Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of leisure time and occupational physical activity with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chile

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA), both occupational (OPA) and during leisure time (LTPA), with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chilean adults. 5,157 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010 were included in this study. OPA and LTPA levels were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. The association between both PA with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors was determined using logistic regression. Our findings showed a significant trend between higher LTPA and lower odds for obesity (OR 0.64 [95% CI: 0.53; 0.76], central obesity 0.52 [0.44; 0.61]) and other cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes (OR: 0.72 [0.55; 0.94]), hypertension (OR: 0.59 [0.50; 0.71]) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.62 [0.50; 0.78]). In contrast, OPA was only associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR: 0.79 [0.65; 0.98]) and hypertension (0.85 [0.74; 0.98]). In conclusion, LTPA was associated with a lower risk of all major cardiovascular risk factors, whereas OPA was only associated with a lower risk of diabetes and hypertension.
Evaluation of a wiki for lesson reflection in the project “Kolumbus-Kids” at Bielefeld University

This article deals with a concept helping to reflect on teaching practice in the project “Kolumbus-Kids” at XXX University. Lesson reflection aims at the mediation and training of certain teaching competences of student teachers with the help of a wiki. In any case, self-reflection after one’s own teaching should be promoted by using the newly developed reflection wiki, its videotaping and reflection tasks. The theoretical approach behind the reflection wiki harks back to the theory of the Reflective Practitioner by D. A. Schon (1983). Further, theories of Dewey (1933 and 1951), Zwiebel (2001) and Hager (2008) help to emphasise features of self-reflective thinking and means of their promotion. There will also be an overview of current research in the areas of self-reflection and videography, with the latter being an effective way for improving reflection. The study presented in this article evaluates the reflection wiki based on data that were gathered in the context of the users’ affective-emotional state. Apart from that, the users’ deliberate assessments are recorded via a questionnaire which presumably helps to improve the teacher trainees’ reflection competence and teaching skills. As the results show, the positive affects, particularly motivated and interested , were significantly higher developed than negative emotions. It could also be found that the students considered the wiki user-friendly and as a means of engaging more deeply with their teaching skills and reflection videos. The evaluation questionnaire’s interpretation brought to light some improvement suggestions. In general, however, the evaluation underlines the wiki’s high quality from the users’ perspective. All the findings recommend continuing the use of the reflection wiki in the “Kolumbus-Kids” courses.
Comparison of different surgical approaches for pediatric cataracts: complications and rates of additional surgery during long-term follow-up

OBJECTIVES: To compare long-term postoperative complications of pediatric cataract surgery with primary intraocular lens (IOL) implantation associated with posterior capsulotomy (PC) and anterior vitrectomy (AV) between patients treated with a corneal or pars plicata/pars plana approach. METHODS: Children who underwent cataract surgery with in-the-bag primary IOL implantation were divided into two groups according to PC and AV surgical approach: a corneal approach (group 1) and a pars plicata/pars plana approach (group 2). Only patients with a follow-up duration of more than two years were included. Long-term surgical outcomes were retrospectively reported. RESULTS: The mean follow-up period was 10.00±3.13 years. No cases of glaucoma or retinal detachment were reported. The mean age at surgery was 34.57±22.66 months. Forty-six children were included (27 eyes in group 1 and 29 eyes in group 2). The most frequent postoperative complication was corectopia, followed by visual axis opacification. Both complications occurred more frequently in group 1 (p<0.001). After cataract surgery, the rate of additional surgeries in group 1 was 51.9%, while in group 2, the rate was 27.6% (p=0.1132). CONCLUSION: The pars plicata/pars plana approach with PC and vitrectomy with primary in-the-bag IOL implantation for pediatric cataracts is a safe procedure.
A Retrospective Study about the Impact of Switching from Nested PCR to Multiplex Real-Time PCR on the Distribution of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Genotypes

Background and objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most prevalent etiological agent of viral sexually-transmitted infection. This study retrospectively evaluated the impact of a switch to a real-time PCR assay in the HPV prevalence and genotypes distribution by a quasi-experimental before-and-after approach. Materials and Methods: In total, 1742 samples collected from 1433 patients were analyzed at the UOC Microbiology and Virology of Policlinico of Bari, Italy. HPV DNA detection was performed using initially nested PCR and subsequently multiplex real-time PCR assay. Results: Statistically significant difference in HPV overall prevalence after the introduction of the real-time assay was not detected (48.97% vs. 50.62%). According to different extraction-DNA amplification methods, differences were observed in the prevalence rates of HPV-45, 68, 40, 42, and 43. The lowest prevalence for HPV-45 was observed in the Magna Pure-Real Time PCR group, while HPV-68, 40, 42, and 43 were less observed in the Qiagen-Real Time PCR group. After, a multivariate logistic regression, an increase in the prevalence of HPV-42 (aOR: 4.08, 95% CI: 1.71–9.73) was associated with the multiplex real-time PCR assay. Conclusions: Although this study is a not a direct comparison between two diagnostic methods because it has a sequential structure, it serves to verify the impact of a new molecular assay on HPV distribution. Moreover, the stability of HPV prevalence over time suggests that the population composition and the behavioral variables did not likely change during the observation period. Our study proposes that the introduction of a molecular test for HPV detection may be related to changes of HPV genotypes distribution.
Oral pentamidine-loaded poly(d,l-lactic-co-glycolic) acid nanoparticles: an alternative approach for leishmaniasis treatment

Leishmaniasis is a group of diseases caused by a protozoa parasite from one of over 20 Leishmania species. Depending on the tissues infected, these diseases are classified as cutaneous, mucocutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis. For the treatment of leishmaniasis refractory to antimony-based drugs, pentamidine (PTM) is a molecule of great interest. However, PTM displays poor bioavailability through oral routes due to its two strongly basic amidine moieties, which restricts its administration by a parenteral route and limits its clinical use. Among various approaches, nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems (nano-DDS) have potential to overcome the challenges associated with PTM oral administration. Here, we present the development of PTM-loaded PLGA nanoparticles (NPs) with a focus on the characterization of their physicochemical properties and potential application as an oral treatment of leishmaniasis. NPs were prepared by a double emulsion methodology. The physicochemical properties were characterized through the mean particle size, polydispersity index (PdI), zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, yield process, drug loading, morphology, in vitro drug release and in vivo pharmacological activity. The PTM-loaded PLGA NPs presented with a size of 263 ± 5 nm (PdI = 0.17 ± 0.02), an almost neutral charge (−3.2 ± 0.8 mV) and an efficiency for PTM entrapment of 91.5%. The release profile, based on PTM dissolution, could be best described by a zero-order model, followed by a drug diffusion profile that fit to the Higuchi model. In addition, in vivo assay showed the efficacy of orally given PTM-loaded PLGA NPs (0.4 mg kg−1) in infected BALB/c mice, with significant reduction of organ weight and parasite load in spleen (p-value < 0.05). This work successfully reported the oral use of PTM-loaded NPs, with a high potential for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis, opening a new perspective to utilization of this drug in clinical practice.
Relative age and maturation selection biases in academy football

ABSTRACT This study examined the simultaneous effects of relative age and biological maturity status upon player selection in an English professional soccer academy. A total of 202 players from the U9 to U16 age groups, over an eight-year period (total of 566 observations), had their relative age (birth quarter) and biological maturity (categorised as late, on-time or early maturing based upon the Khamis-Roche method of percentage of predicted adult height at time of observation) recorded. Players born in the first birth quarter of the year (54.8%) were over-represented across all age groups. A selection bias towards players advanced in maturity status for chronological age emerged in U12 players and increased with age; 0% of players in the U15 and U16 age group were categorised as late maturing. A clear maturity selection bias for early maturing players was, however, only apparent when the least conservative criterion for estimating maturity status was applied (53.8% early and 1.9% late maturing in the U16 age group). Professional football academies need to recognise relative age and maturation as independent constructs that exist and operate independently. Thus, separate strategies should perhaps be designed to address the respective selection biases, to better identify, retain and develop players.
Safety of 6-week Neonatal Triple-combination Antiretroviral Postexposure Prophylaxis in High-risk HIV-exposed Infants.

BACKGROUND Combination antiretroviral drug regimens are increasingly preferred for neonatal postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) among HIV-exposed infants with high-risk of transmission. We evaluated the adverse events associated with the use of zidovudine (ZDV)/lamivudine (3TC)/nevirapine (NVP) for neonatal PEP during the first 6 weeks of life. METHODS A prospective cohort of non-breast-fed HIV-exposed infants was conducted at 5 clinical sites in Thailand. Study population included 100 high-risk HIV-exposed infants (maternal HIV RNA > 50 copies/mL prior to delivery or received antiretroviral therapy less than 12 weeks) and 100 low-risk HIV-exposed neonates. High-risk infants received ZDV/3TC/NVP for 6 weeks whereas low-risk HIV-exposed neonates received a 4-week regimen of ZDV. Complete blood count, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase were assessed at birth, 1, 2 and 4 months of life. RESULTS From October 2015 to November 2017, 200 infants were enrolled, of which 18.5% had low birth weight < 2500 g. The proportion of infants with anemia grade 2 or higher at 1 and 2 months of life between ZDV/3TC/NVP and ZDV prophylaxis was 48.5% vs 32.3% (P=0.02); nevertheless, severe anemia (grade 3) was not significantly different; 9.2% vs 10.2% (P=0.81), respectively. At 1 month old, infants on ZDV/3TC/NVP prophylaxis had significantly higher grade 2 anemia versus infants on ZDV alone (33.0% vs 13.4%; P=0.001); however, no difference was observed at 2 months old. No differences in neutropenia or hepatotoxicity between infant prophylactic regimens were observed. CONCLUSIONS Triple antiretroviral neonatal PEP with ZDV/3TC/NVP for 6 weeks in high-risk HIV-exposed infants did not significantly increase the risk of short-term toxicity compared with ZDV-monotherapy prophylaxis.
Masking Release for Speech-in-Speech Recognition Due to a Target/Masker Sex Mismatch in Children With Hearing Loss

Objectives: The goal of the present study was to compare the extent to which children with hearing loss and children with normal hearing benefit from mismatches in target/masker sex in the context of speech-in-speech recognition. It was hypothesized that children with hearing loss experience a smaller target/masker sex mismatch benefit relative to children with normal hearing due to impairments in peripheral encoding, variable access to high-quality auditory input, or both. Design: Eighteen school-age children with sensorineural hearing loss (7 to 15 years) and 18 age-matched children with normal hearing participated in this study. Children with hearing loss were bilateral hearing aid users. Severity of hearing loss ranged from mild to severe across participants, but most had mild to moderate hearing loss. Speech recognition thresholds for disyllabic words presented in a two-talker speech masker were estimated in the sound field using an adaptive, forced-choice procedure with a picture-pointing response. Participants were tested in each of four conditions: (1) male target speech/two-male-talker masker; (2) male target speech/two-female-talker masker; (3) female target speech/two-female-talker masker; and (4) female target speech/two-male-talker masker. Children with hearing loss were tested wearing their personal hearing aids at user settings. Results: Both groups of children showed a sex-mismatch benefit, requiring a more advantageous signal to noise ratio when the target and masker were matched in sex than when they were mismatched. However, the magnitude of sex-mismatch benefit was significantly reduced for children with hearing loss relative to age-matched children with normal hearing. There was no effect of child age on the magnitude of sex-mismatch benefit. The sex-mismatch benefit was larger for male target speech than for female target speech. For children with hearing loss, the magnitude of sex-mismatch benefit was not associated with degree of hearing loss or aided audibility. Conclusions: The findings from the present study indicate that children with sensorineural hearing loss are able to capitalize on acoustic differences between speech produced by male and female talkers when asked to recognize target words in a competing speech masker. However, children with hearing loss experienced a smaller benefit relative to their peers with normal hearing. No association between the sex-mismatch benefit and measures of unaided thresholds or aided audibility were observed for children with hearing loss, suggesting that reduced peripheral encoding is not the only factor responsible for the smaller sex-mismatch benefit relative to children with normal hearing.
Improving Lung Function in Severe Heterogenous Emphysema with the Spiration Valve System (EMPROVE). A Multicenter, Open-Label Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Rationale: Less invasive, nonsurgical approaches are needed to treat severe emphysema. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the Spiration Valve System (SVS) versus optimal medical management. Methods: In this multicenter, open-label, randomized, controlled trial, subjects aged 40 years or older with severe, heterogeneous emphysema were randomized 2:1 to SVS with medical management (treatment) or medical management alone (control). Measurements and Main Results: The primary efficacy outcome was the difference in mean FEV1 from baseline to 6 months. Secondary effectiveness outcomes included: difference in FEV1 responder rates, target lobe volume reduction, hyperinflation, health status, dyspnea, and exercise capacity. The primary safety outcome was the incidence of composite thoracic serious adverse events. All analyses were conducted by determining the 95% Bayesian credible intervals (BCIs) for the difference between treatment and control arms. Between October 2013 and May 2017, 172 participants (53.5% male; mean age, 67.4 yr) were randomized to treatment (n = 113) or control (n = 59). Mean FEV1 showed statistically significant improvements between the treatment and control groups—between-group difference at 6 and 12 months, respectively, of 0.101 L (95% BCI, 0.060–0.141) and 0.099 L (95% BCI, 0.048–0.151). At 6 months, the treatment group had statistically significant improvements in all secondary endpoints except 6-minute-walk distance. Composite thoracic serious adverse event incidence through 6 months was greater in the treatment group (31.0% vs. 11.9%), primarily due to a 12.4% incidence of serious pneumothorax. Conclusions: In patients with severe heterogeneous emphysema, the SVS shows significant improvement in multiple efficacy outcomes, with an acceptable safety profile. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials. gov (NCT01812447).
Overexpression of ca1pase Decreases Rubisco Abundance and Grain Yield in Wheat

ca1pase overexpression decreased the content of Rubisco inhibitors and the number of Rubisco active sites in wheat leaves, with consequent decreases in biomass and grain yield. Rubisco catalyzes the fixation of CO2 into organic compounds that are used for plant growth and the production of agricultural products, and specific sugar-phosphate derivatives bind tightly to the active sites of Rubisco, locking the enzyme in a catalytically inactive conformation. 2-carboxy-d-arabinitol-1-phosphate phosphatase (CA1Pase) dephosphorylates such tight-binding inhibitors, contributing to the maintenance of Rubisco activity. Here, we investigated the hypothesis that overexpressing ca1pase would decrease the abundance of Rubisco inhibitors, thereby increasing the activity of Rubisco and enhancing photosynthetic performance and productivity in wheat (Triticum aestivum). Plants of four independent wheat transgenic lines overexpressing ca1pase showed up to 30-fold increases in ca1pase expression compared to the wild type. Plants overexpressing ca1pase had lower numbers of Rubisco tight-binding inhibitors and higher Rubisco activation state than the wild type; however, there were 17% to 60% fewer Rubisco active sites in the four transgenic lines than in the wild type. The lower Rubisco content in plants overexpressing ca1pase resulted in lower initial and total carboxylating activities measured in flag leaves at the end of the vegetative stage and lower aboveground biomass and grain yield measured in fully mature plants. Hence, contrary to what would be expected, ca1pase overexpression decreased Rubisco content and compromised wheat grain yields. These results support a possible role for Rubisco inhibitors in protecting the enzyme and maintaining an adequate number of Rubisco active sites to support carboxylation rates in planta.
Manganese Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Carbamates and Urea Derivatives.

We report the hydrogenation of carbamates and urea derivatives, two of the most challenging carbonyl compounds to be hydrogenated, catalyzed for the first time by a complex of an earth-abundant-metal. The hydrogenation reaction of these CO2-derived compounds, cata-lyzed by a manganese pincer complex, yields methanol in addition to amine and alcohol, which makes this methodology a sustainable two-step route for the conversion of CO2 to methanol, involving a base-metal catalyst. Moreover, the hydrogenation proceeds under mild pressure (20 bar). Our observations support a hydrogenation mechanism involving the Mn-H complex. A plausible catalytic cycle is pro-posed based on informative mechanistic experiments.
Age differences in emotion perception in a multiple target setting: An eye-tracking study.

Research focusing on the association between age and emotion perception has revealed inconsistent findings, with some support for an age-related positivity effect, as predicted by socioemotional selectivity theory. We used the mood-of-the-crowd (MoC) task to investigate whether older adults judge a crowd consisting of happy and angry expressions to be dominated by happy faces more frequently. The task was to decide whether an array of faces included more angry or more happy faces. Accuracy, response times, and gaze movements were analyzed to test the hypothesis, derived from socioemotional selectivity theory, that age would be associated with a bias toward judging crowds as happy, and with longer and more numerous fixations on happy expressions. Seventy-six participants took part in the study representing 3 different age groups (young, middle-aged, old). Contrary to the hypothesis, older participants more often judged the emotional crowd to be angry compared with younger participants. Furthermore, whereas fixations were longer for happy faces than for angry faces in younger adults, this difference was not present in older adults. A decline in inhibitory processing in older adults as well as higher cognitive demands of the task are discussed as possible explanations for these findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Let’s Start With the End: Bibliodrama in an Italian Death Education Course on Managing Fear of Death, Fantasy-Proneness, and Alexithymia With a Mixed-Method Analysis

This article presents the results of an experience of death education (DE) course with bibliodrama in Italian high schools, which focused on emotions and existential themes. The research analyzed the inability to recognize or describe one’s own emotions (alexithymia), fantasy-proneness, and attitudes toward death in two different groups of students: one who took a course on DE (with 113 students) and another who did not participate in it (with 114 students). The use of a mixed method allowed this study to explore the quantitative results that the students indicated in the questionnaire and the qualitative open answers to the final question about how they had profited from this DE course. The results showed that the course had a positive effect, as the DE group significantly decreased alexithymia and negative attitudes toward death, particularly in fear and avoidance of death, making their representation of death less traumatic.
Left Ventricular Speckle Tracking Echocardiography Changes Among Early-stage Breast Cancer Patients Three Years After Radiotherapy

Background/Aim: Chest radiotherapy (RT) doubles late cardiac mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the evolution of cardiac changes in speckle tracking echocardiography during a three-year follow-up. Materials and Methods: This prospective study included 81 chemotherapy-naïve early-stage breast cancer patients who were evaluated at baseline, immediately after RT and three years after RT. Sixty-one patients had left-sided (LSBC) and 20 right-sided breast cancer (RSBC). Results: Global longitudinal strain (GLS) declined from baseline −18.0±3.3% to −17.0±3.0% (p=0.015) at the three-year follow-up examination. A decline over 15% (GLS15) was observed in 19 (27%) patients. GLS15 was independently associated with aromatase inhibitor use (β=−1.977, p=0.001). In regional analysis, patients with LSBC had apical strain decline by 3.2±5.5% (p<0.001) and patients with RSBC showed basal rotation decline by 1.8° (−0.2°, 3.8°) (p=0.030). Conclusion: Even contemporary RT induced progressive global and regional decline in speckle tracking analysis. The regional changes complied with RT fields.