Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Homocysteine, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cognitive performance: The Maine-Syracuse Study

Abstract Type 2 diabetes mellitus and higher total plasma homocysteine concentrations are each associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and with diminished cognitive performance. Relations between homocysteine concentrations and cardiovascular disease incidence are stronger in the presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, we hypothesized that relations between homocysteine concentrations and cognitive performance would be stronger in the presence of type 2 diabetes. We related homocysteine concentrations and cognitive performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination in 817 dementia- and stroke-free participants of the Maine-Syracuse Study, 90 of whom were classified with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Regardless of statistical adjustment for age, sex, gender, vitamin co-factors (folate, vitamin B6, vitamin B12), cardiovascular disease risk factors, and duration and type of treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus, statistically significant inverse associations between homocysteine concentrations and cognitive performance were observed for diabetic individuals. The weaker inverse associations between homocysteine concentrations and cognitive performance obtained for non-diabetic individuals were not robust to statistical adjustment for some covariates. Interactions between homocysteine concentrations and type 2 diabetes mellitus are observed such that associations between homocysteine and cognitive performance are stronger in the presence of diabetes.
Contribution of positioning to work-related musculoskeletal discomfort in diagnostic medical sonographers.

BACKGROUND Musculoskeletal pain and discomfort due to work exposure is experienced by 90% of sonographers. Survey research has provided a wealth of information to document this problem, but few studies have attempted to directly measure and identify the source of these disorders. OBJECTIVE This pilot observational study was conducted to obtain direct measures of the relationship of sonographers to their environment during the completion of sonographic examinations. METHODS The Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) was used to evaluate the positions of five sonographers during 24 sonographic examinations. The observed positions were compared among the various examinations and the association of these observed postures to discomfort, sonographer height, and exam table height was evaluated. RESULTS All participants reported an increase in musculoskeletal discomfort at the end of the workday. Overall RULA scores ranged from 3.11 to 5.00 with upper extremity venous Doppler and transvaginal pelvic examinations averaging the highest. Increasingly poor upper extremity positioning was positively associated with increased musculoskeletal discomfort (r=0.53, p< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Regardless of the examination being performed, sonographers are working in positions that require further evaluation and intervention. Longitudinal studies are needed that evaluate the inter-relationship of biopsychosocial risk factors of musculoskeletal injuries.
Clinical presentation of neonatal sepsis in paediatric ward at Khartoum North Teaching Hospital, Sudan

World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally there are about 5 million neonatal deaths per year. Ninety eight percent of them are occurring in developing countries in the first week of life. Infections are frequent and important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the common presenting symptoms and signs of neonatal sepsis in neonates admitted from emergency room to pediatrics ward in Khartoum North Teaching Hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional prospective hospital based study was conducted on 120 neonates presented with neonatal sepsis who had been admitted to Khartoum North Teaching Hospital general pediatrics ward over six months period (January 2013 to July 2013). History and physical examination were carried out and samples of blood were taken for blood culture and full blood count. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: 120 neonates were included in this study. The sepsis was confirmed by clinical and laboratory measures. 67 (55.8%) neonates were males and 53(44.2%) were females. Early onset sepsis was detected in 79 (65.8%) neonates while late onset sepsis was detected in 41 (34.2%). Fever was the most presenting feature found in 76 (63.3%), respiratory distress present in 53 (44.2%), 48 (40%) neonates were lethargic, 47 (39.2%) had impaired feeding, and 39 (32.5%) had refusal of feeding. 38 (31.7%) neonates had neonatal jaundice and Moro reflex was absent in 25 (20.8%). Conclusion: The common presenting features of neonates with neonatal sepsis in the paediatric ward at Khartoum North Teaching Hospital were being fever, respiratory distress, lethargy, impaired or refusal of feeding, jaundice, absent Moro reflex, hypothermia, convulsions bleeding disorder and bulging fontanel.
Trends and variability in absolute indices of temperature extremes over Nigeria: linkage with NAO

The present study examines trends in extreme temperature absolute indices [warmest day (TXx), coldest day (TXn), warmest night (TNx) and coldest night (TNn)] using the newly homogenized daily minimum and maximum temperature series from 21 stations in Nigeria for the period 1971–2012. The indices provide an understanding of the characteristics of changing temperature, in light of the present anthropogenic global warming. Trends in the indices and the statistical significance are obtained using the modified Mann–Kendall test in the R‐package. The results show that many of the stations have significant increasing trends in the absolute indices, with the warming most pronounced in Southern Nigeria. Averaged over the country, the TXx, TXn, TNx and TNn have absolute warming trends of 0.59, 0.17, 0.67and 0.97 °C, respectively, for the 42 years since 1971. The warming rate is highest during the winter (DJF) season for TNn. The present study also examines the possible influence of large‐scale teleconnection patterns on extreme temperature variations by determining the correlation between the absolute indices and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index on monthly, seasonal and annual timescales. Our results show that warming over Nigeria during the dry season months from November to February is significantly correlated with NAO. The NAO has significant correlation with TXx and TXn in the north, and with TNx and TNn in the south. The analysis is repeated with ERA‐20C‐gridded data set, and similar correlations are found. The warming nights, in particular, in Nigeria can lead to sleeplessness and widespread mosquito‐related diseases as the mosquito population and its parasites thrive in warmer conditions. The results of the analyses are relevant for decision‐making process, especially for the development of early warning systems for extreme heat events.
A Minimal Connected Network of Transcription Factors Regulated in Human Tumors and Its Application to the Quest for Universal Cancer Biomarkers

A universal cancer biomarker candidate for diagnosis is supposed to distinguish, within a broad range of tumors, between healthy and diseased patients. Recently published studies have explored the universal usefulness of some biomarkers in human tumors. In this study, we present an integrative approach to search for potential common cancer biomarkers. Using the TFactS web-tool with a catalogue of experimentally established gene regulations, we could predict transcription factors (TFs) regulated in 305 different human cancer cell lines covering a large panel of tumor types. We also identified chromosomal regions having significant copy number variation (CNV) in these cell lines. Within the scope of TFactS catalogue, 88 TFs whose activity status were explained by their gene expressions and CNVs were identified. Their minimal connected network (MCN) of protein-protein interactions forms a significant module within the human curated TF proteome. Functional analysis of the proteins included in this MCN revealed enrichment in cancer pathways as well as inflammation. The ten most central proteins in MCN are TFs that trans-regulate 157 known genes encoding secreted and transmembrane proteins. In publicly available collections of gene expression data from 8,525 patient tissues, 86 genes were differentially regulated in cancer compared to inflammatory diseases and controls. From TCGA cancer gene expression data sets, 50 genes were significantly associated to patient survival in at least one tumor type. Enrichment analysis shows that these genes mechanistically interact in common cancer pathways. Among these cancer biomarker candidates, TFRC, MET and VEGFA are commonly amplified genes in tumors and their encoded proteins stained positive in more than 80% of malignancies from public databases. They are linked to angiogenesis and hypoxia, which are common in cancer. They could be interesting for further investigations in cancer diagnostic strategies.
Ultrastructural studies of human cutaneous nerve with special reference to lamellated cell inclusions and vacuole-containing cells

One hundred and twenty-nine specimens of human cutaneous nerve obtained from patients suffering from a variety of neuromuscular disorders have been surveyed in detail by electron microscopy. The most striking finding was the presence of lamellated Schwann cell inclusions and of cells containing vacuoles, both of which appear to be derived from myelin and to show some correlation with sensory loss.
Risk of stroke in young women and two prothrombotic mutations: factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene variant (G20210A)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Factor V Leiden and a prothrombin gene variant, G20210A, are mutations associated with a thrombotic risk. The aim of our study was to assess whether these mutations increase the risk of stroke in women under 45 years of age. METHODS We conducted a case-control study in western Washington state. Case patients were women aged 18 to 44 years with a first stroke (n = 106). Control subjects were women without stroke recruited from the same region by use of random-digit telephone dialing (n = 391). All were interviewed and provided blood specimens, which were genotyped for these mutations. RESULTS Factor V Leiden was found in 0.9% of case patients, a single patient with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, and in 4.1% of control subjects. The odds ratio (OR) for any stroke was 0.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.03 to 1.7). The prothrombin variant was found in 1.9% of case patients, 1 with a venous stroke and 1 with an ischemic stroke, and in 1.6% of control subjects. The OR for any stroke was 1.48 (95% CI, 0.14 to 9.17). ORs for stroke types were also not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS In this study, neither factor V Leiden nor the prothrombin variant (G20210A) was an important risk factor for stroke in young women. In this setting, screening for these mutations cannot be recommended. Unanswered by this study is whether screening would be useful in select patients, such as those with a strong family history of thrombophilia or those with venous strokes.
Enhancing Multi-view Pedestrian Detection Through Generalized 3D Feature Pulling

The main challenge in multi-view pedestrian detection is integrating view-specific features into a unified space for comprehensive end-to-end perception. Prior multi-view detection methods have focused on projecting perspective-view features onto the ground plane, creating a “bird’s eye view” (BEV) representation of the scene. This paper proposes a simple but effective architecture that utilizes a non-parametric 3D feature-pulling strategy. This strategy directly extracts the corresponding 2D features for each valid voxel within the 3D feature volume, addressing the feature loss that may arise in previous methods. The proposed framework introduces three novel modules, each crafted to bolster the generalization capabilities of multi-view detection systems. Through extensive experiments, the efficacy of the proposed model is demonstrated. The results show a new state-of-the-art accuracy, both in conventional scenarios and particularly in the context of scene generalization benchmarks.
ScholarWorks@UARK ScholarWorks@UARK

Additional private schooling within a nation-state may increase citizens’ political and economic freedom through increased educational quality, balanced power relationships, and increased civic engagement. We employ a two-stage-least-squares time and country-level fixed-effects analytical technique to examine how private schooling could affect political rights, civil liberties and economic freedom indices. We also use a new instrumental variable, short-run fluctuations in the demand for schooling, to predict private schooling. We examine 174 different nations across the globe from 1999 to 2014, and find significant evidence to suggest that private schooling leads to enhanced political and economic freedom. In particular, our preferred model finds that a ten percentage point increase in private share of schooling enrollment within a nation, over time, is associated with a 7.4% of a standard deviation increase in the Political Rights Index and an 8% of a standard deviation increase in the Economic Freedom of the World Index.
Requires an Inflammatory Stimulus Nodes Remote from the Site of Immunization Recruitment of Memory B Cells to Lymph

Successful recall Ab responses require recruitment of quiescent memory B cells to secondary lymphoid organs. However, the cellular dynamics of memory cells responding to local antigenic challenge at lymphoid sites distal from the initial Ag encounter are not well understood. We show in this study that memory B cells generated following s.c. immunization in one footpad generate secondary responses to soluble Ag given i.p. but not to Ag given s.c. in the contralateral footpad unless LPS is coadministered. Memory B cells do not express CD62L, and CD62L 2 ve cells cannot enter lymph nodes unless LPS-mediated inﬂammation is induced there. Functional TLR4 is required on the B cells, as well as on non-B cells, in the lymph node to achieve full recruitment. Furthermore, splenectomized mice fail to respond to such inﬂammatory s.c. challenge in contralateral footpads, unlike lymphadenectomized mice lacking the original draining lymph nodes. Splenectomized mice also fail to respond to i.p. challenge with soluble Ag. Together, these data indicate that, unlike the central memory pool of T cells, which circulates through resting lymph nodes, the majority of long-lived memory B cells are spleen resident and require inﬂammatory signals for mounting recall responses at distal challenge sites. The Journal of Immunology , 2012, 189: 521–528.
1 Development and Characterization of Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (rVSV)-based Bivalent Vaccine Against COVID-19 Delta Variant and Influenza Virus

COVID-19 and influenza are both highly contagious respiratory diseases with a wide range of severe symptoms and cause great disease burdens globally. It has become very urgent and important to develop a bivalent vaccine that is able to target these two infectious diseases simultaneously. In this study, we generated three attenuated replicating recombinant VSV (rVSV) vaccine candidates. These rVSV-based vaccines co-express SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant spike protein (SP) or the receptor binding domain (RBD) and four copies of the highly conserved M2 ectodomain (M2e) of influenza A fused with the Ebola glycoprotein DC-targeting/activation domain. Animal studies have shown that immunization with these bivalent rVSV vaccines induced efficient but variable levels of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses against both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza M2e protein. Significantly, our vaccine candidates induced production of high levels of neutralizing antibodies that protected cells against SARS-CoV-2 Delta and other SP-pseudovirus infections in culture. Furthermore, vaccination with the bivalent VSV vaccine via either intramuscular or intranasal route efficiently protected mice from the lethal challenge of H1N1 and H3N2 influenza viruses and significantly reduced viral load in the lungs. These studies provide convincing evidence for the high efficacy of this bivalent vaccine to prevent influenza replication and initiate robust immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 Delta variants. Further investigation of its efficacy to protect against SARS-CoV-2 Delta variants will provide substantial evidence for new avenues to control two contagious respiratory infections, COVID-19 and influenza.
Human Pythiosis, Brazil

Pythiosis, caused by Pythium insidiosum, occurs in humans and animals and is acquired from aquatic environments that harbor the emerging pathogen. Diagnosis is difficult because clinical and histopathologic features are not pathognomonic. We report the first human case of pythiosis from Brazil, diagnosed by using culture and rDNA sequencing.
Diagnostic overlap between acute stress disorder and PTSD in victims of violent crime.

OBJECTIVE In a group of crime victims, the authors investigated overlap between acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses and their relative ability to predict PTSD at 6 months. METHOD A mixed-sex group of 157 victims of violent assault were interviewed within 1 month of the crime. At the 6-month follow-up, 87.9% were reinterviewed by telephone. RESULTS At baseline the rate of acute stress disorder was 19.1%, the rate of PTSD was 21.0%, and the percentage agreement between them was 95.5%. The two diagnoses were equally effective predictors of PTSD 6 months later. CONCLUSIONS The high level of overlap between acute stress disorder and PTSD calls into question whether, as presently formulated, they represent distinct diagnoses.
Objective and Subjective Factors as Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Parents of Children with Cancer – A Longitudinal Study

Background Parents of children with cancer report post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) years after the child's successful treatment is completed. The aim of the present study was to analyze a number of objective and subjective childhood cancer-related factors as predictors of parental PTSS. Methods Data were collected from 224 parents during and after their child's cancer treatment. Data sources include self-report questionnaires and medical records. Results In a multivariate hierarchical model death of the child, parent's perception of child psychological distress and total symptom burden predicted higher levels of PTSS. In addition, immigrants and unemployed parents reported higher levels of PTSS. The following factors did not predict PTSS: parent gender, family income, previous trauma, child's prognosis, treatment intensity, non-fatal relapse, and parent's satisfaction with the child's care. Conclusions Although medical complications can be temporarily stressful, a parent's perception of the child's distress is a more powerful predictor of parental PTSS. The vulnerability of unemployed parents and immigrants should be acknowledged. In addition, findings highlight that the death of a child is as traumatic as could be expected.
Identifying Sadists Among Female Sexual Offenders Using the Cumulative Scale of Severe Sexual Sadism

Among the most common reasons cited for the scarcity of research on female sexual perpetrators has been the relatively small number of adjudicated female sex offenders, socio-cultural factors, and lack of gender specific diagnostic criteria. These issues are magnified when sub-categories of sex offenders are examined such as sexual sadism which is considered one of the rarest paraphilias. This paper examined: if the Cumulative Scale of Severe Sexual Sadism distinguished female sexual sadists from nonsadistic sex offenders and if sadistic behaviors were comparable for male and female sexual sadists. The coding of these items was done using archival data such as criminal complaints, police reports and sexual offender assessments. The criterion was a clinical diagnosis of sexual sadism which was present for 5 individuals. Using a cut-off of 4 points, the total score of the scale identified all female sexual sadists correctly whereas only two of the presumably nonsadistic female offenders were false positive cases. Upon closer inspection of their case files, however, these two cases could also be diagnosed with sexual sadism. The relative frequencies differed strongly from the corresponding values for males which may indicate gender-specific differences in the expression this disorder. The sadism scale thus appeared to be a viable aid for diagnosing sadism in female sexual offenders. Implications for further research were discussed.
Environmental Change in the Great Plains: An Isotopic Record from Fossil Horses

Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of fossil horse tooth enamel from Nebraska and Texas show evidence for late Neogene environmental changes in the Great Plains. The earliest unambiguous C4 dietary signal among Texas equids coincides with the age of the classic late Hemphillian–age Coffee Ranch fauna, which we suggest is ∼6.6 Ma based on volcanic ash correlations. C4 vegetation was present in the diets of a small fraction of late Hemphillian equids in Nebraska and was thereafter ordinary in the diets of both Nebraska and Texas equids. There is no unequivocal evidence for abundant C4 vegetation in the diets of pre–late Hemphillian equids, and we suggest that the ensuing dietary change reflects C4‐biomass expansion in the latest Miocene. Carbon isotope ratios of post‐Hemphillian horses in Nebraska can be divided into two statistically distinct populations on the basis of whether tortoise remains co‐occur with horse remains, indicating that the two proxies (carbon isotopes and presence/absence of tortoises) record complementary environmental phenomena. The average δ18O values of late Hemphillian and younger fossil localities in Nebraska trend toward bimodal distribution, but more data are needed to confirm this pattern. Oxygen isotope ratios of Barstovian and Clarendonian horses are significantly enriched in 18O relative to Hemphillian horses, which in turn are significantly enriched relative to Blancan and Irvingtonian horses. A large portion of this oxygen isotope decrease appears to have taken place during late Hemphillian time. Secular variation in the Nebraska δ18O record correlates with changes in ungulate diversity, the disappearance of crocodilians in Nebraska, and global change in the latest Miocene.
Latching chains in K-nearest-neighbor and modular small-world networks

Latching dynamics retrieve pattern sequences successively by neural adaption and pattern correlation. We have previously proposed a modular latching chain model in Song et al. (2014) to better accommodate the structured transitions in the brain. Different cortical areas have different network structures. To explore how structural parameters like rewiring probability, threshold, noise and feedback connections affect the latching dynamics, two different connection schemes, K-nearest-neighbor network and modular network both having modular structure are considered. Latching chains are measured using two proposed measures characterizing length of intra-modular latching chains and sequential inter-modular association transitions. Our main findings include: (1) With decreasing threshold coefficient and rewiring probability, both the K-nearest-neighbor network and the modular network experience quantitatively similar phase change processes. (2) The modular network exhibits selectively enhanced latching in the small-world range of connectivity. (3) The K-nearest-neighbor network is more robust to changes in rewiring probability, while the modular network is more robust to the presence of noise pattern pairs and to changes in the strength of feedback connections. According to our findings, the relationships between latching chains in K-nearest-neighbor and modular networks and different forms of cognition and information processing emerging in the brain are discussed.