Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Obesity impairs therapeutic efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells by inhibiting cardiolipin-dependent mitophagy and intercellular mitochondrial transfer in mouse models of allergic airway inflammation

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation alleviates metabolic defects in diseased recipient cells by intercellular mitochondrial transport (IMT). However, the effect of host metabolic conditions on MSCs in general, and IMT in particular, has largely remained unexplored. This study has identified a molecular pathway that primarily governs the metabolic function and IMT of MSCs. We found underlying mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired mitophagy, and reduced IMT in MSCs derived from high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice (MSC-Ob). Mechanistically, MSC-Ob failed to sequester their damaged mitochondria into LC3-dependent autophagosomes due to decrease in mitochondrial cardiolipin content, which we propose as a putative mitophagy receptor for LC3 in MSCs. Functionally, MSC-Ob exhibited diminished potential to rescue metabolic deficits and cell death in stress-induced epithelial cells. In a small molecule screen, we found pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) as a regulator of mitophagy and IMT. Long-term culture of MSC-Ob with PQQ (MSC-ObPQQ) restored cardiolipin content and sequestration of mitochondria to autophagosomes with concomitant activation of mitophagy. Upon co-culture, MSC-ObPQQ rescued cell death in stress-induced epithelial cells by enhancing IMT. The beneficial effect of PQQ was also evident in MSCs derived from human subjects in an in vitro model. In two independent mice models, the transplantation of MSC-ObPQQ restored IMT to airway epithelial cells, improved their mitochondrial metabolism and attenuated features of allergic airway inflammation (AAI). However, unmodulated MSC-Ob failed to do so. In summary, we uncover the molecular mechanism leading to the therapeutic decline of obese-derived MSCs and highlight the importance of pharmacological modulation of these cells for therapeutic intervention.
Inhibitory co-transmission from midbrain dopamine neurons relies on presynaptic GABA uptake

Dopamine (DA)-releasing neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNcDA) inhibit target cells in the striatum through postsynaptic activation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for GABAergic signaling remain unclear, as SNcDA neurons lack enzymes typically required to produce GABA or package it into synaptic vesicles. Here we show that aldehyde dehydrogenase 1a1 (Aldh1a1), an enzyme proposed to function as a GABA synthetic enzyme in SNcDA neurons does not produce GABA for synaptic transmission. Instead, we demonstrate that SNcDA axons obtain GABA exclusively through presynaptic uptake using the membrane GABA transporter Gat1 (encoded by Slc6a1). GABA is then packaged for vesicular release using the vesicular monoamine transporter Vmat2. Our data therefore show that presynaptic transmitter recycling can substitute for de novo GABA synthesis and that Vmat2 contributes to vesicular GABA transport, expanding the range of molecular mechanisms available to neurons to support inhibitory synaptic communication.
A Novel Calibration Step in Gene Co-Expression Network Construction

High-throughput technologies such as DNA microarrays and RNA-sequencing are used to measure the expression levels of large numbers of genes simultaneously. To support the extraction of biological knowledge, individual gene expression levels are transformed to Gene Co-expression Networks (GCNs). In a GCN, nodes correspond to genes, and the weight of the connection between two nodes is a measure of similarity in the expression behavior of the two genes. In general, GCN construction and analysis includes three steps; 1) calculating a similarity value for each pair of genes 2) using these similarity values to construct a fully connected weighted network 3) finding clusters of genes in the network, commonly called modules. The specific implementation of these three steps can significantly impact the final output and the downstream biological analysis. GCN construction is a well-studied topic. Existing algorithms rely on relatively simple statistical and mathematical tools to implement these steps. Currently, software package WGCNA appears to be the most widely accepted standard. We hypothesize that the raw features provided by sequencing data can be leveraged to extract modules of higher quality. A novel preprocessing step of the gene expression data set is introduced that in effect calibrates the expression levels of individual genes, before computing pairwise similarities. Further, the similarity is computed as an inner-product of positive vectors. In experiments, this provides a significant improvement over WGCNA, as measured by aggregate p-values of the gene ontology term enrichment of the computed modules.
The Mixed Addition of Biochar and Nitrogen Improves Soil Properties and Microbial Structure of Moderate–Severe Degraded Alpine Grassland in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The degradation of the grassland system has severely threatened the safety of the ecological environment and animal husbandry. The supplement of key substances lost due to degradation is widely used to accelerate the restoration of the degraded grassland ecosystem. In this study, we investigated the effects of biochar and nitrogen addition on soil properties and microorganisms of degraded alpine grassland. The experimental treatments consisted of the control without any addition, only nitrogen addition (10 gN/m2), only biochar addition (4.00 kg/m2 biochar), and the mixed addition of biochar and nitrogen (4.00 kg/m2 biochar and 10 gN/m2 nitrogen, respectively). Adding N alone did not significantly change the pH, total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), microbial biomass (MB), and the composition proportion of microbes of the soil, but increased the contents of soil water content (SWC), NH4+-N, NO3–-N, available phosphorus (AP), and the biomass of bacteria and fungi. The addition of biochar or the mixture of biochar and nitrogen increased the contents of pH, TOC, TN, MB, SWC, NH4+-N, NO3–-N, AP, bacteria, and fungi in the soil and changed the structure of the soil microbial community. The increasing intensity of AP, bacteria, and fungi under the addition of biochar or the mixture of biochar and nitrogen was significantly greater than that under N addition alone. These results indicated that the separated addition of nitrogen and biochar and the mixed addition of biochar and nitrogen all improved the soil condition of the moderate–severe degraded alpine grassland, but the mixed addition of biochar and nitrogen could be a better strategy to remediate the degraded alpine grassland.
3D vehicle detection using a laser scanner and a video camera

A new approach for vehicle detection performs sensor fusion of a laser scanner and a video sensor. This combination provides enough information to handle the problem of multiple views of a car. The laser scanner estimates the distance as well as the contour information of observed objects. The contour information can be used to identify the discrete sides of rectangular objects in the laser scanner coordinate system. The transformation of the three-dimensional coordinates of the most visible side to the image coordinate system allows for a reconstruction of its original view. This transformation also compensates size differences in the video image, which are caused by different distances to the video sensor. Afterwards, a pattern recognition algorithm can classify the object's sides based on contour and shape information. Since the number of available object hypotheses is enormously reduced by the laser scanner, the system is applicable in real time. In addition, video-based vehicle detection and additional laser scanner features are fused in order to create a consistent vehicle environment description.
Conditional Survival of Advanced Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Real-World Data Retrospective Cohort Study From the SEER Database

Objective: To analyze conditional survival (CS) in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and investigate prognostic factors that affect the CS rate to provide more accurate survival information. Methods: Patients with advanced EOC between 2004 and 2015 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. CS analysis was performed to depict exact survival for patients who had already survived a specific number of years. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to ascertain the individual contribution of factors associated with actuarial overall survival (OS) at diagnosis and CS at 1, 3, and 5 years after diagnosis. Results: Of 11,773 patients, OS decreased from 32.2% at 6 years to 25.1% at 8 years, while the corresponding 5 year CS (CS5) increased from 37.5% at 1 year to 43.9% at 3 years. Subgroup analysis stratified by clinicopathological characteristics showed that CS5 was always higher than the corresponding actuarial survival (all Δ > 0). Based on multivariate analysis at diagnosis, age, race, marital status, histological type, tumor grade, size, T stage, M stage, surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors for OS. Five years after diagnosis, however, only age, histological type, tumor grade, and laterality were persistently significant independent prognostic factors (all P <0.05). Furthermore, patients with poor pathological prognostic factors achieved greater improvements in CS5 rates, and the survival gaps between OS and CS were more obvious. Conclusion: CS of advanced EOC was dynamic and increased over time. Age, histology, tumor grade, and laterality were significant prognostic factors even 5 years after diagnosis. Thus, the availability of updated prognoses at various time points will allow clinicians to better guide their patients.
Resolution enhancement through optical proximity correction and stepper parameter optimization for 0.12-μm mask pattern

As the design rule of semiconductor microchips gets smaller, the distortion of a patterned image due to the optical proximity effect (OPE) becomes the limiting factor in the mass production. We developed an optical proximity correction (OPC) program that can be applied to a strong or attenuated phase shift mask as well as to a binary mask. The OPC program named OPERA is based on a stochastic approach as other rule-free OPC programs, but it has tow remarkable points. Firstly, proper cost function and optimization strategy enable us to achieve very closely clustered mask pattern that could be manufactured at a reasonable cost. Secondly, OPERA can carry out the optimization of illumination parameters for any modified illumination methods, such as, annular or quadrupole using the critical dimensions information of mask patterns.
Definition of Environmental Variables and Critical Periods to Evaluate Heat Tolerance in Large White Pigs Based on Single-Step Genomic Reaction Norms

Properly quantifying environmental heat stress (HS) is still a major challenge in livestock breeding programs, especially as adverse climatic events become more common. The definition of critical periods and climatic variables to be used as the environmental gradient is a key step for genetically evaluating heat tolerance (HTol). Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to define the best critical periods and environmental variables (ENV) to evaluate HT and estimate variance components for HT in Large White pigs. The traits included in this study were ultrasound backfat thickness (BFT), ultrasound muscle depth (MDP), piglet weaning weight (WW), off-test weight (OTW), interval between farrowing (IBF), total number of piglets born (TNB), number of piglets born alive (NBA), number of piglets born dead (NBD), number of piglets weaned (WN), and weaning to estrus interval (IWE). Seven climatic variables based on public weather station data were compared based on three criteria, including the following: (1) strongest G×E estimate as measured by the slope term, (2) ENV yielding the highest theoretical accuracy of the genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV), and (3) variable yielding the highest distribution of GEBV per ENV. Relative humidity (for BFT, MDP, NBD, WN, and WW) and maximum temperature (for OTW, TNB, NBA, IBF, and IWE) are the recommended ENV based on the analyzed criteria. The acute HS (average of 30 days before the measurement date) is the critical period recommended for OTW, BFT, and MDP in the studied population. For WN, WW, IBF, and IWE, a period ranging from 34 days prior to farrowing up to weaning is recommended. For TNB, NBA, and NBD, the critical period from 20 days prior to breeding up to 30 days into gestation is recommended. The genetic correlation values indicate that the traits were largely (WN, WW, IBF, and IWE), moderately (OTW, TNB, and NBA), or weakly (MDP, BFT, and NBD) affected by G×E interactions. This study provides relevant recommendations of critical periods and climatic gradients for several traits in order to evaluate HS in Large White pigs. These observations demonstrate that HT in Large White pigs is heritable, and genetic progress can be achieved through genetic and genomic selection.
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Number of Adjuvant Temozolomide Cycles in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma

Background In newly diagnosed glioblastoma, radiation with concurrent and adjuvant (six cycles) temozolomide (TMZ) is the established standard of postsurgical care. However, the benefit of extending adjuvant TMZ therapy beyond six cycles has remained unknown. Methods We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase up to October 1, 2021. The search keywords were “glioblastoma,” “adjuvant chemotherapy,” and their synonyms. The data of randomized clinical trials were extracted and included in this meta-analysis if they had reported patients’ median overall survival (OS) or median progression-free survival (PFS). The standard and extended chemotherapy regimens were considered as adjuvant TMZ up to six cycles and beyond six cycles (up to a total of 12 cycles), respectively. The median OS and median PFS were pooled and compared. Results Four studies consisting of 882 patients (461 patients for the standard chemotherapy group and 421 patients for the extended chemotherapy group) were included in this meta-analysis. The extended TMZ regimen was associated with a nonsignificant improvement in PFS [12.0 months (95% CI 9.0 to 15.0) vs. 10.0 months (95% CI 7.0 to 12.0), P = 0.27] without corresponding improvement in OS [23.0 months (95% CI 19.0 to 27.0) and 24.0 months (95% CI 20.0 to 28.0), P = 0.73]. Conclusions In newly diagnosed glioblastoma, continuing adjuvant TMZ beyond six cycles did not shown an increase neither in PFS nor OS.
Application of Electroencephalography-Based Machine Learning in Emotion Recognition: A Review

Emotion recognition has become increasingly prominent in the medical field and human-computer interaction. When people’s emotions change under external stimuli, various physiological signals of the human body will fluctuate. Electroencephalography (EEG) is closely related to brain activity, making it possible to judge the subject’s emotional changes through EEG signals. Meanwhile, machine learning algorithms, which are good at digging out data features from a statistical perspective and making judgments, have developed by leaps and bounds. Therefore, using machine learning to extract feature vectors related to emotional states from EEG signals and constructing a classifier to separate emotions into discrete states to realize emotion recognition has a broad development prospect. This paper introduces the acquisition, preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification of EEG signals in sequence following the progress of EEG-based machine learning algorithms for emotion recognition. And it may help beginners who will use EEG-based machine learning algorithms for emotion recognition to understand the development status of this field. The journals we selected are all retrieved from the Web of Science retrieval platform. And the publication dates of most of the selected articles are concentrated in 2016–2021.
Reduced Body Fat and Epididymal Adipose Apelin Expression Associated With Raspberry Ketone [4-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)-2-Butanone] Weight Gain Prevention in High-Fat-Diet Fed Mice

Raspberry ketone [4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone] is a natural aromatic compound found in raspberries and other fruits. Raspberry ketone (RK) is synthetically produced for use as a commercial flavoring agent. In the United States and other markets, it is sold as a dietary supplement for weight control. The potential of RK to reduce or prevent excessive weight gain is unclear and could be a convergence of several different actions. This study sought to determine whether acute RK can immediately delay carbohydrate hyperglycemia and reduce gastrointestinal emptying. In addition, we explored the metabolic signature of chronic RK to prevent or remedy the metabolic effects of diet-induced weight gain. In high-fat diet (HFD; 45% fat)-fed male mice, acute oral gavage of RK (200 mg/kg) reduced hyperglycemia from oral sucrose load (4 g/kg) at 15 min. In HFD-fed female mice, acute oral RK resulted in an increase in blood glucose at 30 min. Chronic daily oral gavage of RK (200 mg/kg) commencing with HFD access (HFD_RK) for 11 weeks resulted in less body weight gain and reduced fat mass compared with vehicle treated (HFD_Veh) and chronic RK starting 4 weeks after HFD access (HFD_RKw4) groups. Compared with a control group fed a low-fat diet (LFD; 10% fat) and dosed with vehicle (LFD_Veh), glucose AUC of an oral glucose tolerance test was increased with HFD_Veh, but not in HFD_RK or HFD_RKw4. Apelin (Apln) gene expression in epididymal white adipose tissue was increased in HFD_Veh, but reduced to LFD_Veh levels in the HFD_RK group. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha (Ppara) gene expression was increased in the hepatic tissue of HFD_RK and HFD_RKw4 groups. Overall, our findings suggest that long term daily use of RK prevents diet-induced weight gain, normalizes high-fat diet-induced adipose Apln, and increases hepatic Ppara expression.
The Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome Subunit 11 and Its Role in Organ Size and Plant Development

The anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), a member of the E3 ubiquitin ligase family, plays an important role in recognizing the substrates to be ubiquitylated. Progression of anaphase, and therefore, of the cell cycle, is coordinated through cyclin degradation cycles dependent on proteolysis triggered by APC/C. The APC/C activity depends on the formation of a pocket comprising the catalytic subunits, APC2, APC11, and APC10. Among these, the role of APC11 outside the cell division cycle is poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this work was to analyze the function of APC11 during plant development by characterizing apc11 knock-down mutant lines. Accordingly, we observed decreased apc11 expression in the mutant lines, followed by a reduction in meristem root size based on the cortical cell length, and an overall size diminishment throughout the development. Additionally, crosses of apc11-1 and amiR-apc11 with plants carrying a WUSCHEL-RELATED HOMEOBOX5 (WOX5) fluorescent marker showed a weakening of the green fluorescent protein-positive cells in the Quiescent Center. Moreover, plants with apc11-1 show a decreased leaf area, together with a decrease in the cell area when the shoot development was observed by kinematics analysis. Finally, we observed a decreased APC/C activity in the root and shoot meristems in crosses of pCYCB1;1:D-box-GUS with apc11-1 plants. Our results indicate that APC11 is important in the early stages of development, mediating meristematic architecture through APC/C activity affecting the overall plant growth.
Preschool Exposure to Online Games and Internet Gaming Disorder in Adolescents: A Cohort Study

Objectives: Although considerable evidence has already been collected on the effects of early initiation of drug/alcohol consumption on addictive behaviors in adolescents, little is known about the impact of early exposure to online games during preschool ages on the risk of internet gaming disorder (IGD). We evaluated the effects of exposure to online games before entering elementary school on IGD occurrence during the secondary school years using a community-based longitudinal study. Methods: Data from 1,760 adolescents (seventh grade), who were recruited from the iCURE study and followed for 2 years, were analyzed. A high risk of IGD (HRIGD) was assessed by the Internet Game Use Elicited Symptom Screen, a self-reported questionnaire based on the fifth version of DSM-5 IGD criteria. Early exposure to online gaming was defined as when adolescents played online games during their preschool years. A multivariate generalized-estimating-equation model was applied to examine the independent risk factor of the occurrence of HRIGD during the 2-year follow-up period. Results: As compared with the later-exposure group, those with early exposure to online games showed an ~1.7-fold greater incidence of HRIGD over the 2-year follow-ups after adjusting for potential confounders including baseline IGD scores (adjusted relative risk:1.69; 95%confidence interval:1.08–2.66). Pre-specified sensitivity analyses showed that the results were robust. Conclusion: Exposure to online gaming during the preschool years increases the likelihood of occurrence of HRIGD in adolescence. Restricting exposure to online games during the preschool years should be examined as a way to reduce the risk of IGD in adolescents. Clinical Trial Registration: www.clinicaltrials. gov, identifier: NCT02415322.
Research of Isolated Three-Level AC-AC Converter

To be used for voltage regulator, An AC-AC direct converter with small bulk has been researched. The paper has proposed an isolated Cuk Three-Level AC-AC Converter. It is produced by applying TL AC switch unit in Isolated Cuk converter which is put forward by Slobodan Cuk. Because the two-level converter usually isn’t used in high voltage and heavy load situation, the paper proposed the cascaded type of isolated Cuk AC-AC converter. Besides, the operating principle and the control strategy of isolated Cuk Three-Level AC-AC Converter are investigated. Transient voltage feedback control is used in the converter and principle diagram of control circuit is given. By experiment results, the correctness of operating principle and control strategy of isolated Cuk Three-Level AC-AC Converter have been proved.