Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracellular matrix: Brick and mortar in the skeletal muscle stem cell niche

The extracellular matrix (ECM) is an interconnected macromolecular scaffold occupying the space between cells. Amongst other functions, the ECM provides structural support to tissues and serves as a microenvironmental niche that conveys regulatory signals to cells. Cell-matrix adhesions, which link the ECM to the cytoskeleton, are dynamic multi-protein complexes containing surface receptors and intracellular effectors that control various downstream pathways. In skeletal muscle, the most abundant tissue of the body, each individual muscle fiber and its associated muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are surrounded by a layer of ECM referred to as the basal lamina. The core scaffold of the basal lamina consists of self-assembling polymeric laminins and a network of collagens that tether proteoglycans, which provide lateral crosslinking, establish collateral associations with cell surface receptors, and serve as a sink and reservoir for growth factors. Skeletal muscle also contains the fibrillar collagenous interstitial ECM that plays an important role in determining tissue elasticity, connects the basal laminae to each other, and contains matrix secreting mesenchymal fibroblast-like cell types and blood vessels. During skeletal muscle regeneration fibroblast-like cell populations expand and contribute to the transitional fibronectin-rich regenerative matrix that instructs angiogenesis and MuSC function. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the role of the skeletal muscle ECM in health and disease and outline its role in orchestrating tissue regeneration and MuSC function.
The hidden (overlooked) impact of living through a pandemic: How parents of children with disabilities fared during COVID-19?

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quality of life of families of children with disabilities and the mediating roles of perceived social support, perceived parental self-efficacy, psychological health, psychological resilience, and perceived family burden on this relationship. Background Children with disabilities and their families are among the most affected populations from the restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus, as the special education and rehabilitation services they had been receiving were interrupted. Method A correlational survey design was used to collect data from 824 parents of children with disabilities in Turkey. Path analysis was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 on family quality of life. Results Results indicated that COVID-19 had a significant total effect on family quality of life and perceived social support, parental self-efficacy and psychological resilience had a mediating role on the relationship between impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and family quality of life. Perceived social support was found to the strongest mediator of the relationship between the impact of COVID-19 and the family quality of life, while perceived family burden did not have a statistically significant association with these variables. Conclusion Family quality of life for children with disabilities decreased as the impact of COVID-19 pandemic increased. Perceived social support, parental self-efficacy and psychological resilience had mediating roles in the relationship between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and family quality of life. Implications COVID-19 has resulted in disruption of special education and rehabilitation services for children with disabilities and their families. Changes in daily routines have brought up additional responsibilities to parents of children with disabilities. These additional responsibilities may adversely affect and increase the burden and stress families of children with disabilities experience. The high levels of stress in families negatively affect the welfare and quality of life and result in decreased parental attention to support their children. Findings of this study show the mediating link of perceived social support, parental self-efficacy and psychological resilience in the relationship between the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and family quality of life. Policymakers and service providers should develop and implement specific care actions to support children with disabilities and their families during and after the pandemic.
Quantifying epithelial cell proliferation on curved surfaces

Out-of-plane curvature is an important, but poorly explored geometric parameter that influences cell behavior. We address the impact of curvature on epithelial proliferation through monitoring how MDCK cells proliferate on planar and curved toroidal hydrogel substrates with a broad range of Gaussian curvatures. We illustrate in detail the imaging processing methodology to characterize curved surfaces and quantify proliferation of cells. We find that MDCK cells grow readily on both curved and flat surfaces and can cover the entire surface of the toroidal structure as long as the initial seeding is uniform. Our analysis shows that proliferation does not depend on Gaussian curvature within the range probed in our experiment, but rather on cell density. Despite epithelial proliferation is insensitive to the curvature range presented in this study, the toroidal-construct fabrication technique and image processing methodology may find utility for probing cell processes like collective migration, as it involves long-range force transmission.
The moderating effect of employee growth climate on the relationship between work engagement and job outcomes among plantation workers in North Sumatra, Indonesia

The current study investigates the moderating effect of employee growth climate on the relationship between work engagement and job outcomes among plantation workers in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Three individual-level job outcomes are investigated, namely, intra-role behavior, employee learning, and innovative work behavior. Six hundred and seven Indonesian plantation workers from one of the biggest palm oil plantations in Indonesia participated. Work engagement and employee growth climate were positively related to the three types of job outcomes, as expected. Furthermore, the relationship between work engagement-intra-role behavior and work engagement-innovative work behavior was moderated by employee growth climate. However, no moderating effect of employee growth climate was observed for the relationship between work engagement-employee learning. Thus, organizations may create programs to foster employee growth climate and aware of their employees’ learning behaviors.
Face masks have a limited effect on the feeling of being looked at

Introduction Wearing face masks has been promoted as an effective measure to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Because face masks cover a major part of the face, they have detrimental effects on various aspects of social cognition. Yet, a highly important feature of the face is not occluded by face masks: the eyes. The eyes play an important role in social interactions: knowing where another person is looking is of central importance when interacting with others. Recent research has reported an attentional shift toward the eye region as a consequence of the widespread exposure to face masks. However, no study has yet investigated the influence of face masks on the perception of eye gaze direction. Here we investigated whether face masks have an effect on the feeling of being looked at. Assuming an attentional shift toward the eyes, we might expect more accurate gaze perception in faces wearing face masks. Methods Sixty-five participants decided for a series of realistic avatar faces whether each face was making eye contact or not. Half of the faces wore face masks, the other half did not. For each participant and separately for each condition (mask vs. no mask), we calculated the cone of direct gaze (CoDG), a commonly used measure to quantify the range of gaze angles within which an observer assumes mutual gaze. Results Contrary to our expectations, results show that mutual gaze is not recognized more accurately in masked faces. Rather, the CoDG was, on average, slightly wider for faces wearing masks compared to faces without masks. Discussion Notwithstanding the relatively small effect of face mask, these findings potentially have implications on our social interactions. If we inadvertently feel looked at by an onlooker, we may react inappropriately by reciprocating the alleged approach orientation.
Leaf wax biomarkers of a high-mountain lake area in western iberia—Implications for environmental reconstructions

Leaf wax n-alkane biomarkers are widely used to infer past vegetation dynamics and hydroclimate changes. The use of these compounds strongly relies on the characterization of modern plants. However, few studies have explored leaf waxes of modern plants and their application to reconstructing climate and environmental changes in the Iberian Peninsula, a region known for its high vulnerability to climate change. In this study, we characterize the distributions and compound-specific isotopic compositions of the leaf waxes of dominant plants in the vegetation cover, soil, and surface sediment of the Lake Peixão area, a high-mountain glacial lake in Serra da Estrela (central Portugal). Our results show that the modern oro-Mediterranean (subalpine) vegetation of the study area is dominated by C3 grasses/herbs and shrubs that preferentially produce long-chain leaf waxes (≥C27). The C31 n-alkane display the overall highest concentration, produced by some grasses and shrubs, but especially Erica sp (heather), which is highlighted as a major source for the total n-alkane pool in the lake sediments. C29 is the second-most abundant and the most equally produced n-alkane of the vegetation cover; C25 and C27 homologs are mainly associated with aquatic-related grasses/herbs, while C33 and C35 are particularly linked to cold-drought tolerant Juniperus sp. shrubs. Shrubs show higher but proportional values than grasses/herbs in the isotopic space, suggesting a directly proportional physiological adaptation of the two ecological forms to the prevailing climatic and environmental factors of the study area. C29 is pointed as the most representative (or less plant-biased) leaf wax n-alkane in the lake sediments. Thus, δD of C29 n-alkane is interpreted as a robust terrestrial hydrological indicator (δDterr), which signal is believed to be strongly influenced by the mean air temperature and/or precipitation amount. Despite the sparse vegetation and small catchment area, the apparent hydrogen fractionation factor, determined from δDterr of the lake surface sediment, is in line with the modeled global mean values for the latitude of the study area. The different molecular and compound-specific signatures of the studied oro-Mediterranean species have the potential to support future interpretations of leaf wax biomarkers in the Iberian Peninsula. Graphical Abstract
Regeneration pattern and genome-wide transcription profile of rhizome axillary buds after perennial rice harvest

Perennial rice is a new type of rice that allows the harvest of rice for multiple years without growing new seedlings annually. This technology represents a green and sustainable agricultural production mode with many advantages for balancing agricultural ecology and food security. However, the differences in regeneration patterns between perennial and annual rice and the gene regulatory pathways of the apical dominance in axillary bud growth after harvest in perennial rice are still unclear. In this study, perennial rice (PR23) and annual rice (Chugeng28) were used to investigate axillary bud growth patterns before and after apical spike removal. After elimination of apical dominance at different development stages, perennial rice rhizome axillary buds at the compression nodes germinated more rapidly than others and developed into new seedlings. The axillary buds at the high-position nodes in annual rice grew faster than those at other nodes. Furthermore, the global gene expression patterns of PR23 rhizome buds at compression nodes grown for 1, 3, 4, and 5 days after apical spike removal were analyzed by transcriptome sequencing. Compared with the control buds without apical removal, 264, 3,484, 2,095, and 3,398 genes were up-regulated, and 674, 3,484, 1,594, and 1,824 genes were down-regulated in the buds grown for 1, 3, 4, and 5 days after apical spike removal, respectively. Trend analysis of the expressed genes at different time points was performed and co-expression network was constructed to identify key genes in rhizome axillary bud regrowth. The results showed that 85 hub genes involved in 12 co-regulatory networks were mainly enriched in the light system, photosynthesis-antenna protein, plant hormone signal transduction, ABC transporter and metabolic pathways, which suggested that hormone and photosynthetic signals might play important roles in the regulation of rhizome axillary bud regeneration in perennial rice. Overall, this study clarified the differences in the regeneration patterns of axillary buds between perennial and annual rice and provided insight into the complex regulatory networks during the regeneration of rhizome axillary buds in perennial rice.
Current insights in molecular characterization of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and treatment

There is a continuously rising incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) around the world, which parallels the increasing incidence of metabolic diseases. NAFLD is a range of liver conditions that contains simple non-alcoholic fatty liver and advanced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In serious cases, NAFLD may develop into cirrhosis or even liver cancer. NAFLD has an intense relationship with metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is known that gut microbiota, and functional molecules such as adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase JNK, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in progressing and treating NAFLD. Traditionally, the conventional and effective therapeutic strategy is lifestyle intervention. Nowadays, new medicines targeting specific molecules, such as farnesoid X receptor, PPARs, and GLP-1 receptor, have been discovered and shown beneficial effects on patients with NAFLD. In this article, we focus on the molecular mechanisms and therapeutic approaches to NAFLD.
Hyperspectral imaging with machine learning for non-destructive classification of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus, Astragalus membranaceus, and similar seeds

The roots of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (AMM) and A. membranaceus (AM) are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. Although AMM has higher yields and accounts for a larger market share, its cultivation is fraught with challenges, including mixed germplasm resources and widespread adulteration of commercial seeds. Current methods for distinguishing Astragalus seeds from similar (SM) seeds are time-consuming, laborious, and destructive. To establish a non-destructive method, AMM, AM, and SM seeds were collected from various production areas. Machine vision and hyperspectral imaging (HSI) were used to collect morphological data and spectral data of each seed batch, which was used to establish discriminant models through various algorithms. Several preprocessing methods based on hyperspectral data were compared, including multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), standard normal variable (SNV), and first derivative (FD). Then selection methods for identifying informative features in the above data were compared, including successive projections algorithm (SPA), uninformative variable elimination (UVE), and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS). The results showed that support vector machine (SVM) modeling of machine vision data could distinguish Astragalus seeds from SM with >99% accuracy, but could not satisfactorily distinguish AMM seeds from AM. The FD-UVE-SVM model based on hyperspectral data reached 100.0% accuracy in the validation set. Another 90 seeds were tested, and the recognition accuracy was 100.0%, supporting the stability of the model. In summary, HSI data can be applied to discriminate among the seeds of AMM, AM, and SM non-destructively and with high accuracy, which can drive standardization in the Astragalus production industry.
Optically pumped magnetometers detect altered maximal muscle activity in neuromuscular disease

Optically pumped magnetometers (OPM) are quantum sensors that enable the contactless, non-invasive measurement of biomagnetic muscle signals, i.e., magnetomyography (MMG). Due to the contactless recording, OPM-MMG might be preferable to standard electromyography (EMG) for patients with neuromuscular diseases, particularly when repetitive recordings for diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring are mandatory. OPM-MMG studies have focused on recording physiological muscle activity in healthy individuals, whereas research on neuromuscular patients with pathological altered muscle activity is non-existent. Here, we report a proof-of-principle study on the application of OPM-MMG in patients with neuromuscular diseases. Specifically, we compare the muscular activity during maximal isometric contraction of the left rectus femoris muscle in three neuromuscular patients with severe (Transthyretin Amyloidosis in combination with Pompe’s disease), mild (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, type 2), and without neurogenic, but myogenic, damage (Myotonia Congenita). Seven healthy young participants served as the control group. As expected, and confirmed by using simultaneous surface electromyography (sEMG), a time-series analysis revealed a dispersed interference pattern during maximal contraction with high amplitudes. Furthermore, both patients with neurogenic damage (ATTR and CMT2) showed a reduced variability of the MMG signal, quantified as the signal standard deviation of the main component of the frequency spectrum, highlighting the reduced possibility of motor unit recruitment due to the loss of motor neurons. Our results show that recording pathologically altered voluntary muscle activity with OPM-MMG is possible, paving the way for the potential use of OPM-MMG in larger studies to explore the potential benefits in clinical neurophysiology.
Targeting the chemerin/CMKLR1 axis by small molecule antagonist α-NETA mitigates endometriosis progression

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease, characterized by the presence of endometrial-like lesions outside the uterus. This debilitating disease causes chronic pelvic pain and infertility with limited therapeutics. Chemerin is a secretory protein that acts on CMKLR1 (Chemokine-Like Receptor 1) to execute functions vital for immunity, adiposity, and metabolism. Abnormal chemerin/CMKLR1 axis underlies the pathological mechanisms of certain diseases including cancer and inflammatory diseases, but its role in endometriosis remains unknown. Herein, our results showed that chemerin and CMKLR1 are up-regulated in endometriotic lesions by analyzing the human endometriosis database and murine model. Knockdown of chemerin or CMKLR1 by shRNA led to mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) along with compromised viability, migration, and invasion of hEM15A cells. Most importantly, 2-(α-naphthoyl) ethyltrimethylammonium iodide (α-NETA), a small molecule antagonist for CMKLR1, was evidenced to exhibit profound anti-endometriosis effects (anti-growth, anti-mesenchymal features, anti-angiogenesis, and anti-inflammation) in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, α-NETA exhibited a dual inhibition effect on PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways in hEM15A cells and murine endometriotic grafts. This study highlights that the chemerin/CMKLR1 signaling axis is critical for endometriosis progression, and targeting this axis by α-NETA may provide new options for therapeutic intervention.
2.76–3.98 μm picosecond mid-infrared optical parametric generation in a muti-grating MgO: PPLN

The high repetition rate, widely tunable, picosecond mid-infrared laser plays an important role in various fields. In this paper, the single-pass optical parametric generator (OPG) pumped by Yb-fiber laser based on MgO: PPLN is proposed. The Yb-fiber laser is mode locked by a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM) with an all-polarization-maintaining (PM) structure. A maximum power of 6.2 W was obtained with a repetition rate of 15.8 MHz and pulse duration of 18 ps after amplification by cascaded fiber. Based on the principle of nonlinear frequency down-conversion, the tunable mid-infrared output wavelength of 2.76–3.98 μm was realized by varying the crystal grating periods and temperature. The maximum power was 500 mW at 3.22 μm, corresponding to a quantum conversion efficiency of 25%, and the relative power fluctuation was measured as 0.37% over 30 min.
Noble gas and neuroprotection: From bench to bedside

In recent years, inert gases such as helium, argon, and xenon have gained considerable attention for their medical value. Noble gases present an intriguing scientific paradox: although extremely chemically inert, they display a remarkable spectrum of clinically useful biological properties. Despite a relative paucity of knowledge about their mechanisms of action, some noble gases have been used successfully in clinical practice. The neuroprotection elicited by these noble gases has been investigated in experimental animal models of various types of brain injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, cerebral ischemic/reperfusion injury, and neurodegenerative diseases. Collectively, these central nervous system injuries are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality every year worldwide. Treatment options are presently limited to thrombolytic drugs and clot removal for ischemic stroke, or therapeutic cooling for other brain injuries before the application of noble gas. Currently, there is increasing interest in noble gases as novel treatments for various brain injuries. In recent years, neuroprotection elicited by particular noble gases, xenon, for example, has been reported under different conditions. In this article, we have reviewed the latest in vitro and in vivo experimental and clinical studies of the actions of xenon, argon, and helium, and discuss their potential use as neuroprotective agents.
Single-cell analyses reveal the therapeutic effects of ATHENA and its mechanism in a rhabdomyosarcoma patient

Background Whole-cell tumor vaccines tend to suffer from low immunogenicity. Our previous study showed that irradiated lung cancer cell vaccines in mouse models enhance antitumor efficacy by eliciting an intensive T cells response and improving immunogenicity. Based on these findings, we developed an improved whole-cell tumor vaccine, Autologous Tumor Holo antigEn immuNe Activation (ATHENA). Methods In this study, we report the successful treatment of a 6-year-old male diagnosed with meningeal rhabdomyosarcoma with pulmonary and liver metastases using ATHENA. After 6 cycles of therapy, PET/CT showed the therapeutic efficacy of ATHENA. We profiled the immune response by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Flow cytometry analysis was implemented to validate the status transitions of CD8+ T cells. Results In CD8+ T cells, the exhausted status was weakened after treatment. The exhausted CD4+ T cells shifted towards the central memory phenotype after the treatment. Breg cells were converted to Plasma or Follicular B cells. Survival analysis for pan-cancer and transcription factor analysis indicated that such T cell and B cell transitions represent the recovery of antitumoral adaptive immune response. We validated that the proportion of CD279+CD8+ T cells were reduced and the expression of CD44 molecule was upregulated by flow cytometry assay. Conclusion Such studies not only show that ATHENA therapy may be a promising alternative treatment for tumor patients but provide a novel idea to analyses the mechanisms of rare cases or personalized cancer treatment.