Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A systematic review of direct preference measurements in health states treated with plastic surgery

Abstract One way to compare health care needs and outcomes on common scales is by estimating the strength of preferences or willingness-to-pay (WTP). The aim of this study was to review directly measured preference values and WTP estimates for health states treated by plastic surgery. The included articles had to meet the criteria defined in the SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, Research type). Relevant databases were searched using predetermined strings. Data were extracted in a standardised manner. Included studies were appraised according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach for rating the importance of outcomes. In total, 213 abstracts were retrieved. Of these, 179 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded, leaving 34 studies in the review. The risk of bias was considered moderate in four studies and serious in the rest. The overall certainty of evidence for directly measured preference values and WTP estimates for health states treated by plastic surgery is low (Grade ƟƟОО). The lowest preference scores were generally elicited for facial defects/anomalies and the highest for excess skin after massive weight loss. Scientific knowledge about preferences and the resulting health gains might play an essential role in deciding which procedures should be considered for public funding or rather rationed within the system. Better quality studies are required to allow for such applications.
Application of Carboxymethyl Chitosan-Benzaldehyde as Anticorrosion Agent on Steel

Corrosion is one of the problems that is often found in daily life especially in petroleum and gas industry. Carboxymethyl chitosan- (CMC-) benzaldehyde was synthesized as corrosion inhibitor for steel. Corrosion rate was determined by potentiostatic polarization method in HCl 1 M. Dripping and coating, two different treatment, were used to drop and coat steel by CMC-benzaldehyde. The results showed that CMC-benzaldehyde could inhibit the corrosion rate of steel with concentration of 1 g, 3 g, 5 g, and 7 g in 60 mL of solvent. Coating steel with CMC-benzaldehyde with concentration of 7 g/60 mL of solvent and starch of 0.1 g/mL showed the highest efficiency to inhibit corrosion rate of steel. These treatments give corrosion efficiency of 99.8%.
Association of Sugar Intake with Inflammation- and Angiogenesis-Related Biomarkers in Newly Diagnosed Colorectal Cancer Patients

Abstract Evidence suggests a positive association between sugar intake and colorectal cancer (CRC) outcomes. We sought to investigate inflammation and angiogenesis as underlying mechanisms behind increased sugar intake and worse CRC outcomes. Pre-surgery serum samples were obtained from 191 patients diagnosed with primary invasive stage I-IV CRC. Biomarkers of inflammation (CRP, SAA, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, TNFα) and angiogenesis (VEGFA, VEGFD, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1) were analyzed (Meso-Scale-Discovery). Fructose, glucose, sucrose, and total sugar intake (calories/day, % total calories) were assessed by FFQ. Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Patients were on average 64 years old, 64% were male, the majority was diagnosed with stage II-III (58%) cancers, and 67% were either overweight or obese. Among normal-weight individuals (BMI <25 kg/m2), we observed a significant inverse association between VEGFD and any type of sugar intake in cal/day (sucrose: p = 0.01, glucose and fructose: p < 0.001) and MCP-1 and fructose intake (p = 0.05). The magnitude of reduction in VEGF ranged between −1.24 for sucrose to 4.49 for glucose intake, and −2.64 for fructose intake for MCP-1 levels. Sugar intake was associated with some inflammation or angiogenesis biomarkers, among CRC patients; differences were observed by adiposity that warrant further investigation. Supplemental data for this article is available online at at 10.1080/01635581.2021. 1957133.
Neurocognitive follow‐up in adult siblings with Phelan–McDermid syndrome due to a novel SHANK3 splicing site mutation

Phelan–McDermid syndrome (PMD) is usually not only caused by 22q13.3 deletion but also pathogenic variants (mutations) of SHANK3 gene. PMD is characterized by global intellectual disability, severely delayed or absent speech, and features of autism spectrum disorder and susceptibility to psychotic behavior. Here, we describe a neurocognitive follow‐up and genetic etiology for two siblings with PMD.
Disrupted macrophage metabolic reprogramming in aged soleus muscle during early recovery following disuse atrophy

Aged skeletal muscle is characterized by poor muscle recovery following disuse coinciding with an impaired muscle pro‐inflammatory macrophage response. Macrophage inflammatory status is regulated by its metabolic state, but little is understood of macrophage metabolism and its relation to macrophage inflammation in the context of muscle recovery and aging. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to thoroughly characterize macrophage metabolism and inflammation in aged muscle during early recovery following disuse atrophy using single cell transcriptomics and functional assays. Young (4–5 months) and old (20–22 months) male C57BL/6 mice underwent 14 days of hindlimb unloading followed by 4 days of ambulatory recovery. CD45+ cells were isolated from solei muscles and analyzed using 10x Genomics single cell RNA sequencing. We found that aged pro‐inflammatory macrophage clusters were characterized with an impaired inflammatory and glycolytic transcriptome, and this dysregulation was accompanied by a suppression of HIF‐1α and its immediate downstream target, Glut1. As a follow‐up, bone marrow‐derived macrophages were isolated from a separate cohort of young and old mice at 4‐d recovery and were polarized to a pro‐inflammatory phenotype and used for glycolysis stress test, phagocytosis activity assay, and targeted GC‐MS metabolomics. Aged bone marrow‐derived pro‐inflammatory macrophages were characterized with impaired glycolysis and phagocytosis function, decreased succinate and an accumulation of glycolytic metabolic intermediates overall supporting reduced glycolytic flux and macrophage function. Our results indicate that the metabolic reprograming and function of aged skeletal muscle pro‐inflammatory macrophages are dysfunctional during early recovery from disuse atrophy possibly attributing to attenuated regrowth.
The special unfolded protein response in plasma cells

The high rate of antibody production places considerable metabolic and folding stress on plasma cells (PC). Not surprisingly, they rely on the unfolded protein response (UPR), a universal signaling, and transcriptional network that monitors the health of the secretory pathway and mounts cellular responses to stress. Typically, the UPR utilizes three distinct stress sensors in the ER membrane, each regulating a subset of targets to re‐establish homeostasis. PC use a specialized UPR scheme—they preemptively trigger the UPR via developmental signals and suppress two of the sensors, PERK and ATF6, relying on IRE1 alone. The specialized PC UPR program is tuned to the specific needs at every stage of development—from early biogenesis of secretory apparatus, to massive immunoglobulin expression later. Furthermore, the UPR in PC integrates with other pathways essential in a highly secretory cell—mTOR pathway that ensures efficient synthesis, autophagosomes that recycle components of the synthetic machinery, and apoptotic signaling that controls cell fate in the face of excessive folding stress. This specialized PC program is not shared with other secretory cells, for reasons yet to be defined. In this review, we give a perspective into how and why PC need such a unique UPR program.
Is Proximal Tibia Sufficient for Accurate Measurement of Tibial Slope Angles on Three-dimensional Tomography-based Anatomical Models?

BACKGROUND Tibial slope measurements performed using only the proximal part of tibia ignore the native tibial anatomical axis. Our first aim is to measure the native medial, lateral and total tibial slope angles of gender groups using the whole tibial anatomical axis on computerized tomography-based three-dimensional anatomical models. The second aim is to determine the correlation between proximal and whole tibial anatomical axis for measurement of medial, lateral, and total tibial slope angles. METHODS We randomly selected 100 females and 100 males between 18-60 years of age. Three-dimensional anatomical models of right and left tibia were created. The gender-specific differences of medial, lateral, and total tibial slope angles according to proximal and whole tibial anatomical axis were measured. Correlation coefficients (r) of medial, lateral, and total tibial slope angles measured with proximal and whole tibial anatomical axis were calculated. RESULTS The mean age was 47.1 years. A statistically significant difference was observed between female (7.1 ± 3) and male (8.2 ± 2.5) groups in terms of mean lateral tibial slope angles according to the whole tibial anatomical axis (p=0.008). A strong correlation between proximal and whole tibial anatomical axis for all tibial slope angle measurements was detected. CONCLUSION The method we determined for 3D measurement of medial, lateral and total tibial slope angles using proximal tibial anatomical axis has a strong correlation with slope angles measured in accordance with the whole tibial anatomical axis. Our 3D tibial slope angle measurement method on the proximal tibia has high reliability and could be used in the daily practice.
Role of food fortification with vitamin D and calcium in the bone remodeling process in postmenopausal women: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

CONTEXT Foods containing vitamin D reduce the deficiency of this vitamin and improve bone turnover. OBJECTIVE To discuss effects of the intake of vitamin D-fortified foods in isolated form or associated with calcium on bone remodeling in postmenopausal women. DATA SOURCES PubMed, Lilacs, Scopus, and Bireme databases. OpenThesis and Google Scholar were searched as "grey literature". Medical subject headings or similar terms related to food fortified with vitamin D and bone in postmenopausal women were used. DATA EXTRACTION Information was collected on study methodology and characteristics of studied populations; dosage; the food matrix used as the fortification vehicle; duration of intervention; dietary intake; 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels; serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations; bone resorption and/or formation markers (ie, carboxy terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen [CTX], tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase isoform 5b [TRAP5b], and procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide [P1NP]); main results; and study limitations. DATA ANALYSIS Five randomized controlled trials involving postmenopausal women were included. The mean ages of participants ranged from 56.1 to 86.9 years. Daily consumption of soft plain cheese fortified with 2.5 µg of vitamin D3 and 302 mg of calcium for 4 weeks resulted in a mean increase of 0.8 ng/mL in 25(OH)D and 15.9 ng/mL in P1NP levels compared with baseline, and decreased CTX, TRAP5b, and PTH values. A similar intervention for 6 weeks, using fortified cheese, showed a reduction only in TRAP5b values (-0.64 U/L). Yogurt fortified with 10 µg of vitamin D3 and 800 mg of calcium did not change P1NP values after 8 weeks of intervention, but was associated with decreases of 0.0286 ng/mL and 1.06 U/L in PTH and TRAP5b, respectively. After 12 weeks of eating the fortified yogurt, 25(OH)D levels increased by a mean of 8.8 ng/mL and PTH levels decreased in by a mean of 0.0167 ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS The interventions contributed toward the improvement of the bone resorption process but not to the bone formation process in postmenopausal women. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER CRD42019131976.
WNT5B promotes vascular smooth muscle cell dedifferentiation via mitochondrial dynamics regulation in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is characterized by proliferative vascular remodeling. Abnormal vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype switching is crucial to this process, highlighting the need for VSMC metabolic changes to cover cellular energy demand in CTEPH. We report that elevated Wnt family member 5B (WNT5B) expression is associated with vascular remodeling and promotes VSMC phenotype switching via mitochondrial dynamics regulation in CTEPH. Using primary culture of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells, we show that high WNT5B expression activates VSMC proliferation and migration and results in mitochondrial fission via noncanonical Wnt signaling in CTEPH. Abnormal VSMC proliferation and migration were abolished by mitochondrial division inhibitor 1, an inhibitor of mitochondrial fission. Secreted frizzled‐related protein 2, a soluble scavenger of Wnt signaling, attenuates VSMC proliferation and migration by accelerating mitochondrial fusion. These findings indicate that WNT5B is an essential regulator of mitochondrial dynamics, contributing to VSMC phenotype switching in CTEPH.
Metabolic engineering of Yarrowia lipolytica for the production of isoprene

Yarrowia lipolytica has recently emerged as a prominent microbial host for production of terpenoids. Its robust metabolism and growth in wide range of substrates offer several advantages at industrial scale. In the present study, we investigate the metabolic potential of Y. lipolytica to produce isoprene. Sustainable production of isoprene has been attempted through engineering several microbial hosts; however, the engineering studies performed so far are challenged with low titers. Engineering of Y. lipolytica, which have inherent high acetyl‐CoA flux could fuel precursors into the biosynthesis of isoprene and thus is an approach that would offer sustainable production opportunities. The present work, therefore, explores this opportunity wherein a codon‐optimized IspS gene (single copy) of Pueraria montana was integrated into the Y. lipolytica genome. With no detectable isoprene level during the growth or stationary phase of modified strain, attempts were made to overexpress enzymes from MVA pathway. GC‐FID analyses of gas collected during stationary phase revealed that engineered strains were able to produce detectable isoprene only after overexpressing HMGR (or tHMGR). The significant role of HMGR (tHMGR) in diverting the pathway flux toward DMAPP is thus highlighted in our study. Nevertheless, the final recombinant strains overexpressing HMGR (tHMGR) along with Erg13 and IDI showed isoprene titers of ~500 μg/L and yields of ~80 μg/g. Further characterization of the recombinant strains revealed high lipid and squalene content compared to the unmodified strain. Overall, the preliminary results of our laboratory‐scale studies represent Y. lipolytica as a promising host for fermentative production of isoprene.
A Tandem Organic Photovoltaic Cell with 19.6% Efficiency Enabled by Light Distribution Control

Despite more potential in realizing higher photovoltaic performance, the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of tandem organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells still lags behind that of state‐of‐the‐art single‐junction cells. In this work, highly efficient double‐junction tandem OPV cells are fabricated by optimizing the photoactive layers with low voltage losses and developing an effective method to tune optical field distribution. The tandem OPV cells studied are structured as indium tin oxide (ITO)/ZnO/bottom photoactive layer/interconnecting layer (ICL)/top photoactive layer/MoOx/Ag, where the bottom and top photoactive layers are based on blends of PBDB‐TF:ITCC and PBDB‐TF:BTP‐eC11, respectively, and ICL refers to interconnecting layer structured as MoOx/Ag/ZnO:PFN‐Br. As these results indicate that there is not much room for optimizing the bottom photoactive layer, more effort is put into fine‐tuning the top photoactive layer. By rationally modulating the composition and thickness of PBDB‐TF:BTP‐eC11 blend films, the 300 nm‐thick PBDB‐TF:BTP‐eC11 film with 1:2 D/A ratio is found to be an ideal photoactive layer for the top sub‐cell in terms of photovoltaic characteristics and light distribution control. For the optimized tandem cell, a PCE of 19.64% is realized, which is the highest result in the OPV field and certified as 19.50% by the National Institute of Metrology.
A Genome-Wide Analysis of Antibiotic Producing Genes in Streptomyces globisporus SP6C4

Soil is the major source of plant-associated microbes. Several fungal and bacterial species live within plant tissues. Actinomycetes are well known for producing a variety of antibiotics, and they contribute to improving plant health. In our previous report, Streptomyces globisporus SP6C4 colonized plant tissues and was able to move to other tissues from the initially colonized ones. This strain has excellent antifungal and antibacterial activities and provides a suppressive effect upon various plant diseases. Here, we report the genome-wide analysis of antibiotic producing genes in S. globisporus SP6C4. A total of 15 secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters were predicted using antiSMASH. We used the CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis system, and each biosynthetic gene was predicted via protein basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) and rapid annotation using subsystems technology (RAST) server. Three gene clusters were shown to exhibit antifungal or antibacterial activity, viz. cluster 16 (lasso peptide), cluster 17 (thiopeptide-lantipeptide), and cluster 20 (lantipeptide). The results of the current study showed that SP6C4 has a variety of antimicrobial activities, and this strain is beneficial in agriculture.
Variation in quality of maternal input and development of coda stops in English-speaking children in Singapore

Abstract This study examines the effects of input quality on early phonological acquisition by investigating whether interadult variation in specific phonetic properties in the input is reflected in the production of their children. We analysed the English coda stop release patterns in the spontaneous speech of fourteen mothers and compared them with the spontaneous production of their preschool children. The analysis revealed a very strong positive input–production relationship; mothers who released coda stops to a lesser degree also had children who tended to not release their stops, and the same was true for mothers who released their stops to a higher degree. The findings suggest that young children are sensitive to acoustic properties that are subphonemic, and these properties are also reflected in their production, showing the importance of considering input quality when investigating child production.
An overview on the advantages and limitations of 3D printing of microneedles

Abstract The use of 3D printing (3DP) technology, which has been continuously evolving since the 1980s, has recently become common in healthcare services. The introduction of 3DP into the pharmaceutical industry particularly aims at the development of patient-centered dosage forms based on structure design. It is still a new research direction with potential to create the targeted release of drug delivery systems in freeform geometries. Although the use of 3DP technology for solid oral dosage forms is more preferable, studies on transdermal applications of the technology are also increasing. Microneedle sequences are one of the transdermal drug delivery (TDD) methods which are used to bypass the minimally invasive stratum corneum with novel delivery methods for small molecule drugs and vaccines. Microneedle arrays have advantages over many traditional methods. It is attractive with features such as ease of application, controlled release of active substances and patient compliance. Recently, 3D printers have been used for the production of microneedle patches. After giving a brief overview of 3DP technology, this article includes the materials necessary for the preparation of microneedles and microneedle patches specifically for penetration enhancement, preparation methods, quality parameters, and their application to TDD. In addition, the applicability of 3D microneedles in the pharmaceutical industry has been evaluated.
Severities in persistent mild traumatic brain injury related headache is associated with changes in supraspinal pain modulatory functions

Emerging evidence suggests mild traumatic brain injury related headache (MTBI-HA) is a form of neuropathic pain state. Previous supraspinal mechanistic studies indicate patients with MTBI-HA demonstrate a dissociative state with diminished levels of supraspinal prefrontal pain modulatory functions and enhanced supraspinal sensory response to pain in comparison to healthy controls. However, the relationship between supraspinal pain modulatory functional deficit and severity of MTBI-HA is largely unknown. Understanding this relationship may provide enhanced levels of insight about MTBI-HA and facilitate the development of treatments. This study assessed pain related supraspinal resting states among MTBI-HA patients with various headache intensity phenotypes with comparisons to controls via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting state fMRI data was analyzed with self-organizing-group-independent-component-analysis in three MTBI-HA intensity groups (mild, moderate, and severe) and one control group (n = 16 per group) within a pre-defined supraspinal pain network based on prior studies. In the mild-headache group, significant increases in supraspinal function were observed in the right premotor cortex (T = 3.53, p < 0.001) and the left premotor cortex (T = 3.99, p < 0.0001) when compared to the control group. In the moderate-headache group, a significant (T = −3.05, p < 0.01) decrease in resting state activity was observed in the left superior parietal cortex when compared to the mild-headache group. In the severe-headache group, significant decreases in resting state supraspinal activities in the right insula (T = −3.46, p < 0.001), right premotor cortex (T = −3.30, p < 0.01), left premotor cortex (T = −3.84, p < 0.001), and left parietal cortex (T = −3.94, p < 0.0001), and an increase in activity in the right secondary somatosensory cortex (T = 4.05, p < 0.0001) were observed when compared to the moderate-headache group. The results of the study suggest that the increase in MTBI-HA severity may be associated with an imbalance in the supraspinal pain network with decline in supraspinal pain modulatory function and enhancement of sensory/pain decoding.