Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Social Participation by Middle-Aged and Elderly Residents on the Utilization of Medical Services: Evidence From China

Objectives Aim to evaluate the effect of social participation on utilization of medical services among middle-aged and elderly residents in China. Methods We used data from the 2018 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Social participation is classified into three types. Furthermore, to control for confounding factors, our study computed propensity score matching (PSM) to evaluate the effect of social participation on the utilization of medical services. Result The result of PSM indicates that social participation significantly positively affects the utilization of outpatient services, the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT = 0.038***) and the utilization of inpatient services (ATT = 0.015**) by middle-aged and elderly residents. Furthermore, the utilization of outpatient health care services was significantly positively associated with leisure activities (ATT = 0.035***), social activities to help others (ATT = 0.031***), and learning activities to gain new knowledge (ATT = 0.034***) among middle-aged and elderly residents. The utilization of inpatient health care was significantly positively associated with leisure activities (ATT = 0.015***) but had no significant association with social deeds that help others and increased new knowledge among middle-aged and elderly residents. Conclusion Thus, social participation significantly positively affects healthcare utilization by middle-aged and elderly residents. Hence, the government and society should provide more conveniences and promote social participation among middle-aged and elderly residents.
Occult Hepatitis B Virus Infection Among Blood Donors in the Capital City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Implications for Blood Transfusion Safety

Background Occult hepatitis B virus infection (OBI) remains a potential threat to blood safety in developing countries. Nevertheless, there is no data available on the magnitude of occult hepatitis among blood donors in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the magnitude of OBI among blood donors in Ethiopia. Objectives The aim of this study is to determine the magnitude of OBI and associated risk factors among blood donors at the National Blood Bank, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods A total of 973 HBsAg-negative plasma samples were tested for anti-HBc antibody using an ELISA and viral DNA using automated ABBOTT real-time PCR. Along with plasma samples, demographic data were retrieved from the database with respect to donors. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed for the analysis of data by SPSS 20. p-values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results Of the total of 973 study participants, 445 (45.7%) were female with a mean age of 26.5 years. A total of 144 (14.8%) blood samples were anti-HBc antibody reactive. Four (0.41% of all samples, and 2.8% of anti-HBc-positive samples) samples were confirmed to have OBI by DNA detection. The mean viral load among the confirmed OBI samples was 31 IU/ml with ±12 SD, suggesting true occult hepatitis BV infections. Age was found to be a risk factor for anti-core positivity and was statically significant at p = 0.0001. Conclusion About four out of 1,000 blood donors screened negative with HBsAg had occult HBV infection. This shows that there could be a risk of HBV transmission through blood transfusion in Ethiopia. Therefore, there is a need for further investigation and action to revise the existing blood screening strategy by including anti-HBc and HBV nucleic acid testing.
Polycentricity, Agglomeration, and Industrial Air Pollution in the Chinese City-Regions

With the rise of the city-regions development strategy, the impact of the spatial structure in city-regions on environmental pollution becomes an increasingly important issue related to sustainable regional development. Although previous studies have paid attention to spatial structure affecting environmental quality, there is a lack of analyzing the reduction effect of industrial pollution emission from the perspective of polycentricity and monocentricity. In order to provide the evidence from industrial production activities to test the relationship between spatial structure and industrial pollution, this study extends the production density model by treating industrial pollution emissions as non-expected output and introducing the spatial structure factor into the model, thus revealing the non-linear interactive effects of spatial structure and agglomeration on industrial pollution emissions, and exploring this emission reduction effect and its mechanisms using threshold regression model and mediation model. The empirical analysis shows that spatial structure matters and the results are as follows: Firstly, polycentricity is associated with lower industrial pollution emission intensity, but the emission reduction effect of polycentricity depends on regional agglomeration. Secondly, the higher the regional agglomeration, the greater the emission reduction effect. Thirdly, the heterogeneity test also indicates that the geographical compactness and unified administration of city-regions strengthen this emission reduction effect. Fourthly, the mediating effect test verifies the three mechanisms proposed in this study, among which energy utilization efficiency effect plays a major role. The governments are expected to promote the transformation of the spatial structure from a monocentricity to polycentricity based on the level of regional agglomeration to ensure that the expected emission reduction effect can be achieved.
Urticaria in Pregnancy and Lactation

Chronic urticaria (CU) is a mast cell-driven chronic inflammatory disease with a female predominance. Since CU affects mostly females in reproductive age, pregnancy is an important aspect to consider in the context of this disease. Sex hormones affect mast cell (MC) biology, and the hormonal changes that come with pregnancy can modulate the course of chronic inflammatory conditions, and they often do. Also, pregnancy-associated changes in the immune system, including local adaptation of innate and adaptive immune responses and skewing of adaptive immunity toward a Th2/Treg profile have been linked to changes in the course of inflammatory diseases. As of now, little is known about the effects of pregnancy on CU and the outcomes of pregnancy in CU patients. Also, there are no real-life studies to show the safety of urticaria medications during pregnancy. The recent PREG-CU study provided the first insights on this and showed that CU improves during pregnancy in half of the patients, whereas it worsens in one-third; and two of five CU patients experience flare-ups of their CU during pregnancy. The international EAACI/GA2LEN/EuroGuiDerm/APAAACI guideline for urticaria recommends adopting the same management strategy in pregnant and lactating CU patients; starting treatment with standard doses of second-generation (non-sedative) H1 antihistamines, to increase the dose up to 4-folds in case of no response, and to add omalizumab in antihistamine-refractory patients; but also emphasizes the lack of evidence-based information on the safety and efficacy of urticaria treatments during pregnancy. The PREG-CU study assessed treatments and their outcomes during pregnancy. Here, we review the reported effects of sex hormones and pregnancy-specific immunological changes on urticaria, we discuss the impact of pregnancy on urticaria, and we provide information and guidance on the management of urticaria during pregnancy and lactation.
Molecular Subtyping Based on Cuproptosis-Related Genes and Characterization of Tumor Microenvironment Infiltration in Kidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma

The incidence of kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is rising worldwide, and the prognosis is poor. Cuproptosis is a new form of cell death that is dependent on and regulated by copper ions. The relationship between cuproptosis and KIRC remains unclear. In the current study, changes in cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) in TCGA-KIRC transcriptional datasets were characterized, and the expression patterns of these genes were analyzed. We identified three main molecular subtypes and discovered that multilayer CRG changes were associated with patient clinicopathological traits, prognosis, elesclomol sensitivity, and tumor microenvironment (TME) cell infiltration characteristics. Then, a CRG score was created to predict overall survival (OS). The CRG score was found to be strongly linked to the TME. These findings may help elucidate the roles of CRGs in KIRC, potentially enhancing understanding of cuproptosis and supporting the development of more effective immunotherapy strategies.
PINK1-Dependent Mitophagy Reduced Endothelial Hyperpermeability and Cell Migration Capacity Under Simulated Microgravity

The effect of cardiovascular dysfunction including orthostatic intolerance and disability on physical exercise is one of the health problems induced by long-term spaceflight astronauts face. As an important part of vascular structure, the vascular endothelium, uniquely sensitive to mechanical force, plays a pivotal role in coordinating vascular functions. Our study found that simulated microgravity induced PINK1-dependent mitophagy in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Here, we explored the underlying mechanism of mitophagy induction. The ER stress induced by proteostasis failure in HUVECs promoted the Ca2+ transfer from ER to mitochondria, resulting in mitochondria Ca2+ overload, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondria fission, and accumulation of Parkin and p62 in mitochondria and mitophagy under simulated microgravity. Moreover, we assumed that mitophagy played a vital role in functional changes in endothelial cells under simulated microgravity. Using mdivi-1 and PINK1 knockdown, we found that NLRP3 inflammasome activation was enhanced after mitophagy was inhibited. The NLRP3 inflammasome contributed to endothelial hyperpermeability and cellular migration by releasing IL-1β. Thus, mitophagy inhibited cell migration ability and hyperpermeability in HUVECs exposed to clinostat-simulated microgravity. Collectively, we here clarify the mechanism of mitophagy induction by simulated microgravity in vitro and demonstrate the relationship between mitophagy and vascular endothelial functional changes including cellular migration and permeability. This study deepens the understanding of vascular functional changes under microgravity.
Multiple Myeloma-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Modulate the Bone Marrow Immune Microenvironment

Multiple myeloma (MM), the third most frequent hematological cancer worldwide, is characterized by the proliferation of neoplastic plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM). One of the hallmarks of MM is a permissive BM microenvironment. Increasing evidence suggests that cell-to-cell communication between myeloma and immune cells via tumor cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EV) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of MM. Hence, we aimed to explore BM immune alterations induced by MM-derived EV. For this, we inoculated immunocompetent BALB/cByJ mice with a myeloma cell line, MOPC315.BM, inducing a MM phenotype. Upon tumor establishment, characterization of the BM microenvironment revealed the expression of both activation and suppressive markers by lymphocytes, such as granzyme B and PD-1, respectively. In addition, conditioning of the animals with MOPC315.BM-derived EV, before transplantation of the MOPC315.BM tumor cells, did not anticipate the disease phenotype. However, it induced features of suppression in the BM milieu, such as an increase in PD-1 expression by CD4+ T cells. Overall, our findings reveal the involvement of MOPC315.BM-derived EV protein content as promoters of immune niche remodeling, strengthening the importance of assessing the mechanisms by which MM may impact the immune microenvironment.
Post-Activation Performance Enhancement: Save Time With Active Intra-Complex Recovery Intervals

This study aimed to determine whether the intra-complex active recovery within the strength-power potentiating complex will impact the upper-body post-activation performance enhancement effect and how the magnitude of this effect will change across the upper-body complex training session. Thirteen resistance-trained males [the age, body mass, height, experience in resistance training, and one-repetition maximum (1RM) in bench press were 27 ± 4 years; 92.3 ± 15.4 kg; 182 ± 6 cm; 6.4 ± 2.4 years, and 118 ± 29 kg, respectively) participated in this study. Each participant completed a baseline bench press throw performance assessment at 30% 1RM. Next, five strength-power potentiating complexes consisting of a bench press at 80% 1RM were tested until the average barbell velocity decreased by 10% as a conditioning activity, and 6 min later, a re-test of bench press throw was carried out. During one experimental session during the rest interval inside the complex, they performed swiss ball leg curls, while between the complexes, a plank exercise (PAP-A) was performed. During the second experimental session, participants performed no exercises within the strength-power potentiating complexes and between them (PAP). Under control conditions, participants ran the same protocol (as the PAP condition) without the conditioning activity (CTRL). Friedman’s test showed significant differences in peak (test = 90.634; p < 0.0001; Kendall’s W = 0.410) and average (test = 74.172; p < 0.0001; Kendall’s W = 0.336) barbell velocities during bench press throw. Pairwise comparisons indicated that the peak and average barbell velocities significantly increased in the fourth set [p = 0.022, effect size (ES) = 0.76 and p = 0.013, ES = 0.69, respectively], and the average barbell velocity was also increased in the second set (p = 0.018, ES = 0.77) in comparison to the baseline value during the PAP-A condition. Moreover, the peak barbell velocity was increased in the second (p = 0.008, ES = 0.72) and third (p = 0.019, ES = 0.76) sets compared to the baseline value during the PAP condition. This study showed that body-weight lower-body exercise as an intra-complex active recovery did not impair the upper-body post-activation performance enhancement effect across the complex training session.
Aβ/Amyloid Precursor Protein-Induced Hyperexcitability and Dysregulation of Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity in Neuron Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is increasingly seen as a disease of synapses and diverse evidence has implicated the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) in synapse damage. The molecular and cellular mechanism(s) by which Aβ and/or its precursor protein, the amyloid precursor protein (APP) can affect synapses remains unclear. Interestingly, early hyperexcitability has been described in human AD and mouse models of AD, which precedes later hypoactivity. Here we show that neurons in culture with either elevated levels of Aβ or with human APP mutated to prevent Aβ generation can both induce hyperactivity as detected by elevated calcium transient frequency and amplitude. Since homeostatic synaptic plasticity (HSP) mechanisms normally maintain a setpoint of activity, we examined whether HSP was altered in AD transgenic neurons. Using methods known to induce HSP, we demonstrate that APP protein levels are regulated by chronic modulation of activity and that AD transgenic neurons have an impaired adaptation of calcium transients to global changes in activity. Further, AD transgenic compared to WT neurons failed to adjust the length of their axon initial segments (AIS), an adaptation known to alter excitability. Thus, we show that both APP and Aβ influence neuronal activity and that mechanisms of HSP are disrupted in primary neuron models of AD.
Collapsing Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis in Siblings With Compound Heterozygous Variants in NUP93 Expand the Spectrum of Kidney Phenotypes Associated With Nucleoporin Gene Mutations

Background Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) is a major cause of end stage kidney disease, with the collapsing form having the worst prognosis. Study of families with hereditary FSGS has provided insight into disease mechanisms. Methods In this report, we describe a sibling pair with NUP93 mutations and collapsing FSGS (cFSGS). For each brother, we performed next generation sequencing and segregation analysis by direct sequencing. To determine if the variants found in the index family are a common cause of cFSGS, we screened 7 patients with cFSGS, gleaned from our cohort of 200 patients with FSGS, for variants in NUP93 as well as for APOL1 high-risk genotypes. Results We identified segregating compound heterozygous NUP93 variants (1) c.1772G > T p.G591V, 2) c.2084T > C p.L695S) in the two brothers. We did not find any pathogenic variants in the seven patients with cFSGS from our cohort, and as expected five of these seven patients carried the APOL1 high-risk genotype. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of cFSGS in patients with NUP93 mutations, based on this report, mutations in NUP93 and other nucleoporin genes should be considered when evaluating a child with familial cFSGS. Determining the mechanisms by which these variants cause cFSGS may provide insight into the pathogenesis of the more common primary and virus-mediated forms of cFSGS.
Interactive Affection of Pre-Pregnancy Overweight or Obesity, Excessive Gestational Weight Gain and Glucose Tolerance Test Characteristics on Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Among Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Purpose To examine the combined effect of pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, excessive gestational weight gain, and glucose tolerance status on the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes among women with gestational diabetes mellitus. Methods A observational study including 5529 gestational diabetes mellitus patients was performed. Logistic regression were used to assess the independent and multiplicative interactions of overweight or obese, excessive gestational weight gain, abnormal items of oral glucose tolerance test and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Additive interactions were calculated using an Excel sheet developed by Anderson to calculate relative excess risk. Results Overall 1076(19.46%) study subject were overweight or obese and 1858(33.60%) women gained weight above recommended. Based on IADPSG criteria, more than one-third women with two, or three abnormal glucose values. Preconception overweight or obesity, above recommended gestational weight gain, and two or more abnormal items of oral glucose tolerance test parameters significantly increased the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, separately. After accounting for confounders, each two of overweight or obesity, excessive gestational weight gain, two or more abnormal items of OGTT parameters, the pairwise interactions on adverse pregnancy outcomes appear to be multiplicative. Coexistence of preconception overweight or obesity, above recommended gestational weight gain and two or more abnormal items of oral glucose tolerance test parameters increased the highest risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. No additive interaction was found. Conclusions Pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, excessive gestational weight gain, two or more abnormal items of OGTT parameters contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes independently among women with gestational diabetes mellitus. Additionally, the combined effect between these three factors and adverse pregnancy outcomes appear to be multiplicative. Interventions focus on maternal overweight or obesity and gestational weight gain should be offered to improve pregnancy outcomes.
The Effectiveness of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation for Stroke Patients With Upper Limb Impairments: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Upper limb impairments are one of the most common health problems of stroke, affecting both motor function and independence in daily life. It has been demonstrated that intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) increases brain excitability and improves upper limb function. Our study sought to determine the role of iTBS in stroke recovery. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of iTBS in individuals with upper limb impairments following stroke. Methods The databases used included Cumulative Index to PubMed, EMBASE, ESCBOhost, The Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Database, Web of Science, China Biology Medicine (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Technology Periodical Database (VIP), and WanFang Database. Studies published before November 2021 were included. Each participant received an iTBS-based intervention aimed at improving activity levels or impairment, which was compared to usual care, a sham intervention, or another intervention. The primary outcome measure was a change in upper limb function assessment. Secondary outcomes included impairment, participation, and quality of life measures. Result A total of 18 studies (n = 401 participants) that met the inclusion criteria were included in this study. There was a slight change in the upper limb function of the iTBS group compared with the control group, as measured by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) score (mean difference 2.70, 95% CI −0.02 to 5.42, p = 0.05). Significant improvement in resting motor threshold (RMT) and motor-evoked potential (MEP) was also observed in the meta-analysis of iTBS (MD 3.46, 95% CI 2.63 to 4.28, p < 0.00001); (MD 1.34, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.51, P < 0.00001). In addition, we got similar results when the studies were using the Modified Barthel Index (MBI) assessment (mean difference of 7.34, 95% CI 0.47 to 14.21, p = 0.04). Conclusion Our study established the efficacy of iTBS in improving motor cortical plasticity, motor function, and daily functioning in stroke patients. However, the review requires evidence from additional randomized controlled trials and high-quality research. Systematic Review Registration https://www.crd. york.ac. uk/PROSPERO/