Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hypertension, white-coat hypertension and masked hypertension in Australia: findings from the Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study 3.

BACKGROUND AND METHOD The Australian Diabetes, Obesity, and Lifestyle Study is a national, population-based examination of ∼11 000 adults with a third follow-up phase at 12 years. The aim was to use ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in a subsample (n = 508) of the main Australian Diabetes third follow-up cohort to determine the proportion with established, masked or white-coat hypertension in city and regional centers and the effectiveness of diagnosis and treatment. RESULTS Mean age was 58.9 years, BMI was 27.6 kg/m with 53% women. The mean clinic BP was 127/73 mmHg and mean 24-h BP was 121/73 mmHg. Using regression analysis estimations, the predicted ABPM daytime equivalent for the hypertension threshold values of 140/90 mmHg were 136/90 mmHg. There were 43% classified as hypertensive due to either ABPM 24-h more than 130/80 mmHg (17%) or taking antihypertensive therapy (25%). Ambulatory SBP/DBP were higher in men (24-h + 6.4/4.9 mmHg, P < 0.001) compared with women. There was only 3% with white-coat but 21% with masked hypertension indicating 24% misdiagnosis. Based on ABPM, 9% were treated and still hypertensive, which was three times more common in men (14%) than women (4%). Thus 36% had not reached target. There were no differences between urban and rural participants. Based on ABPM, nearly half the participants were hypertensive while only a quarter were taking antihypertensive therapy. CONCLUSION The findings highlight the importance of out-of-office BP assessments and the considerable gaps in effectively diagnosing and treating hypertension.
Does tang poetry affect human emotional state? A pilot study by EEG

Tang poetry, as one of the most typical ways for ancient Chinese to express their emotions, has been continuously inherited for millenniums in China. Nowadays, though our way of life has changed dramatically, the traditional culture about Tang poetry is still affecting us deeply. However, the psychological effect of Tang poetry remains unclear currently. Motivated by this, we aim to investigate the impact of Tang poetry on human emotional state through designing effective experimental paradigm. We gathered 16 Tang poetry video clips with different genres, and played these to 18 subjects, meanwhile recorded their brain neural responses via Electroencephalogram (EEG). A questionnaire was designed to record subjects' subjective ratings of the emotional experience when watching the Tang poetry videos. Through analyzing the questionnaires, we found that Tang poetry can indeed induce the subjects' specific emotions. Finally, we performed a pilot analysis of the recorded EEG signals and the subjective ratings, for exploring the correlation of the brain activity with the emotional states. The results indicate that the Tang poetry can be used as a kind of emotive stimuli in affective computing research, and the EEG induced by Tang poetry can be utilized to probe the human's internal emotions.
Anti-Blastocystis Activity In Vitro of Egyptian Herbal Extracts (Family: Asteraceae) with Emphasis on Artemisia judaica

Achillea fragrantissima (Forssk.) Sch. Bip. (known as Qaysoom), Echinops spinosus L. (known as Shoak Elgamal) and Artemisia judaica L. (known Shih Baladi) are members of the Asteraceae family known for their traditional medical use in Egypt. The ethanol extracts of these plants were evaluated for their efficacy against a protozoan parasite (Blastocystis). Two different molecular subtypes of Blastocystis were used (ST1 and ST3). Significant growth inhibition of Blastocystis was observed when exposed to both A. judaica (99.3%) and A. fragrantissima (95.6%) with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC90) at 2000 µg/mL. Under the effect of the extracts, changes in Blastocystis morphology were noted, with the complete destruction of Blastocystis forms after 72 h with the dose of 4000 µg/mL. Different subtypes displayed different responses to the herbal extracts tested. ST1 exhibited significantly different responses to the herbal extracts compared to ST3. A. judaica was selected as the herb of choice considering all of its variables and because of its effective action against Blastocystis. It was then exposed to further fractionation and observation of its effect on ST1 and ST3. Solvent portioned fractions (dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and n-hexane) in A. judaica were found to be the potent active fractions against both of the Blastocystis subtypes used.
High flavonoid cocoa supplement ameliorates plasma oxidative stress and inflammation levels while improving mobility and quality of life in older subjects: a double blind randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND The age-related decline in mass, strength and performance of skeletal muscle is associated with loss of independence, falls risk, disability, institutionalization and death. METHODS To determine whether a cocoa supplement enriched in flavonoids can improve plasma markers of oxidative stress and inflammation, physical performance and frailty in middle and older age subjects, we conducted a two-phase, randomized, double blind, clinical trial. The initial study included 60 subjects (55-70 year-old) allocated into placebo (P), highly alkalinized (no-flavonoid; NF) or flavonoid rich natural cocoa (F) beverage groups. The follow-up study included 74 older subjects (65-90 year-old) randomly distributed into NF or F groups. Subjects were instructed to consume the beverages once/day for up to 12-weeks. A comprehensive (aging relevant) set of endpoints were assessed which included mean change in blood plasma metabolic and oxidative stress indicators, in physical performance tests and quality of life (QoL). RESULTS In the initial study, the F group showed improved glycemia, triglyceridemia (TG), c-HDL, c-LDL, the TG/HDL index, and oxidative markers. Performance on the Up & Go test, skeletal muscle index, and QoL also improved. In the follow-up study, F treatment was associated with significant improvements in metabolic, oxidative stress and inflammatory endpoints and positive effects on physical performance, frailty indicators and QoL (F vs. NF group). CONCLUSIONS Regular flavonoids consumption positively impact blood oxidative stress and inflammation endpoints, cardiometabolic risk markers, physical performance and QoL. The sum of such effects may help to mitigate the extent of frailty development in the elderly.Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT03585868.
Attenuation Correction in Myocardial Perfusion SPECT/CT: Effects of Misregistration and Value of Reregistration

The accuracy of myocardial perfusion SPECT improves with attenuation correction. Algorithms for attenuation correction in hybrid SPECT/CT systems have the potential for misregistration of emission and transmission scans because CT and SPECT are obtained sequentially. Misregistration will influence regional tracer distribution and may reduce diagnostic accuracy. This study focused on the role of misregistration in cardiac SPECT/CT and the performance of a software-based approach for reregistration. Methods: We included 105 consecutive patients who underwent clinical myocardial perfusion imaging on a SPECT/CT system. Images were quantitatively assessed for misregistration using fusion software. Results were recorded in millimeters in the x-, y-, and z-axes. Regional tracer uptake in 6 segments (anterior, septal, inferior, lateral, anteroapical, and inferoapical) for noncorrected and attenuation-corrected images before and after reregistration was obtained from polar maps. To determine the relative influence of misregistration, we correlated individual differences between noncorrected and attenuation-corrected images, as well as between attenuation-corrected images before and after reregistration, with the degree of misregistration in a multivariate analysis including additional clinical variables such as sex and body weight. Results: The difference in regional radiotracer uptake was significant between noncorrected and attenuation-corrected images in all 6 segments and was most pronounced in the inferior wall. On multivariate analysis, misregistration contributed significantly to changes in radiotracer distribution in the anterior (P = 0.038), septal (P = 0.011), and inferior (P = 0.006) segments. The mean misregistration was 8.6 ± 3.8 mm (1.25 ± 0.55 pixel). Misregistration of one or more pixels was observed in 64% of studies. Reregistration of misalignment significantly affected regional radiotracer distribution in the segments shown to be influenced by misregistration. Conclusion: Misregistration occurs with SPECT/CT systems and influences regional tracer distribution on attenuation-corrected myocardial images. Reregistration of misaligned studies may be a useful tool for correction. The impact of this strategy on the diagnostic and prognostic accuracy of cardiac hybrid imaging needs to be determined.
Tranilast enhances the effect of anticancer agents in osteosarcoma

Tranilast [N-(3′,4′-dimethoxycinnamoyl)-anthranilic acid], initially developed as an antiallergic drug, also exhibits a growth inhibitory effect on various types of cancer. Osteosarcoma is treated mainly with high-dose methotrexate, doxorubicin, cisplatin and ifosfamide; however, 20–30 % of patients cannot be cured of metastatic disease. We investigated whether tranilast enhances the anticancer effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and analyzed its mechanism of action in osteosarcomas. Tranilast inhibited proliferation of HOS, 143B, U2OS and MG-63 osteosarcoma cells in a dose-dependent manner, as well as enhancing the effects of cisplatin and doxorubicin. The average combination index at effect levels for tranilast in combination with cisplatin was 0.57 in HOS, 0.4 in 143B, 0.39 in U2OS and 0.51 in MG-63 cells. Tranilast and cisplatin synergistically inhibited the viability of osteosarcoma cells. In flow cytometric analysis, although tranilast alone did not induce significant apoptosis, the combination of tranilast and cisplatin induced early and late apoptotic cell death. Expression of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and p-H2AX was enhanced by tranilast in combination with cisplatin. Tranilast alone increased expression of p21 and Bim protein in a dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry demonstrated that the combination of tranilast and cisplatin increased the number of cells in the G2/M phase. Compared with cisplatin alone, the combination increased levels of phospho-cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Y15). In the 143B xenograft model, tumor growth was significantly inhibited by combined tranilast and cisplatin compared with the controls, whereas cisplatin alone did not significantly inhibit tumor growth. In conclusion, tranilast has a cytostatic effect on osteosarcoma cells and enhances the effect of anticancer drugs, especially cisplatin. Enhanced sensitivity to cisplatin was mediated by increased apoptosis through G2/M arrest. Since tranilast has been clinically approved and has few adverse effects, clinical trials of osteosarcoma chemotherapy in combination with tranilast are expected.
How Well Can We Predict Hypernyms from Word Embeddings? A Dataset-Centric Analysis

One key property of word embeddings currently under study is their capacity to encode hypernymy. Previous works have used supervised models to recover hypernymy structures from embeddings. However, the overall results do not clearly show how well we can recover such structures. We conduct the first dataset-centric analysis that shows how only the Baroni dataset provides consistent results. We empirically show that a possible reason for its good performance is its alignment to dimensions specific of hypernymy: generality and similarity
Cerebral infarction in autopsies of chagasic patients with heart failure.

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of encephalic infarction and its contribution to lethality in patients with Chagas' disease and heart failure. METHODS Medical records and autopsy reports of patients with Chagas' disease complicated by heart failure, who died at the Professor Edgar Santos Hospital of the Federal University of Bahia in the past 45 years were retrospectively analyzed. Data comprised information regarding the clinical history on hospital admission, complementary and anatomicopathological examinations, including the presence of encephalic infarction, the impaired region, and the cause of death. RESULTS Of the 5,447 autopsies performed, 524 were in patients with heart failure due to Chagas' disease. The mean age was 45.7 years, and 51 (63%) patients were of the male sex. The frequency of encephalic infarction was 17.5%, corresponding to 92 events in 92 individuals, 82 (15.8%) of which involved the brain, 8 (1.5%) involved the cerebellum, and 2 (0.4%) involved the hypophysis. CONCLUSION Cerebral infarction has been a frequent finding in autopsies of chagasic patients with heart failure, and it has been an important cause of death in our region. The presence of cerebral infarction and its complications have been associated with death in 52% of the cases studied.
Thyroid anomalies in Williams syndrome: Investigation of 95 patients

Thyroid involvement in Williams syndrome (WS) was recently reported in two small groups of patients, both showing an increased prevalence of elevation of TSH serum concentration; in one of the two reports, 70% of the patients demonstrated a hypoplasia of thyroid gland as well. In our institution, we currently follow a large population of WS patients who periodically undergo a multispecialist clinical evaluation that includes ultrasound evaluation of the thyroid gland, and levels of FT3, FT4, TSH, and anti‐thyroid antibodies. Here, we report on the prevalence of thyroid structural and functional anomalies, in a population of 95 WS patients, half of them followed for more than 5 years. Our study confirms the increased incidence of both elevated TSH serum values (37.9% in our sample) and thyroid gland hypoplasia (74.7%). Moreover, we demonstrated that TSH elevation declines with age. For this reason, we suggest that a complete thyroid evaluation be performed in every patient with WS, and that this medical complication should be periodically searched for in follow‐up visits. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Relationship between Microstructure, Material Distribution, and Mechanical Properties of Sheep Tibia during Fracture Healing Process

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between microstructural parameters, material distribution, and mechanical properties of sheep tibia at the apparent and tissue levels during the fracture healing process. Eighteen sheep underwent tibial osteotomy and were sacrificed at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Radiographs and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) scanning were taken for microstructural assessment, material distribution evaluation, and micro-finite element analysis. A displacement of 5% compressive strain on the longitudinal direction was applied to the micro-finite element model, and apparent and tissue-level mechanical properties were calculated. Principle component analysis and linear regression were used to establish the relationship between principle components (PCs) and mechanical parameters. Visible bony callus formation was observed throughout the healing process from radiographic assessment. Apparent mechanical property increased at 8 weeks, but tissue-level mechanical property did not increase significantly until 12 weeks. Three PCs were extracted from microstructural parameters and material distribution, which accounted for 87.592% of the total variation. The regression results showed a significant relationship between PCs and mechanical parameters (R>0.8, P<0.05). Results of this study show that microstructure and material distribution based on micro-CT imaging could efficiently predict bone strength and reflect the bone remodeling process during fracture healing, which provides a basis for exploring the fracture healing mechanism and may be used as an approach for fractured bone strength assessment.
Microfluidic Model for Evaluation of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors in Human Tumors

Presented is the first demonstration of real‐time monitoring of the response of resident lymphocyte populations in biopsied tumor tissue to immunotherapeutic agents in a perfused tumor microenvironment. This technology comprises a microfluidic tumor trapping device constructed from a novel 3D‐printed, transparent, noncytotoxic substrate. The 3D‐printed device sustains viability of biopsied tissue fragments under dynamic perfusion for at least 72 h while enabling simultaneous administration of various drug treatments, illustrating a useful tool for drug development and precision medicine for immunotherapy. Confocal microscopy of the tumor tissue and resident lymphocytes in the presence of fluorescent tracers provides real‐time monitoring of tumor response to various immunotherapies. Devices are additively manufactured in Pro3dure GR‐10 (i.e., a relatively new, high‐resolution stereolithographic resin with properties suitable for biomedical applications), allowing integration of a set of finely featured functional components into a monolithically constructed platform. The presented platform comprises a new methodology for modeling and analyzing tumor response for the improved prediction of patient‐specific immunotherapy efficacy. It is acknowledged that this is the first report of human tumor fragments cultured in a dynamic perfusion system capable of testing the effect of circulating immune checkpoint inhibitors on resident tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes.
Somatosensory cortical representation of the body size

The knowledge of the size of our own body parts is essential for accurately moving in space and efficiently interact with objects. A distorted perceptual representation of the body size often represents a core diagnostic criterion for some psychopathological conditions. The metric representation of the body was shown to depend on somatosensory afferences: local deafferentation indeed causes a perceptual distortion of the size of the anesthetized body part. A specular effect can be induced by altering the cortical map of body parts in the primary somatosensory cortex. Indeed, the present study demonstrates, in healthy adult participants, that repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to the somatosensory cortical map of the hand in both hemispheres causes a perceptual distortion (i.e., an overestimation) of the size of the participants' own hand (Experiments 1–3), which does not involve other body parts (i.e., the foot, Experiment 2). Instead, the stimulation of the inferior parietal lobule of both hemispheres does not affect the perception of the own body size (Experiment 4). These results highlight the role of the primary somatosensory cortex in the building up and updating of the metric of body parts: somatosensory cortical activity not only shapes our somatosensation, it also affects how we perceive the dimension of our body.
Fast depth image denoising and enhancement using a deep convolutional network

We propose a depth image denoising and enhancement framework using a light convolutional network. The network contains three layers for high dimension projection, missing data completion and image reconstruction. We jointly use both depth and visual images as inputs. For the gray image, we design a pre-processing procedure to enhance the edges and remove unnecessary detail. For the depth image, we propose a data augmentation strategy to regenerate and increase essential training data. Further, we propose a weighted loss function for network training to adaptively improve the learning efficiency. We tested our algorithm on benchmark data and obtained very promising visual and quantitative results at real-time speed.
The clinical outcomes of patients who developed typical atrial flutter on class 1C anti arrhythmic medications treated with hybrid approach

A common approach to patients, who developed atrial flutter secondary to treatment with class 1C anti‐arrhythmic drugs for atrial fibrillation (AF) (1C flutter), is a hybrid approach: ablation of the Cavo‐Tricuspid isthmus (CTI) and continuation 1C medical treatment to prevent recurrence of AF. We aim to explore the clinical outcome of patients treated in this approach.
Effect of probiotics on gastrointestinal symptoms and immune parameters in systemic sclerosis: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES Changes in the intestinal microbiota have been associated with the pathogenesis of SSc. Probiotics act by modulating the microbiome and the immune response. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of probiotics on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and immune responses in SSc patients. METHODS Patients with SSc with a moderate-severe total score on the University of California Los Angeles Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium Gastrointestinal Tract 2.0 (UCLA GIT 2.0) instrument were randomly assigned to receive a daily dose of probiotics (Lactobacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus acidophillus and Bifidobacterium lactis, 109 colony-forming units per capsule) or placebo for 8 weeks. The primary endpoint was improvement in the UCLA GIT 2.0 total score after 8 weeks. Secondary outcomes included changes in Th1, Th2, Th17 and regulatory T cell circulating levels and in the HAQ Disability Index (HAQ-DI) score. Parameters were assessed at baseline and after 4 and 8 weeks of treatment. RESULTS A total of 73 patients were randomized to receive probiotics (n = 37) or placebo (n = 36). After 8 weeks, there was no difference in the UCLA GIT 2.0 score between the two groups. At week 8, the probiotic group showed a significant decrease in the proportion of Th17 cells compared with placebo (P = 0.003). There was no difference in the proportion of Th1, Th2 and regulatory T cells or in the HAQ-DI score between the groups. CONCLUSION Probiotics did not improve GI symptoms in SSc patients. The reduction in Th17 cell levels suggests an immunomodulatory effect of probiotics on SSc. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov (http://clinicaltrials.gov), NCT02302352.
Perspectives of small molecule inhibitors of activin receptor-like kinase in anti-tumor treatment and stem cell differentiation

Activin receptor-like kinases (ALKs), members of the type I activin receptor family, belong to the serine/threonine kinase receptors of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily. ALKs mediate the roles of activin/TGF-β in a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes, ranging from cell differentiation and proliferation to apoptosis. For example, the activities of ALKs are associated with an advanced tumor stage in prostate cancer and the chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. Therefore, potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of ALKs would not only aid in investigating the function of activin/TGF-β, but also in developing treatments for these diseases via the disruption of activin/TGF-β. In recent studies, several ALK inhibitors, including LY-2157299, SB-431542 and A-83-01, have been identified and have been confirmed to affect stem cell differentiation and tumor progression in animal models. This review discusses the therapeutic perspective of small molecule inhibitors of ALKs as drug targets in tumor and stem cells.