Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peripapillary Choroidal Vascularity Index in Glaucoma-A Comparison Between Spectral-Domain OCT and OCT Angiography.

Purpose To compare the choroidal vascularity index (CVI) determined by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) between eyes with and without parapapillary deep-layer microvasculature dropout (MvD_P) assessed by OCT angiography in glaucomatous eyes. Methods A total of 100 open-angle glaucoma patients with and without MvD_P (50 eyes of 50 patients in each group) matched by age and visual field mean deviation were included. Total choroidal area (TCA) and CVI were measured by image binarization of spectral-domain OCT B-scans in order to assess the choroidal vasculature outside β-zone parapapillary atrophy (βPPA) at a 3.5-mm distance from the Bruch's membrane opening center. MvD_P was determined by OCT angiography as a deep-layer microvasculature dropout within βPPA. Global and sectoral (six 60° sectors) TCA and CVI were compared between eyes with and without MvD_P. Results The CVIs of eyes with MvD_P were significantly lower than those without MvD_P, globally (P = 0.010) as well as in the inferotemporal (TI) (P = 0.003), temporal (P = 0.009), and nasal (P = 0.048) sectors. Eyes with MvD_P, of which the largest portion was located only in the TI sector (n = 33), had significantly lower CVI than those without MvD_P in the corresponding TI and temporal sectors (P < 0.05 for all), whereas TCA did not differ in any areas. Conclusions Eyes with MvD_P had significantly lower CVIs than did those without MvD_P. Furthermore, CVI reduction was spatially correlated with MvD_P. Further studies investigating the influence of MvD_P on the choroidal vasculature outside βPPA are warranted.
Natural genetic variation shapes root system responses to phytohormones in Arabidopsis

SUMMARY Plants adjust their architecture by modulating organ growth. This ability is largely dependent on phytohormones. While responses to phytohormones have been studied extensively, it remains unclear to which extent and how these responses are modulated in non‐reference strains. Here, we assess variation of root traits upon treatment with auxin, cytokinin and abscisic acid (ABA) in 192 Arabidopsis accessions. We identify common response patterns, uncover the extent of their modulation by specific genotypes, and find that the Col‐0 reference accession is not a good representative of the species in this regard. We conduct genome‐wide association studies and identify 114 significant associations, most of them relating to ABA treatment. The numerous ABA candidate genes are not enriched for known ABA‐associated genes, indicating that we largely uncovered unknown players. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive view of the diversity of hormone responses in the Arabidopsis thaliana species, and shows that variation of genes that are yet mostly not associated with such a role to determine natural variation of the response to phytohormones.
Anthropometric Analysis of the Dental Arches of Five-Year-Old Children With Cleft Lip and Palate

Abstract This study aimed to analyze the dimensional alterations of the dental arches of 5-year-old children with cleft lip and palate and to compare these dimensions with children without oral clefts. One hundred twenty children were divided into the following groups: unilateral cleft lip (UCL), unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP), cleft palate (CP), and control (C). A specific software was used to digitize the dental casts and perform the anthropometric analyses through the measurement of transversal linear intercanine and intermolar distances on the maxilla and mandible. The intergroup comparisons of the maxillary dimensions exhibited that the intercanine distances of groups C and UCL were statistically greater than that of groups UCLP and CP. The intermolar distance was significantly smaller in group UCLP than in the other groups. No statistically significant difference occurred in the mandibular intercanine and intermolar distance among groups. The analysis of the superposition of the maxillary over the mandibular transversal distances showed statistically significant differences among groups. This study showed that at 5-year old, the children with cleft involving the palate had more maxillary dimensional alterations than those without cleft palate.
Multi-OMICS analyses unveil STAT1 as a potential modifier gene in mevalonate kinase deficiency

Objectives The objective of the present study was to explain why two siblings carrying both the same homozygous pathogenic mutation for the autoinflammatory disease hyper IgD syndrome, show opposite phenotypes, that is, the first being asymptomatic, the second presenting all classical characteristics of the disease. Methods Where single omics (mainly exome) analysis fails to identify culprit genes/mutations in human complex diseases, multiomics analyses may provide solutions, although this has been seldom used in a clinical setting. Here we combine exome, transcriptome and proteome analyses to decipher at a molecular level, the phenotypic differences between the two siblings. Results This multiomics approach led to the identification of a single gene—STAT1—which harboured a rare missense variant and showed a significant overexpression of both mRNA and protein in the symptomatic versus the asymptomatic sister. This variant was shown to be of gain of function nature, involved in an increased activation of the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription signalling (JAK/STAT) pathway, known to play a critical role in inflammatory diseases and for which specific biotherapies presently exist. Pathway analyses based on information from differentially expressed transcripts and proteins confirmed the central role of STAT1 in the proposed regulatory network leading to an increased inflammatory phenotype in the symptomatic sibling. Conclusions This study demonstrates the power of a multiomics approach to uncover potential clinically actionable targets for a personalised therapy. In more general terms, we provide a proteogenomics analysis pipeline that takes advantage of subject-specific genomic and transcriptomic information to improve protein identification and hence advance individualised medicine.
Optimizing Autoencoders for Learning Deep Representations From Health Data

Analyzing patients’ health data using machine learning techniques can improve both patient outcomes and hospital operations. However, heterogeneous patient data (e.g., vital signs) and inefficient feature learning methods affect the implementation of machine learning-based patient data analysis. In this paper, we present a novel unsupervised deep learning-based feature learning (DFL) framework to automatically learn compact representations from patient health data for efficient clinical decision making. Real-world pneumonia patient data from the National University Hospital in Singapore are collected and analyzed to evaluate the performance of DFL. Furthermore, publicly available electroencephalogram data are extracted from the UCI Machine Learning Repository to test and support our findings. Using both data sets, we compare the performance of DFL to that of several popular feature learning methods and demonstrate its advantages.
Introduction to Time-Sensitive Networking

Since the year 2000, a number of companies and standards development organizations have been producing products and standards for Time-Sensitive Networking to support real-time applications that require zero packet loss due to buffer congestion, extremely low packet loss due to equipment failure, and guaranteed upper bounds on end-to-end latency. Often, a robust capability for time synchronization to less than 1 s is also required. These networks consist of specially-featured bridges that are interconnected using standard Ethernet links with standard MAC/PHY layers. Since the year 2012, this technology has advanced to the use of routers, as well as bridges, and features of interest to Time-Sensitive Net-working have been added to both Ethernet and wireless standards. Since the year 2018, TSN standardization has been expanding to include more queuing and pacing technologies, and to support new markets, such as industrial, automotive, aviation, and service provider applications.
One-Carbon Metabolism: Biological Players in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Metabolism is deeply involved in cell behavior and homeostasis maintenance, with metabolites acting as molecular intermediates to modulate cellular functions. In particular, one-carbon metabolism is a key biochemical pathway necessary to provide carbon units required for critical processes, including nucleotide biosynthesis, epigenetic methylation, and cell redox-status regulation. It is, therefore, not surprising that alterations in this pathway may acquire fundamental importance in cancer onset and progression. Two of the major actors in one-carbon metabolism, folate and choline, play a key role in the pathobiology of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the deadliest gynecological malignancy. EOC is characterized by a cholinic phenotype sustained via increased activity of choline kinase alpha, and via membrane overexpression of the alpha isoform of the folate receptor (FRα), both of which are known to contribute to generating regulatory signals that support EOC cell aggressiveness and proliferation. Here, we describe in detail the main biological processes associated with one-carbon metabolism, and the current knowledge about its role in EOC. Moreover, since the cholinic phenotype and FRα overexpression are unique properties of tumor cells, but not of normal cells, they can be considered attractive targets for the development of therapeutic approaches.
Circulating Long Noncoding RNA LIPCAR Acts as a Novel Biomarker in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) recently have been implicated in the pathological processes of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, LncRNADisease database and PubMed database were used to screen myocardial infraction (MI)-related lncRNAs and to investigate the diagnostic role of lncRNAs in ST-segment elevation myocardial infraction (STEMI). Material/Methods Forty-six patients with STEMI and 40 healthy controls were included in the study. Venous blood samples acquired at different time points and the expression levels of lncRNAs in plasma were measured by qRT-PCR. In addition, other blood samples were collected before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to assess the diagnosis value of the markers. All included patients were followed up for 12±1 months. Results Nine MI-related lncRNAs were selected from the database. The qRT-PCR results showed that the expression of hypoxia inducible factor 1A antisense RNA 2 (aHIF), member 1 opposite strand/antisense transcript 1 (KCNQ1OT1), and mitochondrial long noncoding RNA uc022bqs.1 (LIPCAR) were significantly increased in patients with STEMI compared to the control patients. The ROC curve showed that LIPCAR (AUC=0.782, 95% CI: 0.707–0.0.894) had better diagnostic accuracy. Moreover, correlation analysis indicated that LIPCAR were positively correlated with myocardial enzymes and negatively correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction. The level of LIPCAR in STEMI patients after PCI was lower (P<0.05). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that higher levels of LIPCAR were independent predictors of major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with STEMI (HR=5.93; 95% CI, 1.46–9.77; P=0.001). Conclusions Highly expressed LIPCAR in plasma may serve as a warning sign for the diagnosis of STEMI.
Mitochondrial dynamics: overview of molecular mechanisms

Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles undergoing coordinated cycles of fission and fusion, referred as ‘mitochondrial dynamics’, in order to maintain their shape, distribution and size. Their transient and rapid morphological adaptations are crucial for many cellular processes such as cell cycle, immunity, apoptosis and mitochondrial quality control. Mutations in the core machinery components and defects in mitochondrial dynamics have been associated with numerous human diseases. These dynamic transitions are mainly ensured by large GTPases belonging to the Dynamin family. Mitochondrial fission is a multi-step process allowing the division of one mitochondrion in two daughter mitochondria. It is regulated by the recruitment of the GTPase Dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) by adaptors at actin- and endoplasmic reticulum-mediated mitochondrial constriction sites. Drp1 oligomerization followed by mitochondrial constriction leads to the recruitment of Dynamin 2 to terminate membrane scission. Inner mitochondrial membrane constriction has been proposed to be an independent process regulated by calcium influx. Mitochondrial fusion is driven by a two-step process with the outer mitochondrial membrane fusion mediated by mitofusins 1 and 2 followed by inner membrane fusion, mediated by optic atrophy 1. In addition to the role of membrane lipid composition, several members of the machinery can undergo post-translational modifications modulating these processes. Understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling mitochondrial dynamics is crucial to decipher how mitochondrial shape meets the function and to increase the knowledge on the molecular basis of diseases associated with morphology defects. This article will describe an overview of the molecular mechanisms that govern mitochondrial fission and fusion in mammals.
“Turban PUVAsol:” A Simple, Novel, Effective, and Safe Treatment Option for Advanced and Refractory Cases of Alopecia Areata

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune characterized by nonscarring loss of scalp and/or body hairs. Topical PUVA has been reported to have good effect in AA. The modification of topical PUVA which we call, “Turban PUVA-sol,” is a method of localized immunotherapy using psoralen solution followed by sun exposure. Aims: We aim to study the therapeutic role and side effect profile of turban PUVA in the treatment of advanced and refractory AA. Methodology: Fifteen consecutive patients of alopecia subtotalis (at least 70% of scalp hair loss), totalis, and universalis, attending the dermatology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in eastern India were subjected to “Turban PUVA-sol” after duly signed consent. Alternate day therapy was given. Results: At the end of 10 months of study, 2 (13%) out of fifteen patients were lost to follow-up for some unknown reasons. The severity of alopecia tool scores showed a significant (P = 0.0002) decrease posttreatment. Correlation between the severity of alopecia and grade of improvement showed a rho value of −0.453. In the remaining thirteen patients, using physician global assessment (PGA), 4 (26%) showed good response, 4 (26%) showed moderate response, 3 showed mild (20%) response, and 2 patients (13%) showed negligible response. Three out of four patients who showed good improvement in PGA showed more than 80% of new hair growth. Side effects are minimal with some patients complaining of mild irritation and scaling. Conclusion: We found topical Turban PUVAsol to be a very cost-effective and safe treatment option for AA.
Positron emission tomography in prostate cancer: An update on state of the art

Prostate cancer (PCa), one of the most common cancers in males, is a topic of active interest in imaging research. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and PET/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) have enabled the combination of morphologic and functional imaging with the promise of providing better information in guiding therapy. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose, the workhorse radiopharmaceutical in PET imaging, has not found preference in PCa since these tumors show poor glucose uptake and can be obscured by the normal urinary excretion of the radiotracer. Hence, the last two decades have seen the development of multiple newer radiotracers and better optimization of the technical aspects of PET imaging. The combination of functional imaging and MRI holds great promise. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar for peer-reviewed literature concerning the advances and newer developments in the imaging of PCa between the years 2005 and 2017. This review aims at summarizing current evidence on the role of PET imaging in PCa and its impact on the diagnosis, staging, prognostication, response assessment, and restaging of this malignancy.
Flow Cytometry Analysis of Fungal Ploidy

Ploidy, the number of sets of homologous chromosomes in a cell, can alter cellular physiology, gene regulation, and the spectrum of acquired mutations. Advances in single‐cell flow cytometry have greatly improved the understanding of how genome size contributes to diverse biological processes including speciation, adaptation, pathogenesis, and tumorigenesis. For example, fungal pathogens can undergo whole genome duplications during infection of the human host and during acquisition of antifungal drug resistance. Quantification of ploidy is dramatically affected by the nucleic acid staining technique and the flow cytometry analysis of single cells. Ploidy in fungi is also impacted by samples that are heterogeneous for both ploidy and morphology, and control strains with known ploidy must be included in every flow cytometry experiment. To detect ploidy changes within fungal strains, the following protocol was developed to accurately and dependably interrogate single‐cell ploidy. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The Effect of Spiritual Care on the Body Image of Patients Undergoing Amputation due to Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Body image, as an important factor in quality of life (QOL) satisfaction, in amputee patients is strongly affected by amputation, which can put the patient at risk of psychological disorders such as depression. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of spiritual care on body image in patients with type 2 diabetes-related amputation. Materials and Methods: In this study, an experimental pretest-posttest design with two groups was used. A total of 54 participants (Males = 41, Females = 13) aged between 40 and 72 who had diabetes-related amputation participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to the meditation and control group. For the experimental group, three sessions of meditation, and for control group, three sessions regarding prevention of diabetic foot ulcer were conducted. The participants in the experimental group were asked to perform meditation exercises for a month. The data was collected via Amputee Body Image Scale before and 4 weeks after the intervention. Results: There were no significant differences between groups on demographic variables. After intervention, the meditation group showed lower levels of body image disturbance compared with the control group, which was significant (t=3.41, p = 0.001). Conclusions: It can be concluded that meditation can improve body image in patients with diabetes-related amputation. In addition, because of no side effects and high acceptance of spiritual care, this method can be used as a way to improve the condition of patients.
Economic impact of outreach athletic trainers on a health system: implications for program growth and sustainability

ABSTRACT Objectives: There are numerous benefits of organized athletics, but there is an inherent risk with competitive participation. The need for proper care for high school and community athletes can be met with comprehensive community sports medicine programs, and the employment of certified athletic trainers (AT-Cs). The benefit of clinic-based AT-C has been clearly demonstrated, but there has been little published on the economics of outreach AT-C serving directly in the community. Our hypothesis was that outreach AT-Cs are economically sustainable to an academic health system. Methods: Evaluation of clinical business generated from the outreach Sports Medicine AT-C program at our institution was performed from fiscal years 2012 to 2015 to determine new referrals, billable patient encounters (bpe), and corresponding revenue generated. Data were retrieved from an existing aggregate business analysis, including both professional billing and hospital billing; data were restricted to the fiscal year of the initial referral. Both new patients and patients with established care were identified. Total revenue was determined, as well as the distribution across clinical departments within our health system. Results: 8570 bpe resulted from 843 patients referred into the system, yielding $2286,733 in total revenue. Of these, 187 were new patients, yielding 1602 bpe. Each patient generated an average of 10.17 bpe, by combining revenue across services; this yielded an average of $2712 per patient generated through the AT-C program. Conclusion: Affiliation between a health system and community sports teams through an outreach AT-C program is an economically sustainable, symbiotic relationship. Additionally, there is not only a positive economic impact for sports medicine and orthopaedic providers but also a distinct benefit to the entire health system. This is the first study to demonstrate that an outreach AT-C program is financially sustainable and directly benefits the entire health system across many subspecialties.
Mechanotransduction in talin through the interaction of the R8 domain with DLC1

The mechanical unfolding of proteins is a cellular mechanism for force transduction with potentially broad implications in cell fate. Despite this, the mechanism by which protein unfolding elicits differential downstream signalling pathways remains poorly understood. Here, we used protein engineering, atomic force microscopy, and biophysical tools to delineate how protein unfolding controls cell mechanics. Deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) is a negative regulator of Ras homolog family member A (RhoA) and cell contractility that regulates cell behaviour when localised to focal adhesions bound to folded talin. Using a talin mutant resistant to force-induced unfolding of R8 domain, we show that talin unfolding determines DLC1 downstream signalling and, consequently, cell mechanics. We propose that this new mechanism of mechanotransduction may have implications for a wide variety of associated cellular processes.