Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
circCPA4 acts as a prognostic factor and regulates the proliferation and metastasis of glioma

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are reported to play vital roles in tumour process and might be potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for tumours. But the expression and function of circRNAs in glioma remain unclear. Here, we performed circRNA microarray analysis of glioma tissues and matched normal brain tissue samples to explore the circRNA profile in glioma. GO analysis, KEGG and Reactom pathway analysis of linear mRNA transcripts corresponding to circRNAs were performed to study the involved biological process and pathways. The clinical significance of the selected circRNA was investigated by Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis. Relevant biological function, such as cell proliferation and metastasis, was detected in vitro and in vivo. And possible mechanism of the regulatory function of the selected circRNA in glioma was explored. We found that circCPA4 (hsa_circ_0082374) up‐regulated the most in glioma tissues and high levels of circCPA4 were positively related to poor outcome of glioma. And knockdown of circCPA4 suppresses cell proliferation and metastasis in glioma. Moreover, circCPA4 interacts with let‐7 and serves as a sponge for let‐7. Through the competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) mechanism, circCPA4 sponges let‐7 to regulate the expression of CPA4 and glioma progression. The circCPA4/let‐7/CPA4 axis regulates glioma progression by ceRNA mechanism, and circCPA4 could be a novel prognostic biomarker and target for glioma treatment.
Scopoletin exerts anticancer effects on human cervical cancer cell lines by triggering apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, inhibition of cell invasion and PI3K/AKT signalling pathway.

PURPOSE Cervical cancer causes considerable mortality in women world over and the current treatment options create severe adverse effects. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop novel and efficient treatment regimens for cervical cancer. Herein, we examined the anticancer effects of a natural coumarin, Scopoletin, against a panel of cervical cancer cell lines. METHODS The antiproliferative effect of Scopoletin was examined by cell counting and colony formation assays. Apoptosis was detected by acridine orange (AO) ethidium promide (EB) staining. Cell cycle distribution was determined by flow cytometry. Cell invasion was examined by Boyden chamber assay. Protein expression was checked by western blotting. RESULTS Scopoletin inhibited the growth of all the cell lines and the IC50 ranged between 7.5 to 25 µM. Nonetheless, the cytotoxic effects of Scopoletin were comparatively negligible against the normal cells with an IC50 of 90 µM. Investigation of the mechanism of action, revealed that the anticancer effects of Scopoletin against the HeLa cervical cancer cells were due to induction of apoptotic cell death as indicated AO/EB staining. Scopoletin treatment also resulted in enhancement of the Bax, Caspase 3, 8 and 9 expression and decline of the Bcl-2 expression. Scopoletin also blocked the HeLa cells at G2/M checkpoint of the cell cycle. Furthermore, cell invasion assay revealed that Scopoletin inhibited the migration of the HeLa cells concentration-dependently. PI3K/AKT is an imperative pathway involved in theproliferation and tumorigenesis of cancer cells and herein it was found that Scopoletin could inhibit this pathway. CONCLUSION Taken together, Scopoletin may prove essential in the development of novel treatment regimes for cervical cancer.
Evaluation of the Effect of Support-Training System of Peer Group on Promotion of Self-Care in β-Thalassemia Major Patients in Southern Iran

Abstract β-Thalassemia (β-thal) is a chronic illness and its complications make the patient less compliant with the treatment protocol. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a support-training system of peer group on promotion of self-care in β-thal major (β-TM) patients. In this semi-experimental study, 112 β-TM were randomly selected and assigned to the study and control groups. Seven β-TM patients, who were physically, mentally and socially normal, were selected and trained as the peer group. Eight training sessions over 4 months were done by the peer group. The questionnaire with 50 questions was scored using the Likert scale, always with 1 point, sometimes 0.5 point and never 0 points. In the study group, before intervention, the mean score of the patients was 29.84 ± 6.16, which, after intervention, increased significantly to 37.14 ± 4.35, p < 0.001. In the control group, the overall mean self-care patients’ score decreased significantly, from 29.76 ± 7.18 to 29.48 ± 7.02. No significant difference was observed between pre and post intervention in the control group in all aspects of self-care (daily activities, fitness and wellness, nourishment, stress relief, job and home environment, time management, expression and creativity, support, items supporting self-care, self-care of the sickness), but it was significant in the study group. The results revealed the positive impact of peer group in promoting self-care of β-TM patients in the study group compared to the control group, which may be used as a frontline educational model in these patients.
Multimodality imaging for the diagnosis and treatment of constrictive pericarditis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Constrictive pericarditis can result in debilitating congestive right heart failure and has been considered an important cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. Multimodality imaging continues to play a fundamental role in the individual approach to diagnosis, management, and prognosis of patients with this clinical syndrome. Areas covered: This article gives an overview of the clinical spectrum of constrictive pericardial diseases and the role of multimodality imaging in the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis. There is a focus on the emerging role of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) for the diagnosis, management, and prognostication of patients with constrictive pericarditis based on more recent case series, retrospective and prospective studies, which have helped to define the role of CMR. Expert opinion: Advanced multimodality imaging assists with identification of both overt and subclinical pericardial inflammation. This allows the pericardiologist to recognize patients with potentially reversible disease, trial medical therapy, and thereby avoid mechanical removal of the pericardium. Further, pericardial characterization by CMR has provided novel information about the natural history of these pericardial conditions, which can help tailor therapy and improve prognosis.
Evaluation of agomelatine for the treatment of sleep problems in adults with autism spectrum disorder and co-morbid intellectual disability

Purpose: Intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are common, co-occurring developmental disorders and are frequently associated with sleep problems. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of agomelatine as a pharmacotherapy for sleep problems in ASD adults with ID. Method: A randomised, crossover, triple-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, with two three-month periods of treatment starting with either agomelatine or placebo and a washout period of two weeks. Ambulatory circadian monitoring (24 hours/7 days) evaluated total sleep time (TST) as the primary outcome variable. Results: Participants (N=23; 35±12 years old; 83% male) had a median of three (interquartile range (IQR) 1–4) co-morbidities and were taking a median of five (IQR 2–7) prescribed drugs. Before agomelatine or placebo treatment, all subjects presented with insomnia symptoms, including sleep latency (100% abnormal, 55±23 minutes) or TST (55% abnormal, 449±177 minutes), and 66% had circadian rhythm sleep–wake abnormalities with rhythm phase advancements according to the M5 sleep phase marker values. During the three-month agomelatine treatment, night TST significantly increased by a mean of 83 minutes (16% abnormal, 532±121 minutes), together with a phase correction (M5 1:45±2:28 hours vs. 3:15±2:20 hours), improving sleep stability in wrist temperature rhythm (0.43±0.29 vs. 0.52±0.18 AU). Adverse events were mild and transient. Conclusions: Agomelatine was effective and well tolerated for treating insomnia and circadian rhythm sleep problems present in adults with ASD and ID.
Contemporary Demographic Reconstruction Methods Are Robust to Genome Assembly Quality: A Case Study in Tasmanian Devils

Abstract Reconstructing species’ demographic histories is a central focus of molecular ecology and evolution. Recently, an expanding suite of methods leveraging either the sequentially Markovian coalescent (SMC) or the site-frequency spectrum has been developed to reconstruct population size histories from genomic sequence data. However, few studies have investigated the robustness of these methods to genome assemblies of varying quality. In this study, we first present an improved genome assembly for the Tasmanian devil using the Chicago library method. Compared with the original reference genome, our new assembly reduces the number of scaffolds (from 35,975 to 10,010) and increases the scaffold N90 (from 0.101 to 2.164 Mb). Second, we assess the performance of four contemporary genomic methods for inferring population size history (PSMC, MSMC, SMC++, Stairway Plot), using the two devil genome assemblies as well as simulated, artificially fragmented genomes that approximate the hypothesized demographic history of Tasmanian devils. We demonstrate that each method is robust to assembly quality, producing similar estimates of Ne when simulated genomes were fragmented into up to 5,000 scaffolds. Overall, methods reliant on the SMC are most reliable between ∼300 generations before present (gbp) and 100 kgbp, whereas methods exclusively reliant on the site-frequency spectrum are most reliable between the present and 30 gbp. Our results suggest that when used in concert, genomic methods for reconstructing species’ effective population size histories 1) can be applied to nonmodel organisms without highly contiguous reference genomes, and 2) are capable of detecting independently documented effects of historical geological events.
Management of Tamm–Horsfall Protein for Reliable Urinary Analytics

Urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs) are a novel source of biomarkers. However, urinary Tamm–Horsfall Protein (THP; uromodulin) interferes with all vesicle isolation attempts, precipitates with normal urinary proteins, thus, representing an unwanted “contaminant” in urinary assays. Thus, the aim is to develop a simple method to manage THP efficiently.
Bentonite addition to a PCB-contaminated sandy soil improved the growth and phytoremediation efficiency of Zea mays L. and Alternanthera sessilis L.

Abstract In this study, the removal of 17 selected PCBi congeners was assessed in a transformer oil-contaminated soil amended with bentonite clay powder applied at the three levels of 0, 2, and 4% and cultivated by Zea mays L. or Alternanthera sessilis L. in a pot experiment. Results showed that Z. mays and A. sessilis were able to reduce the residual concentrations of the PCBi congeners in the contaminated soil significantly (p < 0.05). The average reductions in the ƩPCBi due to Z. mays or A. sessilis cultivations were 34.3 and 21.4%, respectively, depending on initial soil ƩPCBi loading and plant growth period. Moreover, addition of bentonite led to significant (p < 0.05) enhancements in plant growth and dissipation of residual soil PCBi congeners under Z. mays and A. sessilis cultivations. Addition of 4% bentonite to the soil was found to have the greatest positive impact on PCBi removal so that average PCBi dissipations in the soil were 56.1 and 51.8% after growing Z. mays and A. sessilis, respectively. It might be concluded that the combined phytoremediation and bentonite addition is an effective technique for removing PCBi and remediating transformer oil-contaminated coarse-textured soils.
Developmental stability of scholastic, social, athletic, and physical appearance self-concepts from preschool to early adulthood.

BACKGROUND Self-concept has meaningful relations with psychological functioning and well-being across the life span. Hence, it is important to understand how and when individual differences in multiple domains of self-concept begin to stabilize and whether individual differences remain stable throughout childhood and adolescence and into early adulthood. METHODS We assessed individuals' (N = 372) scholastic, social, athletic, and physical appearance self-concepts at five waves over 20 years from age 4 to age 24. RESULTS In general, stability was large, but medium-sized estimates were obtained for some domains over longer (e.g., 6-year) intervals. Indirect effects from preschool to early adulthood were small, but from age 14 to 24 were medium to large. Stabilities maintained significance independent of family socioeconomic status and global self-worth. Stability estimates were similar for boys and girls except over adolescence for scholastic self-concept, which was more stable for girls than boys. CONCLUSIONS Multiple domains of self-concept constitute stable individual-difference characteristics, independent of global feelings of self-worth. Individuals who have high or low self-concepts early in development tend to maintain their relative standing into early adulthood suggesting points of intervention.
Burst and Tonic Spinal Cord Stimulation Both Activate Spinal GABAergic Mechanisms to Attenuate Pain in a Rat Model of Chronic Neuropathic Pain

Experimental and clinical studies have shown that tonic spinal cord stimulation (SCS) releases gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the spinal dorsal horn. Recently, it was suggested that burst SCS does not act via spinal GABAergic mechanisms. Therefore, we studied spinal GABA release during burst and tonic SCS, both anatomically and pharmacologically, in a well‐established chronic neuropathic pain model.
VHH characterization. Comparison of recombinant with chemically synthesized anti‐HER2 VHH

In the continuous exploration of the VHH chemistry, biochemistry and therapeutic future use, we investigated two different production strategies of this small antibody‐like protein, using an anti‐HER2 VHH as a model. The total chemical synthesis of the 125 amino‐acid peptide was performed with reasonable yield, even if optimization will be necessary to upgrade this kind of production. In parallel, we expressed the same sequence in two different hosts: Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris. Both productions were successful and led to a fair amount of VHHs. The integrity and conformation of the VHH were characterized by complementary mass spectrometry approaches, while surface plasmon resonance experiments were used to assess the VHH recognition capacity and affinity toward its “antigen. ” Using this combination of orthogonal techniques, it was possible to show that the three VHHs—whether synthetic or recombinant ones—were properly and similarly folded and recognized the “antigen” HER2 with similar affinities, in the nanomolar range. This opens a route toward further exploration of modified VHH with unnatural amino acids and subsequently, VHH‐drug conjugates.
Advanced Tailored Randomness: A Novel Approach for Improving the Efficacy of Biological Systems

Improving the function of biological systems represents a significant task in the fight to control health conditions and slow down the aging process. Applying the laws of physics to a biological system is difficult, due to the multiple parameters that must be considered at the cellular and whole-organ levels. The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy, a measure of randomness in an isolated system, increases over time. Based on this concept, randomness has been suggested as a means by which the efficacy of isolated biological systems may be improved. While classical and quantum physics uses different definitions of randomness and complexity, biological randomness is as an essential component of the intrinsic unpredictability of life. The manifestation of biological randomness may be different for different individuals, leading to differences in patient outcomes. In this work, an approach for enhancing the effectiveness of biological systems based on a novel concept of advanced tailored randomness in patient care is presented.
A survey of pathology specimens associated with impacted teeth over a 21-year period

Background To compare the histologic diagnosis of lesions associated with impacted teeth from a South African population with literature data. Material and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional survey of tissue specimens associated with impacted teeth that were analyzed in the Department of Oral Pathology (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) between 1996 and 2016. Patient age, gender, impacted tooth location and the histologic diagnosis were recorded for statistical analysis. Results Odontogenic pathology was diagnosed in 389 (95.6%) specimens while dental follicle comprised 4.4% of tissue submissions. The mean age was 25.3 ±15.2 years with a male predilection (M:F=1.8:1). The 11-20 year age group was mostly affected and the overall frequency of odontogenic lesions reduced significantly with an increase in age (p=0.01). Dentigerous cyst (56.5%) and ameloblastoma (14%) were most commonly diagnosed. Conclusions This is the first African epidemiologic survey of histologic specimens associated with impacted teeth and shows striking differences in the ratio of pathologic to non-pathologic diagnoses compared to other populations. Locally aggressive odontogenic lesions appear to develop one to two decades earlier in patients from developing countries. Key words:Ameloblastoma, biopsy, dentigerous cyst, histopathology, odontogenic cyst, odontogenic tumor.
Encoder-decoder with dense dilated spatial pyramid pooling for prostate MR images segmentation

Abstract Automatic segmentation of prostate magnetic resonance (MR) images has great significance for the diagnosis and clinical application of prostate diseases. It faces enormous challenges because of the low contrast of the tissue boundary and the small effective area of the prostate MR images. In order to solve these problems, we propose a novel end-to-end professional network which consists of an Encoder-Decoder structure with dense dilated spatial pyramid pooling (DDSPP) for prostate segmentation based on deep learning. First, the DDSPP module is used to extract the multi-scale convolution features in the prostate MR images, and then the decoder is used to capture the clear boundary of prostate. Competitive results are produced over state of the art on 130 MR images which key metrics Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and Hausdorff distance (HD) are 0.954 and 1.752 mm respectively. Experimental results show that our method has high accuracy and robustness.
M7‐FLIPI is not prognostic in follicular lymphoma patients with first‐line rituximab chemo‐free therapy

The clinical course of follicular lymphoma (FL) is highly variable. Recently the m7‐FL international prognostic index (FLIPI) integrating performance status, FLIPI score and the mutational status of seven genes, was shown to stratify patients into “low‐risk” and “high‐risk” with respect to 5‐year failure‐free survival after first‐line immunochemotherapy. Our aim was to evaluate the model after rituximab without chemotherapy. The Nordic Lymphoma Group performed two randomized clinical trials on indolent lymphoma patients receiving single rituximab and rituximab with interferon‐α2a. In total, 95 FL patients had sufficient fresh‐frozen diagnostic material for sequencing. A targeted panel for the genes EZH2, ARID1A, MEF2B, EP300, FOXO1, CREBBP and CARD11 was utilized for m7‐FLIPI score calculation. With a median follow‐up of 10·6 years, 76% of patients were alive. No difference in time to treatment failure (TTF), defined as the interval between start of trial therapy and initiation of new therapy or death, nor overall survival (OS) was found between the m7‐FLIPI risk groups (log‐rank P = 0·94 and 0·99, respectively). EZH2 mutations were associated with longer TTF (log‐rank P = 0·04) and in EP300 mutations were associated with shorter TTF (log‐rank P = 0·01). We conclude that the prognostic value of the m7‐FLIPI clinicogenetic model seems dependent on therapeutic regimen.
Parental Empathy, Aggressive Parenting, and Child Adjustment in a Noncustodial High-Risk Sample

This study examined the relations between parental empathy, parenting physical aggression, parental psychological control, and child adjustment in a sample of parents who had their children removed from their custody because of child abuse or neglect. Twenty parents between 24 and 40 years of age (M = 31.15, SD = 4.85; 85% female) with a child aged between 1.5 and 16 years (M = 6.5, SD = 3.88; 70% boys) participated in the study. Our sample was comprised of relatively racially diverse and low-income parents, with 40% from racial minority groups and 70% below the poverty line. Parents were recruited from a local nonprofit organization providing court-mandated parenting classes. Parents reported on their dispositional empathy, physical aggression toward children, psychological control and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms in an interview format. Parents also reported on empathy for their children through a semistructured interview; their empathy was later coded by trained research assistants. Bivariate correlation analyses revealed that parental empathy in the parent–child relationship negatively correlated with parental psychological control. Greater parental psychological control significantly correlated with greater approval of corporal punishment. Moreover, in the subsample of older children (6 years old and above), greater parental dispositional empathy was associated with greater child externalizing symptoms. Further exploratory analyses showed that associations between parental empathy, psychological control, and spanking attitudes differed across parents of boys and of girls. This study highlights the importance of examining empathy specific to the parent–child relationship in addition to dispositional empathy to predict parenting aggression. More importantly, studies should focus on a more covert form of parenting aggression, parental psychological control, in addition to physical aggression.