Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rhythmic Temporal Expectation Boosts Neural Activity by Increasing Neural Gain

Temporal orienting improves sensory processing, akin to other top–down biases. However, it is unknown whether these improvements reflect increased neural gain to any stimuli presented at expected time points, or specific tuning to task-relevant stimulus aspects. Furthermore, while other top–down biases are selective, the extent of trade-offs across time is less well characterized. Temporal orienting improves sensory processing, akin to other top–down biases. However, it is unknown whether these improvements reflect increased neural gain to any stimuli presented at expected time points, or specific tuning to task-relevant stimulus aspects. Furthermore, while other top–down biases are selective, the extent of trade-offs across time is less well characterized. Here, we tested whether gain and/or tuning of auditory frequency processing in humans is modulated by rhythmic temporal expectations, and whether these modulations are specific to time points relevant for task performance. Healthy participants (N = 23) of either sex performed an auditory discrimination task while their brain activity was measured using magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography (M/EEG). Acoustic stimulation consisted of sequences of brief distractors interspersed with targets, presented in a rhythmic or jittered way. Target rhythmicity not only improved behavioral discrimination accuracy and M/EEG-based decoding of targets, but also of irrelevant distractors preceding these targets. To explain this finding in terms of increased sensitivity and/or sharpened tuning to auditory frequency, we estimated tuning curves based on M/EEG decoding results, with separate parameters describing gain and sharpness. The effect of rhythmic expectation on distractor decoding was linked to gain increase only, suggesting increased neural sensitivity to any stimuli presented at relevant time points. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Being able to predict when an event may happen can improve perception and action related to this event, likely due to the alignment of neural activity to the temporal structure of stimulus streams. However, it is unclear whether rhythmic increases in neural sensitivity are specific to task-relevant targets, and whether they competitively impair stimulus processing at unexpected time points. By combining magnetoencephalography and encephalographic recordings, neural decoding of auditory stimulus features, and modeling, we found that rhythmic expectation improved neural decoding of both relevant targets and irrelevant distractors presented and expected time points, but did not competitively impair stimulus processing at unexpected time points. Using a quantitative model, these results were linked to nonspecific neural gain increases due to rhythmic expectation.
Clinical findings and treatment of disseminated ‘Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis’ infection in a domestic cat

A cat was referred because of diffuse parenchymal lung disease. Close examinations revealed a swollen abdominal lymph node and multiple nodules of the liver. Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis infection was confirmed by culture and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of samples recovered from the liver and bronchoalveolar lavage. After administration of combination antibiotics for 6 months, culture results were negative. Though atonic seizures were observed during the treatment, it disappeared after isoniazid discontinuation and pyridoxal phosphate administration. On day 771 of illness, no clinical signs, lung diseases, or obvious swelling of lymph nodes was observed. This is the first report to confirm Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis infection in cats through gene analysis and to completely cure it with combination antibiotics.
Clinical Characteristics of Inpatients with Childhood vs. Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

We aimed to compare the clinical data at first presentation to inpatient treatment of children (<14 years) vs. adolescents (≥14 years) with anorexia nervosa (AN), focusing on duration of illness before hospital admission and body mass index (BMI) at admission and discharge, proven predictors of the outcomes of adolescent AN. Clinical data at first admission and at discharge in 289 inpatients with AN (children: n = 72; adolescents: n = 217) from a German multicenter, web-based registry for consecutively enrolled patients with childhood and adolescent AN were analyzed. Inclusion criteria were a maximum age of 18 years, first inpatient treatment due to AN, and a BMI <10th BMI percentile at admission. Compared to adolescents, children with AN had a shorter duration of illness before admission (median: 6.0 months vs. 8.0 months, p = 0.004) and higher BMI percentiles at admission (median: 0.7 vs. 0.2, p = 0.004) as well as at discharge (median: 19.3 vs. 15.1, p = 0.011). Thus, in our study, children with AN exhibited clinical characteristics that have been associated with better outcomes, including higher admission and discharge BMI percentile. Future studies should examine whether these factors are actually associated with positive long-term outcomes in children.
Relationships of exercise regimen and racetrack surface to modeling/remodeling of the third metacarpal bone in two year-old Thoroughbred racehorses

Summary The effects of two different training regimens, two different racetrack surfaces (dirt and woodchip), as well as no training (control) were studied to determine their relationships to bone modeling/remodeling and cross-sectional inertial properties in the third metacarpal bone (Mclll) of the young Thoroughbred racehorse. Eight two-year old Thoroughbred racehorses were divided into four groups and subjected to different training regimens over a period of five months. At the end of the training period 100 micron cross sections of Mclll were examined using microradiography and the cross-sectional inertial properties of MCI 11 were determined. The results showed striking differences in the appearance of the bone cross sections with most of the bone modeling occurring on the dorso- medial surface of the ‘classically’ exercised animals and bone deposition on the dorsal surface in the ‘Modified-Classical’ training groups. Inertial properties were different between the groups with the ‘Classically’ trained animals having Imin values similar to the control group while the ‘Modified-Classically’ trained group had large increases in Imin at the mid diaphysis similar to reported measurements of older racehorses. These areal measurements of the cross sections, indicating resistance to bending in the dorsal palmar direction, showed the effects of training on the individual groups.
Animal Simulation in Under/Post Graduate Studies: It's Effect in Clinical Pharmacology Research

Animal experimentation was successfully taken an important part of the curriculum of the students of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, dentistry, veterinary, and even to basic sciences like life sciences, zoology etc . The objective of the animal experiments was to develop skills for performing in-vivo experiments and to correlate the findings with theoretical concepts as well as in vitro results with prior permission to Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA). However by considering the seriousness of declining of wild life, the University Grant Commission (UGC) decided to stop the animal experimentation for both the under and post graduate levels and noticed accordingly [11. University Grant Commission Notification on July 2014. [No.F. 14-6/2014 (CPP-II)] Subject: Dissection and Animal experimentation in Zoology/Life Sciences and Allied Disciplines in undergraduate, post graduate and research program. ].
H-NS is the major repressor of Salmonella Typhimurium Pef fimbriae expression

ABSTRACT Fimbriae play an important role in adhesion and are therefore essential for the interaction of bacteria with the environments they encounter. Most of them are expressed in vivo but not in vitro, thus making difficult the full characterization of these fimbriae. Here, we characterized the silencing of plasmid-encoded fimbriae (Pef) expression, encoded by the pef operon, in the worldwide pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium. We demonstrated that the nucleoid-associated proteins H-NS and Hha, and their respective paralogs StpA and YdgT, negatively regulate at pH 5.1 and pH 7.1 the transcription of the pef operon. Two promoters, PpefB and PpefA, direct the transcription of this operon. All the nucleoid-associated proteins silence the PpefB promoter and H-NS also targets the PpefA promoter. While Hha and YdgT are mainly considered as acting primarily through H-NS to modulate gene transcription, our results strongly suggest that Hha and YdgT silence pef transcription at acidic pH either by interacting with StpA or independently of H-NS and StpA. We also confirmed the previously described post-transcriptional repression of Pef fimbriae by CsrA titration via the fim mRNA and CsrB and CsrC sRNA. Finally, among all these regulators, H-NS clearly appeared as the major repressor of Pef expression. These results open new avenues of research to better characterize the regulation of these bacterial adhesive proteins and to clarify their role in the virulence of pathogens.
On loving thyself: Exploring the association between self-compassion, self-reported suicidal behaviors, and implicit suicidality among college students

Abstract Objective Suicide is a major public health concern. It is unknown whether self-compassion is associated with suicide risk above and beyond suicide risk factors such as self-criticism, hopelessness, and depression severity. Participants: Participants were 130 ethnically diverse undergraduate college students. Methods: Participants completed self-report measures of self-compassion, self-criticism, hopelessness, depression severity, and suicidal behaviors, as well as an implicit measure of suicidality. Results: Self-compassion was significantly associated with self-reported suicidal behaviors, even when controlling for self-criticism, hopelessness, and depression severity. Self-compassion was not significantly associated with implicit suicidality. Conclusions: The findings suggest that self-compassion is uniquely associated with self-reported suicidal behaviors, but not implicit suicidality, and that self-compassion is a potentially important target in suicide risk interventions. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
Task-Modulated Corticocortical Synchrony in the Cognitive-Motor Network Supporting Handwriting

Abstract Both motor and cognitive aspects of behavior depend on dynamic, accurately timed neural processes in large-scale brain networks. Here, we studied synchronous interplay between cortical regions during production of cognitive-motor sequences in humans. Specifically, variants of handwriting that differed in motor variability, linguistic content, and memorization of movement cues were contrasted to unveil functional sensitivity of corticocortical connections. Data-driven magnetoencephalography mapping (n = 10) uncovered modulation of mostly left-hemispheric corticocortical interactions, as quantified by relative changes in phase synchronization. At low frequencies (~2–13 Hz), enhanced frontoparietal synchrony was related to regular handwriting, whereas premotor cortical regions synchronized for simple loop production and temporo-occipital areas for a writing task substituting normal script with loop patterns. At the beta-to-gamma band (~13–45 Hz), enhanced synchrony was observed for regular handwriting in the central and frontoparietal regions, including connections between the sensorimotor and supplementary motor cortices and between the parietal and dorsal premotor/precentral cortices. Interpreted within a modular framework, these modulations of synchrony mainly highlighted interactions of the putative pericentral subsystem of hand coordination and the frontoparietal subsystem mediating working memory operations. As part of cortical dynamics, interregional phase synchrony varies depending on task demands in production of cognitive-motor sequences.
Exploring Interactions Between Police and People with Mental Illness

Contact between people with mental illness (PMI) and police is on the rise. The current study analyzed a six-month period of official police data (N = 400 occurrences) to provide a description of the PMI that came into contact with police and the typical characteristics and outcomes of these encounters. Results indicated that these interactions were initiated by family members and are taking place at home. Police are most commonly resolving the situations formally with apprehensions under the Mental health Act (55%), however only half of the time these apprehensions result in the PMI being admitted into hospital care, indicating discrepancy between police apprehension and hospital admission criteria. The presence of substances and violence were significant predictors of MHA apprehensions, whereas the PMI initiating the call was protective of this outcome. When police opted to resolve the situation informally, mental health services were engaged less than half of the time. Implications are that PMI are not being connected with mental health services. POLICE CONTACT WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE MENTAL ILLNESS III
Splicing regulatory factors in breast cancer hallmarks and disease progression

By regulating transcript isoform expression levels, alternative splicing provides an additional layer of protein control. Recent studies show evidence that cancer cells use different splicing events to fulfill their requirements in order to develop, progress and metastasize. However, there has been less attention for the role of the complex catalyzing the complicated multistep splicing reaction: the spliceosome. The spliceosome consists of multiple sub-complexes in total comprising 244 proteins or splice factors and 5 associated RNA molecules. Here we discuss the role of splice factors in the oncogenic processes tumors cells need to fulfill their oncogenic properties (the so-called the hallmarks of cancer). Despite the fact that splice factors have been investigated only recently, they seem to play a prominent role in already five hallmarks of cancer: angiogenesis, resisting cell death, sustaining proliferation, deregulating cellular energetics and invasion and metastasis formation by affecting major signaling pathways such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, the Warburg effect, DNA damage response and hormone receptor dependent proliferation. Moreover, we could relate expression of representative genes of four other hallmarks (enabling replicative mortality, genomic instability, avoiding immune destruction and evading growth suppression) to splice factor levels in human breast cancer tumors, suggesting that also these hallmarks could be regulated by splice factors. Since many splice factors are involved in multiple hallmarks of cancer, inhibiting splice factors might provide a new layer of oncogenic control and a powerful method to combat breast cancer progression.
Risk factors for hepatitis C infection among adult patients in Kedah state, Malaysia: A case–control study

Hepatitis C infection is a global public health problem. This study was designed to identify the risk factors associated with hepatitis C infection among adult patients in Kedah state, Malaysia. A matched, hospital-based, case–control study was conducted at a tertiary hospital. Cases were adult (aged ≥ 18 years) patients with positive serology test results for hepatitis C virus antibody and detectable hepatitis C virus RNA from January 2015 to December 2018, and controls were age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched patients who were not infected with hepatitis C virus. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data on demographic characteristics and previous exposure to selected risk factors among the study participants. Associations between hepatitis C and demographic and risk factors were assessed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. A total of 255 case–control patient pairs were enrolled. The multivariable analysis indicated that having a history of blood or blood product transfusion before 1992 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 6.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.73–13.81), injection drug use (AOR = 6.60, 95% CI: 3.66–12.43), imprisonment (AOR = 4.58, 95% CI: 1.62–16.40), tattooing (AOR = 3.73, 95% CI: 1.37–12.00), having more than one sexual partner (AOR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.16–3.69), piercing (AOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.04–2.80), and having only secondary education (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.06–3.57) were independently associated with hepatitis C. No associations were found between health care occupation, needle-prick injury, surgical procedures, haemodialysis, acupuncture, cupping, or contact sports and hepatitis C infection. These findings demonstrate that hepatitis C risk is multifactorial. Having a history of blood or blood product transfusion before 1992, injection drug use, imprisonment, tattooing, having more than one sexual partner, piercing, and having only secondary education were associated with increased odds of hepatitis C.
Should vitamin D be routinely checked for all chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients?

Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to compare the vitamin D levels between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and healthy controls and to describe the correlation between vitamin D levels and lung functions. Methods: Fifty COPD patients (cases) and 30 healthy volunteers (controls) were recruited and their serum vitamin D level was measured together with lung function (forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1]) by spirometry. vitamin D was categorized as ≤20 nmol/l: deficient, 21–50 nmol/l: inadequate, and ≥51 nmol/l as sufficient. Results: In this case–control cross-sectional study, lower vitamin D levels were associated with lower lung function in both cases as well as controls, the effect being more pronounced in cases. Mean FEV1 at vitamin D ≤20 nmol/l (0.98 ± 0.40 vs. controls 1.93 ± 0.24 with P = 0.006), mean FEV1 at vitamin D 21–50 nmol/l (1.55 ± 0.54 vs. 2.20 ± 0.31 with P = 0.000), and mean FEV1 at vitamin D ≥51 nmol/l (2.06 ± 0.54 vs. 2.20 ± 0.31 with P = 0.002). Moreover, the severity of predicted postbronchodilator FEV1% was also much lower among COPD cohort versus healthy volunteers (mean FEV1%: cases 47.88 ± 14.22 vs. controls 58.76 ± 15.05 with P = 0.002). Conclusions: Importantly, lung function in both the groups was affected by decreased vitamin D level; decrease in FEV1 was more pronounced among COPD patients compared to controls showing more expiratory airflow limitation. Vitamin D levels are associated with changes in lung function in cases of COPD as well as healthy controls. Larger studies to confirm the association in Indian context are required and routine assessment of vitamin D may be undertaken to obviate the effects of low vitmain D level on lung function.
The Eye Sees Eye to Eye With the Immune System: The 2019 Proctor Lecture

The human eye is approximately 1 inch in diameter and is composed of a remarkable array of cells, many of which are found nowhere else in the body. The neurons of the retina process signals through the optic nerve at a rate equivalent to over 1 billion bits of computer data per second. The eye is an extension of the brain, and like the brain, its oxygen and energy requirements are staggering. Since both organs have limited regenerative properties, inflammation of either the brain or eye can have devastating consequences for the survival of the host. Thus, both organs go to extraordinary lengths to reduce immune-mediated inflammation—a phenomenon known as ‘‘immune privilege. ’’ One of the first demonstrations of immune privilege was reported over 150 years ago by the Dutch ophthalmologist van Dooremaal. In an attempt to induce experimental cataracts, van Dooremaal placed a variety of foreign objects into the eyes of experimental animals and, among other things, noted that mouse skin transplanted into the anterior chamber of the dog eye enjoyed a prolonged survival. Further evidence that the eye offered a fertile ground for transplants came with the first report of a successful human corneal transplant in 1905. This occurred even before the mammalian immune system had been characterized, and anti-rejection drugs were only a distant reality that did not come into use until the first successful heart and renal transplants in the 1960s. It was not until 1948 that the unique immunologic properties of the eye were fully appreciated by the preeminent immunologist Sir Peter Medawar, who observed that rabbit skin allografts enjoyed significantly extended survival in the anterior chamber (AC) of allogeneic rabbit hosts. Recognizing the profound significance of this finding, Medawar coined the term ‘‘immune privilege’’ to indicate that the eye was exempt from the laws of transplantation immunology. The initial explanation for immune privilege in the AC was based on the apparent absence of patent lymph vessels draining the interior of the eye, a condition that was believed to prevent foreign antigens expressed in the skin allografts transplanted into the AC from reaching regional lymph nodes and arousing an immune response. However, studies published decades later revealed that the AC did indeed express lymphatic drainage. But the lymph vessels draining the AC are significantly reduced compared to other body regions—a condition that has been termed ‘‘pauci-lymphatics. ’’
Clinical Performance of a Glass Hybrid Restorative in Extended Size Class II Cavities.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical performance of a glass hybrid restorative compared with a resin composite in the restoration of large and deep Class II cavities after 24 months. METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 108 extended size, with the width of the proximal box not interfering with the peak of the cusps and the proximal box in occlusion, Class II lesions in 37 patients were either restored with a glass hybrid restorative or with a micro-hybrid composite resin in combination with selective etching by two experienced operators according to the manufacturer's instructions. Two independent examiners evaluated the restorations at baseline and at the six-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month recalls according to the modified US Public Health Service criteria. Negative replicas at each recall were observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine surface characteristics. Data were analyzed statistically. RESULTS After 24 months, 90 restorations were evaluated in 32 patients (recall rate: 86.5%). Four glass hybrid restorations were missing; three were due to bulk and one was due to proximal fracture at 12 months. Only six restorations were scored as bravo at baseline and at the six-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month recalls for color (p<0.05). No significant differences were observed between the two restorative materials for the other criteria evaluated (p>0.05). SEM observations exhibited acceptable surface and marginal adaptation characteristics for both restorative materials at 24 months. CONCLUSIONS Although glass hybrid restorations showed significant mismatch in color, both restorative materials exhibited successful performance for the restoration of large Class II cavities after 24 months.