Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pro-BNP versus MEDS Score in Determining the Prognosis of Sepsis Patients; a Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Introduction: Pro-brain natriuretic peptide (Pro-BNP) can act as an independent predictor of mortality in septic patients. This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of pro-BNP and Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score in this regard. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on > 14 years old sepsis patients of an emergency department (ED), during 2 years. The level of Pro-BNP and MEDS score were measured for all eligible patients and considering one month mortality as reference, screening performance characteristics of the two tests were compared using SPSS 21 and STATS 11. Results: 121 patients with the mean age of 75.87±11.82 years were studied (55.4% male). 85 (70.25%) patients had moderate to high probability of mortality according to MEDS score. The mean Pro-BNP levels of survivor and non-survivor patients were 489.69 ± 327.47 and 3954.98 ± 2717.85 pg/ml, respectively (p < 0.0001). Sensitivity and specificity of Pro-BNP (in 1000 pg/ml cut off) and MEDS score (in level 3) in prediction of 1-month mortality were 93.6 (83.7-97.9), 94.8 (84.7-98.6), 65.0 (51.9-76.3), and 98.2 (89.5-99.9), respectively. Area under the ROC curve of the two tests were 97.36 (95% CI: 92.92-94.48) and 92.31 (95% CI: 86.35-96.53), respectively (p = 0.0543). Conclusion: Pro-BNP and MEDS score both have excellent diagnostic accuracy in predicting 1-month mortality of sepsis patients. However, considering the higher sensitivity as well as availability and ease of calculation, it seems that Pro-BNP can be considered an appropriate tool for screening patients with high risk of mortality following sepsis in ED.
The Computational Development of Reinforcement Learning during Adolescence

Adolescence is a period of life characterised by changes in learning and decision-making. Learning and decision-making do not rely on a unitary system, but instead require the coordination of different cognitive processes that can be mathematically formalised as dissociable computational modules. Here, we aimed to trace the developmental time-course of the computational modules responsible for learning from reward or punishment, and learning from counterfactual feedback. Adolescents and adults carried out a novel reinforcement learning paradigm in which participants learned the association between cues and probabilistic outcomes, where the outcomes differed in valence (reward versus punishment) and feedback was either partial or complete (either the outcome of the chosen option only, or the outcomes of both the chosen and unchosen option, were displayed). Computational strategies changed during development: whereas adolescents’ behaviour was better explained by a basic reinforcement learning algorithm, adults’ behaviour integrated increasingly complex computational features, namely a counterfactual learning module (enabling enhanced performance in the presence of complete feedback) and a value contextualisation module (enabling symmetrical reward and punishment learning). Unlike adults, adolescent performance did not benefit from counterfactual (complete) feedback. In addition, while adults learned symmetrically from both reward and punishment, adolescents learned from reward but were less likely to learn from punishment. This tendency to rely on rewards and not to consider alternative consequences of actions might contribute to our understanding of decision-making in adolescence.
Cellular effects of thirdhand tobacco smoke from smokers’ homes

Abstract After the cigarette is extinguished, many toxic compounds remain in the environment and accumulate in the air or on surfaces. This exposure is termed thirdhand smoke (THS) and its risks are poorly known. The aim of the study was to evaluate the cellular effects of THS from smokers’ homes. Papers were placed in nine smoker’s home and three nonsmoker’s homes. An area equivalent to the paper size was cleaned with a cotton wipe. A549, Hep-2 and 3T3 cells were exposed to THS for 24 h and cellular functions were assessed by MTT, neutral red (NR) reuptake and trypan blue exclusion assays. High levels of nicotine were found in samples from smokers’ homes. Cellular proliferation was similar in almost all samples after THS exposure. Few changes in the cellular functions were observed, mainly higher mitochondrial activity, in paper samples. We are able to detect markers of THS collected from smokers’ homes, but a clear evidence of cellular toxicity cannot be demonstrated by the present assays. This is the first study to evaluate the cellular effects of THS samples collected from smokers’ homes.
Chemokine CCL4 Induces Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C Expression and Lymphangiogenesis by miR-195-3p in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

The inflammatory chemokine (C–C motif) ligand 4 (CCL4) plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of cancer. In particular, higher serum CCL4 levels in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are associated with a more advanced stage of disease. OSCC accounts for approximately 95% of oral cancer in Taiwan and has a poor prognosis, due to aggressive local invasion and metastasis, leading to recurrence. OSCC spreads preferentially through lymphatic vessels and has the propensity to metastasize to the cervical lymph nodes even in the early stage of disease. Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) is an essential regulator of lymphangiogenesis. In particular, VEGF-C is specific to lymphatic vessel development, and VEGF-C expression levels have been found to directly correlate with lymph node metastasis in OSCC. However, it is unclear as to whether CCL4 correlates with VEGF-C expression and lymphangiogenesis in OSCC. We found that CCL4 increased VEGF-C expression and promoted lymphangiogenesis in oral cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. miR-195-3p mimic reversed CCL4-enhanced VEGF-C expression. CCL4 stimulation of oral cancer cells augmented JAK2 and STAT3 phosphorylation. Thus, CCL4 may be a new molecular therapeutic target for inhibition of lymphangiogenesis and metastasis in OSCC.
Rotational Velocities and Chromospheric/Coronal Activity of Low-Mass Stars in the Young Open Clusters IC 2391 and IC 2602

We have obtained high-resolution, moderate signal-to-noise ratio spectra for approximately 80 candidate low-mass members of the nearby, very young open clusters IC 2391 and IC 2602. Most of the stars observed are confirmed as cluster members based on a combination of photometric and spectroscopic criteria. We provide radial velocities, rotational velocities, and Hα equivalent widths for these stars. From comparison to theoretical pre-main-sequence (PMS) evolutionary isochrones from D'Antona and Mazzitelli, we derive an estimated age of the two clusters of ~25 Myr. By contrast, the usually quoted upper main-sequence turnoff age for the clusters is ~35 Myr. We do not believe that this provides evidence for noncoeval star formation within these clusters, but rather that the best age estimate for them given the uncertainties is ~30 ± 5 Myr. In principle, the scatter of stars about the PMS isochrone provides a measure of the age spread among the low-mass stars in these clusters; however, with the data presently available, we are able to derive only a relatively uninteresting upper limit for an age spread of order 20 Myr. We compare the rotational velocity distribution for IC 2391/2602 to that observed for the Pleiades. For the G dwarfs in the IC clusters, we resolve rotation in all but one of the probable cluster members, and thus except for inclination effects, our data provide the complete distribution of rotational velocities for solar mass stars on their arrival on the ZAMS. The projected rotational velocities (v sin i) of the G dwarfs in the two IC clusters span the range from ~8 to ~200 km s-1. Comparison of the distribution of rotational velocities for the G dwarfs of the Pleiades and the IC clusters indicates that both the slow and the rapid rotators lose of order half their angular momentum during the first ~35 Myr on the main sequence if they rotate as solid bodies. The low-mass stars in these two clusters exhibit a similar correlation between rotation and coronal activity as is found in several other young open clusters. That is, there is a large spread in coronal activity for stars with v sin i < 25 km s-1, where we assume there is an intrinsic link between increasing rotation and increasing activity superimposed upon which are a variety of observational and physical mechanisms that act to smear out this relation; above v sin i ~ 25 km s-1, all of the low-mass stars have log (LX/Lbol) ~ -3.0, the canonical “saturation” limit. Our measurements of the Hα equivalent widths are consistent with a similar relationship holding for chromospheric activity. One and possibly two of our spectra for M dwarf members of the IC clusters show broad wings for the Hα profile, which we attribute to a flare event or to microflares. Since spectra of a small sample of late-type M dwarfs in the Pleiades also showed similarly broad Hα wings, this suggests that flare frequencies for very young M dwarfs may be quite high.
Botulinum hemagglutinin‐mediated in situ break‐up of human induced pluripotent stem cell aggregates for high‐density suspension culture

Large numbers of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are required for making stable cell bank. Although suspension culture yields high cell numbers, there remain unresolved challenges for obtaining high‐density of hiPSCs because large size aggregates exhibit low growth rates. Here, we established a simple method for hiPSC aggregate break‐up using botulinum hemagglutinin (HA), which specifically bound with E‐cadherin and disrupted cell–cell connections in hiPSC aggregates. HA showed temporary activity for disrupting the E‐cadherin‐mediated cell–cell connections to facilitate the break‐up of aggregates into small sizes only 9 hr after HA addition. The transportation of HA into the aggregates was mediated by transcellular and paracellular way after HA addition to the culture medium. hiPSC aggregates broken up by HA showed a higher number of live cells, higher cell density, and higher expansion fold compared to those of aggregates dissociated with enzymatic digestion. Moreover, a maximum cell density of 4.5 ± 0.2 × 106 cells ml−1 was obtained by aggregate break‐up into small ones, which was three times higher than that with the conventional culture without aggregate break‐up. Therefore, the temporary activity of HA for disrupting E‐cadherin‐mediated cell–cell connection was key to establishing a simple in situ method for hiPSC aggregate break‐up in bioreactors, leading to high cell density in suspension culture.
N-acetyltransferase 1*10 genotype in bladder cancer patients

ABSTRACT In a large bladder cancer study in the greater Berlin area with 425 cases and 343 controls, the haplotype N-acetyltransferase 1*10 (NAT1*10) was associated with a decreased bladder cancer risk. In a recently published meta-analysis, results of the studies were found to be inconclusive. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of NAT1*10 in bladder cancer patients and controls recruited in an area without industries reported to be associated with increased bladder cancer risk. Rs1057126 (1088 T > A) and rs15561 (1095 C > A) were determined in 412 bladder cancer patients and 415 controls without a known history of malignancies. With these two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), it was possible to distinguish between NAT1*4 (wild type), NAT1*3 (1095 C > A), and NAT1*10 (1088 T > A, 1095C > A). The frequencies of the determined NAT1 haplotypes did not differ markedly between cases and controls: NAT1*4: 74%, NAT1*3: 6%, NAT1*10: 20%. Bladder cancer risk was not significantly modulated by NAT1*10/*10 (OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.71–1.48) but was higher for NAT1*3/*3 genotypes (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.32–3.21). In contrast to the Berlin study from 2001, data in present study demonstrated that NAT1*10 haplotype was not associated with a significantly decreased bladder cancer risk. This may be due to local effects in the greater Berlin area, particularly at the time of investigation. The findings of the present study are in agreement with observations of a recently published meta-analysis which also showed no relevant impact of NAT1*10 haplotype on bladder cancer risk. The impact of the rare NAT1*3/*3 genotype was significant but this may be attributed to rarity without major practical relevance.
Study of Sputtered Fe/t Si /Fe Trilayer Films: Magnetic and Electronic Properties

A series of trilayers of sputtered Fe/Si/Fe were grown to study the interface characteristics and magnetic coupling between ferromagnetic Fe layers (30 A thick) for Si spacer thickness (tSi) ranging from 15 A to 40 A. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, AFM, resistivity and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) meas-urements show substantial intermixing between the layers during deposition which results in trilayers of complicated structures for different sub-layer thicknesses. A systematic variation in silicide concentration across the interface is observed by XPS measurements. The Fe layers in the trilayers were observed to con-sist of Fe layers doped with Si, ferromagnetic Fe-Si silicide layers and nonmagnetic Fe-Si silicide interface layer, while the Si spacer was found to be Fe-Si compound layers with an additional amorphous Si (α-Si) sublayer for tSi≥ 30 A. A strong anti-ferromagnetic (AF) coupling was observed in trilayers with iron silicide spacers, which disappeared if α-Si layers present in the spacers. The observed magnetization behaviour in each case is interpreted in terms of changes in interfacial structural and electronic properties due to variation in film thickness.
Understanding Clinic Practices for Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Series Completion in Clinics That Provide Primary Care: Survey of Clinic Managers in Iowa

Background Rates for human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination are low across the United States. Evidence-based-practices to increase immunization coverage have been recommended by public health organizations, yet many primary care clinics do not follow these practices. The purpose of this study was to examine if primary care clinics use these best practices to promote completion of the HPV vaccine series for their adolescent patients. Understanding the prevalence of evidence-based immunization strategies is key to increasing vaccination coverage. Methods We mailed 914 surveys to clinic managers of clinics that provide primary care in Iowa. The survey content was based on immunization strategies related to clinic practice and policies that have been proven effective to promote the completion of the HPV vaccination series. Results Survey responses from 127 clinics were used in the final analysis. Most clinics always used the state's immunization information system to record HPV vaccinations (89.4%). Over a quarter of clinics (27.6%) did not use any type of reminder or recall system to alert parents or providers that an HPV vaccine was due, and 35.0% did not give the vaccine at sick visits. Conclusions Clinics need to focus more on the recommended logistics and processes to ensure that patients receive the entire HPV vaccination series. Survey results indicate that clinics are not consistently implementing the recommended best practices to ensure that vaccination series are completed.
Adaptive Gibbs samplers and related MCMC methods

We consider various versions of adaptive Gibbs and Metropolis- within-Gibbs samplers, which update their selection probabilities (and per- haps also their proposal distributions) on the y during a run, by learning as they go in an attempt to optimise the algorithm. We present a cautionary example of how even a simple-seeming adaptive Gibbs sampler may fail to converge. We then present various positive results guaranteeing convergence of adaptive Gibbs samplers under certain conditions. AMS 2000 subject classications: Primary 60J05, 65C05; secondary 62F15.
Ontogeny of the Human Pelvis

The human pelvis has evolved over time into a remarkable structure, optimised into an intricate architecture that transfers the entire load of the upper body into the lower limbs, while also facilitating bipedal movement. The pelvic girdle is composed of two hip bones, os coxae, themselves each formed from the gradual fusion of the ischium, ilium and pubis bones. Unlike the development of the classical long bones, a complex timeline of events must occur in order for the pelvis to arise from the embryonic limb buds. An initial blastemal structure forms from the mesenchyme, with chondrification of this mass leading to the first recognisable elements of the pelvis. Primary ossification centres initiate in utero, followed post‐natally by secondary ossification at a range of locations, with these processes not complete until adulthood. This cascade of events can vary between individuals, with recent evidence suggesting that fetal activity can affect the normal development of the pelvis. This review surveys the current literature on the ontogeny of the human pelvis. Anat Rec, 300:643–652, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Shell Formation and Star Formation in Superbubble DEM 192

Was star formation in the OB associations, LH 51 and LH 54, triggered by the growth of the superbubble DEM 192? To examine this possibility, we investigate the stellar contents and star formation history and model the evolution of the shell. H-R diagrams constructed from UBV photometry and spectral classifications indicate highly coeval star formation, with the entire massive star population having an age of ≲2–3 Myr. However, LH 54 is constrained to an age of ∼3 Myr by the presence of a W-R star, and the initial mass function (IMF) for LH 51 suggests a lower mass limit implying an age of 1–2 Myr. There is no evidence of an earlier stellar population to create the superbubble, but the modeled shell kinematics are consistent with an origin due to the strongest stellar winds of LH 54. It might therefore be possible that LH 54 created the superbubble, which in turn may have triggered the creation of LH 51. Within the errors, the spatial distribution of stellar masses and IMF appear uniform within the associations. We reinvestigate the estimates for stellar wind power Lw(t) during the H-burning phase and note that revised mass-loss rates yield a significantly different form for Lw(t) and may affect stellar evolution timescales. We also model superbubble expansion into an ambient medium with a sudden, discontinuous drop in density and find that this can easily reproduce the anomalously high-shell expansion velocities seen in many superbubbles.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Drosophila circadian rhythms in semi-natural environments; the summer afternoon component is not an artifact and requires TrpA1 channels

Under standard laboratory conditions of rectangular light dark cycles and constant warm temperature, Drosophila melanogaster show bursts of morning (M) and evening (E) locomotor activity and a ‘ siesta ’ in the middle of the day. These M and E components have been critical for developing the neuronal dual oscillator model in which clock gene expression in key cells generates the circadian phenotype. However under natural European summer conditions of cycling temperature and light intensity an additional prominent afternoon (A) component that replaces the siesta is observed. This novel A component has been described as an ‘ artifact ’ of the TriKi-netics locomotor monitoring system that is used by many circadian laboratories world-wide. Using video recordings we show that the A component is not an artifact, neither in the glass tubes used in TriKinetics monitors nor in open ﬁeld arenas. By studying various mutants in the visual and peripheral and internal thermo-sensitive pathways, we reveal that the M component is predominantly dependent on visual input whereas the A component requires the internal thermo-sensitive channel TrpA1. Knockdown of TrpA1 in different neuronal groups reveals that the reported expression of TrpA1 in clock neurons is unlikely to be involved in generating the summer locomotor proﬁle, suggesting that the internal AC TrpA1 neurons are responsible for the A component. Studies of circadian rhythms under semi-natural conditions therefore provide additional insights into the molecular basis of circadian entrainment that would otherwise be lost under the usual standard laboratory protocols.
Stochastic Training of Graph Convolutional Networks with Variance Reduction

Graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are powerful deep neural networks for graph-structured data. However, GCN computes the representation of a node recursively from its neighbors, making the receptive field size grow exponentially with the number of layers. Previous attempts on reducing the receptive field size by subsampling neighbors do not have a convergence guarantee, and their receptive field size per node is still in the order of hundreds. In this paper, we develop control variate based algorithms which allow sampling an arbitrarily small neighbor size. Furthermore, we prove new theoretical guarantee for our algorithms to converge to a local optimum of GCN. Empirical results show that our algorithms enjoy a similar convergence with the exact algorithm using only two neighbors per node. The runtime of our algorithms on a large Reddit dataset is only one seventh of previous neighbor sampling algorithms.
A 12-week dose-escalating study of etelcalcetide (ONO-5163/AMG 416), a novel intravenous calcimimetic, for secondary hyperparathyroidism in Japanese hemodialysis patients .

AIMS To evaluate dose-escalation of etelcalcetide (ONO-5163/AMG 416), a novel, intravenous (IV), long-acting calcium-sensing receptor agonist, for treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) in Japanese hemodialysis patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this multicenter study, IV injections of etelcalcetide (3 times a week for 12 weeks) were administered, with dose escalation every 4 weeks depending on changes in serum intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and corrected calcium (cCa). A total of 24 patients participated in this study. RESULTS Serum iPTH was reduced in a time- and dose-dependent manner, with reductions (in pg/mL) at 12 weeks of -226.1 ± 125.3, -362.5 ± 161.5, and -412.4 ± 130.2, respectively, for maximum doses of 5, 10, and 15 mg. At the end of the treatment, 50% of patients had serum iPTH levels within the target range (60 - 240 pg/mL). Serum cCa and phosphorus were reduced in parallel with iPTH. Adverse events (AEs) occurred in 20 patients (83.3%). The most frequently observed AEs (> 10%) were either mild or moderate nasopharyngitis (29.2%), decreased serum calcium (16.7%), and vomiting (12.5%). CONCLUSIONS Dose-escalated triweekly etelcalcetide was effective for SHPT in Japanese hemodialysis patients and was satisfactorily tolerated.