Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lactation Versus Formula Feeding: Insulin, Glucose, and Fatty Acid Metabolism During the Postpartum Period

Milk production may involve a transient development of insulin resistance in nonmammary tissues to support redistribution of maternal macronutrients to match the requirements of the lactating mammary gland. In the current study, adipose and liver metabolic responses were measured in the fasting state and during a two-step (10 and 20 mU/m2/min) hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp with stable isotopes, in 6-week postpartum women who were lactating (n = 12) or formula-feeding (n = 6) their infants and who were closely matched for baseline characteristics (e.g., parity, body composition, and intrahepatic lipid). When controlling for the low insulin concentrations of both groups, the lactating women exhibited a fasting rate of endogenous glucose production (EGP) that was 2.6-fold greater and a lipolysis rate that was 2.3-fold greater than the formula-feeding group. During the clamp, the groups exhibited similar suppression rates of EGP and lipolysis. In the lactating women only, higher prolactin concentrations were associated with greater suppression rates of lipolysis and lower intrahepatic lipid and plasma triacylglycerol concentrations. These data suggest that whole-body alterations in glucose transport may be organ specific and facilitate nutrient partitioning during lactation. Recapitulating a shift toward noninsulin-mediated glucose uptake could be an early postpartum strategy to enhance lactation success in women at risk for delayed onset of milk production.
Narrow Bandpass and Efficient Semi-Transparent Organic Solar Cells Based on Bio-Inspired Spectrally Selective Electrodes.

The visual aesthetic that involves color, brightness, and glossiness is of great importance for building-integrated photovoltaics. Semi-transparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) are thus considered as the most promising candidate due to their superiority in transparency and efficiency. However, the realization of high color purity with narrow bandpass transmitted light usually causes the severely suppressed transparency in ST-OSCs. Herein, we present a spectrally selective electrode (SSE) by imitating the integrating strategy of beetle cuticle for achieving narrow bandpass ST-OSCs with high efficiency and long-term stability. The proposed SSE allows for efficient light-selective passage, leading to tunable narrow bandpass transmitted light from violet to red. An optimized power conversion efficiency of 15.07% is achieved for colorful ST-OSCs, which exhibit color purity close to 100% and a peak transmittance approaching 30%. Long-term stability is also improved for ST-OSCs made with this SSE due to the light-rejecting and the moisture-blocking abilities. The realization of bright and colorful ST-OSCs also indicates the application potential of SSEs in light-emitting diodes, lasers, and photodetectors.
Chronic Kidney Disease-Associated Immune Dysfunctions: Impact of Protein-Bound Uremic Retention Solutes on Immune Cells

Regardless of the primary disease responsible for kidney failure, patients suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD) have in common multiple impairments of both the innate and adaptive immune systems, the pathophysiology of which has long remained enigmatic. CKD-associated immune dysfunction includes chronic low-grade activation of monocytes and neutrophils, which induces endothelial damage and increases cardiovascular risk. Although innate immune effectors are activated during CKD, their anti-bacterial capacity is impaired, leading to increased susceptibility to extracellular bacterial infections. Finally, CKD patients are also characterized by profound alterations of cellular and humoral adaptive immune responses, which account for an increased risk for malignancies and viral infections. This review summarizes the recent emerging data that link the pathophysiology of CKD-associated immune dysfunctions with the accumulation of microbiota-derived metabolites, including indoxyl sulfate and p-cresyl sulfate, the two best characterized protein-bound uremic retention solutes.
Differential gene analysis during the development of obliterative bronchiolitis in a murine orthotopic lung transplantation model: A comprehensive transcriptome-based analysis

Background Obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) is a known issue during minor histocompatibility antigen (mHA) disparity during lung transplantation. This study evaluated gene expression in a murine orthotropic lung transplantation model using microarray analysis. Methods Left lungs from C57BL/10(H-2b) donor mice were transplanted into mHA-mismatched C57BL/6(H-2b) recipient mice. Three groups (OB, non-OB, and sham controls) were confirmed pathologically and analyzed. Gene expression changes in the lung grafts were determined by microarray and immunohistochemical staining, and genes were verified by quantitative PCR in the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes (LNs). Results A total of 1343 genes were upregulated in the OB lungs compared to the sham group. Significant upregulation was observed for genes related to innate, e.g. Tlr2 and CCL3 and adaptive immunity, e.g. H2-ab1 and Il-21. Positive labeling for MHC class II antigen was observed in the bronchial epithelium of OB accompanied with B cells. We found increased Tlr2, Ccl3, H2-ab1, Il-21, Ighg3, Ifng, and Pdcd1 mRNA expression in the OB lung, and increased Il-21, Ighg3, and Pdcd1 expression in the OB LNs. Conclusions Adaptive and innate immune reactions were involved in OB after lung transplantation, and genetic examination of related genes could be used for detection of OB.
Demographic structure and distribution of John Dory, Zeus faber L. 1758, in the Adriatic Sea

Summary Recent demographic structure and distribution of the fish species Zeus faber in the Adriatic Sea were investigated in this study and compared with a 1948–1949 study. The presence of John Dory in the Adriatic Sea was recorded at a depth range from 21 to 239 m, with the highest biomass indices at depths between 50 and 100 m. The length frequency distribution, length–weight relationships, sex ratio and length at first sexual maturity were determined. Results based on data from the 1948– 1949 Hvar expedition and the MEDITS surveys of 1996–1998 showed in the 50-year interval that the index of biomass and area of distribution of this species in the Adriatic Sea have been reduced and that the demographic structure of the population has changed. Negative changes described in the paper indicate an overfishing of the Z. faber species in the Adriatic Sea.
Breakdown of resistant and readily digestible starch by human gut bacteria

Cooking and processing of starch-containing foodstuffs results in a portion of the starch becoming resistant to hydrolytic enzymes secreted in the small intestine of man. In order to determine whether this resistant starch (RS) was degraded in the colon, samples of RS and readily digestible starch (RDS) for comparisons were incubated with (a) cell-free supernatants from faecal suspensions and (b) washed faecal bacterial cell suspensions. The data obtained showed that, whereas pancreatic amylase and faecal supernatants hydrolysed RDS, with the production of oligosaccharides, RS totally resisted breakdown. In contrast, both RS and RDS were completely degraded by the washed bacterial cells with the generation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) and organic acids. Hydrolysis and fermentation of RDS was extremely rapid and, as a consequence, oligosaccharides and lactate initially accumulated in the culture medium. RS was broken down more slowly, however, and oligosaccharides and lactate never accumulated. The rate of polysaccharide hydrolysis had a significant effect on the quantities of VFA produced, in that 54% of carbohydrate was fermented to VFA in cultures incubated with RDS as sole carbon source as compared to only 30% in cultures incubated with RS. However no qualitative difference was observed in the VFA produced by fermentation of RDS or RS.
Genetic predisposition in type 2 diabetes: A promising approach toward a personalized management of diabetes

Diabetes mellitus, also known simply as diabetes, has been described as a chronic and complex endocrine metabolic disorder that is a leading cause of death across the globe. It is considered a key public health problem worldwide and one of four important non‐communicable diseases prioritized for intervention through world health campaigns by various international foundations. Among its four categories, Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the commonest form of diabetes accounting for over 90% of worldwide cases. Unlike monogenic inherited disorders that are passed on in a simple pattern, T2D is a multifactorial disease with a complex etiology, where a mixture of genetic and environmental factors are strong candidates for the development of the clinical condition and pathology. The genetic factors are believed to be key predisposing determinants in individual susceptibility to T2D. Therefore, identifying the predisposing genetic variants could be a crucial step in T2D management as it may ameliorate the clinical condition and preclude complications. Through an understanding the unique genetic and environmental factors that influence the development of this chronic disease individuals can benefit from personalized approaches to treatment. We searched the literature published in three electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus and ISI Web of Science for the current status of T2D and its associated genetic risk variants and discus promising approaches toward a personalized management of this chronic, non‐communicable disorder.
Efficient Computation Reduction in Bayesian Neural Networks Through Feature Decomposition and Memorization

The Bayesian method is capable of capturing real-world uncertainties/incompleteness and properly addressing the overfitting issue faced by deep neural networks. In recent years, Bayesian neural networks (BNNs) have drawn tremendous attention to artificial intelligence (AI) researchers and proved to be successful in many applications. However, the required high computation complexity makes BNNs difficult to be deployed in computing systems with a limited power budget. In this article, an efficient BNN inference flow is proposed to reduce the computation cost and then is evaluated using both software and hardware implementations. A feature decomposition and memorization (DM) strategy is utilized to reform the BNN inference flow in a reduced manner. About half of the computations could be eliminated compared with the traditional approach that has been proved by theoretical analysis and software validations. Subsequently, in order to resolve the hardware resource limitations, a memory-friendly computing framework is further deployed to reduce the memory overhead introduced by the DM strategy. Finally, we implement our approach in Verilog and synthesize it with a 45-nm FreePDK technology. Hardware simulation results on multilayer BNNs demonstrate that, when compared with the traditional BNN inference method, it provides an energy consumption reduction of 73% and a $4\times $ speedup at the expense of 14% area overhead.
Generalized Unitarily Invariant Gauge Regularization for Fast Low-Rank Matrix Recovery

Spectral regularization is a widely used approach for low-rank matrix recovery (LRMR) by regularizing matrix singular values. Most of the existing LRMR solvers iteratively compute the singular values via applying singular value decomposition (SVD) on a dense matrix, which is computationally expensive and severely limits their applications to large-scale problems. To address this issue, we present a generalized unitarily invariant gauge (GUIG) function for LRMR. The proposed GUIG function does not act on the singular values; however, we show that it generalizes the well-known spectral functions, including the rank function, the Schatten- $p$ quasi-norm, and logsum of singular values. The proposed GUIG regularization model can be formulated as a bilinear variational problem, which can be efficiently solved without computing SVD. Such a property makes it well suited for large-scale LRMR problems. We apply the proposed GUIG model to matrix completion and robust principal component analysis and prove the convergence of the algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed GUIG method is not only more accurate but also much faster than the state-of-the-art algorithms, especially on large-scale problems.
Differential Fuel Requirements of Human NK Cells and Human CD8 T Cells: Glutamine Regulates Glucose Uptake in Strongly Activated CD8 T Cells

CD8 T cells and NK cells are the two major cytotoxic lymphocytes that carry out cell-mediated immunity and regulate other immune responses. However, we do not completely understand human CD8 T cell and NK cell metabolic requirements and they have not been compared in the same experiments. We activated human CD8 T cells by two anti–CD3/CD28 mAb methods, and we stimulated both CD8 T cells and NK cells with IL-12/IL-18. When glucose (Glc) could not be used, human CD8 T cells either died or became hypofunctional, depending upon the anti–CD3/CD28 activation method. In contrast, Glc starvation did not decrease the percentage of IL-12/IL-18–stimulated human NK cells that made IFN-γ. NK cells were relatively fuel resilient and used Glc, glutamine (Gln), fatty acid, or acetate to power IFN-γ expression. Surprisingly, strongly activated human CD8 T cells required Gln for glycolysis and Glc uptake. We showed that human CD8 T cells regulate Glc uptake by a novel mechanism related to the TXNIP pleiotropic protein. These conditions may be relevant to septic patients who have high blood Glc but low Gln. Under the conditions tested, Gln did not change human NK cell TXNIP expression. Our experiments reveal fundamental differences in human CD8 T cell and NK cell metabolism and the fuels needed for IFN-γ production.
Detecting Faces, Saving Lives

Your phone scans your face to unlock its screen. A social media app offers suggestions of friends to tag in photos. Airline check-in systems verify who you are as you stare into a camera. These are just a few examples of how facial recognition technology (FRT) is now ubiquitous in everyday lives. The industries of law enforcement, Internet search engines, marketing, and security have long harnessed FRT, but the technology is becoming increasingly explored in the health care setting, where its potential benefit—and risks—are much greater.
Role of diet and experience in the development of feeding behaviour in largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides

Two groups of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, were reared in the laboratory. One group was reared on an artificial, passive diet (frozen brine shrimp) whereas the second was reared on a natural, active diet (cultured zooplankton). Observations on the development of feeding behaviour indicated that the motor patterns and duration (number of weeks in the behavioural repertoire) of the feeding acts did not differ between fry reared on the two diets. While feeding on their respective diets, natural-diet fry performed significantly more orientations and bites, the two major early feeding acts, than did the artificial-diet fry. When tested with live fish prey, fish reared on the natural diet performed fewer orientations and strikes and captured more prey per fry than did the artificial-diet fry. Natural-diet fry had a significantly better net efficiency (captures minus strikes minus orientations) than did artificial-diet fry. Diet, experience, and length (T.L.) of fry affected their predator efficiency significantly. We argue that providing hatchery-reared bass fry with an opportunity to prey on live forage fish once or twice before their release would enhance their survival and eventual recruitment into natural populations.
Strain Effect Enhanced Ultrasensitive MoS2 Nanoscrolls Avalanche Photodetector.

2D materials and their derived quasi one-dimensional structure bring incredible possibilities for the field of photoelectric detection due to the intrinsic optical and electrical properties. However, the photo-generated carriers in atomically thin media are poor due to the low optical absorption, which extremely limits the performance. Here, in the MoS2 nanoscrolls photodetector, we meticulously investigated the avalanche multiplication effect. The results show that by employing the nanoscrolls structure, the required threshold electrical field to trigger avalanche multiplication is significantly lowered compared with MoS2 flake due to the modulation of energy band and intervalley scattering through the strain effect. Consequently, the avalanche multiplication could efficiently enhance the photoresponsivity exceeding 10^4 A/W. Furthermore, enhanced avalanche multiplication could be generalized to other TMDCs through theoretical prediction. The results are not only significant for the understanding of intrinsic nature in 2D materials but also exhibit meaningful advance in high performance and low-power consumption photodetection.
Rhizobia inoculation improves nutrient uptake and growth of lowland rice.

Growth-promoting diazotrophs can enhance the growth and development of associated crops by transferring fixed N or by improving nutrient uptake through modulation of hormone-linked phenomena in inoculated plants. Six rhizobial diazotrophs isolated from a wide range of legume hosts were investigated to determine their growth-promoting activities in lowland rice (Oryza sativa L.) during 1997. Seeds and seedlings of rice Pankaj were inoculated with different rhizobia and grown in potted soil supplemented with varied amounts of mineral N. Inoculation with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii E11, Rhizobium sp. IRBG74, and Bradyrhizobium sp. IRBG271 increased rice grain and straw yields by 8 to 22 and 4 to 19%, respectively, at different N rates. Nitrogen, P, and K uptake were increased by 10 to 28% due to rhizobial inoculation. Nitrogen-15-based studies indicated that the increased N uptake was not due to biological N 2 fixation (BNF). Inoculation also increased Fe uptake in rice by 15 to 64%. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) accumulated in the external root environment of rice plants when grown gnotobiotically with rhizobia. The results indicate that certain strains of rhizobia can promote rice growth and yield, most likely through mechanisms that involve changes in growth physiology or root morphology rather than BNF.
Natural Killer Cells: Critical Effectors During Antibody-Mediated Rejection of Solid Organ Allografts.

Antibody-mediated rejection (AMR) is an important cause of graft loss and continues to present a formidable obstacle to successful transplantation. Unresolved problems continue to be the absence of effective strategies to ablate the donor-specific antibody (DSA) response as well as to attenuate the antibody-mediated graft tissue injury. While properties of DSA that cause greater graft tissue injury and the characteristic microvascular pathology of the graft injury are well documented, the mechanisms underlying the injury mediated by the antibodies remains unclear. Recent transcriptome interrogation of kidney and heart biopsies procured during ongoing AMR has indicated the expression of genes associated with Natural Killer (NK) cell activation that are absent during T cell mediated rejection. Expression of NK cell transcripts during AMR correlates with the presence of CD56 cells in the microcirculation inflammation observed during AMR. Several mouse models have recently demonstrated the role of NK cells in antibody-mediated chronic vasculopathy in heart allografts and the requirement for NK cell activation during acute AMR of kidney allografts. In the latter model, NK cell activation within kidney allografts is regulated by the activation of myeloid cells producing myeloperoxidase. Overall, the studies to date indicate that AMR constitutes a complex series of DSA-induced interactions with components of the innate immune response. The innate immune participants and their expressed effector functions resulting in the rejection are beginning to be identified. The identification of these components should uncover novel targets than can be used to attenuate acute graft tissue injury in the presence of DSA.
Efficacy of needle-knife combined with etanercept treatment regarding disease activity and hip joint function in ankylosing spondylitis patients with hip joint involvement

Abstract This study aimed to assess the efficacy of needle-knife (NK) combined with etanercept (NKCE) in attenuating pain, inflammation, disease activity, and improving hip joint function in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients with hip joint involvement. Totally, 90 patients with active AS involving unilateral hip joint were enrolled and randomly assigned in 1:1:1 ratio to receive NKCE, NK or conventional drugs (control). The ESR, CRP, hip joint pain Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score, bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI), bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), modified Harris hip score (mHHS), and range of motion (ROM) of affected hip joint were assessed at baseline (W0), after 1-week treatment (W1) and after 24-week treatment (W24). ESR and CRP were decreased in NKCE group compared with NK and control groups, while was not attenuated in NK group compared with control group. Regrading pain and disease activity, NKCE group presented a reduction in hip pain VAS score and BASDAI compared with NK and control groups, and NK group showed a decrease in hip pain VAS score and BASDAI compared with control group. Besides, BASFI was lowered in NKCE and NK groups compared with control group, but similar between NKCE and NK groups. mHHS and hip ROM were raised in NKCE and NK groups compared with control group, but similar between NKCE and NK groups. NKCE decreases hip pain, inflammation, disease activity and improves hip joint function in AS patients with hip joint involvement.
How musical experience affects tone perception efficiency by musicians of tonal and non-tonal speakers?

Purpose To investigate if, regardless of language background (tonal or non-tonal), musicians may show stronger CP than non-musicians; To examine if native speakers of English (English or non-tonal musicians henceforth) or Mandarin Chinese (Mandarin or tonal musicians henceforth) can better accommodate multiple functions of the same acoustic cue and if musicians’ sensitivity to pitch of lexical tones comes at the cost of slower processing. Method English and Mandarin Musicians and non-musicians performed a categorical identification and a discrimination task on rising and falling continua of fundamental frequency on two vowels with 9 duration values. Results Non-tonal musicians exhibited significantly stronger categorical perception of pitch contour than non-tonal non-musicians. However, tonal musicians did not consistently perceive the two types of pitch directions more categorically than tonal non-musicians. Both tonal and non-tonal musicians also benefited more from increasing stimulus duration in processing pitch changes than non-musicians and they generally require less time for pitch processing. Musicians were also more sensitive to intrinsic F0 in pitch perception and differences of pitch types. Conclusion The effect of musical training strengthens categorical perception more consistently in non-tonal speakers than tonal speakers. Overall, musicians benefit more from increased stimulus duration, due perhaps to their greater sensitivity to temporal information, thus allowing them to be better at forming a more robust auditory representation and matching sounds to internalized memory templates. Musicians also attended more to acoustic details such as intrinsic F0 and pitch types in pitch processing, and yet, overall, their categorization of pitch was not compromised by traces of these acoustic details from their auditory short-term working memory. These findings may lead to a better understanding of pitch perception deficits in special populations, particularly among individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).