Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mast Cells in Neurodegenerative Disease

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of people worldwide, yet there are currently no effective treatments. Because risk of neurodegenerative disease substantially increases with age, greater life expectancy with a concomitant aging population means more individuals will be affected in the coming decades. Thus, there is an urgent need for understanding the mechanisms driving neurodegenerative diseases in order to develop improved treatment strategies. Inflammation in the nervous system, termed “neuroinflammation,” has become increasingly recognized as being associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Early attention focused primarily on morphological changes in astrocytes and microglia; however, brain and CNS resident mast cells are now receiving attention as a result of being “first responders” to injury. Mast cells also exert profound effects on their microenvironment and neighboring cells including behavior and/or activation of astrocytes, microglia, and neurons, which, in turn, are implicated in neuroinflammation, neurogenesis and neurodegeneration. Mast cells also affect disruption/permeability of the blood brain barrier enabling toxin and immune cell entry exacerbating an inflammatory microenvironment. Here, we discuss the roles of mast cells in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration with a focus on development and progression of four prominent neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, and Huntington’s Disease.
Cannabis, a complex plant: different compounds and different effects on individuals

Cannabis is a complex plant, with major compounds such as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, which have opposing effects. The discovery of its compounds has led to the further discovery of an important neurotransmitter system called the endocannabinoid system. This system is widely distributed in the brain and in the body, and is considered to be responsible for numerous significant functions. There has been a recent and consistent worldwide increase in cannabis potency, with increasing associated health concerns. A number of epidemiological research projects have shown links between dose-related cannabis use and an increased risk of development of an enduring psychotic illness. However, it is also known that not everyone who uses cannabis is affected adversely in the same way. What makes someone more susceptible to its negative effects is not yet known, however there are some emerging vulnerability factors, ranging from certain genes to personality characteristics. In this article we first provide an overview of the biochemical basis of cannabis research by examining the different effects of the two main compounds of the plant and the endocannabinoid system, and then go on to review available information on the possible factors explaining variation of its effects upon different individuals.
Influence of temperature variation on incubation period, hatching success, sex ratio, and phenotypes in Caiman latirostris.

Temperature is crucial for reptiles, also during embryonic development, particularly for species with temperature-dependent sex determination. Under natural conditions, Broad-snouted caiman (Caiman latirostris) eggs are influenced by thermal changes in the interior of the nest related to the external environmental temperature. As nests are subject to variations in temperature and most lab studies on crocodilian incubation have been carried out at constant temperatures, we were interested in determining how temperature fluctuations may affect the development of caiman embryos. We investigated the effects of incubation at constant temperatures (31°C, 32°C, and 33°C) and fluctuating temperatures (31 ± 2, 32 ± 1, and 32 ± 2°C) on the following aspects: incubation period duration, hatching success, sex ratio, total length, and body mass of C. latirostris hatchlings. Eggs incubated at 31°C produced 100% females, those at 32°C produced 71.6% females (however, the sex ratio was nest related), and at 33°C produced 100% males. We found a masculinizing effect when incubation was at 31 ± 2°C compared with a constant 31°C; and temperature fluctuations at 32°C (32 ± 1 and 32 ± 2°C) had a negative effect on hatchlings size and mass, and hatching success compared with constant incubation temperatures of 32°C and 33°C. Finally, the effect of temperature variation during the incubation period on sex ratio, hatching success, and phenotype depends on the mean temperature, as the fluctuation around 31°C affected the sex ratios and incubation period, and the fluctuation around 32°C affected hatchling success and size.
Challenge to the Intestinal Mucosa During Sepsis

Sepsis is a complex of life-threating organ dysfunction in critically ill patients, with a primary infectious cause or through secondary infection of damaged tissues. The systemic consequences of sepsis have been intensively examined and evidences of local alterations and repercussions in the intestinal mucosal compartment is gradually defining gut-associated changes during sepsis. In the present review, we focus on sepsis-induced dysfunction of the intestinal barrier, consisting of an increased permeability of the epithelial lining, which may facilitate bacterial translocation. We discuss disturbances in intestinal vascular tonus and perfusion and coagulopathies with respect to their proposed underlying molecular mechanisms. The consequences of enzymatic responses by pancreatic proteases, intestinal alkaline phosphatases, and several matrix metalloproteases are also described. We conclude our insight with a discussion on novel therapeutic interventions derived from crucial aspects of the gut mucosal dynamics during sepsis.
Soft Wearable Pressure Sensors for Beat‐to‐Beat Blood Pressure Monitoring

Wrinkled gold thin films on elastomeric substrates are used as robust parallel plate electrodes for soft capacitive pressure sensors. The wrinkled structures create a robust integration with the polymer, allowing repeated normal force to deform the thin film without failure. By incorporating microridged structures that support the counter electrodes to create air cavities within the elastomeric dielectric layer, pressure sensitivity is further increased to 0.148 kPa−1 over a wide dynamic range of up to 10 kPa. The wide dynamic range and pressure sensitivity of the pressure sensor allow for consistent measurements of the pressure exerted by the radial artery located on the wrist. The soft capacitive pressure sensor displays comparable results when tested against an FDA approved device (Clearsight, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA) measuring beat‐to‐beat blood pressure. These soft pressure sensors using wrinkled thin films, therefore, illustrate considerable potential to continuously monitor beat‐to‐beat blood pressure.
Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) of Gastrointestinal Cancer Caregivers: The Impact of Caregiving

Objective: This study examined the quality of life (QOL) of caregivers for gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients, and associated factors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at three referral hospitals in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 323 pairs of patients and caregivers from the oncology units of these hospitals completed questionnaires in Malay. The QOL of caregivers was measured using The Malay Caregiver Quality of Life questionnaire. The independent variables were caregiver and patient factors, care-related factors, the Caregiver Strain Index-Malay, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support-Malay. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with the QOL. Variables with p < 0.05 were considered significant in the multiple analyses. Results: Female caregivers were 68.1% of the total, and 46.4% caregivers were spouses to cancer patients. Their mean age was 44.50 (13.29) years old. About 51.7% were of Malay ethnicity. The mean score for QOL was 80.17 (21.58). Being a male caregiver (beta = 5.165, p = 0.011) and of Indian ethnicity (beta = -9.163, p = 0.001) were strongly associated with caregiver QOL. Male patients contributed higher QOL scores for the caregivers compared to female patients. There was an inverse relationship among caregiving strain, duration of caregiving, and caregiver QOL. Conclusion: The identification of factors that affect QOL will allow healthcare providers to develop appropriate interventions. It is important that caregivers be in good health so as not to compromise the care they provide to their patients.
Computing A-Homotopy Groups Using Coverings and Lifting Properties

In classical homotopy theory, two spaces are homotopy equivalent if one space can be continuously deformed into the other. This theory, however, does not respect the discrete nature of graphs. For this reason, a discrete homotopy theory that recognizes the difference between the vertices and edges of a graph was invented, called A-homotopy theory. In classical homotopy theory, covering spaces and lifting properties are often used to compute the fundamental group of the circle. In this paper, we develop the lifting properties for A-homotopy theory. Using a covering graph and these lifting properties, we compute the fundamental group of the 5-cycle and use this computation to show that 5-cycle is not contractible in this theory, even though the 3-cycle and 4-cycle are contractible.
Clinicopathologic features and treatment outcome of mature T-cell and natural killer-cell lymphomas diagnosed according to the World Health Organization classification scheme: a single center experience of 10 years.

BACKGROUND Data on mature T-cell and natural killer (NK)-cell lymphomas diagnosed with the World Health Organization (WHO) classification scheme are scarce. They are regarded to be more common in Asian populations. METHODS Consecutive T-cell and NK-cell lymphomas classified according to the WHO scheme within 10 years in a Chinese population were reviewed. RESULTS There were 148 cases, constituting 16.6% (T-cell, n=90, 10.1%, NK-cell, n=58, 6.5%) of all non-Hodgkin lymphomas in this period. There was a male predominance (male:female = 2.5), young age at diagnosis (median age 50 years, range 8-86) and frequent extranodal presentation. Commonest T-cell lymphomas included anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL, n=25, median age 35 years, nodal 60%, stage I/II 60%), peripheral T-cell lymphoma, unspecified (PTCL, n=24, median age 54 years, nodal 42%, stage I/II 42%), and angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AILT, n=19, median age 67 years, nodal 95%, stage I/II 26%). Overall frequencies of T-cell lymphomas were comparable to Western patients. AILT, PTCL and ALCL were aggressive with a poor outcome. NK-cell lymphomas were predominantly extranodal (96%) and aggressive, with a frequency much higher than Western patients. CONCLUSIONS The apparent high prevalence of T-cell and NK-cell lymphomas in the Chinese was due to more frequent NK-cell but not T-cell lymphomas.
Tau Proteolysis in the Pathogenesis of Tauopathies: Neurotoxic Fragments and Novel Biomarkers

With predictions showing that 131.5 million people worldwide will be living with dementia by 2050, an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning disease is crucial in the hunt for novel therapeutics and for biomarkers to detect disease early and/or monitor disease progression. The metabolism of the microtubule-associated protein tau is altered in different dementias, the so-called tauopathies. Tau detaches from microtubules, aggregates into oligomers and neurofibrillary tangles, which can be secreted from neurons, and spreads through the brain during disease progression. Post-translational modifications exacerbate the production of both oligomeric and soluble forms of tau, with proteolysis by a range of different proteases being a crucial driver. However, the impact of tau proteolysis on disease progression has been overlooked until recently. Studies have highlighted that proteolytic fragments of tau can drive neurodegeneration in a fragment-dependent manner as a result of aggregation and/or transcellular propagation. Proteolytic fragments of tau have been found in the cerebrospinal fluid and plasma of patients with different tauopathies, providing an opportunity to develop these fragments as novel disease progression biomarkers. A range of therapeutic strategies have been proposed to halt the toxicity associated with proteolysis, including reducing protease expression and/or activity, selectively inhibiting protease-substrate interactions, and blocking the action of the resulting fragments. This review highlights the importance of tau proteolysis in the pathogenesis of tauopathies, identifies putative sites during tau fragment-mediated neurodegeneration that could be targeted therapeutically, and discusses the potential use of proteolytic fragments of tau as biomarkers for different tauopathies.
The influence of task outcome on implicit motor learning

Recent studies have demonstrated that task success signals can modulate learning during sensorimotor adaptation tasks, primarily through engaging explicit processes. Here, we examine the influence of task outcome on implicit adaptation, using a reaching task in which adaptation is induced by feedback that is not contingent on actual performance. We imposed an invariant perturbation (rotation) on the feedback cursor while varying the target size. In this way, the cursor either hit or missed the target, with the former producing a marked attenuation of implicit motor learning. We explored different computational architectures that might account for how task outcome information interacts with implicit adaptation. The results fail to support an architecture in which adaptation operates in parallel with a model-free operant reinforcement process. Rather, task outcome may serve as a gain on implicit adaptation or provide a distinct error signal for a second, independent implicit learning process. Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that all the issues have been addressed (see decision letter).
AIDLOC: AN ACCURATE ACOUSTIC 3D INDOOR LOCALIZATION SYSTEM

We present AidLoc, an inaudible acoustic indoor localization system based on acoustic ranging, which is convenient for commercial off-the-shelf devices such as smartphones and laptops without modiﬁcation. The frequency of sound signal is too high to hear so that its imperceptible to humans. An AidLoc system consists of 4 or more acoustic beacons and a smartphone. Beacons are deployed in different height to establish a beacon space. This gives a 3D relative coordinate for 3D target localization. We use time difference of arrival (TDOA) localization approach, which means the smartphone sends the sound signal, and beacons receive it. According to our experiment in conference room, we can provide sub-meter ( 90% < 10 cm ) accurate indoor positioning.
From Screen to Screening: Entertainment and News Television Media Effects on Cancer Screening Behaviors

The complementary effects of genre-specific media use and information-seeking behaviors on cancer prevention behaviors have been understudied in cancer communication literature. A secondary analysis of the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey (ANHCS) was conducted to investigate the effects of two types of televised media content (i.e., news and entertainment programs) on three types of cancer screening behaviors through active health information seeking behavior (HISB) from other mass media. The results show that routine entertainment and news television viewing significantly predicted HISB above and beyond demographic variables and perceived health status. HISB partially mediated the effects of entertainment and news television viewing on colon cancer and breast cancer screening behaviors (i.e., sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy, mammogram) while fully mediating their effects on prostate cancer screening behavior (PSA). Future advocacy efforts should continue to use mass media like television to raise awareness of various types of cancer and preventative measures. Additionally, more collaborations should be conducted between public health professionals and content creators to design effective health content on promoting cancer prevention behaviors on mass media platforms.
Phonon Lifetimes and Thermal Conductivity of the Molecular Crystal α-RDX

The heat transfer properties of the organic molecular crystal α-RDX were studied using three phonon scattering based thermal conductivity models. It was found that the widely used Peierls-Boltzmann model for thermal transport in crystalline materials breaks down for α-RDX. We show this breakdown is due to a large degree of anharmonicity that leads to a dominance of diffusive-like carriers. Despite being developed for disordered systems, the Allen-Feldman theory for thermal conductivity actually gives the best description of thermal transport. This is likely because diffusive carriers contribute to over 95% of the thermal conductivity in a-RDX. The dominance of diffusive carriers is larger than previously observed in other fully ordered crystalline systems. These results indicate that van der Waals bonded organic crystalline solids conduct heat in a manner more akin to amorphous materials than simple atomic crystals.
Recurrence for smooth curves in the moduli space and an application to the billiard flow on nibbled ellipses

In view of classical results of Masur and Veech almost every element in the moduli space of compact translation surfaces is recurrent, i.e. its Teichmüller positive semiorbit returns to a compact subset infinitely many times. In this paper we focus on the problem of recurrence for elements of smooth curves in the moduli space. We give an effective criterion for the recurrence of almost every element of a smooth curve. The criterion relies on results developed by Minsky-Weiss in [9]. Next we apply the criterion to the billiard flow on planar tables confined by arcs of confocal conics. The phase space of such billiard flow splits into invariant subsets determined by caustics. We prove that for almost every caustic the billiard flow restricted to the corresponding invariant set is uniquely ergodic. This answers affirmatively to a question raised by Zorich. 1. Billiards on elliptical-hyperbolic nibbled tables We consider a class of pseudo-integrable billiards with piecewise elliptic and hyperbolic boundary introduced by Dragović and Radnović in [2]. Let 0 < b < a and denote by {Cλ : λ ≤ a} the family of confocal conics x a− λ + y b− λ = 1. If λ < b then Cλ is an ellipse and if b < λ < a then Cλ is a hyperbola. Moreover, Cb is the horizontal and Ca is the vertical line though the origin. Denote by Θ the set of sequences (α, β) = ((αi)i=1, (βi)i=1) such that a = α0 > α1 > α2 > . > αk−1 > αk = b > βk > βk−1 > . > β2 > β1 ≥ β0 = 0. Let k(α, β) := k. For every (α, β) ∈ Θ let Dα,β be the billiard table in the ellipse C0 so that the boundary of Dα,β contained in the positive quadrant is piecewise smooth and consists of a chain of arcs of ellipses Cβ1 , . , Cβk , hyperbolae Cα1 , . , Cαk−1 and lines Ca, Cb. More precisely, the consecutive corners are intersections of the following pairs of conics: (Ca, Cβ1), (Cα1 , Cβ1), (Cα1 , Cβ2), (Cα2 , Cβ2), . , (Cαk−1 , Cβk−1), (Cαk−1 , Cβk), (Cb, Cβk). The positive quadrant of Dα,β looks like stairs whose steps are elliptical-hyperbolic, see Figure 1. Let (α, β), (α+−, β), (α−+, β), (α−−, β) be sequences in Θ such that β 1 = β −+ 1 , β +− 1 = β −− 1 , β ++ k(α++,β ++ ) = β+− k(α+−,β +− ) , β−+ k(α−+,β −+ ) = β−− k(α−−,β −− ) . 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification. 37A10, 37D40, 37E35.
Achieving Representative Faultloads in Software Fault Injection

Given the complexity of modern software systems and its pervasiveness in many aspects of our lives, software faults (i.e., bugs) are a dangerous threat. Unfortunately, it is impossible to assure that software is perfect despite of advances in software engineering. Therefore, mission- and safety-critical systems have to provide fault tolerance algorithms and mechanisms to mitigate this threat. Software Fault Injection emerged in the last decades as a means for testing and improving fault-tolerant systems. This approach deliberately introduces faults in a software in order to assess its behavior in the presence of software faults. In order to be adopted by practitioners in the development of critical systems, and to assure an effective and trustworthy evaluation of fault tolerance, the realism of faults being injected (fault representativeness) need to be assured, i.e., the injected faults should reflect the residual faults that escape the development process and that can affect the system. This thesis addresses fault representativeness with respect to three aspects. First, it proposes an approach for selecting code locations in which to inject software faults in a complex software system. The approach identifies locations in which faults are more likely to hide from testing, in order to focus the injection on the most representative locations and to reduce the number and cost of experiments at the same time. Second, it proposes a method for improving the accuracy of faults injected in binary code, which is required when the source code is not available as in the case of third-party software. Finally, this thesis proposes a technique for emulating concurrency faults, which are a significant part of faults affecting complex software. These contributions are instrumental to advance Software Fault Injection and make it an effective and practical approach for developing fault-tolerant systems.
Stress urinary incontinence and regenerative medicine: is injecting functional cells into the urethra feasible based on current knowledge and future prospects?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is one of the most prevalent disorders of the lower urinary tract. Actual standard conservative and surgical therapeutic modalities are offering a symptomatic relief without treating the underlying disorder. Therefore, advances in cell-based regenerative medicine have implemented the use of autologous cells with the aim to treat urinary incontinence. RECENT FINDINGS Different types of cells have been investigated to regain the function of the rhabdosphincter muscle in the urethral closure complex: myogenic progenitor cells, adipose tissue-derived stromal cells and mesenchymal stromal cells were mostly applied. Many of the preclinical studies published success of cell therapies. However, most clinical studies included only a few patients and rather short periods of follow-up. Furthermore, different cell types as well as injection techniques were used. SUMMARY The use of stem cells seems to be a feasible and safe technique with promising results in patients with SUI. However, as a result of heterogeneity of preclinical and clinical trials, the best approach to cell-based therapy in SUI is still under investigation. The definition of the optimal cell type applied for the regeneration of the sphincter, the development of surgical injection advices and adequate tools for the investigation of the muscle regeneration during the follow-up have to be investigated to improve the use of autologous cells in the therapy of SUI.