Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Green Tea Liquid Consumption Alters the Human Intestinal and Oral Microbiome

Scope GTPs (green tea polyphenols) exert anti‐CRC (colorectal cancer) activity. The intestinal microbiota and intestinal colonization by bacteria of oral origin has been implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis. GT modulates the composition of mouse gut microbiota harmonious with anticancer activity. Therefore, the effect of green tea liquid (GTL) consumption on the gut and oral microbiome is investigated in healthy volunteers (n = 12). Methods and results 16S sequencing and phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis of both fecal and saliva samples (collected before intervention, after 2 weeks of GTL (400 mL per day) and after a washout period of one week) in healthy volunteers show changes in microbial diversity and core microbiota and difference in clear classification (partial least squares‐discriminant analysis [PLS‐DA]). An irreversible, increased FIR:BAC (Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio), elevated SCFA producing genera, and reduction of bacterial LPS synthesis in feces are discovered in response to GTL. GTL alters the salivary microbiota and reduces the functional pathways abundance relevance to carcinogenesis. Similar bacterial networks in fecal and salivary microbiota datasets comprising putative oral bacteria are found and GTL reduces the fecal levels of Fusobacterium. Interestingly, both Lachnospiraceae and B/E (Bifidobacterium to Enterobacteriacea ratio—markers of colonization resistance [CR]) are negatively associated with the presence of oral‐like bacterial networks in the feces. Conclusion These results suggest that GTL consumption causes both oral and gut microbiome alterations.
Dietary galacto-oligosaccharides improve skin health: a randomized double blind clinical trial.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To study the effects of galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) on the skin, we investigated skin-related parameters in healthy adults who received GOS for 12 weeks. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study included subjects divided into two groups (control and GOS) by stratified block randomization. The GOS group received 1.0 g of GOS twice a day, whereas the control group received only vehicle. RESULTS The results showed that the increase in corneometer values from baseline to week 12 was significantly greater in the GOS group than in the control group (6.91 vs 2.88 arbitrary units, p<0.05). The transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in the GOS group was reduced significantly after 12 weeks of GOS treatment (20.1 g/h/m2 at baseline vs 17.5 g/h/m2 at week 12, p<0.05). The differences in total and percentage of wrinkle areas between the two groups were statistically significant after 12 weeks of GOS treatment (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Our findings support that oral treatment with GOS is beneficial to the skin and present the possibility of new nutritional strategies for skin care.
Inadvertent social information in breeding site selection of natal dispersing birds

Several species use the number of young produced as public information (PI) to assess breeding site quality. PI is inaccessible for synchronously breeding birds because nests are empty by the time the young can collect this information. We investigate if location cues are the next best source of inadvertent social information (ISI) used by young prospectors during breeding site choice. We experimentally deployed ISI as decoys and song playbacks of breeding males in suitable and sub-optimal habitats during pre- and post-breeding periods, and monitored territory establishment during the subsequent breeding season for a social, bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus), and a more solitary species, Nelson's sharp-tailed sparrow (Ammodramus nelsoni). The sparrows did not respond to treatments, but bobolinks responded strongly to post-breeding location cues, irrespective of habitat quality. The following year, 17/20 sub-optimal plots to which bobolink males were recruited were defended for at least two weeks, indicating that song heard the previous year could exert a ‘carry-over attraction’ effect on conspecifics the following year. Sixteen recruited males were natal dispersers, as expected when animals have little opportunity to directly sample their natal habitat quality. We suggest that differences in breeding synchronicity may induce an equivalent clinal distribution of ISI use.
A new multiplex real-time PCR test for HSV1/2 and syphilis: an evaluation of its impact in the laboratory and clinical setting

Objectives To develop, evaluate and implement a new multiplex real-time PCR test for the detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV)1, HSV2 and syphilis in a single sample using a single test. Methods A multiplex real-time PCR test detecting HSV1, HSV2 and Treponema pallidum was designed, validated and evaluated for a period of 6 months on patients attending the Sandyford Initiative (a series of genitourinary medicine clinics in and around Glasgow). A total of 692 samples were tested, and T pallidum PCR positives were confirmed by a second PCR at the Scottish Reference Laboratory (SBSTIRL). All PCR results were aligned with dark ground microscopy findings and serological results where available and compared. Results The laboratory validation of the multiplex assay showed the test to be sensitive, specific and robust. Of the 692 samples, 139 were positive for HSV1, 136 for HSV2, 15 for syphilis, one for both syphilis and HSV1, and 401 were negative; the reference laboratory confirmed all T pallidum PCR-positive samples. The PCR test was more sensitive than both dark ground microscopy and serological testing for the diagnosis of primary syphilis. Conclusions The introduction of this new test has led to a better turnaround time for the diagnosis of genital ulcer disease, better detection of primary syphilis infection, and the detection of unexpected cases of syphilis where the aetiological agent suspected was HSV.
Surface pigments, algal biomass profiles, and potential production of the euphotic layer: Relationships reinvestigated in view of remote‐sensing applications

Maps of surface chlorophyllous pigment (Chl a + Pheo a) are currently produced from ocean color sensors. Transforming such maps into maps of primary production can be reliably done only by using light‐production models in conjunction with additional information about the column‐integrated pigment content and its vertical distribution.
ScienceDirect 10 World Conference on Neutron Radiography 5-10 October 2014 Full-field measurements of strain localisation in sandstone by neutron tomography and 3 D-volumetric digital image correlation

Recent studies have demonstrated that the combination of x-ray tomography during triaxial tests (”in-situ” tests) and 3Dvolumetric Digital Image Correlation (3D-DIC) can provide important insight into the mechanical behaviour and deformation processes of granular materials such as sand. The application of these tools to investigate the mechanisms of failure in rocks is also of obvious interest. However, the relevant applied confining pressures for triaxial testing on rocks are higher than those on sands and therefore stronger pressure containment vessels, i.e., made of thick metal walls, are required. This makes in-situ x-ray imaging of rock deformation during triaxial tests a challenge. One possible solution to overcome this problem is to use neutrons, which should better penetrate the metal-walls of the pressure vessels. In this perspective, this work assesses the capability of neutron tomography with 3D-DIC to measure deformation fields in rock samples. Results from preand post-deformation neutron tomography of a Bentheim sandstone sample deformed ex-situ at 40 MPa show that clear images of the internal structure can be achieved and utilised for 3D-DIC analysis to reveal the details of the 3D strain field. From these results the character of the localised deformation in the study sample can thus be described. Furthermore, comparison with analyses based on equivalent x-ray tomography imaging of the same sample confirms the effectiveness of the method in relation to the more established x-ray based approach. c © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Paul Scherrer Institut.
Prevalence of Complexities Hypertension Associated with Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Diabetes is a disease that changes the effectiveness and production of hormone insulin. Diabetes prevalence was increases day by day, in Pakistan 9.8% people was affected with diabetes. Asia in particular is considered one of the areas of highest increase in projected numbers of diabetes patients. Aim: Our objective of study is to aware people about prevalence of diabetes and hypertension which is a major complication related to this. Materials and methods: The cross-sectional study in which 350 patients samples was collected from three different cities of Pakistan and presented the prevalence in them on socio-demographic variables base. Hypertension associated with diabetes prevalence was also evaluated. Results: Results was shown that prevalence of diabetes was more in females than males and a large number of patients of diabetes having hypertension. Diabetes prevalence was also more in urban patients that rural which 55.7% according to our study was. Diabetes associated with hypertension was also more common in Graduates that illiterates. Conclusion: we concluded that life style modifications are needed for to improve this. A timely national programme for prevention, early diagnosis and to address the modifiable risk factors is a need of the hour to lessen the socio- economic burden of the disease.
Executing high-quality care transitions: a call to do it right.

As a hospital practitioner, you have undoubtedly experienced the frustration of witnessing how easily the excellent care you provide can unravel as the patient goes out the door. Patients are admitted acutely ill, and largely attributed to your clinical acumen, they are discharged “tuned up” and stable to return home. Days later, however, you may learn that your best-laid discharge plans were not properly executed, and the patient returned with yet another exacerbation. Clearly this scenario represents a major setback for the patient and family caregivers. Possibly dismissed as another episode of “patient noncompliance,” such readmissions are now being recognized as system failures and reflect a discharge process that has been described as “random events connected to highly variable actions with only a remote possibility of meeting implied expectations” (Roger Resar, MD, Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement). Once an area that received relatively little attention, transitions out of the hospital has been identified as a priority area in need of action by a confluence of recent research and national activities. Recognizing the expanding evidence for lapses in quality and safety, many esteemed organizations, including the Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and their accompanying Quality Improvement Organizations, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the Institute of Medicine, National Quality Forum, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee, the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, the National Transitions of Care Coalition, the American College of Physicians, the Society for General Medicine, and the Society for Hospital Medicine, are currently focusing their efforts on how to optimize transitions. All have articulated the need for further clinical investigation that can offer greater insight into the nature of the problems that arise during this vulnerable period and what the potential solutions are. In this edition of the Journal of Hospital Medicine, 3 teams of investigators have responded to this need, making timely, important, and unique contributions to advance the field. Specifically, each of these articles further raises awareness that a patient’s transition out of the hospital often unfolds quickly in a fast-paced, chaotic manner, placing many competing demands on clinicians, patients, and family caregivers. Not surprisingly, such competing demands can contribute to deficits in quality and safety. The authors of these studies all directly identify the central role of communication among clinicians as well as between patients and clinicians in ensuring successful handoffs, further affirming the Joint Commission’s finding that inadequate communication is the leading cause of sentinel events. In this respect, E D I T O R I A L
Coverage Comparison of GPRS, NB-IoT, LoRa, and SigFox in a 7800 km² Area

In this simulation work the coverage of GPRS, Narrowband-IoT, LoRa, and SigFox is compared in a realistic scenario, covering 7800 km2 and using Telenor's commercial 2G, 3G, and 4G deployment. The target is to evaluate which of the four technologies provides the best coverage for Internet of Things devices, which may be located deep indoor. The results show that Narrowband-IoT, having the best Maximum Coupling Loss performance of 164 dB, also provides the best coverage. This is despite the fact that LoRa and SigFox deployments with omnidirectional antennas are found to provide 3 dB lower link loss on average. In the deployment 11 % of the geographical area contains devices, located both in rural and urban areas. The NB-IoT has an outage below 1 % for locations experiencing 20 dB indoor penetration loss in addition to the outdoor path loss. SigFox performs similarly, while LoRa cannot provide coverage for 2 % of those locations. For the challenging deep indoor case, where 30 dB additional penetration loss is expected, NB-IoT has 8 % outage while SigFox and LoRa is unable to cover 13 % and 20 % of the locations. The four technologies may not be deployed at all existing site locations and therefore the work also includes a study of the coverage as a function of the minimum Inter-Site Distance, where sites closer than 2, 4, and 6 km are filtered out. The results show that SigFox and NB-IoT have outage probabilities below 5 % even though sites closer than 4 km are removed from the simulations.
Long non-coding RNA SNHG1 predicts a poor prognosis and promotes colon cancer tumorigenesis

Colon cancer is the main cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Its poor prognosis is mainly ascribed to high recurrence rates. Identifying novel prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic key points for management is crucial and important. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of RNAs, which have various roles in carcinogenicity and molecular mechanisms. The lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 1 (SNHG1) contributes to the promotion of tumor development, however, the connections between SNHG1 and colon cancer are still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance, the biological functions, and the potential mechanism of SNHG1 in colon cancer. In the present study, we referred to the Oncomine database and used RT-qPCR to determine that SNHG1 expression was significantly higher both in colon cancer tissues and cancerous cell lines than in normal samples. Cell functional experiments were performed after knockdown of SNHG1, including Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, colony formation assay, Transwell® assay, and flow cytometric analyses of cell apoptosis, which suggested that SNHG1 stimulated colon cancer cell proliferation, promoted cell invasion and migration, and inhibited apoptosis. Immunohistochemical staining and western blotting experiments revealed that in colon cancer cells with SNHG1 knockdown, β-catenin, c-Myc and cyclin D1 protein levels were decreased, while E-cadherin was increased, which suggested that SNHG1 promoted colon cancer cell proliferation, migration and invasion through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Our results indicated that SNHG1 and its interrelated components may be future therapeutic targets of carcinoma of the colon.
Structure Function Estimated From Histological Tissue Sections

Ultrasonic scattering is determined by not only the properties of individual scatterers but also the correlation among scatterer positions. The role of scatterer spatial correlation is significant for dense medium, but has not been fully understood. The effect of scatterer spatial correlation may be modeled by the structure function as a frequency-dependent factor in the backscatter coefficient (BSC) expression. The structure function has been previously estimated from the BSC data. The aim of this study is to estimate the structure function from histology to test if the acoustically estimated structure function is indeed caused by the scatterer spatial distribution. Hematoxylin and eosin stained histological sections from dense cell pellet biophantoms were digitized. The scatterer positions were determined manually from the histological images. The structure function was calculated from the extracted scatterer positions. The structure function obtained from histology showed reasonable agreement in the shape but not in the amplitude, compared with the structure function previously estimated from the backscattered data. Fitting a polydisperse structure function model to the histologically estimated structure function yielded relatively accurate cell radius estimates (error <; 15%). Furthermore, two types of mouse tumors that have similar cell size and shape but distinct cell spatial distributions were studied, where the backscattered data were shown to be related to the cell spatial distribution through the structure function estimated from histology. In conclusion, the agreement between acoustically estimated and histologically estimated structure functions suggests that the acoustically estimated structure function is related to the scatterer spatial distribution.
Enhanced Motion Aftereffects in Migraine Are Related to Contrast Sensitivity: Implications for Models of Differences in Precortical/Cortical Function.

PURPOSE Visual tests can be used as noninvasive tools to test models of the pathophysiology underlying neurological conditions, such as migraine. For example, there are reports that the motion aftereffect, which involves neural processing in several cortical areas, is prolonged in migraine. There also are reports of impaired contrast sensitivity in migraine, however, attributed to a precortical dysfunction. This study explored associations between these two tests of visual function. Specifically, it aimed to clarify whether the magnitude of the motion aftereffect is affected by contrast and contrast sensitivity. METHODS The motion aftereffect was elicited after observers viewed a coherently moving pattern for 45 seconds. The duration of the subsequent aftereffect was measured with three different test display contrasts (high, medium, low). Contrast sensitivity also was assessed. RESULTS For each test display contrast, the motion aftereffect was prolonged in migraine compared to the control group. Contrast sensitivity was poorer in the migraine group and was a significant predictor of motion aftereffect duration. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest an anomaly in early motion processing pathways in migraine that likely is linked with those pathways underlying contrast sensitivity. They provide further evidence for differences in visual processing that begin early, potentially starting at the retina, which have consequences for performance on tasks that putatively examine cortical processing. Differences in precortical and cortical visual pathways are implicated in the pathophysiology underlying migraine.
Electrocardiogram-synchronized pulsatile extracorporeal life support preserves left ventricular function and coronary flow in a porcine model of cardiogenic shock

Introduction Veno-arterial extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is increasingly being used to treat rapidly progressing or severe cardiogenic shock. However, it has been repeatedly shown that increased afterload associated with ECLS significantly diminishes left ventricular (LV) performance. The objective of the present study was to compare LV function and coronary flow during standard continuous-flow ECLS support and electrocardiogram (ECG)-synchronized pulsatile ECLS flow in a porcine model of cardiogenic shock. Methods Sixteen female swine (mean body weight 45 kg) underwent ECLS implantation under general anesthesia and artificial ventilation. Subsequently, acute cardiogenic shock, with documented signs of tissue hypoperfusion, was induced by initiating global myocardial hypoxia. Hemodynamic cardiac performance variables and coronary flow were then measured at different rates of continuous or pulsatile ECLS flow (ranging from 1 L/min to 4 L/min) using arterial and venous catheters, a pulmonary artery catheter, an LV pressure-volume loop catheter, and a Doppler coronary guide-wire. Results Myocardial hypoxia resulted in declines in mean cardiac output to 1.7±0.7 L/min, systolic blood pressure to 64±22 mmHg, and LV ejection fraction (LVEF) to 22±7%. Synchronized pulsatile flow was associated with a significant reduction in LV end-systolic volume by 6.2 mL (6.7%), an increase in LV stroke volume by 5.0 mL (17.4%), higher LVEF by 4.5% (18.8% relative), cardiac output by 0.37 L/min (17.1%), and mean arterial pressure by 3.0 mmHg (5.5%) when compared with continuous ECLS flow at all ECLS flow rates (P<0.05). At selected ECLS flow rates, pulsatile flow also reduced LV end-diastolic pressure, end-diastolic volume, and systolic pressure. ECG-synchronized pulsatile flow was also associated with significantly increased (7% to 22%) coronary flow at all ECLS flow rates. Conclusion ECG-synchronized pulsatile ECLS flow preserved LV function and coronary flow compared with standard continuous-flow ECLS in a porcine model of cardiogenic shock.
Size Matters: Spleen and Lung Volumes Predict Performance in Human Apneic Divers

Humans share with seals the ability to contract the spleen and increase circulating hematocrit, which may improve apneic performance by enhancing gas storage. Seals have large spleens and while human spleen size is small in comparison, it shows great individual variation. Unlike many marine mammals, human divers rely to a great extent on lung oxygen stores, but the impact of lung volume on competitive apnea performance has never been determined. We studied if spleen- and lung size correlated with performance in elite apnea divers. Volunteers were 14 male apnea world championship participants, with a mean (SE) of 5.8 (1.2) years of previous apnea training. Spleen volume was calculated from spleen length, width, and thickness measured via ultrasound during rest, and vital capacity via spirometry. Accumulated competition scores from dives of maximal depth, time, and distance were compared to anthropometric measurements and training data. Mean (SE) diving performance was 75 (4) m for constant weight depth, 5 min 53 (39) s for static apnea and 139 (13) m for dynamic apnea distance. Subjects’ mean height was 184 (2) cm, weight 82 (3) kg, vital capacity (VC) 7.3 (0.3) L and spleen volume 336 (32) mL. Spleen volume did not correlate with subject height or weight, but was positively correlated with competition score (r = 0.57; P < 0.05). Total competition score was also positively correlated with VC (r = 0.54; P < 0.05). The three highest scoring divers had the greatest spleen volumes, averaging 538 (53) mL, while the three lowest-scoring divers had a volume of 270 (71) mL (P < 0.01). VC was also greater in the high-scorers, at 7.9 (0.36) L as compared to 6.7 (0.19) L in the low scorers (P < 0.01). Spleen volume was reduced to half after 2 min of apnea in the highest scoring divers, and the estimated resting apnea time gain from the difference between high and low scorers was 15 s for spleen volume and 60 s for VC. We conclude that both spleen- and lung volume predict apnea performance in elite divers.