Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The immunoglobulin-like modules Cε3 and α2 are the minimal units necessary for human IgE-FcεRI interaction

Atopic allergy is a genetically determined immunodisorder that affects almost 20% of the population worldwide. Immediate symptoms of type I allergy are caused by the release of biologic mediators from effector cells induced by IgE-allergen complexes that cross-link the high-affinity receptor for IgE (FceRI). Chronic disease manifestations result from allergen-specific T-cell activation, a process that is enhanced when allergens are presented via FceRI-bound IgE. We report the baculovirus expression, as soluble recombinant proteins, of the minimal units required for human IgE and FceRI interaction: Ce3 represents the third constant domain of the IgE heavy chain, and α2 is the membrane-proximal Ig-like module from FceRIα. Native overlay experiments showed binding of human FceRIα to recombinant Ce3 and of natural or recombinant human IgE to recombinant α2. Moreover, recombinant Ce3 inhibited binding of natural IgE antibodies to α2, and preincubation of human IgE with α2 inhibited anti-IgE‐triggered histamine release from human basophils. Isolated Ce3 and α2 can now be used for the molecular and structural analysis of the IgE-FceRI interaction, as well as for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
Perceptions of Role Transition into Practice among Advanced Practice Providers and Physicians

This study sought to examine the experiences of advanced practice providers (APPs) as an approach to inform the development of formalized programs for transition into practice and to compare APP (N = 122) and physician (N = 84) perceptions of the novice practitioners’ acclimation into a provider role within the first year of practice. Using a cross-sectional survey design, two separate web-based questionnaires were distributed to APPs and physicians. The APPs’ perspectives echoed findings of earlier studies with regard to perceived confidence, feelings of anxiety/fear, and inadequacy. In 16 of 23 paired items, physicians and APPs had similar perspectives about confidence/competence after orientation. Significant differences in their perceptions included amount of physician support, time management, length of time to become a fully functional APP, and independence. Better understanding of the perceptions of APPs and physicians can augment APP preparation for a shifting workforce composition and team-based, interprofessional practice designed to meet the population’s health care needs.
The Impact of Social Value Orientation, Game Context and Trust on Cooperative Behavior After Cooperative Video Game Play

This study explores the effects of the cooperative video game context, social value orientation (SVO) and trust on cooperative behavior. The main ﬁnding is that collaborative game play signiﬁcantly increases cooperative behavior, especially in prosocial individuals. In addition, a mediation model is established in which trust partially mediates the association between the game mode and cooperative behavior. The results indicate that playing collaborative games increases cooperation in prosocial people partially by facilitating the trust they have in their gaming partners. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Combinations of spectrofluorometry and polymerase chain reaction for rapid detection of medium-chain- length polyhydroxyalkanoate-accumulating (Mcl-PHA) bacteria

Medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (Mcl-PHAs) share physical and material properties that are considered as an alternative to nonbiodegradable plastics. In this report, a new method was developed for detection of Mcl-PHA-producing bacteria. The procedure was composed of, first staining with Nile red and screen under fluorescence microscope at a wavelength of 565 nm, then further confirmation by amplifying the partial nucleic acid sequence of the PHA synthase gene pha with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The stained positive Mcl-PHA-producing bacteria were also detected while subjected to transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This new method should therefore be useful for screening Mcl-PHA-producing bacteria from large numbers of microbial cultures time-efficiently. Key words: Fluorescence spectroscopy, polyhydroxyalkanoates, Pseudomonas sp. , polymerase chain reaction.
Coronavirus: Where Has All the Health Economics Gone?

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to unfold there is an untold number of trade-offs being made in every country around the globe. The experience in the United Kingdom and Canada to date has not seen much uptake of health economics methods. We provide some thoughts on how this could take place, specifically in three areas. Firstly, this can involve understanding the impact of lockdown policies on national productivity. Secondly, there is great importance in studying trade-offs with respect to enhancing health system capacity and the impact of the mix of private-public financing. Finally, there are key trade-offs that will continue to be made both in terms of access to testing and ventilators which would benefit greatly from economic appraisal. In short, health economics could – and we would argue most certainly should – play a much more prominent role in policy-making as it relates to the current as well as future pandemics.
Effect of body size on multiple blood feeding and egg retention of Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera : Culicidae)

Multiple blood feeding (MBF) in a gonotrophic cycle in vector mosquitoes inuences pathogen transmission by increasing host-vector contact. Multiple blood meals can be caused by malnutrition in the larval stage, a harsh environment in the adult stage, or interrupted feeding due to host defense. We focused on the eect of body size on MBF in two vector mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti (L.) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse), in the laboratory, us- ing small and large adults of both species. Most females (94.3% of Ae. aegypti and 88.2% of Ae. albopictus) oviposited with therst blood meal. �ere was no relationship between body size and MBF proportion in either species. However, there was a negative relationship be- tween body size and egg retention ratio in Ae. albopictus ovaries and between body size and the ratio of immature follicles in both species. Small Ae. albopictus laid some eggs but re- tained the rest in their ovaries, as did 5.3% of Ae. aegypti. Large Ae. albopictus developed 68.4-81.7% of follicles, whereas, small ones developed about 50%. Large Ae. aegypti devel- oped 98.0-99.8% of follicles, whereas small females developed only 83.5-88.4%. �ese re- sults suggest that oviposition was incomplete in small females with low energy reserves, and that females emerging under subpar-diet conditions may perform MBF to improve fecundi- ty.
[Survey on the Attitudes and Concerns of Nursing Home Staff Regarding Assistance of Medication Administrations in Japan: A Questionnaire Survey].

Care workers at care facilities play an important role in providing medication-administration assistance, and in medication risk management. Nevertheless, research has not made clear the specific concerns that care workers have at work sites, as well as the extent of their burdens. Thus, we conducted a questionnaire survey from October 1 through October 31, 2014 for staff who provide medication-administration assistance at for-pay elderly person homes about the concrete concerns and burdens with regards to the assistance. A total of 1,677 respondents were analyzed: 228 nurses and 1,449 care workers. Results showed that the care workers had a variety of problems and issues. These included the fact that, since care workers are not medical profession, they were unable to answer questions that the facility residents asked about their medications; they had concerns regarding their own lack of awareness of the efficacies of medications, and as to whether certain drugs were inappropriate for certain patients with swallowing dysfunctions; they wondered whether drugs in tablet forms had to be crushed before administration. They also encountered pharmacological-related issues, including whether administration times and numbers failed to match the lifestyle patterns of facility residents, and so forth. It is presumed that, with active intervention of pharmacists within facilities, these issues could be resolved. Study results, thus, suggested the need for system creation whereby pharmacists can become deeply involved in medication-administration assistance along with the care workers within facilities.
PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN DERIVED APOCYNACEAE S.L. AND WITHIN SECAMONOIDEAE BASED ON CHLOROPLAST SEQUENCES1

Abstract Phylogenetic relationships between derived subfamilies of Apocynaceae s.l. as well as within the subfamily Secamonoideae have been inferred using maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses. Characters are provided by four chloroplast sequences: matK, trnT-L and trnL-F spacers, and trnL intron. Phylogenies from both analyses show a sister group relationship between a clade of derived Apocynoideae included in the subtribe Baisseinae (tribe Apocyneae) and another clade including representatives from the Secamonoideae and Asclepiadoideae. Within the Secamonoideae, two genera, Pervillaea Decne. and Secamonopsis Jum. , are strongly supported as monophyletic, whereas the monophyly of the largest genus, Secamone R. Br. , remains uncertain. Palynological and morphological characters are discussed for the Malagasy Secamone in relation to one of the most parsimonious molecular trees.
Anti-Interleukin-10 Unleashes Transcriptional Response to Leishmanial Antigens in Visceral Leishmaniasis Patients.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL; Leishmania donovani) cases produce interferon-γ and tumour necrosis factor in response to soluble leishmanial antigen (SLA) in whole blood assays. Using transcriptional profiling, we demonstrate the impact of interleukin-10 (IL10), a cytokine implicated in VL, on this response. SLA stimulation identified 28 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 17/28 in a single network with TNF as hub. SLA plus anti-IL10 produced 454 DEGs, 292 in a single network with TNF, IFNG, NFKBIA, IL6 and IL1B as hubs in concert with a remarkable chemokine/cytokine storm. Our data demonstrate the singular effect of IL10 as a potent immune modulator in VL.
Understanding the Ecological Consequences of Stress in Wild Fish Using Exogenous

This thesis proposed to elucidate the relationship between stress and long-term behaviour and survival in fish. The first study investigated whether "carryover" effects of stress influence a fish's ability to tolerate future stressors. Bluegill {Lepomis macrochirus) were exposed to chronic Cortisol elevations and exposed to stressors in the shortand longterm. Fish were unable to tolerate secondary stressors in the long-term even after physiologically recovering from the Cortisol elevation. Next, the consequences of stress on spawning grounds were investigated using a semelparous species, the pink salmon {Oncorhynchus gorbuschd). Pink salmon did not alter reproductive behaviour, physiology or success after exposure to acute stress. Chronically elevating Cortisol levels caused a decrease in longevity and reproductive success and affected behaviour. The findings from both studies suggest that chronic elevations of Cortisol can influence fitness. The experimental approach used is novel since few field studies have manipulated Cortisol titres in the wild.
Impact of progesterone receptor status on response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in estrogen receptor‐positive breast cancer patients

Breast cancer patients respond differently to neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NAC) based on receptor subtype. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of progesterone receptor (PgR) status on response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in estrogen receptor (ER)+, human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)− breast cancer patients.
The smell of sex: water-borne and air-borne sex pheromones in the intertidal gastropod Littorina littorea

We investigated whether individuals of the intertidal snail Littorina littorea may be attracted by waterborne and air-borne pheromones from conspecifics. The potential relative role of water-borne and air-borne pheromone in the behavioural and reproductive biology of L. littorea was assessed through chemotactic assays. These involved a series of choice experiments with snails, snail smell and snail mucus as stimuli in a T-maze under conditions of immersion and emersion, and during the nonmating and mating seasons. During the nonmating season, L. littorea did not choose the snail-conditioned side of the T-maze significantly more frequently than the control side under conditions of both immersion and emersion. During the mating season, under condition of immersion both males and females chose the side of the T-maze conditioned with individual of the opposite sex significantly more frequently than the control side, and did not show any preference for the side conditioned with individuals of the same sex. Under conditions of emersion, only males were significantly more attracted by cues from the opposite sex than by the control. These results indicate that L. littorea are not attracted by conspecifics during the nonmating season; the cues of conspecifics are then unlikely to play a role in the orientation or the aggregation behaviour of this species. The results also suggest that males and females are attracted by the odour of conspecifics of the opposite sex, which contains both water-borne and air-borne pheromones in females and only water-borne pheromones in males. Also the similar behaviours observed with snails, water-borne and air-borne snail smell, and snail mucus, as stimuli indicate that male and female sex pheromones are both present in mucus. Temperature manipulations conducted during both seasons did not affect any of the observed behavioural changes, hence suggesting that the chemoreceptive abilities of L. littorea may be driven by exogenous and/or endogenous factors that are decoupled from direct control by temperature. This is in sharp contrast to the locomotor activity of L. littorea, which consistently increased with temperature. We also report the possibility of mate-tracking in females, a behaviour that has yet to be reported in gastropods, since males are typically believed to be the active sex that searches for females. Our results build on previous evidence of the function played by mucus-trail following in the reproductive success of intertidal gastropods, through the ability of L. littorea to remotely detect the water-borne and air-borne sex-specific cues that are incorporated in their mucus.
Transcriptome Based Profiling of the Immune Cell Gene Signature in Rat Experimental Colitis and Human IBD Tissue Samples

Chronic intestinal inflammation is characteristic of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) that is associated with the exaggerated infiltration of immune cells. A complex interplay of inflammatory mediators and different cell types in the colon are responsible for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis and affect pathological conditions. Gene expression alteration of colon biopsies from IBD patients and an in vivo rat model of colitis were examined by RNA-Seq and QPCR, while we used in silico methods, such as Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) application and the Immune Gene Signature (ImSig) package of R, to interpret whole transcriptome data and estimate immune cell composition of colon tissues. Transcriptome profiling of in vivo colitis model revealed the most significant activation of signaling pathways responsible for leukocyte recruitment and diapedesis. We observed significant alteration of genes related to glycosylation or sensing of danger signals and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, as well as adhesion molecules. We observed the elevated expression of genes that implies the accumulation of monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils and B cells in the inflamed colon tissue. In contrast, the rate of T-cells slightly decreased in the inflamed regions. Interestingly, natural killer and plasma cells do not show enrichment upon colon inflammation. In general, whole transcriptome analysis of the in vivo experimental model of colitis with subsequent bioinformatics analysis provided a better understanding of the dynamic changes in the colon tissue of IBD patients.
Parkinson’s disease case ascertainment in prospective cohort studies through combining multiple health information resources

Epidemiological evidence from prospective cohort studies on risk factors of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is limited as case ascertainment is challenging due to a lack of registries and the disease course of PD. The objective of this study was to create a case ascertainment method for PD within two prospective Dutch cohorts based on multiple sources of PD information. This method was validated using clinical records from the general practitioners (GPs). Face validity of the case ascertainment was tested for three etiological factors (smoking, sex and family history of PD). In total 54825 participants were included from the cohorts AMIGO and EPIC-NL. Sources of PD information included self-reported PD, self-reported PD medication, a 9 item screening questionnaire (Tanner), electronical medical records, hospital discharge data and mortality records. Based on these sources we developed a likelihood score with 4 categories (no PD, unlikely PD, possible PD, likely PD). For the different sources of PD information and for the likelihood score we present the agreement with GP-validated cases. Risk of PD for established factors was studied by logistic regression as exact diagnose dates were not always available. Based on the algorithm, we assigned 346 participants to the likely PD category. GP validation confirmed 67% of these participants in EPIC-NL, but only 12% in AMIGO. PD was confirmed in only 3% of the participants with a possible PD classification. PD case ascertainment by mortality records (91%), EMR ICPC (82%) and self-reported information (62–69%) had the highest confirmation rates. The Tanner PD screening questionnaire had a lower agreement (18%). Risk estimates for smoking, family history and sex using all likely PD cases were comparable to the literature for EPIC-NL, but not for smoking in AMIGO. Using multiple sources of PD evidence in cohorts remains important but challenging as performance of sources varied in validity.
Prevalence of MRI abnormalities in people with epilepsy in rural China

Objective To assess the prevalence of brain MRI abnormalities in people with epilepsy in rural China and to compare it with that of individuals in the United Kingdom. Methods Brain MRI scans were obtained in people with epilepsy who participated in a rural community-based program in China between July 2010 and December 2012. Individual epileptogenic lesion types were reviewed and their associations with seizure control examined. The MRI findings were compared with 2 previous similar studies in the United Kingdom. Results Among the 597 individuals (58% male, median age 38 years) with MRI scans analyzed, 488 (82%) had active epilepsy. The MRI was abnormal in 389 individuals (65%), with potentially epileptogenic lesion in 224 (38%) and nonspecific abnormalities in 165 (28%), and 108 (18%) were potentially resectable. The potentially epileptogenic lesions were less frequently detected in children (<18 years old, 12 of 68, 18%) than in adults (212 of 529, 40%; p < 0.001). In people with potentially epileptogenic lesions, 67% (150 of 224) had failed ≥2 antiseizure medications. They had higher risk of uncontrolled epilepsy than those with normal MRI (risk ratio [RR] 1.25; p < 0.001) and those with nonspecific abnormality (RR 1.15; p = 0.002) after adjustment for age and sex. The diagnostic yield of MRI was similar to that reported in community- and hospital-based studies in the United Kingdom. Conclusions More than one-third of people with chronic epilepsy in rural China have potentially epileptogenic lesions identifiable on brain MRI, with two-thirds fulfilling the definition of pharmacoresistance. These findings highlight the magnitude of the unmet needs for epilepsy surgery in China.
Characterization and genotyping by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of the first bioluminescent Vibrio gigantis strains

The genus Vibrio, which included 20 species in 1981, increased up to 63 in 2004 and in the last 10 years, 15 new species including Vibrio gigantis have been added. In this study, 20 bioluminescent bacteria were isolated and identified. The identification of the species whose various physiological and biochemical characteristics were identified was based on 16S rRNA gene region and it was determined that it belongs to the V. gigantis species. It was concluded that from the range of temperature and sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration needed, the phenotypic characteristics of the species of this genus used to distinguish them might vary. It was determined that their reproductive ability varied significantly especially in the media containing 0.5 and 9% of NaCl and at incubation temperatures of 4 and 30°C. These differences appeared in various enzymatic activities too. As a result of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis, it was concluded that the genomes of the bioluminescence V. gigantis strains were not completely identical, and had genome homology ranging from 70 to 94% of restriction fragment patterns homology. Therefore, this study is the first one indicating that V. gigantis strains have a bioluminescence feature and high rate of genomic polymorphism.
A Mouse Model for Infection with Enterovirus A71 in Small Extracellular Vesicles

EV-A71 was supposed to infect the CNS through the neural pathway and the circulation of the blood in previous studies. Reverse axon transport had been confirmed as an important pathway for EV-A71 to infect the CNS; however, it is still unknown how EV-A71 infects the CNS through the circulation of the blood. Combined with the infectivity of sEVs secreted from EV-A71-infected cells and the characteristic that sEVs could cross the blood-brain barrier, we considered that sEVs may play a vital role in EV-A71 pathogenesis of the CNS. ABSTRACT Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) is the major pathogen of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD); in some severe cases, it could develop into central nervous system (CNS) disease such as aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, and neurogenic pulmonary edema in children under 5 years. The EV-A71 pathogenesis which is involved with the CNS is unclear due to the lack of a simple and reliable mouse model thus far. Most clinical EV-A71 isolates could not effectively infect the neonatal mouse, which used to be an EV-A71 infection model. The small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) released from clinical EV-A71 isolate-infected cells were infectious in cell lines and could cause a high viral replication in mice. Neonatal ICR mice were injected intraperitoneally with these infectious sEVs and showed more weight loss and higher mortality than those mice injected with the clinical EV-A71 isolate. By using these sEVs, we provided a simple and effective method by which we can generate a stable and valuable animal model for the studies of EV-A71 pathogenesis and therapy. IMPORTANCE EV-A71 was supposed to infect the CNS through the neural pathway and the circulation of the blood in previous studies. Reverse axon transport had been confirmed as an important pathway for EV-A71 to infect the CNS; however, it is still unknown how EV-A71 infects the CNS through the circulation of the blood. Combined with the infectivity of sEVs secreted from EV-A71-infected cells and the characteristic that sEVs could cross the blood-brain barrier, we considered that sEVs may play a vital role in EV-A71 pathogenesis of the CNS.