Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mortality among Fire Department of the City of New York Rescue and Recovery Workers Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster, 2001–2017

The World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on 11 September 2001 have consistently been associated with elevated rates of physical and mental health morbidities, while evidence about mortality has been limited. We examined mortality between 12 September 2001 and 31 December 2017 among 15,431 WTC-exposed Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) firefighters and emergency medical service providers (EMS), specifically assessing associations between intensity of WTC-exposure and mortality risk. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) compared FDNY cohort mortality with the US general population using life table analysis. Deaths were identified via linkage to the National Death Index. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to identify associations between intensity of WTC exposure and mortality, accounting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking history, and other relevant confounders. We identified 546 deaths and a lower than expected all-cause mortality rate (SMR = 0.34; 95% CI, 0.31–0.37). No cause-specific SMRs were meaningfully elevated. Mortality hazard ratios showed no association or linear trend with level of WTC exposure. Our results provide evidence of the healthy worker effect, despite exposure to the World Trade Center. More follow-up time may be needed to assess the full impact of WTC exposure on mortality in this occupational population.
Carbon Nanomaterials as Versatile Platforms for Biosensing Applications

A biosensor is defined as a measuring system that includes a biological receptor unit with distinctive specificities toward target analytes. Such analytes include a wide range of biological origins such as DNAs of bacteria or viruses, or proteins generated from an immune system of infected or contaminated living organisms. They further include simple molecules such as glucose, ions, and vitamins. One of the major challenges in biosensor development is achieving efficient signal capture of biological recognition-transduction events. Carbon nanomaterials (CNs) are promising candidates to improve the sensitivity of biosensors while attaining low detection limits owing to their capability of immobilizing large quantities of bioreceptor units at a reduced volume, and they can also act as a transduction element. In addition, CNs can be adapted to functionalization and conjugation with organic compounds or metallic nanoparticles; the creation of surface functional groups offers new properties (e.g., physical, chemical, mechanical, electrical, and optical properties) to the nanomaterials. Because of these intriguing features, CNs have been extensively employed in biosensor applications. In particular, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), nanodiamonds, graphene, and fullerenes serve as scaffolds for the immobilization of biomolecules at their surface and are also used as transducers for the conversion of signals associated with the recognition of biological analytes. Herein, we provide a comprehensive review on the synthesis of CNs and their potential application to biosensors. In addition, we discuss the efforts to improve the mechanical and electrical properties of biosensors by combining different CNs.
Effectiveness and safety of massage in the treatment of the congenital muscular torticollis

Abstract Background: Massage has been widely used in the treatment of muscular torticollis in children, but there is no objective and systematic evaluation of the efficacy of various literature, and the efficacy of massage in the treatment of congenital muscular torticollis (CMT) is not clear. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of massage in the treatment of muscular torticollis in children. Methods: Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) will be searched from the databases of PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang Database, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database from their inception to May 2020. Two reviewers will independently select studies, collect data, and assess the methodology quality by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The RevMan V.5. 3 will be used for meta-analysis. Results: This study will provide an assessment of the current state of Chinese massage therapy for the congenital muscular torticollis, aiming to show the efficacy and safety of massage treatment. Conclusion: This study will provide evidence to judge whether massage is an effective intervention for the third lumbar vertebrae transverse process syndrome. INPLASY registration number: INPLASY202070086.
Hepatic microsomal bile acid biotransformation : identification of metabolites and cytochrome p450 enzymes involved

Bile acids are end-products of cholesterol metabolism and essential for absorption of dietary lipids in the body. Impaired bile flow leads to hepatic bile acid accumulation and liver damage. Hepatic microsomal oxidation offers a potential mechanism for efficient elimination of bile acids. The present study investigated the cytochrome P450 (P450)-mediated hepatic microsomal biotransformation profiles of lithocholic acid, cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid using a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCIMS) based assay. Incubation of lithocholic acid with rat hepatic microsomes resulted in the formation of a major 6J3-hydroxylated metabolite, murideoxycholic acid, followed by isolithocholic acid and 3ketocholanoic acid. Ursodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid and 6-ketolithocholic acid were identified as minor metabolites. Studies using P450-specific antibodies, chemical inducers, and rat recombinant enzymes showed that formation of murideoxycholic acid and 3-ketocholanoic acid were mediated by CYP3A2 and CYP2C 11. Similar metabolite profiles were obtained by incubation of lithocholic acid with mouse hepatic microsomes generating murideoxycholic acid as the major metabolite. Studies using P450 inducers and chemical inhibitors suggested the involvement of murine CYP3A in murideoxycholic acid and 3-ketocholanoic acid formation, and CYP1A, CYP2B and CYP3A enzymes in ursodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid and 6-ketolithocholic acid formation by mouse liver microsomes. Biotransformation of lithocholic acid by human hepatic microsomes generated 3-ketocholanoic acid as the major metabolite, and hyodeoxycholic acid, ursodeoxycholic acid, 6-ketolithocholic acid and murideoxycholic acid, as minor metabolites. Studies with chemical inhibitors and human recombinant enzymes demonstrated that CYP3A4 catalyzed the formation of all five metabolites. The biotransformation of cholic acid and chenodeoxycholic acid by human hepatic microsomes revealed the formation of a single cholic acid metabolite, 3-dehydrocholic acid.
Development and Application of a Modified Method to Determine the Encapsulation Efficiency of Proteins in Polymer Matrices

A modified method to determine protein encapsulation efficiency in polymer matrices has been developed and applied to two proteins and two polymers to demonstrate its wide range of applicability. This study was pursued due to the wide variation in reported protein encapsulation efficiency of polymer-based microcapsules, even when the protein, the polymer, and the microcapsule manufacturing method were consistent. Hemoglobin (Hb) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were chosen as model proteins and ethylcellulose and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as model polymers. The polymer of the microcapsule was dissolved in dichloromethane/ethanol or dichloromethane/ethyl acetate for ethylcellulose or PLGA microcapsules, respectively. Liberated proteins were simultaneously precipitated, pelleted by centrifugation, isolated by decanting the polymer solution, redissolved in 10% w/v sodium dodecyl sulfate in 0.8 N sodium hydroxide, and quantified using a modified Lowry assay. Blank microcapsules and exogenously added proteins demonstrated ≥ 93.8% recovery of proteins. The mean encapsulation efficiency of ethylcellulose or PLGA microcapsules was 52.4 or 76.9% for Hb and 86.4 or 74.7% for BSA, respectively. This demonstrates the effective use of centrifugation and the importance of an appropriate cosolvent system in the measure of encapsulation efficiency where one solvent dissolves the polymer while the other solvent quantitatively precipitates the liberated protein. It is evident that an alkaline solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate is efficient at quantitatively dissolving precipitated proteins. Remediation of problems observed with current methods and high reproducibility suggest that this modified method is generally applicable to the measure of protein encapsulation efficiency of polymer microcapsules.
Generation and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies to the Ogawa Lipopolysaccharide of Vibrio cholerae O1 from Phage-Displayed Human Synthetic Fab Library

Vibrio cholerae, cause of the life-threatening diarrheal disease cholera, can be divided into different serogroups based on the structure of its lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which consists of lipid-A, corepolysaccharide and O-antigen polysaccharide (O-PS). The O1 serogroup, the predominant cause of cholera, includes two major serotypes, Inaba and Ogawa. These serotypes are differentiated by the presence of a single 2-O-methyl group in the upstream terminal perosamine of the Ogawa O-PS, which is absent in the Inaba O-PS. To ensure the consistent quality and efficacy of the current cholera vaccines, accurate measurement and characterization of each of these two serotypes is highly important. In this study, we efficiently screened a phage-displayed human synthetic Fab library by bio-panning against Ogawa LPS and finally selected three unique mAbs (D9, E11, and F7) that specifically react with Ogawa LPS. The mAbs bound to Vibrio cholerae vaccine in a dose-dependent fashion. Sequence and structure analyses of antibody paratopes suggest that IgG D9 might have the same fine specificity as that of the murine mAbs, which were shown to bind to the upstream terminal perosamine of Ogawa O-PS, whereas IgGs F7 and E11 showed some different characteristics in the paratopes. To our knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate the generation of Ogawa-specific mAbs using phage display technology. The mAbs will be useful for identification and quantification of Ogawa LPS in multivalent V. cholerae vaccines.
Disparities in the use of regular pap smears among migrant and non-migrant women in Austria: A population-based survey of 7633 women

Objective: Regular pap smears are effective in reducing cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Migrant women have been reported to utilize cervical cancer screening less often than non-migrant women. However, inconsistent results, e.g. from Germany, have also been reported. This study examines disparities in the use of annual pap smears among 20–69 year old migrant and non-migrant women in neighboring Austria. Method: Data from a nationwide population-based survey of 7633 women is used of whom 504 (6.6%) were migrants from European Union countries and 251 (3.3%) were migrants from non-European Union countries. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to account for socio economic and health differences between the three population groups. Results: The study shows that as compared to the non-migrant women, migrant women from European Union and non-European Union countries were at lower odds of having received a pap smear in the last 12 months (adjusted odds ratio = 0.80, 95% confidence interval = 0.66–0.96 and adjusted odds ratio = 0.74, 95%-confidence interval = 0.57–0.97, respectively). Disparities were similar with respect to utilization in the last 36 months (adjusted odds ratio = 0.60, 95% confidence interval = 0.46–0.77 and adjusted odds ratio = 0.58, 95% confidence interval = 0.40–0.82, respectively). Conclusion: The findings are in agreement with research from the majority of other countries. They suggest barriers that migrants encounter in the health system and highlight the need for diversity-sensitive health care strategies.
Energy and Nutrient Intake and Associated Factors Among Pastoral Children in Southern Ethiopia

Background: A better understanding of nutrient intakes and predicting factors will help in designing more effective programs that address the nutrition requirements of pastoral children. Methods: Dietary diversity score (DDS) and amounts of food items consumed were recorded for 538 children aged 6 to 59 months from August to October 2015. The nutrient contents per 100 grams of foods consumed by children were calculated. Median energy and nutrient intakes of children were calculated and compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended nutrient intakes (RNI). The effects of various factors on the median energy adequacy ratio (EAR) and on nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) were analyzed using logistic regression. Results: Children had low DDS (2.7) with diets dominated by dairy and cereal preparations. Thus, only a few children received the minimum DDS (11.7%) and minimum acceptable diet (5%). Most of the children had low intakes of energy, vitamins (C, B, A, folic acid), iron, and zinc. Autonomy of mothers in decision-making, nonpastoral incomes, crop cultivation, and keeping diverse livestock species had positive effects on nutrient intakes. Children living in villages closer to markets and those aged 6 to 23 months had better NAR than others. The median EAR was higher for children aged 6 to 23 months, when households possessing more animal species and engaged in crop cultivation compared to others. Conclusion: Study children had lower DDS than WHO standards and intakes of several micronutrients were inadequate. Variables associated with median EAR and NAR point to those in need of improvement.
Transient Receptor Potential Canonical (TRPC) Channels: Then and Now

Twenty-five years ago, the first mammalian Transient Receptor Potential Canonical (TRPC) channel was cloned, opening the vast horizon of the TRPC field. Today, we know that there are seven TRPC channels (TRPC1–7). TRPCs exhibit the highest protein sequence similarity to the Drosophila melanogaster TRP channels. Similar to Drosophila TRPs, TRPCs are localized to the plasma membrane and are activated in a G-protein-coupled receptor-phospholipase C-dependent manner. TRPCs may also be stimulated in a store-operated manner, via receptor tyrosine kinases, or by lysophospholipids, hypoosmotic solutions, and mechanical stimuli. Activated TRPCs allow the influx of Ca2+ and monovalent alkali cations into the cytosol of cells, leading to cell depolarization and rising intracellular Ca2+ concentration. TRPCs are involved in the continually growing number of cell functions. Furthermore, mutations in the TRPC6 gene are associated with hereditary diseases, such as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. The most important recent breakthrough in TRPC research was the solving of cryo-EM structures of TRPC3, TRPC4, TRPC5, and TRPC6. These structural data shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying TRPCs’ functional properties and propelled the development of new modulators of the channels. This review provides a historical overview of the major advances in the TRPC field focusing on the role of gene knockouts and pharmacological tools.
Conduction Band Edge Energy Profile Probed by Hall Offset Voltage in InGaZnO Thin Films

We measured and analyzed the Hall offset voltages in InGaZnO thin-film transistors. The Hall offset voltages were found to decrease monotonously as the electron densities increased. We attributed the magnitude of the offset voltage to the misalignment in the longitudinal distance between the probing points and the electron density to Fermi energy of the two-dimensional electron system, which was verified by the coincidence of the Hall voltage with the perpendicular magnetic field in the tilted magnetic field. From these results, we deduced the combined conduction band edge energy profiles from the Hall offset voltages with the electron density variations for three samples with different threshold voltages. The extracted combined conduction band edge varied by a few tens of meV over a longitudinal distance of a few tenths of µm. This result is in good agreement with the value obtained from the analysis of percolation conduction.
Uncovering tumor-stroma inter-relationships using MALDI Mass spectrometry imaging.

Tumorigenesis involves a complex interplay between genetically modified cancer cells and their adjacent normal tissue, the stroma. We used an established a breast cancer mouse model to investigate this interrelationship. Conditional activation of Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) in a model of mammary tumorigenesis enhances tumor growth and progression by educating the stroma and enhancing the production and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. We used peptide matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) to quantify the proteomic changes occurring within tu-mors and their stroma in their regular spatial context. Peptides were ranked according to their ability to discriminate between the two groups, using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) tool. Peptides were identified by LC-MS/MS and protein expression was validated by quantitative immunofluorescence using an independent set of tumor samples. We have identified and validated four key proteins upregulated in ROCK-activated mammary tumors relative to those expressing kinase-dead ROCK, namely collagen I, α-SMA, Rab14 and tubulin-β4. Rab14 and tubulin-β4 are expressed within tumor cells, whereas collagen I is localized within the stroma. α-SMA is predominantly localized within the stroma but is also expressed at higher levels in the epithelia of ROCK-activated tumors. High expression of COL1A, the gene encoding the pro-alpha 1 chain of collagen, corre-lates with cancer progression in two human breast cancer genomic datasets, and high expression of COL1A and ACTA2, (the gene encoding α-SMA) are associated with a low survival probability (COLIA p=0.00013, ACTA2 p=0.0076) in estrogen receptor negative breast cancer patients. To investigate whether ROCK-activated tumor cells cause stromal cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) to upregulate expression of collagen I and α-SMA, we treated cancer-associated fibroblasts with medium conditioned by primary mammary tumor cells in which ROCK had been activated. This led to abundant production of both proteins in CAFs, clearly highlighting the inter-relationship between tumor cells and CAFs and identifying CAFs as the potential source of high levels of collagen 1 and α-SMA and associated enhancement of tissue stiffness. Our research emphasizes the capacity of MALDI MSI to quantitatively assess tumor-stroma inter-relationships and to identify potential prognostic factors for cancer progression in human patients, using sophisticated mouse cancer models.
Transfer of pyrrolizidine alkaloids from ragwort, common groundsel and viper’s bugloss to milk from dairy cows

ABSTRACT To investigate the transfer of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) from feed to milk, rumen-cannulated dairy cows were intra-ruminally fed with 200 g/day of dried plant material of either ragwort (mixture of Jacobaea vulgaris and Senecio inaequidens), common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) or viper’s bugloss (Echium vulgare) for a period of 4 days. PA levels in the plant materials were 3767, 2792 and 1674 µg g−1 respectively. Feed intake, milk yield and several blood parameters indicative for liver function were not influenced by the treatment. When fed ragwort, increased levels of PAs were detected in the milk, in particular jacoline and an unidentified cyclic diester, possibly a hydroxylated metabolite from retrorsine. The latter was the most important PA in milk from cows fed common groundsel. For viper’s bugloss, echimidine was the most abundant identified PA but in addition several hydroxylated PA metabolites were detected. For ragwort, the overall PA transfer was estimated at 0.05% and 1.4% for jacoline (N-oxide). Transfer rates were similar for viper’s bugloss (0.05%) but lower for common groundsel (0.01%). Only a small portion of the administered PAs was quantified in milk, urine and faeces, with an overall balance of 4.5%, 2.9% and 5.8%, for ragwort, common groundsel and viper’s bugloss, respectively. Samples taken from the rumen indicated that the N-oxides were converted into the free bases, which was confirmed by in vitro studies with the same plant species incubated with ruminal fluid. These results confirm that the transfer of PAs to milk is relatively low but may be of concern for human health regarding the genotoxic and carcinogenic properties of these compounds. The transfer rate depends on the type of PAs present in the weeds. The incomplete balance of input vs output stresses the need to further investigate the metabolism and the potential transfer of metabolites into edible products.
Prediction of Perceived Consumer Experience, Perceived Brand Engagement, and Gamification towards the Intention to Use Metaverse: An Extended TAM Approach

Metaverse technology is considered as the next big thing in this digital era and for companies to take part in its market potential, companies must understand the factors for its acceptance. While the technology acceptance is widely studied, the review of acceptance for metaverse technology is limited. This research aims to provide an empirical study on the technology acceptance for metaverse and identify key factors influencing consumers to adopt it. According to the literature review, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is the most common framework used in the technology adoption area and therefore is used in this study. There are three factors adopted to formulate the hypotheses in influencing the consumer's intention to use metaverse technology of a consumer brand namely perceived consumer experience, perceived brand engagement, and gamification. This quantitative research is carried out through a structured survey instrument and uses a convenience sampling technique. Data collected from 110 Indonesian consumer are analyzed using a structural equation model with Smart PLS software version 3.2. 9. The findings show that all three factors have positive and significant effect on the intention to use metaverse of the specific brand. Managerial implications for companies, contribution to academics and further studies are also described.
Radiomics at a Glance: A Few Lessons Learned from Learning Approaches

Simple Summary Radiomics has become a prominent component of medical imaging research and many studies show its specific value as a support tool for clinical decision-making processes. Radiomic data are typically analyzed with statistical and machine learning methods, which change depending on the disease context and the imaging modality. We found a certain bias in the literature towards the use of such methods and believe that this limitation may influence the capacity of producing accurate and reliable decisions. Therefore, in view of the relevance of various types of learning methods, we report their significance and discuss their unrevealed potential. Abstract Processing and modeling medical images have traditionally represented complex tasks requiring multidisciplinary collaboration. The advent of radiomics has assigned a central role to quantitative data analytics targeting medical image features algorithmically extracted from large volumes of images. Apart from the ultimate goal of supporting diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic decisions, radiomics is computationally attractive due to specific strengths: scalability, efficiency, and precision. Optimization is achieved by highly sophisticated statistical and machine learning algorithms, but it is especially deep learning that stands out as the leading inference approach. Various types of hybrid learning can be considered when building complex integrative approaches aimed to deliver gains in accuracy for both classification and prediction tasks. This perspective reviews some selected learning methods by focusing on both their significance for radiomics and their unveiled potential.