Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identiﬁcation of Racemic and Chiral Carbazole Derivatives Containing an Isopropanolamine Linker as Prospective Surrogates Against Plant Pathogenic Bacteria: In Vitro and In Vivo Assays, and Quantitative Proteomics.

Recent observations on the emergence of drug-resistant plant pathogenic bacteria have highlighted and elicited an acute campaign to develop novel, highly efficient antibiotic surrogates for managing bacterial diseases in agriculture. Thus, a type of racemic and chiral carbazole derivative containing an isopropanolamine pattern was systematically synthesized to discover low-cost and efficient antibacterial candidates. Screening results showed that compounds 2f, 6c, and 2j could significantly suppress the growth of tested plant pathogens, namely Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, X. axonopodis pv. citri, and Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae, and provided the corresponding EC50 values of 1.27, 0.993, and 0.603 µg/mL, which were extremely better than those of existing commercial drugs. In vivo study confirmed their prospective applications for controlling plant bacterial diseases. Label-free quantitative proteomics analysis indicated that compound 2f could dramatically induce the up- and down-regulation of a total of 247 differentially expressed proteins, which was further validated by the parallel reaction monitoring technique. Moreover, fluorescence spectra and SEM images were performed to further explore the antibacterial mechanism.
Predictors of isoniazid preventive therapy completion among HIV-infected patients receiving differentiated and non-differentiated HIV care in rural Uganda

ABSTRACT Rates of Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) completion remain low in programmatic settings in sub-Saharan Africa. Differentiated HIV care models may improve IPT completion by addressing joint barriers to IPT and HIV treatment. However, the impact of differentiated care on IPT completion remains unknown. In a cross-sectional study of people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy in 5 communities in rural Uganda, we compared IPT completion between patients receiving HIV care via a differentiated care model versus a standard HIV care model and assessed multi-level predictors of IPT completion. A total of 103/144 (72%) patients received differentiated care and 85/161 (53%) received standard care completed IPT (p < 0.01). Adjusting for age, gender and community, patients receiving differentiated care had higher odds of completing IPT (aOR: 2.6, 95% CI: 1.5–4.5, p < 0.01). Predictors of IPT completion varied by the care model, and differentiated care modified the positive association between treatment completion and the belief in the efficacy of IPT and the negative association with side-effects. Patients receiving a multi-component differentiated care model had a higher odds of IPT completion than standard care, and the model’s impact on health beliefs, social support, and perceived side effects to IPT may underlie this positive association.
Talking about TV: Mother-Daughter Viewing and Discussion of an Entertainment Narrative about Teen Pregnancy

ABSTRACT Narratives can bring about related discussions, which can influence narrative comprehension and future conversations – though little is known about how these processes interact. This study considers the interplay of exposure to a teen pregnancy narrative and subsequent mother-daughter discussion in an experiment with mothers and their teenage daughters. Participants watched a teen pregnancy narrative or a control narrative. After watching, they either participated in a mother-daughter discussion of sexual health or completed a distractor activity. The teen pregnancy narrative led to greater endorsement of teen pregnancy myths on the part of daughters – particularly when identifying with the pregnant teen character – but maternal discussion mitigated their effects on overall attitudes toward pregnancy prevention. Moreover, participants who viewed the teen pregnancy narrative were more satisfied with their discussions afterwards than were those who discussed sexual health without first watching the teen pregnancy narrative. This conversational satisfaction, in turn, led to more frequent mother-daughter conversations about sexuality in the following weeks.
Updates to the Symbol Nomenclature For Glycans (SNFG) Guidelines.

The Symbol Nomenclature For Glycans (SNFG) is a community-curated standard for the depiction of monosaccharides and complex glycans using various colored-coded, geometric shapes, along with defined text additions. It is hosted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the NCBI-Glycans Page (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/glycans/snfg.html). Several changes have been made to the SNFG page in the last year to update the rules for depicting glycans using the SNFG, to include more examples of use, particularly for non-mammalian organisms, and to provide guidelines for the depiction of ambiguous glycan structures. This Glycoforum article summarizes these recent changes.
Measuring brand association strength with EEG: A single-trial N400 ERP study

Companies need to ensure that customers perceive their brands as intended, with strong and unique associations, when facing a competitive market. Traditionally, brand associations are measured using conventional techniques such as surveys and questionnaires albeit both conscious and unconscious factors can influence the collected data and the outcome of a campaign. Neuromarketing can shed light on how the customer’s brain processes marketing stimuli. We report here on an EEG study aimed at gauging mental associations with brands. We focus on the N400 event-related potential, an EEG component most strongly elicited in response to a concept unrelated to a preceding concept. We considered two video on demand brands, Netflix and Rex&Rio, and selected a set of words grouped in 4 categories that were either related (Television, Relaxation, and Price), in varying degrees, or unrelated (Unrelated) to the said brands. The experiment started with both brands’ TV commercials, as a common reference for our participants. We then applied a semantic priming paradigm in which a brand logo (“prime”) was followed by a word (“target”), and the strength of the N400 response to the word used as an inverted measure of the association strength with the brand logo. We clustered N400 responses to identify, for each brand, natural groups of associated words. As a result, for Netflix the cluster with the smallest N400 responses (i.e., strongest associations) consisted of words related to Television but for Rex&Rio it consisted of words related to Relaxation. We also evaluated the relationship between the two brands and determined which associations they share or which ones not. It turned out that associations related to Relaxation and Television distinguish the two brands. Interestingly, survey data did not show any difference between the two brands as they were equally associated with Television and Relaxation. These findings show that our N400 technique can reveal brand associations, and natural categories thereof, that would otherwise go unnoticed when using conventional surveys.
Efficacy of intervention at traffic schools reducing impulsive action, and association with candidate gene variants

Abstract Objective Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people. Recognition of the contribution of impulsive behaviour may help novice drivers to behave more safely. Previously a brief intervention focusing on impulsive traffic behaviour conducted by psychologists in driving schools had been effective. The aim of this study was an independent re-evaluation of the effect of the intervention, as conducted by driving school teachers, and assessment of the potential associations with candidate genotypes. Methods Driving school students (mean age 22.5, SD=7.9) were divided into intervention (n=704) and control (n=737) groups. Driving school teachers were trained to administer the intervention which consisted of a lecture and group work (1.5 h in total) on impulsivity. Traffic offences and crashes were monitored during 3 years, using police and traffic insurance fund databases. Functional polymorphisms of the dopamine transporter (DAT) and serotonin transporter genes (DAT1 VNTR and 5-HTTLPR) were assessed. Results The intervention significantly lowered general traffic risk and prevalence of traffic accidents. DAT1 VNTR 9R carriers, particularly males, had higher general traffic risk in the whole sample. Female 5-HTTLPR s’ allele carriers of the intervention group had the lowest general traffic risk. Intervention was most effective in female DAT1 VNTR 10R/10R homozygotes. Conclusions Brief impulsivity-centred intervention appears as a promising strategy for preventing risk-taking behaviour in novice drivers and can be fully integrated to driving school curriculum.
Specialized metabolites contributing to colour and scent volatiles in Uvaria hamiltonii flowers

Abstract The present study focuses on the emitted and endogenous scent profiles of Uvaria hamiltonii flowers. Among the 34 compounds identified, sesquiterpenoids were found to dominate the floral volatiles composition. Profiles from endogenous scent volatiles showed higher number of compounds than the emitted ones. The anthocyanin pigment responsible for the flower colour was also explored. It was found that a single anthocyanin compound, cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, was principally responsible for petal colour. Total phenolic content was evaluated and antioxidant capacities were studied with the help of DPPH, FRAP and ABTS assays. The total phenolic content and the antioxidant capacity were higher in methanolic extract as compared to aqueous, petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts of U. hamiltonii flowers.
Collagen 1A1 (COL1A1) Is a Reliable Biomarker and Putative Therapeutic Target for Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis and Metastasis

Increasing evidence shows that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a principal cause of cancer-related mortality globally, especially among Asian and African populations. Collagen type I α1 (COL1A1) is the major component of type I collagen. While aberrant expression of COL1A1 and COL1A2 is implicated in numerous cancers, the differential role of COL1A1 in malignant, premalignant and normal tissues remains unclear, and its clinical significance in HCC has not been elucidated. In this study, using bioinformatics analysis of publicly-available HCC microarray data from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and RNAseq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, we determined that COL1A1 is significantly upregulated in HCC tumor tissues in comparison to normal tissues. Our analysis also revealed that COL1A1 confers survival advantage and enhanced oncogenicity on HCC cells. Interestingly, the siRNA-mediated silencing of COL1A1 expression (siCOLIA1) suppressed HCC cells clonogenicity, motility, invasiveness and tumorsphere formation. Concomitantly, siCOL1A1 abrogated Slug-dependent epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and HCC stemness gene-signature, by attenuating expression of stemness markers SOX2, OCT4 and CD133. The present study provides some mechanistic insight into COL1A1 activity in HCC and highlights its putative role as an important diagnostic biomarker and potential therapeutic target in early development and metastasis of HCC.
Liraglutide 3.0 mg for the management of insufficient weight loss or excessive weight regain post‐bariatric surgery

To assess the effectiveness of liraglutide 3.0 mg in post‐bariatric surgery patients, and to determine whether this would differ based on the type of bariatric surgery. One hundred seventeen post‐bariatric surgery patients from the Wharton Medical Clinic were analysed. Changes in weight while taking liraglutide 3.0 mg were examined for all patients, and by three types of bariatric surgery—Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass, gastric banding and gastric sleeve. Patients primarily underwent Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass (n = 53, 45.3%) or gastric banding (n = 50, 42.7%). Over 7.6 ± 7.1 months taking liraglutide 3.0 mg, patients lost a statistically significant amount of weight (−6.3 ± 7.7 kg, P < .05) regardless of the type of surgery they had (P > .05). This decrease in weight remained significant after 1‐year of taking liraglutide 3.0 mg (P < .05). Nausea was the most prevalent side effect, reported by 29.1% patients. While options for excess weight management in post‐bariatric surgery patients are limited, results of this study suggest that post‐bariatric surgery patients can lose a significant amount of weight while taking liraglutide 3.0 mg regardless of the type of surgery they had. Further, similar to non‐surgical populations, post‐bariatric surgery patients taking liraglutide 3.0 mg may experience gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and can continue to lose weight up to 1 year.
Optical Amplification in Hollow-Core Negative-Curvature Fibers Doped with Perovskite CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals

We report a hollow-core negative-curvature fiber (HC-NCF) optical signal amplifier fabricated by the filling of the air microchannels of the fiber with all-inorganic CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs). The optimum fabrication conditions were found to enhance the optical gain, up to +3 dB in the best device. Experimental results were approximately reproduced by a gain assisted mechanism based on the nonlinear optical properties of the PNCs, indicating that signal regeneration can be achieved under low pump powers, much below the threshold of stimulated emission. The results can pave the road for new functionalities of the HC-NCF with PNCs, such as optical amplification, nonlinear frequency conversion and gas sensors.
TMEM16A controls EGF-induced calcium signaling implicated in pancreatic cancer prognosis

Significance Cancer of the pancreas is highly heterogeneous. Improvement of diagnosis and prognosis requires the discovery of new biomarkers and new methods of classification. In this study, we identify TMEM16A calcium-activated chloride channel as a potential key biomarker for pancreatic cancer. We demonstrate that, through the modulation of chloride homeostasis and the initiation of a calcium signaling pathway, TMEM16A is an important regulator of ligand-induced EGFR signaling in pancreatic cancer cells. Taken together, our findings establish that EGF-induced TMEM16A-dependent calcium pathways constitute a gene set sufficient for classification of pancreatic cancer, and provide inroads for molecular characterization of different subtypes of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer typically spreads rapidly and has poor survival rates. Here, we report that the calcium-activated chloride channel TMEM16A is a biomarker for pancreatic cancer with a poor prognosis. TMEM16A is up-regulated in 75% of cases of pancreatic cancer and high levels of TMEM16A expression are correlated with low patient survival probability. TMEM16A up-regulation is associated with the ligand-dependent EGFR signaling pathway. In vitro, TMEM16A is required for EGF-induced store-operated calcium entry essential for pancreatic cancer cell migration. TMEM16A also has a profound impact on phosphoproteome remodeling upon EGF stimulation. Moreover, molecular actors identified in this TMEM16A-dependent EGFR-induced calcium signaling pathway form a gene set that makes it possible not only to distinguish neuro-endocrine tumors from other forms of pancreatic cancer, but also to subdivide the latter into three clusters with distinct genetic profiles that could reflect their molecular underpinning.
Comparison of a Pragmatic and Regression Approach for Wearable EEG Signal Quality Assessment

Wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) solutions allow portability and real-time measurements in uncontrolled conditions. For reliable and reproducible interpretation of the EEG data, it is essential to accurately identify EEG segments contaminated by artefacts. Two data quality indicator approaches are proposed: pragmatic and regression based. The former extracts statistical features and applies data-driven thresholding, while the latter uses a regression model on the same set of statistical features to predict data quality. The performance of the approaches is validated against EEG data recorded during uncontrolled laboratory and free-living conditions, and compared to a validated approach. The proposed approaches achieve average accuracy of over $\text{83}\%$ in detecting artefactual data, which is higher than the FORCe signal quality estimation method ($\approx\! \text{79}\%$). The main strength of the proposed algorithms is in the significant increase of specificity over the state-of-the-art. The two models perform equally across different databases. Training of the two approaches on free-living conditions data showed better generalization when tested on different types of databases, i.e., uncontrolled laboratory and free-living. Although the accuracy in determining artefact-contaminated data is highest when using a window size of 8 s, the accuracy drop is minor when using shorter window size, demonstrating another advantage over existing methods. Given low complexity of both pragmatic and regression approach, it facilitates a real-time implementation, which is demonstrated using a wearable EEG headset system available at IMEC.
Research-grade data in the real world: challenges and opportunities in data quality from a pragmatic trial in community-based practices

Randomized controlled trials face cost, logistic, and generalizability limitations, including difficulty engaging racial/ethnic minorities. Real-world data (RWD) from pragmatic trials, including electronic health record (EHR) data, may produce intervention evaluation findings generalizable to diverse populations. This case study of Project IMPACT describes unique barriers and facilitators of optimizing RWD to improve health outcomes and advance health equity in small immigrant-serving community-based practices. Project IMPACT tested the effect of an EHR-based health information technology intervention on hypertension control among small urban practices serving South Asian patients. Challenges in acquiring accurate RWD included EHR field availability and registry capabilities, cross-sector communication, and financial, personnel, and space resources. Although using RWD from community-based practices can inform health equity initiatives, it requires multidisciplinary collaborations, clinic support, procedures for data input (including social determinants), and standardized field logic/rules across EHR platforms.
Cell wall peptidoglycan in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: An Achilles’ heel for the TB-causing pathogen

ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, remains one of the leading causes of mortality across the world. There is an urgent requirement to build a robust arsenal of effective antimicrobials, targeting novel molecular mechanisms to overcome the challenges posed by the increase of antibiotic resistance in TB. Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a unique cell envelope structure and composition, containing a peptidoglycan layer that is essential for maintaining cellular integrity and for virulence. The enzymes involved in the biosynthesis, degradation, remodelling and recycling of peptidoglycan have resurfaced as attractive targets for anti-infective drug discovery. Here, we review the importance of peptidoglycan, including the structure, function and regulation of key enzymes involved in its metabolism. We also discuss known inhibitors of ATP-dependent Mur ligases, and discuss the potential for the development of pan-enzyme inhibitors targeting multiple Mur ligases.
Improving best practice for patients receiving hospital discharge letters: a realist review

Objective To understand how different outcomes are achieved from adult patients receiving hospital discharge letters from inpatient and outpatient settings. Design Realist review conducted in six main steps: (1) development of initial theory, (2) searching, (3) screening and selection, (4) data extraction and analysis, (5) data synthesis and (6) programme theory (PT) refinement. Eligibility criteria Documents reporting evidence that met criteria for relevance to the PT. Documents relating solely to mental health or children aged <18 years were excluded. Analysis Data were extracted and analysed using a realist logic of analysis. Texts were coded for concepts relating to context, mechanism, outcome configurations (CMOCs) for the intervention of patients receiving discharge letters. All outcomes were considered. Based on evidence and our judgement, CMOCs were labelled ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ in order to clearly distinguish between contexts where the intervention does and does not work. Results 3113 documents were screened and 103 were included. Stakeholders contributed to refining the PT in step 6. The final PT included 48 CMOCs for how outcomes are affected by patients receiving discharge letters. ‘Patient choice’ emerged as a key influencer to the success (or not) of the intervention. Important contexts were identified for both ‘positive’ CMOCs (eg, no new information in letter) and ‘negative’ CMOCs (eg, letter sent without verifying patient contact details). Two key findings were that patient understanding is possibly greater than clinicians perceive, and that patients tend to express strong preference for receiving letters. Clinician concerns emerged as a barrier to wider sharing of discharge letters with patients, which may need to be addressed through organisational policies and direction. Conclusions This review forms a starting point for explaining outcomes associated with whether or not patients receive discharge letters. It suggests several ways in which current processes might be modified to support improved practice and patient experience.
Coupled Si and O isotope measurements of meteoritic material by laser fluorination isotope ratio mass spectrometry.

We present a procedure for the determination of the isotopic ratios of silicon and oxygen from the same aliquot of anhydrous silicate material. The sample is placed in a bromine pentafluoride atmosphere as it is heated with a CO2 laser system releasing silicon tetrafluoride and oxygen gases. The oxygen gas is then purified to remove other reaction by-products through several liquid nitrogen traps before being captured onto a molecular sieve and transferred to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer. The silicon tetrafluoride gas is then purified using a supplementary line by repeatedly freezing to -196°C with liquid nitrogen and then thawing with an ethanol slurry at -110°C through a series of metal and Pyrex traps. The purified gas is then condensed into a Pyrex sample tube before it is transferred to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer for silicon isotope ratio measurements. This system has silicon yields of >90% for pure quartz, olivine, and garnet standards and has a reproducibility of ±0.1‰ (2σ) for pure quartz for both oxygen and silicon isotope measurements. Meteoritic samples were also successfully analyzed to demonstrate this system's ability to measure the isotopic ratio composition of bulk powders with precision. This unique technique allows for the fluorination of planetary material without the need for wet chemistry. Though designed to analyze small aliquots of meteoritic material (<1.5 mg), this approach can also be used to investigate refractory terrestrial samples where traditional fluorination is not suitable.