Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiotoxic Potential of Hydroxychloroquine, Chloroquine and Azithromycin in Adult Human Primary Cardiomyocytes.

Substantial efforts have been recently committed to develop COVID-19 medications, and Hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with Azithromycin has been promoted as a repurposed treatment. While these drugs may increase cardiac toxicity risk, cardiomyocyte mechanisms underlying this risk remain poorly understood in humans. Therefore, we evaluated the pro-arrhythmia risk and inotropic effects of these drugs in the cardiomyocyte contractility-based model of the human heart. We found Hydroxychloroquine to have a low pro-arrhythmia risk, while Chloroquine and Azithromycin were associated with high risk. Hydroxychloroquine pro-arrhythmia risk changed to high with low level of K+, while high level of Mg2+ protected against pro-arrhythmic effect of high Hydroxychloroquine concentrations. Moreover, therapeutic concentration of Hydroxychloroquine caused no enhancement of elevated temperature-induced pro-arrhythmia. Polytherapy of Hydroxychloroquine plus Azithromycin and sequential application of these drugs were also found to influence pro-arrhythmia risk categorization. Hydroxychloroquine pro-arrhythmia risk changed to high when combined with Azithromycin at therapeutic concentration. However, Hydroxychloroquine at therapeutic concentration impacted the cardiac safety profile of Azithromycin and its pro-arrhythmia risk only at concentrations above therapeutic level. We also report that Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine, but not Azithromycin, decreased contractility while exhibiting multi-ion channel block features, and Hydroxychloroquine's contractility effect was abolished by Azithromycin. Thus, this study has the potential to inform clinical studies evaluating repurposed therapies, including those in the COVID-19 context. Additionally, it demonstrates the translational value of the human cardiomyocyte contractility-based model as a key early discovery path to inform decisions on novel therapies for COVID-19, malaria, and inflammatory diseases.
An investigation into the performance of a multi-sorbent sampling tube for the measurement of VVOC and VOC emissions from products used indoors

The international standard method for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from building materials and other products used in indoor environments, ISO 16000-6:2011, specifies use of the sorbent Tenax TA. This sorbent does not allow quantifiable determination of very volatile organic compounds (VVOCs), but an informative annex to the latest version of this standard, recommends the use of multi-sorbent tubes in order to extend the volatility range of the method to include more volatile compounds. There is a need to investigate the extent of the improvement possible using these multi-sorbent tubes and also to check that the performance for compounds which are normally detected on the single sorbent tube is not compromised. Screening tests of material emissions and Nalophan bags containing atmospheres of a mixture of VVOCs of interest have been applied to compare the performance of tubes containing Tenax TA with those containing a multi-sorbent tube (quartz wool/Tenax TA/Carbograph 5TD). A significant improvement was found using the multi-sorbent tube, with no breakthrough for six VVOCs up to a sample volume of at least 10 litres, compared with maximum safe sample volumes for these compounds using Tenax TA alone ranging from <200 ml to 3.5 litres. More modest improvements were identified for a further 11 compounds.
Thyroid eye disease: Redefining its management—A review

Thyroid eye disease (TED) is a debilitating, vision threatening disease that dramatically alters patients' quality of life. Until recently, the management of TED is a long arduous course with supportive therapy, followed by an extensive surgical treatment plan to reverse the disease endpoints. Teprotumumab offers an early, safe therapeutic intervention to help reverse disease end points such as diplopia and proptosis and improve quality of life.
The many faces of islet antigen‐specific CD8 T cells: clues to clinical outcome in type 1 diabetes

Immune monitoring enables a better understanding of disease processes and response to therapy, but has been challenging in the setting of chronic autoimmunity because of unknown etiology, variable and protracted kinetics of the disease process, heterogeneity across patients and the complexity of immune interactions. To begin to parse this complexity, we focus here on type 1 diabetes (T1D) and CD8 T cells as a cell type that has features that are associated with different stages of disease, rates of progression and response to therapy. Specifically, we discuss the current understanding of the role of autoreactive CD8 T cells in disease outcome, which implicates particular CD8 functional subsets, rather than unique antigens or total number of autoreactive T cells. Next, we discuss how autoreactive CD8 T‐cell features can be reflected in measures of global CD8 T cells, and then pull these concepts together by highlighting immune therapies recently shown to modulate both CD8 T cells and disease progression. We end by discussing outstanding questions about the role of specific subsets of autoreactive CD8 T cells in disease progression and how they may be optimally modulated to treat and prevent T1D.
Characterizing the transient response of knee cartilage to running: Decreases in cartilage T2 of female recreational runners

Cartilage transmits and redistributes biomechanical loads in the knee joint during exercise. Exercise‐induced loading alters cartilage hydration and is detectable using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), where T2 relaxation time (T2) is influenced by cartilage collagen composition, fiber orientation, and changes in the extracellular matrix. This study characterized short‐term transient responses of healthy knee cartilage to running‐induced loading using bilateral scans and image registration. Eleven healthy female recreational runners (33.73 ± 4.22 years) and four healthy female controls (27.25 ± 1.38 years) were scanned on a 3T GE MRI scanner with quantitative 3D double‐echo in steady‐state before running over‐ground (runner group) or resting (control group) for 40 min. Subjects were scanned immediately post‐activity at 5‐min intervals for 60 min. T2 times were calculated for femoral, tibial, and patellar cartilage at each time point and analyzed using a mixed‐effects model and Bonferroni post hoc. There were immediate decreases in T2 (mean ± SEM) post‐run in superficial femoral cartilage of at least 3.3% ± 0.3% (p = .002) between baseline and Time 0 that remained for 25 min, a decrease in superficial tibial cartilage T2 of 2.9% ± 0.4% (p = .041) between baseline and Time 0, and a decrease in superficial patellar cartilage T2 of 3.6% ± 0.3% (p = .020) 15 min post‐run. There were decreases in the medial posterior region of superficial femoral cartilage T2 of at least 5.3 ± 0.2% (p = .022) within 5 min post‐run that remained at 60 min post‐run. These results increase understanding of transient responses of healthy cartilage to repetitive, exercise‐induced loading and establish preliminary recommendations for future definitive studies of cartilage response to running.
A natural lead‐in approach to response‐adaptive allocation for continuous outcomes

Response‐adaptive (RA) allocation designs can skew the allocation of incoming subjects toward the better performing treatment group based on the previously accrued responses. While unstable estimators and increased variability can adversely affect adaptation in early trial stages, Bayesian methods can be implemented with decreasingly informative priors (DIP) to overcome these difficulties. DIPs have been previously used for binary outcomes to constrain adaptation early in the trial, yet gradually increase adaptation as subjects accrue. We extend the DIP approach to RA designs for continuous outcomes, primarily in the normal conjugate family by functionalizing the prior effective sample size to equal the unobserved sample size. We compare this effective sample size DIP approach to other DIP formulations. Further, we considered various allocation equations and assessed their behavior utilizing DIPs. Simulated clinical trials comparing the behavior of these approaches with traditional Frequentist and Bayesian RA as well as balanced designs show that the natural lead‐in approaches maintain improved treatment with lower variability and greater power.
Deep Residual Networks for Sleep Posture Recognition With Unobtrusive Miniature Scale Smart Mat System

Sleep posture, as a crucial index for sleep quality assessment, has been widely studied in sleep analysis. In this paper, an unobtrusive smart mat system based on a dense flexible sensor array and printed electrodes along with an algorithmic framework for sleep posture recognition is proposed. With the dense flexible sensor array, the system offers a comfortable and high-resolution solution for long-term pressure sensing. Meanwhile, compared to other methods, it reduces production costs and computational complexity with a smaller area of the mat and improves portability with fewer sensors. To distinguish the sleep posture, the algorithmic framework that includes preprocessing and Deep Residual Networks (ResNet) is developed. With the ResNet, the proposed system can omit the complex hand-crafted feature extraction process and provide compelling performance. The feasibility and reliability of the proposed system were evaluated on seventeen subjects. Experimental results exhibit that the accuracy of the short-term test is up to 95.08% and the overnight sleep study is up to 86.35% for four categories (supine, prone, right, and left) classification, which outperform the most of state-of-the-art studies. With the promising results, the proposed system showed great potential in applications like sleep studies, prevention of pressure ulcers, etc.
Thin Films of Insoluble Poly(Oligothienylene vinylenes) Prepared by Chemical Vapor Deposition Polymerization

A series of poly(oligothienylene vinylenes) (PTmVs, m = 2–4) with a varying number of consecutively bound thienylene rings are successfully prepared in thin films by chemical vapor deposition polymerization (CVDP) using the corresponding bis(halomethyl)thiophenes as starting materials. The chemical and electronic structures are studied spectroscopically and also by cyclic voltammetry. Top‐gate field‐effect transistors are fabricated by two consecutive CVDP cycles of PTmV and poly(p‐xylylene) followed by the deposition of a Au gate electrode. In the case of a PT3V active layer, a field‐effect mobility value of 0.5 × 10–4 cm2 V–1 s–1 is obtained.
School policies and practices associated with Thai children’s overall and domain specific physical activity

School has a significant role in providing opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA) through policies and practices. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of school policies and practices related to physical activity (PA) and their association with Thai students’ overall and domain specific PA. This cross-sectional analysis included 5,830 students aged 6–17 years from 136 schools recruited though a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling across Thailand. Student’s PA data were assessed using a student survey and school data were collected by a principal survey. Associations between students’ PA and school variables were examined using logistic regressions. Despite a high prevalence of Thai schools reporting many policies and practices promoting PA in different areas, students reported low levels of PA. None of the school PA policies and practices was associated with students’ overall and domain specific activities, with active transport as the one exception. When schools had an active transport policy, students were 40% (OR = 1.40, p = 0.01) more likely to travel actively to/from school. The identified positive relationship between school active transport policy and students’ active travel behavior suggests a potential wider adoption of the policy promoting school active transport aiming to increase student’s PA levels among all Thai schools. Intervention studies are necessary to confirm this finding. Our study also reflected that, for greater levels of children’s school-based PA, strategies to translate the existing school PA policies into effective implementation should be an emphasis for Thai schools.
On the influence of biomimetic shark skin in dynamic flow separation

The effect of shark skin on the boundary-layer separation process under dynamic conditions (maneuvers) has been studied experimentally. We use a foil covered with biomimetic shark skin to explore how this type of surface impacts boundary-layer dynamics in both steady and accelerating conditions. The effect of denticles is assessed via particle image velocimetry in the wake. It is shown that dynamic conditions and small-scale disturbances can mitigate boundary-layer separation through instantaneous modification of the local pressure-gradient distribution. For instance, the region of favourable pressure gradient can be extended by accelerating the foil. The acceleration results in a thinner separated shear layer on the foil surface when compared to the steady reference case. This remarkable difference indicates that local roughness (introduced through for instance biomimetic shark skin) may trigger an interaction with relatively large-scale structures in the boundary layer for effective boundary-layer control during unsteady propulsion and maneuvering.
Endocrine disruption in marine fish

This topic reviews the whole field of endocrine disruption (ED) in marine fish and compares this with our knowledge of the situation in freshwater species. In broad terms, similar types of ED have been observed in the two groups, although effects in the marine environment tend to be less marked, presumably due to dispersion and dilution. There are, however, some data which suggest that marine fish that are top-predators can experience ED due to biomagnification of organochlorines. Processes such as smoltification, metamorphosis, and hermaphroditism, which are common in some marine species, may be particularly susceptible to ED, but have as yet been scarcely studied. As with freshwater fish, firm links to population-level effects have not yet been demonstrated, although it is not unreasonable to suppose that they are occurring in some locations. The topic concludes with some recommendations for future research.
Electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction by chalcogenides containing mixed transition metal clusters

A new class of catalysts for the reduction of molecular oxygen to water in acid environment has been discovered, which show eletrocatalytical activity comparable to that of platinum. They are Chevrel type chalcogenides with the stoichiometry Mo/sub 6-x/M/sub x/X/sub 8/ (M = transition metal, X = chalcogen atom), containing octahedral mixed-metal clusters of transition-metal atoms. Experimental data obtained with rotating disk and rotating ring disk techniques, photoelectrochemical studies, photoelectron spectroscopy, and conductivity measurements are presented for the compound Mo/sub 4.2/Ru/sub 1.8/Se/sub 8/, which is a p-type semiconductor (energy gap determined to be E/sub g/ = 1.3 eV). The catalytic activity increases from samples containing nonsubstituted Mo octahedra showing metallic behavior to samples containing Ru substituted Mo octahedra showing semiconducting behavior due to an electron count close to 24. Possible mechanisms of catalysis are discussed. Important features are considered to be the capacity of the cluster to act as a reservoir for electronic charge carriers while maintaining a stable electrochemical potential, its capacity to provide neighboring binding sites for reactants and intermediates, and its ability to change its volume and bonding distances in the course of electron transfer.
Cross-cultural perception of female facial appearance: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study

Humans extract and use information from the face in assessments of physical appearance. Previous research indicates high agreement about facial attractiveness within and between cultures. However, the use of a narrow age range for facial stimuli, limitations due to unidirectional cross-cultural comparisons, and technical challenges have prevented definitive conclusions about the universality of face perception. In the present study, we imaged the faces of women aged 20 to 69 years in five locations (China, France, India, Japan, and South Africa) and secured age, attractiveness, and health assessments on continuous scales (0–100) from female and male raters (20–66 years) within and across ethnicity. In total, 180 images (36 of each ethnicity) were assessed by 600 raters (120 of each ethnicity), recruited in study centres in the five locations. Linear mixed model analysis revealed main and interaction effects of assessor ethnicity, assessor gender, and photographed participant (“face”) ethnicity on age, attractiveness, and health assessments. Thus, differences in judgments of female facial appearance depend on the ethnicity of the photographed person, the ethnicity of the assessor, and whether the assessor is female or male. Facial age assessments correlated negatively with attractiveness and health assessments. Collectively, these findings provide evidence of cross-cultural variation in assessments of age, and even more of attractiveness, and health, indicating plasticity in perception of female facial appearance across cultures, although the decline in attractiveness and health assessments with age is universally found.
Liposome fusion on proteinaceous S-layer lattices triggered viaβ-diketone ligand–europium(III) complex formation

The present study describes a method for generating solid supported lipid membranes. Liposomes containing β-diketone ligands were chemically bound to crystalline surface (S-) layer proteins which entirely covered the gold sensors. These ligands formed complexes with added europium(III) ions and triggered fusion/rupture of the liposomes resulting in planar supported lipid bilayers.
Prevalence of Vibrio mimicus in Fish, Fishery Products, and Environment of South West Coast of Kerala, India.

BACKGROUND Vibrio mimicus is a seafood-borne bacterium involved in incidences of human infections following consumption of raw or undercooked seafood. Regular monitoring of seafood for V.mimicus is necessary for risk assessment and to establish mitigation measures. METHODS During the period 2017-2020, a total of 250 samples comprising finfish, shellfish, water, ice, sediment samples were collected from fish markets, fish landing centers, and fish farms in the Ernakulum district on the Southwest coast of Kerala, India. V. mimicus was isolated using enrichment in alkaline peptone water for 18 h followed by plating on Thiosulfate Citrate Bile salts Sucrose (TCBS) agar and then incubated at 37 °C for 18-24 h. The presumptive V. mimicus isolates were confirmed by biochemical characterization and molecularly with vmh gene-specific for V. mimicus. RESULTS The study revealed that the prevalence of V. mimicus is 5.6% in the total samples screened. The highest occurrence was observed in brackish water fish (19%) followed by freshwater fish (18%) and marine fish (2%) samples. respectively. The study points out the risk of brackish water fishes as potential carriers of this pathogen. This asks for preventive measures to mitigate health hazards associated with V. mimicus entering into the seafood production chain.
Livestock Detection Based on Convolutional Neural Network

In order to keep the ecological balance of grassland and get the number of grazing livestock accurately, an improved livestock detection algorithm based on full convolutional neural network is proposed. First, MultiResUNet is proposed for image segmentation, and morphological operation is performed on the segmented image patches to get candidate regions. Then, the Inception V4 network in conjunction with SENet for strengthening object feature and reducing noise is proposed to classify the candidate regions. Finally, a comparison experiment is made between the proposed method and other livestock detection algorithm. Experimental results show the average accuracy (AP) of the proposed method is superior to the other livestock detection algorithm about 4.2%.
A Classifier for Nuclear Pulse Detection based on CNN

In the field of nuclear detection, there is a basic task to identify the category and orientation of radioactive source. The category and orientation depend on the energy spectrum and flood histogram which is the statistic of qualified pulses. In this paper, we propose a novel method to distinguish qualified pulses and disqualified pulses with a classification based on convolution neural network (CNN). Although many other methods also focus on this task, they have many defects, for instance they can only get energy spectrum, or they cannot get counting rate accurately. By analyzing the problem, we can find that convolution neural network is a good method to solve this problem. The advantages of our methods are: 1) Our model can reach high accuracy even though the training dataset is not very large. 2) Because convolution layer can ensure the consistency of displacement and scale, it is a good idea to extract the feature of pulses with 1D convolution kernel. 3) This model is small, the precision can reach more than 95% and the recall can reach 98% in few iterations. The result is good enough to recall final results. After the qualified pulses are reserved, we can get the energy spectrum and flood histogram at the same time. We use two different radioactive sources to test the method. The results show that both the energy spectrum and flood histogram are revised no matter in low radiation intensity nor in high radiation intensity. The inference is realized on computer to generate correct energy spectrum and flood histogram which would help to track the orientation of category of radioactive source.
Acidification of mixtures of granite powder and compost for reuse in plant production

ABSTRACT We evaluated the utilization of granite powder—a residue of stone cutting and polishing resulting from its preparation for construction and ornamental use—in the preparation of nursery potting mixtures, within a general objective of waste recycling and reuse. Granite powder was blended with two composts of different origins and properties: one elaborated from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW), and another from pine bark. Since all materials presented pH values over 8, which are excessive for growing most vegetal species, the use of iron sulphate to acidify them has been assessed. Three doses of iron sulphate (14, 69, and 97 g kg−1, equivalent to 0.1, 0.5, and 0.7 meq H+ g−1) were added to the granitic powder and mixtures with 25 or 75% (v/v) of each compost, which were incubated in the laboratory during 30 days. Doses of iron sulphate above 0.1 meq H+ g−1 resulted in excessive electrical conductivity (>2 dS m−1) in all the samples, and too low pH values (<5) in most of them. The productivity of granite powder/compost mixtures acidified with 0.1 meq H+ g−1 was tested in a greenhouse experiment with ryegrass, where it was observed that plant productivity increased with respect to a control commercial substrate based on peat, in particular when the MSW compost was employed. On the basis of the physicochemical properties of the mixtures and the results of the greenhouse experiment, the use of granite powder mixed with 75% of MSW compost (v/v), acidified with 14 g kg−1 of iron sulphate (0.1 meq H+ g−1) is recommended.