Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effective Activation of Human Antigen-Presenting Cells and Cytotoxic CD8+ T Cells by a Calcium Phosphate-Based Nanoparticle Vaccine Delivery System

The ability of vaccines to induce T cell responses is crucial for preventing diseases caused by viruses. Nanoparticles (NPs) are considered to be efficient tools for the initiation of potent immune responses. Calcium phosphate (CaP) NPs are a class of biodegradable nanocarriers that are able to deliver immune activating molecules across physiological barriers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess whether Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand and viral antigen functionalized CaP NPs are capable of inducing efficient maturation of human antigen presenting cells (APC). To achieve this, we generated primary human dendritic cells (DCs) and stimulated them with CpG or poly(I:C) functionalized CaP NPs. DCs were profoundly stronger when activated upon NP stimulation compared to treatment with soluble TLR ligands. This is indicated by increased levels of costimulatory molecules and the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Consequently, coculture of NP-stimulated APCs with CD8+ T cells resulted in a significant expansion of virus-specific T cells. In summary, our data suggest that functionalized CaP NPs are a suitable tool for activating human virus-specific CD8+ T cells and may represent an excellent vaccine delivery system.
A Copper (II) Ensemble-Based Fluorescence Chemosensor and Its Application in the ‘Naked–Eye’ Detection of Biothiols in Human Urine

Quick and effective detection of biothiols in biological fluids has gained increasing attention due to its vital biological functions. In this paper, a novel reversible fluorescence chemosensor (L-Cu2+) based on a benzocoumarin-Cu2+ ensemble has been developed for the detection of biothiols (Cys, Hcy and GSH) in human urine. The chemosensing ensemble (L-Cu2+) contains a 2:1 stoichiometry structure between fluorescent ligand L and paramagnetic Cu2+. L was found to exclusively bond with Cu2+ ions accompanied with a dramatic fluorescence quenching maximum at 443 nm and an increase of an absorbance band centered at 378 nm. Then, the in situ generated fluorescence sluggish ensemble, L-Cu2+, was successfully used as a chemosensor for the detection of biothiols with a fluorescence “OFF-ON” response modality. Upon the addition of biothiols, the decomplexation of L-Cu2+ led to the liberation of the fluorescent ligand, L, resulting in the recovery of fluorescence and absorbance spectra. Studies revealed that L-Cu2+ possesses simple synthesis, excellent stability, high sensitivity, reliability at a broad pH range and desired renewability (at least 5 times). The practical application of L-Cu2+ was then demonstrated by the detection of biothiols in human urine sample.
A New Simple Screening Tool—4QT: Can It Identify Those with Swallowing Problems? A Pilot Study

As people and the population age, the prevalence of swallowing problems (dysphagia) increases. The screening for dysphagia is considered good practice in stroke care, yet is not routinely undertaken in the management of frail older adults. A short swallow screen, the 4QT, was developed following a review of the literature. The screen has four questions relating to swallowing that can be asked by a member of the health care team. A convenience sample of 48 older frail patients on an acute frailty ward was recruited into a Quality Improvement project. Their swallow was screened using the EAT-10 and 4QT. A speech and language therapist assessed for the presence of dysphagia using a standardised assessment for dysphagia. The 4QT was as effective as the EAT-10 in identifying older frail adults with potential swallowing problems (Κ = 0.73). The 4QT has 100% sensitivity, 80.4% specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) 50%, negative predictive value (NPV) 100%. The 4QT is a highly sensitive but not specific swallow screen, only 50% of people reporting swallowing problems were confirmed to have a degree of dysphagia by the SLT. The 4QT is a simple screening tool that could be used by all staff, but requires further research/evaluation before it is widely accepted into clinical practice.
Vortioxetine as adjunctive therapy to risperidone for treatment of patients with chronic schizophrenia: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Introduction and objectives: Vortioxetine, a novel antidepressant, may be an interesting candidate for adjunctive therapy of schizophrenia. Our primary objective was to investigate the effect of vortioxetine on negative symptoms, with the assessment of positive, general psychopathology and total symptoms as our secondary goal. Methods: This was an eight-week randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trial, in which 78 inpatients with chronic schizophrenia were stabilised with risperidone (4–6 mg/day) for two months before being assigned to adjunctive vortioxetine (10 mg b.i.d.) or placebo. The patients were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale during the study course. All participants had a PANSS negative symptoms subscale score of ⩾16 at baseline. Sixty-eight patients completed the trial. Results: Vortioxetine improved the negative symptoms score as the primary outcome and total PANSS score as a secondary outcome significantly better than placebo from baseline to end point at week 8, accompanied by significant time × treatment interactions and effect sizes (negative symptoms: mean difference (95% confidence interval (CI)) = −1.82 (−2.73 to −0.92); total scores: mean difference (95% CI) = −2.09 (−3.16 to −1.01). No significant difference was detected for changes in positive symptoms score or PANSS general psychopathology score as the other secondary outcomes from baseline to end point between the two treatment arms. The incidence of adverse events was comparable between groups. Conclusions: This is the first study to provide evidence for the therapeutic effect of vortioxetine on negative symptoms as an adjunctive to treatment with antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia.
Cross-company evaluation of the human lymphocyte activation assay

Abstract Nonclinical immunotoxicity evaluation is an important component of safety assessment for pharmaceuticals. One in vitro assay that can be applied in a weight of evidence assessment is the human lymphocyte activation (HuLA) assay, an antigen recall assay, similar in many respects to the in vivo T-cell-dependent antibody response (TDAR) in that cooperation of multiple immune cell types are needed to produce responses. This assay uses human cells and is more amenable than the TDAR to compound ranking and mechanistic studies. The HuLA assay requires less time and drug than TDAR assays, uses a relevant antigen (influenza), reflects a human immune response, and applies principles of the 3Rs to non-clinical safety assessment. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from flu-immunized donors are re-stimulated with flu-vaccine in the presence of test articles, and proliferation is measured. Published data demonstrate the applicability of the HuLA assay, but it has not been evaluated for reproducibility across testing sites. To evaluate assay reproducibility, scientists from a consortium of institutions conducted the assay in parallel, using a common pool of donor PBMC, influenza vaccine, and known immunosuppressant compounds (cyclosporine A and mycophenolic acid). The HuLA assay was highly reproducible in identification of inhibition of antigen-specific responses, and there was significant agreement across testing sites in the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values. Intra-site variability was the largest contributor to the variability observed within the assay. The HuLA assay was demonstrated to be ideally suited to comparing multiple compounds (i.e. compound ranking or benchmarking) within the same assay. Overall, the data reported herein support the HuLA assay as a useful tool in mechanistic evaluations of antigen-specific immune responses.
Electrospun protein fibers loaded with yerba-mate extract for bioactive release in food packaging.

BACKGROUND Yerba-mate extract was encapsulated in electrospun zein fibers. Solutions were prepared with 30% (w/v) zein and yerba-mate extract was added at concentrations of 1, 3 and 5% (w/w). The rheology and electrical conductivity of the polymer solutions were evaluated. Extract and the fibers were characterized through analysis of total and individual phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, and FT-IR spectra. In addition morphology, size distribution, and thermal stability were evaluated. Moreover, the release kinetics of zein fibers loaded with different concentrations of yerba-mate were evaluated in a hydrophilic food simulant medium (10% ethanol). RESULTS Yerba-mate extract had a total phenolic compound content of 1287.76±11.55 mg of gallic acid 100g-1 yerba-mate extract. The major individual phenolic compounds obtained were chlorogenic acid and rutin, and quantified by HPLC-MS. Zein fibers loaded with 5% extract exhibited higher antioxidant activity with 83.0% inhibition. The fibers with different concentrations of yerba-mate displayed homogeneous morphology. Yerba-mate extract encapsulated in zein fibers had greater thermal stability than the free extract. Zein fibers comprising 5% yerba-mate extract, when in contact with a hydrophilic food simulant medium, showed release of approximately 49% of extract within 50 hours. CONCLUSION Zein fibers containing yerba-mate extract may be used as an antioxidant releaser for food packaging. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Putative β-Barrel Outer Membrane Proteins of the Bovine Digital Dermatitis-Associated Treponemes: Identification, Functional Characterization, and Immunogenicity

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), an infectious disease of the bovine foot with a predominant treponemal etiology, is a leading cause of lameness in dairy and beef herds worldwide. BDD is poorly responsive to antimicrobial therapy and exhibits a relapsing clinical course; an effective vaccine is therefore urgently sought. Using a reverse vaccinology approach, the present study surveyed the genomes of the three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups for putative β-barrel outer membrane proteins and considered their potential as vaccine candidates. ABSTRACT Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), an infectious disease of the bovine foot with a predominant treponemal etiology, is a leading cause of lameness in dairy and beef herds worldwide. BDD is poorly responsive to antimicrobial therapy and exhibits a relapsing clinical course; an effective vaccine is therefore urgently sought. Using a reverse vaccinology approach, the present study surveyed the genomes of the three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups for putative β-barrel outer membrane proteins and considered their potential as vaccine candidates. Selection criteria included the presence of a signal peptidase I cleavage site, a predicted β-barrel fold, and cross-phylogroup homology. Four candidate genes were overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), refolded, and purified. Consistent with their classification as β-barrel OMPs, circular-dichroism spectroscopy revealed the adoption of a predominantly β-sheet secondary structure. These recombinant proteins, when screened for their ability to adhere to immobilized extracellular matrix (ECM) components, exhibited a diverse range of ligand specificities. All four proteins specifically and dose dependently adhered to bovine fibrinogen. One recombinant protein was identified as a candidate diagnostic antigen (disease specificity, 75%). Finally, when adjuvanted with aluminum hydroxide and administered to BDD-naive calves using a prime-boost vaccination protocol, these proteins were immunogenic, eliciting specific IgG antibodies. In summary, we present the description of four putative treponemal β-barrel OMPs that exhibit the characteristics of multispecific adhesins. The observed interactions with fibrinogen may be critical to host colonization and it is hypothesized that vaccination-induced antibody blockade of these interactions will impede treponemal virulence and thus be of therapeutic value.
PL Tunable GaN Nanoparticles Synthesis through Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Ablation in Different Environments

The tunable photoluminescence (PL) property is very important for gallium nitride (GaN) nanoparticles in the application of ultraviolet and blue optoelectronic devices, while conventional methods are not so satisfactory that alternative methods for preparing GaN nanoparticles should be studied. In this paper, ultra-small and well dispersed GaN nanoparticles are fabricated through femtosecond pulse laser ablation in air, water and ethanol. For the PL spectra of GaN nanoparticles, there are no shifts in air, red shifts in water and blue shifts in ethanol compared with the intrinsic PL spectra of bulk GaN. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results demonstrate that the various PL spectra can be due to the different components inside the GaN nanoparticles, which not only have effect on the PL emissions, but also greatly influence the intensity of PL. This study validates that the ablation environment has a great adjustable effect on the properties of GaN nanoparticles.
Learnable Douglas-Rachford iteration and its applications in DOT imaging

How to overcome the ill-posed nature of inverse problems is a pervasive problem in medical imaging. Most existing solutions are based on regularization techniques. This paper proposed a deep neural network (DNN) based image reconstruction method, the so-called DR-Net, that leverages the interpretability of existing regularization methods and adaptive modeling capacity of DNN. Motivated by a Douglas-Rachford fixed-point iteration for solving \begin{document}$ \ell_1 $\end{document} -norm relating regularization model, the proposed DR-Net learns the prior of the solution via a U-Net based network, as well as other important regularization parameters. The DR-Net is applied to solve image reconstruction problem in diffusion optical tomography (DOT), a non-invasive imaging technique with many applications in medical imaging. The experiments on both simulated and experimental data showed that the proposed DNN based image reconstruction method significantly outperforms existing regularization methods.
CtBP1 transactivates RAD51 and confers cisplatin resistance to breast cancer cells

Overexpression of RAD51 is found in many cancers including breast cancer and is associated with poor survival. Compared with normal cells, RAD51 promoter is hyperactive in cancer cells indicating that RAD51 is transcriptionally activated. However, little is known about the mechanisms and factors involved in RAD51 transcription regulation. Transcription corepressor, C‐terminal binding protein 1 (CtBP1), is an oncogene repressing a panel of tumor suppressors transcription, which contributes to cancer progression. In this study, immunohistochemistry (IHC) revealed that RAD51 expression was positively correlated with CtBP1 expression in breast cancer patient tissues; short hairpin RNA‐mediated CtBP1 depletion, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and dual‐luciferase reporter assays showed that CtBP1 activated RAD51 transcription in breast cancer cells. Depletion of CtBP1 increased breast cancer cells' sensitivity to cisplatin and, in turn, expression of exogenous RAD51 in the CtBP1‐depleted breast cancer cells increased resistance to cisplatin. The results demonstrated that CtBP1 conferred breast cancer cells resistance to cisplatin through transcriptional activation of RAD51.
Global, Regional, and National Levels and Trends in Burden of Oral Conditions from 1990 to 2017: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study

Government and nongovernmental organizations need national and global estimates on the descriptive epidemiology of common oral conditions for policy planning and evaluation. The aim of this component of the Global Burden of Disease study was to produce estimates on prevalence, incidence, and years lived with disability for oral conditions from 1990 to 2017 by sex, age, and countries. In addition, this study reports the global socioeconomic pattern in burden of oral conditions by the standard World Bank classification of economies as well as the Global Burden of Disease Socio-demographic Index. The findings show that oral conditions remain a substantial population health challenge. Globally, there were 3.5 billion cases (95% uncertainty interval [95% UI], 3.2 to 3.7 billion) of oral conditions, of which 2.3 billion (95% UI, 2.1 to 2.5 billion) had untreated caries in permanent teeth, 796 million (95% UI, 671 to 930 million) had severe periodontitis, 532 million (95% UI, 443 to 622 million) had untreated caries in deciduous teeth, 267 million (95% UI, 235 to 300 million) had total tooth loss, and 139 million (95% UI, 133 to 146 million) had other oral conditions in 2017. Several patterns emerged when the World Bank’s classification of economies and the Socio-demographic Index were used as indicators of economic development. In general, more economically developed countries have the lowest burden of untreated dental caries and severe periodontitis and the highest burden of total tooth loss. The findings offer an opportunity for policy makers to identify successful oral health strategies and strengthen them; introduce and monitor different approaches where oral diseases are increasing; plan integration of oral health in the agenda for prevention of noncommunicable diseases; and estimate the cost of providing universal coverage for dental care.
Identification and Validation of Metabolic Markers for Adulteration Detection of Edible Oils Using Metabolic Networks

Food adulteration is a challenge faced by consumers and researchers. Due to DNA fragmentation during oil processing, it is necessary to discover metabolic markers alternative to DNA for adulteration detection of edible oils. However, the contents of metabolic markers vary in response to various factors, such as plant species, varieties, geographical origin, climate, and cultivation measures. Thus, it is difficult to identify a universal marker for all adulterants that may be present in some authentic samples. Currently, the specificity and selectivity of metabolic biomarkers are difficult to validate. Therefore, this study developed a screening strategy based on plant metabolic networks by developing a targeted analytical method for 56 metabolites in a metabolic network, using liquid/liquid extraction–liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We identified a chain of 11 metabolites that were related to isoflavonoid biosynthesis, which were detected in soybean oils but not rapeseed oils. Through multiple-marker mutual validation, these metabolites can be used as species-specific universal markers to differentiate soybean oil from rapeseed oil. Moreover, this method provides a model for screening characteristic markers of other edible vegetable oils and foods.
Inductive conformal prediction for silent speech recognition

Objective. Silent speech recognition based on surface electromyography has been studied for years. Though some progress in feature selection and classification has been achieved, one major problem remains: how to provide confident or reliable prediction. Approach. Inductive conformal prediction (ICP) is a suitable and effective method to tackle this problem. This paper applies ICP with the underlying algorithm of random forest to provide confidence and reliability. We also propose a method, test time data augmentation, to use ICP as a way to utilize unlabelled data in order to improve prediction performance. Main Results. Using ICP, p-values and confidence regions for individual predictions are obtained with a guaranteed error rate. Test time data augmentation also outputs relatively better conformal predictions as more unlabelled training data accumulated. Additionally, the validity and efficiency of ICP under different significance levels are demonstrated and evaluated on the silent speech recognition dataset obtained by our own device. Significance. These results show the viability and effectiveness of ICP in silent speech recognition. Moreover, ICP has potential to be a powerful method for confidence predictions to ensure reliability, both in data augmentation and online prediction.
Thermally switchable bifunctional plasmonic metasurface for perfect absorption and polarization conversion based on VO2.

Perfect absorption and polarization conversion of electromagnetic wave (EM) are of significant importance for numerous optical applications. Vanadium dioxide (VO2), which can be converted from insulating state to metallic state by being exposed to different temperatures, is introduced into a metallic square loop to constitute a switchable bifunctional plasmonic metasurface for perfect absorption and polarization conversion. Combined theoretical analyses and numerical simulations, the results show that at temperature T = 356 K, the metasurface acts as a perfect absorber with nearly 91% absorptance at the wavelength of 1547 nm. When the temperature decreases to T = 292 K, the metasurface expresses as a high efficiency (about 94%) polarization converter with the polarization conversion ratio up to 86% around 1550 nm. The designed bifunctional metasurface has plenty of potential applications such as energy harvesting, optical sensing and imaging. Moreover, it can also provide guidance to research tunable, smart and multifunctional devices.
State of dental health of children in uzhhorod and the way of their nutrition.

OBJECTIVE The aim: To study and evaluate the condition of the dental health of children of school age and the characteristics of their food. PATIENTS AND METHODS Materials and methods: Statistics on the dental health of children in Transcarpathian region for the years 2009-2018 were analyzed with the application of statistical, sociological and clinical methods and the data on dental health and way of nutrition of 163 children in Uzhgorod were determined and analyzed. RESULTS Results and conclusions: Reduction of 28.9% of coverage of children with preventive dental examinations was determined with the need for mouth cavity sanation of 45.93%. Redevelopment was held for 91.7% of those who needed help. From 10% to 50% of the examined children in different age groups have caries. Up to 10% of children between 11 and 15 years old have teeth removed. It was determined that nutrition of children with caries diagnosed is not rational.
Emergence Patterns of Rare Arable Plants and Conservation Implications

Knowledge on the emergence patterns of rare arable plants (RAP) is essential to design their conservation in Europe. This study hypothesizes that is possible to find functional groups with similar emergence patterns within RAP with the aim of establishing management strategies. Seeds of 30 different species were collected from Spanish arable fields and sown under two tillage treatments: (a) 1 cm depth without soil disturbance to simulate no-till, and (b) 1–10 cm depth with soil disturbance every autumn to simulate tillage to 10 cm depth. Two trials were established; the first trial being maintained for three seasons and the second for two seasons. Relative emergence in autumn, winter and spring was calculated each season. Afterwards, multivariate analysis was performed by K-means clustering and Principal Component Analysis to find groups of RAP species with similar emergence patterns. Four RAP groups were defined, and each was based on its main emergence season: autumn, winter, spring, or autumn-winter. Tillage treatment and the year of sowing had little effect on emergence patterns, which were mostly dependent on environmental factors, particularly temperature and rainfall. Therefore, conservation strategies could be designed for each of these RAP functional groups based on emergence patterns, rather than on a species-by-species basis.