Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Nanomaterial Based on Extracellular Vesicles Containing Chrysin-Induced Cell Apoptosis Through Let-7a in Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Although the therapeutic strategy showed significant improvement, the therapeutic effect was poor on metastases in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) which is the most malignant tumor found in the head and neck. Chrysin, similar to the flavonoids, plays an antitumor role by regulating the expression of ncRNAs in many kinds of cancers. Compared to flavonoids, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) provide a novel insight into inhibiting cancer cell growth via photothermal therapy (PPT) which is irradiated by near-infrared radiation (NIR). However, most flavonoids and AuNPs lack specificity of tumor in vivo. The extracellular vesicles (EVs) which were abundant with ncRNAs are isolated from the cellular supernatant fluid and have the ability to carry drugs or nanoparticles to improve specificity. In the present study, we aimed to synthesize a new nanomaterial based on EVs containing chrysin and analyzed cell apoptosis in TSCC cells. Our results demonstrated that EVs-chrysin were isolated from SCC9 cells that were treated with chrysin. To improve the therapeutic effect, AuNPs were carried by EVs-chrysin (Au-EVs). Compared to BGC823 and HCC-LM3 cells, the uptake of Au-EVs was specific in SCC9 cells. Moreover, Au-EVs combined with NIR enhanced cell apoptosis in TSCC cells. To confirm the role of miRNAs in cell apoptosis, the differentially expressed miRNAs between EVs-Con and EVs-chrysin were screened by RNA-seq. The results revealed that the let-7a-3p family, which acts as the tumor suppressor, was upregulated in EVs-chrysin compared to EVs-Con. Thus, let-7a-3p was screened in the apoptosis pathway that was associated with the p53 protein. Furthermore, compared to the Con group, Au-EVs combined with the NIR group effectively inhibited tumor growth in vivo via increasing the expression of let-7a-3p. Together, as a new nanomaterial, Au-EVs induced cell apoptosis and inhibited tumor growth by regulating let-7a-3p expression in TSCC.
Application of Gross Tissue Response System in Gastric Cancer After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: A Primary Report of a Prospective Cohort Study

Objective We previously established a gross tissue response (GTR) system to evaluate the intraoperative response of perigastric tissue in patients with gastric cancers to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This prospective cohort study aims to confirm the relationship between gross tissue response and clinicopathological characteristics and explore the possibility of using the GTR system to predict the difficulty of surgery and the occurrence of postoperative complications within 30 days. Methods A total of 102 patients with gastric cancer from January 2019 to April 2020 were enrolled in this study. The degrees of fibrosis, edema, and effusion in the perigastric tissues were assessed intraoperatively according to the GTR system. We systematically analyzed the relations between GTR and clinicopathological characteristics, and then a prediction model that includes GTR was established to predict the difficulty of surgery and the occurrence of postoperative complications within 30 days. Results Finally, the study included 71 male patients and 31 female patients. The patients had an average age of 58.79 ± 1.03 years, BMI of 22.89 ± 0.29, and tumor diameter of 4.50 ± 0.27 cm. Among these patients, 17 underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy, 85 underwent open gastrectomy, the average operation time was 294.63 ± 4.84 minutes, and the mean volume of intraoperative blood loss was 94.65 ± 5.30 ml. The overall 30-day postoperative complication rate was 19.6% (20/102). The total GTR was significantly related to the primary tumor stage, operation time and 30-day postoperative complication rate (p<0.05). Edema and effusion were significantly related to intraoperative blood loss (p<0.05). The logistic regression analysis identified that the total GTR score (score: 4-9, OR 2.888, 95% CI: 1.035-8.062, p = 0.043) was an independent risk factor for postoperative complications within 30 days, and the total GTR score (score 4-9, OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.219-9.045, p=0.019) was also an independent risk factor for operation time. The AUC of the total GTR score for predicting postoperative complications within 30 days was 0.681. Conclusion According to the results of the present study, the gross tissue response (GTR) system is an effective tool that may be used to predict the risk of a difficult operation after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and postoperative complications. Although neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves the therapeutic effect, it also increases the risk of surgical trauma and postoperative complications. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT03791268.
Propolis in Oral Healthcare: Antibacterial Activity of a Composite Resin Enriched With Brazilian Red Propolis

The aim of this study was to obtain a Brazilian red propolis (BRP) enriched composite resin and to perform the characterization of its antibacterial activity, mechanical, and physical-chemical properties. Brazilian red propolis ethyl acetate extract (EABRP) was characterized by LC-ESI-Orbitrap-FTMS, UPLC-DAD, antibacterial activity, total flavonoids content, and radical scavenging capacity. BRP was incorporated to a commercial composite resin (RC) to obtain BRP enriched composite at 0.1, 0.15 and 0.25% (RP10, RP15 and RP25, respectively). The antibacterial activity RPs was evaluated against Streptococcus mutans by contact direct test and expressed by antibacterial ratio. The RPs were characterized as its cytotoxicity against 3T3 fibroblasts, flexural strength (FS), Knoop microhardness (KHN), post-cure depth (CD), degree of conversion (DC%), water sorption (Wsp), water solubility (Wsl), average roughness (Ra), and thermal analysis. Were identified 50 chemical compounds from BRP extract by LC-ESI-Orbitrap-FTMS. EABRP was bacteriostatic and bactericide at 125 and 500 μg/ml, respectively. The RP25 exhibited antibacterial ratio of 90.76% after 1 h of direct contact with S. mutans (p < 0.0001) while RC no showed significative antibacterial activity (p = 0.1865), both compared with cell control group. RPs and RC no showed cytotoxicity. RPs exhibited CD from 2.74 to 4.48 mm, DC% from 80.70 to 83.96%, Wsp from 17.15 to 21.67 μg/mm3, Wsl from 3.66 to 4.20 μg/mm3, Ra from 14.48 to 20.76 nm. RPs showed thermal resistance between 448–455°C. The results support that propolis can be used on development of modified composite resins that show antibacterial activity and that have compatible mechanical and physical-chemical properties to the indicate for composite resins.
Effectiveness and Safety of Targeted Agents Combined With Chemoradiotherapy for the Treatment of Esophageal Cancer: A Network Meta-Analysis

Background Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is the preferred treatment strategy for inoperable esophageal cancer (EC). However, the effect of CRT needs to be improved. Methods This study comprehensively analyzed targeted agents combined with CRT for the treatment of EC by a network meta-analysis. The search was performed in public databases from incipient to 5 August 2021. Randomized controlled trials comparing the effect of targeted agents combined with CRT and CRT alone on EC patients were included. Results Ten studies were included. For progression-free survival (PFS), nivolumab (67.4%) and erlotinib (64.6%) had advantages based on Cox analysis. Regarding the frequency of PFS, cetuximab (OR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.91; p=0.042) and nivolumab (OR: 1.81; 95% CI: 1.34, 2.44; p<0.01) were significantly superior to the control. For overall survival (OS), nivolumab (71.6%) in Cox analysis and nimotuzumab (69.7%) in frequency analysis were found to have relative advantages. Nimotuzumab combined with CRT was significantly better than the control with regard to endoscopic and the pathologic complete response (epCR; OR: 2.81; 95% CI: 1.28, 6.14; p=0.011) and objective response rate (ORR; 4.71; 95% CI: 1.45, 15.29; p=0.008). The targeted drugs were not associated with significant SEA risk. Conclusion In conclusion, compared to CRT alone, cetuximab and nivolumab combined with CRT were found to significantly improve the PFS rate only based on the frequency results. However, there was no benefit in terms of OS. For epCR and ORR, nimotuzumab was better than the blank control. Considering the limitations in this study, more well-designed RCTs are needed in the future to validate the results.
Adaptation and Validation of the Spanish Version of the Instrument to Evaluate Nurses’ Attitudes Toward Communication With the Patient for Nursing Students

Communication is essential to the quality of care and patient satisfaction. It has been linked to positive patient outcomes, increased engagement, improved health outcomes, and safe practices. Given these benefits and the association between attitudes and behaviors, as behaviors can be predicted by studying attitudes, assessing attitudes of nursing students toward patient communication is critical for future nursing professionals. For this purpose, the main aim of this study was to adapt and validate an instrument to measure nurses’ attitudes toward communication (ACO) for nursing students. The ACO with patients was analyzed. Then, differences in the dimensions of the instrument (ACO) for nursing students according to an academic course and the correlations were calculated. A cross-sectional study was carried out in a convenience sample of 1,417 nursing students from five universities in the Valencian Community (Spain) during the 2018/2019 academic year and 83.8% (1,187) were women. The reliability was analyzed by using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability (CR). Analysis of construct validity was performed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The instrument adapted from nurses to nursing students was composed of 25 items grouped in three dimensions: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. The psychometric properties suggested that the instrument ACO for nursing students was reliable and valid. The ACO of nursing students was positive with high levels in cognitive and behavioral dimensions, while scores were worst in the affective component. The second-year nursing students showed more positive attitudes in the affective dimension, while in the cognitive and behavioral dimensions, the most positive attitudes were found in the first year. In the correlations, the behavioral and cognitive dimensions showed a significant, positive, and very high correlation. These findings should be considered in developing academic plans to improve the effectiveness of the communication education process of the students to increase the quality of patient care and well-being of nursing students.
Influence of Intrinsic Aerobic Exercise Capacity and Sex on Cardiac Injury Following Acute Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion

Purpose: Previous reports have suggested that active exercise aside, intrinsic aerobic running capacity (Low = LCR, high = HCR) in otherwise sedentary animals may influence several cardiovascular health-related indicators. Relative to the HCR phenotype, the LCR phenotype is characterized by decreased endothelial reactivity, increased susceptibility to reperfusion-induced arrhythmias following short, non-infarction ischemia, and increased diet-induced insulin resistance. More broadly, the LCR phenotype has come to be characterized as a “disease prone” model, with the HCRs as “disease resistant. ” Whether these effects extend to injury outcomes in an overt infarction or whether the effects are gender specific is not known. This study was designed to determine whether HCR/LCR phenotypic differences would be evident in injury responses to acute myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (AIR), measured as infarct size and to determine whether sex differences in infarction size were preserved with phenotypic selection. Methods: Regional myocardial AIR was induced in vivo by either 15 or 30 min ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery, followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Global ischemia was induced in isolated hearts ex vivo using a Langendorff perfusion system and cessation of perfusion for either 15 or 30 min followed by 2 h of reperfusion. Infarct size was determined using 2, 3, 5–triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining, and normalized to area at risk in the regional model, or whole heart in the global model. Portions of the tissue were paraffin embedded for H&E staining and histology analysis. Results: Phenotype dependent differences in infarct size were seen with 15 min occlusion/2 h reperfusion (LCR > HCR, p < 0.05) in both regional and global models. In both models, longer occlusion times (30 min/2 h) produced significantly larger infarctions in both phenotypes, but phenotypic differences were no longer present (LCR vs. HCR, p = n.s.). Sex differences in infarct size were present in each phenotype (LCR male > LCR female, p < 0.05; HCR male > HCR female, p < 0.05 regardless of length of occlusion, or ischemia model. Conclusions: There is cardioprotection afforded by high intrinsic aerobic capacity, but it is not infinite/continuous, and may be overcome with sufficient injury burden. Phenotypic selection based on endurance running capacity preserved sex differences in response to both short and longer term coronary occlusive challenges. Outcomes could not be associated with differences in system characteristics such as circulating inflammatory mediators or autonomic nervous system influences, as similar phenotypic injury patterns were seen in vivo, and in isolated crystalloid perfused heart ex vivo.
Activation of Intracellular Complement in Lungs of Patients With Severe COVID-19 Disease Decreases T-Cell Activity in the Lungs

A novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), arose late in 2019, with disease pathology ranging from asymptomatic to severe respiratory distress with multi-organ failure requiring mechanical ventilator support. It has been found that SARS-CoV-2 infection drives intracellular complement activation in lung cells that tracks with disease severity. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible remain unclear. To shed light on the potential mechanisms, we examined publicly available RNA-Sequencing data using CIBERSORTx and conducted a Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to address this knowledge gap. In complement to these findings, we used bioinformatics tools to analyze publicly available RNA sequencing data and found that upregulation of complement may be leading to a downregulation of T-cell activity in lungs of severe COVID-19 patients. Thus, targeting treatments aimed at the modulation of classical complement and T-cell activity may help alleviate the proinflammatory effects of COVID-19, reduce lung pathology, and increase the survival of COVID-19 patients.
Comprehensive Analysis of Subtype-Specific Molecular Characteristics of Colon Cancer: Specific Genes, Driver Genes, Signaling Pathways, and Immunotherapy Responses

Colon cancer is a complex, heterogeneous disease. The Colorectal Cancer Subtyping Consortium reported a novel classification system for colon cancer in 2015 to better understand its heterogeneity. This molecular classification system divided colon cancer into four distinct consensus molecular subtypes (CMS 1, 2, 3, and 4). However, the characteristics of different colon cancer molecular subtypes have not been fully elucidated. This study comprehensively analyzed the molecular characteristics of varying colon cancer subtypes using multiple databases and algorithms, including The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, DriverDBv3 database, CIBERSORT, and MCP-counter algorithms. We analyzed the alterations in the subtype-specific genes of different colon cancer subtypes, such as the RNA levels and DNA alterations, and showed that specific subtype-specific genes significantly affected prognosis. We also explored the changes in colon cancer driver genes and representative genes of 10 signaling pathways in different subtypes. We identified genes that were altered in specific subtypes. We further detected the infiltration of 22 immune cell types in four colon cancer subtypes and the infiltration level of primary immune cells among these subtypes. Additionally, we explored changes in immune checkpoint genes (ICGs) and immunotherapy responses among different colon cancer subtypes. This study may provide clues for the molecular mechanism of tumorigenesis and progression in colon cancer. It also offers potential biomarkers and targets for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of different colon cancer subtypes.
Deep Cross-Corpus Speech Emotion Recognition: Recent Advances and Perspectives

Automatic speech emotion recognition (SER) is a challenging component of human-computer interaction (HCI). Existing literatures mainly focus on evaluating the SER performance by means of training and testing on a single corpus with a single language setting. However, in many practical applications, there are great differences between the training corpus and testing corpus. Due to the diversity of different speech emotional corpus or languages, most previous SER methods do not perform well when applied in real-world cross-corpus or cross-language scenarios. Inspired by the powerful feature learning ability of recently-emerged deep learning techniques, various advanced deep learning models have increasingly been adopted for cross-corpus SER. This paper aims to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive survey of cross-corpus SER, especially for various deep learning techniques associated with supervised, unsupervised and semi-supervised learning in this area. In addition, this paper also highlights different challenges and opportunities on cross-corpus SER tasks, and points out its future trends.
Study on the Long-Term Performance and Efficiency of Single-Well Circulation Coupled Groundwater Heat Pump System Based on Field Test

Although buildings are often heated and cooled by single-well circulation coupled groundwater heat pump systems, few studies have evaluated the long-term performance of these systems. Therefore, the present study investigated the performance of these systems by analyzing the efficiency and energy consumption using 4 years of operating data. The results indicate that the coefficient of performance (COP) of the system gradually decreases because of thermal breakthrough or an accumulation of cold. In addition, the sealing clapboards could effectively slow down thermal breakthrough. In addition, compared with the heating period, the COP of the heat pump unit (HPU) and system increases, and its energy consumption decreases in the cooling period. It was also found that partial heat loss occurs when water from the single-well circulation outlet penetrates the main pipeline. Moreover, the heat-exchange efficiency of a single HPU exceeds that of multiple HPUs, and the COP of a HPU decreases during operation with increasing indoor temperature. Accordingly, we improved the performance of system by increasing the underground heat storage. Herein, we focus on optimizing the system design during long-term operation, which includes taking steps such as lengthening the sealing clapboards, using insulated pipes, discharging the remaining water and adding intelligent control devices.
Conceptualization and Measurement of Trust in Home–School Contexts: A Scoping Review

Objective and Method: This review unravels the complexity of trust in home–school contexts across the globe by drawing on 79 peer-reviewed quantitative empirical studies spanning over two decades (2000–2020). The goal is to refocus attention on how trust has been defined and operationalized in recent scholarship. Findings: The findings reveal four essential pillars in the conceptualization of trust: the trustor’s propensity to trust, shared goals, the trustor–trustee relationship, and the trustee’s trustworthiness. However, the operationalization of trust in existing measures does not fully capture these essential pillars, as it is mainly based on trustee characteristics of benevolence, reliability, openness, competence, and honesty rather than on the trustor’s actual trust behavior. Conclusion: Most “trust studies” are essentially measuring trustworthiness and not the purported trust. Therefore, a shift in the conceptualization and measurement of trust is proposed. The review contributes to the understanding and assessment of home–school and workplace relationships.
Systematic Identification of Endogenous Retroviral Protein-Coding Genes Expressed in Canine Oral Malignant Melanoma

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are remnants of ancestral retroviruses that infected host germ cells in the past. Most ERVs are thought to be non-functional elements, but some ERVs retain open reading frames (ORFs) capable of expressing proteins. The proteins encoded by ERV-ORFs have potential roles in oncogenesis; however, studies on mammals other than humans and mice are limited. Here, we identified ERV-derived genes expressed in canine oral malignant melanoma (OMM). We identified 11 ERV-derived genes in our OMM samples. Differential expression gene analysis revealed that four ERV-derived genes (PEG10, LOC102155597, and two newly identified genes) were upregulated in OMM compared to healthy tissues. PEG10 is a conserved long terminal repeat (LTR)-type retrotransposon-derived gene among mammals and is involved in human cancers. LOC102155597 is a retroviral env gene conserved in Carnivora. This Env protein harbors an immunosuppressive domain, implying the potential adverse effects on the immune system. While the production of viral particles from ERVs has been reported in human and mouse melanoma, we found no ERV-derived genes having the potential to produce viral particles. These results provide insights into the different and conserved features of ERV-derived genes in mammalian melanoma.
Subjective Cognitive Complaints in Newly-Diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease With and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background: Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are common among patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, the relationship between SCCs and MCI is not well understood. Herein, we aimed to investigate whether there are any differences in the prevalence and risk factors of SCCs between early PD patients with and without MCI. Methods: Overall, 108 newly diagnosed, untreated PD patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessments. PD patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) were diagnosed according to the MCI level II criteria. Furthermore, SCCs were measured with the Cognitive Complaints Interview (CCI). Logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for confounding variable, was performed in order to investigate risk factors of SCCs in PD-MCI patients and PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC). Results: Furthermore, 42 (42.3%) participants reported SCCs and 53 (53.5%) participants were diagnosed with PD-MCI. The prevalence of SCCs in PD-MCI and PD-NC participants was 30.3% and 12.1%, respectively. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the presence of SCCs in PD-MCI group was significantly associated with Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire (NMSQ) score (OR = 1.340, 95%CI = 1.115−1.610, p = 0.002), while the presence of SCCs in PD-NC group was significantly associated with time of Stroop Color-Word Test card C (OR = 1.050, 95%CI = 1.009−1.119, p = 0.016). Conclusion: SCCs are frequent among patients with early PD. The prevalence and risk factor of SCCs are distinct in PD with and without MCI. These findings suggest that SCCs in early PD with different cognitive status appear to have different pathogenicity.