Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Treadmill and Running Speed Effects on Acceleration Impacts: Curved Non-Motorized Treadmill vs. Conventional Motorized Treadmill

An increase in the popularity of running can be seen over the last decades, with a large number of injuries on it. Most of the running injuries are related to impact accelerations and are due to overuse. In order to reduce the risk of injury or to improve performance and health new treadmill designs have been created, as it can be the curved non-motorized treadmill. The aim of this study was to analyse impact accelerations, spatio-temporal parameters and perceptual differences while running on curved non-motorized treadmill (cNMT) compared to motorized treadmill (MT) at different speeds. Therefore, 27 recreational runners completed two tests consisting of 10 min warm-up and three bouts of 8 min running at 2.77 m/s, 3.33 m/s and self-selected speed on cNMT and MT, previously randomised. Although the surface did not influence spatio-temporal parameters, a reduction in impact accelerations, head acceleration rate (mean effect size [ES] = 0.86), tibia peak (mean ES = 0.45) and tibia magnitude (mean ES = 0.55), was observed while running on cNMT in comparison with running on MT. Moreover, higher heart rate (HR) (mean ES = 0.51) and rating of perceived effort (RPE) (mean ES = 0.34) were found while running on cNMT. These findings demonstrated that higher intensity training and lower impact accelerations are experimented on cNMT, what can be used by trainers and athletes while planning training sessions.
A Markerless Gene Deletion System in Streptococcus suis by Using the Copper-Inducible Vibrio parahaemolyticus YoeB Toxin as a Counterselectable Marker

Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen causing severe infections in swine and humans. Induction of the Vibrio parahaemolyticus YoeB toxin in Escherichia coli resulted in cell death, leading to the speculation that YoeBVp can be a counterselectable marker. Herein, the counterselection potential of YoeBVp was assessed in S. suis. The yoeBVp gene was placed under the copper-induced promoter PcopA. The PcopA-yoeBVp construct was cloned into the S. suis-E. coli shuttle vector pSET2 and introduced into S. suis to assess the effect of YoeBVp expression on S. suis growth. Reverse transcription quantitative PCR showed that copper induced yoeBVp expression. Growth curve analyses and spot dilution assays showed that YoeBVp expression inhibited S. suis growth both in liquid media and on agar plates, revealing that YoeBVp has the potential to be a counterselectable marker for S. suis. A SCIY cassette comprising the spectinomycin-resistance gene and copper-induced yoeBVp was constructed. Using the SCIY cassette and peptide-induced competence, a novel two-step markerless gene deletion method was established for S. suis. Moreover, using the ΔperR mutant generated by this method, we demonstrated that PmtA, a ferrous iron and cobalt efflux pump in S. suis, was negatively regulated by the PerR regulator.
One-Day Molecular Detection of Salmonella and Campylobacter in Chicken Meat: A Pilot Study

Salmonella and Campylobacter ssp. are bacterial pathogens responsible for most foodborne infections in EU countries. Poultry serves as a reservoir for these pathogens, and its important role in the meat industry makes it essential to develop a rapid detection assay able to provide results in one day. Indeed, the rapid identification of foodborne pathogens is an important instrument for the monitoring and prevention of epidemic outbreaks. To date, Salmonella and Campylobacter screening is mainly conducted through molecular methods (PCR or real-time PCR) performed after 18–24 h long enrichments. In this study, we evaluated short enrichments (0, 2, 4, and 6 h) combined with a colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal AMPlification (LAMP) or real-time PCR to detect Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry meat contaminated at different concentration levels (101, 103, and 105 CFU/g). Our results show that real-time PCR allows the detection of Salmonella and Campylobacter, even after shorter enrichment times than prescribed by ISO references; particularly, it detected Salmonella down to 101 CFU/g since T0 and Campylobacter from 103 CFU/g since T0. Detection with LAMP was comparable to real-time PCR without the requirement of a thermal cycler and with shorter execution times. These characteristics make colorimetric LAMP a valid alternative when one-day results are needed, improving the timely identification of positive meat batches, even in the absence of specialized instrumentation.
The importance of adrenal venous sampling in ACTH-independent Cushing syndrome: A case report and literature review

Independent Cushing's adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) syndrome can have several causes, including adrenal carcinoma or simple adrenal hyperplasia. Although the distinction between malignant and benign can be effectively made through imaging investigations, in the situation where there are bilateral formations, their hormonal activity is impossible to appreciate via non-invasive techniques. The present study includes the presentation of a clinical case on the basis of which a literature review was made. The clinical case pertains to a 32-year-old patient with ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome and bilateral adrenal tumor formations leading to the utility of adrenal venous sampling to avoid bilateral adrenalectomy. A literature review was subsequently conducted focusing on articles pertaining to the PICO criteria in order to describe: The diagnosis of adrenal tumor masses, the decision on the type of surgery and most importantly, the impact of adrenal venous sampling in avoiding surgical resection. These interventions severely limit the patients' quality of life.
Genome-Wide Analysis of Potassium Channel Genes in Rice: Expression of the OsAKT and OsKAT Genes under Salt Stress

Potassium (K+), as a vital element, is involved in regulating important cellular processes such as enzyme activity, cell turgor, and nutrient movement in plant cells, which affects plant growth and production. Potassium channels are involved in the transport and release of potassium in plant cells. In the current study, three OsKAT genes and two OsAKT genes, along with 11 nonredundant putative potassium channel genes in the rice genome, were characterized based on their physiochemical properties, protein structure, evolution, duplication, in silico gene expression, and protein–protein interactions. In addition, the expression patterns of OsAKTs and OsKATs were studied in root and shoot tissues under salt stress using real-time PCR in three rice cultivars. K+ channel genes were found to have diverse functions and structures, and OsKATs showed high genetic divergence from other K+ channel genes. Furthermore, the Ka/Ks ratios of duplicated gene pairs from the K+ channel gene family in rice suggested that these genes underwent purifying selection. Among the studied K+ channel proteins, OsKAT1 and OsAKT1 were identified as proteins with high potential N-glycosylation and phosphorylation sites, and LEU, VAL, SER, PRO, HIS, GLY, LYS, TYR, CYC, and ARG amino acids were predicted as the binding residues in the ligand-binding sites of K+ channel proteins. Regarding the coexpression network and KEGG ontology results, several metabolic pathways, including sugar metabolism, purine metabolism, carbon metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, monoterpenoid biosynthesis, and folate biosynthesis, were recognized in the coexpression network of K+ channel proteins. Based on the available RNA-seq data, the K+ channel genes showed differential expression levels in rice tissues in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, the real-time PCR results revealed that OsAKTs and OsKATs are induced by salt stress in root and shoot tissues of rice cultivars, and OsKAT1 was identified as a key gene involved in the rice response to salt stress. In the present study, we found that the repression of OsAKTs, OsKAT2, and OsKAT2 in roots was related to salinity tolerance in rice. Our findings provide valuable insights for further structural and functional assays of K+ channel genes in rice.
I-CARE-An Interaction System for the Individual Activation of People with Dementia

I-CARE is a hand-held activation system that allows professional and informal caregivers to cognitively and socially activate people with dementia in joint activation sessions without special training or expertise. I-CARE consists of an easy-to-use tablet application that presents activation content and a server-based backend system that securely manages the contents and events of activation sessions. It tracks various sources of explicit and implicit feedback from user interactions and different sensors to estimate which content is successful in activating individual users. Over the course of use, I-CARE’s recommendation system learns about the individual needs and resources of its users and automatically personalizes the activation content. In addition, information about past sessions can be retrieved such that activations seamlessly build on previous sessions while eligible stakeholders are informed about the current state of care and daily form of their protegees. In addition, caregivers can connect with supervisors and professionals through the I-CARE remote calling feature, to get activation sessions tracked in real time via audio and video support. In this way, I-CARE provides technical support for a decentralized and spontaneous formation of ad hoc activation groups and fosters tight engagement of the social network and caring community. By these means, I-CARE promotes new care infrastructures in the community and the neighborhood as well as relieves professional and informal caregivers.
Transcriptome and Metabolomic Analyses Reveal Regulatory Networks Controlling Maize Stomatal Development in Response to Blue Light

(1) Background: Blue light is important for the formation of maize stomata, but the signal network remains unclear. (2) Methods: We replaced red light with blue light in an experiment and provided a complementary regulatory network for the stomatal development of maize by using transcriptome and metabolomics analysis. (3) Results: Exposure to blue light led to 1296 differentially expressed genes and 419 differential metabolites. Transcriptome comparisons and correlation signaling network analysis detected 55 genes, and identified 6 genes that work in the regulation of the HY5 module and MAPK cascade, that interact with PTI1, COI1, MPK2, and MPK3, in response to the substitution of blue light in environmental adaptation and signaling transduction pathways. Metabolomics analysis showed that two genes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis and starch and sucrose metabolism participate in stomatal development. Their signaling sites located on the PHI1 and MPK2 sites of the MAPK cascade respond to blue light signaling. (4) Conclusions: Blue light remarkably changed the transcriptional signal transduction and metabolism of metabolites, and eight obtained genes worked in the HY5 module and MAPK cascade.
Bioassay Development for Bispecific Antibodies—Challenges and Opportunities

Antibody therapeutics are expanding with promising clinical outcomes, and diverse formats of antibodies are further developed and available for patients of the most challenging disease areas. Bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) have several significant advantages over monospecific antibodies by engaging two antigen targets. Due to the complicated mechanism of action, diverse structural variations, and dual-target binding, developing bioassays and other types of assays to characterize BsAbs is challenging. Developing bioassays for BsAbs requires a good understanding of the mechanism of action of the molecule, principles and applications of different bioanalytical methods, and phase-appropriate considerations per regulatory guidelines. Here, we review recent advances and case studies to provide strategies and insights for bioassay development for different types of bispecific molecules.
Akkermansia muciniphila, a New Generation of Beneficial Microbiota in Modulating Obesity: A Systematic Review

Obesity is a complex syndrome and is recognized as the ultimate pathway of many chronic diseases. Studies using Akkermansia muciniphila supplementation strategy have proved to be effective for the prevention and treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders. Although there are studies that support the protective effect of this strategy, the effects on the prevention of obesity on humans are not clear yet and need more investigation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of A. muciniphila administration on modulating obesity. This systematic review was generated from articles published within the last 10 years. All articles were in English and included animal subjects. The review relied on the search engines Google Scholar, Pub Med, Web of Science and Medline using the following keywords: A. muciniphila, next-generation probiotic, new-generation probiotic, obesity, fat mass, body fat and lipid profile. The search has revealed 804 articles with relevant key words. After the exclusion of irrelevant articles, 10 studies were selected based on the criteria. These studies were randomized controlled trials that have shown that A. muciniphila modulates obesity by regulating metabolism and energy hemostasis and improving insulin sensitivity and glucose hemostasis. In addition, studies showed this microorganism enhances low grade inflammation by different mechanisms.
Connective Tissue Disease-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Southern Taiwan: A Single-Center 10-Year Longitudinal Observation Cohort

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening disease with different etiologies and outcomes. We aimed to explore differences in clinical features and outcomes of idiopathic PAH (iPAH) and connective tissue disease-related PAH (CTD-PAH) in Taiwanese patients and determine risk factors for mortality. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with right-sided heart catheterization-diagnosed PAH between January 2005 and December 2015. The iPAH (n = 31) and CTD-PAH (n = 14) patients were enrolled and followed until December 31, 2019. Between-group comparisons were conducted. Potential predictors of the mortality of PAH were determined using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. Results: CTD-PAH patients had higher levels of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and lower predicted diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO) than iPAH patients. The mortality rates were similar between CTD-PAH and iPAH (21.4% vs. 22.6%, p = 0.99). A mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) > 46 mmHg was a predictor of PAH-induced mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 21.8, 95% confidence interval 2.32–204.8). Conclusions: A higher mPAP level, but not underlying CTDs, imposed a significantly increased risk of mortality to patients with PAH.
Security Measures with Enhanced Behavior Processing and Footprint Algorithm against Sybil and Bogus Attacks in Vehicular Ad Hoc Network

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) are created according to the principles of ad hoc mobile networks (MANETs), i.e., spontaneous creation of a wireless network for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Each vehicle in this network is treated as a node that is part of the mobile network. VANET turns all cooperating vehicles into a wireless router or node. This makes it possible to connect all cars within range to a stationary unit and create a wide network with a huge range. VANET is widely used for better traffic management, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and road information provision. The VANET network is exposed to identity and information attacks, concealing or delaying data transmission, or information theft. Therefore, there are multiple types of attack, such as Sybil or bogus, that might harm the whole network infrastructure. The consequences of the mentioned two attacks could lead not only to the given infrastructure but could cause hammering people’s lives. In this paper, we analyze the ongoing methods for preserving Sybil and bogus attacks in a VANET network together with the authors’ methods: the Bogus & Sybil Trust Level & Timestamp (B&STL&T) algorithm and the Bogus & Sybil Enhanced Behavior Processing & Footprint (B&SEBP&F) algorithm. The first algorithm, the Bogus & Sybil Trust Level & Timestamp (B&STL&T) algorithm was improved into the Bogus & Sybil Enhanced Behavior Processing & Footprint (B&SEBP&F), presented in the paper. The proposed methods were tested with multiple scenarios using different variations of bogus and Sybil attack and various attacker–victim node number ratios. During analysis, it was observed that detection of all attackers in the network was reduced by approximately 30% in comparison to previous work and that of other cited authors.
Comparison of Performance, Egg Quality, and Yolk Fatty Acid Profile in Two Turkish Genotypes (Atak-S and Atabey) in a Free-Range System

Simple Summary In recent years, consumers have shown increased interest in healthy and safe food produced under improved animal welfare standards. Therefore, production systems proving outdoor access have gained popularity, increasing the need for knowledge on genotypes suitable for free-range systems. This study aimed to investigate the suitability of two Turkish layer genotypes, Atak-S (brown) and Atabey (white), in a free-range system. We evaluated laying performance, egg quality parameters, and yolk fatty acid profile. The egg production was higher in Atabey than Atak-S, whereas the eggs from Atak-S hens tended to be heavier and had a stronger shell structure than eggs from Atabey hens. Furthermore, eggs from Atabey hens had improved egg yolk and albumen content compared to eggs from Atak-S hens. The total saturated fatty acid content in yolk was higher in Atabey eggs than in Atak-S eggs at 56 weeks of age, whereas a higher yolk color score was observed in Atak-S eggs than in Atabey eggs. Our results could help free-range egg producers to improve production, as well as satisfy consumer demands regarding egg quality in organic production. Abstract Consumer interest in buying eggs from animal welfare-friendly systems with outdoor access is increasing, leading to an increase in the need for knowledge on genotypes suitable for free-range systems. Two Turkish laying hen genotypes, Atak-S (brown, n = 210) and Atabey (white, n = 210), were reared in a free-range system from 19–72 weeks of age, and their suitability for the system was assessed based on laying performance, egg quality, and yolk fatty acid profile. Mean hen-day and hen-housed egg production were found to be higher in Atabey than Atak-S (p < 0.01). The brown eggs from Atak-S hens tended to be heavier than the white eggs from Atabey hens (p < 0.01). Brown eggs obtained from Atak-S hens had a stronger shell structure (p < 0.01), while white eggs from Atabey hens had higher mean yolk index, albumen index, and Haugh unit than brown eggs (p < 0.05). At 56 weeks of age, total saturated fatty acid content in yolk was higher in white eggs than in brown eggs (p < 0.01). These findings related to genotype could help free-range egg producers in their choices for more profitable production and for meeting consumer demands on egg quality and egg yolk fatty acid levels.
Ligand-Dependent Conformational Transitions in Molecular Dynamics Trajectories of GPCRs Revealed by a New Machine Learning Rare Event Detection Protocol

Central among the tools and approaches used for ligand discovery and design are Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, which follow the dynamic changes in molecular structure in response to the environmental condition, interactions with other proteins, and the effects of ligand binding. The need for, and successes of, MD simulations in providing this type of essential information are well documented, but so are the challenges presented by the size of the resulting datasets encoding the desired information. The difficulty of extracting information on mechanistically important state-to-state transitions in response to ligand binding and other interactions is compounded by these being rare events in the MD trajectories of complex molecular machines, such as G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). To address this problem, we have developed a protocol for the efficient detection of such events. We show that the novel Rare Event Detection (RED) protocol reveals functionally relevant and pharmacologically discriminating responses to the binding of different ligands to the 5-HT2AR orthosteric site in terms of clearly defined, structurally coherent, and temporally ordered conformational transitions. This information from the RED protocol offers new insights into specific ligand-determined functional mechanisms encoded in the MD trajectories, which opens a new and rigorously reproducible path to understanding drug activity with application in drug discovery.
Anti-inflammatory role of curcumin in retinal disorders (Review)

Curcumin [1,7-bis-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione], the main component of turmeric (Curcuma longa, a flowering plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae), is known to possess different pharmacological activities, particularly anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Since an underlying inflammatory process exists in several ocular conditions, such as anterior uveitis, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR), the aim of the present review was to summarize the pleiotropic effects exerted by this molecule, focusing in particular on its beneficial role in retinal diseases. The anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin has also been described in numerous systemic inflammatory pathologies and tumors. Specifically, the biological, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical properties of curcumin are associated with its ability to downregulate the expression of the following genes: IκBα, cyclooxygenase 2, prostaglandin E2, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8 and tumor necrosis factor-α. According to this finding, curcumin may be useful in the treatment of some retinal disorders. In DR, proliferative vitreoretinopathy and AMD, beneficial effects have been observed following treatment with curcumin, including slowing down of the inflammatory process. Despite the aforementioned evidence, the main disadvantage of this substance is that it possesses a low solubility, as well as poor oral bioavailability due to its reduced absorption, rapid metabolism and rapid elimination. Therefore, several curcumin analogues have been synthesized and tested over the years, in order to improve the possible obtainable therapeutic effects. The purpose of the present review was to identify new aspects that could guide future research on this important traditional medicine, which is a well-tolerated natural product, and is widely considered safe and economical.