Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute effects of two different work-to-rest ratio of high-intensity interval training on brain-derived neurotrophic factor in untrained young men

Background: Aerobic exercise could produce a positive effect on the brain by releasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In untrained healthy humans there seems to be a linear correlation between exercise duration and the positive effect of acute aerobic exercise on brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. Therefore, we performed two different duration of high-intensity interval training protocols (HIIT), both known to improve cardiovascular fitness, to determine whether then have a similar efficacy in affecting brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels. Methods: 12 untrained young males (aged 23.7 ± 1.8 years), participated in a randomized controlled cross-over trial. They underwent two different work-to-rest ratio high-intensity interval training protocols: high-intensity interval training 1 (30 min, 15 intervals of 1 min efforts at 85%–90% VO2max with 1 min of active recovery at 50%–60% VO2max) and HIIT2 (30 min, 10 intervals of 2 min efforts at 85%–90% VO2max with 1 min of active recovery at 50%–60% VO2max). Serum cortisol, brain-derived neurotrophic factor were collected at baseline, immediately following intervention, and 30 min into recovery for measurements using a Sandwich ELISA method, blood lactate was measured by using a portable lactate analyzer. Results: Our results showed that the similar serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor change in both high-intensity interval training protocols, with maximal serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels being reached toward the end of intervention. There was no significant change in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor from baseline after 30 min recovery. We then showed that both high-intensity interval training protocols significantly increase blood lactate and serum cortisol compared with baseline value (high-intensity interval training p < 0.01; high-intensity interval training 2 p < 0.01), with high-intensity interval training 2 reaching higher blood lactate levels than high-intensity interval training 1 (p = 0.027), but no difference was observed in serum cortisol between both protocols. Moreover, changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor did corelate with change in blood lactate (high-intensity interval training 1 r = 0.577, p < 0.05; high-intensity interval training 2 r = 0.635, p < 0.05), but did not correlate with the change in serum cortisol. Conclusions: brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in untrained young men are significantly increased in response to different work-to-rest ratio of high-intensity interval training protocols, and the magnitude of increase is exercise duration independent. Moreover, the higher blood lactate did not raise circulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Therefore, given that prolonged exercise causes higher levels of cortisol. We suggest that the 1:1work-to-rest ratio of high-intensity interval training protocol might represent a preferred intervention for promoting brain health.
Convergence of tau leaping schemes for Markov processes on integer lattices with exponential in time moment growth bounds

Tau leap schemes were originally designed for the efficient time stepping of discrete state Markov processes arising in stochastic chemical kinetics. Previous convergence results on tau leaping schemes have been restricted to systems that remain in a bounded subdomain (which may depend on the initial condition). This paper extends the convergence results to fairly general tau leap schemes applied to unbounded systems that possess certain moment growth bounds. Specifically under a certain form of moment growth bound assumption on the stochastic chemical system and the tau leap method as well as polynomial growth bound on propensity functions, we prove a convergence result for a general tau leaping scheme showing order $q$ convergence of all moments provided the scheme is locally order $q$ consistent in some sense. The results are stated for a general class of Markov processes with $\integ^N$ as their state space.
Advances of optical miniscopes for in vivo imaging of neural activity in freely moving animals

To study neural mechanisms of ethologically relevant behaviors including many social behaviors and navigations, optical miniscopes, which can be carried by the model animals, are indispensable. Recently, a variety of optical miniscopes have been developed to meet this urgent requirement, and successfully applied in the study of neural network activity in free-moving mice, rats, and bats, etc. Generally, miniature fluorescence microscopes can be classified into single-photon and multi-photon fluorescence miniscopes, considering their differences in imaging mechanisms and hardware setups. In this review, we introduce their fundamental principles and system structures, summarize technical advances, and discuss limitations and future trends, for in vivo imaging of neural activity in freely moving animals.
The peroxins BcPex8, BcPex10, and BcPex12 are required for the development and pathogenicity of Botrytis cinerea

Peroxisomes have been proved playing roles in infection of several plant pathogens. Although the contribution of a portion of peroxins in pathogenicity was demonstrated, most of them are undocumented in fungi, especially, Botrytis cinerea. The homologs of Pex8, Pex10, and Pex12 in B. cinerea were functionally characterized in this work using gene disruption strategies. Compared with the wild-type strain (WT), the Δbcpex8, Δbcpex10, and Δbcpex12 mutants exhibited significant reduction in melanin production, fatty acid utilization, and decreased tolerance to high osmotic pressure and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mycelial growth and conidiation of were significantly inhibited in Δbcpex8, Δbcpex10, and Δbcpex12 strains. The mycelial growth rates of Δbcpex8, Δbcpex10, and Δbcpex12 were reduced by 32, 35, and 34%, respectively, compared with WT and ectopic transformant (ET), and the conidiation was reduced by approximately 89, 27, and 88%, respectively. The conidial germination, germ tube elongation, and the formation of initiate infection structures (IFSs) were also reduced by the deletion of the genes. The pathogenicity was tested on the leaves of tobacco and strawberry, and fruits of tomato. On the leaves of tobacco and strawberry, the Δbcpex8, Δbcpex10, and Δbcpex12 mutants could not induce necrotic lesions, and the lesions on tomato fruits infected with the mutants were significantly reduced than those of the wide type. The results indicated that BcPEX8, BcPEX10, and BcPEX12 are indispensable for the development and pathogenicity of B. cinerea.
Ferroptosis: A mixed blessing for infectious diseases

To date, it has been confirmed that the occurrence and development of infectious diseases are tightly associated with regulatory cell death processes, such as apoptosis, autophagy, and necroptosis. Ferroptosis, as a newly discovered form of regulatory cell death characterized by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, is not only closely associated with tumor progression, but is also found to be tightly related to the regulation of infectious diseases, such as Tuberculosis, Cryptococcal meningitis, Malaria and COVID-2019. The emerging critical roles of ferroptosis that has been found in infectious disease highlight ferroptosis as a potential therapeutic target in this field, which is therefore widely expected to be developed into new therapy strategy against infectious diseases. Here, we summarized the underlying mechanisms of ferroptosis and highlighted the intersections between host immunity and ferroptosis. Moreover, we illuminated the roles of ferroptosis in the occurrence and progression of different infectious diseases, which might provide some unique inspiration and thought-provoking perspectives for the future research of these infectious diseases, especially for the development of ferroptosis-based therapy strategy against infectious diseases.
Reliability of discourse structure annotation

To investigate the prosodic expression of text structure, a theoretically motivated coding system for text structure is needed. Rhetorical Structure Theory (Mann & Thompson, 1988) is a descriptive theory of the structural organization of texts. It characterizes the structure of a text in terms of relations that hold between parts of that text. One of the main criticisms towards RST is that it is a subjective method. A prerequisite for using RST to describe the structure of a text is that RST can be reliably applied. Therefore, this study investigates to what extent six RST experts agree with each other in applying RST. The agreement is measured by Kendall's W. The current report describes the analyses of one text only. The preliminary results revealed that the way human analysts used RST is reproducible, since the reliability of RST is quite high. At the global level of the organization of the text the analysts agreed strongly. They disagreed at the local level , but they did it in a systematic and traceableway. These cases of disagreement could be explained in terms of observable text properties.
Proton-mediated photoprotection mechanism in photosystem II

Photo-induced charge separation, which is terminated by electron transfer from the primary quinone QA to the secondary quinone QB, provides the driving force for O2 evolution in photosystem II (PSII). However, the backward charge recombination using the same electron-transfer pathway leads to the triplet chlorophyll formation, generating harmful singlet-oxygen species. Here, we investigated the molecular mechanism of proton-mediated QA⋅– stabilization. Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) calculations show that in response to the loss of the bicarbonate ligand, a low-barrier H-bond forms between D2-His214 and QA⋅–. The migration of the proton from D2-His214 toward QA⋅– stabilizes QA⋅–. The release of the bicarbonate ligand from the binding Fe2+ site is an energetically uphill process, whereas the bidentate-to-monodentate reorientation is almost isoenergetic. These suggest that the bicarbonate protonation and decomposition may be a basis of the mechanism of photoprotection via QA⋅–/QAH⋅ stabilization, increasing the QA redox potential and activating a charge-recombination pathway that does not generate the harmful singlet oxygen.
Parental effects driven by resource provisioning in Alternanthera philoxeroides—A simulation case study

Parental environmental effects can be a rapid and effective means for clonal plants in response to temporally or spatially varying environments. However, few studies have quantitatively measured the ecological significance of parental effects in aquatic clonal plants. In this study, we developed a two-generation (parent-offspring) growth model to examine the parental effects of nitrogen (N) conditions on summed and mean performance of clonal offspring of one wetland species Alternanthera philoxeroides. We also examined the role of survival status and developmental stage of clonal offspring in the consequence of parental effects in aquatic clonal plants. Our results indicated direct evidence that (1) there were significant non-linear correlations between the performance of parental plants and initial status of clonal offspring (i.e., the mass and number of clonal propagules); (2) parental N effects on the summed performance of clonal offspring were content-dependent (i.e., there were significant interactions between parental and offspring N effects), while parental effects on the mean performance of offspring were independent of offspring conditions; (3) parental effects mainly occurred at the early development stage of clonal offspring, and then gradually declined at the late stage; (4) the context-dependent parental effects on the summed performance of clonal offspring gradually strengthened when offspring survival was high. The mathematical models derived from the experimental data may help researchers to not only deeply explore the ecological significance of parental environmental effects in aquatic clonal plants, but also to reveal the importance of potential factors that have been often neglected in empirical studies.
Unraveling the mechanism of sulfur nutrition in pigeonpea inoculated with sulfur-oxidizing bacteria

An investigation was carried out to understand the mechanism(s) involved in the uptake of sulfur (S) as sulfate in pigeonpea following single inoculation of two sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Stenotrophomonas pavanii in the treatments amended with either elemental sulfur (S0) or sulfate (S6). Colonization potential and biofilm formation were analyzed through confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Furthermore, the effect of seed inoculation on root architecture, expression of genes involved in sulfur oxidation (sox) in bacterial inoculants, and genes involved in sulfate transport in pigeonpea (PpSULTR) were analyzed to correlate with the higher uptake of S in roots and shoots of pigeonpea. Both the SOB exhibited a good colonization potential and biofilm formation on the roots of pigeonpea. Among the 11 sox genes targeted in rhizosphere of pigeonpea, expression was achieved for seven genes, which showed 2-fold increase in treatments inoculated with S. maltophilia and amended with either S6 or S0. The inoculation of S. maltophilia and amendment of S0 led to increased expression of PpSULTR genes by several folds in roots. The inoculation of SOB had a significant influence on non-enzymatic (osmolytes like proline) and enzymatic (PAL, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase) levels. The results revealed a significant increase in sulfur uptake in roots and shoots in treatment inoculated with S. maltophilia and amended with S6. The investigation showed that the SOB-mediated over-expression of PpSULTR genes in roots of pigeonpea and sox genes in the rhizosphere were acting synergistically in facilitating higher uptake and translocation of S in roots and shoots of pigeonpea plants.
Systematic literature review on audio-visual multimodal input in listening comprehension

The purpose of this study is to discuss the effects of audiovisual input on second language acquisition (SLA) and the factors that influence the difficulty of audiovisual learning through a systematic literature review. Prior to this systematic review, in this paper, we searched papers on related topics for the past 10 years from 2012 to 2022, and found 46 journal papers that met the research criteria. They can basically represent the scholarly work in this field. The 46 studies were published in journals indexed in Google Scholar, Eric, Scopus, and Wiley Library. Databases were selected according to a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The following conclusions are drawn from the literature review: Audiovisual input can provide more authentic language input and more adequate and richer multimodal cultural and situational contexts, which can better promote learners' understanding of the content and stimulate learners' interest in participating in listening comprehension tasks. The influencing factors of multimodal input on listening difficulty include subtitles, video type, and the relationship between the audio and visual input.
The efficacy and safety of Jin's three-needle therapy vs. placebo acupuncture on anxiety symptoms in patients with post-stroke anxiety: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background A large number of clinical RCTs have verified that Jin's three-needle therapy (JTNT) has a great contribution to promoting the function of paralyzed limbs and relieving anxiety disorders for patients with post-stroke anxiety (PSA). However, there is still a lack of sham needle control, and its placebo effect cannot be ruled out. This study firstly verifies the real effectiveness of JTNT. Besides, the changes in serum indexes on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) are observed dynamically by the Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). The activation of different brain regions by JTNT is recorded using resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Therefore, we can provide more practical and powerful evidence-based medical evidence for clinical decisions. Method This is a 16 week parallel, single-blind, random, controlled trial, including baseline, 4 weeks of treatment, and 12 weeks of follow-up. A total of 114 participants will be randomly divided into three groups in the proportion of 1:1:1. Participants will receive Jin's three-needle therapy in the active acupuncture group and accept sham needle treatment in the sham acupuncture group. In the waitlist control group, patients will not receive any acupuncture treatment. Outcomes cover three types of indicators, including scale indicators, serum indicators, and imaging indicators. The primary outcome is the change in the performance of anxiety symptoms, which is estimated by the 14-item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA-14) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7). Secondary outcomes are physical recovery and daily quality of life, which are evaluated by the National Institute of Health stroke scale (NIHSS) and the Modified Barthel Index Score (MBI Scale). Therefore, the assessment of the scale is carried out at baseline, 2nd, 4th, 8, 12, and 16 weeks. Adrenocorticotropin and cortisol will be quantitatively detected by ELISA at baseline and 4 weeks after treatment. In addition, regional homogeneity analysis (ReHo) will be used to record the activity of brain regions at baseline and 4 weeks after intervention. Discussion The study aims to provide high-quality clinical evidence on the effectiveness and safety of JTNT for patients with PSA. In addition, this trial explores a possible mechanism of JTNT for patients with PSA. Clinical trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, identifier [ChiCTR2200058992].
Discovery of novel IDH1-R132C inhibitors through structure-based virtual screening

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) belongs to a family of enzymes involved in glycometabolism. It is found in many living organisms and is one of the most mutated metabolic enzymes. In the current study, we identified novel IDH1-R132C inhibitors using docking-based virtual screening and cellular inhibition assays. A total of 100 molecules with high docking scores were obtained from docking-based virtual screening. The cellular inhibition assay demonstrated five compounds at a concentration of 10 μM could inhibit cancer cells harboring the IDH1-R132C mutation proliferation by > 50%. The compound (T001-0657) showed the most potent effect against cancer cells harboring the IDH1-R132C mutation with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 1.311 μM. It also showed a cytotoxic effect against cancer cells with wild-type IDH1 and normal cells with IC50 values of 49.041 μM and >50 μM, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the stability of the kinase structure binding of allosteric inhibitor compound A and the identified compound T001-0657 binds to IDH1-R132C. Root-mean-square deviation, root-mean-square fluctuation, and binding free energy calculations showed that both compounds bind tightly to IDH1-R132C. In conclusion, the compound identified in this study had high selectivity for cancer cells harboring IDH1-R132C mutation and could be considered a promising hit compound for further development of IDH1-R132C inhibitors.
The recent Asian elephant range expansion in Yunnan, China, is associated with climate change and enforced protection efforts in human-dominated landscapes

Recently, the northward movement of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Yunnan, China, has attracted international attention. Climate change or human disturbances have been proposed to be the key drivers, but these hypotheses have not been rigorously tested. In this study, we quantified the relationship between climate change and human impacts on the recent range expansion of Asian elephants in southwest China. We found that the first observation probability of this species in a new place during 1959–2021 had a significant and positive association with change in air temperature and human density, resulting in a movement toward a high-latitude region with a warmer climate and higher human density; however, its association with precipitation was scale-dependent in time: positive or negative during the past 10 or 5 years, respectively. Under the enforced protection policy, human-dominated areas became preferred habitats for elephants. Our results indicate that climate change and enforced protection efforts in human-dominated landscapes in the last few decades are significant drivers of the recent range expansion of Asian elephants in Yunnan, China. It is necessary to expand the current protected areas or habitat corridors toward the north or set up new reserves in the north and set up barriers between human settlements and elephant habitats to facilitate elephant movements and minimize human-elephant conflicts under accelerated global change.
Cerebral hemodynamic changes to transcranial Doppler sonography in celiac disease: A pilot study

Background Sonographic mesenteric pattern in celiac disease (CD) suggests a hyperdynamic circulation. Despite the well-known CD-related neurological involvement, no study has systematically explored the cerebral hemodynamics to transcranial Doppler sonography. Materials and methods Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) were assessed in 15 newly diagnosed subjects with CD and 15 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) velocities and indices of resistivity (RI) and pulsatility (PI) from the middle cerebral artery (MCA), bilaterally, and the basilar artery (BA) were recorded. We also assessed cerebral vasomotor reactivity (CVR) through the breath-holding test (BHT). Results Worse scores of MoCA and HDRS were found in patients compared to controls. Although patients showed higher values of CBF velocity from MCA bilaterally compared to controls, both at rest and after BHT, no comparison reached a statistical significance, whereas after BHT both RI and PI from BA were significantly higher in patients. A significant negative correlation between both indices from BA and MoCA score were also noted. Conclusion These treatment-naïve CD patients may show some subtle CVR changes in posterior circulation, thus possibly expanding the spectrum of pathomechanisms underlying neuroceliac disease and in particular gluten ataxia. Subclinical identification of cerebrovascular pathology in CD may help adequate prevention and early management of neurological involvement.