Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Increase of Neutrophil Activation Markers in Venous Thrombosis—Contribution of Circulating Activated Protein C

Upon activation, neutrophils release their content through different mechanisms like degranulation and NETosis, thus prompting thrombosis. The natural anticoagulant activated protein C (APC) inhibits neutrophil NETosis and, consequently, this may lower the levels of neutrophil activation markers in plasma, further diminishing the thrombotic risk exerted by this anticoagulant. We aimed to describe the status of markers of neutrophil activation in plasma of patients with venous thrombosis, their association with the thrombotic risk and the potential contribution of APC. We quantified three markers of neutrophil activation (cell-free DNA, calprotectin, and myeloperoxidase) in 253 patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) in a stable phase (192 lower extremity VTE and 61 splanchnic vein thrombosis) and in 249 healthy controls. In them, we also quantified plasma APC, soluble endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR), and soluble thrombomodulin (TM), and we genotyped two genetic regulators of APC: the EPCR gene (PROCR) haplotypes (H) and the TM gene (THBD) c.1418C>T polymorphism. We found a significant increase in plasma cell-free DNA (p < 0.0001), calprotectin (p = 0.0001) and myeloperoxidase (p = 0.005) in VTE patients compared to controls. Furthermore, all three neutrophil activation markers were associated with an increase in the thrombotic risk. Cell-free DNA and calprotectin plasma levels were significantly correlated (Spearman r = 0.28; p < 0.0001). As expected, the natural anticoagulant APC was significantly decreased in VTE patients (p < 0.0001) compared to controls, what was mediated by its genetic regulators PROCR-H1, PROCR-H3, and THBD-c.1418T, and inversely correlated with cell-free DNA levels. This is the largest case-control study that demonstrates the increase in markers of neutrophil activation in vivo in VTE patients and their association with an increased thrombotic risk. This increase could be mediated by low APC levels and its genetic regulators, which could also increase NETosis, further enhancing thrombosis and inflammation.
Exploring the Participation Patterns and Impact of Environment in Preschool Children with ASD

Participation in everyday activities at home and in the community is essential for children’s development and well-being. Limited information exists about participation patterns of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examines these participation patterns in both the home and community, and the extent to which environmental factors and social communication abilities are associated with participation. Fifty-four parents of preschool-aged children with ASD completed the Participation and Environment Measure for Young Children and the Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication. The children had a mean age of 48.9 (8.4) months. Patterns of participation were studied using descriptive statistics, radar graphs, and Spearman correlations. Children with ASD participated in a variety of activities at home and in the community, but showed a higher participation frequency at home. Parents identified different barriers (e.g., social demands) and supports (e.g., attitudes) in both settings. There was a moderate positive association between children’s social communication abilities and their levels of involvement during participation and the diversity of activities. This study highlights the importance of social communication abilities in the participation of preschool children with ASD, and the need to support parents while they work to improve their child’s participation, especially within their communities.
Ecology of pocket gophers with emphasis on Thomomys bottae mewa

The life history and ecology of the Digger pine pocket gopher (Thomomys bottae mewa) are here reported. Most of the data were obtained by live-trapping for five years 330 marked individuals 1,798 times on a 3.7-acre study plot at the San Joaquin Experimental Range, O’Neals, California. In all, more than 1,000 gophers were studied, many of which were maintained in various types of laboratory cages. Body weight is not a reliable indication of age since males continue to grow throughout their life and the alimentary tract of seven gophers averaged one fifth of their gross body weight. Males do not live as long as females, which often live for three or four years. Gophers apparently are frequently polygamous. The adult sex ratio of males to females varied from about 1:1 to 1:4. Females predominated (1:4) when the population density was high. The home range of a pocket gopher is also its “territory,” for adults vigorously defend their entire burrow system from others of both sexes, except during the breeding season. Male territories occupied an average surface area of 2,200 square feet, whereas females only one half that, or 1,300 square feet. Young gophers often left home by dispersing aboveground. More than 200 were captured in funnel traps on the ground surface along hardware-cloth drift fences. Gophers released 200 or more feet from their burrow were able to return home by traveling through existing burrow systems. The ecological factors responsible for creating fluctuations in the density of gophers are discussed. Also discussed are the signifiance of pocket gophers with respect to animal associates, soil and forage relationships, effect of burrows, and importance to man.
Adjustment of Photosynthetic and Antioxidant Activities to Water Deficit Is Crucial in the Drought Tolerance of Lolium multiflorum/Festuca arundinacea Introgression Forms

Lolium multiflorum/Festuca arundinacea introgression forms have been proved several times to be good models to identify key components of grass metabolism involved in the mechanisms of tolerance to water deficit. Here, for the first time, a relationship between photosynthetic and antioxidant capacities with respect to drought tolerance of these forms was analyzed in detail. Two closely related L. multiflorum/F. arundinacea introgression forms distinct in their ability to re-grow after cessation of prolonged water deficit in the field were selected and subjected to short-term drought in pots to dissect precisely mechanisms of drought tolerance in this group of plants. The studies revealed that the form with higher drought tolerance was characterized by earlier and higher accumulation of abscisic acid, more stable cellular membranes, and more balanced reactive oxygen species metabolism associated with a higher capacity of the antioxidant system under drought conditions. On the other hand, both introgression forms revealed the same levels of stomatal conductance, CO2 assimilation, and consequently, intrinsic water use efficiency under drought and recovery conditions. However, simultaneous higher adjustment of the Calvin cycle to water deficit and reduced CO2 availability, with respect to the accumulation and activity of plastid fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, were clearly visible in the form with higher drought tolerance.
Contribution to the Study of Xylophallus Xylogenus

A new collection of Xylophallus xylogenus, made at the same latitude as the type, confirms rotting wood as its natural substrate. The unpleasant odor of its gleba, typical of the phalloids, and its attraction to insects are reported. From study of sections of the fruiting body in different stages of development, we conclude that the gleba is not interrupted from its origin and thus the axial tissue never reaches the volva. The prosenchymatous internal layer of the volva is intimately connected with the "veins" of the gleba and becomes part of its lacunose system. The presence of a pore at the apex of the receptacle in unopened eggs is confirmed. As fruiting bodies mature, the pore becomes wider. The apparent continuity between the axial tissue and the volva in one specimen is assumed to result from swelling of one of the apical "veins" of the gleba due to pressure exerted by elongation of the stalk. When stained with safranin, the hyaline spores show a central zone of red cytoplasm surrounded by a large colorless portion. In material mounted in Amann's lactophenol with cotton blue, the spores mostly have a vacuole at both ends of the long ,axis; however, spores occasionally have three vacuoles or just one central vacuole. That the only known collections of X. xylogenus were made at the same latitude seems to confirm the narrow distribution of the species and its rarity. Xyllophallus xylogenus grows on wood in rather large colonies with the fruiting bodies joined by stolon-like rhizomorphs.
PTEN Is Required for The Anti-Epileptic Effects of AMPA Receptor Antagonists in Chronic Epileptic Rats

α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR) is one of the ligand-gated ion channels for glutamate, which is an important player in the generation and spread of seizures. The efficacy of AMPAR functionality is regulated by the trafficking, synaptic targeting, and phosphorylation. Paradoxically, AMPAR expression and its phosphorylation level are decreased in the epileptic hippocampus. Therefore, the roles of AMPAR in seizure onset and neuronal hyperexcitability in ictogenesis remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we found that AMPAR antagonists (perampanel and GYKI 52466) decreased glutamate ionotropic receptor AMPA type subunit 1 (GRIA1) surface expression in the epileptic rat hippocampus. They also upregulated phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) expression and restored to basal levels the upregulated phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT1 phosphorylations. Dipotassium bisperoxovanadium(pic) dihydrate (BpV(pic), a PTEN inhibitor) co-treatment abolished the anti-epileptic effects of perampanel and GYKI 52466. Therefore, our findings suggest that PTEN may be required for the anti-epileptic effects of AMPAR antagonists.
Channel Construction by the African Bullfrog: Another Anuran Parental Care Strategy

Observation de la construction de canaux entre les mares temporaires ou se trouvent les tetards et les cours d'eau plus important par les mâles de Pyxicephalus adspersus.Ce comportement permet aux tetars de quitter les eaux temporaires et d'eviter la dessication
Efficacy and safety of greater occipital nerve block for the treatment of cluster headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Introduction The treatment of cluster headache (CH) is challenging in view of the few evidence-based treatments. The authors aim to summarize the evidence of efficacy and safety of greater occipital nerve blocks (GONBs) in CH. Areas covered The authors included papers indexed in PubMed and Web of Science from the beginning of indexing to 5 May 2020. They included both observational and randomized studies referring to patients with episodic and/or chronic CH. The authors identified 12 studies on 365 patients. Five studies (two randomized controlled trials) could be included in the meta-analyses. The pooled proportion of pain-free subjects at 1 month was 50% (95% CI 24–76%) with considerable heterogeneity (I2 = 88%; P < 0.01). The pooled relative risk ratio of pain freedom at 1 month in active versus control groups in the two included randomized controlled trials was 4.86 (95% CI, 1.35–17.55) without statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 0%; P = 0.39). Three studies showed decreased attack intensity, frequency, and duration after GONBs. The studies reported mild and transient adverse events. Expert opinion Despite several limitations and considerable heterogeneity, the available data support the efficacy and safety of GONBs for the treatment of CH. Further large randomized trials are needed to confirm efficacy and establish optimal treatment protocols.
Anti‐inflammatory and antiviral roles of hydrogen sulfide: Rationale for considering H2S donors in COVID‐19 therapy

The COVID‐19 pandemic caused by SARS‐Cov‐2 demands rapid, safe and effective therapeutic options. In the last decades, the endogenous gasotransmitter hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has emerged as modulator of several biological functions and its deficiency has been associated with different disorders. Therefore, many H2S‐releasing agents have been developed as potential therapeutic tools for diseases related with impaired H2S production and/or activity. Some of these compounds are in advanced clinical trials. Presently, the pivotal role of H2S in modulating the inflammatory response and pro‐inflammatory cytokine cascade is well recognized, and the usefulness of some H2S‐donors for the treatment of acute lung inflammation has been reported. Recent data is elucidating several mechanisms of action, which may account for antiviral effects of H2S. Noteworthy, some preliminary clinical results suggest an inverse relationship between endogenous H2S levels and severity of COVID‐19. Therefore, repurposing of H2S‐releasing drugs may be a potential therapeutic opportunity for treatment of COVID‐19.
American Indian Alcohol Use from a Sex-Specific Wellness Approach: Exploring Its Associated Physical, Behavioral, and Mental Risk and Protective Factors.

PURPOSE The top causes of death for American Indians (AIs), including heart and liver disease, are associated with alcohol use. Using the culturally based Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence (FHORT), the purpose of this article was to examine AI alcohol use from a sex-specific wellness approach, exploring its associated physical, behavioral, and mental risk and protective factors. METHOD Data were drawn from a cross-sectional survey with 479 AI adults in South Dakota. We employed a series of multiple hierarchical regression analyses to assess the associations of demographic (sex, age, marital status, income, and educational attainment), physical (Body Mass Index and cardiovascular risk), behavioral (smoking and health self-efficacy) and mental (depressive symptoms) factors with alcohol use. RESULTS Results indicated that surveyed males tended to drink three times that of females, and depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of alcohol use. DISCUSSION This study highlights the need to examine AI alcohol use with sex in mind.
A pilot study of magnetic resonance fingerprinting in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects more than six million people, but reliable MRI biomarkers with which to diagnose patients have not been established. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is a recent quantitative technique that can provide relaxometric maps from a single sequence. The purpose of this study is to assess the potential of MRF to identify PD in patients and their disease severity, as well as to evaluate comfort during MRF. Twenty‐five PD patients and 25 matching controls underwent 3 T MRI, including an axial 2D spoiled gradient echo MRF sequence. T1 and T2 maps were generated by voxel‐wise matching the measured MRF signal to a precomputed dictionary. All participants also received standard inversion recovery T1 and multi‐echo T2 mapping. An ROI‐based analysis of relaxation times was performed. Differences between patients and controls as well as techniques were determined by logistic regression, Spearman correlation and t‐test. Patients were asked to estimate the subjective comfort of the MRF sequence. Both MRF‐based T1 and T2 mapping discriminated patients from controls: T1 relaxation times differed most in cortical grey matter (PD 1337 ± 38 vs. control 1386 ± 37 ms; mean ± SD; P = .0001) and, in combination with normal‐appearing white matter, enabled correct discrimination in 85.7% of cases (sensitivity 83.3%; specificity 88.0%; receiver‐operating characteristic [ROC]) area under the curve [AUC] 0.87), while for T2 mapping the left putamen was the strongest classifier (40.54 ± 6.28 vs. 34.17 ± 4.96 ms; P = .0001), enabling differentiation of groups in 84.0% of all cases (sensitivity 80.0%; specificity 88.0%; ROC AUC 0.87). Relaxation time differences were not associated with disease severity. Standard mapping techniques generated significantly different relaxation time values and identified other structures as different between groups other than MRF. Twenty‐three out of 25 PD patients preferred the MRF examination instead of a standard MRI. MRF‐based mapping can identify PD patients with good comfort but needs further assessment regarding disease severity identification and its potential for comparability with standard mapping technique results.
Childhood trauma, parental bonding, and social cognition in patients with schizophrenia and healthy adults.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated associations between childhood trauma, parental bonding, and social cognition (i.e., Theory of Mind and emotion recognition) in patients with schizophrenia and healthy adults. METHODS Using cross-sectional data, we examined the recollections of childhood trauma experiences and social cognitive abilities in 74 patients with schizophrenia and 116 healthy adults. RESULTS Patients had significantly higher scores compared with healthy participants on childhood trauma, and lower scores on parental bonding and social cognitive measures. Physical neglect was found to be the strongest predictor of emotion recognition impairments in both groups. Optimal parental bonding attenuated the impact of childhood trauma on emotion recognition. CONCLUSION The present study provides evidence of an association between physical neglect and emotion recognition in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals and shows that both childhood trauma and parental bonding may influence social cognitive development. Psychosocial interventions should be developed to prevent and mitigate the long-term effects of childhood adversities.
Decoding kinetic features of hand motor preparation from single‐trial EEG using convolutional neural networks

Building accurate movement decoding models from brain signals is crucial for many biomedical applications. Predicting specific movement features, such as speed and force, before movement execution may provide additional useful information at the expense of increasing the complexity of the decoding problem. Recent attempts to predict movement speed and force from the electroencephalogram (EEG) achieved classification accuracies at or slightly above chance levels, highlighting the need for more accurate prediction strategies. Thus, the aims of this study were to accurately predict hand movement speed and force from single‐trial EEG signals and to decode neurophysiological information of motor preparation from the prediction strategies. To these ends, a decoding model based on convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) was implemented and compared against other state‐of‐the‐art prediction strategies, such as support vector machines and decision trees. ConvNets outperformed the other prediction strategies, achieving an overall accuracy of 84% in the classification of two different levels of speed and force (four‐class classification) from pre‐movement single‐trial EEG (100 ms and up to 1,600 ms prior to movement execution). Furthermore, an analysis of the ConvNet architectures suggests that the network performs a complex spatiotemporal integration of EEG data to optimize classification accuracy. These results show that movement speed and force can be accurately predicted from single‐trial EEG, and that the prediction strategies may provide useful neurophysiological information about motor preparation.
Novel mechanism for resistance to Colorado potato beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in wild Solanum species

The Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), is the most destructive insect pest of the potato, Solanum tuberosum L. , worldwide and has shown remarkable adaptability to insecticides. In wild Solanum species, the best known host-plant resistance mechanisms are a high level of foliar glycoalkaloids and the presence of specialized, glandular trichomes. Through a preliminary field-test screen, 3 Solanum species, Solanum trifidum, S. raphanifolium, and S. circaeifolium , were identified with low foliar glycoalkaloid levels and no glandular trichomes, but still exhibiting substantial resistance to L. decemlineata . These 3 species along with 2 species, S. berthaultii and S. chacoense, representing the 2 known mechanisms of resistance, were examined in bioassays for larval leaf consumption, effect on larval growth, and percentage of larval mortality. The best S. trifidum l accessions had 10-fold less foliar consumption per larva than controls and induced 54 % reduction in larval weight compared with controls during a 24-h feeding period. Forty-eight hour mortality rates were 100 % for 2nd and 3rd instars feeding on S. trifidum compared with 22 % for the S. tuberosum controls. Despite low foliar glycoalkaloid levels and the absence of glandular trichomes, S. trifulum accessions exhibited both an effective antinutritive and deterrent mechanism for resistance to L. decemlineata.
Investigation of the Efficacy of a Postbiotic Yeast Cell Wall-Based Blend on Newly-Weaned Pigs under a Dietary Challenge of Multiple Mycotoxins with Emphasis on Deoxynivalenol

Pigs are highly susceptible to mycotoxins. This study investigated the effects of a postbiotic yeast cell wall-based blend (PYCW; Nicholasville, KY, USA) on growth and health of newly-weaned pigs under dietary challenge of multiple mycotoxins. Forty-eight newly-weaned pigs (21 d old) were individually allotted to four dietary treatments, based on a three phase-feeding, in a randomized complete block design (sex; initial BW) with two factors for 36 d. Two factors were dietary mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol: 2000 μg/kg supplemented in three phases; and aflatoxin: 200 μg/kg supplemented only in phase 3) and PYCW (0.2%). Growth performance (weekly), blood serum (d 34), and jejunal mucosa immune and oxidative stress markers (d 36) data were analyzed using MIXED procedure of SAS. Mycotoxins reduced (p < 0.05) average daily feed intake (ADFI) and average daily gain (ADG) during the entire period whereas PYCW did not affect growth performance. Mycotoxins reduced (p < 0.05) serum protein, albumin, creatinine, and alanine aminotransferase whereas PYCW decreased (p < 0.05) serum creatine phosphokinase. Neither mycotoxins nor PYCW affected pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative damage markers in the jejunal mucosa. No interaction was observed indicating that PYCW improved hepatic enzymes regardless of mycotoxin challenge. In conclusion, deoxynivalenol (2000 μg/kg, for 7 to 25 kg body weight) and aflatoxin B1 (200 μg/kg, for 16 to 25 kg body weight) impaired growth performance and nutrient digestibility of newly-weaned pigs, whereas PYCW could partially improve health of pigs regardless of mycotoxin challenge.