Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Naoxintong Capsule Alternates Gut Microbiota and Prevents Hyperlipidemia in High-Fat-Diet Fed Rats

Background: Naoxintong Capsule (NXT) is a formulated Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) widely applied in the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, most of which are closely related to hyperlipidemia as a major risk factor. Given the current limited understandings to the role of gut microbiota in the lipid-lowering effect of NXT and other TCM products, this study investigated the regulation of gut microbiota and lipid metabolism by NXT, and their potential relationship. Methods: The chemical components of NXT were firstly analyzed with HPLC-MS method. In high fat diet (HFD)-fed rat models, as well as normal rats as control, the histopathological and biochemical changes of serum and liver were examined, including total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In addition, the gut microbiota community was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing technique, the fecal levels of gut microbiota related metabolites, including bile acids (BAs) and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were determined with HPLC-MS. The correlations of the clinical indicators and gut microbiota related indicators were then investigated statistically. Results: The results showed that NXT exerted potential preventive effect on hyperlipidemia. Specifically, NXT significantly reduced the body weight, TC, TG and LDL-C in serum, increased HDL-C in serum, reduced the TC and TG in liver, as well as protected liver. The body weight, serum lipid levels and liver function were all significantly alleviated. The gut microbiota of the HFD-fed rats was reconstituted with supplementation of NXT. The fecal levels of gut microbiota related metabolites, including BAs and SCFAs were also altered. The correlation between the gut microbiota and clinical/metabolomic parameters was then studied. As the result, the amount of propionic aicd, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (F/B) and the relative abundance of Collinsella in feces are the most possibly potential therapeutic biomarkers of NXT. Conclusion: NXT was effective in regulation of gut microbiota and prevention of hyperlipidemia in HFD fed rats. The present work might provide novel insights into the anti-hyperlipidemia effect of TCM and afford new scientific evidence for clinical application of TCM. Graphical Abstract
HUBUNGAN ANTARA STATUS GIZI, KONSUMSI GARAM SERTA KETERATURAN MINUM OBAT DENGAN TEKANAN DARAH PENDERITA HIPERTENSI : STUDI DI PUSKESMAS Dr. SOETOMO KECAMATAN TEGALSARI KOTA SURABAYA

Hipertensi adalah keadaan peningkatan tekanan darah yang memberi gejala yang akan berlanjut untuk suatu target organ seperti stroke (otak), penyakit jantung koroner (pembuluh darah jantung), hipertrofi ventrikel kini (untuk otot jantung). Tekanan darah adalah tekanan di dalam pembuluh darah ketika jantung memompakan darah ke seluruh tubuh. Tekanan darah pengaruhi oleh umur, riwayat genetik, tingkat pendidikan, keadaan status gizi, konsumsi garam dan keteraturan minum obat. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara keadaan status gizi dan konsumsi garam serta keteraturan minum obat dengan tekanan darah penderita hipertensi. Desain penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah cross sectional. Sampel yang digunakan adalah penderita hipertensi pada usia 20 – 50 tahun yang memeriksakan din di Puskesmas Dr. Soetomo Kecamatan Tegalsari Kota Surabaya sebesar 84 orang. Sampel diambil dengan teknik simple random sampling. Data dianalisis dengan Korelasi Spearmen untuk skala data ordinal dan Koefisien Kontingensi untuk skala data nominal dengan α = 0,05 untuk melihat hubungan antara variabel yang diteliti. Hasil dari penelitian ini diketahui bahwa ada hubungan antara umur dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,021), tidak ada hubungan antara jenis kelamin dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,234), ada hubungan antara riwayat genetik dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,033), tidak ada hubungan antara tingkat pendidikan dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,560), tidak ada hubungan antara keadaan status gizi dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,184), ada hubungan antara pengetahuan tentang garam dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,035), ada hubungan antara konsumsi garam dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,035), tidak ada hubungan antara keteraturan minum obat dengan tekanan darah (p = 0,728). Disarankan untuk meningkatkan kegiatan penyuluhan tentang konsumsi garam yang sesuai dengan anjuran dan tidak membahayakan bagi penderita hipertensi oleh petugas kesehatan yang berwenang. Bagi para penderita untuk menurunkan tekanan darah selain dengan mengkonsumsi obat-obatan antihipertensi dari dokter, dapat juga diimbangi dengan terapi yang bermanfaat bagi kesehatan, seperti tidak mengkonsumsi garam atau mengurangi konsumsi garam dalam makanan sehari-hari, dengan cara mengganti penggunaan garam dengan menggunakan bumbu-bumbu penyedap alami yang lain.
An Update on the Molecular Mechanism of the Vertebrate Isthmic Organizer Development in the Context of the Neuromeric Model

A crucial event during the development of the central nervous system (CNS) is the early subdivision of the neural tube along its anterior-to-posterior axis to form neuromeres, morphogenetic units separated by transversal constrictions and programed for particular genetic cascades. The narrower portions observed in the developing neural tube are responsible for relevant cellular and molecular processes, such as clonal restrictions, expression of specific regulatory genes, and differential fate specification, as well as inductive activities. In this developmental context, the gradual formation of the midbrain-hindbrain (MH) constriction has been an excellent model to study the specification of two major subdivisions of the CNS containing the mesencephalic and isthmo-cerebellar primordia. This MH boundary is coincident with the common Otx2-(midbrain)/Gbx2-(hindbrain) expressing border. The early interactions between these two pre-specified areas confer positional identities and induce the generation of specific diffusible morphogenes at this interface, in particular FGF8 and WNT1. These signaling pathways are responsible for the gradual histogenetic specifications and cellular identity acquisitions with in the MH domain. This review is focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the specification of the midbrain/hindbrain territory and the formation of the isthmic organizer. Emphasis will be placed on the chick/quail chimeric experiments leading to the acquisition of the first fate mapping and experimental data to, in this way, better understand pioneering morphological studies and innovative gain/loss-of-function analysis.
Dispositional Mindfulness and Post-traumatic Stress Symptoms in Emergency Nurses: Multiple Mediating Roles of Coping Styles and Emotional Exhaustion

Objective To explore the relationships between dispositional mindfulness (DM) and their post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) of emergency nurses, and the mediating effects of coping styles and emotional exhaustion (EE). Methods A cross-sectional survey study was conducted to collect data on DM, coping styles, EE, and PTSS among 571 emergency nurses from 20 hospitals in Chongqing, China. Correlation and structural equation models (SEMs) were used to evaluate the relationship among variables. Results Emergency nurses with lower dispositional mindfulness, higher emotional exhaustion and preference for negative coping (NC) revealed more PTSS. The effect of NC on PTSS was partially mediated by emotional exhaustion. Negative coping and emotional exhaustion played concurrent and sequential mediating roles between dispositional mindfulness and PTSS. Conclusion This study has made a significant contribution to existing literature. It was suggested to develop interventions aimed at enhancing mindfulness, reducing negative coping strategies, and alleviating emotional exhaustion, which may be effective at reducing or alleviating post-traumatic stress symptoms of emergency nurses.
Putative Nickel-Dependent Anaerobic Carbon Monoxide Uptake Occurs Commonly in Soils and Sediments at Ambient Temperature and Might Contribute to Atmospheric and Sub-Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide Uptake During Anoxic Conditions

Carbon monoxide (CO) occurs naturally in the atmosphere where it plays a critical role in tropospheric chemistry. Atmospheric CO uptake by soils has been well documented as an important CO sink and has been attributed to a group of aerobic bacteria that possess a molybdenum-dependent CO dehydrogenase (Mo-CODH). CO can also be oxidized by obligate Ni-dependent anaerobes (Ni-COX) that possess nickel-dependent CODHs (Ni-CODH) but relatively little is known about their ecology or their potential to contribute to CO dynamics within soils and sediments or to soil-atmosphere CO exchanges. Results from a series of assays undertaken with diverse soils and sediments and CO concentrations of 10 ppm and 25% with incubation temperatures of 10, 25, and 60°C revealed anaerobic uptake rates with 10 ppm CO that were comparable to those measured under oxic conditions; further, anaerobic CO uptake occurred without a lag and at atmospheric and sub-atmospheric CO concentrations. Assays with 25% CO revealed previously undocumented activity at 10°C and showed extensive activity at 25°C. Results from prior studies with isolates and soils suggest that anaerobic uptake at both 10 ppm and 25% CO concentrations might be attributed to Ni-COX. Collectively the results considerably expand the ecological range for Ni-COX and indicate that they could play previously unsuspected roles in soil CO dynamics.
Multi-Region Genomic Landscape Analysis for the Preoperative Prediction of Lymph Node Metastasis in Esophageal Carcinoma

Objective: Esophageal cancer is an aggressive malignant tumor, with 90 percent of the patients prone to recurrence and metastasis. Although recent studies have identified some potential biomarkers, these biomarkers’ clinical or pathological significance is still unclear. Therefore, it is urgent to further identify and study novel molecular changes occurring in esophageal cancer. It has positive clinical significance to identify a tumor-specific mutation in patients after surgery for an effective intervention to improve the prognosis of patients. Methods: In this study, we performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on 33 tissue samples from six esophageal cancer patients with lymph node metastasis, compared the differences in the genomic and evolutionary maps in different tissues, and then performed pathway enrichment analysis on non-synonymous mutation genes. Finally, we sorted out the somatic mutation data of all patients to analyze the subclonality of each tumor. Results: There were significant differences in somatic mutations between the metastatic lymph nodes and primary lesions in the six patients. Clustering results of pathway enrichment analysis indicated that the metastatic lymph nodes had certain commonalities. Tumors of the cloned exploration results illustrated that five patients showed substantial heterogeneity. Conclusion: WES technology can be used to explore the differences in regional evolutionary maps, heterogeneity, and detect patients’ tumor-specific mutations. In addition, an in-depth understanding of the ontogeny and phylogeny of tumor heterogeneity can help to further find new molecular changes in esophageal cancer, which can improve the prognosis of EC patients and provide a valuable reference for their diagnosis.
Improving the Accuracy of Multi-Breed Prediction in Admixed Populations by Accounting for the Breed Origin of Haplotype Segments

Numerically small breeds have often been upgraded with mainstream breeds. This historic introgression predisposes the breeds for joint genomic evaluations with mainstream breeds. The linkage disequilibrium structure differs between breeds. The marker effects of a haplotype segment may, therefore, depend on the breed from which the haplotype segment originates. An appropriate method for genomic evaluation would account for this dependency. This study proposes a method for the computation of genomic breeding values for small admixed breeds that incorporate phenotypic and genomic information from large introgressed breeds by considering the breed origin of alleles (BOA) in the evaluation. The proposed BOA model classifies haplotype segments according to their origins and assumes different but correlated SNP effects for the different origins. The BOA model was compared in a simulation study to conventional within-breed genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP) and conventional multi-breed GBLUP models. The BOA model outperformed within-breed GBLUP as well as multi-breed GBLUP in most cases.
Factors Influencing Soil Nitrification Process and the Effect on Environment and Health

To meet the global demand for food, several factors have been deployed by agriculturists to supply plants with nitrogen. These factors have been observed to influence the soil nitrification process. Understanding the aftermath effect on the environment and health would provoke efficient management. We review literature on these factors, their aftermath effect on the environment and suggest strategies for better management. Synthetic fertilizers and chemical nitrification inhibitors are the most emphasized factors that influence the nitrification process. The process ceases when pH is <5.0. The range of temperature suitable for the proliferation of ammonia oxidizing archaea is within 30 to 37oC while that of ammonia oxidizing bacteria is within 16 to 23oC. Some of the influencing factors excessively speed up the rate of the nitrification process. This leads to excess production of nitrate, accumulation of nitrite as a result of decoupling between nitritation process and nitratation process. The inhibition mechanism of chemical nitrification inhibitors either causes a reduction in the nitrifying micro-organisms or impedes the amoA gene's function. The effects on the environment are soil acidification, global warming, and eutrophication. Some of the health effects attributed to the influence are methemoglobinemia, neurotoxicity, phytotoxicity and cancer. Biomagnification of the chemicals along the food chain is also a major concern. The use of well-researched and scientifically formulated organic fertilizers consisting of microbial inoculum, well-treated organic manure and good soil conditioner are eco-friendly. They are encouraged to be used to efficiently manage the process. Urban agriculture could promote food production, but environmental sustainability should be ensured.
An Interdisciplinary Approach for Compulsive Behavior in Dogs: A Case Report

Compulsive disorder is a debilitating condition affecting both humans and animals, characterized by intrusive thoughts and recurring out-of-place behaviors. Among them, tail chasing might represent one of the most common traits in compulsive dogs. Herein, we reported the case of a 7-year-old intact male German Shepherd mixed-breed dog, presenting with tail chasing behavior. He underwent a first behavioral evaluation 1 year before (at the age of 6), when he injured himself with severe wounds at level of the tail and left thigh. To avoid any specific suffering and increase his physical health, of course, the study was carried out through an interdisciplinary approach, employing a veterinary behaviorist and a rehabilitating dog instructor. Three months after pharmacological treatment with fluoxetine and α-s1 casozepine, associated with a behavioral recovery program, the owner reported an improvement of compulsive events in his dog, in terms of intensity and frequency. Interestingly, over the following 3 months, the dog did not experience any new tail chasing episodes.
Adult Expression of Tbr2 Is Required for the Maintenance but Not Survival of Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells

Retinal ganglion cells expressing the photopigment melanopsin are intrinsically photosensitive (ipRGCs). ipRGCs regulate subconscious non-image-forming behaviors such as circadian rhythms, pupil dilation, and light-mediated mood. Previously, we and others showed that the transcription factor Tbr2 (EOMES) is required during retinal development for the formation of ipRGCs. Tbr2 is also expressed in the adult retina leading to the hypothesis that it plays a role in adult ipRGC function. To test this, we removed Tbr2 in adult mice. We found that this results in the loss of melanopsin expression in ipRGCs but does not lead to cell death or morphological changes to their dendritic or axonal termination patterns. Additionally, we found ectopic expression of Tbr2 in conventional RGCs does not induce melanopsin expression but can increase melanopsin expression in existing ipRGCs. An interesting feature of ipRGCs is their superior survival relative to conventional RGCs after an optic nerve injury. We find that loss of Tbr2 decreases the survival rate of ipRGCs after optic nerve damage suggesting that Tbr2 plays a role in ipRGC survival after injury. Lastly, we show that the GABAergic amacrine cell marker Meis2, is expressed in the majority of Tbr2-expressing displaced amacrine cells as well as in a subset of Tbr2-expressing RGCs. These findings demonstrate that Tbr2 is necessary but not sufficient for melanopsin expression, that Tbr2 is involved in ipRGC survival after optic nerve injury, and identify a marker for Tbr2-expressing displaced amacrine cells.
Psychotherapist Trainees’ Quality of Life: Patterns and Correlates

While psychotherapists are trained to improve their clients’ quality of life, little work has examined the quality of life experienced by psychotherapist trainees themselves. Yet their life satisfactions and stresses would plausibly affect both their ability to learn new skills and conduct psychotherapy. Therefore, in the Society for Psychotherapy Research Interest Section on Psychotherapist Development and Training study, we investigated the patterns of self-reported life quality and their correlates in a multinational sample of 1,214 psychotherapist trainees. A comprehensive questionnaire was used at the outset of trainings to assess trainees’ professional background, current life situation, personal characteristics, family background, and social and national origin. The findings indicated 54.3% of trainees’ lives could be characterized as fortunate or happy (i.e., experiencing great life satisfaction and not much stress), whereas 14.3% could be characterized as clearly distressed or troubled (i.e., experiencing great life stress and not much satisfaction). The strongest correlates of high life stress, a contributor to poor life quality, were economic insecurity, self-protectiveness, and attachment-related anxiety in relationships, and economic or psychological hardship in childhood. In turn, greater wellbeing was most strongly associated with a warm and open interpersonal style, being married, having sufficient economic means, and material and emotional security in childhood. While the results indicate the majority of therapists experience a relatively good quality of life, the findings also suggest potential targets for increasing trainees’ life quality when it may be deficient, such as those on a societal level (e.g., availability of low-cost student loans), training program level (e.g., promoting supportive supervision, positive between-trainee relationships and group collaboration), and individual level (e.g., personal therapy and learning self-care), in order to promote effective learning and therapy practice.
Extensive/Multidrug-Resistant Pneumococci Detected in Clinical Respiratory Tract Samples in Southern Sweden Are Closely Related to International Multidrug-Resistant Lineages

Background/Objective The frequencies of non-susceptibility against common antibiotics among pneumococci vary greatly across the globe. When compared to other European countries antibiotic resistance against penicillin and macrolides has been uncommon in Sweden in recent years. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is, however, of high importance since relevant treatment options are scarce. The purpose of this study was to characterize the molecular epidemiology, presence of resistance genes and selected virulence genes of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) (n=15) and MDR (n=10) Streptococcus pneumoniae detected in clinical respiratory tract samples isolated from patients in a southern Swedish county 2016-2018. With the aim of relating them to global MDR pneumococci. Methods Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed to determine molecular epidemiology, resistance genes and presence of selected virulence factors. Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were determined using broth microdilution testing. Further analyses were performed on isolates from the study and from the European nucleotide archive belonging to global pneumococcal sequence cluster (GPSC) 1 (n=86), GPSC9 (n=55) and GPSC10 (n=57). Bacteria were analyzed regarding selected virulence determinants (pilus islet 1, pilus islet 2 and Zinc metalloproteinase C) and resistance genes. Results Nineteen of 25 isolates were related to dominant global MDR lineages. Seventeen belonged to GPSC1, GPSC9 or GPSC10 with MDR non-PCV serotypes in GPSC9 (serotype 15A and 15C) as well as GPSC10 (serotype 7B, 15B and serogroup 24). Pilus islet-1 and pilus islet-2 were present in most sequence types belonging to GPSC1 and in two isolates within GPSC9 but were not detected in isolates belonging to GPSC10. Zinc metalloproteinase C was well conserved within all analyzed isolates belonging to GPSC9 but were not found in isolates from GPSC1 or GPSC10. Conclusions Although MDR S. pneumoniae is relatively uncommon in Sweden compared to other countries, virulent non-PCV serotypes that are MDR may become an increasing problem, particularly from clusters GPSC9 and GPSC10. Since the incidence of certain serotypes (3, 15A, and 19A) found among our MDR Swedish study isolates are persistent or increasing in invasive pneumococcal disease further surveillance is warranted.
A Novel Cross-Priming Amplification-Based Assay for Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Children Using Gastric Aspirate

Low detection rates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) by culture and smear microscopy prevent early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in children. Therefore, developing rapid and accurate diagnostic techniques are critical to achieving the global aim of minimizing childhood TB. The present study was performed to evaluate the diagnostic effectiveness of the novel cross-priming amplification-based EasyNAT MTB complex assay (EasyNAT) in childhood TB. Five hundred and six children with suspected TB were enrolled from January 2018 to October 2021. Gastric aspirate (GA) samples were tested by bacterial culture, acid-fast bacillus microscopy, EasyNAT, Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert), or Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Xpert Ultra). Among 239 children simultaneously tested by EasyNAT and Xpert methods, both assays showed similar sensitivities in total active TB cases [22.6% (31/137) vs. 26.3% (36/137), p = 0.441] and in bacteriologically confirmed TB cases [both 60.0% (9/15)]. The two assays presented similar specificities of 98.0% (100/102) and 99.0% (101/102), respectively (p = 1.000). Among 267 children who were simultaneously tested with EasyNAT and Xpert Ultra, Xpert Ultra demonstrated higher sensitivity than EasyNAT in total active TB cases [50.9% (89/175) vs. 30.3% (53/175), p < 0.001]. EasyNAT and Xpert Ultra yielded similar specificities, at 97.8% (90/92) and 100.0% (92/92), respectively (p = 0.155). These findings indicated that Xpert Ultra was superior to EasyNAT despite its higher cost and EasyNAT was not inferior to Xpert in the diagnosis of childhood TB using GA samples. EasyNAT may therefore be a suitable alternative diagnostic method for childhood TB based on its cost-effectiveness, speed, and accuracy.