Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Incidence of Lower-Limb Amputation in the Diabetic and Nondiabetic General Population

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to compare the incidence of vascular lower-limb amputation (LLA) in the diabetic and nondiabetic general population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A population-based cohort study was conducted in a representative Swedish region. All vascular LLAs (at or proximal to the transmetatarsal level) performed from 1997 through 2006 were consecutively registered and classified into initial unilateral amputation, contralateral amputation, or reamputation. The incidence rates were estimated in the diabetic and nondiabetic general population aged ≥45 years. RESULTS—During the 10-year period, LLA was performed on 62 women and 71 men with diabetes and on 79 women and 78 men without diabetes. The incidence of initial unilateral amputation per 100,000 person-years was 192 (95% CI 145–241) for diabetic women, 197 (152–244) for diabetic men, 22 (17–26) for nondiabetic women, and 24 (19–29) for nondiabetic men. The incidence increased from the age of 75 years. Of all amputations, 74% were transtibial. The incidences of contralateral amputation and of reamputation per 100 amputee-years in diabetic women amputees were 15 (7–27) and 16 (8–28), respectively; in diabetic men amputees 18 (10–29) and 21 (12–32); in nondiabetic women amputees 14 (7–24) and 18 (10–28); and in nondiabetic men amputees 13 (6–22) and 24 (15–35). CONCLUSIONS—In the general population aged ≥45 years, the incidence of vascular LLA at or proximal to the transmetatarsal level is eight times higher in diabetic than in nondiabetic individuals. One in four amputees may require contralateral amputation and/or reamputation.
Virological Response to Dual Hepatitis B and C viral co-infection in Saudi patients

As there is conflicting data regarding the impact of dual infection. Many previous studies reported that dual infection led to more severe histological changes with rapid progression to cirrhosis. While other studies did not confirm these findings . Therefore, this study aimed to compare the virological and histological changes between HBV/HCV co-infection and mono-infection of HBV and HCV in Saudi patients. Three hundred Saudi patients were enrolledin this retrospective descriptive study. Mono-infection of HCV was observed in 50 patients, considered as subgroup I, while another 25 had mono-infection of HBV, and considered as subgroup II. Also, dual infection was observed in18 patients who had dual positivity for HBs-Ag and hepatitis C virus antibody (HCV-Ab) considered as Subgroup III. Quantitative HBV-DNA polymerase chain reaction (HBV-DNA-PCR) and HCV-RNA-PCR assays, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and liver biopsy (METAVIR scoring system) results were studied. All patients were naive for antiviral treatment. Regards the HBe-Ag status, it was found to be more in the subgroup II alone than in the subgroup III (p = 0.017). In addition, the raised ALT level was found to be more in the subgroup III than in the subgroup I and subgroup II with statistically significant difference between patients’ subgroups (p = 0.016). When comparing the HBV viral load between the subgroup III and subgroup II, the HBV DNA levels showed a statistical significant difference (p= 0.021). Also, When comparing the HCV viral load between the subgroup III and the subgroup I, the HCV RNA levels showed a statistical significant difference (p= 0.034), histological characteristics revealed significantly higher values of necroinflammatory, fibrosis and steatosis scores in subgroup III compared to subgroup I and subgroup II. Virological and histological properties of dual infection showed significant differences compared to the single infections among Saudi patients.
CD4+CD25+ Immunoregulatory T Cells

CD4+CD25+ immunoregulatory T cells play a pivotal role in preventing organ-specific autoimmune diseases and in tolerance induction to allogeneic organ transplants. We investigated whether these cells could also control graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the main complication after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Here, we show that the few CD4+CD25+ T cells naturally present in the transplant regulate GVHD because their removal from the graft dramatically accelerates this disease. Furthermore, the addition of freshly isolated CD4+CD25+ T cells at time of grafting significantly delays or even prevents GVHD. Ex vivo–expanded CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells obtained after stimulation by allogeneic recipient-type antigen-presenting cells can also modulate GVHD. Thus, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells represent a new therapeutic tool for controlling GVHD in allogeneic HSCT. More generally, these results outline the tremendous potential of regulatory T cells as therapeutics.
Optimising the sensitivity of optically-pumped magnetometer magnetoencephalography to gamma band electrophysiological activity

Abstract The measurement of electrophysiology is of critical importance to our understanding of brain function. However, current non-invasive measurements—electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG)—have limited sensitivity, particularly compared to invasive recordings. Optically-Pumped Magnetometers (OPMs) are a new type of magnetic field sensor which ostensibly promise MEG systems with higher sensitivity; however, the noise floor of current OPMs remains high compared to cryogenic instrumentation and this limits the achievable signal-to-noise ratio of OPM-MEG recordings. Here, we investigate how sensor array design affects sensitivity, and whether judicious sensor placement could compensate for the higher noise floor. Through theoretical analyses, simulations, and experiments, we use a beamformer framework to show that increasing the total signal measured by an OPM array—either by increasing the number of sensors and channels, or by optimising the placement of those sensors—affords a linearly proportional increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) following beamformer reconstruction. Our experimental measurements confirm this finding, showing that by changing sensor locations in a 90-channel array, we could increase the SNR of visual gamma oscillations from 4.8 to 10.5. Using a 180-channel optimised OPM-array, we capture broadband gamma oscillations induced by a naturalistic visual paradigm, with an SNR of 3; a value that compares favourably to similar measures made using conventional MEG. Our findings show how an OPM-MEG array can be optimised to measure brain electrophysiology with the highest possible sensitivity. This is important for the design of future OPM-based instrumentation.
Longitudinal stability of cortical grey matter measures varies across brain regions, imaging metrics, and testing sites in the ABCD study

Abstract Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a vital tool for the study of brain structure and function. It is increasingly being used in individual differences research to examine brain-behaviour associations. Prior work has demonstrated low test-retest stability of functional MRI measures, highlighting the need to examine the longitudinal stability (test-retest reliability across long timespans) of MRI measures across brain regions and imaging metrics, particularly in adolescence. In this study, we examined the longitudinal stability of grey matter measures (cortical thickness, surface area, and volume) across brain regions, and testing sites in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study release v4.0. Longitudinal stability ICC estimates ranged from 0 to . 98, depending on the measure, parcellation, and brain region. We used Intra-Class Effect Decomposition (ICED) to estimate between-subjects variance and error variance, and assess the relative contribution of each across brain regions and testing sites on longitudinal stability. In further exploratory analyses, we examined the influence of parcellation used (Desikan-Killiany-Tourville and Destrieux) on longitudinal stability. Our results highlight meaningful heterogeneity in longitudinal stability across brain regions, structural measures (cortical thickness in particular), parcellations, and ABCD testing sites. Differences in longitudinal stability across brain regions were largely driven by between-subjects variance, whereas differences in longitudinal stability across testing sites were largely driven by differences in error variance. We argue that investigations such as this are essential to capture patterns of longitudinal stability heterogeneity that would otherwise go undiagnosed. Such improved understanding allows the field to more accurately interpret results, compare effect sizes, and plan more powerful studies.
Learners sacriﬁce robust communication as a result of a social bias

Languages are subject to many competing pressures, which originate in individual-level learning and communication biases and in social biases reﬂecting community-level dynamics. Recent work suggests that certain aspects of language structure, such as the cross-linguistic trade-off between case and constituent-order ﬂexibility, originate in learners’ biases for efﬁcient communication: Learners drop redundant case but retain informative case in production. Social biases can lead to retention of redundant case, resulting in systems that require more effort to produce. It is not clear, however, whether social biases can inﬂuence the use of informative cues. We tested this by exposing participants to a language with uninformative constituent order and two dialects, only one of which employed case. We manipulated the presence of social biases for and against the case dialect. Learners biased towards the no-case dialect dropped informative case without compensating for the resulting message uncertainty. Case was retained in all other conditions.
Formation of Short-Chain Fatty Acids, Excretion of Anthocyanins, and Microbial Diversity in Rats Fed Blackcurrants, Blackberries, and Raspberries

Introduction. Berries contain high amounts of dietary fibre and flavonoids and have been associated with improved metabolic health. The mechanisms are not clear but the formation of SCFAs, especially propionic and butyric acids, could be important. The potent antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of flavonoids could also be a factor, but little is known about their fate in the gastrointestinal tract. Aim. To compare how blackcurrants, blackberries, raspberries, and Lactobacillus plantarum HEAL19 affect formation of SCFAs, inflammatory status, caecal microbial diversity, and flavonoids. Results and Conclusions. Degradation of the dietary fibre, formation of SCFAs including propionic and butyric acids, the weight of the caecal content and tissue, and the faecal wet and dry weight were all higher in rats fed blackcurrants rather than blackberries or raspberries. However, the microbial diversity of the gut microbiota was higher in rats fed raspberries. The high content of soluble fibre in blackcurrants and the high proportion of mannose-containing polymers might explain these effects. Anthocyanins could only be detected in urine of rats fed blackcurrants, and the excretion was lower with HEAL19. No anthocyanins or anthocyanidins were detected in caecal content or blood. This may indicate uptake in the stomach or small intestine.
The Influences of Medical Crowdfunding Website Design Features on Trust and Intention to Donate: Empirical Study

Background: As a type of donation-based crowdfunding, medical crowdfunding has gradually become an important way for patients who have difficulty paying medical bills to seek help from the public. However, many people still have limited confidence in donating money to medical crowdfunding projects. Objective: Given that the features of a medical crowdfunding website may be important to users’ trust, this study draws upon two-factor and trust theories to explore how different design features of medical crowdfunding websites affect potential donors’ cognition-based trust and affect-based trust, and how these types of trust affect intention to donate. Methods: A 2 (informativeness: high vs. low) × 2 (visual cues: cool color vs. warm color) × 2 (social cues: with vs. without) between-subject laboratory experiment was conducted to validate our research model. A total of 320 undergraduate students recruited from a university in China participated in the controlled laboratory experiment. Results: indicate that cognition-and affect-based trust exert significant effects on the intention to donate of potential donors of medical crowdfunding. Informativeness as a hygiene factor positively influences potential donors’ cognition-and affect-based trust, whereas social cues as a motivating factor significantly influence potential donors’ cognition-and affect-based trust. However, webpages’ color affects the two dimensions of trust differently. Specifically, medical crowdfunding webpages with warm color are more likely to induce affect-based trust than cool color, whereas no significant difference exists between the effects of cold and warm colors on cognition-based trust. Conclusions: This study deepens our understanding of the relationship among the design features of medical crowdfunding websites, trust, and intention to donate and provides guidelines for managers of medical crowdfunding platforms to enhance potential donors’ trust building by improving the website design features
3D simulation of needle-tissue interaction with application to prostate brachytherapy

This paper presents a needle-tissue interaction model that is a 3D extension of prior work based on needle and tissue models discretized using the Finite Element Method. The use of flexible needles necessitates remeshing the tissue during insertion, since simple mesh-node snapping to the tip can be detrimental to the simulation. In this paper, node repositioning and node addition are the two methods of mesh modification examined for coarse meshes. Our focus is on numerical approaches for fast implementation of these techniques. Although the two approaches compared, namely the Woodbury formula (matrix inversion lemma) and the boundary condition switches, have the same computational complexity, the Woodbury formula is shown to perform faster due to its cache-efficient order of operations. Furthermore, node addition is applied in constant time for both approaches, whereas node repositioning requires longer and variable computational times. A method for rendering the needle forces during simulated insertions into a 3D prostate model has been implemented. Combined with a detailed anatomical segmentation, this will be useful in teaching the practice of prostate brachytherapy. Issues related to discretization of such coupled (e.g., needle-tissue) models are also discussed.
Short Term Effect of Salt Shock on Ethylene and Polyamines Depends on Plant Salt Sensitivity

In the present manuscript the short term effect (3–24 h) of a saline shock (NaCl 100 mM) on fresh weight, water content, respiration rate, ethylene production and Na+, Cl-, ACC and polyamine concentration was studied in four plant species with different salt sensitivity, pepper, lettuce, spinach, and beetroot. Higher reduction in fresh weight and water content as a consequence of saline shock was found in pepper and lettuce plants than in spinach and beetroot, the latter behaving as more salinity tolerant. In general, salinity led to rapid increases in respiration rate, ethylene production and ACC and polyamine (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) concentrations in shoot and root. These increases were related to plant salinity sensitivity, since they were higher in the most sensitive species and vice versa. However, ethylene and respiration rates in salt stressed plants recovered similar values to controls after 24 h of treatment in salt tolerant plants, while still remaining high in the most sensitive. On the other hand, sudden increases in putrescine, spermidine, and spermine concentration were higher and occurred earlier in pepper and lettuce, the most sensitive species, than in spinach and beetroot, the less sensitive ones. These increases tended to disappear after 24 h, except in lettuce. These changes would support the conclusion that ethylene and polyamine increases could be considered as a plant response to saline shock and related to the plant species sensitivity to this stress. In addition, no competition between polyamines and ethylene biosynthesis for their common precursor was observed.
Mobile Apps for Common Noncommunicable Disease Management: Systematic Search in App Stores and Evaluation Using the Mobile App Rating Scale.

Background The success of mobile apps in improving the lifestyle of patients with noncommunicable diseases through self-management interventions is contingent upon the emerging growth in this field. While users of mobile health (mHealth) apps continue to grow in number, little is known about the quality of available apps that provide self-management for common noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Objective We aimed to investigate the availability, characteristics, and quality of mHealth apps for common noncommunicable disease health management that included dietary aspects (based on the developer's description), as well as their features for promoting health outcomes and self-monitoring. Methods A systematic search of English-language apps on the Google Play Store (Google LLC) and Apple App Store (Apple Inc) was conducted between August 7, 2022, and September 13, 2022. The search terms used included weight management, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, and diet. The selected mHealth apps' titles and content were screened based on the description that was provided. Apps that were not designed with self-management features were excluded. We analyzed the mHealth apps by category and whether they involved health care professionals, were based on scientific testing, and had self-monitoring features. A validated and multidimensional tool, the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), was used to evaluate each mHealth app's quality based on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (inadequate) to 5 (excellent). Results Overall, 42 apps were identified. Diabetes-specific mHealth apps accounted for 7% (n=3) of the market, hypertension apps for 12% (n=5), and general noncommunicable disease management apps for 21% (n=9). About 38% (n=16) of the apps were for managing chronic diseases, while 74% (n=31) were for weight management. Self-management features such as weight tracking, BMI calculators, diet tracking, and fluid intake tracking were seen in 86% (n=36) of the apps. Most mHealth apps (n=37, 88%) did not indicate whether there was involvement of health professionals in app development. Additionally, none of the apps reported scientific evidence demonstrating their efficacy in managing health. The overall mean MARS score was 3.2 of 5, with a range of 2.0 to 4.1. Functionality was the best-rated category (mean score 3.9, SD 0.5), followed by aesthetics (mean score 3.2, SD 0.9), information (mean score 3.1, SD 0.7), and engagement (mean score 2.9, SD 0.6). Conclusions The quality of mHealth apps for managing chronic diseases was heterogeneous, with roughly half of them falling short of acceptable standards for both quality and content. The majority of apps contained scant information about scientific evidence and the developer's history. To increase user confidence and accomplish desired health outcomes, mHealth apps should be optimized with the help of health care professionals. Future studies on mHealth content analysis should focus on other diseases as well.
Factors Affecting the Uptake of HIV Testing among Men: A Mixed-Methods Study in Rural Burkina Faso

Background This study aimed to explore factors shaping the decision to undergo Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) testing among men in rural Burkina Faso. Methods The study took place in 2009 in the Nouna Health District and adopted a triangulation mixed methods design. The quantitative component relied on data collected through a structured survey on a representative sample of 1130 households. The qualitative component relied on 38 in-depth interviews, with men purposely selected to represent variation in testing decision, age, and place of residence. A two-part model was conducted, with two distinct outcome variables, i.e. “being offered an HIV test” and “having done an HIV test”. The qualitative data analysis relied on inductive coding conducted by three independent analysts. Result Of the 937 men, 357 had been offered an HIV test and 97 had taken the test. Younger age, household wealth, living in a village under demographic surveillance, and knowing that HIV testing is available at primary health facilities were all positively associated with the probability of being offered an HIV test. Household wealth and literacy were found to be positively associated, and distance was found to be negatively associated with the probability of having taken an HIV test. Qualitative findings indicated that the limited uptake of HIV testing was linked to poor knowledge on service availability and to low risk perceptions. Conclusion With only 10% of the total sample ever having tested for HIV, our study confirmed that male HIV testing remains unacceptably low in Sub-Saharan Africa. This results from a combination of health system factors, indicating general barriers to access, and motivational factors, such as one’s own knowledge of service availability and risk perceptions. Our findings suggested that using antenatal care and curative services as the exclusive entry points into HIV testing may not be sufficient to reach large portions of the male population. Thus, additional strategies are urgently needed to increase service uptake.
A Clustered GALS NoC Architecture with Communication-Aware Mapping

As processors migrate to multi- and many-core architectures, the role of the communication network becomes more important. Efficient communication architecture can drastically improve overall system performance. Taking into account the application behavior can facilitate system-level solutions that manage the communication cost. To address this issue, we propose a Clustered Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous Network-on-Chip (C-GALS NoC) communication architecture. C-GALS NoC is composed of local, synchronous clusters and a global asynchronous network. Additionally, we propose a cluster based communication-aware mapping algorithm (CAM) for mapping the application tasks to the C-GALS NoC, while minimizing the communication cost. The synergy of the C-GLAS NoC and the CAM algorithm results in a system-level mechanism that, according to our results, provides up to 2x and 3x, in performance and power improvement, respectively, in comparison with a regular GALS NoC. Finally, we demonstrate that C-GALS NoC is standard-cell compatible by synthesizing it using Design Compiler.