Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CD8+ T Lymphocytes: Crucial Players in Sjögren’s Syndrome

Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune disease associated with damage to multiple organs and glands. The most common clinical manifestations are dry eyes, dry mouth, and enlarged salivary glands. Currently, CD4+ T lymphocytes are considered to be key factors in the immunopathogenesis of pSS, but various studies have shown that CD8+ T lymphocytes contribute to acinar injury in the exocrine glands. Therefore, in this review, we discussed the classification and features of CD8+ T lymphocytes, specifically describing the role of CD8+ T lymphocytes in disease pathophysiology. Furthermore, we presented treatment strategies targeting CD8+ T cells to capitalize on the pathogenic and regulatory potential of CD8+ T lymphocytes in SS to provide promising new strategies for this inflammatory disease.
The Effect of Traditional Opposition Games on University Students' Mood States: The Score and Group Type as Key Aspects

Playing traditional games has a direct impact on the mood states of the players, and this is the reason why physical education is an ideal setting for teaching how to recognize them and be aware about how they can swing. The objective of the study was to determine if participating in traditional opposition games causes changes to the participants' mood states. A total of 102 students participated. Each participant recorded the intensity of the mood state experienced at the beginning and at the end of the sessions, using the validated Profile of Mood States (POMS) instrument. The pedagogical experience was planned as 4 sessions with 6 and 5 opposition games each: (a) with competition in mixed groups, equally and unequally mixed; (b) without competition in mixed groups, equally and unequally mixed; (c) with competition in same-gender groups; and (d) without competition in same-gender groups. When comparing the different mood states according to session (with or without competition), the mood states of the depression, fatigue, and vigor dimensions were significantly different (p < 0.05), with higher scores in the sessions with competition for the mood states of vigor (Mcompetition = 7.27 and Mno_competition = 3.10) and fatigue (Mcompetition = 4.08 and Mno_competition = 1.80). Also, when comparing the mood states depending on session grouping and group type, the results showed differences in the scores obtained for the dimensions fatigue and anger, and general mood state (p < 0.05). These differences were found at the start of the session and at the end, with the dimension fatigue being the only one with differences in both situations when comparing the same-gender, equally-mixed, and unequally-mixed groups for the two types of traditional opposition games compared. In addition, after an analysis of the mood states depending on gender was performed, the results and therefore the significant differences found, were very similar to those obtained according to group type. Lastly, it was concluded that the type of group (equal, mixed & same gender), and gender were decisive, causing variations in the mood states of the students. This provides valuable information for teaching professionals about the structuring and organization of PE sessions, aiming to promoting positive motor experiences.
Blue Light Treatment but Not Green Light Treatment After Pre-exposure to UV-B Stabilizes Flavonoid Glycoside Changes and Corresponding Biological Effects in Three Different Brassicaceae Sprouts

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B; 280–315 nm) radiation induces the biosynthesis of secondary plant metabolites such as flavonoids. Flavonoids could also be enhanced by blue (420–490 nm) or green (490–585 nm) light. Flavonoids act as antioxidants and shielding components in the plant’s response to UV-B exposure. They are shown to quench singlet oxygen and to be reactive to hydroxyl radical. The aim was to determine whether treatment with blue or green light can alter flavonoid profiles after pre-exposure to UV-B and whether they cause corresponding biological effects in Brassicaceae sprouts. Based on their different flavonoid profiles, three vegetables from the Brassicaceae were selected. Sprouts were treated with five subsequent doses (equals 5 days) of moderate UV-B (0.23 kJ m–2 day–1 UV-BBE), which was followed with two subsequent (equals 2 days) doses of either blue (99 μmol m–2 s–1) or green (119 μmol m–2 s–1) light. In sprouts of kale, kohlrabi, and rocket salad, flavonoid glycosides were identified by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn. Both Brassica oleracea species, kale and kohlrabi, showed mainly acylated quercetin and kaempferol glycosides. In contrast, in rocket salad, the main flavonol glycosides were quercetin glycosides. Blue light treatment after the UV-B treatment showed that quercetin and kaempferol glycosides were increased in the B. oleracea species kale and kohlrabi while—contrary to this—in rocket salad, there were only quercetin glycosides increased. Blue light treatment in general stabilized the enhanced concentrations of flavonoid glycosides while green treatment did not have this effect. Blue light treatment following the UV-B exposure resulted in a trend of increased singlet oxygen scavenging for kale and rocket. The hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity was independent from the light quality except for kale where an exposure with UV-B followed by a blue light treatment led to a higher hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity. These results underline the importance of different light qualities for the biosynthesis of reactive oxygen species that intercept secondary plant metabolites, but also show a pronounced species-dependent reaction, which is of special interest for growers.
Dependence of Connectivity on the Logarithm of Geometric Distance in Brain Networks

Physical connections between nodes in a complex network are constrained by limiting factors, such as the cost of establishing links and maintaining them, which can hinder network capability in terms of signal propagation speed and processing power. Trade-off mechanisms between cost constraints and performance requirements are reflected in the topology of a network and, ultimately, on the dependence of connectivity on geometric distance. This issue, though rarely addressed, is crucial in neuroscience, where physical links between brain regions are associated with a metabolic cost. In this work we investigate brain connectivity—estimated by means of a recently developed method that evaluates time scales of cross-correlation observability—and its dependence on geometric distance by analyzing resting state magnetoencephalographic recordings collected from a large set of healthy subjects. We identify three regimes of distance each showing a specific behavior of connectivity. This identification makes up a new tool to study the mechanisms underlying network formation and sustainment, with possible applications to the investigation of neuroscientific issues, such as aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
Experience of Medical Disputes, Medical Disturbances, Verbal and Physical Violence, and Burnout Among Physicians in China

Background Medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal and physical violence against physicians, and burnout have reached epidemic levels. They may negatively impact both physicians and the healthcare system. The experience of medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal, and physical violence, and burnout and the correlates in physicians working in public hospitals in China needed to be investigated. Methods A nationwide cross-sectional survey study was conducted between 18 and 31 March 2019. An anonymous online questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire included the 22-item Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (Chinese version). We also collected data on demographic and job-related factors, as well as physicians’ experiences of medical disputes, medical disturbances, verbal and physical violence from patients and the patients’ family members. Findings In total, 22,213 physicians from 144 tertiary public hospitals in all of China’s 31 provinces completed the survey. The overall burnout rate among the surveyed physicians was 31.28%. Moreover, 33.48% of physicians experienced disputes, 20.86% experienced disturbances, 48.52% experienced verbal violence, and 5.84% experienced physical violence in the past 12 months. Factors found to be significantly associated with burnout included younger age, being divorced or widowed, having a lower educational background, working in internal medicine departments, longer working hours per day, working in general hospitals, being in East China, as well as having experienced disputes, disturbances, and physical and verbal violence. Interpretation Close to a third of the Chinese doctors working in the tertiary hospitals reportedly experienced burnout, and the problem is related to the unsafe working environment caused by the worsening doctor-patient relationship.
Stimulatory Thyrotropin Receptor Antibodies Are a Biomarker for Graves’ Orbitopathy

Graves’ Orbitopathy (GO) or thyroid eye disease (TED) is the most common and prominent extrathyroidal manifestation in patients diagnosed with Graves’ disease (GD). Approximately 50% of patients diagnosed with GD develop GO, and with further orbital imaging, up to 80% of patients test positive for TED (1). Physical signs and symptoms (2), as well as the impact on the psychological well-being (3, 4) and quality of life (5, 6), underline the importance of effective disease management. Furthermore, the incidence of TED is linked to autoimmune gastritis and coeliac disease (7), implicating the importance of diagnosis of GO in patients, to identify risk factors for gastrointestinal autoimmunity. Current evidence indicates that stimulating thyrotropin receptor IgG antibodies (stim. TSH-RAb or TSAb) are the main causative agent of GO, making its measurement a useful tool to predict and assess both clinical disease severity and activity.
A Composite Hydrogel Based on Pectin/Cellulose via Chemical Cross-Linking for Hemorrhage

Hydrogel-based material have been demonstrated promising potential for hemostasis. Herein, we prepared a composite hydrogel (CH-P 40%) by combining pectin and cellulose in ionic liquid. The superficial morphology of the CH-P 40% was explored by SEM; the internal chemical bonds, crystal form and thermal stability were determined via FTIR, XRD and thermogravimetric analysis, respectively. The biocompatibilities of the CH-P 40% hydrogel was evaluated by MTT, flow cytometry, and histological observation with H&E staining. Furthermore, the hemostatic effect was evaluated via the blood clotting index and mouse liver hemostatic model. The results showed that the CH-P 40% hydrogel exhibited a dense network structure and retained its chemical bonds, including the OH, CH, C=O, -CH2, CO, C1-H, and β-glycosidic bonds. Simultaneously, the hydrogel retained the Cellulose I and II crystal structure and favorable thermal stability. Moreover, the proliferation rates of CH-P 40%-treated cells increased (P > 0.05), and there were no pathological lesions in the mouse organs, which suggests favorable biocompatibility. The results showed less bleeding in the hydrogel-treated liver wound within 3 min. Overall, the pectin-cellulose hydrogel is stable and possesses favorable biocompatibility and hemostatic ability, further highlighting that the composite hydrogel has the potential to be rapid hemostatic biomedical material.
High performance quantum dot-quantum well infrared focal plane arrays

Quantum dot (QD) devices are a promising technology for high operating temperature detectors. We have studied InAs QDs embedded in an InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well structure on InP substrate for middle wavelength infrared detectors and focal plane arrays (FPAs). This combined dot-well structure has weak dot confinement of carriers, and as a result, the device behavior differs significantly from that in more common dot systems with stronger confinement. We report on our studies of the energy levels in the QDWIP devices and on QD-based detectors operating at high temperature with D* over 1010 cmHz1/2/W at 150 K operating temperature and high quantum efficiency over 50%. FPAs have been demonstrated operating at up to 200 K. We also studied two methods of adapting the QDWIP device to better accommodate FPA readout circuit limitations.
Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics With the Light Elements Li, Be and B: A Review

Light elements offer a unique opportunity for studying several astrophysical scenarios from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis to stellar physics. Understanding the stellar abundances of light elements is key to obtaining information on internal stellar structures and mixing phenomena in different evolutionary phases, such as the pre-main-sequence, main-sequence or red-giant branch. In such a case, light elements, i.e., lithium, beryllium and boron, are usually burnt at temperatures of the order of 2–5 × 106 K. Consequently, the astrophysical S(E)-factor and the reaction rate of the nuclear reactions responsible for the burning of such elements must be measured and evaluated at ultra-low energies (between 0 and 10 keV). The Trojan Horse Method (THM) is an experimental technique that allows us to perform this kind of measurements avoiding uncertainties due to the extrapolation and electron screening effects on direct data. A long Trojan Horse Method research program has been devoted to the measurement of light element burning cross sections at astrophysical energies. In addition, dedicated direct measurements have been performed using both in-beam spectroscopy and the activation technique. In this review we will report the details of these experimental measurements and the results in terms of S(E)-factor, reaction rate and electron screening potential. A comparison between astrophysical reaction rates evaluated here and the literature will also be given.
A Closer Look at Corticothalamic “Loops”

A defining feature of primary sensory cortical areas has been that they receive and reciprocate thalamic “relays” of external events. The interactions of sensory input, autonomous cortical processes, and more cognitive functions, however, remain under active investigation; and continuing work is bringing into better focus the fuller spatial, temporal, and dynamic complexity of the cortical-subcortical sensory pathways, conveniently described as “loops. ” There are reports that corticothalamic (CT) connections regulate the mode of thalamic activity and can exert a flexible control of thalamocortical (TC) inputs (mouse cortex: Mease et al., 2014; Crandall et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2017; Kirchgessner et al., 2020). Auditory CT feedback to the medial geniculate body is found to contribute to the detection of harmonicity, an important grouping cue in the perception of complex sounds (ferrets: Homma et al., 2017). Arousal related modulation can already be demonstrated at retinal inputs to the thalamus (mouse: Liang et al., 2020); and brainwide recordings of multiple structures suggest “an ubiquitousmixing of sensory andmotor information,” happening as early as primary sensory cortex (mouse: Stringer et al., 2019). In this Opinion, I briefly bring together several anatomical features of CT connections, relevant to an emerging view of cognitive-sensory processes; namely, (1) cell type diversity, which may only partly be related to segregated parallel processing; (2) reciprocity, which may not be monosynaptic cell-to-cell and may not be strictly topographic; and (3) the massive convergence of multiple intrinsic cortical and multiple direct and indirect extrinsic connections beyond the primary thalamus. This Topic asks: do feedback circuits perform common functions, and are feedback mechanisms unique or shared across sensory modalities? Overall, the evidence supports a multilevel diversity; and I would like to propose that this diversity, not unlike that of cell types (e.g., Cembrowski and Spruston, 2019), is central to brain organization and connectivity, and thus an important perspective in the context of cortico-subcortical sensory processing (CT projections from layers 5 or 6 to higher order thalamic nuclei will not be covered here; but see discussion and references in e.g., Rockland, 2019; Usrey and Sherman, 2019; Vanni et al., 2020).
The Complexity of Comparative Judgments in Assessing Argumentative Writing: An Eye Tracking Study

Comparative judgment (CJ) has been recently introduced in the educational field as a means of assessing competences. In this judgement process, assessors are presented with two pieces of student work and are asked to choose which one is better in relation to the competencies being assessed. However, since student work is heterogeneous and highly information loaded, it raises the question as to whether this type of assessment is too complex for assessors to use. Previous research on the topic has operationalized experienced complexity by employing self-report measures, which have been criticized for common problems associated with their use. In our study, we used eye tracking to study 23 high school teachers when they made 10 comparative judgments, and their pupil diameter was used as an indicator of the experienced complexity. This study builds on previous research that integrated Campbell’s theory on task complexity (1988) into CJ. Based on this framework, three hypotheses regarding the role of decision accuracy were formulated and empirically tested. Hypothesis one assumes that the distance between two pieces of student work on the rank-order (rank-order distance) is negatively related to experienced complexity, irrespective of decision accuracy. Hypothesis two assumes that decision accuracy moderates the relationship between rank-order distance and experienced complexity. Hypothesis three builds on hypothesis two by adding a negative relationship between experience and experienced complexity. In all three hypotheses, the average experienced complexity is assumed to vary between assessors, as is the strength of the expected relationships. An information-theoretic approach was used to test the holding of all three hypotheses. All hypotheses were translated into statistical models, and their relative and absolute fit were assessed. Results provided strong evidence for hypothesis three: both the moderating role of decision accuracy on the relationship between rank-order distance and experienced complexity, and the relationship between experience and experienced complexity, were confirmed.
Observation of Hydrogen-Bonding Effects on Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer of p-(N,N-Diethylamino)benzoic Acid in Aqueous Cyclodextrin Solutions†

The effects of α- and β-cyclodextrins (CDs) on the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) emission of p-(N,N-diethylamino)benzoic acid (DEABA) in aqueous solution have been investigated by using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. The ratio of the TICT emission to the normal emission increases as β-CD concentration increases, while it decreases significantly upon addition of α-CD. This behavior is in accordance with CD dependent decay times of the TICT and normal emissions, indicating the formation of different 1:1 DEABA/CD inclusion complexes. An increased pKa value of DEABA in the α-CD inclusion complex is determined relative to that of the β-CD complex. The rise time for the TICT emission increases as the β-CD concentration increases, whereas no rise time is observed in the case of the α-CD complex. These results and the size of the diethylamino group clearly suggest that the orientation of the DEABA in the β-CD complex is different from that in the α-CD complex; the carboxyl.
Distinct Features and Functions of Systemic and Mucosal Humoral Immunity Among SARS-CoV-2 Convalescent Individuals

Understanding humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection will play a critical role in the development of vaccines and antibody-based interventions. We report systemic and mucosal antibody responses in convalescent individuals who experienced varying severity of disease. Whereas assessment of neutralization and antibody-mediated effector functions revealed polyfunctional antibody responses in serum, only robust neutralization and phagocytosis were apparent in nasal wash samples. Serum neutralization and effector functions correlated with systemic SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG response magnitude, while mucosal neutralization was associated with nasal SARS-CoV-2-specific IgA. Antibody depletion experiments support the mechanistic relevance of these correlations. Associations between nasal IgA responses, virus neutralization at the mucosa, and less severe disease suggest the importance of assessing mucosal immunity in larger natural infection cohorts. Further characterization of antibody responses at the portal of entry may define their ability to contribute to protection from infection or reduced risk of hospitalization, informing public health assessment strategies and vaccine development efforts.
Mitochondrial Dynamics in the Drosophila Ovary Regulates Germ Stem Cell Number, Cell Fate, and Female Fertility

The fate and proliferative capacity of stem cells have been shown to strongly depend on their metabolic state. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell being responsible for energy production via oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) as well as for several other metabolic pathways. Mitochondrial activity strongly depends on their structural organization, with their size and shape being regulated by mitochondrial fusion and fission, a process known as mitochondrial dynamics. However, the significance of mitochondrial dynamics in the regulation of stem cell metabolism and fate remains elusive. Here, we characterize the role of mitochondria morphology in female germ stem cells (GSCs) and in their more differentiated lineage. Mitochondria are particularly important in the female GSC lineage. Not only do they provide these cells with their energy requirements to generate the oocyte but they are also the only mitochondria pool to be inherited by the offspring. We show that the undifferentiated GSCs predominantly have fissed mitochondria, whereas more differentiated germ cells have more fused mitochondria. By reducing the levels of mitochondrial dynamics regulators, we show that both fused and fissed mitochondria are required for the maintenance of a stable GSC pool. Surprisingly, we found that disrupting mitochondrial dynamics in the germline also strongly affects nurse cells morphology, impairing egg chamber development and female fertility. Interestingly, reducing the levels of key enzymes in the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCA), known to cause OxPhos reduction, also affects GSC number. This defect in GSC self-renewal capacity indicates that at least basal levels of TCA/OxPhos are required in GSCs. Our findings show that mitochondrial dynamics is essential for female GSC maintenance and female fertility, and that mitochondria fusion and fission events are dynamically regulated during GSC differentiation, possibly to modulate their metabolic profile.