Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sequential Transplantation of Haploidentical Stem Cell and Unrelated Cord Blood With Using ATG/PTCY Increases Survival of Relapsed/Refractory Hematologic Malignancies

Allogeneic haploidentical HSCT (haplo-HSCT) and unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation(UCBT)are used in patients lacking HLA-identical sibling or unrelated donors. With myeloablative condition and GVHD prophylaxis of using low-dose ATG and post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCY), we conducted a prospective clinical trial. Of eligible 122 patients from February 2015 to December 2019 in the study, 113 patients were involved. Forty-eight patients were in the group of sequential haplo-cord transplantation (haplo-cord HSCT), and 65 patients were in the group of single UCBT. The primary endpoint of 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) was no statistical difference between groups (64.1 vs. 56.5%), p>0.05. The analysis of subgroup patients with relapsed/refractory showed haplo-cord HSCT was associated with better OS (HR 0.348, 95% CI, 0.175–0.691; p=0.0025), DFS (HR 0.402, 95% CI, 0.208–0.779; p=0.0069), and GRFS (HR 0.235, 95% CI, 0.120–0.457, p<0.0001) compared to the single cord group. The 2-year’s probability in OS, DFS, and GRFS was 64.9 vs. 31.6%, 64.5 vs. 31.6%, and 60.8 vs. 15.0% in the haplo-cord group and single cord group, respectively. III-IV acute GVHD 8.3 vs. 6.2%, chronic GVHD 25.8 vs. 13.7%, and extensive chronic GVHD 5.3 vs. 1.8% were shown in corresponding group, p>0.05. The patients engrafted persistently with UCB showed better survival outcomes. Our sequential Haplo-cord HSCT with ATG/PTCY improved the survival of patients and might be an alternative transplantation approach for patients with relapsed/refractory hematologic malignancies.
Energy conservation through interior shading of windows: an analysis, test, and evaluation of reflective venetian blinds

Windows admit radiant and conducted heat energy as well as light and, for this reason, effective means for control is mandatory. Venetian blinds, providing continuous solar control, are ideal for energy efficient windows. They may be closed in the summer to block out undesirable solar radiation and opened in the winter to admit the valuable energy of the sun while providing year-round glare free illumination. Architects, engineers, and manufacturers have been reluctant to promote the use of venetian blinds as energy saving products because of remaining uncertainties in the technology. This cooperative program involving industry, government, and a university research team has developed predictive equations and has confirmed their ability to accurately predict shading coefficients through experiments in an environmental simulator with an artificial sun. Ten venetian blinds with a wide range of surface finishes, including gloss and Satin finish paints, polished aluminum, chrome deposition, and units with different colors on the upper and lower surfaces of the slats were included in the experimental work. The effect of solar incidence and slat angle on blind reflectance and shading coefficient was determined. The impact of varying incidence and slat angle on building energy load is discussed.
MMS Observations of Double Mid-Latitude Reconnection Ion Beams in the Early Non-Linear Phase of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability

The MMS satellites encountered a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) period in the early non-linear phase at the post-noon flank magnetopause on 8 Sep 2015. The adjacent magnetosheath was characterized by a pre-dominantly northward Bz > 0 magnetic field with weakly positive in-plane components in a GSM coordinate system. Ion velocity distribution functions indicate at least 17 KH vortex intervals with two typically D-shaped ion beam distributions, commonly associated with reconnection exhausts, that stream in both directions along a mostly northward magnetic field at 350–775 km/s with a median 525 km/s ion beam speed. The counter-streaming ion beams are superposed on a core population of slowly drifting magnetosheath ions with a field-aligned 50–200 km/s speed. Each interval lasted no more than 5.25 s with a median duration of 1.95 s corresponding to in-plane spatial scales 3 < ΔS < 22 di assuming a constant 1 di = 61 km ion inertial scale and a tailward VKH∼258 km/s KH vortex propagation speed along the MMS trajectory. The counter-streaming ions are predominantly observed in the warm KH vortex region between the cold magnetosheath proper and the hot isotropic ion temperature of a low-latitude boundary layer as the MMS constellation traverses a KH vortex. The in-plane spatial scales and the locations of the observed counter-streaming ion beams generally agree with the predictions of twice-reconnected magnetic fields at two mid-latitude reconnection (MLR) regions in a two-fluid three-dimensional numerical simulation previously reported for this KH event. MMS typically recorded a higher phase space density of the fast parallel ion beam that we associate with a tailward reconnection exhaust from the southern MLR (SMLR) and a lower phase space density of the fast anti-parallel ion beam that we associate with a tailward reconnection exhaust from the northern MLR (NMLR) of similar speed. This is either consistent with MMS being closer to the SMLR region than the NMLR region, or that the KHI conditions may have favored reconnection in the SMLR region for the observed in-plane magnetosheath magnetic field as predicted by a two-fluid three-dimensional numerical simulation.
Identification of Flow-Limiting Coronary Stenosis With PCS: A New Cost-Effective Index Derived From the Product of Corrected TIMI Frame Count and Percent Diameter Stenosis

Background: Identifying functional coronary stenosis with simple and cost-effective methods during invasive coronary angiography is still challenging. Corrected TIMI frame count (CTFC) is considered to be the frame count velocity of coronary blood flow. We aimed to propose a simple and cost-effective index based on CTFC and percent diameter stenosis (DS) to identify flow-limiting coronary stenosis. For this, a new index was put forward as the product of CTFC and DS (PCS). PCS can be regarded as the loss of coronary blood flow due to diameter stenosis. Methods: DS, CTFC, PCS, and Fractional flow reserve (FFR) of 111 vessels in 84 patients with suspected coronary heart disease were measured. FFR ≤0.80 was defined as flow-limiting. Models involving CTFC, DS, and PCS were developed. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the values on diagnosing flow-limiting stenosis. Results: Vessels with flow-limiting coronary stenosis exhibited higher CTFC values than those without (28.56 vs. 21.64). The performance including the AUC (0.887), sensitivity (87.8%), and Youden index (0.678) for detecting flow-limiting stenosis was improved by adding the CTFC to the DS, while PCS had the largest positive predictive value (PPV) and diagnostic accuracy (DA) being 72.0 and 82.9%, respectively. For vessels with ≥50% lesions, PCS still had the best DA (80.9%), specificity (85.9%), and PPV (72.9%). At the same stenosis severity level, the AUC, Youden index and, DA of PCS were higher than those of CTFC. Conclusions: PCS is simple and accurate to identify flow-limiting coronary stenosis, especially at vessels with moderate to severe stenosis.
Comprehensive Metabolome and Volatilome Analyses in Eggplant and Tomato Reveal Their Differential Responses to Tuta absoluta Infestation

The South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta, is one of the most destructive insect pests in Solanaceae crops, particularly in tomatoes. Current methods of management have proven somewhat effective but still require a more efficacious management strategy to limit its havoc on crop yield. Tomato is much more predisposed to T. absoluta as compared with other plants such as eggplants, but the underlying causes have not been fully determined. We conducted this study to unravel the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and primary/secondary metabolites that account for the differential response of tomatoes and eggplants to T. absoluta infestation. We performed widely targeted comparative metabolome and volatilome profiling by ultraperformance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC-MS), respectively, on eggplants and tomatoes under control and T. absoluta infestation conditions. Overall, 141 VOCs and 797 primary/secondary metabolites were identified, largely dominated by aldehyde, alcohols, alkanes, amine, aromatics, a heterocyclic compound, ketone, olefin, phenol, and terpenes. Most of the VOCs and primary/secondary metabolites from the terpene class were largely differentially regulated in eggplants compared with tomatoes. Eggplants emitted several compounds that were lower or completely absent in tomatoes either under control conditions or after T. absoluta infestation. The results from an electroantennogram showed that 35 differentially accumulated VOCs could elicit female T. absoluta response, implying that these volatile compounds significantly alter the behavior of this pest. These findings demonstrated that differentially accumulated metabolites and volatile compounds play major roles in eggplant resistance to T. absoluta infestation as these compounds were regulated upon attack by T. absoluta. Our findings can assist in integrated pest management efforts by developing appropriate control measures against T. absoluta in Solanaceae production.
The Feasibility of Haar Feature-Based Endoscopic Ultrasound Probe Tracking for Implanting Hydrogel Spacer in Radiation Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

Purpose We proposed a Haar feature-based method for tracking endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) probe in diagnostic computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans for guiding hydrogel injection without external tracking hardware. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing our method with phantom and patient images. Materials and Methods Our methods included the pre-simulation section and Haar features extraction steps. Firstly, the simulated EUS set was generated based on anatomic information of interpolated CT/MRI images. Secondly, the efficient Haar features were extracted from simulated EUS images to create a Haar feature dictionary. The relative EUS probe position was estimated by searching the best matched Haar feature vector of the dictionary with Haar feature vector of target EUS images. The utilization of this method was validated using EUS phantom and patient CT/MRI images. Results In the phantom experiment, we showed that our Haar feature-based EUS probe tracking method can find the best matched simulated EUS image from a simulated EUS dictionary which includes 123 simulated images. The errors of all four target points between the real EUS image and the best matched EUS images were within 1 mm. In the patient CT/MRI scans, the best matched simulated EUS image was selected by our method accurately, thereby confirming the probe location. However, when applying our method in MRI images, our method is not always robust due to the low image resolution. Conclusions Our Haar feature-based method is capable to find the best matched simulated EUS image from the dictionary. We demonstrated the feasibility of our method for tracking EUS probe without external tracking hardware, thereby guiding the hydrogel injection between the head of the pancreas and duodenum.
Amalan Penggunaan Bahan Bantu Mengajar dalam Kalangan Guru Cemerlang Pendidikan Islam Sekolah Menengah di Malaysia

This article aims to discuss the practice of using teaching aids (TA) Excellent Islamic Education Teachers (EIET) through a case study. This study was conducted in eight secondary schools in Malaysia using interview with the EIET, their colleagues, students, and also school principals senior assistants. The data were organized using the N'Vivo version 7.0 to develop theme and matrix table associated with the use of fuel EIET practices in schools. The findings show that there are 16 types of fuel used by the teaching and learning (T&L) EIET them and classified the patterns of fuel and not a pattern. There are six types of fuel that make use of practice patterns among the major EIET such as textbooks, and computer and LCD. The fuel side to form a pattern that is the circulation of paper and modules, mahjong paper, reference books, and pictures. While fuel is a chart pattern is forming, newspaper and cuttings, movie and video, reference work, OHP and transparencies, black and white boards, maujud materials, radio, tapes, and audio files, folios, and manila paper cards.
The Functional Trajectory in Frail Compared With Non-frail Critically Ill Patients During the Hospital Stay

Background: Long-term outcome is determined not only by the acute critical illness but increasingly by the reduced functional reserve of pre-existing frailty. The patients with frailty currently account for one-third of the critically ill, resulting in higher mortality. There is evidence of how frailty affects the intrahospital functional trajectory of critically ill patients since prehospital status is often missing. Methods: In this prospective single-center cohort study at two interdisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) at a university hospital in Germany, the frailty was assessed using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) in the adult patients with critical illness with an ICU stay >24 h. The functional status was assessed using the sum of the subdomains “Mobility” and “Transfer” of the Barthel Index (MTB) at three time points (pre-hospital, ICU discharge, and hospital discharge). Results: We included 1,172 patients with a median age of 75 years, of which 290 patients (25%) were frail. In a propensity score-matched cohort, the probability of MTB deterioration till hospital discharge did not differ in the patients with frailty (odds ratio (OR) 1.3 [95% CI 0.8–1.9], p = 0.301), confirmed in several sensitivity analyses in all the patients and survivors only. Conclusion: The patients with frailty have a reduced functional status. Their intrahospital functional trajectory, however, was not worse than those in non-frail patients, suggesting a rehabilitation potential of function in critically ill patients with frailty.
Health Inequality Analysis in Europe: Exploring the Potential of the EQ-5D as Outcome

Objective: This study explored the additive value of the multi-item EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) as an outcome measure in health inequality analyses, relative to the single-item EuroQol visual analog scale (EQ VAS). Methods: A sample comprising the general population from Italy, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom (UK) completed the EQ-5D-5L and the EQ VAS. The level of education was selected as a proxy for socio-economic status (SES). EQ-5D-5L level sum scores (LSS) were compared against EQ VAS scores. Stratified and multivariable analyses were used to study the associations between SES and the LSS/EQ VAS relative to the presence of chronic health conditions. Results: A total of 10,172 people participated in this study. In the UK and Netherlands, the LSS was worst for respondents with a low educational level and better for respondents with middle and high educational levels. For Italy, the LSS was best for respondents with a middle educational level compared to respondents with low and high educational levels. The same patterns were observed for the EQ VAS, but differences were slightly smaller. Multivariable analyses showed generally stronger predictive relations in the UK, and with the LSS. The presence of chronic health conditions and being unable to work were independent strong predictors, canceling out the effects of education. Conclusions: In three different European countries, the EQ-5D measures show the presence of education-dependent health inequalities, which are universally explained in regression analysis by independently the presence of chronic health conditions and the inability to work. In stratified analysis, the EQ-5D-5L LSS discriminates slightly better between participants with different levels of SES compared to the EQ VAS.
Metabolic Imbalance Effect on Retinal Müller Glial Cells Reprogramming Capacity: Involvement of Histone Deacetylase SIRT6

Retinal Müller glial cells (MGs) are among the first to demonstrate metabolic changes during retinal disease and are a potential source of regenerative cells. In response to a harmful stimulus, they can dedifferentiate acquiring neural stem cells properties, proliferate and migrate to the damaged retinal layer and differentiate into lost neurons. However, it is not yet known how this reprogramming process is regulated in mammals. Since glucose and oxygen are important regulatory elements that may help directing stem cell fate, we aimed to study the effect of glucose variations and oxidative stress in Müller cells reprogramming capacity and analyze the participation the histone deacetylase SIRT6, as an epigenetic modulator of this process. We found that the combination of high glucose and oxidative stress induced a decrease in the levels of the marker glutamine synthetase, and an increase in the migration capacity of the cells suggesting that these experimental conditions could induce some degree of dedifferentiation and favor the migration ability. High glucose induced an increase in the levels of the pluripotent factor SOX9 and a decrease in SIRT6 levels accompanied by the increase in the acetylation levels of H3K9. Inhibiting SIRT6 expression by siRNA rendered an increase in SOX9 levels. We also determined SOX9 levels in retinas from mice with a conditional deletion of SIRT6 in the CNS. To further understand the mechanisms that regulate MGs response under metabolic impaired conditions, we evaluated the gene expression profile and performed Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of Müller cells from a murine model of Diabetes. We found several differentially expressed genes and observed that the transcriptomic change involved the enrichment of genes associated with glucose metabolism, cell migration, development and pluripotency. We found that many functional categories affected in cells of diabetic animals were directly related to SIRT6 function. Transcription factors enrichment analysis allowed us to predict several factors, including SOX9, that may be involved in the modulation of the differential expression program observed in diabetic MGs. Our results underline the heterogeneity of Müller cells response and the challenge that the study of metabolic impairment in vivo represents.
Maternal IgA2 Recognizes Similar Fractions of Colostrum and Fecal Neonatal Microbiota

Microbiota acquired during labor and through the first days of life contributes to the newborn’s immune maturation and development. Mother provides probiotics and prebiotics factors through colostrum and maternal milk to shape the first neonatal microbiota. Previous works have reported that immunoglobulin A (IgA) secreted in colostrum is coating a fraction of maternal microbiota. Thus, to better characterize this IgA-microbiota association, we used flow cytometry coupled with 16S rRNA gene sequencing (IgA-Seq) in human colostrum and neonatal feces. We identified IgA bound bacteria (IgA+) and characterized their diversity and composition shared in colostrum fractions and neonatal fecal bacteria. We found that IgA2 is mainly associated with Bifidobacterium, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, and Paracoccus, among other genera shared in colostrum and neonatal fecal samples. We found that metabolic pathways related to epithelial adhesion and carbohydrate consumption are enriched within the IgA2+ fecal microbiota. The association of IgA2 with specific bacteria could be explained because these antibodies recognize common antigens expressed on the surface of these bacterial genera. Our data suggest a preferential targeting of commensal bacteria by IgA2, revealing a possible function of maternal IgA2 in the shaping of the fecal microbial composition in the neonate during the first days of life.
Biological Characterization of Hepatitis B virus Genotypes: Their Role in Viral Replication and Antigen Expression

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) inter-host evolution has resulted in genomic diversification reflected in the existence of nine genotypes (A-I) and numerous subgenotypes. There is growing evidence that genotypes influence HBV natural history, clinical outcomes, and treatment response. However, the biological characteristics underlying these differences have not yet been established. By transfecting HuH-7 cells with unit-length constructs of genotypes A2, B2, C1, D1, and F1b, we identified major differences in HBV replicative capacity and antigen expression across genotypes. Genotypes B2 and F1b showed a 2-fold increase in cccDNA levels compared to the other genotypes (p<0.005). Genotype A2 expressed the lowest pgRNA levels, with a 70-fold decrease in relation to the other genotypes (p<0.0001), while genotype B2 showed the lowest Precore RNA levels, with a 100-fold reduction compared to genotype A2 (p<0.0001). The highest intracellular HBV DNA levels were observed for genotype B2 and the lowest for genotypes A2 and C1 (p<0.0001). Regarding antigen expression, genotype F1b secreted the highest HBsAg levels and genotype D1 the lowest (p<0.0001), while genotypes A2 and B2 showed the highest intracellular HBsAg levels (p<0.0001). Interestingly, genotype C1 secreted the highest HBeAg levels, while genotype A2 showed the highest intracellular levels (p<0.0001). Finally, the analysis of the intra/extracellular antigen ratios revealed that most genotypes retained intracellularly 5–20% of the antigens, except the genotype A2 that retained 50% of the total expressed antigens. In conclusion, this study provides new insights into the biological characteristics of HBV genotypes, being the first study to comparatively analyze European (A and D) and Asian (B and C) genotypes with the Latin American (F) genotype. The differences in HBV replication and antigen expression might contribute to understand the differential role of genotypes in pathogenesis.