Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mobile Phone Text Message Intervention on Diabetes Self-Care Activities, Cardiovascular Disease Risk Awareness, and Food Choices among Type 2 Diabetes Patients

This study examines the effects of educational text messages on diabetes self-care activities, cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk awareness, and home food availabilities related to food choices among patients with type 2 diabetes. Quasi-experimental design was used with 40 patients (58.0 ± 10.6 years) in the intervention group and 39 (55.7 ± 12.2 years) in the control group. In addition to the usual care provided for all participants, the intervention group received three educational text messages weekly for 12 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention measures were collected for both groups. Ninety-four percent of the participants receiving text messages indicated the usefulness of this program. The intervention group either maintained the same level or demonstrated small improvements in diabetes self-care activities after the intervention. Significant increases in scores of CVD risk awareness (57% increase; p = 0.04) and availabilities of fresh fruits (320% increase; p = 0.01) and fresh vegetables (250% increase; p = 0.02) in the home and weekly total (16% increase; p = 0.02) and moderate/vigorous (80% increase; p = 0.006) physical activity levels were observed for the intervention group relative to the control group. The pilot results suggest the feasibility and usefulness of the text message program for diabetes education. The study is registered with Clinical Trials.gov (NCT03039569).
Regulation of bistability in the std fimbrial operon of Salmonella enterica by DNA adenine methylation and transcription factors HdfR, StdE and StdF

Abstract Bistable expression of the Salmonella enterica std operon is controlled by an AND logic gate involving three transcriptional activators: the LysR-type factor HdfR and the StdE and StdF regulators encoded by the std operon itself. StdE activates transcription of the hdfR gene, and StdF activates std transcription together with HdfR. Binding of HdfR upstream of the std promoter is hindered by methylation of GATC sites located within the upstream activating sequence (UAS). Epigenetic control by Dam methylation thus antagonizes formation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and tilts the std switch toward the StdOFF state. In turn, HdfR binding hinders methylation of the UAS, permitting activation of the StdE-StdF-HdfR loop and concomitant formation of StdON cells. Bistability is thus the outcome of competition between DNA adenine methylation and the StdE-StdF-HdfR activator loop.
A Robot Model of OC-Spectrum Disorders: Design Framework, Implementation, and First Experiments

Computational psychiatry is increasingly establishing itself as a valuable discipline for understanding human mental disorders. However, robot models and their potential for investigating embodied and contextual aspects of mental health have been, to date, largely unexplored. In this article, we present an initial robot model of obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum disorders based on an embodied motivation-based control architecture for decision-making in autonomous robots. The OC family of conditions is chiefly characterized by obsessions (recurrent, invasive thoughts) and/or compulsions (an urge to carry out certain repetitive or ritualized behaviors). The design of our robot model follows and illustrates a general design framework that we have proposed to ground research in robot models of mental disorders and to link it with existing methodologies in psychiatry, notably in the design of animal models. To test and validate our model, we present and discuss initial experiments, results, and quantitative and qualitative analyses regarding the compulsive and obsessive elements of OC-spectrum disorders. While this initial stage of development only models basic elements of such disorders, our results already shed light on aspects of the underlying theoretical model that are not obvious simply from consideration of the model.
WC-1 and the Proximal GATA Sequence Mediate a Cis-/Trans-Acting Repressive Regulation of Light-Dependent Gene Transcription in the Dark

Simple Summary We observed that both the proximal GATA sequence in light-responsive elements (LREs) of the albino-3 promoter and the Zinc Finger Domain of WC-1 are involved in the dark-related repressive control mechanism of light-regulated genes. Abstract Light influences a wide range of physiological processes from prokaryotes to mammals. Neurospora crassa represents an important model system used for studying this signal pathway. At molecular levels, the WHITE COLLAR Complex (WCC), a heterodimer formed by WC-1 (the blue light photo-sensor) and WC-2 (the transcriptional activator), is the critical positive regulator of light-dependent gene expression. GATN (N indicates any other nucleotide) repeats are consensus sequences within the promoters of light-dependent genes recognized by the WCC. The distal GATN is also known as C-box since it is involved in the circadian clock. However, we know very little about the role of the proximal GATN, and the molecular mechanism that controls the transcription of light-induced genes during the dark/light transition it is still unclear. Here we showed a first indication that mutagenesis of the proximal GATA sequence within the target promoter of the albino-3 gene or deletion of the WC-1 zinc finger domain led to a rise in expression of light-dependent genes already in the dark, effectively decoupling light stimuli and transcriptional activation. This is the first observation of cis-/trans-acting repressive machinery, which is not consistent with the light-dependent regulatory mechanism observed in the eukaryotic world so far.
Comparison of two-compartment exchange and continuum models of dMRI in skeletal muscle

Clinical diffusion MRI (dMRI) is sensitive to micrometer scale spin displacements, but the image resolution is ∼mm, so the biophysical interpretation of the signal relies on establishing appropriate subvoxel tissue models. A class of two-compartment exchange models originally proposed by Kärger have been used successfully in neural tissue dMRI. Their use to interpret the signal in skeletal muscle dMRI is challenging because myocyte diameters are comparable to the root-mean-square of spin displacement and their membrane permeability is high. A continuum tissue model consisting of the Bloch–Torrey equation integrated by a hybrid lattice Boltzmann scheme is used for comparison. The validity domain of a classical two-compartment tissue model is probed by comparing it with the prediction of the continuum model for a 2D unidirectional composite continuum model of myocytes embedded in a uniform matrix. This domain is described in terms of two dimensionless parameters inspired by mass transfer phenomena, the Fourier (F) and Biot (B) numbers. The two-compartment model is valid when and , or when and . The model becomes less appropriate for muscle dMRI as the cell diameter and volume fraction increase, with the primary source of error associated with modeling diffusion in the extracellular matrix.
Enhancement of Magnetic Hyperthermia by Mixing Synthetic Inorganic and Biomimetic Magnetic Nanoparticles

In this work we report on the synthesis and characterization of magnetic nanoparticles of two distinct origins, one inorganic (MNPs) and the other biomimetic (BMNPs), the latter based on a process of bacterial synthesis. Each of these two kinds of particles has its own advantages when used separately with biomedical purposes. Thus, BMNPs present an isoelectric point below neutrality (around pH 4.4), while MNPs show a zero-zeta potential at pH 7, and appear to be excellent agents for magnetic hyperthermia. This means that the biomimetic particles are better suited to be loaded with drug molecules positively charged at neutral pH (notably, doxorubicin, for instance) and releasing it at the acidic tumor environment. In turn, MNPs may provide their transport capabilities under a magnetic field. In this study it is proposed to use a mixture of both kinds of particles at two different concentrations, trying to get the best from each of them. We study which mixture performs better from different points of view, like stability and magnetic hyperthermia response, while keeping suitable drug transport capabilities. This composite system is proposed as a close to ideal drug vehicle with added enhanced hyperthermia response.
Occurrence of Tetrodotoxin in Bivalves and Gastropods from Harvesting Areas and Other Natural Spaces in Spain

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin that is receiving increasing interest in the European Union because it has been found in different fishery products (fish, bivalves and gastropods) captured in European waters. Since available information is scarce, further analytical data regarding the incidence of this toxin in European fishery products is needed in order to perform an appropriate risk assessment devoted to protecting consumers’ health. Hence, samples of bivalves and gastropods were collected at different points of the Spanish coast and analyzed by high-performance hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS/MS) to evaluate the presence of TTX. None of the analyzed samples showed TTX above an internal threshold of 10 µg/kg or even showed a peak under it. Our results on TTX occurrence obtained in bivalve molluscs and gastropods did not show, at least in the studied areas, a risk for public health. However, taking into account previous positive results obtained by other research groups, and since we did not detect TTX in our samples, a more completed study increasing sampling frequency is needed to ensure proper risk evaluation towards the food safety of these products.
BDNF increases synaptic NMDA receptor abundance by enhancing the local translation of Pyk2 in cultured hippocampal neurons

The RNA binding protein hnRNP K mediates BDNF-induced proteome remodeling at the neuronal synapse. An RNA binding protein in synaptic plasticity Changes in neuronal activity, such as in response to the neurotrophin BDNF, occur partly through changes to the protein composition at the neuronal synapse. Afonso et al. found that the RNA binding protein hnRNP K was critical for the synaptic synthesis of the kinase PYK2 in hippocampal neurons upon BDNF stimulation. This synaptic localization of PYK2, in turn, promoted the formation and synaptic integration of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors, which is important for the synaptic plasticity that underlies learning and memory formation. These findings not only pinpoint a critical kinase in the broader synaptic proteome for this phenomenon but also place an RNA binding protein at the core of its regulation. The effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) are thought to underlie learning and memory formation and are partly mediated by local protein synthesis. Here, we investigated the mechanisms that mediate BDNF-induced alterations in the synaptic proteome that are coupled to synaptic strengthening. BDNF induced the synaptic accumulation of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors (NMDARs) and increased the amplitude of NMDAR-mediated miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in cultured rat hippocampal neurons by a mechanism requiring activation of the protein tyrosine kinase Pyk2 and dependent on cellular protein synthesis. Single-particle tracking using quantum dot imaging revealed that the increase in the abundance of synaptic NMDAR currents correlated with their enhanced stability in the synaptic compartment. Furthermore, BDNF increased the local synthesis of Pyk2 at the synapse, and the observed increase in Pyk2 protein abundance along dendrites of cultured hippocampal neurons was mediated by a mechanism dependent on the ribonucleoprotein hnRNP K, which bound to Pyk2 mRNA and dissociated from it upon BDNF application. Knocking down hnRNP K reduced the BDNF-induced synaptic synthesis of Pyk2 protein, whereas its overexpression enhanced it. Together, these findings indicate that hnRNP K mediates the synaptic distribution of Pyk2 synthesis, and hence the synaptic incorporation of GluN2B-containing NMDARs, induced by BDNF, which may affect LTP and synaptic plasticity.
What single‐unit recording studies tell us about the basic mechanisms of sleep and wakefulness

This paper reviews the presence, localization and characteristics of state‐specific neurons in the mouse forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain that are involved in the control of ultradian sleep–wake cycles and shows that all these regions contain basic neural elements capable of generating the sleep–wake cycle. The chronic single‐unit recording method in unanaesthetized animals is useful for unravelling the dynamics of sleep–wake switching, in particular because it can analyse events at the level of single neurons, thereby decoding information used by the brain in determining its functional state. A prerequisite is to record a large number of all types of neurons, identify critical wake‐ and sleep‐promoting neurons and determine their activity profiles during the sleep–wake cycle and their trends in spike activity during the state transitions from wakefulness to sleep and from sleep to wakefulness in the same species. Here, I argue that single‐unit recordings in unanaesthetized mice help us to (a) determine key neural elements controlling sleep–wake dynamics, (b) elucidate the roles of forebrain and brainstem neurons in ultradian sleep–wake cyclicity and (c) gain a new insight into the functional significance of wakefulness, slow‐wave sleep and paradoxical (or rapid eye movement) sleep. I also discuss the merits and limitations of single‐unit recording compared with more recent genetic approaches, and I suggest that findings from studies using the classic electrophysiological technique will provide the foundation for future studies using new genetic techniques to dissect the neural networks responsible for the initiation, maintenance and cessation of each wake and sleep state.
IFITM3 Clusters on Virus Containing Endosomes and Lysosomes Early in the Influenza A Infection of Human Airway Epithelial Cells

Interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs) have been shown to strongly affect influenza A virus (IAV) infectivity in tissue culture. Moreover, polymorphisms in IFITM3 have been associated with the severity of the disease in humans. IFITM3 appears to act early in the infection, but its mechanism of action and potential interactions with incoming IAV structures are not yet defined. Here, we visualized endogenous IFITM3 interactions with IAV in the human lung epithelial cell line A549 and in primary human airway epithelial cells employing stimulated emission depletion super-resolution microscopy. By applying an iterative approach for the cluster definition and computational cluster analysis, we found that IFITM3 reorganizes into clusters as IAV infection progresses. IFITM3 cluster formation started at 2-3 h post infection and increased over time to finally coat IAV-containing endosomal vesicles. This IAV-induced phenotype was due to the endosomal recruitment of IFITM3 rather than to an overall increase in the IFITM3 abundance. While the IAV-induced IFITM3 clustering and localization to endosomal vesicles was comparable in primary human airway epithelial cells and the human lung epithelial cell line A549, the endogenous IFITM3 signal was higher in primary cells. Moreover, we observed IFITM3 signals adjacent to IAV-containing recycling endosomes.
EZSL-GAN: EEG-based Zero-Shot Learning approach using a Generative Adversarial Network

Recent studies show that deep neural network can be effective for learning EEG-based classification network. In particular, Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) show competitive performance to learn the sequential information of the EEG signals. However, none of the previous approaches considers recognizing the unknown EEG signals which have never been seen in the training dataset. In this paper, we first propose a new scheme for Zero-Shot EEG signal classification. Our EZSL-GAN has three parts. The first part is an EEG encoder network that generates 128-dim of EEG features using a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The second part is a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) that can tackle the problem for recognizing unknown EEG labels with a knowledge base. The third part is a simple classification network to learn unseen EEG signals from the fake EEG features which are generated from the learned Generator. We evaluate our method on the EEG dataset evoked from 40 classes visual object stimuli. The experimental results show that our EEG encoder achieves an accuracy of 95.89%. Furthermore, our Zero-Shot EEG classification method reached an accuracy of 39.65% for the ten untrained EEG classes. Our experiments demonstrate that unseen EEG labels can be recognized by the knowledge base.
RGB-D SLAM Using Point–Plane Constraints for Indoor Environments †

Pose estimation and map reconstruction are basic requirements for robotic autonomous behavior. In this paper, we propose a point–plane-based method to simultaneously estimate the robot’s poses and reconstruct the current environment’s map using RGB-D cameras. First, we detect and track the point and plane features from color and depth images, and reliable constraints are obtained, even for low-texture scenes. Then, we construct cost functions from these features, and we utilize the plane’s minimal representation to minimize these functions for pose estimation and local map optimization. Furthermore, we extract the Manhattan World (MW) axes on the basis of the plane normals and vanishing directions of parallel lines for the MW scenes, and we add the MW constraint to the point–plane-based cost functions for more accurate pose estimation. The results of experiments on public RGB-D datasets demonstrate the robustness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm for pose estimation and map reconstruction, and we show its advantages compared with alternative methods.
In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Starfish Bone-Derived β-Tricalcium Phosphate as a Bone Substitute Material

We evaluated starfish-derived β-tricalcium phosphate (Sf-TCP) obtained by phosphatization of starfish-bone-derived porous calcium carbonate as a potential bone substitute material. The Sf-TCP had a communicating pore structure with a pore size of approximately 10 μm. Although the porosity of Sf-TCP was similar to that of Cerasorb M (CM)—a commercially available β-TCP bone filler—the specific surface area was roughly three times larger than that of CM. Observation by scanning electron microscopy showed that pores communicated to the inside of the Sf-TCP. Cell growth tests showed that Sf-TCP improved cell proliferation compared with CM. Cells grown on Sf-TCP showed stretched filopodia and adhered; cells migrated both to the surface and into pores. In vivo, vigorous tissue invasion into pores was observed in Sf-TCP, and more fibrous tissue was observed for Sf-TCP than CM. Moreover, capillary formation into pores was observed for Sf-TCP. Thus, Sf-TCP showed excellent biocompatibility in vitro and more vigorous bone formation in vivo, indicating the possible applications of this material as a bone substitute. In addition, our findings suggested that mimicking the microstructure derived from whole organisms may facilitate the development of superior artificial bone.
Assessment of patients’ expectations: development and validation of the Expectation for Treatment Scale (ETS)

Objective To develop a short self-report instrument for the assessment of expectations (Expectation for Treatment Scale(ETS)) using acupuncture as a case example. Design A cross-sectional assessment with retest after 1 week. Setting A web-based survey with patients suffering from pain. Methods In a three-step approach, we reduced the initially collected number of items from 17 to 9 and to 5, including expectations about coping ability, vitality, physical health and reduction of patient complaints. Items were selected according to internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha); convergent and divergent validities with related constructs (optimism, pessimism, resilience, perceived sensitivity to medicines, depression and others); 1-week retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)); and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results A total of 102 patients suffering from pain were included, and 54 of these patients completed the retest assessment. The final version of the ETS consisted of five items and had an excellent Cronbach’s alpha (0.90), with 72.33% variance on one single factor. Depression, pessimism and perceived sensitivity to medicines showed positive correlations with our expectation measure (r=0.23, r=0.20 and r=0.34, respectively); the correlation between the ETS and optimism was low (r=−0.07) and no correlation between the ETS and resilience was found (r=−0.07). Convergent validity was confirmed with a high correlation (r>0.90) between ETS and a treatment-specific measure of expectations. The retest ICC was 0.86, which showed high stability over 1 week. A CFA (n=439) with data from patients with low back pain confirmed the single-factor structure of the instrument. Conclusion The ETS showed strong psychometric properties and covered a distinct construct. As the next step, the ETS might be implemented in different clinical conditions and settings to investigate psychometrics and its predictive power for treatment outcomes.
Recovery after volleyball: a narrative review

ABSTRACT Volleyball is a popular sport, but there has been little research to date investigating the recovery process. Volleyball involves short bouts of high intensity exertion, often with limited time to rest between matches. This literature review highlights the specific methods used to recover after playing volleyball and evaluates their effectiveness. Recovery strategies have been shown to increase performance and prevent injury. Specific techniques identified include nutritional strategies, proper sleep, mental and psychological techniques, cold water immersion, and laser therapy. Some, such as nutrition and sleep, have been definitively shown to benefit volleyball players, while others, such as cold water immersion and laser therapy, have shown promise but require further research to determine their overall effect. Other areas of future research include evaluating the effectiveness of combined recovery techniques as well as determining which are best for rapid recovery.
Cerebrovascular endothelial cells form transient Notch‐dependent cystic structures in zebrafish

We identify a novel endothelial membrane behaviour in transgenic zebrafish. Cerebral blood vessels extrude large transient spherical structures that persist for an average of 23 min before regressing into the parent vessel. We term these structures “kugeln”, after the German for sphere. Kugeln are only observed arising from the cerebral vessels and are present as late as 28 days post fertilization. Kugeln do not communicate with the vessel lumen and can form in the absence of blood flow. They contain little or no cytoplasm, but the majority are highly positive for nitric oxide reactivity. Kugeln do not interact with brain lymphatic endothelial cells (BLECs) and can form in their absence, nor do they perform a scavenging role or interact with macrophages. Inhibition of actin polymerization, Myosin II, or Notch signalling reduces kugel formation, while inhibition of VEGF or Wnt dysregulation (either inhibition or activation) increases kugel formation. Kugeln represent a novel Notch‐dependent NO‐containing endothelial organelle restricted to the cerebral vessels, of currently unknown function.