Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
VE-cadherin cleavage in sleep apnoea: new insights into intermittent hypoxia-related endothelial permeability

Background Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) causes intermittent hypoxia that in turn induces endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis progression. We hypothesised that VE-cadherin cleavage, detected by its released extracellular fragment solubilised in the blood (sVE), may be an early indicator of emergent abnormal endothelial permeability. Our aim was to assess VE-cadherin cleavage in OSA patients and in in vivo and in vitro intermittent hypoxia models to decipher the cellular mechanisms and consequences. Methods Sera from seven healthy volunteers exposed to 14 nights of intermittent hypoxia, 43 OSA patients and 31 healthy control subjects were analysed for their sVE content. Human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were exposed to 6 h of intermittent hypoxia in vitro, with or without an antioxidant or inhibitors of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1, tyrosine kinases or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathways. VE-cadherin cleavage and phosphorylation were evaluated, and endothelial permeability was assessed by measuring transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)–dextran flux. Results sVE was significantly elevated in sera from healthy volunteers submitted to intermittent hypoxia and OSA patients before treatment, but conversely decreased in OSA patients after 6 months of continuous positive airway pressure treatment. OSA was the main factor accounting for sVE variations in a multivariate analysis. In in vitro experiments, cleavage and expression of VE-cadherin increased upon HAEC exposure to intermittent hypoxia. TEER decreased and FITC–dextran flux increased. These effects were reversed by all of the pharmacological inhibitors tested. Conclusions We suggest that in OSA, intermittent hypoxia increases endothelial permeability in OSA by inducing VE-cadherin cleavage through reactive oxygen species production, and activation of HIF-1, VEGF and tyrosine kinase pathways. This study demonstrates for the first time that VE-cadherin is cleaved in sleep apnoea patients, in volunteers exposed to 14 nights of intermittent hypoxia and in endothelial cells exposed to in vitro intermittent hypoxia, leading to increased endothelial permeability https://bit.ly/3sAy5sc
Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells Transplanted with Nanohydroxyapatite/chitosan/gelatin 3D Porous Scaffolds Promote Jaw Bone Regeneration in Swine.

Dental-tissue-derived stem cells have been used for tissue engineering due to their ease of isolation and efficacy in proliferation and differentiation in vitro and in vivo; and for bone tissue engineering scaffold, nanohydroxyapatite/chitosan/gelatin three-dimensional (3D) porous scaffold (nHA/CG) is promising for jaw bone regeneration because of its structural and functional similarity to natural bone. In our previous study，the efficiency of scaffolds with stem cells complexes on osteogenesis was confirmed in immunocompromised mice in vivo. However, the bone regeneration efficiency of stem cell-seeded nHA/CG scaffold in a large animal jaw bone defect model is unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bone regeneration potential of nHA/CG scaffold with human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) in critical-sized jaw bone defects in minipigs. hPDLSCs isolated from periodontal ligament of discarded teeth for orthodontic purpose were seeded into nHA/CG scaffold. The scaffold was successfully synthesized as described in our previous studies. Forty-eight critical-sized jaw bone defects were created in 12 minipigs. The surgical sites were randomly assigned to one of three groups to investigate the jaw bone regeneration of hPDLSCs composited with scaffold (hPDLSCs/nHA/CG), scaffold alone (nHA/CG) and negative control group with no cells and scaffold implanted into defects. The bone regeneration effects of three groups were accessed for up to 12 weeks. The results showed that hPDLSCs adhere well on nHA/CG scaffold in vitro, compared with pure scaffold, pure scaffold without cells, hPDLSCs and nHA/CG composities significantly increased new bone formation and generated large bone with normal architectures and vascularization in vivo. Immunohistochemistry showed that the runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) were highly expressed in the bone marrow formed by hPDLSCs/nHA/CG. In conclusion, this study provided strong evidence for the future clinical applications of nHA/CG scaffold with transplanted hPDLSCs to regenerate bone in large jaw bone defects.
Zinc Nutrition of Onion: Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

ABSTRACT Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a global nutritional problem in crops grown in calcareous soils. However, plant analysis criteria, a good tool for interpreting crop Zn requirement, is scarcely reported in literature for onion (Allium cepa L.). In a greenhouse experiment, Zn requirement, critical concentrations in diagnostic parts and genotypic variation were assessed using four onion cultivars (‘Swat-1’, ‘Phulkara,’ ‘Sariab Red,’ and ‘Chilton-89’) grown in a Zn-deficient (AB-DTPA extractable, 0.44 Zn mg kg−1), calcareous soil of Gujranwala series (Typic Hapludalf). Five rates of Zn, ranging from 0 to 16 mg Zn kg−1 soil, were applied as zinc sulphate (ZnSO4·7H2O) along with adequate basal fertilization of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and boron (B). Four onion seedlings were transplanted in each pot. Whole shoots of two plants and recently matured leaves of other two plants were sampled. Zinc application significantly increased dry bulb yield and maximum yield was produced with 8 mg Zn kg−1. Application of higher rates did not improve yield further. The cultivars differed significantly in Zn efficiency and cv. ‘Swat-1’ was most Zn-efficient. Fertilizer requirement for near-maximum dry bulb yield was 2.5 mg Zn kg−1. Plant tissue critical Zn concentrations were 30 mg kg−1 in young whole shoots, 25 mg kg−1 in matured leaves, 16 mg kg−1 in tops and 14 mg Zn kg−1 in bulb. Zinc content in mature bulb also appeared to be a good indicator of soil Zn availability status.
Visual selective attention and the control of tracking eye movements: A critical review.

People's eyes are directed at objects of interest with the aim of acquiring visual information. However, processing this information is constrained in capacity, requiring task-driven and salience-driven attentional mechanisms to select few among the many available objects. A wealth of behavioural and neurophysiological evidence has demonstrated that visual selection and motor selection of saccade targets rely on shared mechanisms. This coupling supports the premotor theory of visual attention put forth more than 30 years ago, postulating visual selection as a necessary stage in motor selection. We examine to which extent the coupling of visual and motor selection observed with saccades is replicated during ocular tracking. Ocular tracking combines catch-up saccades and smooth pursuit to foveate a moving object. We find evidence that ocular tracking requires visual selection of the speed and direction of the moving target, but the position of the motion signal may not coincide with the position of the pursuit target. Further, visual and motor selection can be spatially decoupled when pursuit is initiated (open-loop pursuit). We propose that a main function of coupled visual and motor selection is to serve the coordination of catch-up saccades and pursuit eye movements. A simple race-to-threshold model is proposed to explain the variable coupling of visual selection during pursuit, catch-up and regular saccades, while generating testable predictions. We discuss pending issues, such as disentangling visual selection from pre-attentive visual processing and response selection, and the pinpointing of visual selection mechanisms, which have begun to be addressed in the neurophysiological literature.
Oxidation‐Responsive, Tunable Growth Factor Delivery from Polyelectrolyte‐Coated Implants

Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) coatings, constructed on the surfaces of tissue engineering scaffolds using layer‐by‐layer assembly (LbL), promote sustained release of therapeutic molecules and have enabled regeneration of large‐scale, pre‐clinical bone defects. However, these systems primarily rely on non‐specific hydrolysis of PEM components to foster drug release, and their pre‐determined drug delivery schedules potentially limit future translation into innately heterogeneous patient populations. To trigger therapeutic delivery directly in response to local environmental stimuli, an LbL‐compatible polycation solely degraded by cell‐generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) was synthesized. These thioketal‐based polymers were selectively cleaved by physiologic doses of ROS, stably incorporated into PEM films alongside growth factors, and facilitated tunable release of therapeutic bone morphogenetic protein‐2 (BMP‐2) upon oxidation. These coatings' sensitivity to oxidation was also dependent on the polyanions used in film construction, providing a simple method for enhancing ROS‐mediated protein delivery in vitro. Correspondingly, when implanted in critically‐sized rat calvarial defects, the most sensitive ROS‐responsive coatings generated a 50% increase in bone regeneration compared with less sensitive formulations and demonstrated a nearly threefold extension in BMP‐2 delivery half‐life over conventional hydrolytically‐sensitive coatings. These combined results highlight the potential of environmentally‐responsive PEM coatings as tunable drug delivery systems for regenerative medicine.
Adaptive Irradiance Sampling for Many-Light Rendering of Subsurface Scattering

Rendering a translucent material involves integrating the product of the transmittance-weighted irradiance and the BSSRDF over the surface of it. In previous methods, this spatial integral was computed by creating a dense distribution of discrete points over the surface or by importance-sampling based on the BSSRDF. Both of these approaches necessitate specifying the number of samples, which affects both the quality and the computation time for rendering. An insufficient number of samples leads to noise and artifacts in the rendered image and an excessive number results in a prohibitively long rendering time. In this article, we propose an error estimation method for translucent materials in a many-light rendering framework. Our adaptive sampling can automatically determine the number of samples so that the estimated relative error of each pixel intensity is less than a user-specified threshold. We also propose an efficient method to generate the sampling points that make large contributions to the pixel intensity taking into account the BSSRDF. This enables us to use a simple uniform sampling, instead of costly importance sampling based on the BSSRDF. The experimental results show that our method can accurately estimate the error. In addition, in comparison with the previous methods, our sampling method achieves better estimation accuracy in equal-time.
Within-session repeated transcranial direct current stimulation of the posterior parietal cortex enhances spatial working memory

ABSTRACT Spatial working memory (SWM) is an essential cognitive ability that supports complex tasks, but its capacity is limited. Studies using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) have shown potential benefits for SWM performance. Recent studies have shown that repeated short applications of tDCS affected corticospinal excitability. Moreover, neuroimaging studies have indicated that the pattern of neural activity measured in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) tracks SWM ability. It is unknown whether repeated tDCS can enhance SWM and whether varied tDCS protocols (single 10 min tDCS, 10 min tDCS-5 min break-10 min tDCS, 10 min tDCS-20 min break-10 min tDCS) over the right PPC have different effects on SWM. The current study investigated whether offline single-session and repeated tDCS over the right PPC affects SWM updating, as measured by spatial 2-back and 3-back tasks. The results showed that stimulating the right PPC with repeated 10 min anodal tDCS significantly improved the response speed of the spatial 2-back task relative to single-session tDCS. Repeated 10 min tDCS with a longer interval (i.e. inter-stimulation interval of 20 min) enhanced the response speed of the spatial 3-back task. Altogether these findings provide causal evidence that suggests that the right PPC plays an important role in SWM. Furthermore, repeated tDCS with longer intervals may be a promising intervention for improving SWM-related function.
Characteristic features of stone-wales defects in single-walled carbon nanotube; adsorption, dispersion, and field emission

Adsorption behaviors of dodecanethiol (C12H25SH) molecules are investigated on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with vibrational and X-ray photoelectron spectrometers. The active adsorption sites are proved as Stone-Wales (SW) defects (5-7 ring defects). The SW defect-removed SWCNTs formed by reacting nanotubes with allyl acrylate molecules are compared with pristine SWCNTs in dispersion and field emission. The former shows higher dispersion and field emission than the latter.
A Mobile Patient-Facing App for Tracking Patient-Reported Outcomes in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors: Single-Arm Feasibility Study

Background Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) frequently experience disease-related symptoms and treatment adverse effects that impact their overall quality of life. Cancer-specific mobile health apps for patient-related outcomes allow patients to communicate with their clinicians and proactively track their symptoms, which have been shown to improve clinical management and disease outcomes. Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of LogPAL, a novel iPhone-based mobile health app designed to help HNC survivors track and manage their posttreatment symptoms. Methods Patients who completed curative treatment for HNC in the preceding 24 months were recruited from 2 clinical sites within a single institution. Upon enrollment, participants completed a brief sociodemographic survey, downloaded the app onto their iPhone devices, and were asked to complete a series of biweekly questionnaires (based on the Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events) via the app for an 8-week study period. The primary feasibility endpoints included retention (retaining >80% of the enrolled participants for the duration of the study period), adherence (>50% of the participants completing 100% of the questionnaires over the study period), and usability (a mean system usability scale [SUS] score >68). Additional postintervention questions were collected to assess perceived usefulness, acceptance, and overall satisfaction. Results Between January and October 2019, 38 participants were enrolled in the study. Three participants dropped out, and 3 were classified as nonusers. The remaining 32 (87%) were eligible for analysis. Their mean age was 57.8 (SD 12.3) years (range 24-77 years, 81% [26/32] male). Overall, 375 of 512 (73.2%) questionnaires were completed, with 17 (53%) of the 32 participants adherent. Participant-reported usability was acceptable; the mean SUS score was 71.9 (95% CI 64.3-79.5) with high satisfaction of LogPAL usefulness and likelihood to recommend to other cancer survivors. Conclusions This single-arm prospective pilot study showed that LogPAL is a feasible, regularly used, accepted app for HNC survivors, justifying a full-scale pilot. Based on the findings from this study, future iterations will aim to improve usability and test intervention efficacy.
Updated 5-year and new 10-year sexual recidivism rate norms for Static-99R with routine/complete samples.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop new 10-year recidivism rate norms as well as to update 5-year norms for the Static-99R risk tool for routine/complete samples. We also present the extrapolated sexual recidivism rates from these new 10-year norms for follow-up periods of 11 to 20 years. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that absolute-recidivism base rates (B02; i.e., the intercept centered on the median score of 2) would vary; however, the relative predictive accuracy (i.e., discrimination; B1) would be stable across samples. In addition, compared with the estimated sexual recidivism rates with a fixed 5-year follow-up time, the estimated rates with a fixed 10-year follow-up time would be expected to be consistently higher across the Static-99R scores. Method: The current study included 12 independent samples (N = 7,224 for the 5-year recidivism rate norms; N = 1,599 [k = 6] for the 10-year norms) classified as routine/complete samples, that is, relatively random samples from a correctional system. Logistic regression parameters (B02 and B1) across the studies were aggregated using fixed-effect meta-analyses. Results: There was statistically significant variability in the base rates (B02), whereas the between-sample variability in the relative-risk parameters (B1) was no more than would be expected by chance. As expected, the 10-year base rates were approximately 1.5 times higher than the 5-year base rates (7.20% vs. 4.58%), and the extrapolated 20-year sexual recidivism rates were approximately double the observed 5-year sexual recidivism rates. Conclusions: The current study provides empirical evidence to estimate 5- and 10-year sexual recidivism rates based on Static-99R total scores. Evaluators who are especially concerned about long-term sexual recidivism risk (e.g., civil commitment) can report the expected sexual recidivism risk based on the new 10-year norms and the extrapolated sexual recidivism rates for follow-up periods of 11 to 20 years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Approaches to Revealing the Neural Basis of Muscle Synergies: A Review and A Critique.

The central nervous system (CNS) may produce coordinated motor outputs via the combination of motor modules representable as muscle synergies. Identification of muscle synergies has hitherto relied on applying factorization algorithms to multi-muscle electromyographic data (EMGs) recorded during motor behaviors. Recent studies have attempted to validate the neural basis of the muscle synergies identified by independently retrieving the muscle synergies through CNS manipulations and analytic techniques such as spike-triggered averaging of EMGs. Experimental data have demonstrated the pivotal role of the spinal premotor interneurons in the synergies' organization and the presence of motor cortical loci whose stimulations offer access to the synergies, but whether the motor cortex is also involved in organizing the synergies has remained unsettled. We argue that one difficulty inherent in current approaches to probing the synergies' neural basis is that the EMG generative model based on linear combination of synergies and the decomposition algorithms used for synergy identification are not grounded on enough prior knowledge from neurophysiology. Progress may be facilitated by constraining or updating the model and algorithms with knowledge derived directly from CNS manipulations or recordings. An investigative framework based on evaluating the relevance of neurophysiologically constrained models of muscle synergies to natural motor behaviors will allow a more sophisticated understanding of motor modularity, which will help the community move forward from the current debate on the neural versus non-neural origin of muscle synergies.
Profile of respiratory syncytial virus prefusogenic fusion protein nanoparticle vaccine

ABSTRACT Introduction Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of acute lower respiratory infections worldwide. The RSV fusion (F) glycoprotein is a major focus of vaccine development. Despite over 60 years of research, there is no licensed vaccine for RSV. Areas covered The primary focus of this review is a novel RSV-F recombinant nanoparticle vaccine from Novavax utilizing the F protein, a conserved and immunodominant surface glycoprotein. This RSV F recombinant nanoparticle vaccine adsorbed to 0.4 mg of aluminum phosphate was ultimately administered by a single intramuscular injection during the third trimester of pregnancy in an effort to induce passive immunity in newborns. Its mechanism, performance in clinical trials, and place in RSV vaccine history are discussed. Expert opinion The vaccine was safe and well tolerated in pregnant women and the results suggest potential benefits with respect to other medically relevant end-point events involving RSV-associated respiratory and all-cause disease in infants. However, the RSV-F recombinant nanoparticle vaccine did not meet the pre-specified primary success criteria for efficacy against RSV-associated, medically significant lower respiratory tract infection in infants up to 90 days of life. The potential benefits to infants from maternal immunization and excellent safety profile warrant further confirmatory studies. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Biotechnological basis of microbial consortia for the removal of pesticides from the environment

Abstract The application of microbial strains as axenic cultures has frequently been employed in a diverse range of sectors. In the natural environment, microbes exist as multispecies and perform better than monocultures. Cell signaling and communication pathways play a key role in engineering microbial consortia, because in a consortium, the microorganisms communicate via diffusible signal molecules. Mixed microbial cultures have gained little attention due to the lack of proper knowledge about their interactions with each other. Some ideas have been proposed to deal with and study various microbes when they live together as a community, for biotechnological application purposes. In natural environments, microbes can possess unique metabolic features. Therefore, microbial consortia divide the metabolic burden among strains in the group and robustly perform pesticide degradation. Synthetic microbial consortia can perform the desired functions at naturally contaminated sites. Therefore, in this article, special attention is paid to the microbial consortia and their function in the natural environment. This review comprehensively discusses the recent applications of microbial consortia in pesticide degradation and environmental bioremediation. Moreover, the future directions of synthetic consortia have been explored. The review also explores the future perspectives and new platforms for these approaches, besides highlighting the practical understanding of the scientific information behind consortia.
Laser induced phenomena in γ -glycine crystals

The photoinduced changes of absorption within the spectral range 200–800 nm and optical second harmonic generation caused by illumination by the cw second harmonic generation of the Nd:YAG laser (λ = 532 nm) and power about 400 mW were investigated. We have established that increasing the time of illumination by the second harmonic generation of the Nd:YAG laser leads to the occurrence of one strong spectral minimum at 319 nm and another less strong at 420 nm. Increasing the time of illumination leads to a slight red spectral shift of the photoinduced minima. The absence of a substantial increase in temperature indicates that the principal role is played here by the photooccupation of the trapping levels. The effect is observed in a wide spectral range of the incident photoinduced angles, however, the beam should possess a good Gaussian-like form and to be space homogenous. The results were reproduced with precision up to 3–4% which was achieved due to additional stabilization of the photoinduced laser power by double control of the power.