Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developmental Dynamics: Past, Present, and Future

At the end of the 20th century, as new tools and techniques from the interdisciplinary field of nonlinear dynamics began enjoying increased application to the study of development, interest in dynamics flourished in the developmental sciences. In the eyes of many prominent dynamics thinkers of the time, these new dynamics approaches – by virtue of their grounding in time and variability – not only established a thoroughgoing process orientation to development but also stood in marked opposition to the structural, or organizational, focus that had marked classic organicist and systems treatments of development from earlier in the century. Treatments of developmental dynamics today, however, are embarking on exciting new ways to integrate the organizational focus of classic systems accounts with modern principles of nonlinear dynamics. As a consequence, today’s dynamics orientations are taking seriously the explanatory significance of phenomena like purposiveness, end-directedness, normativity, and subjectivity that characterize organisms as unique levels of process organization. Many challenges lie ahead for fully realizing such an integration, and we highlight two noteworthy conceptual issues that today’s treatments need to confront: (1) the notion of abilities or powers as potentials for action and what it means for “potential” to explain action; and (2) the notions of real time change, developmental time change, and what it means for these different timescales to interrelate.
Photocatalysis and UV-blocking properties of cotton fabric functionalized with BiPO4 nanorods

Uniform monoclinite bismuth phosphate (BiPO4) nanorods were fixed on commonly used cotton fabric using two-dip–two-nip technique. Chitosan and acetic acid were applied to act as cross-linking agent in preparing the finishing solution. In this article, BiPO4 nanorods modified cotton fabrics for UV-blocking, as well as photocatalytic degradation of RhB has been studied. This coated fabric was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV–Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy. Furthermore, UV-blocking and photocatalytic properties were also tested. The coated fabric showed better properties compared to uncoated fabric.
Quality of life of patients with cancer attending outpatient clinics at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: Measurement of quality of life (QoL) can be an important tool for the comprehensive care of the patients. This study was designed to assess the QoL of patients with cancer attending outpatient clinics at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and examined its association with sociodemographic variables and also identified the worst type of cancer. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 178 participants who met the selection criteria: adult Saudi patients (≥18 years) who had been diagnosed with cancer, were documented in the health care system, and were cognitively able to answer the questionnaire. Those who underwent any surgical, hormonal, radiation, or chemotherapy within 2 weeks were excluded from the study. Patients are recruited by nonprobability convenience sampling between December 20, 2017, and January 1, 2018. Data were obtained using an Arabic version of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QoL Questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 developed, translated, and validated by the EORTC. QLQ-C30 measures three domains: functional, symptoms, and global QoL. Results: The younger (≤29 years) the patients, the better their global QoL. Women had a trend to score worse in all domains but only statistically significant in dyspnea (P < 0.05). Furthermore, patients with high school education and higher exhibited better physical function (PF) than illiterate patients. Multivariate analysis revealed gastric cancer as the most distressing cancer in terms of global QoL (P < 0.01), whereas patients with hematologic and genitourinary cancers trended high scores but insignificant. Moreover, patients with Stage I–II disease had better scores for PF, role function, social function, and anorexia compared with Stage III–IV disease. Conclusion: The QoL of cancer patients is a useful barometer of their overall health. It can also indicate the impact of different types of cancer on QoL. Sociodemographic variables, such as age, gender, level of education, diagnosis, and stage, can affect the QoL of cancer patients.
Prevalence of postoperative nausea and vomiting: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is a daily phenomenon, to which less attention has been paid in a variety of surgeries. Despite the individual studies, there is no comprehensive study on the prevalence of PONV. The aim of this study was to determine the global prevalence of PONV. Materials and Methods: In this systematic and meta-analysis study, descriptive studies of four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar) were searched for relevant texts from the time they were created until 31 December 2018. The random effects model was used for meta-analysis of studies included. All the steps were carried out by two individuals. Hoy et al.'s tool was used to evaluate its risk bias. Results: A total of 23 studies that were performed on 22,683 people from 11 countries were entered into the final phase. The prevalence of PONV, nausea, and vomiting was 27.7%, 31.4%, and 16.8%, respectively. The prevalence of PONV was higher during the first 24 h in European countries. Conclusion: Considering the high prevalence of PONV and our goal to better control it, it is necessary to use high cost-effective approaches and recommendations and to educate health caregivers and patients.
Perioperative myocardial injury and infarction following non-cardiac surgery: A review of the eclipsed epidemic

The perioperative period induces unpredictable and significant alterations in coronary plaque characteristics which may culminate as adverse cardiovascular events in background of a compromised myocardial oxygen supply and demand balance. This “ischemic-imbalance” provides a substrate for perioperative cardiac adversities which incur a considerable morbidity and mortality. The propensity of myocardial injury is dictated by the conglomeration of various factors like pre-existing medical condition, high-risk surgical interventions, intraoperative hemodynamic management, and the postoperative care. Perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI) differs from myocardial infarction (MI) in a non-operative setting. PMI can often be notoriously ̶silent” demonstrating a conspicuous absence of the classic clinical symptoms. Moreover, myocardial injury following non-cardiac surgery (MINS) characterized by an elevation of the cardiac insult biomarkers has demonstrated an independent prognostic significance in the perioperative scenario despite the lack of a formal categorization as PMI. This has evoked interest in the meticulous characterization of MINS as a discrete clinical entity. Multifactorial etiology, varying symptomatology, close differential diagnosis, and a debatable management regime makes perioperative myocardial injury-infarction, a subject of detailed discussion.
Chronically Implanted Microelectrodes Cause c-fos Expression Along Their Trajectory

When designing electrodes and probes for brain–machine interfaces, one of the challenges faced involves minimizing the brain-tissue response, which would otherwise create an environment that is detrimental for the accurate functioning of such probes. Following the implantation process, the brain reacts with a sterile inflammation response and resulting astrocytic glial scar formation, potentially resulting in neuronal cell loss around the implantation site. Such alterations in the naïve brain tissue can hinder both the quality of neuronal recordings, and the efficacy of deep-brain stimulation. In this study, we chronically implanted a glass-supported polyimide microelectrode in the dorsolateral striatum of Sprague–Dawley rats. The effect of high-frequency stimulation (HFS) was investigated using c-fos immunoreactivity techniques. GFAP and ED1 immunohistochemistry were used to analyze the brain-tissue response. No changes in c-fos expression were found for either the acute or chronic stimulus groups; although a c-fos expression was found along the length of the implantation trajectory, following chronic implantation of our stiffened polyimide microelectrode. Furthermore, we also observed the formation of a glial scar around the microelectrode, with an accompanying low number of inflammation cells. Histological and statistical analysis of NeuN-positive cells did not demonstrate a pronounced “kill zone” with accompanying neuronal cell death around the implantation site, neither on the polymer side, nor on the glass side of the PI-glass probe.
Neonatal Antibiotic Treatment Is Associated With an Altered Circulating Immune Marker Profile at 1 Year of Age

Background: Neonatal antibiotics disturb the developing gut microbiome and are therefore thought to influence the developing immune system, but exact mechanisms and health consequences in later life still need to be elucidated. Therefore, we investigated whether neonatal antibiotics influence inflammatory markers at 1 year of age. In addition, we determined whether health problems during the first year of life, e.g., allergic disorders (eczema and wheezing) or infantile colics, were associated with changes in the circulating immune marker profile at 1 year of age. Methods: In a subgroup (N = 149) of the INCA-study, a prospective birth-cohort study, a blood sample was drawn from term born infants at 1 year of age and analyzed for 84 immune related markers using Luminex. Associations of antibiotic treatment, eczema, wheezing, and infantile colics with immune marker concentrations were investigated using a linear regression model. The trial is registered as NCT02536560. Results: The use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the first week of life, was significantly associated with different levels of inflammatory markers including sVCAM-1, sCD14, sCD19, sCD27, IL-1RII, sVEGF-R1, and HSP70 at 1 year of age. Eczema was associated with decreased concentrations of IFNα, IFNγ, TSLP, CXCL9, and CXCL13, but increased concentrations of CCL18 and Galectin-3. Wheezing, independent of antibiotic treatment, was positively associated to TNF-R2 and resistin. Infantile colics were positively associated to IL-31, LIGHT, YKL-40, CXCL13, sPD1, IL1RI, sIL-7Ra, Gal-1, Gal-9, and S100A8 at 1 year of age, independent of early life antibiotic treatment. Conclusion: In this explorative study, we identified that neonatal antibiotics are associated with immunological alterations at 1 year of age and that, independent of the antibiotic treatment, infantile colics were associated with alterations within gut associated markers. These findings support the importance of the first host microbe interaction in early life immune development.
Extracellular Vesicles From the Cotton Pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum Induce a Phytotoxic Response in Plants

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a system for the coordinated secretion of a variety of molecular cargo including proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and metabolites. They have an essential role in intercellular communication in multicellular organisms and have more recently been implicated in host-pathogen interactions. Study of the role for EVs in fungal biology has focused on pathogenic yeasts that are major pathogens in humans. In this study we have expanded the investigation of fungal EVs to plant pathogens, specifically the major cotton pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum. EVs isolated from F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum culture medium have a morphology and size distribution similar to EVs from yeasts such as Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. A unique feature of the EVs from F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum is their purple color, which is predicted to arise from a napthoquinone pigment being packaged into the EVs. Proteomic analysis of F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum EVs revealed that they are enriched in proteins that function in synthesis of polyketides as well as proteases and proteins that function in basic cellular processes. Infiltration of F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum EVs into the leaves of cotton or N. benthamiana plants led to a phytotoxic response. These observations lead to the hypothesis that F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum EVs are likely to play a crucial role in the infection process.
Differentiation of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma From Dysplastic Nodules in Cirrhotic Liver: Texture Analysis Based on MRI Improved Performance in Comparison Over Gadoxetic Acid-Enhanced MR and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging

Background: Accurate characterization of small (3 cm) hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) and dysplastic nodules (DNs) in cirrhotic liver is challenging. We aimed to investigate whether texture analysis (TA) based on T2-weighted images (T2WI) is superior to qualitative diagnosis using gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging (Gd-EOB-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for distinguishing sHCC from DNs in cirrhosis. Materials and methods: Sixty-eight patients with 73 liver nodules (46 HCCs, 27 DNs) pathologically confirmed by operation were included. For imaging diagnosis, three sets of images were reviewed by two experienced radiologists in consensus: a Gd-EOB-MRI set, a DWI set, and a combined set (combination of Gd-EOB-MRI and DWI). For TA, 279 texture features resulting from T2WI were extracted for each lesion. The performance of each approach was evaluated by a receiver operating characteristic analysis. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (Az), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were determined. Results: The performance of TA (Az = 0.96) was significantly higher than that of imaging diagnosis using Gd-EOB-MRI set (Az = 0.86) or DWI set (Az = 0.80) alone in differentiation of sHCC from DNs (P = 0.008 and 0.025, respectively). The combination of Gd-EOB-MRI and DWI showed a greater sensitivity (95.6%) but reduced specificity (66.7%). The specificity of TA (92.6%) was significantly higher than that of the combined set (P < 0.001), but no significant difference was observed in sensitivity (97.8 vs. 95.6%, P = 0.559). Conclusion: TA-based T2WI showed a better classification performance than that of qualitative diagnosis using Gd-EOB-MRI and DW imaging in differentiation of sHCCs from DNs in cirrhotic liver. TA-based MRI may become a potential imaging biomarker for the early differentiation HCCs from DNs in cirrhosis.
Gearing Up for Warmer Times: Transcriptomic Response of Spongia officinalis to Elevated Temperatures Reveals Recruited Mechanisms and Potential for Resilience

The emblematic sponge Spongia officinalis is currently threatened by recurrent mortality incidents in its native habitats. Elevated temperature has been indicated as a major triggering factor, but the molecular mechanisms recruited for the organism’s response to thermal shifts are yet unknown. Here, we experimentally tested the effect of exposure to temperatures of varying intensity and span on its gene expression profile, replicating gradients encountered in the species’ native habitat. Analysis revealed major shifts in the organism’s transcriptomic profile induced by temperatures corresponding to the standard seasonal maximum, triggering processes related to signal transduction, inflammation, and apoptotic pathway. Further elevation of temperature corresponding to local extremes activated further the immune response of the sponge along with protein ubiquitination. Following prolonged exposure, activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress related to accumulation of misfolded proteins and signs of resilience were observed. In the latter condition, categories such as cellular response to stress, wound repair, and diminution of pathological inflammation as also genes related to cell regeneration and cell growth were upregulated. Our results highlight the acknowledged sensitivity of S. officinalis to environmental shifts, providing an insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in the process. Furthermore, they suggest innate capacity for resilience at the current thermal extremes, implying a combination of factors and not temperature per se as the lethal agent. This sheds light on the mechanisms of pressure induced by the ongoing ocean warming trend to coastal sessile invertebrates.
Extracellular Vesicles From Hepatocytes Are Therapeutic for Toxin-Mediated Fibrosis and Gene Expression in the Liver

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized membrane-limited organelles that are liberated from their producer cells, traverse the intercellular space, and may interact with other cells resulting in the uptake of the EV molecular payload by the recipient cells which may become functionally reprogramed as a result. Previous in vitro studies showed that EVs purified from normal mouse AML12 hepatocytes (“EVNorm”) attenuate the pro-fibrogenic activities of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), a principal fibrosis-producing cell type in the liver. In a 10-day CCl4 injury model, liver fibrogenesis, expression of hepatic cellular communication network factor 2 [CCN2, also known as connective tissue growth factor (CTGF)] or alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA) was dose-dependently blocked during concurrent administration of EVNorm. Hepatic inflammation and expression of inflammatory cytokines were also reduced by EVNorm. In a 5-week CCl4 fibrosis model in mice, interstitial collagen deposition and mRNA and/or protein for collagen 1a1, αSMA or CCN2 were suppressed following administration of EVNorm over the last 2 weeks. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed that EVNorm therapy of mice receiving CCl4 for 5 weeks resulted in significant differences [false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05] in expression of 233 CCl4-regulated hepatic genes and these were principally associated with fibrosis, cell cycle, cell division, signal transduction, extracellular matrix (ECM), heat shock, cytochromes, drug detoxification, adaptive immunity, and membrane trafficking. Selected gene candidates from these groups were verified by qRT-PCR as targets of EVNorm in CCl4-injured livers. Additionally, EVNorm administration resulted in reduced activation of p53, a predicted upstream regulator of 40% of the genes for which expression was altered by EVNorm following CCl4 liver injury. In vitro, EVs from human HepG2 hepatocytes suppressed fibrogenic gene expression in activated mouse HSC and reversed the reduced viability or proliferation of HepG2 cells or AML12 cells exposed to CCl4. Similarly, EVs produced by primary human hepatocytes (PHH) protected PHH or human LX2 HSC from CCl4-mediated changes in cell number or gene expression in vitro. These findings show that EVs from human or mouse hepatocytes regulate toxin-associated gene expression leading to therapeutic outcomes including suppression of fibrogenesis, hepatocyte damage, and/or inflammation.
Waste Reduction Strategies: Factors Affecting Talent Wastage and the Efficacy of Talent Selection in Sport

Coaches are faced with the difficult task of identifying and selecting athletes to their team. Despite its widespread practice in sport, there is still much to learn about improving the identification and selection process. Evidence to date suggests selection decisions (at different competitive levels) can be inaccurate, bias driven, and sometimes even illogical. These mistakes are believed to contribute to “talent wastage,” the effect of a coach’s wrongful selection and/or deselection of an athlete to/from a team. Errors of this scale can lead to negative repercussions for all stakeholders involved and therefore deserve further exploration. It is the purpose of this paper to shed light on the potential factors influencing talent wastage and to illuminate possible psychological pitfalls when making decisions under uncertainty.
Engineering Tissue Fabrication With Machine Intelligence: Generating a Blueprint for Regeneration

Regenerating lost or damaged tissue is the primary goal of Tissue Engineering. 3D bioprinting technologies have been widely applied in many research areas of tissue regeneration and disease modeling with unprecedented spatial resolution and tissue-like complexity. However, the extraction of tissue architecture and the generation of high-resolution blueprints are challenging tasks for tissue regeneration. Traditionally, such spatial information is obtained from a collection of microscopic images and then combined together to visualize regions of interest. To fabricate such engineered tissues, rendered microscopic images are transformed to code to inform a 3D bioprinting process. If this process is augmented with data-driven approaches and streamlined with machine intelligence, identification of an optimal blueprint can become an achievable task for functional tissue regeneration. In this review, our perspective is guided by an emerging paradigm to generate a blueprint for regeneration with machine intelligence. First, we reviewed recent articles with respect to our perspective for machine intelligence-driven information retrieval and fabrication. After briefly introducing recent trends in information retrieval methods from publicly available data, our discussion is focused on recent works that use machine intelligence to discover tissue architectures from imaging and spectral data. Then, our focus is on utilizing optimization approaches to increase print fidelity and enhance biomimicry with machine learning (ML) strategies to acquire a blueprint ready for 3D bioprinting.
Screening for Potential Novel Probiotics With Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV-Inhibiting Activity for Type 2 Diabetes Attenuation in vitro and in vivo

Diabetes has become the second most severe disease to human health. Probiotics are important for maintaining gastrointestinal homeostasis and energy balance and have been demonstrated to play a positive role in the prevention and treatment of metabolic syndromes, such as obesity, inflammation, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia. The objective of this study was to screen potential antidiabetic strains in vitro and evaluate its effects in vivo. For the in vitro section, dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory and antioxidant activities of 14 candidate Lactobacillus spp. strains were tested. Then hydrophobicity and acid and bile salt tolerance assays were determined. The most promising in vitro strain was further evaluated for its antidiabetic properties in vivo using type 2 diabetes mice induced by high-fat diet and intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ). The reference strain for this study was Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Results showed that cell-free excretory supernatants and cell-free extracts of Lactobacillus acidophilus KLDS1.0901 had better DPP-IV inhibitory activity, antioxidative activities, and biological characteristics than other strains. At the end of the treatment, we found that L. acidophilus KLDS1.0901 administration decreased the levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin, insulin in serum and AUCglucose, and increased the level of glucagon-like peptide 1 in serum compared with diabetic mice (p < 0.05). Moreover, L. acidophilus KLDS1.0901 supplementation increased the activities of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, the level of glutathione, and reduced the level of malondialdehyde in serum. These results indicated that L. acidophilus KLDS1.0901 could be used as a potential antidiabetic strain; its application as food supplement and drug ingredient is thus recommended.