Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in South Korea: Moderating Role of mHealth Technologies

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies may reduce or widen health inequalities. Despite the extensive literature in support of both of these contrasting views, little attention has been paid to the role of mHealth technologies with regard to social strata and health in the context of South Korea, a country with one of the highest usages of smartphones worldwide. This study examined the effects of social determinants on health self-efficacy and health status and explored how mHealth technologies moderate the impacts of social determinants on health outcomes. Data were collected via online surveys from 29 July to 3 August 2021. Survey data from 1187 Korean adults showed that men had higher levels of health self-efficacy than women. The higher an individual’s education level, the greater their subjective health status. Individuals with higher levels of monthly household income, social capital, and healthcare quality reported higher levels of health self-efficacy and superior health status. The use of mHealth technologies moderated the associations between social determinants and health outcomes. Specifically, monthly household income and social capital had smaller effects on health self-efficacy and health status among those who used higher levels of mHealth technologies. Among higher users of mHealth technologies, females reported better health status than males, while men showed better health status than women in the low-user group. These findings highlight the effectiveness of mHealth technologies in addressing health disparities.
Application of Matter-element Extension in Road Safety

Various methods of road safety evaluation were explained.The advantages of the extensional evaluation method were focused,which is a newly adopted method for road safety.Furthermore,an evaluation matter-element model of road safety was established based on the extension theory.The functions of the extensional evaluation method were obtained.Finally,the result of the extensional evaluation method was compared with those of other methods based on the existing road accidents data of a certain highway.It concludes that the results of the extensional evaluation method can provide a scientific basis for road safety management.
CTLA‐4 polymorphism contributes to the genetic susceptibility of epithelial ovarian cancer

Cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte antigen‐4 (CTLA‐4), an inhibitory molecule on T‐cells, plays a key role in tumorigenesis and progression. In the present study, we investigated the effects of three polymorphisms in the CTLA‐4 gene on the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer and the clinical outcomes of patients.
Intron-Retention Neoantigen Load Predicts Favorable Prognosis in Pancreatic Cancer

PURPOSE High tumor mutation burden (TMB) in many cancer types is associated with the production of tumor-specific neoantigens, a favorable outcome and response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Besides mutation-derived neoantigens, aberrant intron retention also produces tumor neopeptides that could trigger an immune response. The relationship between intron-retention–derived tumor neoantigens (IR-neoAg) and clinical outcomes in pancreatic cancer remains uncertain. Here, we quantify IR-neoAg in pancreatic cancer and evaluate whether IR-neoAg load might serve as a biomarker for selecting patients who may benefit from ICB therapy. METHODS We developed a computational approach to estimate patient-specific IR-neoAg load from transcriptome data available in The Cancer Genome Atlas pancreatic cancer cohort. Associations between IR-neoAg load and patient overall survival were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox regression. Differential expression of immune checkpoint and HLA-I genes was evaluated in tumors with high IR-neoAg load. RESULTS High IR-neoAg load predicted better overall survival in pancreatic cancer, although no association was found for TMB. IR-neoAg load remained a significant prognostic factor after adjusting for patient age, sex, tumor stage and grade, and TMB. Moreover, pancreatic tumors with both high IR-neoAg load and high HLA-I gene expression had similar gene expression profiles as other tumor types that showed response to anti–programmed cell death protein 1 therapy. CONCLUSION IR-neoAg load is associated with favorable survival in pancreatic cancer. These findings provide strong evidence for considering IR-neoAgs when selecting patients who might benefit from ICB therapy.
Application of PLC on the Central Control System of Submarine

The paper introduces a sort of central control system which is easy to carry out and various in function.It is an ideal implement item for reconstructing of naval vessel.The basic frame of the system is formed by OMRON CJ1M PLC and a computer,to perform information transform between controller and computer based on Ethernet.The authors also introduce the flow diagram of part of control procedure of the system.The design of project has been implemented in lab.
Precision and trueness of computer‐assisted implant placement using static surgical guides with open and closed sleeves: An in vitro analysis

Abstract Objectives The aim of this in vitro study was to determine accuracy defined by trueness and precision of computer‐assisted implant surgery comparing two guided surgery kits designed for either closed sleeves or open sleeves with a lateral window. Material and methods Each n=20 implants were placed fully guided (sleeve‐bone distance of 2 or 4 mm) in identical replicas using a surgical guide with both closed sleeve or an open sleeve, partially guided, or free hand. The achieved implant position was digitized and compared with the planned position. Trueness and precision were determined. The angular deviation was defined as the primary outcome parameter. The means, standard deviation, and 95%‐confidence intervals were analyzed statistically with 1‐way ANOVA and the Scheffé procedure. Results The accuracy of guided implant placement using closed and open sleeves was comparable when the sleeve‐bone distance was 2 mm. Accuracy decreased when the sleeve‐bone distance increased in both fully guided groups, more so in the open than in the closed sleeve group. The least accurate method was the free‐hand group. Partially guided implant surgery was more accurate than free‐hand placement, but less accurate than the fully guided groups with 2‐mm sleeve‐bone distance. Conclusions The closer the sleeve to the bone, the more accurate and precise is computer‐assisted implant surgery using a closed system and a system using open sleeves. Partially guided implant surgery using only the static guide for the pilot drill is less accurate than both fully guided approaches, but more accurate than free‐hand surgery.
The Challenges of Predicting Drug-Induced QTc Prolongation in Humans

Abstract The content of this article derives from a Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) consortium with a focus to improve cardiac safety during drug development. A detailed literature review was conducted to evaluate the concordance between nonclinical repolarization assays and the clinical thorough QT (TQT) study. Food and Drug Administration and HESI developed a joint database of nonclinical and clinical data, and a retrospective analysis of 150 anonymized drug candidates was reviewed to compare the performance of 3 standard nonclinical assays with clinical TQT study findings as well as investigate mechanism(s) potentially responsible for apparent discrepancies identified. The nonclinical assays were functional (IKr) current block (Human ether-a-go-go related gene), action potential duration, and corrected QT interval in animals (in vivo corrected QT). Although these nonclinical assays demonstrated good specificity for predicting negative clinical QT prolongation, they had relatively poor sensitivity for predicting positive clinical QT prolongation. After review, 28 discordant TQT-positive drugs were identified. This article provides an overview of direct and indirect mechanisms responsible for QT prolongation and theoretical reasons for lack of concordance between clinical TQT studies and nonclinical assays. We examine 6 specific and discordant TQT-positive drugs as case examples. These were derived from the unique HESI/Food and Drug Administration database. We would like to emphasize some reasons for discordant data including, insufficient or inadequate nonclinical data, effects of the drug on other cardiac ion channels, and indirect and/or nonelectrophysiological effects of drugs, including altered heart rate. We also outline best practices that were developed based upon our evaluation.
Current perspectives in Leber congenital amaurosis type 8 mouse modeling

Mutations in the CRB1 (Crumbs homolog 1) cause rare retinal diseases like retinitis pigmentosa type 12 (RP12) and Leber congenital amaurosis type 8 (LCA8). RP12 results in progressively worsening peripheral vision, whereas LCA8 causes severe visual impairment at birth or in early life. While several mouse models have been proposed for RP12, few replicate the full spectrum of human LCA8 pathology, such as disorganized retinal layering, abnormal retinal thickening, pigmentary defects, hyperreflective lesions, and severely attenuated electroretinogram responses at birth. Six models have been proposed utilizing the Cre‐loxP system to delete candidate genes in specific retinal cell types and developmental stages. The model ablating Crb1 and its homolog Crb2 (using mRx‐Cre) from the beginning of the eye development is the most complete as it shows blindness during the eye‐opening stage, pigmentary defects in the RPE, ganglion cell layer heterotopia, disruption of retinal lamination, and acellular patches. LCA8 represents a unique type of retinal dystrophy among LCA subtypes, driven by dysfunctional retinal progenitor cells during eye development. In contrast, other LCA types and RP12 are caused by photoreceptor defects. Therefore, the most accurate LCA8‐like mouse model must target both alleles of the Crb1 and Crb2 genes in the optic vesicle or earlier.
Hyperglycemic environment disrupts phosphate transporter function and promotes calcification processes in podocytes and isolated glomeruli

Soft tissue calcification is a pathological phenomenon that often occurs in end‐stage chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is caused by diabetic nephropathy, among other factors. Hyperphosphatemia present during course of CKD contributes to impairments in kidney function, particularly damages in the glomerular filtration barrier (GFB). Essential elements of the GFB include glomerular epithelial cells, called podocytes. In the present study, we found that human immortalized podocytes express messenger RNA and protein of phosphate transporters, including NaPi 2c (SLC34A3), Pit 1 (SLC20A1), and Pit 2 (SLC20A2), which are sodium‐dependent and mediate intracellular phosphate (Pi) transport, and XPR1, which is responsible for extracellular Pi transport. We found that cells that were grown in a medium with a high glucose (HG) concentration (30 mM) expressed less Pit 1 and Pit 2 protein than podocytes that were cultured in a standard glucose medium (11 mM). We found that exposure of the analyzed transporters in the cell membrane of the podocyte is altered by HG conditions. We also found that the activity of tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase increased in HG, causing a rise in Pi generation. Additionally, HG led to a reduction of the amount of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 in the cell membrane of podocytes. The extracellular concentration of pyrophosphate also decreased under HG conditions. These data suggest that a hyperglycemic environment enhances the production of Pi in podocytes and its retention in the extracellular space, which may induce glomerular calcification.
Extreme sugar accumulation in late fig ripening is accompanied by global changes in sugar metabolism and transporter gene expression

Abstract Female fig (Ficus carica L.) fruit are characterized by a major increase in volume and sugar content during the final week of development. A detailed developmental analysis of water and dry matter accumulation during these final days indicated a temporal separation between the increase in volume due to increasing water content and a subsequent sharp increase in sugar content during a few days. The results present fig as an extreme example of sugar import and accumulation, with calculated import rates that are one order of magnitude higher than those of other sugar‐accumulating sweet fruit species. To shed light on the metabolic changes occurring during this period, we followed the expression pattern of 80 genes encoding sugar metabolism enzymes and sugar transporter proteins identified in fig fruit. A parallel comparison with male fig fruits, which do not accumulate sugar during ripening, highlighted the genes specifically related to sugar accumulation. Tissue‐specific analysis indicated that the expression of genes involved in sugar metabolism and transport undergoes a global transition.
Versatile Matlab Simulation Model for Photovoltaic Array with MPPT Function

A Versatile simulation model for photovoltaic array is developed based on the DC physical model of photovoltaic module under Matlab environment. By the model,the I-V characteristics of photovoltaic array with different combinations can be simulated at any corresponding insolation level, ambient temperature and parameters of the photovoltaic module. In addition to that, the model includes the function of Maximum Power Point Tracking(MPPT) . It can be used in the dynamic simulation of photovoltaic systems and wind -solar hybrid systems.
Multimodal reasoning based on knowledge graph embedding for specific diseases

Abstract Motivation Knowledge Graph (KG) is becoming increasingly important in the biomedical field. Deriving new and reliable knowledge from existing knowledge by KG embedding technology is a cutting-edge method. Some add a variety of additional information to aid reasoning, namely multimodal reasoning. However, few works based on the existing biomedical KGs are focused on specific diseases. Results This work develops a construction and multimodal reasoning process of Specific Disease Knowledge Graphs (SDKGs). We construct SDKG-11, a SDKG set including five cancers, six non-cancer diseases, a combined Cancer5 and a combined Diseases11, aiming to discover new reliable knowledge and provide universal pre-trained knowledge for that specific disease field. SDKG-11 is obtained through original triplet extraction, standard entity set construction, entity linking and relation linking. We implement multimodal reasoning by reverse-hyperplane projection for SDKGs based on structure, category and description embeddings. Multimodal reasoning improves pre-existing models on all SDKGs using entity prediction task as the evaluation protocol. We verify the model’s reliability in discovering new knowledge by manually proofreading predicted drug–gene, gene–disease and disease–drug pairs. Using embedding results as initialization parameters for the biomolecular interaction classification, we demonstrate the universality of embedding models. Availability and implementation The constructed SDKG-11 and the implementation by TensorFlow are available from https://github.com/ZhuChaoY/SDKG-11. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Does learning different script systems affect configural visual processing? ERP evidence from early readers of Chinese and German.

Reading is a complex cultural skill requiring considerable training, apparently affecting also the processing of non-linguistic visual stimuli. We examined whether the different visual demands involved in reading different script systems-alphabetic German versus logographic Chinese script-would differentially influence configural visual processing. Our main dependent measure was the N170 component of the ERP, which is considered as a signature of configural processing. In the present study, German and Chinese children (N = 28 vs. 27) who had received about one year of formal instruction in their native script system, worked on a series of one-back tasks with naturalistic faces, two-tone Mooney faces and doodles, and on an adaptation task with pairs of faces were either identical or differed in their second-order relations. Chinese children showed larger N170 amplitudes than German children for naturalistic and Mooney faces, specifically indicating superior holistic processing in Chinese children. In contrast, there was no superiority in Chinese children on the second-order adaptation effect at the N170, providing no evidence for differences in second-order relations processing of facial configurations between the groups. Given the sensitivity of the visual system to reading acquisition, these findings suggest that these group differences in holistic processing might be due to the extensive training with the highly complex logographic script system learned by Chinese children, imposing high demands on higher-order visual perception.
The Hippocampal–Ventral Medial Prefrontal Cortex Neurocircuitry Involvement in the Association of Daily Life Stress With Acute Perceived Stress and Cortisol Responses

ABSTRACT Objective Daily life stressors include everyday irritants, hassles, and inconveniences, such as problems in traffic and unexpected work deadlines. A growing body of research has suggested higher daily stress is associated with blunted cortisol response to acute psychosocial stressors. However, so far, the neural mechanism underlying this association has not been elucidated. The current study aimed to examine the role of stress neurocircuitry between the hippocampus and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex in this relationship. Methods To this end, as an index of daily stress in 44 young healthy individuals (23 females; mean [standard deviation] age = 19.07 [1.11] years), the total stressful rating score of daily life stress events that occurred in a 24-hour period was quantified. Individuals were then administered a modified version of the Montreal Imaging Stress Task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, and their saliva samples were collected for assessment of the stress hormone cortisol. Results Results revealed that a higher level of daily stress was associated with lower salivary cortisol secretion (r = −0.39, p = .008) and lower activation of the left hippocampus (tpeak = −5.51) in response to the Montreal Imaging Stress Task. Furthermore, a higher level of daily stress was associated with stronger functional connectivity between the left hippocampus and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex/subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (tpeak = 4.91, R2 = 0.365). Conclusions Taken together, the current study suggested a possible neurocircuitry of the hippocampus and ventral medial prefrontal cortex in the relationship between daily life stress and acute psychosocial stress.
Physical ARTEMIS:DNA-PKcs interaction is necessary for V(D)J recombination

Abstract The nuclease ARTEMIS and the DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) are involved in the repair of physiological and pathogenic DNA double strand breaks. Both proteins are indispensable for the hairpin-opening activity in V(D)J recombination and therefore essential for the adaptive immune response. ARTEMIS and DNA-PKcs interact, however experimental evidence for in vivo significance is missing. We demonstrate that mutations abolishing this protein-protein interaction affect nuclease function. In DNA-PKcs, mutation L3062R impairs the physical interaction with ARTEMIS and was previously identified as pathogenic variant, resulting in radiosensitive severe combined immunodeficiency. In ARTEMIS, specific mutations in two conserved regions affect interaction with DNA-PKcs. In combination they impair V(D)J recombination activity, independent of ARTEMIS autoinhibitory self-interaction between the ARTEMIS C-terminus and the N-terminal nuclease domain. We describe small fragments from both proteins, capable of interaction with the corresponding full-length partner proteins: In DNA-PKcs 42 amino acids out of FAT region 2 (PKcs3041-3082) can mediate interaction with ARTEMIS. In the nuclease we have defined 26 amino acids (ARM378-403) as minimal DNA-PKcs interacting fragment. The exact mapping of the ARTEMIS:DNA-PKcs interaction may pave the way for the design of specific inhibitors targeting the repair of DNA double strand breaks.
Effects of Vivifrail multicomponent intervention on functional capacity: a multicentre, randomized controlled trial

Physical exercise is an effective strategy for preserving functional capacity and improving the symptoms of frailty in older adults. In addition to functional gains, exercise is considered to be a cornerstone for enhancing cognitive function in frail older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia. We assessed the effects of the Vivifrail exercise intervention for functional capacity, cognition, and well‐being status in community‐dwelling older adults.
The non-telomeric evolutionary trajectory of TRF2 in zebrafish reveals its specific roles in neurodevelopment and aging

Abstract The shelterin protein complex is required for telomere protection in various eukaryotic organisms. In mammals, the shelterin subunit TRF2 is specialized in preventing ATM activation at telomeres and chromosome end fusion in somatic cells. Here, we demonstrate that the zebrafish ortholog of TRF2 (encoded by the terfa gene) is protecting against unwanted ATM activation genome-wide. The terfa-compromised fish develop a prominent and specific embryonic neurodevelopmental failure. The heterozygous fish survive to adulthood but exhibit a premature aging phenotype. The recovery from embryonic neurodevelopmental failure requires both ATM inhibition and transcriptional complementation of neural genes. Furthermore, restoring the expression of TRF2 in glial cells rescues the embryonic neurodevelopment phenotype. These results indicate that the shelterin subunit TRF2 evolved in zebrafish as a general factor of genome maintenance and transcriptional regulation that is required for proper neurodevelopment and normal aging. These findings uncover how TRF2 links development to aging by separate functions in gene expression regulation and genome stability control.