Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Telomere length and depression: Prospective cohort study and Mendelian randomisation study in 67 306 individuals

Background Depression has been cross-sectionally associated with short telomeres as a measure of biological age. However, the direction and nature of the association is currently unclear. Aims We examined whether short telomere length is associated with depression cross-sectionally as well as prospectively and genetically. Method Telomere length and three polymorphisms, TERT, TERC and OBFC1, were measured in 67306 individuals aged 20–100 years from the Danish general population and associated with register-based attendance at hospital for depression and purchase of antidepressant medication. Results Attendance at hospital for depression was associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally, but not prospectively. Further, purchase of antidepressant medication was not associated with short telomere length cross-sectionally or prospectively. Mean follow-up was 7.6 years (range 0.0–21.5). The genetic analyses suggested that telomere length was not causally associated with attendance at hospital for depression or with purchase of antidepressant medication. Conclusions Short telomeres were not associated with depression in prospective or in causal, genetic analyses.
Stroke of bad luck?

ABSTRACT We hypothesized that distinct acute right hemisphere lesions disrupt separate components of valuation and emotional response to winning and losing money and of emotional empathy in observing a partner win or lose money. We measured skin conductance response (SCR) and ratings of emotions when acute right hemisphere stroke patients or healthy controls won or lost money in roulette, or when they watched a partner win or lose. Our results showed that percentage of damage after stroke to right anterior insula and frontal operculum negatively correlated with both SCR to winning and losing and difference between rating wins versus losses.
Use of Prescription Medication by Individuals Who Died by Suicide in Northern Ireland

To understand medication use prior to suicide in relation to patterns, polypharmacy, and adherence. A total of 1,371 suicide cases were coded and latent class analysis used to identify combinations of medications prescribed prior to death. Two thirds had been prescribed medication with 30.7% prescribed 3 or more. Latent class analysis revealed three classes: Mixed medication use, primarily mental medication use, and baseline/low medication use. There are potentially high rates of medication non-adherence. Not only medication use but also non-adherence rates were high in this sample of individuals who died by suicide. Potential implications and areas for future research are discussed.
Bacillus subtilis and surfactin inhibit the transmissible gastroenteritis virus from entering the intestinal epithelial cells

Intestinal epithelial cells are the targets for transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) virus (TGEV) infection. It is urgent to develop a novel candidate against TGEV entry. Bacillus subtilis is a probiotic with excellent anti-microorganism properties and one of its secretions, surfactin, has been regarded as a versatile weapon for most plant pathogens, especially for the enveloped virus. We demonstrate for the first time that B. subtilis OKB105 and its surfactin can effectively inhibit one animal coronavirus, TGEV, entering the intestinal porcine epithelial cell line (IPEC-J2). Then, several different experiments were performed to seek the might mechanisms. The plaque assays showed that surfactant could reduce the plaque generation of TGEV in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile, after incubation with TGEV for 1.5 h, B. subtilis could attach TGEV particles to their surface so that the number of virus to bind to the host cells was declined. Furthermore, our data showed that the inhibition of B. subtilis was closely related to the competition with TGEV for the viral entry receptors, including epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and aminopeptidase N (APN) protein. In addition, Western blotting and apoptosis analysis indicated that B. subtilis could enhance the resistance of IPEC-J2 cells by up-regulating the expression of toll-like receptor (TLR)-6 and reducing the percentage of apoptotic cells. Taken together, our results suggest that B. subtilis OKB105 and its surfactin can antagonize TGEV entry in vitro and may serve as promising new candidates for TGEV prevention.
Informal work-related injuries: a one year prospective study in a rural community in Serbia

ABSTRACT Work-related injuries occurring during informal work often go unreported, yet lead to significant mortality and contribute substantially to disease burden due to injury-related disability. In Serbia, injury is a leading cause of death, with work-related injuries comprising a significant proportion. This study explored the frequency of and risk factors for these injuries in a rural Serbian community. During the 12-month study period, physicians from a municipal Primary Care Centre reported all presenting injuries using a specific injury report form. One in four injuries reported occurred during informal work practices, accounting for 71% of all reported work-related injuries. These occurred within the household in 85% of cases, and were more severe in males (79%). Regarding work-related injuries, informal workers were significantly older than formally employed workers, regardless of sex. Public policy should address safety improvements for informal workers, via provision of relevant training and protective equipment.
Bending properties of fine-grained concrete composite beams reinforced with single-layer carbon/polypropylene woven fabrics with different weave designs and thread densities

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of thread density and weave design on the bending properties of fine-grained concrete beams reinforced with single layer carbon/polypropylene woven fabric. In this study, at first, fabrics were woven with two types of design (plain and twill) and four different thread densities. Then, they were compounded into fine-grained concrete as a beam. After 4 weeks, the bending properties of all the samples were tested using four-point bending test method. The bending properties of these composite samples were evaluated using different parameters including the load at the elastic zone (limit of proportionality [LOP]) as well as the highest-peak point (modulus of rupture), toughness values, and toughness indices at the specific deflections. New parameters namely: toughness value and toughness index at the highest-peak point were also suggested in this study. The results showed that the bending load of concrete beams reinforced with plain fabric at the elastic region (LOP point) is identical to that of simple concrete beam whereas concrete beams reinforced with twill fabric exhibited lower value. Also, increasing thread density increased the bending load at the composite failure point while the effect of weave design was not significant. It is also indicated that the toughness properties of concrete composite beams have been improved with a denser carbon/polypropylene fabric particularly at higher bending deflections whereas the weave design did not show any significant effect and only influenced on toughness properties at small deflection values. The obtained results of this work suggest that concrete composite beams reinforced with carbon/polypropylene woven fabrics on average are 6.5–40.75 times tougher than simple concrete beams.
A Lower Allred Score for Progesterone Receptor Is Strongly Associated With a Higher Recurrence Score of 21-Gene Assay in Breast Cancer

ABSTRACT Among the 77 infiltrating breast carcinomas, we found that progesterone receptor (PR) expression was inversely associated with recurrence score (RS, p < .0001). RS is also significantly associated with tubule formation, mitosis, and luminal B subtype. The equation of RS = 17.489 + 2.071 (tubal formation) + 2.926 (mitosis) –2.408 (PR) –1.061 (HER2) + 7.051 (luminal A) + 29.172 (luminal B) predicts RS with an R2 of 0.65. In conclusion, PR negativity, luminal B subtype, tubal formation, and mitosis are strongly correlated with a higher RS.
Development of a Function-Blocking Antibody Against Fibulin-3 as a Targeted Reagent for Glioblastoma

Purpose: We sought a novel approach against glioblastomas (GBM) focused on targeting signaling molecules localized in the tumor extracellular matrix (ECM). We investigated fibulin-3, a glycoprotein that forms the ECM scaffold of GBMs and promotes tumor progression by driving Notch and NFκB signaling. Experimental Design: We used deletion constructs to identify a key signaling motif of fibulin-3. An mAb (mAb428.2) was generated against this epitope and extensively validated for specific detection of human fibulin-3. mAb428.2 was tested in cultures to measure its inhibitory effect on fibulin-3 signaling. Nude mice carrying subcutaneous and intracranial GBM xenografts were treated with the maximum achievable dose of mAb428.2 to measure target engagement and antitumor efficacy. Results: We identified a critical 23-amino acid sequence of fibulin-3 that activates its signaling mechanisms. mAb428.2 binds to that epitope with nanomolar affinity and blocks the ability of fibulin-3 to activate ADAM17, Notch, and NFκB signaling in GBM cells. mAb428.2 treatment of subcutaneous GBM xenografts inhibited fibulin-3, increased tumor cell apoptosis, and enhanced the infiltration of inflammatory macrophages. The antibody reduced tumor growth and extended survival of mice carrying GBMs as well as other fibulin-3–expressing tumors. Locally infused mAb428.2 showed efficacy against intracranial GBMs, increasing tumor apoptosis and reducing tumor invasion and vascularization, which are enhanced by fibulin-3. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first rationally developed, function-blocking antibody against an ECM target in GBM. Our results offer a proof of principle for using “anti-ECM” strategies toward more efficient targeted therapies for malignant glioma. Clin Cancer Res; 24(4); 821–33. ©2017 AACR.
Real World Evaluation of Approaches to Research Paper Recommendation

In this work, we have identified the need for choosing baseline approaches for research-paper recommendation systems. Following a literature survey of all research paper recommendation approaches described over the last four years, we framed criteria that makes for a well-rounded set of baselines. These are implemented on Mr. DLib a literature recommendation platform. User click data was collected as part of an ongoing experiment in collaboration with our partner Gesis. We reported the results from our evaluation for the experiments. We will be able to draw clearer conclusions as time passes. We find that a term based similarity search performs better than keyword based approaches. These results are a good starting point in finding performance improvements for related document searches.
New Steganalytic Features for Spatial Image Steganography Based on Derivative Filters and Threshold LBP Operator

The standard local binary pattern (LBP) operator shows its versatility in performing image classification-related tasks, including texture analysis, object recognition, and steganalysis. However, a conventional well-designed scheme utilizing LBP operator and histogram-based features does not have obvious advantage when compared with the well-known steganalytic scheme spatial rich model (SRM). In this paper, we propose an adapted LBP version, called threshold LBP (TLBP), to reveal the artifacts caused by data embedding. In the proposed steganalytic scheme, the TLBP operation is performed on residual images which are obtained by using a set of high-order derivative filters to capture intricate relationships among pixels. After performing TLBP operation, second order co-occurrence matrix features are formed and then processed with aggregation and non-linear mapping for boosting feature effectiveness. Experimental results show that the proposed TLBP features prevail over SRM features under various steganographic conditions.
Effects of Pemafibrate, a Novel Selective PPARα Modulator, on Lipid and Glucose Metabolism in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertriglyceridemia: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Phase 3 Trial

OBJECTIVE Type 2 diabetes is frequently complicated with atherogenic dyslipidemia. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pemafibrate (K-877) in patients with type 2 diabetes comorbid with hypertriglyceridemia. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to three groups and received placebo (n = 57), 0.2 mg/day pemafibrate (n = 54), or 0.4 mg/day pemafibrate (n = 55) for 24 weeks (treatment period 1). Subsequently, the patients received follow-up treatment for another 28 weeks (treatment period 2), in which the placebo was switched to 0.2 mg/day pemafibrate. This article presents the results of treatment period 1, which were the primary objectives. RESULTS The pemafibrate groups showed significantly reduced fasting serum triglyceride levels by ∼45% compared with the placebo group (P < 0.001). Additionally, the pemafibrate groups displayed significant decreases in non-HDL and remnant lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein (Apo) B100, ApoB48, and ApoCIII levels and significant increases in HDL cholesterol and ApoA-I levels. LDL cholesterol levels were not considerably altered in the pemafibrate groups. Furthermore, the 0.2 mg/day pemafibrate group showed a significantly reduced HOMA–insulin resistance score compared with the placebo group; however, no significant changes compared with placebo were found in fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, glycoalbumin, or HbA1c levels. The pemafibrate groups also showed significantly increased fibroblast growth factor 21 levels compared with the placebo group. All groups displayed comparable rates of adverse events and drug reactions. CONCLUSIONS Pemafibrate significantly ameliorated lipid abnormalities and was well tolerated in patients with type 2 diabetes comorbid with hypertriglyceridemia.
Climatic conditions cause spatially dynamic polygyny thresholds in a large mammal

The polygyny threshold (PT) is a critical transition point in the sexual selection process for many organisms in natural populations, characterizing when females choose to mate with an already mated male over an unmated one to improve fitness. Understanding its causes and consequences is therefore of high interest. While both theoretical and empirical work suggest that the degree of polygyny within a species is plastic and a function of male inequality, the functional relationship between underlying availability of resources occupied by breeding males under variable climatic conditions and the dynamics of PTs across space and time has received less attention. Here, we use a standardized measure of male mating inequality as the culmination of female mate choices to analyse how spatially dynamic PTs in a naturally regulated feral horse (Equus ferus caballus) population emerge along a geographic gradient in a known, limiting resource (freshwater) each year from variable climatic conditions. Polygyny threshold distance from permanent freshwater increased with increasing precipitation during the breeding season of each year, suggesting a relationship between annual resource availability and female mate choice. The mechanism by which climatic conditions underpin the spatial dynamics of PTs was likely through precipitation providing ephemeral freshwater sources across the study area that effectively weakened the gradient in availability of permanent freshwater, thereby providing mating males that occupied home ranges far from permanent water with access to this limiting resource and enabling them to attract and retain females. Increased precipitation also coincided with a decreased proportion of males in the population that experienced sexual selection pressure attributed to female mate choice in relation to the acquisition and/or defence of freshwater sources. Climatic conditions caused spatial shifts in PTs annually along the geographic gradient in resource availability. Our findings reveal that such environmental gradients may either buffer or amplify impacts of climatic variation on selection pressure operating in natural populations, and emphasize the importance of integrating spatially explicit PTs with atmospheric fluctuations when predicting the effect of climatic change on selection processes within populations that occupy environmental gradients.
Usefulness of subcutaneous nitrate for radial access

Objectives: We made the hypothesis that adjunction of nitrate to lidocaine for local anesthesia may facilitate accessibility of radial access. Background: Transradial approach is associated with a clear decrease in the rate of access bleeding when compared with femoral approach. The diffusion of this technique remains limited due to the small size and the spastic profile of this artery. Methods: Eighty‐four consecutive patients undergoing coronary procedures using radial approach were randomly assigned between two types of local anesthesia (double blind): 5 ml lidocaine (group L)—5 ml lidocaine + 0.5 mg dinitrate isosorbide (group LN). The primary endpoint was the duration of radial puncture (from beginning of local anesthesia to sheath insertion) and the total number of punctures. Results: Sixty‐two men and 22 women (mean age 59 ± 8 y.o.) were included. Mean ± SEM access duration was 3:33 ± 3:11 min in group L when compared with 2:26 ± 1:20 min in group LN (P < 0.05). Mean number of puncture was 1.50 ± 1.0 in group L when compared with 1.16 ± 0.5 in group LN (P = 0.05). There were no differences between two groups concerning pain score during anesthesia and sheath insertion. There was no difference between two groups concerning the rate of hypotensive and vagal reactions. Radial spasm occurred in four patients in group L and only one in the group LN. Conclusion: Local anesthesia using lidocaine plus nitrate is feasible and improves the accessibility of radial access. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Use of Handwriting Input in Math Tutoring Systems: An Use Case with PAT2Math

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) for Math still use traditional methods of input, such as computer keyboard and mouse. This strategy exposes students to a high extraneous cognitive load, due to the way the students are used to work, what could impair their learning. This paper presents a tool for Math ITSs that uses the student handwriting as data input. This tool was integrated into PAT2Math, an algebraic ITS, for an experimental evaluation in a public school with 48 students. It followed a design of control and experimental groups with pre and post-tests and a post questionnaire. Although our results have shown statistically significant improvement in student learning gains in both groups, no difference between groups was found. However, questionnaire responses suggest that handwriting provides a greater facility to the insertion of equations into ITSs for Math if compared with traditional methods (i.e., keyboard and mouse).
Passive GNSS-Based SAR Resolution Improvement Using Joint Galileo E5 Signals

This letter demonstrates the feasibility of improving range resolution in passive synthetic aperture radar with the Galileo navigation satellites as transmitters of opportunity. This can be done by an appropriate coherent combination of the Galileo E5a and E5b signals. The proposed approach is analytically derived and is confirmed both by simulation and experiments.
Preference or paradigm? Bonobos show no evidence of other-regard in the standard prosocial choice task

Bonobos are the only ape species, other than humans, that have demonstrated prosocial behaviors toward groupmates and strangers. However, bonobos have not been tested in the most frequently used test of prosociality in animals. The current study tested the other-regarding preferences of bonobos in two experiments using the prosocial choice task. In the first experiment subjects preferred a food option that would benefit both themselves and another bonobo. This preference was likely the result of a location bias developed in the pretest since they showed the same preference in the non-social control condition within test sessions. A second experiment was designed to help subjects overcome this bias that might interfere with their social choices. Bonobos again did not prefer to choose the prosocial option. However, results suggest constraints of this paradigm in revealing social preferences. In discussing our results we consider why bonobos show robust prosocial preferences in other paradigms but not here. While others have suggested that such contradictory results might suggest interesting motivational or cognitive differences between humans and non-humans, we propose that the current ‘standard’ paradigm has failed validation due to three methodological constraints. Across the dozens of studies completed few have demonstrated that non-human subjects understand the causal properties of the apparatus, non-social biases quickly develop in inadequately counterbalanced pretests that typically explain subjects’ choices in the test, and even human children found this choice task too cognitively demanding to consistently show prosocial preferences. We suggest it is time to consider switching to a variety of more powerful and valid measures.
A Multi-Layer Neural-Mass Model for Learning Sequences using Theta/Gamma oscillations

A neural mass model for the memorization of sequences is presented. It exploits three layers of cortical columns that generate a theta/gamma rhythm. The first layer implements an auto-associative memory working in the theta range; the second segments objects in the gamma range; finally, the feedback interactions between the third and the second layers realize a hetero-associative memory for learning a sequence. After training with Hebbian and anti-Hebbian rules, the network recovers sequences and accounts for the phase-precession phenomenon.
Adjustment for time-dependent unmeasured confounders in marginal structural Cox models using validation sample data

Large databases used in observational studies of drug safety often lack information on important confounders. The resulting unmeasured confounding bias may be avoided by using additional confounder information, frequently available in smaller clinical “validation samples”. Yet, no existing method that uses such validation samples is able to deal with unmeasured time-varying variables acting as both confounders and possible mediators of the treatment effect. We propose and compare alternative methods which control for confounders measured only in a validation sample within marginal structural Cox models. Each method corrects the time-varying inverse probability of treatment weights for all subject-by-time observations using either regression calibration of the propensity score, or multiple imputation of unmeasured confounders. Two proposed methods rely on martingale residuals from a Cox model that includes only confounders fully measured in the large database, to correct inverse probability of treatment weight for imputed values of unmeasured confounders. Simulation demonstrates that martingale residual-based methods systematically reduce confounding bias over naïve methods, with multiple imputation including the martingale residual yielding, on average, the best overall accuracy. We apply martingale residual-based imputation to re-assess the potential risk of drug-induced hypoglycemia in diabetic patients, where an important laboratory test is repeatedly measured only in a small sub-cohort.