Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Authors and Affiliations

Problem: To evaluate the role of pain perception and pain stimulus components for blood pressure responses to stress in the Black African population. Methods: Cardiovascular regulation of hypertensive Black (n=110) and Caucasian (n=95) Africans was studied during a cold pressor test. Perception of stressfulness of the task which was considered equivalent to a rating of cold pain was assessed on a 7-point Likert scale. Chronic stress level was evaluated by the General Health Questionnaire and the Coping Strategy Indicator was used to assess individual coping behavior. Results: The cold pressor test elicited significant blood pressure elevations with higher relative increases in the Black Africans. The higher blood pressure reactivity in the Blacks was accompanied by a substantially greater cardiac response as compared to the Caucasians. The Black Africans also reported higher chronic stress levels and rated the task as more painful than the Caucasians. A significant interaction was observed for cardiovascular responses with pain perception but not with chronic stress. A significant smaller proportion of Black than Caucasian Africans used both problemand emotionfocussed coping. Conclusions: A steeper rise in heart rate in the Black Africans indicates greater painrelated increments in blood pressure. Ethnic differences in cognitive appraisal of pain may contribute to a higher blood pressure reactivity in Black Africans.
The Relationship Between Smartphone-Recorded Environmental Audio and Symptomatology of Anxiety and Depression: Exploratory Study

Background Objective and continuous severity measures of anxiety and depression are highly valuable and would have many applications in psychiatry and psychology. A collective source of data for objective measures are the sensors in a person’s smartphone, and a particularly rich source is the microphone that can be used to sample the audio environment. This may give broad insight into activity, sleep, and social interaction, which may be associated with quality of life and severity of anxiety and depression. Objective This study aimed to explore the properties of passively recorded environmental audio from a subject’s smartphone to find potential correlates of symptom severity of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and general impairment. Methods An Android app was designed, together with a centralized server system, to collect periodic measurements of the volume of sounds in the environment and to detect the presence or absence of English-speaking voices. Subjects were recruited into a 2-week observational study during which the app was run on their personal smartphone to collect audio data. Subjects also completed self-report severity measures of social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and functional impairment. Participants were 112 Canadian adults from a nonclinical population. High-level features were extracted from the environmental audio of 84 participants with sufficient data, and correlations were measured between the 4 audio features and the 4 self-report measures. Results The regularity in daily patterns of activity and inactivity inferred from the environmental audio volume was correlated with the severity of depression (r=−0.37; P<.001). A measure of sleep disturbance inferred from the environmental audio volume was also correlated with the severity of depression (r=0.23; P=.03). A proxy measure of social interaction based on the detection of speaking voices in the environmental audio was correlated with depression (r=−0.37; P<.001) and functional impairment (r=−0.29; P=.01). None of the 4 environmental audio-based features tested showed significant correlations with the measures of generalized anxiety or social anxiety. Conclusions In this study group, the environmental audio was shown to contain signals that were associated with the severity of depression and functional impairment. Associations with the severity of social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were much weaker in comparison and not statistically significant at the 5% significance level. This work also confirmed previous work showing that the presence of voices is associated with depression. Furthermore, this study suggests that sparsely sampled audio volume could provide potentially relevant insight into subjects’ mental health.
Effects of alga Fucus serratus decline on benthic assemblages and trophic linkages at its retreating southern range edge

Canopy-forming seaweeds are important coastal ecosystem engineers that sustain diverse multi-trophic assemblages. Their losses, with the subsequent reduction in habitat complexity, have been documented across many parts of the world and are often attributed to climate change and other anthropogenic factors. The general aim of the present study was to understand the repercussions of the decline of the canopy-forming alga Fucus serratus L. at its retreating southern range edge in the diversity and food-web linkages of intertidal assemblages. Few studies have attempted to document changes in benthic food webs following canopy loss. We examined the differences among southern locations situated at different distances from the range margin: those at the very edge, where F. serratus experienced a dramatic decline during recent years (marginal locations), and those where F. serratus is still dominant (central locations). Comparisons were made among locations situated at the same latitude and sharing a recent history of F. serratus dominance. Trophic relationships were analyzed using natural abundances of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. We report clear changes in the structure of benthic assemblages and lower trophic positioning of some consumers, suggesting an overall shrinkage of the food web length at the contracting range edge of F. serratus, which will transfer to higher trophic levels. Under present and future climatic scenarios, shifts in the distribution of coastal ecosystem engineers could entail a reorganization of local natural assemblages and food webs. More attention should be given to measure how much these shifts can modify the whole coastal food webs and their functioning.
Effects of Stereochemistry and Hydrogen Bonding on Glycopolymer - Amyloid-β Interactions.

Saccharide stereochemistry plays an important role in carbohydrate functions such as biological recognition processes and protein binding. Synthetic glycopolymers with pendent saccharides of controlled stereochemistry provide an attractive approach for the design of polysaccharide-inspired biomaterials. Acrylamide-based polymers containing either β,D-glucose or β,D-galactose pendent groups, designed to mimic GM1 ganglioside saccharides, and their small molecule analogues were used to evaluate the effect of stereochemistry on glycopolymer solution aggregation processes alone and in the presence of Aβ42 peptide using dynamic light scattering, GPC-MALLS, and fluorescence assays. FTIR and NMR were employed to determine hydrogen bonding patterns of the systems. The galactose-containing polymer displayed significant intra-molecular hydrogen bonding and self-aggregation and minimal association with Aβ42; while the glucose-containing glycopolymers showed intermolecular interactions with the surrounding environment and association with Aβ42. Saturation transfer difference NMR spectroscopy demonstrated different binding affinities for the two glycopolymers to Aβ42 peptide.
Prevalence and factors associated with anemia among women of reproductive age in seven South and Southeast Asian countries: Evidence from nationally representative surveys

Background Anemia remains a major public health challenge with high prevalence among women in South and Southeast Asian countries. Reductions in anemia rates have been stalled, despite the implementation of different maternal health and nutrition programs. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors associated with anemia among women of reproductive age in seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries. Methods This cross-sectional analysis utilized data from the most recent demographic and health surveys from seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, and Timor-Leste) between 2011 and 2016. This study included 726,164 women of reproductive age. Multiple logistic regression was performed to assess the factors associated with anemia among women for each country separately. Results The combined prevalence of anemia was 52.5%, ranged from 22.7% in Timor-Leste to 63% in the Maldives. Results from multiple logistic regression suggest that likelihood of anemia is significantly higher among younger women (15–24 years), women with primary or no education, women from the poorest wealth quintile, women without toilet facilities and improved water sources, underweight women, and women with more than one children born in last five years in most of the countries. Conclusions The prevalence of anemia is high among women of reproductive age in the seven selected South and Southeast Asian countries. The results of this study suggest that various household, environmental and individual factors contribute to the increased likelihood of anemia. Evidence-based, multidisciplinary policies and programs targeting mothers' health and nutrition status, in addition to scaling-up women's education and socioeconomic status, are warranted to combat anemia.
Psychological Resilience as an Emergent Characteristic for Well-Being: A Pragmatic View

Currently, there is no clear agreement on the definition and conceptualization for psychological resilience (PR) in old age. Adopting a pragmatic view, this article elucidates the definition and conceptualization of PR by (1) extracting existing PR concepts that are relevant to aging, and (2) elucidating the contributing and delimiting factors for developing and sustaining PR as guided by the biopsychosocial framework. In addition, a comprehensive review of the tools used to measure PR was conducted to examine how scholars have conceptualized PR. Consequently, the renewed understanding defines PR as an emergent construct which is malleable, enduring, and can be developed and sustained by a dynamic interplay of biological, psychological, spiritual, and social factors. Correlates in terms of physical and mental well-being in the context of aging are identified.
SSR genotypic analysis of Phytophthora infestans from potato in some areas of China

The SSR genotypes of 66 isolates of Phytophthora infestans (potato late blight pathogen) collected from potato in China and 2 reference isolates were identified and nominated by use of two loci, Pi4B and Pi4G. Among 66 isolates of P. infestans, seven SSR genotypes (D-03, D-05, D-06, G-02, H-01, F-01 and F-06) were found, of which F-06 was a novel one. Fifty-three isolates, accounting for 80.3% of the total were F-01, which was the predominant in China. Statistic analysis of allele genes generated by two loci (Pi4B and Pi4G) indicated that diversity produced by the locus Pi4B were higher than that by Pi4G. SSR data showed that genetic diversity of isolates from Hebei province was mostly the same as that of isolates from Heilongjiang province. However, genetic diversity of isolates from Yunnan province was significantly different from that of Hebei and Heilongjiang. In addition, the results showed that SSR genotype of P. infestans did not correlate to phenotype of metalaxyl-resistance.
Development of Chromosomal Segment Substitution Lines from a Backcross Recombinant Inbred Population of Interspecific Rice Cross

A backcross recombinant inbred line population consisting of 202 lines was developed from Xieqingzao B // Xieqingzao B / Dongxiang wild rice. The population was assayed with DNA markers and phenotyped on planthopper resistance and yield traits. A linkage map consisting of 119 DNA markers and spanned for 1188 cM over the 12 rice chromosomes was constructed. Thirty-two chromosomal segment substitution lines were selected based on the percentage of Xieqingzao B allele at marker loci. These lines are of great potential for gene mapping and alien gene introgression.
Comparative Proteomic Analysis of Dipsacus asperoides Roots from Different Habitats in China

Dipsacus asperoides is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine with beneficial health properties. To date, the quality of D. asperoides from different habitats has shown significant differences. However, the molecular differences in D. asperoides from different habitats are still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in protein levels of D. asperoides from different habitats. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) and 2DLC/MS/MS were used to detect statistically significant changes in D. asperoides from different habitats. Through proteomic analysis, a total of 2149 proteins were identified, of which 42 important differentially expressed proteins were screened. Through in-depth analysis of differential proteins, the protein metabolism energy and carbohydrate metabolism of D. asperoides from Hubei Province were strong, but their antioxidant capacity was weak. We found that three proteins, UTP-glucose-1-phosphate uridylyltransferase, allene oxide cyclase, and isopentyl diphosphate isomerase 2, may be the key proteins involved in dipsacus saponin VI synthesis. Eight proteins were found in D. asperoides in response to environmental stress from different habitats. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis confirmed the accuracy and authenticity of the proteomic analysis. The results of this study may provide the basic information for exploring the cause of differences in secondary metabolites in different habitats of D. asperoides and the protein mechanism governing differences in quality.
Gene Therapy in Rare Respiratory Diseases: What Have We Learned So Far?

Gene therapy is an alternative therapy in many respiratory diseases with genetic origin and currently without curative treatment. After five decades of progress, many different vectors and gene editing tools for genetic engineering are now available. However, we are still a long way from achieving a safe and efficient approach to gene therapy application in clinical practice. Here, we review three of the most common rare respiratory conditions—cystic fibrosis (CF), alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD), and primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD)—alongside attempts to develop genetic treatment for these diseases. Since the 1990s, gene augmentation therapy has been applied in multiple clinical trials targeting CF and AATD, especially using adeno-associated viral vectors, resulting in a good safety profile but with low efficacy in protein expression. Other strategies, such as non-viral vectors and more recently gene editing tools, have also been used to address these diseases in pre-clinical studies. The first gene therapy approach in PCD was in 2009 when a lentiviral transduction was performed to restore gene expression in vitro; since then, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALEN) technology has also been applied in primary cell culture. Gene therapy is an encouraging alternative treatment for these respiratory diseases; however, more research is needed to ensure treatment safety and efficacy.
Complex III Inhibition-Induced Pulmonary Hypertension Affects the Mitochondrial Proteomic Landscape

The mitochondria play a vital role in controlling cell metabolism and regulating crucial cellular outcomes. We previously demonstrated that chronic inhibition of the mitochondrial complex III in rats by Antimycin A (AA) induced sustained pulmonary vasoconstriction. On the metabolic level, AA-induced mitochondrial dysfunction resulted in a glycolytic shift that was reported as the primary contributor to pulmonary hypertension pathogenesis. However, the regulatory proteins driving this metabolic shift with complex III inhibition are yet to be explored. Therefore, to delineate the mechanisms, we followed changes in the rat lung mitochondrial proteome throughout AA treatment. Rats treated with AA for up to 24 days showed a disturbed mitochondrial proteome with significant changes in 28 proteins (p < 0.05). We observed a time-dependent decrease in the expression of key proteins that regulate fatty acid oxidation, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the electron transport chain, and amino acid metabolism, indicating a correlation with diminished mitochondrial function. We also found a significant dysregulation in proteins that controls the protein import machinery and the clearance and detoxification of oxidatively damaged peptides via proteolysis and mitophagy. This could potentially lead to the onset of mitochondrial toxicity due to misfolded protein stress. We propose that chronic inhibition of mitochondrial complex III attenuates mitochondrial function by disruption of the global mitochondrial metabolism. This potentially aggravates cellular proliferation by initiating a glycolytic switch and thereby leads to pulmonary hypertension.
Genome-wide gene expression analysis of a murine model of prostate cancer progression: Deciphering the roles of IL-6 and p38 MAPK as potential therapeutic targets

Background Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among adult males globally. The poor prognosis of PCa is largely due to late diagnosis of the disease when it has already progressed to an advanced stage marked by androgen-independence, thus necessitating new strategies for early detection and treatment. We construe that these direly needed advances are limited by our poor understanding of early events in the progression of PCa and that would thus represent ideal targets for early intervention. To begin to fill this void, we interrogated molecular “oncophenotypes” that embody the transition of PCa from an androgen-dependent (AD) to–independent (AI) state. Methods To accomplish this aim, we used our previously established AD and AI murine PCa cell lines, PLum-AD and PLum-AI, respectively, which recapitulate primary and progressive PCa morphologically and molecularly. We statistically surveyed global gene expressions in these cell lines by microarray analysis. Differential profiles were functionally interrogated by pathways, gene set enrichment and topological gene network analyses. Results Gene expression analysis of PLum-AD and PLum-AI transcriptomes (n = 3 each), revealed 723 differentially expressed genes (392 upregulated and 331 downregulated) in PLum-AI compared to PLum-AD cells. Gene set analysis demonstrated enrichment of biological functions and pathways in PLum-AI cells that are central to tumor aggressiveness including cell migration and invasion facilitated by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Further analysis demonstrated that the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) was predicted to be significantly activated in the PLum-AI cells, whereas gene sets previously associated with favorable response to the p38 inhibitor SB203580 were attenuated (i.e., inversely enriched) in the PLum-AI cells, suggesting that these aggressive cells may be therapeutically vulnerable to p38 inhibition. Gene set and gene-network analysis also alluded to activation of other signaling networks particularly those associated with enhanced EMT, inflammation and immune function/response including, but not limited to Tnf, IL-6, Mmp 2, Ctgf, and Ptges. Accordingly, we chose SB203580 and IL-6 to validate their effect on PLum-AD and PLum-AI. Some of the common genes identified in the gene-network analysis were validated at the molecular and functional level. Additionally, the vulnerability to SB203580 and the effect of IL-6 were also validated on the stem/progenitor cell population using the sphere formation assay. Conclusions In summary, our study highlights pathways associated with an augmented malignant phenotype in AI cells and presents new high-potential targets to constrain the aggressive malignancy seen in the castration-resistant PCa.
Apparent diffusion coefficient map based radiomics model in identifying the ischemic penumbra in acute ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND Saving the ischemic penumbra (IP) is key in treating acute ischemic stroke (AIS). We aim to investigate the value of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map based radiomics model in the identification of IP in AIS. METHODS This study retrospectively analyzed the data of 241 patients with AIS involving the anterior cerebral circulation who were treated in our hospital within 24 h of stroke onset from January 2014 to October 2019. With the perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI)/diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) mismatch model as the gold standard to determine whether IP exists, we divided patients into PWI/DWI mismatch (84 cases) and non-PWI/DWI mismatch (157 cases). Following the DWI high signal area, the region of interest (ROI) was drawn to the maximum level of the lesions on the ADC map, and a total of 896 features were extracted. Maximum correlation and minimum redundancy (mRMR) algorithm were applied to select the optimized features subsets, and then the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were furtherly applied to select the best features to construct radiomics signature in predicting PWI/DWI mismatch. The performance of the model was evaluated using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. One hundred times internal cross-validation was applied to evaluate the stability of the model. The clinical value of the model was evaluated using decision curve analysis (DCA). RESULTS Twenty-one features were finally selected to set up the radiomics model. In the training set, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.92, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 0.93, 0.75, 0.82, respectively. In the validation set, the AUC was 0.90, and the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 0.88, 0.74, 0.80, respectively. The average AUC of internal cross-validation for 100 times in the training set were 0.88 and 0.83 in the validation set. DCA shows that within the threshold range of 0.08 to 1.0, the model gains more net benefit. CONCLUSIONS The radiomics model based on the ADC map can effectively determine the presence of IP in patients with AIS.
Enterobacterial Common Antigen: Synthesis and Function of an Enigmatic Molecule

The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria poses a barrier to antibiotic entry due to its high impermeability. Thus, there is an urgent need to study the function and biogenesis of the OM. In Enterobacterales, an order of bacteria with many pathogenic members, one of the components of the OM is enterobacterial common antigen (ECA). We have known of the presence of ECA on the cell surface of Enterobacterales for many years, but its properties have only more recently begun to be unraveled. ABSTRACT The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria poses a barrier to antibiotic entry due to its high impermeability. Thus, there is an urgent need to study the function and biogenesis of the OM. In Enterobacterales, an order of bacteria with many pathogenic members, one of the components of the OM is enterobacterial common antigen (ECA). We have known of the presence of ECA on the cell surface of Enterobacterales for many years, but its properties have only more recently begun to be unraveled. ECA is a carbohydrate antigen built of repeating units of three amino sugars, the structure of which is conserved throughout Enterobacterales. There are three forms of ECA, two of which (ECAPG and ECALPS) are located on the cell surface, while one (ECACYC) is located in the periplasm. Awareness of the importance of ECA has increased due to studies of its function that show it plays a vital role in bacterial physiology and interaction with the environment. Here, we review the discovery of ECA, the pathways for the biosynthesis of ECA, and the interactions of its various forms. In addition, we consider the role of ECA in the host immune response, as well as its potential roles in host-pathogen interaction. Furthermore, we explore recent work that offers insights into the cellular function of ECA. This review provides a glimpse of the biological significance of this enigmatic molecule.