Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Youth perspectives on sexually transmitted infections and sexual health in Northern Canada and implications for public health practice

Objective High rates of sexually transmitted infections in the Arctic have been a focus of recent research, and youth are believed to be at greatest risk of infection. Little research has focused on understanding youth perspectives on sexual health. The goal of this study was to collect the perspectives of youth in Nunavut on sexual health and relationships with the intent of informing public health practice. Method This qualitative research study was conducted within an Indigenous knowledge framework with a focus on Inuit ways of knowing. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews in three Nunavut communities with 17 youth between the ages of 14 and 19 years. Participants were asked open-ended questions about their experiences talking about sexual health and relationships with their family, peers, teachers or others in the community. Results There are four key findings, which are important for public health: (a) Parents/caregivers are the preferred source of knowledge about sexual health and relationships among youth respondents; (b) youth did not report using the Internet for sexual health information; (c) youth related sexual decision-making to the broader community context and determinants of health, such as poverty; and (d) youth discussed sexual health in terms of desire and love, which is an aspect of sexual health often omitted from the discourse. Implications and contribution The youth in this study articulated perspectives on sexual health, which are largely neglected in current public health practice in the North. The findings from this study underscore the important role of community-led participatory research in contributing to our understanding of the public health challenges in our communities today, and provide direction for future interventions and research.
Detection and delineation of squamous neoplasia with hyperspectral imaging in a mouse model of tongue carcinogenesis

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) holds the potential for the noninvasive detection of cancers. Oral cancers are often diagnosed at a late stage when treatment is less effective and the mortality and morbidity rates are high. Early detection of oral cancer is, therefore, crucial in order to improve the clinical outcomes. To investigate the potential of HSI as a noninvasive diagnostic tool, an animal study was designed to acquire hyperspectral images of in vivo and ex vivo mouse tongues from a chemically induced tongue carcinogenesis model. A variety of machine‐learning algorithms, including discriminant analysis, ensemble learning, and support vector machines, were evaluated for tongue neoplasia detection using HSI and were validated by the reconstructed pathological gold‐standard maps. The diagnostic performance of HSI, autofluorescence imaging, and fluorescence imaging were compared in this study. Color‐coded prediction maps were generated to display the predicted location and distribution of premalignant and malignant lesions. This study suggests that hyperspectral imaging combined with machine‐learning techniques can provide a noninvasive tool for the quantitative detection and delineation of squamous neoplasia.
Rethinking Feature Distribution for Loss Functions in Image Classification

We propose a large-margin Gaussian Mixture (L-GM) loss for deep neural networks in classification tasks. Different from the softmax cross-entropy loss, our proposal is established on the assumption that the deep features of the training set follow a Gaussian Mixture distribution. By involving a classification margin and a likelihood regularization, the L-GM loss facilitates both a high classification performance and an accurate modeling of the training feature distribution. As such, the L-GM loss is superior to the softmax loss and its major variants in the sense that besides classification, it can be readily used to distinguish abnormal inputs, such as the adversarial examples, based on their features' likelihood to the training feature distribution. Extensive experiments on various recognition benchmarks like MNIST, CIFAR, ImageNet and LFW, as well as on adversarial examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal.
Classification criteria for diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis: a lack of consensus

Objectives DISH is a condition characterized by flowing ossifications of the spine with or without ossifications of entheses elsewhere in the body. Studies on the prevalence and pathogenesis of DISH use a variety of partly overlapping combinations of classification criteria, making meaningful comparisons across the literature difficult. The aim of this study was to systematically summarize the available criteria to support the development of a more uniform set of diagnostic/classification criteria. Methods A search was performed in Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of Science using the term DISH and its synonyms. Articles were included when two independent observers agreed that the articles proposed a new set of classification criteria for DISH. All retrieved articles were evaluated for methodological quality, and the presented criteria were extracted. Results A total of 24 articles met the inclusion criteria. In all articles, spinal hyperostosis was required for the diagnosis of DISH. Peripheral, extraspinal manifestations were included as a (co-)requirement for the diagnosis DISH in five articles. Most discrepancies revolved around the threshold for the number of vertebral bodies affected and to defining different developmental phases of DISH. More than half of the retrieved articles described a dichotomous set of criteria and did not consider the progressive character of DISH. Conclusion This systematic review summarizes the available different classification criteria for DISH, which highlights the lack of consensus on the diagnosis of (early) DISH. Consensus criteria, including consecutive phases of new bone formation that characterize DISH, can be developed based upon established diagnostic/classification criteria.
Static Bending Strength Performance of Domestic Wood-Concrete Hybrid Laminated Materials

In this study, to develop the lattice materials with a low environmental load for restoring the destroyed forest, 7 types of wood-concrete hybrid laminated materials were manufactured with domestic four softwoods, three hardwoods and concrete, and the effects of density of wood species on static bending strength performances were investigated. Bending MOEs of wood-concrete hybrid laminated materials increased with increasing density of wood species on the whole, and the values were higher than that of concrete by hybrid-laminating woods on the concrete. It was found that the measure values of bending MOEs were slightly lower than the calculated values calculated using equivalent cross-section method from MOE of each laminae of hybrid laminated materials and the difference between them was less than 10%. Bending proportional limit stresses of hybrid laminated materials showed 1.2-1.6 times higher than that of concrete by hybrid-laminating. Bending strength (MOR) of hybrid laminated materials increased with the density of wood species. By hybrid-laminating, the MOR of concrete was considerably increased. Therefore, it is considered that wood-concrete hybrid laminated materials can be applied as a materials with a low environmental load and durability for ecological restoration.
Control of Bovine Viral Diarrhea

Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) is one of the most important infectious diseases of cattle with respect to animal health and economic impact. Its stealthy nature, prolonged transient infections, and the presence of persistently infected (PI) animals as efficient reservoirs were responsible for its ubiquitous presence in cattle populations worldwide. Whereas it was initially thought that the infection was impossible to control, effective systematic control strategies have emerged over the last 25 years. The common denominators of all successful control programs were systematic control, removal of PI animals, movement controls for infected herds, strict biosecurity, and surveillance. Scandinavian countries, Austria, and Switzerland successfully implemented these control programs without using vaccination. Vaccination as an optional and additional control tool was used by e.g., Germany, Belgium, Ireland, and Scotland. The economic benefits of BVD control programs had been assessed in different studies.
Elective nodal irradiation is not necessary in chemoradiotherapy for postoperative loco-regional recurrent esophageal cancer

Purpose The purposes of the present study were to evaluate prognostic factors for patients with postoperative loco-regional recurrent esophageal cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy by multivariate analysis and to determine which irradiation is better, involved field irradiation or elective nodal irradiation, by matched-pair analysis. Methods We reviewed records for 80 patients with postoperative loco-regional recurrent esophageal cancer treated by chemoradiotherapy between 2000 and 2014. The median follow-up period was 62.0 months. Thirty-one cases were treated with elective nodal irradiation and were randomly matched by risk factors to 49 cases treated with involved field irradiation (1:1). Results Fifty-one patients had disease recurrence again, and irradiated-field failure was observed in 26 patients. The 5-year overall survival rate was 30.5% with a median survival period of 26.5 months. Grade 3 or higher late toxicity was observed in only one patient. In multivariate analysis, short disease-free interval and anastomotic recurrence were statistically significant unfavorable prognostic factors for overall survival (hazard ratios: 2.1 and 2.5, respectively). Matched-pair analysis including disease-free interval, pattern of recurrence and number of recurrent regions revealed that overall survival rate and irradiated-field control rate in patients treated with involved field irradiation were significantly better than those in patients treated with elective nodal irradiation (P = 0.016 and P = 0.014, respectively). Conclusions Short disease-free interval and anastomotic recurrence are unfavorable factors and elective nodal irradiation is not necessary in chemoradiotherapy for patients with postoperative loco-regional recurrent esophageal cancer.
Timing of Intervention Affects Brain Electrical Activity in Children Exposed to Severe Psychosocial Neglect

Background Early psychosocial deprivation has profound effects on brain activity in the young child. Previous reports have shown increased power in slow frequencies of the electroencephalogram (EEG), primarily in the theta band, and decreased power in higher alpha and beta band frequencies in infants and children who have experienced institutional care. Methodology/Principal Findings We assessed the consequences of removing infants from institutions and placing them into a foster care intervention on brain electrical activity when children were 8 years of age. We found the intervention was successful for increasing high frequency EEG alpha power, with effects being most pronounced for children placed into foster care before 24 months of age. Conclusions/Significance The dependence on age of placement for the effects observed on high frequency EEG alpha power suggests a sensitive period after which brain activity in the face of severe psychosocial deprivation is less amenable to recovery.
Transcriptional landscape of human cancers

The homogeneity and heterogeneity in somatic mutations, copy number alterations and methylation across different cancer types have been extensively explored. However, the related exploration based on transcriptome data is lacking. In this study we explored gene expression profiles across 33 human cancer types using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. We identified consistently upregulated genes (such as E2F1, EZH2, FOXM1, MYBL2, PLK1, TTK, AURKA/B and BUB1) and consistently downregulated genes (such as SCARA5, MYOM1, NKAPL, PEG3, USP2, SLC5A7 and HMGCLL1) across various cancers. The dysregulation of these genes is likely to be associated with poor clinical outcomes in cancer. The dysregulated pathways commonly in cancers include cell cycle, DNA replication, repair, and recombination, Notch signaling, p53 signaling, Wnt signaling, TGFβ signaling, immune response etc. We also identified genes consistently upregulated or downregulated in highly-advanced cancers compared to lowly-advanced cancers. The highly (low) expressed genes in highly-advanced cancers are likely to have higher (lower) expression levels in cancers than in normal tissue, indicating that common gene expression perturbations drive cancer initiation and cancer progression. In addition, we identified a substantial number of genes exclusively dysregulated in a single cancer type or inconsistently dysregulated in different cancer types, demonstrating the intertumor heterogeneity. More importantly, we found a number of genes commonly dysregulated in various cancers such as PLP1, MYOM1, NKAPL and USP2 which were investigated in few cancer related studies, and thus represent our novel findings. Our study provides comprehensive portraits of transcriptional landscape of human cancers.
Potentially inappropriate prescribing to older patients in primary care in the Netherlands: a retrospective longitudinal study

Background potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is associated with adverse health effects in older patients. PIP comprises prescription of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and potential prescribing omissions (PPOs). Objective to estimate the prevalence of PIMs and PPOs among older patients in primary care. Design retrospective longitudinal study. Setting routinely collected data of 182,000 patients of 49 general practitioners (GPs) gathered in the GPs' database of the Academic Medical Center of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Subjects in each studied year, all patients who were aged 65 years and older at 1st January. Methods the prevalence of patients with at least one PIM and patients with at least one PPO was measured in 8 subsequent years (2007-14) by application of the Screening Tool of Older Persons potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP)/Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (START) criteria. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate trends in the prevalence of PIMs and PPOs over the years. Results on average, 4,537 patients were included per investigated year. The mean prevalence of ≥1 PIM was 34.7% (range 34.0-35.6%) and of ≥1 PPO 84.8% (range 77.4-90.6%). Examples were the prescription of salicylates without a proper indication and the absence of a therapeutically indicated vitamin D prescription. The prevalence of ≥1 PPOs showed a statistically significant decrease over the investigated years (OR 0.87, P < 0.001), whereas the prevalence of PIMs did not change significantly. Conclusions this study underscores the need for more attention to medication prescribing to older patients. The prevalence of PIP among older patients in primary care is substantial and the prevalence of PIMs did not decrease over time.
Surface electrogram-guided left ventricular lead placement improves response to cardiac resynchronization therapy

Objective Failure to select the optimal left ventricular (LV) segment for lead implantation is one of the most important causes of unresponsiveness to the cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). In our study, we aimed to investigate the echocardiographic and clinical benefits of LV lead implantation guided by an intraoperative 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients with multiple target veins. Methods We included 80 [42 (62.5%) male] heart failure patients who successfully underwent CRT defibrillator (CRT-D) implantation. Patients were divided into two groups. In group 1, LV lead was positioned at the site with the shortest biventricular-paced (BiV-paced) QRS duration (QRSd), as intraprocedurally measured using surface ECG. In group 2 (control), we included patients who underwent the standard unguided CRT. ECG, echocardiogram, and functional status were evaluated before and 6 months after CRT implantation in all patients. Results In group 1, BiV-paced QRSd measurements were successfully performed in 112 of 120 coronary sinus branches during CRT and an LV lead was successfully placed at the optimal site in all patients. Compared with group 2, group 1 had a significantly higher rate (85% vs. 50%, p=0.02) of response (>15% reduction in LV end-systolic volume) to CRT as well as a shorter QRSd (p<0.001) and a greater QRS shortening (∆QRS) associated with CRT compared with baseline (p<0.001). The mean New York Heart Association functional class was significantly improved in both groups, and no significant differences were found in clinical response to CRT (85% vs. 70%, p=0.181). Conclusion Surface ECG can be used to guide LV lead placement in patients with multiple target veins for improving response to CRT. Thus, it is a safe, feasible, and economic approach for CRT-D implantation.
Axillary staging in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in two Dutch phase III studies

Background Primary aim of our study was to assess the impact of timing of sentinel node procedure, pre- versus post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, on final pathologic node-negative rate (pN0) in patients with clinically node-negative (cN0) breast cancer. Secondary endpoint was the usability of the sentinel node procedure in patients with clinically node-positive disease that converted to cN0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and Methods Patients were enrolled in two sequentially conducted Dutch phase III trials, studying the impact of two neoadjuvant chemotherapy schedules and use of zoledronic acid on complete pathologic response rate. For the present analyses, patients were excluded if they had not undergone surgical axillary staging. Results In total 439 patients were included, of whom 230 (52%) had pre-treatment cN0. In this group, pN0 status was seen in 58% (N = 23) of patients with a sentinel node biopsy post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy compared to 51% (N = 83) pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, including the axillary lymph node dissection whenever performed. In multivariable analysis, timing of sentinel node procedure (pre- versus post- neoadjuvant chemotherapy) was, however, not significantly associated with final pN0/pN0(i+) status, with an odds ratio of 1.18 (95% CI 0.64 - 2.18) after correction for age, clinical tumor status, histology, grade, hormone- and HER2 receptor. Of patients with clinically node-positive disease only 15% had a final pN0 status, with a false-negative rate of the sentinel node of 30%. Conclusion In breast cancer patients with cN0 disease, sentinel node procedure performed post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy led to nodal down staging, although not statistically significant after multivariate correction for patient and tumor characteristics.
Individual differences in decision making competence revealed by multivariate fMRI

While an extensive literature in decision neuroscience has elucidated the neurobiological foundations of decision making, prior research has focused primarily on group‐level effects in a sample population. Due to the presence of inherent differences between individuals’ cognitive abilities, it is also important to examine the neural correlates of decision making that explain interindividual variability in cognitive performance. This study therefore investigated how individual differences in decision making competence, as measured by the Adult Decision Making Competence (A‐DMC) battery, are related to functional brain connectivity patterns derived from resting‐state fMRI data in a sample of 304 healthy participants. We examined connectome‐wide associations, identifying regions within frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital cortex that demonstrated significant associations with decision making competence. We then assessed whether the functional interactions between brain regions sensitive to decision making competence and seven intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) were predictive of specific facets of decision making assessed by subtests of the A‐DMC battery. Our findings suggest that individual differences in specific facets of decision making competence are mediated by ICNs that support executive, social, and perceptual processes, and motivate an integrative framework for understanding the neural basis of individual differences in decision making competence.
Haematological indices as predictors of atrial fibrillation following isolated coronary artery bypass grafting, valvular surgery, or combined procedures: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND New postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is one of the most critical and common complications after cardio¬vascular surgery precipitating early and late morbidities. Complete blood count (CBC) is an imperative blood test in clinical practice, routinely used in the examination of cardiovascular diseases. AIM This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to determine the strength of evidence for evaluating the association of haematological indices in CBC tests with atrial fibrillation following isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), isolated valvular surgery, or a combination of these treatments. METHODS We conducted a meta-analysis of studies evaluating pre- and postoperative haematological indices in patients with POAF. A comprehensive subgroup analysis was performed to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. RESULTS A literature search of all major databases retrieved 732 studies. After screening, 22 studies were analysed including a total of 6098 patients. Pooled analysis showed preoperative platelet count (PC) (weighted mean difference [WMD] = -7.07 × 109/L and p < 0.001), preoperative mean platelet volume (MPV) (WMD = 0.53 FL and p < 0.001), preoperative white blood cell count (WBC) (WMD = 0.130 × 109/L and p < 0.001), preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (WMD = 0.33 and p < 0.001), preoperative red blood cell distribution width (RDW) (WMD = 0.36% and p < 0.001), postoperative WBC (WMD = 1.36 × 109/L and p < 0.001), and postoperative NLR (WMD = 0.74 and p < 0.001) as associated factors with POAF. CONCLUSIONS Haematological indices may predict the risk of POAF before surgery. These easily-performed tests should defi¬nitely be taken into account in patients undergoing isolated CABG, valvular surgery, or combined procedures.
Detection of CYP1A1 and GSTP1 gene polymorphisms in bladder cancer patients in a Turkish population using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.

Objective Understanding genetic polymorphisms might facilitate the analysis of differences between individuals in their susceptibility to developing cancers as a result of environmental carcinogens. Skin, lung, colon and bladder cancers emerge from biological defects in GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 gene expressions. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether there was an association between CYP1A1 and GSTP1 gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer in a Turkish population. Material and methods Blood samples were collected from 120 individuals (60 patients with bladder cancer and 60 healthy individuals), and their DNAs were isolated. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR - RFLP) method was used to detect the frequencies of CYP1A1 NM_000499. 3: c. *1189T > C and GSTP1 NM_000852. 3: c.313A > G polymorphisms in bladder cancer patients. Results The frequency of the CYP1A1: c. *1189 TC genotype and C allele were significantly different between bladder cancer patients and healthy individuals (p=0.001 and p=0.005, respectively). However, there was no significant difference for the GSTP1: c.313 AG genotype or G allele between both study groups (p=0.699 and p=0.360, respectively). Conclusion A polymorphic site of the CYP1A1 gene might be involved in the development of bladder cancer. However, the investigated GSTP1 polymorphic site did not represent an important risk factor for the development of bladder cancer in a Turkish population.