Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracellular vesicles containing oncogenic mutant β-catenin activate Wnt signalling pathway in the recipient cells

ABSTRACT Mutations in β-catenin, especially at the residues critical for its degradation, render it constitutively active. Here, we show that mutant β-catenin can be transported via extracellular vesicles (EVs) and activate Wnt signalling pathway in the recipient cells. An integrative proteogenomic analysis identified the presence of mutated β-catenin in EVs secreted by colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Follow-up experiments established that EVs released from LIM1215 CRC cells stimulated Wnt signalling pathway in the recipient cells with wild-type β-catenin. SILAC-based quantitative proteomics analysis confirmed the transfer of mutant β-catenin to the nucleus of the recipient cells. In vivo tracking of DiR-labelled EVs in mouse implanted with RKO CRC cells revealed its bio-distribution, confirmed the activation of Wnt signalling pathway in tumour cells and increased the tumour burden. Overall, for the first time, this study reveals that EVs can transfer mutant β-catenin to the recipient cells and promote cancer progression.
Motivators and Deterrents to Diet Change in Low Socio-Economic Pakistani Patients With Cardiovascular Disease

This study explores factors that affect the people of low socioeconomic status regarding food choices after diagnosis with cardiovascular disease. Qualitative approach was used to identify the important factors associated with dietary changes as a result of their disease. Twenty-four participants were interviewed from two cardiac facilities in Karachi, the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan. Data were analyzed to identify the themes using the interpretative description approach. While most participants understood the need for dietary changes, few were able to follow recommended diets. Their food choices were primarily influenced by financial constraints as well as cultural, familial, and religious values and practices. The challenge for health care providers lies in understanding the economical, sociocultural, and religious factors that influence behavioral changes which, in turn, affect dietary choices. It is apparent that cardiovascular risk and disease outcomes for the people of low socioeconomic status are likely to escalate. Thus, it is necessary to address the sociocultural, religious, and behavioral factors affecting dietary choices. Achieving this imperative requires an intersectorial, multilevel intervention for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases in people of low socioeconomic status.
A Fast Algorithm for Particle Stacking

Received: 20 March 2019 Accepted: 25 June 2019 The purpose of this study was to investigate the generation of non-overlapping particle sets quickly and accurately that meet specified conditions in the preparatory stage of discrete element simulation. A fast-geometric particle stackinfg algorithm based on geometric and grid search method was proposed for the generation of particle stacking, which is used to generate large particles, then generated small particles and fill them. The results indicated when the velocity of particle generation was too slow, the new position of two or three contacts should be adjusted to accommodate more particles in the current particle diameter range. Moreover, the calculation example showed that under the condition of a specified particle gradation, particle sets with different void ratios could be generated according to the need for discrete element simulation. The time to generate the particle sets is linear with the number of particles, and the algorithm takes less time. The findings of this study may serve as the generation of non-overlapping particle sets for meeting specified conditions in discrete element simulation.
Prevalence and phylogenetic relationship among methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococci isolated from hospital’s dairy food, food handlers, and patients

Objective: The aim of the present work was to investigate the mutual role that may be played by the served dairy food and food handlers in the transmission of methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci to patients who were hospitalized in Qena City, Egypt. Materials and Methods: A total of 210 samples including 90 dairy food samples which offered to the patients in the hospital, 60 nasal and hand swabs from food handlers working in the hospital, and 60 nasal and diarrheal swabs from patients suffering from diarrhea were investigated for the presence of coagulase-positive S. aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci, then isolates were screened for methicillin and vancomycin resistance phenotypically and genotypically. 16s rRNA gene sequencing was employed to construct the neighbor-joining tree. Results: Unlike food samples, both coagulase-positive S. aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci occurred in human samples. Methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci could be detected in 41.7% & 20.8%, 68% & 31.9%, and 81.3% & 55.2% of isolates obtained from dairy food, food handlers, and patients’ samples, respectively. Whereas 81% & 64.3%, and 75.4% & 38.6% of coagulase-positive S. aureus obtained from food handlers and patients’ samples exhibited resistance to methicillin and vancomycin, respectively. Phenotypic resistance was confirmed molecularly through detection of mecA and vanA genes. Conclusion: A significant role can be played by food and food handlers in the transmission of methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococci to patients, which has been proved in this study through the close phylogenetic relation between S. epidermidis isolated from food, food handlers, and patients’ diarrheal samples.
Relationship of Maximal Lactate Steady State to Performance at Fixed Blood Lactate Reference Values in Children

This investigation set out to estimate exercise intensity and blood lactate corresponding to the maximal lactate steady state (MLaSS) and also examined the relationship between performance at the MLaSS with performance at fixed blood lactate reference values of 2.5 and 4.0 mmol•1−1. Cardiopulmonary responses at peak treadmill exercise and blood lactate reference values were measured in 10 boys and 8 girls ages 13-14 years. The 2.5 mmol•11 reference value represented 84±7% peak VO2 in boys and 82±6% peak VO2 in girls. Corresponding values at the 4.0 mmol•1−1 level were 93±6% and 90±5% peak VO2. MLaSS occurred at 77±7% peak VO2 in boys and 76±7% peak VO2 in girls. Blood lactate at the MLaSS was 2.1±0.5 mmol•l−1 in boys and 2.3±0.6 mmol•l−1 in girls. Cardiopulmonary and heart rate responses at the MLaSS were not significantly different from corresponding responses at the 2.5 mmol•l−1 reference value. In contrast, cardiopulmonary responses at the 4.0 mmol•l−1 reference level were significantly higher than tho.
Diaqua[5,5′-dicarboxy-2,2′-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(1H-imidazole-4-carboxylato)]cobalt(II)

In the title complex, [Co(C12H8N4O8)(H2O)2], the CoII atom is coordinated by two N and two O atoms of the tetradentate 5,5′-dicarboxy-2,2′-(ethane-1,2-diyl)bis(1H-imidazole-4-carboxylate) anion. The slightly distorted octahedral coordination environment is completed by the O atoms of two water molecules in axial positions. An intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond between the carboxy and carboxylate groups stabilizes the molecular configuration. Adjacent molecules are linked through O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds between the carboxy/carboxylate groups, water molecules and imidazole fragments into a three-dimensional network.
Interactive sonification and the IoT: the case of smart sonic shoes for clinical applications

To date, little attention has been devoted by the research community to applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm to the field of interactive sonification. The IoT has the potential to facilitate the emergence of novel forms of interactive sonifications that are the result of shared control of the sonification system by both the user performing the gestures locally to the system itself, and one or more remote users. This can for instance impact therapies based on auditory feedback where the control of the sound generation may be shared by patients and doctors remotely connected. This paper describes a prototype of connected shoes for interactive sonification that can be remotely controlled and can collect data about the gait of a walker. The system targets primarily clinical applications where sound stimuli are utilized to help guide and improve walking actions of patients with motor impairments.
Physiologic Effect of Relaxation Therapies on Autonomic Tone Early After Acute Coronary Syndromes

PHYSIOLOGIC EFFECT OF RELAXATION THERAPIES ON AUTONOMIC TONE EARLY AFTER ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROMES. Rachel S.C. Friedman, Matthew Burg, Rachel J. Lampert. Section of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Post-MI patients are at increased risk of arrhythmic sudden death. Stress and sympathetic activation are known to influence arrhythmogenesis. While relaxation therapies improve psychological well-being in multiple medical illnesses, whether these therapies can positively influence sympathovagal balance in the post-MI population is unknown. We explored the physiologic effects of Reiki, a light-touch relaxation therapy, and music on postacute coronary syndrome (ACS) inpatients, using heart rate variability (HRV) to assess changes in cardiac autonomic function during treatment. Forty-eight patients with ACS within the last 72 hours were randomized to received a single 20-minute session of either Reiki, classical music, or a control “minimal distraction environment”. All subjects underwent ambulatory ECG Holter monitoring. Emotional state was assessed by Likert scale. HRV was analyzed by spectral analysis via fast Fourier transformation during the baseline, intervention, and post-intervention periods and high-frequency power (lognormalized) compared via ANOVA with repeated measures. Adequate Holters were recorded in 12 control, 13 music, and 12 Reiki patients. High frequency (HF) component of HRV, an index of parasympathetic tone, increased significantly during Reiki (0.58±0.16) but not during music (-0.1±0.16) or control (0.06±0.16). RR interval increased significantly with Reiki and control, but not with music. Reiki significantly reduced reported anxiety and increased sense of relaxation compared to control (p=0.04), whereas music did not. In conclusion, post-MI recipients of light-touch from nurses trained in Reiki experienced increased vagal activity and decreased anxiety. Whether longer-term use of this therapy can improve outcomes requires further study.
Testing and deployment patterns for the internet-of-things

As with every software, Internet-of-Things (IoT) systems have their own life-cycle, from conception to construction, deployment, and operation. However, the testing requirements from these systems are slightly different due to their inherent coupling with hardware and human factors. Hence, the procedure of delivering new software versions in a continuous integration/delivery fashion must be adopted. Based on existent solutions (and inspired in other closely-related domains), we describe two common strategies that developers can use for testing IoT systems, (1) Testbed and (2) Simulation-based Testing, as well as one recurrent solution for its deployment (3) Middleman Update.
Toward Intelligent Query Engines

Data preparation is a crucial phase for data analysis applications. Data scientists spend most of their time on collecting and preparing data in order to efﬁciently and accurately extract valuable insights. Data preparation involves multiple steps of transformations until data is ready for analysis. Users often need to integrate heterogeneous data; to query data of various formats, one has to transform the data to a common format. To accurately execute queries over the transformed data, users have to remove any inconsistencies by applying cleaning operations. To efﬁciently execute queries, they need to tune access paths over the data. Data preparation, however is i) time-consuming since it involves expensive operations, and ii) lacks knowledge of the workload; a lot of preparation effort is wasted on data never meant to be used. To address the functionality and performance requirements of data analysis, we re-design data preparation in a way that is weaved into data analysis. We eliminate the transform-and-load cost using in-situ query processing approaches which adapt to any data format and facilitate querying diverse datasets. To address the scalability issues of cleaning and tuning tasks, we inject cleaning operations into query processing, and adapt access paths on-the-ﬂy. By integrating the aforementioned tasks into data analysis, we adapt data preparation to each workload and thereby minimize response times.
Clinical Outcomes Of Using Nebulized Budesonide As The Initial Treatment For Acute Exacerbations Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Post-Hoc Analysis

Purpose The current guidelines recommend the use of systemic corticosteroids (SCS) as the optimal treatment for acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). The aim of this real-world study was to evaluate whether nebulized budesonide (NBS) could also be used as an initial treatment for AECOPD. Patients and methods AECOPD patients initially treated with NBS or SCS (oral/intravenous) were enrolled. A large-scale, long-term multicenter cohort study of AECOPD patients was performed to analyze outcomes for each treatment (NCT02051166). Results Initial NBS and SCS treatment resulted in similar outcomes in terms of improvements in FEV1, PaO2, SaO2, and PaCO2. Disease severity affected outcome similarly in both groups. When the groups were stratified according to whether the initial treatment was subsequently intensified or reduced, more intubation was seen in the groups in which initial treatment was intensified. NBS escalation and SCS reduction groups spent more days in the hospital. The NBS escalation group was associated with the highest medical expenditure and a relatively higher rate of new-onset pneumonia. The NBS maintenance/reduction group showed the lowest mortality rate between groups. Stratification according to initial PaCO2 level showed more intubation in the groups with high initial PaCO2 concentrations. Conclusion These results indicate that NBS may be used as an initial treatment in certain AECOPD patients, and further studies are needed to better define those most likely to benefit.
Biotinylated Single-Domain Antibody-Based Blocking ELISA for Detection of Antibodies Against Swine Influenza Virus

Background Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a common method for diagnosing swine influenza. However, the production of classical antibodies is both costly and time-consuming. As a promising alternative diagnostic tool, single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) offer the advantages of simpler and faster generation, good stability and solubility, and high affinity and specificity. Methods Phage display technology was used to isolate sdAbs against the SIV-NP protein from a camel VHH library. The sdAb5 was fused to the biotin acceptor peptide (BAP) and a His-Tag for its expression as monomeric and site-specific biotinylation in E.coli to develop an sdAb-based blocking ELISA (sdAb-ELISA). In the sdAb-ELISA, the anti-SIV antibodies from swine samples were used to block the binding between the biotinylated sdAb5 and SIV-NP protein coated on the ELISA plate. The specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility of sdAb-ELISA were determined. In addition, consistency among sdAb-ELISA, commercial ELISA kit, and Western blot was evaluated. Results Six SIV-NP-specific sdAbs were isolated, among which sdAb5 was identified as a dominant sdAb with higher reactivity. The cut-off value of biotinylated sdAb5-based bELISA was determined to be 29.8%. Compared with the positive reference serum against five different types of swine viruses, the developed sdAb-ELISA showed 100% specificity. The detection limit of sdAb-ELISA was 1:160 in an anti-SIV positive reference serum, which is lower than that of the commercial ELISA kit (1:20). In 78 diluted anti-SIV positive serum (1:80), 21 and 42 samples were confirmed as positive by the commercial ELISA kit and sdAb-ELISA, respectively. The coefficients of variation of intra- and inter-assay were 1.79–4.57% and 5.54–9.98%, respectively. The sdAb-ELISA and commercial ELISA kit showed a consistency of 94.17% in clinical swine serum samples. Furthermore, the coincidence rate was 96.67% between the results detected by sdAb-ELISA and Western blot. Conclusion A specific, sensitive, and reproducible sdAb-ELISA was successfully developed, which offers a new, promising method to detect anti-SIV antibodies in swine serum.
Imagination Matters When You Shop Online: The Moderating Role of Mental Simulation Between Materialism and Online Impulsive Buying

Background Several studies have demonstrated that materialistic people tend to engage in impulsive buying. However, how to help them reduce such irrational behavior, especially in online shopping context, is not known. This study aimed to explore whether mental simulation moderates the relationship between materialism and online impulsive buying. Methods A total of 200 Chinese college students participated in the experiment. We adopted an imaginary priming paradigm to manipulate three types of mental simulation: process simulation (i.e., imagining the detailed process of purchasing goods), upward outcome simulation (i.e., imagining possible positive outcomes after purchasing), and downward outcome simulation (i.e., imagining possible negative outcomes after purchasing). Then we asked participants to make purchase decisions in a simulated online store. Results Results showed that mental simulation exerted a significant moderating effect. In the upward outcome simulation group, a higher level of materialism predicted more online impulsive buying. However, this association was not significant in the downward outcome simulation and process simulation groups. Conclusion Our findings have implications for interventions in that mental simulation (process simulation or downward outcome simulation) can act as an effective way to help materialists reduce online impulsive buying.
Hybrid Dragonfly Optimization-Based Artificial Neural Network for the Recognition of Epilepsy

Epilepsy can well be stated as a disorder of the central nervous systems (CNS) that brought about recurring seizures owing to chronic abnormal blasts of electrical discharge on the brain. Knowing if an individual is having a seizure and diagnosing the seizure type or epilepsy syndrome could be hard. Many methods were developed to recognize this disease. But the existing techniques for detection of epilepsy are not satisfied with accuracy, and cannot identify the diseases effectively. To trounce these drawbacks, this paper proposes an approach for the recognition of Epilepsy as of the electroencephalography (EEG) signals. This is implemented as follows. Primarily, the Kalman filter (KF) is utilized for pre-processing to eradicate the impulse noise present in the EEG signals. This filtered signal is then decomposed utilizing variablemodes decomposition (VMD). Feature extraction (FE) is performed by computing 7 features. The dimensionality of this signal is then lessened using Modified-Principal Components Analysis (M-PCA). Finally, classification is conducted utilizing the artificial neural networks (ANN) that is optimized using the hybrid dragonfly algorithm (HDA). Disparate performance metrics such as sensitivity, accuracy, and false discovery rates (FDR) are ascertained and as well weighted against with the existent works.
Dietitians' perceptions of precepting: knowledge, skills, attitudes, barriers, and training.

Purpose The extent to which dietitians agreed or disagreed with key informants’ perceptions of precepting knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA), training needs, and barriers was determined. Methods A 98-item survey was developed and distributed electronically to Dietitians of Canada members (n=5376). Results Of the 750 respondents who completed the survey (14% response rate), more than 95% agreed that preceptors should have knowledge of promoting learning and skills acquisition, and of learner assessment and evaluation. More than 90% of respondents agreed that preceptors should have skills in planning, teaching, coaching, research, facilitation, and evaluation. Differences in respondents’ perceptions of preceptor participation in practice-based research differed with years of experience. Respondents with fewer than five years of experience had a higher level of agreement that preceptors should participate in practice-based research than did those with more experience (P<0.05). Respondents indicated that .
(E)-1-(2-Furyl)-3-(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-one

In the title heteroaryl chalcone derivative, C16H16O5, the dihedral angle between the furan and benzene rings is 14.45 (6)°. The three methoxy groups are almost coplanar with their attached benzene ring [C—C—O—C torsion angles = 2.07 (17), −5.04 (17) and 2.85 (16)°]. An intramolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bond occurs. In the crystal, adjacent molecules are linked into X-shaped chains along the c axis by weak C—H⋯O(enone) interactions. These chains are stacked along the b axis. C⋯O [3.3308 (13)–3.4123 (14) Å] short contacts are also observed.