Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Editorial: Highlights in sport and exercise nutrition 2021/22

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CD8+ T-cell immunity orchestrated by iNKT cells

CD8+ T cells belonging to the adaptive immune system play key roles in defending against viral infections and cancers. The current CD8+ T cell-based immunotherapy has emerged as a superior therapeutic avenue for the eradication of tumor cells and long-term prevention of their recurrence in hematologic malignancies. It is believed that an effective adaptive immune response critically relies on the help of the innate compartment. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are innate-like T lymphocytes that have been considered some of the first cells to respond to infections and can secrete a large amount of diverse cytokines and chemokines to widely modulate the innate and adaptive immune responders. Like CD8+ T cells, iNKT cells also play an important role in defense against intracellular pathogenic infections and cancers. In this review, we will discuss the CD8+ T-cell immunity contributed by iNKT cells, including iNKT cell-mediated cross-priming and memory formation, and discuss recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying memory CD8+ T-cell differentiation, as well as aging-induced impairment of T-cell immunity.
Benefits of Huang Lian mediated by gut microbiota on HFD/STZ-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus in mice

Background Huang Lian (HL), one of the traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) that contains multiple active components including berberine (BBR), has been used to treat symptoms associated with diabetes for thousands of years. Compared to the monomer of BBR, HL exerts a better glucose-lowering activity and plays different roles in regulating gut microbiota. However, it remains unclear what role the gut microbiota plays in the anti-diabetic activity of HL. Methods In this study, a type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mouse model was induced with a six-week high-fat diet (HFD) and a one-time injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 75 mg/kg). One group of these mice was administrated HL (50 mg/kg) through oral gavage two weeks after HFD feeding commenced and continued for four weeks; the other mice were given distilled water as disease control. Comprehensive analyses of physiological indices related to glycolipid metabolism, gut microbiota, untargeted metabolome, and hepatic genes expression, function prediction by PICRUSt2 were performed to identify potential mechanism. Results We found that HL, in addition to decreasing body fat accumulation, effectively improved insulin resistance by stimulating the hepatic insulin-mediated signaling pathway. In comparison with the control group, HL treatment constructed a distinct gut microbiota and bile acid (BA) profile. The HL-treated microbiota was dominated by bacteria belonging to Bacteroides and the Clostridium innocuum group, which were associated with BA metabolism. Based on the correlation analysis, the altered BAs were closely correlated with the improvement of T2DM-related markers. Conclusion These results indicated that the anti-diabetic activity of HL was achieved, at least partly, by regulating the structure of the gut microbiota and the composition of BAs.
Heterogeneity in diagnostic characters across ecoregions: A case study with Botrynema (Hydrozoa: Trachylina: Halicreatidae)

Introduction Botrynema, a genus of medusozoans in the trachyline family Halicreatidae, currently contains two species: B. brucei and B. ellinorae, distinguished by the presence or absence, respectively, of an apical knob as a diagnostic character. However, no study has corroborated if these taxonomic diagnoses have a biological and evolutionary basis. Therefore, in this study we attempted to address the question “do the two nominal species in the genus Botrynema represent independent phylogenetic lineages, or two phenotypic variants of a single species? Methods In this study we took advantage of legacy collections from different research expeditions across the globe from 2000 to 2021 to study the phylogenetics and taxonomy of the genus Botrynema. Results B. brucei and B. ellinorae present partially overlapping vertical distributions in the Arctic and as a whole in the Arctic the genus seems to be limited to the Atlantic water masses. The phylogenetic reconstruction based on the concatenated alignment corroborates the validity of the family Halicreatidae and of genus Botrynema as monophyletic groups. However no clear differentiation was found between the two presently accepted species, B. ellinorae and B. brucei. Discussion Based on the evidence we gathered, we conclude that while the genus Botrynema does contain at least two species lineages, these lineages are not concordant with current species definitions. The species B. ellinorae is reassigned as a subspecies of B. brucei and diagnostic characters are provided.
This is what we know: Assessing the stock status of the data-poor skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) fishery in the South China Sea

Skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) is a highly migratory species of significant value in global marine fisheries. The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and many tuna and tuna-like species occur within it. Although a recent Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission report identified skipjack tuna in the western and central Pacific to be sustainably fished, the exploitation status of skipjack tuna in the SCS is still unclear, due to limited data. We apply two data-poor methods, length-based Bayesian biomass estimation (LBB) and length-based spawning potential ratio (LBSPR), to assess the status of skipjack tuna stock in the SCS. We use electronic length frequency analysis to estimate von Bertalanffy growth parameters (asymptotic length L inf and growth coefficient K) to serve as priors for LBB and LBSPR estimation. Estimates are calculated for SCS skipjack tuna L inf (68.3 cm), K (0.325 year−1), natural mortality (0.49 year−1) and mean fork length at 50% sexual maturity (36.7 cm). LBB analysis reveals the estimated relative stock size (0.29) indicates that the SCS skipjack tuna stock maybe heavily overfished. LBSPR analysis reveals the estimated spawning potential ratio for this fishery to be 3%, which is significantly below the limit reference point of 20%. Accordingly, for the SCS skipjack tuna stock we identify a need to reduce fishing mortality by controlling fishing effort and increasing catchable size.
Comparative study on appropriate drought and flood index selection in a tropical farming island in China

The traditional drought and flood analysis method had not fully considered the proportion analysis of different drought and flood grades in the historical years of each rainfall station. This made results unconvincing and made it difficult to deeply understand the characteristics and applicability of various methods. Based on the daily rainfall data of 88 stations in Hainan Island from 1970 to 2019, the China-Z index and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) were used to compare and analyze the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of droughts and floods from three different time scales (flood season, non-flood season and the whole year). The results showed that both SPI and China-Z index can well reflect the actual drought and flood situations in Hainan Island. The analysis of the proportions of different drought and flood grades in the historical years of each rainfall station and regional historical drought and flood statistics suggested that the China-Z index had a better indication effect than SPI on the extreme drought and flood grades. The alternation of drought and flood between different eras were obvious. Hainan Island generally presented an east-west reverse drought-flood variation trend, as well as a north-south reverse drought-flood variation trend. The drought and flood in the central mountainous area of Hainan Island had been relatively stable. The distribution pattern of drought and flood had a good spatial consistency in the three periods. On the whole, Hainan Island had shown a trend of flood in the east and drought in the west in the past 50 years.
The longitudinal association between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background The COVID-19 pandemic and related prevention policies, such as home quarantine or online courses, could increase the risks of experiencing internet addiction and mental health problems among Chinese adolescents. There is a lack of longitudinal evidence to show the association between internet addiction symptoms and psychological consequences (e.g., depressive and anxiety symptoms). Objective This study aimed to explore the association between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods An effective sample of 7,958 Chinese adolescents was recruited for this two-wave longitudinal survey conducted over a six-month interval. All participants completed two-wave surveys before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal cross-lagged path model was used to analyze the associations between internet addiction and depressive and anxiety symptoms after controlling for four covariates (i.e., age, sex, minority, and COVID-19 influence). Results Higher depressive and anxiety symptoms before COVID-19 significantly predicted severe internet addiction during COVID-19. Results showed a significant bidirectional relationship between internet addiction and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the prevalence of internet addiction displayed an increasing trend over the two waves. Conversely, a reduced prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was observed over the two waves. Conclusion This current study provided valuable evidence that psychological problems and internet addiction significantly influenced each other before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. Consequently, the presence of psychological problems before and during the COVID-19 outbreak could indicate internet addiction. Thus, depression- and anxiety-related psychotherapies should be developed to prevent internet addiction among Chinese adolescents.
Towards consensus: some convergence theorems on repeated averaging

The problem of tendency to consensus in an information-exchanging operation is connected with the ergodicity problem for backwards products of stochastic matrices. For such products, weak and strong ergodicity, defined analogously to these concepts for forward products of inhomogeneous Markov chain theory, are shown (in contrast to that theory) to be equivalent. Conditions for ergodicity are derived and their relation to the consensus problem is considered.
Views of secondary education teachers on the use of mixed reality

The advance of the so-called emergent technologies in the field of education goes hand in hand with the previous experiences and beliefs of teachers, or lack thereof, with and about them. Among all the digital resources available, Mixed Reality (MR) is currently awakening the interest of educators, given that it combines virtual and augmented reality. Although both of these technologies are already present in many mixed methodologies utilized for teaching and learning processes, this is not the case of MR. Thus, it is necessary to discover the perspectives of educators on the use of MR, to be able to forecast its successful implementation in classrooms. Thus, the present article shows data obtained from a study with 219 Secondary Education pre-service teachers in Spain. The data collected through a 31-item ad hoc questionnaire pointed to differences in the perception of Mixed Reality in the teaching process as a function of gender, with women considering that it will make the classroom methodology more communicative, also believing that it will promote the reading comprehension of the texts that are utilized in each school subject. Thus, we can conclude that mixed reality is defined as a tool that promotes the learning process of secondary school students.
Graph coloring-based multichannel MAC protocol in distributed underwater acoustic sensor networks

In this paper, the multichannel medium access control (MAC) problem in distributed underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) were investigated. Compared with single-channel MAC protocols in terrestrial radio networks, there exist multichannel hidden terminal problem and long-delay hidden terminal problem in multichannel MAC protocol due to long propagation delay in UASNs. In addition, energy constraint makes channel allocation a challenging problem in distributed UASNs. To solve these aforementioned problems, a new multichannel MAC protocol, called graph coloring-based multichannel MAC protocol (GCMAC) is present. The protocol GCMAC is a synchronized MAC protocol which splits the time into three phases, namely, channel negotiation phase, channel selecting phase and data transmission phase. Specially, the rule for selecting channel is carefully designed based on graph coloring theory to avoid collision and maximize the utilization rate of channels in channel selecting phase. Simulation results show that GCMAC can greatly improve the system throughput and energy efficiency by effectively solving the hidden terminal problems and channel allocation problem.
Reliability of foot posture index (FPI-6) for evaluating foot posture in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Objective: To determine the reliability of FPI-6 in the assessment of foot posture in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods: Thirty volunteers with KOA (23 females, 7 males) were included in this study, assessed by two raters and at three different moments. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability were assessed with Cohen’s Weighted Kappa (Kw) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Bland-Altman plots and respective 95% limits of agreement (LOA) were used to assess both inter-rater and test-retest agreement and identify systematic bias. Moreover, the internal consistency of FPI-6 was assessed by Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results: FPI-6 total score showed a substantial inter-rater (Kw = .66) and test-retest reliability (Kw = .72). The six items of FPI-6 demonstrated inter-rater and test-retest reliability varying from fair to substantial (Kw = .33 to .76 and Kw = .40 to .78, respectively). Bland-Altman plots and respective 95% LOA indicated that there appeared no systematic bias and the acceptable agreement of FPI-6 total score for inter-rater and test-retest was excellent. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between each item and the total score of FPI-6, which indicated that FPI-6 had good internal consistency. Conclusion: In conclusion, the reliability of FPI-6 total score and the six items of FPI-6 were fair to substantial. The results can provide a reliable way for clinicians and researchers to implement the assessment of foot posture in patients with KOA.
Cancer-associated pyroptosis: A new license to kill tumor

Pyroptosis is a programmed necrotic cell death mediated by pore-forming Gasdermin (GSDM) proteins. After being unleashed from the C-terminal auto-inhibitory domains by proteolytic cleavage, the N-terminal domains of GSDMs oligomerize and perforate on the plasma membrane to induce cytolytic pyroptosis, releasing immune mediators and alarming the immune system. Upon infection or danger signal perception, GSDMD that functions downstream of the inflammasome, a supramolecular complex for inflammatory caspase activation, is cleaved and activated by inflammasome-activated caspase-1/4/5/11 in immune cells and epithelial cells to trigger pyroptosis and exert anti-infection protection. Unlike this inflammasome-activated pyroptosis (IAP), recent studies also suggest an emerging role of cancer-associated pyroptosis (CAP), mediated by other GSDMs in cancer cells, in provoking anti-tumor immunity. IAP and CAP share common features like cell membrane rupture but also differ in occurrence sites, activating mechanisms, secreting cytokines and biological outcomes. Here we review the most recent knowledge of cancer-associated pyroptosis and present a promising avenue for developing therapeutic interventions to enhance anti-tumor immunity for cancer treatment.
How do short videos influence users’ tourism intention? A study of key factors

Background Short videos play a key role in the process of tourism destination promotion, and attractive short videos can bring tourist flow and economic income growth to tourist attractions. Many tourist attractions in China have achieved remarkable success through short video promotion. Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral characteristics of short video users browsing short tourism videos and explore what factors of short video affected users’ tourism intention. This study also compared which factors were most important in triggering users’ tourism intention in marketing communication via short tourism videos in order to shed light on tourism destination strategy and facilitate adaptation to market development trends. Methods This study developed a conceptual model by extending the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model with technology acceptance factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use) and short video factors (perceived enjoyment, perceived professionalism, perceived interactivity) to examine users’ tourism intention. A convenience random sampling technique was used to distribute the questionnaire in Chinese city of Nanjing. Four hundred twenty-one respondents participated in the questionnaire, with 395 providing valid data. Results The results of the SEM analysis show that all posed hypotheses (Perceived professionalism - > Telepresence, Perceived interactivity - > Telepresence, Perceived enjoyment - > Telepresence, Perceived ease of use - > Telepresence, Perceived enjoyment - > Flow experience, Perceived ease of use - > Flow experience, Telepresence - > Flow experience, Telepresence - > Tourism intention, Flow experience - > Tourism intention) are confirmed except for (Perceived usefulness - > Tourism intention), which is not confirmed. Conclusion The findings of this study will help fill the gap in previous research on the relationship between short video influencing factors and users’ tourism intention, thus contributing to the academic research on emerging short videos and the endorsement of destinations promoted by technological innovation.
Muscle activation patterns and muscle synergies reflect different modes of coordination during upper extremity movement

A core issue in motor control is how the central nervous system generates and selects the muscle activation patterns necessary to achieve a variety of behaviors and movements. Extensive studies have verified that it is the foundation to induce a complex movement by the modular combinations of several muscles with a synergetic relationship. However, a few studies focus on the synergetic similarity and dissimilarity among different types of movements, especially for the upper extremity movements. In this study, we introduced the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) method to explore the muscle activation patterns and synergy structure under 6 types of movements, involving the hand open (HO), hand close (HC), wrist flexion (WF), wrist extension (WE), supination (SU), and pronation (PR). For this, we enrolled 10 healthy subjects to record the electromyography signal for NMF calculation. The results showed a highly modular similarity of the muscle synergy among subjects under the same movement. Furthermore, Spearman’s correlation analysis indicated significant similarities among HO-WE, HO-SU, and WE-SU (p < 0.001). Additionally, we also found shared synergy and special synergy in activation patterns among different movements. This study confirmed the theory of modular structure in the central nervous system, which yields a stable synergetic pattern under the same movement. Our findings on muscle synergy will be of great significance to motor control and even to clinical assessment techniques.
Docosahexaenoic acid inhibits TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation and orthodontic tooth movement through GPR120

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid that has a range of positive impacts on human health, including anti-inflammatory effects and inhibition of osteoclast formation via G-protein-coupled receptor 120 (GPR120). Orthodontic force was reported to induce tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) expression, which activates osteoclast differentiation during orthodontic tooth movement (OTM). The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of DHA on TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation and OTM in vivo. We examined osteoclast formation and bone resorption within the calvaria of both wild-type (WT) and GPR120-deficient (GPR120-KO) mice injected with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), TNF-α, TNF-α and DHA, or DHA. DHA inhibited TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation and bone resorption in WT mice but had no effect in GPR120-KO mice. OTM experiments were performed in mouse strains with or without regular injection of DHA, and the effects of DHA on osteoclast formation in the alveolar bones during OTM were examined. DHA also suppressed OTM in WT but not GPR120-KO mice. Our data showed that DHA suppresses TNF-α-induced osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption via GPR120. TNF-α has considerable significance in OTM, and therefore, DHA may also inhibit TNF-α-induced osteoclast formation and bone resorption in OTM.
The hypoxic tissue microenvironment as a driver of mucosal inflammatory resolution

On the backdrop of all acute inflammatory processes lies the activation of the resolution response. Recent years have witnessed an emerging interest in defining molecular factors that influence the resolution of inflammation. A keystone feature of the mucosal inflammatory microenvironment is hypoxia. The gastrointestinal tract, particularly the colon, exists in a state of physiological hypoxia and during active inflammation, this hypoxic state is enhanced as a result of infiltrating leukocyte oxygen consumption and the activation of oxygen consuming enzymes. Most evidence suggests that mucosal hypoxia promotes the active resolution of inflammation through a variety of mechanisms, including extracellular acidification, purine biosynthesis/salvage, the generation of specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (ie. resolvins) and altered chemokine/cytokine expression. It is now appreciated that infiltrating innate immune cells (neutrophils, eosinophils, macrophages) have an important role in molding the tissue microenvironment to program an active resolution response. Structural or functional dysregulation of this inflammatory microenvironment can result in the loss of tissue homeostasis and ultimately progression toward chronicity. In this review, we will discuss how inflammatory hypoxia drives mucosal inflammatory resolution and its impact on other microenvironmental factors that influence resolution.