Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intrathecal CD8+CD20+ T Cells in Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

Background and Objective Despite accumulating evidence of intrathecal inflammation in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), immunomodulatory and suppressive treatment strategies have proven unsuccessful. With this study, we investigated the involvement of CD20+ T cells and the effect of dimethyl fumarate on CD20+ T cells in PPMS. Methods The main outcomes in this observational, case-control study were flow cytometry assessments of blood and CSF CD20+ T cells and ELISA measurements of myelin basic protein and neurofilament light chain in untreated patients with PPMS and patients treated for 48 weeks with dimethyl fumarate or placebo. MRI measures included new and enlarging T2-weighted lesions over 48 weeks and lesion, normal-appearing white matter, cortical, and thalamic volume. Results Assessing CD20+ T cells in patients with PPMS and controls showed an increased percentage of CD20+ T cells in the blood of untreated patients and a strong enrichment in the CSF. In addition, a higher frequency of CD8+CD20+ T cells in the CSF correlated with a higher concentration of myelin basic protein and T2-weighted lesion volume and with a lower normal-appearing white matter and thalamus volume. Furthermore, CD8+CD20+ T cells were associated with the development of new T2 lesions. After 48 weeks of treatment with dimethyl fumarate, total T cells in CSF were reduced; however, CD20+ T cells were unaffected. Discussion This study shows an association between intrathecal CD8+CD20+ T cells, white matter injury, and thalamic atrophy in PPMS, suggesting a role of CD8+CD20+ T cells in the immunopathogenesis of PPMS. The results also suggest that limited efficacy of dimethyl fumarate in PPMS may, at least partly, be a consequence of failure to suppress CD8+CD20+ T cells in CSF.
Posttranslational Modification of Human Cytochrome CYP4F11 by 4-Hydroxynonenal Impairs ω-Hydroxylation in Malaria Pigment Hemozoin-Fed Monocytes: The Role in Malaria Immunosuppression

Malaria is a frequent parasitic infection becomes life threatening due to the disequilibrated immune responses of the host. Avid phagocytosis of malarial pigment hemozoin (HZ) and HZ-containing Plasmodium parasites incapacitates monocyte functions by bioactive lipoperoxidation products 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs). CYP4F conjugation with 4-HNE is hypothesised to inhibit ω-hydroxylation of 15-HETE, leading to sustained monocyte dysfunction caused by 15-HETE accumulation. A combined immunochemical and mass-spectrometric approach identified 4-HNE-conjugated CYP4F11 in primary human HZ-laden and 4-HNE-treated monocytes. Six distinct 4-HNE-modified amino acid residues were revealed, of which C260 and H261 are localized in the substrate recognition site of CYP4F11. Functional consequences of enzyme modification were investigated on purified human CYP4F11. Palmitic acid, arachidonic acid, 12-HETE, and 15-HETE bound to unconjugated CYP4F11 with apparent dissociation constants of 52, 98, 38, and 73 µM, respectively, while in vitro conjugation with 4-HNE completely blocked substrate binding and enzymatic activity of CYP4F11. Gas chromatographic product profiles confirmed that unmodified CYP4F11 catalysed the ω-hydroxylation while 4-HNE-conjugated CYP4F11 did not. The 15-HETE dose dependently recapitulated the inhibition of the oxidative burst and dendritic cell differentiation by HZ. The inhibition of CYP4F11 by 4-HNE with consequent accumulation of 15-HETE is supposed to be a crucial step in immune suppression in monocytes and immune imbalance in malaria.
Turbulence Characteristics of the Boundary Layer on a Rotating Cone in an Axial Uniform Flow.

The characteristics of turbulence in the boundary layer developed on a rotating cone in an axial uniform stream are investigated experimentally. Measurements of all the six components of the Reynolds stress and the triple products of the turbulent velocity fluctuations are made at various values of the surface-to-free stream velocity ratio λb for two different vertex angles, θ=15°and 30°. As λb increases, the destabilizing effect of the centrifugal force becomes stronger, leading to the formation of regular large-scale vortices. The structural change of turbulence caused by these vortices affects the distribution of the statistical turbulence quantities significantly. In the outer region, the direction of the shear stress vector does not align with that of the velocity gradient vector. The ratio of the integral lengh scale to the Taylor microscale, L/λ, increases as the destabilizing centrifugal effect increases.
Induction Mechanism of Ferroptosis, Necroptosis, and Pyroptosis: A Novel Therapeutic Target in Nervous System Diseases

In recent years, three emerging cell deaths, ferroptosis, necroptosis and pyroptosis, have gradually attracted everyone’s attention, and they also play an important role in the occurrence and development of various diseases. Ferroptosis is an idiographic iron-dependent form regulated cell death with the hallmark of accumulation of the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Necroptosis is a form of regulated necrotic cell death mediated by the receptor-interacting protein kinase 1(RIPK1) and receptor-interacting protein kinase 3RIPK3. Pyroptosis, also known as cell inflammatory necrosis, is a programmed cell necrosis mediated by Gasdermin D (GSDMD). It is manifested by the continuous swelling of the cells until the cell membrane ruptures, resulting in the release of the cell contents and the activation of a strong inflammatory response. Neurological disorders remain a clinical challenge and patients do not respond well to conventional treatments. Nerve cell death can aggravate the occurrence and development of neurological diseases. This article reviews the specific mechanisms of these three types of cell death and their relationship with neurological diseases and the evidence for the role of the three types of cell death in neurological diseases; understanding these pathways and their mechanisms is helpful for the treatment of neurological diseases.
Check Your Shopping Cart: DNA Barcoding and Mini-Barcoding for Food Authentication

The molecular approach of DNA barcoding for the characterization and traceability of food products has come into common use in many European countries. However, it is important to address and solve technical and scientific issues such as the efficiency of the barcode sequences and DNA extraction methods to be able to analyze all the products that the food sector offers. The goal of this study is to collect the most defrauded and common food products and identify better workflows for species identification. A total of 212 specimens were collected in collaboration with 38 companies belonging to 5 different fields: seafood, botanicals, agrifood, spices, and probiotics. For all the typologies of specimens, the most suitable workflow was defined, and three species-specific primer pairs for fish were also designed. Results showed that 21.2% of the analyzed products were defrauded. A total of 88.2% of specimens were correctly identified by DNA barcoding analysis. Botanicals (28.8%) have the highest number of non-conformances, followed by spices (28.5%), agrifood (23.5%), seafood (11.4%), and probiotics (7.7%). DNA barcoding and mini-barcoding are confirmed as fast and reliable methods for ensuring quality and safety in the food field.
Extended Depth of Focus Two-Photon Light-Sheet Microscopy for In Vivo Fluorescence Imaging of Large Multicellular Organisms at Cellular Resolution

Two-photon excitation in light-sheet microscopy advances applications to live imaging of multicellular organisms. In a previous study, we developed a two-photon Bessel beam light-sheet microscope with a nearly 1-mm field of view and less than 4-μm axial resolution, using a low magnification (10×), middle numerical aperture (NA 0.5) detection objective. In this study, we aimed to construct a light-sheet microscope with higher resolution imaging while maintaining the large field of view, using low magnification (16×) with a high NA 0.8 objective. To address potential illumination and detection mismatch, we investigated the use of a depth of focus (DOF) extension method. Specifically, we used a stair-step device composed of five-layer annular zones that extended DOF two-fold, enough to cover the light-sheet thickness. Resolution measurements using fluorescent beads showed that the reduction in resolutions was small. We then applied this system to in vivo imaging of medaka fish and found that image quality degradation at the distal site of the beam injection could be compensated. This demonstrates that the extended DOF system combined with wide-field two-photon light-sheet microscopy offers a simple and easy setup for live imaging application of large multicellular organism specimens with sub-cellular resolution.
Coping Strategies during Childbirth Related to Cultural Identity: Companionship, Choice of Analgesia and Maternal Satisfaction

Childbirth is a biological process and how it is experienced and managed is influenced by numerous factors, among them, socio-cultural or health care received. Objective: The objective of this study is to ascertain whether cultural factors influence the way in which women deal with childbirth through the treatment of pain, companionship and maternal satisfaction. Methods: This study is a non-experimental, quantitative, ex post facto, cross-sectional study of women who gave birth in a border town in southern Spain. The sample consisted of 249 women. Results: No relationship was found between cultural factors and the choice of epidural analgesia, alternative methods to alleviate pain, being accompanied nor maternal satisfaction. There was a significant relationship between the type of companionship and with maternal satisfaction. Conclusions: Cultural factors did not influence how women dealt with dilation and childbirth. Results found that the person accompanying the mother was important for increasing maternal satisfaction. The intercultural training of healthcare professionals is necessary.
Forensic Age Estimation: A Multifactorial Approach in a Retrospective Population Study

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of forensic age estimation in a German population by combining clavicle and wisdom teeth assessments based on cone beam computed tomography (CT) data. The study aimed to determine the reliability of this approach in predicting biological age. Material and Methods: A total of 161 CT data sets from 120 males and 41 females with known exact ages were evaluated by three raters. The clavicle was assessed according to stages 1–5 (including substages 2a–c and 3a–c), and the Demirjian stage’s classification method was used for the wisdom teeth. Inter-class correlation (ICC) was calculated to assess the agreement among the three raters. Additionally, ordinary least square regressions were performed to predict chronological age using the clavicle or one of the four teeth. Finally, age prediction models using multiple indicators were developed. Results: The ICCs ranged from 0.82 for the clavicle to 0.86 and 0.88 for the wisdom teeth. Linear estimation tended to overestimate chronological age, especially in subjects over 18 years old. The clavicle showed the strongest overestimation. Combining age estimation from the clavicle with the upper and lower wisdom teeth improved the predictive power, resulting in a 14% and 15% increase in R² for the upper and lower wisdom teeth, respectively. Adding more than one tooth to the prediction did not improve the predictive power (all ΔR² < 1%). Conclusions: Age estimation using CT can be significantly improved by combining information from the analysis of wisdom teeth with age estimation based on the clavicle.
Tentative probe into the nuclear charge radii of superheavy odd-mass and odd-odd nuclei

The root-mean-square (rms) nuclear charge radii of superheavy odd-A and odd-odd nuclei are tentatively pursued by the deduction of experimental alpha decay data. The framework of calculating alpha decay half-lives is constructed via the combination of the improved two-potential approach with the density-dependent cluster model. In this procedure, the charge distribution of daughter nuclei is determined to exactly reproduce the measured alpha decay half-lives. Next, the rms charge radius of daughter nuclei is obtained by using the corresponding charge distribution. For comparison, the previously proposed formula of our group is employed to estimate the rms charge radii as well. Besides the reasonable agreement between the extracted nuclear charge radii and the available experimental values, the nuclear radii of heaviest odd-A and odd-odd nuclei are extracted from the alpha decay energies and half-lives. This can be considered as an effective attempt in terms of the nuclear size in the superheavy mass region.
Does the Environmental Air Impact the Condition of the Vomeronasal Organ? A Mouse Model for Intensive Farming

Simple Summary The vomeronasal organ plays an essential role in animal life, ensuring chemical communication and thus maintaining harmony in social groups. Induced and spontaneous alterations of this organ have been linked to the onset of behavioral disorders in animals. To date, the environmental condition has not been investigated as a possible cause of vomeronasal organ inflammation, even though the pollutant gas emitted by litter decomposition on farms has proven to be responsible for respiratory tract inflammation. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the farming environment on the vomeronasal organ condition. The results showed that this organ is significantly impacted by the confined environment, providing new reasons to improve farming conditions. Abstract Chemical communication in mammals is ensured by exchanging chemical signals through the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and its ability to detect pheromones. The alteration of this organ has been proven to impact animal life, participating in the onset of aggressive behaviors in social groups. To date, few studies have highlighted the possible causes leading to these alterations, and the farming environment has not been investigated, even though irritant substances such as ammonia are known to induce serious damage in the respiratory tract. The goal of this study was to investigate the environmental impact on the VNO structure. Thirty mice were split into three groups, one housed in normal laboratory conditions and the other two in confined environments, with or without the release of litter ammonia. VNOs were analyzed using histology and immunohistochemistry to evaluate the effect of different environments on their condition. Both restricted conditions induced VNO alterations (p = 0.0311), soft-tissue alteration (p = 0.0480), and nonsensory epithelium inflammation (p = 0.0024). There was glycogen accumulation (p < 0.0001), the olfactory marker protein was underexpressed (p < 0.0001), and Gαi2 positivity remained unchanged while Gαo expression was upregulated in confined conditions. VNO conditions seemed to worsen with ammonia, even if not always significantly. These murine model results suggest that the housing environment can strongly impact VNO conditions, providing novel insights for improving indoor farming systems.
Comparitive Analysis of the Chloroplast Genomes of Three Houpoea Plants

The genus Houpoea belongs to the family Magnoliaceae, and the species in this genus have important medicinal values. However, the investigation of the correlation between the evolution of the genus and its phylogeny has been severely hampered by the unknown range of species within the genus and the paucity of research on its chloroplast genome. Thus, we selected three species of Houpoea: Houpoea officinalis var officinalis (OO), Houpoea officinalis var. biloba (OB), and Houpoea rostrata (R). With lengths of 160,153 bp (OO), 160,011 bp (OB), and 160,070 bp (R), respectively, the whole chloroplast genomes (CPGs) of these three Houpoea plants were acquired via Illumina sequencing technology, and the findings were annotated and evaluated. These three chloroplast genomes were revealed by the annotation findings to be typical tetrads. A total of 131, 132, and 120 different genes were annotated. The CPGs of the three species had 52, 47, and 56 repeat sequences, which were primarily found in the ycf2 gene. A useful tool for identifying species is the approximately 170 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) that have been found. The border area of the reverse repetition region (IR) was studied, and it was shown that across the three Houpoea plants, it is highly conservative, with only changes between H. rostrata and the other two plants observed. Numerous highly variable areas (rps3-rps19, rpl32-trnL, ycf1, ccsA, etc.) have the potential to serve as the barcode label for Houpoea, according to an examination of mVISTA and nucleotide diversity (Pi). Phylogenetic relation indicates that Houpoea is a monophyletic taxon, and its genus range and systematic position are consistent with the Magnoliaceae system of Sima Yongkang-Lu Shugang, including five species and varieties of H. officinalis var. officinalis, H. rostrata, H. officinalis var. biloba, Houpoea obovate, and Houpoea tripetala, which evolved and differentiated from the ancestors of Houpoea to the present Houpoea in the above order. This study provides valuable information on the genus Houpoea, enriches the CPG information on Houpoea genus, and provides genetic resources for the further classification of and phylogenetic research on Houpoea.
Body Image and Emotional Status in Patients with Acquired Brain Injury

Emotional experiences can lead to a real or distorted self-representation. After brain damage, altered self-perception of one’s own body image is frequent. This study evaluates the relationship of mood disorders and lesion sites on body image in a cohort of ABI patients. A total of 46 patients (26 men, 20 women) without severe physical impairments were found eligible for this study. Patients underwent Beck’s Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety to assess mood disorders, whereas the Body Image Scale and Human Figure Drawing were used to evaluate body dissatisfaction and implicit body image. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment was used to assess patients’ cognitive condition. We found a moderate correlation between depression and body image (r = 0.48), as well as between anxiety and body image (r = 0.52), and the regression model also reported the right lesion site as a predictive variable for body image score. In addition, the regression model built by Human Figure Drawing scores showed anxiety, cognitive functioning, and a marital status of single to be significant predictors. The study confirmed that participants with acquired brain injury have deficits in body representation associated with mood disorders, regardless of the side of the lesions. A neuropsychological intervention could be useful for these patients to improve their cognitive performance and learn to manage emotional dysfunction in order to increase their self-perception of body image and improve their quality of life.
Partial Characterization and Immunomodulatory Effects of Exopolysaccharides from Streptococcus thermophilus SBC8781 during Soy Milk and Cow Milk Fermentation

The immunomodulatory properties of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) produced by Streptococcus thermophilus have not been explored in depth. In addition, there are no comparative studies of the functional properties of EPSs produced by streptococci in different food matrices. In this work, EPSs from S. thermophilus SBC8781 were isolated after soy milk (EPS-s) or cow milk (EPS-m) fermentation, identified, and characterized in their abilities to modulate immunity in porcine intestinal epithelial cells. Fresh soy milk and cow milk were inoculated with S. thermophilus SBC8781 (7 log CFU/mL) and incubated at 37 °C for 24 h. The extraction of EPSs was performed by the ethanol precipitation method. Analytical techniques, including NMR, UV-vis spectroscopy, and chromatography, identified and characterized both biopolymer samples as polysaccharides with high purity levels and similar Mw. EPS-s and EPS-m had heteropolysaccharide structures formed by galactose, glucose, rhamnose, ribose, and mannose, although with different monomer proportions. On the other hand, EPS-s had higher quantities of acidic polymer than EPS-m. The biopolymer production of the SBC8781 strain from the vegetable culture broth was 200–240 mg/L, which was higher than that produced in milk, which reached concentrations of 50–70 mg/L. For immunomodulatory assays, intestinal epithelial cells were stimulated with 100 µg/mL of EPS-s or EPS-m for 48 h and then stimulated with the Toll-like receptor 3 agonist poly(I:C). EPS-s significantly reduced the expression of IL-6, IFN-β, IL-8, and MCP-1 and increased the negative regulator A20 in intestinal epithelial cells. Similarly, EPS-m induced a significant reduction of IL-6 and IL-8 expressions, but its effect was less remarkable than that caused by EPS-s. Results indicate that the structure and the immunomodulatory activity of EPSs produced by the SBC8781 strain vary according to the fermentation substrate. Soy milk fermented with S. thermophilus SBC8781 could be a new immunomodulatory functional food, which should be further evaluated in preclinical trials.
German Physicians and Medical Students Do Not Represent the Population They Serve

Medical professionals who represent the communities they serve are in a better position to understand patients‘ social circumstances and communicate in a more patient-centered way. International studies show limited diversity and underrepresentation of certain social groups in the population of physicians and medical students. We designed an observational study to investigate the cultural and socio-economic diversity of physicians and medical applicants in comparison to the general population in Germany. We invited 15,195 physicians in Hamburg and 11,287 medical applicants in Germany to participate in an online survey between June and August 2022. The lower three quintiles of objective socio-economic background (SEB) were vastly underrepresented in all subsamples of the study and in particular amongst applicants and students admitted in Hamburg: 57.9% of physicians and 73.8% of medical students in Hamburg originate from the top quintile of SEB. The Turkish and Polish communities were particularly underrepresented in the group of physicians from Hamburg and medical applicants and students in Germany (p = 0.02; p < 0.001). In line with existing evidence, the vast majority of physicians and medical students come from the most affluent households when entering medical school. Widening participation strategies are needed to facilitate fairer access to the study of medicine in Germany.