Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Maternal Body Composition and Dietary Fat Consumption upon Placental Lipid Processing and Offspring Metabolic Health

The proportion of women of reproductive age who are overweight or obese is increasing globally. Gestational obesity is strongly associated in both human studies and animal models with early-onset development of adult-associated metabolic diseases including metabolic syndrome in the exposed offspring. However, animal model studies have suggested that gestational diet in obese pregnancies is an independent but underappreciated mediator of offspring risk for later life metabolic disease, and human diet consumption data have highlighted that many women do not follow nutritional guidelines prior to and during pregnancy. Thus, this review will highlight how maternal diet independent from maternal body composition impacts the risk for later-life metabolic disease in obesity-exposed offspring. A poor maternal diet, in combination with the obese metabolic state, are understood to facilitate pathological in utero programming, specifically through changes in lipid handling processes in the villous trophoblast layer of the placenta that promote an environment associated with the development of metabolic disease in the offspring. This review will additionally highlight how maternal obesity modulates villous trophoblast lipid processing functions including fatty acid transport, esterification and beta-oxidation. Further, this review will discuss how altering maternal gestational diet may ameliorate these functional changes in lipid metabolic processes in the obese placenta.
Low-cost technique for simulating aerosolisation using a manual jet ventilator

There has been interest in simulating aerosolisation during the COVID pandemic to look for contamination and potential spread of infectious material. Procedures associated with aerosolisation include intubation, extubation, nebulisation, bronchoscopy and coughing. Methods used to simulate the spread of fluorescent powder and dye include the use of latex balloons with compressed oxygen or a cough simulator. Here we describe a low-cost technique, using equipment readily available in the operating theatre, to simulate aerosolisation of these particles, which we hope will be useful for other investigators researching personal protective equipment (PPE) and the spread of infectious droplets. We used Glo Germ (Marlatek Inc., Brockville, ON, Canada), an ultraviolet (UV) fluorescent powder 5 microns in size, for our simulation. To simulate a cough in a manikin, we removed one lung from a Laerdal airway management trainer manikin (Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway) and passed a 12 Fr suction catheter into the bronchial opening for the lung up the trachea to around the level of the vocal cords. The suction catheter was then attached to a Sanders type manual jet injector. We applied 1 tsp and 1=2 tsp of Glo Germ into the oropharynx of the manikin and around a size 4 Ambu AuraGain (Ambu A/S, Ballerup, Denmark) laryngeal mask airway (LMA), respectively. The LMA was subsequently inserted and the cuff was inflated. We then delivered a very brief jet of less than one second at 4 bar. This generated a large dispersal of Glo Germ that could be captured in the darkened room using a UV light torch (Figure 1(a)). Figure 1(b) shows the resultant contamination of one of the authors simulating the LMA removal while in PPE, whereas Figure 1(c) demonstrates the simulated patient’s surroundings. Permission was obtained to publish these photos. Previously, we used the technique described by Gardiner et al. and inserted a 6.0 mm internal diameter tracheal tube filled with Glo Germ in the bronchial Figure 1. The dispersal technique for fluorescent powder to simulate the spread of aerosols: (a) ‘cloud’ generation; (b) healthcare worker contamination; (c) environmental contamination over torso of the manikin.
Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecium co‐fermented feed regulates lactating sow's performance, immune status and gut microbiota

Fermented feed (FF) is widely applied to improve swine performance. However, the understandings of the effects of FF on the immune status and gut microbiota of lactating sows and whether probiotics are the effective composition of FF are still limited. The present study aimed to investigate the performance, immune status and gut microbiota of lactating sows fed with a basal diet supplemented with Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecium co‐fermented feed (FF), with the probiotic combination (PRO) of B. subtilis and E. faecium and control diet (CON) as controls. Compared with the CON group, FF group remarkably improved the average daily feed intake of sows and the weight gain of piglets, while significantly decreased the backfat loss, constipation rate of sows and diarrhoea incidence of piglets. The yield and quality of milk of sows in FF group were improved. Besides, faecal acetate and butyrate were promoted in FF group. Additionally, FF increased the level of IgG, IgM and IL‐10 and decreased the concentration of TNF‐α in serum. Furthermore, FF reduced the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae and increased the level of Lactobacillus and Succiniclasticum, which were remarkably associated with growth performance and serum immune parameters. Accordingly, microbial metabolic functions including DNA repair and recombination proteins, glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, mismatch repair and d‐alanine metabolism were significantly upregulated, while amino acid metabolism was downregulated in FF group. Overall, the beneficial effects of FF were superior to PRO treatment. Altogether, administration of FF during lactation improved the performance and immune status, and modulated gut microbiota of sows. Probiotics are not the only one effective compound of FF.
Approach towards Model Evaluation, Model Selection, and Algorithm Selection in Machine Learning

:- Machine learning is the subfield of AI concerned with intelligent systems that learn. To understand machine learning, it is helpful to have a clear notion of intelligent systems . The correct use of model evaluation, model selection, and algorithm selection techniques is vital in academic machine learning research as well as in many industrial settings. This paper reviews different techniques that can be used for each of these three subtasks and discusses the main advantages and disadvantages of each technique with references to theoretical and empirical studies [1,2]. Common methods such as the holdout method for model evaluation and selection are discuss, which are not recommended when working with small datasets. Different flavors of the bootstrap technique are introduced for estimating the uncertainty of performance estimates, as an alternative to confidence intervals via normal approximation if bootstrapping is computationally feasible. Common cross-validation techniques such as leave-one-out cross-validation and k-fold cross-validation are reviewed, the bias-variance trade-off for choosing k is discussed, and practical tips for the optimal choice of k are given based on empirical evidence [1,2].
Proteomic Insights into the Biology of the Most Important Foodborne Parasites in Europe

Foodborne parasitoses compared with bacterial and viral-caused diseases seem to be neglected, and their unrecognition is a serious issue. Parasitic diseases transmitted by food are currently becoming more common. Constantly changing eating habits, new culinary trends, and easier access to food make foodborne parasites’ transmission effortless, and the increase in the diagnosis of foodborne parasitic diseases in noted worldwide. This work presents the applications of numerous proteomic methods into the studies on foodborne parasites and their possible use in targeted diagnostics. Potential directions for the future are also provided.
Inter-laboratory comparison of 2 ELISA kits used for foot-and-mouth disease virus nonstructural protein serology

Serologic assays used to detect antibodies to nonstructural proteins (NSPs) of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) are used for disease surveillance in endemic countries, and are essential to providing evidence for freedom of the disease with or without vaccination and to recover the free status of a country after an outbreak. In a 5-site inter-laboratory study, we compared the performance of 2 commercial NSP ELISA kits (ID Screen FMD NSP ELISA single day [short] and overnight protocols, ID.Vet; PrioCHECK FMDV NS antibody ELISA, Thermo Fisher Scientific). The overall concordance between the PrioCHECK and ID Screen test was 93.8% (95% CI: 92.0–95.2%) and 94.8% (95% CI: 93.1–96.1%) for the overnight and short ID Screen incubation protocols, respectively. Our results indicate that the assays (including the 2 different formats of the ID Screen test) can be used interchangeably in post-outbreak serosurveillance.
Effect of Ubiquinol on Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration and Oxidative Stress: Studies for Retinal Ganglion Cell Survival and/or Visual Function

Oxidative stress is one of major causal factors in glaucomatous neurodegeneration. Ubiquinol promotes retinal ganglion cell (RGC) survival against glaucomatous insults such as oxidative stress. Here we investigated the effect of ubiquinol on RGC survival and/or visual function in mouse models of glaucoma and oxidative stress. DBA/2J and age-matched DBA/2J-Gpnmb+ (D2-Gpnmb+), which do not develop intraocular pressure elevation, or C57BL/6J mice were fed with ubiquinol (1%) or control diet daily for 5 or 2 months. We assessed RGC survival by Brn3a immunohistochemistry and measured expression levels of active and total BAX, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1α, transcription factor A (TFAM) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complex protein. Following induction of oxidative stress by paraquat injection, we also assessed visual function. In glaucomatous retina, ubiquinol supplementation significantly promoted RGC survival, blocked BAX activation and increased TFAM and OXPHOS complex II protein expression. Also, ubiquinol supplementation ameliorated oxidative stress-induced visual dysfunction. These findings indicate that ubiquinol promotes RGC survival by increasing TFAM expression and OXPHOS complex II activity in glaucomatous neurodegeneration, and that ubiquinol enhances RGC survival and preserves visual function against oxidative stress. We propose that ubiquinol has a therapeutic potential for treating oxidative stress-associated glaucomatous neurodegeneration.
Identification, Decomposition and Segmentation of Impulsive Vibration Signals with Deterministic Components—A Sieving Screen Case Study

Condition monitoring is a well-established field of research; however, for industrial applications, one may find some challenges. They are mostly related to complex design, a specific process performed by the machine, time-varying load/speed conditions, and the presence of non-Gaussian noise. A procedure for vibration analysis from the sieving screen used in the raw material industry is proposed in the paper. It is more for pre-processing than the damage detection procedure. The idea presented here is related to identification and extraction of two main types of components: (i) deterministic (D)—related to the unbalanced shaft(s) and (ii) high amplitude, impulsive component randomly (R) appeared in the vibration due to pieces of ore falling down of moving along the deck. If we could identify these components, then we will be able to perform classical diagnostic procedures for local damage detection in rolling element bearing. As deterministic component may be AM/FM modulated and each impulse may appear with different amplitude and damping, there is a need for an automatic procedure. We propose a method for signal processing that covers two main steps: (a) related to R/D decomposition and including signal segmentation to neglect AM/FM modulations, iterative sine wave fitting using the least square method (for each segment), signal filtering technique by subtraction fitted sine from the raw signal, the definition of the criterion to stop iteration by residuals analysis, (b) impulse segmentation and description (beginning, end, max amplitude) that contains: detection of the number of impulses in a decomposed random part of the raw signal, detection of the max value of each impulse, statistical analysis (probability density function) of max value to find regime-switching), modeling of the envelope of each impulse for samples that protrude from the signal, extrapolation (forecasting) envelope shape for samples hidden in the signal. The procedure is explained using simulated and real data. Each step is very easy to implement and interpret thus the method may be used in practice in a commercial system.
Middle Meningeal Artery Embolization for Chronic Subdural Hematoma: A Multi-Center Experience of 154 Consecutive Embolizations.

BACKGROUND Middle meningeal artery (MMA) embolization has emerged as a promising treatment for chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH). OBJECTIVE To determine the safety and efficacy of MMA embolization. METHODS Consecutive patients who underwent MMA embolization for cSDH (primary treatment or recurrence after conventional surgery) at 15 centers were included. Clinical details and follow-up were collected prospectively. Primary clinical and radiographic outcomes were the proportion of patients requiring additional surgical treatment within 90 d after index treatment and proportion with > 50% cSDH thickness reduction on follow-up computed tomography imaging within 90 d. National Institute of Health Stroke Scale and modified Rankin Scale were also clinical outcomes. RESULTS A total of 138 patients were included (mean age: 69.8, 29% female). A total of 15 patients underwent bilateral interventions for 154 total embolizations (66.7% primary treatment). At presentation, 30.4% and 23.9% of patients were on antiplatelet and anticoagulation therapy, respectively. Median admission cSDH thickness was 14 mm. A total of 46.1% of embolizations were performed under general anesthesia, and 97.4% of procedures were successfully completed. A total of 70.2% of embolizations used particles, and 25.3% used liquid embolics with no significant outcome difference between embolization materials (P > .05). On last follow-up (mean 94.9 d), median cSDH thickness was 4 mm (71% median thickness reduction). A total of 70.8% of patients had >50% improvement on imaging (31.9% improved clinically), and 9 patients (6.5%) required further cSDH treatment. There were 16 complications with 9 (6.5%) because of continued hematoma expansion. Mortality rate was 4.4%, mostly unrelated to the index procedure but because of underlying comorbidities. CONCLUSION MMA embolization may provide a safe and efficacious minimally invasive alternative to conventional surgical techniques.
A novel energy-motion model for continuous sEMG decoding: from muscle energy to motor pattern

At present, sEMG-based gesture recognition requires vast amounts of training data; otherwise it is limited to a few gestures. Objective. This paper presents a novel dynamic energy model that decodes continuous hand actions by training small amounts of sEMG data. Approach. The activation of forearm muscles can set the corresponding fingers in motion or state with movement trends. The moving fingers store kinetic energy, and the fingers with movement trends store potential energy. The kinetic energy and potential energy in each finger are dynamically allocated due to the adaptive-coupling mechanism of five-fingers in actual motion. Meanwhile, the sum of the two energies remains constant at a certain muscle activation. We regarded hand movements with the same direction of acceleration for five-finger as the same in energy mode and divided hand movements into ten energy modes. Independent component analysis and machine learning methods were used to model associations between sEMG signals and energy modes and expressed gestures by energy form adaptively. This theory imitates the self-adapting mechanism in actual tasks. Thus, ten healthy subjects were recruited, and three experiments mimicking activities of daily living were designed to evaluate the interface: (1) the expression of untrained gestures, (2) the decoding of the amount of single-finger energy, and (3) real-time control. Main results. (1) Participants completed the untrained hand movements (100/100, p < 0.0001). (2) The interface performed better than chance in the experiment where participants pricked balloons with a needle tip (779/1000, p < 0.0001). (3) In the experiment where participants punched a hole in the plasticine on the balloon, the success rate was over 95% (97.67 ± 5.04%, p < 0.01). Significance. The model can achieve continuous hand actions with speed or force information by training small amounts of sEMG data, which reduces learning task complexity.
Morphology and histology of the male reproductive tract of Caecilia thompsoni (amphibia: Gymnophiona)

We studied the male reproductive tract of individuals of different body sizes of Caecilia thompsoni to describe morphological characteristics in comparison to other Gymnophiona. The reproductive tract consists of paired testes segmented into chains of primary and secondary lobes, sperm ducts that empty to Wolffian ducts, the cloaca that receives the Wolffian ducts and possesses a phallodeum. Müllerian ducts are present and develop into paired glands that empty into the cloacal urodeum. Testicular secondary lobes contain lobules with cysts of the entire germinal cell line, whereas primary lobes, in the terminal ends of the chains, only have spermagonia, Sertoli cells, and connective tissue. The smallest individual examined (21 cm body length) was immature and only possessed a few testicular primary lobes. Once the individuals reach sexual maturity, the morphological characteristics are quite consistent at macroscopic and histological level among males of very different body sizes. The histological features of the Wolffian and Müllerian glands suggest a complementary secretory role between the two ducts. In the cloaca we found the propulsor muscle, venous sinuses, and blind sacs in the phallodeum, which differentiate C. thompsoni from other species of the genus. Despite these slight differences, the general morphological characteristics, both macroscopic and microscopic, of the reproductive tracts of adult males of C. thompsoni follow the pattern known for the reproductively active males of Gymnophiona.
Waves of Change: Brain Sensitivity to Differential, not Absolute, Stimulus Intensity is Conserved Across Humans and Rats

Abstract Living in rapidly changing environments has shaped the mammalian brain toward high sensitivity to abrupt and intense sensory events—often signaling threats or affordances requiring swift reactions. Unsurprisingly, such events elicit a widespread electrocortical response (the vertex potential, VP), likely related to the preparation of appropriate behavioral reactions. Although the VP magnitude is largely determined by stimulus intensity, the relative contribution of the differential and absolute components of intensity remains unknown. Here, we dissociated the effects of these two components. We systematically varied the size of abrupt intensity increases embedded within continuous stimulation at different absolute intensities, while recording brain activity in humans (with scalp electroencephalography) and rats (with epidural electrocorticography). We obtained three main results. 1) VP magnitude largely depends on differential, and not absolute, stimulus intensity. This result held true, 2) for both auditory and somatosensory stimuli, indicating that sensitivity to differential intensity is supramodal, and 3) in both humans and rats, suggesting that sensitivity to abrupt intensity differentials is phylogenetically well-conserved. Altogether, the current results show that these large electrocortical responses are most sensitive to the detection of sensory changes that more likely signal the sudden appearance of novel objects or events in the environment.
Patterns of Change in Approaches to Learning and Their Impact on Academic Performance Among Medical Students: Longitudinal Analysis

Abstract Theory Several medical education studies suggest that deep approaches to learning (DA) are associated with better academic performance, whereas surface approaches (SA) are associated with worse academic performance. However, no study has assessed how these approaches change at the individual level during undergraduate medical training and how these trajectories contribute to academic performance. We assessed individual patterns of change in learning approaches throughout five years of medical training to determine whether and how DA and SA evolve during the curriculum and whether initial levels and rates of change predict performance in Year 5. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that (1) medical students have a higher preference for DA in comparison with SA; (2) these preferences change along the medical curriculum; and (3) DA predicts better academic performance. Method: Participants were 268 Geneva medical students (59% female) who completed the revised two-factor study process questionnaire in Years 1, 2, 3, and 5 of their 6-year curriculum. Student academic performance was registered in Year 5. Multivariate latent growth modeling was used to assess individual trajectories in learning approaches and test their associations with performance in Year 5. Results: Medical students were inclined to use DA rather than SA. Nevertheless, from Year 2 onward their use of DA decreased while their use of SA increased. Students with higher initial levels of DA tended to have lower initial levels of SA. Moreover, increases in SA were significantly associated with decreases in DA. However, only initial levels of DA and non-repeater status in Year 1 were positive and significant predictors of academic performance in Year 5. Conclusions: Although students tended to use DA rather than SA when entering medical school, their preferences for DA tended to decline throughout medical training while increasing for SA. Learning approaches during early study years, characterized by engagement and meaningful learning, predicted later academic performance. DA should be promoted during the early years of medical studies to foster student learning and to improve academic performance.
Complete Genome Sequences of Trifolium spp. Inoculant Strains Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiovar trifolii TA1 and CC275e: Resources for Genomic Study of the Rhizobium-Trifolium Symbiosis.

Rhizobium leguminosarum sv. trifolii strains TA1 and CC275e are nitrogen-fixing microsymbionts of Trifolium spp. and have been used as commercial inoculant strains for clovers in pastoral agriculture in Australia and New Zealand. Here we present the complete genome sequences of both strains, resolving their multipartite genome structures and allowing for future studies using genomic approaches.