Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proanthocyanidin B2 attenuates high-glucose-induced neurotoxicity of dorsal root ganglion neurons through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

High glucose affects primary afferent neurons in dorsal root ganglia by inhibiting neurite elongation, causing oxidative stress, and inducing neuronal apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction, which finally result in neuronal damage. Proanthocyanidin, a potent antioxidant, has been shown to have neuroprotective effects. Proanthocyanidin B2 is a common dimer of oligomeric proanthocyanidins. To date, no studies have reported the neuroprotective effects of proanthocyanidin B2 against high-glucose-related neurotoxicity in dorsal root ganglion neurons. In this study, 10 µg/mL proanthocyanidin B2 was used to investigate its effect on 45 mM high-glucose-cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. We observed that challenge with high levels of glucose increased neuronal reactive oxygen species and promoted apoptosis, decreased cell viability, inhibited outgrowth of neurites, and decreased growth-associated protein 43 protein and mRNA levels. Proanthocyanidin B2 administration reversed the neurotoxic effects caused by glucose challenge. Blockage of the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase/Akt signaling pathway with 10 µM LY294002 eliminated the protective effects of proanthocyanidin B2. Therefore, proanthocyanidin B2 might be a potential novel agent for the treatment of peripheral diabetic neuropathy.
Online Privacy and Aging of Digital Artifacts

This paper explores how the user interface can help users invoke the right to be forgotten in social media by decaying content. The decaying of digital artifacts gradually degrades content, thereby becoming less accessible to audiences. Through a lab study with 30 participants, we probe the concept of aging/decaying of digital artifacts. We compared three visualization techniques (pixelating, fading, and shrinking) used to decay social media content on three platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). We report results from qualitative and quantitative analysis. Visualizations that most closely reflect how memories fade over time were most effective. We also report on participants' attitudes and concerns about how content decay relates to protection of their online privacy. We discuss the implications of our results and provide preliminary recommendations based on our findings.
Neutrophil‐to‐C3 ratio and neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio were associated with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus is prone to recurrent attacks, and its treatment is related to disease activities. It is important to accurately assess the patient's disease activity. So, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between neutrophil‐to‐C3 ratio (NC3R), neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and disease activity in patients with Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Evidence of diabetes‐specific autoimmunity in obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance

Recently, significant attention has been paid to the possible activation of an autoimmune response in the presence of obesity. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the frequencies of autoantibodies typical of autoimmune diabetes in obese patients with normal glucose tolerance (NGT), obese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and controls. We also evaluated the presence of immunoreactivity to Hashimoto's thyroiditis and autoimmune gastritis.
Differential Radiation Sensitivity in p53 Wild-Type and p53-Deficient Tumor Cells Associated with Senescence but not Apoptosis or (Nonprotective) Autophagy

Studies of radiation interaction with tumor cells often focus on apoptosis as an end point; however, clinically relevant doses of radiation also promote autophagy and senescence. Moreover, functional p53 has frequently been implicated in contributing to radiation sensitivity through the facilitation of apoptosis. To address the involvement of apoptosis, autophagy, senescence and p53 status in the response to radiation, the current studies utilized isogenic H460 non-small cell lung cancer cells that were either p53-wild type (H460wt) or null (H460crp53). As anticipated, radiosensitivity was higher in the H460wt cells than in the H460crp53 cell line; however, this differential radiation sensitivity did not appear to be a consequence of apoptosis. Furthermore, radiosensitivity did not appear to be reduced in association with the promotion of autophagy, as autophagy was markedly higher in the H460wt cells. Despite radiosensitization by chloroquine in the H460wt cells, the radiation-induced autophagy proved to be essentially nonprotective, as inhibition of autophagy via 3-methyl adenine (3-MA), bafilomycin A1 or ATG5 silencing failed to alter radiation sensitivity or promote apoptosis in either the H460wt or H460crp53 cells. Radiosensitivity appeared to be most closely associated with senescence, which occurred earlier and to a greater extent in the H460wt cells. This finding is consistent with the in-depth proteomics analysis on the secretomes from the H460wt and H460crp53 cells (with or without radiation exposure) that showed no significant association with radioresistance-related proteins, whereas several senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors were upregulated in H460wt cells relative to H460crp53 cells. Taken together, these findings indicate that senescence, rather than apoptosis, plays a central role in determination of radiosensitivity; furthermore, autophagy is likely to have minimal influence on radiosensitivity under conditions where autophagy takes the nonprotective form.
Prediction of abandonment in Spanish fitness centres

Abstract Research question: The increase of physical exercise in fitness centres has turned these facilities in important active lifestyle promoters. However, only between 30% and 60% of subscribers still linked to the sports centre after a year. The aim of this study is to design a model to predict the drop out in fitness centres. Research methods: Monthly data corresponding to the actual behaviour of 14,522 members of three sport centres in Spain were recorded over the course of one year. In order to calculate the likelihood of drop out, logistic regressions were used to create predictive models for each centre. Results and findings: It was possible to predict abandonment of users of sport centres from their historical behaviour, although the predictive models obtained for each centre were not completely coincident. The effectiveness of the models was around 70%. Implications: The analysis of users’ behaviour in a fitness centre can allow to avoid the drop out and therefore the abandonment of physical activity. Segmenting the customers based on the likelihood of drop out may be useful for improving the effectiveness of the strategies of loyalty and for optimizing the organization of human and material resources.
Instrument-assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization Improves Physical Performance of Young Male Soccer Players

Abstract This study aimed to examine the effects of a rehabilitation exercise combined with instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization on the isokinetic power, muscle fatigue, and fitness of soccer players. An interventional study design was used to assess 40 subjects aged 15–17 years. Twenty participants each in instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization and control groups completed several tests to determine player development. The results showed significant differences between the two groups with respect to the isokinetic power of the ankle (i. e., dorsiflexion, peak torque body weight at the right- and left-foot angular velocities of 30°/s and 120°/s; plantar flexion, peak torque body weight at the right- and left-foot angular velocities of 30°/s and 120°/s) and knee (extension, right peak-torque body weight at 60°/s and 180°/s and left peak-torque body weight at 60°/s; flexion, right and left peak-torque body weight at 60°/s and 180°/s), muscle fatigue, and physical fitness (P<0.05). Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization in soccer players suggests that the characteristics of athletic performance may be improved by decrease in fatigue and increase in fitness and muscle power. Therefore, we suggest instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization for soccer players to increase their performance.
CCR6 controls autoimmune but not innate immunity‐driven experimental arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, characterized by synovial infiltration of various inflammatory cells. Chemokines are involved in controlling the recruitment of different cell types into the synovial membrane. The role of CCR6 in the development of arthritis so far remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of CCR6 in the pathogenesis of arthritis using three different murine arthritis models. Compared to WT animals, CCR6−/− mice developed less clinical signs of arthritis in the collagen‐induced arthritis model but not in the K/BxN serum transfer arthritis model and in the human tumour necrosis factor transgenic arthritis model, suggesting a defect in adaptive effector functions but intact innate effector functions in the development of arthritis in CCR6−/− animals. In line with this, anti‐collagen antibody levels were significantly reduced in CCR6−/− mice compared with WT mice. Moreover, we demonstrate enhanced osteoclastogenesis in vitro in CCR6−/− mice compared with WT mice. However, we did not detect differences in bone mass under steady state conditions in vivo between WT and CCR6‐deficient mice. These data suggest that CCR6 is crucially involved in adaptive but not in innate immunity‐driven arthritis. CCR6 or its chemokine ligand CCL20 might represent a possible new target for the treatment of RA.
The energy expenditure of people with spinal cord injury whilst walking compared to an able-bodied population

Background In the field of spinal cord injury (SCI) research there is an emphasis on the ability to ambulate. Purpose To determine the ambulation energy expenditure (EE) and factors that affect ambulation EE in SCI participants compared to able-bodied participants. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Participants were recruited from seven SCI rehabilitation units within the Johannesburg area. The following were used: demographic questionnaire to capture participants’ characteristics, modified Ashworth scale for spasticity; goniometer for range of movement (ROM); American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) scale for patient classification; accelerometer for EE and the six-minute walk test (6MWT) for endurance. Characteristics of the study participants were summarised using descriptive statistics. Data were analysed as follows: two-sample t-test for comparison between the able-bodied and SCI sample and Pearson product moment correlations for relationship between identified factors and EE. Results Participants comprised 45 in the SCI group and 21 in the able-bodied group. The mean energy expenditure per metre (EE/m) for the SCI participants was 0.33 (± 0.29) calories compared to 0.08 (± 0.02) calories for the able-bodied participants. A decrease in walking velocity resulted in an increase in EE. For SCI participants, every decrease in degree of hip flexion ROM resulted in a 0.003 increase in EE/m walked. A unit decrease in velocity resulted in an increase of 0.41 in EE/m walked. Energy expenditure per metre decreased from ASIA A to ASIA D. Crutch walking utilised 0.34 calories per metre less energy than walking frames (p = 0.03). Conclusion Based on this study’s findings, factors to consider in order to maximise energy efficiency whilst walking are maintaining hip flexion ROM and optimising velocity of walking.
Is Nitrogen a Key Determinant of Water Transport and Photosynthesis in Higher Plants Upon Drought Stress?

Drought stress is a major global issue limiting agricultural productivity. Plants respond to drought stress through a series of physiological, cellular, and molecular changes for survival. The regulation of water transport and photosynthesis play crucial roles in improving plants’ drought tolerance. Nitrogen (N, ammonium and nitrate) is an essential macronutrient for plants, and it can affect many aspects of plant growth and metabolic pathways, including water relations and photosynthesis. This review focuses on how drought stress affects water transport and photosynthesis, including the regulation of hydraulic conductance, aquaporin expression, and photosynthesis. It also discusses the cross talk between N, water transport, and drought stress in higher plants.
Relative Contributions of Lean and Fat Mass to Bone Mineral Density: Insight From Prader-Willi Syndrome

Context: Low bone mineral density (BMD) is the most important risk factor for fragility fracture. Body weight is a simple screening predictor of difference in BMD between individuals. However, it is not clear which component of body weight, lean (LM), or fat mass (FM), is associated with BMD. People with the genetic disorder of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) uniquely have a reduced LM despite increased FM. Objective: We sought to define the individual impact of LM and FM on BMD by investigating subjects with and without PWS. Design, Setting and Participants: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Clinical Research Facility of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, with PWS and control participants recruited from a specialized PWS clinic and from the general public by advertisement, respectively. The study involved 11 adults with PWS, who were age- and sex-matched with 12 obese individuals (Obese group) and 10 lean individuals (Lean group). Main Outcome Measures: Whole body BMD was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Total body FM and LM were derived from the whole body scan. Differences in BMD between groups were assessed by the analysis of covariance model, taking into account the effects of LM and FM. Results: The PWS group had significantly shorter height than the lean and obese groups. As expected, there was no significant difference in FM between the Obese and PWS group, and no significant difference in LM between the Lean and PWS group. However, obese individuals had greater LM than lean individuals. BMD in lean individuals was significantly lower than in PWS individuals (1.13 g/cm2 vs. 1.21 g/cm2, p < 0.05) and obese individuals (1.13 g/cm2 vs. 1.25 g/cm2, p < 0.05). After adjusting for both LM and FM, there was no significant difference in BMD between groups, and the only significant predictor of BMD was LM. Conclusions: These data from the human genetic model Prader-Willi syndrome suggest that LM is a stronger determinant of BMD than fat mass.
Suitability of ‘Guidelines for Screening of Prosthetic Candidates: Lower Limb’ for the Eastern Cape, South Africa: A qualitative study

Background Major lower limb amputation has a severe impact on functional mobility. Mobility can be salvaged with a prosthesis, but this is not always the best option. It is often difficult to decide whether to refer someone for a prosthesis or not. A prosthetic screening tool ‘Guidelines for Screening of Prosthetic Candidates: Lower Limb’ was developed and is used for prosthetic prescription in parts of the Western Cape province of South Africa. Objectives This study aimed to explore the suitability of the tool ‘Guidelines for Screening of Prosthetic Candidates: Lower Limb’ for use in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Method A qualitative study was conducted with conveniently sampled occupational therapists (OTs) (n = 10), physiotherapists (PTs) (n = 12) and prosthetists (n = 6) in government employment in the Buffalo City Metro Municipality. Participants were trained in the use of the tool and used it for four weeks with patients. Their experiences of the tool were assessed through three focus group discussions with emergent themes being identified during inductive data analysis. Findings Participants indicated that the tool could assist with prosthetic prescription, goal setting, communication and teamwork. They thought that the tool was multidisciplinary in nature, comprehensive and practical. Findings showed a lack of teamwork in this study setting. Resistance to change and a lack of time might also hamper implementation of the tool. Conclusion The tool can assist with managing the backlog for prostheses and to guide prosthetic prescription in the Eastern Cape province. Clinical implications A prosthesis can help to salvage functional mobility after lower limb amputation. However, not all people who had above knee amputation manage to walk with a prosthesis. The tool reported on in this article provides information that can guide prosthetic prescription and rehabilitation goals.
Why dysfunctional expectations in depression persist – Results from two experimental studies investigating cognitive immunization

Abstract Background Research has revealed that negative expectations impact depressive symptoms. However, research on the change of dysfunctional expectations in depression is lacking so far. Therefore, the present research aimed to fill this gap by testing the hypothesis that people with the major depressive disorder (MDD), contrary to healthy individuals, maintain their expectations despite experiences that positively disconfirm expectations. Further, it was hypothesized that cognitive immunization (a cognitive reappraisal of the disconfirming evidence) is a mechanism underlying the persistence of expectations. Method In Study 1, we compared individuals with MDD (N = 58) to healthy individuals (N = 59). Participants worked on the same performance test and received standardized feedback that either confirmed or disconfirmed their initial performance expectations. In Study 2, we investigated the effects of cognitive immunization on expectation change among 59 individuals reporting elevated levels of depression by varying the appraisal of expectation-disconfirming feedback. Results Results from Study 1 show that in the expectation-disconfirming condition, healthy individuals changed their expectations, whereas individuals with MDD did not. No such difference between the two groups was found for expectation-confirming feedback. Results from Study 2 indicated that varying cognitive immunization impacted expectation change, thus suggesting a crucial role of cognitive immunization in expectation change. Conclusions These two studies indicated that individuals suffering from depression have more difficulties in changing their expectations after disconfirming experiences than do healthy individuals, and cognitive immunization might be a core mechanism underlying expectation persistence. Therefore, psychotherapeutic interventions should aim to inhibit cognitive immunization processes to enhance expectation change.
Retrospective validation of whole genome sequencing-enhanced surveillance of listeriosis in Europe, 2010 to 2015

Background and aim The trend in reported case counts of invasive Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), a potentially severe food-borne disease, has been increasing since 2008. In 2015, 2,224 cases were reported in the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA). We aimed to validate the microbiological and epidemiological aspects of an envisaged EU/EEA-wide surveillance system enhanced by routine whole genome sequencing (WGS). Methods: WGS and core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) were performed on isolates from 2,726 cases from 27 EU/EEA countries from 2010–15. Results: Quality controls for contamination, mixed Lm cultures and sequence quality classified nearly all isolates with a minimum average coverage of the genome of 55x as acceptable for analysis. Assessment of the cgMLST variation between six different pipelines revealed slightly less variation associated with assembly-based analysis compared to reads-based analysis. Epidemiological concordance, based on 152 isolates from 19 confirmed outbreaks and a cluster cutoff of seven allelic differences, was good (sensitivity > 95% for two cgMLST schemes of 1,748 and 1,701 loci each; PPV 58‒68%). The proportion of sporadic cases was slightly below 50%. Of remaining isolates, around one third were in clusters involving more than one country, often spanning several years. Detection of multi-country clusters was on average several months earlier when pooling the data at EU/EEA level, compared with first detection at national level. Conclusions: These findings provide a good basis for comprehensive EU/EEA-wide, WGS-enhanced surveillance of listeriosis. Time limits should not be used for hypothesis generation during outbreak investigations, but should be for analytical studies.
CoQA: A Conversational Question Answering Challenge

Humans gather information through conversations involving a series of interconnected questions and answers. For machines to assist in information gathering, it is therefore essential to enable them to answer conversational questions. We introduce CoQA, a novel dataset for building Conversational Question Answering systems. Our dataset contains 127k questions with answers, obtained from 8k conversations about text passages from seven diverse domains. The questions are conversational, and the answers are free-form text with their corresponding evidence highlighted in the passage. We analyze CoQA in depth and show that conversational questions have challenging phenomena not present in existing reading comprehension datasets (e.g., coreference and pragmatic reasoning). We evaluate strong dialogue and reading comprehension models on CoQA. The best system obtains an F1 score of 65.4%, which is 23.4 points behind human performance (88.8%), indicating that there is ample room for improvement. We present CoQA as a challenge to the community at https://stanfordnlp.github. io/coqa.
Nitrous oxide from chemodenitrification: A possible missing link in the Proterozoic greenhouse and the evolution of aerobic respiration

The potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) may have been an important constituent of Earth's atmosphere during Proterozoic (~2.5–0.5 Ga). Here, we tested the hypothesis that chemodenitrification, the rapid reduction of nitric oxide by ferrous iron, would have enhanced the flux of N2O from ferruginous Proterozoic seas. We empirically derived a rate law, dN2Odt=7.2×10−5[Fe2+]0.3[NO]1 , and measured an isotopic site preference of +16‰ for the reaction. Using this empirical rate law, and integrating across an oceanwide oxycline, we found that low nM NO and μM‐low mM Fe2+ concentrations could have sustained a sea‐air flux of 100–200 Tg N2O–N year−1, if N2 fixation rates were near‐modern and all fixed N2 was emitted as N2O. A 1D photochemical model was used to obtain steady‐state atmospheric N2O concentrations as a function of sea‐air N2O flux across the wide range of possible pO2 values (0.001–1 PAL). At 100–200 Tg N2O–N year−1 and >0.1 PAL O2, this model yielded low‐ppmv N2O, which would produce several degrees of greenhouse warming at 1.6 ppmv CH4 and 320 ppmv CO2. These results suggest that enhanced N2O production in ferruginous seawater via a previously unconsidered chemodenitrification pathway may have helped to fill a Proterozoic “greenhouse gap,” reconciling an ice‐free Mesoproterozoic Earth with a less luminous early Sun. A particularly notable result was that high N2O fluxes at intermediate O2 concentrations (0.01–0.1 PAL) would have enhanced ozone screening of solar UV radiation. Due to rapid photolysis in the absence of an ozone shield, N2O is unlikely to have been an important greenhouse gas if Mesoproterozoic O2 was 0.001 PAL. At low O2, N2O might have played a more important role as life's primary terminal electron acceptor during the transition from an anoxic to oxic surface Earth, and correspondingly, from anaerobic to aerobic metabolisms.