Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Novel and Effective Therapeutic Regimens for Helicobacter pylori in an Era of Increasing Antibiotic Resistance

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a common gastrointestinal bacterial strain closely associated with the incidence of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric cancer. A current research and clinical challenge is the increased rate of antibiotic resistance in H. pylori, which has led to a decreased H. pylori eradication rate. In this article, we review recent H. pylori infection and reinfection rates and H. pylori resistance to antibiotics, and we discuss the pertinent treatments. A PubMed literature search was performed using the following keywords: Helicobacter pylori, infection, reinfection, antibiotic resistance, bismuth, proton pump inhibitors, vonoprazan, susceptibility, quintuple therapy, dual therapy, and probiotic. The prevalence of H. pylori has remained high in some areas despite the decreasing trend of H. pylori prevalence observed over time. Additionally, the H. pylori reinfection rate has varied in different countries due to socioeconomic and hygienic conditions. Helicobacter pylori monoresistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole or levofloxacin was common in most countries. However, the prevalence of amoxicillin and tetracycline resistance has remained low. Because H. pylori infection and reinfection present serious challenges and because H. pylori resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole or levofloxacin remains high in most countries, the selection of an efficient regimen to eradicate H. pylori is critical. Currently, bismuth-containing quadruple therapies still achieve high eradication rates. Moreover, susceptibility-based therapies are alternatives because they may avoid the use of unnecessary antibiotics. Novel regimens, e.g., vonoprazan-containing triple therapies, quintuple therapies, high-dose dual therapies, and standard triple therapies with probiotics, require further studies concerning their efficiency and safety for treating H. pylori.
The Epidemiology, Virology and Clinical Findings of Dengue Virus Infections in a Cohort of Indonesian Adults in Western Java

Background Dengue has emerged as one of the most important infectious diseases in the last five decades. Evidence indicates the expansion of dengue virus endemic areas and consequently the exponential increase of dengue virus infections across the subtropics. The clinical manifestations of dengue virus infection include sudden fever, rash, headache, myalgia and in more serious cases, spontaneous bleeding. These manifestations occur in children as well as in adults. Defining the epidemiology of dengue in a given area is critical to understanding the disease and devising effective public health strategies. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we report the results from a prospective cohort study of 4380 adults in West Java, Indonesia, from 2000–2004 and 2006–2009. A total of 2167 febrile episodes were documented and dengue virus infections were confirmed by RT-PCR or serology in 268 cases (12.4%). The proportion ranged from 7.6 to 41.8% each year. The overall incidence rate of symptomatic dengue virus infections was 17.3 cases/1,000 person years and between September 2006 and April 2008 asymptomatic infections were 2.6 times more frequent than symptomatic infections. According to the 1997 WHO classification guidelines, there were 210 dengue fever cases, 53 dengue hemorrhagic fever cases (including one dengue shock syndrome case) and five unclassified cases. Evidence for sequential dengue virus infections was seen in six subjects. All four dengue virus serotypes circulated most years. Inapparent dengue virus infections were predominantly associated with DENV-4 infections. Conclusions/Significance Dengue virus was responsible for a significant percentage of febrile illnesses in an adult population in West Java, Indonesia, and this percentage varied from year to year. The observed incidence rate during the study period was 43 times higher than the reported national or provincial rates during the same time period. A wide range of clinical severity was observed with most infections resulting in asymptomatic disease. The circulation of all four serotypes of dengue virus was observed in most years of the study.
Biological availability of manganese sources and effects of high dietary manganese on tissue mineral composition of broiler-type chicks.

An experiment was conducted with male broiler-type chicks to study tissue uptake of Mn as a measure of biological availability of Mn sources. A basal corn-soybean meal diet (116 ppm Mn) was supplemented with 0, 1000, 2000, or 4000 ppm Mn as either reagent grade sulfate, carbonate, or monoxide and fed ad libitum for 26 days. No toxic effects were noted as expressed by feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion, hematocrit, hemoglobin, or mortality. Analysis of Mn in tissues revealed a highly linear relationship between liver or bone Mn concentration and dietary Mn for all three sources. Manganese concentration in all tissues increased (P less than .01) as dietary Mn increased. Liver and bone Mn accumulation appeared to be excellent indicators of relative biological availability. On the basis of tissue uptake and solubility tests, MnSO4 X H2O was the most available, followed by MnO and MnCO3, respectively. There were no effects of Mn source or level on concentration of Ca, P, Mg, Cu, Zn, or Fe in tissues studied.
Mental Health Experiences of Older Adults Living with HIV: Uncertainty, Stigma, and Approaches to Resilience

RÉSUMÉ Cette étude décrit les expériences des personnes âgées vivant avec le VIH à Ottawa en santé mentale. Onze participants âgés de 52-67 complété des entrevues personnelles approfondies. Problèmes de santé mentale sont omniprésentes dans la vie de ces personnes âgées. Nous avons identifié trois thèmes centraux communs aux histoires des participants: l’incertitude, la stigmatisation et la résilience. Pour certains de ces participants, l’incertitude impact sur la santé mentale centrée sur la survie inattendue; interprétation de l’un des symptômes; et l’incertitude médicale. Les expériences de stigmatisation des participants comprenaient la discrimination dans les interactions de soins de santé; désinformation; sentir stigmatisés en raison de certains aspects de leur apparence physique; stigmatisation aggravée; et la stigmatisation prévu. Les participants ont signalé l’utilisation de plusieurs stratégies d’adaptation, qui nous encadrent les approches à titre individuel à la résilience. Ces stratégies comprennent la réduction de l’espace VIH prend dans sa vie; faire des changements de style de vie pour accueillir sa maladie; et coopérant avec le soutien social. Ces résultats informent la compréhension des services pour les personnes vieillissantes avec le VIH qui peuvent éprouver des problèmes de santé mentale. ABSTRACT This study describes the mental health experiences of older adults living with HIV in Ottawa. Eleven participants aged 52 to 67 completed in-depth personal interviews. Mental health concerns pervaded the lives of these older adults. We identified three central themes common to the participants’ stories: uncertainty, stigma, and resilience. For some of these participants, uncertainty impacting mental health centred on unexpected survival; interpretation of one’s symptoms; and medical uncertainty. Participants’ experiences of stigma included discrimination in health care interactions; misinformation; feeling stigmatized due to aspects of their physical appearance; compounded stigma; and anticipated stigma. Participants reported using several coping strategies, which we frame as individual approaches to resilience. These strategies include reducing the space that HIV takes up in one’s life; making lifestyle changes to accommodate one’s illness; and engaging with social support. These findings inform understandings of services for people aging with HIV who may experience mental health concerns.
Avian Cephalic Vascular Anatomy, Sites of Thermal Exchange, and the Rete Ophthalmicum

The general anatomy of avian cephalic blood vessels is well known and there are published details of their role in physiological thermoregulation. Unfortunately, the finer details of vascular pathways to and from sites of thermal exchange are not well known. Additionally, the role of the rete ophthalmicum (RO), a vascular heat exchanger in the temporal region, has been investigated in terms of brain temperature regulation, yet only the arteries have received substantial attention. Without anatomical details of both the arterial and venous pathways, the role of blood vessels in physiological thermoregulation is incomplete. Cephalic vascular anatomy of multiple avian taxa was investigated using a differential‐contrast, dual‐vascular injection technique and high‐resolution X‐ray microcomputed tomography. Sites of thermal exchange (oral, nasal, and orbital regions) and the RO were given special attention due to their known roles in cephalic thermoregulation. Blood vessels to and from sites of thermal exchange were investigated to detect conserved vascular patterns and their ability to deliver cooled blood to the RO and dural venous sinus. Sites of thermal exchange were supplied by arteries directly and through collateral pathways. Veins were found to offer multiple pathways that could influence the temperature of neurosensory tissues, as well as pathways that would bypass neurosensory tissues. These results question the paradigm that arterial blood from the RO is the primary method of brain cooling in birds. A shift in the primary role of the RO from brain cooling to regulating and maintaining the temperature of the avian eye should be further investigated. Anat Rec, 299:1461–1486, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Optimize Transfer Learning for Lung Diseases in Bronchoscopy Using a New Concept: Sequential Fine-Tuning

Bronchoscopy inspection, as a follow-up procedure next to the radiological imaging, plays a key role in the diagnosis and treatment design for lung disease patients. When performing bronchoscopy, doctors have to make a decision immediately whether to perform a biopsy. Because biopsies may cause uncontrollable and life-threatening bleeding of the lung tissue, thus doctors need to be selective with biopsies. In this paper, to help doctors to be more selective on biopsies and provide a second opinion on diagnosis, we propose a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system for lung diseases, including cancers and tuberculosis (TB). Based on transfer learning (TL), we propose a novel TL method on the top of DenseNet: sequential fine-tuning (SFT). Compared with traditional fine-tuning (FT) methods, our method achieves the best performance. In a data set of recruited 81 normal cases, 76 TB cases and 277 lung cancer cases, SFT provided an overall accuracy of 82% while other traditional TL methods achieved an accuracy from 70% to 74%. The detection accuracy of SFT for cancers, TB, and normal cases are 87%, 54%, and 91%, respectively. This indicates that the CAD system has the potential to improve lung disease diagnosis accuracy in bronchoscopy and it may be used to be more selective with biopsies.
Dynamics of the Gender Gap for Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors

The careers of MBAs from a top US business school are studied to understand how career dynamics differ by gender. Although male and female MBAs have nearly identical earnings at the outset of their careers, their earnings soon diverge, with the male earnings advantage reaching almost 60 log points a decade after MBA completion. Three proximate factors account for the large and rising gender gap in earnings: differences in training prior to MBA graduation, differences in career interruptions, and differences in weekly hours. The greater career discontinuity and shorter work hours for female MBAs are largely associated with motherhood. (JEL J16, J22, J31, J44)
Use of core biopsy in diagnosing cervical lymphadenopathy: a viable alternative to surgical excisional biopsy of lymph nodes?

OBJECTIVES Lymphoma often presents with a neck mass and while fine‐needle aspiration cytology may be suggestive, tissue biopsy is required for reliable diagnosis and classification of a lymphoma that is sufficient to deliver the correct treatment for the patient. Traditionally, excisional biopsy of a lymph node has been the standard method of tissue sampling, providing ample tissue for assessment. However, this requires theatre time, and preceding fine‐needle aspiration cytology, which may incur a delay. With careful use of tissue, coupled with advances in immunohistochemical and molecular investigative techniques, core biopsy provides a possible alternative to traditional fine‐needle aspiration and excisional biopsy. In this study, we aimed to determine the efficacy of diagnosing neck masses. METHOD A retrospective analysis was performed of patients being investigated for a neck mass who were undergoing ultrasound‐guided core biopsies of cervical lymph nodes over a 17‐month period. The final histology report was scrutinised to assess whether adequate tissue was obtained to allow for full tissue diagnosis. RESULTS Over the 17‐month period analysed, 70 patients with cervical lymphadenopathy underwent core biopsy. Of these, 63 (90%) were diagnostic for either lymphoma or other pathology and did not require further tissue sampling. Overall, 19 patients were diagnosed with lymphoma, of which only 1 required further biopsy due to inconclusive initial core biopsy. CONCLUSIONS Current guidelines for investigating lymphomas require that excisional biopsy be performed to obtain ample tissue to allow full nodal architecture assessment and ancillary investigation to reach an accurate histological classification. Within our head and neck multidisciplinary team, however, it is considered that results from core biopsies can be obtained in a more timely fashion and with histological accuracy equal to those of open biopsy. The results obtained demonstrate that core biopsy is an effective tool for investigation. We believe this should be the first‐line investigation of choice, as it reduces the need for patients to undergo surgery, is more cost effective and offers a faster diagnosis.
Editorial: Tumor Necrosis Factor Antagonists: Killing Two Birds With One Biologic Stone

Forty years have passed since it was first recognized that patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease have an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular (CV) events (1) Although initial reports focused on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), similar findings were verified subsequently in patients with psoriasis (Ps) and/or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and spondyloarthritis. An early feature of the atherosclerotic lesion is infiltration with inflammatory cells, particularly monocytes/macrophages, and the presence of these cells in mature plaque elevates the risk of plaque rupture and thrombosis (2). In the general population, modest elevations of circulating inflammatory proteins, including C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble endothelial adhesion proteins, are associated with an increased risk of acute CV events (3). This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
N-Methylcytisine Ameliorates Dextran-Sulfate-Sodium-Induced Colitis in Mice by Inhibiting the Inflammatory Response

This study aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of N-methylcytisine (NMC) in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model and explore its possible mechanisms. Experimental colitis was induced by administering the mice with 5% DSS for 7 days. Different doses of NMC (1, 4 and 16 mg/kg) and 5-aminosalicylic acid (100 mg/kg) were given orally once every day for 7 days. The protective effect of NMC was evaluated using the disease activity index, colon length and results of histopathological examination. The possible mechanisms of NMC were explored by evaluating the expression levels of tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and interleukin-6 (IL-6) using ELISA and analysing the protein expression levels of nuclear factor (NF)-κB p65, p-NF-κB p65, p-IκB, IκB, IκB kinase (IKK) and p-IKK using western blots. Results demonstrated that the oral administration of NMC attenuated the DSS-induced clinical symptoms and pathological damage. In addition, NMC treatment significantly reduced myeloperoxidase activity and level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Further studies revealed that NMC blocked the activation of NF-κB by inhibiting IκB and IKK phosphorylation. These findings suggested that NMC exerts anti-inflammatory effects on DSS-induced colitis, and its mechanism may be related to the suppression of NF-κB activation. Thus, NMC may have potential therapeutic value in the treatment of colitis.
Cross-frequency Phase–Amplitude Coupling as a Mechanism for Temporal Orienting of Attention in Childhood

Abstract Temporal orienting of attention operates by biasing the allocation of cognitive and motor resources in specific moments in time, resulting in the improved processing of information from expected compared with unexpected targets. Recent findings have shown that temporal orienting operates relatively early across development, suggesting that this attentional mechanism plays a core role for human cognition. However, the exact neurophysiological mechanisms allowing children to attune their attention over time are not well understood. In this study, we presented 8- to 12-year-old children with a temporal cueing task designed to test (1) whether anticipatory oscillatory dynamics predict children's behavioral performance on a trial-by-trial basis and (2) whether anticipatory oscillatory neural activity may be supported by cross-frequency phase–amplitude coupling as previously shown in adults. Crucially, we found that, similar to what has been reported in adults, children's ongoing beta rhythm was strongly coupled with their theta rhythm and that the strength of this coupling distinguished validly cued temporal intervals, relative to neutral cued trials. In addition, in long trials, there was an inverse correlation between oscillatory beta power and children's trial-by-trial reaction, consistent with oscillatory beta power reflecting better response preparation. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that temporal attention in children operates by exploiting oscillatory mechanism.
Elastic liposomes for delivery of neomycin sulphate in deep skin infection

Neomycin sulphate (a hydrophilic drug) is extensively used topically in treatment if various skin infections. The objective of the present research was to investigate the dermal delivery of neomycin sulphate through elastic liposomes for effective treatment of deep skin infections. Elastic liposomes containing neomycin sulphate were prepared using Phospholipon ® 90 G and Tween 80/Span 80. Elastic liposomal-gel was prepared by incorporating prepared EL in corbopol resins. Extent of skin penetration of NS from EL and its gel was studied. EL was characterized for vesicular shape, size, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, stability, in vitro skin penetration and in vivo antibacterial study in rats. TEM and Zeta Seizer defined EL as spherical, unilamellar structures with low polydispersity and nanometric size range (145 ± 5.85 nm). Drug entrapment efficiency of EL carrier was found to be (34.6% ± 0.15%). EL suspension was found to be stable for 14 d when stored at 2–8°C where as its gel was stable for 2 months. CLSM studies revealed that vesicles facilitated the co-penetration of NS to the deeper layers of the rat skin up to 180 µm. In vitro penetration studies showed enhanced deposition of NS (25.92% ± 3.48%) in rat skin after 24 h. Histological findings after deep dermal S. aureus infection in rats indicated that EL were efficient carriers for delivery of NS to bacteria localized within deep skin strata and showed complete eradication of staphylococcal infections within 7 d. The results showed that effective treatment of deep dermal infection is possible with neomycin through elastic liposomes.
U18666A, an activator of sterol regulatory element binding protein pathway, modulates presynaptic dopaminergic phenotype of SH‐SY5Y neuroblastoma cells

The therapeutic use of statins has been associated to a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) and may hold neuroprotective potential by counteracting the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. Transcriptional activation of the sterol regulatory element‐binding protein (SREBP) is one of the major downstream signaling pathways triggered by the cholesterol‐lowering effect of statins. In a previous study in neuroblastoma cells, we have shown that statins consistently induce the upregulation of presynaptic dopaminergic proteins and changes of their function and these effects were accompanied by downstream activation of SREBP. In this study, we aimed to determine the direct role of SREBP pathway in the modulation of dopaminergic phenotype. We demonstrate that treatment of SH‐SY5Y cells with U18666A, an SREBP activator, increases the translocation of SREBPs into the nucleus, increases the expression of SREBP‐1, SREBP‐2, and of the presynaptic dopaminergic markers such as vesicular monoamine transporter 2, synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2 A and 2 C, synaptogyrin‐3, and tyrosine hydroxylase. The addition of SREBP inhibitor, PF‐429242, blocks the increase of U18666A‐induced expression of SREBPs and presynaptic markers. Our results, in line with previously reported effects of statins, demonstrate that direct stimulation of SREBP translocation is associated to differentiation toward a dopaminergic‐like phenotype and suggest that SREBP‐mediated transcriptional activity may lead to the restoration of the presynaptic dopamine markers and may contribute to neuroprotection of dopaminergic neurons. These findings further support the potential protective role of statin in PD and shed light upon SREBP as a potential new target for developing disease‐modifying treatment in PD.
The structural effect of the E148Q MEFV mutation on the pyrin protein: a study using a quantum chemistry model.

BACKGROUND Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a recessively inherited disease with a variety of clinical presentations. The disease is associated with mutations in the FMF gene (MEFV), which encodes for the pyrin protein. The role of the E148Q pyrin mutation in the FMF phenotype remains inconclusive, and some authors even view it as a disease-insignificant polymorphism. The calculated change imposed by this mutation on pyrin structure may help to understand the role of this mutation. OBJECTIVES To calculate the relative electrochemical effect of the E148Q mutation on the structure of pyrin protein. METHODS The electronic properties of the wild-type pyrin molecule and its common mutated forms were computed for the full-length molecule and its segments, encoded by exons 2 and 10, using the HyperChem 7.5 program with one of the molecular mechanical methods (MM+). The change in the structure of the molecule, expressed as a change in energy gain, conferred by the mutations was determined. RESULTS The E148Q mutation caused deviation from the wildtype pyrin segment encoded by exon 2 by 1.15% and from the whole pyrin molecule by 0.75%, which was comparable to the R202Q mutation and less than the M694V mutation which caused a deviation from the wild-type structure of the whole pyrin molecule by 1.5%. CONCLUSIONS A quantum chemistry-based model suggests that the structural effect of the E148Q mutation is indeed low but not zero.