Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The use of antidepressants in oncology: a review and practical tips for oncologists

Background The use of psychotropic drugs, namely those with an antidepressant profile (ADs), is a mandatory part of an integrated treatment of psychiatric disorders among cancer patients. We aimed to synthetize the most relevant data emerging from published studies to provide tips about the use of ADs in oncology. Design A search was made of the major databases over the last 30 years (Embase/Medline, PsycLIT, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library), including narrative reviews, systematic reviews and meta-analyses summarizing the results from observational studies and randomized clinical trials assessing effectiveness, safety profile, interactions, contraindications and use of ADs in oncology with regard to both psychiatric (depressive spectrum, stress-related, anxiety disorders) and cancer-related symptoms (e.g. pain, hot flashes and fatigue). Results The weight of evidence supports the efﬁcacy of ADs for more severe major depression in individuals with cancer and as an adjuvant treatment in cancer-related symptoms, although the methodological limitations of reported randomized controlled trials do not permit definite conclusions. Data also indicate that there should be caution in the use of ADs in cancer patients in terms of their safety profile and potential clinically significant interactions with other prescribed medications. Practical recommendations that have been made for the use of ADs in cancer patients, in the context of a multimodal approach to depression treatment, have been summarized here. Conclusions ADs are a relatively safe and effective treatment for more severe major depression in cancer patients. However, more research is urgently needed regarding the efficacy of ADs in different cancer types and cancer settings, their interactions with anticancer agents and their additive benefit when integrated with psychosocial interventions.
The Current State of Rural Neurosurgical Practice: An International Perspective

ABSTRACT Introduction: Rural and low-resource areas have diminished capacity to care for neurosurgical patients due to lack of infrastructure, healthcare investment, and training programs. This review summarizes the range of rural neurosurgical procedures, novel mechanisms for delivering care, rapid training programs, and outcome differences across international rural neurosurgical practice. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed for English language manuscripts with keywords “rural” and “neurosurgery” using the National Library of Medicine PubMed database (01/1971–06/2017). Twenty-four articles focusing on rural non-neurosurgical practice were included. Results: Time to care and/or surgery and shortage of trained personnel remain the strongest risk factors for mortality and poor outcome. Telemedicine consults to regional centers with neurosurgery housestaff have potential for increased timeliness of diagnosis/triage, improved time to surgery, and reductions in unnecessary transfers in remote areas. Mobile neurosurgery teams have been deployed with success in nations with large transport distances precluding initial transfers. Common neurosurgical procedures involve trauma mechanisms; accordingly, training programs for nonneurosurgery medical personnel on basic assessment and operative techniques have been successful in resource-deficient settings where neurosurgeons are unavailable. Conclusions: Protracted transport times, lack of resources/training, and difficulty retaining specialists are barriers to successful outcomes. Advances in telemedicine, mobile neurosurgery, and training programs for urgent operative techniques have been implemented efficaciously. Development of guidelines for paired partnerships between rural centers and academic hospitals, supplying surplus technology to rural areas, and rapid training of qualified local surgical personnel can create sustainable feed-forward programs for trainees and infrastructural solutions to address challenges in rural neurosurgery.
Moisture permeability of mature concrete, cement mortar and cement paste

Moisture permeability tests were performed on specimens of concrete, cement mortar and cement paste with the bottom side in water or in moist air and the upper side in a relative humidity of 33 %. The distribution of the relative humidity within the specimen was measured, at stationary conditions, as well as the amount of water which pass through the specimen. The depth of the specimens was varied between 0.063 and 0.150 m. The water-cement ratio was varied between 0.4 and 0.8 for the concrete specimens. The influence of varying amounts of aggregate and of air was studied. Some theoretical models were studied and developed in connection with the evaluation of the tests results. The results are summarized in tables of transport coefficients, suitable for practical application. (Less)
Research progress of therapeutic vaccines for treating chronic hepatitis B

ABSTRACT Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a member of Hepadnavirus family, which leads to chronic infection in around 5% of patients with a high risk of developing liver cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma.1 Despite the availability of prophylactic vaccines against hepatitis B for over 3 decades, there are still more than 2 billion people have been infected and 240 million of them were chronic. Antiviral therapies currently used in the treatment of CHB (chronic hepatitis B) infection include peg-interferon, standard α-interferon and nucleos/tide analogs (NAs), but none of them can provide sustained control of viral replication. As an alternative strategy, therapeutic vaccines for CHB patients have been widely studied and showed some promising efficacies in dozens of preclinical and clinical trials. In this article, we review current research progress in several types of therapeutic vaccines for CHB treatment, including protein-based vaccines, DNA-based vaccines, live vector-based vaccines, peptide-based vaccines and cell-based therapies. These researches may provide some clues for developing new treatments in CHB infection.
Alginic Acid-Aided Dispersion of Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, and Boron Nitride Nanomaterials for Microbial Toxicity Testing

Robust evaluation of potential environmental and health risks of carbonaceous and boron nitride nanomaterials (NMs) is imperative. However, significant agglomeration of pristine carbonaceous and boron nitride NMs due to strong van der Waals forces renders them not suitable for direct toxicity testing in aqueous media. Here, the natural polysaccharide alginic acid (AA) was used as a nontoxic, environmentally relevant dispersant with defined composition to disperse seven types of carbonaceous and boron nitride NMs, including multiwall carbon nanotubes, graphene, boron nitride nanotubes, and hexagonal boron nitride flakes, with various physicochemical characteristics. AA’s biocompatibility was confirmed by examining AA effects on viability and growth of two model microorganisms (the protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila and the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Using 400 mg·L−1 AA, comparably stable NM (200 mg·L−1) stock dispersions were obtained by 30-min probe ultrasonication. AA non-covalently interacted with NM surfaces and improved the dispersibility of NMs in water. The dispersion stability varied with NM morphology and size rather than chemistry. The optimized dispersion protocol established here can facilitate preparing homogeneous NM dispersions for reliable exposures during microbial toxicity testing, contributing to improved reproducibility of toxicity results.
Active layer thickness effects on the structural and electrical properties of p-type Cu2O thin-film transistors

The authors investigated the effects of active layer thickness on the structual, optical, and electrical characteristics of p-type Cu2O thin-film transistors (TFTs). It was observed that as the channel thickness increases, the average grain size and root mean square roughness of the Cu2O thin films increase, but the optical transmittance notably decreases, especially in the short wavelength range below 500 nm. The p-type Cu2O TFT device exhibits the cleanest transfer function with only a small subthreshold slope when the channel thickness is 45 nm, whereas notable subthreshold slope humps are observed in the transfer curves for devices with thicker channels.
Physical and Physiological Demands of Recreational Team Handball for Adult Untrained Men

Lack of motivation to exercise was reported as a major cause of sedentary behavior in adulthood. This descriptive study examines the acute physical and physiological demands of recreational team handball and evaluates whether it could be suggested as an exercise mode for fitness and health enhancement in 33–55-year-old untrained men. Time-motion, heart rate (HR), and blood lactate analyses were obtained from 4 recreational matches. Mean distance covered during the 60 min matches was 6012 ± 428 m. The players changed match activity 386 ± 70 times, of which high-intensity runs and unorthodox movements amounted to 59 ± 18 and 26 ± 26 per match, respectively. The most frequent highly demanding playing actions were jumps and throws. Match average and peak HR were 82 ± 6% and 93 ± 5% HRmax, respectively. Players exercised at intensities between 81 and 90% HRmax for 47% (28 ± 14 min) and >90% HRmax for 24% (14 ± 15 min) of total match time. Match average and peak blood lactate values were 3.6 ± 1.3 and 4.2 ± 1.2 mM, respectively. Recreational team handball is an intermittent high-intensity exercise mode with physical and physiological demands in the range of those found to have a positive effect on aerobic, anaerobic, and musculoskeletal fitness in adult individuals. Training studies considering recreational team handball as a health enhancing intervention are warranted.
GMP Synthase Is Required for Virulence Factor Production and Infection by Cryptococcus neoformans*

Over the last four decades the HIV pandemic and advances in medical treatments that also cause immunosuppression have produced an ever-growing cohort of individuals susceptible to opportunistic pathogens. Of these, AIDS patients are particularly vulnerable to infection by the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. Most commonly found in the environment in purine-rich bird guano, C. neoformans experiences a drastic change in nutrient availability during host infection, ultimately disseminating to colonize the purine-poor central nervous system. Investigating the consequences of this challenge, we have characterized C. neoformans GMP synthase, the second enzyme in the guanylate branch of de novo purine biosynthesis. We show that in the absence of GMP synthase, C. neoformans becomes a guanine auxotroph, the production of key virulence factors is compromised, and the ability to infect nematodes and mice is abolished. Activity assays performed using recombinant protein unveiled differences in substrate binding between the C. neoformans and human enzymes, with structural insights into these kinetic differences acquired via homology modeling. Collectively, these data highlight the potential of GMP synthase to be exploited in the development of new therapeutic agents for the treatment of disseminated, life-threatening fungal infections.
REINFORCED CONCRETE JACKETING-INTERFACE INFLUENCE ON MONOTONIC LOADING RESPONSE

This paper reports on experimental and numerical studies conducted to analyze the influence of the interface treatment on the seismic behavior of columns strengthened by reinforced concrete (RC) jacketing to increase their ultimate bending moment. Results show that for undamaged columns with a bending moment/shear force ratio greater than 1.0, it is not necessary to consider any type of interface treatment before casting a RC jacket with a thickness less than 17.5% of the column width to achieve a monolithic behavior of the composite element subjected to cyclic loading. This finding can result in significant money and time savings due to the elimination of unnecessary interface treatment.
Political influence associates with cortisol and health among egalitarian forager-farmers

Background and objectives: Low social status increases risk of disease due, in part, to the psychosocial stress that accompanies feeling subordinate or poor. Previous studies report that chronic stress and chronically elevated cortisol can impair cardiovascular and immune function. We test whether lower status is more benign in small-scale, relatively egalitarian societies, where leaders lack coercive authority and there is minimal material wealth to contest. Methodology: Among Tsimane’ forager-horticulturalists of lowland Bolivia, we compare informal political influence among men with urinary cortisol, immune activation (innate and acquired), and morbidity as assessed during routine medical exams. Results: After controlling for potential confounds, we find that politically influential men have lower cortisol, and that this association is partly attributable to access to social support. Cortisol is positively associated with men’s income, which may reflect chronic psychosocial stress from market involvement. Greater influence is also associated with lower probability of respiratory infection, which is a frequent source of morbidity among Tsimane’. Among men who lost influence over a 4-year period, cortisol and probability of respiratory infection were higher the greater the decline in influence. Conclusions and implications: Deleterious effects of low status on health are not merely ‘diseases of civilization’ but may result from how (even subtle) status differences structure human behavior.
PAK4 confers cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer cells via PI3K/Akt- and MEK/Erk-dependent pathways.

Cisplatin (CDDP) and CDDP-based combination chemotherapy have been confirmed effective against gastric cancer. However, CDDP efficiency is limited due to development of drug resistance. In this study, we found that p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) expression and activity were elevated in gastric cancer cells with acquired CDDP resistance (AGS/CDDP and MKN-45/CDDP) compared with their parental cells. Inhibition of PAK4 or knockdown of PAK4 expression by specific siRNA sensitized CDDP-resistant cells to CDDP and overcome CDDP resistance. Combination treatment of LY294002 (the inhibitor of PI3K/Akt pathway) or PD98509 (the inhibitor of MEK/Erk pathway) with PF-3758309 (the PAK4 inhibitor) resulted in increased CDDP efficacy compared with LY294002 or PD98509 alone. However, after concomitant treatment of LY294002 and PD98509, PF-3758309 administration exerted no additional enhancement of CDDP cytotoxicity in CDDP-resistant cells. Inhibition of PAK4 by PF-3758309 could significantly suppress MEK/Erk and PI3K/Akt signaling in CDDP-resistant cells. Furthermore, inhibition of PI3K/Akt pathway while not MEK/Erk pathway could inhibit PAK4 activity in these cells. The in vivo results were similar with those of in vitro. In conclusion, these results indicate that PAK4 confers CDDP resistance via activation of MEK/Erk and PI3K/Akt pathways. PAK4 and PI3K/Akt pathways can reciprocally activate each other. Therefore, PAK4 may be a potential target for overcoming CDDP resistance in gastric cancer.
Folding and stability of the isolated Greek key domains of the long‐lived human lens proteins γD‐crystallin and γS‐crystallin

The transparency of the eye lens depends on the high solubility and stability of the lens crystallin proteins. The monomeric γ‐crystallins and oligomeric β‐crystallins have paired homologous double Greek key domains, presumably evolved through gene duplication and fusion. Prior investigation of the refolding of human γD‐crystallin revealed that the C‐terminal domain folds first and nucleates the folding of the N‐terminal domain. This result suggested that the human N‐terminal domain might not be able to fold on its own. We constructed and expressed polypeptide chains corresponding to the isolated N‐ and C‐terminal domains of human γD‐crystallin, as well as the isolated domains of human γS‐crystallin. Both circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that the isolated domains purified from Escherichia coli were folded into native‐like monomers. After denaturation, the isolated domains refolded efficiently at pH 7 and 37°C into native‐like structures. The in vitro refolding of all four domains revealed two kinetic phases, identifying partially folded intermediates for the Greek key motifs. When subjected to thermal denaturation, the isolated N‐terminal domains were less stable than the full‐length proteins and less stable than the C‐terminal domains, and this was confirmed in equilibrium unfolding/refolding experiments. The decrease in stability of the N‐terminal domain of human γD‐crystallin with respect to the complete protein indicated that the interdomain interface contributes of 4.2 kcal/mol to the overall stability of this very long‐lived protein.
Estimating the Cardinality of Conjunctive Queries over RDF Data Using Graph Summarisation

Estimating the cardinality (i.e., the number of answers) of conjunctive queries is particularly difficult in RDF systems: queries over RDF data are navigational and thus tend to involve many joins. We present a new, principled cardinality estimation technique based on graph summarisation. We interpret a summary of an RDF graph using a possible world semantics and formalise the estimation problem as computing the expected cardinality over all RDF graphs represented by the summary, and we present a closed-form formula for computing the expectation of arbitrary queries. We also discuss approaches to RDF graph summarisation. Finally, we show empirically that our cardinality technique is more accurate and more consistent, often by orders of magnitude, than the state of the art.
Investigation of bone response to implant materials by electron microscopy and computer simulation

Initial fixation with bone and the long term bone loss are two main problems associated with total hip replacement (THR), which are studied by electron microscope and computer simulation in this thesis. Bare Titanium-6 wt% Aluminum4 wt% Vanadium (Ti64) implants, Ti64 implants with plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (PSHA), and Ti64 implants with electrochemically-deposited hydroxyapatite (EDHA) were implanted into canine trabecular bone for 6 hours, 7 days, and 14 days to study the initial bone formation on these implant materials. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) results showed that at 7 days PSHA had a higher bone apposition ratio than Ti64 and EDHA samples; however, at 14 days, the bone apposition on EDHA increased to be similar to PSHA, much higher than that on Ti64. By transmission electron microscope (TEM), a layer of new bone tissue was observed on PSHA coating surface; in contrast, no much bone was found on EDHA surface. At 14 days, substantial bone was found on both EDHA and EDHA coating surface. Technetium-99m-methylene-diphosphonate (Tc-99m-MDP) labeling was used to quantify mineralization of cultures of MC3T3 osteoblast-like cells in vitro on tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). The gamma signal from labeled samples was imaged with a gamma camera and compared with the calcium content in the same samples determined by inductively coupled plasma. The high correlation (0.88) between these two values validated that radiotracer uptake method as a quantitative analytical tool for certain mineralization studies in vitro. There was an association between mineralization and radionuclide uptake in the MC3T3 cultures on titanium alloy, but the attenuation of the gamma photons by the metal resulted in a less robust correlation. The results warrant implementation of this scintigraphic method for quantitative studies of osteoblast-mediated mineralization in vitro. A 2-D truss finite element model is used to study the remodeling of trabecular bone. Using strain energy density (SED) as the optimization object and the trabecular width as the optimization variable, an optimal structure with minimum SED was achieved. This structure is similar to real bone in the dense outside, porous inside, and orientation of the trabeculae. The bone density distribution pattern also matched with previous result by other people. Different implants were introduced to simulate the replacement for the femoral head. It has been proved that the difference in Young's modulus between bone and implant materials is the main reason for the long-term bone loss (stress screening). This problem can be alleviated by proper implant design and resurfacing instead of replacing the whole femoral head.
Molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 subtype A in former Soviet Union countries

While in other parts of the world it is on decline, incidence of HIV infection continues to rise in the former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. The present study was conducted to investigate the patterns and modes of HIV transmission in FSU countries. We performed phylogenetic analysis of publicly available 2705 HIV-1 subtype A pol sequences from thirteen FSU countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Our analysis showed that the clusters from FSU countries were intermixed, indicating a possible role of transmigration in HIV transmission. Injection drug use was found to be the most frequent mode of transmission, while the clusters from PWID and heterosexual transmission were intermixed, indicating bridging of HIV infection across populations. To control the expanding HIV epidemic in this region, harm reduction strategies should be focused on three modes of transmission, namely, cross-border migration, injection drug use and heterosexual.
Reference Values for Physical Stress Echocardiography in Asymptomatic Patients after Mitral Valve Repair

Background Clinical decision-making in symptomatic patients after mitral valve (MV) repair remains challenging as echocardiographic reference values are lacking. In native MV disease intervention is recommended for mean transmitral pressure gradient (TPG) >15 mmHg or systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) >60 mmHg at peak exercise. Insight into standard stress echo parameters after MV repair may therefore aid to clinical decision-making during follow-up. Hypothesis Stress echocardiography derived parameters in asymptomatic patients after successful MV repair differ from current guidelines for native valves. Material and methods In 25 patients (NYHA I) after MV repair stress echocardiography was performed on a semi-supine bicycle. Doppler flow records and MV related hemodynamics at rest and peak were obtained. Linear regression analysis was performed for mean TPG and SPAP at peak, using predetermined variables and confounders. Results Mean TPG at rest (3.2 ± 1.4 mmHg) significantly increased at peak (15.0 ± 3.4 mmHg) but was always <25 mmHg. Mean SPAP at rest (21.4 ± 3.8 mmHg) significantly increased at peak (41.8 ± 8.9 mmHg) but was never >57 mmHg. Only the indexed MV ring diameter was inversely correlated to mean TPG at peak in a multivariable model. Conclusion In contrast to current recommendations in native MV disease, our data indicate that the standard value for mean TPG during stress echocardiography in asymptomatic patients after successful MV repair was above the guideline threshold of 15 mmHg in >50%, but always <25 mmHg. For SPAP, patients never reached the guideline cutoff (60 mmHg). Long-term follow-up data are needed to provide insight in clinical consequences. Baseline stress echocardiography may indicate individual reference values to compare with during follow-up. Clinical trial registration https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02371863? term=chamuleau+AND+Mitral&rank=1.