Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-canonical Wnt signaling contributes to ventilator-induced lung injury through upregulation of WISP1 expression

Mechanical ventilation may cause ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). Canonical Wnt signaling has been reported to serve an important role in the pathogenesis of VILI. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathways were activated in VILI. However, the role of non-canonical Wnt signaling in the pathogenesis of VILI remains unclear. The present study aimed to analyze the potential role of non-canonical Wnt signaling in VILI pathogenesis. Lung injury was assessed via Evans blue albumin permeability and histological scoring, as well as by inflammatory cytokine expression and total protein concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. The relative protein expression of canonical and non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway components were examined via western blotting and immunohistochemistry. The results demonstrated that 6 h of mechanical ventilation at low tidal volume (LTV; 6 ml/kg) or moderate tidal volume (MTV; 12 ml/kg) induced lung injury in sensitive A/J mice. Ventilation with MTV increased the protein levels of Wnt-induced secreted protein 1 (WISP1), Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK1), phosphorylated (p)-Ras homolog gene family, member A and p-C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK). Inhibition of ROCK1 by Y27632 and JNK by SP600125 attenuated MTV-induced lung injury and decreased the expression of proteins involved in non-canonical Wnt signaling, including WISP1. In conclusion, non-canonical Wnt signaling participates in VILI by modulating WISP1 expression, which has been previously noted as critical for VILI development. Therefore, the non-canonical Wnt signaling pathway may provide a preventive and therapeutic target in VILI.
A Large Stokes Shift Fluorescent Protein Constructed from the Fusion of Red Fluorescent mCherry and Far‐Red Fluorescent BDFP1.6

Phycobiliproteins are constituents of phycobilisomes that can harvest orange, red, and far‐red light for photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and red algae. Phycobiliproteins in the phycobilisome cores, such as allophycocyanins, absorb far‐red light to funnel energy to the reaction centers. Therefore, allophycocyanin subunits have been engineered as far‐red fluorescent proteins, such as BDFP1.6. However, most current fluorescent probes have small Stokes shifts, which limit their applications in multicolor bioimaging. mCherry is an excellent fluorescent protein that has maximal emittance in the red spectral range and a high fluorescence quantum yield, and thus, can be used as a donor for energy transfer to a far‐red acceptor, such as BDFP1.6, by FRET. In this study, mCherry was fused with BDFP1.6, which resulted in a highly bright far‐red fluorescent protein, BDFP2.0, with a large Stokes shift (≈79 nm). The excitation energy was absorbed maximally at 587 nm by mCherry and transferred to BDFP1.6 efficiently; thus emitting strong far‐red fluorescence maximally at 666 nm. The effective brightness of BDFP2.0 in mammalian cells was 4.2‐fold higher than that of iRFP670, which has been reported as the brightest far‐red fluorescent protein. The large Stokes shift of BDFP2.0 facilitates multicolor bioimaging. Therefore, BDFP2.0 not only biolabels mammalian cells, including human cells, but also biolabels various intracellular components in dual‐color imaging.
Evaluation of the Biological Behavior of a Gold Nanocore-Encapsulated Human Serum Albumin Nanoparticle (Au@HSANP) in a CT-26 Tumor/Ascites Mouse Model after Intravenous/Intraperitoneal Administration

Colorectal cancer is one of the major causes of cancer-related death in Taiwan and worldwide. Patients with peritoneal metastasis from colorectal cancer have reduced overall survival and poor prognosis. Hybrid protein-inorganic nanoparticle systems have displayed multifunctional applications in solid cancer theranostics. In this study, a gold nanocore-encapsulated human serum albumin nanoparticle (Au@HSANP), which is a hybrid protein-inorganic nanoparticle, and its radioactive surrogate 111In-labeled Au@HSANP (111In-Au@HSANP), were developed and their biological behaviors were investigated in a tumor/ascites mouse model. 111In-Au@HSANP was injected either intravenously (iv) or intraperitoneally (ip) in CT-26 tumor/ascites-bearing mice. After ip injection, a remarkable and sustained radioactivity retention in the abdomen was noticed, based on microSPECT images. After iv injection, however, most of the radioactivity was accumulated in the mononuclear phagocyte system. The results of biodistribution indicated that ip administration was significantly more effective in increasing intraperitoneal concentration and tumor accumulation than iv administration. The ratios of area under the curve (AUC) of the ascites and tumors in the ip-injected group to those in the iv-injected group was 93 and 20, respectively. This study demonstrated that the ip injection route would be a better approach than iv injections for applying gold-albumin nanoparticle in peritoneal metastasis treatment.
Recent Applications of Carbonaceous Nanosorbents in Solid Phase Extraction for the Determination of Pesticides in Food Samples

Abstract This article covers recent trends of carbonaceous nanomaterial supported solid phase extraction for the liquid and gas chromatography analysis of pesticides in food samples. Several advanced carbonaceous nanosorbents have been reported over the previous decade for pesticide extraction, such as graphene derivatives modified by combination with silica, amines, polymers, and/or magnetic nanoparticles. The advances in this field have opened possibilities for using neat or modified carbon nanotubes or graphene-type sorbents for the pre-concentration of polar or nonpolar pesticides by solid phase extraction (SPE) or micro-SPE methods or to apply such nanomaterials for the removal of matrix components by dispersive SPE during sample clean-up. The applications of such nanosorbents should increase in the next few years, considering the expected improvements of their properties, including time and resource economy, selectivity, and reusability.
Risk Factors for Early‐Onset Ischemic Stroke: A Case‐Control Study

Background Recent studies have shown an increasing prevalence of vascular risk factors in young adults with ischemic stroke (IS). However, the strength of the association between all vascular risk factors and early‐onset IS has not been fully established. Methods and Results We compared 961 patients with a first‐ever IS at 25 to 49 years to 1403 frequency‐matched stroke‐free controls from a population‐based cohort study (FINRISK). Assessed risk factors included an active malignancy, atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular disease, current smoking status, a family history of stroke, high low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, high triglycerides, low high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. We performed subgroup analyses based on age, sex, and IS etiology. In a fully adjusted multivariable logistic regression analysis, significant risk factors for IS consisted of atrial fibrillation (odds ratio [OR], 10.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.33–46.77], cardiovascular disease (OR, 8.01; 95% CI, 3.09–20.78), type 1 diabetes mellitus (OR, 6.72; 95% CI, 3.15–14.33), type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR, 2.31; 95% CI, 1.35–3.95), low high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.37–2.40), current smoking status (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.50–2.17), hypertension (OR, 1.43; 95% CI, 1.17–1.75), and a family history of stroke (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.04–1.82). High low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol exhibited an inverse association with IS. In the subgroup analyses, the most consistent associations appeared for current smoking status and type 1 diabetes mellitus. Conclusions Our study establishes the associations between 11 vascular risk factors and early‐onset IS, among which atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular disease, and both type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus in particular showed strong associations.
Absolute dosimetry with polymer gels—a TLD reference system

Background and purpose. Absolute dosimetry in 3D with polymer gels (PG) is generally complicated and usually requires a second independent measurement with conventional detectors. This is why, PG are often used only for relative dosimetry. To overcome this drawback, we combine PG with a 1D thermoluminescence (TL) detector within the same measurement. The TL detector information is then used as additional information for calibration of the gel. Materials and methods. The PAGAT dosimetry gel was used in combination with TLD600 (LiF:Mg,Ti). TL detectors were attached on the surface of the PG container placed inside a cylindrical phantom. To test the usability of this setup, two irradiation geometries were carried out: (a) homogeneous target coverage and (b) small-field irradiation. PG was evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the TL detectors with a Harshaw 5500 hot gas reader. Results. PG dosimetry alone showed deviations of up to 4% as compared to calculations. Including additionally the dose information of the TL detectors for PG calibration, this deviation was decreased to less than 1% for both irradiation geometries. This is also reflected by the very high -passing rates of > 96% (3%/3 mm) and >93% (2%/2 mm), respectively. Conclusion. This study presents a novel method combining 3D PG and TL dose measurements for the purpose of absolute 3D dose measurements that can also be applied in complex anthropomorphic phantoms using only a single measurement. The method was validated for two different irradiation geometries including a homogeneous large field as well as a small field irradiation with sharp dose gradients.
The relationship between habit and healthcare professional behaviour in clinical practice: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT Theories of behaviour used to understand healthcare professional behaviour often focus on the deliberative processes that drive their behaviour; however, less is known about the role that implicit processes such as habit have on healthcare professional behaviour. This systematic review aimed to critically appraise and synthesise research evidence investigating the association between habit and healthcare professional behaviour. A search of five databases (PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus and CINAHL) was conducted up until 29 February 2016 to identify studies reporting correlations between habit and healthcare professional behaviours. Meta-analyses were conducted to assess the overall habit-behaviour association across all behaviours. A subgroup analysis assessed whether the habit-behaviour relationship differed depending on whether the behaviour was objectively measured or assessed by self-report. We identified nine eligible studies involving 1975 healthcare professionals that included 28 habit-behaviour correlations. A combined mean r+ of 0.35 (medium effect) was observed between habit and healthcare professional behaviour. The habit-behaviour correlation was not affected by whether behaviour was measured objectively or by self-report. This review suggests that habit plays a significant role in healthcare professional behaviour. Findings may have implications for considering health professionals’ habit when promoting the provision of evidence-based health care, and for breaking existing habit when de-implementing outdated, non-evidence-based practices.
Bacterial Concentration Detection using a PCB-based Contactless Conductivity Sensor

Capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D) is an improved approach to avoid the problems of labor-intensive, time-consuming and insufficient accuracy of plate count as well as the high-cost apparatus of flow cytometry (FCM) in bacterial counting. This article describes a novel electrode-integrated printed-circuit-board (PCB)-based C4D device, which supports the simple and safe exchange of capillaries and improves the sensitivity and repeatability of the contactless detection. Furthermore, no syringe pump is needed in the detection, it reduces the system size, and, more importantly, avoids the effect on the bacteria due to high pressure. The recovered bacteria after C4D detection at excitation of 25 Vpp and 60–120 kHz were analyzed by flow cytometry, and a survival rate higher than 96% was given. It was verified that C4D detection did not influence the bacterial viability. Moreover, bacteria concentrations from 106 cells/mL to 108 cells/mL were measured in a linear range, and relative standard deviation (RSD) is below 0.2%. In addition, the effects on bacteria and C4D from background solutions were discussed. In contrast to common methods used in most laboratories, this method may provide a simple solution to in situ detection of bacterial cultures.
Leptospirosis: An important infectious disease in North American horses

North American horses are commonly exposed to Leptospira organisms. Leptospira Bratislava is the most common infecting serovar but this serovar has not been confirmed to cause clinical disease in North American horses. Leptospira Pomona type kennewicki is responsible for most of the clinical diseases (leptospirosis) in North American horses. Leptospirosis is most commonly associated with diseases of the placenta and fetus, the kidneys and the eyes in horses. In-utero infections in pregnant mares may result in abortion, neonatal illness or birth of an antibody positive healthy foal. Acute renal failure in younger horses and recurrent uveitis in adult horses are other well documented clinical syndromes of leptospirosis. Abortions, neonatal disease and acute renal failure are caused by a subacute infection, while horses with Leptospira associated recurrent uveitis develop ocular disease months or years after the initial Leptospira infection. Diagnosis of Leptospirosis is made by a combination of antigen or antibody testing methods. Mares that abort following Leptospira infection have no additional clinical signs at the time of abortion but may shed the offending Leptospira spp. in the urine for several weeks. Antibiotic treatments are sometimes used in hopes of decreasing Leptospira shedding in infected horses or prophylactically in exposed pregnant mares but documentation of efficacy is lacking. Horses with Leptospira - associated acute renal failure can be successfully treated with antibiotics and supportive care. Recurrent uveitis is commonly associated with leptospirosis in North American horses and although horses may have chronic intraocular infection triggering an immune disease, systemic antimicrobial therapy has not been effective in eliminating the organism from the eye. An equine approved Leptospira Pomona type kennewicki vaccine is now available in North America.
Comparison of short- and mid-term outcomes of Italian- and German-speaking patients after an interdisciplinary pain management programme in Switzerland: A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To quantify and compare the course of health-related quality of life of immigrant native Italian-speaking and German-speaking patients before and after an interdisciplinary pain programme. DESIGN Prospective cohort study with 1-12 month follow-up. SUBJECTS Fibromyalgia, generalized widespread pain, and chronic non-specific back pain patients (Italian-speaking n = 96, German-speaking n = 199). METHODS Score changes measured with the Short Form 36 (SF-36) were compared with multivariate analysis using standardized mean differences (SMD), adjusted for sex, education and the baseline score. RESULTS At baseline, health of the Italian-speaking patients was worse than for the German-speaking patients. Adjusted SMDs showed significantly better improvements in the German group compared with the Italian group: SF-36 Physical functioning SMD = 0.54 (at discharge) and 0.49 (at 12 months), General health SMD = 0.71 and 0.44, Vitality SMD = 0.43 and 0.48 in one sample. In the other sample, the corresponding SMDs were 0.06 (discharge), 0.50 (3 months) and 0.47 (6 months) for Bodily pain. CONCLUSION State of health was better and health improvements were greater in German-speaking patients compared with Italian-speaking patients. Patients with a migration background may have special needs in therapeutic management, and addressing these might enhance the positive outcome in the short- and mid-term.
Intraocular Pressure Elevation during Lateral Body Posture in Side-sleeping Glaucoma Patients.

SIGNIFICANCE In side-sleeping open-angle glaucoma (OAG) patients, eyes that showed progression exhibited a greater intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation when subjects were rested in the lateral decubitus (LD) posture on the ipsilateral side compared with those eyes that did not progress. PURPOSE The purposes of this study were to investigate whether lying in the LD position for an extended period affects IOP in side-sleeping patients with OAG when rested on their own pillow and to compare posture-induced IOP variations between eyes with recent glaucomatous progression and those without. METHODS Twenty-eight bilateral OAG patients who reported a preference for side sleeping were included. We measured IOP in both eyes, with the patient in the sitting and supine positions, 5 and 30 minutes after they had been in the right or left LD position (depending on their sleeping habits) and 5 minutes after they had returned to the supine position. While in the recumbent postures, the patients rested on their own pillows from home. The patients were divided into the correspondence and noncorrespondence subgroups, based on whether the laterality of the progressed eye corresponded with their habitual sleeping side. RESULTS The IOP of the lower-sided eye increased further (+1.6 ± 1.8 mmHg; P < .001) when the LD posture was maintained for an additional 25 minutes. Such time-dependent IOP elevation in the dependent eye was greater in patients whose LD posture corresponded with glaucoma progression (+2.5 ± 1.7 mmHg) than in those who showed no correspondence or no glaucoma progression (+1.0 ± 1.6 mmHg; P = .03). CONCLUSIONS Compared with nonprogressed eyes, progressed eyes exhibited a greater IOP elevation when the side-sleeping patients with OAG were rested in the LD posture on the ipsilateral side.
Overexpression of toll-like receptor 9 correlates with podocyte injury in a murine model of autoimmune membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis

Abstract Toll-like receptors (Tlrs) are sensors of danger signals which promote the activation of immune cells and intrinsic renal cells. Podocytes, the intrinsic cells of glomerulus, are continuously exposed to various plasma solutes and danger signals due to their unique location in the glomerulus. Herein, we show that Tlr9 is overexpressed in podocytes and the mechanisms which cause its injury and development of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) in model BXSB/MpJ-Yaa (Yaa) mice. Yaa mice developed typical lesions of MPGN and showed strong expression of Tlr9 mRNA throughout the glomerulus particularly toward the periphery of the glomerulus. However, BXSB/MpJ (BXSB) mice showed no lesion for MPGN but a very weak expression of Tlr9 mRNA. Relative mRNA expression of Tlr9 and its downstream cytokines, including interleukin 1 beta (Il1b), Il6, interferon gamma (Ifng) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (Tnfa) was markedly increased in glomeruli isolated from Yaa mice. Tlr9 protein expression was almost absent in BXSB mice but intense expression was found in Yaa mice. Podocyte protein expression was normal in BXSB mice but decreased in Yaa mice and colocalized with Tlr9 protein. Furthermore, electron microscopy examination revealed podocyte injury and electron-dense materials in thickened glomerular basement membrane of Yaa mice. Glomerular Tlr9 mRNA expression was significantly correlated with anti-dsDNA antibody, proteinuria, renal function indices (sBUN and sCr), glomerular histopathology indices, downstream factors of Tlr family (Ilb and Tnfa), podocyte injury parameters (p < .05 and p < .01). In conclusion, overexpression of TLR9 correlates with podocyte injury and development of MPGN.
A novel form of JARID2 is required for differentiation in lineage‐committed cells

Polycomb repressive complex‐2 (PRC2) is a group of proteins that play an important role during development and in cell differentiation. PRC2 is a histone‐modifying complex that catalyses methylation of lysine 27 of histone H3 (H3K27me3) at differentiation genes leading to their transcriptional repression. JARID2 is a co‐factor of PRC2 and is important for targeting PRC2 to chromatin. Here, we show that, unlike in embryonic stem cells, in lineage‐committed human cells, including human epidermal keratinocytes, JARID2 predominantly exists as a novel low molecular weight form, which lacks the N‐terminal PRC2‐interacting domain (ΔN‐JARID2). We show that ΔN‐JARID2 is a cleaved product of full‐length JARID2 spanning the C‐terminal conserved jumonji domains. JARID2 knockout in keratinocytes results in up‐regulation of cell cycle genes and repression of many epidermal differentiation genes. Surprisingly, repression of epidermal differentiation genes in JARID2‐null keratinocytes can be rescued by expression of ΔN‐JARID2 suggesting that, in contrast to PRC2, ΔN‐JARID2 promotes activation of differentiation genes. We propose that a switch from expression of full‐length JARID2 to ΔN‐JARID2 is important for the up‐regulation differentiation genes.
A practical method for efficient and optimal production of selenomethionine-labeled recombinant protein complexes in the insect cells

The use of Selenomethionine (SeMet) incorporated protein crystals for single or multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (SAD or MAD) to facilitate phasing has become almost synonymous with modern X-ray crystallography. The anomalous signals from SeMets can be used for phasing as well as sequence markers for subsequent model building. The production of large quantities of SeMet incorporated recombinant proteins is relatively straightforward when expressed in E. coli. In contrast, production of SeMet substituted recombinant proteins expressed in the insect cells is not as robust due to the toxicity of SeMet in eukaryotic systems. Previous protocols for SeMet-incorporation in the insect cells are laborious, and more suited for secreted proteins. In addition, these protocols have generally not addressed the SeMet toxicity issue, and typically result in low recovery of the labeled proteins. Here we report that SeMet toxicity can be circumvented by fully infecting insect cells with baculovirus. Quantitatively controlling infection levels using our Titer Estimation of Quality Control (TEQC) method allows for incorporation of substantial amounts of SeMet, resulting in an efficient and optimal production of labeled recombinant protein complexes. With the method described here, we were able to consistently reach incorporation levels of about 75% and protein yield of 60-90% compared to native protein expression.
Visualization of Urban Mobility Data from Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation Systems are an important enabler for the smart cities paradigm. Currently, such systems generate massive amounts of granular data that can be analyzed to better understand people’s dynamics. To address the multivariate nature of spatiotemporal urban mobility data, researchers and practitioners have developed an extensive body of research and interactive visualization tools. Data visualization provides multiple perspectives on data and supports the analytical tasks of domain experts. This article surveys related studies to analyze which topics of urban mobility were addressed and their related phenomena, and to identify the adopted visualization techniques and sensors data types. We highlight research opportunities based on our findings.