Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Breastfeeding is not related to postpartum relapses in multiple sclerosis

Objective: To assess the relationship between breastfeeding and risk of puerperal relapses in a large cohort of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: We prospectively followed-up pregnancies occurring between 2002 and 2008 in women with MS, recruited from 21 Italian MS centers, and gathered data on breastfeeding through a standardized interview. The risk of relapses after delivery was assessed using the Cox regression analysis. Results: A total of 302 out of 423 pregnancies in 298 women resulted in full-term deliveries. Patients were followed up for at least 1 year after delivery. The time-dependent profile of the relapse rate before, during, and after pregnancy did not differ between patients who breastfed and patients who did not. In the multivariate analysis, adjusting for age at onset, age at pregnancy, disease duration, disability level, and relapses in the year prior to pregnancy and during pregnancy, treatment with disease-modifying drugs (DMDs), and exposure to toxics, the only significant predictors of postpartum relapses were relapses in the year before pregnancy (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.5; 95%confidence interval [CI] 1.3–1.9; p < 0.001) and during pregnancy (HR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.5–3.3; p < 0.001). Conclusions: In our sample, postpartum relapses were predicted only by relapses before and during pregnancy. Therefore, the reported association between breastfeeding and a lower risk of postpartum relapses may simply reflect different patient behavior, biased by the disease activity. Our results can assist neurologists facing the breastfeeding issue in mother counseling and shared decision-making. Especially, among patients with high risk of postpartum relapses, breastfeeding may not be feasible and early postpartum treatment should be an option.
Testing a cumulus parametrization with a cumulus ensemble model in weak‐temperature‐gradient mode

This paper prototypes a method for calibrating a cumulus parametrization against a cumulus ensemble model. The key to this technique is to run the cumulus model and the parametrization in identical ‘test cells’ that provide forcing typical of that seen over tropical oceans. In particular, the mean temperature profile is relaxed to a reference profile that is assumed to be characteristic of the environment of the convection. This is done by calculating the mean vertical velocity needed to balance heating due to convection, latent‐heat release, and radiation with adiabatic cooling. This ‘weak‐temperature‐gradient’ vertical‐velocity profile is then used to advect moisture vertically and, via mass continuity, through the sides of the test cell, entraining reference‐profile air as needed.
Adenovirus‐mediated delivery of Factor H attenuates complement C3 induced pathology in the murine retina: a potential gene therapy for age‐related macular degeneration

Age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in the elderly, with no therapy available for 90% of patients. Recent genetic evidence implicates activation of complement in the pathogenesis of AMD. We have recently discovered that adenovirus (Ad)‐mediated expression of complement component C3 (AdCMVC3) in the murine retina recapitulates many of the pathological features found in human AMD. In the present study, utilizing a gene therapy approach, we examine whether Ad‐mediated expression of complement Factor H (AdCAGfH) attenuates AdCMVC3‐mediated retinal pathology.
Health insurance status, psychological processes, and older African Americans’ use of preventive care

The current study examined the influence of health insurance, psychological processes (i.e. psychological competency and vulnerability), and the interaction of these two constructs on older African Americans’ utilization of five preventive care services (e.g. cholesterol screening and mammogram/prostate examination) using data from 211 older African Americans (median age = 60). In addition to direct effects, the influence of health insurance sometimes varied depending on respondents’ psychological competency and/or vulnerability. Policies and interventions to increase older African Americans’ use of preventive health services should consider structural (e.g. health insurance) and psychological (e.g. psychological competency and vulnerability) factors along with the interaction between these factors.
Electron Neutrino Pair Annihilation: A New Source for Muon and Tau Neutrinos in Supernovae

We show that in a supernova core the annihilation process νeν̄e → νμ,τν̄μ,τ is always more important than the traditional reaction e+e- → νμ,τν̄μ,τ as a source for muon and tau neutrino pairs. We study the impact of the new process by means of a Monte Carlo transport code with a static stellar background model and by means of a self-consistent hydrodynamic simulation with Boltzmann neutrino transport. Nucleon bremsstrahlung NN → NNνμ,τν̄μ,τ is also included as another important source term. Taking into account νeν̄e → νμ,τν̄μ,τ increases the νμ and ντ luminosities by as much as 20%, while the spectra remain almost unaffected. In our hydrodynamic simulation, the shock was somewhat weakened. Elastic νμ,τνe and νμ,τν̄e scattering is not negligible but less important than νμ,τe± scattering. Its influence on the νμ,τ fluxes and spectra is small after all other processes have been included.
Effect of restoration technique on stress distribution in roots with flared canals: an FEA study.

PURPOSE The aim of this finite element analysis (FEA) study was to test the effect of different restorative techniques on stress distribution in roots with flared canals. MATERIALS AND METHODS Five three-dimensional (3D) FEA models that simulated a maxillary incisor with excessive structure loss and flared root canals were created and restored with the following techniques/materials: 1) a prefabricated post: 2) one main and two accessory posts; 3) i-TFC post-core (Sun Medical); 4) the thickness of the root was increased by using composite resin and the root was then restored using a prefabricated post; 5) an anatomic post was created by using composite resin and a prefabricated glass-fiber post. Composite cores and ceramic crowns were created. A 300-N static load was applied at the center of the palatal surface of the tooth to calculate stress distributions. SolidWorks/Cosmosworks structural analysis programs were used for FEA analysis. RESULTS The analysis of the von Mises and tensile stress values revealed that prefabricated post, accessory post, and i-TFC post systems showed similar stress distributions. They all showed high stress areas at the buccal side of the root (3.67 MPa) and in the cervical region of the root (> 3.67 MPa) as well as low stress accumulation within the post space (0 to 1 MPa). The anatomic post kept the stress within its body and directed less stress towards the remaining tooth structure. CONCLUSION The creation of an anatomic post may save the remaining tooth structure in roots with flared canals by reducing the stress levels.
Decision making in liver transplantation—Limited application of the liver donor risk index

The liver donor risk index (LDRI), originally developed in 2006 by Feng et al. and since modified, is a method of evaluating liver grafts from deceased donors through the determination of the relative risk of graft failure after transplantation. Online and paper surveys about attitudes and practices regarding decision making in liver transplantation and the role of the LDRI were sent to liver transplant physicians. One hundred forty‐seven of 401 eligible respondents (37%) returned partial or complete surveys. The majority of the respondents were male (116/134 or 87%) and practiced in academic medical centers (128/138 or 93%). Transplant coordinators initially contacted the candidate with an offer in 81% of the programs. Eighty‐eight of 143 respondents (62%) reported that they were very familiar with the LDRI, but the vast majority (114/137 or 83%) rarely or never discussed the concept of the LDRI with their patients. A majority of the respondents (96/132 or 73%) believed that the LDRI does not adequately describe a liver's relative risk of graft failure and that there are factors making the LDRI potentially misleading (122/138 or 88%). Nevertheless, 60 of 130 respondents (46%) believed that the LDRI would increase/improve shared decision making. The LDRI has not been widely adopted because of concerns that (1) it does not accurately reflect posttransplant survival, (2) it excludes relevant donor and recipient factors, and (3) it is too complicated for candidates to grasp. There is a need to improve it or to develop other decision‐making tools to help promote shared decision making. There is also great diversity in how liver offers are made to ambulatory candidates and in how transplant programs address a candidate's refusal. Research is needed to determine evidence‐based best practice. Liver Transpl 20:831‐837, 2014. © 2014 AASLD.
Warfarin Initiation, Atrial Fibrillation, and Kidney Function: Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Warfarin in Older Adults With Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation.

BACKGROUND The effectiveness and safety of warfarin use among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and reduced kidney function are uncertain. STUDY DESIGN Community-based retrospective cohort study (May 1, 2003, to March 31, 2012) using province-wide laboratory and administrative data in Alberta, Canada. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS 14,892 adults 66 years or older with new AF and a measurement of kidney function. Long-term dialysis patients or kidney transplant recipients were excluded. PREDICTOR Propensity scores were used to construct a matched-pairs cohort of patients with AF who did and did not have a warfarin prescription within a 60-day period surrounding their AF diagnosis. OUTCOMES Within 1 year of initiating warfarin therapy (or the matched date for nonusers): (1) the composite of all-cause death, ischemic stroke, or transient ischemic attack (also assessed as separate end points) and (2) first hospitalization or emergency department visit for a major bleeding episode defined as an intracranial, upper or lower gastrointestinal, or other bleeding. MEASUREMENTS Baseline glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was estimated using the CKD-EPI creatinine equation. Patients were matched within estimated GFR (eGFR) categories: ≥90, 60 to 89, 45 to 59, 30 to 44, and <30mL/min/1.73m2. Information for baseline characteristics (sociodemographics, comorbid conditions, and prescription drug use) was obtained. RESULTS Across eGFR categories, warfarin therapy initiation was associated with lower risk for the composite outcome compared to nonuse (adjusted HRs [95% CI] for eGFR categories ≥ 90, 60-89, 45-59, 30-44, and <30mL/min/1.73m2: 0.59 [0.35-1.01], 0.61 [0.54-0.70], 0.55 [0.47-0.65], 0.54 [0.44-0.67], and 0.64 [0.47-0.87] mL/min/1.73m2, respectively). Compared to nonuse, warfarin therapy was not associated with higher risk for major bleeding except for those with eGFRs of 60 to 89mL/min/1.73m2 (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.13-1.64). LIMITATIONS Selection bias. CONCLUSIONS Among older adults with AF, warfarin therapy initiation was associated with a significantly lower 1-year risk for the composite outcome across all strata of kidney function. The risk for major bleeding associated with warfarin use was increased only among those with eGFRs of 60 to 89mL/min/1.73m2.
Variables associated with breastfeeding duration.

OBJECTIVE To identify the variables associated with breastfeeding duration. DATA SOURCES The health science reference databases of CINAHL, PubMed, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. STUDY SELECTION Meta-analyses, Cochrane reviews, literature reviews, and quantitative and qualitative studies published in English from 1998 through 2008. DATA EXTRACTION Data included all variables, both positive and negative, that were found to influence the outcome of breastfeeding duration. DATA SYNTHESIS Demographic factors that influence breastfeeding duration are race, age, marital status, education, socioeconomics, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children status. Biological variables consisted of insufficient milk supply, infant health problems, maternal obesity, and the physical challenges of breastfeeding, maternal smoking, parity, and method of delivery. Social variables included paid work, family support, and professional support. Maternal intention, interest, and confidence in breastfeeding were psychological variables. CONCLUSION Human lactation is a complex phenomena and the duration of breastfeeding is influenced by many demographic, physical, social, and psychological variables.
Structural Performance of Polymer Fiber Reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composites Subjected to Static and Fatigue Flexural Loading

This paper presents the influence of silica sand, local crushed sand and different supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) to Portland cement (C) ratio (SCM/C) on the flexural fatigue performance of engineered cementitious composites (ECCs). ECC is a micromechanically-based designed high-performance polymer fiber reinforced concrete with high ductility which exhibits strain-hardening and micro-cracking behavior in tension and flexure. The relative high cost remains an obstacle for wider commercial use of ECC. The replacement of cement by SCMs, and the use of local sand aggregates can lower cost and enhance greenness of the ECC. The main variables of this study were: type and size of aggregates (local crushed or standard silica sand), type of SCMs (fly ash “FA” or slag), SCM/cement ratio of 1.2 or 2.2, three fatigue stress levels and number of fatigue cycles up to 1 million. The study showed that ECC mixtures produced with crushed sand (with high volume of fly ash and slag) exhibited strain hardening behavior (under static loading) with deformation capacities comparable with those made with silica sand. Class F-fly ash combined with crushed sand was the best choice (compared to class CI fly ash and slag) in order to enhance the ECC ductility with slag–ECC mixtures producing lowest deflection capacity. FA–ECC mixtures with silica sand developed more damage under fatigue loading due to higher deflection evolution than FA–ECC mixtures with crushed sand.
The modular organization of human anatomical brain networks: Accounting for the cost of wiring

Brain networks are expected to be modular. However, existing techniques for estimating a network’s modules make it difficult to assess the influence of organizational principles such as wiring cost reduction on the detected modules. Here we present a modification of an existing module detection algorithm that allowed us to focus on connections that are unexpected under a cost-reduction wiring rule and to identify modules from among these connections. We applied this technique to anatomical brain networks and showed that the modules we detected differ from those detected using the standard technique. We demonstrated that these novel modules are spatially distributed, exhibit unique functional fingerprints, and overlap considerably with rich clubs, giving rise to an alternative and complementary interpretation of the functional roles of specific brain regions. Finally, we demonstrated that, using the modified module detection approach, we can detect modules in a developmental dataset that track normative patterns of maturation. Collectively, these findings support the hypothesis that brain networks are composed of modules and provide additional insight into the function of those modules. AUTHOR SUMMARY The human brain is characterized by a complex pattern of anatomical wiring, in the form of white-matter tracts that link large volumes of neural tissue. The organization of this pattern is likely driven by many factors, including evolutionary adaptability, robustness to perturbations, and a separation of the timescales necessary to produce a diverse repertoire of neural dynamics. In this study, we sought to disentangle two such factors—the drive to decrease the cost of wiring, and the putative drive to increase the efficiency of the network topology—and we explored the impacts of these factors on the brain’s modular organization. The contributions of this work include a new algorithmic approach to community detection and novel insights into the role of modules in human brain function.
Using a Handheld Concept Mapping Tool for Cooperative Learning

This paper reports our implementation of a handheld concept mapping tool to support cooperative learning in a nursing class. We investigated the effects of using handheld technology in a traditional classroom as well as issues associated with the use of handheld technology. Our findings showed that handheld tools enhanced interactions among students when proper class management and technology support were provided.
Mirror Box Training in Hemiplegic Stroke Patients Affects Body Representation

The brain integrates multisensory inputs coming from the body (i.e., proprioception, tactile sensations) and the world that surrounds it (e.g., visual information). In this way, it is possible to build supra-modal and coherent mental representations of our own body, in order to process sensory events and to plan movements and actions in space. Post-stroke acquired motor deficits affect the ability to move body parts and to interact with objects. This may, in turn, impair the brain representation of the affected body part, resulting in a further increase of disability and motor impairment. To the aim of improving any putative derangements of body representation induced by the motor deficit, here we used the Mirror Box (MB). MB is a rehabilitative tool aimed at restoring several pathological conditions where body representation is affected, including post-stroke motor impairments. In this setting, observing the reflection of the intact limb in the mirror, while the affected one is hidden behind the mirror, can exert a positive influence upon different clinical conditions from chronic pain to motor deficits. Such results are thought to be mediated by a process of embodiment of the mirror reflection, which would be integrated into the representation of the affected limb. A group of 45 post-stroke patients was tested before and after performing a MB motor training in two conditions, one with the mirror between the hands and one without it, so that patients could see their impaired limb directly. A forearm bisection task, specifically designed to measure the metric representation of the body (i.e., size), was used as dependent variable. Results showed that, at baseline, the forearm bisection is shifted proximally, compatibly with a shrink of the metric representation of the affected arm towards the shoulder. However, following the MB session bisection scores shifted distally, compatibly with a partial correction of the metric representation of that arm. The effects showed some variability with the laterality of the lesion and the duration of the illness. The present results call for a possible role of the MB as a tool for improving altered body representation following post-stroke motor impairments.
Improving Relative-Entropy Pruning using Statistical Significance

Relative Entropy-based pruning has been shown to be efficient for pruning language models for more than a decade ago. Recently, this method has been applied to Phrase-based Machine Translation, and results suggest that this method is comparable the state-of-art pruning method based on significance tests. In this work, we show that these 2 methods are effective in pruning different types of phrase pairs. On one hand, relative entropy pruning searches for phrase pairs that can be composed using smaller constituents with a small or no loss in probability. On the other hand, significance pruning removes phrase pairs that are likely to be spurious. Then, we show that these methods can be combined in order to produce better results, over both metrics when used individually.
Experimental and clinical evidence for the protective role of progesterone in motoneuron degeneration and neuroinflammation

Abstract Far beyond its role in reproduction, progesterone exerts neuroprotective, promyelinating, and anti-inflammatory effects in the nervous system. These effects are amplified under pathological conditions, implying that changes of the local environment sensitize nervous tissues to steroid therapy. The present survey covers our results of progesterone neuroprotection in a motoneuron neurodegeneration model and a neuroinflammation model. In the degenerating spinal cord of the Wobbler mouse, progesterone reverses the impaired expression of neurotrophins, increases enzymes of neurotransmission and metabolism, prevents oxidative damage of motoneurons and their vacuolar degeneration (paraptosis), and attenuates the development of mitochondrial abnormalities. After long-term treatment, progesterone also increases muscle strength and the survival of Wobbler mice. Subsequently, this review describes the effects of progesterone in mice with induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a commonly used model of multiple sclerosis. In EAE mice, progesterone attenuates the clinical severity, decreases demyelination and neuronal dysfunction, increases axonal counts, reduces the formation of amyloid precursor protein profiles, and decreases the aberrant expression of growth-associated proteins. These actions of progesterone may be due to multiple mechanisms, considering that classic nuclear receptors, extranuclear receptors, and membrane receptors are all expressed in the spinal cord. Although many aspects of progesterone action in humans remain unsolved, data provided by experimental models makes getting to this objective closer than previously expected.
A subset of human pancreatic beta cells express functional CD14 receptors: a signaling pathway for beta cell‐related glycolipids, sulfatide and β‐galactosylceramide

T1DM is a T‐cell‐mediated autoimmune disease targeting insulin‐producing beta‐cells. Multiple factors may contribute to the development of T1DM. Among these, the metabolic state of beta‐cells and pro‐inflammatory cytokines, produced by infiltrating immune cells, have been implicated in the precipitation of T1DM.
Genetic and environmental melanoma models in fish

Experimental animal models are extremely valuable for the study of human diseases, especially those with underlying genetic components. The exploitation of various animal models, from fruitflies to mice, has led to major advances in our understanding of the etiologies of many diseases, including cancer. Cutaneous malignant melanoma is a form of cancer for which both environmental insult (i.e., UV) and hereditary predisposition are major causative factors. Fish melanoma models have been used in studies of both spontaneous and induced melanoma formation. Genetic hybrids between platyfish and swordtails, different species of the genus Xiphophorus, have been studied since the 1920s to identify genetic determinants of pigmentation and melanoma formation. Recently, transgenesis has been used to develop zebrafish and medaka models for melanoma research. This review will provide a historical perspective on the use of fish models in melanoma research, and an updated summary of current and prospective studies using these unique experimental systems.