Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Inverse Michaelis–Menten Approach for Interfacial Enzyme Kinetics

Interfacial enzyme reactions are ubiquitous both in vivo and in technical applications, but analysis of their kinetics remains controversial. In particular, it is unclear whether conventional Michaelis–Menten theory, which requires a large excess of substrate, can be applied. Here, an extensive experimental study of the enzymatic hydrolysis of insoluble cellulose indeed showed that the conventional approach had a limited applicability. Instead we argue that, unlike bulk reactions, interfacial enzyme catalysis may reach a steady-state condition in the opposite experimental limit, where the concentration of enzyme far exceeded the molar concentration of accessible surface sites. Under this condition, an “inverse Michaelis–Menten equation”, where the roles of enzyme and substrate had been swapped, proved to be readily applicable. We suggest that this inverted approach provides a general tool for kinetic analyses of interfacial enzyme reactions and that its analogy to established theory provides a bridge to t.
Effectiveness of hemostatic powders in lower gastrointestinal bleeding: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background and study aims There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of hemostatic powders in the management of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB). We aimed to provide a pooled estimate of their effectiveness and safety based on the current literature. Patients and methods Literature review was based on computerized bibliographic search of the main databases through to December 2020. Immediate hemostasis, rebleeding rate, adverse events, and mortality were the outcomes of the analysis. Pooled effects were calculated using a random-effects model. Results A total of 9 studies with 194 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Immediate hemostasis was achieved in 95 % of patients (95 % confidence interval [CI] 91.6 %–98.5 %), with no difference based on treatment strategy or bleeding etiology. Pooled 7- and 30-day rebleeding rates were 10.9 % (95 %CI 4.2 %–17.6 %) and 14.3 % (95 %CI 7.3 %–21.2 %), respectively. Need for embolization and surgery were 1.7 % (95 %CI 0 %–3.5 %) and 2.4 % (95 %CI 0.3 %–4.6 %), respectively. Overall, two patients (1.9 %, 95 %CI 0 %–3.8 %) experienced mild abdominal pain after powder application, and three bleeding-related deaths (2.3 %, 95 %CI 0.2 %–4.3 %) were registered in the included studies. Conclusion Novel hemostatic powders represent a user-friendly and effective tool in the management of lower gastrointestinal bleeding.
Sonographic Estimation Rather Than Quantification of Fluid Status Using Inferior Vena Cava and Other Major Vessel Parameters in a Non-Bleeding Fluid Loss and Centralization Model

Objective A well-accepted step in emergency sonography is the estimation of a fluid deficit through Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) diameter variability with known cut-offs especially in bleeding. We sought to answer, whether a non-bleeding fluid deficit can be quantified through sonographic assessment of IVC diameter variability and related aortic parameters. Sport divers were used as human hypovolemic vasoconstriction models since immersion is known to cause relevant volume depletion through vasoconstriction and induced diuresis. Materials and Methods Forty-one sport divers performed 342 single and repetitive dives to account for intra- and interindividual variability and were assessed for inferior Vena Cava and neighboring aortic diameters as well as their cardiac/respiratory variations. Dive-related weight loss was measured together with sonographic vessel diameter changes inferior to the right atrium. Results Highest correlation with dive-related weight loss of max. 2.9 kg per an average 47 minutes dive was found with r=0.34 for the difference of IVC maximum diameter related to minimum Aortic diameter. Single or combined parameters, as well as Collapsibility Index, showed lower or no correlations. Vascular parameters were able to explain 7.5% of the variance of fluid losses, whereas interindividual effects explained 10%. The remaining 82.5% is of mixed intraindividual counterregulatory effects. Conclusion IVC diameter changes in immersion-induced hypovolemic centralization provides qualitative information on relevant fluid loss only. Confounding factors like inter and intraindividual variability prevent a sufficient correlation for useful quantification of the experienced non-bleeding fluid deficit in the clinical setting.
Possible Preventive Effect of Donepezil and Hyoscyamoside by Reduction of Plaque Formation and Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common age-dependent dementia. The complex natural accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) precursor protein in hippocampus neurons is regarded as the earliest pathological feature of AD, although there are cholinergic assumptions and effective inflammation in AD. In this animal experimental study, we evaluated the preventive effect of hyoscyamoside (Hyo) and donepezil (Dz) on plaque formation and improvement of neurogenic inflammation in AD rats. Methods: Dz was prepared and Hyo (steroidal saponin) was isolated from Hyoscymus niger. Then, Wistar rats divided into five groups including negative and positive controls, AD, Dz, and Hyo treatment groups based on the drug exposure and their behavioral alternation was examined using Morris water maze (MWM) test. Bielschowsky staining was used to detect the nerve fibers. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-6 were evaluated by ELISA. The RNA expression of cyclin-dependent kinase CDK11-P58 in peripheral blood lymphocytes was performed using quantitative PCR. Results: The MWM test showed significant changes in time the models spent to find the hidden platform. The Hyo treatment group showed a notable speed change (P < 0.01). The histopathological analysis of the hippocampal tissue revealed the inhibition of Aβ formation in the treatment groups. The treatment groups had a significant decline in the serum level of IL-6, and the IL-4 serum level was increased in the Hyo and Dz treated groups. The expression levels of CDK11-P58 was significantly decreased in the treatment groups. Conclusions: In sum, the therapeutic effects of Hyo is comparable with that of Dz in AD rats by suppressing neuroinflammation. Thus, these compounds could be considered as a preventive agent in the AD therapy.
Binary Semantic Classification Using Cortical Activation with Pavlovian-Conditioned Vestibular Responses in Healthy and Locked-In Individuals

Abstract To develop a more reliable brain–computer interface (BCI) for patients in the completely locked-in state (CLIS), here we propose a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm using galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS), which can induce a strong sensation of equilibrium distortion in individuals. We hypothesized that associating two different sensations caused by two-directional GVS with the thoughts of “yes” and “no” by individuals would enable us to emphasize the differences in brain activity associated with the thoughts of yes and no and hence help us better distinguish the two from electroencephalography (EEG). We tested this hypothesis with 11 healthy and 1 CLIS participant. Our results showed that, first, conditioning of GVS with the thoughts of yes and no is possible. And second, the classification of whether an individual is thinking “yes” or “no” is significantly improved after the conditioning, even in the absence of subsequent GVS stimulations. We observed average classification accuracy of 73.0% over 11 healthy individuals and 85.3% with the CLIS patient. These results suggest the establishment of GVS-based Pavlovian conditioning and its usability as a noninvasive BCI.
Task-Irrelevant Semantic Properties of Objects Impinge on Sensory Representations within the Early Visual Cortex

Abstract Objects can be described in terms of low-level (e.g., boundaries) and high-level properties (e.g., object semantics). While recent behavioral findings suggest that the influence of semantic relatedness between objects on attentional allocation can be independent of task-relevance, the underlying neural substrate of semantic influences on attention remains ill-defined. Here, we employ behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging measures to uncover the mechanism by which semantic information increases visual processing efficiency. We demonstrate that the strength of the semantic relatedness signal decoded from the left inferior frontal gyrus: 1) influences attention, producing behavioral semantic benefits; 2) biases spatial attention maps in the intraparietal sulcus, subsequently modulating early visual cortex activity; and 3) directly predicts the magnitude of behavioral semantic benefit. Altogether, these results identify a specific mechanism driving task-independent semantic influences on attention.
Morphological and phylogenetic appraisal of Ophioceras (Ophioceraceae, Magnaporthales)

Ophioceras is accommodated in the monotypic family Ophioceraceae (Magnaporthales, Sordariomycetes), and the genus is delimited based on molecular data. During an ongoing survey of bambusicolous fungi in southwest China, we collected a submerged decaying branch of bamboo from Sichuan Province, China and an Ophioceras species occurring on this substrate was observed and isolated. An Ophioceras taxon was delimited based on morphological characteristics and combined LSU, RPB1 and ITS sequence analyses and is described as Ophioceras sichuanense sp. nov. The species formed a well-supported clade basal to Ophioceras (100% ML, 1.00 PP). Based on the updated phylogenetic tree of Magnaporthales, Ceratosphaerella castillensis (generic type) and C. rhizomorpha formed a clade within Ophioceras and morphologically resemble Ophioceras. Therefore, Ceratosphaerella is synonymized under Ophioceras. The phylogenetic relationships of Ophioceras are discussed in relation to morphological similarities of genera in Magnaporthales. The generic circumscription of Ophioceras is emended.
Prevalence of Complete Edentulism in Individuals at Least 30 Years Old in Iran since 2000: A Systematic Review

Background: The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature to investigate the prevalence of complete edentulism in Iran. Method: An electronic search was performed using three scientific databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Irandoc. Moreover, a hand search was performed on theses in the Dental Faculty of Shahed University. Studies published since 2000 were included if they reported on the prevalence of edentulism in Iran in populations at least 35 years old. Eight articles and seven theses were included in the study. Result: The reported prevalence of edentulism in Iran ranges from 3% to 78%. Conclusions: In this study the reported prevalence has remained stable during the studied period.
Developmental fronto-parietal shift of brain activation during mental arithmetic across the lifespan: A registered report protocol

Arithmetic processing is represented in a fronto-parietal network of the brain. However, activation within this network undergoes a shift from domain-general cognitive processing in the frontal cortex towards domain-specific magnitude processing in the parietal cortex. This is at least what is known about development from findings in children and young adults. In this registered report, we set out to replicate the fronto-parietal activation shift for arithmetic processing and explore for the first time how neural development of arithmetic continues during aging. This study focuses on the behavioral and neural correlates of arithmetic and arithmetic complexity across the lifespan, i.e., childhood, where arithmetic is first learned, young adulthood, when arithmetic skills are already established, and old age, when there is lifelong arithmetic experience. Therefore, brain activation during mental arithmetic will be measured in children, young adults, and the elderly using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Arithmetic complexity will be manipulated by the carry and borrow operations in two-digit addition and subtraction. The findings of this study will inform educational practice, since the carry and borrow operations are considered as obstacles in math achievement, and serve as a basis for developing interventions in the elderly, since arithmetic skills are important for an independent daily life.
Link-based influence maximization in networks of health promotion professionals

The influence maximization problem (IMP) as classically formulated is based on the strong assumption that “chosen” nodes always adopt the new product. In this paper we propose a new influence maximization problem, referred to as the “Link-based Influence Maximization Problem” (LIM), which differs from IMP in that the decision variable of the spreader has changed from choosing an optimal seed to selecting an optimal node to influence in order to maximize the spread. Based on our proof that LIM is NP-hard with a monotonic increasing and submodular target function, we propose a greedy algorithm, GLIM, for optimizing LIM and use numerical simulation to explore the performance in terms of spread and computation time in different network types. The results indicate that the performance of LIM varies across network types. We illustrate LIM by applying it in the context of a Dutch national health promotion program for prevention of youth obesity within a network of Dutch schools. GLIM is seen to outperform the other methods in all network types at the cost of a higher computation time. These results suggests that GLIM may be utilized to increase the effectiveness of health promotion programs.
Inhibitory Effect of Gualou Guizhi Decoction on Microglial Inflammation and Neuron Injury by Promoting Anti-Inflammation via Targeting mmu-miR-155

Gualou Guizhi decoction (GLGZD) treatment exerts neuroprotective effects and promotes spasticity following ischemic stroke. However, the molecular mechanism of GLGZD treatment on ischemic stroke remains unclear. Our previous study indicated that GLGZD ameliorates neuronal damage caused by secondary inflammatory injury induced by microglia. In the present study, we investigate the potential mechanism of GLGZD treatment on neuron damage induced by neuroinflammation via mmu-miR-155 in vitro. The HT22 cell line and the BV2 cell line were exposed to oxygen/glucose-deprive (OGD) conditions; the conditioned medium was prepared using the supernatants from OGD-stimulated BV2 cells after pretreating with GLGZD. Cell viability was determined by MTT assays; levels of released inflammatory cytokines were assessed using the BioPlex system. mmu-miR-155 and its targeting genes were detected using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The expression of anti-inflammatory proteins was evaluated by Western blotting. DAPI staining was used to test the apoptotic cells. Our results showed that GLGZD pretreatment significantly induced IL10 release and decreased the production of TNF-α, IL6, and IFN-γ. In addition, GLGZD markedly attenuated mmu-miR-155 expression and its downstream SOCS1, SMAD2, SHIP1, and TAB2 expression levels. The DAPI-stained apoptotic cell death and caspase-3 activation in HT22 cells exposed to the conditioned medium were reversed by GLGZD treatment. Our findings suggested that GLGZD pretreatment downregulates the mmu-miR-155 signaling, which inhibits microglial inflammation, thereby resulting in the suppression of neuron apoptosis after OGD stress. The underlying mechanisms may provide the support for GLGZD treatment of cerebral ischemic injury.
Changes in the quality of pork loin after short-term (ten-day) storage in a supercooling refrigerator

Abstract The study aimed to evaluate pork loin quality after short-term (ten-day) storage in a supercooling refrigerator. Pork loin samples were stored for 10 days in a traditional refrigerator (control) and a commercially available supercooling refrigerator (SC). Pork quality measurements included meat pH, meat color, water holding capacity (drip loss and cooking loss), tenderness (hardness), and a sensory evaluation. Temperature changes of 0.45 ± 0.2°C and 0.02 ± 0.25°C occurred in the control and the SC, respectively, during 10 days of storage. The temperature in the SC chamber did not remain below freezing point, failing to meet expectations. Regarding the pork quality measurements, only the drip losses in the control and the SC were significantly different (4.45% vs. 2.59%, p < 0.01) after 10 days of storage. There were no significant differences between the two types of refrigerator in terms of the other measurements. Additionally, the overall acceptability of the pork loin did not vary significantly between the control and the SC when the sensory evaluation was performed. Therefore, a commercial SC could prove beneficial in terms of water holding capacity during the short-term storage of meat. Further research should be performed to evaluate quality changes that occur during long-term storage of meat in SC s and evaluate a wide range of meat, such as beef and chicken.
Performance of a new flexible 19 G EUS needle in pancreatic solid lesions located in the head and uncinate process: A prospective multicenter study

Abstract Background and study aims The poor flexibility of large-bore EUS needles often leads to technical failure when sampling from the duodenum. The aim of this study was to evaluate the technical and diagnostic performances of a new Menghini tip 19G nitinol EUS needle for sampling pancreatic solid lesions in the head and uncinate process. Patients and methods This was a European prospective multicenter single-arm study. A maximum of four passes were allowed. In case of failure, different needles were permitted. Results We included 75 patients (51 % males) with lesions in the head (n = 68; 91 %) and uncinate process (n = 7; 9 %) (mean size: 33 ± 12 mm; number of passes: 1.8 ± 0.9). Technical success was seen in 71 of 75 (94.7 %). Diagnostic rates were 89.3 % (67/75) and 94.4 % (67/71) in the intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analysis, respectively. In the eight cases with failure, diagnosis was obtained with another needle (n = 4), from another lesion (n = 3) or with follow-up (n = 1). A histological sample was obtained in 64 patients (ITT 85.3 % and PP 90 %) and immunohistochemistry was successfully performed in 13 of 15 lesions in which it was required. No differences between rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) and non-ROSE groups were observed regarding diagnostic success (87.5 % vs 91 %, P = 0.582) and diagnosis at the first pass (70 % vs 81 %, P = 0.289). Number of passes was lower in the ROSE group (1.4 + 0.9 vs 2.2 + 0.7, P < 0.001). One adverse event was recorded (1.3 %) consisting in a duodenal perforation after a single session EUS-ERCP. Conclusions The new nitinol Menghini tip 19G EUS needle showed high technical diagnostic success in safely sampling solid lesions in the head and uncinate process of the pancreas.
Metabarcoding confirms the opportunistic foraging behaviour of Atlantic bluefin tuna and reveals the importance of gelatinous prey

Studies of the diet, feeding habits and trophic activity of top marine predators are essential for understanding their trophodynamics. The main direct method used for such studies thus far has been morphological inventories of stomach contents. This approach presents limitations such as missing gelatinous prey, which are usually digested too quickly to be detectable. Here, we analysed the stomachs of 48 Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus, approximately 15 to 60 kg, including juveniles and adult fishes) collected from the Mediterranean Sea through the metabarcoding of two gene regions (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and the ribosomal 18S-V1V2 region). The identified prey taxa and their relative read abundances (RRAs) estimated using COI results were in line with the findings of morphologically based inventories simultaneously performed on the same set of tuna samples. In both cases (and with the same rankings), the prey taxa included anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus, here detected in more than 80% of samples, RRA = 43%), sardine (Sardina pilchardus, also approximately 80%, RRA = 30%), sprat (Sprattus sprattus, approximately 66%, RRA = 8%), mackerel (Scomber colias, approximately 44%, RRA = 7%) and cephalopods (approximately 15%, RRA = 1.4%). Another striking result was the detection, based on 18S (with which vertebrates were detected as the most abundant group, RRA = 61.6%), of a high prevalence and diversity of gelatinous organisms (RRA = 27.1%), including cnidarians (6.7%), salps (11.7%), and ctenophores (8.7%), the latter increasing with the size of the predator. These results thus support the hypothesis of the role of gelatinous prey in the diet of Atlantic bluefin tuna, suggesting that this species is even more generalist and opportunistic than previously thought. This study further confirms that DNA metabarcoding can be a powerful tool for assessing the diet and trophodynamics of top marine predators.
Transport of biodeposits and benthic footprint around an oyster farm, Damariscotta Estuary, Maine

The benthic impact of aquaculture waste depends on the area and extent of waste accumulation on the sediment surface below and around the farm. In this study we investigated the effect of flow on biodeposit transport and initial deposition by calculating a rough aquaculture “footprint” around an oyster aquaculture farm in the Damariscotta River, ME. We also compared a site under the farm to a downstream “away” site calculated to be within the footprint of the farm. We found similar sediment biogeochemical fluxes, geochemical properties and macrofaunal communities at the site under the farm and the away site, as well as low organic enrichment at both sites, indicating that biodeposition in this environment likely does not have a major influence on the benthos. To predict accumulation of biodeposits, we measured sediment erodibility under a range of shear stresses and found slightly higher erosion rates at the farm than at the away site. A microalgal mat was observed at the sediment surface in many sediment cores. Partial failure of the microalgal mat was observed at high shear velocity, suggesting that the mat may fail and surface sediment erode at shear velocities comparable to or greater than those calculated fromin situ flow measurements. However, this study took place during neap tide, and it is likely that peak bottom velocities during spring tides are high enough to periodically “clear” under-farm sediment of recent deposits.