Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
T-Regulatory Cells Confer Increased Myelination and Stem Cell Activity after Stroke-Induced White Matter Injury

Stroke-induced hypoxia causes oligodendrocyte death due to inflammation, lack of oxygen and exacerbation of cell death. Bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) possess an endogenous population of T-regulatory cells (Tregs) which reduce secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines that lead to secondary cell death. Here, we hypothesize that oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) cultured with BMSCs containing their native Treg population show greater cell viability, less pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and greater myelin production after exposure to oxygen-glucose deprivation and reoxygenation (OGD/R) than OPCs cultured without Tregs. OPCs were cultured and then exposed to OGD/R. BMSCs with or without Tregs were added to the co-culture immediately after ischemia. The Tregs were depleted by running the BMSCs through a column containing a magnetic substrate. Fibroblast growth factor beta (FGF-β) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) ELISAs determined BMSC activity levels. Immunohistochemistry assessed OPC differentiation. OPCs cultured with BMSCs containing their endogenous Tregs showed increased myelin production compared to the BMSCs with depleted Tregs. IL-6 and FGF-β were increased in the group cultured with Tregs. Collectively, these results suggest that BMSCs containing Tregs are more therapeutically active, and that Tregs have beneficial effects on OPCs subjected to ischemia. Tregs play an important role in stem cell therapy and can potentially treat white matter injury post-stroke.
Chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of corn stover during field exposure and the fermentation characteristics of silage prepared with microbial additives

Objective To effectively use corn stover resources as animal feed, we explored the chemical composition and in vitro digestibility of corn stover during field exposure and the fermentation characteristics of silage prepared with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and cellulase. Methods Corn ears including the cobs and shucks were harvested at the ripe stage. The corn stover was exposed in the field under natural weather conditions. Silages were prepared after 0, 2, 4, 7, 15, 30, and 60 d of exposure. Corn stover was chopped into approximately 1 to 2 cm lengths and then packed into 5 liter plastic silos. The ensiling density was 550.1±20.0 g/L of fresh matter, and the silos were kept at room temperature (10°C to 25°C). Silage treatments were designed as follows: without additives (control), with LAB, with cellulase, and with LAB+ cellulase. After 45 d of fermentation, the silos were opened for chemical composition, fermentation quality and in vitro digestion analyses. Results After harvest, corn stover contained 78.19% moisture, 9.01% crude protein (CP) and 64.54% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) on a dry matter (DM) basis. During field exposure, the DM, NDF, and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents of corn stover increased, whereas the CP and water-soluble carbohydrate contents and in vitro digestibility of the DM and CP decreased (p<0.05). Compared to the control silage, cellulase-treated silage had lower (p<0.05) NDF and ADF contents. The pH values were lower in silage treated with LAB, cellulase, or LAB+cellulase, and lactic acid contents were higher (p<0.05) than those of the control. Silage treated with cellulase or LAB+cellulase improved (p<0.05) the in vitro DM digestibility (IVDMD) compared to that of the control or LAB-treated silage. Conclusion Corn stover silage should be prepared using fresh materials since stover nutrients are lost during field exposure, and LAB and cellulase can improve silage fermentation and IVDMD.
Association Between Surrounding Greenness and Schizophrenia: A Taiwanese Cohort Study

This study aims to investigate the association between surrounding greenness and schizophrenia incidence in Taiwan. Data of 869,484 individuals without a history of schizophrenia were included from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database from 2000 through 2010 for analysis. The diagnoses of schizophrenia were based on ICD-9 codes. Greenness exposure was assessed using the satellite-based normalized difference vegetation index, assuming individuals lived near the hospital they most often visited for common cold during the study period. Cox proportional hazards models were applied to assess the association between greenness exposure and schizophrenia incidence after adjustments were made for the potential confounders. A total of 5,069 schizophrenia cases were newly diagnosed during the study period. A negative significant (p < 0.05) association found using 2000-m buffer distances (distance of a moderately paced 20-min walk) in the whole Taiwan island, cities, and metropolitan areas. The results of the stratified analysis based on sex and health insurance rate suggested surrounding greenness has approximately equal effects of reducing the risk of schizophrenia, regardless of sex or financial status. In conclusion, our findings suggest that more surrounding greenness may reduce the risk of schizophrenia.
Blood-Brain Barrier Leakage: A New Biomarker in Transient Ischemic Attacks

Background and Purpose— The diagnosis of transient ischemic attack is challenging. Evidence of acute ischemia on MRI diffusion-weighted imaging is highly variable and confirmed in only about one-third of patients. This study investigated the significance of blood-brain barrier dysfunction (BBBD) mapping in patients with transient neurological deficits, as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker required for risk stratification and stroke prevention. Methods— We used dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI to quantitatively map BBBD in a prospective cohort study of 57 patients diagnosed with transient ischemic attack/minor stroke and 50 healthy controls. Results— Brain volume with BBBD was significantly higher in patients compared with controls (P=0.002). BBBD localization corresponded with the clinical presentation in 41 patients (72%) and was more extensive in patients with acute infarct on diffusion-weighted imaging (P=0.05). Patients who developed new stroke during follow-up had a significantly greater BBBD at the initial presentation (P=0.03) with a risk ratio of 5.35 for recurrent stroke. Conclusions— This is the first description of the extent and localization of BBBD in patients with transient ischemic attack/minor stroke. We propose BBBD mapping as a valuable tool for detection of subtle brain ischemia and a promising predictive biomarker required for risk stratification and stroke prevention.
Drosophila Homeodomain-Interacting Protein Kinase (Hipk) Phosphorylates the Homeodomain Proteins Homeobrain, Empty Spiracles, and Muscle Segment Homeobox

The Drosophila homeodomain-interacting protein kinase (Hipk) is the fly representative of the well-conserved group of HIPKs in vertebrates. It was initially found through its characteristic interactions with homeodomain proteins. Hipk is involved in a variety of important developmental processes, such as the development of the eye or the nervous system. In the present study, we set Hipk and the Drosophila homeodomain proteins Homeobrain (Hbn), Empty spiracles (Ems), and Muscle segment homeobox (Msh) in an enzyme-substrate relationship. These homeoproteins are transcription factors that function during Drosophila neurogenesis and are, at least in part, conserved in vertebrates. We reveal a physical interaction between Hipk and the three homeodomain proteins in vivo using bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC). In the course of in vitro phosphorylation analysis and subsequent mutational analysis we mapped several Hipk phosphorylation sites of Hbn, Ems, and Msh. The phosphorylation of Hbn, Ems, and Msh may provide further insight into the function of Hipk during development of the Drosophila nervous system.
Comparing Biomechanical Time Series Data During the Hang-Power Clean and Jump Shrug

Abstract Kipp, K, Comfort, P, and Suchomel, TJ. Comparing biomechanical time series data during the hang-power clean and jump shrug. J Strength Cond Res 35(9): 2389–2396, 2021—The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in the force-, velocity-, displacement-, and power-time curves during the hang-power clean (HPC) and the jump shrug (JS). To this end, 15 male lacrosse players were recruited from a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division-I team, and performed one set of 3 repetitions of the HPC and JS at 70% of their HPC 1 repetition maximum (1RM HPC). Two in-ground force plates were used to measure the vertical ground reaction force (GRF) and calculate the barbell-lifter system mechanics during each exercise. The time series data were normalized to 100% of the movement phase, which included the initial countermovement and extension phases, and analyzed with curve analysis and statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The SPM procedure highlighted significant differences in the force-time curves of the HPC and JS between 85 and 100% of the movement phase. Likewise, the SPM procedure highlighted significant differences in the velocity- and power-time curve of the HPC and JS between 90 and 100% of the movement phase. For all comparisons, performance of the JS was associated with greater magnitudes of the mechanical outputs. Although results from the curve analysis showed significant differences during other periods of the movement phase, these differences likely reflect statistical issues related to the inappropriate analysis of time series data. Nonetheless, these results collectively indicate that when compared with the HPC, execution of the JS is characterized by greater GRF and barbell-lifter system velocity and power outputs during the final 10% of the movement phase.
does not affect expression of reinforcement learning in older adults.

Dopamine has been implicated in learning from rewards and punishment, and in the expression of this learning. However, many studies do not fully separate retrieval and decision mechanisms from learning and consolidation. Here, we investigated the effects of levodopa (dopamine precursor) on choice performance (isolated from learning or consolidation). We gave 31 healthy older adults 150 mg of levodopa or placebo (double-blinded, randomised) 1 hour before testing them on stimuli they had learned the value of the previous day. We found that levodopa did not affect the overall accuracy of choices, nor the relative expression of positively or negatively reinforced values. This contradicts several studies and suggests that overall dopamine levels may not play a role in the choice performance for values learned through reinforcement learning in older adults. Dopamine has been heavily implicated in reinforcement learning 1–3 , and recently evidence has shown that dopamine also affects later choices based on these learned values 4–6 . However, unpicking the relative contribution of dopaminergic neurons during encoding, consolidation and retrieval stages of memory is often confounded by relatively long duration of action of medications. Exogenous dopamine administration biases consolidation or retrieval in Parkinson’s disease. An early study showed that if Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients were given their dopaminergic medication before completing a reinforcement learning task they learned better from positive than negative feedback 1 . The opposite pattern was shown if they were withdrawn from their dopaminergic medication prior to learning. However, the differences were not apparent during the learning trials themselves. Instead, after learning, all the combinations of stimuli were presented without feedback to see whether participants had learned the relative value of the symbols via positive or negative reinforcement. It was only on this latter choice phase that the differences between medication weight-adjusted doses (mg/kg) and looked for linear or polynomial regressions between this and the difference in accuracy and choices between drug and placebo conditions. We fit two computational reinforcement learning models to the behavioural data to examine the effects on softmax choice parameters; a Q-learning 34 model with 2 learning rates and one choice parameter, and an OpAL 35 model with 2 learning rates and 2 choice parameters. Separate parameters were used for day 1 learning trials and day 2 testing trials. Full details are provided in Supplementary Materials.
Neural crest streaming as an emergent property of tissue interactions during morphogenesis

A fundamental question in embryo morphogenesis is how a complex pattern is established in seemingly uniform tissues. During vertebrate development, neural crest cells differentiate as a continuous mass of tissue along the neural tube and subsequently split into spatially distinct migratory streams to invade the rest of the embryo. How these streams are established is not well understood. Inhibitory signals surrounding the migratory streams led to the idea that position and size of streams are determined by a pre-pattern of such signals. While clear evidence for a pre-pattern in the cranial region is still lacking, all computational models of neural crest migration published so far have assumed a pre-pattern of negative signals that channel the neural crest into streams. Here we test the hypothesis that instead of following a pre-existing pattern, the cranial neural crest creates their own migratory pathway by interacting with the surrounding tissue. By combining theoretical modeling with experimentation, we show that streams emerge from the interaction of the hindbrain neural crest and the neighboring epibranchial placodal tissues, without the need for a pre-existing guidance cue. Our model suggests that the initial collective neural crest invasion is based on short-range repulsion and asymmetric attraction between neighboring tissues. The model provides a coherent explanation for the formation of cranial neural crest streams in concert with previously reported findings and our new in vivo observations. Our results point to a general mechanism of inducing collective invasion patterns.
The Crosstalk Between Cell Adhesion and Cancer Metabolism

Cancer cells preferentially use aerobic glycolysis over mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation for energy production, and this metabolic reprogramming is currently recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Oncogenic signaling frequently converges with this metabolic shift, increasing cancer cells’ ability to produce building blocks and energy, as well as to maintain redox homeostasis. Alterations in cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion promote cancer cell invasion, intravasation, anchorage-independent survival in circulation, and extravasation, as well as homing in a distant organ. Importantly, during this multi-step metastatic process, cells need to induce metabolic rewiring, in order to produce the energy needed, as well as to impair oxidative stress. Although the individual implications of adhesion molecules and metabolic reprogramming in cancer have been widely explored over the years, the crosstalk between cell adhesion molecular machinery and metabolic pathways is far from being clearly understood, in both normal and cancer contexts. This review summarizes our understanding about the influence of cell–cell and cell–matrix adhesion in the metabolic behavior of cancer cells, with a special focus concerning the role of classical cadherins, such as Epithelial (E)-cadherin and Placental (P)-cadherin.
Association between glaucoma and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review of observational studies

To address inconsistency as well as investigate the relationship between glaucoma and the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We systematically conducted this meta‐analysis based on observational studies published up to 15 January 2018, identified from PubMed and Web of Science. Two team members independently extracted the data and assessed the quality of each included study. Summary relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random‐effects model. Eight observational studies with 6870 AD cases were included. The majority of these studies (n = 6) were graded as low risk according to the Newcastle‐Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale. Individuals diagnosed with glaucoma, compared to those who were not, had an increased risk of AD (RR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.41–1.63; I2 = 97%, p < 0.001). A significant finding was also observed for primary open‐angle glaucoma (RR = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.41–1.63; I2 = 97%, p < 0.001). However, when stratified by study design, only the case–control studies (RR = 1.08; 95% CI: 0.89–1.31; I2 = 37.3%, p = 0.207) yielded significant results, while the cohort studies did not (RR = 1.08; 95% CI: 0.89–1.31; I2 = 97.7%, p < 0.001). Of note, our meta‐regression analysis suggested that study design might be a source of heterogeneity (p = 0.009). Additionally, a significantly positive association was observed when the analyses were restricted to Asia (RR = 2.03; 95% CI: 1.02–4.07). There was no significant publication bias in these analyses. Recent evidence suggests that glaucoma may increase the risk of AD. Additional cohort studies are needed to confirm these findings and to have improved knowledge on the true nature of this association.
Natural and Artificial Sweeteners and High Fat Diet Modify Differential Taste Receptors, Insulin, and TLR4-Mediated Inflammatory Pathways in Adipose Tissues of Rats

It is difficult to know if the cause for obesity is the type of sweetener, high fat (HF) content, or the combination of sweetener and fat. The purpose of the present work was to study different types of sweeteners; in particular, steviol glycosides (SG), glucose, fructose, sucrose, brown sugar, honey, SG + sucrose (SV), and sucralose on the functionality of the adipocyte. Male Wistar rats were fed for four months with different sweeteners or sweetener with HF added. Taste receptors T1R2 and T1R3 were differentially expressed in the tongue and intestine by sweeteners and HF. The combination of fat and sweetener showed an additive effect on circulating levels of GIP and GLP-1 except for honey, SG, and brown sugar. In adipose tissue, sucrose and sucralose stimulated TLR4, and c-Jun N-terminal (JNK). The combination of HF with sweeteners increased NFκB, with the exception of SG and honey. Honey kept the insulin signaling pathway active and the smallest adipocytes in white (WAT) and brown (BAT) adipose tissue and the highest expression of adiponectin, PPARγ, and UCP-1 in BAT. The addition of HF reduced mitochondrial branched-chain amino transferase (BCAT2) branched-chain keto acid dehydrogenase E1 (BCKDH) and increased branched chain amino acids (BCAA) levels by sucrose and sucralose. Our data suggests that the consumption of particular honey maintained functional adipocytes despite the consumption of a HF diet.
Serologic Tools and Strategies to Support Intervention Trials to Combat Zika Virus Infection and Disease

Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus that recently caused a large epidemic in Latin America characterized by novel disease phenotypes, including Guillain-Barré syndrome, sexual transmission, and congenital anomalies, such as microcephaly. This epidemic, which was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organization, has highlighted shortcomings in our current understanding of, and preparation for, emerging infectious diseases in general, as well as challenges that are specific to Zika virus infection. Vaccine development for Zika virus has been a high priority of the public health response, and several candidates have shown promise in pre-clinical and early phase clinical trials. The optimal selection and implementation of imperfect serologic assays are among the crucial issues that must be addressed in order to advance Zika vaccine development. Here, I review key considerations for how best to incorporate into Zika vaccine trials the existing serologic tools, as well as those on the horizon. Beyond that, this discussion is relevant to other intervention strategies to combat Zika and likely other emerging infectious diseases.
First Evidence of Antibodies Against Lloviu Virus in Schreiber’s Bent-Winged Insectivorous Bats Demonstrate a Wide Circulation of the Virus in Spain

Although Lloviu virus (LLOV) was discovered in the carcasses of insectivorous Schreiber’s Bent-winged bats in the caves of Northern Spain in 2002, its infectivity and pathogenicity remain unclear. We examined the seroprevalence of LLOV in potentially exposed Schreiber’s Bent-winged bats (n = 60), common serotine bats (n = 10) as controls, and humans (n = 22) using an immunoblot assay. We found antibodies against LLOV GP2 in all of Schreiber’s Bent-winged bats serum pools, but not in any of the common serotine bats and human pools tested. To confirm this seroreactivity, 52 serums were individually tested using Domain Programmable Arrays (DPA), a phage display based-system serology technique for profiling filovirus epitopes. A serological signature against different LLOV proteins was obtained in 19/52 samples tested (36.5%). The immunodominant response was in the majority specific to LLOV-unique epitopes, confirming that the serological response detected was to LLOV. To our knowledge, this is the first serological evidence of LLOV exposure in live captured Schreiber’s Bent-winged bats, dissociating LLOV circulation as the cause of the previously reported die-offs.
Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale and Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale–Brief: Item and Scale Test–Retest Reliability and Concordance of Original and Brief Forms

Abstract We conducted 2 studies examining the psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) and the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale–Brief (MSS–B). These studies offered the first examination of the scales’ test–retest reliability (dependability), impact of testing interval on test–retest reliability, and concordance of the 2 versions. The MSS and MSS–B contain positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy subscales that reflect current models of schizotypy. In Study 1, MTurk participants (n = 245) completed the scales at 2 assessments across a 7-week time interval. Test–retest reliabilities (intraclass correlations) ranged from . 84 to . 90 for the MSS subscales and from . 77 to . 85 for the MSS–B subscales, and were unaffected by the interval length between administrations. The association between the same subscales of the MSS and MSS–B across the 2 assessments ranged from . 79 to . 87, indicating good correspondence between the MSS and MSS–B. Scores on the MSS–B subscales in Study 1 were derived from the full-length MSS. Therefore, we replicated the findings using the actual MSS–B subscales in Study 2 in 3 samples (total n = 339). The results indicated that the MSS and MSS–B have good internal consistency and test–retest reliabilities (dependability), and that there is high concordance between the full-length and brief versions.