Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Supplementation with Saccharomyces Boulardii on Academic Examination Performance and Related Stress in Healthy Medical Students: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

In recent years, bacterial probiotic dietary supplementation has emerged as a promising way to improve cognition and to alleviate stress and anxiety; however, yeast probiotics have not been tested. The aim of the present study was to determine whether 30-day supplementation with Saccharomyces boulardii enhances academic performance under stress and affects stress markers. The trial was retrospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03427515). Healthy medical students were randomized to supplement their diet with Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-1079 or placebo before sitting for an academic examination, which served as a model of stress. The grades of a final examination adjusted to subject knowledge tested in non-stressful conditions was used as a primary outcome measure. Psychometrically evaluated state anxiety, cortisol and metanephrine salivary levels, and pulse rate were tested at a non-stressful time point before the intervention as well as just before the stressor. Fifty enrolled participants (22.6 ± 1.4 years of age, 19 males) completed the trial in the Saccharomyces and placebo arms. Supplementation with Saccharomyces did not significantly modify examination performance or increase in state anxiety, salivary cortisol, and metanephrine. However, the intervention resulted in higher increase in pulse rate under stress as compared to placebo by 10.4 (95% CI 4.2–16.6) min−1 (p = 0.0018), and the effect positively correlated with increase in salivary metanephrine (Pearson’s r = 0.35, 95% CI 0.09–0.58, p = 0.012). An intention-to-treat analysis was in line with the per-protocol one. In conclusion, supplementation with Saccharomyces boulardii CNCM I-1079 appears largely ineffective in improving academic performance under stress and in alleviating some stress markers, but it seems to increase pulse rate under stress, which may hypothetically reflect enhanced sympathoadrenal activity.
SUMO Modification of STAT1 and Its Role in PIAS-mediated Inhibition of Gene Activation*

The PIAS (protein inhibitors of activated STAT) family of proteins were first discovered as inhibitors of activated signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs). More recently these proteins have been shown to function as E3 ligases that promote the SUMO modification of a number of transcription regulators. We have investigated the relationship between the effects of PIAS proteins on STAT1 transcriptional activity and the ability of the PIAS proteins to function as SUMO E3 ligases. We demonstrate that STAT1 is a substrate for SUMO modification and that PIASx-α, but not PIAS1, functions as an E3 ligase to promote STAT1 modification. In addition, we have mapped the major site for SUMO modification on STAT1 to lysine 703. This lysine residue is in close proximity to the regulatory tyrosine residue at position 701, whose phosphorylation mediates STAT1 activation in response to cytokine signaling. Mutation of lysine 703 to arginine abolishes SUMO modification of STAT1 both in vitro and in vivo. However, this mutation does not affect the activation of STAT1 or the ability of either PIAS1 or PIASx-α to function as an inhibitor of STAT1-mediated transcription activation. Our findings demonstrate that inhibition of STAT1 by PIAS proteins does not require SUMO modification of STAT1 itself. SUMO modification of STAT1 may nonetheless be functionally important given the close proximity between the SUMO modification site and tyrosine 701.
Renal dysfunction after cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE To assess the causes and outcomes of patients with postcardiac surgery renal dysfunction. PATIENTS AND METHODS A large cardiovascular data- base including pre-, peri- and postoperative serum creatinine concentrations from 2214 consecutive cardiac surgery patients was analyzed. RESULTS Sixty-nine patients developed postoperative renal dysfunction, defined as at least a 15 mL/min decline in the creatinine clearance rate resulting in a value of less than 40 mL/min. These patients were significantly older, and had a higher incidence of previous cardiac surgery, diabetes, obesity, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension and poor ventricular function. Postoperatively, these patients had a higher occurrence of low output syndrome and myocardial infarction. Stepwise logistic regression predictors of postoperative renal dysfunction included the following: postoperative low output syndrome; repeat cardiac surgery; being older than 65 years; having diabetes; having poor left ventricular function; and having had valve surgery. Preoperative renal dysfunction (defined as a creatinine clearance of less than 40 mL/min) was not found to be one of the predictors. The mean creatinine concentrations of patients with mild postoperative renal dysfunction (defined as a creatinine concentration of less than 200 mmol/L on the fourth or fifth postoperative day) decreased significantly at the fifth postoperative day, while that of patients with severe postoperative renal dysfunction rose to a mean of 300 mmol/L six months postoperatively. The incidence of late dialysis (defined as a need for dialysis after postoperative day 10) approached 30% among patients with severe postoperative renal dysfunction and only 2% among patients with mild postoperative renal dysfunction. The early mortality rate (during the first postoperative month) was similar in both groups and approached 30%. CONCLUSIONS Patients who develop postoperative renal dysfunction have a high mortality rate. Postoperative low cardiac output is the most important cause of postoperative renal dysfunction and, therefore, should be avoided. Patients with creatinine concentrations of less than 200 mmol/L at postoperative day 4 or 5 will probably resume normal renal function. Patients with creatinine concentrations of more than 200 mmol/L at days 4 and 5 have a 30% chance of needing long term dialysis.
Locality Constrained Deep Supervised Hashing for Image Retrieval

Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) based deep hashing has shown its success for fast and accurate image retrieval, however directly minimizing the quantization error in deep hashing will change the distribution of DCNN features, and consequently change the similarity between the query and the retrieved images in hashing. In this paper, we propose a novel Locality-Constrained Deep Supervised Hashing. By simultaneously learning discriminative DCNN features and preserving the similarity between image pairs, the hash codes of our scheme preserves the distribution of DCNN features thus favors the accurate image retrieval. The contributions of this paper are two-fold: i) Our analysis shows that minimizing quantization error in deep hashing makes the features less discriminative which is not desirable for image retrieval; ii) We propose a Locality-Constrained Deep Supervised Hashing which preserves the similarity between image pairs in hashing. Extensive experiments on the CIFAR-10 and NUS-WIDE datasets show that our method significantly boosts the accuracy of image retrieval, especially on the CIFAR-10 dataset, the improvement is usually more than 6% in terms of the MAP measurement. Further, our method demonstrates 10 times faster than state-ofthe-art methods in the training phase.
Indirect Robust Estimation of the Short-Term Interest Rate Process

We introduce Indirect Robust Generalized Method of Moments (IRGMM), a new simulation-based estimation methodology, to model short-term interest rate processes. The primary advantage of IRGMM relative to classical estimators of the continuous-time short-rate diffusion processes is that it corrects both errors due to discretization and the errors due to model misspecification. We apply this new approach to various monthly and weekly Eurocurrency interest rate series.
Long-Term Outcome in Transient Global Amnesia Patients with and without Focal Hyperintensities in the CA1 Region of the Hippocampus

Focal hippocampal diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) lesion patterns are detected in transient global amnesia (TGA) patients in different frequency. It has been speculated that acute diffusion restrictions are associated with a worse outcome. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of acute DWI lesions on the cognitive long-term outcome in TGA patients. Seventeen otherwise healthy patients with the clinical syndrome of TGA, who had MRI investigations on admission as well as 1 day later, were investigated with a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery 2 years later. Acute hippocampal DWI lesions in TGA patients were detected in almost two thirds of the patients. Psychometric evaluation revealed no differences in cognitive performance between patients with and without DWI lesions as well as compared to healthy subjects. In addition, no relapse of the attack has been recognized in either group of TGA patients.
Wavelength dependent performance of a wavelength converter based on cross-gain modulation and birefringence of a semiconductor optical amplifier

By exploiting pump-induced birefringence in addition to cross-gain modulation, we have obtained improved extinction ratio and reduced optical power penalties for a wavelength converter using a semiconductor optical amplifier. In the probe beam wavelength range of 1528-1566 nm, while extinction ratios and power penalties of a conventional wavelength converter are found to be 4.5-9.2 dB and -0.5-2.1 dB, those of the proposed converter are 6.6-10 dB and -0.7-1.0 dB, respectively. The proposed converter shows better performance for all wavelengths in the range examined for both extinction ratio and power penalty. Especially, more improvements have been obtained in the longer wavelength.
Potential roles of activation-induced cytidine deaminase in promotion or prevention of autoimmunity in humans

Autoimmune manifestations are paradoxical and frequent complications of primary immunodeficiencies, including T and/or B cell defects. Among pure B cell defects, the Activation-induced cytidine Deaminase (AID)-deficiency, characterized by a complete lack of immunoglobulin class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation, is especially complicated by autoimmune disorders. We summarized in this review the different autoimmune and inflammatory manifestations present in 13 patients out of a cohort of 45 patients. Moreover, we also review the impact of AID mutations on B-cell tolerance and discuss hypotheses that may explain why central and peripheral B-cell tolerance was abnormal in the absence of functional AID. Hence, AID plays an essential role in controlling autoreactive B cells in humans and prevents the development of autoimmune syndromes.
Investigation Into the Effects of Nucleotide Content on the Electrical Characteristics of DNA Plasmid Molecular Wires

In this study, we investigate the effect of nucleotide content on the conductivity of plasmid length DNA molecular wires covalently bound to high aspect-ratio gold electrodes. The DNA wires were all between 2.20-2. 35μ in length (>6000bp), and contained either 39%, 53%, or 64% GC base-pairs. We compared the current-voltage (I-V) and frequency-impedance characteristics of the DNA wires with varying GC content, and observed statistically significantly higher conductivity in DNA wires containing higher GC content in both AC and DC measurement methods. Additionally, we noted that the conductivity decreased as a function of time for all DNA wires, with the impedance at 100 Hz nearly doubling over a period of seven days. All readings were taken in humidity and temperature controlled environments on DNA wires suspended above an insulative substrate, thus minimizing the effect of experimental and environmental factors as well as potential for nonlinear alternate DNA confirmations. While other groups have studied the effect of GC content on the conductivity of nanoscale DNA molecules (<;50bp), we were able to demonstrate that nucleotide content can affect the conductivity of micrometer length DNA wires at scales that may be required during the fabrication of DNA-based electronics. Furthermore, our results provide further evidence that many of the charge transfer theories developed from experiments using nanoscale DNA molecules may still be applicable for DNA wires at the micro scale.
Baseline Predictors of Adherence to Positive Airway Pressure Therapy for Sleep Apnea: A 10-Year Single-Center Observational Cohort Study

Background: Positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy is the standard treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Objectives: The aim of the current study was to determine operational long-term adherence to PAP and its predictors. Methods: In a retrospective single-center observational cohort study, we analyzed all patients referred to our center with suspected OSAS between November 2001 and November 2011. Baseline results and last follow-up data of each patient were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier estimates of adherence and Cox proportional hazard regression for age, gender, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) scores, body mass index, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) were performed. Evolution of adherence was analyzed in yearly cohorts comparing the proportion of patients discontinuing PAP within 6 and 12 months. Results: Of 4,638 referrals, 2,187 confirmed OSAS patients started PAP, 297 (14%) were referred out to other centers to follow-up, 42 (2%) died, and 92 (5%) no longer needed PAP. Of 1,756 patients, the median follow-up was 36 months [95% confidence interval (CI) 33.6-37.8], and adherence at 1, 5 and 10 years was 74 (CI 71-75; n = 1,028), 55 (CI 53-58; n = 281) and 51% (CI 48-55; n = 10), respectively. Adherence is associated with ESS score [hazard ratio (HR) 0.60; CI 0.47-0.78], ODI (HR 0.50; CI 0.32-0.77) and AHI (HR 0.56; CI 0.37-0.85). In yearly cohorts according to inclusion date, the absconder rate at 6 and 12 months was 20 (CI 18-22) and 27% (CI 25-30) for the first 8 years and improved to 10 (CI 7-15) and 14% (CI 10-19) for the last 2 years, respectively. Conclusions: Long-term adherence to PAP in OSAS is associated with baseline measures of disease severity. After 2009, an improvement in the adherence rate was observed.
Isolation of Spheroplast Membranes and Stability of Spheroplasts of Bacillus stearothermophilus

Spheroplasts were prepared by lysozyme digestion of the cell wall and ruptured by suspension in 0.15 m NaCl, followed by centrifugation at 30,900 × g for 35 min, and by a final suspension in 0.05 m NaCl for 12 to 16 hr at 5 C. The membrane ghosts were washed four times in tris(hydroxylmethyl)aminomethane (Tris) magnesium buffer and once in distilled water. The intact membranes resembled empty sacs with narrow slits in which the cytoplasm was extruded. A 92% recovery of cell membrane was obtained with all membrane preparations. The spheroplasts do not require a stabilizing medium to keep them from rupturing, and they are stable for 2 to 3 hr when exposed to a temperature of 65 C. The membrane content of the cell increases with age of culture (mid-log, 16.5%; late-log, 17.0%; and stationary, 17.6%) and temperature of growth (55 C, 16.5%; and 65 C, 17.8%), and it is unaffected by composition of the growth medium. The ratio of the protein to lipid content of the membrane increases with the complexity of the medium, age of culture (mid-log, 3.65; late-log, 3.91; and stationary, 4.15), and temperature of growth (55 C, 3.65; and 65 C, 5.22). The ribonucleic acid (RNA) and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content of the membranes was 9.0 to 13.7% and 0.3 to 0.8%, respectively. Reducing sugar (determined as glucose) amounts to 0.9 to 1.0% of the membrane weight and did not significantly vary for the different membrane preparations. Medium composition, age of culture, and temperature of growth have no significant effect on the amount of each amino acid in the membrane. Aspartic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, leucine, and lysine are present in the greatest amount and represent 12.9 to 14.1%, 10.4 to 11.3%, 9.6 to 10.3%, 7.7 to 8.8%, and 7.6 to 8.5% of the membrane peptide, respectively. Prior to the rupture of the spheroplasts, 25.0, 15.7, and 50.0% of the protein, RNA, and DNA, respectively, is lost. In potassium phosphate-magnesium buffer without sucrose, 90% of the protein and RNA and 95% of the DNA is lost from the spheroplasts. In the presence of sucrose, the leakage of RNA and DNA is similar to that observed for spheroplasts suspended in Tris magnesium buffer; however, the leakage of protein is 2.4 times greater.
The use of an online support group for neuromuscular disorders: a thematic analysis of message postings

Abstract Purpose: People affected by neuromuscular disorders can experience adverse psychosocial consequences and difficulties accessing information and support. Online support groups provide new opportunities for peer support. The aim of this study was to understand how contributors used the message board function of a newly available neuromuscular disorders online support group. Methods: Message postings (n = 1951) from the first five months of the message board of a newly formed online support group for neuromuscular disorders hosted by a charitable organization were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Members created a sense of community through disclosing personal information, connecting with people with similar illness experiences or interests, welcoming others and sharing aspirations for the development of a resourceful community. Experiences, emotional reactions and support were shared in relation to: delayed diagnosis; symptom interpretation; illness management and progression; the isolating impact of rare disorders; and the influence of social and political factors on illness experiences. Conclusions: This study provided a novel insight into individuals’ experiences of accessing a newly available online support group for rare conditions hosted by a charitable organization. The findings highlight how the online support group provided an important peer support environment for members to connect with others, exchange information and support and engender discussion on political and social issues unique to living with often-rare neuromuscular disorders. Online support groups may therefore provide an important and easily accessible support outlet for people with neuromuscular disorders as well as a platform for empowering members to raise awareness about the impact of living with these conditions. Further research is needed to examine member motivations for using such groups and any effects of participation in greater detail. Implications for rehabilitation Online support groups may provide a unique forum for information sharing and peer support between people affected by often rare, neuromuscular conditions. Rehabilitation professionals may wish to signpost those affected by neuromuscular disorders to such groups. An advantage is that these groups are freely available and can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. Members may be able to learn about the diagnosis and symptom experiences of others, discuss coping strategies, validate illness experiences and discuss social and political issues relating to living with these conditions. Further research is needed before researchers and clinicians can fully understand participants’ motivations for, and experiences of, using such groups and any potential psychosocial benefits.
Age below 40 or a recently proposed clinical prediction score cannot bypass adrenal venous sampling in primary aldosteronism.

CONTEXT Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) is used to distinguish bilateral from unilateral primary aldosteronism (PA). Due to its limited availability, clinical prediction scores have been proposed to diagnose unilateral disease without AVS. OBJECTIVE Our goal was to test 2 recently proposed predictors of unilateral PA: 1) a clinical prediction score using imaging, serum potassium, and glomerular filtration rate and 2) the combination of visible unilateral adenoma on imaging and age <40 years. DESIGN AND SETTING We used the data of all patients with PA of the prospective German Conn's Registry treated in Munich and Berlin since 2008. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTION Of 205 patients with PA, 194 had a successful AVS and were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Parameters were compared between patients with lateralized and nonlateralized AVS. Specificity and sensitivity of the proposed predictors were calculated. RESULTS A total of 130 patients (67%) had unilateral PA according to AVS. Patients with unilateral PA showed a significantly lower estimated glomerular filtration rate compared with patients with bilateral disease (P < .05). The cohorts differed significantly in potassium supplementation, serum potassium, baseline and post-saline plasma aldosterone, baseline aldosterone to renin ratio, and adenoma in imaging. The proposed prediction score had a sensitivity of 46% (58 of 127) and a specificity of 80% (53 of 66). In patients below 40 years (n = 28), the prediction score achieved a specificity of 100%; however, relying only on imaging in this young cohort, the specificity dropped to 83%. CONCLUSIONS The suggested prediction score has high accuracy only in young patients but cannot substitute for AVS in the elderly.
From the Cover: Arsenic Induces Hippocampal Neuronal Apoptosis and Cognitive Impairments via an Up-Regulated BMP2/Smad-Dependent Reduced BDNF/TrkB Signaling in Rats

Arsenic promotes hippocampal neuronal damage inducing cognitive impairments. However, mechanism arbitrating arsenic-mediated cognitive deficits remains less-known. Here, we identified that chronic exposure to environmentally relevant doses of arsenic increased apoptosis, characterized by caspase-3 activation, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage and Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling of rat hippocampal neurons, marked by NeuN. Investigating apoptotic mechanism through invivo and invitro studies revealed that arsenic promoted bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) expression, supported by increased BMP-receptor2 (BMPR2) and p-Smad1/5 in hippocampal neurons. BMP2-silencing and treatment with BMP antagonist, noggin, attenuated the arsenic-induced apoptosis and loss in hippocampal neurons. We then investigated whether BMP2/Smad signaling stimulated neuronal apoptosis independently or required other intermediate pathways. We hypothesized participation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that promotes neuronal survival. We identified an arsenic-mediated attenuation of BDNF-dependent TrkB signaling, and observed that co-treatment with recombinant-BDNF reinstated BDNF/TrkB and reduced neuronal apoptosis. To probe whether BMP2/Smad and BDNF/TrkB pathways could be linked, we co-treated arsenic with noggin or recombinant BDNF. We detected a noggin-mediated restored BDNF/TrkB, while recombinant-BDNF failed to affect BMP2/Smad signaling. In addition, we found that TrkB-inhibitor, K252a, nullified noggin-induced protection, proving the necessity of a downstream reduced BDNF/TrKB signaling for BMP2/Smad-mediated apoptosis in arsenic-treated neurons. We further related our observations with cognitive performances, and detected noggin-mediated restoration of transfer latency time and learning-memory ability for passive avoidance and Y-Maze tests respectively in arsenic-treated rats. Overall, our study proves that arsenic promotes hippocampal neuronal apoptosis through an up-regulated BMP2/Smad-dependent attenuation of BDNF/TrkB pathway, inducing cognitive deficits.