Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNA-186-5p is expressed highly in ethanol-induced cardiomyocytes and regulates apoptosis via the target gene XIAP

Ethanol has a toxic effect on the heart, resulting in cardiomyocyte damage. Long-term high intake of ethanol leads to a non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy termed alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM). However, the pathogenesis of alcoholic cardiomyopathy remains unclear. The apoptosis of cardiomyocytes serves an important role in the pathogenesis of ACM. X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) is an important anti-apoptotic protein in human tissue cells. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have reported on its function in ethanol-induced cardiomyopathy. Previous works have screened the ACM-associated differentially expressed microRNAs (miRs), including miR-186-5p and miR-488-3p. TargetScan bioinformatics software was used to predict 949 target genes associated with miR-186-5p, and XIAP was demonstrated to be a target of miR-186-5p. The present study firstly analyzed the levels of apoptosis in ethanol-treated cardiomyocytes using flow cytometry. Alterations in the expression levels of miR-186-5p and XIAP were subsequently evaluated in ethanol-treated AC16 cardiomyocytes to assess the specific molecular mechanisms of ethanol-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. The levels of apoptosis in AC16 cardiomyocytes increased following ethanol treatment, and further increased with the rise in concentration and action time of ethanol. The expression levels of miR-186-5p were upregulated, and the expression levels of XIAP were downregulated in ethanol-treated cardiomyocytes. miR-186-5p may regulate ethanol-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes using XIAP as the direct target gene. This study provides a novel therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of ACM.
Liquid biopsy in lymphoma

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Urinary Proteomics Profiles Are Useful for Detection of Cancer Biomarkers and Changes Induced by Therapeutic Procedures

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a binary cancer treatment modality where two different agents (10B and thermal neutrons) have to be present to produce an effect. A dedicated trial design is necessary for early clinical trials. The concentration of 10B in tissues is an accepted surrogate to predict BNCT effects on tissues. Tissue, blood, and urines were sampled after infusion of two different boron carriers, namely BSH and BPA in the frame of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) trial 11001. In this study, urine samples were used to identify protein profiles prior and after drug infusion during surgery. Here, an approach that is based on the mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomic analysis of urine samples from head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and thyroid cancer patients is presented. This method allowed the identification of several inflammation- and cancer-related proteins, which could serve as tumor biomarkers. In addition, changes in the urinary proteome during and after therapeutic interventions were detected. In particular, a reduction of three proteins that were involved in inflammation has been observed: Galectin-3 Binding Protein, CD44, and osteopontin. The present work represents a proof of principle to follow proteasome changes during complex treatments based on urine samples.
Reference values and variation of acetabular angles measured by computed tomography in 170 asymptomatic hips

Background We have little knowledge of reference values for acetabular angles. Purpose The purpose of this study was to report values and variation for the center-edge (CE), the acetabular-index (AI), the anterior-sector (AASA), the posterior-sector (PASA), and the acetabular-anteversion angle (AcAV) and to investigate gender differences. Material and Methods Retrospectively, we recruited 96 individuals, 52 women (mean age = 63 ± 12 years) who had undergone computed tomography (CT) as part of examination for lymphomas in 2013 at Aarhus University Hospital. After CT, the participants completed the Oxford Hip Score. Eight individuals indicated hip problems and three had missing data; those 11 were excluded from the material. The acetabular angles for both hips were measured on CT images by an experienced radiologist. The acetabular angles are reported for right and left hip as mean ± SD degrees and compared women and men with a two-sample t-test. Results The CE angle [right;left] averaged [34±6;35±5]. The AI angle averaged [3±6;1±5]. The AASA averaged [58±7;60±9]. The PASA averaged [94±7;95±7]. The AcAV averaged [18±5;18±5]. The AASA was lower whereas the PASA and the ACAV were higher for women compared to men. Conclusion We found considerable variation in the values for acetabular angles. There were gender differences in the sector angles and for the AcAV. Knowledge of reference values is important when we attempt to diagnose the pathological hip conditions.
Session 12 d 4 Design and Implementation of Engineering Projects for the Women in Applied Science and Engineering ( WISE ) Summer Recruiting Programs

The increasing demand for universities to produce engineers from diverse backgrounds has brought about the need for special programs that encourage the recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups. The Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) Program at Arizona State University provides summer recruiting programs that serve to bridge elementary, secondary, and college level education. In addition to introducing students to career options, these programs spark individual interest and allow students to preview @pes of courses associated with engineering academics. Attrition studies have reported that women often enter into science, mathematics, and engineering with little information on their discipline and consequently decide to transfer to other majors or forgo receiving their education altogether. Therefore, it is necessary that recruitment programs create curricula that introduce the student to basic engineering concepts and directly expose them to the expectations of the college level curriculum. The WISE summer program curriculum includes several projects designed to allow the student to experience engineering in both social and academic settings. These projects center on understanding concepts of teamwork, problem solving, and analytical evaluation. Specijic projects introduce students to several different engineering disciplines and allow them to draw conclusions concerning their similarities and how these disciplines interact with each other. An overview of WISE summer program projects geared toward the college level engineering curriculum will be presented and a discussion of methods used to design and implement these projects will be included. Specific factors that influence implementation, as well as benefits and shortcomings of the projects, will also be discussed. In addition, program evaluation from middle school and high school participants will be presented.
Binder‐Free Electrodes for Advanced Sodium‐Ion Batteries

Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) have recently emerged as one of the favored contenders for use in medium and large‐scale stationary energy storage owing to the abundance of the resources required to fabricate them, their low cost, and the fact that have properties similar to equivalent Li batteries. However, their development also faces challenges such as poor cycling stability and unsatisfying rate performance. In traditional electrodes, binders are commonly used to integrate individual active materials with conductive additives. Unfortunately, binders are generally electrochemically inactive and insulating, which reduces the overall energy density and leads to poor cycling stability. Therefore, binder‐free electrodes provide great opportunity for high‐performance SIBs in terms of both improved electronic conductivity and electrochemical reaction reversibility. This Progress Report provides an overview of the recent progress in binder‐free electrodes for SIBs. It focuses on the current challenges of binder‐free electrodes and provides an outlook for their future in energy conversion and storage.
Measuring the quality of life of incarcerated individuals.

PURPOSE Measuring quality of life (QoL) under incarceration can be used to track successful rehabilitation and risk of re-offending. However, few studies have measured QoL among general incarcerated populations, and it is important to use psychometrically strong measures that pose minimal burdens to respondents and administrators. The paper aims to discuss these issues. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The aim of this analysis was to explore the utility of a short generic tool measuring overall QoL, the QOL5, in an incarcerated population. The authors drew data from the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction Study, a cross-sectional survey of 1,499 individuals from Norwegian prisons. FINDINGS Factor analysis suggested a unidimensional structure that explained 53.2 percent of variance in QoL scores. Intrascale correlations were high and internal consistency was acceptable ( α=0.764). The QOL5 was strongly correlated with mental health, moderately correlated with exercise frequency and weakly correlated with ward security. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The QOL5 is a short measure that presents minimal burden to respondents and administrators. The authors recommend its further use in incarcerated populations to measure overall QoL as well as cross-cultural adaptation and validation in more languages. ORIGINALITY/VALUE In this analysis of the largest published sample to date of incarcerated individuals and their QoL, the QOL5 appears to be an acceptable and valid measure of overall QoL.
The Obemat2.0 Study: A Clinical Trial of a Motivational Intervention for Childhood Obesity Treatment

The primary aim of the Obemat2.0 trial was to evaluate the efficacy of a multicomponent motivational program for the treatment of childhood obesity, coordinated between primary care and hospital specialized services, compared to the usual intervention performed in primary care. This was a cluster randomized clinical trial conducted in Spain, with two intervention arms: motivational intervention group vs. usual care group (as control), including 167 participants in each. The motivational intervention consisted of motivational interviewing, educational materials, use of an eHealth physical activity monitor and three group-based sessions. The primary outcome was body mass index (BMI) z score increments before and after the 12 (+3) months of intervention. Secondary outcomes (pre-post intervention) were: adherence to treatment, waist circumference (cm), fat mass index (z score), fat free mass index (z score), total body water (kg), bone mineral density (z score), blood lipids profile, glucose metabolism, and psychosocial problems. Other assessments (pre and post-intervention) were: sociodemographic information, physical activity, sedentary activity, neuropsychological testing, perception of body image, quality of the diet, food frequency consumption and foods available at home. The results of this clinical trial could open a window of opportunity to support professionals at the primary care to treat childhood obesity. The clinicaltrials.gov identifier was NCT02889406.
Impacts of Anthropogenic Changes on the Mun River Water: Insight from Spatio-Distributions and Relationship of C and N Species in Northeast Thailand

C and N species, including dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), NO3− and NH4+ contents in 57 river water samples collected from the Mun River of Thailand were measured to determine the relationships between these dissolved load species and their impacts on the environment. DOC values varied between 1.71 and 40.08 mg/L, averaging 11.14 mg/L; DON values ranged from 0.20 to 1.37 mg/L, with an average value of 0.48 mg/L; NO3−-N values averaged 0.18 mg/L; and NH4+-N values averaged 0.15 mg/L. DOC contents increased while DON and NO3− values decreased along the flow direction. The concentrations of NH4+ maintained the same level in the whole watershed. DOC and DON values exhibited clearly higher concentrations in comparison with other rivers worldwide and were inextricably linked with anthropogenic inputs. The relationships of DOC, DON, and anthropogenic ions imply that there are two different anthropogenic sources (industrial activities and agricultural activities) of the dissolved load in the Mun River watershed. The limited correlations between the DON, NO3−, and NH4+ indicate that the N species are not dominated by a single factor, and reciprocal transformations of riverine N pool are complex. Based on the environmental water quality standard reported by the EC (European Communities) and the World Health Organization, assessments of the water quality using the parameters of pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), NO3−, NH4+, and TN (total nitrogen) in the Mun River were conducted. The results demonstrate that the river water faces potential environmental pollution, and anthropogenic inputs endanger local water quality and the aquatic community. Therefore, the local government should restrict and reduce the anthropogenic inputs discharged in to rivers, and launch long-term monitoring of water quality.
Faecal calprotectin

Chronic abdominal pain with constipation or diarrhoea is a common presenting complaint. It remains challenging for the clinician to distinguish between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (most commonly ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Fortunately, faecal calprotectin (FC) has shown promise in recent research that has translated into daily practice thereby reducing costs of the diagnostic work-up and subsequent management of these patients.
MAP7 family proteins regulate kinesin-1 recruitment and activation

Kinesin-1 is responsible for microtubule-based transport of numerous cellular cargoes. Here, we explored the regulation of kinesin-1 by MAP7 proteins. We found that all four mammalian MAP7 family members bind to kinesin-1. In HeLa cells, MAP7, MAP7D1 and MAP7D3 act redundantly to enable kinesin-1-dependent transport and microtubule recruitment of the truncated kinesin-1 KIF5B-560, which contains the stalk but not the cargo-binding and autoregulatory regions. In vitro, purified MAP7 and MAP7D3 increase microtubule landing rate and processivity of kinesin-1 through transient association with the motor. MAP7 proteins promote binding of kinesin-1 to microtubules both directly, through the N-terminal microtubule-binding domain and unstructured linker region, and indirectly, through an allosteric effect exerted by the kinesin-binding C-terminal domain. Compared to MAP7, MAP7D3 has a higher affinity for kinesin-1 and a lower affinity for microtubules and, unlike MAP7, can be co-transported with the motor. We propose that MAP7 proteins are microtubule-tethered kinesin-1 activators, with which the motor transiently interacts as it moves along microtubules. Summary A combination of experiments in cells and in vitro reconstitution assays demonstrated that mammalian MAP7 family proteins act redundantly to activate kinesin-1 and promote its microtubule binding and processivity by transiently associating with the stalk region of the motor.
A Driving‐Force Predictor for Estimating Pathway Activation in Patient‐Specific Models of Deep Brain Stimulation

Detailed biophysical modeling of deep brain stimulation (DBS) provides a theoretical approach to quantify the cellular response to the applied electric field. However, the most accurate models for performing such analyses, patient‐specific field‐cable (FC) pathway‐activation models (PAMs), are so technically demanding to implement that their use in clinical research is greatly limited. Predictive algorithms can simplify PAM calculations, but they generally fail to reproduce the output of FC models when evaluated over a wide range of clinically relevant stimulation parameters. Therefore, we set out to develop a novel driving‐force (DF) predictive algorithm (DF‐Howell), customized to the study of DBS, which can better match FC results.
Accurate and rapid CT image segmentation of the eyes and surrounding organs for precise radiotherapy.

OBJECTIVE The precise segmentation of organs at risk (OARs) is of importance for improving therapeutic outcomes and reducing injuries of patients undergoing radiotherapy. In this study, we developed a new approach for accurate computed tomography (CT) image segmentation of the eyes and surrounding organs, which is first locating then segmentation (FLTS). METHODS The FLTS approach was composed of two steps: (a) classification of CT images using convolutional neural networks (CNN), and (b) segmentation of the eyes and surrounding organs using modified U-shape networks. In order to obtain optimal performance, we enhanced our training datasets by random jitter and rotation. RESULTS This model was trained and verified using the clinical datasets that were delineated by experienced physicians. The dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was employed to evaluate the performance of our segmentation method. The average DSCs for the segmentation of the pituitary, left eye, right eye, left eye lens, right eye lens, left optic nerve, and right optic nerve were 90%, 94%, 93.5%, 84.5%, 84.3%, 80.3%, and 82.2%, respectively. CONCLUSION We developed a new network-based approach for rapid and accurate CT image segmentation of the eyes and surrounding organs. This method is accurate and efficient, and is suitable for clinical use.
Enhancing Electrocatalytic Water Splitting by Strain Engineering

Electrochemical water splitting driven by sustainable energy such as solar, wind, and tide is attracting ever‐increasing attention for sustainable production of clean hydrogen fuel from water. Leveraging these advances requires efficient and earth‐abundant electrocatalysts to accelerate the kinetically sluggish hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER). A large number of advanced water‐splitting electrocatalysts have been developed through recent understanding of the electrochemical nature and engineering approaches. Specifically, strain engineering offers a novel route to promote the electrocatalytic HER/OER performances for efficient water splitting. Herein, the recent theoretical and experimental progress on applying strain to enhance heterogeneous electrocatalysts for both HER and OER are reviewed and future opportunities are discussed. A brief introduction of the fundamentals of water‐splitting reactions, and the rationalization for utilizing mechanical strain to tune an electrocatalyst is given, followed by a discussion of the recent advances on strain‐promoted HER and OER, with special emphasis given to combined theoretical and experimental approaches for determining the optimal straining effect for water electrolysis, along with experimental approaches for creating and characterizing strain in nanocatalysts, particularly emerging 2D nanomaterials. Finally, a vision for a future sustainable hydrogen fuel community based on strain‐promoted water electrolysis is proposed.
A Taxonomy of Arts Interventions for People With Dementia.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The current evidence base for the arts and dementia has several limitations relating to the description, explanation, communication, and simplification of arts interventions. Research addressing these challenges must be multidisciplinary, taking account of humanities and science perspectives. Consequently, this research aimed to produce a taxonomy, or classification, of arts interventions for people with dementia as a contribution to this growing field. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This research was underpinned by taxonomy and realist methodology. Taxonomy, the science of classification, produces a common language to name, define, and describe the world around us. Realist theory explains how interventions "work" and produce their effects. The main findings in this paper were generated from a case study and a Delphi study. RESULTS An arts and dementia taxonomy of 12 dimensions was developed: Art Form, Artistic elements, Artistic focus, Artistic materials, Arts activity, Arts approaches, Arts facilitators, Arts location, Competencies, Complementary arts, Intervention context, Principles. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS Arts interventions can be classified according to their contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes. A range of stakeholders could benefit from the taxonomy, including people with dementia, artists, practitioners, carers, care staff, funders, commissioners, researchers, and academics. Language relating to the arts and dementia can be adapted depending on the audience. This is a foundational model requiring further development within the arts and dementia community.
Tailgut cyst: report of three cases and review of the literature

Abstract Introduction: Tailgut cysts or retrorectal cystic hamartomas are congenital developmental lesions which are often misdiagnosed due to their rare incidence, anatomical position and variable clinical presentation. Case report: We report three clinical cases: one of a 67-year old woman with high fever and anal bulging; the second case was a 50-year old woman with diffuse abdominal pain and the third case was a 52-year old woman with high fever and no abdominal or rectal pain. The rectal examination and MRI indicated the presence of a tailgut cyst. In all the cases a complete resection through a posterior perineal route was performed. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of a tailgut cyst, with a malignant component identified in the third case. Discussion: The discussion presents a brief review of the relevant information described in the literature to highlight the cornerstones for appropriate diagnosis and treatment of a tailgut cyst. Tailgut cysts are to be considered in the differential diagnosis of retrorectal or presacral masses as malignant transformation can occur.