Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Developmental joint trajectories of anxiety-depressive trait and trait-aggression: implications for co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing problems

Abstract Background In youth, anxiety-depressive traits (ADT) and trait-aggression (TA) are important risk factors of exhibiting maladaptive behaviors in adulthood (i.e. violence and substance use). However, the developmental co-occurrence of these traits in youth remains unknown. We thus sought to investigate the developmental trajectories of ADT and TA within a data-driven approach. The aim was two-fold: (i) to examine the developmental trajectories of ADT and TA in youth from ages 10 to 16, and (ii) to investigate both childhood predictors and problematic outcomes of the identified joint trajectories. Method The sample comprised 1354 children provided from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) Consortium. Group-based trajectory modeling was first employed to identify individual trajectory models of ADT and TA independently (from ages 10 to 16). Then, joint trajectory models were built on the found trajectories. Last, logistic regressions were used to evaluate the childhood characteristics and negative outcomes of the joint trajectory groups. Results Our results showed five trajectory groups with varying levels of ADT and TA. A significant co-occurrence between ADT and TA was found in three of the trajectory groups. Notably, higher levels of childhood psychopathology and more severe/frequent childhood abuse were found in the groups with moderate to high ADT and high TA. The groups with higher ADT and high TA were also more likely to exhibit violence and substance use. Conclusions This study exposes the importance of assessing ADT and TA simultaneously and early in childhood to prevent and manage the risk of problematic behaviors in adolescence.
Ceftriaxone therapy in ciprofloxacin treatment failure typhoid fever in children.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The rapid spread of multidrug resistant (MDR) typhoid fever has posed a great challenge for the treatment of these cases the world over. After the emergence of chloramphenicol resistant Salmonella typhi strains, ciprofloxacin has become the drug of choice for the treatment of typhoid fever even in the paediatric age group. This study evaluated the role of ceftriaxone therapy in bacteriologically confirmed MDR typhoid cases who did not respond to 12-14 days of ciprofloxacin therapy. Attempts have also been made to investigate the in vitro susceptibility of isolated S. typhi strains to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone. METHODS A total of 140 children, aged 3-10 yr, clinically diagnosed as having typhoid fever, without any clinical response after 12-14 days of ciprofloxacin therapy were screened for S. typhi by blood culture. In the bacteriologically positive children the treatment was changed to intravenous ceftriaxone for 14 days. The isolated strains of S. typhi were tested for in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility. RESULTS Clinical and bacteriological cure was observed with intravenous ceftriaxone therapy in all the 32 bacteriologically positive patients. All isolated S. typhi strains were uniformly (100%) susceptible to ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone but 50 per cent of the strains were resistant to chloramphenicol. The MIC values of chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone ranged between 125-500, 0.0625-0.5 and < 0.0625 microgram/ml respectively. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION The study indicates that although the S. typhi strains were susceptible to ciprofloxacin in vitro, the patients did not respond clinically and bacteriologically to ciprofloxacin therapy. Hence, ciprofloxacin may not represent a reliable and useful option for treating MDR typhoid fever; ceftriaxone may be an effective alternative for the treatment of such cases.
A surprisingly effective out-of-the-box char2char model on the E2E NLG Challenge dataset

We train a char2char model on the E2E NLG Challenge data, by exploiting “out-of-the-box” the recently released tfseq2seq framework, using some of the standard options offered by this tool. With minimal effort, and in particular without delexicalization, tokenization or lowercasing, the obtained raw predictions, according to a small scale human evaluation, are excellent on the linguistic side and quite reasonable on the adequacy side, the primary downside being the possible omissions of semantic material. However, in a significant number of cases (more than 70%), a perfect solution can be found in the top-20 predictions, indicating promising directions for solving the remaining issues.
Rapid discontinuation of sodium channel–blocking antiseizure drugs evokes focal edema in the splenium corporis callosi: A matched case‐control study

Focal edema of the splenium of the corpus callosum (FESCC) is infrequently seen in patients with epilepsy who are undergoing video–electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring. It is diagnosed by qualitative visual inspection of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and is usually assumed to be a dichotomous phenomenon. Rapid reduction of anticonvulsants has been proposed as a cause. In this study we investigate the relationship between dose reduction of anticonvulsants and the occurrence of FESCC, based on absolute drug doses.
MitoBKCa channel is functionally associated with its regulatory β1 subunit in cardiac mitochondria

Association of plasma membrane BKCa channels with BK‐β subunits shapes their biophysical properties and physiological roles; however, functional modulation of the mitochondrial BKCa channel (mitoBKCa) by BK‐β subunits is not established. MitoBKCa‐α and the regulatory BK‐β1 subunit associate in mouse cardiac mitochondria. A large fraction of mitoBKCa display properties similar to that of plasma membrane BKCa when associated with BK‐β1 (left‐shifted voltage dependence of activation, V1/2 = −55 mV, 12 µm matrix Ca2+). In BK‐β1 knockout mice, cardiac mitoBKCa displayed a low Po and a depolarized V1/2 of activation (+47 mV at 12 µm matrix Ca2+) Co‐expression of BKCa with the BK‐β1 subunit in HeLa cells doubled the density of BKCa in mitochondria. The present study supports the view that the cardiac mitoBKCa channel is functionally modulated by the BK‐β1 subunit; proper targeting and activation of mitoBKCa shapes mitochondrial Ca2+ handling.
Perceived barriers to pre-exposure prophylaxis use and the role of syndemic factors among female sex workers in the Mexico-United States border region: a latent class analysis

ABSTRACT Female sex workers (FSWs) experience syndemic factors (e.g., polydrug use, hazardous alcohol consumption, client-perpetrated violence, depression, and sexually transmitted infections) that often heighten vulnerability to HIV and limit healthcare utilization. We hypothesized that syndemic factors will limit FSWs’ uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). From 2016 to 2017, 295 HIV-negative FSWs were enrolled in a behavioral HIV prevention trial in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, underwent STI testing, and completed surveys on syndemic factors and perceived barriers to PrEP use. Syndemic scores (0–5) were calculated by summing syndemic factors. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify homogeneous classes with respect to perceived barriers to PrEP use. We identified four classes: (1) perceived healthcare access barriers (8.3%), (2) perceived financial barriers (18.7%), (3) high level of perceived barriers (19.9%), and (4) low level of perceived barriers (53.0%) to PrEP use. Those experiencing three (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24–10.67) and four or five (aOR = 6.30, 95% CI = 1.70–23.35) syndemic factors had a higher odds of membership in the class characterized by a high level of perceived barriers than in the class characterized by a low level of perceived barriers. Addressing syndemic factors may maximize PrEP’s impact among FSWs along Mexico’s northern border.
Vestibular neurons with direct projections to the solitary nucleus in the rat.

Anterograde and retrograde tract tracing were combined with neurotransmitter and modulator immunolabeling to identify the chemical anatomy of vestibular nuclear neurons with direct projections to the solitary nucleus in rats. Direct, sparsely branched but highly varicose axonal projections from neurons in the caudal vestibular nuclei to the solitary nucleus were observed. The vestibular neurons giving rise to these projections were predominantly located in ipsilateral medial vestibular nucleus. The cell bodies were intensely glutamate immunofluorescent and their axonal processes contained vesicular glutamate transporter 2, supporting the interpretation that the cells utilize glutamate for neurotransmission. The glutamate-immunofluorescent, retrogradely-filled vestibular cells also contained the neuromodulator IAA-RP, which is an endogenous CNS ligand that participates in blood pressure regulation. The vestibulo-solitary neurons were encapsulated by axo-somatic GABAergic terminals suggesting that they are under tight inhibitory control. The results establish a chemoanatomical basis for transient vestibular activation of the output pathways from the caudal and intermediate regions of the solitary nucleus. In this way, changes in static head position and movement of the head in space may directly influence heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, as well as GI motility. This would provide one anatomical explanation for the synchronous heart rate and blood pressure responses observed following peripheral vestibular activation, as well as disorders ranging from neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and vasovagal syncope to the nausea and vomiting associated with motion sickness. -.
Saline Solution Lavage and Reaspiration for Culture with a Blood Culture System Is a Feasible Method for Diagnosing Periprosthetic Joint Infection in Patients with Insufficient Synovial Fluid.

BACKGROUND Culture is a key step for detecting periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) before surgery. However, using saline solution lavage and reaspiration in patients with insufficient synovial fluid remains controversial. The objective of this study was to evaluate this technique. METHODS This study included 286 aspirations performed by 1 surgeon in patients after total joint arthroplasty during the period of April 2015 to August 2018. If >1.0 mL of synovial fluid was obtained, then we directly used the fluid for culture. For cases in which ≤1.0 mL of synovial fluid was aspirated, 10 mL of saline solution was injected and the joint was reaspirated for culture. The samples were injected into 2 blood culture bottles for anaerobic bacterial culture and aerobic bacterial and fungal culture, and were inoculated for 14 days in a BACT/ALERT 3D blood culture system unless microorganisms were detected. A PJI diagnosis was determined on the basis of the modified Musculoskeletal Infection Society criteria. RESULTS Saline solution lavage and reaspiration were used in 82 cases (47 PJI cases and 35 non-PJI cases), while direct aspiration was used in 204 cases (99 PJI cases and 105 non-PJI cases). The overall rate for the use of saline solution lavage was 28.7% (82 of 286). Among knee cases, the saline solution lavage rate was 15.0% (21 of 140), and among hip cases, the rate was 41.8% (61 of 146). The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of culture were 0.795 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.720 to 0.857), 0.957 (95% CI, 0.909 to 0.984), 0.951 (95% CI, 0.896 to 0.982), and 0.817 (95% CI, 0.749 to 0.873); and for "dry tap" cases, they were 0.851 (95% CI, 0.717 to 0.938), 0.857 (95% CI, 0.697 to 0.952), 0.889 (95% CI, 0.760 to 0.963), and 0.811 (95% CI, 0.648 to 0.920), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Saline solution lavage and reaspiration for culture in patients with insufficient synovial fluid before surgery may be a sound practice. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Diagnostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Shift work of nursing professionals and blood pressure, burnout and common mental disorders.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the influence of shift work on blood pressure, the presence of burnout and common mental disorders in nursing professionals. METHOD A cross-sectional study. Burnout was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, and Common Mental Disorders by the Self-Reporting Questionnaire. Casual blood pressure measurement and Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) were performed. RESULTS 231 professionals participated. The majority (59.7%) worked in shifts, and this condition was associated (p≤0.05) with: higher weekly workload; doing the night shift; shorter training and work time at the institution; alcoholism; leisure activity; and alteration in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring of the sleep period. The professionals with common mental disorders and who worked in shifts had lower casual diastolic pressure levels (p = 0.039) and higher hypertension prevalence (p = 0.045). The presence of emotional exhaustion was associated with normal waking blood pressure and depersonalization with altered sleep blood pressure. CONCLUSION Shift work was associated with a higher prevalence of work-related negative factors, inadequate habits and lifestyles, and change in sleep blood pressure.
Seasonality of Campylobacter jejuni isolates associated with human campylobacteriosis in the Manawatu region, New Zealand

SUMMARY A 9-year time-series of genotyped human campylobacteriosis cases from the Manawatu region of New Zealand was used to investigate strain-type seasonality. The data were collected from 2005 to 2013 and the samples were multi-locus sequence-typed (MLST). The four most prevalent clonal complexes (CCs), consisting of 1215 isolates, were CC48, CC21, CC45 and CC61. Seasonal decomposition and Poisson regression with autocorrelated errors, were used to display and test for seasonality of the most prevalent CCs. Of the four examined CCs, only CC45 showed a marked seasonal (summer) peak. The association of CC45 with summer peaks has been observed in other temperate countries, but has previously not been identified in New Zealand. This is the first in-depth study over a long time period employing MLST data to examine strain-type-associated seasonal patterns of C. jejuni infection in New Zealand.
A meta-analytic investigation of the impact of mindfulness-based interventions on ADHD symptoms

Abstract Background: Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been reported to be efficacious in treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the value of the control effect of MBIs on ADHD core symptoms remains controversial. To clarify the literature on the control effect of MBIs on the symptoms of ADHD and guide future researches, an effect-size analysis was conducted. Methods: A systematic search in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wangfang Data databases was performed up to January 11, 2019. The overall effect size of MBIs on ADHD core symptoms (ie, inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) was recorded by the metric of Hedges’ g with 95% confidence interval, Z-value, and P-value. Results: Eleven eligible studies featuring 682 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The overall results indicated that MBIs had large effects on inattention (Hedges’ g = −0.825) and hyperactivity/impulsivity (Hedges’ g = −0.676) relative to the control group. Results from subgroup analyses between self- and observer rating on ADHD symptoms revealed that the effect of MBIs both remained in a large range and self-rated ADHD core symptom had a greater impact on heterogeneity across the studies. Meta-regression found that the overall effect might be moderated by participant age group and control condition. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis suggested that MBIs had large effects in reducing ADHD core symptoms in comparison with the control group. Future researches are needed to assess follow-up effects of MBIs on ADHD core symptoms and explore the correlation between the individual level of mindfulness and reduction of ADHD symptoms.
House Dust Mite Allergy Under Changing Environments

Environmental variations induced by industrialization and climate change partially explain the increase in prevalence and severity of allergic disease. One possible mechanism is the increase in allergen production leading to more exposure and sensitization in susceptible individuals. House dust mites (HDMs) are important sources of allergens inducing asthma and rhinitis, and experimentally they have been demonstrated to be very sensitive to microenvironment modifications; therefore, global or regional changes in temperature, humidity, air pollution or other environmental conditions could modify natural HDM growth, survival and allergen production. There is evidence that sensitization to HDMs has increased in some regions of the world, especially in the subtropical and tropical areas; however, the relationship of this increase with environmental changes is not so clear as has reported for pollen allergens. In this review, we address this point and explore the effects of current and predicted environmental changes on HDM growth, survival and allergen production, which could lead to immunoglobulin E (IgE) sensitization and allergic disease prevalence. We also assess the role of adjuvants of IgE responses, such as air pollution and helminth infections, and discuss the genetic and epigenetic aspects that could influence the adaptive process of humans to drastic and relatively recent environmental changes we are experiencing.
Phylogenetic studies on three Helicotylenchus species based on 28S rDNA and mtCOI sequence data

Abstract To facilitate the process of spiral nematode species delineation, populations of Helicotylenchus canadensis, H. pseudorobustus, and H. varicaudatus deriving from various locations and diverse natural and anthropogenic environments from Poland were investigated and characterized. For the first time, 28S rDNA sequences are reported for H. canadensis and H. varicaudatus, whereas new mtCOI sequences were acquired for all three analyzed species. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the 28S rDNA fragments revealed that H. canadensis and H. varicaudatus are members of a clade that is a sister group to all other Helicotylenchus species; however, the closest known sister group to H. canadensis is H. vulgaris type A. Both 28S rDNA- and mtCOI-based phylogenetic results suggest that this clade excludes H. pseudorobustus, whose most recent common ancestor with the former species was inferred to be the ancestor of all Helicotylenchus species. Moreover, within the mtCOI sequences obtained from H. pseudorobustus, unlike from the other two, a simultaneous presence of TAG and TAA codons was identified. This may indicate mitochondrial genetic code alterations or other genomic rearrangements in H. pseudorobustus.
Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy with childhood onset.

PURPOSE To characterize the clinical features of childhood-onset Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) as defined by a pathogenic mtDNA mutation and age at onset equal to or less than 10 years of age. METHODS Fifty-six LHON Italian pedigrees including 180 affected individuals were reviewed, and 14 of 18 patients with childhood LHON were enrolled. LHON was classified as acute bilateral, acute unilateral, slowly progressive, and subclinical, according to disease features. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT), including retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and optic nerve head analysis (ONH), and were compared with age- and optic disc size-matched control groups. RESULTS The prevalence of childhood LHON in this case series was 11.5%. Five patients had an acute bilateral course, three an acute unilateral course with subclinical signs in the fellow eye, and six a slowly progressive course. Four of five acute patients with acute bilateral disease experienced visual recovery. Slowly progressive cases presented a better visual acuity and visual field outcome than acute cases. A significant diffuse reduction of RNFL was evident in children with acute LHON compared with the control group, whereas a significant reduction of the temporal quadrant was present in the slowly progressive and subclinical LHON cases. Acute LHON children had a smaller disc area and vertical disc diameter than did the control subjects. CONCLUSIONS This study systematically characterized for the first time the subgroup of LHON with childhood onset. The peculiar clinical and anatomic features of childhood LHON offer insights for the understanding of LHON's pathophysiology as well as a basis for the differential diagnosis of visual loss in childhood.
S100A4: A Novel Negative Regulator of Mineralization and Osteoblast Differentiation

S100A4 is an intracellular calcium‐binding protein expressed by osteoblastic cells. However, its roles in bone physiology are unknown. Because before matrix mineralization, its expression is markedly diminished, we hypothesized that S100A4 negatively regulates the mineralization process. In this study, we investigated the effects of the inhibition of S100A4 synthesis on osteoblast differentiation and in vitro mineralized nodule formation. Inhibition of S100A4 synthesis was achieved by an antisense approach in the mouse osteoblastic cell line MC3T3‐E1. Cell clones that synthesized low levels of S100A4 (AS clones) produced markedly increased number of mineralized nodules at much earlier stages in comparison with controls as demonstrated by Alizarin red S and von Kossa staining. The expression of type I collagen (COLI) and osteopontin (OPN) increased in AS clones compared with controls. Bone sialoprotein (BSP) and osteocalcin (OCN), molecules associated with mineralization and markers for mature osteoblastic phenotype, were expressed in AS clones before their detection in controls. Because S100A4 was not localized in the nucleus of MC3T3‐E1 cells and AS clones, it is unlikely that S100A4 directly regulates the expression of these genes. Moreover, the expression of Cbfa1/Osf‐2 and Osx, transcription factors necessary for the expression of osteoblast‐associated genes, remained unchanged in AS clones, indicating that S100A4 may be downstream to these transcription factors. These findings indicate that S100A4 is a novel negative regulator of matrix mineralization likely by modulating the process of osteoblast differentiation.
Adaptive Cooperative Control With Guaranteed Convergence in Time-Varying Networks of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems

In this paper, we investigate the adaptive cooperative control problem with guaranteed convergence for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems with unknown control directions and time-varying topologies. A key lemma is first derived which involves dynamically changing interaction topologies, and then a new kind of distributed control algorithms with Nussbaum-type functions are proposed based on this lemma. It is proven that if the topologies are time varying with integral weight uniform upper bound and reciprocity, then convergence is guaranteed with the proposed algorithms for nonlinear multiagent systems with nonidentical unknown control directions. An important feature of this paper is that, under time-varying topologies, the designed algorithms can deal with nonidentical unknown control directions by using classical Nussbaum-type functions. Moreover, with the proposed algorithms, we extend the adaptive cooperative control results to the case of $\delta $ -connected graphs. In particular, the adaptive leaderless consensus of high-order nonlinear agents with nonidentical unknown control directions and a directed graph having a spanning tree is also tackled as a special case. Finally, theoretical results are illustrated by a group of Genesio–Tesi systems with distributed control algorithms under time-varying topologies and some special network topologies.