Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy for treatment-resistant depression with psychiatric comorbidity: comparison of individual versus group CBT in an interdisciplinary rehabilitation setting

Abstract Background: Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) has been shown to be effective, yet there is a paucity of research on the differential effectiveness of individual and group CBT for adults with treatment-resistant depression with psychiatric comorbidity. Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of individual and group CBT for inpatients, in an interdisciplinary rehabilitation setting; the extent of psychiatric comorbidity; and who benefits the most from group CBT. Methods: All patients (n = 181) received 6 weeks of rehabilitation (treatment as usual, TAU). In addition, they were randomly allocated to group CBT (n = 86) or individual CBT (n = 59) combined with TAU, or TAU only (n = 36). All CBT therapists were part of an interdisciplinary team, had at least 1-year CBT training, and attended weekly supervision. The same CBT manual was used for individual and group therapy, providing 12 sessions, two per week. Groups had 12–15 participants and two therapists in each session. Results: Individual CBT was superior in efficacy to group CBT and TAU, with a large within-subject effect size (ES = 2.10). Group CBT was not superior to TAU. The benefits of treatment decreased over time, but remained large at 18-month follow-up for individual CBT (ES = 1.02), and medium for group CBT (ES = 0.46) and TAU (ES = 0.60). Conclusions: Individual CBT was an effective addition to TAU and showed significant improvements in symptom severity post-treatment and at 18-month follow-up. Disorder severity and comorbidity may have decreased effectiveness of group therapy primarily aimed at depression.
Hierarchical Fusion Estimation for Clustered Asynchronous Sensor Networks

In this note, a hierarchical fusion estimation method is presented for clustered sensor networks with a very general setup where sensors (sensor nodes) and estimators (cluster heads) are allowed to work asynchronously with aperiodic sampling and estimation rates. A sequential measurement fusion (SMF) method is presented to design local estimators, and it is shown that the SMF estimator is equivalent to the measurement augmentation (MA) estimator in precision but with much lower computational complexity. Two types of sequential covariance intersection (CI) fusion estimators are presented for the fusion estimation. The proposed SCI fusion estimators provide a satisfactory estimation precision that is close to the centralized batch CI (BCI) estimator while requiring smaller computational burden as compared with the BCI estimator. Therefore, the proposed hierarchical fusion estimation method is suitable for real-time applications in asynchronous sensor networks with energy constraints. Moreover, the method is applicable to the case with packet delays and losses.
A Comprehensive Study of Activity Recognition Using Accelerometers

This paper serves as a survey and empirical evaluation of the state-of-the-art in activity recognition methods using accelerometers. The paper is particularly focused on long-term activity recognition in real-world settings. In these environments, data collection is not a trivial matter; thus, there are performance trade-offs between prediction accuracy, which is not the sole system objective, and keeping the maintenance overhead at minimum levels. We examine research that has focused on the selection of activities, the features that are extracted from the accelerometer data, the segmentation of the time-series data, the locations of accelerometers, the selection and configuration trade-offs, the test/retest reliability, and the generalisation performance. Furthermore, we study these questions from an experimental platform and show, somewhat surprisingly, that many disparate experimental configurations yield comparable predictive performance on testing data. Our understanding of these results is that the experimental setup directly and indirectly defines a pathway for context to be delivered to the classifier, and that, in some settings, certain configurations are more optimal than alternatives. We conclude by identifying how the main results of this work can be used in practice, specifically in experimental configurations in challenging experimental conditions.
Site-specific features affect pollination success of a gynodioecious understory shrub in a gender-specific mode

Abstract Daphne laureola (Thymelaeaceae) is a gynodioecious, winter-flowering shrub inhabiting the understory of shady mountain forests. The small, inconspicuous yellowish-green flowers are pollinated by ectothermic insects whose activity is mainly confined to infrequent spells of sunny weather. We tested the hypotheses that (1) the solar irradiance environment of individual D. laureola plants and distance to the nearest conspecific should influence their pollination success and (2) the effect of both site-specific features on pollination success should be sex-dependent, given the difference between female and hermaphrodite flowers in conspicuousness and floral rewards. We estimated maternal pollination success (mean number of pollen tubes/pistil and proportion of unfertilized flowers), measured the distance to the nearest flowering conspecific, and evaluated the irradiance environment (percent of canopy cover) for individual D. laureola plants in 7 southeastern Spanish populations. On average, hermaphrodite flowers were pollinated more often and had more pollen tubes/pistil than females. Distance to the nearest conspecific affected individual pollination success negatively, but the effect was significant only for females. Furthermore, there existed a highly significant sex x cover interaction effect on pollination success. Among female individuals, the number of pollen tubes/pistil decreased and the proportion of unfertilized flowers increased from closed to more open sites, while hermaphrodites showed non-significant and opposite trends. The contrasting sign of the relationship between cover and pollination success for the 2 genders is expected to generate a fine-scale, within-habitat mosaic in the magnitude of the pollination advantage of hermaphrodite individuals, which would be greater in the more open, sunny locations where ectothermic pollinators should be more active. Site-specific differences in relative pollination success of sexes might contribute to the persistence of gynodioecy of D. laureola in our study region.
Microbes Central to Human Reproduction

As studies uncover the breadth of microbes associated with human life, opportunities will emerge to manipulate and augment their functions in ways that improve health and longevity. From involvement in the complexities of reproduction and fetal/infant development, to delaying the onset of disease, and indeed countering many maladies, microbes offer hope for human well‐being. Evidence is emerging to suggest that microbes may play a beneficial role in body sites traditionally viewed as being sterile. Although further evidence is required, we propose that much of medical dogma is about to change significantly through recognition and understanding of these hitherto unrecognized microbe–host interactions. A meeting of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics held in Aberdeen, Scotland (June 2014), presented new views and challenged established concepts on the role of microbes in reproduction and health of the mother and infant. This article summarizes some of the main aspects of these discussions.
The Complete Chloroplast Genome of Catha edulis: A Comparative Analysis of Genome Features with Related Species

Qat (Catha edulis, Celastraceae) is a woody evergreen species with great economic and cultural importance. It is cultivated for its stimulant alkaloids cathine and cathinone in East Africa and southwest Arabia. However, genome information, especially DNA sequence resources, for C. edulis are limited, hindering studies regarding interspecific and intraspecific relationships. Herein, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of Catha edulis is reported. This genome is 157,960 bp in length with 37% GC content and is structurally arranged into two 26,577 bp inverted repeats and two single-copy areas. The size of the small single-copy and the large single-copy regions were 18,491 bp and 86,315 bp, respectively. The C. edulis cp genome consists of 129 coding genes including 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 84 protein coding genes. For those genes, 112 are single copy genes and 17 genes are duplicated in two inverted regions with seven tRNAs, four rRNAs, and six protein coding genes. The phylogenetic relationships resolved from the cp genome of qat and 32 other species confirms the monophyly of Celastraceae. The cp genomes of C. edulis, Euonymus japonicus and seven Celastraceae species lack the rps16 intron, which indicates an intron loss took place among an ancestor of this family. The cp genome of C. edulis provides a highly valuable genetic resource for further phylogenomic research, barcoding and cp transformation in Celastraceae.
The effect of dietary 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol in preventing tibial dyschondroplasia in broilers fed on diets imbalanced in calcium and phosphorus

Three experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of supplemental dietary 1·25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1·25(OH)2cholecalciferol) and a low dietary Ca:P ratio on the occurrence of tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) in 3-week-old broilers. Histopathology was used to diagnose TD. In the first experiment, feeding a diet containing 7·5 g Ca and 7·6 g P/kg gave a higher incidence of TD than a control diet containing normal amounts of Ca and P (12 and 6 g/kg respectively). Increasing the dietary supplement of cholecalciferol in the imbalanced diet prevented rickets but did not decrease the incidence of TD. In the second experiment, supplementing the imbalanced diet with 10 μg 1·25(OH)2cholecalciferol/kg prevented TD completely but also gave a slight growth depression. In the third experiment the imbalanced diet was supplemented with 0, 2·5, 5 or 10 μg 1·25(OH)2 cholecalciferol/kg. The supplement of 2·5 μg/kg depressed and the higher supplements prevented the occurrence of TD, this time without a growth depression. Feeding the 10 μg/kg supplement for the first week only did not prevent TD. Plasma total Ca, inorganic P and alkaline phosphatase (EC 3·1·3·1) were unaffected by diet but 1·25(OH)2cholecalciferol was higher on the imbalanced than on the control diet. Supplementation of the imbalanced diet with 1·25(OH)2cholecalciferol did not increase plasma levels. It is concluded that 1·25(OH)2cholecalciferol is exerting a powerful biological effect in this model of TD, but the mechanism is unclear.
Importance of and Satisfaction with Psychosocial Support among Cancer Patients and Survivors in Puerto Rico: Gender, Health Status, and Quality of Life Associations.

OBJECTIVE To assess needs perceptions regarding the importance of and satisfaction with psychosocial support among cancer patients and survivors in Puerto Rico. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in 181 participants (70 men and 111 women) who were either undergoing cancer treatment (patients) or had completed cancer treatment (survivors). Participants completed a sociodemographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire, and the Psychosocial Needs Inventory (PNI). RESULTS The participants reported having or having had prostate (36%) or breast (32%) cancer or some other cancer type (32%). Of the 149 participants reporting cancer type, 130 were classified as having a high perceived level of health and quality of life, and 19 were classified as having a low perceived level of health and quality of life. In terms of perceived needs, the highest level of importance were assigned to the Support Network (e.g. family, friends, neighbors, care professionals; M = 2.88, SD = 0.43) and Health Professional (e.g., patient-health professional relationship, etc.; M = 2.80, SD = 0.50) categories, and the Emotional and Spiritual category was given the lowest importance (e.g., help managing negative emotions and spiritual counseling, etc.; M = 2.62, SD = 0.66). These perceptions varied by gender, perceived health status, and date of diagnosis. Women assigned more importance to the Health Professional and Information categories. CONCLUSION The results reflect the importance of considering psychosocial needs when providing psychosocial support to cancer patients and survivors. These findings are anticipated to inform services provided by psychosocial oncology support programs in Puerto Rico.
Eight years of clinical experience with digit replantation: Demographic characteristics and outcomes.

BACKGROUND Despite surgical and technical advances in microsurgery, it is still difficult to obtain satisfactory results after replantation of finger amputation. The aim of the present study was to discuss some of the many factors that can affect the success rate of replantation. METHODS A retrospective analysis of 60 patients with 85 finger replantations was performed. Revascularizations and replantations proximal to the metacarpophalangeal joint were excluded. Demographic characteristics of the patients, place of injury, mechanism of injury, level of amputation, and success rate were examined. RESULTS A total of 53 male and 7 female patients with mean age of 31 years were included in the study. Index finger (27%) was the most commonly replanted digit. Left side was the more affected, with 62%. Mechanism of injury was crush in 56%, guillotine in 23%, and avulsion in 21% of replanted digits. Success rate was 81%, 53%, and 36% in guillotine, crush, and avulsion injuries, respectively. CONCLUSION In conclusion, the injury type and personal variables are very important in the rate of replantation success. Knowledge about the effects of different factors on the results of replantation surgery will provide guidance to hand surgeons in order to inform patients and their relatives properly.
Heartfelt Memories: Cardiac Vagal Tone Correlates With Increased Memory for Untrustworthy Faces

During social interactions, we rapidly judge others’ trustworthiness on basis of their facial characteristics. Face-based trustworthiness judgments may not only affect our current but also our future interactions because we seem to be more inclined to remember untrustworthy than trustworthy faces. Memory formation of salient stimuli like untrustworthy faces may be modulated by the interplay between the autonomic and central nervous system, which can be indexed by changes in vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV). To test this assumption, we investigated whether differences in HRV would be associated with differences in memory formation of untrustworthy faces in a sample of healthy participants (n = 34, all female). Untrustworthy faces were remembered more accurately than trustworthy faces, albeit only by participants with high and not low HRV. Across participants, increased memory accuracy for untrustworthy faces was associated with increased HRV. We discuss these findings in the context of neurobiological theories regarding the interplay between the autonomic and central nervous system during the regulation of autonomic, emotional and cognitive processes.
KATP channel inhibition blunts electromechanical decline during hypoxia in left ventricular working rabbit hearts

Heart function is critically dependent upon the balance of energy production and utilization. Sarcolemmal ATP‐sensitive potassium channels (KATP channels) in cardiac myocytes adjust contractile function to compensate for the level of available energy. Understanding the activation of KATP channels in working myocardium during high‐stress situations is crucial to the treatment of cardiovascular disease, especially ischaemic heart disease. Using a new optical mapping approach, we measured action potentials from the surface of excised contracting rabbit hearts to assess when sarcolemmal KATP channels were activated during physiologically relevant workloads and during gradual reductions in myocardial oxygenation. We demonstrate that left ventricular pressure is closely linked to KATP channel activation and that KATP channel inhibition with a low concentration of tolbutamide prevents electromechanical decline when oxygen availability is reduced. As a result, KATP channel inhibition probably exacerbates a mismatch between energy demand and energy production when myocardial oxygenation is low.
Relationship of Arterial Stiffness Index and Pulse Pressure With Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality

Background Vascular aging results in stiffer arteries and may have a role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Arterial stiffness index (ASI), measured by finger photoplethysmography, and pulse pressure (PP) are 2 independent vascular aging indices. We investigated whether ASI or PP predict new‐onset CVD and mortality in a large community‐based population. Methods and Results We studied 169 613 UK Biobank participants (mean age 56.8 years; 45.8% males) who underwent ASI measurement and blood pressure measurement for PP calculation. Mean±SD ASI was 9.30±3.1 m/s and mean±SD PP was 50.98±13.2 mm Hg. During a median disease follow‐up of 2.8 years (interquartile range 1.4–4.0), 18 190 participants developed CVD, of which 1587 myocardial infarction (MI), 4326 coronary heart disease, 1192 heart failure, and 1319 stroke. During a median mortality follow‐up of 6.1 years (interquartile range 5.8–6.3), 3678 participants died, of which 1180 of CVD. Higher ASI was associated with increased risk of overall CVD (unadjusted hazard ratio 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25–1.28), myocardial infarction (1.38; 95% CI, 1.32–1.44), coronary heart disease (1.31; 95% CI, 1.27–1.34), and heart failure (1.31; 95% CI 1.24–1.37). ASI also predicted mortality (all‐cause, CVD, other). Higher PP was associated with overall CVD (1.57; 95% CI, 1.55–1.59), myocardial infarction (1.48; 95% CI, 1.42–1.54), coronary heart disease (1.47; 95% CI, 1.43–1.50), heart failure (1.47; 95% CI, 1.40–1.55), and CVD mortality (1.47; 95% CI, 1.40–1.55). PP improved risk reclassification of CVD in a non–laboratory‐based Framingham Risk Score by 5.4%, ASI by 2.3%. Conclusions ASI and PP are independent predictors of CVD and mortality outcomes. Although both improved risk prediction for new‐onset disease, PP appears to have a larger clinical value than ASI.
The impact of medication adherence on clinical outcomes of coronary artery disease: A meta-analysis

Background Long-term use of evidence-based medications is recommended by international guidelines for the management of stable coronary artery disease, however, non-adherence to medications is common. This meta-analysis aims to systematically evaluate the impact of medication adherence on clinical outcomes in patients with stable coronary artery disease. Methods Articles from January 1960–December 2015 were retrieved from the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases without any language restriction. A meta-analysis was performed to investigate the risk ratios of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and myocardial infarction/hospitalization between groups with good medication adherence and poor medication adherence. Studies were independently reviewed by two investigators. Data from eligible studies were extracted, and the meta-analysis was performed using R Version 3.1. 0 software. Results A total of 10 studies were included in the analysis, with a total of 106,002 coronary artery disease patients. The results showed that good adherence to evidence-based medication regimens, including β-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers, antiplatelet drugs, and statins, was related to a lower risk of all-cause mortality(risk ratio 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.45–0.69), cardiovascular mortality(risk ratio 0.66; 95% confidence interval: 0.51–0.87), and cardiovascular hospitalization/myocardial infarction(risk ratio 0.61; 95% confidence interval: 0.45–0.82). Conclusions This meta-analysis confirms the significant impact of good medication adherence on clinical outcomes in patients with stable coronary artery disease. More strategy and planning are needed to improve medication adherence.
Isoflurane but Not Halothane Prevents and Reverses Helpless Behavior: A Role for EEG Burst Suppression?

Abstract Background The volatile anesthetic isoflurane may exert a rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effect in patients with medication-resistant depression. The mechanism underlying the putative therapeutic actions of the anesthetic have been attributed to its ability to elicit cortical burst suppression, a distinct EEG pattern with features resembling the characteristic changes that occur following electroconvulsive therapy. It is currently unknown whether the antidepressant actions of isoflurane are shared by anesthetics that do not elicit cortical burst suppression. Methods In vivo electrophysiological techniques were used to determine the effects of isoflurane and halothane, 2 structurally unrelated volatile anesthetics, on cortical EEG. The effects of anesthesia with either halothane or isoflurane were also compared on stress-induced learned helplessness behavior in rats and mice. Results Isoflurane, but not halothane, anesthesia elicited a dose-dependent cortical burst suppression EEG in rats and mice. Two hours of isoflurane, but not halothane, anesthesia reduced the incidence of learned helplessness in rats evaluated 2 weeks following exposure. In mice exhibiting a learned helplessness phenotype, a 1-hour exposure to isoflurane, but not halothane, reversed escape failures 24 hours following burst suppression anesthesia. Conclusions These results are consistent with a role for cortical burst suppression in mediating the antidepressant effects of isoflurane. They provide rationale for additional mechanistic studies in relevant animal models as well as a properly controlled clinical evaluation of the therapeutic benefits associated with isoflurane anesthesia in major depressive disorder.
Epitopes rationally selected through computational analyses induce T‐cell proliferation in mice and are recognized by serum from individuals infected with Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomiasis is the second leading cause of death due to parasitic diseases in the world. Seeking an alternative for the control of disease, the World Health Organization funded the genome sequencing of the major species related to schistosomiasis to identify potential vaccines and therapeutic targets. Therefore, the aim of this work was to select T and B‐cell epitopes from Schistosoma mansoni through computational analyses and evaluate the immunological potential of epitopes in vitro. Extracellular regions of membrane proteins from the Schistosoma mansoni were used to predict promiscuous epitopes with affinity to different human Major Histocompatibility Class II (MHCII) molecules by bioinformatics analysis. The three‐dimensional structure of selected epitopes was constructed and used in molecular docking to verify the interaction with murine MHCII H2‐IAb. In this process, four epitopes were selected and synthesized to assess their ability to stimulate proliferation of CD4+ T lymphocytes in mice splenocyte cultures. The results showed that Sm041370 and Sm168240 epitopes induced significant cell proliferation. Additionally, the four epitopes were used as antigens in the Indirect Enzyme‐Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) to assess the recognition by serum from individuals infected with Schistosoma mansoni. Sm140560, Sm168240, and Sm041370 epitopes were recognized by infected individuals IgG antibodies. Therefore, Sm041370 and Sm168240 epitopes that stood out in in silico and in vitro analyses could be promising antigens in schistosomiasis vaccine development or diagnostic kits. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 33:804–814, 2017