Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-reported and experimentally induced self-disgust is heightened in Parkinson’s disease: Contribution of behavioural symptoms

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with deficits in the recognition and expression of basic emotions, although self-reported levels of the self-conscious emotions shame and embarrassment are higher. However, one self-conscious emotion—self-disgust–which has been shown to have a negative impact on psychological wellbeing, has not been investigated in PD before. Here we employed self-report measures of self-conscious emotions, and an emotion induction paradigm involving images of the self, and narrated personal vignettes of instances when patients with PD (and controls) found themselves disgusting. We found that self-reported and induced levels of self-disgust were higher in PD patients than in matched controls, and that trait self-disgust was specifically related to disorders of impulse control in PD patients. Given the link between self-disgust and impaired psychological wellbeing, and the prevalence of anxiety and depression in PD, self-disgust might make a useful therapeutic target for psychological interventions in the condition.
Plasma Free Amino Acid Responses to Whey Protein and Their Relationships with Gastric Emptying, Blood Glucose- and Appetite-Regulatory Hormones and Energy Intake in Lean Healthy Men

This study determined the effects of increasing loads of whey protein on plasma amino acid (AA) concentrations, and their relationships with gastric emptying, blood glucose- and appetite-regulatory hormones, blood glucose and energy intake. Eighteen healthy lean men participated in a double-blinded study, in which they consumed, on 3 separate occasions, in randomised order, 450-mL drinks containing either 30 g (L) or 70 g (H) of pure whey protein isolate, or control with 0 g of protein (C). Gastric emptying, serum concentrations of AAs, ghrelin, cholecystokinin (CCK), glucagon-like-peptide 1 (GLP-1), insulin, glucagon and blood glucose were measured before and after the drinks over 180 min. Then energy intake was quantified. All AAs were increased, and 7/20 AAs were increased more by H than L. Incremental areas under the curve (iAUC0–180 min) for CCK, GLP-1, insulin and glucagon were correlated positively with iAUCs of 19/20 AAs (p < 0.05). The strongest correlations were with the branched-chain AAs as well as lysine, tyrosine, methionine, tryptophan, and aspartic acid (all R2 > 0.52, p < 0.05). Blood glucose did not correlate with any AA (all p > 0.05). Ghrelin and energy intake correlated inversely, but only weakly, with 15/20 AAs (all R2 < 0.34, p < 0.05). There is a strong relationship between gluco-regulatory hormones with a number of (predominantly essential) AAs. However, the factors mediating the effects of protein on blood glucose and energy intake are likely to be multifactorial.
Protective Immunity and New Vaccines for Lyme Disease

Abstract Lyme disease, caused by some Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, is the most common tick-borne illness in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of cases, and geographic spread, continue to grow. Previously identified B. burgdorferi proteins, lipid immunogens, and live mutants lead the design of canonical vaccines aimed at disrupting infection in the host. Discovery of the mechanism of action of the first vaccine catalyzed the development of new strategies to control Lyme disease that bypassed direct vaccination of the human host. Thus, novel prevention concepts center on proteins produced by B. burgdorferi during tick transit and on tick proteins that mediate feeding and pathogen transmission. A burgeoning area of research is tick immunity as it can unlock mechanistic pathways that could be targeted for disruption. Studies that shed light on the mammalian immune pathways engaged during tick-transmitted B. burgdorferi infection would further development of vaccination strategies against Lyme disease.
Mepolizumab for the Treatment of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis: Our Experience.

Díaz-Campos RM1,*, Prudencio-Ribera VC1,*, GarcíaMoguel I2, Fernández-Rodríguez C2, Corral-Blanco M1, JarrinEstupiñan ME1, Melero-Moreno C3 1Severe Asthma Unit. Pneumology Service, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain 2Severe Asthma Unit. Allergology Service, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain 3Institute for Health Research (i+12), Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain *These authors contributed equally to this manuscript.
Comprehensive analysis of the long noncoding RNA expression profile and construction of the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network in colorectal cancer

ABSTRACT Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play important roles in various tumors including colorectal cancer (CRC). Here, we obtained data from RNA-sequencing analysis using 3 paired of CRC tissues and corresponding normal tissues. Through Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses, the biological functions of these dysregulated genes were identified. Moreover, we analyzed the expression levels of lncRNA PGM5-AS1 and B3GALT5-AS1 by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay. To evaluate the accuracy of the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network we built, we also detected PGM5 expression and analyzed the relationship between PGM5-AS1 and PGM5 in CRC. In addition, we explored the potential function of PGM5-AS1 in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, we identified dysregulated lncRNAs and constructed the lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network in CRC. Then, we showed that the expression levels of PGM5-AS1, B3GALT5-AS1 and PGM5 were significantly downregulated in CRC tissues compared with corresponding normal tissues. Besides, PGM5-AS1 expression was positively associated with PGM5 expression. These findings were consistent with our RNA-sequencing data. Functionally, overexpression of PGM5-AS1 could induce cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in CRC. Animal study indicated that PGM5-AS1 overexpression inhibited CRC growth in vivo. This work provides dysregulated lncRNAs as candidates for further study in CRC. The lncRNA-mRNA co-expression network brings novel insights into further function research. More importantly, PGM5-AS1 is a critical tumor suppressor in CRC.
PADS Arsenal: a database of prokaryotic defense systems related genes

Abstract Defense systems are vital weapons for prokaryotes to resist heterologous DNA and survive from the constant invasion of viruses, and they are widely used in biochemistry investigation and antimicrobial drug research. So far, numerous types of defense systems have been discovered, but there is no comprehensive defense systems database to organize prokaryotic defense gene datasets. To fill this gap, we unveil the prokaryotic antiviral defense system (PADS) Arsenal (https://bigd.big.ac.cn/padsarsenal), a public database dedicated to gathering, storing, analyzing and visualizing prokaryotic defense gene datasets. The initial version of PADS Arsenal integrates 18 distinctive categories of defense system with the annotation of 6 600 264 genes retrieved from 63,701 genomes across 33 390 species of archaea and bacteria. PADS Arsenal provides various ways to retrieve defense systems related genes information and visualize them with multifarious function modes. Moreover, an online analysis pipeline is integrated into PADS Arsenal to facilitate annotation and evolutionary analysis of defense genes. PADS Arsenal can also visualize the dynamic variation information of defense genes from pan-genome analysis. Overall, PADS Arsenal is a state-of-the-art open comprehensive resource to accelerate the research of prokaryotic defense systems.
A novel application of the Price equation reveals that landscape diversity promotes the response of bees to regionally rare plant species.

Bees are ecosystem service providers that are globally threatened by losses of plant diversity. However, effects of multi-species floral displays on bees in agro-ecosystems with variable landscape context remain poorly understood, hindering pollinator conservation tactics. We addressed this knowledge gap through a novel application of the modified Price equation to evaluate responses of bees to diverse floral communities on 36 farms in Washington, USA, over 3 years. We found that floral richness, not floral identity, was the best predictor of floral visits by bees. However, the benefits of regionally rare floral species (i.e. plants found at relatively few sites) were only fully realised when farms were embedded in diverse landscapes. Our analysis used the modified Price equation to demonstrate that plant diversity, rather than specific plant species, promotes pollinator visitation, and that diverse landscapes promote the response of pollinators to regionally rare plant species.
Dapsone reduced acetic acid-induced inflammatory response in rat colon tissue through inhibition of NF-kB signaling pathway

Abstract Aim: The purpose of this study is to examine the protective effects of Dapsone on inflammation of intestinal tissue through inhibition of NF-kB pathway in acetic acid-induced colitis in rats. Methods: Acute colitis was produced by intra-rectal instillation of 2 mL of 4% acetic acid diluted in normal saline. Then, two hours after induction of colitis, DMSO as vehicle, dexamethasone (2 mg/kg) and dapsone (12.5 mg/kg) were given to the animals intraperitoneally (i.p.) and continued for five following days. Evaluation of macroscopic and microscopic damages were done. Myeloid peroxidase enzyme (MPO) activity was measured by a biochemical technique. Moreover, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) activity was identified by ELISA, and the expression level of pNF-kB protein was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: Dexamethasone (2 mg/kg) and dapsone (12.5 mg/kg) decreased the macroscopic and microscopic damages compared with acetic acid group (p ˂ .001). Additionally, these agents decreased the activity of MPO (p ˂ .001), TNF-α (p ˂ .001) and the expression level of p-NF-kB (p ˂ .001) in rat colon tissue compared with the acetic acid group. Conclusion: It is proposed that the anti-inflammatory activity of dapsone on acetic acid-induced colitis in rats may involve the inhibition of NF-kB pathway.
Use of amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate and cefaclor in the Italian pediatric population

Abstract Antibiotics are the most prescribed drugs in children, often administered without any specific diagnosis. In Italy, Family Pediatricians prescribe antibiotics more frequently than in other Europe countries, the commonest being amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate and cefaclor. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children up to 12 years old, included in the database Pedianet, who received at least one prescription of amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate or cefaclor during the period 1st January 2003 to 30th June 2007. 335,352 antibiotics prescriptions in 110,747 children were included in the study. There were 168,458 prescriptions of amoxicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate or cefaclor, amounting to 50.2% of antibiotic prescriptions. The main indication was unspecified-upper respiratory tract infection (26.5%). Overall, amoxicillin/clavulanate was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in older children, while amoxicillin was the most prescribed in younger patients. Amoxicillin was the most prescribed antibiotic in all age groups (p < 0.0001) for upper respiratory tract infections, otitis media and acute bronchitis. A therapeutic switch occurred in 0.6% of cases, and was most frequent in pneumonia. This was a retrospective study carried out using software designed for the routine practice and not for specific studies; therefore several limitations on the data interpretation need to be considered especially on the diagnosis. However, the study shows that antibiotic consumption in the Italian pediatric population exceeds the European average, with three beta-lactam drugs accounting for over half of all antibiotic prescriptions.
The Daily Mile: 15 Minutes Running Improves the Physical Fitness of Italian Primary School Children

The Daily Mile™ is an innovative school-based intervention that requires children to run or jog outside for 15 min at a self-selected pace during class time. Today, only one study has investigated the efficacy of The Daily Mile on physical fitness, which was conducted with Scottish children. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of The Daily Mile in Italian primary schools. A total of 486 children participated in The Daily Mile for 3 months (experimental group), whereas 309 children continued their daily school routine (control group). The 6-min run test, standing long jump, body mass index, and waist-to-height ratio were assessed. Their teachers completed surveys for assessing the intervention acceptability. After correction for age and gender, significant group × time interactions were observed in the 6-min run test and standing long jump results. In the post-test period, the experimental group showed improvement in the 6-min run test and standing long jump results. Overall, the teachers were satisfied with the program and found it suitable for their school context and easy to implement. The Daily Mile was successfully implemented and smoothly accepted in the day routine of Italian primary schools.
Disease-specific quality of life following a flare in systemic lupus erythematosus: an item response theory analysis of the French EQUAL cohort.

OBJECTIVE To explore, at an item-level, the effect of disease activity (DA) on specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in SLE patients using an item response theory longitudinal model. METHODS This prospective longitudinal multicentre French cohort EQUAL followed SLE patients over 2 years. Specific HRQoL according to LupusQoL and SLEQOL was collected every 3 months. DA according to SELENA-SLEDAI flare index (SFI) and revised SELENA-SLEDAI flare index (SFI-R) was evaluated every 6 months. Regarding DA according to SFI and each SFI-R type of flare, specific HRQoL of remitting patients was compared with non-flaring patients fitting a linear logistic model with relaxed assumptions for each domain of the questionnaires. RESULTS Between December 2011 and July 2015, 336 patients were included (89.9% female). LupusQoL and SLEQOL items related to physical HRQoL (physical health, physical functioning, pain) were most affected by musculoskeletal and cutaneous flares. Cutaneous flares had significant influence on self-image. Neurological or psychiatric flares had a more severe impact on specific HRQoL. Patient HRQoL was impacted up to 18 months after a flare. CONCLUSION Item response theory analysis is able to pinpoint items that are influenced by a given patient group in terms of a latent trait change. Item-level analysis provides a new way of interpreting HRQoL variation in SLE patients, permitting a better understanding of DA impact on HRQoL. This kind of analysis could be easily implemented for the comparison of groups in a clinical trial. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01904812.
GERIATRIC MORBIDITY PROFILE IN AN URBAN SLUM, CENTRAL INDIA

Background – In developing country like India, the elderly people suffer from the dual medical problems of both communicable as well as degenerative diseases. The common illnesses were degenerative disease, cataract, hypertension, diabetes and diseases of locomotors. Methods- The cross sectional study was conducted from Nov 2009 to March2011 in urban slum areas of UHTC, covering a population of 20342, which is an adopted area under the administrative control of dept. of community medicine, NKP Salve Institute of medical sciences & research centre, Nagpur. A minimum sample size of 400 elderly people (>60 yrs) were selected for study by house to house visits and worked out assuming ‘p’ of 50% and precision of 10% at 95% confidence interval. The first house was selected by lottery method and then every 3rd house was selected by systematic random sampling method. Information about study was given to all study subjects, rapport was developed and then subjects were called at UHTC for detailed history and examination. Results-The most common morbidities identified in study population was Anemia (96.50%) followed by Hypertension (34.75%), Arthritis (32.25%), Cataract (21.00%) and Diabetes 17.75%). The significant association of obesity with gender is observed in the present study. Conclusions- Majority of the population above 60 years of age in the present study were suffering from non-communicable diseases. There was a significantly higher load of old age related morbidity among the study subjects. This burden increased with advancement of age possibly as a consequence to progressive multi-organ degeneration and lowered immunologic status involving one body system after another.
Codesigning a mobile gamified attention bias modification intervention: research protocol

Introduction Advances in experimental psychology has highlighted the need to modify underlying automatic cognitive biases, such as attentional biases. While prior research has documented the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification, such interventions tend to be highly repetitive and individuals lack motivation to train over time. Participatory action research methods have been more widely applied in psychiatry to help design interventions that are of relevant to key stakeholders and end users. This study aimed to involve both healthcare professionals and patients in the joint codesign of a gamified mobile attention bias modification intervention. Methods and analysis The participatory design research method adopted is that of a use-oriented design approach, in the form of a future workshop. 20 participants, comprising 10 healthcare professionals, 5 inpatients and 5 outpatients will be recruited to participate in three separate codesign workshops. In the first phase of the workshop, the participants share their critique of an attention bias modification intervention. In the second phase of the workshop, participants are asked to brainstorm features. The participants are also shown gamification approaches and are asked to consider if gaming elements could enhance the existing application. In the last phase, the participants are asked to sketch a new prototype. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been obtained from the National Healthcare Group’s Domain Specific Research Board (approval number 2018/01363). The findings arising from this study will be disseminated by means of conferences and publications.
Association between clinical measures of sarcopenia in a sample of community-dwelling women

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is defined as a loss of muscle mass and strength as well as a reduction in physical performance with aging. This study was undertaken to examine the association between specific measures of muscle mass, muscle strength, and physical performance in older women. METHODS: Sixty-nine community-dwelling women with an average age of 66 years (range 60–79) participated in this study. Their muscle mass was described using bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), their muscle strength was characterized using hand-grip dynamometry (HGD) and their physical performance was denoted using gait speed. Associations between the measures were examined using Pearson correlations and factor analysis. RESULTS: The correlation between muscle mass and muscle strength was strong and significant (p < 0.001), whereas the correlation between both variables and gait speed was poor and not significant. The factor analysis showed that gait speed (loading = −0.235) was not part of the same component as muscle mass and grip strength. CONCLUSIONS: Muscle mass and muscle strength were very closely linked with one another but not with gait speed. Muscle mass and strength represent a different component of sarcopenia than physical performance, at least as represented by gait speed.
Greater Bone Marrow Adiposity Predicts Bone Loss in Older Women

Bone marrow adiposity (BMA) is associated with aging and osteoporosis, but whether BMA can predict bone loss and fractures remains unknown. Using data from the Age Gene/Environment Susceptibility (AGES)‐Reykjavik study, we investigated the associations between 1H‐MRS–based measures of vertebral bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT), annualized change in bone density/strength by quantitative computed tomography (QCT) and DXA, and secondarily, with incident clinical fractures and radiographic vertebral fractures among older adults. The associations between BMAT and annualized change in bone density/strength were evaluated using linear regression models, adjusted for age, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, estradiol, and testosterone. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the associations between baseline BMAT and incident clinical fractures, and logistic regression models for incident vertebral fractures. At baseline, mean ± SD age was 80.9 ± 4.2 and 82.6 ± 4.2 years in women (n = 148) and men (n = 150), respectively. Mean baseline BMAT was 55.4% ± 8.1% in women and 54.1% ± 8.2% in men. Incident clinical fractures occurred in 7.4% of women over 2.8 years and in 6.0% of men over 2.2 years. Incident vertebral fractures occurred in 12% of women over 3.3 years and in 17% of men over 2.7 years. Each 1 SD increase in baseline BMAT was associated with a 3.9 mg2/cm4/year greater loss of spine compressive strength index (p value = .003), a 0.9 mg/cm3/year greater loss of spine trabecular BMD (p value = .02), and a 1.2 mg/cm3/year greater loss of femoral neck trabecular BMD (p value = .02) in women. Among men, there were no associations between BMAT and changes in bone density/strength. There were no associations between BMAT and incident fractures in women or men. In conclusion, we found greater BMAT is associated with greater loss of trabecular bone at the spine and femoral neck, and greater loss of spine compressive strength, in older women. © 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Improvement of oxygen transfer by increasing contact area between gas and liquid using air–water interface generator

ABSTRACT In this current study, an apparatus called air–water interface generator was investigated for oxygen transfer enhancement by increasing a contact area between air and water. The effect of this apparatus and its optimal installation condition were investigated. The total volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient (kLaT ) in this study was divided into volumetric oxygen transfer for the bubble transfer (kLaB ), volumetric oxygen transfer for the inner interface transfer inside the apparatus (kLaI ), and volumetric oxygen transfer for the free water surface transfer (kLaS ). The experimental results show that the apparatus installed near the water surface could increase the oxygen transfer 18% due to the presence of an inner interface. Additionally, the effect of the number and the position of apparatus on bubble dispersion should also be taken into consideration since the bubble transfer makes the most significant contribution to total oxygen transfer in the diffused aeration system. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT