Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactobacillus crispatus BC1 Biosurfactant Delivered by Hyalurosomes: An Advanced Strategy to Counteract Candida Biofilm

The emergence of resistance to antifungal drugs has made the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) very challenging. Among natural substances, biosurfactants (BS) produced by Lactobacillus have gained increasing interest in counteracting Candida infections for their proven anti-adhesive properties and safety profile. In the present study, liposomes (LP-BS) or liposomes coated with hyaluronic acid (HY-LP-BS) were prepared in the presence of the BS isolated from the vaginal strain Lactobacillus crispatus BC1 and characterized in terms of size, ζ potential, stability and mucoadhesion. The anti-biofilm activity of free BS, LP-BS and HY-LP-BS was investigated against different Candida albicans and non-albicans strains (C. glabrata, C. lusitaniae, C. tropicalis, C. krusei and C. parapsilosis), clinically isolated from patients affected by VVC. The inhibition of biofilm formation and the dispersal of pre-formed biofilm were evaluated. The obtained phospholipid vesicles showed suitable size for vaginal application and good stability over the storage period. HY-LP-BS exhibited good mucoadhesive properties and the best anti-biofilm profile, both in preventing or limiting the surface colonization by a broad spectrum of Candida species. In conclusion, the formulation of a novel antifungal agent derived from the vaginal microbiota into mucoadhesive nanocarriers appears to be a promising biotherapeutic strategy to counteract vulvovaginal candidiasis.
Surface Wettability and Electrical Resistance Analysis of Droplets on Indium-Tin-Oxide Glass Fabricated Using an Ultraviolet Laser System

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used as a substrate for fabricating chips because of its optical transparency, favorable chemical stability, and high electrical conductivity. However, the wettability of ITO surface is neutral (the contact angle was approximately 90°) or hydrophilic. For reagent transporting and manipulation in biochip application, the surface wettability of ITO-based chips was modified to the hydrophobic or nearly hydrophobic surface to enable their use with droplets. Due to the above demand, this study used a 355-nm ultraviolet laser to fabricate a comb microstructure on ITO glass to modify the surface wettability characteristics. All of the fabrication patterns with various line width and pitch, depth, and surface roughness were employed. Subsequently, the contact angle (CA) of droplets on the ITO glass was analyzed to examine wettability and electrical performance by using the different voltages applied to the electrode. The proposed approach can succeed in the fabrication of a biochip with suitable comb-microstructure by using the optimal operating voltage and time functions for the catch droplets on ITO glass for precision medicine application. The experiment results indicated that the CA of droplets under a volume of 20 μL on flat ITO substrate was approximately 92° ± 2°; furthermore, due to its lowest surface roughness, the pattern line width and pitch of 110 μm exhibited a smaller CA variation and more favorable spherical droplet morphology, with a side and front view CA of 83° ± 1° and 78.5° ± 2.5°, respectively, while a laser scanning speed of 750 mm/s was employed. Other line width and pitch, as well as scanning speed parameters, increased the surface roughness and resulted in the surface becoming hydrophilic. In addition, to prevent droplet morphology collapse, the droplet’s electric operation voltage and driving time did not exceed 5 V and 20 s, respectively. With this method, the surface modification process can be employed to control the droplet’s CA by adjusting the line width and pitch and the laser scanning speed, especially in the neutral or nearly hydrophobic surface for droplet transporting. This enables the production of a microfluidic chip with a surface that is both light transmittance and has favorable electrical conductivity. In addition, the shape of the microfluidic chip can be directly designed and fabricated using a laser direct writing system on ITO glass, obviating the use of a mask and complicated production processes in biosensing and biomanipulation applications.
Executive Functions and Attention Processes in Adolescents and Young Adults with Intellectual Disability

(1) Background: We made a comprehensive evaluation of executive functions (EFs) and attention processes in a group of adolescents and young adults with mild intellectual disability (ID). (2) Methods: 27 adolescents and young adults (14 females and 13 males) with ID, aged between 15.1 and 23 years (M = 17.4; SD = 2.04), were compared to a control group free of cognitive problems and individually matched for gender and age. (3) Results: As for EFs, individuals with ID were severely impaired on all subtests of the Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) battery. However, we also found appreciable individual differences, with eight individuals (approximately 30%) scoring within normal limits. On the attention tests, individuals with ID were not generally slower but presented specific deficits only on some attention tests (i.e., Choice Reaction Times, Color Naming and Color–Word Interference, and Shifting of Attention for Verbal and for Visual Targets). The role of a global factor (i.e., cognitive speed) was modest in contributing to the group differences; i.e., when present, group differences were selectively associated with specific task manipulations, not global differences in cognitive speed. (4) Conclusions: The study confirmed large group differences in EFs; deficits in attentional processing were more specific and occurred primarily in tasks taxing the selective dimension of attention, with performance on intensive tasks almost entirely spared.
Sexuality and Associated Factors in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Patients Attending a Referral Hospital in Northeastern Brazil

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual function in male and female COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients and identify associated factors. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study on 52 COPD patients treated at an outpatient pneumology service of a referral hospital in Northeastern Brazil. Information was collected on demographic, clinical and spirometric variables and exercise capacity. The following instruments and scores were used: modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) for dyspnea, SF-36 for quality of life (QoL), the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventory, Male and Female Sexual Quotient. Results: Sexual function was satisfactory/excellent in 17% (9/52) and poor/absent in 82% (43/52). Patients with poor/absent sexual function tended to have lower scores on the domain mental health summary score of SF-36 (p = 0.007) and higher anxiety and depression scores than patients with satisfactory/excellent sexual function (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, patients with high depression scores displayed a greater likelihood of poor/absent sexual function (OR = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.02–1.25). Conclusion: COPD patients presented a high rate of sexual dysfunction and compromised sexuality was associated with depression
Plasma Soluble Suppression of Tumerogenicity-2 Associates with Ventilator Liberation in Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure.

RATIONALE Standard physiologic assessments of extubation readiness in patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) may not reflect lung injury resolution and could adversely affect clinical decision-making and patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that elevations in inflammatory plasma biomarkers soluble suppression of tumerogenicity-2 (sST2) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) indicate ongoing lung injury in AHRF and better inform patient outcomes compared to standard clinical assessments. METHODS We measured daily plasma biomarkers and physiologic variables in 200 patients with AHRF for up to 9 days after intubation. We tested the associations of baseline values with the primary outcome of unassisted breathing at day 29. We analyzed the ability of serial biomarker measurements to inform successful ventilator liberation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Baseline sST2 concentrations were higher in patients dead or mechanically ventilated versus breathing unassisted at day 29 (491.7 ng/mL, IQR 294.5-670.1 ng/mL vs. 314.4 ng/mL, IQR 127.5-550.1 ng/mL, P = 0.0003). Higher sST2 concentrations over time were associated with decreased probability of ventilator liberation (HR 0.80 per log-unit increase, 95% CI 0.75-0.83, P = 0.03). Patients with higher sST2 concentrations on the day of liberation were more likely to fail liberation compared to patients who remained successfully liberated (320.9 ng/mL, IQR 181.1-495.6 ng/mL vs. 161.6 ng/mL, IQR 95.8-292.5 ng/mL, P = 0.002). Elevated sST2 concentrations on the day of liberation decreased the odds of successful liberation when adjusted for standard physiologic parameters (OR 0.325, 95% CI 0.119-0.885, P = 0.03). IL-6 levels did not associate with outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Using sST2 concentrations to guide ventilator management may more accurately reflect underlying lung injury and outperform traditional measures of readiness for ventilator liberation.
Two-Stage Fast DOA Estimation Based on Directional Antennas in Conformal Uniform Circular Array

In conformal array radar, due to the directivity of antennas, the responses of the echo signals between different antennas are distinct, and some antennas cannot even receive the target echo signal. These phenomena significantly affect the accuracy of direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation. To implement accurate DOA estimation in a conformal uniform circular array (UCA) composed of directional antennas, the two-stage fast DOA estimation algorithm is proposed. In the pre-processing stage, multi-target decoupling and target detection are mainly used to obtain the targets’ range bin indexes set; in the rough-precise DOA estimation stage, the amplitude and phase information of each antenna are used for rough DOA estimation and precise DOA estimation, respectively. Based on simulation and actual anechoic chamber radar experiments, and through quantitative analyses of the accuracy, validity and elapsed time of the two-stage fast DOA estimation algorithm compared with the directional antenna MUSIC (DA-MUSIC), sub-array MUSIC (S-MUSIC) and Capon-like algorithms, results indicate that the two-stage fast DOA estimation algorithm can rapidly and accurately estimate DOAs in a multi-target scenario without the range-angle pair-matching procedure. Lower computational complexity and superior estimation accuracy provide the two-stage fast DOA estimation algorithm a broader application prospect in the practical engineering field.
QSTR with extended topochemical atom (ETA) indices. 13. Modelling of hERG K+ channel blocking activity of diverse functional drugs using different chemometric tools

To accelerate the drug discovery process, early prediction of human ether a-go-go (hERG) K+ channel affinity of drug candidates is becoming an important aspect. We have therefore developed quantitative structure–toxicity relationship models with extended topochemical atom (ETA) indices for hERG K+ channel blocking activity of diverse functional drugs using different chemometric tools like factor analysis followed by multiple linear regression (FA-MLR), stepwise regression and partial least squares. The data set was divided into a training set of 50 compounds and a test set of 17 compounds based on K-means clustering technique. The ETA models were compared with those developed with a pool of other topological indices. Finally, an attempt was made to develop models from the combined pool of topological (ETA and non-ETA) descriptors. It was found that on using ETA parameters along with non-ETA ones, there was a considerable increase in the quality of the models. The best model came from stepwise regression using a combined set of descriptors (Q 2 = 0.546, = 0.619). The ETA model suggests that hERG channel blocking increases with the increase of molecular bulk and electron richness and decreases with the increase of functionalities of the carboxylic acid group and the aliphatic tertiary nitrogen fragment.
Estimation of global NH3 volatilization loss from synthetic fertilizers and animal manure applied to arable lands and grasslands

One of the main causes of the low efficiency in nitrogen (N) use by crops is the volatilization of ammonia (NH3) from fertilizers. Information taken from 1667 NH3 volatilization measurements documented in 148 research papers was summarized to assess the influence on NH3 volatilization of crop type, fertilizer type, and rate and mode of application and temperature, as well as soil organic carbon, texture, pH, CEC, measurement technique, and measurement location. The data set was summarized in three ways: (1) by calculating means for each of the factors mentioned, in which findings from each research paper were weighted equally; (2) by calculating weighted median values corrected for unbalanced features of the collected data; and (3) by developing a summary model using linear regression based on weighted median values for NH3 volatilization and by calculating global NH3 volatilization losses from fertilizer application using 0.5° resolution data on land use and soils. The calculated median NH3 loss from global application of synthetic N fertilizers (78 million tons N per year) and animal manure (33 million tons N per year) amount to 14% (10–19%) and 23% (19–29%), respectively. In developing countries, because of high temperatures and the widespread use of urea, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium bicarbonate, estimated NH3 volatilization loss from synthetic fertilizers amounts to 18%, and in industrialized countries it amounts to 7%. The estimated NH3 loss from animal manure is 21% in industrialized and 26% in developing countries.
Septal Class A Penicillin-Binding Protein Activity and ld-Transpeptidases Mediate Selection of Colistin-Resistant Lipooligosaccharide-Deficient Acinetobacter baumannii

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic treatment failure associated with Gram-negative bacterial infections highlights an urgent need to develop new alternative therapeutic strategies. The last-line antimicrobial colistin (polymyxin E) targets the ubiquitous outer membrane lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/LOS membrane anchor, lipid A, which is essential for viability of most diderms. ABSTRACT Despite dogma suggesting that lipopolysaccharide/lipooligosaccharide (LOS) was essential for viability of Gram-negative bacteria, several Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates produced LOS− colonies after colistin selection. Inactivation of the conserved class A penicillin-binding protein, PBP1A, was a compensatory mutation that supported isolation of LOS− A. baumannii, but the impact of PBP1A mutation was not characterized. Here, we show that the absence of PBP1A causes septation defects and that these, together with ld-transpeptidase activity, support isolation of LOS− A. baumannii. PBP1A contributes to proper cell division in A. baumannii, and its absence induced cell chaining. Only isolates producing three or more septa supported selection of colistin-resistant LOS− A. baumannii. PBP1A was enriched at the midcell, where the divisome complex facilitates daughter cell formation, and its localization was dependent on glycosyltransferase activity. Transposon mutagenesis showed that genes encoding two putative ld-transpeptidases (LdtJ and LdtK) became essential in the PBP1A mutant. Both LdtJ and LdtK were required for selection of LOS− A. baumannii, but each had distinct enzymatic activities in the cell. Together, these findings demonstrate that defects in PBP1A glycosyltransferase activity and ld-transpeptidase activity remodel the cell envelope to support selection of colistin-resistant LOS− A. baumannii. IMPORTANCE The increasing prevalence of antibiotic treatment failure associated with Gram-negative bacterial infections highlights an urgent need to develop new alternative therapeutic strategies. The last-line antimicrobial colistin (polymyxin E) targets the ubiquitous outer membrane lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/LOS membrane anchor, lipid A, which is essential for viability of most diderms. However, several LOS− Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates were recovered after colistin selection, suggesting a conserved resistance mechanism. Here, we characterized a role for penicillin-binding protein 1A in A. baumannii septation and intrinsic β-lactam susceptibility. We also showed that defects in PBP1A glycosyltransferase activity and ld-transpeptidase activity support isolation of colistin-resistant LOS− A. baumannii.
Comprehensive Review of Effective Application of Questionnaires for Clinical Research on Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms With Translation and Cultural Adaptation to the Korean Language

Lower urinary tract symptoms are highly prevalent and closely related to patients’ quality of life. Clinical research on urologic disease is essential for accumulating evidence on patient management; however, the major obstacle is converting patients’ subjective symptoms to objective parameters. The optimal application of well-developed and validated questionnaires is vital in achieving objectivity and minimizing bias in clinical research. Numerous questionnaires for measuring symptoms and quality of life in urologic diseases have been developed worldwide; however, they cannot be directly used in clinical studies without validation processes. This review aimed to explain the common procedures for translation, linguistic, and psychometric validation of developed questionnaires from other languages. Furthermore, we comprehensively reviewed currently available questionnaires for evaluating lower urinary tract symptoms in the Korean population.
The Structure of the Methylnitrene Radical

have since established a more complex photochemical pathway for Mn2(CO)lo in this electronic state. It involves two primary photoproducts, due to Mn-Mn bond homolysis and to CO loss, whose relative yields are sensitive to environmental effects. Experiments designed to explore the photochemical properties of this molecule in gas phase, in the absence of solvent cage effects, are currently in progre~s. '~~~~ The results reported here establish directly the nature of photoproducts generated on excitation of into the u* state using 350-nm photons. Approximately equal amounts of MII,(CO)~+ and Mn(CO),+ are generated on photolysis at this energy. These results are obtained at the lowest laser flux at which signal can be obtained in our instrument. The relative intensities and extent of fragmentation are extremely dependent on laser flux. At higher laser fluxes multiphoton processes become important and highly dissociated fragments, such as Mn+, Mn2+, Mn(CO)+, and Mn2(CO),+, dominate the spectrum. This extreme depen
A simple gE-model for generating all basic types of binary liquid–liquid equilibria and their pressure dependence. Thermodynamic constraints at critical loci

We survey the types of binary (T,p,x) liquid–liquid phase diagrams that have already been found experimentally or that can be predicted to exist, emphasizing the topological properties of the temperature–pressure relation along their critical loci. We use the simplest gE-model compatible with all known basic behavior. The distinct types of phase diagrams are also discussed in light of simple molecular arguments. These, in turn, will serve to predict the thermodynamics of the mixture, i.e., the underlying excess enthalpic, entropic, and volumetric properties to which the gE-model has to conform. The temperature and pressure dependences of these thermodynamic quantities play a fundamental role. From this functional point of view, all possible (T,p,x) phase diagrams can be reduced to just four types. The model presents six parameters with direct physical meaning. While the slope of the T–p curve for critical demixing permits us to establish a relation between hE and vE, its curvature enables us to obtain information about the mixture's compressibility and heat capacity as well. The last section is devoted to the analysis of more complicated cases than those corresponding to basic types of phase diagrams.
Ab initio MRD-CI study of the electronic spectrum of SiH

Potential curves and other properties of the ground and excited states of SiH are calculated at close to full CI accuracy in DZP AO basis sets including f functions. The C 2Σ+ state of this system is shown to correspond to a second potential minimum of the B 2Σ+ species which occurs because of an avoided crossing with a dissociative state of the same symmetry. The D 2Δ and E 2Σ+ states are assigned as members of Rydberg series involving upper orbitals of dδ and dσ symmetry respectively. In addition, a number of quartet states have been computed including the 4Π and two 4Σ- species which have apparently not yet been characterized experimentally. The 4Π state is found to be strongly repulsive, causing predissociation of the 4s and 4p members of the lowest Rydberg series; this observation is consistent with the fact that transitions to such upper states have yet to be observed experimentally. Computed spectroscopic constants, dipole and transition moments and dissociation energies are all found to agree quit.
Viscosity effects in the free-radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate

Methyl methacrylate has been polymerized in the presence of poly(methyl methacrylate) by using a free-radical initiator. The efficiency of the initiator is shown to be independent of the viscosity. At high viscosities, chain termination was influenced by the rate of translational diffusion of the polymer radicals. The dependence of the polymerization rate on viscosity is less than that predicted by a simple kinetic scheme. It appears that only those radicals which are above a certain size have their chain termination reactions controlled by the solution viscosity. This limiting size decreases as the viscosity increases.
In-silico identification of potential inhibitors targeting the DNA binding domain of estrogen receptor α for the treatment of hormone therapy-resistant breast cancer

Abstract Estrogen receptor α (ERα) plays a critical role in breast cancer (BC) development. The standard therapeutic strategies for ERα- positive (ERα+) BC consist of impairing ERα signalling pathway by either estrogen competitors blocking its interaction with the ligand binding domain (LBD) or agents inhibiting the production of estrogen. These strategies are limited by many factors that lead to constitutive activation of ERα and consequently, resistance to treatment. Targeting the DNA binding domain (DBD) of ERα instead of its LBD with small-molecule inhibitors could be an alternative to impair ERα’s signalling pathway. For this purpose, we conducted a structure based virtual screening of DrugBank against the crystal structure of ERα-DBD (PDB ID: 1HCQ) using the Glide module in standard precision (SP) and extra precision (XP) mode of docking. Molecules with XP Gscore less than −8 kcal/mol were selected and visually inspected to keep only the reasonable docking poses. Subsequently, these molecules were clustered using structural interaction fingerprints analysis and the complexes of the top ranked molecules of each cluster based on XP Gscore were subjected to 200 ns molecular dynamics simulations followed by MM-GBSA binding free energy calculation for the last 100 ns of each complex. In this study, we identified three molecules from DrugBank namely DB03450, DB02593 and DB08001 showing significant stability and strong interaction with the key amino acids during MD simulation suggesting a potential inhibition of the target. These molecules could be used as promising lead compounds to impair the ERα signalisation in hormone therapy-resistant breast cancer. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma