Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of visceral and general obesity on vascular and left ventricular function and geometry: a cross-sectional magnetic resonance imaging study of the UK Biobank

Abstract Aims We aimed to evaluate the associations of body fat distribution with cardiovascular function and geometry in the middle-aged general population. Methods and results Four thousand five hundred and ninety participants of the UK Biobank (54% female, mean age 61.1 ± 7.2 years) underwent cardiac magnetic resonance for assessment of left ventricular (LV) parameters [end-diastolic volume (EDV), ejection fraction (EF), cardiac output (CO), and index (CI)] and magnetic resonance imaging for body composition analysis [subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT)]. Body fat percentage (BF%) was assessed by bioelectrical impedance. Linear regressions were performed to assess the impact of visceral (VAT) and general (SAT and BF%) obesity on cardiac function and geometry. Visceral obesity was associated with a smaller EDV [VAT: β −1.74 (−1.15 to −2.33)], lower EF [VAT: β −0.24 (−0.12 to −0.35), SAT: β 0.02 (−0.04 to 0.08), and BF%: β 0.02 (−0.02 to 0.06)] and the strongest negative association with CI [VAT: β −0.05 (−0.06 to −0.04), SAT: β −0.02 (−0.03 to −0.01), and BF% β −0.01 (−0.013 to −0.007)]. In contrast, general obesity was associated with a larger EDV [SAT: β 1.01 (0.72–1.30), BF%: β 0.37 (0.23–0.51)] and a higher CO [SAT: β 0.06 (0.05–0.07), BF%: β 0.02 (0.01–0.03)]. In the gender-specific analysis, only men had a significant association between VAT and EF [β −0.35 (−0.19 to −0.51)]. Conclusion Visceral obesity was associated with a smaller LV EDV and subclinical lower LV systolic function in men, suggesting that visceral obesity might play a more important role compared to general obesity in LV remodelling.
Upgrade of laser pump time-resolved X-ray probes in Beijing synchrotron.

The upgrade of the laser pump time-resolved X-ray probes, namely time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy (TR-XAS) and X-ray diffraction (TR-XRD), implemented at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, is described. The improvements include a superbunch fill, a high-efficiency fluorescence collection, an efficient spatial overlap protocol and a new data-acquisition scheme. After upgrade, the adequate TR-XAS signal is now obtained in a 0.3 mM solution, compared with a 6 mM solution in our previous report. Furthermore, to extend application in photophysics, the TR-XAS probe is applied on SrCoO2.5 thin film. And for the first time, TR-XAS is combined with TR-XRD to simultaneously detect the kinetic trace of structural changes in thin film.
The Yarrowia lipolytica PAH1 homologue contributes but is not required for triacylglycerol biosynthesis during growth on glucose

The PAH1‐encoded phosphatidate phosphatase (PAP) catalyzes the Mg2+‐dependent dephosphorylation of phosphatidate to produce diacylglycerol, which can be acylated to form triacylglycerol (TAG). In the model oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, TAG is the major lipid produced, and its biosynthesis requires a continuous supply of diacylglycerol, which can be provided by the PAP reaction. However, the regulation of Pah1 has not been studied in detail in Y. lipolytica, and thus its contribution to the biosynthesis of TAG in this yeast is not well understood. In this work, we examined the regulation of the PAH1‐mediated PAP activity and Pah1 abundance and localization in cells growing on glucose. We found that Pah1 abundance and localization were regulated in a growth‐dependent manner, yet the loss of Pah1 did not have a major effect on PAP activity. We also examined the effects of the Y. lipolytica pah1Δ mutation on cell physiology and lipid biosynthesis. The lack of Pah1 in the pah1Δ mutant resulted in a moderate decrease in TAG levels and an increase in phospholipid levels. These results showed that Pah1 contributed to TAG biosynthesis in Y. lipolytica but also suggested the presence of other activities in the pah1Δ mutant that compensate for the loss of Pah1. Also, the levels of linoleic acid were elevated in pah1Δ cells with a concomitant decrease in the oleic acid levels suggesting that the pah1Δ mutation affected the biosynthesis of fatty acids.
Conditioning by Subthreshold Synaptic Input Changes the Intrinsic Firing Pattern of CA3 Hippocampal Neurons.

Unlike synaptic strength, intrinsic excitability is assumed to be a stable property of neurons. For example, learning of somatic conductances is generally not incorporated into computational models, and the discharge pattern of neurons in response to test stimuli is frequently used as a basis for phenotypic classification. However, it is increasingly evident that signal processing properties of neurons are more generally plastic on the timescale of minutes. Here we demonstrate that the intrinsic firing patterns of CA3 neurons of the rat hippocampus in vitro undergo rapid long-term plasticity in response to a few minutes of only subthreshold synaptic conditioning. This plasticity on the spike-timing could also be induced by intrasomatic injection of subthreshold depolarizing pulses and was blocked by kinase inhibitors, indicating that discharge dynamics are modulated locally. Cluster analysis of firing patterns before and after conditioning revealed systematic transitions towards adapting and intrinsic burst behaviours, irrespective of the patterns initially exhibited by the cells. We used a conductance-based model to decide appropriate pharmacological blockade, and found that the observed transitions are likely due to recruitment of low-voltage calcium and Kv7 potassium conductances. We conclude that CA3 neurons adapt their conductance profile to the subthreshold activity of their input, so that their intrinsic firing pattern is not a static signature, but rather a reflection of their history of subthreshold activity. In this way, recurrent output from CA3 neurons may collectively shape the temporal dynamics of their embedding circuits.
Caregiver Decision-Making for Terminally Ill Children: A Qualitative Study

Introduction: Many children are born with life-limiting illnesses. Medical decision-making for these children by caregivers is complex and causes significant psychosocial distress, which can be partially alleviated by effective communication with medical providers. In order for providers to support caregivers, this study explores how caregivers make decisions regarding the medical care of their terminally ill children. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted among caregivers of terminally ill children. Participation was voluntary and confidential. The institutional review board approved the protocol. Transcripts were read and coded by 2 authors using inductive, concurrent analysis to reach thematic saturation and generate common themes. Results: Nine interviews were completed, discussing the care of 10 children. Caregivers described decision-making as impacted by their relationships with medical providers of 2 distinct types—trusting and nontrusting. Trusting relationships were notable for a longitudinal relationship with medical staff who empowered caregivers and treated the patient primarily as a child. Nontrusting relationships were noted when the medical team objectified their child as a “patient” and appeared to withhold information. Also, nontrusting relationships occurred when caregivers felt frustration with needing to educate health-care providers about their child’s illness. Conclusion: Decision-making by caregivers of terminally ill children is complex, and supporting families in this process is a critical role of all medical providers. A trusting relationship with medical team members was identified as an effective tool for well-supported decision-making, which can potentially alleviate the suffering of the child and distress of the caregivers during this emotionally charged time.
An in vitro compartmental system underlines the contribution of mitochondrial immobility to the ATP supply in the NMJ

ABSTRACT The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is the largest, most-complex synapse in the human body. Motor neuron (MN) diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), specifically target MNs and the NMJs. However, little is known about the reasons for MN-selective neuronal and synaptic vulnerability in MN diseases. Here, utilizing a compartmental microfluidic in vitro co-culture system, we provide a possible explanation for why the NMJ, other than its unusual dimensions, differs from other synapses. By using live-imaging techniques, we discovered that cultured MNs display higher axonal and synaptic mitochondrial immobility compared with sympathetic neurons (SNs), leading to a profound enrichment of mitochondria only in the MN NMJ. Furthermore, by employing a synaptic ATP sensor, we show that mitochondrial respiration is the key contributor to ATP production in MN NMJs but not in SN synapses. Taken together, our data suggest that mitochondrial localization underlies the unique and specific qualities of MN NMJs. Our findings shed light on the role of mitochondria in MN and NMJ maintenance, and possibly indicate how mitochondria may serve as a source for selective MN vulnerability in neurodegenerative diseases. This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper. Summary: Mitochondria from motor neurons show lower motility along the axon, accumulate in the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) and contribute to the production of most of the NMJ ATP, unlike what is found in sympathetic neurons.
Constructing Spaces and Times for Tactical Analysis in Football

A possible objective in analyzing trajectories of multiple simultaneously moving objects, such as football players during a game, is to extract and understand the general patterns of coordinated movement in different classes of situations as they develop. For achieving this objective, we propose an approach that includes a combination of query techniques for flexible selection of episodes of situation development, a method for dynamic aggregation of data from selected groups of episodes, and a data structure for representing the aggregates that enables their exploration and use in further analysis. The aggregation, which is meant to abstract general movement patterns, involves construction of new time-homomorphic reference systems owing to iterative application of aggregation operators to a sequence of data selections. As similar patterns may occur at different spatial locations, we also propose constructing new spatial reference systems for aligning and matching movements irrespective of their absolute locations. The approach was tested in application to tracking data from two Bundesliga games of the 2018/2019 season. It enabled detection of interesting and meaningful general patterns of team behaviors in three classes of situations defined by football experts. The experts found the approach and the underlying concepts worth implementing in tools for football analysts.
Virtual reality to assess and train team ball sports performance: A scoping review

ABSTRACT Virtual reality (VR) is a widespread technology drawing an increasing interest for players and coaches, especially in team ball sports as it offers a simple tool to simulate, analyse and train situations that are often too complex to reproduce in the field. In this review we aimed at (1) providing an overview of methodologies and outcomes of research studies using VR in team ball sports; (2) better evaluating the potential interest of VR to analyse or train team ball sports situation and (3) identifying limitations, gaps in knowledge and remaining scientific challenges. The MEDLINE and Web of Science Core Collection databases were searched, using predefined combinations of keywords. Thirty articles were retained and analysed. VR can be an interesting tool to assess or train team ball sports skills/situations as it allows researchers to control and standardise situations and focus on specific skills/subskills. Studies that used VR in team ball sports still have some limitations, mainly due to technical issues or study design. This paper also describes the way VR should be used to enhance understanding of performance in team ball sports. Additional suggestions for future research and study design are proposed.
The European Nucleotide Archive in 2019

Abstract The European Nucleotide Archive (ENA, https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena) at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s European Bioinformatics Institute provides open and freely available data deposition and access services across the spectrum of nucleotide sequence data types. Making the world’s public sequencing datasets available to the scientific community, the ENA represents a globally comprehensive nucleotide sequence resource. Here, we outline ENA services and content in 2019 and provide an insight into selected key areas of development in this period.
Binocular global motion perception is improved by dichoptic segregation when stimuli have high contrast and high speed

The brain combines information from the two eyes during vision. This combination is obligatory to a remarkable extent: In random-dot kinematograms (RDKs), randomly moving noise dots were similarly effective at preventing observers from seeing the motion of coherently moving signals dots, independent of whether the signal and noise were presented to the same eye or segregated to different eyes. However, motion detectors have varied binocularity: Neurons in visual brain area V1 that encode high contrast, high speed stimuli may be less completely binocular than neurons that encode low contrast, low speed stimuli. Also, neurons in MT often have unbalanced inputs from the two eyes. We predicted that for high contrast, high speed stimuli only, there would be a benefit to segregating the signal and noise of the RDK into different eyes. We found this benefit, both when performance was measured by percent coherence thresholds and when it was measured by luminance contrast ratio (signal-dot-contrast to noise-dot-contrast) thresholds. Thus, for high contrast, high speed stimuli, binocular fusion of local motion is not complete before the extraction of global motion. We also replicated a cross-over interaction: At high speed, global motion extraction was generally more efficient when dot contrast was high, but at low speed it was more efficient when dot contrast was low. We provide a schematic model of binocular global motion perception, to show how the contrast-speed interaction can be predicted from neurophysiology and why it should be exaggerated for segregated viewing. Our data bore out these predictions. We conclude that different neural populations limit performance during binocular global motion perception, depending on stimulus contrast and speed.
Identification and bioinformatic analysis of Aux/IAA family based on transcriptome data of Bletilla striata

ABSTRACT Auxin/Indole-3-Acetic Acid (Aux/IAA) genes are involved in auxin signaling pathway and play an important role in plant growth and development. However, many studies focus on Aux/IAA gene families and much less known in Bletilla striata. In this study, a total of 27 Aux/IAA genes (BsIAA1-27) were cloned from the transcriptome of Bletilla striata. Based on a phylogenetic analysis of the Aux/IAA protein sequences from B. striata, Arabidopsis thaliana and Dendrobium officinale, the Aux/IAA genes of B. striata (BsIAAs) were categorized into 2 subfamilies and 9 groups. While BsIAAs were more closer to those of D. officinale compared to A. thaliana. EST-SSR marker mining test showed that 4 markers could be stably amplified with obvious polymorphisms among 4 landraces. Our results suggested that BsIAAs were involved in the process of tuber development and provided insights into functional roles of Aux/IAA genes in B. striata and other plants. Graphical Abstract In this paper, we identified the 27 members of the Aux/IAA gene family which can be divided into 2 groups and 9 subfamilies. The similar branches of Aux/IAA proteins had the same or similar motifs, such as genes between BsIAA10 and BsIAA12, BsIAA11 and BsIAA13, BsIAA18 and BsIAA20, indicating that Aux/IAA proteins were conserved. Among them, BsIAAs were more closer to those of D. officinale compared to A. thaliana.
Patterns of health service use following work-related injury and illness in Australian truck drivers: A latent class analysis.

OBJECTIVES To identify patterns of health service use (HSU) in truck drivers with work-related injury or illness and to identify demographic and work-related factors associated with patterns of care. METHOD All accepted workers' compensation claims from truck drivers lodged between 2004 and 2013 in Victoria were included. Episodes of HSU were categorised according to practitioner type. Latent class analysis was used to identify the distinct profiles of users with different patterns of HSU. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations between latent class and predictors. RESULTS Four profiles of HSU were identified: (a) Low Service Users (55% of the sample) were more likely to be younger, have an injury that did not result in time off work and have conditions other than a musculoskeletal injury; (b) High Service Users (10%) tended to be those aged between 45 and 64 years, living in major cities with musculoskeletal conditions that resulted in time off work; (c) Physical Therapy Users (25%) were more likely to be aged between 45 and 64 years, live in major cities and have nontraumatic injuries that resulted in time off work; and (d) GP/Mental Health Users (10%) were more likely to be over 24 years of age, from the lowest socioeconomic band, be employed by smaller organizations and be claiming benefits for a mental health condition. CONCLUSIONS This study identified distinct categories of HSU among truck drivers following work-related injury. The results can be used to prioritize occupational health and safety promotion to maintain a healthy truck driver work force.
Smokers with pain are more likely to report use of e-cigarettes and other nicotine products.

Pain and tobacco cigarette smoking frequently co-occur, and smokers report using cigarettes to self-medicate pain. Despite the growing popularity of e-cigarettes and alternative nicotine products, no research has examined their use as a function of pain status. The goal of this study was to test cross-sectional relations between the presence of pain and current use of e-cigarettes, lifetime polynicotine use, and lifetime use of individual nicotine products. The sample was comprised of current daily smokers (N = 301) who were recruited to participate in a web-based longitudinal study examining predictors of cessation milestones. Results indicated that smokers who endorsed past-2-week significant pain (vs. no past-2-week pain) were 3 times more likely to endorse current e-cigarette use, reported having used a greater number of nicotine products in their lifetime, and were nearly 3 times more likely to endorse lifetime polynicotine use. In terms of individual products, smokers with pain were approximately 4 times as likely to have tried e-cigarettes and 7 times more likely to have tried cigars. This is the first study to demonstrate that smokers who endorse significant pain are also more likely to endorse use of e-cigarettes and other combustible nicotine products. Future research is needed to examine polynicotine use in relation to pain reporting among more varied samples of smokers and nonsmokers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Trends in Self-perceived Weight Status, Weight Loss Attempts, and Weight Loss Strategies Among Adults in the United States, 1999-2006

Key Points Question What were the trends in current measured body mass index and weight, self-perceived weight status, weight loss attempts, and weight loss strategies in adults in the United States from 1999 to 2016? Findings In this cross-sectional study with data from 48 026 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, increasing trends were observed in current measured body mass index and weight; adjusted, self-reported, prior-year weight; and the difference between current measured weight and adjusted, self-reported, prior-year weight. The proportion of participants who attempted to lose weight increased during the study period. Meaning In this study, an increased trend in the proportion of participants who attempted to lose weight was observed, despite increased trends in current and historical weight.
Epidemiology of venous thromboembolism in people with active tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

Introduction In recent years, a hypothesis has been raised that people with tuberculosis are at risk for developing venous thromboembolism (VTE). However, much remains to be understood about the interplay between VTE and tuberculosis. Therefore, through a global systematic review and meta-analysis, the current study aims at investigating the association between exposure to active tuberculosis and risk of VTE, and determining the prevalence and incidence of VTE in people with active tuberculosis. Methods and design We will include cohort studies, case–control and cross-sectional studies performed among adults (>15 years) with active tuberculosis. EMBASE, Medline, Global Index Medicus and Web of Knowledge will be searched for relevant records published until 31 August 2019, without any language restriction. The review will be reported according to the Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. After screening of titles and abstracts, study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment; we shall assess the studies individually for clinical and statistical heterogeneity. Random-effect meta-analysis will be used to pool studies judged to be clinically homogenous. The Egger’s test and visual inspection of funnel plots will be used to assess publication bias. Results will be presented by country and region. Ethics and dissemination Since primary data are not collected in this study, ethical approval is not required. This review is expected to provide relevant data on the epidemiology of VTE in people with tuberculosis. The final report will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. PROSPERO registration number CRD42019130347.
Distraction-focused interventions on examination stress in nursing students: Effects on psychological stress and biomarker levels. A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Nursing students all over the world experience high levels of stress with negative impacts on their health, emotional state and performance. AIM This study aimed to investigate the effects of distraction-focused interventions on examination stress and anxiety in nursing students. METHODS A randomized controlled, parallel trial design was conducted from January to June 2016. After baseline measurement, 72 participants were randomized to one of the following groups (n = 18 each): (i) animal-assisted therapy; (ii) music therapy; (iii) mandala painting; (iv) control group. Outcomes of all groups in terms of stress-reduction were compared by measuring self-reported perceived stress (STAI-State and visual analogue stress scale) and salivary biomarker levels (Cortisol and Immunoglobulin A). RESULTS Fifty-seven complete data sets (n = 12-16 for each group) were analysed. All distraction-focused interventions showed stress and anxiety reduction in everyday school situations. By contrast, on days with examinations, stress reductions did not reach statistical significance in regard to self-reported psychological stress. At the same time, interventions resulted in significantly decreased levels of stress biomarkers (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Our preliminary findings suggest positive but situation-dependent effects of distraction-focused interventions in academic settings. Further research should investigate the complex relationship between physiological and psychological stress parameters.