Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DAMPs and NETs in Sepsis

Sepsis is a deadly inflammatory syndrome caused by an exaggerated immune response to infection. Much has been focused on host response to pathogens mediated through the interaction of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). PRRs are also activated by host nuclear, mitochondrial, and cytosolic proteins, known as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that are released from cells during sepsis. Some well described members of the DAMP family are extracellular cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (eCIRP), high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), histones, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). DAMPs are released from the cell through inflammasome activation or passively following cell death. Similarly, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are released from neutrophils during inflammation. NETs are webs of extracellular DNA decorated with histones, myeloperoxidase, and elastase. Although NETs contribute to pathogen clearance, excessive NET formation promotes inflammation and tissue damage in sepsis. Here, we review DAMPs and NETs and their crosstalk in sepsis with respect to their sources, activation, release, and function. A clear grasp of DAMPs, NETs and their interaction is crucial for the understanding of the pathophysiology of sepsis and for the development of novel sepsis therapeutics.
Contrasting Nitrogen Fertilisation Rates Alter Mycorrhizal Contribution to Barley Nutrition in a Field Trial

Controlled environment studies show that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may contribute to plant nitrogen (N) uptake, but the role of these near-ubiquitous symbionts in crop plant N nutrition under natural field conditions remains largely unknown. In a field trial, we tested the effects of N fertilisation and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivar identity on the contribution of AMF to barley N uptake using 15N tracers added to rhizosphere soil compartments. AMF were shown capable of significantly increasing plant 15N acquisition from root exclusion zones, and this was influenced by nitrogen addition type, N fertiliser application rate and barley cultivar identity. Our data demonstrate a previously overlooked potential route of crop plant N uptake which may be influenced substantially and rapidly in response to shifting agricultural management practices.
The Neural Basis of Herding Decisions in Enterprise Clustering: An Event-Related Potential Study

Herding behavior refers to the social phenomenon in which people are intensely influenced by the decisions and behaviors of others in the same group. Although several recent studies have explored the neural basis of herding decisions in people’s daily lives (e.g., consumption decisions), the neural processing of herding decisions underlying enterprise behavior is still unclear. To address this issue, this study extracted event-related potentials (ERPs) from electroencephalographic data when participants (i.e., top executives in real enterprises) performed a choice task in which they judged whether to let their enterprises settle in an industrial zone when the occupancy rate of the industrial zone was either low or high. The behavioral results showed that participants had a higher acceptance rate in the high occupancy rate condition than in the low one, suggesting the existence of herding tendency in top executives’ business decisions. The ERP results indicated that anticonformity choices induced a larger N2 amplitude than herding choices, demonstrating that participants might experience larger perceived risk and more decision conflict when they processed anticonformity choices. In contrast, we observed that herding choices induced a larger LPP amplitude than anticonformity choices, hinting that participants might experience better evaluation categorization and higher decision confidence when they processed herding choices. Based on these results, this study provides new insights into the neural basis of herding decisions made by top executives in business.
Direct Observations of Precursor Short-Range Order Clusters of Solute Atoms in a LPSO-Forming Mg-Zn-Gd Ternary Alloy

We have investigated short-range order (SRO) clusters of solute atoms in a Mg97Zn1Gd2 alloy which forms a long-period stacking/order (LPSO) phase, based on aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) observations and first-principles calculations. High-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) STEM provides directly the individual Gd atom positions through significant atomic-number dependent Z-contrast, and their averaged image-processing have immediately shown up the representative SRO-Gd configurations being in favor of the second-nearest networks in the hcp-Mg structure. Interestingly, Zn atoms seem to be essentially placed at the particular sites within the SRO-Gd configurations to form D019-like ZnGd3 clusters, a validity of which are verified by STEM image simulations and first-principles calculations. These D019-like ZnGd3 clusters in the hcp-Mg matrix are likely to be a precursor sub-structure to the L12-type Zn6Gd8 clusters that are embedded in the local fcc layers in the LPSO structure. In fact, we find that these D019-like ZnGd3 clusters seem to form a layered atmosphere prior to the LPSO formation, providing an important clue on how the LPSO phases nucleate and grow.
Effect of Teachers’ Happiness on Teachers’ Health. The Mediating Role of Happiness at Work

The present study aims to expand the understanding of the effects of dispositional happiness and self-esteem, as dispositional traits, on the health of teachers, as well as to understand the role played by the working environment in generating positive affection, thus mediating between the dispositional traits and teachers’ health. Two hundred and eighty-two full-time in-service teachers (93.6% female) from Rome (Italy) took part in this study. Their ages ranged from 26 to 55 (M = 40.49 years, SD = 5.93). Participants’ teaching experience ranged from 1 to 31 years (M = 9.95 years, SD = 5.65). 30.6% of participants taught in kindergarten (for children aged 0–5 years), 42.6% in primary schools (for children aged 6–11 years), 15.8% in middle schools and 10.9% in high schools. A questionnaire was administered, containing: the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS); the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES); The adapted version for teachers of the School Children Happiness Inventory (Ivens, 2007); the Physical and Mental Health Scales (SF12). The data were analyzed using the MPLUS software, version 8. Our results showed that teacher happiness at work partially mediates the relationship between dispositional happiness and teacher health, and fully mediates the relationship between self-esteem and teacher health. To the best of our knowledge, the mediational role of teacher happiness has not been addressed before, concerning these dimensions. At the same time, our findings confirmed the role of self-esteem in endorsing health-related behaviors, thus promoting physical and mental health. Moreover, according to our study findings, when teachers acknowledge their workplace as a context in which they feel happy, the impact of dispositional happiness and self-esteem on health conditions is higher. Effective measures to promote teachers’ well-being are discussed.
Effect of General Anesthesia vs. Conscious Sedation on the Outcomes of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients After Endovascular Therapy: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Background: Endovascular therapy is the standard treatment for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients caused by a large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation, whereas the impacts of general anesthesia (GA) vs. conscious sedation (CS) for such procedures remained as a continued debate. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov. We restricted our search to RCTs that examined the clinical outcomes of endovascular therapy with GA vs. CS. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess study quality. Random-effects or fixed-effects meta-analyses were used for evaluating all outcomes. Results: A total of three randomized clinical trials met our inclusion criteria, with 368 individuals enrolled. Patients were randomized to receive GA or CS during endovascular therapy. In a meta-analysis of these trials, patients in the GA group were associated with favorable functional outcome (mRS score ≤ 2) compared with the CS group (pooled OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.17–2.79, P = 0.008). Besides, patients in the GA group had higher odds of successful reperfusion (pooled OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.05–3.08, P = 0.033), but no significant differences were seen in symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (pooled OR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.11–2.57, P = 0.308), vessel dissection or perforation (pooled OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 0.30–6.31, P = 0.679), migration of embolus to a new territory (pooled OR = 2.28, 95% CI: 0.89–5.87, P = 0.085), post-operative pneumonia (pooled OR = 1.74, 95% CI: 0.76–4.01, P = 0.149), and all-cause mortality at 90 days (pooled OR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.43–1.26, P = 0.263) compared with the CS group. Conclusion: Performing endovascular therapy with GA, compared with CS, improves functional independence after 90 days significantly for patients with AIS caused by a large vessel occlusion in the anterior circulation. However, additional larger and multi-center randomized controlled trials to definitively confirm our findings are warranted for the limitation of the small sample size in this study.
Antiviral Activity Against Infectious Bronchitis Virus and Bioactive Components of Hypericum perforatum L.

Hypericum perforatum L. , also known as Saint John’s Wort, has been well studied for its chemical composition and pharmacological activity. In this study, the antiviral activities of H. perforatum on infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) were evaluated in vitro and in vivo for the first time. The results of in vitro experiments confirmed that the antiviral component of H. perforatum was ethyl acetate extraction section (HPE), and results showed that treatment with HPE significantly reduced the relative messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression and virus titer of IBV, and reduced positive green immunofluorescence signal of IBV in chicken embryo kidney (CEK) cells. HPE treatment at doses of 480–120 mg/kg for 5 days, reduced IBV induced injury in the trachea and kidney, moreover, reduced the mRNA expression level of IBV in the trachea and kidney in vivo. The mRNA expression levels of IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-κB) significantly decreased, but melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5), mitochondrial antiviral signaling gene, interferon alpha (IFN-α), and interferon beta (IFN-β) mRNA levels significantly increased in vitro and in vivo. Our findings demonstrated that HPE had significant anti-IBV effects in vitro and in vivo, respectively. In addition, it is possible owing to up-regulate mRNA expression of type I interferon through the MDA5 signaling pathway and down-regulate mRNA expression of IL-6 and TNF-α via the NF-κB signaling pathway. Moreover, the mainly active compositions of HPE analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization–mass spectroscopy (ESI-MS) are hyperoside, quercitrin, quercetin, pseudohypericin, and hypericin, and a combination of these compounds could mediate the antiviral activities. This might accelerate our understanding of the antiviral effect of H. perforatum and provide new insights into the development of effective therapeutic strategies.
Two Neural Circuits to Point Towards Home Position After Passive Body Displacements

A challenge in motor control research is to understand the mechanisms underlying the transformation of sensory information into arm motor commands. Here, we investigated these transformation mechanisms for movements whose targets were defined by information issued from body rotations in the dark (i.e., idiothetic information). Immediately after being rotated, participants reproduced the amplitude of their perceived rotation using their arm (Experiment 1). The cortical activation during movement planning was analyzed using electroencephalography and source analyses. Task-related activities were found in regions of interest (ROIs) located in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsal premotor cortex, dorsal region of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the sensorimotor cortex. Importantly, critical regions for the cognitive encoding of space did not show significant task-related activities. These results suggest that arm movements were planned using a sensorimotor-type of spatial representation. However, when a 8 s delay was introduced between body rotation and the arm movement (Experiment 2), we found that areas involved in the cognitive encoding of space [e.g., ventral premotor cortex (vPM), rostral ACC, inferior and superior posterior parietal cortex (PPC)] showed task-related activities. Overall, our results suggest that the use of a cognitive-type of representation for planning arm movement after body motion is necessary when relevant spatial information must be stored before triggering the movement.
Gene Expression and Fatty Acid Profiling in Longissimus thoracis Muscle, Subcutaneous Fat, and Liver of Light Lambs in Response to Concentrate or Alfalfa Grazing

A better understanding of gene expression and metabolic pathways in response to a feeding system is critical for identifying key physiological processes and genes associated with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content in lamb meat. The main objective of this study was to investigate transcriptional changes in L. thoracis (LT) muscle, liver, and subcutaneous fat (SF) of lambs that grazed alfalfa (ALF) and concentrate-fed (CON) slaughtered at 23 kg and using the Affymetrix Ovine Gene 1.1 ST whole-genome array. The study also evaluated the relationship between meat traits in LT muscle, including color, pigments and lipid oxidation during 7 days of display, α-tocopherol content, intramuscular fat (IMF) content and the fatty acid (FA) profile. Lambs that grazed on alfalfa had a greater α-tocopherol concentration in plasma than CON lambs (P < 0.05). The treatment did not affect the IMF content, meat color or pigments (P > 0.05). Grazing increased the α-tocopherol content (P < 0.001) and decreased lipid oxidation on day 7 of display (P < 0.05) in LT muscle. The ALF group contained a greater amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), C18:3 n−3, C20:5 n−3, C22:5 n−3, and C22:6 n−3 than did the CON group (P < 0.05). We identified 41, 96 and four genes differentially expressed in LT muscle, liver, and subcutaneous fat, respectively. The most enriched biological processes in LT muscle were skeletal muscle tissue development, being the genes related to catabolic and lipid processes downregulated, except for CPT1B, which was upregulated in the ALF lambs. Animals grazing alfalfa had lower expression of desaturase enzymes in the liver (FADS1 and FADS2), which regulate unsaturation of fatty acids and are directly involved in the metabolism of n−3 PUFA series. The results found in the current study showed that ingesting diets richer in n−3 PUFA might have negative effects on the de novo synthesis of n−3 PUFA by downregulating the FADS1 and FADS2 expression. However, feeding diets poorer in n−3 PUFA can promote fatty acid desaturation, which makes these two genes attractive candidates for altering the content of PUFAs in meat.
Recreation and Tourism

Анотація. Стаття присвячена проблемам і перспективам розвитку ностальгічного туризму на Тернопільщині. Розглянуто передумови для формування ностальгічного туризму та проаналізовано історико-архітектурний, природно-рекреаційний потенціал Тернопільської області. Зазначено основні причини нерозвинутості ностальгічного туризму та окреслено нові підходи для розвитку відповідної туристичної галузі і вектори її популяризації. Ключові слова: ностальгічний, сентиментальний, туристичний маршрут, туристичний потенціал, діаспора, еміграція.
Messenger RNAs of Yeast Virus-Like Elements Contain Non-templated 5′ Poly(A) Leaders, and Their Expression Is Independent of eIF4E and Pab1

We employed virus-like elements (VLEs) pGKL1,2 from Kluyveromyces lactis as a model to investigate the previously neglected transcriptome of the broader group of yeast cytoplasmic linear dsDNA VLEs. We performed 5′ and 3′ RACE analyses of all pGKL1,2 mRNAs and found them not 3′ polyadenylated and containing frequently uncapped 5′ poly(A) leaders that are not complementary to VLE genomic DNA. The degree of 5′ capping and/or 5′ mRNA polyadenylation is specific to each gene and is controlled by the corresponding promoter region. The expression of pGKL1,2 transcripts is independent of eIF4E and Pab1 and is enhanced in lsm1Δ and pab1Δ strains. We suggest a model of primitive pGKL1,2 gene expression regulation in which the degree of 5′ mRNA capping and 5′ non-template polyadenylation, together with the presence of negative regulators such as Pab1 and Lsm1, play important roles. Our data also support a hypothesis of a close relationship between yeast linear VLEs and poxviruses.
From Global-to-Local? Uncovering the Temporal Dynamics of the Composite Face Illusion Using Distributional Analyses

It is widely believed that faces are processed holistically such that their facial features or parts are represented as global wholes rather than independent entities. But how does their holistic representation evolve in time? According to the global-to-local hypothesis, the initial representation of faces is holistic and coarse at the outset but is becoming progressively detailed and analytic. The current study set to test this global-to-local hypothesis by applying fine-grained methods of response time analyses to the composite face illusion – a traditional marker of holistic face processing. The analyses included the delta plots and conditional accuracy functions. These tools move beyond the mean RT and accuracy to provide detailed analysis of the temporal dynamics of the composite face effect. The methodologies converged on the conclusion that the composite effect is minimal for fast RTs but becomes progressively larger as RT gets slower. This pattern is inconsistent with a global-to-local dynamics. The implications of these results to the study of face perception are discussed.
Bladder Cancer Exhibiting High Immune Infiltration Shows the Lowest Response Rate to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors

Background: Bladder urothelial cancer (BLCA) treatment using immune checkpoint inhibitors (IMCIs) can result in long-lasting clinical benefits. However, only a fraction of patients respond to such treatment. In this study, we aimed to identify the relationships between immune cell infiltration levels (ICILs) and IMCIs and identify markers for ICILs. Methods: ICILs were estimated based on single-sample gene set enrichment analysis. The response rates of different ICILs to IMCIs were calculated by combining the ICILs of molecular subtypes in BLCA with the response rates of different molecular subtypes of IMvigor 210 trials to a programmed cell death ligand-1 inhibitor. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis was used to identify modules of interest with ICILs. Functional enrichment analysis was performed to functionally annotate the modules. Screening of key genes and unsupervised clustering were used to identify candidate biomarkers. Tumor IMmune Estimation Resource was used to validate the relationships between the biomarkers and ICILs. Finally, we verified the expression of key genes in molecular subtypes of different response rates for IMCIs. Findings: The basal squamous subtype and luminal infiltrated subtype, which showed low response rates for IMCIs, had the highest levels of immune infiltration. The neuronal subtypes, which showed the highest response rates to IMCIs, had low ICILs. The modules of interest and key genes were determined based on topological overlap measurement, clustering results, and inclusion criteria. Modules highly correlated with ICILs were mainly enriched in immune responses and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. After screening the key genes in the modules, five candidate biomarkers (CD48, SEPT1, ACAP1, PPP1R16B, and IL16) were selected by unsupervised clustering. The key genes were inversely associated with tumor purity and were mostly expressed in the basal squamous subtype and luminal infiltrated subtypes. Interpretation: Patients with high ICILs may benefit the least from treatment with IMCIs. Five key genes could predict ICILs in BLCA, and their high expression suggested that the response rate to IMCIs may decrease.
An fMRI Study of Response and Semantic Conflict in the Stroop Task

An enduring question in selective attention research is whether we can successfully ignore an irrelevant stimulus and at what point in the stream of processing we are able to select the appropriate source of information. Using methods informed by recent research on the varieties of conflict in the Stroop task the present study provides evidence for specialized functions of regions of the frontoparietal network in processing response and semantic conflict during Stroop task performance. Specifically, we used trial types and orthogonal contrasts thought to better independently measure response and semantic conflict and we presented the trial types in pure blocks to maximize response conflict and therefore better distinguish between the conflict types. Our data indicate that the left inferior PFC plays an important role in the processing of both response and semantic (or stimulus) conflict, whilst regions of the left parietal cortex (BA40) play an accompanying role in response, but not semantic, conflict processing. Moreover, our study reports a role for the right mediodorsal thalamus in processing semantic, but not response, conflict. In none of our comparisons did we observe activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a finding we ascribe to the use of blocked trial type presentation and one that has implications for theories of ACC function.
Clinical Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention in Patients With First Episode Psychosis and in Individuals With Ultra-High Risk for Transition to Psychosis: A Review

Objectives: Recent clinical studies and meta-analyses have reported the clinical effects of mindfulness-based interventions as a complementary treatment for patients with schizophrenia, but their possible efficacy in patients with first episode of psychosis (FEP) and in individuals with ultra-high risk (UHR) of transition to psychosis is less clear. Here, we investigated the current evidence on the usefulness of mindfulness-based interventions in these two populations. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of the literature according to the PRISMA guidelines. Results: Among the 102 references retrieved, 9 responded to the inclusion criteria (8 in FEP patients and 1 in UHR individuals). In FEP patients, mindfulness interventions are well-tolerated and have a satisfactory level of adherence. The clinical benefits consist primarily of reduced anxiety and sadness and improved quality of life. None of the studies reported any increase in positive symptoms. Conclusion: Future sham-controlled studies with large sample sizes are needed to definitively conclude on the clinical interest of mindfulness-based interventions in FEP patients and UHR individuals as well as to understand their underlying mechanisms of action.