Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CX3CL1 Worsens Cardiorenal Dysfunction and Serves as a Therapeutic Target of Canagliflozin for Cardiorenal Syndrome

The prognosis of cardiorenal dysfunction induced by diabetes mellitus (DM), which belongs to cardiorenal syndrome type 5, is poor and its pathogenesis remains elusive. We have reported that CX3CL1 exacerbated heart failure and direct inhibition of CX3CL1 improved cardiac function. Emerging evidence supports that CX3CL1 is involved in renal impairment. Here we attempt to clarify whether CX3CL1 might be a therapeutic target for cardiorenal dysfunction in diabetes. We found that cardiac and renal CX3CL1 protein levels were significantly increased in both streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice and in non-obese diabetic mice, and that hyperglycemia led to persistent CX3CL1 expression in the heart and kidneys even after it was controlled by insulin. In cultured cardiac and renal cells, soluble CX3CL1 accelerated mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis via activation of the RhoA/ROCK1-Bax signaling pathway and promoted fibrosis through cellular phenotypic trans-differentiation mediated by the TGF-β/Smad pathway. In the two diabetic mouse models, knockout of CX3CL1 receptor CX3CR1 or treatment with an CX3CL1 neutralizing antibody significantly improved cardiorenal dysfunction by inhibiting apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and fibrosis. Moreover, sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor canagliflozin significantly downregulated cardiac and renal CX3CL1 expression and improved cardiorenal dysfunction. These findings indicate that CX3CL1 could be a new therapeutic target for diabetes-induced cardiorenal dysfunction.
Ammonia Scavenger Restores Liver and Muscle Injury in a Mouse Model of Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis With Sarcopenic Obesity

Recent studies have revealed that sarcopenia is closely associated with obesity and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, few attempted to explore the cause-and-effect relationship between sarcopenic obesity and NASH. In this study, we investigated muscular alterations in a rodent NASH model to elucidate their intrinsic relations and explore the potential therapeutic target. Forty-six 8-week-old and twenty 42-week-old male C57BL/6 mice (defined as young and middle-aged mice, respectively) were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 or 20 weeks. A subset of young mice was subjected to ammonia lowering treatment by L-ornithine L-aspartate (LOLA). We examined body composition and muscle strength by nuclear magnetic resonance and grip strength meter, respectively. At the end of the 12th week, all HFD-fed mice developed typical steatohepatitis. Meanwhile, sarcopenia occurred in HFD-fed middle-aged mice, whereas young mice only demonstrated decreased grip strength. Until the end of week 20, young mice in the HFD group exhibited significant sarcopenia and obesity phenotypes, including decreased lean body mass and grip strength, and increased body fat mass and percentage body fat. Additionally, plasma ammonia level was markedly increased in HFD-fed mice of both ages at week 20. Plasma ammonia level was negatively associated with muscle strength and myofiber diameter in young mice. LOLA can significantly reduce plasma levels of ammonia, alanine aminotransaminase, aspartate aminotransaminase, and cholesterol in mice fed an HFD. Hepatic infiltration of inflammatory cells and collagen deposition area were significantly decreased in HFD group by LOLA treatment. Meanwhile, LOLA significantly increased lean body mass, grip strength, and average muscle fiber diameter of HFD-fed mice. These findings suggest that the occurrence of NASH precedes sarcopenia in HFD mice, and the steatohepatitis-related hyperammonemia might contribute to the pathogenesis of sarcopenia. LOLA might be an effective drug for both steatohepatitis and sarcopenic obesity.
Clinical Characteristics and Long-Term Outcomes of Patients With Differing Haemoglobin Levels Undergoing Semi-Urgent and Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in an Asian Population

Introduction This study aimed to investigate the impact of anaemia on long-term clinical outcomes in patients who underwent semi-urgent and elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in an Asian population. Although the effects of anaemia on outcomes in Asian patients are well studied for acute coronary syndrome, its impact on Asian patients undergoing semi-urgent and elective PCI is unclear. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent semi-urgent and elective PCI from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2015, at a tertiary academic centre. A total of 1,685 patients were included. They were stratified into three groups: normal (≥12 g/dL), intermediate (10–11.9 g/dL), and low (<10 g/dL) haemoglobin levels. Demographics, risk factors, and end-points including the 5-point major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) (all-cause death, subsequent stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive cardiac failure, and target lesion revascularisation), cardiovascular death, and bleeding events were analysed. Results Patients in intermediate and low haemoglobin level groups were older with more comorbidities. Compared to the normal haemoglobin level group, low haemoglobin level group patients were associated with an increased risk of composite endpoints of all-cause death, subsequent stroke, myocardial infarction, congestive cardiac failure, and target lesion revascularisation [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 1.89, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.22, 2.92; p = 0.004]. This was driven by the increased risk of target lesions revascularisation observed in the low haemoglobin level group compared to the normal haemoglobin level group (aHR 17.74, 95% CI: 1.74, 180.80; p = 0.015). The patients in the low haemoglobin level group were also associated with a higher risk of bleeding events compared to the normal haemoglobin level group (aHR 7.18, 95% CI: 1.13, 45.40; p = 0.036). Conclusion In our Asian cohort, patients with anaemia undergoing PCI were associated with a higher comorbid burden. Despite adjustments for comorbidities, these patients had higher mortality and worse cardiovascular outcomes following contemporary PCI.
COVID-19 and Stressful Adjustment to Work: A Long-Term Prospective Study About Homeworking for Bank Employees in Italy

The COVID-19 evolution has forced the massive introduction of homeworking (HW) for most employees in the initial stages of the pandemic and then return to work, mainly due to the vaccination campaign. These multiple abrupt adjustment demands in work may be a source of intense stress for office workers with consequences on wellbeing and the quality of life. This long-term prospective study aimed at investigating the effect of adaptation demands on a broad population of employees of a large Italian banking group in the job-related stress framework. We administered a web-based survey to 1,264 participants in Reopening after the first lockdown, from June to October 2020, at 841 subjects in Second Wave, corresponding to the rise of contagions from November 2020 to January 2021, and to 491 individuals in Vaccination Round, which ranged from February to June 2021. We assessed workaholism by using the Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS-10), work-family conflicting overlap by using the Work and Family Conflict Scale (WAFCS), and concern for back to work (BW) and for HW by specific questions. Higher WAFCS scores characterized Reopening and Vaccination Round while Second Wave had the highest level of concern for HW. Women and younger individuals showed the highest concern for BW, WAFCS, and DUWAS-10 scores regardless of the pandemic stage. HW days per week were related to more heightened concern for BW and lower concern for HW, DUWAS, and WAFCS scores. The number of children was related to lower Concern for BW and higher WAFCS scores in Reopening and Second Wave. Our data showed that massive adjustment demands in work and family routine represented a significant source of stress for employees, regardless of the different pandemic stages. The highest level of fatigue emerged in women and younger subjects. These results shed light on the need for a road map to promote a gradual and structured adjustment for workers and encourage organizations to consider homeworking as a valid stable alternative.
Computed Tomography Density and β-Amyloid Deposition of Intraorbital Optic Nerve May Assist in Diagnosing Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease: A 18F-Flutemetamol Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Study

Objective The aim was to study whether the computed tomography (CT) density and β-amyloid (Aβ) level of intraorbital optic nerve could assist in diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods A total of sixty subjects were recruited in our study, including nine normal control (NC) subjects (i.e., 4 men and 5 women), twenty four MCI subjects (i.e., 11 men and 13 women), and twenty seven AD subjects (i.e., 14 men and 13 women). All subjects conducted 18F-flutemetamol amyloid positron emission tomography (PET)/CT imaging. Blinded to the clinical information of the subjects, two physicians independently measured and calculated the standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) of the bilateral occipital cortex, SUVR of the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve, and CT density of the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve by using GE AW 4.5 Workstation. Results Between AD and NC groups, the differences of the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve SUVR were statistically significant; between AD and MCI groups, the differences of the left intraorbital optic nerve SUVR were statistically significant. Between any two of the three groups, the differences in the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve density were statistically significant. The bilateral occipital SUVR was positively correlated with the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve SUVR and negatively correlated with the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve density. Bilateral intraorbital optic nerve SUVR was negatively correlated with the bilateral intraorbital optic nerve density. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of multiple logistic regression was 0.9167 (for MCI vs. NC) and 0.8951 (for AD vs. MCI). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were positively associated with the intraorbital optic nerve density and were negatively associated with the intraorbital optic nerve SUVR. The regression equation of MoCA was y = 16.37-0.9734 × x1 + 0.5642 × x2-3.127 × x3 + 0.0275 × x4; the R2 was 0.848. The regression equation of MMSE was y = 19.57-1.633 × x1 + 0.4397 × x2-1.713 × x3 + 0.0424 × x4; the R2 was 0.827. Conclusion The CT density and Aβ deposition of the intraorbital optic nerve were associated with Aβ deposition of the occipital cortex and the severity of cognitive impairment. The intraorbital optic nerve CT density and intraorbital optic nerve Aβ deposition could assist in diagnosing MCI and AD.
Achieving Partial Nitrification-Anammox Process Dependent on Microalgal-Bacterial Consortia in a Photosequencing Batch Reactor

Partial nitrification coupled with anammox (PN/A) process is an energy-efficient approach for nitrogen removal from low C/N wastewater. In this study, PN/A was achieved with optimal oxygen supply from a green microalga, Chlorella sorokiniana. The PN process was first initiated within 35 days, and the following algae-intensified PN then reached the steady state within the next 32 days. The dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration was gradually maintained at 0.6 mg L−1 via adjusting the photoperiod to 6-h light/18-h dark cycles, when the accumulation ratio of NO2 −-N and the removal ratio of NH4 +-N were both more than 90%. The nitrogen removal capability of anammox was acclimated via elevating the individual effluent NH4 +-N and NO2 −-N levels from 100 to 200, to 300 mg L−1. After acclimation, the removal rates of NH4 +-N and total nitrogen (TN) reached more than 70 and 80%, respectively, and almost all the NO2 −-N was removed. Then, the algae-intensified PN/A, algammox biofilm system, was successfully started up. When the NH4 +-N level increased from 100 to 300 mg L−1, the TN removal varied between 78 and 82%. In the photosequencing bioreactor, C. sorokiniana, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and anammox coexisted with an illumination of 200 μmol m−2 s−1 and a 6-h light/18-h dark cycles. The DO levels ranged between 0.4 and 0.5 mg L−1. In addition, the microbial community analysis by Illumina MiSeq sequencing showed that the dominant functional bacteria in the algae-intensified PN/A reactors included Nitrosomonas (AOB) and Candidatus Brocadia (anammox), while Nitrospira and Nitrobacter (nitrite oxidizing bacteria), together with Denitratisoma (denitrifier) were largely inhibited. Further studies are required to optimize the microalgal–bacterial consortia system to achieve superior nitrogen removal rates under controllable conditions.
Utility of Crowdsourced User Experiments for Measuring the Central Tendency of User Performance: A Case of Error-Rate Model Evaluation in a Pointing Task

The usage of crowdsourcing to recruit numerous participants has been recognized as beneficial in the human-computer interaction (HCI) field, such as for designing user interfaces and validating user performance models. In this work, we investigate its effectiveness for evaluating an error-rate prediction model in target pointing tasks. In contrast to models for operational times, a clicking error (i.e., missing a target) occurs by chance at a certain probability, e.g., 5%. Therefore, in traditional laboratory-based experiments, a lot of repetitions are needed to measure the central tendency of error rates. We hypothesize that recruiting many workers would enable us to keep the number of repetitions per worker much smaller. We collected data from 384 workers and found that existing models on operational time and error rate showed good fits (both R2 > 0.95). A simulation where we changed the number of participants NP and the number of repetitions Nrepeat showed that the time prediction model was robust against small NP and Nrepeat, although the error-rate model fitness was considerably degraded. These findings empirically demonstrate a new utility of crowdsourced user experiments for collecting numerous participants, which should be of great use to HCI researchers for their evaluation studies.
Extracallosal Structural Connectivity Is Positively Associated With Language Performance in Well-Performing Children Born Extremely Preterm

Children born extremely preterm (<28 weeks gestation) are at risk for language delay or disorders. Decreased structural connectivity in preterm children has been associated with poor language outcome. Previously, we used multimodal imaging techniques to demonstrate that increased functional connectivity during a stories listening task was positively associated with language scores for preterm children. This functional connectivity was supported by extracallosal structural hyperconnectivity when compared to term-born children. Here, we attempt to validate this finding in a distinct cohort of well-performing extremely preterm children (EPT, n = 16) vs. term comparisons (TC, n = 28) and also compare this to structural connectivity in a group of extremely preterm children with a history of language delay or disorder (EPT-HLD, n = 8). All participants are 4–6 years of age. We perform q-space diffeomorphic reconstruction and functionally-constrained structural connectometry (based on fMRI activation), including a novel extension enabling between-groups comparisons with non-parametric ANOVA. There were no significant differences between groups in age, sex, race, ethnicity, parental education, family income, or language scores. For EPT, tracks positively associated with language scores included the bilateral posterior inferior fronto-occipital fasciculi and bilateral cerebellar peduncles and additional cerebellar white matter. Quantitative anisotropy in these pathways accounted for 55% of the variance in standardized language scores for the EPT group specifically. Future work will expand this cohort and follow longitudinally to investigate the impact of environmental factors on developing language networks and resiliency in the preterm brain.
Real-Life Clinical Experience With Cariprazine: A Systematic Review of Case Studies

Background The hierarchy of evidence coming from evidence-based medicine favors meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials over observational studies and clinical cases. Nonetheless, in the field of psychiatry, where conditions are much more complex, additional evidence coming from real-world clinical practice is necessary to complement data from these gold standards. Thus, in this systematic review, the aim is to summarize the evidence coming from clinical case reports regarding cariprazine, a third-generation antipsychotic drug that has been approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder with manic, depressive or mixed features in adults. Methods A systematic review was performed using Embase and Pubmed databases searching for English-language cases published in peer-reviewed journals between 2000 January and 2021 September with the following search terms: (cariprazin* OR “rgh-188” OR rgh188 OR vraylar OR reagila) AND (“case report*” OR “case report”/de OR “case stud*” OR “case study”/de OR “case seri*”). Results After the removal of duplicates, 49 articles were retrieved via the search, from which 22 were suitable for this review. These 22 articles encompassed 38 cases from which 71% described patients with schizophrenia, 16% patients with psychotic disorders, 5% patients with mood disorder and 8% described patients with other disorders such as Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, borderline personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder with paranoid schizophrenia. The median age of patients was 31, and half of them were female. The majority of patients (76%) started cariprazine with 1.5 mg/day, and the most common maintenance dose was 4.5 mg/day (34%) and 3.0 mg/day (29%). Conclusion Cariprazine was found to be safe and effective in a wide range of psychiatric conditions with different symptom profiles from acute psychotic symptoms through addiction to negative and cognitive symptoms. The results are in-line with the established evidence from clinical trials, however, they also show how cariprazine can be successfully utilized for treating certain symptoms irrespective of the indication.
Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence, Self-Acceptance, and Positive Coping Styles Among Chinese Psychiatric Nurses in Shandong

Background Nurses are facing increasing pressure due to the progressing of society, broadening of nursing service connotation, and increasing of the masses’ demand for medical treatment. Psychiatric nurses face suicides, violence, and lost along with other accidents involving patients with mental disorders under higher psychological pressure. A coping style, which is affected by individual emotions and cognition, is an essential psychological resource that allows individuals to regulate stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between self-acceptance and the positive coping style of psychiatric nurses, and investigate the mediating role of emotional intelligence. Methods A total of 813 psychiatric nurses from six natural regions in Shandong Province were investigated using the Self-Acceptance Questionnaire (SAQ), Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ), and self-compiled general information questionnaire. Results The total EIS score of psychiatric nurses was 3.848 ± 0.459. The highest score was for others’ emotional management (4.071 ± 0.548) and the lowest was for emotion perception (3.684 ± 0.483). EIS and positive coping style were statistically significant based on age, work experience, professional title, education level, and gender (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Self-acceptance was statistically significant only for professional titles (F = 3.258, p = 0.021). Self-acceptance and emotional intelligence were positively correlated with positive coping style (r = 0.361, p < 0.01; r = 0.492, p < 0.01, respectively). The factors were also positively correlated with each other (r = 0.316, p < 0.01). Self-emotion management, others’ emotional management, emotion perception, self-acceptance, and education level jointly predicted positive coping styles (R2 = 0.305, F = 60.476, p = 0.000). Emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between self-acceptance and positive coping styles, with a mediating effect of 16.3%. Conclusion Emotional intelligence and self-acceptance can promote positive coping styles and improve psychiatric nurses’ mental health.
Involvement of the Rostromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Human-Robot Interaction: fNIRS Evidence From a Robot-Assisted Motor Task

Assistive exoskeleton robots are being widely applied in neurorehabilitation to improve upper-limb motor and somatosensory functions. During robot-assisted exercises, the central nervous system appears to highly attend to external information-processing (IP) to efficiently interact with robotic assistance. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear. The rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) may be the core of the executive resource allocation that generates biases in the allocation of processing resources toward an external IP according to current behavioral demands. Here, we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to investigate the cortical activation associated with executive resource allocation during a robot-assisted motor task. During data acquisition, participants performed a right-arm motor task using elbow flexion-extension movements in three different loading conditions: robotic assistive loading (ROB), resistive loading (RES), and non-loading (NON). Participants were asked to strive for kinematic consistency in their movements. A one-way repeated measures analysis of variance and general linear model-based methods were employed to examine task-related activity. We demonstrated that hemodynamic responses in the ventral and dorsal rmPFC were higher during ROB than during NON. Moreover, greater hemodynamic responses in the ventral rmPFC were observed during ROB than during RES. Increased activation in ventral and dorsal rmPFC subregions may be involved in the executive resource allocation that prioritizes external IP during human-robot interactions. In conclusion, these findings provide novel insights regarding the involvement of executive control during a robot-assisted motor task.