Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Cervical Paravertebral Extensors in Patients with Cervical Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament Grouped According to mK‐Line

Objectives The objective of this study was to quantify the morphology, composition, and asymmetry of the paravertebral extensor muscles (PSEMs) in patients with cervical ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) who had different modified K‐line (mK‐line) and the minimum interval between the mK‐line and OPLL (INTmin) values and to investigate the relationship between PSEMs and symptoms and outcomes following laminoplasty. These original findings elucidated that the atrophy of PSEMs could predict decompression outcomes and provided a theoretical basis for paraspinal muscle rehabilitation. Methods A total of 94 consecutive patients who underwent laminoplasty for OPLL between January 2020 and January 2022 were enrolled in this retrospective study. The relative cross‐sectional areas (rCSA), functional cross‐sectional areas (rFCSA), and FCSA/CSA ratio of the multifidus (MF), semispinalis cervicalis (SSCe), semispinalis capitis (SSCa), and splenius capitis (SpCa) were measured at the C3–C7 segments on cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study compared the differences between the mK‐line (+) group and the mK‐line (−) group, as well as between the INTmin <4 mm group and the INTmin ≥4 mm group, using the independent t‐test or Mann–Whitney test for continuous variables and the χ 2‐test for categorical variables. The correlations between the PSEMs and symptoms were analyzed using either the Pearson or Spearman correlation coefficient. Results The relative total CSA (rTCSA) of the PSEMs, especially the MF, was significantly smaller in the mK‐line (−) group. However, the FCSA/CSA of the right deep extensor muscle (DEM) was larger. The asymmetry of the MF TFCSA/TCSA showed a significant difference between the mK‐line groups. In the INTmin <4 mm group, the PSEMs rCSA and rFCSA were significantly smaller, while the bilateral MF TFCSA/TCSA and right SSCe TFCSA/TCSA were larger. The asymmetry of the superficial extensor muscle rCSA was significantly lower in the group with INTmin <4 mm. The postoperative modified Japanese Orthopedic Association score (mJOA) and mJOA recovery rate were positively correlated with the INTmin and DEM rCSA and negatively correlated with the asymmetry of MF FCSA/CSA. Conclusions In patients with mK‐line (−) or INTmin <4 mm, the PSEMs were smaller, and the DEM atrophy and composition changes were predominant. The MF asymmetry was higher in patients with mK‐lines (−), whereas the SEM atrophy and asymmetry were more prevalent in patients with INTmin <4 mm. The DEM was related to the preoperative and postoperative mJOA scores. DEM‐preserving surgery or DEM‐specific rehabilitation exercises can improve the recovery of patients with OPLL during the perioperative period. In addition, attention should be paid to the evaluation of the SEM, especially the SpCa at the C3 and C5 levels.
Age-adjusted D-Dimer Thresholds Combined with the Modified Wells Score as a Predictor of Lower Extremity Deep Venous Thrombosis

Background Neurosurgical patients are at an increased risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT), which, if not properly managed, can lead to pulmonary embolism. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of age-adjusted D-dimer thresholds combined with the modified Wells score as a predictor for lower extremity DVT diagnosis. Methods We conducted a study among patients aged >50 years with suspected lower extremity DVT in the neurosurgery intensive care unit between December 2019 and December 2020. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to examine the diagnostic capacity of age-adjusted D-dimer combined with the modified Wells score. Results A total of 233 participants, with an average age of 71.81 ± 12.59 years, were enrolled in the study. The mean D-dimer levels were 0.73 ± 0.39 mg/L. Among the participants, 57 (57.9%, 33 males) were diagnosed with DVT. The age-adjusted D-dimer combined with the modified Wells score had the highest area under the curve for diagnosing lower extremity DVT compared to D-dimer and age-adjusted D-dimer alone, with an AUC of 0.858. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the age-adjusted D-dimer combined with the modified Wells score for DVT diagnosis were 78.95%, 80.68%, 57%, 92.2%, and 80.26%, respectively. When analyzing subgroups, the accuracy was 79.55% for participants with cerebral hemorrhage, 81.69% for those with craniocerebral injury, 74.99% for participants with intracranial infection, and 88.89% for those with craniocerebral tumor. Conclusion The combination of the age-adjusted D-dimer thresholds with the modified Wells score might effectively predict lower extremity DVT.
Multi-Lineage Human Endometrial Organoids on Acellular Amniotic Membrane for Endometrium Regeneration

Asherman’s syndrome is an endometrial regeneration disorder resulting from injury to the endometrial basal layer, causing the formation of scar tissue in the uterus and cervix. This usually leads to uterine infertility, menstrual disorders, and placental abnormalities. While stem cell therapy has shown extensive progress in repairing the damaged endometrium and preventing intrauterine adhesion, issues of low engraftment rates, rapid senescence, and the risk of tumorigenesis remain to be resolved for efficient and effective application of this technology in endometrial repair. This study addressed these challenges by developing a co-culture system to generate multi-lineage endometrial organoids (MLEOs) comprising endometrial epithelium organoids (EEOs) and endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs). The efficacy of these MLEOs was investigated by seeding them on a biocompatible scaffold, the human acellular amniotic membrane (HAAM), to create a biological graft patch, which was subsequently transplanted into an injury model of the endometrium in rats. The results indicated that the MLEOs on the HAAM patch facilitated endometrial angiogenesis, regeneration, and improved pregnancy outcomes. The MLEOs on the HAAM patch could serve as a promising strategy for treating endometrial injury and preventing Asherman’s syndrome.
Serum Ghrelin and Glukagon-like Peptid 1 Levels in Children with Prader-Willi and Bardet-Biedl Syndromes.

Objective Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) are common cause of pediatric syndromic obesity. We aim to investigate a possible role of ghrelin and glukagon-like peptid-1 (GLP-1) in pathophysiology of Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) and Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS). Methods We recruited 12 subjects with PWS, 12 subjects with BBS, 13 obese controls (OC) and 12 lean controls (LC). Fasting serum ghrelin and GLP-1 levels were measured by ELISA method. Results In PWS group, no significant difference was detected for ghrelin when compared with OC and LC; 0.96 (0.69-1.15), 0.92 (0.72-1.20) and 1.13 (0.84-1.29 ng/ml), respectively. Similarly, no significant difference was detected for GLP-1 when compared with OC and LC; 1.86 (1.5- 2.94), 2.24 (1.62-2.78) and 2.06 (1.8-3.41) ng/ml, respectively. In BBS group, no significant difference was detected for ghrelin when compared with OK and SC; 1.05 (0.87-1.51), 0.92 (0.72-1.20) and 1.13 (0.84-1.29) ng/ml, respectively. Similarly, no significant difference was found for GLP-1 when compared with OC and SC; 2.46 (1.91 to 4.17), 2.24 (1.62-2.78) and 2.06 (1.8-3.41) ng/ml, respectively. Conclusion We found no definite role for ghrelin and GLP-1 in the pathogenesis of obesity in PWS and BBS. However, similar studies with larger series are needed.
ITIH5 inhibits proliferation, adipogenic differentiation, and secretion of inflammatory cytokines of human adipose stem cells—A new key in treating obesity?

Inter‐α‐trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 5 (ITIH5) is widely expressed in the human body, and it is detected to be particularly abundant in adipose tissue. ITIH5 expression is increased in people with obesity compared to lean persons and is decreased by diet‐induced weight loss. This suggests that ITIH5 may be involved in the development of adiposity and clinical metabolic variables, although its exact function remains unknown. We measured the protein concentration of ITIH5 in adipose samples from patients undergoing abdominoplasty and tested for correlation with the subjects' BMI as well as inflammatory mediators. We stimulated human adipose stem cells (ASCs) with recombinant (r)ITIH5 protein and tested for an effect on proliferation, differentiation, and immunosuppressive properties when the cells were exposed to an artificial inflammatory environment. We found positive correlations between ITIH5 levels and the BMI (p < .001) as well as concentrations of inflammatory cytokines (TNF‐α, IL‐6, and MCP‐1) in adipose tissue (p < .01). Application of the rITIH5 protein inhibited both proliferation (p < .001) and differentiation of ASCs. Especially, the development of mature adipocytes was reduced by over 50%. Moreover, rITIH5 decreased the release of IL‐6 and MCP‐1 when the cells were exposed to TNF‐α and IL‐1β (p < .001). Our data suggest that ITIH5 is an adipokine that is increasingly released during human adipose tissue development, acting as a regulator that inhibits proliferation and adipogenic differentiation of ASCs. ITIH5 thus presents itself as a positive regulator of adipose tissue homeostasis, possibly protecting against both hyperplasia and hypertrophy of adipose tissue and the associated chronic inflammation.
Discovering individual fingerprints in resting‐state functional connectivity using deep neural networks

Non‐negligible idiosyncrasy due to interindividual differences is an ongoing issue in resting‐state functional MRI (rfMRI) analysis. We show that a deep neural network (DNN) can be employed for individual identification by learning important features from the time‐varying functional connectivity (FC) of rfMRI in the Human Connectome Project. We employed the trained DNN to identify individuals from an independent dataset acquired at our institution. The results revealed that the DNN could successfully identify 300 individuals with an error rate of 2.9% using 15 s time‐window and 870 individuals with an error rate of 6.7%. A trained DNN with nonlinear hidden layers led to the proposal of the “fingerprint of FC” (fpFC) as representative edges of individual FC. The fpFCs for individuals exhibited commonly important and individual‐specific edges across time‐window lengths (from 5 min to 15 s). Furthermore, the utility of our model for another group of subjects was validated, supporting the feasibility of our technique in the context of transfer learning. In conclusion, our study offers an insight into the discovery of the intrinsic mode of the human brain using whole‐brain resting‐state FC and DNNs.
A KDPG sensor RccR governs Pseudomonas aeruginosa carbon metabolism and aminoglycoside antibiotic tolerance

Abstract Pseudomonas aeruginosa harbors sophisticated transcription factor (TF) networks to coordinately regulate cellular metabolic states for rapidly adapting to changing environments. The extraordinary capacity in fine-tuning the metabolic states enables its success in tolerance to antibiotics and evading host immune defenses. However, the linkage among transcriptional regulation, metabolic states and antibiotic tolerance in P. aeruginosa remains largely unclear. By screening the P. aeruginosa TF mutant library constructed by CRISPR/Cas12k-guided transposase, we identify that rccR (PA5438) is a major genetic determinant in aminoglycoside antibiotic tolerance, the deletion of which substantially enhances bacterial tolerance. We further reveal the inhibitory roles of RccR in pyruvate metabolism (aceE/F) and glyoxylate shunt pathway (aceA and glcB), and overexpression of aceA or glcB enhances bacterial tolerance. Moreover, we identify that 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate (KDPG) is a signal molecule that directly binds to RccR. Structural analysis of the RccR/KDPG complex reveals the detailed interactions. Substitution of the key residue R152, K270 or R277 with alanine abolishes KDPG sensing by RccR and impairs bacterial growth with glycerol or glucose as the sole carbon source. Collectively, our study unveils the connection between aminoglycoside antibiotic tolerance and RccR-mediated central carbon metabolism regulation in P. aeruginosa, and elucidates the KDPG-sensing mechanism by RccR.
LAND RECLAMATION IN ICELAND

Erosion is one of the most severe ecological problems in Iceland. It has been estimated that more than 50%o of the original vegetative cover has been lost since settlement in 874 and active erosion continues to be widespread throughout the country. Since its founding in 1907, the Soil Conservation Service of Iceland (SCS) has emphasized control of wind erosion and reclamation of eroded areas. Methods have primarily involved stabilizing sand dunes with Elymus arenarius and reseeding eroded lands with grasses such as Festuca rubra and Poa pratensis. Approximately 2%o of Iceland has been fenced off by the SCS to exclude livestock grazing from areas experiencing severe erosion. The vegetation has recovered considerably within these protected areas and in other areas where grazing intensity has been reduced. The rate of recovery varies greatly depending on elevation, soil type, proximity to natural seed sources, and reclamation practices.
Improving the targeted delivery of curcumin to esophageal cancer cells via a novel formulation of biodegradable lecithin/chitosan nanoparticles with downregulated miR-20a and miR-21 expression

Nanoencapsulation, employing safe materials, holds substantial promise for enhancing bioactive compounds’ delivery, stability, and bioactivity. In this study, we present an innovative and safe methodology for augmenting the incorporation of the anticancer agent, curcumin, thereby inducing apoptosis by downregulating miR20a and miR21 expression. Our established methodology introduces three pivotal elements that, to our knowledge, have not undergone formal validation: (1) Novel formulation: We introduce a unique formula for curcumin incorporation. (2) Biocompatibility and biodegradability: our formulation exclusively consists of biocompatible and biodegradable constituents, ensuring the absence of detrimental residues or undesirable reactions under varying conditions. (3) Low-temperature incorporation: Curcumin is incorporated into the formulation at temperatures approximating 50 °C. The formulation comprises lecithin (LE), chitosan (CH), an eco-friendly emulsifying agent, and olive oil as the solvent for curcumin. Nanoscale conversion is achieved through ultrasonication and probe sonication (20 kHz). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals spherical nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 29.33 nm and negative zeta potentials within the −28 to −34 mV range. Molecular studies involve the design of primers for miR20a and miR21. Our findings showcase a remarkable encapsulation efficiency of 91.1% for curcumin, as determined through a linear equation. The curcumin-loaded nanoformulation demonstrates potent anticancer activity, effectively activating the apoptosis pathway in cancer cells at the minimum inhibitory concentration. These results underscore the potential of our nanoformulation as a compelling, cancer-selective treatment strategy, preserving the integrity of normal cells, and thus, warranting further exploration in the field of cancer therapy.
The steroid hormone ADIOL promotes learning by reducing neural kynurenic acid levels

In this study, Lemieux et al. show that the small molecule F17 promotes feeding and cognitive function in C. elegans by engaging the intestinal receptor NHR-131 to increase synthesis of the steroid hormone 5-androstene 3β, 17β-diol (ADIOL). ADIOL subsequently stimulates neuronal NHR-91, reducing levels of the neuroinhibitory metabolite kynurenic acid, which enhances learning capacity in young and aged animals.
Efficiently Training Vision Transformers on Structural MRI Scans for Alzheimer’s Disease Detection

Neuroimaging of large populations is valuable to identify factors that promote or resist brain disease, and to assist diagnosis, subtyping, and prognosis. Data-driven models such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have increasingly been applied to brain images to perform diagnostic and prognostic tasks by learning robust features. Vision transformers (ViT) - a new class of deep learning architectures - have emerged in recent years as an alternative to CNNs for several computer vision applications. Here we tested variants of the ViT architecture for a range of desired neuroimaging downstream tasks based on difficulty, in this case for sex and Alzheimer's disease (AD) classification based on 3D brain MRI. In our experiments, two vision transformer architecture variants achieved an AUC of 0.987 for sex and 0.892 for AD classification, respectively. We independently evaluated our models on data from two benchmark AD datasets. We achieved a performance boost of 5% and 9-10% upon fine-tuning vision transformer models pre-trained on synthetic (generated by a latent diffusion model) and real MRI scans, respectively. Our main contributions include testing the effects of different ViT training strategies including pre-training, data augmentation and learning rate warm-ups followed by annealing, as pertaining to the neuroimaging domain. These techniques are essential for training ViT-like models for neuroimaging applications where training data is usually limited. We also analyzed the effect of the amount of training data utilized on the test-time performance of the ViT via data-model scaling curves.Clinical Relevance— The models evaluated in this work could be trained on neuroimaging data to assist in diagnosis, subtyping and prognosis of Alzheimer's disease.
Distinct neurogenetic mechanisms establish the same chemosensory valence state at different life stages in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract An animal's preference for many chemosensory cues remains constant despite dramatic changes in the animal's internal state. The mechanisms that maintain chemosensory preference across different physiological contexts remain poorly understood. We previously showed that distinct patterns of neural activity and motor output are evoked by carbon dioxide (CO2) in starved adults vs dauers of Caenorhabditis elegans, despite the two life stages displaying the same preference (attraction) for CO2. However, how the distinct CO2-evoked neural dynamics and motor patterns contribute to CO2 attraction at the two life stages remained unclear. Here, using a CO2 chemotaxis assay, we show that different interneurons are employed to drive CO2 attraction at the two life stages. We also investigate the molecular mechanisms that mediate CO2 attraction in dauers vs adults. We show that insulin signaling promotes CO2 attraction in dauers but not starved adults and that different combinations of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides are used for CO2 attraction at the two life stages. Our findings provide new insight into the distinct molecular and cellular mechanisms used by C. elegans at two different life stages to generate attractive behavioral responses to CO2.
Soil carbon dioxide partial pressure and dissolved inorganic carbonate chemistry under elevated carbon dioxide and ozone

Global emissions of atmospheric CO2 and tropospheric O3 are rising and expected to impact large areas of the Earth’s forests. While CO2 stimulates net primary production, O3 reduces photosynthesis, altering plant C allocation and reducing ecosystem C storage. The effects of multiple air pollutants can alter belowground C allocation, leading to changes in the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) in the soil, chemistry of dissolved inorganic carbonate (DIC) and the rate of mineral weathering. As this system represents a linkage between the longand short-term C cycles and sequestration of atmospheric CO2, changes in atmospheric chemistry that affect net primary production may alter the fate of C in these ecosystems. To date, little is known about the combined effects of elevated CO2 and O3 on the inorganic C cycle in forest systems. Free air CO2 and O3 enrichment (FACE) technology was used at the Aspen FACE project in Rhinelander, Wisconsin to understand how elevated atmospheric CO2 and O3 interact to alter pCO2 and DIC concentrations in the soil. Ambient and elevated CO2 levels were 360±16 and 542±81 ll l , respectively; ambient and elevated O3 levels were 33±14 and 49±24 nl l , respectively. Measured concentrations of soil CO2 and calculated concentrations of DIC increased over the growing season by 14 and 22%, respectively, under elevated atmospheric CO2 and were unaffected by elevated tropospheric O3. The increased concentration of DIC altered inorganic carbonate chemistry by increasing system total alkalinity by 210%, likely due to enhanced chemical weathering. The study also demonstrated the close coupling between the seasonal dC of soil pCO2 and DIC, as a mixing model showed that new atmospheric CO2 accounted for approximately 90% of the C leaving the system as DIC. This study illustrates the potential of using stable isotopic techniques and FACE technology to examine longand short-term ecosystem C sequestration.
Orientational Nanoconjugation with Gold Endows Marked Antimicrobial Potential and Drugability of Ultrashort Dipeptides

Antibiotic resistance is a global threat. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are highly desirable to treat multidrug-resistant pathogen infection. However, few AMPs are clinically available, due to high cost, instability, and poor selectivity. Here, ultrashort AMPs (2–3 residues with an N-terminal cysteine) are designed and assembled as gold nanoparticles. Au–S conjugation and ultrashort size restrict nonspecific reactions and peptide orientation, thus concentrating positively charged residues on the surface. The nanostructured assemblies enormously enhance antimicrobial abilities by 1000–6000-fold and stability. One representative (Au-Cys-Arg-NH2, Au_CR) shows selective antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus with 10 nM minimal inhibitory concentration. Au_CR has comparable or better in vivo antimicrobial potency than vancomycin and methicillin, with low propensity to induce resistance, little side effects, and high stability (17.5 h plasma half-life). Au_CR acts by inducing collapse of membrane potential and rupture of the bacterial membrane. The report provides insights for developing AMP–metal nanohybrids, particularly tethering nonspecific reactions and AMP orientation on the metal surface.