Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactulose and Melibiose Attenuate MPTP-Induced Parkinson’s Disease in Mice by Inhibition of Oxidative Stress, Reduction of Neuroinflammation and Up-Regulation of Autophagy

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic (DAergic) neurons in the ventral brain. A disaccharide trehalose has demonstrated the potential to mitigate the DAergic loss in disease models for PD. However, trehalose is rapidly hydrolyzed into glucose by trehalase in the intestine, limiting its potential for clinical practice. Here, we investigated the neuroprotective potential of two trehalase-indigestible analogs, lactulose and melibiose, in sub-chronic 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced mouse model of PD. Treatment with MPTP generated significant motor deficits, inhibited dopamine levels, and down-regulated dopamine transporter (DAT) in the striatum. Expression levels of genes involved in anti-oxidative stress pathways, including superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2), and NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NQO1) were also down-regulated. Meanwhile, expression of the oxidative stress marker 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) was up-regulated along with increased microglia and astrocyte reactivity in the ventral midbrain following MPTP treatment. MPTP also reduced the activity of autophagy, evaluated by the autophagosomal marker microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-II. Lactulose and melibiose significantly rescued motor deficits, increased dopamine in the striatum, reduced microglia and astrocyte reactivity as well as decreased levels of 4-HNE. Furthermore, lactulose and melibiose up-regulated SOD2, NRF2, and NQO1 levels, as well as enhanced the LC3-II/LC3-I ratio in the ventral midbrain with MPTP treatment. Our findings indicate the potential of lactulose and melibiose to protect DAergic neurons in PD.
Adding a Dimension to the Dichotomy: Affective Processes Are Implicated in the Relationship Between Autistic and Schizotypal Traits

Introduction There is a recognized increase in vulnerability to psychosis in autistic people (AP). However, the construct of psychosis (particularly schizophrenia) contains several distinct factors, making understanding the relationship between autism and psychosis complex. Previous research has suggested that affective lability may be particularly related to psychotic experiences for AP who have experienced psychosis (AP-P). There is also a suggestion that psychosis might be a state of extreme (over)empathizing, perhaps related to emotional processes. Method We recruited three groups: AP-P (N = 23), a group of AP who had not experienced psychosis (AP-NP; N = 59) and a neurotypical control group (NC, N = 41). Participants completed measures of autistic traits, schizotypal traits (as a proxy for psychosis-proneness), emotional processes, and perspective taking (as a proxy for the type of empathizing most theoretically likely to be linked to psychosis). As well as comparisons between groups, regression analyses were used to understand the influence of dependent variables on schizotypal traits. Results We found that AP-P had significantly higher rates of schizotypy (positive and disorganized), as well as higher rates of emotional difficulties. Across all groups, affective lability had a positive and significant association with positive and disorganized schizotypal traits. Differences in perspective taking between groups were small and generally non-significant, particularly in adjusted comparisons; additionally, its impact on schizotypy was small and non-significant. Discussion Our findings suggest that positive and disorganized schizotypy, in particular, have a relationship with affective lability. This, in turn, supports the idea of emotional processes as related to the development of schizotypal traits and psychosis across all individuals, regardless of autism diagnostic status. We found no evidence of empathy relating to any subscale of schizotypy, or the total schizotypy score. We contend that emotional processes should be considered in exploration of the relationship between autism and schizotypy in future. This may help to explain some of the findings of overlap between these constructs in previous research. Factors known to affect neurodevelopment of emotion systems such as history of early trauma, challenges during pregnancy and birth, and early childhood experiences of adversity during critical windows of development need further consideration in future research.
Diversity and field site variation of indigenous populations of soybean bradyrhizobia in Japan by fingerprints with repeated sequences RSα and RSβ

Two hundred and thirteen isolates of soybean bradyrhizobia indigenous to six field sites in Japan were characterized using hybridization probes RSα, RSβ, nifDK and hupSL from Bradyrhizobium japonicum and indole-3-acetic acid production to clarify diversity and endemism of their population structures. Significant diversities and site-dependent variations were observed in terms of Bradyrhizobium species, hup genotype and fingerprints with repeated sequences RSα and RSβ. The fingerprints at one site with no history of soybean cultivation were less diverse than those at other sites. Even within the populations of B. japonicum hup− isolates, which were commonly indigenous to the six field sites, several RSα copies clustering around nif genes were highly conserved. The results suggest that soybean bradyrhizobia may be diversified in individual fields as associated with host plants and local soil conditions.
Fifteen-minute consultation: Drowning in children

Drowning is a significant cause of childhood morbidity and mortality globally. The underlying mechanisms vary with child development and most are modifiable to public health promotion strategies. This article serves to highlight some of the specific considerations for the clinical management of drowning in children, both prehospital and by the in-hospital paediatric resuscitation team. This includes changes to standard advanced paediatric life support in the presence of hypothermia.
Increasing reliability and fault tolerance of a secure distributed cloud storage

The work develops the architecture of a multi-cloud data storage system based on the principles of modular arithmetic. This modication of the data storage system allows increasing reliability of data storage and fault tolerance of the cloud system. To increase fault-tolerance, adaptive data redistribution between available servers is applied. This is possible thanks to the introduction of additional redundancy. This model allows you to restore stored data in case of failure of one or more cloud servers. It is shown how the proposed scheme will enable you to set up reliability, redundancy, and reduce overhead costs for data storage by adapting the parameters of the residual number system.
Recommending Podcasts for Cold-Start Users Based on Music Listening and Taste

Recommender systems are increasingly used to predict and serve content that aligns with user taste, yet the task of matching new users with relevant content remains a challenge. We consider podcasting to be an emerging medium with rapid growth in adoption, and discuss challenges that arise when applying traditional recommendation approaches to address the cold-start problem. Using music consumption behavior, we examine two main techniques in inferring Spotify users preferences over more than 200k podcasts. Our results show significant improvements in consumption of up to 50% for both offline and online experiments. We provide extensive analysis on model performance and examine the degree to which music data as an input source introduces bias in recommendations.
Helicity Control in the Aggregation of Achiral Squaraine Dyes in Solution and Thin Films

Abstract Squaraine dyes are well known for their strong absorption in the visible regime. Reports on chiral squaraine dyes are, however, scarce. To address this gap, we here report two novel chiral squaraine dyes and their achiral counterparts. The presented dyes are aggregated in solution and in thin films. A detailed chiroptical study shows that thin films formed by co‐assembling the chiral dye with its achiral counterpart exhibit exceptional photophysical properties. The circular dichroism (CD) of the co‐assembled structures reaches a maximum when just 25 % of the chiral dye are present in the mixture. The solid structures with the highest relative CD effect are achieved when the chiral dye is used solely as a director, rather than the structural component. The chiroptical data are further supported by selected spin‐filtering measurements using mc‐AFM. These findings provide a promising platform for investigating the relationship between the dissymmetry of a supramolecular structure and emerging material properties rather than a comparison between a chiral molecular structure and an achiral counterpart.
Outcome of lumbar lateral recess stenosis with percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression in patients 65 years of age or older and in younger patients

Abstract Lateral recess stenosis is a common pathology causing clinical syndromes in the elderly population, and there is some concern regarding the number of comorbidities that can occur when performing surgery for this condition in the elderly. However, little research has focused on the issues related to older age, and limited data is available to help the clinician counsel elderly patients undergoing percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression. The present study aimed to explore the safety and efficacy of percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression for lumbar degenerative disease in elderly patients with lumbar lateral recess stenosis and to determine whether age and comorbidity affect the outcome and complication rate. We identified 117 patients in our patient database who underwent percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression for single-level lumbar lateral recess stenosis. Data regarding the Oswestry Disability Index and visual analog scale for back and leg pain were collected preoperatively, postoperatively, and at the last follow-up. Other data, including preoperative comorbidities, operation time, and intraoperative and postoperative complications, were recorded. The average follow-up period was 29.9 ± 5.5 months, with a mean age of 69.8 ± 5.4 years in elderly patients (group A) and 50.4 ± 6.4 years in younger patients (group B). Group A had a higher percentage of comorbidity than group B (83.9% vs 18.0%, P < .001). Both visual analog scale scores for leg pain and Oswestry Disability Index were significantly improved in the 2 groups, and no difference was found between the groups regarding both parameters (P >.05). The elderly patients had the same high rate of favorable outcomes as group B (P > .05). Moreover, there was no difference in surgical complications, recurrence, and neurologic deficit recovery rate between both groups. No major complications or perioperative deaths occurred in both groups. The present study demonstrates that percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal decompression for lateral recess stenosis in elderly patients may be a reasonable treatment associated with substantial benefit.
In-Silico approach for identification of effective and stable inhibitors for COVID-19 main protease (Mpro) from flavonoid based phytochemical constituents of Calendula officinalis

Abstract The recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 is putting the world towards a great threat. A recent study revealed COVID-19 main protease (Mpro) is responsible for the proteolytic mutation of this virus and is essential for its life cycle. Thus inhibition of this protease will eventually lead to the destruction of this virus. In-Silico Molecular docking was performed with the Native ligand and the 15 flavonoid based phytochemicals of Calendula officinals to check their binding affinity towards the COVID-19 main protease. Finally, the top 3 compounds with the highest affinity have been chosen for molecular dynamics simulation to analyses their dynamic properties and conformational flexibility or stability. In-Silico Docking showed that major phytochemicals of Calendula officinals i.e. rutin, isorhamnetin-3-O-β-D, calendoflaside, narcissin, calendulaglycoside B, calenduloside, calendoflavoside have better binding energy than the native ligand (inhibitor N3). MD simulation of 100 ns revealed that all the protease-ligand docked complexes are overall stable as compare to Mpro-native ligand (inhibitor N3) complex. Overall, rutin and caledoflaside showed better stability, compactness, and flexibility. Our in silico (Virtual molecular docking and Molecular dynamics simulation) studies pointed out that flavonoid based phytochemicals of calendula (rutin, isorhamnetin-3-O-β-D, calendoflaside) may be highly effective for inhibiting Mpro which is the main protease for SARS-CoV-2 causing the deadly disease COVID-19. Rutin is already used as a drug and the other two compounds can be made available for future use. Thus the study points a way to combat COVID-19 by the use of major flavonoid based phytochemicals of Calendula officinals. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma
The phylogeny of the genus Nannochloropsis (Monodopsidaceae, Eustigmatophyceae), with descriptions of N. australis sp. nov. and Microchloropsis gen. nov.

Abstract: Strains of the genus Nannochloropsis (Eustigmatophyceae) from the Australian National Algae Culture Collection were evaluated by DNA sequence analysis. Strains were first assessed by sequence analysis of a 900-base-pair region of the plastid rbcL gene (bar-code analysis). This analysis allowed us to identify most of the strains at specific rank. However, the strains CS-416 and CS-759 produced a unique rbcL DNA sequence and were sister to N. oceanica in the phylogenetic analysis. Complete rbcL sequences and nuclear 18S ribosomal (r)DNA sequences were produced for these two strains. The results of phylogenetic analyses of an alignment of the concatenated 18S rDNA and rbcL sequences for Nannochloropsis taxa revealed that strains CS-416 and CS-759 represent a new species, N. australis. In addition, the analysis provided strong support for erecting a new genus, Microchloropsis, comprising the species M. salina and M. gaditana.
Massive Swarm Migrations of Dragonflies (Odonata) in Eastern North America

Abstract We describe massive autumn migrations of dragonflies (Odonata) which occurred at Chicago, Illinois (14 September 1978), Cape May, New Jersey (11 September 1992), and Crescent Beach, Florida (3–5 September 1993). Estimated numbers of migrant dragonflies involved in these flights were approximately 1.2 million, >400,000, and 200,000, respectively. We also document other recent observations of large swarm migrations of dragonflies in eastern North America, review previous reports of this phenomenon, and compare these events to the flights at Chicago, Cape May and Crescent Beach. Records of large dragonfly migrations show several distinct patterns: (1) all reports fell between late July and mid-October, with a peak in September; (2) most of the large flights occurred along topographic leading lines such as coastlines and lakeshores; (3) massive swarm migrations generally followed the passage of synoptic-scale cold fronts; and (4) the common green darner (Anax junius) was the principal species involved in the majority of these flights. Striking parallels between the patterns of seasonal timing, geographical distribution, and meteorological context of dragonfly migrations and those of birds suggest that similar causal factors are involved.
Multiple Vulnerabilities to Health Disparities and Incident Heart Failure Hospitalization in the REGARDS Study

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background: Socially determined vulnerabilities (SDVs) to health disparities often cluster within the same individual. SDVs are separately associated with increased risk of heart failure (HF). The objective of this study was to determine the cumulative effect of SDVs to health disparities on incident HF hospitalization. Methods and Results: Using the REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) cohort study, we studied 25 790 participants without known HF and followed them for 10+ years. Our primary outcome was an incident HF hospitalization through December 31, 2016. Guided by the Healthy People 2020 framework for social determinants of health, we examined 10 potential SDVs. We retained SDVs associated with incident HF hospitalization (P<0.10) and created an SDV count (0, 1, 2, 3+). Using the count, we estimated Cox proportional hazard models to examine associations with incident HF hospitalization, adjusting for potential confounders. Models were stratified by age (45–64, 65–74, and 75+ years) because past reports suggest greater disparities in HF incidence at younger ages. Participants were followed for a median of 10.1 years (interquartile range, 6.5–11.9). Black race, low educational attainment, low annual household income, zip code poverty, poor public health infrastructure, and lack of health insurance were associated with incident HF hospitalization. In adjusted models, among those 45 to 64 years, compared with having no SDV, having 1 SDV (hazard ratio, 1.85 [95% CI, 1.12–3.05]), 2 SDVs (hazard ratio, 2.12 [95% CI, 1.28–3.50]), and 3+ SDVs (hazard ratio, 2.45 [95% CI, 1.48–4.04]) were significantly associated with incident HF hospitalization (P for trend, 0.001). We observed no significant associations for older individuals. Conclusions: A greater number of SDVs significantly increased risk of incident HF hospitalization among adults <65 years, which persisted after adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors. Using a simple SDV count that could be obtained from a social history during clinical assessment may identify younger individuals at increased risk.
Documentation of contraceptive counseling in female veterans of reproductive age.

PURPOSE To assess the rate at which contraceptive counseling is provided to women of childbearing age prescribed teratogenic medications at Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC). Women of childbearing age comprise a large demographic of women veterans and may require contraceptive counseling in the event a potentially teratogenic medication is prescribed. According to multiple studies, overall documentation of contraceptive counseling occurs in approximately half of this population or less. The rate of documented contraceptive counseling at MEDVAMC is unknown. METHODS A retrospective chart review of electronic health records was conducted from January 2017 to August 2018. Patients included were female veterans between 18 and 45 years of age who made 2 or more visits to MEDVAMC prior to filling a prescription for a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, or angiotensin II receptor blocker. Charts were screened for documentation of contraceptive counseling (including family planning counseling), prescribed contraception, and pregnancy testing prior to dispensing of a potentially teratogenic prescription. RESULTS There were 172 female veterans included in this project. Documentation of contraceptive counseling occurred in 63% (n = 108) of patients; in total, 42% (n = 73) of patients were on some form of contraception, with the most common being oral contraceptive pill. CONCLUSION The rate of documentation of contraceptive counseling at MEDVAMC was found to be higher than rates reported in national studies. As we continue to strive to provide exceptional care for our women veterans, we would like to continue to increase the education and awareness on this matter.
Impact of Low-Carbohydrate Diet (LCD) and Obesity Management Program on Obese Patients

The past two decades witnessed a rapid escalation in the prevalence of obesity. Ayurvedic physicians use a multi-faceted strategy to treat obesity which includes a combination of Low-Carbohydrate Diet and Obesity Management Procedure. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of low carbohydrate diet and the Ayurvedic obesity management procedure in reducing obesity. A retrospective observational study was conducted in Madhavbaug Clinics from September 2017 to March 2018. All patients with BMI > 30 kg/m 2 were included in the study. During the study, the patients received seven sessions of obesity management procedure which included a combination of Snehana / external oleation or massage, Swedana / passive heat therapy and Basti kadha . Simultaneously, patients were prescribed supervised low carbohydrate diet daily for 90 days. The primary efficacy end point was reduction in body weight while secondary end points included changes in abdominal girth, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate after 90-day follow-up as compared to baseline. A total of 48 patients were enrolled and after screening, 31 were included in the study. Most of the patients were middle aged (51.35 ± 11.44 years) and females (65.8%). The primary end-point used in the present study (body weight) decreased significantly from 89.87± 18.58 kg on Day 1 to 82.01± 20.55 kg on day 90 (p<0.001). Such significant changes were also appreciable in the BMI, SBP, DBP, abdominal girth values measured on day 1 and day 90 respectively (p<0.001 for all). The present study demonstrates that the combination of low carbohydrate diet and Ayurvedic obesity management procedures are effective in reducing obesity.
MaHRL: Multi-goals Abstraction Based Deep Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning for Recommendations

As huge commercial value of the recommender system, there has been growing interest to improve its performance in recent years. The majority of existing methods have achieved great improvement on the metric of click, but perform poorly on the metric of conversion possibly due to its extremely sparse feedback signal. To track this challenge, we design a novel deep hierarchical reinforcement learning based recommendation framework to model consumers' hierarchical purchase interest. Specifically, the high-level agent catches long-term sparse conversion interest, and automatically sets abstract goals for low-level agent, while the low-level agent follows the abstract goals and catches short-term click interest via interacting with real-time environment. To solve the inherent problem in hierarchical reinforcement learning, we propose a novel multi-goals abstraction based deep hierarchical reinforcement learning algorithm (MaHRL). Our proposed algorithm contains three contributions: 1) the high-level agent generates multiple goals to guide the low-level agent in different sub-periods, which reduces the difficulty of approaching high-level goals; 2) different goals share the same state encoder structure and its parameters, which increases the update frequency of the high-level agent and thus accelerates the convergence of our proposed algorithm; 3) an appreciated reward assignment mechanism is designed to allocate rewards in each goal so as to coordinate different goals in a consistent direction. We evaluate our proposed algorithm based on a real-world e-commerce dataset and validate its effectiveness.