Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pro-atherogenic activation of A7r5 cells induced by the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex

A previous study has revealed that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)/β2-glycoprotein I (β2GPI)/anti-β2-glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI), an immune complex, is able to activate the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor κβ (NF-κβ) inflammatory signaling pathway in macrophages, and consequently enhance foam cell formation and the secretion of prothrombin activators. However, the effects of the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex on vascular smooth muscle cells have yet to be investigated. The present study investigated whether the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex was able to reinforce the pro-atherogenic activities of a rat thoracic aorta smooth muscle cell line (A7r5) and examined the underlying molecular mechanisms. The results revealed that the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex treatment significantly (P<0.05 vs. the media, oxLDL, oxLDL/β2GPI and β2GPI/anti-β2GPI groups) enhanced the pro-atherogenic activation of A7r5 cells, including intracellular lipid loading, Acyl-coenzyme A cholesterol acyltransferase mRNA expression, migration, matrix metalloproteinase-9 and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 secretion, all via TLR4. In addition, the expression of TLR4 and the phosphorylation of NF-κβ p65, p38 and ERK1/2 were also upregulated in oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex-treated A7r5 cells. Pre-treatment with TAK-242, a TLR4 inhibitor, was able to partly attenuate the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex-induced phosphorylation of NF-κβ p65; however, it had no effect on the phosphorylation of extracellular regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38. Meanwhile, the NF-κβ p65 inhibitor ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate and the ERK1/2 inhibitor U0126, but not the p38 inhibitor SB203580, were able to block oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex-induced foam cell formation and migration in A7r5 cells. Hence, it was demonstrated that the oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex is able to enhance the lipid uptake, migration and active molecule secretion of A7r5 cells via TLR4, and finally deteriorate atherosclerosis plaques. Additionally, it was demonstrated that oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex-induced foam cell formation and migration may be partly mediated by the TLR4/NF-κβ signaling pathway and that ERK1/2 may also participate in the process.
A Rare Case of “Human Tail” Associated with Lipomyelomeningocele and Tethered Cord

Human tail might be the most interesting cutaneous sign of neural tube defects. From little cutaneous appendixes to 20-cm-long taillike lesions were reported in the literature. They may occur connected to an underlying pathology such as lipoma or teratoma, but most of the time, they conceal an underlying spinal dysraphism. Many classifications about human tails have been suggested in history, but the main approach to these lesions is, independent of the classification, always the same: investigating the possible spinal dysraphism with concomitant pathologies and planning the treatment on the patient basis.
Affect-Driven Attention Biases as Animal Welfare Indicators: Review and Methods

Simple Summary Good animal welfare requires minimizing suffering and promoting positive experiences. To achieve this, we need reliable indicators of animals’ psychological states. In humans, different moods and emotions (“affects”) are associated with changes in visual attention (“attention bias”). We review studies investigating whether attention biases are also indicators of affect in animals. Although research is limited, evidence for affect-driven attention biases has been found in several species, especially primates and livestock. These studies are discussed in relation to tasks developed for measuring attention in humans. We identify additional findings from human psychology that might be applied to animals, particularly species not studied before, and conclude that affect-driven attention bias is a promising welfare indicator. However, it may be more useful for studying responses to specific stimuli, rather than general wellbeing. With further study, we hope these findings contribute to fulfilling society’s ethical obligations towards animals. Abstract Attention bias describes the differential allocation of attention towards one stimulus compared to others. In humans, this bias can be mediated by the observer’s affective state and is implicated in the onset and maintenance of affective disorders such as anxiety. Affect-driven attention biases (ADABs) have also been identified in a few other species. Here, we review the literature on ADABs in animals and discuss their utility as welfare indicators. Despite a limited research effort, several studies have found that negative affective states modulate attention to negative (i.e., threatening) cues. ADABs influenced by positive-valence states have also been documented in animals. We discuss methods for measuring ADAB and conclude that looking time, dot-probe, and emotional spatial cueing paradigms are particularly promising. Research is needed to test them with a wider range of species, investigate attentional scope as an indicator of affect, and explore the possible causative role of attention biases in determining animal wellbeing. Finally, we argue that ADABs might not be best-utilized as indicators of general valence, but instead to reveal specific emotions, motivations, aversions, and preferences. Paying attention to the human literature could facilitate these advances.
An Outlook on Physical and Virtual Sensors for a Socially Interactive Internet

The Internet keeps changing at a rapid pace, driven mainly by the emerging concepts and applications that make it aware of the physical world and responsive to user context. The Internet of Things (IoT) concept is quickly giving way to more advanced and highly interactive environments that go well beyond the mere sensing of the physical world. Today, in addition to traditional electronic devices, IoT sensing/actuating includes both software and human-based entities. This paper provides an outlook on the future of sensing/actuating approaches on the Internet at large, which we see increasingly related to all kinds of socially interactive technologies. With these objectives in mind, we propose a taxonomy to deal with the heterogeneity of sensing/actuating approaches in IoT. We also analyse the state-of-the-art of Social Sensing. Finally, we identify open issues and associated research opportunities, the main ones being the integration of all sensing approaches, the combination of social sciences, engineering, and computing as enablers of context-aware, cognitive applications and, last but not least, the unified management of large sets of very heterogeneous sensors/actuators.
A three-layered hollow tubular scaffold as an enhancement of nerve regeneration potential

A significant clinical challenge in the surgery of peripheral nervous system injured via accidents and natural disease is development of biomimetic grafts which could potentially promote nerve repair and regeneration. Although various engineered neural tissue scaffolds have been proposed to support the neural cell functions, they have not been able to instantaneously mimic the whole characteristics of endogenous microenvironment. In this study, we proposed a three-layered tubular scaffold which could provide appropriate electrical, mechanical and biological properties for peripheral nerve engineering. While the inter layer was graphene (Gr) embedded alginate-polyvinyl alcohol (AP-Gr) fibrous scaffold with well-defined anisotropy, the outer layer was double network scaffold of polycaprolactone fumarate (PCLF) and eggshell membrane (ESM). These two layers were attached together using a polycaprolactone (PCL) fibrous membrane, a middle layer, via a simple melting process. Results showed that while the electrical conductivity of the three-layered scaffold was similar to that of AP-Gr fibrous layer, the strength of the three-layered scaffold was significantly improved compared to AP-Gr and ESM-PCLF (1.5 and 1.1 times, respectively) attributed to well attachment of the two layers. As a proof-of-concept, PC12 cell attachment, proliferation, and alignment were studied on the developed three-layered scaffold. The majority of the cells (55%) aligned (<20°) along the major axis of fibers features. Furthermore, electrical stimulation revealed positive effect on the alignment of PC12 cells and change in the cell morphology. With the ease of fabrication and mechanical robustness, the three-layered scaffold of AP-Gr and ESM-PCLF might be utilized as a versatile system for the engineering of peripheral nerve tissue.
Evolutionary and Developmental Biology Provide Insights Into the Regeneration of Organ of Corti Hair Cells

We review the evolution and development of organ of Corti hair cells with a focus on their molecular differences from vestibular hair cells. Such information is needed to therapeutically guide organ of Corti hair cell development in flat epithelia and generate the correct arrangement of different hair cell types, orientation of stereocilia, and the delayed loss of the kinocilium that are all essential for hearing, while avoiding driving hair cells toward a vestibular fate. Highlighting the differences from vestibular organs and defining what is known about the regulation of these differences will help focus future research directions toward successful restoration of an organ of Corti following long-term hair cell loss.
Universal Perceptual Grouping

In this work we aim to develop a universal sketch grouper. That is, a grouper that can be applied to sketches of any category in any domain to group constituent strokes/segments into semantically meaningful object parts. The first obstacle to this goal is the lack of large-scale datasets with grouping annotation. To overcome this, we contribute the largest sketch perceptual grouping (SPG) dataset to date, consisting of 20,000 unique sketches evenly distributed over 25 object categories. Furthermore, we propose a novel deep universal perceptual grouping model. The model is learned with both generative and discriminative losses. The generative losses improve the generalisation ability of the model to unseen object categories and datasets. The discriminative losses include a local grouping loss and a novel global grouping loss to enforce global grouping consistency. We show that the proposed model significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art groupers. Further, we show that our grouper is useful for a number of sketch analysis tasks including sketch synthesis and fine-grained sketch-based image retrieval (FG-SBIR).
DCert: Find the Leak in Your Pocket

Static data-flow analysis has proven its effectiveness in assessing security of applications. One major challenge it faces is scalability to large software. This issue is even exacerbated when additional limitations on computing and storage resources are imposed, as is the case for mobile devices. In such cases the analysis is performed on a conventional computer. This poses two problems. First, a man-in-the-middle attack can tamper with an analyzed application. So once on the mobile device, what guarantees that the actual version is not corrupt. Second, the analysis itself might be broken leading to an erroneous result. As a solution, we present DCert a tool for checking and certifying data-flow properties that consists of two components: a (heavy- weight) analyzer and a (lightweight) checker. The analyzer is deployed on a conventional computer. It verifies the conformance of a given application to a specified policy and generates a certificate attesting the validity of the analysis result. It suffices then for the checker, on a mobile device, to perform a linear pass in the application size to validate or refute the certificate as well as the policy. This allows us to separate the verification and the checking process while ensuring a trust relationship between them via the certificate. We describe DCert and report on experimental results obtained for real-world applications.
GENOME REPORT: High-quality genome assemblies of 15 Drosophila species generated using Nanopore sequencing

The Drosophila genus is a unique group containing a wide range of species that occupy diverse ecosystems. In addition to the most widely studied species, Drosophila melanogaster, many other members in this genus also possess a well-developed set of genetic tools. Indeed, high-quality genomes exist for several species within the genus, facilitating studies of the function and evolution of cis-regulatory regions and proteins by allowing comparisons across at least 50 million years of evolution. Yet, the available genomes still fail to capture much of the substantial genetic diversity within the Drosophila genus. We have therefore tested protocols to rapidly and inexpensively sequence and assemble the genome from any Drosophila species using single-molecule sequencing technology from Oxford Nanopore. Here, we use this technology to present high-quality genome assemblies of 15 Drosophila species: 10 of the 12 originally sequenced Drosophila species (ananassae, erecta, mojavensis, persimilis, pseudoobscura, sechellia, simulans, virilis, willistoni, and yakuba), four additional species that had previously reported assemblies (biarmipes, bipectinata, eugracilis, and mauritiana), and one novel assembly (triauraria). Genomes were generated from an average of 29x depth-of-coverage data that after assembly resulted in an average contig N50 of 4.4 Mb. Subsequent alignment of contigs from the published reference genomes demonstrates that our assemblies could be used to close over 60% of the gaps present in the currently published reference genomes. Importantly, the materials and reagents cost for each genome was approximately $1,000 (USD). This study demonstrates the power and cost-effectiveness of long-read sequencing for genome assembly in Drosophila and provides a framework for the affordable sequencing and assembly of additional Drosophila genomes.
Successful kidney transplantation normalizes platelet function

Abstract Background Uraemic platelet dysfunction is not completely understood, in part due to non-physiological platelet function assays. We have developed a physiological flow-based assay that quantifies platelet function in microlitre volumes of blood under arterial shear. The aim of this study was to characterize platelet function before and after kidney transplantation. Methods Ten patients scheduled for living donor kidney transplant surgery and nine healthy controls were analysed using the assay. The motional parameters of platelet behaviour on von Willebrand factor (VWF) were recorded using customized platelet tracking software. The assay was repeated 3–8 weeks post-transplant in the transplant group and at an interval of >3 weeks in normal healthy volunteers. Results Platelet–VWF interactions were markedly reduced in the 10 pre-transplant patients compared with the healthy controls. In seven patients with immediate graft function, dynamic platelet function returned to normal (despite a small decrease in haemoglobin and haematocrit), but remained markedly abnormal in the three patients with delayed graft function (DGF). Conclusions Dynamic platelet function returned to normal following transplantation in those with immediate graft function. This early improvement was not observed in those with DGF. There may be important clinical implications, as patients with DGF are more likely to undergo invasive procedures, including transplant biopsies and insertion of central venous catheters.
Reversing Multidrug Resistance in Chemo-resistant Human Lung Adenocarcinoma (A549/DOX) Cells by Algerian Propolis Through Direct Inhibiting the P-gp Efflux-pump, G0/G1 Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis Induction.

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is one of the most common malignancies with the highest incidence and mortality rate worldwide. Multidrug Resistance (MDR) continues to pose a major challenge for the clinicians and pharmacologists to effectively treat this disease. A new approach using natural substances with moderate or low cytotoxic properties become a promising hope for reversing multidrug resistance due to pgp- overexpression. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore the efficacy of Algerian propolis in reversing multidrug resistance and sensitizing chemo-resistant lung cancer cells (A549/DOX) to chemotherapy with DOX. METHODS Resistant lung adenocarcinoma A549/DOX cell line was developed and used as in vitro model for MDR. Cell viability, Annexin V-PI apoptosis assay and cell cycle progression were tested to evaluate the reversal effect of propolis alone or in combination with DOX. Caspases 3, 8 and 9 assays were conducted to determine the type of apoptotic pathway. To investigate the mechanisms of MDR reversal agents, intracellular accumulation of DOX and P-gp-pump activity were investigated. RESULTS Our results showed that the obtained chemo-resistant cells were 13-fold more resistant to DOX than the parental A549 cells. Propolis showed dramatically cell growth inhibition on A549/DOX cells (The IC50 was 50.44± 0.07µg/ml). The killing effect of propolis was due to G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. After 24hours treatment, propolis at 100 µg/ml caused cells accumulation in G0/G1 phase and increased with 50, 65-fold the percentage of apoptotic population sub-G. Annexin V-PI assay showed that propolis induces apoptosis with 53.57-fold at 100 µg/ml. It induced intrinsic apoptotic pathway by increasing caspase-3 (22.15-fold) and caspase-9 (16.73-fold) activities. The direct approach to investigate the mechanisms of reversal agents is to detect the accumulation of P-gp substrates in resistant cells. Our results indicated that resistant cells poorly accumulated Doxorubicin and rhodamine 123 (7-fold lower) when compared to parental A549 cells, suggesting that chemo-resistant cells overexpress P-gp which pump DOX out of cells. Propolis inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner, the pgp efflux-pump, enhancing thereby the intracellular level of DOX with 5.48- fold against 3.33 fold obtained with verapamil, the conventional P-gp inhibitor. CONCLUSION Taken together, Algerian propolis reverses multidrug resistance in resistant human lung adenocarcinoma cells through direct inhibiting the transport function of pgp-pump resulting in enhancing intracellular DOX-accumulation, G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis induction. Thus, propolis could be developed as a chemotherapeutic agent for reversing multidrug resistance.
Neuropsychological deficits in elderly with depression

Background: Depressed patients are preoccupied with unhappy thoughts which reduce their capacity to focus on attention, memory, and other cognitive performance. Aim: The aim of this study is to assess neuropsychological deficits in elderly depressive and compare it with matched normal controls. Methods: After consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria, the sample of 30 elderly depressive patients diagnosed on the basis of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition criteria and 30 normal controls were selected. The selection of sample was by purposive sampling from private psychiatric clinic of Bhopal. The age range of sample was 60 years and above. All participants were administered the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Luria–Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery-1 (LNNB form-1). Results: On the Geriatric Depression Scale, 21 patients were at mild level and nine patients were at severe level of depression. None of the normal controls were depressed. On LNNB form-1, depressive patients showed significant elevation on receptive speech, arithmetic, memory, reading, writing, and expressive speech as compared to normal controls. Conclusion: Older depressive patients showed significantly more neurocognitive deficits as compared to normal controls. It is important that these deficits are identified and addressed for the holistic treatment of late-onset depression.
Network analysis of inflammatory responses to sepsis by neutrophils and peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome causing thousands of deaths yearly worldwide. Sepsis is a result of infection and could lead to systemic inflammatory responses and organ failures. Additionally, blood cells, as the main cells in the immune systems, could be also affected by sepsis. Here, we have used different network analysis approaches, including Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI), and gene regulatory network, to dissect system-level response to sepsis by the main white blood cells. Gene expression profiles of Neutrophils (NTs), Dendritic Cells (DCs), and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) that were exposed to septic plasma were obtained and analyzed using bioinformatics approaches. Individual gene expression matrices and the list of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were prepared and used to construct several networks. Consequently, key regulatory modules and hub genes were detected through network analysis and annotated through ontology analysis extracted from DAVID database. Our results showed that septic plasma affected the regulatory networks in NTs, PBMCs more than the network in DCs. Gene ontology of DEGs revealed that signal transduction and immune cells responses are the most important biological processes affected by sepsis. On the other hand, network analysis detected modules and hub genes in each cell types. It was found that pathways involved in immune cells, signal transduction, and apoptotic processes are among the most affected pathways in the responses to sepsis. Altogether, we have found several hub genes including ADORA3, CD83 CDKN1A, FFAR2, GNAQ, IL1B, LTB, MAPK14, SAMD9L, SOCS1, and STAT1, which might specifically respond to sepsis infection. In conclusion, our results uncovered the system-level responses of the main white blood cells to sepsis and identified several hub genes with potential applications for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes.
Mortality Rate and Predicting Factors of Traumatic Thoracolumbar Spinal Cord Injury; A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: To estimate the summation of mortality rate and the contributing factors in patients with traumatic thoracolumbar spinal cord injuries (TLSCI). Methods: A systematic search of observational studies that evaluated the mortality associated with TLSCI in MEDLINE and EMBASE was conducted. The study quality was evaluated using a modified quality assessment tool previously designed for observational studies. Results: Twenty-four observational studies involving 11,205 patients were included, published between January 1, 1997, and February 6, 2016. Ten studies were of high quality, thirteen were of moderate quality, and one study was of low quality. Seventeen reports described risk factors for mortality and eleven of these studies used a multiple regression models to adjust for confounders. The reported mortality rate ranged from 0 to 37.7% overall and between 0 and 10.4% in-hospital. The sum of mortality for in-hospital, 6-month, and 12-month were 5.2%, 26.12%, 4.3%, respectively. The mortality at 7.7 years follow-up was 10.07% and for 14 years follow-up reports ranged from 13.47% to 21.46%. Associated data such as age at injury, male to female ratio, pre-existing comorbidities, concomitant injuries, duration of follow-up, and cause of death have been underreported in studies investigating the mortality rate after TLSCI. Conclusion: There is no study was found that accurately assessed mortality in the thoracolumbar spine, while there is general agreement that traumatic thoracolumbar spinal cord injuries are important.