Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser-induced in situ synthesis of nano-composite Co–Co3O4–rGO on paper: miniaturized biosensor for alkaline phosphatase detection

Recent progress in the in situ synthesise of various nanomaterials has gained tremendous interest and wide applications in various fields. For the first time to the best of our knowledge, this work reports a methodology of ultra-fast in situ synthesis of cobalt–cobalt oxide-reduced graphene oxide (Co−Co3O4−rGO (CC–rGO)) composite by laser ablation. The photothermal reduction technique was leveraged to develop the CC–rGO. For this, a low-cost 450 nm blue diode laser was irradiated onto a grade 1 filter paper in the presence of cobalt ions readily patterns the carbon matrix of paper to the composite material. Moreover, the variation of cobalt concentrations from 0.1–0.5 M led to structural and morphological changes. Standard techniques were adopted for thorough characterizations of developed sensor material for conductivity analysis, specific surface area, crystal-structural information, surface morphology, and chemical composition. The observed results were highly promoting towards the electrochemical sensing applications. Further, the developed sensor was found to be highly selective toward detecting a vital bio analyte alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The sensors performance was highly significant in the linear range of 10–800 mU l−1 with a detection limit of 10.13 mU l−1. The sensors applicability was further validated in actual human serum samples via a recovery-based approach. In the future, the developed in situ material methodology can begin a rapid composite material synthesis at a larger scale.
The first decade of flow diversion for intracranial aneurysms with the Pipeline embolization device.

OBJECTIVE Flow diverter devices have revolutionized the treatment of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) since their approval in 2011 and have continued to evolve. The devices have been widely adopted across institutions and centers over the past decade; however, long-term follow-up after treatment with the Pipeline embolization device (PED) is not well described in the literature. The authors' institution was among the first to begin using PEDs, allowing them to report their series of patients treated with flow diverters ≥ 10 years ago. In this study, the authors aimed to evaluate the long-term angiographic and clinical outcomes of these patients and review lessons learned along the way. METHODS The authors performed a retrospective review of their institution's IA database from January 2007 to July 2012. All patients with IAs treated with a PED prior to July 2012 were included. Clinical and angiographic characteristics were extracted. Available angiographic follow-up at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years was reported. RESULTS A total of 83 patients with 92 aneurysms treated with a PED ≥ 10 years ago were identified and included in the study. The mean aneurysm dome diameter was 9.2 (SD 5.7) mm, the mean aneurysm height was 10.4 (SD 6.8) mm, and the mean neck width was 4.1 (SD 2.4) mm. Only 1 (1.1%) aneurysm was ruptured at presentation. Eight (8.7%) aneurysms were recurrences of previous treatment modalities. The morphology was saccular in 77 (83.7%) aneurysms, fusiform in 14 (15.2%), and blister-like in 1 (1.1%). Among saccular aneurysms, 60 (77.9%) were wide-necked. Seventy-five (81.5%) aneurysms were in the internal carotid artery, 12 (13.0%) were vertebrobasilar, 3 (3.3%) were in the middle cerebral artery, and 2 (2.2%) were in the posterior cerebral artery. Angiographic follow-up at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years was available for 75, 59, 50, and 15 patients, respectively. The complete occlusion rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 94.7%, 96.6%, 96.0%, and 100%, respectively. The retreatment rates at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years were 8.0%, 6.8%, 8.0%, and 6.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The authors provide their single-institution series of IA patients treated with a PED ≥ 10 years ago, with the first report of 10-year follow-up for the available patients.
Trees with extremal Wiener indices

The Wiener index of a connected graph is the sum of distances for all pairs of vertices. In this paper, we consider the trees with order n, diameter d or maximum degree ¢, and extremal Wiener indices. We obtain the tree with minimum Wiener index among all the trees of order n and with diameter d, and the trees with minimum and maximum Wiener indices among all the caterpillar trees of order n and with diameter d. We also obtain the tree with maximum Wiener index among all the trees of order n and with maximum degree ¢, and the trees with the second and the third maximum Wiener indices among all the trees of order n, whose vertices are of degree 1 or ¢.
Transcription factor condensates and signaling driven transcription

ABSTRACT Transcription Factor (TF) condensates are a heterogenous mix of RNA, DNA, and multiple co-factor proteins capable of modulating the transcriptional response of the cell. The dynamic nature and the spatial location of TF-condensates in the 3D nuclear space is believed to provide a fast response, which is on the same pace as the signaling cascade and yet ever-so-specific in the crowded environment of the nucleus. However, the current understanding of how TF-condensates can achieve these feet so quickly and efficiently is still unclear. In this review, we draw parallels with other protein condensates and share our speculations on how the nucleus uses these TF-condensates to achieve high transcriptional specificity and fidelity. We discuss the various constituents of TF-condensates, their properties, and the known and unknown functions of TF-condensates with a particular focus on steroid signaling-induced transcriptional programs.
Adherence to a priori dietary patterns in relation to obesity: results from two cycles of the Canadian National Nutrition Survey

Abstract Objective: To test whether adherence to the Mediterranean diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) or a dietary pattern in-line with the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) was associated with obesity. Design: 24-h dietary recall data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Nutrition, 2004 and 2015 cycles, were analysed. Diet quality index scores were computed for the Mediterranean-Style Dietary Pattern Score (MSDPS), a DASH index and the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Adherence Index (DGAI). Higher scores indicated greater adherence. Association between scores and obesity was examined using logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, physical activity, smoking status, sequence of dietary recall and alcohol and energy intake. Setting: Canada (excluding territories and the institutionalised population). Participants: Canadian adults (≥ 18 years), non-pregnant and non-breast-feeding; 11 748 from CCHS 2004 and 12 110 from CCHS 2015. The percentage of females in each sample was 50 %. Results: Mean MSDPS, DASH and DGAI scores were marginally but significantly higher in CCHS 2015 than in CCHS 2004. Those affected by obesity obtained lower scores for all indexes in CCHS 2004 (OR 10th v. 90th percentile for DASH: 2·23 (95 % CI 1·50, 3·32), DGAI: 3·01 (95 % CI 1·98, 4·57), MSDPS: 2·02 (95 % CI 1·14, 3·58)). Similar results were observed in CCHS 2015; however, results for MSDPS were not significant (OR 10th v. 90th percentile for DASH: 2·45 (95 % CI 1·72, 3·49), DGAI: 2·73 (95 % CI 1·85, 4·03); MSDPS: 1·30 (95 % CI 0·82, 2·06)). Conclusion: Following DASH or the 2015–2020 DGA was associated with a lower likelihood of obesity. Findings do not indicate causation, as the data are cross-sectional.
Relationships between gene expression and behavior in mice in response to systemic modulation of the O‐GlcNAcylation pathway

Enhancing protein O‐GlcNAcylation by pharmacological inhibition of the enzyme O‐GlcNAcase (OGA), which removes the O‐GlcNAc modification from proteins, has been explored in mouse models of amyloid‐beta and tau pathology. However, the O‐GlcNAcylation‐dependent link between gene expression and neurological behavior remains to be explored. Using chronic administration of Thiamet G (TG, an OGA inhibitor) in vivo, we used a protocol designed to relate behavior with the transcriptome and selected biochemical parameters from the cortex of individual animals. TG‐treated mice showed improved working memory as measured using a Y‐maze test. RNA sequencing analysis revealed 151 top differentially expressed genes with a Log2fold change >0.33 and adjusted p‐value <0.05. Top TG‐dependent upregulated genes were related to learning, cognition and behavior, while top downregulated genes were related to IL‐17 signaling, inflammatory response and chemotaxis. Additional pathway analysis uncovered 3 pathways, involving gene expression including 14 cytochrome c oxidase subunits/regulatory components, chaperones or assembly factors, and 5 mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) signaling factors. Multivariate Kendall correlation analyses of behavioral tests and the top TG‐dependent differentially expressed genes revealed 91 statistically significant correlations in saline‐treated mice and 70 statistically significant correlations in TG‐treated mice. These analyses provide a network regulation landscape that is important in relating the transcriptome to behavior and the potential impact of the O‐GlcNAC pathway.
Reply letter regarding “concerning issues in evaluating the inter-rater reliability. Comment on ‘risk factors for underestimation of patient pain in outpatient colonoscopy by ryhlander et al.’ by Yu et al.”

With interest, we read the Letter to the Editor by Yu et al. concerning our work on risk factors for underestimation of patient pain during colonoscopy published last year in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology [1]. The authors argue that weighted Kappa, rather than unweighted Cohen’s Kappa, is appropriate for the analysis of inter-rater reliability in the assessment of patient pain being expressed as an ordinal variable. We agree with much of the argumentation put forward by Yu and co-workers and we appreciate their careful and complementary weighted Kappa analysis resulting in slightly higher Kappa values as compared with Cohen’s Kappa presented in the original article, both regarding endoscopists and endoscopy assistants. Regarding endoscopists, the weighted Kappa analysis improved the agreement from ‘fair’ to ‘moderate’. In the preparations of our study, we estimated that Cohen’s Kappa was the appropriate statistical method since we aimed to reduce and collapse six different categories of patient pain into four categories (severe pain, very severe pain, and worst pain were collapsed into one single category, severe pain) [2]. Additionally, our intention was to enable a comparison of our results to previous publications on the topic and therefore we aimed to apply an identical statistical analysis [3]. Nonetheless, we are humble to the fact that the variable ‘pain’ analyzed in our study is still an ordinal one, which opens up the use of weighted Kappa analysis. As stressed by Yu and co-workers, the use of weighted kappa, rather than Cohen’s kappa, does not alter the overall findings and the key message of our article but rather modifies the degree of agreement to some extent. Nevertheless, the weighted Kappa analysis will be added to the results in the future communication of our work with other colleagues and groups. We do believe that constructive dialogue, such as the current one, on the choice of methodology and statistical tests in studies on patient care during endoscopy, is encouraging and will strengthen the field of research as a whole.
Sex differences in white matter tracts of capuchin monkey brains

Nonhuman primates exhibit sexual dimorphism in behavior, suggesting that there could be underlying differences in brain organization and function. Understanding this neuroanatomical variation is critical for enhancing our understanding of the evolution of sex differences in the human brain. Tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus [Cebus] apella) represent a phylogenetically diverse taxa of neotropical primates that converge on several behavioral characteristics with humans relevant to social organization, making them an important point of comparison for studying the evolution of sex differences in primates. While anatomical sex differences in gray matter have previously been found in capuchin monkeys, the current study investigates sex differences in white matter tracts. We carried out tract‐based spatial statistical analysis on fractional anisotropy images of tufted capuchin monkeys (15 female, 5 male). We found that females showed significantly higher fractional anisotropy than males in regions of frontal‐parietal white matter in the right cerebral hemisphere. Paralleling earlier findings in gray matter, male and female fractional anisotropy values in these regions were nonoverlapping. This complements prior work pointing toward capuchin sex differences in limbic circuitry and higher‐order visual regions. We propose that these sex differences are related to the distinct socioecological niches occupied by male and female capuchins. Capuchin neuroanatomical sex differences appear to be more pronounced than in humans, which we suggest may relate to human adaptations for prolonged neurodevelopmental trajectories and increased plasticity.
The usefulness of platelet‐rich plasma to manage skin wounds: A meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis investigation to measure the usefulness of platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) to manage skin wounds (SWs). A comprehensive literature inspection till February 2023 was applied and 1349 interrelated investigations were reviewed. The 22 chosen investigations enclosed animals' SWs were in the chosen investigations' starting point, 3348 of them were treated with PRP, and 2259 were control. Odds ratio (OR) in addition to 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to compute the value of the usefulness of PRP to manage SWs by the dichotomous and continuous approaches and a fixed or random model. PRP significantly higher percent of decreases in open wound area (OWA) (MD, 10.07; 95% CI, 6.55‐13.59, P < 0.001), and lower healing time (HT) (MD, −6.31; 95% CI, −10.69 to −1.93, P = 0.005) compared to control in animals' SWs. PRP had a significantly higher percent of decreases in OWA and lower HT compared to control in animals' SWs. However, caused of the small sample sizes of several chosen investigations for this meta‐analysis, care must be exercised when dealing with its values.
Concerning issues in evaluating the inter-rater reliability. Comment on “risk factors for underestimation of patient pain in outpatient colonoscopy” by Ryhlander et al.

With great interest we read the article ‘Risk factors for underestimation of patient pain in outpatient colonoscopy’ published in Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology by Ryhlander et al. [1]. In their study, the authors assessed the accuracy of endoscopists and endoscopy assistants in evaluating patient pain during colonoscopy procedures. The procedure-related pain experienced by the patients was rated on a verbal rating scale (VRS) and the ratings were compared to those made by the endoscopists and endoscopy assistants. A total of 785 patients were included in the study, which was conducted at a single center. Results showed that the agreement between the patient’s pain ratings and those made by the endoscopists was found to be 0.29 and the agreement between the patient’s pain ratings and those made by the endoscopy assistants was found to be 0.37 by using Cohen’s Kappa. In the 279 patients who reported moderate to severe pain, multivariate analysis showed that male gender, normal body mass index, no history of abdominal surgery, and first-time colonoscopy were factors that were significantly associated with a risk of underestimation of moderate to severe pain by endoscopists. Young age was the only corresponding factor for endoscopy assistants. We agree with the author’s conclusion that endoscopists and endoscopy assistants often underestimate patient pain during colonoscopy procedures and need to be more attentive to specific subgroups of patients to avoid underestimation of moderate to severe pain. However, using Cohen’s Kappa to estimate the inter-rater reliability (IRR) between ratings and logistic regression applied to test for potential predictors associated with underestimation of moderate-severe pain is not appropriate on the condition of ordinal categorical variables in four categories in this article. The use of Kappa statistics, including Cohen’s Kappa [2] and its modifications, is a prevalent method for analyzing IRR for categorical data. However, it is important to note that Cohen’s Kappa can be influenced by certain biases and is only appropriate for designs where there are exactly two raters and a full cross classification. Unlike simple percent agreement, Cohen’s Kappa considers the level of agreement that would be expected to occur by chance. Cohen’s Kappa is calculated as follows:
Preparation of cellular vehicles for delivery of gold nanorods to tumors

Over recent years, gold nanorods (GNRs) have emerged as a promising material in biomedical optics and have been proposed as contrast agents for the photothermal therapy and the photoacoustic imaging of tumors. A pioneering approach to target tumors is the use of cellular vehicles, i.e. cells of the immune system that exhibit an innate tropism to tumors and that can be serve as Trojan horses. This strategy relies on cell types, such as tumor-associated macrophages or T cells, that are recruited by or naturally traffic to the microenvironment of tumors and that can be isolated from a patient and loaded with plasmonic particles in vitro. In this work, GNRs were synthesized and designed to combine high optical and photo-stability and the ability to accumulate into cells of the immuno system. Particles were silanized, PEGylated and conjugated with cationic moieties. Different cationic compounds were tested and the cell viability and uptake of the particles were studied on complementary cell types. The cytotoxicity test was based on a colorimetric WST-8 assay while the intracellular amount of gold and the optical absorbance of the cells were quantified by spectrophotometry. Moreover, we investigated the effect of GNRs on the cell migration and the production of cytokines in the presence of pro-inflammatory stimuli, which provide a functional overview on the feasibility of this approach to target.
Beyond wavelets: New image representation paradigms

It is by now a well-established fact that the usual two-dimensional tensor product wavelet bases are not optimal for representing images consisting of different regions of smoothly varying greyvalues, separated by smooth boundaries. The chapter starts with a discussion of this phenomenon from a nonlinear approximation point of view, and then proceeds to describe approaches that have been suggested as a remedy. The methods can be sorted roughly into two groups: Adaptive geometry-based approaches such as wedgelets and related constructions on one hand, and directional frames, such as curvelets or ridgelets, on the other. We discuss wedgelets and curvelets in more details, as representatives of the different branches. These systems are first described in the continuous setting, and their construction is motivated by a discussion of their nonlinear approximation properties. We then present digital implementations of the schemes. For wedgelets and related transforms, we present a new method which results in a significant speedup, in comparison to preexisting implementations. We also give a short description of the contourlet approach to discrete curvelets. In the last section, we present the results of nonlinear approximation experiments, comparing wedgelets, contourlets and wavelets, and comment on the potential of the new techniques for image coding.
Condom Use Among Male Sex Workers With Their Male Clients in Mombasa, Kenya: Results of a Sub-analysis of a Pilot, Multilevel, Structural, HIV Risk-Reduction Intervention

Abstract Despite the advent of preexposure prophylaxis, consistent condom use continues to be recommended because preexposure prophylaxis does not prevent sexually transmitted infections. This is important for high-risk populations (e.g., male sex workers; MSW) in low-resource, high-HIV/sexually transmitted infection prevalence settings, such as the Mombasa region in Kenya. This study aimed to examine the relationship between MSW's condom use, and their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about condoms. MSW (N = 158) completed surveys on their sexual behaviors/practices/attitudes. We used multiple regressions to identify associations between condom use, HIV knowledge/attitudes, and self-efficacy. Three quarters of participants reported always using condoms in the past week, and 64.3% reported always using condoms in the past month with male clients. Mean scores for knowledge and attitudes/self-efficacy toward condoms/safer sex were positively associated with condom use. Interventions to build self-efficacy, such as condom negotiation, and/or bringing up condom use with clients may be useful for Kenyan MSW.
Rocks, lichens, and woody litter influenced the soil invertebrate density in upland tundra heath

Soil invertebrates are an integral part of Arctic ecosystems through their roles in the breakdown of litter, soil formation, and nutrient cycling. However, studies examining soil invertebrates in the Arctic are limited and our understanding of the abiotic and biotic drivers of these invertebrate communities remains understudied. We examined differences in soil invertebrate taxa (mites, collembolans, enchytraeids) among several undisturbed upland tundra heath sites in Nunavut Canada and identified the drivers (vegetation and substrate cover, soil nutrients and pH) of the soil invertebrate community across these sites. Soil invertebrate densities were similar to that of other Arctic studies. While invertebrate communities were relatively consistent between our sites, cover of rocks, woody litter, and the lichen Alectoria nigricans had significant, positive influences on the density of all invertebrates studied. Mites and collembolans were more closely associated with cover of lichens, whereas enchytraeids were more closely associated with woody litter and rocks. Our results suggest that anthropogenic (e.g., resource exploration and extraction) and/or natural (e.g., climate change) disturbances that result in changes to the vegetation community and woody litter inputs will likely impact soil invertebrates and the ecosystem services they provide.
Some synoptic-scale aspects of the surface fronts over southern China during TAMEX

Abstract Although the term “Mei-Yu” is widely used to describe the early-summer rainy season of Taiwan, it is shown that during TAMEX (Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment), most of the surface fronts over southern China differ from the classical model of a “Mei-Yu front” found in the earlier literature. These fronts occur before the seasonal transition in mid-June, during which the upper-level south Asian anticyclone advances northward with considerable tropospheric warming over the China plain. In contrast to Mei-Yu fronts over central China, which occur after. the seasonal transition, most of these fronts possess baroclinic characteristics.