Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mutations of RNF213 are responsible for sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation and lead to a mulberry-like cluster in zebrafish

Although familial forms of cerebral cavernous malformation are mainly attributed to three CCM genes (KRIT1, CCM2 and PDCD10), no mutation is identified in sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation cases with a unique lesion, indicating additional genes for sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation. To screen the candidate genes, we conducted whole exome sequencing in 31 sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation patients and 32 healthy controls, and identified 5 affected individuals carrying 6 heterozygous deleterious mutations in RNF213 but no RNF213 mutation in healthy individuals. To further confirm RNF213 was associated with cerebral cavernous malformation, we generated rnf213a homozygous knockout zebrafish and found mutation of rnf213a in zebrafish led to a mulberry-like cluster of disordered-flow vascular channels which was reminiscent of human cerebral cavernous malformation. In addition, we revealed kbtbd7 and anxa6 were significantly downregulated due to rnf213a mutation through transcriptomic sequencing and RT-qPCR analysis. Based on the mulberry-like phenotype partly rescued by mRNA of kbtbd7 as well as anxa6, we suggested that rnf213a promoted mulberry-like cluster via downregulation of kbtbd7 and anxa6. Altogether, we firstly demonstrate RNF213is a novel candidate gene for sporadic cerebral cavernous malformation and the mutation of rnf213a is responsible for the mulberry-like cluster in zebrafish.
A Multi-Dimensional Analysis of a Novel Approach for Wireless Stimulation

The elimination of integrated batteries in biomedical implants holds great promise for improving health outcomes in patients with implantable devices. However, despite extensive research in wireless power transfer, achieving efficient power transfer and effective operational range have remained a hindering challenge within anatomical constraints. Objective: We hereby demonstrate an intravascular wireless and batteryless microscale stimulator, designed for (1) low power dissipation via intermittent transmission and (2) reduced fixation mechanical burden via deployment to the anterior cardiac vein (ACV, ∼3.8 mm in diameter). Methods: We introduced a unique coil design circumferentially confined to a 3 mm diameter hollow-cylinder that was driven by a novel transmitter-based control architecture with improved power efficiency. Results: We examined wireless capacity using heterogenous bovine tissue, demonstrating >5 V stimulation threshold with up to 20 mm transmitter-receiver displacement and 20° of misalignment. Feasibility for human use was validated using Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation of the cardiac cycle, guided by pacer phantom-integrated Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI). Conclusion: This system design thus enabled sufficient wireless power transfer in the face of extensive stimulator miniaturization. Significance: Our successful feasibility studies demonstrated the capacity for minimally invasive deployment and low-risk fixation.
Microbial Polyhydroxyalkanoates and Nonnatural Polyesters

Microorganisms produce diverse polymers for various purposes such as storing genetic information, energy, and reducing power, and serving as structural materials and scaffolds. Among these polymers, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial polyesters synthesized and accumulated intracellularly as a storage material of carbon, energy, and reducing power under unfavorable growth conditions in the presence of excess carbon source. PHAs have attracted considerable attention for their wide range of applications in industrial and medical fields. Since the first discovery of PHA accumulating bacteria about 100 years ago, remarkable advances have been made in the understanding of PHA biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of microorganisms toward developing efficient PHA producers. Recently, nonnatural polyesters have also been synthesized by metabolically engineered microorganisms, which opened a new avenue toward sustainable production of more diverse plastics. Herein, the current state of PHAs and nonnatural polyesters is reviewed, covering mechanisms of microbial polyester biosynthesis, metabolic pathways, and enzymes involved in biosynthesis of short‐chain‐length PHAs, medium‐chain‐length PHAs, and nonnatural polyesters, especially 2‐hydroxyacid‐containing polyesters, metabolic engineering strategies to produce novel polymers and enhance production capabilities and fermentation, and downstream processing strategies for cost‐effective production of these microbial polyesters. In addition, the applications of PHAs and prospects are discussed.
STC-GAN: Spatio-Temporally Coupled Generative Adversarial Networks for Predictive Scene Parsing

Predictive scene parsing is a task of assigning pixel-level semantic labels to a future frame of a video. It has many applications in vision-based artificial intelligent systems, <italic>e.g.,</italic> autonomous driving and robot navigation. Although previous work has shown its promising performance in semantic segmentation of images and videos, it is still quite challenging to anticipate future scene parsing with limited annotated training data. In this paper, we propose a novel model called <italic>STC-GAN</italic>, <italic><underline>S</underline>patio-</italic> <italic><underline>T</underline>emporally</italic> <italic><underline>C</underline>oupled</italic> <italic><underline>G</underline>enerative</italic> <italic><underline>A</underline>dversarial</italic> <italic><underline>N</underline>etworks</italic> for predictive scene parsing, which employ both convolutional neural networks and convolutional long short-term memory (LSTM) in the encoder-decoder architecture. By virtue of STC-GAN, both spatial layout and semantic context can be captured by the spatial encoder effectively, while motion dynamics are extracted by the temporal encoder accurately. Furthermore, a coupled architecture is presented for establishing joint adversarial training where the weights are shared and features are transformed in an adaptive fashion between the future frame generation model and predictive scene parsing model. Consequently, the proposed STC-GAN is able to learn valuable features from unlabeled video data. We evaluate our proposed STC-GAN on two public datasets, <italic>i.e., Cityscapes</italic> and <italic>CamVid</italic>. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art.
HIV‐1 infection and latency‐reversing agents bryostatin‐1 and JQ1 disrupt amyloid beta homeostasis in human astrocytes

Since the introduction of the combined antiretroviral therapy, HIV‐1 infection has become a manageable chronic disease in which patients display a life expectancy almost identical to the general population. Nevertheless, various age‐related pathologies such as neurocognitive disorders have emerged as serious complications. A “shock and kill” strategy using latency‐reversing agents (LRA) to reactivate HIV‐1 has been proposed to eliminate the viral reservoir in such chronically infected patients. However, the impact of LRA on the central nervous system remains elusive. Given that an increased amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition is a feature of HIV‐1‐infected brains, we investigated the consequences of HIV‐1 infection and treatment with two LRA (bryostatin‐1 and JQ1) on the capacity of human astrocytes to engulf and clear Aβ. We show here that HIV‐1‐infected astrocytes accumulate a very high amount of Aβ compared to uninfected cells, but the engulfed peptide in degraded very slowly. The LRA bryostatin‐1 induces a reduction in Aβ endocytosis, whereas JQ1 treatment results in a very slow degradation of the ingested material associated with a reduced expression of the endopeptidase neprilysin. An exposure to JQ1 also induces a sustained release of Aβ‐loaded microvesicles. Thus, both HIV‐1 infection and treatment with some LRA could contribute to the reported Aβ accumulation in the brain of HIV‐1‐infected persons.
Examining the Feasibility of a Mindfulness Intervention for the Prevention of Falls: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACT This pilot study was designed to assess the feasibility of implementing a mindfulness intervention in the prevention of falls. We employed a quasi-experimental design consisting of 22 participants from two retirement homes in Ontario partaking in the regional falls prevention class. Participants were assigned to either an eight-week intervention, comprising mindfulness exercises incorporated into the standard falls prevention class, or to the standard falls prevention class. Participants were assessed using the Tinetti Balance and Gait Scale and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test. The mindfulness intervention showed no significant effect on TUG or balance scores; however, there was a significant effect on assessments of gait. Given the ease of implementation of mindfulness-based interventions, further research may be warranted in mindfulness as a potential modality for falls prevention.
Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Spirometry Reference Values among Children and Adolescents of Karachi

This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author SS designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors STA and NAR drafted and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content and gave final approval to be published. Authors MS, MFHQ and ML collected data and managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. ABSTRACT Aim: The aim of the study is to assess the influence of socioeconomic status on the lung function among the children and adolescents of Karachi. Study Design: The current study is a cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Sampling was started in April 2017 and ended up in October 2017. The data were collected from different primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary schools of Karachi. Methodology: The study participants enrolled were between the age group of 7-18 years. A modified form of International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire was used. All the spirometry variables were measured and interpreted, these including forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, FEV 1 /FVC, peak expiratory flow rate, forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% expired volume. ANOVA was applied to evaluate group variation while intragroup variations were analyzed by using Post-Hoc Tukey’s test. Results: The pulmonary variables like FVC, FEV 1 , PEF and FEF 25-75 had a significant value with socioeconomic status, on the other hand, the ratio of FEV 1 /FVC was presented as non-significant but fortunately it persisted higher than 90% among all groups. After applying Post-Hoc Tukey’s test all the spirometry variables showed significant intra-group variations as P value was less than . 05 mentioned. Conclusion: It is concluded that the socioeconomic status of children should be considered during evaluation of lung function, especially in the settings of developing countries.
Exploring the Interlinkages Between Gender, Power, and Health in the Entertainment Establishment Settings in Kathmandu Nepal

This article explores the ways in which gender inequalities are reproduced and reinforced within entertainment establishments, and in turn the ways in which it affects health of the women working in these establishments. Specifically, this article is based on 35 in-depth interviews with women working in entertainment establishments in Kathmandu, Nepal. The findings highlight daily encounters of harassment by customers demanding engagement and acceptance of various sexual advances; strategies of exploitation by employers such as threatening the loss of work and/or salary to coerce the women into engaging in sexual talks and innuendoes to increase sales for the business; and an adverse impact on the physical, emotional, and psychological health of women working in the entertainment establishment. The findings urge us to locate the discussion of health, particularly health of marginalized women, within the context of gender inequalities, labor divisions, and power relations.
Bone remodeling features in elderly and senile patients with the proximal femur fractures after hip replacement.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to identify the dependence of the result of surgical treatment of patients of elderly and senile age with fractures of the proximal femur on the characteristics of the response cytokine-mediated regulatory response to trauma and surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS Materials and methods: In 74 patients after hip arthroplasty, serum levels of bone metabolism markers were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Patients were divided into 2 groups depending on the results of treatment. RESULTS Results: It was found that compared with group 2 (treatment outcome is worse) in group 1 (treatment outcome is better) there was a greater number of correlations. In group 1, correlations were found between OPG and RANKL (r = 0.88; p = 0.000), OPG and OPG/RANKL (r = 0.44; p = 0.006), TGF-β1 and OPG/RANKL (r = 0.66; p = 0.000) , IL-6 and OPG (r = 0.67; p = 0.000), IL-6 and RANKL (r = 0.53; p = 0.001), IL-6 and OPG/RANKL (r = 0.39; p = 0.016). In group 2, only between OPG and OPG/RANKL (r = 0.72; p = 0.000), RANKL and OPG/RANKL (r = -0.53; p = 0.0007). In patients of group 2, there was a decrease in the level of OPG relative to the control and a less significant increase in TGF-β1 and IL-6 relative to group 1. CONCLUSION Conclusion: The prognosis of the results of treatment of patients with proximal femur fractures is largely determined by the nature of the adaptive response to injury and theimplant, the synchronism of the mechanism of stress remodeling of the bone. A less favorable prognosis after arthroplasty is associated with exacerbation of the initial metabolic disorders in the bone tissue due to severe cytokine-mediated dysfunction of the regulatory pathways.
Genetic consequences of being a dwarf: Do evolutionary changes in life-history traits influence gene flow patterns in populations of the world's smallest goldenrod?

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Contrasting life-history traits can evolve through generations of dwarf plant ecotypes, yet such phenotypic changes often involve decreased plant size and reproductive allocation, which can configure seed dispersal patterns and, subsequently, population demography. Therefore, evolutionary transitions to dwarfism can represent good study systems to test the roles of life-history traits on population demography by comparing genetic structure between related but phenotypically divergent ecotypes. METHODS In this study, we examined an ecotypic taxon pair of the world's smallest goldenrod (stem height: 2.6 cm) in alpine habitats and its closely related lowland taxon (30-40 cm) found on Yakushima Island, Japan. Genetic variation in chloroplast DNA sequences, nuclear microsatellites, and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms were used to investigate 197 samples from 16 populations, to infer the population genetic demography and compare local genetic structure of the ecotypes. KEY RESULTS We found a pronounced level of genetic differentiation among alpine dwarf populations, which were much less geographically isolated than their lowland counterparts. In particular, several neighbouring dwarf populations (located approximately 500 m apart) harboured completely different sets of chloroplast haplotypes and nuclear genetic clusters. Demographic modelling revealed that the dwarf populations have not exchanged genes at significant levels after population divergence. CONCLUSIONS These lines of evidence suggest that the substantial effects of genetic drift have operated on these dwarf populations. The low-growing stature and reduced fecundity (only 3.1 heads per plants) in the dwarf plants may have reduced gene flow and rare long-distance seed dispersal among habitat patches, although the effects of life-history traits require further evaluation using ecological approaches.
Multiple Respiratory Syncytial Virus Introductions Into a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background. Outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) are of concern because of the risk of severe disease in young infants. We describe an outbreak of RSV in a NICU and use whole genome sequencing (WGS) to better understand the relatedness of viruses among patients. Methods. An investigation was conducted to identify patients and describe their clinical course. Infection control measures were implemented to prevent further spread. Respiratory specimens from outbreak-related patients and the community were tested using WGS. Phylogenetic trees were constructed to understand relatedness of the viruses. Results. Seven patients developed respiratory symptoms within an 11-day span in December 2017 and were diagnosed with RSV; 6 patients (86%) were preterm and 1 had chronic lung disease. Three patients required additional respiratory support after symptom onset, and none died. Six of 7 patients were part of the same cluster based on > 99.99% nucleotide agreement with each other and 3 unique single-nucleotide polymorphisms were identified in viruses sequenced from those patients. The seventh patient was admitted from the community with respiratory symptoms and had a genetically distinct virus that was not related to the other 6. Implementation of enhanced infection control measures likely limited the spread. Conclusions. Using WGS, we found 2 distinct introductions of RSV into a NICU, highlighting the risk of healthcare-associated infections during RSV season. Early recognition and infection control measures likely limited spread, emphasizing the importance of considering RSV in the differential diagnosis of respiratory infections in healthcare settings.
Preeclampsia beyond pregnancy:Long-term consequences for mother and child.

Preeclampsia is defined as new-onset hypertension after the 20th week of gestation along with evidence of maternal organ failure. Rates of preeclampsia have steadily increased over the past 30 years, affecting approximately 4% of pregnancies in the United States and causing a high economic burden. The pathogenesis is multifactorial, with acknowledged contributions by placental, vascular, renal, and immunological dysfunction. Treatment is limited, commonly employing symptomatic management and/or early delivery of the fetus. Along with significant peripartum morbidity and mortality, current research continues to demonstrate that the consequences of preeclampsia extend far beyond preterm delivery. It has lasting effects for both mother and child, resulting in increased susceptibility to hypertension and chronic kidney disease, yielding lifelong risk to both individuals. This review discusses recent guideline updates and recommendations, along with current research on these long-term consequences of preeclampsia.
Hepatoprotective effects of melatonin and celecoxib against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Abstract Objectives: Several studies demonstrated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory role of melatonin and celecoxib. This study is designed to explore the underlying mechanism of hepatoprotective effects of melatonin and celecoxib against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity by morphological, and biochemical approaches. Materials and methods: Adult male rats were divided into five groups: saline, ethanol, melatonin, and celecoxib were administered for 11 consecutive days after ethanol injection. Biochemical analyses were performed for the determination of glutathione (GSH), glutathione S-transferase (GST), and inducible nitric oxide (iNOS). Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the level of different inflammatory markers. Results: Histopathological results showed that ethanol-induced marked hepatic injury leads to cloudy swelling, hydropic degeneration, apoptosis, and focal necrosis in all hepatic zones. Biochemical analysis revealed significant increases in serum transaminases and alkaline phosphatase in the ethanol group. Oxidative stress associated with attenuated antioxidant enzymes was also spotted in the ethanol group, as ethanol down-regulated GSH, GST, and upregulated NO. Additionally, ethanol increased the activation and the expression of tumor necrotic factor (TNF-α), p-NFKB, and COX2. Finally, hepatic cellular apoptosis was clearly obvious in ethanol intoxicated animals using activated JNK staining. Conclusion: These results provided pieces of evidence that the hepatoprotective effect of melatonin and celecoxib is possibly mediated through the modulation of JNK and TNF-α signaling pathways with subsequent suppression of inflammatory and apoptotic processes.
Generating indicators of appropriate feeding of children 6 through 23 months from the KPC 2000

Nutrition interventions designed to improve complementary feeding practices are one component of many child survival and health programs. Program planners and managers need indicators of adequate or optimal complementary feeding for a variety of purposes. For example indicators are needed to establish the baseline prevalence of key feeding practices and to assess progress towards objectives. In USAID-funded Child Survival and Health projects Knowledge Practices and Coverage (KPC)surveys are used as a tool for gathering quantitative information on a range of practices including complementary feeding practices. The KPC survey tool also includes a set of tabulation guidelines for recommended indicators. The current KPC questionnaire (KPC 2000+) includes a set of questions about complementary feeding. Respondents are asked about foods and liquids given to the sample child the previous day and about frequency of feeding. However the tabulation plan currently includes only one indicator incorporating this information for ages 6-9 months only. There are no recommended indicators defined to summarize gathered on quality of complementary feeding across the relevant the information the age-range (6-23 months). This document suggests a set of indicators to fill that gap. A total &twenty-five indicators are listed in the Tables. We emphasize throughout the document that this list should be viewed as a menu from which project managers can select those indicators most relevant to their information needs. We particularly focus on indicators related to the nutrient content of complementary food for infants and children 6-23 months of age and suggest indicators for dietary diversity animal source foods eaten the previous day and vitamin A-rich plant foods eaten the previous day. (excerpt)