Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apoptosis induction of crude water soluble Momordica charantia (chinese and indian bitter gourd) in human lung cancer cell and zebrafish embryo

A therapy which can target apoptosis will be effective for cancer treatment. This preliminary study attempted in vitro and in vivo to target apoptosis capability of Momordica charantia extracts. Here, we describe that the crude hot and cold extraction of two varieties (Chinese and Indian) of M.charantia, induced apoptosis in human lung cancer cell line A549. This was obtained from the cell viability assay where crude extracts were incubated for 24 hours and tested with 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay. The inhibitory concentration, IC50 was obtained from the cell viability graph and further used in the upstream assays. The apoptotic morphology was presented by the crude extract-treated cells with a comparison to a positive control cisplatin. The percentage of apoptosis was obtained from a flow cytometric analysis using Hoechst 33342. Induction of apoptosis in vivo was tested using the extracts on dechorionated zebrafish embryo for 24 hours and monitored up to 72-hour post fertilization. Induction of apoptosis in A549 by crude water extracts revealed a decrease in cell viability giving a low IC50. The IC50 of cisplatin was 17.3 µg/ml, Chinese Hot Aqueous was 32.5 µg/ml, Chinese Cold Aqueous was 28.1 µg/ml, Indian Hot Aqueous was 36.9 µg/ml and Indian Cold Aqueous was 26.7 µg/ml significant to the control.The initiation of apoptosis by the crude water extracts was also evidence in vivo in zebrafish embryos with results demonstrating significant changes morphologically. There is a potential for the Indian Cold Aqueous to act as a chemo preventive agent as it has the overall best IC50, percentage of apoptotic cells and changes in the morphology of cell and the zebrafish embryo.
Promising Practices for Telemedicine Implementation

RAND researchers describe promising practices identified by staff from nine health centers in California that were participating in the Sustainable Models of Telehealth in the Safety Net initiative. These practices show the potential to support the growth and sustainability of telemedicine programs in safety-net settings. However, there is not yet sufficient evidence to prove that such practices will be effective across settings.
Amelioration of the Oxidative Stress Generated by Simple or Combined Abiotic Stress through the K+ and Ca2+ Supplementation in Tomato Plants

Abiotic stressors such as drought, heat, or salinity are major causes of yield loss worldwide due to the oxidative burst generated under these conditions. Recent studies have revealed that plant response to a combination of different environmental stressors is unique and cannot be deduced from the response developed to each stress when applied individually. Some studies have demonstrated that a different management of some nutrients in the irrigation solution may provide an advantage to the plants against abiotic stressors. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate if an increase in potassium (K+) and calcium (Ca2+) concentration in the nutrient solution may have a positive effect on the amelioration of oxidative stress which occurs under the combination of salinity and heat in tomato plants. Our results indicated that plants irrigated with an increase in K+ and Ca2+ concentrations in the irrigation solution from 7mM (K+) to 9.8 mM and from 4 mM (Ca2+) to 5.6 mM, respectively, induced a recovery of the biomass production compared to the plants treated with salinity or salinity + heat, and subsequently irrigated with the regular Hoagland solution. This was correlated with a better performance of all the photosynthetic parameters, a reduction in the foliar concentration of H2O2 and a lower lipid peroxidation rate, and with a better performance of the antioxidant enzymes ascorbate peroxidase ascorbate peroxidase (APX), dehydroascorbate reductactase (DHAR), glutathione reductase (GR), and NADPH oxidase. Our results showed that these enzymes were differentially regulated at the transcriptional level, showing a higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) detoxification efficiency under salinity and under the combination of salinity and heat, as compared to those plants irrigated with common Hoagland. An increase in K+ and Ca2+ in the irrigation solution also induced a lower Na+ accumulation in leaves and a higher K+/Na+ ratio. Thus, our study highlights the importance of the right management of the plant nutritional status and fertilization in order to counteract the deleterious effects of abiotic stress in plants.
The Roles of MicroRNA in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the most devastating malignancy in the world. Beyond genetic research, epigenomic studies—especially investigations of microRNAs—have grown rapidly in quantity and quality in the past decade. This has enriched our understanding about basic cancer biology and lit up the opportunities for potential therapeutic development. In this review, we summarize the involvement of microRNAs in lung cancer carcinogenesis and behavior, by illustrating the relationship to each cancer hallmark capability, and in addition, we briefly describe the clinical applications of microRNAs in lung cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Finally, we discuss the potential therapeutic use of microRNAs in lung cancer.
Validity and Reliability of Wearable Sensors for Joint Angle Estimation: A Systematic Review

Motion capture systems are recognized as the gold standard for joint angle calculation. However, studies using these systems are restricted to laboratory settings for technical reasons, which may lead to findings that are not representative of real-life context. Recently developed commercial and home-made inertial measurement sensors (M/IMU) are potentially good alternatives to the laboratory-based systems, and recent technology improvements required a synthesis of the current evidence. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the criterion validity and reliability of M/IMU for each body joint and for tasks of different levels of complexity. Five different databases were screened (Pubmed, Cinhal, Embase, Ergonomic abstract, and Compendex). Two evaluators performed independent selection, quality assessment (consensus-based standards for the selection of health measurement instruments [COSMIN] and quality appraisal tools), and data extraction. Forty-two studies were included. Reported validity varied according to task complexity (higher validity for simple tasks) and the joint evaluated (better validity for lower limb joints). More studies on reliability are needed to make stronger conclusions, as the number of studies addressing this psychometric property was limited. M/IMU should be considered as a valid tool to assess whole body range of motion, but further studies are needed to standardize technical procedures to obtain more accurate data.
Surprise: A Python library for recommender systems

Recommender systems aim at providing users with a list of recommendations of items that a service offers. For example, a video streaming service will typically rely on a recommender system to propose a personalized list of movies or series to each of its users. A typical problem in recommendation is that of rating prediction: given an incomplete dataset of useritem interations which take the form of numerical ratings (e.g. on a scale from 1 to 5), the goal is to predict the missing ratings for all remaining user-item pairs.
p75 Neurotrophin Receptor Activation Regulates the Timing of the Maturation of Cortical Parvalbumin Interneuron Connectivity and Promotes Juvenile-like Plasticity in Adult Visual Cortex

By virtue of their extensive axonal arborization and perisomatic synaptic targeting, cortical inhibitory parvalbumin (PV) cells strongly regulate principal cell output and plasticity and modulate experience-dependent refinement of cortical circuits during development. An interesting aspect of PV cell connectivity is its prolonged maturation time course, which is completed only by end of adolescence. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) regulates numerous cellular functions; however, its role on cortical circuit development and plasticity remains elusive, mainly because localizing p75NTR expression with cellular and temporal resolution has been challenging. By using RNAscope and a modified version of the proximity ligation assay, we found that p75NTR expression in PV cells decreases between the second and fourth postnatal week, at a time when PV cell synapse numbers increase dramatically. Conditional knockout of p75NTR in single PV neurons in vitro and in PV cell networks in vivo causes precocious formation of PV cell perisomatic innervation and perineural nets around PV cell somata, therefore suggesting that p75NTR expression modulates the timing of maturation of PV cell connectivity in the adolescent cortex. Remarkably, we found that PV cells still express p75NTR in adult mouse cortex of both sexes and that its activation is sufficient to destabilize PV cell connectivity and to restore cortical plasticity following monocular deprivation in vivo. Together, our results show that p75NTR activation dynamically regulates PV cell connectivity, and represent a novel tool to foster brain plasticity in adults. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In the cortex, inhibitory, GABA-releasing neurons control the output and plasticity of excitatory neurons. Within this diverse group, parvalbumin-expressing (PV) cells form the larger inhibitory system. PV cell connectivity develops slowly, reaching maturity only at the end of adolescence; however, the mechanisms controlling the timing of its maturation are not well understood. We discovered that the expression of the neurotrophin receptor p75NTR in PV cells inhibits the maturation of their connectivity in a cell-autonomous fashion, both in vitro and in vivo, and that p75NTR activation in adult PV cells promotes their remodeling and restores cortical plasticity. These results reveal a new p75NTR function in the regulation of the time course of PV cell maturation and in limiting cortical plasticity.
Ultra-sensitive EGFRT790M Detection as an Independent Prognostic Marker for Lung Cancer Patients Harboring EGFRdel19 Mutations and Treated with First-generation TKIs

Purpose: The detection of preexisting EGFRT790M subclones and the assessment of their clinical significance in the pretreatment of patients with EGFRT790M non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. Experimental Design: A total of 179 tumor samples from patients treated or not with a first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) was analyzed. The presence of ultra-low levels of preexisting EGFRT790M mutation was evaluated using ultra-sensitive droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) and the clinical implication of these mutations on first-generation TKI efficiency assessed. Results: With a ddPCR linear performance of 0.999 and an analytical sensitivity of approximately 0.001%, we observed a 66% (99/150) overall incidence of ultra-low EGFRT790M mutation. Among 82 patients harboring EGFRactivating mutations, the presence of a preexisting EGFRT790M mutation prior to any treatment was significantly associated with a longer progression-free survival (PFS; P = 0.009; log-rank test). Interestingly, longer PFS was linked to concomitant EGFRdel19 and ultra-low EGFRT790M mutations. Moreover, the presence of both EGFRdel19 and ultra-low EGFRT790M mutations was identified as the best fit for predicting the clinical outcome of patients treated with TKI compared with an ultra-low EGFRT790M mutation status or an activating mutation alone (P = 0.042 and P = 0.0071, respectively). Conclusions: We demonstrate that the detection of the ultra-low EGFRT790M mutation in TKI-naïve patients is not a rare event. We suggest that ddPCR should be used in clinical practice to distinguish patients who may respond to first- or third-generation TKIs.
Effects of Supplementation of Piper sarmentosum Leaf Powder on Feed Efficiency, Rumen Ecology and Rumen Protozoal Concentration in Thai Native Beef Cattle

Simple Summary This work was to study the influence of Piper sarmentosum (PS) leaf powder supplementation in cattle diet. It was found that supplementation of PS leaf powder at 2.4 g/d resulted in improving total feed intake and dry matter (DM) digestibility whereas there was reduced protozoal population and methane (CH4) production in cattle. Abstracts The aim of this research was to study the influence of inclusion of Piper sarmentosum (PS) leaf powder on feed efficiency, rumen ecology, protozoal diversity and CH4 emission in cattle. Four male beef cattle (1–1.5 years old) with similar initial body weights (BW) of 150 ± 20.00 kg were randomly assigned to a 4 × 4 Latin squared design. Experimental diets consisted of four levels of PS leaf powder supplementation at 0 (control), 0.6, 1.2 and 2.4 g/head/d, respectively. Dry matter (DM) intake of rice straw and total intake in terms of g/kg BW0.75 differed among treatments and were linearly greatest when PS was added at 2.4 g/head/d (p < 0.05). PS leaf powder did not affect the intake of nutrients and digestibility of organic matter, crude protein, and fibers. Nevertheless, digestibility of DM was found to increase by 4.8% in cattle when added at 2.4 g/head/d as compared to the other control treatments. PS leaf powder did not affect ruminal pH, ruminal temperature, ammonia–nitrogen concentration and blood urea-nitrogen (p > 0.05). The bacterial population was similar across PS levels (p > 0.05). However, the protozoal count was lower in animals fed with the supplement at 2.4 g/head/d (p < 0.05). The PS leaf powder did not affect total volatile fatty acid (VFA) and acetic acid (C2), butyric acid (C4), C2 to propionic acid (C3) and C2 to C3 to C4. However, concentration of C3 at 4 h post feeding and mean value linearly increased with supplementation of PS leaf powder at 2.4 g/d. The 4 h post-feeding and mean values of CH4 concentration were linearly reduced with PS supplementation (p < 0.05). An increase of PS leaf powder at 2.4 g decreased CH4 after feeding 4 h by 21.33% when compared to no PS leaf powder. Thus, supplementation of PS leaf powder at 2.4 g in ruminant feeding is recommended for manipulating rumen efficiency.
PE_PGRS62 promotes the survival of Mycobacterium smegmatis within macrophages via disrupting ER stress‐mediated apoptosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the leading causative agent of tuberculosis, remains one of the most deadly infectious pathogens. PE_PGRS proteins become a new focus as their species specificity in mycobacteria, especially in pathogenic mycobacteria. Despite intensive research, PE_PGRS proteins are still a mysterious aspect of mycobacterial pathogenesis with unknown mechanism. Herein, we focused on a PE_PGRS member from M. tuberculosis, PE_PGRS62, characterized by a surface‐exposed protein function in disrupting phagolysosome maturation. Expression of PE_PGRS62 in Mycobacterium smegmatis, a nonpathogenic species naturally deficient in PE_PGRS genes, resulted in enhanced resistance to various in vitro stresses and cellular survival in macrophage. As a consequence, the cytokine profiles of macrophage were disturbed and cell apoptosis were inhibited via decreasing endoplasmic reticulum stress response.
Patients' perceptions of their experience, control and knowledge of fluid management when receiving haemodialysis.

BACKGROUND Person-centred care is increasingly promoted, empowering patients to become more involved in their treatment rather than being passive recipients of care (Barnes et al. 2013). Haemodialysis is typically required three times a week, with fluid management decision-making occurring at each treatment session (Ahmed et al. 2017). However, no research has yet explored how haemodialysis patients' perceptions of their fluid management may impact upon this decision-making. OBJECTIVES This study sought to explore patients' perceptions of their fluid management. METHOD DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS & APPROACH: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 patients undergoing in-hospital haemodialysis treatment. These were digitally recorded one-to-one interviews to allow for verbatim transcription. The data was analysed by thematic analysis, generating thematic patterns across patients' experiences, control and knowledge of their fluid management. RESULTS Five themes were produced: determining who has the expertise, impediments affecting patients' lifestyle, additional difficulty of experiencing comorbidities, perceived quality of care, and establishing consistency. CONCLUSIONS Despite varied levels of patient participation in their treatment, overall there appears to be a limited understanding of specific areas of fluid management. The implications for further research and the development of shared-care are discussed.
A Large Undisturbed Column Method to Study Flow and Transport in Macropores and Fractured Media

Intact soil columns can bridge the gap between field studies and idealized laboratory investigations of flow and transport in macropores and fractured media. However, the value of intact column studies is often hampered by shortcomings such as lack of column intactness, small column size, and column rim flow, which can cause serious artifacts and hamper system understanding. The flexible‐wall pressurized large undisturbed column (LUC) method overcomes these limitations and is a valuable approach to analyze fluid flow and solute transport in macroporous and fractured geological formations. The method investigates subsurface processes in complex media, mimicking in situ conditions and facilitating the control of system boundary conditions including effective stress. In recent years, considerable experience has been gained through different applications of the LUC approach. Modeling tools have also been developed for a detailed interpretation of flow and transport processes in LUC systems. This paper describes the steps of the LUC method from column excavation in the field to experimental setup in the laboratory. The description encompasses the key features of the sampling of LUCs in field excavations, the laboratory setup, the procedure for hydraulic and transport experiments, as well as practical challenges and potential issues during operation of an LUC system. Application examples with a fully three‐dimensional numerical model of LUC tracer experiments are also presented to illustrate the quantitative interpretation of transport processes in macroporous clayey tills.
Team members perspectives on conflicts in clinical ethics committees

Background: Clinical ethics committees have been broadly implemented in university hospitals, general hospitals and nursing homes. To ensure the quality of ethics consultations, evaluation should be mandatory. Research question/aim: The aim of this article is to evaluate the perspectives of all people involved and the process of implementation on the wards. Research design and participants: The data were collected in two steps: by means of non-participating observation of four ethics case consultations and by open-guided interviews with 28 participants. Data analysis was performed according to grounded theory. Ethical considerations: The study received approval from the local Ethics Commission (registration no.: 32/11/10). Findings: ‘Communication problems’ and ‘hierarchical team conflicts’ proved to be the main aspects that led to ethics consultation, involving two factors: unresolvable differences arise in the context of team conflicts on the ward and unresolvable differences prevent a solution being found. Hierarchical asymmetries, which are common in the medical field, support this vicious circle. Based on this, minor or major disagreements regarding clinical decisions might be seen as ethical conflicts. The expectation on the clinical ethics committee is to solve this (communication) problem, but the participants experienced that hierarchy is maintained by the clinical ethics committee members. Discussion: The asymmetrical structures of the clinical ethics committee reflect the institutional hierarchical nature. They endure, despite the fact that the clinical ethics committee should be able to detect and overcome them. Disagreements among care givers are described as one of the most difficult ethically relevant situations and should be recognised by the clinical ethics committee. On the contrary, discussion of team conflicts and clinical ethical issues should not be combined, since the first is a mandate for team supervision. Conclusion: To avoid dominance by physicians and an excessively factual character of the presentation, the case or conflict could be presented by both physicians and nurses, a strategy that strengthens the interpersonal and emotional aspects and also integrates both professional perspectives.
Early Modeled Longitudinal CA-125 Kinetics and Survival of Ovarian Cancer Patients: A GINECO AGO MRC CTU Study

Purpose: Regarding cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) longitudinal kinetics during chemotherapy, the actual predictive value of the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup (GCIG) CA-125 response criterion is questioned. The modeled CA-125 elimination rate constant KELIM exhibited higher prognostic value in patients with recurrent ovarian cancer enrolled in the CALYPSO trial. The objective was to validate the higher predictive and prognostic values of KELIM during first-line treatments. Experimental Design: Data from three large phase III trials were analyzed: AGO OVAR 9 [learning set: carboplatin-paclitaxel (CP) ± gemcitabine; n = 1,288]; AGO OVAR 7 (validation set: CP ± topotecan; n = 192); and ICON7 (validation set: CP ± bevacizumab; n = 1,388). The CA-125 profiles were fit with a nonlinear mixed-effect model during the first 100 days, and the individual KELIM were calculated. KELIM prognostic and predictive values for survival were assessed against GCIG criterion and other prognostic factors in univariate/multivariate analyses. Results: The GCIG CA-125 endpoint provided no meaningful predictive/prognostic information. C-index analyses confirmed the higher predictive value of KELIM compared with GCIG criterion for progression-free survival and overall survival (OS). KELIM provided reproducible prognostic information. Patients with favorable KELIM ≥ upper tercile (0.0711 per days) consistently experienced better OS, with HRs between 0.44 and 0.58 (e.g., median OS >65 months vs. <35 months). Conclusions: Modeled KELIM provides higher predictive and prognostic information based on CA-125 longitudinal kinetics compared with GCIG response criteria during first-line chemotherapy. Integration of this endpoint in guidelines may be considered. Individual KELIM and survival simulations can be calculated at http://www.biomarker-kinetics.org/. Further assessment of the surrogate value of KELIM treatment–related variations in a GCIG meta-analysis is warranted. See related commentary by Maitland et al., p. 5182