strength of evidence and the reliability of conclusions. In this review, we identified 14 studies describing the therapeutic efficacy of quercetin on animal AD models by electronic and manual retrieval. Some of the results of the studies included were meta-analyzed by forest plot, and the methodological quality of each preclinical trial was assessed with SYRCLE's risk of bias tool. Our results demonstrated the consistent neuroprotective effects of quercetin on different AD models, and the pharmacological mechanisms of quercetin on AD models are summarized. This information eliminated the bias of each individual study, providing guidance for future tests and supporting evidence for further implementation of quercetin into clinical trials. However, the limitations of some studies, such as the absence of sample size calculations and low method quality, should also be noted.
The Tang et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JA024758) analysis of NO 5.3 μm volume emission rate (VER) data measured by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry ...(SABER) has several technical problems. First of all, the authors assigned a totally wrong name to the standard SABER NO VER data product calling it “NO infrared radiative flux.” Then they calculated the global distribution, solar cycle, and geomagnetic activity variation of SABER NO VER up to 220‐km altitude, where during solar minimum and geomagnetic quiet times that applied to their analysis there is no valid SABER NO VER observation. Tang et al. also confused Ap index with Kp index when calculating the geomagnetic activity responses. These comments underscore the importance of establishing a clear understanding of the basic knowledge of the satellite, instrument, data products, and upper atmosphere physics when performing these analyses.
Key Points
A totally wrong name of “NO infrared radiative flux” was assigned to the standard SABER NO VER data product
The height range of calculating the solar cycle and geomagnetic response of NO VER is wrong
Kp index and Ap index were confused by the authors
Magnetic porous copper ferrite (CuFe₂O₄) showed a notable catalytic activity to peroxymonosulfate (PMS). More than 98% of atrazine was degraded within 15 min at 1 mM PMS and 0.1 g/L CuFe₂O₄. In ...contrast, CuFe₂O₄ exhibited no obvious catalytic activity to peroxodisulfate or H₂O₂. Several factors affecting the catalytic performance of PMS/CuFe₂O₄ were investigated. Results showed that the catalytic degradation efficiency of atrazine increased with PMS and CuFe₂O₄ doses, but decreased with the increase of natural organic matters concentration. The catalytic oxidation also showed a dependence on initial pH. The presence of bicarbonate stimulated atrazine degradation by PMS/CuFe₂O₄ at low concentrations but inhibited the degradation at high concentrations. Furthermore, the reactive species for atrazine degradation in PMS/CuFe₂O₄ system were identified as hydroxyl radical (HO) and sulfate radical (SO₄ ·⁻) through competition reactions of atrazine and nitrobenzene, instead of commonly used alcohol scavenging, which was not a reliable method in metal oxide catalyzed oxidation. Surface hydroxyl groups of CuFe₂O₄ were a critical part in radical generation and the copper on CuFe₂O₄ surface was an active site to catalyze PMS. The catalytic degradation of atrazine by PMS/CuFe₂O₄ was also effective under the background of actual waters.
In real life, it is not unusual that we face potential threats (i.e., physical stimuli and environments that may cause harm or danger) with other individuals together, yet it remains largely unknown ...how threat‐induced anxious feelings influence prosocial behaviors such as resource sharing. In this study, we investigated this question by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel paradigm. Together with an anonymous partner, each participant faced the possibility of receiving a 10‐s noise administration, which had a low or high probability to be a threat (i.e., the intensity of noise can induce a high level of unpleasantness). Each participant first reported her/his immediate feeling of anxiety about the current situation (being threatened by the unpleasant noise), then decided how to split a number of resources (which could relieve the noise) between her/him and the partner. Behavioral results revealed that the participants showed a selfish bias in the threat conditions than in the safe conditions, and that self‐reported anxiety feeling significantly predicted this bias. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results revealed that: (1) the activation level of the anterior insula was correlated with self‐reported anxiety and (2) the connectivity between the anterior insula and the temporoparietal junction was sensitive to the modulating effect of anxiety on the selfish bias. These findings indicate the neural correlates of the association between threat‐induced anxiety and prosocial tendencies in social interactions.
The present study investigated this question by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel paradigm. Results revealed that increased selfish bias in sharing decisions were associated with increased self‐reported anxiety. Neurally, we found that the activation level of the anterior insula was correlated with self‐reported anxiety and the connectivity between the anterior insula and the temporoparietal junction was sensitive to the modulating effect of anxiety on the selfish bias. These findings offer neural evidence about how threat‐induced anxiety suppresses prosocial tendencies in social interactions.
App Store Analysis studies information about applications obtained from app stores. App stores provide a wealth of information derived from users that would not exist had the applications been ...distributed via previous software deployment methods. App Store Analysis combines this non-technical information with technical information to learn trends and behaviours within these forms of software repositories. Findings from App Store Analysis have a direct and actionable impact on the software teams that develop software for app stores, and have led to techniques for requirements engineering, release planning, software design, security and testing. This survey describes and compares the areas of research that have been explored thus far, drawing out common aspects, trends and directions future research should take to address open problems and challenges.
In the research field of anxiety, previous studies generally focus on emotional responses following threat. A recent model of anxiety proposes that altered anticipation prior to uncertain threat is ...related with the development of anxiety. Behavioral findings have built the relationship between anxiety and distinct anticipatory processes including attention, estimation of threat, and emotional responses. However, few studies have characterized the brain organization underlying anticipation of uncertain threat and its role in anxiety. In the present study, we used an emotional anticipation paradigm with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the aforementioned topics by employing brain activation and general psychophysiological interactions (gPPI) analysis. In the activation analysis, we found that high trait anxious individuals showed significantly increased activation in the thalamus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), as well as decreased activation in the precuneus, during anticipation of uncertain threat compared to the certain condition. In the gPPI analysis, the key regions including the amygdala, dmPFC, and precuneus showed altered connections with distributed brain areas including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), inferior parietal sulcus (IPS), insula, para‐hippocampus gyrus (PHA), thalamus, and MTG involved in anticipation of uncertain threat in anxious individuals. Taken together, our findings indicate that during the anticipation of uncertain threat, anxious individuals showed altered activations and functional connectivity in widely distributed brain areas, which may be critical for abnormal perception, estimation, and emotion reactions during the anticipation of uncertain threat.
As a critical topic of international concern, food safety has received great attention in recent years. The hazardous substances (such as antibiotics, heavy metal ions, food additives, and foodborne ...bacteria) in foodstuffs would cause threat to human health and economic losses in food industry. Despite of high sensitivity, accuracy, and reliability of conventional techniques for analysis of food contaminants, they often require complicated apparatus, well-trained personalized operation, and laborious and time-consuming procedure. In this regard, new sensing strategies for convenient, fast, and sensitive detection of food contaminants should be developed for food safety.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), as a large category of porous crystalline materials, could be used as efficient platforms for constructing diverse chemosensors and biosensors, for their high porosity, adjustable compositions or structures, and good stability. A variety of MOFs, MOFs-based composites, and MOFs-based derivatives show excellent fluorescence (FL), chemical functionality, and strong bioaffinity toward probes (DNA, aptamers, or antibodies), exhibiting great potentials as FL emitters, electrode materials, or platforms of biosensors for selective and sensitive detection of hazard analytes in foodstuffs. By coupling with different determination techniques such as FL, electrochemical (EC), photoelectrochemical (PEC) or surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy methods, MOFs-based materials have shown promising applications for detecting diverse analytes. Furthermore, the current challenges and future developments of MOFs-based materials for analysis of food contaminants have been discussed.
Although some reviews on the applications of MOFs in food packing and food safety have been documented, this comprehensive review will provide new insights to the construction of chemosensors and biosensors with MOFs-based materials for determination of food contaminants toward food safety monitoring.
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•A comprehensive review on MOFs-based chemosensors/biosensors for food safety.•Discussion on the determination platforms and techniques for food contaminants.•Development of MOFs-based chemosensors/biosensors for various food contaminants.
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