Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and safety of alpha blockers in medical expulsive therapy for ureteral stones: a mixed treatment network meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

ABSTRACT Introduction: Alpha blockers (AB) are the main group of drugs used for medical expulsive therapy (MET) in patients with ureteral stones. However, there is no consensus on the relative efficacy and safety of individual AB in MET. Areas covered: The present work is a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing AB with either placebo or standard of care in patients with ureteral stones. Electronic databases of Medline, Cochrane CENTRAL and Google Scholar were searched for eligible clinical studies. Inverse variance heterogeneity model was used for mixed treatment comparisons. Stone expulsion rate (SER) and stone expulsion time (SET) were the primary outcomes. Sub-group analyses for the following sub-groups were carried out: children; after shockwave lithotripsy; stone size of ≤5 mm; >5 mm; proximal and distal ureteral stones. Expert review: AB, phosphodiesterase inhibitors and combined AB with corticosteroids were observed with significant stone expulsion rate compared to control group in a recent network meta-analysis. Due to lack of head-to-head clinical trials within AB, only tamsulosin has been widely recommended by various urological guidelines. The results of this network meta-analysis will guide the future researchers in evaluating other promising ABs as agents for MET.
Essential oils: effects of application rate and modality on potential for combating northern fowl mite infestations

The northern fowl mite (NFM), Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae), is the primary blood‐feeding ectoparasite found on poultry in the U.S.A. Three experiments were conducted in vitro to test the acaricidal properties of cade, garlic, lavender, lemongrass, pine and thyme essential oils against NFM, and to evaluate whether these effects are altered by adjusting oil application rates and application modality (direct vs. vapour contact). Applied at the rate of 0.21 mg/cm2, the essential oils of cade, thyme, lemongrass and garlic resulted in higher NFM mortality at 24 h post‐application than lavender and pine oils, and the untreated and ethanol‐treated controls. Cade and thyme were the most consistent and fast‐acting of the essential oils in terms of toxicity to NFM. Cade applied at 0.21 mg/cm2 and 0.11 mg/cm2 and thyme applied at 0.21 mg/cm2 were effective in eliminating NFM within 2 h through direct contact. The modality of application did not affect the efficacy of cade and thyme essential oils. The results suggest that essential oils may be utilized as alternatives to chemical pesticides and could be used as fumigants for the control of NFM.
Stromal Senescence By Prolonged CDK4/6 Inhibition Potentiates Tumor Growth

Senescent cells within the tumor microenvironment (TME) adopt a proinflammatory, senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) that promotes cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance. Here, exposure to palbociclib (PD-0332991), a CDK4/6 inhibitor, induces senescence and a robust SASP in normal fibroblasts. Senescence caused by prolonged CDK4/6 inhibition is DNA damage–independent and associated with Mdm2 downregulation, whereas the SASP elicited by these cells is largely reliant upon NF-κB activation. Based upon these observations, it was hypothesized that the exposure of nontransformed stromal cells to PD-0332991 would promote tumor growth. Ongoing clinical trials of CDK4/6 inhibitors in melanoma prompted a validation of this hypothesis using a suite of genetically defined melanoma cells (i.e., Ras mutant, Braf mutant, and Ras/Braf wild-type). When cultured in the presence of CDK4/6i-induced senescent fibroblasts, melanoma cell lines exhibited genotype-dependent proliferative responses. However, in vivo, PD-0332991–treated fibroblasts enhanced the growth of all melanoma lines tested and promoted the recruitment of Gr-1–positive immune cells. These data indicate that prolonged CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment causes normal fibroblasts to enter senescence and adopt a robust SASP. Such senescent cells suppress the antitumor immune response and promote melanoma growth in immunocompetent, in vivo models. Implications: The ability of prolonged CDK4/6 inhibitor treatment to induce cellular senescence and a robust SASP in primary cells may hinder therapeutic efficacy and promote long-term, gerontogenic consequences that should be considered in clinical trials aiming to treat melanoma and other cancer types. Mol Cancer Res; 15(3); 237–49. ©2016 AACR.
The Introduction of a Full Medication Review Process in a Local Hospital: Successes and Barriers of a Pilot Project in the Geriatric Ward

For the majority of Belgian hospitals, a pharmacist-led full medication review process is not standard care and, therefore, challenging to introduce. With this study, we aimed to evaluate the successes and barriers of the implementation of a pharmacist-led full medication review process in the geriatric ward at a local Belgian hospital. To this end, we carried out an interventional study, performing a full medication review on older patients (≥70 years) with polypharmacy (≥5 drugs) who had an unplanned admission to the geriatric ward. The process consisted of 3 steps: (1) medication reconciliation upon admission; (2) medication review using an explicit reviewing tool (STOPP/START criteria or GheOP3S tool), followed by a discussion between the pharmacist and the geriatrician; and (3) medication reconciliation upon discharge. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethical Commission of the Ghent University Hospital. Outcomes included objective data on the interventions (e.g., number of drug discrepancies; number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIP)); as well as subjective experiences (e.g., satisfaction with service; opinion on inter-professional communication). There was a special focus on communication aspects within the introduction of this process. In total, 52 patients were included in the study, taking a median of 10 drugs (IQR 8–12). Upon admission, 122 drug discrepancies were detected. During medication review, 254 PIPs were detected and discussed, leading to an improvement in the appropriateness of medication use. The satisfaction of community pharmacists concerning additional communication and the satisfaction of the patients after counselling at discharge were positive. However, several barriers were encountered, such as the time-consuming process to gather necessary information from different sources, the non-continuity of the service due to the lack of trained personnel or the lack of safe, electronic platforms to share information. The communicative and non-communicative successes and hurdles encountered during this project need to be addressed in order to improve the full medication review process and to strengthen the role of the clinical pharmacist.
Percutaneous endoluminal arterial cryoenergy improves vascular remodelling after angioplasty

Summary This study aimed to investigate the effect of percutaneous endoluminal arterial cryoenergy immediately after balloon angioplasty on vascular remodeling. Restenosis, the main complication after coronary artery angioplasty, is a complex phenomenon in which vascular remodeling plays a prominent role. Observations of reduced scarring in freeze-induced wounds suggest potential value for cryoenergy in the prevention of restenosis. Juvenile swine underwent a first oversized balloon injury in both carotid arteries (CA) (3 injury sites/artery) and a second injury at day 14. At that time, one CA was randomly assigned to endoluminal cryoenergy of the sequential segments (proximal, medial, distal) at −15ºC, −30ºC, and −50ºC for 120 sec, and the other CA was used as control. Animals were sacrificed 28 days after the second procedure. Compared with intact reference segments, angioplasty reduced both the luminal (LA) and the external elastic lamina (EEL) areas from 6.66±0.59 to 3.13±0.54 mm2 (p<0.05) and from 8.81±0.81 to 6.48±0.52 mm2 (p<0.05), respectively. Cryoenergy, at the temperature with maximal benefits (-50°C), caused a temperature-related protection, as the LA was maintained (6.79±0.89 versus 7.18± 0.78 mm2 for reference) and the EEL area increased from 9.12±0.78 to 12.98±1.07 mm2, p<0.05. Moreover, cryoenergy increased the density of collagen III (p<0.05) which correlated with the maintenance of the LA (r=0.8045, p<0.009). Cryoenergy prevents late luminal loss after double-injury angioplasty by improving vascular remodeling, and is an interesting new therapeutic approach for the prevention of restenosis after angioplasty. The increased synthesis of collagen III appears to be involved in this phenomenon and could be a potential method of stabilizing the vulnerable plaque.
A therapeutic T cell receptor mimic antibody targets tumor-associated PRAME peptide/HLA-I antigens.

Preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) is a cancer-testis antigen that is expressed in many cancers and leukemias. In healthy tissue, PRAME expression is limited to the testes and ovaries, making it a highly attractive cancer target. PRAME is an intracellular protein that cannot currently be drugged. After proteasomal processing, the PRAME300– 309 peptide ALYVDSLFFL (ALY) is presented in the context of human leukocyte antigen HLA-A*02:01 molecules for recognition by the T cell receptor (TCR) of cytotoxic T cells. Here, we have described Pr20, a TCR mimic (TCRm) human IgG1 antibody that recognizes the cell-surface ALY peptide/HLA-A2 complex. Pr20 is an immunological tool and potential therapeutic agent. Pr20 bound to PRAME+HLA-A2+ cancers. An afucosylated Fc form (Pr20M) directed antibodydependent cellular cytotoxicity against PRAME+HLA-A2+ leukemia cells and was therapeutically effective against mouse xenograft models of human leukemia. In some tumors, Pr20 binding markedly increased upon IFN-γ treatment, mediated by induction of the immunoproteasome catalytic subunit β5i. The immunoproteasome reduced internal destructive cleavages within the ALY epitope compared with the constitutive proteasome. The data provide rationale for developing TCRm antibodies as therapeutic agents for cancer, offer mechanistic insight on proteasomal regulation of tumorassociated [. ] Research Article Immunology Therapeutics
An evaluation of fructooligosaccharide in diets for broiler chickens and effects on salmonellae contamination of carcasses.

Two similar trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of fructooligosaccharide (FOS) on live performance and carcass characteristics of broilers and on incidence and level of salmonellae on prechill broiler carcasses. The FOS was fed at two levels (0 and .375%) in a complete factorial arrangement with two levels (0 and 55 mg/kg) of bacitracin methylene disalicylate (BMD) in nutritionally complete diets. Broilers were grown to 49 days of age, and samples were processed to determine dressing percentage, abdominal fat content, and most probable number salmonellae on prechill carcasses. The addition of FOS to nutritionally complete broiler diets at . 375% had little consistent effect on growth rate, feed utilization, mortality, carcass dressing percentage, abdominal fat content, or incidence or severity of salmonellae contamination of processed broiler carcasses. There appeared to be an antagonism between FOS and BMD on both live performance and salmonellae contamination of processed broiler carcasses.
Gastric gross and microscopic lesions caused by the UNAM-97 variant strain of infectious bronchitis virus after the eighth passage in specific pathogen-free chicken embryos

Abstract Herein we report a description of gross and microscopic lesions found in specific pathogen-free chicken embryos caused by UNAM-97 infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) variant strain after the eighth passage. Embryos were divided into three groups and were inoculated in the chorioallantoic sac with 0.2 mL of UNAM-97, Mass 41 IBV (positive control), or sterile PBS (negative control). Forty-eight hours later the allatoic fluid was taken and used to start a cycle of eight passages through 9-d-old embryos. Seven days after the last passage, embryos were harvested and macroscopic lesions in all organs were recorded. Proventriculus and gizzard samples were obtained from all embryos and routinely processed for microscopic and ultrastructural examinations. The UNAM-97 IBV variant strain caused two macroscopic lesions uncommon for Mexican strains: thin-walled proventriculus and gizzard, as well as urate accumulation within an extra-embryonic peritoneal sac, leaving the body through the umbilical duct and accompanied by the yolk sac. At microscopic level, two relevant findings were observed to be produced by this variant. In the proventriculus, there was a decrease in the gland papillary branching, while the gizzard showed a significant reduction in mucosa thickness and tubular-to-proliferative-cell ratio, as well as an absence of hyaline secretion in the lumen. Electrodense material scattered in proventricular and gizzard cells was observed, with a structure consistent with that of coronaviruses. These pathological chicken embryo findings have not been reported as being caused by other IBV strains in Mexico.
The Strange Attractor of Bipedal Locomotion and Consequences on Motor Control

Despite decades of study, the mechanisms that determine human locomotion are still unknown, available models and motor control theories can only partially capture the phenomenon. This is probably the principal cause of the reduced efficacy of lower limbs rehabilitation therapies. Recently, it has been proposed that human locomotion may be planned in the task-space by taking advantage of the gravitational pull acting on the Centre of Mass (CoM) that we have used to formulate a task-space planner for straight locomotion at a constant speed. The proposed model represents the CoM transversal trajectory as simple harmonic oscillator moving forward at a constant speed. On the other hand, the vertical trajectory of the CoM is controlled through the ankle strategies. Our solution is composed of closed-form equations which can plan human-like trajectories for both the CoM and the foot swing. The model output can be seen as the optimal trajectory determined based on the average behaviour of 12 healthy subjects walking at three self-selected speeds. Furthermore, the planner formulation is compatible with an extended formulation of the Passive Motion Paradigm which enables us to design a hierarchical architecture of semi-autonomous controllers. The final architecture can also describe the motor primitives as a particular case of dynamic primitives, shows strong parallels with the nervous system organization, and is compatible with the optimal feedback control theory.
Cross-modal Classification by Completing Unimodal Representations

We argue that cross-modal classification, where models are trained on data from one modality (e.g. text) and applied to data from another (e.g. image), is a relevant problem in multimedia retrieval. We propose a method that addresses this specific problem, related to but different from cross-modal retrieval and bimodal classification. This method relies on a common latent space where both modalities have comparable representations and on an auxiliary dataset from which we build a more complete bimodal representation of any unimodal data. Evaluations on Pascal VOC07 and NUS-WIDE show that the novel representation method significantly improves the results compared to the use of a latent space alone. The level of performance achieved makes cross-modal classification a convincing choice for real applications.
Human skin gene expression: Natural (trans) resveratrol versus five resveratrol analogs for dermal applications

Resveratrol (RV) is a polyphenolic compound naturally produced by plants. Polyphenolic compounds incorporated into medicinal products are beneficial but, RV is rapidly metabolized with an associated decline in biological activity. This study tested RV as the standard and compared five structurally modified RV analogs: butyrate, isobutyrate, palmitoate, acetate, and diacetate (to improve functionality) at 1% concentration(s) for 24 h in epiderm full thickness cultures by gene array/qPCR mRNA analysis. When silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1, extracellular elements (collagen1A1, 3A1, 4A1; elastin, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 1, fibrillin 1 laminin beta1 and matrix metalloproteinase 9), anti-aging and aging genes, inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin-1A [IL1A], IL1R2, IL-6 and IL-8), nerve growth factor, and the antioxidants (proliferating cell nuclear antigen, catalase, superoxide dismutase and metallothionein 1H/2H) were evaluated, ranking each from highest-to-lowest for gene expression: butyrate > isobutyrate > diacetate > acetate > palmitoate. This study showed that the butyrate and isobutyrate analogs are more biologically active compared to resveratrol and have potential use in topical applications to improve dermal and other health applications. Impact statement Resveratrol has been reported to have a wide variety of health benefits but its rapid metabolism especially after oral ingestion results in very low bioavailability. Notably, the first human skin gene expression study of resveratrol was not published until 2014. The purpose of this study was to determine if increased stability and biological activity could be obtained by modifying the chemical structure of natural (trans) resveratrol and quantifying human gene expression by qPCR of skin biomarkers that enhance dermal health. Five resveratrol analogs were synthesized that increased their lipophilic index to enhance tissue penetration and augment biological activities on the measured parameters that expand the current knowledge of structure/function relationships. The butyrate and isobutyrate modifications displayed gene expression values significantly above resveratrol and suggest that oral application of these and potentially other resveratrol analogs may yield similar results to improve stability and biological activity to benefit/address various disorders/diseases.
Impact of screening and early detection of impaired fasting glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes in Canada: a Markov model simulation

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global health problem. An estimated 20%–50% of diabetic subjects in Canada are currently undiagnosed, and around 20%–30% have already developed complications. Screening for high blood glucose levels can identify people with prediabetic conditions and permit introduction of timely and effective prevention. This study examines the benefit of screening for impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and T2DM. If intervention is introduced at this prediabetic stage, it can be most effective in delaying the onset and complications of T2DM. Methods Using a Markov model simulation, we compare the cost-effectiveness of screening for prediabetes (IFG) and T2DM with the strategy of no screening. An initial cohort of normoglycemic, prediabetic, or undiagnosed diabetic adults with one or more T2DM risk factors was used to model the strategies mentioned over a 10-year period. Subjects without known prediabetes or diabetes are screened every 3 years and persons with prediabetes were tested for diabetes on an annual basis. The model weighs the increase in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) associated with early detection of prediabetes and earlier diagnosis of T2DM due to lifestyle intervention and early treatment in asymptomatic subjects. Results Costs for each QALY gained were $2281 for conventional screening compared with $2890 for no screening. Thus, in this base-case analysis, conventional screening with a frequency of once every 3 years was favored over no screening. Furthermore, conventional screening was more favorable compared with no screening over a wide range of willingness-to-pay thresholds. Changing the frequency of screening did not affect the overall results. Screening persons without diabetes or prediabetes on an annual basis had small effects on the cost-effectiveness ratios. Screening with a frequency of once every 5 years resulted in the lowest cost per QALY ($2117). Lack of screening costs the health care system $4812 more than the cost of screening once every 5 years. Conclusion The increased cost per QALY of not screening is due to the costs of complications caused downstream of T2DM. By ensuring that IFG screening occurs every 3 years for those without prediabetes and every year for those with prediabetes, the health and financial benefits related to T2DM are improved in Canada.
Performance on the Functional Movement Screen Is Related to Hop Performance But Not to Hip and Knee Strength in Collegiate Football Players

Objective: To define the relationship between Functional Movement Screen (FMS) scores and hop performance, hip strength, and knee strength in collegiate football players. Design: Cross-sectional cohort. Participants: Freshmen of a Division I collegiate American football team (n = 59). Main Outcome Measures: The athletes performed the FMS, and also a variety of hop tests, isokinetic knee strength, and isometric hip strength tasks. We recorded total FMS score, peak strength, and hop performance, and we calculated asymmetries between legs on the different tasks. Spearman correlation coefficients quantified the relationships between these measures, and &khgr;2 analyses compared the number of athletes with asymmetries on the different tasks. Results: We observed significant correlations (r = 0.38-0.56, P ⩽ 0.02) between FMS scores and hop distance but not between FMS scores and hip or knee strength (all P ≥ 0.21). The amount of asymmetry on the FMS test was significantly correlated to the amount of asymmetry on the timed 6-m hop (r = 0.44, P < 0.01) but not to hip or knee strength asymmetries between limbs (all P ≥ 0.34). Conclusions: Functional Movement Screen score was positively correlated to hop distance, and limb asymmetry in FMS tasks was correlated to limb asymmetry in 6-m hop time in football players. No significant correlations were observed between FMS score and hip and knee strength or between FMS asymmetry and asymmetries in hip and knee strength between limbs. These results indicate that a simple hop for distance test may be a time-efficient and cost-efficient alternative to FMS testing in athletes and that functional asymmetries between limbs do not coincide with strength asymmetries.