Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biotyping and enterotoxigenicity of coagulase-positive and coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from different raw meat.

Background Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) are produced in foods under favorable conditions and considered a potential biological threat. Aims The study was performed to detect enterotoxigenic genes of A and B in coagulase-positive (CPS) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) to evaluate biotypes and antibiotic resistance of isolated Staphylococcus aureus from different meat. Methods A total of 160 meat swab samples were collected from lamb, water buffalo, cattle, and chicken carcasses. Presumptive colonies on Baird Parker agar were subjected to biochemical identification, including Gram staining, catalase, oxidase, and coagulase activity. Relevant colonies separately were subjected to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for identification of Staphylococcus genus, enterotoxigenic genes (sea and seb) and the thermonuclease gene (nuc) specific for the S. aureus. The antibiotic susceptibility test was also carried out using five antibiotics. Results Totally, 150 Staphylococcus spp. were isolated from the samples among which 135 (90%) isolates harbored sea gene, meanwhile, none of the isolates contained seb gene. Twenty-five S. aureus confirmed by PCR from which 15 isolates (60%) belonged to host specific (HS), 7 isolates (28%) belonged to non-host specific (NHS) biotypes, while 3 isolates (12%) were non-typable. Overall, 68%, 56%, 16%, 12%, and 8% of isolates were resistant to penicillin, trimethoprim, gentamicin, oxacillin, and erythromycin, respectively. Conclusion The meats provided from this area were contaminated with enterotoxigenic and antibiotic-resistance staphylococci, which can threaten the health of the consumers. The study showed that not only CPS contain enterotoxin A gene, but also CNS isolates possess this gene, especially in buffalo meat, and thus they are recognized as potential hazards in different meats.
Predicting the competitive interactions and trophic niche consequences of a globally invasive fish with threatened native species.

Novel trophic interactions between invasive and native species potentially increase levels of inter-specific competition in the receiving environment. However, theory on the trophic impacts of invasive fauna on native competitors is ambiguous, as while increased inter-specific competition can result in the species having constricted and diverged trophic niches, the species might instead increase their niche sizes, especially in omnivorous species. The competitive interactions between an omnivorous invasive fish, common carp Cyprinus carpio, and a tropically analogous native and threatened fish, crucian carp Carassius carassius, were tested using comparative functional responses (CFRs). A natural pond experiment then presented the species in allopatry and sympatry, determining the changes in their trophic (isotopic) niche sizes and positions over four years. These predictive approaches were complemented by assessing their trophic relationships in wild populations. CFRs revealed that compared to crucian carp, carp had a significantly higher maximum consumption rate. Coupled with a previous cohabitation growth study, these results predicted that competition between the species is asymmetric, with carp the superior competitor. The pond experiment used stable isotope metrics to quantify shifts in the trophic (isotopic) niche sizes of the fishes. In allopatry, the isotopic niches of the two species were similar sized and diverged. Conversely, in sympatry, carp isotopic niches were always considerably larger than those of crucian carp and were strongly partitioned. Sympatric crucian carp had larger isotopic niches than allopatric conspecifics, a likely response to asymmetric competition from carp. However, carp isotopic niches were also larger in sympatry than allopatry. In the wild populations, the carp isotopic niches were always larger than crucian carp niches, and were highly divergent. The superior competitive abilities of carp predicted in aquaria experiments were considered to be a process involved in sympatric crucian carp having larger isotopic niches than in allopatry. However, as sympatric carp also had larger niches than in allopatry, this suggests other ecological processes were also likely to be involved, such as those relating to fish prey resources. These results highlight the inherent complexity in determining how omnivorous invasive species integrate into food-webs and alter their structure.
Small Bowel Obstruction

Abstract Small bowel obstruction (SBO) remains a common problem for surgeons and nonsurgeons alike. Management of SBO has shifted from primarily being surgical to a nonoperative approach, which can be attributed to a multitude of reasons, including better understanding of the pathophysiology of SBO, the advent of laparoscopy, and improvement in diagnostic imaging. But given the nature of SBO, the need for surgical consultation continues to remain a necessity. This article will review the etiology, diagnosis, and management of SBO.
Hold‐out validation for the assessment of stability and reliability of multivariable regression demonstrated with magnetic resonance imaging of patients with schizophrenia

Neuroscience studies are very often tasked with identifying measurable differences between two groups of subjects, typically one group with a pathological condition and one group representing control subjects. It is often expected that the measurements acquired for comparing groups are also affected by a variety of additional patient characteristics such as sex, age, and comorbidities. Multivariable regression (MVR) is a statistical analysis technique commonly employed in neuroscience studies to “control for” or “adjust for” secondary effects (such as sex, age, and comorbidities) in order to ensure that the main study findings are focused on actual differences between the groups of interest associated with the condition under investigation. It is common practice in the neuroscience literature to utilize MVR to control for secondary effects; however, at present, it is not typically possible to assess whether the MVR adjustments correct for more error than they introduce. In common neuroscience practice, MVR models are not validated and no attempt to characterize deficiencies in the MVR model is made. In this article, we demonstrate how standard hold‐out validation techniques (commonly used in machine learning analyses) that involve repeatedly randomly dividing datasets into training and testing samples can be adapted to the assessment of stability and reliability of MVR models with a publicly available neurological magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset of patients with schizophrenia. Results demonstrate that MVR can introduce measurement error up to 30.06% and, on average across all considered measurements, introduce 9.84% error on this dataset. When hold‐out validated MVR does not agree with the results of the standard use of MVR, the use of MVR in the given application is unstable. Thus, this paper helps evaluate the extent to which the simplistic use of MVR introduces study error in neuroscientific analyses with an analysis of patients with schizophrenia.
PI3K/Akt pathway expression in children with different obesity degrees and its relationship with glucolipid metabolism and insulin resistance.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated and analyzed the expression of PI3K/Akt pathway in children with different degree of obesity and its connection with glucolipid metabolism and insulin resistance (IR). METHODS 157 children with simple obesity, who admitted to our hospital from March 2020 to September 2020, were enrolled as obesity group. These children were divided into mild-group (n=67), moderate-group (n=55) and severe-group (n=35) referring to their body mass index (BMI). Another 60 healthy children admitted to hospitalized were randomly chosen as control group. The expression of PI3K mRNA and Akt mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of each group were detected by RT-PCR, and its connection with glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as IR was analyzed. RESULTS Each group of children had insignificant difference in FBG (Fasting blood glucose) level (P>0.05). The triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), Fasting insulin (FINS) and Homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) levels in each obesity group were substantially higher than those in control group (P<0.05), and these levels decreased remarkably with the increase of obesity severity (P<0.05). The high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level of children in each obesity group was notably lower than that of the control group (P<0.05), and the level decreased remarkably with the ascending degree of obesity (P<0.05). The levels of PI3K mRNA and Akt mRNA in PBMCs of children in each obesity group were obviously lower than those in control group (P<0.05), and these index levels decreased much with the increasing worsen of children's obesity degree (P<0.05). The relative expression of PI3K mRNA and Akt mRNA in children with simple obesity was negatively correlated with TG, TC, LDL, FINS and HOMA-IR (P<0.05), positively correlated with HDL (P<0.05), and was not associated with FBG level (P>0.05). CONCLUSION The inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in children with simple obesity is associated with the abnormal glucolipid metabolism and IR, which affects the occurrence and progression of obesity.
Stability and Effect of Parkinsonian State on Deep Brain Stimulation Cortical Evoked Potentials.

OBJECTIVES To characterize and compare the stability of cortical potentials evoked by deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) across the naïve, parkinsonian, and pharmacologically treated parkinsonian states. To advance cortical potentials as possible biomarkers for DBS programming. MATERIALS AND METHODS Serial electrocorticographic (ECoG) recordings were made more than nine months from a single non-human primate instrumented with bilateral ECoG grids spanning anterior parietal to prefrontal cortex. Cortical evoked potentials (CEPs) were generated through time-lock averaging of the ECoG recordings to DBS pulses delivered unilaterally in the STN region using a chronically implanted, six-contact, scaled DBS lead. Recordings were made across the naïve followed by mild and moderate parkinsonian conditions achieved by staged injections of the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) neurotoxin. In addition to characterizing the spatial distribution and stability of the response within each state, changes in the amplitude and latency of CEP components as well as in the frequency content were examined in relation to parkinsonian severity and dopamine replacement. RESULTS In the naïve state, the STN DBS CEP presented as a multiphase response maximal over M1 cortex, with components attributable to physiological activity distinguishable from stimulus artifact as early as 0.45-0.75 msec poststimulation. When delivered using therapeutically effective parameters in the parkinsonian state, the CEP was highly stable across multiple recording sessions within each behavioral state. Across states, significant differences were present with respect to both the latency and amplitude of individual response components, with greater differences present for longer-latency components (all p < 0.05). Power spectral density analysis revealed a high-beta peak within the evoked response, with significant changes in power between disease states across multiple frequency bands. CONCLUSIONS Our findings underscore the spatiotemporal specificity and relative stability of the DBS-CEP associated with different disease states and with therapeutic benefit. DBS-CEP may be a viable biomarker for therapeutic programming.
AP39 ameliorates high fat diet-induced liver injury in young rats via alleviation of oxidative stress and mitochondrial impairment

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complication of childhood obesity and an oxidative stress-related multisystem disease. A mitochondria-targeting hydrogen sulfide (H2S) donor AP39 has antioxidant property, while the mechanism underlying the function of AP39 on pediatric NAFLD remains undefined. Here, 3-week-old SD rats were received a high-fat diet (HFD) feeding and injected with AP39 (0.05 or 0.1 mg/kg/day) via the tail vein for up to 7 weeks. AP39 reduced weight gain of HFD rats and improved HFD-caused liver injury, as evidenced by reduced liver index, improved liver pathological damage, decreased NAFLD activity score, as well as low alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities. AP39 also reduced serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations but increased high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C). Moreover, AP39 prevented reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, reduced MDA content and increased glutathione (GSH) level and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Furthermore, AP39 increased H2S level, protected mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), reduced mitochondrial swelling, and restored mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) alteration. Notably, AP39 diminished HIF-1α mRNA and protein level, possibly indicating the alleviation in mitochondrial damage. In short, AP39 protects against HFD-induced liver injury in young rats probably through attenuating lipid accumulation, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Mir-106b Cluster Regulates Primordial Germ Cells Differentiation from Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Objective Numerous evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) are critical regulators in the spermatogenesis process. The aim of this study was to investigate Mir-106b cluster regulates primordial germ cells (PGCs) differentiation from human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Materials and Methods In this experimental study, samples containing male adipose (n: 9 samples- age: 25-40 years) were obtained from cosmetic surgeries performed for the liposuction in Imam Khomeini Hospital. The differentiation of MSCs into PGCs was accomplished by transfection of a lentivector expressing miR-106b. The transfection of miR- 106b was also confirmed by the detection of a clear green fluorescent protein (GFP) signal in MSCs. MSCs were treated with bone morphogenic factor 4 (BMP4) protein, as a putative inducer of PGCs differentiation, to induce the differentiation of MSCs into PGCs (positive control). After 4 days of transfection, the expression of miR-106b, STELLA, and FRAGILIS genes was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Also, the levels of thymocyte differentiation antigen 1 (Thy1) protein was assessed by the western blot analysis. The cell surface expression of CD90 was also determined by immunocytochemistry method. The cytotoxicity of miR-106b was examined in MSCs after 24, 48, and 72 hours using the MTT assay. Results MSCs treated with BMP4 or transfected by miR-106b were successfully differentiated into PGCs. The results of this study also showed that the expression of miR-106b was significantly increased after 48 hours from transfection. Also, we showed STELLA, FARGILIS, as well as the protein expression of Thy1, was significantly higher in MSCs transfected by lentivector expressing miR-106b in comparison with MSCs treated with BMP4 (P≤0.05). MTT assay showed miR-106b was no toxic during 72 hours in 1 µg/ml dose, that this amount could elevated germ cells marker significantly higher than other experimental groups (P≤0.05). Conclusion According to this findings, it appears that miR-106b plays an essential role in the differentiation of MSCs into PGCs.
Sagittal wedging of intervertebral discs and vertebral bodies in the cervical spine and their associations with age, sex and cervical lordosis: A large‐scale morphological study

Many recent studies have focused on the functional and clinical importance of cervical lordosis. However, there is little accurate knowledge of the anatomical parameters that constitute cervical lordosis (i.e., the sagittal wedging angles of intervertebral discs and vertebral bodies) and their associations with age and sex. Standing lateral cervical radiographs of 1020 subjects (424 males, 596 females) with a mean age of 36.6 ± 17.0 years (range 7–95 years) were evaluated retrospectively. Cervical lordosis, the sum of intervertebral disc wedging angles from C2/C3 to C6/C7 and the sum of vertebral body wedging angles from C3 to C7 were measured. The sum of intervertebral disc wedging and the sum of vertebral body wedging were 20.6° ± 14.7° and −12.8° ± 10.3°, respectively. The sum of intervertebral disc wedging increased significantly with age and was significantly greater in males than females, whereas there was no sex‐related difference in the sum of vertebral body wedging. The sum of intervertebral disc wedging was negatively correlated with sum of vertebral body wedging. Wedging of discs contributed to C2–C7 cervical lordosis more significantly than wedging of vertebral bodies. There were moderate positive correlations between cervical lordosis and intervertebral disc wedging angles at C3/C4, C4/C5 and C5/C6; weak correlations were observed at C2/C3 and C6/C7. This study constitutes the largest currently available analysis comprehensively documenting the anatomical characteristics of sagittal wedging of intervertebral discs and vertebral bodies in the cervical spine. The findings could improve understanding of the internal architecture of cervical lordosis among clinicians.
Clinicopathological features and treatment outcome of paediatric differentiated thyroid cancer treated with Radioactive Iodine-131 therapy in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

BACKGROUND Radioactive iodine 131I (RAI) therapy is one of the definitive treatments for paediatric differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) initiated at nuclear medicine departments. In Malaysia, there is a need to identify the standardisation of treatment regimes to align with international standards. We aimed to evaluate the clinicopathological features and the patient response to RAI therapy among paediatric DTC cases at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), Malaysia. METHODS A retrospective, longitudinal study was conducted among paediatric DTC patients treated with RAI in HKL and followed up between 2000-2016. Sixty-five patients were studied (mean period: 58.8±36 months). The clinicopathological data of the patients was recorded, and descriptive analysis was made. The association between categorical and continuous data with disease status was assessed using chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests, p-value <0.05 taken as statistically significant. RESULTS Most patients were female (78.5%), and adolescents comprised 89.2%. Pre-pubertal age, those presenting with cervical nodal involvement, extra-thyroidal extension and lymphovascular invasion were significantly associated with distant metastases at presentation. There was no mortality reported during the follow-up period. Sixty per cent of patients achieved remission, while 40% had persistent disease. The persistent disease was significantly correlated with distant metastasis at presentation (p=0.025). CONCLUSIONS Paediatric DTC manifests with a more extensive disease burden at presentation and requires multiple RAI doses. Despite this, it carries an excellent overall prognosis.
Safety of non-hormonal medications for managing hot flashes

ABSTRACT Introduction Menopausal complaints are a critical aspect of women’s lives. In particular vasomotor symptoms, such as hot flashes, may seriously impact quality of life and are considered the most bothersome complaint by patients. Although Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT) is considered the best option, women increasingly ask for a natural and more tailored treatment approach. Areas covered Nutraceutical compounds represent the most widespread alternative therapy for vasomotor symptoms, and their use is somewhat increasing. In this review, the authors analyzed the mechanism of action and the related safety of non-hormonal treatments, including new approaches and future aspects. Expert opinion MHT represents the traditional therapy for menopausal complaints, especially for severe and moderate symptoms; however, evidence has not defined a safety profile for all patients. To address this issue, nutraceuticals could represent a compelling and useful non-hormonal approach in selected patients.
In silico process characterization for biopharmaceutical development following the quality by design concept

With the quality by design (QbD) initiative, regulatory authorities demand a consistent drug quality originating from a well‐understood manufacturing process. This study demonstrates the application of a previously published mechanistic chromatography model to the in silico process characterization (PCS) of a monoclonal antibody polishing step. The proposed modeling workflow covered the main tasks of traditional PCS studies following the QbD principles, including criticality assessment of 11 process parameters and establishment of their proven acceptable ranges of operation. Analyzing effects of multi‐variate sampling of process parameters on the purification outcome allowed identification of the edge‐of‐failure. Experimental validation of in silico results demanded approximately 75% less experiments compared to a purely wet‐lab based PCS study. Stochastic simulation, considering the measured variances of process parameters and loading material composition, was used to estimate the capability of the process to meet the acceptance criteria for critical quality attributes and key performance indicators. The proposed workflow enables the implementation of digital process twins as QbD tool for improved development of biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes.
How Well Does Subjective Cognitive Decline Correspond to Objectively Measured Cognitive Decline? Assessment of 10-12 Year Change.

BACKGROUND Although not strongly correlated with current objective cognitive ability, subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Most studies focus on SCD in relation to future decline rather than objective prior decline that it purportedly measures. OBJECTIVE We evaluated whether self-report of cognitive decline-as a continuous measure-corresponds to objectively-assessed episodic memory and executive function decline across the same period. METHODS 1,170 men completed the Everyday Cognition Questionnaire (ECog) at mean age 68 assessing subjective changes in cognitive ability relative to 10 years prior. A subset had mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but MCI was diagnosed without regard to subjective decline. Participants completed up to 3 objective assessments of memory and executive function (M = 56, 62, and 68 years). Informant-reported ECogs were completed for 1,045 individuals. Analyses controlled for depression and anxiety symptoms assessed at mean age 68. RESULTS Participant-reported ECog scores were modestly associated with objective decline for memory (β= -0.23, 95%CI [-0.37, -0.10]) and executive function (β= -0.19, 95%CI [-0.33, -0.05]) over the same time period. However, these associations were nonsignificant after excluding MCI cases. Results were similar for informant ratings. Participant-rated ECog scores were more strongly associated with concurrent depression and anxiety symptoms, (β= 0.44, 95%CI [0.36, 0.53]). CONCLUSION Continuous SCD scores are correlated with prior objective cognitive changes in non-demented individuals, though this association appears driven by individuals with current MCI. However, participants' current depression and anxiety ratings tend to be strongly associated with their SCD ratings. Thus, what primarily drives SCD ratings remains unclear.