Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Exposure and Infection with Microparasites in Iberian Wild Carnivores: A Review and Meta-Analysis

Simple Summary Carnivores are a relevant taxon in the field of wildlife diseases due to their ecological and behavioral traits, and they are key hosts in the epidemiology of infectious diseases in the fields of public, pet, and livestock health. Conversely, their conservation is also directly threatened by disease outbreaks. The Iberian Peninsula, located in the southwest of the Eurasian continent, hosts a diverse assemblage of carnivores, including 18 species belonging to seven different families. In this article, we review the state of the art in the epidemiology of infectious diseases in wild carnivores in Spain and Portugal and use meta-analytic and comparative methods to derive insights into how sampling effort, pathogen richness, infection prevalence, and prevalence of antibodies vary across carnivore taxa and Iberian geography. We also identify important pitfalls and future perspectives for research. Our understanding of infectious diseases in Iberian wild carnivores has significantly advanced in the last twenty years, but there is a lack of longitudinal studies of infectious disease in Iberian carnivores. Abstract We use a suite of meta-analytic and comparative methods to derive fundamental insights into how sampling effort, pathogen richness, infection prevalence, and seroprevalence vary across Carnivora taxa and Iberian geography. The red fox was the most studied species, the wolf and Iberian lynx were disproportionally studied, and the Arctoidea were understudied. Sampling effort was higher in Mediterranean areas, but central Spain showed the higher pathogen richness. Excluding studies analyzing fecal samples, 53 different pathogens have been detected in Iberian carnivores, including 16 viruses, 27 bacteria, and 10 protozoa but no fungi. Sampling effort and pathogen diversity were generally more similar among closely related carnivore species. Seropositivity to viruses was lower and higher in the Mustelinae and the Canidae, respectively, and seropositivity to protozoa was higher in both taxa. Canine distemper virus exposure was greatest in canids and mustelids. Carnivore protoparvovirus-1 exposure was greatest in the Atlantic regions, and the Felidae and the Musteloidea had lower infection prevalence. A subclade of the Mustelidae had a greater prevalence of Leishmania infection. We observed no relationships between host phylogenetic distance and pathogen sharing among species. Lastly, we identify important research pitfalls and future directions to improve the study of infectious disease in Iberian wild carnivore communities.
TAT for Enzyme/Protein Delivery to Restore or Destroy Cell Activity in Human Diseases

Much effort has been dedicated in the recent decades to find novel protein/enzyme-based therapies for human diseases, the major challenge of such therapies being the intracellular delivery and reaching sub-cellular organelles. One promising approach is the use of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) for delivering enzymes/proteins into cells. In this review, we describe the potential therapeutic usages of CPPs (mainly trans-activator of transcription protein, TAT) in enabling the uptake of biologically active proteins/enzymes needed in cases of protein/enzyme deficiency, concentrating on mitochondrial diseases and on the import of enzymes or peptides in order to destroy pathogenic cells, focusing on cancer cells.
Nanomaterials Application in Endodontics

In recent years, nanomaterials have become increasingly present in medicine, especially in dentistry. Their characteristics are proving to be very useful in clinical cases. Due to the intense research in the field of biomaterials and nanotechnology, the efficacy and possibilities of dental procedures have immensely expanded over the years. The nano size of materials allows them to exhibit properties not present in their larger-in-scale counterparts. The medical procedures in endodontics are time-consuming and mostly require several visits to be able to achieve the proper result. In this field of dentistry, there are still major issues about the removal of the mostly bacterial infection from the dental root canals. It has been confirmed that nanoparticles are much more efficient than traditional materials and appear to have superior properties when it comes to surface chemistry and bonding. Their unique antibacterial properties are also promising features in every medical procedure, especially in endodontics. High versatility of use of nanomaterials makes them a powerful tool in dental clinics, in a plethora of endodontic procedures, including pulp regeneration, drug delivery, root repair, disinfection, obturation and canal filling. This study focuses on summing up the current knowledge about the utility of nanomaterials in endodontics, their characteristics, advantages, disadvantages, and provides a number of reasons why research in this field should be continued.
Provably Secure Three-Factor-Based Mutual Authentication Scheme with PUF for Wireless Medical Sensor Networks

Wireless medical sensor networks (WMSNs) are used in remote medical service environments to provide patients with convenient healthcare services. In a WMSN environment, patients wear a device that collects their health information and transmits the information via a gateway. Then, doctors make a diagnosis regarding the patient, utilizing the health information. However, this information can be vulnerable to various security attacks because the information is exchanged via an insecure channel. Therefore, a secure authentication scheme is necessary for WMSNs. In 2021, Masud et al. proposed a lightweight and anonymity-preserving user authentication scheme for healthcare environments. We discover that Masud et al.’s scheme is insecure against offline password guessing, user impersonation, and privileged insider attacks. Furthermore, we find that Masud et al.’s scheme cannot ensure user anonymity. To address the security vulnerabilities of Masud et al.’s scheme, we propose a three-factor-based mutual authentication scheme with a physical unclonable function (PUF). The proposed scheme is secure against various security attacks and provides anonymity, perfect forward secrecy, and mutual authentication utilizing biometrics and PUF. To prove the security features of our scheme, we analyze the scheme using informal analysis, Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, the Real-or-Random (RoR) model, and Automated Verification of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) simulation. Furthermore, we estimate our scheme’s security features, computation costs, communication costs, and energy consumption compared with the other related schemes. Consequently, we demonstrate that our scheme is suitable for WMSNs.
Green Paradox in Emerging Tourism Supply Chains: Achieving Green Consumption Behavior through Strategic Green Marketing Orientation, Brand Social Responsibility, and Green Image

Globally, green consumption behavior has radically changed green product lifecycles as well as green product branding to eliminate the environmental impact of global tourism. The purpose of the current study is to examine green consumption intention in the hospitality and tourism industry as an outcome of green supply chain management and strategic green marketing orientation. It also aims to investigate the green brand image and green social responsibility in a mediated-moderation mechanism to induce green consumption. Based on the deductive approach, and cross-sectional quantitative data of 317 hotel visitors/guests in the northern tourism hotspots in Pakistan, the hypothesized relationships were tested through the structural equation modeling technique with partial least squares. The findings empirically establish that green supply chain management and strategic green marketing orientation have positive and significant effects on green consumption intention. Further, environmental concern (i.e., green image) partially mediates the relationship between strategic green marketing orientation, green supply chain management, and green consumption behavior. The results also revealed that brand social responsibility does not moderate green image and green consumption behavior. These stimulating new findings guided by the signaling theory, provide strategic insights that help to upgrade the tourism supply chains and enabling them to become green.
Classification of Sleep Apnea Based on Sub-Band Decomposition of EEG Signals

To classify between normal and sleep apnea subjects based on sub-band decomposition of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This study comprised 159 subjects obtained from the ISRUC (Institute of System and Robotics—University of Coimbra), Sleep-EDF (European Data Format), and CAP (Cyclic Alternating Pattern) Sleep database, which consists of normal and sleep apnea subjects. The wavelet packet decomposition method was incorporated to categorize the EEG signals into five frequency bands, namely, alpha, beta, delta, gamma, and theta. Entropy and energy (non-linear) for all bands was calculated and as a result, 10 features were obtained for each EEG signal. The ratio of EEG bands included four parameters, including heart rate, brain perfusion, neural activity, and synchronization. In this study, a support vector machine with kernels and random forest classifiers was used for classification. The performance measures demonstrated that the improved results were obtained from the support vector machine classifier with a kernel polynomial order 2. The accuracy (90%), sensitivity (100%), and specificity (83%) with 14 features were estimated using the data obtained from ISRUC database. The proposed study is feasible and seems to be accurate in classifying the subjects with sleep apnea based on the extracted features from EEG signals using a support vector machine classifier.
Breeding Tomato Hybrids for Flavour: Comparison of GWAS Results Obtained on Lines and F1 Hybrids

Tomato flavour is an important goal for breeders. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are major determinants of tomato flavour. Although most tomato varieties for fresh market are F1 hybrids, most studies on the genetic control of flavour-related traits are performed on lines. We quantified 46 VOCs in a panel of 121 small fruited lines and in a test cross panel of 165 hybrids (the previous panel plus 44 elite cherry tomato lines crossed with a common line). High and consistent heritabilities were assessed for most VOCs in the two panels, and 65% of VOC contents were strongly correlated between lines and hybrids. Additivity was observed for most VOCs. We performed genome wide association studies (GWAS) on the two panels separately, along with a third GWAS on the test cross subset carrying only F1 hybrids corresponding to the line panel. We identified 205, 183 and 138 associations, respectively. We identified numerous overlapping associations for VOCs belonging to the same metabolic pathway within each panel; we focused on seven chromosome regions with clusters of associations simultaneously involved in several key VOCs for tomato aroma. The study highlighted the benefit of testcross panels to create tasty F1 hybrid varieties.
The Analysis of Platelet-Derived circRNA Repertoire as Potential Diagnostic Biomarker for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Simple Summary Interaction between blood platelets and cancer cells play an important role in various steps of cancer development and progression. These interactions lead to changes in the platelets’ RNA content, resulting in tumor-mediated “education” of platelets. Tumor-educated platelets (TEPs) can be used as a non-invasive biomarker source for cancer detection and progression monitoring. Our lab has previously identified that spliced mRNA TEP signatures provide specific information on the presence, location, and molecular features of cancers. Next to mRNA, other RNA types are present in platelets, and their repertoire can potentially be subjected to cancer-mediated alterations. Despite the evidence that circRNA could be a promising cancer biomarker, they have not yet been analyzed in blood platelets of cancer patients. In this proof-of-concept study, we aim to evaluate whether platelets’ circRNA signature could be used as a biomarker for cancer detection and progression. Abstract Tumor-educated Platelets (TEPs) have emerged as rich biosources of cancer-related RNA profiles in liquid biopsies applicable for cancer detection. Although human blood platelets have been found to be enriched in circular RNA (circRNA), no studies have investigated the potential of circRNA as platelet-derived biomarkers for cancer. In this proof-of-concept study, we examine whether the circRNA signature of blood platelets can be used as a liquid biopsy biomarker for the detection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We analyzed the total RNA, extracted from the platelet samples collected from NSCLC patients and asymptomatic individuals, using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Identification and quantification of known and novel circRNAs were performed using the accurate CircRNA finder suite (ACFS), followed by the differential transcript expression analysis using a modified version of our thromboSeq software. Out of 4732 detected circRNAs, we identified 411 circRNAs that are significantly (p-value < 0.05) differentially expressed between asymptomatic individuals and NSCLC patients. Using the false discovery rate (FDR) of 0.05 as cutoff, we selected the nuclear receptor-interacting protein 1 (NRIP1) circRNA (circNRIP1) as a potential biomarker candidate for further validation by reverse transcription–quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). This analysis was performed on an independent cohort of platelet samples. The RT-qPCR results confirmed the RNA-Seq data analysis, with significant downregulation of circNRIP1 in platelets derived from NSCLC patients. Our findings suggest that circRNAs found in blood platelets may hold diagnostic biomarkers potential for the detection of NSCLC using liquid biopsies.
Is mHealth a Useful Tool for Self-Assessment and Rehabilitation of People with Multiple Sclerosis? A Systematic Review

The development of mobile technology and mobile Internet offers new possibilities in rehabilitation and clinical assessment in a longitudinal perspective for multiple sclerosis management. However, because the mobile health applications (mHealth) have only been developed recently, the level of evidence supporting the use of mHealth in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) is currently unclear. Therefore, this review aims to list and describe the different mHealth available for rehabilitation and self-assessment of pwMS and to define the level of evidence supporting these interventions for functioning problems categorized within the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). In total, 36 studies, performed with 22 different mHealth, were included in this review, 30 about rehabilitation and six for self-assessment, representing 3091 patients. For rehabilitation, most of the studies were focusing on cognitive function and fatigue. Concerning the efficacy, we found a small but significant effect of the use of mHealth for cognitive training (Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) = 0.28 [0.12; 0.45]) and moderate effect for fatigue (SMD = 0.61 [0.47; 0.76]). mHealth is a promising tool in pwMS but more studies are needed to validate these solutions in the other ICF categories. More replications studies are also needed as most of the mHealth have only been assessed in one single study.
Effects of Insertion of Ag Mid-Layers on Laser Direct Ablation of Transparent Conductive ITO/Ag/ITO Multilayers: Role of Effective Absorption and Focusing of Photothermal Energy

From the viewpoint of the device performance, the fabrication and patterning of oxide–metal–oxide (OMO) multilayers (MLs) as transparent conductive oxide electrodes with a high figure of merit have been extensively investigated for diverse optoelectronic and energy device applications, although the issues of their general concerns about possible shortcomings, such as a more complicated fabrication process with increasing cost, still remain. However, the underlying mechanism by which a thin metal mid-layer affects the overall performance of prepatterned OMO ML electrodes has not been fully elucidated. In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO)/silver (Ag)/ITO MLs are fabricated using an in-line sputtering method for different Ag thicknesses on glass substrates. Subsequently, a Q-switched diode-pumped neodymium-doped yttrium vanadate (Nd:YVO4, λ = 1064 nm) laser is employed for the direct ablation of the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films to pattern ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes. Analysis of the laser-patterned results indicate that the ITO/Ag/ITO ML films exhibit wider ablation widths and lower ablation thresholds than ITO single layer (SL) films. However, the dependence of Ag thickness on the laser patterning results of the ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is not observed, despite the difference in their absorption coefficients. The results show that the laser direct patterning of ITO/Ag/ITO MLs is primarily affected by rapid thermal heating, melting, and vaporization of the inserted Ag mid-layer, which has considerably higher thermal conductivity and absorption coefficients than the ITO layers. Simulation reveals the importance of the Ag mid-layer in the effective absorption and focusing of photothermal energy, thereby supporting the experimental observations. The laser-patterned ITO/Ag/ITO ML electrodes indicate a comparable optical transmittance, a higher electrical current density, and a lower resistance compared with the ITO SL electrode.
A Cranberry Concentrate Decreases Adhesion and Invasion of Escherichia coli (AIEC) LF82 In Vitro

While many beneficial host–microbiota interactions have been described, imbalanced microbiota in the gut is speculated to contribute to the progression and recurrence of chronic inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s disease (CD). This in vitro study evaluated the impact of a cranberry concentrate Type M (CTM) on adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) LF82, a pathobiont associated with CD. Different stages of pathogenic infection were investigated: (i) colonization of the mucus layer, and (ii) adhesion to and (iii) invasion of the epithelial cells. Following 48 h of fecal batch incubation, 0.5 and 1 mM of CTM significantly altered AIEC LF82 levels in a simulated mucus layer, resulting in a decrease of 50.5% in the untreated blank, down to 43.0% and 11.4%, respectively. At 1 mM of CTM, the significant decrease in the levels of AIEC LF82 coincided with a stimulation of the metabolic activity of the background microbiota. The increased levels of health-associated acetate (+7.9 mM) and propionate levels (+3.5 mM) suggested selective utilization of CTM by host microorganisms. Furthermore, 1 mM of both fermented and unfermented CTM decreased the adhesion and invasion of human-derived epithelial Caco-2 cells by AIEC LF82. Altogether, this exploratory in vitro study demonstrates the prebiotic potential of CTM and supports its antipathogenic effects through direct and/or indirect modulation of the gut microbiome.
Precise Characterization of Bombyx mori Fibroin Heavy Chain Gene Using Cpf1-Based Enrichment and Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Simple Summary Bombyx mori (B. mori), an important economic insect, is famous for its silk. B. mori silk is mainly composed of silk fibroin coated with sericin. Among them, the silk fibroin heavy chain protein has the highest content and the largest molecular weight, which is encoded by the silk fibroin heavy chain (FibH) gene. At present, apart from the complete sequence of the FibH of the B. mori strain p50T, there are no other reports regarding this protein. This is mainly because the special structure formed by the GC-rich repetitive sequence in FibH hinders the amplification of polymerase and the application of Sanger sequencing. Here, the FibH sequence of Dazao, which has 99.98% similarity to that of p50T, was obtained by means of CEO. As far as we know, this is the first complete FibH sequence of the Chinese B. mori strain. Additionally, the methylated CG sites in the FibH repeat unit were identified. Abstract To study the evolution of gene function and a species, it is essential to characterize the tandem repetitive sequences distributed across the genome. Cas9-based enrichment combined with nanopore sequencing is an important technique for targeting repetitive sequences. Cpf1 has low molecular weight, low off-target efficiency, and the same editing efficiency as Cas9. There are numerous studies on enrichment sequencing using Cas9 combined with nanopore, while there are only a few studies on the enrichment sequencing of long and highly repetitive genes using Cpf1. We developed Cpf1-based enrichment combined with ONT sequencing (CEO) to characterize the B. mori FibH gene, which is composed of many repeat units with a long and GC-rich sequence up to 17 kb and is not easily amplified by means of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). CEO has four steps: the dephosphorylation of genomic DNA, the Cpf1 targeted cleavage of FibH, adapter ligation, and ONT sequencing. Using CEO, we determined the fine structure of B. mori FibH, which is 16,845 bp long and includes 12 repetitive domains separated by amorphous regions. Except for the difference of three bases in the intron from the reference gene, the other sequences are identical. Surprisingly, many methylated CG sites were found and distributed unevenly on the FibH repeat unit. The CEO we established is an available means to depict highly repetitive genes, but also a supplement to the enrichment method based on Cas9.
Periprosthetic Infections of the Shoulder Joint: Characteristics and 5-Year Outcome of a Single-Center Series of 19 Cases

Periprosthetic shoulder infection (PSI) remains a devastating complication after total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Furthermore, there is a paucity in the literature regarding its diagnostic and therapeutic management, especially the absence of therapy concepts devised exclusively for PSI. The aim of the presenting study is to examine the characteristics and outcome of patients with PSI who were treated according to well-established algorithms developed originally for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) of the hip and knee and determine if these algorithms can be applied to PSI. This single-center case series included all patients with a PSI presenting between 2010 and 2020. Recorded parameters included age, sex, affected side, BMI, ASA score, Charlson comorbidity index, preoperative anticoagulation, indication for TSA (fracture, osteoarthritis or cuff-arthropathy), and type of infection (acute or chronic PSI). The outcome was divided into treatment failure or infect resolution. Staphylococcus epidermidis and aureus were the commonest infecting pathogens. Acute PSI was mainly treated with debridement, irrigation, and retention of the prosthesis (DAIR) and chronic cases with two/multiple-stage exchange. The treatment failure rate was 10.5%. C-reactive protein was preoperatively elevated in 68.4% of cases. The mean number of operative revisions was 3.6 ± 2.6, and the mean total duration of antibiotic treatment was 72.4 ± 41.4 days. The most administered antibiotic was a combination of clindamycin and fluoroquinolone. In summary, the data of the current study suggest that therapeutical algorithms and recommendations developed for the treatment of PJI of the hip and knee are also applicable to PSI.