Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthesis, characterization, and water sorption properties of new aromatic polyamides containing benzimidazole and ethylene oxide moieties

New polyamides, containing a benzimidazole side group and ethylene oxide moieties in the structural repeat unit, were synthesized by low-temperature polycondensation. The aim of this design was to obtain polyamides that were more soluble in common organic solvents and hence had better processability than benzimidazole polyamides while maintaining the water sorption properties characteristic of the latter. The results showed that the number of ether linkages of the repeat unit played an important role in the glass-transition temperature and in the water sorption properties, the polyamides with one or two ethylene oxide units being more hydrophilic than benzimidazole polyamides. However, the length of the ethylene oxide chain played a minor role in the solubility because the second member of the series, with two ether linkages (i.e., one ethylene oxide unit), reached the same level of solubility as those polyamides with more ethylene oxide moieties. No crystallinity was observed by X-ray and calorimetric measurements for the new polymers. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 112–121, 2005
iBeacon Indoor Positioning Method Combined with Real-Time Anomaly Rate to Determine Weight Matrix

This paper proposes an indoor positioning method based on iBeacon technology that combines anomaly detection and a weighted Levenberg-Marquadt (LM) algorithm. The proposed solution uses the isolation forest algorithm for anomaly detection on the collected Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) data from different iBeacon base stations, and calculates the anomaly rate of each signal source while eliminating abnormal signals. Then, a weight matrix is set by using each anomaly ratio and the RSSI value after eliminating the abnormal signal. Finally, the constructed weight matrix and the weighted LM algorithm are combined to solve the positioning coordinates. An Android smartphone was used to verify the positioning method proposed in this paper in an indoor scene. This experimental scenario revealed an average positioning error of 1.540 m and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.748 m. A large majority (85.71%) of the positioning point errors were less than 3 m. Furthermore, the RMSE of the method proposed in this paper was, respectively, 38.69%, 36.60%, and 29.52% lower than the RMSE of three other methods used for comparison. The experimental results show that the iBeacon-based indoor positioning method proposed in this paper can improve the precision of indoor positioning and has strong practicability.
Bacterial Succession through the Artisanal Process and Seasonal Effects Defining Bacterial Communities of Raw-Milk Adobera Cheese Revealed by High Throughput DNA Sequencing

The bacterial community of the artisanal Adobera cheese from Los Altos de Jalisco was described through high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries. Samples were collected in two different seasons (dry and rainy) during four key steps of the manufacturing process (raw milk, fresh curd, matured curd, and cheese). Bacterial diversity was higher in early steps in comparison with the final elaboration stages. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla, strongly represented by the Streptococcaceae, Enterobacteriaceae and Lactobacillaceae families, and core bacteria genera such as Streptococcus spp. , Lactococcus spp. , and Lactobacillus spp. Undesirable bacteria, including Pseudomonas spp. and Acinetobacter spp. , were also detected in raw milk but almost undetectable at the end of the cheese manufacturing process, and seemed to be displaced by lactic-acid bacteria-related genera. Seasonal effects were observed on the community structure but did not define the core microbiota composition. Predictive metabolism was related to membrane transport, and amino-acid, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism pathways. Our results contribute to deduce the role of bacteria involved in Adobera cheese manufacturing in terms of the metabolism involved, cheese microbial safety, and how undesirable bacterial populations could be regulated by process standardization as a potential tool to improve safety.
Optimized Icariin Cubosomes Exhibit Augmented Cytotoxicity against SKOV-3 Ovarian Cancer Cells

Clinical application of icariin (ICA) is limited, despite its activity against cancer growth, because of the low solubility of ICA in an aqueous environment. Therefore, the present study attempted to develop and optimize ICA-loaded cubosome delivery and to explore its efficacy and possible mechanism of action against ovarian cancer. The optimization of the cubosome formulation was performed using the Box‒Behnken statistical design; during the characterization, the particle sizes were in the range of 73 to 183 nm and the entrapment efficiency was 78.3% to 97.3%. Optimized ICA-loaded cubosomes (ICA-Cubs) exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity and apoptotic potential, compared with ICA-raw, against ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV-3 and Caov 3). The optimized ICA-Cubs showed a relatively non-cytotoxic effect on normal EA.hy926 endothelial cells. Further analysis of cell cycle arrest suggested a potential role in the pre-G1 and G2/M phases for ICA-Cubs in comparison with ICA-raw. ICA-Cubs increased the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the overexpression of p53 and caspase-3 in the SKOV-3 cell line. In conclusion, the cubosomal delivery of ICA might provide a prospective approach towards the superior control of ovarian cancer cell growth. Its improved efficacy compared with that of the free drug might be due to the improved solubility and cellular permeability of ICA.
How Are Discrepant Parent-Child Reports Integrated? A Case of Depressed Adolescents.

Objective: Severity ratings of psychopathology in minors are often based on a composite score of the parent's and child's reports. However, parent's and child's reports often differ substantially, resulting in the integration method affecting the final scores. Nevertheless, effects of integration algorithms are seldom assessed and poorly understood. Method: The dataset is derived from the Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS) and consists of 439 adolescents, 54% female, with a Major Depressive Disorder. The interviewer conducted the clinical interview Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) with the parent and the adolescent and the TADS manual advised the interviewer to use the higher score as the final rating unless an informant was judged to be unreliable. Polynomial regressions, multivariate analyses, and mixed models were used to analyze the effects of this integration algorithm on the final scores and associated factors. Results: In 77% of the cases, the interviewer followed the TADS rating rule to use the higher CDRS-R item score. However, the final item scores differed significantly from the rule using the higher value, with the higher score being less often adapted at follow-up assessments and in female patients. Conclusions: The algorithm used to integrate divergent reports affects study outcomes and might introduce data-specific biases. Judgments of the validity and reliability of informants compromise the objectivity of outcomes in major clinical trials by introducing a subjective bias. Therefore, the agreement between children's and parent's reports and the method of integration should routinely be reported in research on pediatric psychopathology. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00006286.
Effect of a Single Bout of Aerobic Exercise on Kynurenine Pathway Metabolites and Inflammatory Markers in Prostate Cancer Patients—A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

The kynurenine (KYN) pathway gains growing research interest concerning the genesis, progression and therapy of solid tumors. Previous studies showed exercise-induced effects on metabolite levels along the KYN pathway. Modulations of the KYN pathway might be involved in the positive impact of exercise on prostate cancer progression and mortality. The objective of this trial was to investigate whether a single-physical exercise alters tryptophan (TRP) metabolism and related inflammatory markers in this population. We conducted a randomized controlled trial with 24 patients suffering from prostate cancer. While the control group remained inactive, the intervention group performed a 30-min aerobic exercise on a bicycle ergometer at 75% of individual VO2peak. Before (t0) and directly after the exercise intervention (t1) KYN, TRP, kynurenic acid, quinolinic acid as well as various inflammation markers (IL6, TNF-α, TGF-β) were measured in blood serum. At baseline, the present sample showed robust correlations between TRP, KYN, quinolinic acid and inflammatory markers. Regarding the exercise intervention, interaction effects for TRP, the KYN/TRP ratio and TGF-β were observed. The results show for the first time that acute physical exercise impacts TRP metabolism in prostate cancer patients. Moreover, baseline associations underline the relationship between inflammation and the KYN pathway in prostate cancer.
Extracting Work Optimally with Imprecise Measurements

Measurement and feedback allows for an external agent to extract work from a system in contact with a single thermal bath. The maximum amount of work that can be extracted in a single measurement and the corresponding feedback loop is given by the information that is acquired via the measurement, a result that manifests the close relation between information theory and stochastic thermodynamics. In this paper, we show how to reversibly confine a Brownian particle in an optical tweezer potential and then extract the corresponding increase of the free energy as work. By repeatedly tracking the position of the particle and modifying the potential accordingly, we can extract work optimally, even with a high degree of inaccuracy in the measurements.
Respiratory Monitoring Based on Tracheal Sounds: Continuous Time-Frequency Processing of the Phonospirogram Combined with Phonocardiogram-Derived Respiration

Patients with central respiratory paralysis can benefit from diaphragm pacing to restore respiratory function. However, it would be important to develop a continuous respiratory monitoring method to alert on apnea occurrence, in order to improve the efficiency and safety of the pacing system. In this study, we present a preliminary validation of an acoustic apnea detection method on healthy subjects data. Thirteen healthy participants performed one session of two 2-min recordings, including a voluntary respiratory pause. The recordings were post-processed by combining temporal and frequency detection domains, and a new method was proposed—Phonocardiogram-Derived Respiration (PDR). The detection results were compared to synchronized pneumotachograph, electrocardiogram (ECG), and abdominal strap (plethysmograph) signals. The proposed method reached an apnea detection rate of 92.3%, with 99.36% specificity, 85.27% sensitivity, and 91.49% accuracy. PDR method showed a good correlation of 0.77 with ECG-Derived Respiration (EDR). The comparison of R-R intervals and S-S intervals also indicated a good correlation of 0.89. The performance of this respiratory detection algorithm meets the minimal requirements to make it usable in a real situation. Noises from the participant by speaking or from the environment had little influence on the detection result, as well as body position. The high correlation between PDR and EDR indicates the feasibility of monitoring respiration with PDR.
Optimization of Xanthan and Locust Bean Gum in a Gluten-Free Infant Biscuit Based on Rice-Chickpea Flour Using Response Surface Methodology

Incorporation of xanthan gum and locust bean gum in rice flour supplemented by chickpea flour was used to obtain a good quality of nutritionally enriched biscuit for celiac children. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the levels of xanthan and locust bean gum added to the composite gluten-free flour. Analysis was based on the rheological (hardness and viscoelastic) characteristics of the dough and specific volume, water activity, and hardness of the biscuit. The results revealed that the regression and variance analysis coefficients related to the rheological and physical properties of dough and biscuit under the influence of independent variables were sufficient for an adequate and well-fitted response surface model. Linear terms of variables significantly affect most of the dough and biscuit parameters, where the xanthan gum effect was found to be more pronounced than locust bean gum. Interaction terms showed a significant positive effect on the specific volume of the biscuits and a negative effect on the water activity. However, the interactive effect of gums did not significantly affect the rheological parameters of the dough. Optimized conditions were developed to maximize the specific volume of biscuit and minimize water activity and biscuit hardness, while keeping hardness and viscoelastic properties of the dough in range. Predicted responses were found satisfactory for both rheological and physical characteristics of dough and biscuit.
Pathological evaluation of tumor grade for salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma: A proposal of an objective grading system

Three pathological grading systems advocated by Perzin/Szanto, Spiro, and van Weert are currently used for adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC). In these systems, the amount or presence of the solid tumor component in AdCC specimens is an important index. However, the “solid tumor component” has not been well defined. Salivary AdCC cases (N = 195) were collected after a central pathology review. We introduced a novel criterion for solid tumor component, minAmax (minor axis maximum). The largest solid tumor nest in each AdCC case was histologically screened, the maximum oval fitting the solid nest was estimated, and the length of the minor axis of the oval (minAmax) was measured. The prognostic cutoff for the minAmax was determined using training and validation cohorts. All cases were evaluated for the four grading systems, and their prognostic impact and interobserver variability were examined. The cutoff value for the minAmax was set at 0.20 mm. Multivariate prognostic analyses showed the minAmax and van Weert systems to be independent prognostic tools for overall, disease‐free, and distant metastasis‐free survival while the Perzin/Szanto and Spiro systems were selected for overall survival but not for disease‐free or distant metastasis‐free survival. The highest hazard ratio for overall survival (11.9) was obtained with the minAmax system. The reproducibility of the minAmax system (kappa coefficient of 0.81) was scored as very good while those of the other three systems were scored as moderate. In conclusion, the minAmax is a simple, objective, and highly reproducible grading system useful for prognostic stratification for salivary AdCC.
Mice Pups Breastfed by Foster Mothers Whose Breast Milk Contains Plasmodium falciparum Recombinant SE36 Antigen Develop Specific Antibodies.

Intranasal instillation of SE36, a malaria vaccine candidate antigen, in lactating BALB/c female mice resulted in the appearance of the antigen in breast milk as demonstrated by sandwich ELISA and Western blot. Pups born of immunologically naive mice and breastfed on lactating foster mothers exposed intranasally to SE36 developed IgG anti-SE36 antibodies. These data demonstrate that maternal immunization in mice by this route in lactating mothers can result in active immunization of offspring via ingestion of breast milk containing antigen. If confirmed in a nonhuman primate model and in human subjects, this strategy might be transformative for vaccination against malaria and other infant killer infectious diseases.
Upregulation of Supplementary Motor Area Activation with fMRI Neurofeedback during Motor Imagery

Abstract Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) neurofeedback (NF) is a promising tool to study the relationship between behavior and brain activity. It enables people to self-regulate their brain signal. Here, we applied fMRI NF to train healthy participants to increase activity in their supplementary motor area (SMA) during a motor imagery (MI) task of complex body movements while they received a continuous visual feedback signal. This signal represented the activity of participants’ localized SMA regions in the NF group and a prerecorded signal in the control group (sham feedback). In the NF group only, results showed a gradual increase in SMA-related activity across runs. This upregulation was largely restricted to the SMA, while other regions of the motor network showed no, or only marginal NF effects. In addition, we found behavioral changes, i.e., shorter reaction times in a Go/No-go task after the NF training only. These results suggest that NF can assist participants to develop greater control over a specifically targeted motor region involved in motor skill learning. The results contribute to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of SMA NF based on MI with a direct implication for rehabilitation of motor dysfunctions.
Memories of a Death Threat: Negative Consequences of Unconscious Thoughts About a Terrorist Attack on Attitudes Towards Alcohol

Based on the terror management health model (TMHM), we examined the impact of terrorist attacks as reminders of death on implicit alcohol-related attitudes, including the moderating role of conscious death-related thoughts and alcohol-based self-esteem (ABS). With an online experiment (N = 487), we analyzed how thoughts and memories about a recent terrorist attack unconsciously (with a delay task) and consciously (without a delay task) affected implicit alcohol-related attitudes. We found that such thoughts increased the death-thought accessibility. While no main effect of the salience of the terrorist attack on alcohol-related attitudes existed, respondents with low ABS had more positive attitudes, when unconsciously thinking about the attack as compared to the control group. Respondents with high ABS in the delay task had lower alcohol-IAT scores. Overall, this study provides evidence that thoughts about terrorism that can be provoked through media affect alcohol-related attitudes. Such attitudes may cause negative health consequences through health-related decisions.
TiCl4 Dissolved in Ionic Liquid Mixtures from Аb Initio Molecular Dynamics Simulations

To gain a deeper understanding of the TiCl4 solvation effects in multi-component ionic liquids, we performed ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium [C4C1Im]+, tetrafluoroborate [BF4]−, chloride [Cl]− both with and without water and titanium tetrachloride TiCl4. Complex interactions between cations and anions are observed in all investigated systems. By further addition of water and TiCl4 this complex interaction network is extended. Observations of the radial distribution functions and number integrals show that water and TiCl4 not only compete with each other to interact mainly with [Cl]−, which strongly influences the cation-[BF4]− interaction, but also interact with each other, which leads to the fact that in certain systems the cation-anion interaction is enhanced. Further investigations of the Voronoi polyhedra analysis have demonstrated that water has a greater impact on the nanosegregated system than TiCl4 which is also due to the fact of the shear amount of water relative to all other components and its higher mobility compared to TiCl4. Overall, the polar network of the IL mixture collapses by including water and TiCl4. In the case of [Cl]− chloride enters the water continuum, while [BF4]− remains largely unaffected, which deeply affects the interaction of the ionic liquid (IL) network.
Post-Stroke Social Isolation Reduces Cell Proliferation in the Dentate Gyrus and Alters miRNA Profiles in the Aged Female Mice Brain

Social isolation and loneliness are risk factors for stroke. Elderly women are more likely to be isolated. Census data shows that in homeowners over the age of 65, women are much more likely to live alone. However, the underlying mechanisms of the detrimental effects of isolation have not been well studied in older females. In this study, we hypothesized that isolation impairs post-stroke recovery in aged female mice, leading to dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) in the brain, including those previously shown to be involved in response to social isolation (SI). Aged C57BL/6 female mice were subjected to a 60-min middle cerebral artery occlusion and were randomly assigned to either single housing (SI) or continued pair housing (PH) immediately after stroke for 15 days. SI immediately after stroke led to significantly more brain tissue loss after stroke and higher mortality. Furthermore, SI significantly delayed motor and sensory recovery and worsened cognitive function, compared to PH. A decrease in cell proliferation was seen in the dentate gyrus of SI mice assessed by bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling. miRNAome data analysis revealed changes in several miRNAs in the brain, such as miR-297a-3p and miR-200c-3p, which are known to regulate pathways involved in cell proliferation. In conclusion, our data suggest that SI can lead to a poor post-stroke recovery in aged females and dysregulation of miRNAs and reduced hippocampal cell proliferation.
Validation of Zulu Watch against Polysomnography and Actigraphy for On-Wrist Sleep-Wake Determination and Sleep-Depth Estimation

Traditional measures of sleep or commercial wearables may not be ideal for use in operational environments. The Zulu watch is a commercial sleep-tracking device designed to collect longitudinal sleep data in real-world environments. Laboratory testing is the initial step towards validating a device for real-world sleep evaluation; therefore, the Zulu watch was tested against the gold-standard polysomnography (PSG) and actigraphy. Eight healthy, young adult participants wore a Zulu watch and Actiwatch simultaneously over a 3-day laboratory PSG sleep study. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of epoch-by-epoch data were tested against PSG and actigraphy. Sleep summary statistics were compared using paired samples t-tests, intraclass correlation coefficients, and Bland–Altman plots. Compared with either PSG or actigraphy, both the accuracy and sensitivity for Zulu watch sleep-wake determination were >90%, while the specificity was low (~26% vs. PSG, ~33% vs. actigraphy). The accuracy for sleep scoring vs. PSG was ~87% for interrupted sleep, ~52% for light sleep, and ~49% for deep sleep. The Zulu watch showed mixed results but performed well in determining total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep onset, and final awakening in healthy adults compared with PSG or actigraphy. The next step will be to test the Zulu watch’s ability to evaluate sleep in industrial operations.
Engineering Botulinum Neurotoxins for Enhanced Therapeutic Applications and Vaccine Development

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) show increasing therapeutic applications ranging from treatment of locally paralyzed muscles to cosmetic benefits. At first, in the 1970s, BoNT was used for the treatment of strabismus, however, nowadays, BoNT has multiple medical applications including the treatment of muscle hyperactivity such as strabismus, dystonia, movement disorders, hemifacial spasm, essential tremor, tics, cervical dystonia, cerebral palsy, as well as secretory disorders (hyperhidrosis, sialorrhea) and pain syndromes such as chronic migraine. This review summarizes current knowledge related to engineering of botulinum toxins, with particular emphasis on their potential therapeutic applications for pain management and for retargeting to non-neuronal tissues. Advances in molecular biology have resulted in generating modified BoNTs with the potential to act in a variety of disorders, however, in addition to the modifications of well characterized toxinotypes, the diversity of the wild type BoNT toxinotypes or subtypes, provides the basis for innovative BoNT-based therapeutics and research tools. This expanding BoNT superfamily forms the foundation for new toxins candidates in a wider range of therapeutic options.