Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biochemical and transcriptional analyses of cadmium-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in human osteoblasts

ABSTRACT Cadmium (Cd) accumulation is known to occur predominantly in kidney and liver; however, low-level long-term exposure to Cd may also result in bone damage. Few studies have addressed Cd-induced toxicity in osteoblasts, particularly upon cell mitochondrial energy processing and putative associations with oxidative stress in bone. To assess the influence of Cd treatment on mitochondrial function and oxidative status in osteoblast cells, human MG-63 cells were treated with Cd (up to 65 μM) for 24 or 48 h. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid and protein oxidation and antioxidant defense mechanisms such as total antioxidant activity (TAA) and gene expression of antioxidant enzymes were analyzed. In addition, Cd-induced effects on mitochondrial function were assessed by analyzing the activity of enzymes involved in mitochondrial respiration, membrane potential (ΔΨm), mitochondrial morphology and adenylate energy charge. Treatment with Cd increased oxidative stress, concomitantly with lipid and protein oxidation. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analyses of antioxidant genes catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1), glutathione S-reductase (GSR), and superoxide dismutase (SOD1 and SOD2) exhibited a trend toward decrease in transcripts in Cd-stressed cells, particularly a downregulation of GSR. Longer treatment with Cd (48 h) resulted in energy charge states significantly below those commonly observed in living cells. Mitochondrial function was affected by ΔΨm reduction. Inhibition of mitochondrial respiratory chain enzymes and citrate synthase also occurred following Cd treatment. In conclusion, Cd induced mitochondrial dysfunction which appeared to be associated with oxidative stress in human osteoblasts.
Poster: A Taxonomy of how Method Stereotypes Change

The role of a well-designed method should not change frequently or significantly over its lifetime. As such, changes to the role of a method can be an indicator of design improvement or degradation. To measure this, we use method stereotypes. Method stereotypes provide a high-level description of a method's behavior and role; giving insight into how a method interacts with its environment and carries out tasks. When a method's stereotype changes, so has its role. This work presents a taxonomy of how method stereotypes change and why the categories of changes are significant.
LAWN: Boosting the performance of NVMM File System through Reducing Write Amplification

Byte-addressable non-volatile memories can be used with DRAM to build a hybrid memory system of volatile/non-volatile main memory (NVMM). NVMM file systems demand consistency techniques such as logging and copy-on-write to guarantee data consistency in case of system crashes. However, conventional consistency techniques may incur write amplification that severely degrades the file system performance. In this paper, we propose LAWN (logless, a lternate w riting for NVMM), a novel approach that achieves data consistency and significantly improves performance via reducing write amplification. Our evaluation reveals that LAWN boosts the performance of a state-of-the-art NVMM file system by up to 12.0 ×.
A structurally derived model of subunit‐dependent NMDA receptor function

The kinetics of NMDA receptor (NMDAR) signalling are a critical aspect of the physiology of excitatory synaptic transmission in the brain. Here we develop a mechanistic description of NMDAR function based on the receptor tetrameric structure and the principle that each agonist‐bound subunit must undergo some rate‐limiting conformational change after agonist binding, prior to channel opening. By fitting this mechanism to single channel data using a new MATLAB‐based software implementation of maximum likelihood fitting with correction for limited time resolution, rate constants were derived for this mechanism that reflect distinct structural changes and predict the properties of macroscopic and synaptic NMDAR currents. The principles applied here to develop a mechanistic description of the heterotetrameric NMDAR, and the software used in this analysis, can be equally applied to other heterotetrameric glutamate receptors, providing a unifying mechanistic framework to understanding the physiology of glutamate receptor signalling in the brain.
Connexin 43-Based Therapeutics for Dermal Wound Healing

The most ubiquitous gap junction protein within the body, connexin 43 (Cx43), is a target of interest for modulating the dermal wound healing response. Observational studies found associations between Cx43 at the wound edge and poor healing response, and subsequent studies utilizing local knockdown of Cx43 found improvements in wound closure rate and final scar appearance. Further preclinical work conducted using Cx43-based peptide therapeutics, including alpha connexin carboxyl terminus 1 (αCT1), a peptide mimetic of the Cx43 carboxyl terminus, reported similar improvements in wound healing and scar formation. Clinical trials and further study into the mode of action have since been conducted on αCT1, and Phase III testing for treatment of diabetic foot ulcers is currently underway. Therapeutics targeting connexin activity show promise in beneficially modulating the human body’s natural healing response for improved patient outcomes across a variety of injuries.
Establishing the reference value for “timed up-and-go” test in healthy adults of Gujarat, India

CONTEXT: Timed up-and-go (TUG) test is a valid, reliable, and an objective test for quantifying functional mobility and assessing the fall risk in all age groups. The analysis of patient scores on TUG test is limited by lack of data, having a wide range of performance scores among people without disabilities. AIM: The objective of the study was to provide the reference value for TUG test in healthy individuals of Gujarat, India. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: It was a cross-sectional observational study. Five hundred and twenty healthy individuals, aged 40–70 years, were recruited from various regions of Gujarat based on convenient sampling. All the participants were made to perform TUG test in a controlled environment in community. Three readings of the actual test were obtained and averaged. RESULTS: Data were analyzed with mean, standard deviation, confidence intervals (CIs 95%) and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) with α = 0.05 by age groups (40–50, 51–60, and 61–70 years) and gender. The mean (CI 95%) TUG time for healthy adults of Gujarat was 8.46 (8.35–8.57) s and demonstrated age-related decline for both male and female participants. TUG time also demonstrated strong correlation with the height of individuals. CONCLUSION: This preliminary data can be used as a reference only for specific population with specific age groups due to variability in test results among the different population due to age, gender, anthropometric measures such as height, weight, and body mass index, geographical variation, nutritional support, and cognitive status.
CT-directed robotic biopsy testbed: motivation and concept

As a demonstration platform, we are developing a robotic biopsy testbed incorporating a mobile CT scanner, a small needle driver robot, and an optical localizer. This testbed will be used to compare robotically assisted biopsy to the current manual technique, and allow us to investigate software architectures for integrating multiple medical devices. This is a collaboration between engineers and physicians from three universities and a commercial vendor. In this paper we describe the CT-directed biopsy technique, review some other biopsy systems including passive and semi- autonomous devices, describe our testbed components, and present our software architecture. This testbed is a first step in developing the image-guided, robotically assisted, physician directed, biopsy systems of the future.
FMMU: A Hardware-Accelerated Flash Map Management Unit for Scalable Performance of Flash-Based SSDs

Address translation is increasingly a performance bottleneck in flash-based SSDs (solid state drives). We propose a hardware-accelerated flash map management unit called FMMU to speed up the address translation. The FMMU operates in a non-blocking manner without any involvement of software and uses in-cache linked list to enhance the performance of flush operations. Simulation study shows that the FMMU improves IOPS (I/O operations per second) by 135 % on average when compared against software-only approaches. The results also show that the performance gap widens as the number of flash chips/buses and the host interface speed increase.
Importance of case age in the purported association between phylogenetics and hemolytic uremic syndrome in Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections

Abstract Escherichia coli O157:H7 is the largest cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Previous studies proposed that HUS risk varies across the E. coli O157:H7 phylogenetic tree (hypervirulent clade 8), but the role of age in the association is unknown. We determined phylogenetic lineage of E. coli O157:H7 isolates from 1160 culture-confirmed E. coli O157:H7 cases reported in Washington State, 2004–2015. Using generalised estimating equations, we tested the association between phylogenetic lineage and HUS. Age was evaluated as an effect modifier. Among 1082 E. coli O157:H7 cases with both phylogenetic lineage and HUS status (HUS n = 76), stratified analysis suggested effect modification by age. Lineages IIa and IIb, relative to Ib, did not appear associated with HUS in children 0–9-years-old. For cases 10–59-years-old, lineages IIa and IIb appeared to confer increased risk of HUS, relative to lineage Ib. The association reversed in ⩾60-year-olds. Results were similar for clade 8. Phylogenetic lineage appears to be associated with HUS risk only among those ⩾10-years-old. Among children <10, the age group most frequently affected, lineage does not explain progression to HUS. However, lineage frequency varied across age groups, suggesting differences in exposure and/or early disease manifestation.
Methods of Pornography Detection: Review

In recent years, prone images and other such indecent matter are available on the social media and the Internet for children. Filtering of image porn has become one of the big changes for searches; they are tied to finding methods to filter porn images. Social media network is interested in filter porn images from normal ones. Analysis method uses the bright image to automatically detect and filter images in the media. In this paper, we have reviewed methods such as color based, shape based, local and global feature approach, deep learning and bag-of-words for filtering porn images which include comparing with the advantages and disadvantages.
Reduction of Articular and Systemic Inflammation by Kava-241 in a Porphyromonas gingivalis-Induced Arthritis Murine Model

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease that has been linked to several risk factors, including periodontitis. Identification of new anti-inflammatory compounds to treat arthritis is needed. ABSTRACT Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease that has been linked to several risk factors, including periodontitis. Identification of new anti-inflammatory compounds to treat arthritis is needed. We had previously demonstrated the beneficial effect of Kava-241, a kavain-derived compound, in the management of Porphyromonas gingivalis-induced periodontitis. The present study evaluated systemic and articular effects of Kava-241 in an infective arthritis murine model triggered by P. gingivalis bacterial inoculation and primed with a collagen antibody cocktail (CIA) to induce joint inflammation and tissular destruction. Clinical inflammation score and radiological analyses of the paws were performed continuously, while histological assessment was obtained at sacrifice. Mice exposed to P. gingivalis and a CIA cocktail and treated concomitantly with Kava-241 exhibited a reduced clinical inflammatory score and a decreased number of inflammatory cells and osteoclasts within joint. Kava-241 treatment also decreased significantly tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in serum from mice injected with a Toll-like receptor 2 or 4 (TLR-2/4) ligand, P. gingivalis-lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Finally, bone marrow-derived macrophages infected with P. gingivalis and exposed to Kava-241 displayed reduced TLR-2/4, reduced mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-related signal elements, and reduced LPS-induced TNF-α factor (LITAF), all explaining the observed reduction of TNF-α secretion. Taken together, these results emphasized the novel properties of Kava-241 in the management of inflammatory conditions, especially TNF-α-related diseases such as infective RA.
Triploid Colubrid Snake Provides Insight into the Mechanism of Sex Determination in Advanced Snakes

The advanced snakes (Caenophidia), the important amniote lineage encompassing more than 3,000 living species, possess highly conserved female heterogamety across all families. However, we still lack any knowledge on the gene(s) and the molecular mechanism controlling sex determination. Triploid individuals spontaneously appear in populations of diploid species and can provide an important insight into the evolution of sex determination. Here, we report a case of spontaneous triploidy in a male of the twin-spotted ratsnake (Elaphe bimaculata) with ZZW sex chromosomes. We speculate that as both ZZ and ZZW individuals develop male gonads, the ratio between the number of Z chromosomes and autosomes, and not the presence of the W chromosome in the genome, drives sex determination in the advanced snakes.
Girls-only vs. mixed-gender groups in the delivery of a universal wellness programme among adolescents: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Background Investigation of the optimal setting for body image prevention programmes is important to maximize the outcomes of such programmes. Objectives We examined the preferred setting for a school-based wellness programme called “In Favour of Myself". Methods A total of 259 girls (mean 13.82±0.64 years) were divided into a girls-only intervention group, a mixed-gender intervention and a waiting list control group. The participants completed self-report questionnaires at baseline, post-intervention (2 months) and at follow-up (3 months) examining changes in self-esteem, media literacy, body image and risk factors for eating disorders. The intervention group participants also completed a satisfaction questionnaire. Results Both intervention groups demonstrated statistically significant improvements in identifying advertising strategies (p<0.01) compared with the controls, with the girls-only arm (p<0.001) showing better results. Compared with the girls-only arm and the control group, the mixed-gender group demonstrated statistically significantly greater improvements in the internalization of pressure for thinness (p<0.004), the body-esteem appearance subscale (p<0.025) and body-esteem body-weight subscale (p<0.012) as well as reductions in their perceived current body silhouettes and in the gap between their current and ideal body image (p<0.003). Body dissatisfaction was increased following the programme, although not in a statistically significant manner, with the worst negative effect observed in the girls-only arm. All other differences among the study arms did not show statistically significant differences. Mediation models revealed that body-esteem was directly mediated by group, with statistically significant mediation only in the mixed group. Current body image was mediated indirectly by group through media literacy (i.e., recognizing advertisement strategies and internalization of pressure for thinness), with statistical significance only in the mixed-gender arm compared with the girls-only arm. Higher programme satisfaction was reported in the mixed-gender group (91%) vs. the girls-only groups (79%). Conclusions These outcomes provide preliminary evidence indicating the superiority of a mixed-gender setting compared with a girls-only setting for delivering prevention programmes to 13- to 14-year-old adolescents to enhance their media literacy, positive self-esteem and body image. Trial registration NCT02653586
Adipose-derived stem cell-derived microvesicle-released miR-210 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of endothelial cells by regulating RUNX3

ABSTRACT The potential mechanism of miRNA released from adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-derived micro vesicle (MV) onthe modulation of proliferation, migration and invasion of endothelial cells were explored. In this study, miR-210 level was detected by qT-PCR. Alix, VEGF and RUNX3 expressions were detected by Western blot. The proliferation, migration and invasion of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were observed by MTT assay and Transwell assay. Luciferase reporter gene assay was conducted to validate the targeting activity of MVs-released miR-210 on RUNX3. We found hypoxia significantly increased the expression of MVs-released miR-210. MVs released from ADSCsin hypoxic group significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs. Overexpression of miR-210 significantly upregulated VEGF expression, and promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs. Besides, RUNX3 was identified as the direct of miR-210 in HUVECs. Overexpression of miR-210 decreased RUNX3 expression and promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs, while overexpression of RUNX3 inhibited these promotion effects. In vivo experiment showed that MVs derived from ADSCs under hypoxia increased miR-210 level and capillary density, and inhibition of miR-210 decreased capillary density. We also found MVs downregulated RUNX3 expression, and inhibition of miR-210 upregulated RUNX3 expression. Therefore, miR-210 released from ADSCs-derived MVs promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs by targeting RUNX3, which revealed one of the mechanisms of ADSCs-derived MVs on the promotion of proliferation, migration and invasion of HUVECs. Abbreviations: ADSC, adipose-derived stem cell; MV, micro vesicle; HUVECs, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; RUNX3, Runtrelatedtranscription factor-3
Automated Bridge Component Recognition using Video Data

This paper investigates the automated recognition of structural bridge components using video data. Although understanding video data for structural inspections is straightforward for human inspectors, the implementation of the same task using machine learning methods has not been fully realized. In particular, single-frame image processing techniques, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), are not expected to identify structural components accurately when the image is a close-up view, lacking contextual information regarding where on the structure the image originates. Inspired by the significant progress in video processing techniques, this study investigates automated bridge component recognition using video data, where the information from the past frames is used to augment the understanding of the current frame. A new simulated video dataset is created to train the machine learning algorithms. Then, convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) with recurrent architectures are designed and applied to implement the automated bridge component recognition task. Results are presented for simulated video data, as well as video collected in the field.
Editorial: New Developments in the Psychology, Neuropsychology and Psychotherapy of Eating Disorders.

classical psychoanalytic authors have conceptualized EDs to represent a regression from oedipal to pre-oedipal eatingrelated oral anxieties, resulting from the resurgence of sexuality-related fears during adolescence (9). Modern psychoanalytic theories associate the development of EDs with interpersonal factors, e.g., problems in attachment relationships (10) or in mentalization, i.e., lack of an ability to comprehend the internal world of oneself and others (11). These conditions may produce a profound sense of emptiness or disorganization (10). EDs are conceptualized, in this context, to compensate for these impairments and to impose a sense of psychic order (10). According to self-psychology conceptualizations, patients with EDs may feel disappointed with others, or alternatively, that they do not deserve to have others to serve as selfobjects for them. Hence, they turn to food (BN and binge eating disorder [BED]), or to intentional refraining from eating (AN) as potential rewarding/reinforcing selfobjects to fulfill their psychological needs (12). Bruch (13) has suggested that severe ED pathology and faulty cognitive mechanisms may underlie the development and maintenance of many of the core psychopathological features of EDs, alongside the ongoing influence of malnutrition. Somewhat similarly, cognitive behavioral conceptualizations associate the predisposition to an ED with dysfunctional inborn cognitions associated with control, perfectionism and dichotomizing, serving to correct a pervasive sense of vulnerability, worthlessness and ineffectiveness. These distorted cognitions, alongside other vulnerability factors, may increase the risk for the development and maintenance of complex interactions between extreme concern with weight and shape and relentless dieting behaviors, likely culminating in diverse ED presentations (14).
PAC-Bayes bounds for stable algorithms with instance-dependent priors

PAC-Bayes bounds have been proposed to get risk estimates based on a training sample. In this paper the PAC-Bayes approach is combined with stability of the hypothesis learned by a Hilbert space valued algorithm. The PAC-Bayes setting is used with a Gaussian prior centered at the expected output. Thus a novelty of our paper is using priors defined in terms of the data-generating distribution. Our main result estimates the risk of the randomized algorithm in terms of the hypothesis stability coefficients. We also provide a new bound for the SVM classifier, which is compared to other known bounds experimentally. Ours appears to be the first stability-based bound that evaluates to non-trivial values.