Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dietary Pattern and Plasma BCAA-Variations in Healthy Men and Women—Results from the KarMeN Study

Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) in plasma are discussed as risk factors for the onset of several diseases. Information about the contribution of the overall diet to plasma BCAA concentrations is controversial. Our objective was to investigate which dietary pattern is associated with plasma BCAA concentrations and whether other additional nutrients besides BCAA further characterize this dietary pattern. Based on the cross-sectional KarMeN study, fasting plasma amino acid (AA) concentrations, as well as current and habitual dietary intake were assessed in 298 healthy individuals. Using reduced rank regression, we derived a habitual dietary pattern that explained 32.5% of plasma BCAA variation. This pattern was high in meat, sausages, sauces, eggs, and ice cream but low in nuts, cereals, mushrooms, and pulses. The age, sex, and energy intake adjusted dietary pattern score was associated with an increase in animal-based protein together with a decrease in plant-based protein, dietary fiber, and an unfavorable fatty acid composition. Besides BCAA, alanine, lysine and the aromatic AA were positively associated with the dietary pattern score as well. All of these factors were reported to be associated with risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases before. Our data suggest that rather than the dietary intake of BCAA, the overall dietary pattern that contributes to high BCAA plasma concentrations may modulate chronic diseases risk.
Stem radial growth and water storage responses to heat and drought vary between conifers with differing hydraulic strategies.

We investigated stem radial growth and water storage dynamics of 2 conifer species differing in hydraulic carbon strategies, Juniperus monosperma and Pinus edulis, under conditions of ambient, drought (∼45% reduction in precipitation), heat (∼4.8 °C temperature increase), and the combination of drought + heat, in 2013 and 2014. Juniper maintained low growth across all treatments. Overall, the relatively isohydric piñon pine showed significantly greater growth and water storage recharge than the relatively anisohydric juniper across all treatments in the average climate year (2014) but no differences in the regionally dry year (2013). Piñon pine ceased growth at a constant predawn water potential across all treatments and at a less negative water potential threshold than juniper. Heat has a greater negative impact on piñon pines' growth and water storage than drought, whereas juniper was, in contrast, unaffected by heat but strongly impacted by drought. The whole-plant hydraulic carbon strategies, in this case captured using the isohydric/anisohydric concept, translate into alternative growth and water storage strategies under drought and heat conditions.
Automatic classification of pathological myopia in retinal fundus images using PAMELA

Pathological myopia is the seventh leading cause of blindness. We introduce a framework based on PAMELA (PAthological Myopia dEtection through peripapilLary Atrophy) for the detection of pathological myopia from fundus images. The framework consists of a pre-processing stage which extracts a region of interest centered on the optic disc. Subsequently, three analysis modules focus on detecting specific visual indicators. The optic disc tilt ratio module gives a measure of the axial elongation of the eye through inference from the deformation of the optic disc. In the texturebased ROI assessment module, contextual knowledge is used to demarcate the ROI into four distinct, clinically-relevant zones in which information from an entropy transform of the ROI is analyzed and metrics generated. In particular, the preferential appearance of peripapillary atrophy (PPA) in the temporal zone compared to the nasal zone is utilized by calculating ratios of the metrics. The PPA detection module obtains an outer boundary through a level-set method, and subtracts this region against the optic disc boundary. Temporal and nasal zones are obtained from the remnants to generate associated hue and color values. The outputs of the three modules are used as in a SVM model to determine the presence of pathological myopia in a retinal fundus image. Using images from the Singapore Eye Research Institute, the proposed framework reported an optimized accuracy of 90% and a sensitivity and specificity of 0.85 and 0.95 respectively, indicating promise for the use of the proposed system as a screening tool for pathological myopia.
Caspase Inhibition: Optimizing Grafts for Transplantation.

A fter the development of specialized preservation solutions in the 1980s, static cold storage (SCS) emerged as the predominant preservation modality in kidney transplantation, slowing down ischemic injury and facilitating transportation and surgical logistics. Consequent to broadened access andhigh demand for kidney transplantation, we now face a significant shortage of organs suitable for transplantation. This deficiency underlies efforts to push the boundaries of acceptable donor and organ characteristics and cold storage time with the goal of transplanting all patients who will benefit. However, use of “marginal” grafts is associated with high rates of delayed graft function (DGF), which increases costs of transplantation and is associated with inferior long-term outcomes, although this negative impact is not observed in donation after circulatory death grafts, despite the increased incidence of DGF. One potential cause of DGF is prolonged cold ischemia, thus highlighting the importance of preservation conditions on posttransplant graft function. Optimization of the preservation environment is a fundamental principle in organ transplantation to protect this scarce resource and maximize utilization. Hence, any effort to broaden organ acceptance criteria must be accompanied by efforts to assure all grafts function well after transplant. As noted, the etiology of DGF is multifactorial. Although the precise mechanism underlying cold ischemia-related graft injury and its relationship toDGFhas yet to be fully elucidated, evidence suggests a correlation with increased apoptosis via augmented caspase-3 activity after warm reperfusion. In this issue, Jani et al evaluate the efficacy of a pan-caspase inhibitor, Q-VD-OPh, administered during SCS, on graft function and histologic appearance in a murine transplantation model. This work builds on prior studies by this group demonstrating that Q-VD-OPh prevents cold storage-associated
Marine Microalgae with Anti-Cancer Properties

Cancer is the leading cause of death globally and finding new therapeutic agents for cancer treatment remains a major challenge in the pursuit for a cure. This paper presents an overview on microalgae with anti-cancer activities. Microalgae are eukaryotic unicellular plants that contribute up to 40% of global primary productivity. They are excellent sources of pigments, lipids, carotenoids, omega-3 fatty acids, polysaccharides, vitamins and other fine chemicals, and there is an increasing demand for their use as nutraceuticals and food supplements. Some microalgae are also reported as having anti-cancer activity. In this review, we report the microalgal species that have shown anti-cancer properties, the cancer cell lines affected by algae and the concentrations of compounds/extracts tested to induce arrest of cell growth. We also report the mediums used for growing microalgae that showed anti-cancer activity and compare the bioactivity of these microalgae with marine anticancer drugs already on the market and in phase III clinical trials. Finally, we discuss why some microalgae can be promising sources of anti-cancer compounds for future development.
Spatiotemporal Variation in Composition of Submicron Particles in Santiago Metropolitan Region, Chile

The chemical composition of submicron particles (aerodynamic diameter Da < 1.0 μm) was investigated at three locations in the Santiago Metropolitan Region (SMR), Chile. Measurements campaigns were conducted in winter and spring 2016, at representative sites of a rural, urban and urban receptor environment. Instrumentation consisted of an optical analyzer to determine Black Carbon (BC) and the Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) to measure concentrations of particulate chloride (Cl-), nitrate (NO3-), sulfate (SO42-), ammonium (NH4+) and non-refractory carbonaceous species (organics). Complementary data, such as ozone concentration and meteorological parameters were obtained from the public air quality network. Results showed that in both the winter and spring seasons the organics predominated in the mass of submicron particles. This fraction was followed in decreasing order by NO3-, NH4+, BC, SO42- and Cl-. The highest average organics concentrations were measured in winter at the urban (32.2 µg m–3) and urban receptor sites (20.1 µg m–3). In winter, average concentrations of both NO3- and NH4+ were higher at the urban receptor site (12.3 and 4.5 µg m–3, respectively) when compared to the urban site (6.4 and 3.1 µg m–3, respectively). In general, all the measured species were present in higher concentrations during winter, excepting SO42-, which was the only one that increased during spring. The transition towards spring was also associated with an acidification of the aerosol at the rural and urban receptor site, while at the urban site the aerosol was observed alkaline. The highest average ozone concentration during both the winter and spring seasons were recorded at the urban receptor site (7.2 and 24.0 ppb, respectively). The study reports data showing that the atmosphere in the SRM has a considerable load of particulate organic compounds, NO3- and NH4+, which are in higher concentrations at urban sites during the winter season. Based on wind patterns and the hourly profiles of chemical species, the study suggests that during daytime the polluted air masses from the urban center can move to the northeast part of the region (namely urban receptor site) leading to the formation of submicron particles as well as photochemical ozone.
CircRNA_0023642 promotes migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells by regulating EMT.

OBJECTIVE Non-coding circular RNAs (circRNAs) have displayed dysregulated expression in various tumor tissues. However, their role in the progression of cancers remains largely unknown. We aimed at examining the expression, functions, and molecular mechanisms of a new circRNA (circRNA_0023642) in gastric cancer (GC). PATIENTS AND METHODS We evaluated the expression levels of circRNA_0023642 in GC tissues, adjacent normal tissues and cells lines using qRT-PCR. The functional roles of circRNA_0023642 in GC were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, transwell assay, and flow cytometric analysis. Western blot was used to analyze the effect of circRNA_0023642 on the expression of EMT-related proteins. RESULTS We found that circRNA_0023642 was upregulated in GC tissues and cell lines. Functionally, down-regulation of circRNA_0023642 displayed the tumor-inhibitory effects by suppressing cell proliferation, migration, and invasion as well as inducing apoptosis. Mechanically, our results revealed that the abnormal expression of circRNA_0023642 could influence the EMT signaling pathway, which was demonstrated by measuring the expression levels of N-cadherin, vimentin snail, and E-cadherin. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that circRNA_0023642 serves as a metastasis activator by promoting EMT and may represent a novel molecular therapeutic target for GC.
Tree-Based Feature Transformation for Purchase Behavior Prediction

SUMMARY In the era of e-commerce, purchase behavior prediction is one of the most important issues to promote both online companies’ sales and the consumers’ experience. The previous researches usually use the feature engineering and ensemble machine learning algorithms for the prediction. The performance really depends on designed features and the scalability of algorithms because the large-scale data and a lot of categorical features lead to huge samples and the high-dimensional feature. In this study, we explore an alternative to use tree-based Feature Transformation (FT) and simple machine learning algorithms (e.g. Logistic Regression). Random Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting decision tree (GB) are used for FT. Then, the simple algorithm, rather than ensemble algorithms, is used to predict purchase behavior based on transformed features. Tree-based FT regards the leaves of trees as transformed features, and can learn high-order interactions among original features. Compared with RF, if GB is used for FT, simple algorithms are enough to achieve better performance.
RETRACTED:The Decoy Effect as a Nudge: Boosting Hand Hygiene With a Worse Option

This article provides the first test of the decoy effect as a nudge to influence real-world behavior. The decoy effect is the phenomenon that an additional but worse option can boost the appeal of an existing option. It has been widely demonstrated in hypothetical choices, but its usefulness in real-world settings has been subject to debate. In three longitudinal experiments in food-processing factories, we tested two decoy sanitation options that were worse than the existing sanitizer spray bottle. Results showed that the presence of a decoy, but not an additional copy of the original sanitizer bottle in a different color, drastically increased food workers' hand sanitizer use from the original sanitizer bottle and, consequently, improved workers' passing rate in hand sanitation tests from 60% to 70% to above 90% for 20 days. These findings indicate that the decoy effect can be a powerful nudge technique to influence real-world behavior.
Triplets, birthweight, and handedness

Significance Low birthweight is a risk factor for developmental delay, and is also associated with a higher odds of being left-handed. Likewise, compared with singletons, triplet births encompass an increased probability of left-handedness and developmental delay. In a large study, including triplets from two countries, we studied if left-handedness is associated with birthweight and postnatal development. Triplets have naturally low birthweights, being about 1.5 kg lighter than singletons. In both samples of triplets, we showed that left-handedness was associated with lower birthweight. Left-handers had also smaller infant head circumference and delayed motor development compared with right-handers, but these differences were not evident when controlling for birthweight. The mechanisms behind handedness formation in humans are still poorly understood. Very low birthweight is associated with higher odds of left-handedness, but whether this is due to low birthweight itself or premature birth is unknown. Handedness has also been linked to development, but the role of birthweight behind this association is unclear. Knowing that birthweight is lower in multiple births, triplets being about 1.5 kg lighter in comparison with singletons, and that multiples have a higher prevalence of left-handedness than singletons, we studied the association between birthweight and handedness in two large samples consisting exclusively of triplets from Japan (n = 1,305) and the Netherlands (n = 947). In both samples, left-handers had significantly lower birthweight (Japanese mean = 1,599 g [95% confidence interval (CI): 1,526–1,672 g]; Dutch mean = 1,794 g [95% CI: 1,709–1,879 g]) compared with right-handers (Japanese mean = 1,727 g [95% CI: 1,699–1,755 g]; Dutch mean = 1,903 g [95% CI: 1,867–1,938 g]). Within-family and between-family analyses both suggested that left-handedness is associated with lower birthweight, also when fully controlling for gestational age. Left-handers also had significantly delayed motor development and smaller infant head circumference compared with right-handers, but these associations diluted and became nonsignificant when controlling for birthweight. Our study in triplets provides evidence for the link between low birthweight and left-handedness. Our results also suggest that developmental differences between left- and right-handers are due to a shared etiology associated with low birthweight.
On the Podium…

It's the Olympics, and I, like a lot of other people, am losing a lot of sleep watching the television coverage from the winter events in South Korea. I find myself particularly attracted to the Alpine events and hockey. My university, Arizona State University, has only recently fielded a surprisingly competitive Division INCAAmen's hockey team, and this likely has rekindled my interests in the sport. The Olympic season has inspired me to examine the recently completed 2017 Volume 33 of this journal to try to identify my choices as the “medalists” from among the numerous excellent papers that have appeared. Now a note of warning. I have not used any objective judging criteria: citations, subject matter, no collaboration with my co‐chief editors, no advice from a panel of experts. Nothing but my own probably highly biased opinion. I am not going to award gold, silver, or bronze medal rankings either. I am just going to list the papers in reverse order of publication date (issue number), offer a few brief comments about each paper, and let you, the reader, award the medal positions. Or you can choose to completely disagree with my choices, in which case please email me and offer your selections as an alternative. They might appear in a future editorial. The most recently published paper is by Janj and Anderson‐Cook (2017). Their paper studies the effectiveness of 2 popular techniques for analyzing the data from unreplicated factorial designs, the normal (or equivalently the half‐normal) probability plot, and a least absolute shrinkage and selection operation plot. They investigate how these methods perform when either 1 observation is missing or when there is an outlier in the data. Because these designs are so widely used in practice, the authors' work should be of wide interest to industrial statisticians. The next paper is Capaci, Bergquist, Kulahci, and Vanhatalo (2017), which considers using designed experiments in processes that are operating under closed‐loop engineering process control. There is a well‐established literature on the integration of statistical process monitoring with engineering process control, but little work has been reported on using designed experiments in these situations. The authors study 2 situations. One explores the impact of experimental factors that may be considered as disturbances in a closed‐loop system. The second studies an experiment using the set‐points of the controllers as the design factors. Examples of how to analyze the 2 situations are presented.
Amazonia is the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity

Significance Amazonia is not only the world’s most diverse rainforest but is also the region in tropical America that has contributed most to its total biodiversity. We show this by estimating and comparing the evolutionary history of a large number of animal and plant species. We find that there has been extensive interchange of evolutionary lineages among different regions and biomes, over the course of tens of millions of years. Amazonia stands out as the primary source of diversity, which can be mainly explained by the total amount of time Amazonian lineages have occupied the region. The exceedingly rich and heterogeneous diversity of the American tropics could only be achieved by high rates of dispersal events across the continent. The American tropics (the Neotropics) are the most species-rich realm on Earth, and for centuries, scientists have attempted to understand the origins and evolution of their biodiversity. It is now clear that different regions and taxonomic groups have responded differently to geological and climatic changes. However, we still lack a basic understanding of how Neotropical biodiversity was assembled over evolutionary timescales. Here we infer the timing and origin of the living biota in all major Neotropical regions by performing a cross-taxonomic biogeographic analysis based on 4,450 species from six major clades across the tree of life (angiosperms, birds, ferns, frogs, mammals, and squamates), and integrate >1.3 million species occurrences with large-scale phylogenies. We report an unprecedented level of biotic interchange among all Neotropical regions, totaling 4,525 dispersal events. About half of these events involved transitions between major environmental types, with a predominant directionality from forested to open biomes. For all taxonomic groups surveyed here, Amazonia is the primary source of Neotropical diversity, providing >2,800 lineages to other regions. Most of these dispersal events were to Mesoamerica (∼1,500 lineages), followed by dispersals into open regions of northern South America and the Cerrado and Chaco biomes. Biotic interchange has taken place for >60 million years and generally increased toward the present. The total amount of time lineages spend in a region appears to be the strongest predictor of migration events. These results demonstrate the complex origin of tropical ecosystems and the key role of biotic interchange for the assembly of regional biotas.
The More, the Better? The Usefulness of Brimonidine as the Fourth Antiglaucoma Eye Drop

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to study the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering effect of adding brimonidine as the fourth antiglaucoma medication to a preexisting therapy of 3 topical drugs. Methods: This was a retrospective, register-based, cohort study of medical records and computerized medical information comprising 1 county in Sweden. The main outcome measure was change in IOP after brimonidine addition. Short-term and long-term effects were evaluated. Results: Of 4910 patients on antiglaucoma medication, 69 (1.4%) initiated a treatment with brimonidine as the fourth drug during 2014. Fifty-three patients were eligible for analysis. Forty-six patients tolerated the treatment. Among them, short-term IOP decreased by 17% (confidence interval, 10%-25%; P<0.001) after a mean of 46 days (SD, 50 d). Twenty-eight patients, that is, 53% of the eligible, remained on unchanged therapy after a mean follow-up time of 368 days (SD, 61 d). The long-term mean IOP decrease in this group was 20% (confidence interval, 11%-29%; P<0.0001). An IOP reduction of at least 20% was reached by 28 and 14 patients, in the short-term and long-term follow-ups, respectively. Conclusions: Brimonidine has the potential to reduce the IOP significantly even when used as the fourth drug. In the short-term, half of the patients reached the target IOP reduction (≥20%). After 1 year, a quarter of the eligible patients had had a sustained, uneventful effect. Thus, brimonidine as the fourth adjunctive antiglaucoma drop seems a valuable option for a minority of patients.
Pharmacokinetic Changes during Pregnancy According to Genetic Variants: a Prospective Study in HIV-Infected Patients Receiving Atazanavir-Ritonavir

ABSTRACT Atazanavir-ritonavir concentrations change over time during pregnancy in HIV-positive patients; the impact of genetic variants is unknown. Twenty patients were enrolled in this study; plasma and intracellular concentrations of antiretrovirals were measured, in addition to single-nucleotide polymorphisms in transport-related genes. Linear logistic regression showed that genetic variants in organic-anion-transporter-1B1- and pregnane-X-receptor-encoding genes affected third-trimester atazanavir exposure. In this prospective study, genetic variants partially explained the observed interpatient variability in third-trimester exposure to antiretrovirals.