Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serious games as a level playing field for early literacy: A behavioural and neurophysiological evaluation

Over de verschillende talen heen slaagt 10 tot 15% van de kinderen er niet in om het standaardniveau voor lezen te behalen. Dit maakt van vroege diagnostiek en behandeling van bestaande en potentiele leesproblemen een wereldwijde missie. In dit proefschrift wordt de ontwikkeling en beoordeling van een computergestuurd leesspel voor beginnende lezers van het Nederlands beschreven. Enerzijds is er een focus op de vraag hoe de efficientie van de training correct gemeten kan worden, anderzijds is dit project gericht op het onderzoeken van de gelijktijdige invloed van verschillende interventie-aspecten zoals doelgroep, inhoud van de training en individuele blootstelling aan het het spel. In een gerandomiseerde controle trial, werd een cross-sectionele steekproef van 286 kinderen uit Nederland en Belgie verwezen naar een programma dat bestond uit een exclusief regulier schoolcurriculum, of een programma waarin daarenboven een van twee computergestuurde spellen voor het trainen van lezen of rekenen werden toegevoegd. Ondanks het feit dat verschillende kortetermijnverbeteringen konden worden vastgesteld in lees-gerelateerde competenties en hersenrespons kon worden waargenomen na 7 weken speeltijd, vertaalde dit zich niet in beter lezen 18 maanden na de training. Toch vormt dit proefschrift een uitbreiding op ons huidige begrip van computergestuurde leesinterventies door het gecombineerd gebruiken van psychometrische testen, de data die konden worden verkregen uit het spel, de neurofysiologische opnames met EEG en de toepassing van geavanceerde statistische methoden. De resultaten hebben verschillende gevolgen voor de creatie en het gebruik van digitale leermaterialen in spelvorm, hetgeen op lange termijn mogelijk kinderen over de hele wereld kan helpen.
Hyperthyroidism as a late effect in childhood cancer survivors - an Adult Life after Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia (ALiCCS) study

Abstract Background: Hyperthyroidism is a rare disorder which may negatively affect health and quality of life. Its occurrence in childhood cancer survivors has not previously been investigated in detail. Material and methods: In the hospital registers of the five Nordic countries, 32,944 childhood cancer survivors and 212,675 population comparisons were followed for the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism. Hospitalisation rates, standardised hospitalisation rate ratios and absolute excess risks were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Hyperthyroidism was diagnosed in 131 childhood cancer survivors, yielding an overall relative risk of 1.6 (95% CI: 1.3–1.9) compared with population comparisons. The risk was greatest 1–5 years after the diagnosis of cancer and in survivors of thyroid cancers, neuroblastomas, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and Hodgkin lymphoma. Sixty-seven percent of survivors with hyperthyroidism had tumours located in the head, neck or upper body and half of survivors with hyperthyroidism were irradiated with 77% of them in the head and neck area. Conclusion: Childhood cancer survivors are at an increased risk of hyperthyroidism, potentially resulting in non-endocrine morbidity.
Protocol for a scoping review to understand how interorganisational electronic health records affect hospital physician and pharmacist decisions

Introduction Patient records are often fragmented across organisations and departments in UK health and care services, often due to substandard information technology. However, although government policy in the UK and internationally is strongly pushing ‘digital transformation’, the evidence for the positive impact of electronic information systems on cost, quality and safety of healthcare is far from clear. In particular, the mechanisms by which information availability is translated into better decision-making are not well understood. We do not know when a full interorganisational record is more useful than a key information summary or an institutional record. In this paper, we describe our scoping review of how interorganisational electronic health records affect decision-making by hospital physicians and pharmacists. Methods and analysis This scoping review will follow the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) methodology. The review has adopted sociotechnical systems thinking and the notion of distributed cognition as its guiding conceptual models. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Healthcare Databases Advanced Search will be used, as it incorporates key sources including PubMed, Medline, Embase, HMIC and Health Business Elite. A hand search will be conducted using the reference lists of included studies to identify additional relevant articles. A two-part study selection process will be used: (1) a title and abstract review and (2) full text review. During the first step, two researchers separately will review the citations yielded from the search to determine eligibility based on the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Related articles will be included if they are empirical studies that address how interorganisational records affect decision-making by hospital physicians and pharmacists. Ethics and dissemination The results will be disseminated through stakeholder meetings, conference presentations and peer-reviewed publication. The data used are from publicly available secondary sources, so this study does not require ethical review.
90Y SPECT/CT quantitative study and comparison of uptake with pretreatment 99 mTc‐MAA SPECT/CT in radiomicrosphere therapy

Abstract Introduction Yttrium‐90 (90Y) microsphere post‐treatment imaging reflects the true distribution characteristics of microspheres in the tumor and liver compartments. However, due to its decay spectra profile lacking a pronounced photopeak, the bremsstrahlung imaging for 90Y has inherent limitations. The absorbed dose calculations for 90Y microspheres radiomicrosphere therapy (RMT) sustain a limitation due to the poor quality of 90Y imaging. The aim of this study was to develop quantitative methods to improve the post‐treatment 90Y bremsstrahlung single photon emission tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) image analysis for dosimetric purposes and to perform a quantitative comparison with the 99mTc‐MAA SPECT/CT images, which is used for theranostics purposes for liver and tumor dosimetry. Methods Pre and post‐treatment SPECT/CT data of patients who underwent RMT for primary or metastatic liver cancer were acquired. A Jasczak phantom with eight spherical inserts of various sizes was used to obtain optimal iteration number for the contrast recovery algorithm for improving 90Y bremsstrahlung SPECT/CT images. Comparison of uptake on 99mTc‐MAA and 90Y microsphere SPECT/CT images was assessed using tumor to healthy liver ratios (TLRs). The voxel dosimetry technique was used to estimate absorbed doses. Absorbed doses within the tumor and healthy part of the liver were also investigated for correlation with administered activity. Results Improvement in CNR and contrast recovery coefficients on patient and phantom 90Y bremsstrahlung SPECT/CT images respectively were achieved. The 99mTc‐MAA and 90Y microspheres SPECT/CT images showed significant uptake correlation (r = 0.9, P = 0.05) with mean TLR of 9.4 ± 9.2 and 5.0 ± 2.2, respectively. The correlation between the administered activity and tumor absorbed dose was weak (r = 0.5, P > 0.05), however, healthy liver absorbed dose increased with administered activity (r = 0.8, P = 0.0). Conclusions This study demonstrated correlation in mean TLR between 99mTc‐MAA and 90Y microsphere SPECT/CT.
Superfolder mTurquoise2ox optimized for the bacterial periplasm allows high efficiency in vivo FRET of cell division antibiotic targets

Fluorescent proteins (FP)s are of vital importance to biomedical research. Many of the currently available fluorescent proteins do not fluoresce when expressed in non-native environments, such as the bacterial periplasm. This strongly limits the options for applications that employ multiple FPs, such as multiplex imaging or FRET. To address this issue, we have engineered a new cyan fluorescent protein based on mTurquoise2 (mTq2). The new variant is dubbed superfolder turquoise 2 ox (sfTq2ox) and is able to withstand challenging, oxidizing environments. sfTq2ox has improved folding capabilities and can be expressed in the periplasm at higher concentrations without toxicity. This was tied to the replacement of native cysteines that may otherwise form promiscuous disulfide-bonds. The improved sfTq2ox has the same spectroscopic properties as mTq2, i.e. high fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield. The sfTq2ox-mNeongreen FRET pair allows the detection of periplasmic protein-protein interactions with energy transfer rates exceeding 40 %. Employing the new FRET pair, we show the direct interaction of two essential periplasmic cell division proteins FtsL and FtsB and disrupt it by mutations, paving the way for in vivo antibiotic screening.
Sex Differences in Acute Complications of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices: Implications for Patient Safety

Background To date, limited population‐level studies have examined the impact of sex on the acute complications of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED), including permanent pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices. Methods and Results We studied all patients aged >18 years from 2010 to 2015 who were a resident of Australia or New Zealand, undergoing a new permanent pacemaker, implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or cardiac resynchronization therapy implant. Standardized variables were collected including patient demographic characteristics, primary and secondary diagnoses, procedures performed and discharge status. Diagnoses and procedures were coded as per the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD‐10) and the Australian Classification of Health Interventions. The primary end point was the incidence of major CIED‐related complications in‐hospital or within 90 days of discharge, with the effect of sex evaluated using multiple logistic regression. A total of 81 304 new CIED (61 658 permanent pacemakers, 12 097 implantable cardioverter defibrillators, 7574 cardiac resynchronization therapy) implants were included (38% women). Overall, 8.5% of women and 8.0% of men experienced a CIED complication (P=0.008). Differences between women and men remained significant after adjustment for age, procedural acuity, and comorbidities (odds ratio 1.10, 95% CI: 1.04–1.16, P<0.001). Differences in CIED complication rates were primarily driven by excess rate of in‐hospital pleural drainage (1.2% women versus 0.6% men, P<0.001; adjusted odds ratio 1.86, 95% CI: 1.59–2.17, P<0.001) and pericardial drainage (0.3% women versus 0.1% men, P<0.001; adjusted odds ratio 2.17, 95% CI: 1.48–3.18, P<0.001). Conclusions Women are at higher risk of acute CIED complications. Improvements in implant technique and technologies are required to minimize the risk of implant‐related complications in women.
Generalised Versus Specific Internet Use-Related Addiction Problems: A Mixed Methods Study on Internet, Gaming, and Social Networking Behaviours

The field of technological behavioural addictions is moving towards specific problems (i.e., gaming disorder). However, more evidence of generalised versus specific Internet use-related addiction problems (generalised pathological Internet use (GPIU) vs. specific pathological Internet use (SPIU)) is still needed. This mixed methods study aimed to disentangle GPIU from SPIU. A partially mixed sequential equal status study design (QUAN→QUAL) was undertaken. First, through an online survey, which adapted the compulsive Internet use scale (CIUS) for three types of problems (i.e., generalised Internet use, and specific online gaming and social networking). Second, potential problem users’ perceptions of the evolution of these problems (aetiology, development, consequences, and factors) were ascertained, through semi-structured interviews, together with their opinion on present Internet gaming disorder (IGD) criteria adapted to each problem studied. Findings showed the CIUS remains valid and reliable for GPIU and SPIUs examined; a prevalence between 10.8% and 37.4% was estimated for potential at-risk problem gamers and Internet users, respectively, who reported their preference for maintaining their virtual lives. Half of the sample had a risk of a unique or mixed profile of these problems. Moreover, device patterns, gender, and age issues emerged, such as problem gamers being proportionally equal male and female young or middle-aged adults. GPIU was highly associated with problem social networking use, and weakly with problematic gaming, but both SPIUs were independent. Concerning addictive symptoms, salience, deception, and tolerance required redefinition, especially for SPIUs, while better-valued IGD criteria applied to GPIU and SPIUs were: Risk relationships or opportunities, give up other activities, withdrawal, and continue despite problems. Thus, although problems studied are present as risk behaviours, SPIUs seem to cover the addictive symptomatology in those categorised as potential problem users, online gaming being the most severe behavioural addiction problem.
Effect of carvacrol essential oils on immune response and inflammation‐related genes expression in broilers challenged by lipopolysaccharide

ABSTRACT This experiment was conducted to study the effects of orally administered carvacrol essential oils on immune response and inflammation‐related genes expression in broilers challenged by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Eighty 28‐day‐old (1.28 ± 0.15 kg) ROSS 308 broilers were assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments (20 pens of 1 chick/trt). Factors were carvacrol essential oil (orally administered or non‐orally administered) and LPS (challenged or non‐challenged). Individually housed broilers were randomly assigned (n = 20 broilers per treatment: 10 males and 10 females) to four treatments: (1) basic diet (CTR), (2) basic diet + carvacrol (CAR), (3) basic diet + LPS‐challenge (LPS), (4) basic diet + carvacrol + LPS‐challenge (CAR+LPS). All were fed with the same diet. The experimental period was for 15 d, after which injecting LPS significantly up‐regulated the gene expression levels of TNF‐&agr; (P < 0.05), IL‐1&bgr; (P < 0.05), IL‐6 (P < 0.05), IL‐8 (P < 0.05), TLR2 (P < 0.05), TLR4 (P < 0.05), NF‐&kgr;B p65 (P < 0.05), AVBD‐9 (P < 0.05), and SIgA(P < 0.05) compared with the CTR group; the broilers were challenged by LPS after oral administration of carvacrol, they had significant lower on the gene expression levels of TNF‐&agr; (P < 0.05), IL‐1&bgr; (P < 0.05), IL‐6 (P < 0.05), TLR4 (P < 0.05), NF‐&kgr;B p65 (P < 0.05), and AVBD‐9 (P < 0.05) than the LPS group. In conclusion, the broilers orally administrated carvacrol essential oils inhibited the secretion of inflammatory cytokines caused by LPS, affected the pathway of TLRs/NF‐&kgr;B, and showed an anti‐inflammatory function.
Does emotion influence visual perception? Depends on how you look at it

ABSTRACT One of the biggest challenges in the study of emotion–cognition interaction is addressing the question of whether and how emotions influence processes of perception as distinct from other higher-level cognitive processes. Most theories of emotion agree that an emotion episode begins with a sensory experience – such as a visual percept – that elicits a cascade of affective, cognitive, physiological, and/or behavioural responses (the ordering and inclusion of those latter components being forever debated). However, for decades, a subset of philosophers and scientists have suggested that the presumed perception → emotion relationship is in fact bidirectional, with emotion also altering the perceptual process. In the present review we reflect on the history and empirical support (or, some might argue, lack thereof) for the notion that emotion influences visual perception. We examine ways in which researchers have attempted to test the question, and the ways in which this pursuit is so difficult. As is the case with the ongoing debate about the cognitive penetrability of perception, we conclude that nothing is conclusive in the debate about the emotional penetrability of perception. We nonetheless don rose-coloured glasses as we look forward to the future of this research topic.
Modular preprocessing pipelines can reintroduce artifacts into fMRI data

The preprocessing pipelines typically used in both task and restingstate fMRI (rs-fMRI) analysis are modular in nature: They are composed of a number of separate filtering/regression steps, including removal of head motion covariates and band-pass filtering, performed sequentially and in a flexible order. In this paper we illustrate the shortcomings of this approach, as we show how later preprocessing steps can reintroduce artifacts previously removed from the data in prior preprocessing steps. We show that each regression step is a geometric projection of data onto a subspace, and that performing a sequence of projections can move the data into subspaces no longer orthogonal to those previously removed, reintroducing signal related to nuisance covariates. Thus, linear filtering operations are not commutative, and the order in which the preprocessing steps are performed is critical. These issues can arise in practice when any combination of standard preprocessing steps—including motion regression, scrubbing, component-based correction, global signal regression, and temporal filtering—are performed sequentially. In this work we focus primarily on rs-fMRI. We illustrate the problem both theoretically and empirically through application to a test-retest rs-fMRI data set, and suggest remedies. These include (a) combining all steps into a single linear filter, or (b) sequential orthogonalization of covariates/linear filters performed in series.
Representations on adherence to the treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE To identify representations regarding adherence to the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis from the perspective of patients who were discharged upon being cured. METHOD A qualitative study with patients who completed the drug treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in São Paulo. Social Determination was used to interpret the health-disease process, and the testimonies were analyzed according to dialectical hermeneutics and the discourse analysis technique. RESULTS Twenty-one patients were interviewed. The majority (80.9%) were men, in the productive age group (90.4%) and on sick leave or unemployed (57.2%) during the treatment. Based on the testimonies, three categories associated with adherence to treatment emerged: the desire to live, support for the development of treatment and care provided by the health services. CONCLUSION For the study sample, adherence to the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was related to having a life project and support from the family and health professionals. Free treatment is fundamental for adherence, given the fragilities arising from the social insertion of people affected by the disease. Therefore, special attention is required from the health services to understand patient needs.
Garlic (Allium Sativum) Supplementation Improves Respiratory Health but Has Increased Risk of Lower Hematologic Values in Horses

Simple Summary The hypotheses of this study were that garlic supplementation may help to clear mucus in the airways, but also causes declining hematologic values in prolonged feeding. The results show that long-term supplementation of dried garlic on the level of 32 mg/kg BW improved respiratory health in terms of reduced amount of tracheal symptoms and accumulation of tracheal exudates. However, the garlic supplemented horses showed slightly declining hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HcT) and red blood cells (RBC) values. Abstract Garlic (Allium sativum) is claimed to have numerous beneficial properties to the health of humans and animals. It is commonly used for example to treat respiratory diseases and infections in horses’ lungs. However, in addition to its possible positive influences, garlic may also have adverse health effects. The hypotheses of this study were that garlic supplementation may help to clear mucus in the airways, but also causes declining hematologic values in prolonged feeding. To our knowledge, this is the first organized study in controlled conditions to show the health effects of garlic supplementation for horses so far. The results show that long-term supplementation of dried garlic on the level of 32 mg/kg BW seemed to reduce the amount of tracheal symptoms and accumulation of tracheal exudates. Additionally, the number of neutrophil cells in the tracheal mucus was numerically smaller in the garlic supplemented horses. However, the garlic supplemented horses showed slightly declining Hb, HcT and RBC values during an 83-day study period. Consequently, it is possible that even low garlic supplementation levels can be detrimental to the horse’s hematology when the supplementation period is long.
Footprints of BK and JC polyomaviruses in specimens from females affected by spontaneous abortion

STUDY QUESTION Are JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) and BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) infections associated with spontaneous abortion (SA)? SUMMARY ANSWER There is no association of JCPyV or BKPyV with SA. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY A large number of risk factors have been associated with SA. The role of polyomaviruses, including JCPyV and BKPyV, in SA remains to be clarified. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION This is a case-control study including women affected by spontaneous abortion (SA, n = 100, the cases) and women who underwent voluntary interruption of pregnancy (VI, n = 100, the controls). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Viral DNAs were investigated by qualitative PCR and quantitative droplet-digital PCR (ddPCR) in matched chorionic villi tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SA (n = 100) and VI (n = 100). Indirect ELISAs with mimotopes/synthetic peptides corresponding to JCPyV and BKPyV viral capsid protein 1 epitopes were then employed to investigate specific IgG antibodies against JCPyV and BKPyV in human sera from SA (n = 80) and VI (n = 80) cohorts. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE JCPyV DNA was detected in 51% and 61% of SA and VI samples, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 7.92 copy/104 cells in SA and 5.91 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05); BKPyV DNA was detected in 11% and 12% of SA and VI specimens, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 2.7 copy/104 cells in SA and 3.08 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05). JCPyV was more prevalent than BKPyV in both SA and VI specimens (P < 0.0001). In PBMCs from the SA and VI cohorts, JCPyV DNA was detected with a prevalence of 8% and 12%, respectively, with a mean viral DNA load of 2.29 copy/104 cells in SA and 1.88 copy/104 cells in VI (P > 0.05). The overall prevalence of serum IgG antibodies against JCPyV detected by indirect ELISAs was 52.5% and 48.7% in SA and VI groups, respectively, whereas BKPyV-positive sera were found in 80% SA and 78.7% VI samples. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION This study did not investigate the presence of viral mRNA and/or proteins, which are indicative of an active viral infection, and these might be taken into consideration in future studies. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS JCPyV and BKPyV DNA sequences were detected and quantitatively analyzed for the first time by PCR/ddPCR in chorionic villi tissues and PBMCs from SA and VI specimens. Moreover specific immunological approaches detected serum IgG against JCPyV/BKPyV. Statistical analyses, however, do not indicate an association between these polyomaviruses and SA. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This work was supported by the University of Ferrara, FAR research grants and the University Hospital of Ferrara/University of Ferrara joint grant. No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.