Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Amyloid Positivity Rate and Accumulation Pattern between Amnestic and Non-Amnestic Type Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective We aimed to compare cerebral beta-amyloid protein (Aβ) positivity rate and amyloid accumulation pattern on amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) between mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes, i.e. amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment (naMCI). Methods The study participants were 34 naMCI patients and age-, sex- and education-matched 68 aMCI patients (1:2 ratio) who visited the Dementia and Age-Associated Cognitive Decline Clinic of the Seoul National University Hospital. All participants received comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological assessments and [18F] florbetaben PET. Results Aβ positivity rate of naMCI group (26.5%) was significantly lower than that of aMCI group (64.7%). Among Aβ positive individuals, there was no difference in Aβ accumulation pattern between naMCI and aMCI. Conclusion The findings suggest that MCI subtypes based on impaired cognitive domains have a differential association with brain Aβ deposition, a core pathology of AD. Amnestic subtype of MCI are more closely associated with cerebral Aβ deposition compared to non-amnestic subtype. In contrast, the pattern of amyloid deposition does not appear to have any difference between the subtypes.
Timed Up and Go and Six-Minute Walking Tests with Wearable Inertial Sensor: One Step Further for the Prediction of the Risk of Fall in Elderly Nursing Home People

Assessing the risk of fall in elderly people is a difficult challenge for clinicians. Since falls represent one of the first causes of death in such people, numerous clinical tests have been created and validated over the past 30 years to ascertain the risk of falls. More recently, the developments of low-cost motion capture sensors have facilitated observations of gait differences between fallers and nonfallers. The aim of this study is twofold. First, to design a method combining clinical tests and motion capture sensors in order to optimize the prediction of the risk of fall. Second to assess the ability of artificial intelligence to predict risk of fall from sensor raw data only. Seventy-three nursing home residents over the age of 65 underwent the Timed Up and Go (TUG) and six-minute walking tests equipped with a home-designed wearable Inertial Measurement Unit during two sets of measurements at a six-month interval. Observed falls during that interval enabled us to divide residents into two categories: fallers and nonfallers. We show that the TUG test results coupled to gait variability indicators, measured during a six-minute walking test, improve (from 68% to 76%) the accuracy of risk of fall’s prediction at six months. In addition, we show that an artificial intelligence algorithm trained on the sensor raw data of 57 participants reveals an accuracy of 75% on the remaining 16 participants.
Clinical and laboratory parameters as predictors of long-term outcome according to the etiology of underlying chronic liver disease in patients who underwent liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to analyze clinical and laboratory parameters and their association with long-term outcomes in patients who underwent liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment, according to the etiology of the underlying chronic liver disease, in order to identify predictors of response to this therapeutic modality. METHODS: Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data from a cohort of 134 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma treatment at a referral center in Brazil were retrospectively selected and compared according to the etiologic group of the underlying chronic liver disease. Events, defined as tumor recurrence or death from any cause, and event-free survival were also analyzed, and multivariate analysis was performed. RESULTS: The etiologies comprised hepatitis C and B virus infection, alcohol abuse, and cryptogenic disorder. Although liver transplantation was performed outside the Milan criteria in 33.3% of the subjects, according to pathologic examination of the explanted liver, the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was low (<22) in most patients (70.6%) and recurrence was identified in only 10 (7.9%) patients. Events occurred in 37 patients (28.5%), and the median event-free survival was 75 months (range, 24-116 months). No difference among etiologic groups was found in the parameters analyzed, which were not independently associated with outcome. CONCLUSION: Clinical and laboratory characteristics according to etiologic groups were not different, which might have led to comparable long-term outcomes among these patient groups and failure to identify predictors that could aid in better selection of subjects for liver transplantation in the management of this cancer.
Superinfection exclusion studies using West Nile virus and Culex flavivirus strains from Argentina

In Argentina, many Flavivirus were recognised including West Nile virus (WNV). During 2009 several strains of Culex Flavivirus (CxFV), an insect-specific flavivirus, were isolated in the same region where circulation of WNV was detected. Hence, the objective of this study was to analyse the effect of co-infection in vitro assays using CxFV and WNV Argentinean strains in order to evaluate if CxFV could affect WNV replication. Our results showed that WNV replication was suppressed when multiplicity of infection (MOI) for CxFV was 10 or 100 times higher than WNV. Nevertheless, in vivo assays are necessary in order to evaluate the superinfection exclusion potential.
Changes in EEG complexity with neurofeedback and multi-sensory learning in children with dyslexia: A multiscale entropy analysis

Abstract Multiscale entropy analysis (MSE) is a novel entropy-based approach for measuring dynamical complexity in physiological systems over a range of temporal scales. MSE has been successfully applied in the literature when measuring autism traits, Alzheimer’s, and schizophrenia. However, until now, there has been no research on MSE applied to children with dyslexia. In this study, we have applied MSE analysis to the EEG data of an experimental group consisting of children with dyslexia as well as a control group consisting of typically developing children and compared the results. The experimental group comprised 16 participants with dyslexia who visited Ankara University Medical Faculty Child Neurology Department, and the control group comprised 20 age-matched typically developing children with no reading or writing problems. MSE was calculated for one continuous 60-s epoch for each experimental and control group’s EEG session data. The experimental group showed significantly lower complexity at the lowest temporal scale and the medium temporal scales than the typically developing group. Moreover, the experimental group received 60 neurofeedback and multi-sensory learning sessions, each lasting 30 min, with Auto Train Brain. Post-treatment, the experimental group’s lower complexity increased to the typically developing group’s levels at lower and medium temporal scales in all channels.
PSIONplusm Server for Accurate Multi-Label Prediction of Ion Channels and Their Types

Computational prediction of ion channels facilitates the identification of putative ion channels from protein sequences. Several predictors of ion channels and their types were developed in the last quindecennial. While they offer reasonably accurate predictions, they also suffer a few shortcomings including lack of availability, parallel prediction mode, single-label prediction (inability to predict multiple channel subtypes), and incomplete scope (inability to predict subtypes of the voltage-gated channels). We developed a first-of-its-kind PSIONplusm method that performs sequential multi-label prediction of ion channels and their subtypes for both voltage-gated and ligand-gated channels. PSIONplusm sequentially combines the outputs produced by three support vector machine-based models from the PSIONplus predictor and is available as a webserver. Empirical tests show that PSIONplusm outperforms current methods for the multi-label prediction of the ion channel subtypes. This includes the existing single-label methods that are available to the users, a naïve multi-label predictor that combines results produced by multiple single-label methods, and methods that make predictions based on sequence alignment and domain annotations. We also found that the current methods (including PSIONplusm) fail to accurately predict a few of the least frequently occurring ion channel subtypes. Thus, new predictors should be developed when a larger quantity of annotated ion channels will be available to train predictive models.
Dietary Supplementation with Dunaliella Tertiolecta Prevents Whitening of Brown Fat and Controls Diet-Induced Obesity at Thermoneutrality in Mice

We investigated the effect of evodiamine-containing microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta (DT) on the prevention of diet-induced obesity in a thermoneutral C57BL/6J male (30 °C). It attenuates the activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), which accelerates diet-induced obesity. Nine-week-old mice were fed a high-fat diet supplemented with 10 g (Low group) or 25 g (High group) DT powder per kg food for 12 weeks. Compared to control mice without DT supplementation, body weight gain was significantly reduced in the High group with no difference in food intake. Tissue analyses indicated maintenance of multilocular morphology in BAT and reduced fat deposition in liver in DT-supplemented mice. Molecular analysis showed a significant decrease in mammalian target of rapamycin−ribosomal S6 protein kinase signaling pathway in white adipose tissue and upregulation in mRNA expression of brown fat-associated genes including fibroblast growth factor-21 (Fgf21) and uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) in BAT in the High group compared to the control. In the experiments using C3H10T1/2 adipocytes, DT extract upregulated mRNA expression of brown fat-associated genes in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners, accompanied by a significant increase in secreted FGF21 levels. Our data show the ability of DT as a nutraceutical to prevent brown fat attenuation and diet-induced obesity in vivo.
Pyrophosphate :D-fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase activity patterns in relation to sucrose storage across sugarcane varieties

Pyrophosphate:D-fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase (PFP; EC 2.7.1.90) and ATP:D-fructose-6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase (PFK; EC 2.7.1.11) activities were determined in sugarcane varieties differing in sucrose content. For this purpose, activities were measured in those internodes where the maximum rate of sucrose accumulation occurs. The specific activity of internodal PFP varied significantly between the sugarcane varieties and was inversely correlated with the sucrose content. There was also a highly significant inverse correlation between PFP and sucrose content in a segregating Fl population. PFK activity was comparable to, or lower than, PFP activity and no relationship was evident between PFK activity and sucrose content. In all tissues investigated, the fructose 2,6-bisphosphate levels were probably sufficient to ensure full activation of PFP. The levels of PFP activity appear to be controlled by the expression of the β-subunit of the protein. The molecular mass of the PFP β subunit polypeptide(s) was approximately 63 kDa. There was an inverse correlation between sucrose content and the partitioning of radiolabel into respiration in internodal tissue slices labelled with [U- 14 C]glucose across 3 sugarcane lines. The estimated flux of carbon into respiration correlated directly with PFP activity.
Diversity and seasonal variability of bacterial community structure in the river Aliakmon, Greece: Analysis by the molecular technique fish

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with rRNA‐targeted oligonucleotide probes was used to investigate the phylogenetic composition of bacterial community in samples from the river Aliakmon, the longest river in Greece. Diversity of bacterial community in different habitats of the same river, as well as seasonal variation, was also examined.
MULTIPLE CONTROLS OF CLIFF-EDGE DISTRIBUTION PATTERNS OF THUJA OCCIDENTALIS AND ACER SACCHARUM AT THE STAGE OF SEEDLING RECRUITMENT

SUMMARY (1) Along the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada, a stunted forest of oldgrowth Thuja occidentalis occurs on cliff faces, but is replaced by a deciduous forest dominated by Acer saccharum within 5 m of the cliff edge on the upper plateau. (2) The stem frequencies of all seedling and sapling size-classes of Thuja decreased with distance from the cliff, but for Acer the smallest size classes displayed the greatest increase in stem frequency away from the cliff edge. (3) Seed input did not change significantly across the cliff-edge-deciduous-forest continuum for either species. (4) Recruitment patterns of the two species differed significantly across the gradient. Seed emergence of Thuja was limited by litter in the deciduous forest but not at the cliff edge. Herbivory restricted recruitment of Acer more at the cliff edge than in the deciduous forest. (5) The maintenance of the spatial pattern appears to be due to an array of interacting factors which change across the environmental gradient and over time.
First report of a 16SrVI ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma trifolii’ isolate infecting Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria heterophylla) in India

tropicalandsubtropicalcountries,andisalsousedforgreenmanure.Dur-ingspring2008,mungbeanplantsinFaisalabad,Pakistan,showedseveresymptomsofphyllody,virescenceandabushyappearance.Stem,leafandstalkphloemsectionsfromplantswithandwithoutsymptomswereexaminedunderalightmicroscope(CXRII,Labomed,CA,USA)usingDienes’stain.Regularlydistributeddarkblueareaswereobservedonlyinthephloemcellsfromplantswithsymptoms,andnotinotherplanttissuesnorinthephloemofhealthyplants,indicatingthepresenceofaphytopl-asma.Fourweek-oldgreenhouse-pottedmungbeanplantsweregrafted,anddevelopedphyllodysymptoms25-30daysaftergrafting,similarto controlplants.Todeterminethe16Srgroupofthephytoplasmaassociatedwithmungbeanphyllody,totalDNAwasextractedfromeightsymptom-bearingplants,andampliﬁedbynestedPCRusinguniversal16SrDNAphytoplas-maprimers,P1 tested. All samples from plants with yielded a 1250bp PCR and identical RFLP proﬁles using the enzymes Alu I and Hpa II. Direct sequencing of the 16S rDNA of one representative PCR amplicon (GenBank Accession No. FJ410489) showed highest sequence identity with 16SrII ‘ Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia’ phytoplasmas, phylogenetic analysis the phytoplasma in sub-group16SrII-D.Phyllodysymptoms 16SrII phytoplasma mung bean phyllody, conﬁrm thata16SrII-DphytoplasmaisnowpresentinmungbeaninPakistan. products of expected size ( ~ Æ 5 and ~ 1 . 2 kb, respectively) were obtained all plants with symptoms (4 ⁄ 4), but not from the symp- tomless plants. PCR amplicons were cloned (TOPO TA kit, Invitro-gen), and sequenced. BLAST comparisons of the 16S rDNA consensus sequence, to GenBank (Accession No. FJ002570), showed highest identity (96%) with those of members of group 16SrVI, ‘ Can- didatus Phytoplasma trifolii’. Phylogenetic analysis (MEGA 4 Æ 0) con-ﬁrmed
Immunohistomorphometric and Hormonal Analysis of the Pituitary Gonadotropic Cells After Application of the Nandrolone Decanoate and Swimming Training in Adult Male Rats

Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of chronic nandrolone decanoate treatment and/or swimming training on immunohistomorphometric parameters on rat pituitary gonadotropic cells. Male Wistar albino rats, 10 weeks old, were classified into four groups: control (T−N−), nandrolone (T−N+), swimming training (T+N−), and swimming training with nandrolone (T+N+). The T+ groups swam for 4 weeks, 1 h/day, 5 days/week. The N+ groups received nandrolone decanoate (20 mg/kg) once per week for 4 weeks. Pituitary tissue sections were processed and stained for immunohistochemical analysis and immunofluorescence. The volume density of luteinizing hormone (LH) cells was decreased by 48% in T−N+ and for 35% in the T+N+ group. The volume density of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) cells was decreased by 39% in T−N+ and for 30% in T+N+ compared to the control. Nandrolone alone, or combined with swimming training, decreased the number of LH/FSH cells compared to the control. The levels of the immunofluorescent signal of LH/FSH cells were increased in all experimental groups. Nandrolone alone decreased the serum level of LH by 17%, whereas swimming training alone increased FSH levels by 11% compared to the control. Serum levels of testosterone were increased in all experimental groups. Nandrolone alone, or combined with swimming training, decreased immunohistomorphometric parameters of gonadotropic cells, whereas the levels of immunofluorescent signal were increased.
Selecting priority conservation areas based on zooplankton diversity: the case of Mediterranean wetlands

A set of Mediterranean wetlands has been studied in order to identify priority areas for conservation using zooplankton assemblages. We also measure the degree of nestedness to determine the best strategy for conservation of zooplankton diversity. The present study was conducted in 29 wetlands located in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). Two complementary approaches were used, cluster analysis and parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE), with a presence–absence data matrix, in order to group wetlands as a function of zooplankton composition. To select conservation areas, four different criteria were used: species richness; exclusive species occurrences; the number of wetlands in which species appeared; and phylogenetic diversity. The results showed the existence of three different zones (subgroups of wetlands). Using the same method, a significant nestedness among wetlands was also observed independently of the method used to group them. The conservation proposal included 98% of the total species and 41.4% of the studied wetlands. This work confirms that zooplankton assemblages are essential for making wetland conservation decisions and for the identification of areas with connectivity (fluxes of species) in which efforts should be more intense to preserve their biodiversity.
Use of an Index of Biotic Integrity to Detect Effects of Land Uses on Stream Fish Communities in West‐Central Georgia

Abstract An index of biotic integrity (IBI) was developed for use in the lower piedmont and upper coastal plain physiographic regions of west-central Georgia to investigate the relation between stream fish communities and land use. Fish samples and habitat data were collected at 507 sites in 340 first- to fifth-order tributary streams in the Chattahoochee, Flint, Ocmulgee, and Oconee river drainages during 1990–1993. Watershed cutouts upstream of sample sites were made from raster digital files based on LANDSAT thematic mapper satellite imagery from land use and land cover data collected during the winters of 1988–1990. Six of the 12 original IBI metrics were modified to take into account regional ichthyological differences between Georgia and the midwestern United States while maintaining the basic underlying ecological assumptions. The number of darter species metric was expanded to include madtoms (Noturus spp.) and sculpins (Cottus spp.), number of intolerant species metric was expanded to include mod.
Root and shoot competition between established grass species and newly sown seedlings during spring growth

Competition between established Dactylis glomerata or Festuca pratensis/Taraxacum officinale swards and seedlings of Trifolium pratense was studied under field conditions in Norway. Root competition from the Festuca pratensis/Taraxacum officinale sward was significantly greater than that from a Dactylis glomerata sward. The balance in root and shoot competition varied between experimental years because of variation in environmental conditions. In the first experimental year, root competition had a greater effect on seedling dry weight than shoot competition, whereas the opposite was found in the second year. However, both root and shoot competition (full competition) in comparison with no competition gave proportionally the same effects in both years, indicating that an alleviation in root competition will be followed by intensified shoot competition. An increasing effect of shoot competition with time on plant dry weight was found. In a second experiment, seedlings of Lolium perenne and Trifolium pratense produced the highest plant dry weights in competition with an established Phleum pratense sward, followed by seedlings of Poa pratensis, Phleum pratense and Trifolium repens in decreasing order. However, no interactions between seedling species and competition treatments were found, indicating no differences in sensitivity between seedling species to competition from the established grass sward. The results are discussed in the context of renovating grassland by direct drilling.
Patrones de distribución espacial y temporal de floraciones de Alexandrium catenella (Whedon & Kofoid) Balech 1985, en aguas interiores de la Patagonia noroccidental de Chile

La presencia del dinoflagelado toxico Alexandrium catenella en las aguas interiores de la Patagonia noroccidental, fue registrada en la decada de los 90. A partir de 1995 se iniciaron programas de monitoreo de fitoplancton orientados al seguimiento de este dinoflagelado y sus efectos sobre los mariscos en la Decima y Undecima Region de Chile, financiados por distintas instituciones. Esto permitio recolectar una importante base de datos, aunque incompleta en muchos aspectos debido a la independencia de objetivos de los diferentes estudios. En esta revision se agruparon todos los datos disponibles para buscar patrones que ayuden a la formulacion de hipotesis sobre la dispersion e incidencia espacial y temporal de A. catenella en esta amplia zona y mucho mas habitada que la Duodecima Region. Inicialmente se recolectaron muestras mensuales y desde fines de 2000 semanales tanto de fitoplancton como de mariscos en un numero de estaciones que vario cada ano. Desde fines de 1995 al 2002 se registraron cuatro floraciones de A. catenella, con intensidad y distribucion variable, observandose una expansion de la distribucion geografica de esta especie hacia el norte (desde aproximadamente 45° 47' S en 1996 a 42° S, Chiloe en 2002). Las cuatro floraciones registradas fueron marcadamente estacionales, concentradas entre los meses de enero a marzo y coincidieron con los maximos registros del veneno paralizante de los mariscos. Los datos analizados sugieren que el origen de las floraciones de A. catenella en las aguas interiores de la region estaria asociada a la presencia de bancos de quistes, cuyo ciclo de vida se expresa con una variacion bianual debido a la variacion en condiciones ambientales que favorecen la germinacion de estos organismos. La influencia de oscilaciones en el oceano adyacente que estarian afectando las caracteristicas de circulacion general de las aguas interiores y las caracteristicas de la columna de agua (e.g., temperatura), favorecerian o inhibirian el inicio de floraciones de A. catenella. El aumento de la distribucion espacial de las floraciones de esta especie parece estar fuertemente influenciada por la deriva de aguas superficiales, originada principalmente por vientos y por las caracteristicas de circulacion de las aguas interiores.