Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Erectile Dysfunction and Left Ventricular Diastolic Parameters in Lead Exposed Workers.

Background Lead exposure causes a wide range of vascular diseases through oxidative stress, sympathetic hyperactivity and impairment in nitric oxide bioavailability. In this study, the association between the effects of lead exposure on left ventricular diastolic indices and erectile function were assessed. Methods A total of 94 lead-exposed workers without known cardiovascular diseases or risk factors and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled. Systolic and diastolic functions were measured using transthoracic echocardiography. All participants were non-smokers. The International Index of Erectile Function Questionnaire (IIEF-5) was used to diagnose and grade erectile dysfunction (ED). Echocardiographic parameters, IIEF-5 score and blood lead level (BLL) were analyzed. Results The mean age and median BLL were 32.3 ± 6.4 years and 19 μg/dL in the workers, respectively. Sixty-five (69.1%) workers and 9 control subjects (30%) had ED. The IIEF-5 score was lower in the workers (17.0 ± 6.1) than in the controls (22.7 ± 2.1). In the workers, E and e' waves and E/A ratio were lower, and A wave, E/e' ratio, and left atrial volume index (LAVI) were higher than in the controls. Additionally, BLL was correlated with IIEF-5 score, e' wave, and E/e' ratio. IIEF-5 score was correlated with e' wave, E/e' ratio and LAVI. BLL was an independent risk factor for a decreased e' wave and IIEF-5 score and increased E/e' ratio in the lead-exposed workers. Conclusions Impairment of diastolic and erectile functions, despite a younger age and in the absence of accompanying risk factors, was correlated with increased BLL.
Gender influence on the outcome of an unisex total knee arthroplasty system.

BACKGROUND Controversy exists on whether gender-specific anatomic differences in the human knee have to be taken into account by gender-specific design in total knee replacement (TKR). We evaluated total knees that were implanted in both genders. OBJECTIVE This paper will describe the influence of gender on the outcome after a unisex total knee arthroplasty. METHODS 52 total knee prostheses (mobile bearing Brehm Precision Knee®, BPK) were implanted in 48 patients (16 male, 32 female, 4 bilateral). Median follow-up was 15 months. HSS score, KSS score, ROM, VAS, and radiologic axis were used as outcome measures. We also obtained preoperative scores of these parameters, creating difference parameters respectively. All surgeries were performed by a single surgeon. RESULTS No significant difference could be determined between genders for postoperative parameters and difference between preoperative and postoperative parameters between both groups. Women scored higher on HSS score preoperatively and postoperatively with 50.0 and 91.0 points versus 47.0 and 88.0 points in the male group. On KSS score, the female group scored higher preoperatively and postoperatively as well, with 79.0 and 174.0 points versus the male group with 74.0 and 168.0. CONCLUSION As the results obtained with this unisex prosthesis system were not statistically significant when compared for gender, we conclude the BPK currently addresses gender-specific anatomic differences sufficiently.
Gynoecium development: networks in Arabidopsis and beyond

Life has always found a way to preserve itself. One strategy that has been developed for this purpose is sexual reproduction. In land plants, the gynoecium is considered to be at the top of evolutionary innovation, since it has been a key factor in the success of the angiosperms. The gynoecium is composed of carpels with different tissues that need to develop and differentiate in the correct way. In order to control and guide gynoecium development, plants have adapted elements of pre-existing gene regulatory networks (GRNs) but new ones have also evolved. The GRNs can interact with internal factors (e.g. hormones and other metabolites) and external factors (e.g. mechanical signals and temperature) at different levels, giving robustness and flexibility to gynoecium development. Here, we review recent findings regarding the role of cytokinin-auxin crosstalk and the genes that connect these hormonal pathways during early gynoecium development. We also discuss some examples of internal and external factors that can modify GRNs. Finally, we make a journey through the flowering plant lineage to determine how conserved are these GRNs that regulate gynoecium and fruit development.
Bayesian Inference-Based Estimation of Normal Aortic, Aneurysmal and Atherosclerotic Tissue Mechanical Properties: From Material Testing, Modeling and Histology

<bold><italic>Objective:</italic></bold> Mechanical properties of healthy, aneurysmal, and atherosclerotic arterial tissues are essential for assessing the risk of lesion development and rupture. Strain energy density function (SEDF) has been widely used to describe these properties, where material constants of the SEDF are traditionally determined using the ordinary least square (OLS) method. However, the material constants derived using OLS are usually dependent on initial guesses. <bold><italic>Methods:</italic></bold> To avoid such dependencies, Bayesian inference-based estimation was used to fit experimental stress-stretch curves of 312 tissue strips from 8 normal aortas, 19 aortic aneurysms, and 21 carotid atherosclerotic plaques to determine the constants, <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${C_1}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${D_1}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${D_2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> of the modified Mooney-Rivlin SEDF. <bold><italic>Results:</italic></bold> Compared with OLS, material constants varied much less with <italic>prior</italic> in the Bayesian inference-based estimation. Moreover, fitted material constants differed amongst distinct tissue types. Atherosclerotic tissues associated with the biggest <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${D_2}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, an indicator of the rate of increase in stress during stretching, followed by aneurysmal tissues and those from normal aortas. Histological analyses showed that <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${C_1}$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${D_2}$</tex-math></inline-formula> were associated with elastin content and details of the collagen configuration, specifically, waviness and dispersion, in the structure. <bold><italic>Conclusion:</italic></bold> Bayesian inference-based estimation robustly determines material constants in the modified Mooney-Rivlin SEDF and these constants can reflect the inherent physiological and pathological features of the tissue structure. <bold><italic>Significance</italic></bold>: This study suggested a robust procedure to determine the material constants in SEDF and demonstrated that the obtained constants can be used to characterize tissues from different types of lesions, while associating with their inherent microstructures.
One-Year Risk of Recurrent Stroke and Death Associated with Vertebrobasilar Artery Stenosis and Occlusion in a Cohort of 10,515 Patients

Background: The natural history of vertebrobasilar artery (VBA) stenosis or occlusion remains understudied. Methods: Patients with diagnosis of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) who were noted to have VBA stenosis based on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging or catheter-based angiogram were selected from Taiwan Stroke Registry. Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the hazards ratio (HR) of recurrent stroke and death within 1 year of index event in various groups based on severity of VBA stenosis (none to mild: 0–49%; moderate to severe: 50–99%: occlusion: 100%) after adjusting for differences in demographic and clinical characteristics between groups at baseline evaluation. Results: None to mild or moderate to severe VBA stenosis was diagnosed in 6972 (66%) and 3,137 (29.8%) among 10,515 patients, respectively, and occlusion was identified in 406 (3.8%) patients. Comparing with patients who showed none to mild stenosis of VBA, there was a significantly higher risk of recurrent stroke (HR 1.21, 95% CI 1.01–1.45) among patients with moderate to severe VBA stenosis. There was a nonsignificantly higher risk of recurrent stroke (HR 1.49, 95% CI 0.99–2.22) and significantly higher risk of death (HR 2.21, 95% CI 1.72–2.83), among patients with VBA occlusion after adjustment of potential confounders. Conclusions: VBA stenosis or occlusion was relatively prevalent among patients with TIA or ischemic stroke and associated with higher risk of recurrent stroke and death in patients with ischemic stroke or TIA who had large artery atherosclerosis.
Chrysin-loaded folate conjugated PF127-F68 mixed micelles with enhanced oral bioavailability and anticancer activity against human breast cancer cells

Abstract Chrysin (CH), a phytoconstituent has numerous pharmacological activities including anticancer activity. However, CH suffers from a drawback of poor aqueous solubility and in turn poor bioavailability limiting its clinical utility. In this work CH loaded folate-conjugated pluronic PF127-pluronic F68 mixed micelles were prepared with an objective to augment oral bioavailability and cytotoxicity of CH in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 by active targeting mechanism. Folate-conjugated PF127 was synthesized and used for preparation of CH-MM. Optimized batch (using factorial design) of CH-MM was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), in vitro CH release, in vivo study, and in vitro cell line study. FTIR study suggested encapsulation of CH into the micelle core. CH-MM showed controlled release of CH releasing higher amount (2.5 fold) in 24 h when compared to CH alone (A-CH). Further significant increase in C max (2 fold) and AUC0–∞ (3 fold) for CH-MM when compared to A-CH suggested significant improvement in oral bioavailability of CH. Additionally, CH-MM showed 5 fold reduction in GI50 value of CH when tested in MCF-7 cells reducing GI50 value of CH significantly. CH-MM can serve as a platform carrier system for active targeting of BCS class II molecules with potential anticancer activity.
Origin of wheat B-genome chromosomes inferred from RNA sequencing analysis of leaf transcripts from section Sitopsis species of Aegilops

Abstract Dramatic changes occasionally occur in intergenic regions leading to genomic alterations during speciation and will consequently obscure the ancestral species that have contributed to the formation of allopolyploid organisms. The S genome of five species of section Sitopsis of genus Aegilops is considered to be an origin of B-genome in cultivated tetraploid and hexaploid wheat species, although its actual donor is still unclear. Here, we attempted to elucidate phylogenetic relationship among Sitopsis species by performing RNA sequencing of the coding regions of each chromosome. Thus, genome-wide polymorphisms were extensively analyzed in 19 accessions of the Sitopsis species in reference to the tetraploid and hexaploid wheat B genome sequences and consequently were efficiently anchored to the B-genome chromosomes. The results of our genome-wide exon sequencing and resultant phylogenetic analysis indicate that Ae. speltoides is likely to be the direct donor of all chromosomes of the wheat B genome. Our results also indicate that the genome differentiation during wheat allopolyploidization from S to B proceeds at different speeds over the chromosomes rather than at constant rate and recombination could be a factor determining the speed. This observation is potentially generalized to genome differentiation during plant allopolyploid evolution.
Location and Size of Ruptured Intracranial Aneurysm and Serious Clinical Outcomes Early after Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Population-Based Study in Australasia

Background: It is uncertain whether the location and size of a ruptured intracranial aneurysm (IA) independently influences the outcome of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Objective: To determine the independent relationship of location and size of a ruptured IA with serious clinical outcomes after SAH in an Australasian population-based study. Methods: From 432 first-ever cases of primary SAH registered prospectively over 12 months in 4 Australasian cities between 1995 and 1998, the demographics, clinical features, risk factors and results of investigations were obtained, including the location and size of any ruptured IA as assessed by cerebral angiography, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging. Location was classified as either anterior (i.e. anterior communicating artery, internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery) or posterior circulation (i.e. posterior communicating artery, posterior inferior cerebellar artery, basilar artery and vertebral artery), and size was classified as <5, 5–9 and ≧10 mm. Outcomes recorded during hospitalization were rebleeding, delayed ischemia, hydrocephalus, residual neurological impairment and in-hospital death. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the effects of IA location and size on outcome, independent of other potential prognostic factors. Data are reported with odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: IA location and size were confirmed separately in 299 and 252 patients, respectively. Patients with a posterior circulation IA had a lower rate of rebleeding than those with an anterior circulation IA (adjusted OR: 0.11; 95% CI: 0.02–0.87), but otherwise there was no significant relationship between IA location and outcome. Patients with a larger ruptured IA had higher risks of rebleeding (p = 0.02 for trend) and in-hospital death (p = 0.001) after controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, location of the ruptured IA and neurosurgical intervention. Conclusion: IA location in the posterior circulation was associated with a lower risk of rebleeding than IA in the anterior circulation. A larger IA size was associated with higher risks of rebleeding and in-hospital death.
Automated selection of myocardial inversion time with a convolutional neural network: Spatial temporal ensemble myocardium inversion network (STEMI‐NET)

Delayed enhancement imaging is an essential component of cardiac MRI, which is used widely for the evaluation of myocardial scar and viability. The selection of an optimal inversion time (TI) or null point (TINP) to suppress the background myocardial signal is required. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of automated selection of TINP using a convolutional neural network (CNN). We hypothesized that a CNN may use spatial and temporal imaging characteristics from an inversion‐recovery scout to select TINP, without the aid of a human observer.
The effect of alum addition on microbial communities in poultry litter.

Alum [Al(2)(SO(4))(3). 14H(2)O] is a common poultry litter amendment used to decrease water-soluble phosphorus or reduce ammonia volatilization, or both. Although the physiochemical effects of alum addition have been well researched, little attention has been given to the poultry litter microbial communities. The goal of this study was to use molecular biological methods [denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), community cloning, and quantitative real-time PCR] to characterize general, group-specific and pathogenic microbial communities in alum (10% wt/wt) and non-alum-treated litter. According to quantitative real-time PCR analyses, alum addition to the poultry litter resulted in significant reductions in both Campylobacter jejuni and Escherichia coli concentrations by the end of the first month of the experiment (3 log and 2 log, respectively). The concentrations of Salmonella spp. were below detection (<5 x 10(3) cell.g(-1) of litter) for the entire experiment. The DGGE analyses revealed significant reductions in the Clostridium/Eubacterium and low %GC gram-positive groups in the alum-treated litters by the end of the first month, with no bands detectable for either group after 8 wk of incubation. Conversely, minimal effects of alum addition were observed in the Actinomycetes community. The most significant shift in the microbial community (based on DGGE analyses) occurred in the fungal population, with a large increase in diversity and abundance within 1 mo of alum addition (1 dominant band on d 0 to 9 dominant bands at 4 wk). Specifically, the incidence of Aspergillus spp. increased from 0 to 50% of the sequences in fungal clone libraries (n = 80) over the course of the experiment. This suggests that the addition of alum to poultry litter potentially shifts the microbial populations from bacterially dominated to dominated by fungi. The ramifications of this shift in dominance are still unknown, and future work will be aimed at characterizing these fungi and elucidating their role in the acidified litter environment.
Enabling creative collaboration for all levels of learning

A potential path for enabling greater creativity and collaboration is through increased arts and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) integration in education and research. This approach has been a growing discussion in US national forums and is the foundation of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics plus arts and design (STEAM) education movement. Developing authentic artistic integrations with STEM fields (or vice versa) is challenging, particularly in higher education, where traditional disciplinary structures and incentives can impede the creation of integrated programs. Measuring and assessing the outcomes of such integration efforts can be even more challenging, since traditional metrics do not necessarily capture new opportunities created for students and faculty, and the greatest impact may occur over a long period (a career). At Drexel University, we created the Expressive & Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center as a standalone institute to pursue and enable such transdisciplinary arts–STEM collaborations, particularly with external arts and education partners. In this perspectives paper, we highlight a range of projects and outcomes resulting from such external collaborations, including graduate research with professional artists, undergraduate student work experiences, and STEAM-based education programs for kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) students. While each project has its own specific objectives and outcomes, we believe that they collectively demonstrate this integrated transdisciplinary approach to be impactful and potentially transformative for all levels of learning.
Cholinergic system changes of falls and freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease

Postural instability and gait difficulties (PIGDs) represent debilitating disturbances in Parkinson's disease (PD). Past acetylcholinesterase positron emission tomography (PET) imaging studies implicate cholinergic changes as significant contributors to PIGD features. These studies were limited in quantification of striatal cholinergic synapse integrity. Vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) PET ligands are better suited for evaluation of high binding areas. We examined associations between regional VAChT expression and freezing of gait (FoG) and falls.
Spatiotemporal Coupling of Vessel Cavitation and Discharge of Stored Xylem Water in a Tree Sapling1[OPEN]

Water can be stored in dead fibers of the xylem matrix under drought, but release dynamics suggest only a minor role for it in the prevention of drought-induced vessel cavitation. Water discharge from stem internal storage compartments is thought to minimize the risk of vessel cavitation. Based on this concept, one would expect that water storage compartments involved in the buffering of xylem tensions empty before the onset of vessel cavitation under drought stress, and potentially refill after soil saturation. However, scant in vivo data exist that elucidate this localized spatiotemporal coupling. In this study on intact saplings of American chestnut (Castanea dentata), x-ray computed microtomography (microCT) showed that the xylem matrix surrounding vessels releases stored water and becomes air-filled either concurrent to or after vessel cavitation under progressive drought stress. Among annual growth rings, the xylem matrix of the current year remained largely water-filled even under severe drought stress. In comparison, microtomography images collected on excised stems showed that applied pressures of much greater than 0 MPa were required to induce water release from the xylem matrix. Viability staining highlighted that water release from the xylem matrix was associated primarily with emptying of dead fibers. Refilling of the xylem matrix and vessels was detected in intact saplings when the canopy was bagged and stem water potential was close to 0 MPa, and in leafless saplings over the winter period. In conclusion, this study indicates that the bulk of water stored in the xylem matrix is released after the onset of vessel cavitation, and suggests that capillary water contributes to overall stem water storage under drought but is not used primarily for the prevention of drought-induced vessel cavitation in this species.
The Forgotten Skeletogenic Condensations: A Comparison of Early Skeletal Development Amongst Vertebrates

The development of a skeletogenic condensation is perhaps the most critical yet considerably overlooked stage of skeletogenesis. Described in this comprehensive review are the mechanisms that facilitate skeletogenic condensation formation, growth, and maintenance to allow for overt differentiation into a skeletal element. This review discusses the current knowledge of gene regulation and characterization of skeletogenic condensations in the chicken, mouse, zebrafish, and other developmental models. We limited our scope to condensations that give rise to the bones and cartilages of the vertebrate skeleton, with a particular focus on craniofacial and limb bud regions. While many of the skeletogenic processes are similar among vertebrate lineages, differences are apparent in the site and timing of the initial epithelial–mesenchymal interactions as well as in whether the condensation has an osteogenic or chondrogenic fate, both within and among species. Further comparative studies are needed to clarify and broaden the existing knowledge of this intricate phenomenon.