Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictors of smoking cessation during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

AIM To identify factors found in the research literature to be associated with smoking cessation in pregnancy. METHODS Electronic searches of the bibliographic databases of PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Elsevier, Scopus and ISI Web of Science were conducted to April 2017. All studies reporting factors associated with smoking cessation or continuing smoking during pregnancy were included and reviewed systematically, irrespective of study design. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale was used to assess the study quality. The DerSimonian & Laird random-effects model was used to conduct meta-analyses, and where effect estimates were reported for factors included in at least three studies. RESULTS Fifty-four studies, including 505 584 women globally who smoked before pregnancy, 15 clinical trials and 40 observational studies, were included in the review and 36 (65.5%) were considered to be of high quality. This review identified 11 socio-demographic, seven socially related, 19 smoking behaviour-related, five pregnancy-related, six health-related and six psychological factors that were associated significantly with smoking cessation during pregnancy. The most frequently observed significant factors associated with cessation were: higher level of education, pooled odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.16 (1.80-2.84), higher socio-economic status: 1.97 (1.20-3.24), overseas maternal birth: 2.00 (1.40-2.84), Medicaid coverage or private insurance: 1.54 (1.29-1.85), living with partner or married: 1.49 (1.38-1.61), partner/other members of the household do not smoke: 0.42 (0.35-0.50), lower heaviness of smoking index score: 0.45 (0.27-0.77, lower baseline cotinine level: 0.78 (0.64-0.94), low exposure to second-hand smoking: 0.45 (0.20-1.02), not consuming alcohol before and/or during pregnancy: 2.03 (1.47-2.80), primiparity: 1.85 (1.68-2.05), planned breastfeeding:1.99 (1.94-2.05), perceived adequate pre-natal care: 1.74 (1.38-2.19), no depression: 2.65 (1.62-4.30) and low stress during pregnancy: 0.58 (0.44-0.77). CONCLUSION A wide range of socio-demographics, relationship, social, smoking-related, pregnancy-related, health and psychological factors have been found to predict smoking cessation in pregnancy.
Oncofetal Protein IMP3, a New Cancer Biomarker

IMP3 is a member of a family of RNA-binding proteins that consists of IMP1, IMP2 and IMP3. These proteins contain 2 RNA recognition motifs and 4 K-homology domains that allow them to bind RNAs strongly and specifically. IMP3 is an oncofetal protein involved in embryogenesis and its expression is associated with a number of malignant neoplasms. IMP3 is associated with aggressive and advanced cancers and is specifically expressed in malignant tumors but is not found in adjacent benign tissues. Moreover, in vitro studies have shown that IMP3 promotes tumor cell proliferation, adhesion, and invasion. This review focuses on the studies of IMP3 expression in different cancers and emphasizes the potential utility of IMP3 in routine surgical pathology practice. We also discuss IMP3 as a prognostic biomarker for cancer patients’ outcomes.
Scalable 2D Hierarchical Porous Carbon Nanosheets for Flexible Supercapacitors with Ultrahigh Energy Density

2D carbon nanomaterials such as graphene and its derivatives, have gained tremendous research interests in energy storage because of their high capacitance and chemical stability. However, scalable synthesis of ultrathin carbon nanosheets with well‐defined pore architectures remains a great challenge. Herein, the first synthesis of 2D hierarchical porous carbon nanosheets (2D‐HPCs) with rich nitrogen dopants is reported, which is prepared with high scalability through a rapid polymerization of a nitrogen‐containing thermoset and a subsequent one‐step pyrolysis and activation into 2D porous nanosheets. 2D‐HPCs, which are typically 1.5 nm thick and 1–3 µm wide, show a high surface area (2406 m2 g−1) and with hierarchical micro‐, meso‐, and macropores. This 2D and hierarchical porous structure leads to robust flexibility and good energy‐storage capability, being 139 Wh kg−1 for a symmetric supercapacitor. Flexible supercapacitor devices fabricated by these 2D‐HPCs also present an ultrahigh volumetric energy density of 8.4 mWh cm−3 at a power density of 24.9 mW cm−3, which is retained at 80% even when the power density is increased by 20‐fold. The devices show very high electrochemical life (96% retention after 10000 charge/discharge cycles) and excellent mechanical flexibility.
It Costs to Be Clean and Fit: Energetics of Comfort Behavior in Breeding-Fasting Penguins

Background Birds may allocate a significant part of time to comfort behavior (e.g., preening, stretching, shaking, etc.) in order to eliminate parasites, maintain plumage integrity, and possibly reduce muscular ankylosis. Understanding the adaptive value of comfort behavior would benefit from knowledge on the energy costs animals are willing to pay to maintain it, particularly under situations of energy constraints, e.g., during fasting. We determined time and energy devoted to comfort activities in freely breeding king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), seabirds known to fast for up to one month during incubation shifts ashore. Methodology/Principal Findings A time budget was estimated from focal and scan sampling field observations and the energy cost of comfort activities was calculated from the associated increase in heart rate (HR) during comfort episodes, using previously determined equations relating HR to energy expenditure. We show that incubating birds spent 22% of their daily time budget in comfort behavior (with no differences between day and night) mainly devoted to preening (73%) and head/body shaking (16%). During comfort behavior, energy expenditure averaged 1.24 times resting metabolic rate (RMR) and the corresponding energy cost (i.e., energy expended in excess to RMR) was 58 kJ/hr. Energy expenditure varied greatly among various types of comfort behavior, ranging from 1.03 (yawning) to 1.78 (stretching) times RMR. Comfort behavior contributed 8.8–9.3% to total daily energy expenditure and 69.4–73.5% to energy expended daily for activity. About half of this energy was expended caring for plumage. Conclusion/Significance This study is the first to estimate the contribution of comfort behavior to overall energy budget in a free-living animal. It shows that although breeding on a tight energy budget, king penguins devote a substantial amount of time and energy to comfort behavior. Such findings underline the importance of comfort behavior for the fitness of colonial seabirds.
Comparison of Nasal and Bronchial Epithelial Cells Obtained from Patients with COPD

For in vitro studies of airway pathophysiology, primary epithelial cells have many advantages over immortalised cell lines. Nasal epithelial cells are easier to obtain than bronchial epithelial cells and can be used as an alternative for in vitro studies. Our objective was to compare nasal and bronchial epithelial cells from subjects with COPD to establish if these cells respond similarly to pro-inflammatory stimuli. Cell cultures from paired nasal and bronchial brushings (21 subjects) were incubated with cigarette smoke extract (CSE) prior to stimulation with Pseudomonas aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide. IL-6 and IL-8 were measured by ELISA and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) message and expression by RT-PCR and FACS respectively. IL-8 release correlated significantly between the two cell types. IL-6 secretion was significantly less from bronchial compared to nasal epithelial cells and secreted concentrations did not correlate. A 4 h CSE incubation was immunosuppressive for both nasal and bronchial cells, however prolonged incubation for 24 h was pro-inflammatory solely for the nasal cells. CSE reduced TLR-4 expression in bronchial cells only after 24 h, and was without effect on mRNA expression. In subjects with COPD, nasal epithelial cells cannot substitute for in vitro bronchial epithelial cells in airway inflammation studies.
Automated Force Volume Image Processing for Biological Samples

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has now become a powerful technique for investigating on a molecular level, surface forces, nanomechanical properties of deformable particles, biomolecular interactions, kinetics, and dynamic processes. This paper specifically focuses on the analysis of AFM force curves collected on biological systems, in particular, bacteria. The goal is to provide fully automated tools to achieve theoretical interpretation of force curves on the basis of adequate, available physical models. In this respect, we propose two algorithms, one for the processing of approach force curves and another for the quantitative analysis of retraction force curves. In the former, electrostatic interactions prior to contact between AFM probe and bacterium are accounted for and mechanical interactions operating after contact are described in terms of Hertz-Hooke formalism. Retraction force curves are analyzed on the basis of the Freely Jointed Chain model. For both algorithms, the quantitative reconstruction of force curves is based on the robust detection of critical points (jumps, changes of slope or changes of curvature) which mark the transitions between the various relevant interactions taking place between the AFM tip and the studied sample during approach and retraction. Once the key regions of separation distance and indentation are detected, the physical parameters describing the relevant interactions operating in these regions are extracted making use of regression procedure for fitting experiments to theory. The flexibility, accuracy and strength of the algorithms are illustrated with the processing of two force-volume images, which collect a large set of approach and retraction curves measured on a single biological surface. For each force-volume image, several maps are generated, representing the spatial distribution of the searched physical parameters as estimated for each pixel of the force-volume image.
Enhanced dielectric and microwave absorption properties of Cr/Al2O3 coatings deposited by low‐power plasma spraying

Low-power plasma-sprayed Cr/Al2O3 coatings have been developed for their potential application as broad bandwidth, thin thickness, lightweight, and strong microwave-absorbing materials. The dielectric and microwave absorption properties of the as-sprayed coatings were studied in the X-band (from 8.2 to 12.4 GHz). High complex permittivity of the coatings was obtained because of a large number of internal boundaries and the conductive networks. Meanwhile, a significant enhancement of microwave absorption properties of the coating was achieved due to the enhanced interfacial polarization and conductance loss. The reflection loss (RL) less than −10 dB of the Al2O3–15Cr coating was obtained from 9.8 to 11.4 GHz by choosing an appropriate coating thickness, and an optimal minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −45.35 dB was achieved at 10.3 GHz with a thin thickness of 1.32 mm.
Dynamically efficient kinematics for hyper-redundant manipulators

A hyper-redundant robotic arm is a manipulator with many degrees of freedom, capable of executing tasks in cluttered environments where robotic arms with fewer degrees of freedom are unable to operate. This paper introduces a new method for modeling those manipulators in a completely dynamic way. The proposed method enables online changes of the kinematic structure with the use of a special function; termed “meta-controlling function”. This function can be used to develop policies to reduce drastically the computational cost for a single task, and to robustly control the robotic arm, even in the event of partial damage. The direct and inverse kinematics are solved for a generic three-dimensional articulated hyperredundant arm, that can be used as a proof of concept for more specific structures. To demonstrate the robustness of our method, experimental simulation results, for a basic “meta-controlling” function, are presented.
A novel set of pixel difference-based features for pedestrian detection

We propose a feature extraction pipeline namely Difference Matrix Projection (DMP)for pedestrian detection. The goal is to design an effective feature set that can be efficiently computed. Our feature consists of pixel differences at different scales and orientations coupled with average pooling and block normalization. We develop a formulation that computes the difference maps and local average using global image projection instead of an iterative filtering. As a result, the computations can be expressed by analytic equations in terms of the input image. The projection matrices are pre-constructed, so they are readily applied to the image for feature extraction. Experiment results on the Daimler Chrysler (Daimler-CB) and NICTA pedestrian datasets show encouraging results, especially for low-resolution samples.
edox-sensitive stimulation of type-1 ryanodine receptors by the scorpion oxin maurocalcine

The scorpion toxin maurocalcine acts as a high affinity agonist of the type-1 ryanodine receptor expressed in skeletal muscle. Here, we investigated the effects of the reducing agent dithiothreitol or the oxidizing reagent thimerosal on type-1 ryanodine receptor stimulation by maurocalcine. Maurocalcine addition to sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles actively loaded with calcium elicited Ca2+ release from native vesicles and from vesicles pre-incubated with dithiothreitol; thimerosal addition to native vesicles after Ca2+ uptake completion prevented this response. Maurocalcine enhanced equilibrium [3H]-ryanodine binding to native and to dithiothreitol-treated reticulum vesicles, and increased 5-fold the apparent Ki for Mg2+ inhibition of [3H]-ryanodine binding to native vesicles. Single calcium release channels incorporated in planar lipid bilayers displayed a long-lived open sub-conductance state after maurocalcine addition. The 2+ lanar lipid bilayers g2+ inhibition hannel sub-conductance fractional time spent in this sub-conductance state decreased when lowering cytoplasmic [Ca ] from 10 M to 0.1 M or at cytoplasmic [Mg2+] ≥ 30 M. At 0.1 M [Ca2+], only channels that displayed poor activation by Ca2+ were readily activated by 5 nM maurocalcine; subsequent incubation with thimerosal abolished the sub-conductance state induced by maurocalcine. We interpret these results as an indication that maurocalcine acts as a more effective type-1 ryanodine receptor channel agonist under reducing
A 16384-electrode 1024-channel multimodal CMOS MEA for high-throughput intracellular action potential measurements and impedance spectroscopy in drug-screening applications

Patch clamp is currently the gold standard for studying cell electrophysiology in preclinical drug discovery. Since it is a time-consuming technique, passive and active multielectrode arrays (MEAs) have been introduced for increased throughput in extracellular (ExC) in vitro measurements [1-3]. However, most of these tools cannot capture the essential features of intracellular (InC) action potentials (APs) used for studying drug toxicity. It has been shown that InC access can be achieved by highly localized electroporation [4], which allows low-impedance electrical recording of the InC voltage. While this technique was explored in recent designs [4-5], a tool that enables high-throughput InC measurements is not yet available. Impedance measurement is also used to study cell morphology, adhesion, differentiation and contractility [6]. Recent designs [1-3] already include impedance spectroscopy (IS), but their methods are not fast enough to capture in detail the contractile activity of cardiomyocytes. Since some drugs can inhibit cell beating without affecting the APs [6], ExC/InC recording and impedance measurement are complementary.
Extracellular Vesicles: Evolutionarily Conserved Mediators of Intercellular Communication

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are sub-micron circulating vesicles found in all bodily fluids and in all species so far tested. They have also recently been identified in seawater and it has further been shown that they are released from microorganisms and may participate in interspecies communication in the gut. EV are typically composed of a lipid bilayer formed from the plasma membrane and which encases a cargo that can include genetic material, proteins, and lipids. At least two different processes of formation and release have been described in mammalian cells. The exosome population (50 to 150nm size) are produced via a lyso-endosomal pathway, while microvesicles (100 to 1000nm) are formed by budding of the plasma membrane in a calcium dependent process. Both pathways are highly regulated and appear to be conserved amongst different species. EV release has been shown to be upregulated in a number of human chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, obesity, and cancer; evaluation of their presence in veterinary samples may aid diagnosis in the future. This review will provide insight into the formation of EV and their detection in bodily fluids from different veterinary species and how they may provide a novel addition to the veterinary toolkit of the future.
12. Global Requirements for Medical Applications of Chitin and its Derivatives

When the design of a medical device and its intended use as a chronic implant require that the prostheses maintain some minimum level of physical, chemical and biological integrity after implantation in living tissue for some time interval, the materials of which the prosthesis is made should be tasted either individually or as part of the finished prosthesis. In the selection of materials to be used in medical device manufacture the first consideration should be fitness for purpose with regard to characteristics and properties of the material, which include chemical, toxicological, physical, morphological and mechanical properties. 12. Global Requirements for Medical Applications of Chitin and its Derivatives
From the basic science of biological effects of ultrashort electrical pulses to medical therapies

This article is based on my presentation at the D'Arsonval Ceremony at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Bioelectromagnetics Society and the European BioElectromagnetics Association in Hangzhou, China, in June of 2017. It describes the pathway from the first studies on the effects of intense, nanosecond pulses on biological cells to the development of medical therapies based on these effects. The motivation for the initial studies of the effects of high voltage, nanosecond pulses on mammalian cells was based on a simple electrical circuit model, which predicted that such pulses allow us to affect not just the plasma membrane but also the subcellular structures. The first experimental study that confirmed this hypothesis was published in 2001 in the Bioelectromagnetics journal. It was followed by a large number of publications that showed that such ultrashort pulses affect cell functions, such as programmed cell death, and, at lower intensity, calcium mobilization from intracellular structures. These basic studies were leading to novel cancer treatments, treatments of cardiac arrhythmia, and advanced wound healing. Further, by reducing the pulse duration into the picosecond range, antenna‐based neural stimulation seems to be possible. This manuscript gives an overview of the progress in this field of research in the decade after the initial bioelectric studies with high‐voltage, nanosecond pulses, particularly the research performed at the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics. It also tells you about my journey and that of my colleagues at the Center for Bioelectrics into and through this fascinating bioelectromagnetics research area. Bioelectromagnetics. 39:257–276, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Operational Land Imager relative radiometric calibration

The Operational Land Imager (OLI), on board the Landsat-8 satellite, is a pushbroom sensor with nearly 7000 detectors per band, divided between 14 separate modules. While rigorously characterized prior to launch, the shear number of individual detectors presents a challenge to maintaining the on-orbit relative calibration, such that stripes, bands and other artifacts are minimized in the final image products. On-orbit relative calibration of the OLI is primarily monitored and corrected by observing an on-board primary solar diffuser panel. The panel is the most uniform target available to the OLI, though as observed but the OLI, it has a slope across the field of view due to view angle effects. Just after launch, parameters were derived using the solar diffuser data, to correct for the angular effects across the 14 modules. The residual discontinuities between arrays and the detector-to-detector uniformity continue to be monitored on a weekly basis. The observed variations in the responses to the diffuser panel since launch are thought to be due to real instrument changes. Since launch, the Coastal/Aerosol (CA) and Blue bands have shown the most variation in relative calibration of the VNIR bands, with as much as 0.14% change (3-sigma) between consecutive relative gain estimates. The other VNIR bands (Green, Red and NIR) initially had detectors showing a slow drift of about 0.2% per year, though this stopped after an instrument power cycle about seven months after launch. The SWIR bands also exhibit variability between collects (0.11% 3-sigma) but the larger changes have been where individual detectors’ responses change suddenly by as much as 1.5%. The mechanisms behind these changes are not well understood but in order to minimize impact to the users, the OLI relative calibration is updated on a quarterly basis in order to capture changes over time.
Clinical Findings Documenting Cellular and Molecular Abnormalities of Glia in Depressive Disorders

Depressive disorders are complex, multifactorial mental disorders with unknown neurobiology. Numerous theories aim to explain the pathophysiology. According to the “gliocentric theory”, glial abnormalities are responsible for the development of the disease. The aim of this review article is to summarize the rapidly growing number of cellular and molecular evidences indicating disturbed glial functioning in depressive disorders. We focus here exclusively on the clinical studies and present the in vivo neuroimaging findings together with the postmortem molecular and histopathological data. Postmortem studies demonstrate glial cell loss while the in vivo imaging data reveal disturbed glial functioning and altered white matter microstructure. Molecular studies report on altered gene expression of glial specific genes. In sum, the clinical findings provide ample evidences on glial pathology and demonstrate that all major glial cell types are affected. However, we still lack convincing theories explaining how the glial abnormalities develop and how exactly contribute to the emotional and cognitive disturbances. Abnormal astrocytic functioning may lead to disturbed metabolism affecting ion homeostasis and glutamate clearance, which in turn, affect synaptic communication. Abnormal oligodendrocyte functioning may disrupt the connectivity of neuronal networks, while microglial activation indicates neuroinflammatory processes. These cellular changes may relate to each other or they may indicate different endophenotypes. A theory has been put forward that the stress-induced inflammation—mediated by microglial activation—triggers a cascade of events leading to damaged astrocytes and oligodendroglia and consequently to their dysfunctions. The clinical data support the “gliocentric” theory, but future research should clarify whether these glial changes are truly the cause or simply the consequences of this devastating disorder.