Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human hippocampal astrocytes: Computational dissection of their transcriptome, sexual differences and exosomes across ageing and mild‐cognitive impairment

The role of astrocytes in Alzheimer's disease is often disregarded. Hence, characterization of astrocytes along their early evolution toward Alzheimer would be greatly beneficial. However, due to their exquisite responsiveness, in vivo studies are difficult. So public microarray data of hippocampal homogenates from (healthy) young, (healthy) elder and elder with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were subjected to re‐analysis by a multi‐step computational pipeline. Ontologies and pathway analyses were compared after determining the differential genes that, belonging to astrocytes, have splice forms. Likewise, the subset of molecules exportable to exosomes was also determined. The results showed that astrocyte's phenotypes changed significantly. While already ‘activated’ astrocytes were found in the younger group, major changes occurred during ageing (increased vascular remodelling and response to mechanical stimulus, diminished long‐term potentiation and increased long‐term depression). MCI's astrocytes showed some ‘rejuvenated’ features, but their sensitivity to shear stress was markedly lost. Importantly, most of the changes showed to be sex biassed. Men's astrocytes are enriched in a type ‘endfeet‐astrocytome’, whereas women's astrocytes appear close to the ‘scar‐forming’ type (prone to endothelial dysfunction, hypercholesterolemia, loss of glutamatergic synapses, Ca+2 dysregulation, hypoxia, oxidative stress and ‘pro‐coagulant’ phenotype). In conclusion, the computational dissection of the networks based on the hippocampal gene isoforms provides a relevant proxy to in vivo astrocytes, also revealing the occurrence of sexual differences. Analyses of the astrocytic exosomes did not provide an acceptable approximation to the overall functioning of astrocytes in the hippocampus, probably due to the selective cellular mechanisms which charge the cargo molecules.
The Outcome of Antipsychotics-induced Tardive Syndromes: A Ten-year Follow-up Study

Objective Tardive syndrome (TS) is an umbrella term used to describe a group of abnormal movement disorders caused by chronic exposure to dopamine receptor blocking agents. Few follow-up studies have been performed on the outcome of TS in patients using antipsychotics. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prevalence, incidence, remission rate, and factors associated with remission in patients using antipsychotics. Methods This retrospective cohort study consisted of 123 patients who received continuous treatment of antipsychotics in a medical center in Taiwan, from April 1, 2011 to May 31, 2021. We assessed the demographic and clinical characteristics, prevalence, incidence, remission rate, and factors associated with remission in patients using antipsychotics. TS remission was defined as a Visual Analogue Scale score ≤ 3. Results Of the 92 patients who completed the 10-year follow-up, 39 (42.4%) were found to have at least one episode of TS, with tardive dyskinesia (TD) being the most prevalent subtype (51.3%). With regard to concurrent physical illness, a history of extrapyramidal symptoms were significant risk factors for TS. During the 10-year follow-up period, the remission rate of TS was 74.3%. The use of antioxidants including vitamin B6 and piracetam was related to the remission of TS. Patients with tardive dystonia had a higher remission rate (87.5%) compared to TD (70%). Conclusion Our study suggests that TS may be a treatable condition, and the key to a better outcome is early detection and prompt intervention, including closely monitoring antipsychotics-related TS symptoms and using antioxidants.
Evaluation of Atherosclerotic Risk by Oxidative Contributors in Alcohol Use Disorder

Objective Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a condition described as the inability to control or stop alcohol consumption. The patients with AUD have an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis-related diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate oxidative contributors of atherosclerotic risk factors in patients with AUD. Methods The male subjects diagnosed with AUD (n = 45) and the male subjects as control (n = 35) were enrolled in this study. All participants were undergone psychiatric evaluation and sociodemographic tests. Also, serum oxidative contributors of atherosclerosis including myeloperoxidase (MPO), ferroxidase, catalase (CAT), and lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH) were measured. Additionally, serum lipid profile tests and atherogenic indicators including atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and non-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were also analyzed. Results The AUD subject had significantly elevated MPO activity and LOOH levels with decreased antioxidant capacity. AIP and non-HDL cholesterol levels, the atherogenic indicators, were also higher in AUD group compared to the control group. We found the MPO activity and LOOH levels were positively correlated with AIP, non-HDL cholesterol levels, and amount of alcohol consumption. Additionally, CAT activity was negatively correlated with duration of alcohol consumption. Conclusion Our results revealed that MPO and LOOH levels were elevated by severe alcohol intake and the atherogenic indicators, AIP and non-HDL cholesterol, were significantly correlated alcohol induced elevated oxidative risk factors. Therefore, it can be suggested that MPO activity and LOOH levels may be useful to determine jeopardy of atherosclerotic and the therapeutic interventions that reduce oxidative load could be taken into account to prevent atherosclerotic diseases before clinical manifestation.
Comparing quality of care outcomes between assisted living and nursing homes before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic

While assisted living (AL) and nursing home (NHs) residents in share vulnerabilities, AL provides fewer staffing resources and services. Research has largely neglected AL, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Our study compared trends of practice‐sensitive, risk‐adjusted quality indicators between AL and NHs, and changes in these trends after the start of the pandemic.
From actin waves to mechanism and back: How theory aids biological understanding

Actin dynamics in cell motility, division, and phagocytosis is regulated by complex factors with multiple feedback loops, often leading to emergent dynamic patterns in the form of propagating waves of actin polymerization activity that are poorly understood. Many in the actin wave community have attempted to discern the underlying mechanisms using experiments and/or mathematical models and theory. Here, we survey methods and hypotheses for actin waves based on signaling networks, mechano-chemical effects, and transport characteristics, with examples drawn from Dictyostelium discoideum, human neutrophils, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Xenopus laevis oocytes. While experimentalists focus on the details of molecular components, theorists pose a central question of universality: Are there generic, model-independent, underlying principles, or just boundless cell-specific details? We argue that mathematical methods are equally important for understanding the emergence, evolution, and persistence of actin waves and conclude with a few challenges for future studies.
Thrombolysis for central retinal artery occlusion: An individual participant-level meta-analysis

Background: Whether thrombolysis improves outcomes in non-arteritic central retinal artery occlusion (naCRAO) is uncertain. We aimed to evaluate the rate of visual recovery after intra-venous thrombolysis (IVT) or intra-arterial thrombolysis (IAT) administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or urokinase among patients with naCRAO and explore the parameters affecting the final visual acuity (VA). Aim: We systematically searched six databases. Logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) and VA of ⩾20/100 were used to quantify visual recovery. To explore the role of other factors on visual recovery, we defined two models for studies with aggregated data (designs 1 and 2) and 16 models for individual participant data (IPD, models 1–16). Summary of Review: We included data from 771 patients out of 72 publications in nine languages. Visual improvement for ⩾0.3 logMAR was reported in 74.3% of patients who received IVT-tPA within 4.5 h (CI: 60.9–86.0%; unadjusted rate: 73.2%) and 60.0% of those who received IAT-tPA within 24 h (CI: 49.1–70.5%; unadjusted rate: 59.6%). VA of ⩾20/100 was observed among 39.0% of patients after IVT-tPA within 4.5 h and 21.9% of those with IAT-tPA within 24 h. IPD models highlighted the association between improved visual outcomes and VA at presentation, at least 2 weeks follow-up before reporting the final VA, antiplatelet therapy, and shorter symptom onset to thrombolysis window. Conclusion: Early thrombolytic therapy with tPA is associated with enhanced visual recovery in naCRAO. Future studies should refine the optimum time window for thrombolysis in naCRAO.
Space–time dynamics of optimal wavepackets for streaks in a channel entrance flow

The laminar–turbulent transition of a plane channel entrance flow is revisited using global linear optimization analyses and direct numerical simulations. The investigated case corresponds to uniform upstream velocity conditions and a moderate value of Reynolds number so that the two-dimensional developing flow is linearly stable under the parallel flow assumption. However, the boundary layers in the entry zone are capable of supporting the development of streaks, which may experience secondary instability and evolve to turbulence. In this study, global optimal linear perturbations are computed and studied in the nonlinear regime for different values of streak amplitude and optimization time. These optimal perturbations take the form of wavepackets having either varicose or sinuous symmetry. It is shown that, for short optimization times, varicose wavepackets grow through a combination of Orr and lift-up effects, whereas for longer target times, both sinuous and varicose wavepackets exhibit an instability mechanism driven by the presence of inflection points in the streaky flow. In addition, while the optimal varicose modes obtained for short optimization times are localized near the inlet, where the base flow is strongly three-dimensional, when the target time is increased, the sinuous and varicose optimal modes are displaced farther downstream, in the nearly parallel streaky flow. Finally, the optimal wavepackets are found to lead to turbulence for sufficiently high initial amplitudes. It is noticed that the resulting turbulent flows have the same wall-shear stress, whether the wavepackets have been obtained for short or for long time optimization.
Effectiveness of Needle Aspiration versus Surgical Excision for Symptomatic Synovial Cysts of the Hip: A Single-Center, Retrospective Study

Background This study was performed to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of needle aspiration vs surgical excision for symptomatic synovial cysts of the hip. Material/Methods This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of patients diagnosed with synovial cysts of the hip and treated in a single-center hospital from January 2012 to April 2022. Patients receiving needle aspiration were assigned to group A and those treated with surgery were assigned to group B. Demographic characteristics, etiology, symptoms, cyst location, postoperative complications and recurrence, Harris Hip Score (HHS) and Visual Analog Scale of Pain (VAS) scores before treatment and at 3, 6, and 12 months after treatment were recorded to assess hip function in both groups. Results This study recruited 44 patients, with 18 patients in group A and 26 in group B, and the 2 arms were well-balanced in terms of baseline patient profiles. Needle aspiration resulted in significantly better pain mitigation for patients at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h after treatment vs surgical interventions (P<0.05). Needle joint aspiration resulted in significantly better function restoration of the hip joint than surgery at 3 months after treatment, as evidenced by the lower HHS score of 85.31±13.16 in group A vs 78.51±11.66 in group B (P=0.002). Surgery was associated with a significantly lower incidence of disease relapse (0.00%) vs needle aspiration (27.7%) (P=0.004). Conclusions Needle aspiration in the treatment of symptomatic synovial cysts of the hip causes less damage to the soft tissue and leads to faster recovery in the short term than surgical resection. Surgical resection has a lower recurrence rate and better long-term efficacy.
PREDICTION OF SOME CARCASS COMPONENTS OF FATTENED BARKI LAMBS USING PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS TECHNIQUES

The present study examined the use of principal components techniques for some live body measurements to predict some carcass components of fattened Barki male lambs. The study was carried out during 1997 at Borg El-Arab Experimental Station, which belongs to the Agricultural Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture and is located some 40 km west of Alexandria, Egypt. Fifty Barki male lambs with an average initial live body weight of 26 kg were included in the study. Eight linear live body measurements were taken before slaughtering. Carcass traits were carcass weight (CWT), total weight of the prime cuts (TPC), total weight of secondary cuts (TSC), percentages of prime cuts and secondary cuts TPC and TSC as a percentage from CWT (PCP and SCP) and logs of TPC and TSC (LogP and LogS). Principal components (PC) techniques were used to summarize the variations between different eight live body measurements into one measurement called body size (BZ). BZ was calculated by multiplying the elements of the first eigenvector of the first PC by each body measurement. Simple regression analysis of different carcass traits on BZ was done. The eight studied variables used presented significant statistical correlation (p < 0.05) and the first two PC’s of them explained 70 % of the total variance. The regression coefficients of CWT, TPC, TSC, PCP, SCP, LogP and LogS were 0.11 kg, 0.06 kg, 0.05 kg, -0.005 %, 0.06 %, -0.00005 Log and 0.0007 Log, respectively. It could be concluded that, principal components techniques summarized the variation in body measurements into two principal components that accounted for 70% of variation in the dependency structure. The first principal component provided a measure of the general body size. The increases of TPC and TSC contributed 55% (60 g) and 45% (50 g), respectively, to the increase of CWT (110 g). The regression coefficients of the TPC and TSC after transformed data to Log10 were almost zero.
Molecular Modeling and Synthesis of Ethyl Benzyl Carbamates as Possible Ixodicide Activity

Carbamates are molecules that have different types of biological activities and provide a particular chemical control against ticks. The new structures of the proposed compounds were optimized and synthetized respectively, through a molecular model using the methods:PM3, HF and DFT applying the B3LYP functional, with the basis 6-31+G(d) and 6-311+G(d,p), BVP86 and PBEPBE with 6-31+G(d) and the vibrational frequencies computed. These calculated frequencies were compared with the experimental ones to determine the most accurate level of theory for the prediction of vibrational frequencies of the compounds. The best results were obtained through HF/631+G(d). Additionally, we report a modification to obtain this type of compounds, and based on the amino-dehalogenation of ethyl chloroformate, different benzyl ethyl carbamates were synthesized modifying the base molecule. The performances obtained were compared to others already reported. The methodology used allowed us to synthesize new carbamates using benzylamine derivatives through a modification on the basic catalysis of the addition-elimination reaction.
Serum Uric Acid as a Putative Biomarker in Prodromal Parkinson’s Disease: Longitudinal Data from the PPMI Study

Background: The role of blood uric acid as a biomarker in symptomatic motor PD has been increasingly established in the literature. Objective: Our present study assessed the role of serum uric acid as a putative biomarker in a prodromal PD cohort [REM Sleep Behavior disorder (RBD) and Hyposmia] followed longitudinally. Methods: Longitudinal 5-year serum uric acid measurement data of 39 RBD patients and 26 Hyposmia patients with an abnormal DATSCAN imaging were downloaded from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative database. These cohorts were compared with 423 de novo PD patients and 196 healthy controls enrolled in the same study. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and concomitant disorders (hypertension/gout), baseline and longitudinal serum uric acid levels were higher in the RBD subgroup as compared to the established PD cohort (p = 0.004 and p = 0.001). (Baseline RBD 6.07±1.6 vs. Baseline PD 5.35±1.3 mg/dL and Year-5 RBD 5.7±1.3 vs. Year-5 PD 5.26±1.33). This was also true for longitudinal measurements in the Hyposmic subgroup (p = 0.008) (Baseline Hyposmic 5.7±1.6 vs. PD 5.35±1.3 mg/dL and Year-5 Hyposmic 5.58±1.6 vs. PD 5.26±1.33). Conclusion: Our results indicate that serum uric acid levels are higher in prodromal PD subjects with ongoing dopaminergic degeneration compared to those with manifest PD. These data indicate that the well-established decrease in the levels of serum uric acid occurs with the transition from prodromal to clinical PD. Whether the higher levels of serum uric acid observed in prodromal PD may provide protection against conversion to full-blown clinical PD will require further study.
Hydrolyzable tannins are incorporated into the endocarp during sclerification of the water caltrop Trapa natans

Abstract The water caltrop (Trapa natans) develops unique woody fruits with unusually large seeds among aquatic plants. During fruit development, the inner fruit wall (endocarp) sclerifies and forms a protective layer for the seed. Endocarp sclerification also occurs in many land plants with large seeds; however, in T. natans, the processes of fruit formation, endocarp hardening, and seed storage take place entirely underwater. To identify potential chemical and structural adaptations for the aquatic environment, we investigated the cell-wall composition in the endocarp at a young developmental stage, as well as at fruit maturity. Our work shows that hydrolyzable tannins—specifically gallotannins—flood the endocarp tissue during secondary wall formation and are integrated into cell walls along with lignin during maturation. Within the secondary walls of mature tissue, we identified unusually strong spectroscopic features of ester linkages, suggesting that the gallotannins and their derivatives are cross-linked to other wall components via ester bonds, leading to unique cell-wall properties. The synthesis of large amounts of water-soluble, defensive aromatic metabolites during secondary wall formation might be a fast way to defend seeds within the insufficiently lignified endocarp of T. natans.
Factors Affecting Digital Tool Use in Client Interaction According to Mental Health Professionals: Interview Study

Background Digital tools and interventions are being increasingly developed in response to the growing mental health crisis, and mental health professionals (MHPs) considerably influence their adoption in client practice. However, how MHPs use digital tools in client interaction is yet to be sufficiently understood, which poses challenges to their design, development, and implementation. Objective This study aimed to create a contextual understanding of how MHPs use different digital tools in clinical client practice and what characterizes the use across tools. Methods A total of 19 Finnish MHPs participated in semistructured interviews, and the data were transcribed, coded, and inductively analyzed. Results We found that MHP digital tool use was characterized by 3 distinct functions: communication, diagnosis and evaluation, and facilitating therapeutic change. The functions were addressed using analog tools, digitized tools that mimic their analog counterparts, and digital tools that use the possibilities native to digital. The MHP-client communication included various media alongside face-to-face meetings, the MHPs increasingly used digitized tools in client evaluation, and the MHPs actively used digitized materials to facilitate therapeutic change. MHP tool use was generally characterized by adaptability—it was negotiated in client interactions. However, there was considerable variance in the breadth of MHPs’ digital toolbox. The existing clinical practices emphasized MHP-client interaction and invited incremental rather than radical developments, which challenged the achievement of the scalability benefits expected from digital tools. Conclusions MHPs use digitized and digital tools in client practice. Our results contribute to the user-centered research, development, and implementation of new digital solutions in mental health care by classifying them according to their function and medium and describing how MHPs use and do not use them.
Improved Diversity Maximization Algorithms for Matching and Pseudoforest

In this work we consider the diversity maximization problem, where given a data set $X$ of $n$ elements, and a parameter $k$, the goal is to pick a subset of $X$ of size $k$ maximizing a certain diversity measure. [CH01] defined a variety of diversity measures based on pairwise distances between the points. A constant factor approximation algorithm was known for all those diversity measures except ``remote-matching'', where only an $O(\log k)$ approximation was known. In this work we present an $O(1)$ approximation for this remaining notion. Further, we consider these notions from the perpective of composable coresets. [IMMM14] provided composable coresets with a constant factor approximation for all but ``remote-pseudoforest'' and ``remote-matching'', which again they only obtained a $O(\log k)$ approximation. Here we also close the gap up to constants and present a constant factor composable coreset algorithm for these two notions. For remote-matching, our coreset has size only $O(k)$, and for remote-pseudoforest, our coreset has size $O(k^{1+\varepsilon})$ for any $\varepsilon>0$, for an $O(1/\varepsilon)$-approximate coreset.
Threshold-Consistent Margin Loss for Open-World Deep Metric Learning

Existing losses used in deep metric learning (DML) for image retrieval often lead to highly non-uniform intra-class and inter-class representation structures across test classes and data distributions. When combined with the common practice of using a fixed threshold to declare a match, this gives rise to significant performance variations in terms of false accept rate (FAR) and false reject rate (FRR) across test classes and data distributions. We define this issue in DML as threshold inconsistency. In real-world applications, such inconsistency often complicates the threshold selection process when deploying commercial image retrieval systems. To measure this inconsistency, we propose a novel variance-based metric called Operating-Point-Inconsistency-Score (OPIS) that quantifies the variance in the operating characteristics across classes. Using the OPIS metric, we find that achieving high accuracy levels in a DML model does not automatically guarantee threshold consistency. In fact, our investigation reveals a Pareto frontier in the high-accuracy regime, where existing methods to improve accuracy often lead to degradation in threshold consistency. To address this trade-off, we introduce the Threshold-Consistent Margin (TCM) loss, a simple yet effective regularization technique that promotes uniformity in representation structures across classes by selectively penalizing hard sample pairs. Extensive experiments demonstrate TCM's effectiveness in enhancing threshold consistency while preserving accuracy, simplifying the threshold selection process in practical DML settings.