Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cycling and Spatial Navigation in an Enriched, Immersive 3D Virtual Park Environment: A Feasibility Study in Younger and Older Adults

Background Cognitive decline is a significant public health concern in older adults. Identifying new ways to maintain cognitive and brain health throughout the lifespan is of utmost importance. Simultaneous exercise and cognitive engagement has been shown to enhance brain function in animal and human studies. Virtual reality (VR) may be a promising approach for conducting simultaneous exercise and cognitive studies. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of cycling in a cognitively enriched and immersive spatial navigation VR environment in younger and older adults. Methods A total of 20 younger (25.9 ± 3.7 years) and 20 older (63.6 ± 5.6 years) adults participated in this study. Participants completed four trials (2 learning and 2 recall) of cycling while wearing a head-mounted device (HMD) and navigating a VR park environment. Questionnaires were administered to assess adverse effects, mood, presence, and physical exertion levels associated with cycling in the VR environment. Results A total of 4 subjects withdrew from the study due to adverse effects, yielding a 90% completion rate. Simulator sickness levels were enhanced in both age groups with exposure to the VR environment but were within an acceptable range. Exposure to the virtual environment was associated with high arousal and low stress levels, suggesting a state of excitement, and most participants reported enjoyment of the spatial navigation task and VR environment. No association was found between physical exertion levels and simulator sickness levels. Conclusion This study demonstrates that spatial navigation while cycling is feasible and that older adults report similar experiences to younger adults. VR may be a powerful tool for engaging physical and cognitive activity in older adults with acceptable adverse effects and with reports of enjoyment. Future studies are needed to assess the efficacy of a combined exercise and cognitive VR program as an intervention for promoting healthy brain aging, especially in older adults with increased risk of age-related cognitive decline.
A Distinct Subset of Highly Proliferative and Lentiviral Vector (LV)-Transducible NK Cells Define a Readily Engineered Subset for Adoptive Cellular Therapy

Genetic engineering is an important tool for redirecting the function of various types of immune cells and their use for therapeutic purpose. Although NK cells have many beneficial therapeutic features, genetic engineering of immune cells for targeted therapy focuses mostly on T cells. One of the major obstacles for NK cell immunotherapy is the lack of an efficient method for gene transfer. Lentiviral vectors have been proven to be a safe tool for genetic engineering, however lentiviral transduction is inefficient for NK cells. We show in this study that lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with a modified baboon envelope glycoprotein can transduce NK cells 20-fold or higher in comparison to VSV-G pseudotyped lentiviral vector. When we investigated the mechanism of transduction, we found that activated NK cells expressed baboon envelope receptor ASCT-2. Further analysis revealed that only a subset of NK cells could be expanded and transduced with an expression profile of NK56bright, CD16dim, TRAILhigh, and CX3CR1neg. Using CD19-CAR, we could show that CD19 redirected NK cells efficiently and specifically kill cell lines expressing CD19. Taken together, the results from this study will be important for future genetic modification and for redirecting of NK cell function for therapeutic purpose.
Cost-effectiveness of Housing First Intervention With Intensive Case Management Compared With Treatment as Usual for Homeless Adults With Mental Illness

Key Points Question Is a Housing First intervention with Intensive Case Management for homeless people with mental illness cost-effective compared with treatment as usual? Findings In this economic evaluation study of data from the At Home/Chez Soi randomized clinical trial with 1198 initially homeless participants, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $56.08 per additional day of stable housing. At $67 per day of stable housing, there was an 80% chance that the Housing First intervention with Intensive Case Management was cost-effective compared with treatment as usual. Meaning Expanding access to Housing First with Intensive Case Management appears to be warranted from an economic point of view.
Emotional Intelligence in Elementary School Children. EMOCINE, a Novel Assessment Test Based on the Interpretation of Cinema Scenes

The aim of the present study was to validate a new procedure, called EMOCINE test, to measure the perception and understanding branches of emotional intelligence (EI) in 1,448 children, aged between 8 and 13 years, from elementary schools. This new tool consists of watching 15 cartoon film clips and interpreting them according to children’s own emotional perception and comprehension. After completing the test, the participants were classifie, according to their responses and by using the latent class analysis, as naïve (16.1%), over-interpretative (33.5%), and sensitive (50.4%). An increase in sensitive responses was observed depending on participants sex (girls higher than boys), and academic grade (increasing over the grades). Participants from the sensitive latent class had a significant better behavior in the school/classroom, compared with those from naïve and over-interpretative groups. Likewise, significant differences between latent classes were observed in many psychological, emotional, and behavioral problems (mainly between sensitive vs. insensitive by naivety) such as: depression, post-traumatic symptomatology, attention problems, aggression, family problems, problems at school, problems with classmates, integration and social competence. In conclusion, EMOCINE is a novel and promising tool for the measurement of the perception and comprehension components of EI. The test, employing film clips, is more realistic and motivating than others using static images or written descriptions. Moreover, the test can predict or identify emotional and behavior problems in children.
Inhalable and Respirable Particulate and Endotoxin Exposures in Kentucky Equine Farms

ABSTRACT Adverse respiratory health effects in the agricultural industry have been linked to particulate endotoxin exposure. However, whether the endotoxin concentration is significantly correlated to the size of the particle remains an open question. To date, limited research has been conducted to assess particulate endotoxin exposures in the agricultural industry in general or the equine industry in particular. A task-based exposure assessment was conducted to characterize the endotoxin levels of inhalable and respirable particles on four Kentucky farms during the summer season. We conducted personal sampling of respirable and inhalable particles (n = 75) across all four farms and particulate endotoxin (n = 58) on two of them. Simultaneously, we collected real-time area samples across all four farms by task – horse care, filing hooves, cleaning stalls, cleaning barns, cleaning dry lots, and cleaning trucks. The endotoxin concentration of inhalable particles (geometric mean: 50.2–1,024 EU/m3) was ~50 times higher than that of respirable particles (geometric mean: 1.72–19.0 EU/m3). Horse care generated the lowest endotoxin concentrations for both particle sizes, while cleaning tasks tended to produce higher concentrations. There was no significant correlation between the endotoxin and particle concentrations for each size fraction based on tasks by farm (R2 = 0.069 for inhalable; 0.214 for respirable). The equine workers in this study were exposed to higher endotoxin concentrations than workers in other industries, such as the swine industry. Providing exposure control guidelines and recommendations to the equine industry is necessary to reduce long-term endotoxin exposure and to prevent adverse respiratory symptoms.
Robotic Versus Laparoscopic Sigmoid Resection for Diverticular Disease: A Single-Center Experience of 106 Cases.

Background: Laparoscopic sigmoid resection is the surgical standard for the treatment of diverticulitis. Robotic sigmoid resection with the da Vinci Xi® platform may offer advantages over the laparoscopic approach. Materials and Methods: One hundred and six patients with uncomplicated, complicated, or recurrent diverticular disease underwent robotic (n = 60) or laparoscopic (n = 46) sigmoid resection at our institution between 2013 and 2018. Patient demographics and characteristics, perioperative measures, and complications were retrospectively analyzed. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the robotic and laparoscopic group with regard to operative time (130 versus 118 minutes; P = .23), anastomotic leakage (6.7% versus 6.5%; P = 1.0), need for stoma (6.7% versus 4.3%; P = 1.0), conversion rate (1.7% versus 0%; P = .36), reoperation (8.3% versus 15.2%; P = .27), overall complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification (30.0% versus 30.4%; P = .8), mortality (1.7% versus 0%; P = 1.0), and need for intravenous analgesics (3.0 versus 2.1 days; P = .21). The duration of postoperative ileus was significantly shorter in the robotic group (2.2 versus 2.8 days; P = .01). Conclusion: Robotic sigmoid resection for uncomplicated, complicated, or recurrent diverticular disease is a safe and feasible procedure. However, robotic sigmoid resection for diverticulitis is not associated with relevant clinical benefits for patients compared to laparoscopic resection except for a slightly shorter duration of postoperative ileus.
Prevalence of Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Diseases and Disability among Fruit Tree Farmers in Korea: Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of upper extremity musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases and to identify factors influencing disability among fruit tree farmers in Korea. Materials and Methods Of the 1150 subjects of the Namgaram study, 460 fruit tree farmers completed a questionnaire and underwent clinical evaluations, including physical assessments, laboratory tests, simple radiographic examinations, and magnetic resonance imaging studies of the upper extremities. Disability was assessed using the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand outcome measure. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and regression analyses using SPSS Win 24.0. Results The prevalences of upper extremity MSK diseases were 60.4% for rotator cuff tear, 20.9% for golf elbow, 40.9% for tennis elbow, and 58.0% for hand osteoarthritis. Disability in fruit farmers was associated with female sex (B=−4.47, p<0.001), smoking (B=−4.00, p=0.026), depression (B=2.83, p<0.001), working hours (B=0.96, p=0.001), injuries of the arms (B=10.78, p<0.001) and shoulders (B=6.75, p<0.001), and numbers of upper extremity MSK diseases (B=2.02, p=0.001), with 26.5% of the variance explained (R2=0.265, Durbin-Watson test=1.81, p<0.001). Conclusion Fruit tree farmers remain at risk for MSK diseases of the upper extremities. Disability tended to worsen with more MSK diseases. It is necessary to not only educate farmers about prevention strategies, but also to develop an effective management system for agricultural work-related MSK diseases and a surveillance system at the government level for the health problems of farmers.
Surface Plasmon Resonance for Biomarker Detection: Advances in Non-invasive Cancer Diagnosis

Biomarker-based cancer analysis has great potential to lead to a better understanding of disease at the molecular level and to improve early diagnosis and monitoring. Unlike conventional tissue biopsy, liquid biopsy allows the detection of a large variety of circulating biomarkers, such as microRNA (miRNA), exosomes, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and proteins, in an easily accessible and minimally invasive way. In this review, we describe and evaluate the relevance and applicability of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and localized SPR (LSPR)-based platforms for the detection of different classes of cancer biomarkers in liquid biopsy samples. Firstly, we critically discuss unsolved problems and issues in capturing and analyzing biomarkers. Secondly, we highlight current challenges which need to be resolved in applying SPR biosensors into clinical practice. Then, we mainly focus on applications of SPR-based platforms that process a patient sample aiming to detect and quantify biomarkers as a minimally invasive liquid biopsy tool for cancer patients appearing over the last 5 years. Finally, we describe the analytical performances of selected SPR biosensor assays and their significant advantages in terms of high sensitivity and specificity as well as accuracy and workflow simplicity.
Economic Reasoning and Interaction in Socially Extended Market Institutions

An important part of what it means for agents to be situated in the everyday world of human affairs includes their engagement with economic practices. In this paper, we employ the concept of cognitive institutions in order to provide an enactive and interactive interpretation of market and economic reasoning. We challenge traditional views that understand markets in terms of market structures or as processors of distributed information. The alternative conception builds upon the notion of the market as a “scaffolding institution. ” Introducing the concept of market as a “socially extended” cognitive institution we go beyond the notion of scaffolding to provide an enactive view of economic reasoning that understands the market participant in terms of social interactive processes and relational autonomy. Markets are more than inert devices for information processing; they can be viewed as “highly scaffolded,” where strong constraints and incentives predictably direct agents’ behavior. Building on this idea we argue that markets emerge from (a) the economic interaction of both supply and demand sides, in continual and mutual interplay, and (b) more basic social interactions. Consumer behavior in the marketplace is complex, not only contributing to determine the market price, but also extending the consumer’s cognitive processes to reliably attain a correct evaluation of the good. Moreover, this economic reasoning is socially situated and not something done in isolation from other consumers. From a socially situated, interactive point of view buying or not buying a good is something that enacts the market. This shifts the status of markets from external institutions that merely causally affect participants’ cognitive processes to social institutions that constitutively extend these cognitive processes. On this view the constraints imposed by social interactions, as well as the possibilities enabled by such interactions, are such that economic reasoning is never just an individual process carried out by an autonomous individual, classically understood. In this regard, understanding the concept of relational autonomy allows us to see how economic reasoning is always embodied, embedded in, and scaffolded by intersubjective interactions, and how such interactions make the market what it is.
Differential Recognition of Deacetylated PNAG Oligosaccharides by a Biofilm Degrading Glycosidase.

Exopolysaccharides consisting of partially de-N-acetylated poly-β-D-(1→6)-N-acetyl-glucosamine (dPNAG) are key structural components of the biofilm extracellular polymeric substance of both gram-positive and gram-negative human pathogens. De-N-acetylation is required for the proper assembly and function of dPNAG in biofilm development suggesting that different patterns of deacetylation may be preferentially recognized by proteins that interact with dPNAG, such as Dispersin B (DspB). The enzymatic degradation of dPNAG by the Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans native β-hexosaminidase enzyme DspB plays a role in biofilm dispersal. To test the role of substrate de-N-acetylation on substrate recognition by DspB, we applied an efficient pre-activation based one-pot glycosylation approach to prepare a panel of dPNAG trisaccharide analogs with defined acetylation patterns. These analogs served as effective DspB substrates and the rate of hydrolysis was dependent on the specific substrate de-N-acetylation pattern, with glucosamine (GlcN) located +2 from the site of cleavage being preferentially hydrolyzed. The product distributions support a primarily exoglycosidase cleavage activity following a substrate assisted cleavage mechanism, with the exception of substrates containing a non-reducing GlcN that were cleaved endo leading to the exclusive formation of a non-reducing disaccharide product. These observations provide critical insight into the substrate specificity of dPNAG specific glycosidase that can help guide their design as biocatalysts.
Physiological optimization of robotic endoscopic epicardial CRT‐D implantation using multielectrode electroanatomic mapping

Multielectrode epicardial mapping during robotic implantation of cardiac resynchronization‐defibrillator system. Robotically assisted endoscopic implantation of cardiac implantable devices is well documented to be both feasible and safe, and this technique provides particular benefit in patients with limited vascular access. In a patient meeting Class I indication for cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator and inaccessible vascular access, we describe in this case an optimization strategy for intraoperative left ventricular lead placement utilizing robotic epicardial electroanatomic mapping as well as the feasibility of implanting a totally epicardial biventricular cardioverter‐defibrillator system.
Electrical Stimulation of the Mesencephalic Locomotor Region Has No Impact on Blood–Brain Barrier Alterations after Cerebral Photothrombosis in Rats

Blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption is a critical event after ischemic stroke, which results in edema formation and hemorrhagic transformation of infarcted tissue. BBB dysfunction following stroke is partly mediated by proinflammatory agents. We recently have shown that high frequency stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR-HFS) exerts an antiapoptotic and anti-inflammatory effect in the border zone of cerebral photothrombotic stroke in rats. Whether MLR-HFS also has an impact on BBB dysfunction in the early stage of stroke is unknown. In this study, rats were subjected to photothrombotic stroke of the sensorimotor cortex and implantation of a stimulating microelectrode into the ipsilesional MLR. Thereafter, either HFS or sham stimulation of the MLR was applied for 24 h. After scarifying the rats, BBB disruption was assessed by determining albumin extravasation and tight junction integrity (claudin 3, claudin 5, and occludin) using Western blot analyses and immunohistochemistry. In addition, by applying zymography, expression of pro-metalloproteinase-9 (pro-MMP-9) was analyzed. No differences were found regarding infarct size and BBB dysfunction between stimulated and unstimulated animals 24 h after induction of stroke. Our results indicate that MLR-HFS neither improves nor worsens the damaged BBB after stroke. Attenuating cytokines/chemokines in the perilesional area, as mediated by MLR-HFS, tend to play a less significant role in preventing the BBB integrity.
Assessment of the 2017 AHA/ACC/HRS Guideline Recommendations for Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Implantation in Cardiac Sarcoidosis.

BACKGROUND Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators are used to prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis. The most recent recommendations for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation in these patients are in the 2017 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Rhythm Society Guideline for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death. These recommendations, based on observational studies or expert opinion, have not been assessed. We aimed to assess them. METHODS We performed a large retrospective cohort study of patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis and known or suspected cardiac sarcoidosis that underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were followed for a composite end point of significant ventricular arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death. The discriminatory performance of the Guideline recommendations was tested using time-dependent receiver operating characteristic analyses. The optimal cutoff for the extent of late gadolinium enhancement predictive of the composite end point was determined using the Youden index. RESULTS In 290 patients, the class I and IIa recommendations identified all patients who experienced the composite end point during a median follow-up of 3.0 years. Patients meeting class I recommendations had a significantly higher incidence of the composite end point than those meeting class IIa recommendations. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) >35% with >5.7% late gadolinium enhancement on cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging was as sensitive as and significantly more specific than LVEF >35% with any late gadolinium enhancement. Patients meeting 2 class IIa recommendations, LVEF >35% with the need for a permanent pacemaker and LVEF >35% with late gadolinium enhancement >5.7%, had high annualized event rates. Excluding 2 class IIa recommendations, LVEF >35% with syncope and LVEF >35% with inducible ventricular arrhythmia, resulted in improved discrimination for the composite end point. CONCLUSIONS We assessed the Guideline recommendations for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation in patients with known or suspected cardiac sarcoidosis and identified topics for future research.
Organization of Posterior Parietal–Frontal Connections in the Rat

Recent investigations of the rat posterior parietal cortex (PPC) suggest that this region plays a central role in action control together with the frontal cortical areas. Posterior parietal-frontal cortical connections have been described in rats, but little is known about whether these connections are topographically organized as in the primate. Here, we injected retrograde and anterograde tracers into subdivisions of PPC as well as the frontal midline and orbital cortical areas to explore possible topographies within their connections. We found that PPC projects to several frontal cortical areas, largely reciprocating the densest input received from the same areas. All PPC subdivisions are strongly connected with the secondary motor cortex (M2) in a topographically organized manner. The medial subdivision (medial posterior parietal cortex, mPPC) has a dense reciprocal connection with the most caudal portion of M2 (cM2), whereas the lateral subdivision (lateral posterior parietal cortex, lPPC) and the caudolateral subdivision (PtP) are reciprocally connected with the intermediate rostrocaudal portion of M2 (iM2). Sparser reciprocal connections were seen with anterior cingulate area 24b. mPPC connects with rostral, and lPPC and PtP connect with caudal parts of 24b, respectively. There are virtually no connections with area 24a, nor with prelimbic or infralimbic cortex. PPC and orbitofrontal cortices are also connected, showing a gradient such that mPPC entertains reciprocal connections mainly with the ventral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), whereas lPPC and PtP are preferentially connected with medial and central portions of ventrolateral OFC, respectively. Our results thus indicate that the connections of PPC with frontal cortices are organized in a topographical fashion, supporting functional heterogeneity within PPC and frontal cortices.