Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reducing Cadmium Accumulation in Plants: Structure–Function Relations and Tissue-Specific Operation of Transporters in the Spotlight

Cadmium (Cd) is present in many soils and, when entering the food chain, represents a major health threat to humans. Reducing Cd accumulation in plants is complicated by the fact that most known Cd transporters also operate in the transport of essential nutrients such as Zn, Fe, Mn, or Cu. This work summarizes the current knowledge of mechanisms mediating Cd uptake, radial transport, and translocation within the plant. It is concluded that real progress in the field may be only achieved if the transport of Cd and the above beneficial micronutrients is uncoupled, and we discuss the possible ways of achieving this goal. Accordingly, we suggest that the major focus of research in the field should be on the structure–function relations of various transporter isoforms and the functional assessment of their tissue-specific operation. Of specific importance are two tissues. The first one is a xylem parenchyma in plant roots; a major “controller” of Cd loading into the xylem and its transport to the shoot. The second one is a phloem tissue that operates in the last step of a metal transport. Another promising and currently underexplored avenue is to understand the role of non-selective cation channels in Cd uptake and reveal mechanisms of their regulation.
Spatiotemporal description of bovine rabies cases in Peru, 2003 - 2017.

Vampire bats became the main reservoir of rabies in Latin America, where the disease remains one of the most important viral zoonoses affecting humans and livestock. In Peru, the most affected livestock are cattle. The official data of 1,729 cases of bovine rabies were evaluated between 2003 and 2017 through a descriptive analysis, decomposition of the time series and spatiotemporal analyses. Although the cases did not present a defined seasonality, the trend seemed to increase for several years. The bovine rabies cases are more frequent in the inter-Andean valleys than in other regions of the Amazon plains. The highest case density was observed in the regions of Ayacucho, Cuzco and Apurímac, all located in the Andes. It is necessary to review the current national program for the prevention and control of rabies in livestock, incorporating concepts of the ecology of vampire bats, as well as the prediction of the infection waves geographic and temporal spread. These approaches could improve the efficiency of other current prevention measures that have not shown the expected control effects, such as indiscriminate culling of vampire bats.
Immunomodulatory Strategies in Herpes Simplex Virus Encephalitis

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) can be responsible for life-threatening HSV encephalitis (HSE). The mortality rate of patients with HSE who do not receive antiviral treatment is 70%, with most survivors suffering from permanent neurological sequelae. The use of intravenous acyclovir together with improved diagnostic technologies such as PCR and magnetic resonance imaging has resulted in a reduction in the mortality rate to close to 20%. However, 70% of surviving patients still do not recover complete neurological functions. SUMMARY Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) can be responsible for life-threatening HSV encephalitis (HSE). The mortality rate of patients with HSE who do not receive antiviral treatment is 70%, with most survivors suffering from permanent neurological sequelae. The use of intravenous acyclovir together with improved diagnostic technologies such as PCR and magnetic resonance imaging has resulted in a reduction in the mortality rate to close to 20%. However, 70% of surviving patients still do not recover complete neurological functions. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop more effective treatments for a better clinical outcome. It is well recognized that cerebral damage resulting from HSE is caused by viral replication together with an overzealous inflammatory response. Both of these processes constitute potential targets for the development of innovative therapies against HSE. In this review, we discuss recent progress in therapy that may be used to ameliorate the outcome of patients with HSE, with a particular emphasis on immunomodulatory agents. Ideally, the administration of adjunctive immunomodulatory drugs should be initiated during the rise of the inflammatory response, and its duration should be limited in time to reduce undesired effects. This critical time frame should be optimized by the identification of reliable biomarkers of inflammation.
New and Emerging Targeted Therapies for Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)

The relapse rate for children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains high despite advancements in risk classification, multi-agent chemotherapy intensification, stem cell transplantation, and supportive care guidelines. Prognosis for this subgroup of children with relapsed/refractory AML remains poor. It is well known that the ceiling of chemotherapy intensification has been reached, limited by acute and chronic toxicity, necessitating alternative treatment approaches. In the last several years, our improved understanding of disease biology and critical molecular pathways in AML has yielded a variety of new drugs to target these specific pathways. This review provides a summary of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), small molecule inhibitors, and tyrosine kinase inhibitors with an emphasis on those that are currently under clinical evaluation or soon to open in early phase trials for children with relapsed/refractory AML.
Toxicological profile of lipid-based nanostructures: are they considered as completely safe nanocarriers?

Abstract Nanoparticles are ubiquitous in the environment and are widely used in medical science (e.g. bioimaging, diagnosis, and drug therapy delivery). Due to unique physicochemical properties, they are able to cross many barriers, which is not possible for traditional drugs. Nevertheless, exposure to NPs and their following interactions with organelles and macromolecules can result in negative effects on cells, especially, they can induce cytotoxicity, epigenicity, genotoxicity, and cell death. Lipid-based nanomaterials (LNPs) are one of the most important achievements in drug delivery mainly due to their superior physicochemical and biological characteristics, particularly its safety. Although they are considered as the completely safe nanocarriers in biomedicine, the lipid composition, the surfactant, emulsifier, and stabilizer used in the LNP preparation, and surface electrical charge are important factors that might influence the toxicity of LNPs. According to the author’s opinion, their toxicity profile should be evaluated case-by-case regarding the intended applications. Since there is a lack of all-inclusive review on the various aspects of LNPs with an emphasis on toxicological profiles including cyto-genotoxiciy, this comprehensive and critical review is outlined.
Layer by Layer Self-Assembly of Hollow Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Quantum Dots on Cationized Textured Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells for Efficient Energy Down-Shift.

Enhancing the efficiency of crystalline silicon solar cell (c-Si SC) by coating the energy shifting layer of quantum dots (QDs) is a recent approach to efficiently utilize the high energy spectrum of light. Carbon QDs are an attractive candidate for such applications, however, small Stokes shift and non-uniform coating due to high aggregation are the bottlenecks to fully utilize their potential. For the purpose, here we propose a layer by layer self-assembled uniform coating of ecofriendly red-emissive hollow nitrogen-doped carbon QDs (NR-CQDs), as an efficient energy-down shifting layer. A unique hollow and conjugated structure of NR-CQDs was designed to achieve a large Stokes shift (UV excited - red emission), with a quantum yield (QY) comparable to Cd/Pb QDs. Highly uniform coating of intrinsically negatively charged NR-CQDs on c-Si SCs was achieved by cationizing the c-Si SC by Bovine serum albumin (BSA), under mildly acidic conditions. By opposite charge assisted self-assembled over-layer, the short-circuit current density (Jsc) and power-conversion efficiency was increased by 5.8%, which is attributed to the large Stokes shift (255 nm) and high QY. Blue-emissive undoped-carbon QDs were synthesized for comparison with the proposed NR-CQDs, to elucidate the significance of the novel proposed structure.
Plasma Exchange and Glucocorticoids in Severe ANCA-Associated Vasculitis.

BACKGROUND More effective and safer treatments are needed for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. METHODS We conducted a randomized trial with a 2-by-2 factorial design to evaluate the use of plasma exchange and two regimens of oral glucocorticoids in patients with severe ANCA-associated vasculitis (defined by an estimated glomerular filtration rate of <50 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area or diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage). Patients were randomly assigned to undergo plasma exchange (seven plasma exchanges within 14 days after randomization) or no plasma exchange (control group). Patients were also randomly assigned to follow either a standard-dose regimen or a reduced-dose regimen of oral glucocorticoids. Patients were followed for up to 7 years for the primary composite outcome of death from any cause or end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). RESULTS Death from any cause or ESKD occurred in 100 of 352 patients (28.4%) in the plasma-exchange group and in 109 of 352 patients (31.0%) in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.65 to 1.13; P = 0.27). The results were similar in subgroup analyses and in analyses of secondary outcomes. We also assessed the noninferiority of a reduced-dose regimen of glucocorticoids to a standard-dose regimen, using a noninferiority margin of 11 percentage points. Death from any cause or ESKD occurred in 92 of 330 patients (27.9%) in the reduced-dose group and in 83 of 325 patients (25.5%) in the standard-dose group (absolute risk difference, 2.3 percentage points; 90% CI, -3.4 to 8.0), which met the criterion for noninferiority. Serious infections at 1 year were less common in the reduced-dose group than in the standard-dose group (incidence rate ratio, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.93), but other secondary outcomes were similar in the two groups. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with severe ANCA-associated vasculitis, the use of plasma exchange did not reduce the incidence of death or ESKD. A reduced-dose regimen of glucocorticoids was noninferior to a standard-dose regimen with respect to death or ESKD. (Funded by the U.K. National Institute for Health Research and others; PEXIVAS Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN07757494; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00987389.).
Clinicopathological characteristics and genetic analysis of pulmonary carcinoid tumors: A single-center retrospective cohort study and literature review

Pulmonary carcinoid tumors, including typical and atypical carcinoids, are well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) that represent 1–2% of all lung cancer cases. In the present study, all cases of well-differentiated NETs diagnosed at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital (Tianjin, China) between 2006 and 2016 were reviewed, and 20 pulmonary carcinoid cases were identified. The clinical features of these cases were summarized, and the results of pathological and imaging examinations were collated. As a low-grade malignant pulmonary neoplasm, the molecular biological mechanism of pulmonary carcinoids is yet to be elucidated. To investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms behind pulmonary carcinoids and to determine an effective molecular targeted therapeutic strategy, next-generation sequencing (NGS) was performed using tissue samples from six patients to determine additional molecular biological characteristics that may help guide targeted therapy. A total of 27 somatic mutations in 21 genes were detected. Of note, mutations in the KIT proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase, Erb-B2 receptor tyrosine kinase 4, MET proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase and insulin-like growth factor 1 genes occurred in two out of six cases. Since treatments for advanced carcinoids are relatively ineffective, molecular profiling may contribute to the identification of novel treatments. In addition, the literature on mutations in pulmonary carcinoids was reviewed and available clinical information and features of this tumor type were summarized.
Workshop on NLP and Pseudonymisation Proceedings

There is an increasing interest in exploiting the content of unstructured clinical narratives by means of language technologies and text mining. To be able to share, re-distribute and make clinical narratives accessible for text mining and NLP research purposes it is key to fulfill legal conditions and address restrictions related data protection and patient privacy legislations. Thus clinical records with protected health information (PHI) cannot be directly shared “as is”, due to privacy constraints, making it particularly cumbersome to carry out NLP research in the medical domain. A necessary precondition for accessing clinical records outside of hospitals is their de-identification, i
A TTP-Free Location privacy framework for mobile social networks with key agreement protocol

Location information protection in Location Sharing Services (LSSs) is one of most important issues in Mobile Social Networks (MSNs). LSSs enable users to exchange their exact locations. Without a strong mechanism for protecting users’ privacy, users’ location information will be leaked which in turn puts’ their life in danger. Although, a lot of current solutions tried to protect users’ location privacy via Trusted Third Party (TTP) utilizationwhich usually has access to full/part of users’ location information, they introduced false protection mechanism since TTPs, access to user information, is considered privacy leakage. Furthermore, they depend on securing either users’ identities or users’ locations in order to achieve users’ privacy. In this paper, we introduce a location privacy framework which has the following features: a) Trusted Third Party Free (TTP-Free). b) Complete privacy, which aims to protect both users’ identities and locations. c) Strong cryptography mechanism. d) Key agreement protocol in order to avoid limitations of pre-shared key mechanisms or direct key exchange.
Artificial Intelligence Applications in Medicine: A Rapid Overview of Current Paradigms

Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined as “the ability of a digital machine or computer to accomplish tasks that traditionally have required human intelligence. ” Simply put, these are machines that can think and learn. AI has become ubiquitous and is now being applied in healthcare. It uses concepts from statistics, computer science, and data science. An increased understanding of the tools is essential for medical practitioners and medical researchers so that they can contribute meaningfully to the development of the technology, instead of being mere data providers or data labellers. AI has been employed in the finance, marketing, and travel industries for a considerable length of time, but its application in medicine is only gaining acceptance now. Practical office tools based on the AI technologies appear to still be some time away, but these AI-based applications have the potential to benefit all stakeholders in the healthcare industry. This article briefly overviews the current paradigms of AI in medicine.
Analysis of vowel-consonant-vowel sequences in patients with partial glossectomies using 2D ultrasound imaging

Background: The effect of partial glossectomy surgery on speech is still not completely understood. In previous research, we found that the loss of tongue tissue due to a lateral partial glossectomy was compensated by an increase of both the average tongue height and the velocity of midsagittal tongue movements (Rastadmehr, Bressmann, Smyth & Irish, 2008). Since Rastadmehr et al. had used a connected speech task, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the glossectomy surgery on tongue height in individual vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) sequences. Methods: 19 patients (12 men and 7 women) with tongue cancer took part in the present study. The patients’ tongue movement was recorded using midsagittal Bmode ultrasound a few days before the glossectomy and two months postoperatively. During each examination the patients repeated the following VCV sequences five times: aka, ala, ara, asa, asha and ata. The midsagittal tongue movements were quantitatively analyzed using the Ultra-CATS software. The type of defect reconstruction (local closure vs. free flap) comprised the between-subject factor in the analysis. Results: Following the surgery, all patients showed an increase of the tongue height. The statistical analysis of the tongue height (ANOVA) revealed a significant main effect of time (pre- vs. post-surgery) for the VCV sequences “ara” (df= 1, F= 8.11, p= 0.012), “asa” (df= 1, F= 12.86, p= 0.002) and “asha” (df=1, F= 7.02, p= 0.018). For these sounds, the tongue height was significantly higher after the surgery. The analysis across the two groups of patients (local closure vs. free flap) did not show a significant main effect of reconstruction type for any of the VCVs. Discussion: As in the previous research, we found a significant increase in the postsurgical tongue height during the production of the target consonants. This effect was noted for all sounds but was statistically significant for “r”, “s” and “sh”, which are among the most frequently distorted speech sounds in this patient population. We interpret the results as evidence for active and often hypermetric articulatory compensation in partial glossectomy patients. Reference: Rastadmehr, O. , Bressmann, T. , Smyth, B. , Irish, J.C. Increased midsagittal tongue velocity as indication of articulatory compensation in patients with lateral partial glossectomies (2008) Head and Neck, 30 (6), pp. 718-726.
Strategies to improve the outcome of pre-hospital cardiac arrest in Leicestershire

s. Hassan TB, Jagger C, Barnett DB. Magnesium for refractory ventricular fibrillation A randomised study to investigate its role. Prize Session, Winner Joint Annual Scientific Meeting of the Faculty of A&E Medicine and the American Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, Oxford, 1998. J A&E Med 1998; 15:384.
The Relationship between Hyperactivity and Mathematics Learning among a Child with Deep Deafness

The current research aims at finding the relationship between hyperactivity and math learning among a child with deep deafness. The research sample was 40 children from four levels of primary education, ranging in age from (10) to (17) years, the research tools was two tests: a test was used for the evaluation of mathematics, and Teacher’s test of hyperactivity, and results found that deep deafness has led to the realization of the hypotheses established by the existence of a statistically significant inverse and intermediate correlation between hyperactivity and mathematical learning. Not also includes a relationship between each of the three symptoms of hyperactivity (Lack of attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) and learning mathematics despite the difference in degree of correlation that was in favor of the ADHD. Based on the results, the study recommendation that the most important of which was the need to the prospects of the Deaf group.
SIGNIFICANCE OF DNA BASE COMPOSITION IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF YEAST GENUS PICHIA

Since the publication of the monograph of LODDER and KREGER-vAN RIJ (1), in which only four species were included in the genus Pichia, a number of new species have been described in this genus and related genera. As a result of amendment of the definition of Pichia by PHAFF (2) to admit many species previously assigned to the genera Petasospora, Saccharomyces, and Debaryomyces, the genus Pichia became a large and complex genus and systematic studies became necessary for clarification of interrelationships among the species. This attempt has been made by BOIDIN et al. (3), PONCET (4), and SPENCER and GORIN (5). In a previous work (6), the present authors investigated the GC content of DNA of the genus Hansenula and found that several groups were discriminated on the basis of GC content and serological characteristics. The genus Pichia is often compared with the genus Hansenula because these two genera are differentiated only by one character, assimilation of nitrate as a sole nitrogen source. Therefore, the authors examined GC contents of the genus Pichia with the expectation that subgroups may be found within this genus.
A variety of intervention strategies have been used to improve the social-communication skills of individuals with ASD. One promising intervention, now considered to be an evidence-based strategy for promoting social-communication in younger children with ASD, is peer-mediated intervention (PMI). PM

Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often experience social-communication difficulties that negatively impact their social interactions with typical peers. However, unlike other age and disability groups, there is little intervention research to inform best practice for these students. One evidence-based strategy for younger students with ASD is peer-mediated intervention (PMI). PMI may be particularly promising for use with adolescents, as peers are readily available and are natural experts for encouraging authentic high school conversations. This paper provides a review of previous research that evaluated the use of PMI to improve the socialcommunication skills of students with ASD. Specific intervention features associated with positive student outcomes are identified and recommendations for future research are provided. Adolescents with ASD are targeted due the critical importance of social conversation at the high school level. Keywords—Autism, peer-mediation, social communication, adolescents.
The role of cognitive reflection in decision making: Evidence from Pakistani managers

Assessing how managers discount and evaluate risks is crucial in designing effective managerial policies. In this work, we examine whether risk preferences (RP; both in the domains of gain and loss) and time preferences (TP) are related to managers’ cognitive reflection (CR). To achieve this, the current study focuses on the responses of 601 corporate decision-makers, such as CEO and CFO, of 200 non-financial firms listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Using the three-item of Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT; Frederick, 2005) as a measure of CR, we observe that males perform better on this test than females. Correlation analysis reveals that individuals’ RP in the gain domain are positively associated with their TP, implying that risk-taking individuals are more patient. Our evidence further shows that higher CR is associated with a higher likelihood of increased patience and a lower likelihood of willingness to take risks in the domain of loss. Greater CR is also linked to a higher likelihood of risk-taking in the domain of gain. These findings have important implications regarding the ability of managers to make financial decisions that involve uncertainty and delayed rewards but maximize firm value.