Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The musculoskeletal system manifestations in children with familial Mediterranean fever

OBJECTIVE: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a monogenic inherited periodic fever syndrome presenting with episodes of self-limiting fever and inflammation of serosal membranes. Besides the findings in the diagnostic criteria, musculoskeletal findings can also be seen in FMF patients attacks. In this study, we aim to reveal the frequency and genotype association of musculoskeletal manifestations in children with FMF. METHODS: The patients diagnosed with FMF between January 1, 2017 and June 1, 2019, and followed for at least six months in our pediatric rheumatology clinic were included in this study. Musculoskeletal manifestations of patients were enrolled. The patients were grouped according to the “Mediterranean Fever” (MEFV) gene variants. Musculoskeletal manifestations of the patients were compared between the groups. RESULTS: The study group included 634 children with FMF (336 female and 298 male, F/M: 1.13/1). The clinical manifestations of patients in the attack period were as follows: 99% of the patients had a fever, 87.3% had abdominal pain, 20.7% had chest pain, 11.3% had vomiting, 10.7% had erysipelas like erythema, and 9.3% had a headache. The musculoskeletal symptoms were accompanied by 58.6% (n=372) of the patients during the attack period. The most common musculoskeletal manifestation was found as arthralgia (32.6%, n=206). Also, the other musculoskeletal manifestations were as follows during attacks: arthritis in 23.7% (n=150), myalgia in 20.5% (n=130), exertional leg pain in 6.5% (n=41), and protracted febrile myalgia in 1% (n=7) of the patients. It was observed that the musculoskeletal manifestations were significantly higher in patients with homozygous M694V variants in exon-10 (p=0.017). The musculoskeletal manifestations were more common in the attack periods of patients carrying the M694V variant in at least one allele (p=0.019). CONCLUSION: We found that the musculoskeletal manifestations were accompanied in more than half of patients with FMF. M694V variant was found as a risk factor for emerging musculoskeletal manifestations.
Optimization and Experimental Design of the Pb2+ Adsorption Process on a Nano-Fe3O4-Based Adsorbent Using the Response Surface Methodology

Magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles have been used as adsorbents for the removal of heavy-metal ions. In this study, optimization of the Pb2+ adsorption process using Fe3O4 has been investigated. The adsorbent was characterized by various techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The influence of process variables on adsorption of Pb2+ ions in accordance with p < 0.05 was investigated and analyzed by the Box–Behnken design (BBD) matrix with five variables (pH, adsorbent dose, initial Pb2+ ion concentration, contact time, and temperature). The pH and temperature were observed to be the most significant parameters that affected the Pb2+ ion adsorption capacity from the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Conduction of 46 experiments according to BBD and a subsequent analysis of variance (ANOVA) provide information in an empirical equation for the expected response. However, a quadratic correlation was established to calculate the optimum conditions, and it was found that the R2 value (0.99) is in good agreement with adjusted R2 (0.98). The optimum process value of variables obtained by numerical optimization corresponds to pH 6, an adsorbent dose of 10 mg, and an initial Pb2+ ion concentration of 110 mg L–1 in 40 min at 40 °C adsorption temperature. A maximum of 98.4% adsorption efficiency was achieved under optimum conditions. Furthermore, the presented model with an F value of 176.7 could adequately predict the response and give appropriate information to scale up the process.
Dipeptidyl Peptidase-4 deficiency effectively protects the brain and neurological function in rodent after acute Hemorrhagic Stroke

This study tested the hypothesis that abrogated dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) activity played a crucial role on reducing stroke volume and preserving neurological function in rodent after acute hemorrhagic stroke (AHS). Animals (n=6/each group) were categorized into group 1 (sham-control of F344 rat), group 2 (sham-control of DPP4-deficiency rat), group 3 [AHS by right cerebral injection of autologous blood (100 µL) in F344 rat], group 4 (AHS + sitagliptin/600 mg/kg 3 h prior to and at 3 h then once per day after AHS) and group 5 (AHS in DPP4-deficiency rat). The results of corner test showed the neurological function was significantly improved from days 3, 7, and 14 in groups 4 and 5 than in group 3 (all p<0.001). By days 1 and 14 after AHS procedure, the circulating levels of SDF-1α and GLP-1 were significantly increased from groups 1/2 to group 5 (all p<0.001), whereas circulating DPP4 activity was significantly increased in group 3 than other groups (all p<0.001). The brain ischemic area (BIA) was highest in group 3, lowest in groups 1/2 and significantly lower in group 5 than in group 4 (all p<0.0001). The protein expressions of oxidative-stress/inflammatory/apoptotic/cell-proliferation signaling, and the cellular expressions of inflammatory/DNA-damaged biomarkers exhibited a similar pattern to BIA among the groups (all p<0.01). In conclusion, deprivation of DPP4 activity protected the brain from AHS damage and preserved neurological function.
A State-independent and Time-evolving Network with Applications to Early Rumor Detection

In this paper, we study automatic rumor detection for in social media at the event level where an event consists of a sequence of posts organized according to the posting time. It is common that the state of an event is dynamically evolving. However, most of the existing methods to this task ignored this problem, and established a global representation based on all the posts in the event’s life cycle. Such coarse-grained methods failed to capture the event’s unique features in different states. To address this limitation, we propose a state-independent and time-evolving Network (STN) for rumor detection based on fine-grained event state detection and segmentation. Given an event composed of a sequence of posts, STN first predicts the corresponding sequence of states and segments the event into several state-independent sub-events. For each sub-event, STN independently trains an encoder to learn the feature representation for that sub-event and incrementally fuses the representation of the current sub-event with previous ones for rumor prediction. This framework can more accurately learn the representation of an event in the initial stage and enable early rumor detection. Experiments on two benchmark datasets show that STN can significantly improve the rumor detection accuracy in comparison with some strong baseline systems. We also design a new evaluation metric to measure the performance of early rumor detection, under which STN shows a higher advantage in comparison.
Anti-Pathogenic and Technological Traits of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci Isolated from Koozh, a Fermented Food Product of South India

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to assess the biopotency of fermented food product Koozh associated coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and non-mycobacterial pathogens, and to document some technologically relevant attributes. The anti-tubercular property of six CNS strains was exhibited using luciferase reporter phage assay. All strains revealed pronounced mycobactericidal property in terms of higher percentage of relative light unit reduction (> 90%). The antagonistic role of CNS strains against non-mycobacterial pathogens was evaluated using agar well diffusion assay. Staphylococcus hominis strain MANF2 was found to be the most effective against Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 96 and Yersinia enterocolitica MTCC 840 with arbitrary units of 1600.31 ± 22.3 and 1500.23 ± 22.3 AU/mL, respectively. Further, various technological attributes of staphylococci were determined using standard methodology. All strains exhibited promising carbohydrate fermentation ability at standard in vitro conditions. CNS strains were positive for exopolysaccharide production and expressed strain specific lipase activity. All the isolates lacked amylase activity and biofilm formation ability. All six CNS strains, particularly strain MANF2 exhibited significant rate of autolytic and catalase activity, and showed the potential to reduce nitrate to nitrite. Most importantly, these strains were categorized for safe utilization based on in vitro safety hazards test. Overall, the present investigation indicated the persuasive biopotency of CNS against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and non-mycobacterial pathogens, and revealed adaptable technological attributes that would make them relevant for formulation of staphylococcal starter cultures for the development of quality fermented food products.
Titanium (IV) complexes of some tetra‐dentate symmetrical bis‐Schiff bases of 1,6‐hexanediamine: Synthesis, characterization, and in silico prediction of potential inhibitor against coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2)

Symmetrical bis‐Schiff bases (LH 2) have been synthesized by the condensation of 1,6‐hexanediamine (hn) and carbonyl or dicarbonyl. One of the synthesized Schiff bases has been subjected to the molecular docking for the prediction of their potentiality against coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2). Molecular docking revealed that tested Schiff base possessed high binding affinity with the receptor protein of SARS CoV‐2 compared with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). The ADMET analysis showed that ligand is non‐carcinogenic and less toxic than standard HCQ. Schiff bases acting as dibasic tetra‐dentate ligands formed titanium (IV) complexes of the type [TiL(H2O)2Cl2] or [TiL(H2O)2]Cl2 being coordinated through ONNO donor atoms. Ligands and complexes were characterized by the elemental analysis and physicochemical and spectroscopic data including FTIR, 1H NMR, mass spectra, UV‐Visible spectra, molar conductance, and magnetic measurement. Optimized structures obtained from quantum chemical calculations supported the formation of complexes. Antibacterial, antifungal, and anti‐oxidant activity assessments have been studied for synthesized ligands and complexes.
Heterosis and inbreeding depression for grain yield and yield component traits in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The present investigation on heterosis and inbreeding depression was carried out for fourteen characters using genetically diverse 10 parent half diallel crosses of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The experimental materials comprised of 100 genotypes including 10 parents, their 45 F1s and 45 F2s progenies. The experiment was conducted during Rabi 2013-14 in randomized complete block design with three replications at Experimental Farm, BRDPG College, Deoria, India. Analysis of variance revealed that all components of variance showed significant differences among the parents, F1s and F2s for most of the characters indicating the presence of considerable genetic variability in the material under studied. The result of heterosis over economic parent for grain yield per plant revealed that the cross combination, UW510 × HUW468, HUW510 × HUW234, HUW510 × HD2329, HUW510 × UP2338 and HUW468 × RAJ1972, were good along with range of -13.21 (UP2338 × K65) to 53.42% (HUW510 × HUW468). All these cross combination had stable performance in both generations hence, can be exploited for development of high yielding stable lines and or isolation of desirable segregants. Negative estimates of heterotic effects were observed in some traits may be attributed to inter-allelic interactions.
Effects of dietary surpluses of methionine and lysine on growth performance, blood serum parameters, immune responses, and carcass traits of broilers

ABSTRACT We evaluated the effects of dietary surpluses (100%, 110%, and 120% of Ross recommendations) of methionine (Met) and lysine (Lys) on growth performance, blood serum parameters, immune responses, and carcass traits of broilers using a completely randomized design with a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement. Broilers fed a diet containing Met and Lys according to Ross recommendations had maximal growth performance. During the starter period, higher Lys decreased intake of feed, energy, and protein (linear, P < 0.01) and weight gain (linear, P = 0.01). A diet with 110% Lys decreased feed efficiency (quadratic, P = 0.03) during the grower period and decreased the pre-slaughtered body weight (tendency; quadratic, P = 0.10), and increased serum uric acid (quadratic, P = 0.03). Dietary Lys level had an inverse correlation with serum phosphorus (linear, P = 0.02) and immune response against Newcastle disease virus after the first vaccination (linear, P = 0.03). There were Met × Lys interaction effects on serum glucose (P = 0.01), and relative weights of the rectum (P = 0.02) and liver (P = 0.02). Taken together, our results indicate that dietary surpluses of Met and Lys provided no additional benefits in broiler performance.
PREVALENCE OF BACTERIA ISOLATES IN WATER AND SOME BIOTA OF LAPAI-AGAIE DAM, NIGERIA

Lapai-Agaie dam play a pivotal role as primary source of domestic water supply, agricultural (irrigation and fisheries) activities to the host communities. Therefore, this study assessed the prevalence of bacterial isolates in water and on some biota (macrophytes and fishes) in order to provide basic information on bacterial diversity of the dam. The water pH and temperature of the identified sample sites were determined. Water sample for bacteria isolation was collected across water surface at each sites into 500ml sterile container. Macrophytes from the sampling sites were wholly collected with forceps into a sterilized plastic container; while fish samples were obtained from the landing site and placed in sterilized polythene bag for subsequent analyses. The standard procedures for bacteria sampling and identification were employed using phenotypic identification techniques. Water pH was significantly different (p<0.05) between sampling sites. Six bacteria isolates were identified from the two water sampling sites. Site A recorded the highest average bacterial colony count of 0.96x22x10 8 cfu/ml with Escherichia coli (12(29 %)) as the most frequent isolate. A total number of seventeen (17) genera of fishes where eleven bacteria were isolated. The fish coded FS3 recorded the highest distribution bacteria isolates. Three species of macrophytes were identified in the dam, with the highest bacteria population of 1.85±0.24x10 7 cfu/ml in the stem of Leerisia havedra as it had the highest bacterial population of 16.42±0.43x10 7 cfu/ml. Twelve (12) bacteria isolates where identified from the macrophytes with Klebsiella pneumonia recording the highest frequency of 8(16 %). However, the distribution of pathogenic bacteria in water was lower than that on the fishes and macrophytes. An indication that the biota may act as causative agent of epidemic disease. Therefore, the existence of these isolates pose challenges to human health, if proper hygiene and implementation of aquatic water policy and regulations are not properly enforced to discourage anthropogenic pollution. Keywords: Lentic, Biodiversity, Fish, Macrophytes, Bacteria
Dual-Energy CT Pulmonary Angiography (DECTPA) Quantifies Vasculopathy in Severe COVID-19 Pneumonia

Background The role of dual energy computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (DECTPA) in revealing vasculopathy in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has not been fully explored. Purpose To evaluate the relationship between DECTPA and disease duration, right ventricular dysfunction (RVD), lung compliance, D-dimer and obstruction index in COVID-19 pneumonia. Materials and Methods This institutional review board approved this retrospective study, and waived the informed consent requirement. Between March-May 2020, 27 consecutive ventilated patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia underwent DECTPA to diagnose pulmonary thrombus (PT); 11 underwent surveillance DECTPA 14 ±11.6 days later. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of perfused blood volume (PBV) maps recorded: i) perfusion defect ‘pattern’ (wedge-shaped, mottled or amorphous), ii) presence of PT and CT obstruction index (CTOI) and iii) PBV relative to pulmonary artery enhancement (PBV/PAenh); PBV/PAenh was also compared with seven healthy volunteers and correlated with D-Dimer and CTOI. Results Amorphous (n=21), mottled (n=4), and wedge-shaped (n=2) perfusion defects were observed (M=20; mean age=56 ±8.7 years). Mean extent of perfusion defects=36.1%±17.2. Acute PT was present in 11/27(40.7%) patients. Only wedge-shaped defects corresponded with PT (2/27, 7.4%). Mean CTOI was 2.6±5.4 out of 40. PBV/PAenh (18.2 ±4.2%) was lower than in healthy volunteers (27 ±13.9%, p = 0.002). PBV/PAenh correlated with disease duration (β = 0.13, p = 0.04), and inversely correlated with RVD (β = -7.2, p = 0.001), persisting after controlling for confounders. There were no linkages between PBV/PAenh and D-dimer or CTOI. Conclusion Perfusion defects and decreased PBV/PAenh are prevalent in severe COVID-19 pneumonia. PBV/PAenh correlates with disease duration and inversely correlates with RVD. PBV/PAenh may be an important marker of vasculopathy in severe COVID-19 pneumonia even in the absence of arterial thrombus.
Biomimetic Human Disease Model of SARS‐CoV‐2‐Induced Lung Injury and Immune Responses on Organ Chip System

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). The models that can accurately resemble human‐relevant responses to viral infection are lacking. Here, a biomimetic human disease model on chip that allows to recapitulate lung injury and immune responses induced by SARS‐CoV‐2 in vitro at organ level is created. This human alveolar chip reproduce the key features of alveolar‐capillary barrier by coculture of human alveolar epithelium, microvascular endothelium, and circulating immune cells under fluidic flow in normal and disease. Upon SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, the epithelium exhibits higher susceptibility to virus than endothelium. Transcriptional analyses show activated innate immune responses in epithelium and cytokine‐dependent pathways in endothelium at day 3 post‐infection, revealing the distinctive responses in different cell types. Notably, viral infection causes the immune cell recruitment, endothelium detachment, and increased inflammatory cytokines release, suggesting the crucial role of immune cells involved in alveolar barrier injury and exacerbated inflammation. Treatment with remdesivir can inhibit viral replication and alleviate barrier disruption on chip. This organ chip model can closely mirror human‐relevant responses to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, which is difficult to be achieved by in vitro models, providing a unique platform for COVID‐19 research and drug development.
The Progression of SARS Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2): Mutation in the Receptor Binding Domain of Spike Gene

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA (+ssRNA) that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The viral genome encodes twelve genes for viral replication and infection. The third open reading frame is the spike (S) gene that encodes for the spike glycoprotein interacting with specific cell surface receptor – angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) – on the host cell membrane. Most recent studies identified a single point mutation in S gene. A single point mutation in S gene leading to an amino acid substitution at codon 614 from an aspartic acid 614 into glycine (D614G) resulted in greater infectivity compared to the wild type SARS-CoV2. We were interested in investigating the mutation region of S gene of SARS-CoV2 from Korean COVID-19 patients. New mutation sites were found in the critical receptor binding domain (RBD) of S gene, which is adjacent to the aforementioned D614G mutation residue. This specific sequence data demonstrated the active progression of SARS-CoV2 by mutations in the RBD of S gene. The sequence information of new mutations is critical to the development of recombinant SARS-CoV2 spike antigens, which may be required to improve and advance the strategy against a wide range of possible SARS-CoV2 mutations.
Temporal changes of CT findings between non-severe and severe cases of COVID-19 pneumonia: a multi-center, retrospective, longitudinal Study

Background and aim: To perform a longitudinal analysis of serial CT findings over time in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods: From February 5 to March 8, 2020, 73 patients (male to female, ratio of 43:30; mean age, 51 years) with COVID-19 pneumonia were retrospectively enrolled and followed up until discharge from three institutions in China. The patients were divided into the severe and non-severe groups according to treatment option. The patterns and distribution of lung abnormalities, total CT scores, single ground-glass opacity (GGO) CT scores, single consolidation CT scores, single reticular CT scores and the amounts of zones involved were reviewed by 2 radiologists. These features were analyzed for temporal changes. Results: In non-severe group, total CT scores (median, 9.5) and the amounts of zones involved were slowly increased and peaked in disease week 2. In the severe group, the increase was faster, with scores also peaking at 2 weeks (median, 20). In both groups, the later parameters began to decrease in week 4 (median values of 9 and 19 in the non-severe and severe groups, respectively). In the severe group, the dominant residual lung lesions were reticular (median single reticular CT score, 10) and consolidation (median single consolidation CT score, 7). In the non-severe group, the dominant residual lung lesions were GGO (median single GGO CT score, 7) and reticular (median single reticular CT score, 4). In both non-severe and severe groups, the GGO pattern was dominant in week 1, with a higher proportion in the severe group compared with the non-severe group (72% vs. 65%). The consolidation pattern peaked in week 2, with 9 (32%) and 19 (73%) in the non-severe and severe groups, respectively; the reticular pattern became dominant from week 4 (both group >40%). Conclusion: The extent of CT abnormalities in the severe and non-severe groups peaked in disease week 2. The temporal changes of CT manifestations followed a specific pattern, which might indicate disease progression and recovery.