Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Stratification Model of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Based on the Autophagy-Related LncRNAs

Background Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is one of the most common malignant carcinomas in the endocrine system, and it has a growing incidence worldwide. Despite the development of diagnosis and treatment modalities for thyroid carcinoma, the outcome remains uncertain. Autophagy participates in the process of cancer invasion, malignancy, metastasis, and drug resistance. Emerging research has shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the process of different types of cancers. However, the interaction between the process of autophagy and lncRNA and the value of autophagy-related lncRNA for risk assessment, prediction of drug sensitivity, and prognosis prediction in PTC patients remains unknown. Materials and Methods We screened 1,283 autophagy-related lncRNAs and identified 144 lncRNAs with prognostic value in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to establish the prognosis-related autophagy-related lncRNA risk classification consisting of 10 lncRNAs to indicate the level of risk, according to which the patients were grouped into high-risk group and low risk-group. Results The high-risk group had dramatically worse overall survival compared with the low-risk group. Cox regression analysis was performed to confirm the independent prognostic value of the autophagy-related lncRNA risk stratification, and the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves of the risk stratification were 0.981 (1 year), 0.906 (3 years), and 0.963 (5 years). LncRNA CRNDE (LINC00180) is overexpressed in the tumor, and its high expression matched with poorer survival state. So, we chose it for further experiment. Finally, knockdown of the CRNDE in PTC increased the sensitivity to sorafenib. Conclusion Collectively, we successfully established a novel risk stratification for PTC based on the expression profiles of autophagy-related lncRNAs.
Intranasal Oxytocin Improves Social Behavior in Laboratory Beagle Dogs (Canis familiaris) Using a Custom-Made Social Test Battery

For a long time, oxytocin has been thought to have a generally positive effect on social cognition and prosocial behavior; however, recent results suggested that oxytocin has beneficial effects only under certain conditions. The aim of the present study was to explore potential associations between social competence and the effect of intranasal oxytocin on the social behavior of laboratory beagle dogs. We expected oxytocin treatment to have a more pronounced positive effect on dogs with lower baseline performance in a social test battery. Thirty-six adult dogs of both sexes received 32 IU intranasal oxytocin and physiological saline (placebo) treatment in a double-blind, cross-over design, with 17–20 days between the two sessions. Forty minutes after the treatment, dogs participated in a social test battery consisting of eight situations. The situations were carried out within one session and took 20–30 min to complete. Principal component analysis on the coded behaviors identified four components (Willingness to interact, Preference for social contact, Non-aversive response to nonsocial threat, and Non-aversive response to social threat). The subjects' behavior during the placebo condition was used to assess their baseline performance. We found that oxytocin treatment had a differential effect on the behavior depending on the baseline performance of the individuals in all components, but only two treatment × baseline performance interactions remained significant in a less sensitive analysis. In accordance with our hypothesis, oxytocin administration increased dogs' contact seeking and affiliative behaviors toward humans but only for those with low baseline performance. Dogs with low baseline performance also showed significantly more positive (friendly) reactions to social threat after oxytocin administration than after placebo, while for dogs with high baseline performance, oxytocin administration led to a more negative (fearful) reaction. These results indicate that similar to those on humans, the effects of oxytocin on dogs' social behavior are not universally positive but are constrained by individual characteristics and the context. Nevertheless, oxytocin administration has the potential to improve the social behavior of laboratory beagle dogs that are socially less proficient when interacting with humans, which could have both applied and animal welfare implications.
Impact of 30° Reserve Trendelenburg Position on Lung Function in Morbidly Obese Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

Background This study aimed to evaluate the impact of patients' positioning before and after intubation with mechanical ventilation, and after extubation on the lung function and blood oxygenation of patients with morbid obesity, who had a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Methods Patients with morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, ASA I – II grade) who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy at our hospital from June 2018 to January 2019 were enrolled in this prospective study. Before intubation, after intubation with mechanical ventilation, and after extubation, arterial blood was collected for blood oxygenation and gas analysis after posturing the patients at supine position or 30° reverse Trendelenburg position (30°-RTP). Results A total of 15 patients with morbid obesity were enrolled in this self-compared study. Pulmonary shunt (Qs/Qt) after extubation was significantly lower at 30°-RTP (18.82 ± 3.60%) compared to that at supine position (17.13 ± 3.10%, p < 0.01). Patients' static lung compliance (Cstat), during mechanical ventilation, was significantly improved at 30°-RTP (36.8 ± 6.7) compared to that of those in a supine position (33.8 ± 7.3, p < 0.05). The PaO2 and oxygen index (OI) before and after intubation with mechanical ventilation were significantly higher at 30°-RTP compared to that at supine position, and in contrast, the PA−aO2 before and after intubation with mechanical ventilation was significantly reduced at 30°-RTP compared to that at supine position. Conclusion During and after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, patients with morbid obesity had improved lung function, reduced pulmonary shunt, reduced PA−aO2 difference, and increased PaO2 and oxygen index at 30°-RTP compared to that supine position.
The Origins and Historical Assembly of the Brazilian Caatinga Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests

The Brazilian Caatinga is considered the richest nucleus of the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests (SDTF) in the Neotropics, also exhibiting high levels of endemism, but the timing of origin and the evolutionary causes of its plant diversification are still poorly understood. In this study, we integrate comprehensive sampled dated molecular phylogenies of multiple flowering plant groups and estimations of ancestral areas to elucidate the forces driving diversification and historical assembly in the Caatinga flowering plants. Our results show a pervasive floristic exchange between Caatinga and other neotropical regions, particularly those adjacent. While some Caatinga lineages arose in the Eocene/Oligocene, most dry-adapted endemic plant lineages found in region emerged from the middle to late Miocene until the Pleistocene, indicating that only during this period the Caatinga started to coalesce into a SDTF like we see today. Our findings are temporally congruent with global and regional aridification events and extensive denudation of thick layers of sediments in Northeast (NE) Brazil. We hypothesize that global aridification processes have played important role in the ancient plant assembly and long-term Caatinga SDTF biome stability, whereas climate-induced vegetation shifts, as well as the newly opened habitats have largely contributed as drivers of in situ diversification in the region. Patterns of phylogenetic relatedness of Caatinga endemic clades revealed that much modern species diversity has originated in situ and likely evolved via recent (Pliocene/Pleistocene) ecological specialization triggered by increased environmental heterogeneity and the exhumation of edaphically disparate substrates. The continuous assembly of dry-adapted flora of the Caatinga has been complex, adding to growing evidence that the origins and historical assembly of the distinct SDTF patches are idiosyncratic across the Neotropics, driven not just by continental-scale processes but also by unique features of regional-scale geological history.
Genetic Epidemiology of Medication Safety and Efficacy Related Variants in the Central Han Chinese Population With Whole Genome Sequencing

Medication safety and efficacy-related pharmacogenomic research play a critical role in precision medicine. This study comprehensively analyzed the pharmacogenomic profiles of the central Han Chinese population in the context of medication safety and efficacy and compared them with other global populations. The ultimate goal is to improve medical treatment guidelines. We performed whole-genome sequencing in 487 Han Chinese individuals and investigated the allele frequencies of pharmacogenetic variants in 1,731 drug response-related genes. We identified 2,139 (81.18%) previously reported variants in our population with annotations in the PharmGKB database. The allele frequencies of these 2,139 clinical-related variants were similar to those in other East Asian populations but different from those in other global populations. We predicted the functional effects of nonsynonymous variants in the 1,731 pharmacogenes and identified 1,281 novel and 4,442 previously reported deleterious variants. Of the 1,281 novel deleterious variants, five are common variants with an allele frequency >5%, and the rest are rare variants with an allele frequency <5%. Of the 4,442 known deleterious variants, the allele frequencies were found to differ from those in other populations, of which 146 are common variants. In addition, we found many variants in non-coding regions, the functions of which require further investigation. This study compiled a large amount of data on pharmacogenomic variants in the central Han Chinese population. At the same time, it provides insight into the role of pharmacogenomic variants in clinical medication safety and efficacy.
Current Development and Challenges of Tetravalent Live-Attenuated Dengue Vaccines

Dengue is the most common arboviral disease caused by one of four distinct but closely related dengue viruses (DENV) and places significant economic and public health burdens in the endemic areas. A dengue vaccine will be important in advancing disease control. However, the effort has been challenged by the requirement to induce effective protection against all four DENV serotypes and the potential adverse effect due to the phenomenon that partial immunity to DENV may worsen the symptoms upon subsequent heterotypic infection. Currently, the most advanced dengue vaccines are all tetravalent and based on recombinant live attenuated viruses. CYD-TDV, developed by Sanofi Pasteur, has been approved but is limited for use in individuals with prior dengue infection. Two other tetravalent live attenuated vaccine candidates: TAK-003 by Takeda and TV003 by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have completed phase 3 and phase 2 clinical trials, respectively. This review focuses on the designs and evaluation of TAK-003 and TV003 vaccine candidates in humans in comparison to the licensed CYD-TDV vaccine. We highlight specific lessons from existing studies and challenges that must be overcome in order to develop a dengue vaccine that confers effective and balanced protection against all four DENV serotypes but with minimal adverse effects.
Heterogeneous Responses to Changes in Inhibitory Synaptic Strength in Networks of Spiking Neurons

How does the dynamics of neurons in a network respond to changes in synaptic weights? Answer to this question would be important for a full understanding of synaptic plasticity. In this article, we report our numerical study of the effects of changes in inhibitory synaptic weights on the spontaneous activity of networks of spiking neurons with conductance-based synapses. Networks with biologically realistic features, which were reconstructed from multi-electrode array recordings taken in a cortical neuronal culture, and their modifications were used in the simulations. The magnitudes of the synaptic weights of all the inhibitory connections are decreased by a uniform amount subjecting to the condition that inhibitory connections would not be turned into excitatory ones. Our simulation results reveal that the responses of the neurons are heterogeneous: while the firing rate of some neurons increases as expected, the firing rate of other neurons decreases or remains unchanged. The same results show that heterogeneous responses also occur for an enhancement of inhibition. This heterogeneity in the responses of neurons to changes in inhibitory synaptic strength suggests that activity-induced modification of synaptic strength does not necessarily generate a positive feedback loop on the dynamics of neurons connected in a network. Our results could be used to understand the effects of bicuculline on spiking and bursting activities of neuronal cultures. Using reconstructed networks with biologically realistic features enables us to identify a long-tailed distribution of average synaptic weights for outgoing links as a crucial feature in giving rise to bursting in neuronal networks and in determining the overall response of the whole network to changes in synaptic strength. For networks whose average synaptic weights for outgoing links have a long-tailed distribution, bursting is observed and the average firing rate of the whole network increases upon inhibition suppression or decreases upon inhibition enhancement. For networks whose average synaptic weights for outgoing links are approximately normally distributed, bursting is not found and the average firing rate of the whole network remains approximately constant upon changes in inhibitory synaptic strength.
A Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Ketamine From 2001 to 2020

Background Ketamine is an intravenous anesthetic with analgesic effects that has a rapid onset and short duration of action. Many studies have been conducted on the use of ketamine; however, the quantity and quality of such studies have not been reported. Therefore, we aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis of research on ketamine from 2001 to 2020. Methods We used the Web of Science database to get publications on ketamine from January 2001 to December 2020. Various bibliographic information was collected, including the number of publications, year of publication, country of origin, journal name, research hotspots, citation count, and author information. Results A total of 5,192 articles were included in the analysis. The United States published the highest number of papers on ketamine and the United States participated in publishing the most papers and disclosure funds. The types of articles in clinical trials were cited more frequently. Most articles on ketamine were published in the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia. Furthermore, the antidepressant effect of ketamine has been a research hotspot for the last 20 years. Conclusion This study provided a comprehensive analysis of research on ketamine and highlighted the growing interest in ketamine and its antidepressant effects.
Association Between Egg Consumption and Dementia Risk in the EPIC-Spain Dementia Cohort

Background Current evidence suggests that egg composition might have potential neuroprotective effects. Our aim was to determine the association between egg consumption and the risk of dementia in a Mediterranean population. Methods This study was carried out in 3 centers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Spain Dementia Cohort, i.e., 25,015 participants aged 30–70 years, recruited in 1992–1996, and followed up for a mean of 21.5 years. Results A total of 774 incident dementia cases were diagnosed and validated, of which 518 were Alzheimer's disease (AD). Data on egg consumption were estimated using a validated dietary history questionnaire at recruitment. Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for confounders, were used in the analyses. No association was observed between egg consumption and either total dementia [hazard ratio between extreme quartiles (HRQ4vs.Q1: 1.05; 95% CI 0.85–1.31; p-trend = 0.93)] or AD (HRQ4vs.Q1 0.93; 95% CI 0.72–1.21; p-trend = 0.50) risks. After dividing the population by adherence to the relative Mediterranean diet (rMED) score, a borderline inverse association was found between egg intake and both total dementia (HRQ4vs.Q1: 0.52; 95% CI 0.30–0.90; p-trend = 0.10) and AD (HRQ4vs.Q1: 0.52; 95% CI 0.27–1.01; p-trend = 0.13) risks within participants with low adherence to rMED score. However, no association was observed in participants with medium and high adherence to rMED score. Conclusion This prospective study suggests that egg consumption is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, and specifically of AD, in the adult population with low adherence to rMED score; whereas it has no impact in subjects with moderate and high MD adherence.
The Clinical Characteristics and Serological Outcomes of Infants With Confirmed or Suspected Congenital Syphilis in Shanghai, China: A Hospital-Based Study

Background Congenital syphilis (CS) is the infection of an infant or fetus with Treponema pallidum. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical features and outcomes of serology reversion in infants diagnosed with confirmed or suspected congenital syphilis (CS). Methods Infants admitted to the neonatal department of Children's Hospital of Fudan University from 2013 to 2016 who met the case definition of CS or suspected CS were included in this study. Follow-up was performed in an outpatient clinic until reversion to non-reactivity of both toluidine red unheated serum test (TRUST) and Treponemal pallidum particle agglutination (TPPA). Follow-up data were collected until up to the end of 2019, when the last infant with CS reached 3 years of age. Results In total, 682 infants were enrolled in this study, including 63 in the CS group and 619 in the suspected CS group. Forty-seven infants (74.6%) in the CS group had symptoms, and 57 (90.5%) had abnormal laboratory and/or long bone X-ray findings. By 6 months of age, TRUST results were negative in 53.3% of the infants with CS and in 100% of the infants with suspected CS. All the infants in the CS group returned to TRUST non-reactivity by 18 months of age. The TPPA results at 18 months of age showed that only 10.0% (3/30) of the patients in the CS group returned to non-reactivity, while a 99.6% (548/550) non-reactivity rate was observed in the suspected CS group. All the infants in the CS group returned to 19S-IgM-TPPA non-reactivity by 6 months of age. Conclusions Although CS is an burdensome disease that may cause fetal and neonatal death, CS responds well to treatment when diagnosed and treated promptly, even when symptoms or lab/X-ray findings are present at birth.
Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin Versus Aspirin in Early Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives To evaluate the difference between low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) and aspirin in preventing early neurological deterioration (END) and recurrent ischemic stroke (RIS), post-recovery independence, and safety outcomes in acute ischemic stroke. Materials and Methods We performed systematic searches of the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases for full-text articles of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of LMWH vs. aspirin in the early management of acute ischemic stroke. Information on study design, eligibility criteria, baseline information, and outcomes was extracted. Synthesized relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are used to present the differences between the two treatments based on fixed-effects models. Results Five RCTs were retrieved from the online databases. The results showed no significant difference in efficacy outcomes between the two groups among unselected patients. Subgroup analysis showed that LMWH was significantly related to a lower incidence of END events [relative risk (RR): 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.35–0.56] and reduced occurrence of RIS during treatment (OR: 0.34, 95% CI: 0.16–0.75) in non-cardioembolic stroke. LMWH significantly increased the number of patients with a modified Rankin scale (mRS) score of 0–1 at 6 months in patients with large-artery occlusive disease (LAOD) (RR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.27–0.91). LMWH had a similar effect on symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (sICH) and major extracranial hemorrhage during treatment to that of aspirin, except that LMWH was related to an increased likelihood of extracranial hemorrhage. Conclusions In patients with acute non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke, especially that with large-artery stenosis, LMWH treatment significantly reduced the incidence of END and RIS, and improved the likelihood of independence (mRS 0–1) at 6 months compared with those with aspirin treatment. LMWH was related to an increased likelihood of extracranial hemorrhage among all patients; however, the difference in major extracranial hemorrhage and sICH was not significant. Choosing the appropriate patients and paying attention to the start time and duration of treatment are very important in the use of anticoagulation. Systematic Review Registration http://www.crd. york.ac. uk/PROSPERO, identifier CRD42020185446.
Entrainment and Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity – A Review of Proposed Mechanisms of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Specific frequency bands of neural oscillations have been correlated with a range of cognitive and behavioral effects (e.g., memory and attention). The causal role of specific frequencies may be investigated using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), a non-invasive brain stimulation method. TACS involves applying a sinusoidal current between two or more electrodes attached on the scalp, above neural regions that are implicated in cognitive processes of interest. The theorized mechanisms by which tACS affects neural oscillations have implications for the exact stimulation frequency used, as well as its anticipated effects. This review outlines two main mechanisms that are thought to underlie tACS effects – entrainment, and spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP). Entrainment suggests that the stimulated frequency synchronizes the ongoing neural oscillations, and is thought to be most effective when the stimulated frequency is at or close to the endogenous frequency of the targeted neural network. STDP suggests that stimulation leads to synaptic changes based on the timing of neuronal firing in the target neural network. According to the principles of STDP, synaptic strength is thought to increase when pre-synaptic events occur prior to post-synaptic events (referred to as long-term potentiation, LTP). Conversely, when post-synaptic events occur prior to pre-synaptic events, synapses are thought to be weakened (referred to as long-term depression, LTD). In this review, we summarize the theoretical frameworks and critically review the tACS evidence for each hypothesis. We also discuss whether each mechanism alone can account for tACS effects or whether a combined account is necessary.