Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anxiety and depression predicted quality of life among patients with heart failure

Purpose Anxiety and depression are prevalent among patients with heart failure. However, their effect on the quality of life (QoL) is not well investigated in developing countries. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the effect of anxiety and depression on QoL among Jordanian patients with heart failure. Patients and methods Two hundred patients with a confirmed diagnosis of heart failure from 1 governmental and 1 private hospital in Amman, Jordan, were recruited between March and August, 2017. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. Anxiety and depression were measured using the Arabic version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. QoL was measured using the Arabic version of the Short Form-36. Results Patients reported poor QoL in both physical component summary (M ± SD; 35.8±9.6) and mental component summary (M ± SD; 41.5±11.3). Prevalence rates for anxiety and depression were 62% and 65%, respectively. In stepwise regression analysis, anxiety and depression were independent predictors for poor QoL in both summaries, p<0.001. Conclusion Patients with heart failure have poor QoL and high anxiety and high depression prevalence rates. Inclusion of routine assessment and management of anxiety and depression in heart failure protocols is highly recommended.
Official title : Changes in cerebral oxygenation based on intraoperative ventilation strategy

Introduction: Cerebral oxygenation can be monitored clinically by cerebral oximetry (rSO2) using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Changes in rSO2 have been shown to precede changes in pulse oximetry, providing earlier detection of clinical deterioration. Cerebral oximetry values may be affected by various factors, including changes in ventilation. The current study evaluates changes in rSO2 during intraoperative changes in mechanical ventilation. Methods: Following IRB approval, tissue and cerebral oxygenation were monitored intraoperatively using NIRS. Prior to anesthetic induction, the NIRS monitor was placed on the forehead and over the deltoid muscle to obtain baseline values. NIRS measurements were recorded each minute over a 5-minute period during general anesthesia at four phases of ventilation: 1) normocarbia (35-40 mmHg) with a low fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) of 0.3; 2) hypocarbia (25-30 mmHg) and low FiO2 of 0.3; 3) hypocarbia and a high FiO2 of 0.6; and 4) normocarbia and a high FiO2. NIRS measurements during each phase were compared to sequential phases using paired t-tests. Results: The study cohort included 30 adolescents. Baseline cerebral and tissue oxygenation were 81 ± 9 and 87 ± 5, respectively. During phase 1, cerebral rSO2 was 83 ± 8 and decreased to 79 ± 8 in phase 2 (hypocarbia and low FiO2). Cerebral oxygenation partially recovered during phase 3 (81 ± 9) with the increase in FiO2 and then returned to baseline during phase 4 (83 ± 8). Each sequential change (e.g., phase 1 to phase 2) in cerebral oxygenation was statistically significant (p<0.01). Tissue oxygenation was unchanged during the study phases and remained at 87-88 throughout. Discussion: Cerebral oxygenation declined during general anesthesia with the transition from normocarbia to hypocarbic conditions. The rSO2 decrease related to hypocarbia was easily reversed with a return to baseline values by the administration of supplemental oxygen (60% versus 30%).
The safety of beclomethasone dipropionate in the treatment of ulcerative colitis

ABSTRACT Introduction: Beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) is a second-generation corticosteroid that uses novel drug technologies to ensure colonic targeting and potentially reducing systemic corticosteroid concentrations. It is approved for treatment of patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC) who do not respond to mesalazine. The gut-selective mechanism of action has the potential to improve the safety profile of BDP compared with other conventional corticosteroids. Areas covered: We reviewed the mechanism of action, efficacy, and safety of BDP in the treatment of UC. The positioning of BDP in management algorithms is also discussed. Expert opinion: The highly selective mechanism of action of BDP restricts the steroid-related side effects. BDP is efficacious in the treatment of active UC. Topical formulation is the first choice in distal UC, while oral formulation is used in patients with an extensive involvement of the colon. The rates of adverse events (AE), serious AEs, and steroid-related side-effects are similar to placebo and mesalamine and slightly inferior to traditional corticosteroids.
Psoriasis, Cardiovascular Events, and Biologics: Lights and Shadows

Nowadays, it is well established a link between psoriasis and cardiovascular (CV) diseases. A series of different overlapping mechanisms including inflammation, homeostasis dysregulation, and genetic susceptibility are thought to underlie this association. Advances in understanding the molecular patterns involved in the complex scenario of psoriasis have highlighted a tight correlation with atherosclerosis. Indeed, common profiles are shared in term of inflammatory cytokines and cell types. In the last decade, the management of psoriasis patients has been revolutionized with the introduction of biological therapies, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-12/23, and IL-17 inhibitors. In clinical setting, the effectiveness of these therapies as well as the incidence of CV events is related to the type of biologics. In particular, anti-TNF-α agents seem to reduce these events in psoriasis patients whereas anti-IL-12/23 agents related CV events reduction still remain to clarify. It has to be taken into account that IL-12/23 inhibitors have a shorter post-marketing surveillance period. An even more restricted observational time is available for anti-IL-17 agents. IL-17 is associated with psoriasis, vascular disease, and inflammation. However, IL-17 role in atherosclerosis is still debated, exerting both pro-atherogenic and anti-atherogenic effects depending on the specific context. In this review, we will discuss the differences between the onset of CV events in psoriasis patients, referred to specific biological therapy and the underlying immunological mechanism. Given the development of new therapeutic strategies, the investigation of these inhibitors impact on heart failure outcome is extremely important.
Investigating the genetic determination of clutch traits in laying hens

&NA; Clutch traits were proposed as a more detailed description of egg‐laying patterns than simple total egg production. In this study, egg production of 23,809 Rhode Island Red (RIR) and 22,210 White Leghorn (WL) hens was described in terms of number of clutches, average and maximum clutch size, age at first egg, total saleable egg production, and percentage of egg defects. Genetic parameters were estimated using a six‐trait animal model. Of the phenotyped birds, 1433 RIR hens and 1515 WL hens were genotyped with line specific 50K Affymetrix Axiom single nucleotide polymorphism chips to perform genome‐wide association analyses. Moderate heritabilities were estimated for clutch traits of 0.20 to 0.42 in the RIR line and 0.29 to 0.41 in the WL line. Average and maximum clutch size was positively genetically correlated with total saleable egg number in both lines. Genome‐wide association analysis identified seven regions that were associated with egg production in the RIR line and 12 regions in the WL line. The regions identified were line and trait specific, except for one region on chromosome 6 from 28 to 29 Mb that influenced number of clutches and maximum and average clutch size in WL hens. Regions associated with egg production identified here overlapped with 260 genes, with some strong positional candidates based on gene ontology including WASH1, which is involved in oocyte maturation, NPVF, involved in regulation of follicle‐stimulating hormone secretion, and FOXO3, involved in oocyte maturation and ovulation from the ovarian follicle. Confirmation of the role of these genes in regulation of egg production pattern will require further studies.
Mechanistic insight on the combined effect of albumin and hydrogen peroxide on surface oxide composition and extent of metal release from Ti6Al4V

Abstract The titanium–aluminium (6 wt%)–vanadium (4 wt%) (Ti6Al4V) alloy is widely used as an orthopedic and dental implant material due to its high corrosion resistance in such environments. The corrosion resistance is usually determined by means of electrochemical methods, which may not be able to detect other chemical surface reactions. Literature findings report a synergistic effect of the combination of the abundant protein albumin and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the extent of metal release and corrosion of Ti6Al4V. The objectives of this study were to gain further mechanistic insight on the interplay of H2O2 and albumin on the metal release process of Ti6Al4V with special focus on (1) kinetics and (2) H2O2 and albumin concentrations. This was accomplished mainly by metal release and surface oxide composition investigations, which confirmed the combined effect of H2O2 and albumin on the metal release process, although not detectable by electrochemical open circuit potential measurements. A concentration of 30 mM H2O2 induced substantial changes in the surface oxide characteristics, an oxide which became thicker and enriched in aluminum. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) seemed to be able to deplete this aluminum content from the outermost surface or at least to delay its surface enrichment. This effect increased with increased BSA concentration, and for time periods longer than 24 h. This study hence suggests that short‐term (accelerated) corrosion resistance measurements are not sufficient to predict potential health effects of Ti6Al4V alloys since also chemical dissolution mechanisms play a large role for metal release, possibly in a synergistic way. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 855–867, 2019.
Suppression of HopZ Effector-Triggered Plant Immunity in a Natural Pathosystem

Many type III-secreted effectors suppress plant defenses, but can also activate effector-triggered immunity (ETI) in resistant backgrounds. ETI suppression has been shown for a number of type III effectors (T3Es) and ETI-suppressing effectors are considered part of the arms race model for the co-evolution of bacterial virulence and plant defense. However, ETI suppression activities have been shown mostly between effectors not being naturally expressed within the same strain. Furthermore, evolution of effector families is rarely explained taking into account that selective pressure against ETI-triggering effectors may be compensated by ETI-suppressing effector(s) translocated by the same strain. The HopZ effector family is one of the most diverse, displaying a high rate of loss and gain of alleles, which reflects opposing selective pressures. HopZ effectors trigger defense responses in a variety of crops and some have been shown to suppress different plant defenses. Mutational changes in the sequence of ETI-triggering effectors have been proposed to result in the avoidance of detection by their respective hosts, in a process called pathoadaptation. We analyze how deleting or overexpressing HopZ1a and HopZ3 affects virulence of HopZ-encoding and non-encoding strains. We find that both effectors trigger immunity in their plant hosts only when delivered from heterologous strains, while immunity is suppressed when delivered from their native strains. We carried out screens aimed at identifying the determinant(s) suppressing HopZ1a-triggered and HopZ3-triggered immunity within their native strains, and identified several effectors displaying suppression of HopZ3-triggered immunity. We propose effector-mediated cross-suppression of ETI as an additional force driving evolution of the HopZ family.
Morphometric characteristics of the optic canal and the optic nerve.

The optic nerve (ON), a major component of the visual system, is divided into four segments: the intrabulbar (IB), the intraorbital (IO), the intracanalicular (ICn) and the intracranial (ICr). The ICr ends with the two nerves partially decussating in the optic chiasm (OCh). The purpose of this study is to provide a detailed description of the dimensions of the OC (the diameter and the surface area of its foramina and the central segment, as well as the length of the OC and the thickness of its walls) as well as the ON (the length of the ON segments, the diameter of the ICn segment of the ON, the angle of decussation in the OCh, as well as the distance between the two ON at the cranial foramen of the OC). The acquired data was then used to estimate the volume of the OC and the ICn segment of the ON. The morphometric research was performed on 25 cadavers (17 male and 8 female) and 30 skulls. The surface area of the central segment of the OC was significantly smaller than the cranial foramen (p = 0.02) and the orbital foramen (p = 0.009). The inferior wall of the OC was significantly shorter than the other OC walls (p < 0.0001). The IO segment of the ON was the longest, where the difference to the ICn and ICr was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). The surface area of the ON at the cranial foramen was significantly larger than the surface area at the central segment of the OC (p = 0.02) and orbital foramen (p < 0.0001). The difference between the surface areas of the ON at the orbital foramen and the central segment of the OC was also statistically significant (p = 0.01). The estimated volume of the OC was calculated to be 190.72 mm³, and the volume of the ICn segment of the ON was estimated to be 50.25 mm³. It is absolutely crucial to open the central segment of the OC when decompressing the ON, due to the narrowing of the OC in this segment.
Cross-Domain and Semisupervised Named Entity Recognition in Chinese Social Media: A Unified Model

Named entity recognition (NER) in Chinese social media is an important, but challenging task because Chinese social media language is informal and noisy. Most previous methods on NER focus on in-domain supervised learning, which is limited by scarce annotated data in social media. In this paper, we present that sufficient corpora in formal domains and massive unannotated text can be combined to improve the NER performance in social media. We propose a unified model which can learn from out-of-domain corpora and in-domain unannotated text. The unified model is composed of two parts. One is for cross-domain learning and the other is for semisupervised learning. Cross-domain learning can learn out-of-domain information based on domain similarity. Semisupervised learning can learn in-domain unannotated information by self-training. Experimental results show that our unified model yields a 9.57% improvement over strong baselines and achieves the state-of-the-art performance.1
Correlations Between Objective Behavioral Features Collected From Mobile and Wearable Devices and Depressive Mood Symptoms in Patients With Affective Disorders: Systematic Review

Background Several studies have recently reported on the correlation between objective behavioral features collected via mobile and wearable devices and depressive mood symptoms in patients with affective disorders (unipolar and bipolar disorders). However, individual studies have reported on different and sometimes contradicting results, and no quantitative systematic review of the correlation between objective behavioral features and depressive mood symptoms has been published. Objective The objectives of this systematic review were to (1) provide an overview of the correlations between objective behavioral features and depressive mood symptoms reported in the literature and (2) investigate the strength and statistical significance of these correlations across studies. The answers to these questions could potentially help identify which objective features have shown most promising results across studies. Methods We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature, reported according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Web of Sciences, PsychINFO, PubMed, DBLP computer science bibliography, HTA, DARE, Scopus, and Science Direct were searched and supplemented by hand examination of reference lists. The search ended on April 27, 2017, and was limited to studies published between 2007 and 2017. Results A total of 46 studies were eligible for the review. These studies identified and investigated 85 unique objective behavioral features, covering 17 various sensor data inputs. These features were divided into 7 categories. Several features were found to have statistically significant and consistent correlation directionality with mood assessment (eg, the amount of home stay, sleep duration, and vigorous activity), while others showed directionality discrepancies across the studies (eg, amount of text messages [short message service] sent, time spent between locations, and frequency of mobile phone screen activity). Conclusions Several studies showed consistent and statistically significant correlations between objective behavioral features collected via mobile and wearable devices and depressive mood symptoms. Hence, continuous and everyday monitoring of behavioral aspects in affective disorders could be a promising supplementary objective measure for estimating depressive mood symptoms. However, the evidence is limited by methodological issues in individual studies and by a lack of standardization of (1) the collected objective features, (2) the mood assessment methodology, and (3) the statistical methods applied. Therefore, consistency in data collection and analysis in future studies is needed, making replication studies as well as meta-analyses possible.
Multi-Detector Characterization of Grape Seed Extract to Enable in silico Safety Assessment

Demands for increased analytical rigor have been growing within the botanical and dietary supplement industry due to concerns relative to safety, efficacy, and quality. Adulteration, ambiguous definitions, and insufficient perspective on safety are some of the major issues that arise when selecting a botanical extract. Herein, our comprehensive analytical approach is detailed for the selection of grape seed extracts. This approach provided characterization for the constituents above a threshold of toxicological concern by subjecting the extract to UHPLC-UV-CAD-HRMS and GC-FID & GC-HRMS. Thus, constituents within a wide range of volatility were evaluated. Furthermore, the extract was compared to authenticated botanical materials to confirm that no adulteration took place and was also compared to other grape seed extract sources to confirm that the material falls within the general profile. Finally, these data were cleared via an in silico safety assessment based on the list of constituents above the threshold of toxicological concern.
Orexins increase the firing activity of nigral dopaminergic neurons and participate in motor control in rats

Orexin is a member of neuropeptides which is involved in the central motor control. The substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) is an important nucleus participating in motor control under both physiological and pathological conditions. Morphological studies reveal that orexinergic neurons located in lateral hypothalamus innervate the SNc. Both orexin‐1 receptors (OX1R) and orexin‐2 receptors (OX2R) are expressed in the SNc. To investigate the effects of orexins on SNc, single unit in vivo extracellular recordings and behavioral tests were performed in this study. Micro‐pressure administration of orexin A and orexin B significantly increased the spontaneous firing rate of nigral DAergic neurons by 65.87 ± 7.73% and 90.49 ± 17.83%, respectively. The excitatory effects of orexin A on nigral DAergic neurons were mainly mediated by OX1R, while OX2R were involved in the increase in firing rate induced by orexin B. Selectively blocking OX1R and OX2R significantly decreased the firing rate of nigral DAergic neurons by 36.77 ± 6.26% and 32.04 ± 6.12%, respectively, which suggested that endogenous orexins modulated the spontaneous firing activity of nigral DAergic neurons. Finally, both elevated body swing test and haloperidol‐induced postural behavioral test showed that unilateral microinjection of orexin A and orexin B induced significantly contralateral‐biased swing and deflection behavior. Meanwhile, the specific OX1R and OX2R antagonists produced opposite effects. The present electrophysiological and behavioral studies suggested that orexins increased the firing activity of nigral DAergic neurons and participated in central motor control.
A retrospective study of SPECT/CT scans using SUV measurement of the normal pelvis with Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate.

OBJECTIVE To perform quantitative measurement based on the standardized uptake value (SUV) of Tc-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) in the normal pelvis using a single-photon emission tomography (SPECT)/computed tomography (CT) scanner. MATERIAL AND METHODS This retrospective study was performed on 31 patients with cancer undergoing bone SPECT/CT scans with 99mTc-MDP. SUVmax and SUVmean of the normal pelvis were calculated based on the body weight. SUVmax and SUVmean of the bilateral anterior superior iliac spine, posterior superior iliac spine, facies auricularis ossis ilii, ischial tuberosity, and sacrum were also calculated. Furthermore, the correlation of SUVmax and SUVmean of all parts of pelvis with weight, height, and CT was assessed. RESULTS The data for 31 patients (20 women and 11 men; mean age 58.97±9.12 years; age range 37-87 years) were collected. SUVmax and SUVmean changed from 1.65±0.40 to 3.8±1.0 and from 1.15±0.25 to 2.07±0.58, respectively. The coefficient of variation of SUVmax and SUVmean ranged from 0.22 to 0.31. SUVmax and SUVmean had no statistically significant difference between men and women. SUVmax and SUVmean also showed no significant correlation with weight and height. However, part of SUVmax and SUVmean showed a significant correlation with CT. In addition, SUVmax and SUVmean of the bilateral ischial tuberosity showed a significant correlation with CT values. CONCLUSIONS Determination of the SUV value of the normal pelvis with 99m Tc-MDP SPECT/CT is feasible and highly reproducible. SUVs of the normal pelvis showed a relatively large variability. As a quantitative imaging biomarker, SUVs might require standardization with adequate reference data for the participant to minimize variability.
Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer for Internet of Things Sensor Networks

In this paper, we study simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) for Internet of Things (IoT) sensor networks. The transmitters (e.g., access point) employ hybrid beamforming and each IoT receiver adopts a power splitting (PS) method that divides the received signal into two parts for information recovery and energy harvesting. We propose a novel strategy for SWIPT in which the transmitters have the option to either send a private or a common message. The private message is recovered only by a designated IoT receiver while common messages are recovered by all the receivers. While requiring the receivers to recover a common message results in additional rate constraints, the overall system performance benefits by mitigating interference. We propose SWIPT schemes that minimize the total transmit power by properly selecting message configurations, designing hybrid beamforming vectors, and adjusting the PS ratio at the receivers to satisfy the individual rate and energy harvesting constraints. In particular, we develop tractable and efficient two-stage algorithms that, in the first stage determine the message configurations and in the second stage find the beamforming vectors (for both analog and digital components). Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed schemes significantly outperform conventional schemes that transmit private messages only using digital beamforming.