Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experience of nurse entrepreneurs in long term institutions for elderly people.

OBJECTIVE To understand the nurse entrepreneur experience in long term institutions for elderly (LTIE) and to elaborate a theorical model regarding that experience process. METHODS Qualitative research with theorical saturation, through analysis of the 10th nondirective interview, audio-recorded and transcribed, according to the Grounded Theory, with nurses in activity and those who had to quit the business. RESULTS Three subprocesses emerged: (A) looking at the LTIE as a promising business to offer to the aging population; (B) discovering herself/himself without entrepreneur training/experience to carry on a social enterprise; (C) changing from preservation, expansion, and finally business discontinuance. The core category (process) was abstracted from the realignment of those subprocesses components: From the dream to expansion, preservation, and business abandonment: nurse training/experience for social enterprise as an intervening component. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS In light of the Business Model Canvas, it showed the experiential process little instrumented by the fundamentals of business management, to support the proposal, overview and altering business.
Abundance of Regulatory T Cell (Treg) as a Predictive Biomarker for Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Simple Summary Regulatory CD4+ T cell (Treg) is one of the suppressive immune cells, but data on its clinical relevance in large human breast cancer cohort is limited. Abundance of Tregs in 5177 breast cancer patient samples from five independent cohorts was analyzed by the xCell algorithm using tumor transcriptomics. Treg abundance was lower in metastatic tumors when compared to matched primary tumors. Treg was associated with a high mutation rate of TP53 genes and copy number mutations as well as with increased tumor infiltration of M2 macrophages and decreased infiltration of T helper type 1 cells. Interestingly, low Treg abundance was significantly associated with pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in TNBC, but not in ER-positive/Her2-negative subtype. Abundance of Treg was also associated with high expression of multiple immune checkpoint molecules. In conclusion, Treg abundance may have a potential as a predictive biomarker of pCR after NAC in TNBC. Abstract Regulatory CD4+ T cell (Treg), a subset of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), are known to suppress anticancer immunity but its clinical relevance in human breast cancer remains unclear. In this study, we estimated the relative abundance of Tregs in breast cancer of multiple patient cohorts by using the xCell algorithm on bulk tumor gene expression data. In total, 5177 breast cancer patients from five independent cohorts (TCGA-BRCA, GSE96058, GSE25066, GSE20194, and GSE110590) were analyzed. Treg abundance was not associated with cancer aggressiveness, patient survival, or immune activity markers, but it was lower in metastatic tumors when compared to matched primary tumors. Treg was associated with a high mutation rate of TP53 genes and copy number mutations as well as with increased tumor infiltration of M2 macrophages and decreased infiltration of T helper type 1 (Th1) cells. Pathological complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) was significantly associated with low Treg abundance in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) but not in ER-positive/Her2-negative subtype. High Treg abundance was significantly associated with high tumor expression of multiple immune checkpoint inhibitor genes. In conclusion, Treg abundance may have potential as a predictive biomarker of pCR after NAC in TNBC.
Comparison of efficacy and safety of Chinese patent medicine in the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis

Abstract Background: Postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) is the focus and difficult problem in the world at present, and we found that Chinese patent medicine(CPM) shown a more miraculous effect. Many kinds of Chinese patent medicine have been proved to be effective in the treatment of this disease, but it is still unclear which kind of Chinese patent medicine has the best effect. Therefore, we propose a network meta-analysis (NMA) protocol to observe the efficacy of various CPM for this disease and provide guidance for clinical practice. Methods: We will use the NMA method to complete this study. First, all the randomized controlled trials of CPM or CPM combined with western medicine in the treatment of PMOP were collected by searching all online Chinese and English databases. The information time limit is from the establishment of the database to August 30, 2020. Then 2 staff members will sift through all the literature and analyze the data using Stata and Winbugs. Results: Through this analysis, we will observe and rank the clinical effects of different CPM for PMOP. The main evaluation indexes include: New fracture, Quality of life, Severe side effects, Death from all causes. Secondary outcome indicators include Bone Mineral density, clinical efficiency, and some laboratory indicators, such as estradiol, serum calcium, serum, etc. Conclusion: This study will rank the therapeutic effects of various proprietary Chinese medicines in the treatment of PMOP, which will be helpful in improving the PMOP treatment regimen. INPLASY registration number: INPLASY202090047.
Short-Chain Fatty Acids Modulate Metabolic Pathways and Membrane Lipids in Prevotella bryantii B14

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are bacterial products that are known to be used as energy sources in eukaryotic hosts, whereas their role in the metabolism of intestinal microbes is rarely explored. In the present study, acetic, propionic, butyric, isobutyric, valeric, and isovaleric acid, respectively, were added to a newly defined medium containing Prevotella bryantii B14 cells. After 8 h and 24 h, optical density, pH and SCFA concentrations were measured. Long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) profiles of the bacterial cells were analyzed via gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry (GC-ToF MS) and proteins were quantified using a mass spectrometry-based, label-free approach. Cultures supplemented with single SCFAs revealed different growth behavior. Structural features of the respective SCFAs were identified in the LCFA profiles, which suggests incorporation into the bacterial membranes. The proteomes of cultures supplemented with acetic and valeric acid differed by an increased abundance of outer membrane proteins. The proteome of the isovaleric acid supplementation showed an increase of proteins in the amino acid metabolism. Our findings indicate a possible interaction between SCFAs, the lipid membrane composition, the abundance of outer membrane proteins, and a modulation of branched chain amino acid biosynthesis by isovaleric acid.
Rivaroxaban Versus Warfarin for Management of Obese African Americans With Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation or Venous Thromboembolism: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis

African Americans (AAs) and obese individuals have increased thrombotic risk. This study evaluated the effectiveness and safety of rivaroxaban versus warfarin in obese, AAs with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) or venous thromboembolism (VTE). Optum® De-Identified Electronic Health Record (EHR) data was used to perform separate propensity-score matched analyses of adult, oral anticoagulant (OAC)-naïve AAs with NVAF or acute VTE, respectively; who had a body mass index≥30kg/m2 and ≥12-months EHR activity with ≥1-encounter before OAC initiation. Cox regression was performed and reported as hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). For the NVAF analysis, 1,969 rivaroxaban- and 1,969 warfarin-users were matched. Rivaroxaban was not associated with a difference in stroke/systemic embolism versus warfarin (HR = 0.88, 95%CI = 0.60-1.28), but less major bleeding (HR = 0.68, 95%CI = 0.50-0.94) was observed. Among 683 rivaroxaban-users with VTE, 1:1 matched to warfarin-users, rivaroxaban did not alter recurrent VTE (HR = 1.36, 95%CI = 0.79-2.34) or major bleeding (HR = 0.80, 95%CI = 0.37-1.71) risk versus warfarin at 6-months (similar findings observed at 3- and 12-months). Rivaroxaban appeared to be associated with similar thrombotic, and similar or lower major bleeding risk versus warfarin in these obese, AA cohorts.
Rectification and Super-Resolution Enhancements for Forensic Text Recognition †

Retrieving text embedded within images is a challenging task in real-world settings. Multiple problems such as low-resolution and the orientation of the text can hinder the extraction of information. These problems are common in environments such as Tor Darknet and Child Sexual Abuse images, where text extraction is crucial in the prevention of illegal activities. In this work, we evaluate eight text recognizers and, to increase the performance of text transcription, we combine these recognizers with rectification networks and super-resolution algorithms. We test our approach on four state-of-the-art and two custom datasets (TOICO-1K and Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)-text, based on text retrieved from Tor Darknet and Child Sexual Exploitation Material, respectively). We obtained a 0.3170 score of correctly recognized words in the TOICO-1K dataset when we combined Deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and rectification-based recognizers. For the CSA-text dataset, applying resolution enhancements achieved a final score of 0.6960. The highest performance increase was achieved on the ICDAR 2015 dataset, with an improvement of 4.83% when combining the MORAN recognizer and the Residual Dense resolution approach. We conclude that rectification outperforms super-resolution when applied separately, while their combination achieves the best average improvements in the chosen datasets.
Nanocellulose Bio-Based Composites for Food Packaging

The food industry is increasingly demanding advanced and eco-friendly sustainable packaging materials with improved physical, mechanical and barrier properties. The currently used materials are synthetic and non-degradable, therefore raising environmental concerns. Consequently, research efforts have been made in recent years towards the development of bio-based sustainable packaging materials. In this review, the potential of nanocelluloses as nanofillers or as coatings for the development of bio-based nanocomposites is discussed, namely: (i) the physico-chemical interaction of nanocellulose with the adjacent polymeric phase, (ii) the effect of nanocellulose modification/functionalization on the final properties of the composites, (iii) the production methods for such composites, and (iv) the effect of nanocellulose on the overall migration, toxicity, and the potential risk to human health. Lastly, the technology readiness level of nanocellulose and nanocellulose based composites for the market of food packaging is discussed.
Modern Management of High-risk Soft Tissue Sarcoma With Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objective: Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NA-CRT), followed by resection of high-risk soft tissue sarcoma (STS), may offer good disease control and toxicity outcomes. We report on a single institution’s modern NA-CRT experience. Materials and Methods: Delay to surgical resection, resection margin status, extent of necrosis, tumor cell viability, presence of hyalinization, positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography data, and treatment toxicities were collected. Using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, 5-year overall survival, disease-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and local control (LC) were estimated. Clinicopathologic features and PET/computed tomography avidity changes were assessed for their potential predictive impact using the log-rank test. Results: From 2011 to 2018, 37 consecutive cases of localized high-risk STS were identified. Twenty-nine patients underwent ifosfamide-based NA-CRT to a median dose of 50 Gy before en bloc resection. At a median follow-up of 40.3 months, estimated 5-year overall survival was 86.1%, disease-free survival 70.2%, distant metastasis-free survival 75.2%, and LC 86.7%. Following NA-CRT, a median reduction of 54.7% was observed in tumor PET avidity; once resected, median tumor necrosis of 60.0% with no viable tumor cells was detected in 13.8% of the cases. Posttreatment resection margins were negative in all patients, with 27.6% having a margin of ≤1 mm. Delays of over 6 weeks following the end of radiation treatment to surgical resection occurred in 20.7% cases and was suggestive of inferior LC (92.8% vs. 68.6%, P=0.025). Conclusions: This single-institution series of NA-CRT demonstrates favorable disease control. Delay in surgical resection was associated with inferior LC, a finding that deserves further evaluation in a larger cohort. Level of Evidence: Level III—retrospective cohort study.
Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from Citrobacter freundii as antibiofilm agents with their cytotoxic effects on human cells.

BACKGROUND Nanomaterials have recently been identified for their potential benefits in the areas of medicine and pharmaceuticals. Among these nanomaterials, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have been widely utilized in the fields of diagnostics, antimicrobials, and catalysis. OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential utility of Citrobacter freundii in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), and to determine the antimicrobial activities of the Ag-NPs produced. METHODS Aqueous Ag+ ions were reduced when exposed to C. freundii extract and sunlight, leading to formation of AgNPs. Qualitative microanalysis for the synthesized Ag-NPs was done using UV-vis spectrometry, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The hydrodynamic size and stability of the particles were detected using dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. The Ag-NPs' anti-planktonic and anti-biofilm activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which are two important skin and wound pathogens, were investigated. The cytotoxicity on human dermal fibroblast cell line was also determined. RESULTS Ag-NPs were spherical with a size range between 15 to 30 nm. Furthermore, Ag-NPs displayed potent bactericidal activities against both S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and showed noticeable anti-biofilm activity against S. aureus biofilms. Ag-NPs induced minor cytotoxic effects on human cells as indicated by a reduction of cell viability, a disruption of plasma membrane integrity, and apoptosis induction. CONCLUSION Ag-NPs generated in this study might be a future potential alternative to be used as antimicrobial agents in pharmaceutical applications for wound and skin related infections.
Deregulated Serotonin Pathway in Women with Morbid Obesity and NAFLD

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) extends from simple steatosis (SS) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Peripheral serotonin (5-HT) has become as an important regulator of different metabolic pathways. 5-HT has been related to obesity and lipid accumulation in the liver. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between the 5-HT signaling pathway and the degree of NAFLD, as well as to investigate whether peripheral 5-HT levels are related to the hepatic and jejunal mRNA abundance of serotonin receptors (HTR) in a cohort of women with morbid obesity (MO) and NAFLD. ELISA was used to quantify the serum 5-HT from normal-weight subjects (n = 26) and patients with MO (n = 58). We used RTq-PCR analysis to evaluate the relative expression of HTR in women with MO with normal liver (n = 22), SS (n = 21), and NASH (n = 15). The 5-HT was diminished in women with MO under a hypocaloric diet, regardless of the presence of NAFLD. Additionally, we report a negative correlation of 5-HT levels with metabolic syndrome criteria, suggesting that serotonin may have a protective role in obesity. Additionally, the hepatic expression of HTR2A and HTR2B were decreased in women with MO and NAFLD, but no significant differences in the HTR jejunal expression according to the presence of NAFLD were found.
Long-Term Temporal Stability of the Resistome in Sewage from Copenhagen

The Copenhagen sewage resistome is surprisingly stable in time. The implication is that, at least for cities that are comparable to Copenhagen in terms of sewer infrastructure, few or even single samples provide a robust picture of the resistome within a city. ABSTRACT Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global health, and it is crucial to understand the epidemiological aspects in order to predict the emergence and propagation of AMR genes. The aim of this study was to assess the variability and medium-term AMR trends within the mostly healthy human population of a single city. We monitored over 36 months (November 2015 to November 2018) the AMR level in the city of Copenhagen, Denmark, by taking bi-weekly sewage samples from the inlets of the three main water treatment plants, extracting the DNA, performing metagenomic sequencing, and read-mapping against a database of known AMR genes. We found that the AMR level was surprisingly stable with no periodic variability and no signs of drift over the measured period. We found, however, that the seemingly random variations at each site correlate in time with each other, suggesting that the variations we see are due to real environmental changes in the occurrence of AMR. IMPORTANCE The Copenhagen sewage resistome is surprisingly stable in time. The implication is that, at least for cities that are comparable to Copenhagen in terms of sewer infrastructure, few or even single samples provide a robust picture of the resistome within a city.
Xanthohumol and Gossypol Are Promising Inhibitors against Babesia microti by In Vitro Culture via High-Throughput Screening of 133 Natural Products

Human babesiosis caused by Babesia microti is an emerging threat for severe illness and even death, with an increasing impact worldwide. Currently, the regimen of atovaquone and azithromycin is considered as the standard therapy for treating human babesiosis, which, however, may result in drug resistance and relapse, suggesting the necessity of developing new drugs to control B. microti. In this regard, natural products are promising candidates for drug design against B. microti due to their active therapeutic efficacy, lower toxicity, and fewer adverse reactions to host. Here, the potential inhibitors against B. microti were preliminarily screened from 133 natural products, and 47 of them were selected for further screening. Gossypol (Gp) and xanthohumol (Xn) were finally shown to effectively inhibit the growth of B. microti with IC50 values of 8.47 μm and 21.40 μm, respectively. The cytotoxicity results showed that Gp and Xn were non-toxic to erythrocytes at a concentration below 100 μm. Furthermore, both of them were confirmed to be non-toxic to different types of cells in previous studies. Our findings suggest the potential of Gp and Xn as effective drugs against B. microti infection.
Word frequency does not moderate the degree to which people can selectively attend to parts of visually presented words

Whether attention is allocated to an entire word or can be confined to part of a word was examined in an experiment using a visual composite task. Participants saw a study word, a cue to attend to either the right or left half, and a test word, and indicated if the cued half of the words (e.g., left) was the same (e.g., TOLD-TONE) or different (e.g., TOLD-WINE). Prior research using this task reports a larger congruency effect for low-frequency words relative to high-frequency words but extraneous variables were not equated. In this study (N = 33), lexical (orthographic neighbourhood density) and sublexical (bigram frequency) variables were controlled, and word frequency was manipulated. Results indicate that word frequency does not moderate the degree to which parts of a word can be selectively attended/ignored. Response times to high-frequency words were faster than response times to low-frequency words but the congruency effect was equivalent. The data support a capacity model where attention is equally distributed across low-frequency and high-frequency words but low-frequency words require additional processing resources.
Single missense mutation as a signal of indolent thymic epithelial tumors: General Transcription Factor II-I ( GTF2 I)

Thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) are enigmatic malignancies consisting of diverse components of lymphocytes and epithelial cells (1) and we are only beginning to understand the molecular determinants of these tumors (2-8). Petrini and colleagues (2) first reported the identification of a missense mutation in general transcription factor II-I ( GTF2I ) (p.Leu424His in change to codon chromosome 7 c.74146970T>A) that highly occurred in type A thymomas demonstrating favorable survival (2). GTF2I β and δ isoforms are expressed in TETs, and in vitro experiments showed that both mutation isoforms could stimulate cell proliferation.
Production of low-salt restructured Mediterranean horse mackerel (Trachurus mediterraneus) using microbial transglutaminase/caseinate system

Σκοπός της eργασίας αυτής ήταν η αξιοποίηση της σάρκας του σαυριδιού μe την παρασκeυή eνός μορφοποιημένου ιχθυοσκeυάσματος, χωρίς οστά και δέρμα. Το συγκeκριμένο προϊόν παρασκeυάστηκe μόνο μe την προσθήκη αλατιού σe τρeις διαφορeτικές αναλογίeς (0-μάρτυρας, 10 και 20 g/Kg σάρκας) και του eνζύμου μικροβιακή τρανσγλουταμινάση (MTG), ως συνδeτικού παράγοντα, eπίσης σe τρeις διαφορeτικές αναλογίeς (0-μάρτυρας, 5 και 10 g/Kg σάρκας). Η μορφοποίηση της σάρκας του σαυριδιού έγινe υπό ψύξη σe κυλινδρικούς σωλήνeς από plexiglass . Τα αποτeλέσματα της έρeυνας έδeιξαν σημαντική βeλτίωση των μηχανικών και λeιτουργικών ιδιοτήτων του μορφοποιημένου ιχθυοσκeυάσματος όταν προστίθeται στη λeπτοτeμαχισμένη σάρκα του σαυριδιού αυξανόμeνη ποσότητα αλατιού σe συνδυασμό μe μeγάλeς ποσότητeς του eνζύμου. Η σκληρότητα κυμαινόταν μeταξύ 2,053 και 3,885 Ν, η eλαστικότητα μeταξύ 2,743 και 5,480 mm και η συνeκτικότητα μeταξύ 0,193 και 0,393 στα δeίγματα τα οποία eξeτάστηκαν. Από την άλλη, η προσθήκη του άλατος ήταν απαραίτητη, καθώς τα δeίγματα που πeριeίχαν μόνο το ένζυμο δeν eίχαν βeλτιωμένeς μηχανικές ιδιότητeς, eνώ η προσθήκη της MTG δeν eπηρέαζe σημαντικά την ένταση της Ικανότητας Συγκράτησης Ύδατος. Οι μικροβιολογικές eξeτάσeις (αρίθμηση της Ολικής Αeρόβιας Χλωρίδας, της Shewanella putrefaciens , των Pseudomonas spp. και των Eντeροβακτηριοeιδών) έδeιξαν ότι το μορφοποιημένο ιχθυοσκeύασμα μπορeί να συντηρηθeί υπό ψύξη (2±2˚C) μέχρι τέσσeρις ημέρeς, γeγονός το οποίο eπιβάλλeι τη χρησιμοποίηση δραστικότeρων μeθόδων συντήρησης του προϊόντος, όπως eίναι η θeρμική eπeξeργασία, η κατάψυξη και η συσκeυασία υπό κeνό ή σe τροποποιημένeς ατμόσφαιρeς. Η eκτίμηση των οργανοληπτικών ιδιοτήτων του προϊόντος έγινe μeτά τη θeρμική του eπeξeργασία (72˚C στον πυρήνα) σe υδατόλουτρο 75˚C. Κατά τον έλeγχο μe τις αισθήσeις, το προϊόν έγινe αποδeκτό από την ομάδα των δοκιμαστών, οι οποίοι έδωσαν τη μeγαλύτeρη βαθμολογία στο μορφοποιημένο ιχθυοσκeύασμα μe τις μeγαλύτeρeς ποσότητeς αλατιού και MTG.
Methylation Data Analysis Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer disease (AD) is associated with distinctive changes in DNA methylation patterns. DNA methylation is a chemical modification that is involved in gene silencing. These modifications give rise to heritable changes in gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. In a first study, researchers observed differential methylated regions (DMRs) in a specific DNA in postmortem brains from AD patients. Due to this fact we decided to focus on two target genes from AD in order to compare differences in methylation between different experimental situations. In this project, we have developed a pipeline for finding DMR between different experimental conditions based on methylation data generated with the 454 GS FLX system from Roche, and DNA bisulfite-treated samples.