Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[PREVALENCE OF DEMODEX PARASITES IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC BLEPHARITIS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS IN ISRAEL].

INTRODUCTION Previous studies demonstrated the potential pathogenic relationship between infestation of the eyelashes by the parasite Demodex and chronic blepharitis, whereas other studies did not demonstrate such relations and concluded that Demodex is a normal eyelid flora. AIMS This study examines the prevalence of Demodex in patients with blepharitis compared to a healthy control group in Israel, in order to further explore and establish its pathogenic role in cases of chronic blepharitis. METHODS A case-control study was conducted including 110 participants: 60 patients with chronic blepharitis attending a tertiary medical center and 50 subjects with no signs of blepharitis. Six to eight eyelashes were epilated from each participant and studied microscopically for the presence of Demodex by a blinded examiner. Fluorescein stain was added to the "clean" samples in order to reduce the false negative results. RESULTS Demodex were identified on the eyelashes of 44 patients with blepharitis (73.3%) and 20 controls (40%) (p<0.001). After adjusting for age, blepharitis was still a significant risk factor for the presence of Demodex (OR=2.96, CI 95% 1.2-7.3). CONCLUSIONS This study supports previous studies demonstrating pathogenic relationship between Demodex infestation of the eyelashes to chronic blepharitis. The authors recommend epilating 6-8 lashes of patients with blepharitis for microscopic identification of these parasites. Fluorescein stain may have a limited role in the recognition of Demodex in parasite free samples.
Cervical cancer screening in rural India: Status & current concepts

Cervical carcinoma is one of the most common and dreaded diseases of women, and in India, it accounts for 16 per cent of total cervical cancer cases occurring globally. The situation is more alarming in the rural areas where the majority of women are illiterate and ignorant about the hazards of cervical cancer. Different screening strategies such as rural cancer registries and camp approach for cancer detection have been found useful in minimizing the problem of cervical cancer in the villages. Various screening techniques such as visual inspection with acetic acid, visual inspection with Lugol's iodine, visual inspection with magnification devices-magnavisualizer, Pap smear and HPV-DNA testing have been suggested and tried under low-resource settings of our country, and cervical cytology screening has been found effective in reducing incidence of the disease. In the present review, feasibility of different screening methods has been assessed to find out the most suitable mode applicable at the rural level. Single lifetime screening particularly of high-risk women along with analysis of cost-effective tumour markers such as Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) counts to discriminate high-risk dysplasia cases appears to be an appropriate approach in fighting against cervical cancer.
Pharmacokinetics, Safety, and Tolerability of Tezepelumab (AMG 157) in Healthy and Atopic Dermatitis Adult Subjects

Tezepelumab (AMG 157) is a monoclonal antibody that targets thymic stromal lymphopoietin and has shown benefits in treating asthma. We assessed the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of single‐ascending and multiple‐ascending doses in two randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled phase I studies. Healthy and atopic dermatitis subjects were enrolled in the single‐dose study, and healthy subjects in the multiple‐dose study. Tezepelumab showed linear pharmacokinetics in both healthy and atopic dermatitis subjects. The half‐life after a subcutaneous or intravenous administration ranged from 19.9 to 25.7 days. After multiple doses, the mean area under the curve accumulation ratio was 1.82, 1.64, and 1.59 for the 35 mg, 105 mg, and 210 mg monthly subcutaneous doses, respectively. The mean maximum serum concentration (Cmax) accumulation ratio was 1.59, 2.84, and 6.74 for the 210 mg dose given every 28, 14, and 7 days, respectively. Tezepelumab was well tolerated in both studies with no evidence of immunogenicity.
Associations between Green Building Design Strategies and Community Health Resilience to Extreme Heat Events: A Systematic Review of the Evidence

This project examined evidence linking green building design strategies with the potential to enhance community resilience to extreme heat events. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method for a systematic review, it assessed the strength of the evidence supporting the potential for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) credit requirements to reduce the adverse effects of extreme heat events and/or enhance a building’s passive survivability (i.e., the ability to continue to function during utility outages) during those events. The PRISMA Flow Diagram resulted in the selection of 12 LEED for New Construction (LEED NC) credits for inclusion in the review. Following a preliminary scan of evidence supporting public health co-benefits of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system, queries were submitted in PubMed using National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings Terms. Queries identified links between LEED credit requirements and risk of exposure to extreme heat, environmental determinants of health, co-benefits to public health outcomes, and co-benefits to built environment outcomes. Public health co-benefits included reducing the risk of vulnerability to heat stress and reducing heat-related morbidity and mortality. The results lay the groundwork for collaboration across the public health, civil society, climate change, and green building sectors.
FGF23 and Fetuin-A Interaction and Mesenchymal Osteogenic Transformation

Recently, we found a strict bone association between Fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) and Fetuin-A, both involved in cardiovascular and mineral bone disorders. In this study, an uninvestigated bone marrow positivity for both was found. Though the role of exogenous FGF23 on mesenchymal cells (MSCs) was reported, no information is as yet available on the possible production of this hormone by MSCs. To further analyze these uninvestigated aspects, we studied human primary cells and mouse and human cell lines by means of immunostaining, qRT-PCR, enzyme linked immunosorbent assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation, transfection, and a streamlined approach for the FGF23–Fetuin-A interaction called Duolink proximity ligation assay. Mesenchymal cells produce but do not secrete FGF23 and its expression increases during osteo-differentiation. Fibroblast growth factor 23 is also involved in the regulation of Fetuin-A by binding directly to the Fetuin-A promoter and then activating its transcription. Both FGF23 overexpression and addition induced an upregulation of Fetuin-A in the absence of osteo-inducer factors. Fibroblast growth factor 23 and Fetuin-A promoter were increased by osteo-inducer factors with this effect being abolished after FGF23 silencing. In conclusion, both FGF23 and Fetuin-A are present and strictly linked to each other in MSCs with FGF23 driving Fetuin-A production. This mechanism suggests a role for these two proteins in the osteoblast differentiation.
Children show hemispheric differences in the basic auditory response properties

Auditory cortex in each hemisphere shows preference to sounds from the opposite hemifield in the auditory space. Besides this contralateral dominance, the auditory cortex shows functional and structural lateralization, presumably influencing the features of subsequent auditory processing. Children have been shown to differ from adults in the hemispheric balance of activation in higher‐order auditory based tasks. We studied, first, whether the contralateral dominance can be detected in 7‐ to 8‐year‐old children and, second, whether the response properties of auditory cortex in children differ between hemispheres. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses to simple tones revealed adult‐like contralateral preference that was, however, extended in time in children. Moreover, we found stronger emphasis towards mature response properties in the right than left hemisphere, pointing to faster maturation of the right‐hemisphere auditory cortex. The activation strength of the child‐typical prolonged response was significantly decreased with age, within the narrow age‐range of the studied child population. Our results demonstrate that although the spatial sensitivity to the opposite hemifield has emerged by 7 years of age, the population‐level neurophysiological response shows salient immature features, manifested particularly in the left hemisphere. The observed functional differences between hemispheres may influence higher‐level processing stages, for example, in language function.
Self-Weighted Multilateration for Indoor Positioning Systems

The paper proposes an improved method for calculating the position of a movable tag whose distance to a (redundant) set of fixed beacons is measured by some suitable physical principle (typically ultra wide band or ultrasound propagation). The method is based on the multilateration technique, where the contribution of each individual beacon is weighed on the basis of a recurring, self-supported calibration of the measurement repeatability of each beacon at a given distance range. The work outlines the method and its implementation, and shows the improvement in measurement quality with respect to the results of a commercial Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB) system when tested on the same set of raw beacon-to-tag distances. Two versions of the algorithm are proposed: one-dimensional, or isotropic, and 3D. With respect to the standard approach, the isotropic solution managed to reduce the maximum localization error by around 25%, with a maximum error of 0.60 m, while the 3D version manages to improve even further the localization accuracy, with a maximum error of 0.45 m.
Inhibition of Vesicular Transport Influences Fungal Susceptibility to Fluconazole

Fungal infections pose a substantial threat to the human population. They can cause either mild and relatively harmless infections or invasive and often lethal diseases in patients with a weakened immune system. ABSTRACT Fungal infections pose a substantial threat to the human population. They can cause either mild and relatively harmless infections or invasive and often lethal diseases in patients with a weakened immune system. The majority of these human fungal infections are caused by Candida species. The limited amount of available therapies, together with the development of resistance against these drugs, strongly emphasizes the need for novel therapeutic strategies. As it is quite time-consuming to introduce completely new drugs to the market, potentiating the efficacy of existing drugs would be a better strategy. Therefore, it is important to identify cellular pathways involved in the development of drug resistance. We found that vesicular transport is involved in fungal susceptibility to the most widely used antifungal drug, fluconazole. We identified specific complexes in the vesicular transport pathway which contribute to fluconazole resistance or tolerance in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, we confirmed our findings in the clinically relevant fungi Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. Finally, we show that the combination of fluconazole with a specific inhibitor of the vesicular transport pathway increases the susceptibility of Candida species, indicating the potential of using vesicular transport as a target in combination therapy.
Attenuation of Wave Reflection by Wave Entrapment Creates a “Horizon Effect” in the Human Aorta

Wave reflection is thought to be important in the augmentation of blood pressure. However, identification of distal reflections sites remains unclear. One possible explanation for this is that wave reflection is predominately determined by an amalgamation of multiple proximal small reflections rather than large discrete reflections originating from the distal peripheries. In 19 subjects (age, 35–73 years), sensor-tipped intra-arterial wires were used to measure pressure and Doppler velocity at 10-cm intervals along the aorta, starting at the aortic root. Incident and reflected waves were identified and timings and magnitudes quantified using wave intensity analysis. Mean wave speed increased along the length of the aorta (proximal, 6.8±0.9 m/s; distal, 10.7±1.5 m/s). The incident wave was tracked moving along the aorta, taking 55±4 ms to travel from the aortic root to the distal aorta. However, the timing to the refection site distance did not differ between proximal and distal aortic measurement sites (proximal aorta, 48±5 ms versus distal aorta, 42±4 ms; P=0.3). We performed a second analysis using aortic waveforms in a nonlinear model of pulse-wave propagation. This demonstrated very similar results to those observed in vivo and also an exponential attenuation in reflection magnitude. There is no single dominant refection site in or near the distal aorta. Rather, there are multiple reflection sites along the aorta, for which the contributions are attenuated with distance. We hypothesize that rereflection of reflected waves leads to wave entrapment, preventing distal waves being seen in the proximal aorta.
Rapid Emergence, Subsidence, and Molecular Detection of Escherichia coli Sequence Type 1193-fimH64, a New Disseminated Multidrug-Resistant Commensal and Extraintestinal Pathogen

Escherichia coli sequence type 1193 (ST1193) is an emerging multidrug-resistant pathogen. We performed longitudinal and cross-sectional surveillance for ST1193 among clinical and fecal E. coli isolates from Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) patients and their household members, other Minnesota centers, and national VAMCs and compared these ST1193 isolates with archival human and canine ST1193 isolates from Australia (2008). ABSTRACT Escherichia coli sequence type 1193 (ST1193) is an emerging multidrug-resistant pathogen. We performed longitudinal and cross-sectional surveillance for ST1193 among clinical and fecal E. coli isolates from Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) patients and their household members, other Minnesota centers, and national VAMCs and compared these ST1193 isolates with archival human and canine ST1193 isolates from Australia (2008). We also developed and extensively validated a novel multiplex PCR assay for ST1193 and its characteristic fimH64 (type 1 fimbrial adhesin) allele. We found that ST1193-H64 (where “H64” refers to a phylogenetic subdivision within ST1193 that is characterized by the fimH64 allele), which was uniformly fluoroquinolone resistant, appeared to emerge in the United States in a geographically staggered fashion beginning around 2011. Its prevalence among clinical and fecal E. coli isolates at the Minneapolis VAMC rose rapidly beginning in 2013, peaked in early 2017, and then plateaued or declined. In comparison with other ST14 complex (STc14) isolates, ST1193-H64 isolates were more extensively multidrug resistant, whereas their virulence genotypes were less extensive but included (uniquely) K1 capsule and fimH64. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis separated ST1193-H64 isolates from other STc14 isolates and showed genetic commonality between archival Australian versus recent U.S. isolates, fecal versus clinical isolates, and human versus canine isolates. Three main ST1193 pulsotypes differed significantly in resistance profiles and capsular types; emergent pulsotype 2123 was associated with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance and K1 (versus K5) capsule. These findings clarify ST1193-H64’s temporal prevalence trends as a fluoroquinolone-resistant pathogen and commensal; document clonal subsets with distinctive geographic, temporal, resistance, and virulence gene associations; and establish a new laboratory tool for rapid and simple detection of ST1193-H64.
Definitions for Hydrophilicity, Hydrophobicity, and Superhydrophobicity: Getting the Basics Right.

Superhydrophobicity: Getting the Basics Right S is a very important branch of science that touches all facets of our lives. It has recently attracted a tremendous amount of attention in both academia and industry due to the famous self-cleaning effect displayed by the Lotus leaves in nature. Research activities on surfaces with special wettability, superior repellency, and controllable adhesion have been extremely active, and thousands of papers have been published annually in recent years. Just in 2013, five review articles have already appeared. Static and dynamic contact angle measurements are commonly employed to study the wetting, dewetting, and adhesion characteristics of these surfaces. Figure 1 depicts the schematics for the various angles
Maintenance of skeletal muscle function following reduced daily physical activity in healthy older adults: a pilot trial.

INTRODUCTION Older adults can experience periods of inactivity related to disease or illness, which can hasten the development of physical disability, in part, through reductions in skeletal muscle strength and power. To date no study has characterized adaptations in skeletal muscle physical function in response to reduced daily physical activity. METHODS Participants (15 men, 69±2 years, 15 women, 68±4 years) restricted their daily steps (<750steps/d, SR) while being energy restricted (ER, -500kcal/d) for 2wks before returning to normal activity levels during recovery (RC, 1wk). Before and after each phase, measures of knee extensor isometric maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), time-to-peak torque (TTPT), and physical function were performed and muscle biopsies were taken from a subset of participants. RESULTS Following the energy restriction and step-reduction phase (ER+SR), MVC was reduced by 9.1 and 6.1 Nm in men and women respectively (p = 0.02), which returned to baseline after RC in men, but not women (p = 0.046). Tmax (maximum isometric tension) in MHC IIA fibres (p<0.01) and Pmax (maximum power production) in MHC I and IIA (p = 0.05) were increased by 14%, 25%, and 10% respectively following ER+SR. Reductions in muscle strength could not be explained by changes in single muscle fibre function in a sub-sample (n=9 men) of volunteers. DISCUSSION These data highlight the resilience of physical function in healthy older men in the face of an acute period of ER+SR and demonstrate sex-based differences in the ability to recover muscle strength upon resumption of physical activity.
Differential roles of VEGF: Relevance to tissue fibrosis

Excessive extracellular matrix deposition and pathological vascularization are characteristics of fibrosis, which compromises the normal functioning of organs. Although whether angiogenesis can be induced and can occur in parallel with the progression of fibrosis has not been definitely determined, angiogenesis undoubtedly plays a vital role in fibrosis. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most effective proangiogenic factors, VEGF‐targeting interventions have been a focus for the development of therapeutic strategies against fibrosis. In this review, we will summarize the current knowledge of the role of VEGF and its relevant mechanisms in fibrotic biology. We especially expect to provide a comprehensive overview of the therapeutic potential of VEGF‐targeted therapy strategies to restore vascular function in the organs affected by fibrosis.
Terrestrial Structure from Motion Photogrammetry for Deriving Forest Inventory Data

The measurements of tree attributes required for forest monitoring and management planning, e.g., National Forest Inventories, are derived by rather time-consuming field measurements on sample plots, using calipers and measurement tapes. Therefore, forest managers and researchers are looking for alternative methods. Currently, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is the remote sensing method that provides the most accurate point clouds at the plot-level to derive these attributes from. However, the demand for even more efficient and effective solutions triggers further developments to lower the acquisition time, costs, and the expertise needed to acquire and process 3D point clouds, while maintaining the quality of extracted tree parameters. In this context, photogrammetry is considered a potential solution. Despite a variety of studies, much uncertainty still exists about the quality of photogrammetry-based methods for deriving plot-level forest attributes in natural forests. Therefore, the overall goal of this study is to evaluate the competitiveness of terrestrial photogrammetry based on structure from motion (SfM) and dense image matching for deriving tree positions, diameters at breast height (DBHs), and stem curves of forest plots by means of a consumer grade camera. We define an image capture method and we assess the accuracy of the photogrammetric results on four forest plots located in Austria and Slovakia, two in each country, selected to cover a wide range of conditions such as terrain slope, undergrowth vegetation, and tree density, age, and species. For each forest plot, the reference data of the forest parameters were obtained by conducting field surveys and TLS measurements almost simultaneously with the photogrammetric acquisitions. The TLS data were also used to estimate the accuracy of the photogrammetric ground height, which is a necessary product to derive DBHs and tree heights. For each plot, we automatically derived tree counts, tree positions, DBHs, and part of the stem curve from both TLS and SfM using a software developed at TU Wien (Forest Analysis and Inventory Tool, FAIT), and the results were compared. The images were oriented with errors of a few millimetres only, according to checkpoint residuals. The automatic tree detection rate for the SfM reconstruction ranges between 65% and 98%, where the missing trees have average DBHs of less than 12 cm. For each plot, the mean error of SfM and TLS DBH estimates is −1.13 cm and −0.77 cm with respect to the caliper measurements. The resulting stem curves show that the mean differences between SfM and TLS stem diameters is at maximum −2.45 cm up to 3 m above ground, which increases to almost +4 cm for higher elevations. This study shows that with the adopted image capture method, terrestrial SfM photogrammetry, is an accurate solution to support forest inventory for estimating the number of trees and their location, the DBHs and stem curve up to 3 m above ground.
Trichophyton mentagrophytes – a new genotype of zoophilic dermatophyte causes sexually transmitted infections

A new genotype of the zoophilic fungal species Trichophyton (T.) mentagrophytes was recently described in two studies. It was isolated from three patients who had visited Southeast Asia and one patient who had visited Egypt. In contrast to these studies, we have observed a number of cases with the dimensions of an epidemic outbreak.