Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dose‐dependent effects of kefir on colitis induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid in rats

Abstract Evidence suggests that gut microbiota dysbiosis plays a critical role in the initiation and promotion of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Kefir is a fermented dairy product including yeast and bacterial species. We aimed to investigate the effect of kefir on trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)‐induced colitis in rats using two different doses. Fifty‐four Wistar rats were divided into six groups. For 14 days, the normal control and colitis control groups were given tap water, kefir10 control, kefir10 colitis, and kefir30 control, and the kefir30 colitis groups were given phosphate‐buffered saline containing 10% or 30% kefir, respectively, instead of tap water. Colitis was induced by intracolonically administrating TNBS in the colitis control, kefir10 colitis, and kefir30 colitis groups. On the 14th day, the rats were sacrificed. The weights and lengths of the colons were measured and macroscopically evaluated, and the distal 10 cm segments were subjected to a histopathological examination. The incidence of bloody stool and diarrhea in the kefir10 colitis group was found to be less than the colitis control and kefir30 colitis groups. The colonic weight/length ratio in the kefir10 colitis group was lower than that in the colitis control and kefir30 colitis groups. We detected that the 10% kefir treatment reduced TNBS‐induced macroscopic colonic damage, while it was exacerbated by the 30% kefir treatment. No significant difference was observed between the colitis groups in terms of microscopic colonic damage scoring. These results indicate that kefir, with a careful dose selection, may be a useful agent in the treatment of IBD.
miRNA expression profiles and molecular networks in resting and LPS-activated BV-2 microglia—Effect of cannabinoids

Mammalian microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in modulating the response of immune cells to stimuli. Cannabinoids are known to exert beneficial actions such as neuroprotection and immunosuppressive activities. However, the underlying mechanisms which contribute to these effects are not fully understood. We previously reported that the psychoactive cannabinoid Δ9–tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and the non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD) differ in their anti-inflammatory signaling pathways. Using lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to stimulate BV-2 microglial cells, we examined the role of cannabinoids on the expression of miRNAs. Expression was analyzed by performing deep sequencing, followed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to describe networks and intracellular pathways. miRNA sequencing analysis revealed that 31 miRNAs were differentially modulated by LPS and by cannabinoids treatments. In addition, we found that at the concentration tested, CBD has a greater effect than THC on the expression of most of the studied miRNAs. The results clearly link the effects of both LPS and cannabinoids to inflammatory signaling pathways. LPS upregulated the expression of pro-inflammatory miRNAs associated to Toll-like receptor (TLR) and NF-κB signaling, including miR-21, miR-146a and miR-155, whereas CBD inhibited LPS-stimulated expression of miR-146a and miR-155. In addition, CBD upregulated miR-34a, known to be involved in several pathways including Rb/E2f cell cycle and Notch-Dll1 signaling. Our results show that both CBD and THC reduced the LPS-upregulated Notch ligand Dll1 expression. MiR-155 and miR-34a are considered to be redox sensitive miRNAs, which regulate Nrf2-driven gene expression. Accordingly, we found that Nrf2-mediated expression of redox-dependent genes defines a Mox-like phenotype in CBD treated BV-2 cells. In summary, we have identified a specific repertoire of miRNAs that are regulated by cannabinoids, in resting (surveillant) and in LPS-activated microglia. The modulated miRNAs and their target genes are controlled by TLR, Nrf2 and Notch cross-talk signaling and are involved in immune response, cell cycle regulation as well as cellular stress and redox homeostasis.
Prevalence of Dietary Behavior and Determinants of Quality of Diet among Beneficiaries of Government Welfare Assistance in Poland

Diet, as a modifiable factor for good health maintenance, reduces the risk of numerous non-communicable chronic diseases and prevents premature death. The aim of the study was to examine the prevalence of a dietary behavior and to find out what the determinants of diet quality among the low socio-economic status population are. The studied sample consisted of 1710 respondents. Only 3% of the beneficiaries had healthy dietary habits. Unhealthy dietary habits dominated in all the study group regardless of the subjects’ level of education (p < 0.001). Higher odds of unhealthy dietary habits were reported among the respondents with primary, vocational, and secondary education than among the respondents with high education (for the primary education OR = 11.10; 95% CI: 5.86–21.01; p ≤ 0.001; for vocational education OR = 10.54; 95% CI: 5.79–19.18; p ≤ 0.001 and for secondary education OR = 5.83; 95% CI: 3.48–9.79; p ≤ 0.001). The unhealthy dietary behavior prevalence among beneficiaries of government welfare assistance in Poland is much higher than in the general population. Since only educational level is a determinant which is significantly correlated with the unhealthy dietary behavior, promotion of a healthy diet among disadvantaged individuals should be focused on this factor.
Emotional faces guide the eyes in the absence of awareness

The ability to act quickly to a threat is a key skill for survival. Under awareness, threat-related emotional information, such as an angry or fearful face, has not only perceptual advantages but also guides rapid actions such as eye movements. Emotional information that is suppressed from awareness still confers perceptual and attentional benefits. However, it is unknown whether suppressed emotional information can directly guide actions, or whether emotional information has to enter awareness to do so. We suppressed emotional faces from awareness using continuous flash suppression and tracked eye gaze position. Under successful suppression, as indicated by objective and subjective measures, gaze moved towards fearful faces, but away from angry faces. Our findings reveal that: (1) threat-related emotional stimuli can guide eye movements in the absence of visual awareness; (2) threat-related emotional face information guides distinct oculomotor actions depending on the type of threat conveyed by the emotional expression.
The Metallome of Lung Cancer and its Potential Use as Biomarker

Carcinogenesis is a very complex process in which metals have been found to be critically involved. In this sense, a disturbed redox status and metal dyshomeostasis take place during the onset and progression of cancer, and it is well-known that trace elements participate in the activation or inhibition of enzymatic reactions and metalloproteins, in which they usually participate as cofactors. Until now, the role of metals in cancer have been studied as an effect, establishing that cancer onset and progression affects the disturbance of the natural chemical form of the essential elements in the metabolism. However, it has also been studied as a cause, giving insights related to the high exposure of metals giving a place to the carcinogenic process. On the other hand, the chemical species of the metal or metallobiomolecule is very important, since it finally affects the biological activity or the toxicological potential of the element and their mobility across different biological compartments. Moreover, the importance of metal homeostasis and metals interactions in biology has also been demonstrated, and the ratios between some elements were found to be different in cancer patients; however, the interplay of elements is rarely reported. This review focuses on the critical role of metals in lung cancer, which is one of the most insidious forms of cancer, with special attention to the analytical approaches and pitfalls to extract metals and their species from tissues and biofluids, determining the ratios of metals, obtaining classification profiles, and finally defining the metallome of lung cancer.
Use of consumer-grade cameras to assess wheat N status and grain yield

Wheat Grain Yield (GY) and quality are particularly susceptible to nitrogen (N) fertilizer management. However, in rain-fed Mediterranean environments, crop N requirements might be variable due to the effects of water availability on crop growth. Therefore, in-season crop N status assessment is needed in order to apply N fertilizer in a cost-effective way while reducing environmental impacts. Remote sensing techniques might be useful at assessing in-season crop N status. In this study, we evaluated the capacity of vegetation indices formulated using blue (B), green (G), red (R) and near-infrared (NIR) bands obtained with a consumer-grade camera to assess wheat N status. Chlorophyll Content Index (CCI) and fractional intercepted PAR (fIPAR) were measured at three phenological stages and GY and biomass were determined at harvest. Indices formulated using RG bands and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were significantly correlated with both CCI and fIPAR at the different phenological stage (0.71 < r < 0.81, P < 0.01). Moreover, indices formulated using RG bands were capable at differentiating unfertilized and fertilized plots. In addition, RGB indices and NDVI were found to be related to both crop biomass and GY at harvest, particularly when data were obtained at initial grain filling stage (r > 0.80, P < 0.01). Finally, RGB indices and NDVI obtained with a consumer-grade camera showed comparable capacity at assessing chlorophyll content and predicting both crop biomass and GY at harvest than those obtained with a spectroradiometer. This study highlights the potential of standard and modified consumer-grade cameras at assessing canopy traits related to crop N status and GY in wheat under Mediterranean conditions.
Are Young Men Getting the Message? Age Differences in Suicide Prevention Literacy among Male Construction Workers

Suicide is a leading cause of death among young men. Help-seeking is known to be poor among this group, and little is known about what interventions are most successful in improving suicide prevention literacy among young men. This research aims to examine: (1) age differences in beliefs related to suicide prevention literacy and attitudes to the workplace in addressing mental health among male construction workers; (2) age differences in response to a workplace suicide prevention program. Pre- and post-training survey data of 19,917 male respondents were obtained from a workplace training program database. Linear regression models and predictive margins were computed. Mean differences in baseline beliefs, and belief change were obtained for age groups, and by occupation. Young men demonstrated poorer baseline suicide prevention literacy but were more likely to consider that mental health is a workplace health and safety issue. There was also evidence that young men employed in manual occupations had poorer suicide prevention literacy than older men, and young men employed in professional/managerial roles. The youngest respondents demonstrated the greatest intervention-associated change (higher scores indicating more favourable belief change) to People considering suicide often send out warning signs (predicted mean belief change 0.47, 95% CI 0.43, 0.50 for those aged 15–24 years compared to 0.38, 95% CI 0.36, 0.41 for men aged 45 years and over), and to The construction industry must do something to reduce suicide rates (predicted mean belief change 0.17, 95% CI 0.15, 0.20 for those aged 15–24 years compared to 0.12, 95% CI 0.10, 0.14 among men aged 45 years and over). Results indicate that while suicide prevention literacy may be lower among young men, this group show amenability to changing beliefs. There were some indications that young men have a greater propensity to regard the workplace as having a role in reducing suicide rates and addressing mental health, highlighting opportunity for workplace interventions.
Salinomycin: Anti-tumor activity in a pre-clinical colorectal cancer model

Objectives Salinomycin is a polyether antibiotic with selective activity against human cancer stem cells. The impact of salinomycin on patient-derived primary human colorectal cancer cells has not been investigated so far. Thus, here we aimed to investigate the activity of salinomycin against tumor initiating cells isolated from patients with colorectal cancer. Methods Primary tumor-initiating cells (TIC) isolated from human patients with colorectal liver metastases or from human primary colon carcinoma were exposed to salinomycin and compared to treatment with 5-FU and oxaliplatin. TICs were injected subcutaneously into NOD/SCID mice to induce a patient-derived mouse xenograft model of colorectal cancer. Animals were treated either with salinomycin, FOLFOX regimen, or salinomycin and FOLFOX. Human colorectal cancer cells were used to delineate an underlying molecular mechanism of salinomycin in this tumor entity. Results Applying TICs isolated from human patients with colorectal liver metastases or from human primary colon carcinoma, we demonstrated that salinomycin exerts increased antiproliferative activity compared to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin treatment. Consistently, salinomycin alone or in combination with FOLFOX exerts superior antitumor activity compared to FOLFOX therapy in a patient-derived mouse xenograft model of colorectal cancer. Salinomycin induces apoptosis of human colorectal cancer cells, accompanied by accumulation of dysfunctional mitochondria and reactive oxygen species. These effects are associated with expressional down-regulation of superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) in response to salinomycin treatment. Conclusion Collectively, the results of this pre-clinical study indicate that salinomycin alone or in combination with 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin exerts increased antitumoral activity compared to common chemotherapy.
Analysis of Epichloë festucae small secreted proteins in the interaction with Lolium perenne

Epichloë festucae is an endophyte of the agriculturally important perennial ryegrass. This species systemically colonises the aerial tissues of this host where its growth is tightly regulated thereby maintaining a mutualistic symbiotic interaction. Recent studies have suggested that small secreted proteins, termed effectors, play a vital role in the suppression of host defence responses. To date only a few effectors with important roles in mutualistic interactions have been described. Here we make use of the fully assembled E. festucae genome and EffectorP to generate a suite of 141 effector candidates. These were analysed with respect to their genome location and expression profiles in planta and in several symbiosis-defective mutants. We found an association between effector candidates and a class of transposable elements known as MITEs, but no correlation with other dynamic features of the E. festucae genome, such as transposable element-rich regions. Three effector candidates and a small GPI-anchored protein were chosen for functional analysis based on their high expression in planta compared to in culture and their differential regulation in symbiosis defective E. festucae mutants. All three candidate effector proteins were shown to possess a functional signal peptide and two could be detected in the extracellular medium by western blotting. Localization of the effector candidates in planta suggests that they are not translocated into the plant cell, but rather, are localized in the apoplastic space or are attached to the cell wall. Deletion and overexpression of the effector candidates, as well as the putative GPI-anchored protein, did not affect the plant growth phenotype or restrict growth of E. festucae mutants in planta. These results indicate that these proteins are either not required for the interaction at the observed life stages or that there is redundancy between effectors expressed by E. festucae.
Dose-Dependent Toxic Effect of Cotinine-Verified Tobacco Smoking on Systemic Inflammation in Apparently Healthy Men and Women: A Nationwide Population-Based Study

Chronic exposure to tobacco smoke leads to chronic low-grade systemic inflammation; however, little is known about the dose-dependent toxic effect of objective tobacco smoking on systemic inflammation. We examined the dose-dependent toxic effect of cotinine-verified tobacco smoking on leukocyte count in a representative sample of Korean adults, including 8655 men and 10,432 women aged 19–65 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The participants were categorized into five groups by the level of urine cotinine (Ucot) as follows: A non-smoker group (<50.00 ng/mL) and four quartile groups for smokers for both men and women. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for sex-specific high leukocyte count (≥75th percentile) were calculated across five groups of Ucot concentrations using multiple logistic regression analyses. The mean values of leukocyte count gradually increased according to the grade of Ucot concentration in both sexes. The ORs (95% CIs) for high leukocyte count in the 4th Ucot quartile concentrations versus the non-smokers were 4.09 (3.39–4.94) for men and 3.91 (2.82–5.41) for women after adjusting for confounding variables. The present study confirmed the dose-response toxic effect of tobacco smoking on chronic low-grade systemic inflammation.
Hypoxia Induced ER Stress Response as an Adaptive Mechanism in Cancer

It is evident that regions within tumors are deprived of oxygen, which makes the microenvironment hypoxic. Cancer cells experiencing hypoxia undergo metabolic alterations and cytoprotective adaptive mechanisms to survive such stringent conditions. While such mechanisms provide potential therapeutic targets, the mechanisms by which hypoxia regulates adaptive responses—such as ER stress response, unfolded protein response (UPR), anti-oxidative responses, and autophagy—remain elusive. In this review, we summarize the complex interplay between hypoxia and the ER stress signaling pathways that are activated in the hypoxic microenvironment of the tumors.
Effect of hypobaria on maximal ventilation, oxygen uptake, and exercise performance during running under hypobaric normoxic conditions

During exposure to high altitude, hypoxia develops because of reductions in barometric pressure and partial pressure of O2. Although several studies have examined the effects of hypoxia on exercise performance and physiological responses, such as maximal minute ventilation ( V·Emax) and maximal oxygen uptake ( V· O2max), how barometric pressure reduction (hypobaria) modulates them remains largely unknown. In this study, 11 young men performed incremental treadmill running tests to exhaustion under three conditions chosen at random: normobaric normoxia (NN; 763 ± 5 mmHg of barometric pressure, equivalent to sea level), hypobaric hypoxia (HH; 492 ± 1 mmHg of barometric pressure, equivalent to 3500 m above sea level (m a.s.l.)), and hypobaric normoxia (HN; 492 ± 1 mmHg of barometric pressure while breathing 32.2 ± 0.1% O2 to match the inspiratory O2 content under NN). V·Emax was higher in HN than in NN (160.9 ± 10.7 vs. 150.7 ± 10.0 L min−1, P < 0.05). However, no differences in V· O2max and arterial oxyhemoglobin saturation were observed between NN and HN (all P > 0.05). Time to exhaustion was longer in HN than in NN (932 ± 83 vs. 910 ± 79 s, P < 0.05). These results suggest that reduced air density during exposure to an altitude of 3500 m a.s. l. increases maximal ventilation and extends time to exhaustion without affecting oxygen consumption or arterial oxygen saturation.
Mapping the content of mothers’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards universal newborn hearing screening for development of a KAP survey tool

Understanding mother’s knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) is essential for the success of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) as poor compliance and follow-up remains a global challenge. To determine content area for a questionnaire that measures PCHI-related KAP in rural mothers, we trained moderators who interviewed 145 pregnant women (17 groups) from 5 ante-natal clinics. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, summarised and analysed using thematic framework analysis. Four knowledge themes were identified: 1) PCHI was perceived as the malfunction of hearing leading to disability; 2) a poorly-responsive/communicative child may have PCHI; 3) lifestyle, hereditary and environmental factors are significant causes of PCHI; 4) medical management of PCHI was doubted, with some advocating birth and ancestral rituals. Two themes were identified for attitude: 1) beliefs that PCHI was emotionalised due to the negative lifelong impact on the child and family; 2) UNHS processes were favourable though some preferred other belief systems. Three themes were identified for practice: 1) doctors were the first choice followed by traditional healers; 2) willingness to continue follow-up although challenges exist; 3) minimal family support during consultation. The contextualised KAP of women regarding UNHS processes and PCHI provided content area for the design of a KAP tool.
Impact of visceral pleural invasion on the association of extent of lymphadenectomy and survival in stage I non‐small cell lung cancer

Visceral pleural invasion (VPI) has been identified as an adverse prognostic factor for non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Accurate nodal staging for NSCLC correlates with improved survival, but it is unclear whether tumors with VPI require a more extensive lymph nodes (LNs) dissection to optimize survival. We aimed to evaluate the impact of VPI status on the optimal extent of LNs dissection in stage I NSCLC, using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We identified 9297 surgically treated T1‐2aN0M0 NSCLC patients with at least one examined LNs. Propensity score matching was conducted to balance the baseline clinicopathologic characteristics between the VPI group and non‐VPI group. Log‐rank tests along with Cox proportional hazards regression methods were performed to evaluate the impact of extent of LNs dissection on survival. VPI was correlated with a significant worse survival, but there was no significant difference in survival rate between PL1 and PL2. Patients who underwent sublobectomy had slightly decreased survival than those who underwent lobectomy. Pathologic LNs examination was significantly correlated with survival. Examination of 7‐8 LNs and 14‐16 LNs conferred the lowest hazard ratio for T1‐sized/non‐VPI tumors (stage IA) and T1‐sized/VPI tumors (stage IB), respectively. The optimal extent of LNs dissection varied by VPI status, with T1‐sized/VPI tumors (stage IB) requiring a more extensive LNs dissection than T1‐sized/non‐VPI tumors (stage IA). These results might provide guidelines for surgical procedure in early stage NSCLC.