Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The status of immunization program and challenges in Ethiopia: A mixed method study

Introduction: Immunization helps reduce morbidity and mortality attributable to severe vaccine-preventable childhood illnesses. However, vaccination coverage and the quality of immunization data remain challenging in Ethiopia. This has led to poor planning, suboptimal vaccination coverage, and the resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in under-immunized pocket areas. The problem is further compounded by the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption of the health information system due to recurrent conflict. This study assessed the current status of the immunization service and its challenges in Ethiopia. Methods: A mixed-methods study was conducted in three regions of Ethiopia from 21 to 31 May, 2023. A survey of administrative reports was done in a total of 69 health facilities in 14 woredas (districts). Nine KIIs were conducted at a district level among immunization coordinators selected from three regions to explore the challenges of the immunization program. Linear regression and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data. Thematic analysis was applied to analyze the qualitative data. The findings from the qualitative data were triangulated to supplement the quantitative results. Result: Two-thirds (66.4%) of the children were fully vaccinated, having received all vaccines, including the first dose of the MCV1, by 12 months of age, as reported through administrative reports collected from health facility records. Catchment area population size and region were significantly associated with the number of fully immunized children (p < 0.001 and p = 0.005, respectively). The vaccination dropout rates of the first to third dose of pentavalent vaccine and the first dose of pentavalent vaccine to the first dose of MCV1 were 8.6% and 7.4%, respectively. A considerable proportion of health facilities lack accurate data to calculate vaccination coverage, while most of them lack accurate data for dropout rates. Longer waiting time, interruptions in vaccine supply or shortage, inaccessibility of health facilities, internal conflict and displacement, power interruption and refrigerator breakdown, poor counseling practice, and caretakers’ lack of awareness, fear of side effects, and forgetfulness were the reasons for the dropout rate and low coverage. The result also showed that internal conflict and displacement have significantly affected immunization coverage, with the worst effects seen on the most marginalized populations. Conclusion: The study revealed low vaccination coverage, a high dropout rate, and poor quality of immunization data. Access and vaccination coverage among marginalized community groups (e.g., orphans and street children) were also low. Hence, interventions to address organizational, behavioral, technical, and contextual (conflict and the resulting internal displacement) bottlenecks affecting the immunization program should be addressed.
Differential Expression Patterns of Striate Cortex-Enriched Genes among Old World, New World, and Prosimian Primates

A group of 5 genes, OCC1, testican-1, testican-2, 5-HT1B, and 5-HT2A, are selectively expressed in layer 4 (4C of Brodmann) of striate cortex (visual area V1) of both Old World macaques and New World marmoset monkeys. The expression of these genes is activity dependent, as expression is reduced after blocking retinal activity. Surprisingly, the pronounced expression pattern has not been found in rodents or carnivores. Thus, these genes may be highly expressed in V1 of some but perhaps not all primates. Here, we compared the gene expression in members of 3 major branches of primate evolution: prosimians, New World monkeys, and Old World monkeys. Although the expression pattern of 5-HT1B was well conserved, those of the other genes varied from the least distinct in prosimian galagos to successively more in New World owl monkeys, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, and Old World macaque monkeys. In owl monkeys, the expression of 5-HT2A was significantly reduced by monocular tetrodotoxin injection, while those of OCC1 and 5-HT1B were not. Thus, we propose that early primates had low levels of expression and higher levels emerged with anthropoid primates and became further enhanced in the Old World catarrhine monkeys that are more closely related to humans.
Effects of co-treatment with sulforaphane and autophagy modulators on uridine 5′-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase 1A isoforms and cytochrome P450 3A4 expression in Caco-2 human colon cancer cells

Sulforaphane (SFN), which is highly enriched in cruciferous vegetables, has been investigated for its cancer chemopreventive properties and ability to induce autophagy. Uridine 5′-diphospho (UDP)-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT)1A induction is one of the mechanisms that is responsible for the cancer chemopreventive activity of SFN. The current study demonstrates that rapamycin may enhance the chemopreventive effects of SFN on Caco-2 cells; this may be partially attributed to nuclear translocation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)- and human pregnane X receptor (hPXR)-mediated UGT1A1, UGT1A8 and UGT1A10 induction. These results indicate that targeting autophagy modulation may be a promising strategy for increasing the chemopreventive effects of SFN in cases of colon cancer.
Unequal-Mass Galaxy Mergers and the Creation of Cluster S0 Galaxies

It is a long-standing and remarkable problem as to when and how red S0 galaxies were formed in clusters of galaxies. We here propose that the major mechanism for the S0 creation is galaxy merging between two spirals with unequal mass. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that galaxy merging exhausts a large amount of the interstellar medium of two gas-rich spirals, owing to the moderately enhanced star formation, and subsequently transforms the two into one gas-poor S0 galaxy with a structure and kinematics strikingly similar to the observed ones. This secondary S0 formation with enhanced star formation explains the smaller fraction of the S0 population recently observed in some distant clusters of galaxies. Unequal-mass galaxy mergers thus provide an evolutionary link between a larger number of blue spirals observed in intermediate-redshift clusters and the red S0's prevalent in the present-day ones.
Change in &agr;1 HDL Concentration Predicts Progression in Coronary Artery Stenosis

Objective—We examined the effects of simvastatin-niacin and antioxidant vitamins on changes in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) subpopulations and alterations in coronary artery stenosis, as assessed by angiography. Methods and Results—Lipids, lipoproteins, and HDL particles were measured on and off treatment in 123 subjects of the HDL-Atherosclerosis Treatment Study. Patients were assigned to 4 treatment groups, simvastatin-niacin, simvastatin-niacin-antioxidant vitamins, antioxidant vitamins, and placebo. Subjects were followed for 3 years on treatment and then for 2 months off treatment. Simvastatin-niacin significantly increased the 2 large apoA-I–containing HDL subpopulations, &agr;1 and pre&agr;1, and significantly decreased the 2 smallest particles, pre&bgr;1 and &agr;3, compared with values obtained from the same patients off treatment. Adding antioxidant vitamins to the lipid-modifying agents blunted these effects (not significant). A significant negative correlation (r =−0.235;P <0.01) between the changes in &agr;1 HDL particle concentration and coronary artery stenosis was noted. Subjects in the third tertile (157% increase in &agr;1) had no progression of stenosis in the 3-year follow-up period, whereas subjects in the first tertile (15% decrease in &agr;1) had an average of 2.1% increase in stenosis. Conclusions—Simvastatin-niacin therapy significantly increased the large apoA-I–containing &agr;1 HDL particles. This increase was significantly associated with less progression of coronary stenosis even after adjusting for traditional risk factors.
Intimate partner violence, suicide and self-harm in Sri Lanka: Analysis of national data

There is increasing evidence from South Asia and internationally that intimate partner violence (IPV) is strongly associated with self-harm, however its association with suicide and self-harm has not been extensively examined, nor has this relationship been explored at a national level. Using national datasets, area-level variation in IPV, suicide and self-harm in Sri Lanka were examined. In addition, the association between individual level exposure to past-year IPV and non-fatal self-harm by any household member were explored in a series of multi-level logistic regression models, adjusting for age. Similar patterns in the distribution of suicide and IPV were found, with higher rates evident in post-conflict districts, specifically Batticaloa, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu. Experience of past year IPV and its various forms were strongly associated with household-level self-harm in the past year (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 3.83 95% CI 2.27–6.46). A similar magnitude was found for physical/sexual abuse (AOR 5.17 95% CI 2.95–9.05) and psychological abuse (AOR 4.64 95% CI 2.50–7.00). A dose-response association was also evident for frequency of abuse, with an increasing risk of household-level self-harm for women reporting abuse ‘less often’ (AOR 2.95 95% CI 1.46–5.92), and abuse experienced ‘daily, weekly, or monthly’ (AOR 4.83 95% CI 2.59–9.00), compared to no abuse. This study contributes to a growing body of evidence on the relationship between IPV and suicidal behaviour in South Asia. Addressing IPV and its various forms should be a priority for suicide prevention in Sri Lanka, alongside trauma-informed approaches in post-conflict settings.
More optimism about real-time distributed commit processing

In (Gupta et al., 1996), we proposed a new commit protocol, OPT, specially designed for use in distributed firm-deadline real-time database systems. OPT allows transactions to optimistically borrow uncommitted prepared data in a controlled manner. This controlled borrowing reduces the data inaccessibility and the priority inversion that is inherent in real-time commit processing. Experimental evaluations showed the new OPT protocol to be highly successful, as compared to the classical distributed commit protocols, in minimizing the number of missed transaction deadlines. In this paper, we extend and improve upon this prior work in the following ways. First, we consider parallel distributed transactions whereas the previous study was restricted to sequential transactions. Second, we evaluate the extent to which OPT's real-time performance is adversely affected by those cases where its optimism turns out to be misplaced. This is achieved by comparing OPT's performance with that of Shadow-OPT, a protocol that augments OPT with the shadow transaction approach and ensures that the right decision about access to uncommitted data is always eventually made. In all of our experiments, which considered a wide range of workloads and system configurations, the difference between OPT and Shadow-OPT never exceeded ten percent. Moreover, the difference was reduced to less than two percent when OPT was enhanced with a simple healthy lenders heuristic. Finally, we compare the performance of OPT to that of an alternative priority, inheritance-based approach to addressing priority inversion during commit processing.
A Stepwise, Pilot Study of Bovine Colostrum to Supplement the First Enteral Feeding in Preterm Infants (Precolos): Study Protocol and Initial Results

Study protocol The optimal feeding for preterm infants during the first weeks is still debated, especially when mother’s own milk is lacking or limited. Intact bovine colostrum (BC) contains high amounts of protein, growth factors, and immuno-regulatory components that may benefit protein intake and gut maturation. We designed a pilot study to investigate the feasibility and tolerability of BC as the first nutrition for preterm infants. The study was designed into three phases (A, B, and C) and recruited infants with birth weights of 1,000–1,800 g (China) or gestational ages (GAs) of 27 + 0 to 32 + 6 weeks (Denmark). In phase A, three infants were recruited consecutively to receive BC as a supplement to standard feeding. In phase B, seven infants were recruited in parallel. In phase C (not yet complete), 40 infants will be randomized to BC or standard feeding. Feeding intolerance, growth, time to full enteral feeding, serious infections/NEC, plasma amino acid profile, blood biochemistry, and intestinal functions are assessed. This paper presents the study protocol and results from phases A and B. Results Seven Danish and five Chinese infants received 22 ± 11 and 22 ± 6 ml·kg−1·day−1 BC for a mean of 7 ± 3 and 7 ± 1 days which provided 1.81 ± 0.89 and 1.83 ± 0.52 g·kg−1·day−1 protein, respectively. Growth rates until 37 weeks or discharge were in the normal range (11.8 ± 0.9 and 12.9 ± 2.7 g·kg−1·day−1 in Denmark and China, respectively). No clinical adverse effects were observed. Five infants showed a transient hypertyrosinemia on day 7 of life. Discussion and conclusion The three-phased study design was used to proceed with caution as this is the first trial to investigate intact BC as the first feed for preterm infants. BC supplementation appeared well tolerated and resulted in high enteral protein intake. Based on the safety evaluation of phases A and B, the randomized phase C has been initiated. When complete, the Precolos trial will document whether it is feasible to use BC as a novel, bioactive milk diet for preterm infants. Our trial paves the way for a larger randomized controlled trial on using BC as the first feed for preterm infants with insufficient access to mother’s own milk.
Chronic cognitive impairment following laterothalamic infarcts: a study of 9 cases.

BACKGROUND The occlusion of the lateral thalamic arteries leads to infarcts of ventrolateral thalamic nuclei, the ventroposterior nucleus, and the rostrolateral part of pulvinar, and produces hemisensory loss with or without hemiataxia. Cognitive impairment after such strokes has not been systematically studied. OBJECTIVE To determine the nature and the extent of long-lasting cognitive deficits following lateral thalamic strokes. DESIGN Case series. SETTING Neurology department, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland. PATIENTS Nine patients with hemisensory loss due to an isolated laterothalamic infarct. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Three to 6 months after stroke onset, standard neuropsychologic evaluation, including testing of language, ideomotor and constructive praxis, visual gnosis, spatial attention, learning abilities, and executive functions. RESULTS Six of 9 patients showed some degree of cognitive impairment. Executive functions tasks, particularly verbal fluency, were impaired in 5 patients (4 with right and 1 with left lesion). Learning and delayed recall in visuospatial and verbal tasks, but not in recognition, were impaired in 3 patients (2 with right and 1 with left lesion). Difficulties in visual gnosia were observed in 1 patient with right lesion while word-finding difficulties were observed in 1 patient with left lesion. CONCLUSIONS Our observations show that while learning, naming, and gnosic difficulties fit with the classical verbal/nonverbal dichotomy (left and right hemisphere, respectively), executive dysfunctions, including verbal fluency tasks, were more dominant after right thalamic infarcts. Although the observed deficits appeared to be less severe than those generally found with dorsomedial and polar thalamic strokes, the dominance of executive dysfunction suggests that ventrolateral thalamic lesions may disrupt frontothalamic subcortical loops.
Comparative Functional and Isokinetic Analysis between Implants with Posterior Stabilization and Rotating Hinge Total Knee Arthroplasty

Objective : To compare the function and muscle strength of the limb between patients undergoing knee arthroplasties using primary implants with posterior stabilization (control group) and patients with rotating hinge implants (Hinge group). Methods : Function assessment was performed using the Knee Society Score (KSS) and muscle strength using an isokinetic dynamometer using a speed of 60°/s. Results : 43 patients were analyzed, who underwent 51 surgeries, with the Hinge group comprising 25 surgeries and the control group comprising 26 primary surgeries. We did not observe significant differences between the Hinge and control groups in the values of functional KSS (p = 0.54), objective KSS (p = 0.91), peak flexor torque (p = 0.25) and peak extensor torque (p = 0.08). Patients in the Hinge group who underwent primary arthroplasties had a higher peak flexor torque (0.76 Nm/kg) than those who used the implant in revision after septic failure (0.33 Nm/kg) (p < 0.05). The constrained implant was indicated in arthroplasty revision surgeries with severe ligament instability and in cases of complex primary arthroplasties with bone destruction or severe coronal deformity in the coronal plane. Conclusion : The use of constrained implants enables joint function and muscle strength comparable to patients who underwent primary arthroplasty using conventional implants with posterior stabilization. Patients undergoing septic revision with a rotating Hinge prosthesis exhibit lower flexor muscle strength compared to those undergoing primary arthroplasty with a constrained implant.
Thiolutin has complex effects in vivo but is a direct inhibitor of RNA Polymerase II in vitro

Thiolutin is a natural product transcription inhibitor with an unresolved mode of action. Thiolutin and the related dithiolopyrrolone holomycin chelate Zn2+ and previous studies have concluded that RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) inhibition in vivo is indirect. Here, we present chemicogenetic and biochemical approaches to investigate thiolutin’s mode of action in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We identify mutants that alter sensitivity to thiolutin. We provide genetic evidence that thiolutin causes oxidation of thioredoxins in vivo and that thiolutin both induces oxidative stress and interacts functionally with multiple metals including Mn2+ and Cu2+, and not just Zn2+. Finally, we show direct inhibition of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription initiation by thiolutin in vitro in support of classical studies that thiolutin can directly inhibit transcription in vitro. Inhibition requires both Mn2+ and appropriate reduction of thiolutin as excess DTT abrogates its effects. Pause prone, defective elongation can be observed in vitro if inhibition is bypassed. Thiolutin effects on Pol II occupancy in vivo are widespread but major effects are consistent with prior observations for Tor pathway inhibition and stress induction, suggesting that thiolutin use in vivo should be restricted to studies on its modes of action and not as an experimental tool.
Enhancing Cooperative Diversity Gains in Dual-Hop One-Way/Two-Way AF Relaying Systems: A Fully Opportunistic Role Selection Strategy

In this paper, we establish a three-node cooperative framework, where three nodes compete to transmit their own information to other nodes in an adaptive manner. Motivated by Darwin's “natural selection law” whose essence is “adaptation,” a new opportunistic ROle SElection (ROSE) mechanism is presented, and the cooperative role for each node can be adaptively adjusted based on the instantaneous channel fading environment. We refer to this fully dynamic role selection rule as full-ROSE. Then, the proposed full-ROSE strategy is incorporated into classical one-way and two-way dual-hop amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying systems, and analytic lower and upper bound expressions are derived for the system outage probability. Furthermore, an asymptotic analysis is performed to characterize the system outage behavior at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which manifests that under both one-way and two-way relaying scenarios, the proposed full-ROSE strategy can boost the system diversity gain relative to a traditional fixed-role configuration, and a higher diversity gain, as well as a superior diversity–multiplexing tradeoff (DMT), can be achieved. In addition, a new measure, namely, the ROSE gain, is defined to describe the performance improvement of the full-ROSE strategy relative to the fixed-role configuration. Finally, the impacts of node placement and transmit SNR on the system outage performance and ROSE gain are investigated, and insightful discussions are drawn.
Fracture Resistance and Mode of Failure of Ceramic versus Titanium Implant Abutments and Single Implant-Supported Restorations.

BACKGROUND The material of choice for implant-supported restorations is affected by esthetic requirements and type of abutment. PURPOSE This study compares the fracture resistance of different types of implant abutments and implant-supported restorations and their mode of failure. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five Oraltronics Pitt-Easy implants (Oraltronics Dental Implant Technology GmbH, Bremen, Germany) (4 mm diameter, 10 mm length) were embedded in clear autopolymerizing acrylic resin. The implants were randomly divided into three groups, A, B and C, of 15 implants each. In group A, titanium abutments and metal-ceramic crowns were used. In group B, zirconia ceramic abutments and In-Ceram Alumina crowns were used. In group C, zirconia ceramic abutments and IPS Empress Esthetic crowns were used. Specimens were tested to failure by applying load at 130° from horizontal plane using an Instron Universal Testing Machine. Subsequently, the mode of failure of each specimen was identified. RESULTS Fracture resistance was significantly different between groups (p < .05). The highest fracture loads were associated with metal-ceramic crowns supported by titanium abutments (p = .000). IPS Empress crowns supported by zirconia abutments had the lowest fracture loads (p = .000). Fracture modes of metal-ceramic crowns supported by titanium abutments included screw fracture and screw bending. Fracture of both crown and abutment was the dominant mode of failure of In-Ceram/IPS Empress crowns supported by zirconia abutments. CONCLUSIONS Metal-ceramic crowns supported by titanium abutments were more resistant to fracture than In-Ceram crowns supported by zirconia abutments, which in turn were more resistant to fracture than IPS Empress crowns supported by zirconia abutments. In addition, failure modes of restorations supported by zirconia abutments were more catastrophic than those for restorations supported by titanium abutments.