Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictive Prognostic Value of Tissue-Based MicroRNA Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common type of cancer characterized by a low survival rate, mostly due to local recurrence and metastasis. In view of the importance of predicting tumor behavior in the choice of treatment strategies for OSCC, several studies have attempted to investigate the prognostic value of tissue biomarkers, including microRNA (miRNA). The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between miRNA expression and survival of OSCC patients. Studies were identified by searching on MEDLINE/PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Quality assessment of studies was performed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Data were collected from cohort studies comparing disease-free survival and overall survival in patients with high miRNA expression compared to those with low expression. A total of 15 studies featuring 1,200 OSCC samples, predominantly from Asia, met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Poor prognosis correlated with upregulation of 9 miRNAs (miR-21, miR-455-5p, miiR-155-5p, miR-372, miR-373, miR-29b, miR-1246, miR-196a, and miR-181) and downregulation of 7 miRNAs (miR-204, miR-101, miR-32, miR-20a, miR-16, miR-17, and miR-125b). The pooled hazard ratio values (95% confidence interval) related to different miRNA expression for overall survival and disease-free survival were 2.65 (2.07–3.39) and 1.95 (1.28–2.98), respectively. The results of this meta-analysis revealed that the expression levels of specific miRNAs can robustly predict prognosis of OSCC patients.
Barriers and Facilitators to Expanding Roles of Medical Assistants in Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs)

Background: Many primary care practices participating in patient-centered medical home (PCMH) transformation initiatives are expanding the work roles of their medical assistants (MAs). Little is known about attitudes of MAs or barriers and facilitators to these role changes. Methods: Secondary data analysis of qualitative cross-case comparison study of 15 New Jersey primary care practices participating in a PCMH project during 2012 to 2013. Observation field notes and in-depth and key informant interviews (with physicians, office managers, staff and care coordinators) were iteratively analyzed using grounded theory. Results: MA roles and responsibilities changed from a mostly reactive role, completing tasks dependent on physician orders during the patient visit and facilitating patient flow through the office, to a more proactive one, conducting previsit planning, engaging in the overall care for patients, and assisting with population management. MAs differed in their attitudes about increased responsibilities, with some welcoming the opportunity to take on expanded roles, others resenting their increased responsibilities, and some expressing insufficient understanding regarding why new tasks and procedures were being implemented. Major barriers to MA role shifts included 1) insufficient understanding of the PCMH concept, 2) lack of time for added responsibilities, 3) additional workload without additional compensation, 4) disparate levels of medical knowledge and training, 5) reluctance of clinicians to delegate tasks, 6) uncertainty in making new workflow changes routine, 7) staff turnover, and 8) change fatigue. MAs were more positive about their role shifts when they 1) understood how their responsibilities fit within broader PCMH practice transformation goals; 2) received formal training in new tasks; 3) had detailed protocols and standing orders; 4) initiated role changes with small, achievable goals; 5) had open communication with clinicians and practice leaders; and 5) received additional compensation or paths to career advancement. Conclusions: Practice leaders need to be conscious of obstacles when they increase expectations of MAs, and they must be willing to invest time and resources into developing their MA workforce. An environment that allows open dialog with MAs and rewards and compensation that recognizes their increased efforts will help make expansion of MA roles occur more smoothly and efficiently.
Serologic Testing for Zika Virus: Comparison of Three Zika Virus IgM-Screening Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays and Initial Laboratory Experiences

ABSTRACT Serologic evaluation for Zika virus (ZIKV) infection currently includes an initial screen using an anti-ZIKV IgM antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (MAC-ELISA) followed by supplemental testing of specimens with nonnegative results by a plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). We compared the performance characteristics of three ELISAs for the detection of IgM class antibodies to ZIKV, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Zika MAC-ELISA, the InBios ZIKV Detect MAC-ELISA, and the Euroimmun anti-Zika Virus IgM ELISA. Additionally, we present our initial experiences with ZIKV serologic testing from a national reference laboratory perspective. Using both retrospectively and prospectively collected specimens from patients with possible ZIKV infection, we show that the CDC and InBios MAC-ELISAs perform comparably to each other, with positive agreement, negative agreement, and interrater kappa values ranging from 87.5% to 93.1%, 95.7% to 98.5%, and 0.52 to 0.83, respectively. In contrast, comparison of the Euroimmun ZIKV ELISA to either the CDC or InBios MAC-ELISAs resulted in positive agreement, negative agreement, and interrater kappa values ranging from 17.9% to 42.9%, 91.7% to 98.6%, and 0.10 to 0.39, respectively. Among the 19 prospective samples submitted for PRNT, nine were negative, eight specimens had neutralizing antibodies to a flavivirus (unable to be identified), and one sample each was confirmed for ZIKV or dengue virus infection. This study highlights the ongoing challenges associated with serologic diagnosis of ZIKV infection. Although the availability of a commercial serologic test for ZIKV has greatly expanded the national capacity for such testing, the need to further characterize and improve these assays, particularly with regard to specificity, remains.
Corticosteroid Therapy in Combination with Antibiotics for Erysipelas.

BACKGROUND Erysipelas, an acute infection of the dermal and subcutaneous tissue, is normally treated with antibiotics. Previous data indicated that treatment with prednisone in combination with antibiotics results in significant acceleration of the healing phase. OBJECTIVES To investigate the effectiveness of corticosteroids combined with antibiotics for the treatment of erysipelas. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted on hospitalized patients diagnosed with erysipelas between 2004 and 2011 at the Department of Dermatology at Sheba Medical Center, Israel. Data included epidemiology, medical background, and course of the disease as documented at admission and during hospitalization. RESULTS Data were collected on 173 patients (66% males) who were divided into two groups: a control group treated with antibiotics only (97 patients) and a study group treated with antibiotics and prednisone (76 patients). The study group presented with a more severe form of erysipelas (bullous) and those patients were hospitalized for a longer period (8.5 vs. 7 days). Nevertheless, the study group exhibited a 71% clinical improvement shortly after being treated with prednisone, without significant side effects. Short-term follow-up revealed more edema in the study group; however, long-term follow-up revealed a higher incidence of erythema and recurrence of erysipelas in the control group. The return to full function was faster in the study group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS Combining prednisone with antibiotics for the treatment of erysipelas should be considered, especially in severe cases. In addition, a prospective double-blind study should be conducted to verify these conclusions.
Identification of Lysine 37 of Histone H2B as a Novel Site of Methylation

Recent technological advancements have allowed for highly-sophisticated mass spectrometry-based studies of the histone code, which predicts that combinations of post-translational modifications (PTMs) on histone proteins result in defined biological outcomes mediated by effector proteins that recognize such marks. While significant progress has been made in the identification and characterization of histone PTMs, a full appreciation of the complexity of the histone code will require a complete understanding of all the modifications that putatively contribute to it. Here, using the top-down mass spectrometry approach for identifying PTMs on full-length histones, we report that lysine 37 of histone H2B is dimethylated in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By generating a modification-specific antibody and yeast strains that harbor mutations in the putative site of methylation, we provide evidence that this mark exist in vivo. Importantly, we show that this lysine residue is highly conserved through evolution, and provide evidence that this methylation event also occurs in higher eukaryotes. By identifying a novel site of histone methylation, this study adds to our overall understanding of the complex number of histone modifications that contribute to chromatin function.
Motion evaluation by means of joint filtering for assisted physical therapy

The supervision of rehabilitation exercises is crucial for a successful therapy. Due to a lack of therapists, technical assistance systems have recently come into focus to assist patients during their exercises. Latest research proved that characteristic motion errors can be detected by using the Kinect skeleton joints in connection with Incremental Dynamic Time Warping (IDTW) and machine learning. However, the processed joints were manually selected and the classifier predicts in a frame-wise manner. In order to facilitate an extension with more exercises, a central issue of this paper is to realize an automatic joint selection with optimal classification accuracy. Moreover, we propose an algorithm that post processes the frame-wise prediction. The results for both joint selection and post processing are of high quality and therefore make a significant contribution to an efficient, perceptible and user-friendly feedback generation.
Effect of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy vs Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass on Weight Loss in Patients With Morbid Obesity: The SM-BOSS Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance Sleeve gastrectomy is increasingly used in the treatment of morbid obesity, but its long-term outcome vs the standard Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure is unknown. Objective To determine whether there are differences between sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in terms of weight loss, changes in comorbidities, increase in quality of life, and adverse events. Design, Setting, and Participants The Swiss Multicenter Bypass or Sleeve Study (SM-BOSS), a 2-group randomized trial, was conducted from January 2007 until November 2011 (last follow-up in March 2017). Of 3971 morbidly obese patients evaluated for bariatric surgery at 4 Swiss bariatric centers, 217 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass with a 5-year follow-up period. Interventions Patients were randomly assigned to undergo laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (n = 107) or laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 110). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary end point was weight loss, expressed as percentage excess body mass index (BMI) loss. Exploratory end points were changes in comorbidities and adverse events. Results Among the 217 patients (mean age, 45.5 years; 72% women; mean BMI, 43.9) 205 (94.5%) completed the trial. Excess BMI loss was not significantly different at 5 years: for sleeve gastrectomy, 61.1%, vs Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, 68.3% (absolute difference, −7.18%; 95% CI, −14.30% to −0.06%; P = .22 after adjustment for multiple comparisons). Gastric reflux remission was observed more frequently after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (60.4%) than after sleeve gastrectomy (25.0%). Gastric reflux worsened (more symptoms or increase in therapy) more often after sleeve gastrectomy (31.8%) than after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (6.3%). The number of patients with reoperations or interventions was 16/101 (15.8%) after sleeve gastrectomy and 23/104 (22.1%) after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with morbid obesity, there was no significant difference in excess BMI loss between laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass at 5 years of follow-up after surgery. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00356213
Respiratory Health Symptoms among Schoolchildren in Relation to Possible Food-Related Risk and Protective Factors

Respiratory health outcomes are among the top five causes of child morbidity and mortality around the world. We aimed to investigate possible food-related risk and protective factors for respiratory health outcomes in children. Structured questionnaires completed by primary caregivers of 10-year old children were used to collect information on demographics, socio-economic status, house characteristics and child respiratory health status. Upper (URIs) and Lower (LRIs) respiratory illnesses comprised hay fever, and wheezing, asthma and bronchitis, respectively. Eight hundred questionnaires were distributed, 648 retrieved and 420 completed in full (52.5% response rate). The hay fever 6-month prevalence was 22.4% and wheezing had the highest 6-month prevalence among the LRIs (13.8%). The majority of children ate vegetables (75.5%), fruit (69.3%) and chicken or fish (81.7%) regularly. Nearly half of the children (45.5%) regularly ate processed food. Eating processed food regularly was statistical significantly associated with wheeze (Adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) = 2.65; 95% CI: 1.38–5.08), hay fever (OR = 1.62; 95% CI: 1.09–2.64) and bronchitis (OR = 1.27; 95% CI: 1.06–2.56). The study found an association between regular consumption of processed foods and wheeze, hay fever and bronchitis among 10 year old children. The regular consumption of processed food plays a role in adverse respiratory health effects among children and healthy eating is emphasized.
WordsEye: an automatic text-to-scene conversion system

Natural language is an easy and effective medium for describing visual ideas and mental images. Thus, we foresee the emergence of language-based 3D scene generation systems to let ordinary users quickly create 3D scenes without having to learn special software, acquire artistic skills, or even touch a desktop window-oriented interface. WordsEye is such a system for automatically converting text into representative 3D scenes. WordsEye relies on a large database of 3D models and poses to depict entities and actions. Every 3D model can have associated shape displacements, spatial tags, and functional properties to be used in the depiction process. We describe the linguistic analysis and depiction techniques used by WordsEye along with some general strategies by which more abstract concepts are made depictable.
Deriving requirements specifications from the application domain language captured by Language Extended Lexicon

Understanding the context of a software system during requirements specification is a difficult task. Sometimes application domains are very complex, other times the limits of the application are fuzzy. Thus, it is difficult to elicit and write the initial set of requirements. This difficulty frustrates requirements engineers and restricts the process of analysis, which could lead to a final software requirement specification of low quality. In such situations technologically outstanding software systems can be built, but they may fail to suit the needs of the client. Hence, clients are unsatisfied and development projects fail. In this paper we propose a strategy to use the application domain language captured by the Language Extended Lexicon in order to obtain different products related to requirements specification. Products vary from classic requirements which state “the system shall. ” to products such as Use Cases and User Stories. The strategy focuses on obtaining the initial set of functional requirements. We believe that by minimizing the gap between the problem and the initial set of requirements, we provide engineers with a preliminary product they can work on and refine to reach the quality needed.
The first complete mitochondrial genome of Serranidae sp. (Percoidea, Serranidae) and phylogenetic analysis based on Bayesian

Abstract In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Serranidae sp. was determined first. The entire mitochondrial genome of Serranidae sp. is 16 512 bp in length, containing 13 protein-coding genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNA), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNA) and 2 main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light-strand replication). The gene arrangement, base composition and tRNA structures of Serranidae sp. are similar to most of the bony fishes. The central conserved sequence blocks (CSB-1, CSB-2, and CSB-3) and the core sequence (ACATATATGT) of terminal-associated sequences were recognized in the control region. Meanwhile, the conserved motif 5′-GCCGG-3′ was identified in the origin of light-strand replication of Serranidae sp. Phylogenetic tree, which is constructed based on the complete mitochondrial genome sequences of Serranidae sp. , shows that Serranidae sp. is clustered with the fishes of the family Pentacerotidae. We expect that the mitochondrial genome of Serranidae sp. would play a key role in phylogenetic analysis of Serranidae.
Fine‐needle aspiration cytology for parotid lesions, can we avoid surgery?

Salivary gland neoplasms are rare tumours, with most arising in the parotid gland. Fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a common method for preoperative evaluation of parotid masses, although its usefulness is controversial. This study was designed to evaluate the accuracy of FNAC in a large cohort of patients, with emphasis on diagnosis of benign tumours and especially Warthin tumour which can be managed conservatively.
FADS2 Polymorphisms Modify the Effect of Breastfeeding on Child IQ

Background Breastfeeding is important for child cognitive development. A study by Caspi et al has suggested that rs174575 within the FADS2 gene moderates this effect so that children homozygous in the minor allele (GG genotype) have similar IQs irrespective of feeding method. Methods and Principal Findings In our study of 5934 children aged 8 years, no genetic main effect with IQ was found for rs174575. However, an interaction with this polymorphism was observed such that breastfed GG children performed better than their formula fed counterparts by an additional 5.8 points [1.4, 10.1] (interaction p = 0.0091). Interaction results were attenuated by about 10% after adjustment for 7 factors. This study also investigated rs1535, another FADS2 polymorphism in linkage disequilibrium with rs174575, together with performance and verbal IQ, finding similar results although effect sizes were generally reduced. Conclusions and Significance This study did not replicate the findings of Caspi et al. In contrast to their study, GG children exhibited the greatest difference between feeding methods such that breastfed children performed similarly irrespective of child genotype whereas formula fed GG children performed worse than other children on formula milk. Further studies are required to replicate these findings.
CAD/CAM‐fabricated ceramic implant‐supported single crowns made from lithium disilicate: Final results of a 5‐year prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND All-ceramic bilayer systems suffer from technique-sensitivity, resulting in increased technical complication rates. This might be overcome by monolithic reconstructions, facilitating digital workflows. PURPOSE To evaluate the clinical and patient-reported outcome of CAD/CAM-fabricated implant-supported single crowns (ISCs) made of lithium disilicate (LS2 ) cemented on ceramic implants 5 years after implant installation. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twenty-four patients were included in the study. All participants received a one-piece ceramic implant in anterior (4 incisors) and posterior regions (10 premolars, 10 molars). LS2 crowns were computer-aided designed (CAD), manufactured (CAM) and adhesively luted onto the implants. Follow-ups were performed yearly up to 60 months after implant installation. The survival/success rates of the restorations were calculated according to modified US Public Health Service criteria as follows: Clinically relevant defects that could be repaired intraorally were accepted for survival, whereas small-area chippings, roughness (ø < 2 mm), slightly soundable marginal gaps, minimal undercontours/overcontours, and tolerable color deviations were accepted for success. Kaplan-Meier plots were used for the success/survival analyses. Furthermore, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) were assessed by applying visual analog scales (VAS). Linear (PROMs) and logistic (USPHS criteria) mixed models were fitted to evaluate time effects on response variables. RESULTS Twenty-two ISCs could be evaluated 55.2 ± 4.2 months after prosthetic delivery. Two patients were reported as drop-outs (1 died, 1 moved abroad). No failures were observed, resulting in 100% survival. At two ISCs, a major-roughness had to be treated. This resulted in a Kaplan-Meier success estimate of 91.7% (95%CI: 70.6%-97.9%). Compared with pretreatment, all surveys at prosthetic delivery except for self-esteem (P = .375) showed significantly improved VAS scores. No decrease in satisfaction could be observed over time until the end of follow-up (P ≥ .056). CONCLUSION Concerning survival/success rates and PROMs, the evaluated crown-implant system showed favorable mid-term results. To date, there are no comparable data available for implant-supported ISCs made of LS2 .
The strategy of ecosystem development.

The principles of ecological succession bear importantly on the relationships between man and nature. The framework of successional theory needs to be examined as a basis for resolving man’s present environmental crisis. Most ideas pertaining to the development of ecological systems are based on descriptive data obtained by observing changes in biotic communities over long periods, or on highly theoretical assumptions; very few of the generally accepted hypotheses have been tested experimentally. Some of the confusion, vagueness, and lack of experimental work in this area stems from the tendency of ecologists to regard “succession” as a single straightforward idea; in actual fact, it entails an interacting complex of processes, some of which counteract one another.