Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating cellular electroporation using planar membrane models and miniaturized devices

This thesis focuses on increasing our understanding of the electroporation process. Electroporation is a technique employed to introduce foreign molecules into cells that can normally not pass the cell membrane. By applying a short but high electric field, pores appear in the membrane through which these molecules can enter the cell. This process is crucial for a number of biotechnological and medical applications (such as drug delivery, particle delivery and gene transfection). This technique is studied with model systems for the cell membrane (bilayer lipid membranes or BLMs) as well as in cells. The membrane models are here employed to study the effect of the membrane composition on the pore formation process. The composition is altered by the addition of different types of phospholipids, cholesterol and proteins and the complexity of the models is increased from binary via ternary to quaternary systems. The results show that membrane composition can have a large effect on the potential required to form pores in the membranes. In addition to this, a microfluidic system for BLM experimentation is developed. In this device, the BLMs are created vertically, allowing for combining electrical and optical measurements. This is a major advantage over a conventional system where only electrical analysis is feasible. The main purpose of this device is as a platform for protein studies for drug screening purposes. Lastly, a cell monolayer electroporation device is employed to verify the hypothesis from the previous results with BLMs that polarized cells become electroporated at a different applied potential than non-polarized cells. In this device, cells are grown onto a layer of hydrogel on top of an electrode substrate or onto a bare electrode substrate, to induce membrane polarization or not.
Spillover and risk transmission in the components of the term structure of eurozone yield curve

ABSTRACT The components of term structure of interest rate are an important element of the asset pricing models. This article studies the connectedness of the component of the sovereign yield curve across eleven earliest members of the Eurozone comprising six core countries (Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Belgium, France) and five peripheral countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) thus enabling us to analyse the short-, medium- and long-term yield curve dynamics of these eurozone economies. We document three distinct phases of connectedness described by the early eurozone period, global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crises, and the period afterwards. We find a higher level of connectedness between the countries before the global financial crisis, which decreased to its lowest levels during the European debt crisis and is now rising back to higher levels following the European debt crisis. We find that, in general, the core countries are net transmitter of spillover, whereas, the peripheral countries are net receivers of spillover for the three components of the yield curve.
A rare cause of acute compartment syndrome after gluteal cyst rupture

ABSTRACT Acute Compartment Syndrome (ACS) is a serious medical condition that often results in high morbidity. ACS more commonly presents after substantial trauma in the extremities where compartment pressures can be measured. Here, we present an unusual case of a healthy man who presented with ACS of the thigh secondary to rupture of the gluteal cyst which was formed after multiple unsupervised testosterone injections. Our goal is to encourage a broad differential diagnosis while keeping limb threatening conditions and emergencies on top in patients complaining of leg pain and also to educate the patient population on safety concerns of unsupervised intramuscular injections.
Hybrid machine learning detection for orbital angular momentum over turbulent MISO wireless channel

: This work proposes a machine learning detection scheme for wireless orbital angular momentum (OAM) communication systems. The new scheme works for single-input–single-output (SISO) and multiple-input–single-output (MISO) wireless communication between the transmitter and the receiver. The transmitter encodes its data in OAM modes which are constructed using Laguerre–Gaussian beam form. The transmitted beams travel through a wireless channel with weak to medium turbulence strength and they arrive at random positions on the same receiver area. The authors proposed detection scheme allows the reception of multiple overlapping beams without prior knowledge of beams centre positions. The proposed scheme uses a novel technique of receiver segmentation and space filtering along with neural network to decode the received beams. Simulations show the detection efficiency and the enhanced performance of their proposed scheme for the SISO case and the MISO case with 2, 4, and 16 beams.
Association of Loneliness and Wisdom With Gut Microbial Diversity and Composition: An Exploratory Study

Loneliness and wisdom have opposite effects on health and well-being. Loneliness is a serious public health problem associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Wisdom is associated with better health and well-being. We have consistently found a strong negative correlation between loneliness and wisdom. The present study aimed to investigate the association of loneliness and wisdom with the gut microbiome. One hundred eighty-four community-dwelling adults (28–97 years) completed validated self-report-based measures of loneliness, wisdom, compassion, social support, and social engagement. Fecal samples were collected and profiled using 16S rRNA sequencing. Linear regression analyses, controlling for age and body mass index, revealed that lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of wisdom, compassion, social support, and social engagement were associated with greater phylogenetic richness and diversity of the gut microbiome. Partial least squares (PLS) analysis to investigate multivariate relationships extracted two composite variables. Linear regression model predicting alpha-diversity with PLS components revealed that a linear combination of all psychosocial predictors (with negative loading for loneliness and positive loadings for all others, including wisdom, compassion, social support, and social engagement) was significantly associated with alpha-diversity. For beta-diversity, compassion and wisdom accounted for a significant proportion of variance in overall microbial community composition. Findings may have implications for interventions to reduce loneliness and possibly its health-related adverse consequences. Future research should explore whether increasing compassion and wisdom may improve loneliness and overall well-being as well as microbial diversity.
Comparison of Two Approaches for the Metataxonomic Analysis of the Human Milk Microbiome

Recent work has demonstrated the existence of large inter-individual and inter-population variability in the microbiota of human milk from healthy women living across variable geographical and socio-cultural settings. However, no studies have evaluated the impact that variable sequencing approaches targeting different 16S rRNA variable regions may have on the human milk microbiota profiling results. This hampers our ability to make meaningful comparisons across studies. In this context, the main purpose of the present study was to re-process and re-sequence the microbiome in a large set of human milk samples (n = 412) collected from healthy women living at diverse international sites (Spain, Sweden, Peru, United States, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana and Kenya), by targeting a different 16S rRNA variable region and reaching a larger sequencing depth. Despite some differences between the results obtained from both sequencing approaches were notable (especially regarding alpha and beta diversities and Proteobacteria representation), results indicate that both sequencing approaches revealed a relatively consistent microbiota configurations in the studied cohorts. Our data expand upon the milk microbiota results we previously reported from the INSPIRE cohort and provide, for the first time across globally diverse populations, evidence of the impact that different DNA processing and sequencing approaches have on the microbiota profiles obtained for human milk samples. Overall, our results corroborate some similarities regarding the microbial communities previously reported for the INSPIRE cohort, but some differences were also detected. Understanding the impact of different sequencing approaches on human milk microbiota profiles is essential to enable meaningful comparisons across studies. Clinical Trial Registration www.clinicaltrials. gov, identifier NCT02670278.
Physiological and Biomechanical Determinants of Sprint Ability Following Variable Intensity Exercise When Roller Ski Skating

The most common race format in cross-country (XC) skiing is the mass-start event, which is under-explored in the scientific literature. To explore factors important for XC skiing mass-starts, the main purpose of this study was to investigate physiological and biomechanical determinants of sprint ability following variable intensity exercise when roller ski skating. Thirteen elite male XC skiers performed a simulated mass-start competition while roller ski skating on a treadmill. The protocol consisted of an initial 21-min bout with a varying track profile, designed as a competition track with preset inclines and speeds, directly followed by an all-out sprint (AOS) with gradually increased speed to rank their performance. The initial part was projected to simulate the “stay-in-the-group” condition during a mass-start, while the AOS was designed to assess the residual physiological capacities required to perform well during the final part of a mass-start race. Cardiorespiratory variables, kinematics and pole forces were measured continuously, and the cycles were automatically detected and classified into skating sub-techniques through a machine learning model. Better performance ranking was associated with higher VO2Max (r = 0.68) and gross efficiency (r = 0.70) measured on separate days, as well as the ability to ski on a lower relative intensity [i.e., %HRMax (r = 0.87), %VO2Max (r = 0.89), and rating of perceived exertion (r = 0.73)] during the initial 21-min of the simulated mass-start (all p-values < 0.05). Accordingly, the ability to increase HR (r = 0.76) and VO2 (r = 0.72), beyond the corresponding values achieved during the initial 21-min, in the AOS correlated positively with performance (both p < 0.05). In addition, greater utilization of the G3 sub-technique in the steepest uphill (r = 0.69, p < 0.05), as well as a trend for longer cycle lengths (CLs) during the AOS (r = 0.52, p = 0.07), were associated with performance. In conclusion, VO2Max and gross efficiency were the most significant performance-determining variables of simulated mass-start performance, enabling lower relative intensity and less accumulation of fatigue before entering the final AOS. Subsequently, better performance ranking was associated with more utilization of the demanding G3 sub-technique in the steepest uphill, and physiological reserves allowing better-performing skiers to utilize a larger portion of their aerobic potential and achieve longer CLs and higher speed during the AOS.
Absence of Nonlinear Coupling Between Electric Vestibular Stimulation and Evoked Forces During Standing Balance

The vestibular system encodes motion and orientation of the head in space and is essential for negotiating in and interacting with the world. Recently, random waveform electric vestibular stimulation has become an increasingly common means of probing the vestibular system. However, many of the methods used to analyze the behavioral response to this type of stimulation assume a linear relationship between frequencies in the stimulus and its associated response. Here we examine this stimulus-response frequency linearity to determine the validity of this assumption. Forty-five university-aged subjects stood on a force-plate for 4 min while receiving vestibular stimulation. To determine the linearity of the stimulus-response relationship we calculated the cross-frequency power coupling between a 0 and 25 Hz bandwidth limited white noise stimulus and induced postural responses, as measured using the horizontal forces acting at the feet. Ultimately, we found that, on average, the postural response to a random stimulus is linear across stimulation frequencies. This result supports the use of analysis methods that depend on the assumption of stimulus-response frequency linearity, such as coherence and gain, which are commonly used to analyze the body’s response to random waveform electric stimuli.
ChEMU 2020: Natural Language Processing Methods Are Effective for Information Extraction From Chemical Patents

Chemical patents represent a valuable source of information about new chemical compounds, which is critical to the drug discovery process. Automated information extraction over chemical patents is, however, a challenging task due to the large volume of existing patents and the complex linguistic properties of chemical patents. The Cheminformatics Elsevier Melbourne University (ChEMU) evaluation lab 2020, part of the Conference and Labs of the Evaluation Forum 2020 (CLEF2020), was introduced to support the development of advanced text mining techniques for chemical patents. The ChEMU 2020 lab proposed two fundamental information extraction tasks focusing on chemical reaction processes described in chemical patents: (1) chemical named entity recognition, requiring identification of essential chemical entities and their roles in chemical reactions, as well as reaction conditions; and (2) event extraction, which aims at identification of event steps relating the entities involved in chemical reactions. The ChEMU 2020 lab received 37 team registrations and 46 runs. Overall, the performance of submissions for these tasks exceeded our expectations, with the top systems outperforming strong baselines. We further show the methods to be robust to variations in sampling of the test data. We provide a detailed overview of the ChEMU 2020 corpus and its annotation, showing that inter-annotator agreement is very strong. We also present the methods adopted by participants, provide a detailed analysis of their performance, and carefully consider the potential impact of data leakage on interpretation of the results. The ChEMU 2020 Lab has shown the viability of automated methods to support information extraction of key information in chemical patents.
Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Quality and Resulting Public Health Benefits in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area

Meteorology and long-term trends in air pollutant concentrations may obscure the results from short-term policies implemented to improve air quality. This study presents changes in CO, NO2, O3, SO2, PM10, and PM2.5 based on their anomalies during the COVID-19 partial (Phase 2) and total (Phase 3) lockdowns in Mexico City (MCMA). To minimise the impact of the air pollutant long-term trends, pollutant anomalies were calculated using as baseline truncated Fourier series, fitted with data from 2016 to 2019, and then compared with those from the lockdown. Additionally, days with stagnant conditions and heavy rain were excluded to reduce the impact of extreme weather changes. Satellite observations for NO2 and CO were used to contrast the ground-based derived results. During the lockdown Phase 2, only NO2 exhibited significant decreases (p < 0.05) of between 10 and 23% due to reductions in motor vehicle emissions. By contrast, O3 increased (p < 0.05) between 16 and 40% at the same sites where NO2 decreased. During Phase 3, significant decreases (p < 0.05) were observed for NO2 (43%), PM10 (20%), and PM2.5 (32%) in response to the total lockdown. Although O3 concentrations were lower in Phase 3 than during Phase 2, those did not decrease (p < 0.05) from the baseline at any site despite the total lockdown. SO2 decreased only during Phase 3 in a near-road environment. Satellite observations confirmed that NO2 decreased and CO stabilised during the total lockdown. Air pollutant changes during the lockdown could be overestimated between 2 and 10-fold without accounting for the influences of meteorology and long-term trends in pollutant concentrations. Air quality improved significantly during the lockdown driven by reduced NO2 and PM2.5 emissions despite increases in O3, resulting in health benefits for the MCMA population. A health assessment conducted suggested that around 588 deaths related to air pollution exposure were averted during the lockdown. Our results show that to reduce O3 within the MCMA, policies must focus on reducing VOCs emissions from non-mobile sources. The measures implemented during the COVID-19 lockdowns provide valuable information to reduce air pollution through a range of abatement strategies for emissions other than from motor vehicles.
Psychedelic Communitas: Intersubjective Experience During Psychedelic Group Sessions Predicts Enduring Changes in Psychological Wellbeing and Social Connectedness

Background: Recent years have seen a resurgence of research on the potential of psychedelic substances to treat addictive and mood disorders. Historically and contemporarily, psychedelic studies have emphasized the importance of contextual elements ('set and setting') in modulating acute drug effects, and ultimately, influencing long-term outcomes. Nevertheless, current small-scale clinical and laboratory studies have tended to bypass a ubiquitous contextual feature of naturalistic psychedelic use: its social dimension. This study introduces and psychometrically validates an adapted Communitas Scale, assessing acute relational experiences of perceived togetherness and shared humanity, in order to investigate psychosocial mechanisms pertinent to psychedelic ceremonies and retreats. Methods: In this observational, web-based survey study, participants (N = 886) were measured across five successive time-points: 2 weeks before, hours before, and the day after a psychedelic ceremony; as well as the day after, and 4 weeks after leaving the ceremony location. Demographics, psychological traits and state variables were assessed pre-ceremony, in addition to changes in psychological wellbeing and social connectedness from before to after the retreat, as primary outcomes. Using correlational and multiple regression (path) analyses, predictive relationships between psychosocial 'set and setting' variables, communitas, and long-term outcomes were explored. Results: The adapted Communitas Scale demonstrated substantial internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.92) and construct validity in comparison with validated measures of intra-subjective (visual, mystical, challenging experiences questionnaires) and inter-subjective (perceived emotional synchrony, identity fusion) experiences. Furthermore, communitas during ceremony was significantly correlated with increases in psychological wellbeing (r = 0.22), social connectedness (r = 0.25), and other salient mental health outcomes. Path analyses revealed that the effect of ceremony-communitas on long-term outcomes was fully mediated by communitas experienced in reference to the retreat overall, and that the extent of personal sharing or ‘self-disclosure’ contributed to this process. A positive relationship between participants and facilitators, and the perceived impact of emotional support, facilitated the emergence of communitas. Conclusion: Highlighting the importance of intersubjective experience, rapport, and emotional support for long-term outcomes of psychedelic use, this first quantitative examination of psychosocial factors in guided psychedelic settings is a significant step toward evidence-based benefit-maximization guidelines for collective psychedelic use.
Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, and Clinical Approach in Group 5 Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is recognized to be associated with a number of comorbid conditions. Based on these associations, PH is classified into 5 groups, considering common pathophysiologic drivers of disease, histopathologic features, clinical manifestations and course, and response to PH therapy. However, in some of these associated conditions, these characteristics are less well-understood. These include, among others, conditions commonly encountered in clinical practice such as sarcoidosis, sickle cell disease, myeloproliferative disorders, and chronic kidney disease/end stage renal disease. PH in these contexts presents a significant challenge to clinicians with respect to disease management. The most recent updated clinical classification schemata from the 6th World Symposium on PH classifies such entities in Group 5, highlighting the often unclear and/or multifactorial nature of PH. An in-depth review of the state of the science of Group 5 PH with respect to epidemiology, pathogenesis, and management is provided. Where applicable, future directions with respect to research needed to enhance understanding of the clinical course of these entities is also discussed.
Cortical Thickness Changes in Chronic Ketamine Users

Background: Previous studies have examined the effects of long-term ketamine use on gray matter volume. But it is unclear whether chronic ketamine use alters cortical thickness and whether cortical thickness changes in chronic ketamine users are associated with cognitive deficits observed in chronic ketamine users. Methods: Here, 28 chronic ketamine users and 30 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Cortical morphometry based on Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) was used to measure cortical thickness. Cognitive performance was measured by MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Two-sample t-test was used to assess differences in cortical thickness and cognitive performance between the two groups. Partial correlation analysis was used for assessing correlations between cortical thickness changes and clinical characteristics, cognitive performance in chronic ketamine users. Results: Chronic ketamine users exhibited significantly reduced cortical thickness in frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes compared to HC [false discovery rate (FDR) corrected at p < 0.05]. In chronic ketamine users, the average quantity (g) of ketamine use/day was negatively correlated with cortical thickness in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right caudal middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and right paracentral lobule. The frequency of ketamine use (days per week) was negatively correlated with cortical thickness in the left isthmus cingulate cortex. Duration of ketamine use (month) was negatively correlated with cortical thickness in the left precentral gyrus. The chronic ketamine users showed significantly poorer cognitive performance on the working memory (P = 0.009), visual learning (P = 0.009), speed of processing (P < 0.000), and Matrics composite (P = 0.01). There was no correlation between scores of domains of MCCB and reduced cortical thickness. Conclusion: The present study observed reduced cortical thickness in multiple brain areas, especially in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in chronic ketamine users. Dose, frequency, and duration of ketamine use was negatively correlated with cortical thickness of some brain areas. Our results suggest that chronic ketamine use may lead to a decrease of cortical thickness. But the present study did not observe any correlation between reduced cortical thickness and decreased cognitive performance in chronic ketamine users.