Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differential expression of hepatic cancer stemness and hypoxia markers in residual cancer after locoregional therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) and transarterial radioembolization (TARE) treatment to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are effective tools to control tumor growth, prolong survival, palliate symptoms, and improve quality of life for patients with intermediate‐stage HCC. Nevertheless, there is high variability of local HCC responses to locoregional therapies; therefore, better and personalized prediction of tumor response to TACE is necessary for management of patients with HCC, especially when these modalities of treatment are used to bridge patients for liver transplant. Here, we investigated differential expression of hepatic cancer stem cell and hypoxia in residual HCC after TACE treatment in comparison with TARE. A publicly available gene data set was screened for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in TACE_Response compared with TACE_Non‐response HCC. Analysis of the GSE104580 data set displayed a total of 406 DEGs, including 196 down‐regulated and 210 up‐regulated DEGs. Of the 196 down‐regulated DEGs, three hepatic cancer stem cell (CSC) markers and 11 hypoxia‐related genes were identified. Immunohistochemical staining of hepatic CSC and hypoxia markers on explant liver tissues exhibited more intense positive staining of hepatic CSC markers (CD24, EpCAM) and hypoxia marker carbonic anhydrase 9 (CA9) in residual tumor nodule from patients with HCC treated with TACE compared with nontreated patients. Furthermore, Pearson's correlation analysis revealed the significant correlation between hepatic CSC markers and hypoxia marker, CA9. Conclusion: Hepatic CSC and hypoxia markers predict nonresponse to TACE and are differentially expressed in residual tumor after TACE compared with TARE. In the long term, TACE‐induced hypoxia may select an aggressive HCC phenotype.
Observable predictions of generalised inflationary scenarios

Inflation is an early period of accelerated cosmic expansion, thought to be sourced by high energy physics. A key task today is to use the influx of increasingly precise observational data to constrain the plethora of inflationary models suggested by fundamental theories of interactions. This requires a robust theoretical framework for quantifying the predictions of such models; helping to develop such a framework is the aim of this thesis. We provide the first complete quantization of subhorizon perturbations for the well-motivated class of multi-field inflationary models with a non-trivial field metric, which we show may yield interesting signatures in the bispectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The subsequent evolution of perturbations in the superhorizon epoch is then considered, via a covariant extension of the transport formalism. To develop intuition about the relationship between inflationary dynamics and the evolution of cosmic observables, we investigate analytic approximations of superhorizon perturbation evolution. The validity of these analytic results is contingent on reaching a state of adiabaticity which we discuss and illustrate in depth. We then apply our analytic methods to elucidate the types of inflationary dynamics that lead to an enhanced CMB non-Gaussianity, both in its bispectrum and trispectrum. In addition to deriving a number of new simple relations between the non-Gaussianity parameters, we explain dynamically how and why different shapes of inflationary potential lead to particular observational signatures. Candidate theories of high energy physics such as low energy effective string theory also motivate single-field modifications to the Einstein-Hilbert action. We show how a range of such corrections allow for consistency of single-field chaotic inflationary models that are otherwise in tension with observational data.
Distinct signals of clinal and seasonal allele frequency change at eQTLs in Drosophila melanogaster

Populations of short‐lived organisms can respond to spatial and temporal environmental heterogeneity through local adaptation. Local adaptation can be reflected on both phenotypic and genetic levels, and it has been documented in many organisms. Although complex fitness‐related phenotypes have been shown to vary across latitudinal clines and seasons in similar ways in Drosophila melanogaster populations, the comparative signals of local adaptation across space and time remain poorly understood. Here, we examined patterns of allele frequency change across a latitudinal cline and between seasons at previously reported expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). We divided eQTLs into groups by using differential expression profiles of fly populations collected across latitudinal clines or exposed to different environmental conditions. In general, we find that eQTLs are enriched for clinally varying polymorphisms, and that these eQTLs change in frequency in concordant ways across the cline and in response to starvation and chill‐coma. The enrichment of eQTLs among seasonally varying polymorphisms is more subtle, and the direction of allele frequency change at eQTLs appears to be somewhat idiosyncratic. Taken together, we suggest that clinal adaptation at eQTLs is at least partially distinct from seasonal adaptation.
Emotional disturbance and risk factors among COVID‐19 confirmed cases in isolation hotels

Abstract Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) has been isolated in hospital‐managed isolation hotels under a policy of the Taiwan government. Centrally isolation patients are more likely to experience psychological symptoms. The purpose of the study was to investigate emotional disturbance during their isolation period and then pinpoint the factors during their isolation period associated with the emotional disturbance. We retrospectively analysed the medical charts of the patients confined to a Banqiao isolation hotel between May 28 and July 3, 2021. The 5‐item brief symptom rating scale (BSRS‐5) was used to evaluate emotional disturbance levels. Descriptive and logistic regression was used for the data analysis. In total, 197 complete medical records were reviewed, and of these 84 (42.6%) showed emotional disturbance. The majority of them reported only minor disturbance (n = 49, 58.3%). After controlling for confounding factors, being satisfied about medical information was the only protective factor associated with emotional disturbance (OR = 0.2, P = 0.018). Being a male patient (OR = 3.0, P = 0.005), worrying about stigmatization (OR = 2.2, P = 0.041) and being unable to contact family members (OR = 2.9, P = 0.018) increased the risk of experiencing emotional disturbance. Patients with clinical symptoms, namely sore throat (OR = 3.4, P = 0.013) and muscle aches (OR = 6.3, P = 0.005), were also found to be more likely to report emotional disturbance. Mental disturbance commonly occurs among patient with COVID‐19 who are isolated in a hospital‐managed hotel. Being a male patient, having symptoms, namely a sore throat and muscle pain, being unable to contact family and/or a failure to receive sufficient medical information were found to be associated with emotional disturbance. In order to help isolated patients, government officials should provide a clear rationale for isolation and recognize the patients' efforts to follow the government's policy, which will help to minimize social stigma.
Myeloid cell‐specific mutation of Spi1 selectively reduces M2‐biased macrophage numbers in skeletal muscle, reduces age‐related muscle fibrosis and prevents sarcopenia

Intramuscular macrophages play key regulatory roles in determining the response of skeletal muscle to injury and disease. Recent investigations showed that the numbers and phenotype of intramuscular macrophages change during aging, suggesting that those changes could influence the aging process. We tested that hypothesis by generating a mouse model that harbors a myeloid cell‐specific mutation of Spi1, which is a transcription factor that is essential for myeloid cell development. The mutation reduced the numbers of macrophages biased to the CD163+/CD206+ M2 phenotype in muscles of aging mice without affecting the numbers of CD68‐expressing macrophages and reduced the expression of transcripts associated with the M2‐biased phenotype. The mutation did not affect the colony‐forming ability or the frequency of specific subpopulations of bone marrow hematopoietic cells and did not affect myeloid/lymphoid cell ratios in peripheral blood leukocyte populations. Cellularity of most myeloid lineage cells was not influenced by the mutation. The Spi1 mutation in bone marrow‐derived macrophages in vitro also did not affect expression of transcripts that indicate the M2‐biased phenotype. Thus, myeloid cell‐targeted mutation of Spi1 influences macrophage phenotype in muscle but did not affect earlier stages of differentiation of cells in the macrophage lineage. The mutation reduced age‐related muscle fibrosis, which is consistent with the reduction of M2‐biased macrophages, and reduced expression of the pro‐fibrotic enzyme arginase. Most importantly, the mutation prevented sarcopenia. Together, our observations indicate that intramuscular, M2‐biased macrophages play significant roles in promoting detrimental, age‐related changes in muscle.
Geoid heights and lithospheric stresses for a dynamic Earth.

Mass heterogeneities in the Earth's crust and mantle are known to exist at all depths and for a large range of wavelengths characteristic of their lateral extent. They are the sources of measurable quantities like topography, tectonic stresses and the geoid. Quantitative relationships between these surface observables and deep sources are established for various Earth viscosity structures with spherical symmetry. For an homogeneous mantle, the surface stresses and the geoid height increase with the depth of the perturbing heterogeneity but decrease markedly beyond a critical depth proportional to the wavelength. It is shown that upper mantle return flow is also capable of generating the geoid without producing too large a topography and too strong tectonic stresses. The two types of contribution are expected to occur in the Earth. Further progress will require careful data analysis and correlation between topography, stresses, geoid and deep density structures. -from Authors
Natural Language Content Mediates the Association Between Active Interactions on Social Network Services and Subjective Well-Being

Previous studies indicated that active interactions on social networking services (SNS) are positively linked to subjective well-being (SWB). However, how semantic SNS content affects the association between the degree of SNS interaction and SWB has not been investigated. We addressed this issue by conducting a mediation analysis using natural language processing. We first analyzed Twitter data and SWB scores from 217 participants and found that the degree of active interactions on Twitter (i.e., frequency of reply) was positively correlated with SWB. Next, our multivariate mediation analysis demonstrated that positive words served as SWB-promoting mechanisms for highly interactive people, whereas worrying words led to lower SWB for less interactive people, but negative words did not. This study revealed that natural language content explains why individuals who are highly interactive on SNS have higher SWB, whereas less interactive individuals show lower SWB.
Inferior versus medial approach in laparoscopic colectomy with complete mesocolic excision and D3 lymphadenectomy for right‐sided colon cancer: A propensity‐score‐matched analysis

In laparoscopic colectomy with complete mesocolic excision and D3 lymphadenectomy for right‐sided colon cancer, either an inferior approach (IA) or a medial approach (MA) is selected in our institution based on the surgeon's preference. The present study compared the treatment outcomes between IA and MA.
Systematic review and meta-analysis regarding maternal apelin in pregnant women with and without preeclampsia

Abstract Aims: To investigate maternal circulating apelin levels in pregnancies with and without preeclampsia. Design and Method: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies reporting circulating apelin in women who develop preeclampsia. We searched databases for appropriate studies published through December 2021, without language restriction. The quality of studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa-Scale. Data were pooled as mean difference (MDs) or standardized MDs (SMDs) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). A random-effects model enabled reporting of differences between groups, minimizing the effects of uncertainty associated with inter-study variability on the effects of different endpoints. Results: We identified a total of 122 studies, and ten of them reported circulating apelin in women with and without preeclampsia. Maternal apelin did not show a difference in preeclamptic compared to normotensive women (SMD: −0.38, 95%CI −0.91 to 0.15), although there was high heterogeneity between the included studies (I 2 = 95%). Participants with preeclampsia had higher body mass index, lower gestational age at delivery, and birth weight. Preeclamptic pregnant women with higher BMI showed significantly lower apelin levels in the subgroup analysis. There was no significant apelin difference in the preeclampsia severity sub-analysis. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in apelin levels in pregnant women with and without preeclampsia.
Analysis of hereditary cancer gene variant classifications from ClinVar indicates a need for regular reassessment of clinical assertions

The clinical classification of variants may change with new information, however, there is limited guidance on how often significant changes in variant classification occur. We used ClinVar to examine how variant classification changes over time. We developed a custom parser and accessed variant data from ClinVar between January 2015 and July 2021. The ClinVar‐assigned “aggregate” classification of variants in 121 hereditary cancer genes was harmonized across releases to align to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the Association for Molecular Pathology terms. Aggregate classification categories were grouped as: benign/likely benign (B/LB); likely pathogenic/pathogenic (LP/P); variant of uncertain significance (VUS); conflicting interpretations of pathogenicity (Conflicting); or Other. We profiled changes in aggregate variant classification between consecutive semi‐annual ClinVar releases. The proportion of variants that changed aggregate classification between semi‐annual ClinVar releases ranged from 0.6% to 6.4%. The most frequent changes were “VUS to conflicting,” “other to LP/P,” and “B/LB to Conflicting. ” A limited number of variants changed aggregate classification from “LP/P to B/LB,” or vice versa. Our analysis indicates need for regular reassessment of clinical variant interpretations. The parser developed for this project will facilitate extraction of relevant interpretation data from ClinVar.
Boundaries of Croke–Kleiner‐admissible groups and equivariant cell‐like equivalence

Question 2.6 of Bestvina's Questions in Geometric Group Theory asks whether every pair of boundaries of a given CAT(0) group G is cell‐like equivalent [M. Bestvina, Questions in geometric group theory, http://www.math.utah.edu/~bestvina/eprints/questions‐updated.pdf]. The question was posed by Bestvina shortly after the discovery, by Croke and Kleiner [‘Spaces with nonpositive curvature and their ideal boundaries’, Topology 39 (2000) 549–556], of a CAT(0) group Γ that admits multiple boundaries. Previously, it had been observed by Bestvina and Geoghegan that all boundaries of a torsion‐free CAT(0) G would necessarily have the same shape. Since ‘cell‐like equivalence’ is weaker than topological equivalence, but in most circumstances, stronger (and more intuitive) than shape equivalence, this question is a natural one when working with the pathological types of spaces that occur as group boundaries. Furthermore, the definition of cell‐like equivalence allows for an obvious G ‐equivariant extension. In private conversations, Bestvina has indicated a preference for the G ‐equivariant formulation of Q2.6.
Apprentissages visuels chez l'abeille Apis mellifera : de la généralisation à l'extraction de règles

This work presents different kind of visual learning with increasing cognitive requirements in free-flying honeybees Apis mellifera, from color generalization to rules extraction. We first study color generalization in bees trained to two rewarding colors, and we observe that their performances are consistent with a linear summation of the two generalization gradients generated by two trained colors. These gradients are asymmetric as control bees respond to the test stimuli as if these belong to different similarity classes in spite of having similar perceptual distances separating them. Our results suggest that color categories could exist in honeybees. Therefore, in a second study we show that bees can master a color categorization task. Bees treat bluish and yellowish stimuli as belonging to different classes. In a third study, we show that bees trained with complex achromatic patterns sharing a common layout comprising four edge orientations remember these orientations simultaneously in their appropriate positions. Moreover, we show that bees can use this kind of representation to categorize novel stimuli, and that stimulation of the achromatic L-photoreceptor is necessary for this task. In the last study, we asked whether bees could solve a transitive inference problem. We find that bees do not establish transitive inferences but, rather, guide their choices by the joint action of a recency effect and the associative strength of the stimuli. This all work contributes to a better comprehension of the visual cognitive abilities in insects and to determine precisely the abilities of the small bee brain to situate cognitive research into an appropriate comparative frame.
Correlation analysis of epicardial adipose tissue and ventricular myocardial strain in Chinese amateur marathoners using cardiac magnetic resonance

Background The volume of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD); however, only a few studies have examined its effect on the myocardial function of endurance in athletes. The association between the EAT and the variation of myocardial function is still unclear in amateur marathoners. Consequently, by using some sedentary individuals as the control, this study aims to evaluate the correlation between the EAT volume and the myocardial strain in the left and right ventricles of Chinese amateur marathoners by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Methods A total of 30 amateur marathoners were included as the exercise group and 20 sedentary people as a control group. All participants received the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) to measure the left and right ventricular end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume and volume index, stroke volume and index, cardiac output index, ejection fraction and myocardial mass, the EAT volume, global radial, circumferential, and longi-tudinal strains, and the strain rates of left and right ventricular myocardium. Results There was a significant difference in the EAT volume (EATV) index between the exercise group and the control group (26.82±11.76ml/m2 vs 37.82±17.15ml/m2, P = 0.01). Results from the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that BMI (standardized β = 0.458; P < 0.001) had an independent positive correlation with the EATV index. The EATV index was negatively correlated with the left ventricular global radial strain (GRS) (r = -0.505; P = 0.004) in the exercise group, while it is negatively correlated with right ventricular GRS (r = -0.492; P = 0.027) and positively correlated with global longitudinal strain (GLS) (r = 0.601; P = 0.005) in the control group. In the exercise group, the multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the EATV index (standardized β = -0.429; P = 0.021) was an independent determinant of the left ventricular GRS, and being a male (standardized β = 0.396; P = 0.029) was an independent determinant of the right ventricular GLS. Conclusion The EATV index is independently correlated with the left ventricular GRS in the amateur Chinese marathoners, also, the amateur marathon reduces the EATV index and increases the left ventricular myocardial mass, which consequently reduces the adverse effects on myocardial function.
Emotional Reactions to High-Risk Sex among Sexual Minority Men: Exploring Potential Opportunities for Just-In-Time Intervention

ABSTRACT Rates of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are high among sexual minority men (SMM). A large body of research has explored determinants of HIV/STI risk behavior, but few studies have explored emotional consequences of these events. Understanding the valence, timing, and strength of emotional reactions to sexual risk could inform use of specific behavior change techniques in interventions (such as anticipated regret) and identify new opportunities for intervention, including just-in-time interventions. We analyzed data from an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study of 100 HIV-negative/unknown-status SMM to understand patterns of positive affect, negative affect, shame, and stress in the 24 hours after sex. Mixed-effects models showed that the probability of negative affect was higher in the hours following condomless anal sex (CAS) with high-risk partners during which SMM reported being under the influence of alcohol or drugs (A/D involved CAS), versus all other types of sex events (OR = 0.92, SE = 0.03, p = .017). The probability of shame was also higher after A/D-involved CAS, versus other sex events (OR = 1.14, SE = 0.07, p = .035). Findings suggest that the hours following A/D-involved CAS events may be an opportune time to intervene to help SMM avoid similarly aversive experiences in the future.
Concreteness and levels of processing: a test of the dual-coding hypothesis using dynamic visual noise

ABSTRACT Concreteness and levels of processing (LOP) effects have been attributed to the differential availability of visual images for concrete words, and at deeper levels of processing, respectively. Interestingly, the concreteness effect has been shown to disappear under conditions involving dynamic visual noise (DVN), which is thought to suppress the generation of visual images from long-term memory. The present study further investigated the role of visual imagery in concreteness and LOP effects. Across four experiments, DVN was manipulated during study, and participants’ memory for concrete and abstract words was measured using recall and recognition tests. Although some support for dual-coding was found, concreteness and LOP effects were not fully explained by visual imagery because they were present under DVN conditions. We conclude that concreteness and LOP effects may be better explained by an “extended dual-coding theory” that incorporates the role of context availability in accounting for this pattern of results.