Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimizing maps for electric acoustic stimulation users

Objectives: To optimize patient’s maps in Electric Acoustic Stimulation (EAS) users based on the degree of post-operative aided hearing thresholds. Methods: Twenty-one adult EAS patients participated in this study. Patients were subdivided into three groups, based on their unaided hearing threshold: (1) electric complementary (EC, n = 6) patients with ≤30 dB HL at 125–500 Hz with severe to profound hearing loss at higher frequencies who only use electric stimulation, (2) EAS (n = 8) patients with 30–70 dB HL from 125 to 250 Hz and profound hearing loss in high frequencies who use combined EAS, and (3) Marginal-EAS (M-EAS, n = 7) patients with 70–95 dB HL at frequencies ≤250 Hz who use combined EAS. Sentence perception in noise, melodic contour identification, and subjective preference were measured using Full Overlap, Narrow Overlap, Gap, and Meet maps. Result: Of the 21 patients that participated, 12 subjects were classified as complete hearing preservation and 9 subjects were classified as partial hearing preservation. The highest performing maps in sentence-in-noise perception and melodic contour identification were Gap, Meet, and Full Overlap for the EC, EAS, and the M-EAS groups, respectively. These results are consistently across different test materials and align with subject preference as well. Conclusion: These results suggest that clinical fitting in EAS listening should be individually tailored. EAS performance can be enhanced by optimizing maps between acoustic and electric stimulation based on the degree of aided hearing thresholds.
Effects of Oral Anticoagulants and Aspirin on Performance of Fecal Immunochemical Tests in Colorectal Cancer Screening.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The fecal immunochemical test (FIT) is the tool most frequently used for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening worldwide. It is unclear how the use of aspirin and oral anticoagulants in the screening population affects the diagnostic performance of FIT. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study in an ongoing CRC screening trial in Norway. Participants aged 50-74 years with a positive result from an FIT (>15 μg hemoglobin/g feces) and subsequent colonoscopy (reference standard) were included. Those who used regular aspirin, warfarin, or direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) were defined as users. Non-users were matched according to age, sex, screening center, and screening round. The primary outcomes were the positive predictive value (PPV) for CRC and advanced adenoma. RESULTS Among 4908 eligible participants, 1008 used aspirin, 147 used warfarin, 212 used DOACs, and 3541 were non-users. CRCs were found in 234 individuals and advanced adenomas in 1305 individuals. The PPV for CRC was 3.8% for aspirin users vs 6.4% for matched non-users (P = .006), The PPV for advanced adenoma in aspirin users was 27.2% vs 32.6% for matched non-users (P = .011). For DOAC, the PPV for CRC was 0.9% in users vs 6.8% in matched non-users (P = .001). The PPV for advanced adenoma in DOAC users was 20.5% vs 32.4% in matched non-users (P = .002). There was no significant difference in PPV for CRC or advanced adenoma in warfarin users compared to non-users. CONCLUSIONS In a large screening cohort in Norway, regular use of aspirin and particularly DOACs, were associated with lower PPV of FIT for detection of CRCs and advanced adenomas. ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT01538550.
Occurrence and Human-Health Impacts of Mycotoxins in Somalia.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various molds that contaminate many staple foods and cause a broad range of detrimental health effects in animals and humans through chronic exposure or acute toxicity. As such, the worldwide contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a significant problem, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, mycotoxin occurrence in staple foods consumed in Somalia was determined. A total of 140 samples (42 maize, 40 sorghum, and 58 wheat) were collected from a number of markets in Mogadishu, Somalia, and analyzed by a UPLC-MS/MS multimycotoxin method that could detect 77 toxins. All of the maize samples tested contained eight or more mycotoxins, with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and fumonisin B1 (FB1) levels reaching up to 908 and 17 322 μg/kg, respectively, greatly exceeding the European Union limits and guidance values. The average probable daily intake of fumonisins (FB1 and FB2) was 16.70 μg per kilogram of body weight (kg bw) per day, representing 835% of the recommended provisional maximum tolerable daily intake value of 2 μg/(kg bw)/day. A risk characterization revealed a mean national margin of exposure of 0.62 for AFB1 with an associated risk of developing primary liver cancer estimated at 75 cancers per year per 100 000 people for white-maize consumption alone. The results clearly indicate that aflatoxin and fumonisin exposure is a major public-health concern and that risk-management actions require prioritization in Somalia.
Fighting misinformation on social media using crowdsourced judgments of news source quality

Significance Many people consume news via social media. It is therefore desirable to reduce social media users’ exposure to low-quality news content. One possible intervention is for social media ranking algorithms to show relatively less content from sources that users deem to be untrustworthy. But are laypeople’s judgments reliable indicators of quality, or are they corrupted by either partisan bias or lack of information? Perhaps surprisingly, we find that laypeople—on average—are quite good at distinguishing between lower- and higher-quality sources. These results indicate that incorporating the trust ratings of laypeople into social media ranking algorithms may prove an effective intervention against misinformation, fake news, and news content with heavy political bias. Reducing the spread of misinformation, especially on social media, is a major challenge. We investigate one potential approach: having social media platform algorithms preferentially display content from news sources that users rate as trustworthy. To do so, we ask whether crowdsourced trust ratings can effectively differentiate more versus less reliable sources. We ran two preregistered experiments (n = 1,010 from Mechanical Turk and n = 970 from Lucid) where individuals rated familiarity with, and trust in, 60 news sources from three categories: (i) mainstream media outlets, (ii) hyperpartisan websites, and (iii) websites that produce blatantly false content (“fake news”). Despite substantial partisan differences, we find that laypeople across the political spectrum rated mainstream sources as far more trustworthy than either hyperpartisan or fake news sources. Although this difference was larger for Democrats than Republicans—mostly due to distrust of mainstream sources by Republicans—every mainstream source (with one exception) was rated as more trustworthy than every hyperpartisan or fake news source across both studies when equally weighting ratings of Democrats and Republicans. Furthermore, politically balanced layperson ratings were strongly correlated (r = 0.90) with ratings provided by professional fact-checkers. We also found that, particularly among liberals, individuals higher in cognitive reflection were better able to discern between low- and high-quality sources. Finally, we found that excluding ratings from participants who were not familiar with a given news source dramatically reduced the effectiveness of the crowd. Our findings indicate that having algorithms up-rank content from trusted media outlets may be a promising approach for fighting the spread of misinformation on social media.
Comparative Radiographic Outcomes of Lateral and Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion in the Treatment of Degenerative Lumbar Kyphosis

Study Design Retrospective case–control study. Purpose To compare surgical invasiveness and radiological outcomes between posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) and lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) for degenerative lumbar kyphosis. Overview of Literature LLIF is a minimally invasive interbody fusion technique; however, few reports compared the clinical outcomes of conventional PLIF and LLIF for degenerative lumbar kyphosis. Methods Radiographic data for patients who have undergone lumbar interbody fusion (≥3 levels) using PLIF or LLIF for degenerative lumbar kyphosis (lumbar lordosis [LL] <20°) were retrospectively examined. The following radiographic parameters were retrospectively evaluated preoperatively and 2 years postoperatively: segmental lordotic angle, LL, pelvic tilt (PT), pelvic incidence (PI), C7 sagittal vertical axis, and T1 pelvic angle. Results Nineteen consecutive cases with PLIF and 27 cases with LLIF were included. There were no significant differences in patients’ backgrounds or preoperative radiographic parameters between the PLIF and the LLIF groups. The mean fusion level was 5.5±2.5 levels and 5.8±2.5 levels in the PLIF and LLIF groups, respectively (p=0.69). Although there was no significant difference in surgical times (p=0.58), the estimated blood loss was significantly greater in the PLIF group (p<0.001). Two years postoperatively, comparing the PLIF and LLIF groups, the segmental lordotic angle achieved (7.4°±7.6° and 10.6°±9.4°, respectively; p=0.03), LL (27.8°±13.9° and 39.2°±12.7°, respectively; p=0.006), PI–LL (19.8°±14.8° and 3.1°±17.5°, respectively; p=0.002), and PT (22.6°±7.1° and 14.2°±13.9°, respectively; p=0.02) were significantly better in the LLIF group. Conclusions LLIF provided significantly better sagittal alignment restoration in the context of degenerative lumbar kyphosis, with less blood loss.
Ecologically Relevant Temperature Ramping Rates Enhance the Protective Heat Shock Response in an Intertidal Ectotherm

Thermal stress experiments are essential for understanding organisms’ thermal limits and the physiological processes that contribute to establishing those limits. Experiments typically employ either an abrupt transfer to near-lethal temperatures or a gradually increasing thermal exposure. In the current study, we used three populations of the intertidal copepod Tigriopus californicus that are known to differ in upper thermal tolerance to investigate the effects of gradual versus abrupt thermal exposures on survivorship, developmental time, and heat shock protein gene expression. The developmental rate of nauplii was unaffected following the gradual exposure, whereas developmental time slowed by ∼2 d (∼20%) following an abrupt exposure. The gradual exposure also improved survivorship in comparison to the abrupt exposure. Furthermore, the heat shock protein genes hsp70 and hspb1 showed greater upregulation during the gradual thermal exposure compared to the abrupt exposure. Though the differences in response to each thermal regime varied in magnitude among the different populations, the types of responses were very similar (i.e., following the gradual exposure survivorship increased, developmental time showed no effect, and heat shock protein gene upregulation during the exposure increased). Therefore, the enhanced protective effect of the heat shock response during gradual exposures appears to be conserved within the species despite population-level differences in thermal tolerance. Thus, an ecologically relevant thermal exposure likely enables improved cellular protective mechanisms by allowing for an effective and timely heat shock response, which plays a role in mitigating the effects of thermal stress and thereby enhances tolerance to elevated temperatures.
Inter‐rater reliability of phenotypes and exploratory genotype–phenotype analysis in inherited hidradenitis suppurativa

Genotype–phenotype correlation measures the correlation between the presence of a physical trait with a group of similar mutations but is dependent on reliable phenotyping. It can provide information on disease pathogenesis, future disease progression, severity or activity. Such indicators would be valuable in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).
Identifying the optimal body shape and composition associated with strength outcomes in children and adolescent according to place of residence: An allometric approach

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to identify the optimal body shape and composition associated with physical fitness levels of children living in urban and rural areas of Italy. A total of 7102 children (11–14 years) were assessed for weight, height, percentage body fat (FM%), sit-and-reach flexibility (SAR), standing broad jump (SBJ) and sit-ups (SUP). A multiplicative allometric model, Y = a · massk1 · heightk2 ·ε, was used to predict the physical outcome variables Y = SBJ and SUP. The model was expanded to incorporate FM% and SAR as follows Y = a · massk1 · heightk2 · FM%k3 · exp(b· FM% + c· SAR) ·ε. Note that FM% was incorporated as a “gamma function” that allows an initial growth, and subsequent decline in Y as FM% increases in size. Although having an ectomorph body shape appears advantageous, being too thin appears detrimental to the strength outcomes. Being flexible would also benefit physical fitness levels. Finally, our results indicate that ursban children aged 11–14 have superior strength outcomes compared with rural children, having controlled for differences in body shape and composition, a finding that may be associated with rural environments having fewer exercise facilities compared with urban conurbations.
Hyperuricemia and gout are associated with cancer incidence and mortality: A meta‐analysis based on cohort studies

The association between hyperuricemia or gout and cancer risk has been investigated in various published studies, but their results are conflicting. We conducted a meta‐analysis to investigate whether hyperuricemia or gout was associated with the cancer incidence and mortality. Linear and nonlinear trend analyses were conducted to explore the dose–response association between them. The pooled relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate cancer risk. A total of 24 articles (33 independent studies) were eligible for inclusion. When compared participants with the highest SUA (hyperuricemia) levels and those with the lowest SUA levels, the pooled RR was 1.08 (95% CI, 1.04–1.12), it was significantly associated among males but not among females (males, RR = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03–1.11; females, RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.96–1.17). Hyperuricemia increased total cancer mortality (RR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05–1.26), but a significant association was observed in females rather than in males (females: RR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09–1.45; males, RR = 1.02; 95% CI, 0.80–1.30). Linear relationships of SUA levels with overall cancer incidence (p for nonlinearity = 0.238) and overall cancer mortality (p for nonlinearity = 0.263) were identified. However, 1 mg/dL increment in SUA levels was weakly significant in overall cancer incidence (RR = 1.01; 95% CI, 1.01–1.01) but not associated with overall cancer mortality (RR = 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99–1.03). Gout was significantly associated with increased cancer incidence (RR = 1.19; 95% CI, 1.12–1.25). In conclusion, Hyperuricemia or gout was associated with higher cancer incidence and mortality. Though a potential linear relationship between them was found, we'd better treat this result with caution.
Transcriptomic analyses reveal groups of co-expressed, syntenic lncRNAs in four species of the genus Caenorhabditis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a heterogeneous class of genes that do not code for proteins. Since lncRNAs (or a fraction thereof) are expected to be functional, many efforts have been dedicated to catalog lncRNAs in numerous organisms, but our knowledge of lncRNAs in non vertebrate species remains very limited. Here, we annotated lncRNAs using transcriptomic data from the same larval stage of four Caenorhabditis species. The number of annotated lncRNAs in self-fertile nematodes was lower than in out-crossing species. We used a combination of approaches to identify putatively homologous lncRNAs: synteny, sequence conservation, and structural conservation. We classified a total of 1,532 out of 7,635 genes from the four species into families of lncRNAs with conserved synteny and expression at the larval stage, suggesting that a large fraction of the predicted lncRNAs may be species specific. Despite both sequence and local secondary structure seem to be poorly conserved, sequences within families frequently shared BLASTn hits and short sequence motifs, which were more likely to be unpaired in the predicted structures. We provide the first multi-species catalog of lncRNAs in nematodes and identify groups of lncRNAs with conserved synteny and expression, that share exposed motifs.
Investigating EEG Patterns for Dual-Stimuli Induced Human Fear Emotional State

Most electroencephalography (EEG) based emotion recognition systems make use of videos and images as stimuli. Few used sounds, and even fewer studies were found involving self-induced emotions. Furthermore, most of the studies rely on single stimuli to evoke emotions. The question of “whether different stimuli for same emotion elicitation generate any subject-independent correlations” remains unanswered. This paper introduces a dual modality based emotion elicitation paradigm to investigate if emotions can be classified induced with different stimuli. A method has been proposed based on common spatial pattern (CSP) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to analyze human brain signals for fear emotions evoked with two different stimuli. Self-induced emotional imagery is one of the considered stimuli, while audio/video clips are used as the other stimuli. The method extracts features from the CSP algorithm and LDA performs classification. To investigate associated EEG correlations, a spectral analysis was performed. To further improve the performance, CSP was compared with other regularized techniques. Critical EEG channels are identified based on spatial filter weights. To the best of our knowledge, our work provides the first contribution for the assessment of EEG correlations in the case of self versus video induced emotions captured with a commercial grade EEG device.
Transglutaminase 2 takes center stage as a cancer cell survival factor and therapy target

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) has emerged as a key cancer cell survival factor that drives epithelial to mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, metastasis, inflammation, drug resistance, cancer stem cell survival and stemness, and invasion and migration. TG2 can exist in a GTP‐bound signaling‐active conformation or in a transamidase‐active conformation. The GTP bound conformation of TG2 contributes to cell survival and the transamidase conformation can contribute to cell survival or death. We present evidence suggesting that TG2 has a role in human cancer, summarize what is known about the TG2 mechanism of action in a range of cancer types, and discuss TG2 as a cancer therapy target.
Frequencies of Immune Cells in the Human Small Bowel During Normal Gestation and in Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Abstract Background: Only few studies have quantitated the frequencies of immune cells in the small bowel mucosa and submucosa during gestation. The aims of this study were to describe the frequencies of T and B cells, eosinophils and mast cells in the normal small bowel mucosa and submucosa (NSB) in relation to gestational age (GA) and in the uninvolved small bowel (USB) of premature newborns with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Methods: We obtained 36 NSB specimens (GA 12–41 weeks) and 8 NEC-USB specimens (GA 24–32 weeks) from autopsies and surgeries and performed immunostaining for CD3, CD79a, BMK-13 and tryptase as well as the histochemical stains giemsa and toluidine blue. Qualitative histological evaluation and two different quantitative cell-samplings were performed using digital imaging analysis with both TissuemorphDP® and newCAST® software. Linear regression analysis was performed with cell frequency as the dependent variable and GA and USB as the independent variables. Results: In the NSB specimens, we found significant linear correlations between cell frequencies and GA for all examined cell types, though B cell frequencies reached a plateau midway through gestation. In the USB cases, submucosal mast cell frequencies were higher than in the NSB specimens, while T cell frequencies were lower. In USB of NEC patients, we found a significant increase of mast cells and a significant decrease of T cells compared to NSB. Conclusion: Throughout gestation, we found an increase of all examined immune cell types in the normal small bowel, while the number of B cells came to a standstill at midway. Future studies should examine subtypes of T cells and also include histiocytes. A larger amount of small bowel specimens, covering the full gestational age, would be of great value.
Routines of “sitting” and “enjoying ourselves” in the common room of a dementia unit

Abstract Purpose: Routinized activities create security for persons with dementia (PWDs) and help care staff manage everyday tasks, but care staff also assist PWDs with constructing routines during their leisure time. This paper investigates how a PWD negotiates how to use the common room in a dementia ward as a social space with co-present staff members, other residents, and a visiting researcher. Methods: Based on ethnographic observations and video recordings and using conversation analytical methodology, the paper presents sequential analyses of video recorded data collected at a dementia unit in a Danish care facility. Results: Detailed analyses of selected instances indicate that the PWD treats care staff as being in charge of the social organization of common room, and they show how the PWD is routinely guided to sit calmly, minding his own business. The analyses also show that the PWD relies on ritualized action and routine activities when managing co-presence and interaction with the visiting researcher. Moreover, they show that a previous non-routine joint activity is used by the PWD to take initiative and thereby re-establish it later. Conclusions: We argue that routine and ritual both provide constraints but also resources for PWDs to actively co-co-create new shared activities with co-present others, and we suggest that PWDs’ possibilities for taking initiatives for activities during leisure time among other things rely on the routines that have already been established in interaction with care staff and others or on non-routine activities which PWDs may turn into routines as they re-establish them.
Treatment resistant impetigo herpetiformis treated with infliximab

Impetigo herpetiformis is a rare disease of pregnancy with the onset being in the second half of pregnancy and resolution after delivery. It is associated with a high rate of perinatal mortality and fetal abnormalities. Clinical and histological features of the disease are consistent with pustuler psoriasis. We reported a case of 25‐year‐old female gravida 1 para 0, who responded poorly to consecutive treatments with systemic steroids, cyclosporine, intravenous immunoglobulin, and acitretin. Good response was obtained with adding infliximab to the treatment.
Rat mesenteric small artery neurogenic dilatation is predominantly mediated by β1‐adrenoceptors in vivo

The prevailing dogma about neurogenic regulation of vascular tone consists of major vasodilatation caused by CGRP (and possibly substance P) released from sensory‐motor nerves and vasoconstriction caused by noradrenaline, ATP and neuropeptode Y release from sympathetic nerves. Most studies on perivascular nerve‐mediated vasodilatation are made in vitro. In the present study, we provide evidence indicating that in vivo electrical perivascular nerve stimulation in rat mesenteric small arteries causes a large β1‐adrenoceptor‐mediated vasodilatation, which contrasts with a smaller vasodilatation caused by endogenous CGRP that is only visible after inhibition of Y1 NPY receptors.