Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Apelin-13 Protects Neurons by Attenuating Early-Stage Postspinal Cord Injury Apoptosis In Vitro

Apelin is a 77-amino-acid peptide that is an endogenous ligand for the G protein-coupled receptor APJ (Apelin receptor, APJ). Apelin-13, as the most bioactive affinity fragment of apelin, plays a role in energy metabolism, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and the regulation of the inflammatory response during oxidative stress, but its role in spinal cord injury is still unclear. This research identified and verified the differential expression of apelin in rat spinal cord injured tissues and normal spinal cord tissues by transcriptome sequencing in vivo and proved that apelin-13 protects neurons by strengthening autophagy and attenuating early-stage postspinal cord injury apoptosis in vitro. After constructing the model concerning a rat spinal cord hemisection damage, transcriptome sequencing was performed on the injured and normal spinal cord tissues of rats, which identified the differentially expressed gene apelin, with qRT-PCR detecting the representative level of apelin. The oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) model of PC12 cells was constructed in vitro to simulate spinal cord injury. The OGD injury times were 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, and 12 h, and the non-OGD injury group was used as the control. The expression of apelin at each time point was observed by Western blotting. The expression of apelin was the lowest in the 6 h OGD injury group (p < 0.05). Therefore, the OGD injury time of 6 h was used in subsequent experiments. The noncytotoxic drug concentration of apelin-13 was determined with a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. An appropriate dose of apelin-13 (1 μM) significantly improved cell survival (p < 0.05). Thus, subsequent experiments selected a concentration of 1 μM apelin-13 as it significantly increased cell viability. Finally, we divided the experimental groups into four groups according to whether they received drugs (1 μM apelin-13, 24 h) or OGD (6 h): (1) control group: without apelin-13 or OGD injury; (2) apelin-13 group: with apelin-13 but no OGD injury; (3) OGD group: with OGD injury but without apelin-13; and (4) OGD + apelin-13 group: with apelin-13 and OGD injury. The TUNEL assay and flow cytometry results showed that compared with the OGD group, apoptosis in the OGD+Apelin-13 group was significantly reduced (p < 0.001). Determination of cell viability under different conditions by CCK-8 assay results displays that Apelin-13 can significantly improve the cell viability percentage under OGD conditions (p < 0.001). Western blotting results showed that apelin-13 decreased the expression ratios of apoptosis-related proteins Bax/Bcl-2 and cleaved-caspase3/caspase3 (p < 0.05), increasing the key to Beclin1-dependent autophagy pathway expression of the protein Beclin1. This finding indicates that apelin-13 protects neurons by strengthening autophagy and attenuating early-stage postspinal cord injury apoptosis in vitro.
Dual trigger vs. Conventional trigger outcomes in In Vitro Fertilization. Systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective The aim of this study is to analyze the efficacy of the dual trigger (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) + GnRH agonists) compared to the conventional trigger (hCG) in terms of oocyte retrieval (number and oocyte maturity), fertilization rate or number of embryos with two pronuclei, number of high-quality embryos, number of transferred embryos, number of cryopreserved embryos, implantation rate, positive β-hCG rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, abortion rate, and live birth rate. Methods This search performed in this systematic review included all literature published in the PubMed database of studies on controlled ovarian stimulation with dual trigger compared with conventional trigger. The meta-analysis included clinical trials and prospective cohort studies. Results Statistically significant differences between groups (dual trigger vs. hCG trigger) in terms of number of oocytes retrieved and live birth rate favored the dual trigger protocol. No statistically significant differences were found in the other studied variables. A tend favoring the dual trigger protocol was observed in all studied parameters. Conclusions Dual trigger seems to be more effective in GnRH antagonist cycles in terms of embryo and pregnancy outcome.
High pressure effect on structure, electronic structure, and thermoelectric properties of MoS2

We systematically study the effect of high pressure on the structure, electronic structure, and transport properties of 2H-MoS2, based on first-principles density functional calculations and the Boltzmann transport theory. Our calculation shows a vanishing anisotropy in the rate of structural change at around 25 GPa, in agreement with the experimental data. A conversion from van der Waals to covalent-like bonding is seen. Concurrently, a transition from semiconductor to metal occurs at 25 GPa from band structure calculation. Our transport calculations also find pressure-enhanced electrical conductivities and significant values of the thermoelectric figure of merit over a wide temperature range. Our study supplies a new route to improve the thermoelectric performance of MoS2 and of other transition metal dichalcogenides by applying hydrostatic pressure.
Hypoxia Depresses Synaptic Transmission in the Primary Motor Cortex of the Infant Rat—Role of Adenosine A1 Receptors and Nitric Oxide

The acute and long-term consequences of perinatal asphyxia have been extensively investigated, but only a few studies have focused on postnatal asphyxia. In particular, electrophysiological changes induced in the motor cortex by postnatal asphyxia have not been examined so far, despite the critical involvement of this cortical area in epilepsy. In this study, we exposed primary motor cortex slices obtained from infant rats in an age window (16–18 day-old) characterized by high incidence of hypoxia-induced seizures associated with epileptiform motor behavior to 10 min of hypoxia. Extracellular field potentials evoked by horizontal pathway stimulation were recorded in layers II/III of the primary motor cortex before, during, and after the hypoxic event. The results show that hypoxia reversibly depressed glutamatergic synaptic transmission and neuronal excitability. Data obtained in the presence of specific blockers suggest that synaptic depression was mediated by adenosine acting on pre-synaptic A1 receptors to decrease glutamate release, and by a nitric oxide (NO)/cGMP postsynaptic pathway. These effects are neuroprotective because they limit energy failure. The present findings may be helpful in the preclinical search for therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing acute and long-term neurological consequences of postnatal asphyxia.
The imprint of clump formation at high redshift – I. A disc α-abundance dichotomy

The disc structure of the Milky Way is marked by a chemical dichotomy, with high-α and low-α abundance sequences, traditionally identified with the geometric thick and thin discs. This identifica- tion is aided by the old ages of the high-α stars, and lower average ages of the low-α ones. Recent large scale surveys such as APOGEE have provided a wealth of data on this chemical structure, including showing that an identification of chemical and geometric thick discs is not exact, but the origin of the chemical dichotomy has remained unclear. Here we demonstrate that a dichotomy arises naturally if the early gas-rich disc fragments, leading to some fraction of the star formation occuring in clumps of the type observed in high-redshift galaxies. These clumps have high star formation rate density. They, therefore, enrich rapidly, moving from the low-α to the high-α sequence, while more distributed star formation produces the low-α sequence. We demonstrate that this model produces a chemically- defined thick disc that has many of the properties of the Milky Way’s thick disc. Because clump formation is common in high redshift galaxies, we predict that chemical bimodalities are common in massive galaxies. Subject headings: Galaxy: formation — Galaxy: evolution — Galaxy: structure — Galaxy: disk — Galaxy: abundances — galaxies: abundances
The Properties of Alpha Risk Parity Portfolios

Risk parity is an approach to investing that aims to balance risk evenly across assets within a given universe. The aim of this study is to unify the most commonly-used approaches to risk parity within a single framework. Links between these approaches have been identified in the published literature. A key point in risk parity is being able to identify and control the contribution of each asset to the risk of the portfolio. With alpha risk parity, risk contributions are given by a closed-form formula. There is a form of antisymmetry—or self-duality—in alpha risk portfolios that lie between risk budgeting and minimum-risk portfolios. Techniques from information geometry play a key role in establishing these properties.
Model Selection for Pion Photoproduction

Partial-wave analysis of meson and photon-induced reactions is needed to enable the comparison of many theoretical approaches to data. In both energy-dependent and independent parametrizations of partial waves, the selection of the model amplitude is crucial. Principles of the $S$-matrix are implemented to different degree in different approaches, but a many times overlooked aspect concerns the selection of undetermined coefficients and functional forms for fitting, leading to a minimal yet sufficient parametrization. We present an analysis of low-energy neutral pion photoproduction using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) in combination with criteria from information theory and $K$-fold cross validation. These methods are not yet widely known in the analysis of excited hadrons but will become relevant in the era of precision spectroscopy. The principle is first illustrated with synthetic data, then, its feasibility for real data is demonstrated by analyzing the latest available measurements of differential cross sections ($d\sigma/d\Omega$), photon-beam asymmetries ($\Sigma$), and target asymmetry differential cross sections ($d\sigma_T/d\Omega$) in the low energy regime.
Photoplethysmographic imaging and analysis of pulsatile pressure wave in palmar artery at 10 wavelengths

Abstract. Significance As a noncontact method, imaging photoplethysmography (iPPG) may provide a powerful tool to measure pulsatile pressure wave (PPW) in superficial arteries and extract biomarkers for monitoring of artery wall stiffness. Aim We intend to develop a approach for extraction of the very weak cardiac component from iPPG data by identifying locations of strong PPW signals with optimized illumination wavelength and determining pulse wave velocity (PWV). Approach Monochromatic in vivo iPPG datasets have been acquired from left hands to investigate various algorithms for retrieval of PPW signals, distribution maps and waveforms, and their dependence on arterial location and wavelength. Results A robust algorithm of pixelated independent component analysis (pICA) has been developed and combined with spatiotemporal filtering to retrieve PPW signals. Spatial distributions of PPW signals have been mapped in 10 wavelength bands from 445 to 940 nm and waveforms were analyzed at multiple locations near the palmar artery tree. At the wavelength of 850 nm selected for timing analysis, we determined PWV values from 12 healthy volunteers in a range of 0.5 to 5.8 m/s across the hand region from wrist to midpalm and fingertip. Conclusions These results demonstrate the potentials of the iPPG method based on pICA algorithm for translation into a monitoring tool to characterize wall stiffness of superficial artery by rapid and noncontact measurement of PWV and other biomarkers within 10 s.
Molecular Detection of Southern Tomato Amalgavirus Prevalent in Tomatoes and Its Genomic Characterization with Global Evolutionary Dynamics

Southern tomato amalgavirus (STV) is a cryptic pathogen that is abundant in tomato production fields and intensifies the resurgence of tomato yellow stunt disease (ToYSD), together with other phytoviruses. Here, we mapped the geographical and genomic diversity, phylogenetics, and evolutionary dynamics of STV. We found that STV prevailed across China and Pakistan, with a maximum average rate of infection of 43.19% in Beijing, China, and 40.08% in Punjab, Pakistan. Subsequently, we amplified, cloned, and annotated the complete genome sequences of STV isolates from Solanum lycopersicum L. in China (OP548653 and OP548652) and Pakistan (MT066231) using Sanger and next-generation sequencing (NGS). These STV isolates displayed close evolutionary relationships with others from Asia, America, and Europe. Whole-genome-based molecular diversity analysis showed that STV populations had 33 haplotypes with a gene diversity (Hd) of 0.977 and a nucleotide diversity (π) of 0.00404. The genetic variability of RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRp) was higher than that of the putative coat protein (CP) p42. Further analysis revealed that STV isolates were likely to be recombinant but with a lower-to-moderate level of confidence. With a variable distribution pattern of positively and negatively selected sites, negative selection pressure predominantly acted on p42 and RdRp. These findings elaborated on the molecular variability and evolutionary trends among STV populations across major tomato-producing regions of the world.
Amidated Pluronic Decorated Muco-Penetrating Self-Nano Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SNEDDS) for Improved Anti-Salmonella typhi Potential

The enteric system residing notorious Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhi) is an intracellular, food-borne, and zoonotic pathogen causing typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in developing and underdeveloped countries. It also increased the prevalence of multidrug resistance globally. Currently, available anti-bacterial modalities are unable to penetrate into the intracellular compartments effectively for eradicating S. typhi infection. Therefore, in this study, we developed nanostructured lipid-based carriers in the form of a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) for targeted delivery of ciprofloxacin (CIP) into the S. typhi intracellular reservoirs. Capryol 90, Tween 80, and Span 20 were finalized as suitable oil, surfactant, and co-surfactant, respectively, according to the pseudoternary phase diagram emulsifying region. Targeting capability and mucopenetration of the SNEDDS was attributed to the inclusion of amidated pluronic (NH2-F127). Developed NH2-F127 SNEDDS were characterized via physicochemical, in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo evaluation parameters. The size of the SNEDDS was found to be 250 nm, having positively charged zeta potential. In vitro dissolution of SNEDDS showed 80% sustained release of CIP in 72 h with maximum entrapment efficiency up to 90% as well as good hemocompatibility by showing less than 0.2% hemolysis and 90% biocompatibility. The survival rate of S. typhi in macrophages (RAW 264.7) was minimal, i.e., only 2% in the case of NH2-F127 SNEDDS. Macrophage uptake assay via nanostructures confirmed the maximum cellular uptake as evidenced by the highest fluorescence. Biofilm dispersion assay showed rapid eradication of developed resistant biofilms on the gall bladder. In vivo pharmacokinetics showed improved bioavailability by showing an increased area under the curve (AUC) value. Taken together, NH2-F127-SNEDDS can be utilized as an alternative and efficient delivery system for the sustained release of therapeutic amounts of CIP for the treatment of S. typhi.
TASI Lectures on Primordial Cosmology

These lectures cover aspects of primordial cosmology with a focus on observational tests of physics beyond the Standard Model. The presentation is divided into two parts: In Part I, we study the production of new light particles in the hot big bang and describe their effects on the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. In Part II, we investigate the possibility of very massive particles being created during inflation and determine their imprints in higher-order cosmological correlations.
Mega Meta-QTLs: A Strategy for the Production of Golden Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Tolerant to Abiotic Stresses

Abiotic stresses cause a significant decrease in productivity and growth in agricultural products, especially barley. Breeding has been considered to create resistance against abiotic stresses. Pyramiding genes for tolerance to abiotic stresses through selection based on molecular markers connected to Mega MQTLs of abiotic tolerance can be one of the ways to reach Golden Barley. In this study, 1162 original QTLs controlling 116 traits tolerant to abiotic stresses were gathered from previous research and mapped from various populations. A consensus genetic map was made, including AFLP, SSR, RFLP, RAPD, SAP, DArT, EST, CAPS, STS, RGA, IFLP, and SNP markers based on two genetic linkage maps and 26 individual linkage maps. Individual genetic maps were created by integrating individual QTL studies into the pre-consensus map. The consensus map covered a total length of 2124.43 cM with an average distance of 0.25 cM between markers. In this study, 585 QTLs and 191 effective genes related to tolerance to abiotic stresses were identified in MQTLs. The most overlapping QTLs related to tolerance to abiotic stresses were observed in MQTL6.3. Furthermore, three MegaMQTL were identified, which explained more than 30% of the phenotypic variation. MQTLs, candidate genes, and linked molecular markers identified are essential in barley breeding and breeding programs to develop produce cultivars resistant to abiotic stresses.
Confirming the oblique rotator model for the extremely slowly rotating O8f?p star HD 108

The O8f? p star HD 108 is implied to have experienced the most extreme rotational braking of any magnetic, massive star, with a rotational period $P_{\rm rot}$ of at least 55 years, but the upper limit on its spindown timescale is over twice the age estimated from the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. HD 108's observed X-ray luminosity is also much higher than predicted by the XADM model, a unique discrepancy amongst magnetic O-type stars. Previously reported magnetic data cover only a small fraction ($\sim$3.5\%) of $P_{\rm rot}$, and were furthermore acquired when the star was in a photometric and spectroscopic `low state' at which the longitudinal magnetic field $\langle B_z\rangle$~was likely at a minimum. We have obtained a new ESPaDOnS magnetic measurement of HD 108, 6 years after the last reported measurement. The star is returning to a spectroscopic high state, although its emission lines are still below their maximum observed strength, consistent with the proposed 55-year period. We measured $\langle B_z\rangle=-325 \pm 45$ G, twice the strength of the 2007-2009 observations, raising the lower limit of the dipole surface magnetic field strength to $B_{\rm d} \ge 1$ kG. The simultaneous increase in $\langle B_z\rangle$~and emission strength is consistent with the oblique rotator model. Extrapolation of the $\langle B_z\rangle$~maximum via comparison of HD 108's spectroscopic and magnetic data with the similar Of? p star HD 191612 suggests that $B_{\rm d} > 2$~kG, yielding $t_{\rm S, max}<3$~Myr, compatible with the stellar age. These results also yield a better agreement between the observed X-ray luminosity and that predicted by the XADM model.
The Multiple Roles of Pericytes in Vascular Formation and Microglial Functions in the Brain

In the capillary walls, vascular endothelial cells are covered with mural cells, such as smooth muscle cells and pericytes. Although pericytes had been thought to play simply a structural role, emerging evidence has highlighted their multiple functions in the embryonic, postnatal, and adult brain. As the central nervous system (CNS) develops, the brain’s vascular structure gradually matures into a hierarchical network, which is crucial for the proper development of neural lineage cells by providing oxygen and nutrients. Pericytes play an essential role in vascular formation and regulate blood‒brain barrier (BBB) integrity as a component of the neurovascular unit (NVU), in collaboration with other cells, such as vascular endothelial cells, astrocytes, neurons, and microglia. Microglia, the resident immune cells of the CNS, colonize the brain at embryonic day (E) 9.5 in mice. These cells not only support the development and maturation of neural lineage cells but also help in vascular formation through their extensive migration. Recent studies have demonstrated that pericytes directly contact microglia in the CNS, and their interactions have a profound effect on physiological and pathological aspects. This review summarizes the function of pericytes, focusing on the interplay between pericytes and microglia.
Explainable Artificial Intelligence in the Early Diagnosis of Gastrointestinal Disease

This study reviews the recent progress of explainable artificial intelligence for the early diagnosis of gastrointestinal disease (GID). The source of data was eight original studies in PubMed. The search terms were “gastrointestinal” (title) together with “random forest” or ”explainable artificial intelligence” (abstract). The eligibility criteria were the dependent variable of GID or a strongly associated disease, the intervention(s) of artificial intelligence, the outcome(s) of accuracy and/or the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), the outcome(s) of variable importance and/or the Shapley additive explanations (SHAP), a publication year of 2020 or later, and the publication language of English. The ranges of performance measures were reported to be 0.70–0.98 for accuracy, 0.04–0.25 for sensitivity, and 0.54–0.94 for the AUC. The following factors were discovered to be top-10 predictors of gastrointestinal bleeding in the intensive care unit: mean arterial pressure (max), bicarbonate (min), creatinine (max), PMN, heart rate (mean), Glasgow Coma Scale, age, respiratory rate (mean), prothrombin time (max) and aminotransferase aspartate (max). In a similar vein, the following variables were found to be top-10 predictors for the intake of almond, avocado, broccoli, walnut, whole-grain barley, and/or whole-grain oat: Roseburia undefined, Lachnospira spp. , Oscillibacter undefined, Subdoligranulum spp. , Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophiles, Parabacteroides distasonis, Roseburia spp. , Anaerostipes spp. , Lachnospiraceae ND3007 group undefined, and Ruminiclostridium spp. Explainable artificial intelligence provides an effective, non-invasive decision support system for the early diagnosis of GID.