Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transport of Ca2+ and Ca2+-Dependent Permeability Transition in Rat Liver Mitochondria under the Streptozotocin-Induced Type I Diabetes

Although diabetes mellitus is known to be a disease associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, not everything is clear about mitochondrial Ca2+ transport and Ca2+-induced permeability transition in diabetic cells. The objective of this work was to study the operation of MCU and Ca2+-dependent mitochondrial permeabilization in the liver cells of Sprague-Dawley rats under the streptozotocin-induced type I diabetes. It was shown that two weeks after the induction of diabetes, the rate of Ca2+ uptake by the mitochondria of diabetic animals increased ~1.4-fold. The expression of MCU and MICU1 subunits did not change, yet the quantity of dominant-negative MCUb channel subunits was almost twice as lower. The organelles also became more resistant to the induction of CsA-sensitive MPT pore and less resistant to the induction of CsA-insensitive palmitate/Ca2+-induced pore. The mitochondria of diabetic liver cells also showed changes in the lipid matrix of their membranes. The content of fatty acids in the membranes grew, and microviscosity of the lipid bilayer (assessed with laurdan) increased. At the same time, lipid peroxidation (assessed by the production of malonic dialdehyde) was stimulated. The paper discusses the consequences of the diabetes-related changes in mitochondria in the context of cell physiology.
Differences in Genome-wide DNA Methylation Profiles in Breast Milk by Race and Lactation Duration

Black women in the United States are disproportionately affected by early-onset, triple-negative breast cancer. DNA methylation has shown differences by race in healthy and tumor breast tissues. We examined associations between genome-wide DNA methylation levels in breast milk and breast cancer risk factors, including race, to explain how this reproductive stage influences a woman's risk for, and potentially contributes to racial disparities in, breast cancer. Breast milk samples and demographic, behavioral, and reproductive data, were obtained from cancer-free, uniparous, and lactating U.S. black (n = 57) and white (n = 82) women, ages 19–44. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis was performed on extracted breast milk DNA using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. Statistically significant associations between breast cancer risk factors and DNA methylation beta values, adjusting for potential confounders, were determined using linear regression followed by Bonferroni Correction (P < 1.63 × 10−7). Epigenetic analysis in breast milk revealed statistically significant associations with race and lactation duration. Of the 284 CpG sites associated with race, 242 were hypermethylated in black women. All 227 CpG sites associated with lactation duration were hypomethylated in women who lactated longer. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis of differentially methylated promoter region CpGs by race and lactation duration revealed enrichment for networks implicated in carcinogenesis. Associations between DNA methylation and lactation duration may offer insight on its role in lowering breast cancer risk. Epigenetic associations with race may mediate social, behavioral, or other factors related to breast cancer and may provide insight into potential mechanisms underlying racial disparities in breast cancer incidence.
[Reliability and concurrent validity of the app Goniometer Pro vs Universal Goniometer in the determination of passive knee flexion].

BACKGROUND Smartphones have become a fundamental part of our society, not only everyday, but also professional, since many applications have emerged for the health field. The objective of the study was to analyze the reliability and concurrent validity of an app for iPhone in relation to traditional measurement. MATERIAL AND METHODS A non-experimental, double-blind validation and descriptive study. On a sample of 21 subjects, four measurements of knee mobility were performed. Two using universal goniometer (GU) and two through the application Goniometer-Pro (G-Pro) for IPhone. The X-ray was used as a reference measure of the knee flexion angle and was analyzed by a single evaluator who compared this result with that of the other evaluators. RESULTS The difference between the average intra-group values was 3.148o (± 2.669o) for GU and 2.476o (± 2.638o) for G-Pro. The inter-group mean difference reached 5.45o. The Inter-observer reliability was 0.990 for GU and 0.993 for G-Pro; as for validity, the values obtained were 0.976 for GU and 0.992 for G-Pro. CONCLUSIONS The G-Pro app is a reliable tool with a high accuracy to measure the knee flexion angle. Its results are slightly superior and more accurate to those of traditional instruments.
Toll-Like Receptors and Relevant Emerging Therapeutics with Reference to Delivery Methods

The built-in innate immunity in the human body combats various diseases and their causative agents. One of the components of this system is Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which recognize structurally conserved molecules derived from microbes and/or endogenous molecules. Nonetheless, under certain conditions, these TLRs become hypofunctional or hyperfunctional, thus leading to a disease-like condition because their normal activity is compromised. In this regard, various small-molecule drugs and recombinant therapeutic proteins have been developed to treat the relevant diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and allergy. Some drugs for these diseases have been clinically approved; however, their efficacy can be enhanced by conventional or targeted drug delivery systems. Certain delivery vehicles such as liposomes, hydrogels, nanoparticles, dendrimers, or cyclodextrins can be employed to enhance the targeted drug delivery. This review summarizes the TLR signaling pathway, associated diseases and their treatments, and the ways to efficiently deliver the drugs to a target site.
Compost Quality Recommendations for Remediating Urban Soils

Poor soil health is a critical problem in many urban landscapes. Degraded soil restricts plant growth and microorganism activity, limiting the ability of urban landscapes to perform much needed ecosystem services. Incorporation of approximately 33% compost by volume into degraded soil has been proven to improve soil health and structure over time while avoiding the financial and environmental costs of importing soil mixes from elsewhere. However, additions of high volumes of compost could potentially increase the risk of nutrient loss through leaching and runoff. The objective of our study was to consider the effects of different compost amendments on soil health, plant health and susceptibility to nutrient leaching in order to identify ranges of acceptable compost characteristics that could be used for soil remediation in the urban landscape. A bioassay was conducted with Phaseolus vulgaris (Bush Bean) to measure the effect of nine composts from different feedstocks on various plant health parameters. Leachate was collected prior to planting to measure nutrient loss from each treatment. All compost amendments were found to improve soil health. Nutrient-rich, manure-based composts produced the greatest plant growth, but also leached high concentrations of nitrate and phosphorus. Some treatments provided sufficient nutrients for plant growth without excess nutrient loss. When incorporating as much as 33% compost by volume into a landscape bed, the optimal compost will generally have a C:N ratio of 10–20, P-content <1.0% and a soluble salt content between 1.0 and 3.5 mmhos/cm. These recommendations should ensure optimal plant and soil health and minimize nutrient leaching.
The Effects of Storage on Quality and Nutritional Values of Ehrenberg’s Snapper Muscles (Lutjanus Ehrenbergi): Evaluation of Natural Antioxidants Effect on the Denaturation of Proteins

Protein denaturation in frozen minced fillets (Ehrenberg’s Snapper), stored at −25 °C was studied; 50.0 mg biomass/50g mince fillets treated with cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, garlic, ginger and 25.0 mg of vitamin C were used to slow protein denaturation. FT-IR stretching vibration of Amide-A (νNH) at 3300 cm−1; Amide-I stretching (νC=O) between 1600−1690 cm−1 and Amide-II stretching (νCN) and bending (δNH) between 1480 and 1575cm−1 were used as marker peaks. Garlic was the most significant (p ≤ 0.01) in controlling the rate of protein denaturation when νNH was used as a marker peak. DSC analysis showed that turmeric presented the highest effect on delaying the denaturation of sarcoplasmic proteins with a ΔH0=73.7J/g followed by garlic-treated mince fillets ΔH0=70.1J/g. All spices used were efficient in stopping the denaturation of myosin with the highest ΔH0=769.3 J/g registered for cinnamon-treated mince fillets. Actin was less vulnerable to denaturation in comparison to myosin and sarcoplasmic proteins.
Neural Activities Classification of Human Inhibitory Control Using Hierarchical Model

Human inhibitory control refers to the suppression of behavioral response in real environments, such as when driving a car or riding a motorcycle, playing a game and operating a machine. The P300 wave is a neural marker of human inhibitory control, and it can be used to recognize the symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in human. In addition, the P300 neural marker can be considered as a stop command in the brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies. Therefore, the present study of electroencephalography (EEG) recognizes the mindset of human inhibition by observing the brain dynamics, like P300 wave in the frontal lobe, supplementary motor area, and in the right temporoparietal junction of the brain, all of them have been associated with response inhibition. Our work developed a hierarchical classification model to identify the neural activities of human inhibition. To accomplish this goal phase-locking value (PLV) method was used to select coupled brain regions related to inhibition because this method has demonstrated the best performance of the classification system. The PLVs were used with pattern recognition algorithms to classify a successful-stop versus a failed-stop in left-and right-hand inhibitions. The results demonstrate that quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA) yielded an average classification accuracy of 94.44%. These findings implicate the neural activities of human inhibition can be utilized as a stop command in BCI technologies, as well as to identify the symptoms of ADHD patients in clinical research.
The Opioid Crisis and the Future of Addiction and Pain Therapeutics

Opioid misuse and addiction are a public health crisis resulting in debilitation, deaths, and significant social and economic impact. Curbing this crisis requires collaboration among academic, government, and industrial partners toward the development of effective nonaddictive pain medications, interventions for opioid overdose, and addiction treatments. A 2-day meeting, The Opioid Crisis and the Future of Addiction and Pain Therapeutics: Opportunities, Tools, and Technologies Symposium, was held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address these concerns and to chart a collaborative path forward. The meeting was supported by the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-TermSM (HEAL) Initiative, an aggressive, trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid crisis. The event was unique in bringing together two research disciplines, addiction and pain, in order to create a forum for crosscommunication and collaboration. The output from the symposium will be considered by the HEAL Initiative; this article summarizes the scientific presentations and key takeaways. Improved understanding of the etiology of acute and chronic pain will enable the discovery of novel targets and regulatable pain circuits for safe and effective therapeutics, as well as relevant biomarkers to ensure adequate testing in clinical trials. Applications of improved technologies including reagents, assays, model systems, and validated probe compounds will likely increase the delivery of testable hypotheses and therapeutics to enable better health outcomes for patients. The symposium goals were achieved by increasing interdisciplinary collaboration to accelerate solutions for this pressing public health challenge and provide a framework for focused efforts within the research community. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This article summarizes key messages and discussions resulting from a 2-day symposium focused on challenges and opportunities in developing addiction- and pain-related medications. Speakers and attendees came from 40 states in the United States and 15 countries, bringing perspectives from academia, industry, government, and healthcare by researchers, clinicians, regulatory experts, and patient advocates.
Optical Characterization of Thin Film CuxAlOy in the CdTe Device Configuration

Optical properties and band gap energy of solution processed p-type transparent CuxAlOy thin film deposited on sodalime glass are determined using spectroscopic ellipsometry. This is a promising material for a p-type transparent back contact and passivation layer for thin film CdTe based solar cells. The direct optical band gap obtained from Tauc plot is found to be $3.64 \pm 0.01\ \text{eV}$. Further characterization is also done with this layer in the CdTe / CdS device stack. CuxAlOy conformally coats and smoothens the CdTe surface on the CdTe / CdS device stack indicating improved surface quality and surface passivation.
Treatment with Docosahexaenoic Acid Improves Epidermal Keratinocyte Differentiation and Ameliorates Inflammation in Human Keratinocytes and Reconstructed Human Epidermis Models

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that can cause skin barrier function damage. Although co-incubation with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) exerts a positive effect on deficient skin models, no studies have investigated the effects of topical treatment with DHA in an inflammatory reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) model. The effects of DHA on monolayer normal human epidermal keratinocyte (NHEK) cells were evaluated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The skin-related barrier function was assessed using hematoxylin–eosin (HE) staining, Western blot (WB), immunohistofluorescence (IF), and ELISA in normal and inflammatory RHE models. Docosahexaenoic acid upregulated filaggrin and loricrin expression at mRNA levels in addition to suppressing overexpression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-α (IL-1α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) stimulated by polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid (poly I:C) plus lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (stimulation cocktail) in cultured NHEK cells. After topical treatment with DHA, cocktail-induced inflammatory characteristics of skin diseases, including barrier morphology, differentiation proteins, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) secretion, were alleviated in RHE models. Supplementation with DHA can improve related barrier function and have anti-inflammation effects in monolayer keratinocytes and RHE models, which indicates that DHA may have potential value for the treatment of inflammation-associated skin diseases.
Arabidopsis Raf-Like Kinase Raf10 Is a Regulatory Component of Core ABA Signaling

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a phytohormone essential for seed development and seedling growth under unfavorable environmental conditions. The signaling pathway leading to ABA response has been established, but relatively little is known about the functional regulation of the constituent signaling components. Here, we present several lines of evidence that Arabidopsis Raf-like kinase Raf10 modulates the core ABA signaling downstream of signal perception step. In particular, Raf10 phosphorylates subclass III SnRK2s (SnRK2.2, SnRK2.3, and SnRK2.6), which are key positive regulators, and our study focused on SnRK2.3 indicates that Raf10 enhances its kinase activity and may facilitate its release from negative regulators. Raf10 also phosphorylates transcription factors (ABI5, ABF2, and ABI3) critical for ABA-regulted gene expression. Furthermore, Raf10 was found to be essential for the in vivo functions of SnRK2s and ABI5. Collectively, our data demonstrate that Raf10 is a novel regulatory component of core ABA signaling.
Thulium Laser‐Assisted Versus Conventional Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy for the Small Renal Mass

Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) has gained acceptance as a minimally invasive treatment option for small renal masses (SRMs). Laser‐assisted LPN (LLPN) provided a bloodless tumor excision without renal artery clamping owing to the excellent coagulative and hemostatic properties of the lasers. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the technical feasibility and outcomes of 2‐μm continuous thulium LLPN and conventional LPN (CLPN) in the treatment of patients with SRMs.
Effects of Astragalus membranaceus roots supplementation on growth performance, serum antioxidant and immune response in finishing lambs

Objective Astragalus membranaceus root is a well-known traditional Chinese herbal medicine with many biological active constituents. This study was conducted to examine the effects of Astragalus membranaceus root powder (AMP) on growth performance, serum antioxidant and immune response in finishing lambs. Methods A total of thirty-six Guangling fat-tailed ram lambs (body weight = 19±2 kg, mean ±standard deviation) were randomly assigned to one of six treatments for a 40 d feeding period, with the first 10 d for adaptation. Treatments consisted of the lambs’ basal diets with addition of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30 g/kg of diet of AMP. Results Response to supplementation level of AMP was quadratic (p≤0.032) for final weight and ADG with the greatest at 10 g/kg of diet, but dry matter intake was not affected (p≥ 0.227) by treatments. The increase of AMP supplementation resulted in a quadratic response in contents of triglyceride and creatinine (p<0.05), with the lowest values for 10 and 20 g/kg of diet, respectively. A linear and quadratic decrease was observed in activity of alkaline phosphatase in serum of lambs. As the AMP supplementation increased, the activities of total superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity increased linearly (p≤0.018) and hydroxyl radical (OH−) decreased linearly (p = 0.002). For catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA), quadratic (p≤0.001) effects were observed among treatments, with the greatest CAT and lowest MDA values at 10 g/kg AMP. Additionally, supplementing AMP up to a level of 10 or 15 g/kg of diet quadratically increased immunoglobulin and interleukin contents in the serum. Conclusion The results indicated that AMP can be used as natural feed additive in the ration of lambs to improve ADG, antioxidant status, and immune functions, and the optimal dose was 10 g/kg of diet under the condition of this experiment.
Are the Claims to Blame? A Qualitative Study to Understand the Effects of Nutrition and Health Claims on Perceptions and Consumption of Food

Nutrition and Health Claims (NHCs) have been found to influence perceptions of food and consumption behaviour. While previous quantitative research has identified factors that may explain these effects, the current study aimed to address the dearth of in-depth exploration as to the underlying reasons why and how claims may impact upon perceptions and behaviour and the relationships between key factors. Seventy-eight participants took part in 10 focus groups. Discussions were transcribed verbatim and Nvivo 11 was used for thematic analysis. Six themes were developed from the data: 1. Target populations for NHCs; 2. Influence of NHCs on purchasing behaviour; 3. Characteristics/perceptions of products displaying NHCs; 4. Believability of NHCs; 5. Superior yet superficial knowledge; 6. Consumption of products displaying NHCs. Knowledge was a key factor influencing how much individuals believe claims (Believability of NHCs) and their perceptions (Characteristics/perceptions of products displaying NHCs). These perceptions and the characteristics of products displaying claims also impacted believability, as well as purchasing behaviour and consumption. Future research should be cognisant of the role of knowledge and characteristics or perceptions of products in the relationship between NHCs and consumer behaviour, and modelling of these relationships would allow their relative strength to be identified.
Monitoring breathing rate by fusing the physiological impact of respiration on video-photoplethysmogram with head movements

Objective: The simple observation of breathing rate (BR) remains the first and often the most sensitive marker of acute respiratory dysfunction. In fact, there is evidence that drastic changes in BR are a predictive indicator of adverse events (i.e. cardiac arrest). The aim of this study is to develop a camera-based technology that may provide near-continuous estimation of BR considering the effect of respiration on video-PPG (vPPG). Approach: The technology has been tested in two different experimental settings, including controlled BR and more challenging scenarios with spontaneous breathing patterns. Video data were processed offline to derive the vPPG signal. The method derives respiration from beat-to-beat PPG rate and morphology changes in amplitude and width driven by the physiological relationships between vPPG and respiration. Moreover, respiratory-induced head movements were used as an additional source of information for the vPPG system. A combination of these methods has been exploited to estimate the respiratory rate every 10 seconds. Main results: According to the results, respiratory frequencies in the central range (0.2–0.4 Hz) may be estimated using the vPPG system with a low relative error, and interquartile range of the order . However, the vPPG system showed a drop in performance at respiratory range boundaries, around 0.1 Hz and 0.5 Hz. Significance: This camera-based technology can be used as an ubiquitous BR monitoring system. However, vPPG-based systems should consider the effect of the BR in the estimation, mainly in applications where the respiratory rate is out of the 0.2–0.4 Hz range.