Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Delineating Developmental Periods in Adulthood Suggests Age-Related Shifts in the Correlates of Alcohol Use and Problems.

BACKGROUND Developmental context is related to the propensity to engage in alcohol use, the rate at which alcohol use changes, and the relevance of different risk factors to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Therefore, studies of change should consider developmental nuances, but change is often modeled to follow a uniform pattern, even across distinct developmental periods. METHODS This study implemented a novel analytic approach to delineate developmental periods of alcohol behavior (n = 478, ages 18 to 35). This approach was further leveraged to examine age-related shifts in the association of impulsivity risk factors (lack of planning, general sensation seeking, alcohol enhancement expectancies) with alcohol behavior (alcohol quantity*frequency, heavy drinking, AUD). RESULTS A sequence of exploratory and confirmatory latent growth models (LGMs) suggested modeling separate linear change factors for alcohol behavior during the primary college (ages 18 to 21) and postcollege years (21 to 35). Bivariate LGMs estimated correlations for alcohol behavior changes with lack of planning, sensation seeking, and enhancement expectancies during these periods. The rate at which heavy drinking changed during the college years was positively correlated with general sensation seeking and lack of planning during this period (rs = 0.61 to 0.63). These correlations were significantly weaker during the postcollege years (rs = 0.29 to 0.34). Notably, the rate of change in alcohol behavior was strongly correlated with enhancement expectancies during the college (r = 0.45 to 0.70) and postcollege years (r = 0.45 to 0.61). CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the importance of sensation seeking and lack of planning with regard to adult alcohol use, particularly in a college environment. There was also a strong link between the rates of change in alcohol behavior and enhancement expectancies across all waves. This study supports the utility of exploratory LGMs for delineating developmental periods of alcohol behavior, which are characterized by different processes.
Sulfur-induced chirality changes in single-walled carbon nanotube synthesis by ethanol chemical vapor deposition on a Co/SiO2 catalyst

Selective synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with different chiral structures is highly desirable for their potential applications ranging from electronics, photovoltaics to medicine. Here, we have shown that introducing sulfur-containing compounds into carbon feedstock may efficiently alter the chiral selectivity of a Co/SiO2 catalyst toward different chiral species. When carbon disulfide (0.0001 wt%) was added to ethanol, the carbon yield increased significantly from 4.8 to 14 wt% without chirality changes. The changes in chiral selectivity are correlated with the significant changes in the carbon yield. With further increase of carbon disulfide concentration, the chirality distribution shifted from smaller diameter chiral nanotubes, such as (7,6) at 0.9 nm, toward larger diameter chiral ones, such as (8,7) at 1 nm and (9,8) at 1.2 nm, in addition to a sharp decrease in the carbon yield. Further, when a different sulfur-containing compound was used, the chiral selectivity changed differently. Thiophene (0.1 wt%) in ethanol led to a good chiral selectivity toward (9,8) nanotubes with a relative abundance of 43.1% among all semiconducting nanotubes. We propose that sulfur may selectively block active sites on Co particles through dynamic interactions among sulfur, hydrogen, carbon and Co metal particles. Our results suggest that sulfur-containing compounds may be used as an efficient additive to tune the chiral selectivity of catalysts in SWCNT synthesis.
Variational Formulation of Unsupervised Deep Learning for Ultrasound Image Artifact Removal

Recently, deep learning approaches have been successfully used for ultrasound (US) image artifact removal. However, paired high-quality images for supervised training are difficult to obtain in many practical situations. Inspired by the recent theory of unsupervised learning using optimal transport driven CycleGAN (OT-CycleGAN), here, we investigate the applicability of unsupervised deep learning for US artifact removal problems without matched reference data. Two types of OT-CycleGAN approaches are employed: one with the partial knowledge of the image degradation physics and the other with the lack of such knowledge. Various US artifact removal problems are then addressed using the two types of OT-CycleGAN. Experimental results for various unsupervised US artifact removal tasks confirmed that our unsupervised learning method delivers results comparable to supervised learning in many practical applications.
Oral Manifestations of Rett Syndrome—A Systematic Review

Rett Syndrome is an x linked developmental disorder which becomes apparent in females after 6 to 18 months of age. It leads to severe impairments including loss of speech, loss of hand movements/manual dexterity, characteristic hand movements such as hang wringing and intellectual disability/learning problems. This systematic review was carried out to identify the dental manifestation of Rett syndrome and to shed light on treatment options available for oral health problems associated with Rett syndrome. A systematic literature search was conducted on the PubMed, Scopus, Biomed, Web of Science, Embase, Google Scholars, Cochrane and CINAHL using the following entries: Rett syndrome (n = 3790), Oral health and Rett syndrome (n = 17), dental health of Rett syndrome patients (n = 13), and the MeSH terms listed below: Rett syndrome and Oral Health (n = 17), Rett syndrome and dentistry (n = 29). The final review included 22 search articles. The most common oral findings was bruxism. Masseteric hypertrophy was also reported. Anterior open bite and non-physiological tooth wear was observed. Other oral manifestations of Rett syndrome included mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, digit/thumb sucking, high arch palate. Increased awareness and dental education amongst dentists and assistants regarding the dental manifestations of Rett syndrome and similar neurodevelopmental disorders is required to improve the level of care and empathy they can provide to these differently able patients. Research on dental aspects of Rett is scarce and this remains a neglected topic.
Synergistic effect and ultrastructural changes in Trypanosoma cruzi caused by isoobtusilactone A in short exposure of time

Butanolides have shown a variety of biological effects including anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal effects against certain strains of Trypanosoma cruzi. Considering the lack of an effective drug to treat T. cruzi infections and the prominent results obtained in literature with this class of lactones, we investigated the anti-T. cruzi activity of five butanolides isolated from two species of Lauraceae, Aiouea trinervis and Mezilaurus crassiramea. Initially, the activity of these compounds was evaluated on epimastigote forms of the parasite, after a treatment period of 4 h, followed by testing on amastigotes, trypomastigotes, and mammalian cells. Next, the synergistic effect of active butanolides against amastigotes was evaluated. Further, metacyclogenesis inhibition and infectivity assays were performed for the most active compound, followed by ultrastructural analysis of the treated amastigotes and trypomastigotes. Among the five butanolides studied, majoranolide and isoobtusilactone A were active against all forms of the parasite, with good selectivity indexes in Vero cells. Both butanolides were more active than the control drug against trypomastigote and epimastigote forms and also had a synergic effect on amastigotes. The most active compound, isoobtusilactone A, which showed activity against all tested strains inhibited metacyclogenesis and infection of new host cells. In addition, ultrastructural analysis revealed that this butanolide caused extensive damage to the mitochondria of both amastigotes and trypomastigotes, resulting in severe morphological changes in the infective forms of the parasite. Altogether, our results highlight the potential of butanolides against the etiologic agent of Chagas disease and the relevance of isoobtusilactone A as a strong anti-T. cruzi drug, affecting different events of the life cycle and all evolutionary forms of parasite after a short period of exposure.
Population Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Target Attainment Analysis of Cefazolin in the Serum and Hip Joint Capsule of Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics of prophylactic cefazolin (CFZ) from its serum and hip joint capsule concentrations in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty and to establish the pharmacodynamic target concentration exceeding the MIC for designing an effective dosing regimen for serum and the hip joint capsule. We analyzed 249 serum samples and 125 hip joint capsule samples from 125 individuals using a nonlinear mixed-effects model. ABSTRACT The objectives of this study were to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics of prophylactic cefazolin (CFZ) from its serum and hip joint capsule concentrations in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty and to establish the pharmacodynamic target concentration exceeding the MIC for designing an effective dosing regimen for serum and the hip joint capsule. We analyzed 249 serum samples and 125 hip joint capsule samples from 125 individuals using a nonlinear mixed-effects model. The pharmacodynamic index target value obtained from our results indicates the probability of maintaining CFZ trough and hip joint capsule concentrations exceeding the MIC of 1 mg/liter to account for methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA). We estimated the population pharmacokinetics using a two-compartment model. The estimated population pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: clearance (CL) (liters/h) = 1.46 × (creatinine clearance [CLcr] [ml/min]/77)0.891, volume of distribution of the central compartment (Vc) (liters) = 7.5, central-hip joint capsule compartment clearance (Q) (liters/h) = 3.38, and volume of distribution in the hip joint capsule compartment (VJC) (liters) = 36.1. The probability of achieving concentrations exceeding the MIC90 for MSSA was approximately 100% for serum and 100% for the hip joint capsule at 3 h after the initial dose. Our findings suggest that population-based parameters are useful for evaluating CFZ pharmacokinetics and that individual dosages should be determined based on the dosage regimen that achieves and maintains adequate tissue CFZ concentration.
Regulation of gene expression in the bovine blastocyst by colony-stimulating factor 2 is disrupted by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion of CSF2RA

Abstract Colony-stimulating factor 2 (CSF2) functions in the reproductive tract to modulate the function of the preimplantation embryo. The β subunit of the CSF2 receptor (CSF2RB) is not expressed in the embryo, and signal transduction is therefore different than for myeloid cells where the receptor is composed of α (CSF2RA) and β subunits. Here, we produced embryos in which exons 5 and 6 of CSF2RA were disrupted using the CRISPR/Cas 9 system to test whether CSF2RA signaling was essential for actions of CSF2 in the bovine embryo. Wild-type and CSF2RA knockout embryos were treated with 10 ng/mL CSF2 or vehicle at day 5 of development. Blastocysts were harvested at day 8 to determine transcript abundance of 90 genes by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Responses in female blastocysts were examined separately from male blastocysts because actions of CSF2 are sex-dependent. For wild-type embryos, CSF2 altered expression of 10 genes in females and 20 in males. Only three genes were affected by CSF2 in a similar manner for both sexes. Disruption of CSF2RA prevented the effect of CSF2 on expression for 9 of 10 CSF2-regulated genes in females and 19 of 20 genes in males. The results confirm the importance of CSF2RA for regulation of gene expression by CSF2 in the blastocyst. Summary sentence Disruption of CSF2RA blocked most CSF2-induced changes in gene expression in the blastocyst, indicating that, despite the absence of the β subunit of the receptor, the preimplantation embryo uses CSF2RA for signal transduction.
Physical Activity Recommendations in the Context of New Calls for Change in Physical Education

The current social, health, and educational changes in society require an adequate response in school-based physical activity (PA), including physical education (PE) lessons. The objective of this study was to identify the real average step counts of Czech and Polish adolescents during PE lessons, and propose recommendations for improving PE programs. This research was carried out in 143 Czech and 99 Polish schools. In the research, a total of 4911 adolescents aged 12–18 years were analyzed as part of teaching practice and 1827 in the context of habitual school practice. Steps were monitored using pedometers. The average step count per PE lesson was 2390 in Czech and Polish boys, while girls achieved 1851 steps. In both countries, boys were subject to greater physical strain in PE lessons compared to girls, both in teaching practice (F(4088,3) = 154.49, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.102) and school practice (F(1552,3) = 70.66, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.103). Therefore, the priority in PE lessons is to increase the amount of PA for girls, achieve the objectives of PE during PA, and use wearables to improve awareness of PA and improve physical literacy, as well as to support hybrid and online PE as a complement to traditional PE.
Screening of Marine Bioactive Antimicrobial Compounds for Plant Pathogens

Plant diseases have been threatening food production. Controlling plant pathogens has become an important strategy to ensure food security. Although chemical control is an effective disease control strategy, its application is limited by many problems, such as environmental impact and pathogen resistance. In order to overcome these problems, it is necessary to develop more chemical reagents with new functional mechanisms. Due to their special living environment, marine organisms have produced a variety of bioactive compounds with novel structures, which have the potential to develop new fungicides. In the past two decades, screening marine bioactive compounds to inhibit plant pathogens has been a hot topic. In this review, we summarize the screening methods of marine active substances from plant pathogens, the identification of marine active substances from different sources, and the structure and antibacterial mechanism of marine active natural products. Finally, the application prospect of marine bioactive substances in plant disease control was prospected.
The Consumption of Caffeine-Containing Products to Enhance Sports Performance: An Application of an Extended Model of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Caffeine is the most-used psychoactive substance in the world. About 80% of the world’s population consumes caffeine every day, including athletes and lifestyle users. Thus, it is important to understand the consumer drivers of caffeine-containing beverages and food. This research study aims to explore consumers’ behaviors, perceptions, attitudes, and drivers towards caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance. The research applies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) in order to understand consumers’ behavior, extended with utilitarian aspects for a comprehensive understanding of consumers’ behavior and attitudes. We interviewed consumers with the support of Qualtrics online software. The data were then processed with SPSS (statistical analysis software). The data elaboration includes a multivariate linear regression model to analyze the consumers’ intention to consume caffeine to enhance the sports performance, and to explore consumers’ preference of marketing leverages for this product category. The results contribute to an understanding of consumers’ consumption and purchasing behavior towards caffeine, and support the validity of the extended TPB to develop a more comprehensive picture of consumer behavior. Consumers have a positive attitude towards caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance. The main consumer behavior drivers are subjective norms and utilitarian aspects. The present research results may support companies in the development of caffeine-containing products to enhance sports performance.
Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Properties of Muscle, Bone, and Brain Function in Older Adults: A Narrative Review

Abstract Aging is associated with reductions in muscle and bone mass and brain function, which may be counteracted by several lifestyle factors, of which exercise appears to be most beneficial. However, less than 20% of older adults (> 55 years of age) adhere to performing the recommended amount of resistance training (≥ 2 days/week) and less than 12% regularly meet the aerobic exercise guidelines (≥ 150 min/week of moderate to vigorous intensity aerobic exercise) required to achieve significant health benefits. Therefore, from a healthy aging and clinical perspective, it is important to determine whether other lifestyle interventions (independent of exercise) can have beneficial effects on aging muscle quality and quantity, bone strength, and brain function. Creatine, a nitrogen containing organic compound found in all cells of the body, has the potential to have favorable effects on muscle, bone, and brain health (independent of exercise) in older adults. The purpose of this narrative review is to examine and summarize the small body of research investigating the effects of creatine supplementation alone on measures of muscle mass and performance, bone mineral and strength, and indices of brain health in older adults.
Strain-Specific Effects of Bifidobacterium longum on Hypercholesterolemic Rats and Potential Mechanisms

Hypercholesterolemia is an independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease, which is among the major causes of death worldwide. The aim of this study was to explore whether Bifidobacterium longum strains exerted intra-species differences in cholesterol-lowering effects in hypercholesterolemic rats and to investigate the potential mechanisms. SD rats underwent gavage with each B. longum strain (CCFM 1077, I3, J3 and B3) daily for 28 days. B. longum CCFM 1077 exerted the most potent cholesterol-lowering effect, followed by B. longum I3 and B3, whereas B. longum B3 had no effect in alleviating hypercholesterolemia. Divergent alleviation of different B. longum strains on hypercholesterolemia can be attributed to the differences in bile salt deconjugation ability and cholesterol assimilation ability in vitro. By 16S rRNA metagenomics analysis, the relative abundance of beneficial genus increased in the B. longum CCFM 1077 treatment group. The expression of key genes involved in cholesterol metabolism were also altered after the B. longum CCFM 1077 treatment. In conclusion, B. longum exhibits strain-specific effects in the alleviation of hypercholesterolemia, mainly due to differences in bacterial characteristics, bile salt deconjugation ability, cholesterol assimilation ability, expressions of key genes involved in cholesterol metabolism and alterations of gut microbiota.
A Novel Association between YKL-40, a Marker of Structural Lung Disease, and Short Telomere Length in 10-Year-Old Children with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia

Extremely preterm infants are born with immature lungs and are exposed to an inflammatory environment as a result of oxidative stress. This may lead to airway remodeling, cellular aging and the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Reliable markers that predict the long-term consequences of BPD in infancy are still lacking. We analyzed two biomarkers of cellular aging and lung function, telomere length and YKL-40, respectively, at 10 years of age in children born preterm with a history of BPD (n = 29). For comparison, these markers were also evaluated in sex-and-age-matched children born at term with childhood asthma (n = 28). Relative telomere length (RTL) was measured in whole blood with qPCR and serum YKL-40 with ELISA, and both were studied in relation to gas exchange and the regional ventilation/perfusion ratio using three-dimensional V/Q-scintigraphy (single photon emission computer tomography, SPECT) in children with BPD. Higher levels of YKL-40 were associated with shorter leukocyte RTL (Pearson’s correlation: −0.55, p = 0.002), but were not associated with a lower degree of matching between ventilation and perfusion within the lung. Serum YKL-40 levels were significantly higher in children with BPD compared to children with asthma (17.7 vs. 13.2 ng/mL, p < 0.01). High levels of YKL-40 and short RTLs were associated to the need for ventilatory support more than 1 month in the neonatal period (p < 0.01). The link between enhanced telomere shortening in childhood and structural remodeling of the lung, as observed in children with former BPD but not in children with asthma at the age of 10 years, suggests altered lung development related to prematurity and early life inflammatory exposure. In conclusion, relative telomere length and YKL-40 may serve as biomarkers of altered lung development as a result of early-life inflammation in children with a history of prematurity.
Dietary Polyphenols in Metabolic and Neurodegenerative Diseases: Molecular Targets in Autophagy and Biological Effects

Polyphenols represent a group of secondary metabolites of plants which have been analyzed as potent regulators of multiple biological processes, including cell proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy, among others. These natural compounds exhibit beneficial effects and protection against inflammation, oxidative stress, and related injuries including metabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular damage, obesity and diabetes, and neurodegeneration. This review aims to summarize the mechanisms of action of polyphenols in relation to the activation of autophagy, stimulation of mitochondrial function and antioxidant defenses, attenuation of oxidative stress, and reduction in cell apoptosis, which may be responsible of the health promoting properties of these compounds.