Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Linking physical and social environments with mental health in old age: a multisensor approach for continuous real-life ecological and emotional assessment

Background Urban stress is mentioned as a plausible mechanism leading to chronic stress, which is a risk factor of depression. Yet, an accurate assessment of urban stressors in environmental epidemiology requires new methods. This article discusses methods for the sensor-based continuous assesment of geographic environments, stress and depressive symptoms in older age. We report protocols of the promoting mental well-being and healthy ageing in cities (MINDMAP) and Healthy Aging and Networks in Cities (HANC) studies nested in the RECORD Cohort as a background for a broad discussion about the theoretical foundation and monitoring tools of mobile sensing research in older age. Specifically, these studies allow one to compare how older people with and without depression perceive, navigate and use their environment; and how the built environments, networks of social contacts, and spatial mobility patterns influence the mental health of older people. Methods Our research protocol combines (1) Global Positioning System (GPS) and accelerometer tracking and a GPS-based mobility survey to assess participants’ mobility patterns, activity patterns and environmental exposures; (2) proximity detection to assess whether household members are close to each other; (3) ecological momentary assessment to track momentary mood and stress and environmental perceptions; and (4) electrodermal activity for the tentative prediction of stress. Data will be compared within individuals (at different times) and between persons with and without depressive symptoms. Conclusion The development of mobile sensing and survey technologies opens an avenue to improve understanding of the role of momentary stressors and resourcing features of residential and non-residential environments for older populations’ mental health. However, validation, privacy and ethical aspects are important issues to consider.
Glycosyltransferase ST6Gal-I promotes the epithelial to mesenchymal transition in pancreatic cancer cells

ST6Gal-I, an enzyme upregulated in numerous malignancies, adds α2-6-linked sialic acids to select membrane receptors, thereby modulating receptor signaling and cell phenotype. In this study, we investigated ST6Gal-I’s role in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) using the Suit2 pancreatic cancer cell line, which has low endogenous ST6Gal-I and limited metastatic potential, along with two metastatic Suit2-derived subclones, S2-013 and S2-LM7AA, which have upregulated ST6Gal-I. RNA-Seq results suggested that the metastatic subclones had greater activation of EMT-related gene networks than parental Suit2 cells, and forced overexpression of ST6Gal-I in the Suit2 line was sufficient to activate EMT pathways. Accordingly, we evaluated expression of EMT markers and cell invasiveness (a key phenotypic feature of EMT) in Suit2 cells with or without ST6Gal-I overexpression, as well as S2-013 and S2-LM7AA cells with or without ST6Gal-I knockdown. Cells with high ST6Gal-I expression displayed enrichment in mesenchymal markers (N-cadherin, slug, snail, fibronectin) and cell invasiveness, relative to ST6Gal-I-low cells. Contrarily, epithelial markers (E-cadherin, occludin) were suppressed in ST6Gal-I-high cells. To gain mechanistic insight into ST6Gal-I’s role in EMT, we examined the activity of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a known EMT driver. ST6Gal-I-high cells had greater α2-6 sialylation and activation of EGFR than ST6Gal-I-low cells. The EGFR inhibitor, erlotinib, neutralized ST6Gal-I-dependent differences in EGFR activation, mesenchymal marker expression, and invasiveness in Suit2 and S2-LM7AA, but not S2-013, lines. Collectively, these results advance our understanding of ST6Gal-I’s tumor-promoting function by highlighting a role for ST6Gal-I in EMT, which may be mediated, at least in part, by α2-6-sialylated EGFR.
The Cross-Modal Suppressive Role of Visual Context on Speech Intelligibility: An ERP Study

The efficacy of audiovisual (AV) integration is reflected in the degree of cross-modal suppression of the auditory event-related potentials (ERPs, P1-N1-P2), while stronger semantic encoding is reflected in enhanced late ERP negativities (e.g., N450). We hypothesized that increasing visual stimulus reliability should lead to more robust AV-integration and enhanced semantic prediction, reflected in suppression of auditory ERPs and enhanced N450, respectively. EEG was acquired while individuals watched and listened to clear and blurred videos of a speaker uttering intact or highly-intelligible degraded (vocoded) words and made binary judgments about word meaning (animate or inanimate). We found that intact speech evoked larger negativity between 280–527-ms than vocoded speech, suggestive of more robust semantic prediction for the intact signal. For visual reliability, we found that greater cross-modal ERP suppression occurred for clear than blurred videos prior to sound onset and for the P2 ERP. Additionally, the later semantic-related negativity tended to be larger for clear than blurred videos. These results suggest that the cross-modal effect is largely confined to suppression of early auditory networks with weak effect on networks associated with semantic prediction. However, the semantic-related visual effect on the late negativity may have been tempered by the vocoded signal’s high-reliability.
Embedding Active Pedagogies within Pre-Service Teacher Education: Implementation Considerations and Recommendations

The physical activity levels of children in Australia are critically low and correlate with reduced academic achievement and poor health outcomes. Schools provide an ideal setting for physical activity interventions to help children move more. Instead of targeting in-service teachers, this study embedded an evidence-based active pedagogy program called Transform-Ed! into pre-service teacher education. Pre/post surveys and post-program interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with key stakeholders (n = 5), lecturers (n = 6), and pre-service teachers (n = 274) involved with the 12-week program. The design, implementation, and evaluation of the study were systematically guided by all five dimensions of Glasgow and colleagues’ RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework. Linear mixed models, descriptive analysis and a framework approach were used to analyse the data. Significant improvements were observed in pre-service teachers’ willingness, confidence, and competence to implement physically active pedagogic strategies following the intervention. Pre-service teacher perceived effectiveness of such strategies on student outcomes also significantly increased and perceived barriers decreased. High adherence was consistently reported and the program was maintained after completion of the implementation trial by all lecturers. Four key themes spanning multiple dimensions and participant levels informed recommendations for program scalability: an “inter-systemic approach”, a “co-design” approach, “embedded in professional practice”, and “evidence of impact” on teacher practice. Anchored in real-world settings and tethered by implementation science, Transform-Ed! could have the potential to advance the teaching capability of teachers, and transform the learning experience and physical and academic outcomes of primary school students.
Body composition patterns among normal glycemic, pre-diabetic, diabetic health Chinese adults in community: NAHSIT 2013–2016

Background Central obesity is known to be associated with diabetes. Increasing lower extremity circumference was hypothesized in association with lower risk of diabetes. Objective This study determined which anthropometric patterns correlates the best with pre-diabetic and diabetic status among healthy adults. Design Cross-sectional study with nationwide population sampling of participants was designed. Participants In total, 1,358 ethnic Chinese adult participants were recruited from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan 2013–2016; the whole-body composition was measured through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Main outcome measures Fat and lean mass in whole and specific parts of body among heathy Asian adults with normal glycemic, pre-diabetic, and diabetic states were measured, separately. Statistical analyses performed The generalized linear model was used to investigate the association between body composition (lean and fat mass) and hyperglycemic status. The reduced rank regression (RRR) was used to confirm the correlation between glycemic status and predicting factors (body composition parameters). Results Trunk fat positively correlated with the fasting glucose level (r = 0.327, P < 0.001) and HbA1c (r = 0.329, P < 0.001), whereas limb fat negatively correlated with the fasting glucose level (r = −0.325, P < 0.001) and HbA1c (ρ = −0.342, P < 0.001), respectively. In RRR analyses, fasting glucose and HbA1c exhibited a high positive association on fat amount per lean mass of the trunk (factor loading = 0.5319 and 0.5599, respectively) and of android area (0.6422 and 0.6104) and a high negative association fat amount per lean mass of the legs (−0.3863 and −0.3083) and gynoid area (−0.3414 and −0.3725). Conclusions For healthy community participants, increasing trunk fat had a greater risk of hyperglycemic status. Increasing lower extremity mass may confer lower risk of diabetes.
Identification of important miRNAs in bubaline mammary gland at heifer stage - An in-silico approach

Abstract The present study was undertaken to identify the microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed in the mammary tissue of a bubaline heifer. Small RNAs were isolated from the mammary gland tissue and enriched for miRNA fraction. The linker-ligated small RNAs were reverse transcribed to synthesize cDNA and amplified by PCR. The PCR products were ligated to the pGEM-T Easy vector; cloned into DH5 alpha cells and sequenced. Sequencing of 40 clones, randomly chosen from this library, produced 115 concatemerized short sequences. The short sequences were checked for their matches with the help of refseq_rna database, EST database (NCBI) and Ensembl. The analysis was performed for more than 90% identity with miRNAs across different species in miRBase. Alignment of putative small RNA sequences with the bovine genome was attempted in GenBank (NCBI) and Ensembl using BLAST. The small RNA sequences with a partial matches within the bovine genome and/or with flanking sequences (upstream or downstream) were analyzed for hairpin structures using the Mfold web server. Reverse complements were also assessed for the homology search. miRNA sequences showing only a partial match with already reported sequences were considered as a putative bubaline miRNAs. Six developmentally important putative miRNA precursors were identified from this study using cloning and sequencing followed by the Bioinformatics approach. This study will help in the elucidation of pathways involving miRNAs in bubaline species at the heifer stage.
Analysis of the Risk Factors Associated with Hearing Loss of Infants Admitted to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A 13-Year Experience in a University Hospital in Korea

Early detection of hearing loss in neonates is important for normal language development, especially for infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) because the infants in NICU have a higher incidence of hearing loss than healthy infants. However, the risk factors of hearing loss in infants admitted to the NICU have not been fully acknowledged, especially in Korea, although they may vary according to the circumstances of each country and hospital. In this study, the risk factors of hearing loss in NICU infants were analyzed by using the newborn hearing screening (NHS) and the diagnostic auditory brainstem response (ABR) test results from a 13-year period. A retrospective chart review was performed using a list of NICU infants who had performed NHS from 2004 to 2017 (n = 2404) in a university hospital in Korea. For the hearing loss group, the hearing threshold was defined as 35 dB nHL or more in the ABR test performed in infants with a ‘refer’ result in the NHS. A four multiple number of infants who had passed the NHS test and matched the age and gender of the hearing loss group were taken as the control group. Various patient factors and treatment factors were taken as hearing loss related variables and were analyzed and compared. From the 2404 infants involved, the prevalence of hearing loss was 1.8% (n = 43). A comparison between the hearing loss group (n = 43) and the control group (n = 172) revealed that history of sepsis, peak total bilirubin, duration of vancomycin use, days of phototherapy, and exposure to loop-inhibiting diuretics were significantly different, and can be verified as significant risk factors for hearing loss in NICU infants.
Patients with anxiety disorders rely on bilateral dlPFC activation during verbal working memory

Abstract One of the hallmarks of anxiety disorders is impaired cognitive control, affecting working memory (WM). The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is critical for WM; however, it is still unclear how dlPFC activity relates to WM impairments in patients. Forty-one healthy volunteers and 32 anxiety (general and/or social anxiety disorder) patients completed the Sternberg WM paradigm during safety and unpredictable shock threat. On each trial, a series of letters was presented, followed by brief retention and response intervals. On low- and high-load trials, subjects retained the series (five and eight letters, respectively) in the original order, while on sort trials, subjects rearranged the series (five letters) in alphabetical order. We sampled the blood oxygenation level–dependent activity during retention using a bilateral anatomical dlPFC mask. Compared to controls, patients showed increased reaction time during high-load trials, greater right dlPFC activity and reduced dlPFC activity during threat. These results suggest that WM performance for patients and controls may rely on distinct patterns of dlPFC activity with patients requiring bilateral dlPFC activity. These results are consistent with reduced efficiency of WM in anxiety patients. This reduced efficiency may be due to an inefficient allocation of dlPFC resources across hemispheres or a decreased overall dlPFC capacity.
GRaphical footprint based Alignment-Free method (GRAFree) for reconstructing evolutionary Traits in Large-Scale Genomic Features

In our study, we attempt to extract novel features from mitochondrial genomic sequences reflecting their evolutionary traits by our proposed method GRAFree (GRaphical footprint based Alignment-Free method). These features are used to build a phylogenetic tree given a set of species from insect, fish, bird, and mammal. A novel distance measure in the feature space is proposed for the purpose of reflecting the proximity of these species in the evolutionary processes. The distance function is found to be a metric. We have proposed a three step technique to select a feature vector from the feature space. We have carried out variations of these selected feature vectors for generating multiple hypothesis of these trees and finally we used a consensus based tree merging algorithm to obtain the phylogeny. Experimentations were carried out with 157 species covering four different classes such as, Insecta, Actinopterygii, Aves, and Mammalia. We also introduce a measure of quality of the inferred tree especially when the reference tree is not present. The performance of the output tree can be measured at each clade by considering the presence of each species at the corresponding clade. GRAFree can be applied on any graphical representation of genome to reconstruct the phylogenetic tree. We apply our proposed distance function on the selected feature vectors for three naive methods of graphical representation of genome. The inferred tree reflects some accepted evolutionary traits with a high bootstrap support. This concludes that our proposed distance function can be applied to capture the evolutionary relationships of a large number of both close and distance species using graphical methods.
Factors Associated with Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Oral Care Among the Elderly in Hong Kong Community

Background: The oral health of elderly populations is a significant concern, as it is closely linked to general health and health-related quality of life. Poor oral health exacerbates oral diseases, leading to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases and self-care dependence, particularly in the elderly, worldwide. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) play influential roles in individual oral care. However, the evidence of KAP related to oral care among the elderly is still inadequate. Objective: This study aimed to examine KAP and their associated factors related to oral care among the elderly community. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. The eligible subjects were recruited, using convenience sampling and snowball sampling. Results: A total of 385 elderly individuals were included, and 51.4% were women. The mean age was 71.66 (SD 6.28). Knowledge was reportedly poor, as more than 50% elderly answered several questions incorrectly. The mean attitude and practices scores were 44.94 (SD 6.33) and 68.90 (SD 10.44), respectively. There was a significant correlation among knowledge, attitudes, and practices (p < 0.001). Multivariable regression analysis revealed numerous factors had remarkably significant association with knowledge [R2 = 0.30, F (4,380) = 11.96, p < 0.001], attitudes [R2 = 0.28, F (6,378) = 9.27, p < 0.001], and practices [R2 = 0.31, F (5,379) = 12.34, p < 0.001], particularly education levels, full-time employment, and self-care independence. Conclusions: Based on the KAP theoretical model, KAP are closely interrelated. Identified factors associated with KAP are useful to understand at-risk groups. Elderly individuals at lower education levels, with poor family support and inadequate self-care independence, have poor KAP related to oral care. Therefore, this study improves insight for health promotion developers, suggesting that more attention should be paid to at-risk elderly groups’ oral health. To enhance participation in dental care and improve oral care performance in the elderly, educational program containing oral health knowledge should be offered to at-risk groups. Family support and involvement are also important for improving oral care among elderly individuals.
The peripheral effect of direct current stimulation on brain circuits involving memory

Electrical stimulation targeting the greater occipital nerve up-regulates memory via the locus coeruleus noradrenaline pathway. An ongoing debate surrounding transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the scalp is whether it modulates brain activity both directly and in a regionally constrained manner enough to positively affect symptoms in patients with neurological disorders. One alternative explanation is that direct current stimulation affects neural circuits mainly indirectly, i.e., via peripheral nerves. Here, we report that noninvasive direct current stimulation indirectly affects neural circuits via peripheral nerves. In a series of studies, we show that direct current stimulation can cause activation of the greater occipital nerve (ON-tDCS) and augments memory via the ascending fibers of the occipital nerve to the locus coeruleus, promoting noradrenaline release. This noradrenergic pathway plays a key role in driving hippocampal activity by modifying functional connectivity supporting the consolidation of a memory event.
The complete mitochondrial genome of Coilia brachygnathus (Clupeiformes: Engraulidae: Coilinae) from Huaihe river

Abstract In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) sequence of Coilia brachygnathus collected from Huaihe river, was determined by long PCR and primer walking methods. Similar to other fishes, the mitogenome is a circular molecule 16,896 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, and a control region (CR). In addition, the extended termination associated sequence domain (ETAS), the Central conserved domain (CSB-F, CSB-E, and CSB-D) and the Conserved sequence block (CSB1, CSB2, and CSB3) were identified in the control region. Phylogenetic analysis showed that C. brachygnathus first clustered together with C. nasus among Coilia fishes and formed a monophyly. The results will helpful for further understanding classification, phylogenetics, and biogeography of the Coilia fishes.
Hypoxia induces rapid changes to histone methylation reprogramming chromatin for the cellular response

Molecular dioxygenases include JmjC-containing histone demethylases and PHD enzymes, but only PHDs are considered to be molecular oxygen sensors in cells. Although, it is known that hypoxia can alter chromatin, whether this is a direct effect on histone demethylases or due to hypoxia induced HIF-dependent transcriptional changes is not known. Here, we report that hypoxia induces a rapid and HIF-independent alteration to a variety of histone methylation marks. Genomic locations of H3K4me3 and H3K36me3 following short hypoxia predict the hypoxia gene signature observed several hours later in cells. We show that KDM5A inactivation mimics hypoxic changes to H3K4me3 in its targets and is required for the cellular response to hypoxia. Our results demonstrate a direct link between oxygen sensing and chromatin changes via KDM inhibition. One Sentence Summary Rapid oxygen sensing by chromatin
An Open-Label Prospective Study to Compare the Efficacy and Safety of Topical Fluticasone Versus Tacrolimus in the Proactive Treatment of Atopic Dermatitis

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin condition primarily affects children. Topical treatment, systemic treatment, and phototherapy are mainstays of treatment. Topical corticosteroids (TCS) are first-line therapy for AD but are associated with various adverse effects. Topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCI) can be used as an alternative to TCS. Objective The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of topical preparations of fluticasone and tacrolimus in reducing the severity of disease and, to assess the quality of life (QoL), and to estimate if any association exists between severity of disease and QoL. Methods Thirty-seven children with AD randomly received one of the 2 topical treatments, with daily application for the first 4 weeks in the acute phase and twice weekly for next 4 weeks in the maintenance phase. The severity of disease was assessed using SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), and QoL was assessed using the Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI). Results At the end of the acute phase, there was a reduction in SCORAD score of 69.29% in the fluticasone group and 64.2% in the tacrolimus group (P < 0.001). In the maintenance phase, the score had risen in the fluticasone group by a mean difference of 0.81, while in the tacrolimus group it decreased by 0.99. Both fluticasone and tacrolimus groups improved in children’s QoL (P < 0.001). Positive correlation (r = 0.4668) exists between SCORAD and QoL. The most common adverse skin reaction noted was skin burning with tacrolimus. Conclusions Fluticasone and tacrolimus are equally efficacious in the treatment of AD and have similar benefits with children’s QoL. Tacrolimus is better than fluticasone at reducing the extent of lesions.