Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The evolving atopic dermatitis management landscape

ABSTRACT Introduction Atopic dermatitis is a common dermatologic condition that affects millions of people worldwide, and a standardized approach to treatment was published by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) in 2013–14. Since 2014, new FDA-approved treatment options such as dupilumab and crisaborole have changed the landscape of AD management, and future therapies such as JAK inhibitors and anti-interleukin 13 and 31 antibodies appear effective, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive review to give clinicians an updated toolbox to aid in pharmacologic management. Areas Covered In this review, the authors explore the updated efficacy and safety data on established therapeutic options for AD including topical corticosteroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporine, azathioprine, methotrexate, and mycophenolate mofetil. In addition, the authors also explore trial data and studies on dupilumab, crisaborole, omalizumab, tofacitinib, ruxolinitib, abrocitinib, baricitinib, upadacitinib, delgocitinib, nemoliuzumab, and tralokinumab. Expert opinion The AAD guidelines must be updated in the future to include several new treatment modalities that have revolutionized the pharmacologic management of patients with AD, including dupilumab and crisaborole. The future of AD treatment is also extremely bright, as JAK inhibitors and Il-13/31 antibodies have shown convincing results in the improvement of AD patients’ lives in various trials and studies that have been examined in this paper.
Template-Free Preparation and Photocatalytic and Photoluminescent Properties of Brookite TiO2 Hollow Spheres

The preparation of high-purity brookite TiO2 with a unique morphology is rare and difficult. Herein, high-purity brookite TiO2 hollow spheres were hydrothermally synthesized by employing titanium sulfate as the titanium source and chloroacetic acid and sodium hydroxide as the pH regulator. The structure, morphology, and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). The results showed that the as-prepared brookite TiO2 exhibited a hollow-sphere morphology with a size of about 1.0 micrometer and showed a direct band gap of 3.13 eV. Additionally, thermal analysis in combination with infrared spectroscopy showed that the as-prepared brookite TiO2 was surface capped by water and organic molecules. Finally, the photocatalytic and photoluminescent properties of brookite TiO2 were studied.
Targeted RNA Sequencing of VZV-Infected Brain Vascular Adventitial Fibroblasts Indicates That Amyloid May Be Involved in VZV Vasculopathy

Background and Objectives Compared with stroke controls, patients with varicella zoster virus (VZV) vasculopathy have increased amyloid in CSF, along with increased amylin (islet amyloid polypeptide [IAPP]) and anti-VZV antibodies. Thus, we examined the gene expression profiles of VZV-infected primary human brain vascular adventitial fibroblasts (HBVAFs), one of the initial arterial cells infected in VZV vasculopathy, to determine whether they are a potential source of amyloid that can disrupt vasculature and potentiate inflammation. Methods Mock- and VZV-infected quiescent HBVAFs were harvested at 3 days postinfection. Targeted RNA sequencing of the whole-human transcriptome (BioSpyder Technologies, TempO-Seq) was conducted followed by gene set enrichment and pathway analysis. Selected pathways unique to VZV-infected cells were confirmed by enzyme-linked immunoassays, migration assays, and immunofluorescence analysis (IFA) that included antibodies against amylin and amyloid-beta, as well as amyloid staining by Thioflavin-T. Results Compared with mock, VZV-infected HBVAFs had significantly enriched gene expression pathways involved in vascular remodeling and vascular diseases; confirmatory studies showed secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-3 and -10, as well increased migration of infected cells and uninfected cells when exposed to conditioned media from VZV-infected cells. In addition, significantly enriched pathways involved in amyloid-associated diseases (diabetes mellitus, amyloidosis, and Alzheimer disease), tauopathy, and progressive neurologic disorder were identified; predicted upstream regulators included amyloid precursor protein, apolipoprotein E, microtubule-associated protein tau, presenilin 1, and IAPP. Confirmatory IFA showed that VZV-infected HBVAFs contained amyloidogenic peptides (amyloid-beta and amylin) and intracellular amyloid. Discussion Gene expression profiles and pathway enrichment analysis of VZV-infected HBVAFs, as well as phenotypic studies, reveal features of pathologic vascular remodeling (e.g., increased cell migration and changes in the extracellular matrix) that can contribute to cerebrovascular disease. Furthermore, the discovery of amyloid-associated transcriptional pathways and intracellular amyloid deposition in HBVAFs raise the possibility that VZV vasculopathy is an amyloid disease. Amyloid deposition may contribute to cell death and loss of vascular wall integrity, as well as potentiate chronic inflammation in VZV vasculopathy, with disease severity and recurrence determined by the host's ability to clear virus infection and amyloid deposition and by the coexistence of other amyloid-associated diseases (i.e., Alzheimer disease and diabetes mellitus).
Establishing prognostic significance of hypoxia predictors in patients with acute cerebral pathology

ABSTRACT Objectives This research aims to study the prognostic role of serum S100 as a predictor of mortality in vascular and traumatic brain injuries. Methods This prospective cohort study involved 219 patients. In the blood serum, neuron-specific markers (S100, NSE) and glucose, acid-base state and gas composition of arterial blood were obtained at admission, on the 3rd, 5th and 7th days of patients' stay in the intensive care unit. Results The most significant risk factor for an unfavorable outcome is the marker S100 with a cut-off point of 0.2 mcg/l. The analysis results indicate a statistically significant direct relationship between S100 > 0.2 mcg/l and NSE ≥ 18.9 ng/ml compared to other variables, while the chance ratio (OR) is 11.9 (95%CI:3.2927-1.6693;). With blood sugar increase above 7.4 mmol/l, the OR is 3.82 (95% CI: 2.1289-0.5539;); with a Glasgow scale below 13 points, the OR is 3.69 (95% CI: 2.1316-0.4819;); with an increase in pCO2 < 43.5 mm Hg, the OR was 3.15 (95% CI: 1.8916- 0.4062;). The obtained model certainty measure according to pseudo R2 Nagelkerke criterion is 263.5, showing the excellent quality of the mathematical model’s predictive ability. The developed prognostic model, including the dependent variable S100 and independent variables as predictors of a poor outcome of NSE, pCO2, GCS and Hb, reached a cut-off point of 84.51%, AUC - 0.88 with high levels of sensitivity and specificity: 91.89% and 64.14%, respectively. Novelty This model can be used to predict the outcome in patients with acute cerebral pathology.
A simple chaotic oscillator for educational purposes

A novel, very simple chaotic oscillator is described. It is intended for training laboratories accompanying courses on nonlinear dynamics and chaos for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students. The oscillator consists of an operational amplifier, an LCR resonance loop, an extra capacitor, a diode as a nonlinear element and three auxiliary resistors. Chaotic oscillations are demonstrated both experimentally and numerically.
Numerical Study of Transient Aircraft Cabin Flowfield with Unsteady Air Supply

Maintaining a suitable cabin environment for an aircraft at cruise requires constant extraction of fresh air from the engine, resulting in a loss of thrust. An effective air delivery method for ventilating the cabin will minimize such loss and thus improve the fuel economy of an aircraft. This study investigated the unsteady air supply method and found that the averaged temperature andCO2 concentration levels under periodic air supplies were lowerwithin the whole domain and in typical breath zones than the conventional steady-supply condition with the same amount of fresh air. The dynamic flow pattern observed inside the cabin was found to be themain reason for this improvement. Unsteady air supply has shown great potential in improving the fresh air delivery efficiency and the air quality inside the cabin.
Advaita: Oneness as a Lived Reality—Examining Aspects of Profound and a Radical Psychology

It is all good to say, that the world is one! Are these idealistic/poetic ideas or could there be psychological pathways to experience oneness as a continuous realisation? This is not a question of philosophy or intellectual argumentation, but a question of living and being. There has been now interest in non-dual awareness in research as well (Josipovic, 2014). The objective of this article is to introduce a radical worldview—advaita vedānta that leads to profound cognitive, affective and behavioural implications of well-being beyond the surface level ideas of happiness. Advaita—which means ‘not-two’ is the most profound and radical of psychological theories Indic civilization has experienced and accepted as the epitome—the crown jewel. The Vedāntic worldview and practice with the background throb of all Indic values—of inclusion, love and truth vests in Advaita—oneness. In popular imagination, it has been both esoteric-cised and yet has remained un-commodified. Contrary to popular ideas that look at advaita as a speculative philosophy, advaita is understood as a rich psychological theory with a basis in cognition, knowing, as well as a living in oneness. The students of modern psychology, especially, in India are left poorer, if they are unable to review advaita and yet study consciousness, which is a booming area of research in modern psychology. Advaita is a continuous living realisation—termed as Jīvanmukti, the Vedāntic ideal of being free, while living. Examining the primary Saṃskrit text—Jīvanmukti-viveka, I describe Jīvanmukti—of living in continuous realisation of oneness, till the body drops down, as stated by the great muni, whose above-mentioned abhyāsa grantha—the application manual, is used across Hindu spiritual frameworks and monastic orders, till today.
Virtual reality and augmented reality in aircraft design and manufacturing

Summary form only given. The author is working on two research projects in Boeing Computer Services that have to do with virtual reality technology. The first involves importing aircraft CAD data into a VR environment. Applications include a side range of engineering and design activities, all of which involve being able to view and interact with the CAD geometry as if one were inside an actual physical mockup of the aircraft. He refers to the technology being explored in the second project as "Augmented Reality". This entails the use of a see-through head-mounted display with an optical focal length of about 20 inches, along with VR-style position/orientation sensing system. The intended application area is in touch labor manufacturing: superimposing diagrams or text onto the surface of a workpiece and stabilizing it there on specific coordinates, so that the appropriate information needed by a factory worker for each step of a manufacturing or assembly operation appears on the surface of the workpiece as if it were painted there. The hardest technical problem for augmented reality is position tracking. Long-range head position/orientation sensing systems that can operate in factory environments are needed. This requirement and others give rise to some interesting computational problems, including wearer registration and position sensing using image processing. <<ETX>>
Measuring outcomes in healthcare economics using Artificial Intelligence: With application to resource management

Abstract The quality of service in healthcare is constantly challenged by outlier events such as pandemics (i.e., Covid-19) and natural disasters (such as hurricanes and earthquakes). In most cases, such events lead to critical uncertainties in decision-making, as well as in multiple medical and economic aspects at a hospital. External (geographic) or internal factors (medical and managerial) lead to shifts in planning and budgeting, but most importantly, reduce confidence in conventional processes. In some cases, support from other hospitals proves necessary, which exacerbates the planning aspect. This paper presents three data-driven methods that provide data-driven indicators to help healthcare managers organize their economics and identify the most optimum plan for resources allocation and sharing. Conventional decision-making methods fall short in recommending validated policies for managers. Using reinforcement learning, genetic algorithms, traveling salesman, and clustering, we experimented with different healthcare variables and presented tools and outcomes that could be applied at health institutes. Experiments are performed; the results are recorded, evaluated, and presented.
Analysis of the characteristics of single phase shaded pole induction motor with two short-circuited auxiliary phases

This work presents a method of general two-phase harmonic symmetrical components, for the analysis and calculation of single-phase induction motor characteristics with shaded poles and two short circuited auxiliary phases. The method is based on rotating field theory applying the harmonic symmetrical current components of direct and inverse order. Thus, it is possible to make a motor characteristic analysis by taking into consideration the action of all significant space harmonics of the magnetomotive forces (MMF) to the rotor cage winding. The advantage of the presented method in regard to other methods is that the shaded pole motor calculation (by enlarging with the higher space harmonics MMF) is united in such a way that it is possible to apply the same calculation program to all structural types with either one or both of the auxiliary phases short-circuited.
An iterative algorithm for random upper bound kinematical analysis

Abstract A new approach for stochastic upper bound kinematical analyses is described. The study proposes an iterative algorithm that uses the Vanmarcke spatial averaging and kinematical failure mechanisms. The iterative procedure ensures the consistency between failure geometry and covariance matrix, which influences the quality of the results. The proposed algorithm can be applied to bearing capacity evaluation or slope stability problems. The iterative algorithm is used in the study to analyse the three-dimensional undrained bearing capacity of shallow foundations and the bearing capacity of the foundation for two-layered soil, in both cases, the soil strength spatial variability is included. Moreover, the obtained results are compared with those provided by the algorithm, based on the constant covariance matrix. The study shows that both approaches provide similar results for a variety of foundation shapes and scale of fluctuation values. Therefore, the simplified algorithm can be used for purposes that require high computational efficiency and for practical applications. The achieved efficiency using a constant covariance matrix for one realisation of a three-dimensional bearing capacity problem that includes the soil strength spatial variability results in about 0.5 seconds for a standard notebook. The numerical example presented in the study indicates the importance of the iterative algorithm for further development of the failure mechanism application in probabilistic analyses. Moreover, because the iterative algorithm is based on the upper bound theorem, it could be utilised as a reference for other methods for spatially variable soil.
Number and Location of Sensors for Real-Time Network Traffic Estimation and Prediction

Installing and maintaining sensors in a transportation network can be expensive. The motivation for this research is finding the best way to deploy finite resources and generate a network detection system in a manner that produces minimal estimation errors. The analysis uses a simulation-based real-time network traffic estimation and prediction system based on dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) methodology to analyze different levels of detection and different sensor locations in a portion of the Chesapeake Highway Advisories Routing Traffic (CHART) network (between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland). This study provides a conceptual framework of the sensor location problem and a theoretical description of the objectives associated with the sensor location problem. A sensitivity analysis of the estimation and prediction quality with the DYNASMART-X real-time DTA system in relation to sensor number and location is conducted in the Maryland CHART network. The analysis considers both randomly generated location scenarios and scenarios based on engineering judgment. The analysis reveals the importance of providing detection in specific locations of the network and the dependence of the value of additional detection on the specific location selected.
Spatial relationships of intra-lesion heterogeneity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis microenvironment, replication status, and drug efficacy

A hallmark of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection with critical impact on disease development and outcome is the marked heterogeneity that exists, spanning differences in lesion types to changes in microenvironment as the infection progresses1–7. A mechanistic understanding of how this heterogeneity affects Mtb growth and treatment efficacy necessitates single bacterium-level studies in the context of intact host tissue architecture; however, such an evaluation has been technically challenging. Here, we exploit fluorescent reporter Mtb strains and the C3HeB/FeJ murine model in an integrated imaging approach to study microenvironment heterogeneity within a single lesion in situ, and analyze how these differences relate to non-uniformity in Mtb replication state, activity, and drug efficacy. We show that the pH and chloride environments differ spatially in a caseous necrotic lesion, with increased acidity and chloride levels in the lesion cuff versus the necrotic core. Conversely, a higher percentage of Mtb in the necrotic core versus the lesion cuff were in an actively replicating state, and correspondingly active in transcription and translation. Finally, examination of three first-line anti-tubercular drugs showed that efficacy of isoniazid was strikingly poor against bacteria in the lesion cuff. Our study reveals spatial relationships of intra-lesion heterogeneity, sheds light on important considerations in the development of anti-tubercular treatment strategies, and establishes a foundational framework for Mtb infection heterogeneity analysis at the single cell level in situ.
LuxT is a Global Regulator of Low-Cell Density Behaviors Including Type III Secretion, Siderophore Production, and Aerolysin Production in Vibrio harveyi

Quorum sensing (QS) is a chemical communication process in which bacteria produce, release, and detect extracellular signaling molecules called autoinducers. Via combined transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, QS allows bacteria to collectively alter gene expression on a population-wide scale. Recently, the TetR-family transcriptional regulator LuxT was shown to control V. harveyi qrr1, encoding the Qrr1 small RNA that functions at the core of the QS regulatory cascade. Here, we use RNA-Sequencing to reveal that, beyond control of qrr1, LuxT is a global regulator of 414 V. harveyi genes including those involved in type III secretion, siderophore production, and aerolysin toxin biosynthesis. Importantly, LuxT directly represses swrZ, encoding a GntR-family transcriptional regulator, and LuxT control of type III secretion, siderophore, and aerolysin genes occurs by two mechanisms, one that is SwrZ-dependent and one that is SwrZ-independent. All of these target genes specify QS-controlled behaviors that are enacted when V. harveyi is at low cell density. Thus, LuxT and SwrZ function in parallel with QS to drive particular low cell density behaviors. Phylogenetic analyses reveal that luxT is highly conserved among Vibrionaceae, but swrZ is less well conserved. In a test case, we find that in Aliivibrio fischeri, LuxT also represses swrZ. SwrZ is a repressor of A. fischeri siderophore production genes. Thus, LuxT repression of swrZ drives activation of A. fischeri siderophore gene expression. Our results indicate that LuxT is a major regulator among Vibrionaceae, and, in the species that also possess swrZ, LuxT functions with SwrZ to control gene expression. Importance Bacteria precisely tune gene expression patterns to successfully react to changes that occur in the environment. Defining the mechanisms that enable bacteria to thrive in diverse and fluctuating habitats, including in host organisms, is crucial for a deep understanding of the microbial world and also for development of effective applications to promote or to combat particular bacteria. In this study, we show that a regulator called LuxT controls over 400 genes in the marine bacterium Vibrio harveyi and, moreover, that LuxT is highly conserved among Vibrionaceae species, ubiquitous marine bacteria that often cause disease. We characterize the mechanisms by which LuxT controls genes involved in virulence and nutrient acquisition. We show that LuxT functions in parallel with a set of regulators of the bacterial cell-to-cell communication process called quorum sensing to promote V. harveyi behaviors at low cell density.
Novel genetic basis of resistance to Bt toxin Cry1Ac in Helicoverpa zea

Crops genetically engineered to produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have advanced pest management, but their benefits are diminished when pests evolve resistance. Elucidating the genetic basis of pest resistance to Bt toxins can improve resistance monitoring, resistance management, and design of new insecticides. Here, we investigated the genetic basis of resistance to Bt toxin Cry1Ac in the lepidopteran Helicoverpa zea, one of the most damaging crop pests in the United States. To facilitate this research, we built the first chromosome-level genome assembly for this species, which has 31 chromosomes containing 375 Mb and 15,482 predicted proteins. Using a genome-wide association study, fine-scale mapping, and RNA-seq, we identified a 250-kb quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 13 that was strongly associated with resistance in a strain of H. zea that had been selected for resistance in the field and lab. The mutation in this QTL contributed to but was not sufficient for resistance, which implies alleles in more than one gene contributed to resistance. This QTL contains no genes with a previously reported role in resistance or susceptibility to Bt toxins. However, in resistant insects, this QTL has a premature stop codon in a kinesin gene which is a primary candidate as a mutation contributing to resistance. We found no changes in gene sequence or expression consistently associated with resistance for 11 genes previously implicated in lepidopteran resistance to Cry1Ac. Thus, the results reveal a novel and polygenic basis of resistance.