Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heat shock protein 70: A promising therapeutic target for myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury

Acute myocardial infarction is a major cause of death worldwide. The most important therapy for limiting ischemic injury and infarct size is timely and efficient myocardial reperfusion treatment, which may instead induce cardiomyocyte necrosis due to myocardial ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), a stress‐inducible protein, is overexpressed during myocardial I/R. The induced HSP70 is shown to regulate several intracellular proteins (e.g., transcription factors, enzymes, and apoptosis‐related proteins) and signaling pathways (e.g., c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase pathway and extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase 1/2 pathway), forming a complicated network that contributes to reducing reactive oxygen species accumulation, improving calcium homeostasis, inhibiting cellular apoptosis, thereby enhancing the stress adaption of myocardium to I/R injury. In addition, the extracellular HSP70, which is released from injured cardiomyocytes during I/R, acts as a proinflammatory mediator that results in cell death, while the intracellular HSP70 exerts antiinflammatory effects by suppressing proinflammatory signaling pathways. Notably, HSP70 is induced and contributes to the cardioprotection in several types of preconditioning and postconditioning. Meanwhile, it is shown that the cardioprotective effectiveness of preconditioning‐induced HSP70 (e.g., hyperthermia preconditioning‐induced HSP70) can be impaired by certain pathological conditions, such as hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia. Thus, we highlight the widespread cardioprotective involvement of HSP70 in preconditioning and postconditioning and elucidate how HSP70‐mediated cardioprotection is impaired in these pathological conditions. Furthermore, several therapeutic potentials of HSP70 against myocardial I/R injury and potential directions for future studies are also provided in this review.
Retinal detachment and infantile-onset glaucoma in Stickler syndrome associated with known and novel COL2A1 mutations

ABSTRACT Background: Few reports on surgical outcomes after retinal detachment in Stickler syndrome exist. Also, infantile-onset glaucoma associated with Stickler syndrome has been rarely reported and no reports exist that examine outcomes after glaucoma surgery. This study describes the clinical and genetic associations and the long-term outcomes of retinal detachment repair or glaucoma surgery in patients with Stickler syndrome. Materials and Methods: Retrospective, single-center, case series of patients with Stickler syndrome. Demographics, clinical features, genetic mutations, and long-term surgical outcomes of eyes that experienced retinal detachment or diagnosed with infantile-onset glaucoma were assessed. Results: Fifteen patients were identified with a mean age of 13 years at presentation and followed for a mean of 6 years. Two-thirds were male. Genetic analysis was performed as part of routine examination in nine patients from eight families. All were identified as having variants in COL2A1, three of which were novel. Six eyes of six patients experienced retinal detachment. Fifty percent of eyes without prophylactic laser treatment experienced retinal detachment, whereas only 5% of eyes that underwent prophylactic therapy detached. Despite surgical intervention for retinal detachment, five eyes became phthisical. Five eyes of three patients were diagnosed with infantile-onset glaucoma. All five eyes required multiple glaucoma surgeries, and three eyes became phthisical. Conclusions: This study illustrates the surgical challenges encountered in patients with Stickler syndrome. Additionally, infantile-onset glaucoma may be more prevalent than previously reported and presents a challenge in terms of management. A multidisciplinary approach is recommended to provide optimal care to these patients.
Is the built environment associated with morbidity and mortality? A systematic review of evidence from Germany

ABSTRACT The empirical evidence on this relationship mainly comes from Anglo-American countries whereas evidence from Germany is only emerging. Our objective is to provide a narrative overview and critical appraisal of the existing empirical evidence on the relationship between the built environment and morbidity/mortality in Germany. We conducted a systematic literature search where we included all empirical studies that linked the built environment aspects with morbidity or mortality outcomes. Findings were summarized and critically evaluated according to the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria and underwent in-depth analysis. Findings indicate that traffic exposure and green space tend to be associated with acute respiratory symptoms but not with chronic respiratory conditions. Evidence was inconsistent for the role of infrastructural aspects and urbanicity. Our review confirms the well-established association between traffic and respiratory health. Yet, the consistency between self-reported and objective measures of respiratory health should be investigated in more detail.
Microstructural Infarct Border Zone Remodeling in the Post-infarct Swine Heart Measured by Diffusion Tensor MRI

Introduction: Computational models of the heart increasingly require detailed microstructural information to capture the impact of tissue remodeling on cardiac electromechanics in, for example, hearts with myocardial infarctions. Myocardial infarctions are surrounded by the infarct border zone (BZ), which is a site of electromechanical property transition. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an emerging method for characterizing microstructural remodeling and focal myocardial infarcts and the BZ can be identified with late gadolinium enhanced (LGE) MRI. Microstructural remodeling within the BZ, however, remains poorly characterized by MRI due, in part, to the fact that LGE and DT-MRI are not always available for the same heart. Diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI) can evaluate microstructural remodeling by quantifying the DT apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC, increased with decreased cellularity), fractional anisotropy (FA, decreased with increased fibrosis), and tissue mode (decreased with increased fiber disarray). The purpose of this work was to use LGE MRI in post-infarct porcine hearts (N = 7) to segment remote, BZ, and infarcted myocardium, thereby providing a basis to quantify microstructural remodeling in the BZ and infarcted regions using co-registered DT-MRI. Methods: Chronic porcine infarcts were created by balloon occlusion of the LCx. 6–8 weeks post-infarction, MRI contrast was administered, and the heart was potassium arrested, excised, and imaged with LGE MRI (0.33 × 0.33 × 0.33 mm) and co-registered DT-MRI (1 × 1 × 3 mm). Myocardium was segmented as remote, BZ, or infarct by LGE signal intensity thresholds. DT invariants were used to evaluate microstructural remodeling by quantifying ADC, FA, and tissue mode. Results: The BZ significantly remodeled compared to both infarct and remote myocardium. BZ demonstrated a significant decrease in cellularity (increased ADC), significant decrease in tissue organization (decreased FA), and a significant increase in fiber disarray (decreased tissue mode) relative to remote myocardium (all p < 0.05). Microstructural remodeling in the infarct was similar, but significantly larger in magnitude (all p < 0.05). Conclusion: DT-MRI can identify regions of significant microstructural remodeling in the BZ that are distinct from both remote and infarcted myocardium.
Human Bone Marrow-Resident Natural Killer Cells Have a Unique Transcriptional Profile and Resemble Resident Memory CD8+ T Cells

Human lymphoid tissues harbor, in addition to CD56bright and CD56dim natural killer (NK) cells, a third NK cell population: CD69+CXCR6+ lymphoid tissue (lt)NK cells. The function and development of ltNK cells remain poorly understood. In this study, we performed RNA sequencing on the three NK cell populations derived from bone marrow (BM) and blood. In ltNK cells, 1,353 genes were differentially expressed compared to circulating NK cells. Several molecules involved in migration were downregulated in ltNK cells: S1PR1, SELPLG and CD62L. By flow cytometry we confirmed that the expression profile of adhesion molecules (CD49e−, CD29low, CD81high, CD62L−, CD11c−) and transcription factors (Eomeshigh, Tbetlow) of ltNK cells differed from their circulating counterparts. LtNK cells were characterized by enhanced expression of inhibitory receptors TIGIT and CD96 and low expression of DNAM1 and cytolytic molecules (GZMB, GZMH, GNLY). Their proliferative capacity was reduced compared to the circulating NK cells. By performing gene set enrichment analysis, we identified DUSP6 and EGR2 as potential regulators of the ltNK cell transcriptome. Remarkably, comparison of the ltNK cell transcriptome to the published human spleen-resident memory CD8+ T (Trm) cell transcriptome revealed an overlapping gene signature. Moreover, the phenotypic profile of ltNK cells resembled that of CD8+ Trm cells in BM. Together, we provide transcriptional and phenotypic data that clearly distinguish ltNK cells from both the CD56bright and CD56dim NK cells and substantiate the view that ltNK cells are tissue-resident cells, which are functionally restrained in killing and have low proliferative activity.
Hyperacute serum has markedly better regenerative efficacy than platelet-rich plasma in a human bone oxygen-glucose deprivation model.

AIM Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and hyperacute serum (HAS) were compared in a novel human model of ex vivo bone damage induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). MATERIALS & METHODS Osteoarthritic subchondral bone pieces were harvested from discarded femoral heads during hip replacement surgery and subjected to transient OGD. RESULTS Proteome profiling revealed that PRP is more angiopoietic, whereas HAS is more antiangiopoietic in composition. However, treatment of OGD-exposed bone with multiple PRP preparations had no effect on cell counts, whereas HAS restored cell proliferation capacity and rescued viable cell number following OGD. CONCLUSION A similar pro-proliferation effect was observed with recombinant growth factors, indicating that HAS may be an alternative agent for enhancing the regeneration of damaged bone cells.
PillCamColon2 after incomplete colonoscopy - A prospective multicenter study

AIM To evaluate the ability of PillCamColon2 to visualize colonic segments missed by incomplete optical colonoscopy (OC) and to assess the diagnostic yield. METHODS This prospective multicentre study included 81 patients from nine centres who underwent second-generation colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) following incomplete OC performed by an experienced gastroenterologist (> 1000 colonoscopies). Patients with stenosis were excluded. According to patient preferences, CCE was performed the following day (protocol A) after staying on clear liquids and 0.75 L Moviprep in the morning or within 30 d after new split-dose Moviprep (protocol B). Boosts consisted of 0.75 L and 0.25 L Moviprep, and phospho-soda was given as a rescue if the capsule was not excreted after seven hours. RESULTS Seventy-four patients were analysed (51% of them in group A; 49% in group B). Bowel cleansing was adequate in 67% of cases, and CCE could visualize colonic segments missed by incomplete colonoscopy in 90% of patients under protocol A and 97% of patients under protocol B (P = 0.35, n.s.). Significant polyps including adenocarcinoma were detected in 24% of cases. Detection rates for all polyps and significant polyps per patient were similar in both protocols. Polyps were found predominantly in the right colon (86%) in segments that were not reached by OC. Extracolonic findings - such as reflux esophagitis, suspected Barrett esophagus, upper GI-bleeding, gastric polyps, gastric erosions and angiectasia - were detected in eight patients. PillCamColon2 capsule was retained in the ileum of one patient (1.4%) without symptoms and removed during an uneventful resection for unknown Crohn’s disease that was diagnosed as the cause of anemia, which was the indication for colonoscopy. CCE was well tolerated. One patient suffered from self-limiting vomiting after consuming the phospho-soda. CONCLUSION Second-generation CCE using a low-volume preparation is useful after incomplete OC, and it allows for the detection of additional relevant findings, but cleansing efficiency could be improved.
An Android Application for Geolocation Based Health Monitoring, Consultancy and Alarm System

In the last decade significant progress have been made in smart phone technology as well as in wireless wide area network technologies. Today among a wide population smart phones and mobile applications are considered as indispensable part of daily life. A field that mobile applications have great potential is health monitoring. Health monitoring covers various physiological signals. One of these signals is heart rate which is related to cardiovascular state of the body. Recently producers offer heart rate monitoring with the on board or wearable heart rate sensor. Although the main trend is for individual usage especially in sports, heart rate monitoring can also be benefited in an emergency alarm system for people who have potential risks while doing sports or elderly people. Such a distant monitoring system can be helpful to deliver first aid in emergency cases. Moreover an health expert can monitor states of the patients in real time. In this study we benefit the facilities provided by mobile technology and propose a geolocation-based heart rate monitoring system. The developed mobile application can send alarm message through notification, sms, mail and allows messaging with the health expert for consultancy. Hence if anomalies are observed in heart rate variability during the outdoor activities, emergency information can be delivered in the shortest time and the delays which have crucial affects can be prevented. The same framework can be extended to a more general system including different sensors for monitoring various physiological signals.
Specialized mechanoreceptor systems in rodent glabrous skin

Rodents use their forepaws to actively interact with their tactile environment. Studies on the physiology and anatomy of glabrous skin that makes up the majority of the forepaw are almost non-existent in the mouse. Here we developed a preparation to record from single sensory fibers of the forepaw and compared anatomical and physiological receptor properties to those of the hind paw glabrous and hairy skin. We found that the mouse forepaw skin is equipped with a very high density of mechanoreceptors; >3 fold more than hind paw glabrous skin. In addition, rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors that innervate Meissner’s corpuscles of the forepaw were several-fold more sensitive to slowly moving mechanical stimuli compared to their counterparts in the hind paw glabrous skin. All other mechanoreceptors types as well as myelinated nociceptors had physiological properties that were invariant regardless of which skin area they occupied. We discovered a novel D-hair receptor innervating a small group of hairs in the middle of the hind paw glabrous skin in mice. Glabrous D-hair receptors were direction sensitive albeit with an orientation sensitivity opposite to that described for hairy skin D-hair receptors. Glabrous D-hair receptors do not occur in all rodents, but are present in North American and African rodent species that diverged more than 65 million years ago. The function of these specialized hairs is unknown, but they are nevertheless evolutionarily very ancient. Our study reveals novel physiological specializations of mechanoreceptors in the glabrous skin that likely evolved to facilitate tactile exploration.
VERAM: View-Enhanced Recurrent Attention Model for 3D Shape Classification

Multi-view deep neural network is perhaps the most successful approach in 3D shape classification. However, the fusion of multi-view features based on max or average pooling lacks a view selection mechanism, limiting its application in, e.g., multi-view active object recognition by a robot. This paper presents VERAM, a view-enhanced recurrent attention model capable of actively selecting a sequence of views for highly accurate 3D shape classification. VERAM addresses an important issue commonly found in existing attention-based models, i.e., the unbalanced training of the subnetworks corresponding to next view estimation and shape classification. The classification subnetwork is easily overfitted while the view estimation one is usually poorly trained, leading to a suboptimal classification performance. This is surmounted by three essential view-enhancement strategies: 1) enhancing the information flow of gradient backpropagation for the view estimation subnetwork, 2) devising a highly informative reward function for the reinforcement training of view estimation and 3) formulating a novel loss function that explicitly circumvents view duplication. Taking grayscale image as input and AlexNet as CNN architecture, VERAM with 9 views achieves instance-level and class-level accuracy of 95.5 and 95.3 percent on ModelNet10, 93.7 and 92.1 percent on ModelNet40, both are the state-of-the-art performance under the same number of views.
Common neuromusculoskeletal injuries amongst rock climbers in the Western Cape

Background Rock climbing is an extreme sport that is fast gaining interest in the Western Cape. Due to the physical nature of the sport, climbers often suffer neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) injuries. Physiotherapists are first-line practitioners who diagnose and treat NMS injuries, but no previous study has been conducted regarding common NMS injuries amongst rock climbers in the Western Cape. Objective To determine the common NMS injuries amongst rock climbers, and the relationships between independent variables and injury. Method A Quantitative, cross-sectional, retrospective descriptive study design utilised a self-developed survey based on the literature. This was completed by rock climbers from an indoor climbing gym in Cape Town and two outdoor crags in the Western Cape. Out of the total population of 650 climbers, 247 were conveniently sampled to complete the self-administered survey, making the results generalisable to the climbing population. Results Finger flexor tendon pulley injuries were the most commonly diagnosed NMS injury. Injury to the fingers, hand and elbow regions were the most common self-reported injury by area. The risk of suffering climbing-related injuries was significantly correlated to gender, setting, grade and type of climbing, but not to frequency of climbing. Conclusion The results of this study could assist physiotherapists to assess and manage the common NMS injuries that occur in this group of extreme athletes, as well as to raise awareness amongst rock climbers in the Western Cape about potential risk of injury.
Levels of physical activity in people with chronic pain

Background People who suffer from chronic pain are thought to have lower levels of physical activity compared to healthy individuals. However, there is a lack of evidence concerning levels of physical activity in South Africans with chronic pain. Objectives To compare levels of physical activity in a South African sample of people with chronic pain compared to matched controls. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with 24 participants (12 with chronic pain and 12 in the control group matched for age, gender and residential area). Convenience sampling was used. The participants with chronic pain (12) were identified from the Groote Schuur Hospital, Chronic Pain Management Clinic (CPMC) waiting list and had not yet received any chronic pain management intervention. Healthy matched controls were selected from volunteers in the community. With the desired alpha level set at 0.05 and the power at 0.9, 45 participants were required to detect a minimum of a 50 per cent difference between groups in levels of physical activity as measured in steps per day using pedometers. The international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) and the brief pain inventory (BPI) were used as measures of physical activity and pain. Objective indicators of physical activity that were used included the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), repeated sit-to-stand test (RSST), 7 days of pedometry and body mass index (BMI). Results The chronic pain group performed significantly worse on the 6MWT (335 m [30–430] vs 680 m [430–795]; U = 0.5; p < 0.01) and on the RSST (17.9 s [11.83–105] vs 7.85 s [5.5–11.5]; U = 0; p < 0.01). The chronic pain group also had significantly lower scores on pedometry (mean daily: 2985.1 [32.8–13785.4] vs 6409.4 [4207.1–15313.6]; U = 35; p < 0.03). The BMI for the chronic pain group was significantly higher than matched controls (29.36 kg/m2 [18.94–34.63] vs 22.16 kg/m2 [17.1–30.86]; U = 34; p < 0.03). Conclusion Participants with chronic pain had a reduced capacity for physical activity. The pedometry results illustrate a range of maladaptive strategies adopted by those with chronic pain. The majority of people with chronic pain appear to avoid physical activity leading to greater disability as a result of immobility and muscle atrophy. However, a small subgroup appears to ignore their pain and push themselves physically despite their pain. This perseverance behaviour leads to further pain as a consequence of muscle and joint overuse. Both maladaptive behavioural responses result in further sensitisation of the central nervous system. The method used to target physical activity in these patients should be considered in treatment planning, specifically for physiotherapy.
Semantic Attributes for Transfer Learning in Visual Recognition

Energized with the rise of deep learning models, artificial intelligence made large strides in bringing machine understanding to the realm of human performance. However, in order to generalize well these models rely heavily on the availability of thousands of manually labeled examples. Additionally, whenever a new task is encountered the learning starts from scratch and the expensive process of collecting additional training data is repeated. This significantly limits the scalability of such models. On the other hand, we humans do not learn new tasks in isolation. We have the remarkable ability to utilize previously obtained knowledge in solving new problems. This skill is known as transfer learning. It enables us to learn faster, better and with few examples. Therefore, there is great interest to mimic this skill by machines especially in domains where training data is scarce or not available. In this thesis we study transfer learning from a vision perspective. Specifically, we investigate how to carry on visual recognition (e.g. object or action classification) when there are few or no training samples. A promising solution in that direction is the semantic attribute framework. Here, visual categories are described in terms of intermediate attributes like color, pattern and shape. These attributes can be learned from a disjoint set of samples. Moreover, since they have a dual interpretation (visual and semantic), language can be effectively leveraged to guide the transfer process. That is, given a novel visual category, a linguistic description can be utilized to compose and transfer relevant attributes and construct the category model without the need of any training images. In this work, we pursue this framework and introduce novel solutions on how to model and transfer semantic attributes, how to automatically associate them with visual categories