Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interventions to Improve Diabetes Self-management

Purpose The purpose of this study was to review publications of research on diabetes self-management interventions and assess whether the interventions are relevant for practice. Methods A content analysis was performed on research reports published between 1993 and 2004 of interventions designed to improve patients' diabetes self-management. Information was abstracted relevant to the intervention's generalizability to other settings and its compatibility and feasibility in practice. Results Publications included only limited information relevant to an intervention's generalizability across populations and settings. Many of the interventions tested were not designed to be compatible with the realities of current practice or to be delivered in the settings in which most diabetes care is provided. Many of the interventions were very complex, requiring multiple delivery modes and contacts, proactive scheduling, and coordination across disciplines. Conclusions In view of the prevalence of diabetes, it is critical that effective self-management interventions be adopted and implemented. Interventions need to be designed so that their findings have greater relevance and utility for practice and can be generalized across practice settings.
Coffee Consumption and the Risk of Obesity in Korean Women

Instant coffee mixes that contain sugar and non-dairy creamer account for 80–90% of the total coffee market in Korea. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between coffee consumption and obesity in Korean women. We included 5995 women who participated in a health screening examination at the Korean National Cancer Center between 2007 and 2016. Daily coffee consumption and the use of sugar and creamer in coffee was evaluated using a 106-item food frequency questionnaire. Obesity was assessed by body mass index (BMI), and abdominal obesity was assessed by waist circumference (WC). A multiple logistic regression model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) of obesity according to coffee consumption. After multivariate adjustment, high coffee consumption was positively associated with obesity as measured by BMI (≥3 cups vs. no drinks, OR = 2.52; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.91–3.34; p for the trend < 0.001) and abdominal obesity as measured by WC (≥3 cups vs. no drinks, OR = 2.11; 95% CI = 1.59–2.79; p for the trend < 0.001). The positive association between daily coffee consumption and obesity prevalence was not altered by menopause. The amount of coffee with additives consumed per day by Korean women was positively correlated with the prevalence of obesity, but causation cannot be determined due to the cross-sectional nature of the study design. The mechanism underlying the observed relationship is yet to be elucidated.
Temporal characterization of β cell-adaptive and -maladaptive mechanisms during chronic high-fat feeding in C57BL/6NTac mice

The onset of type 2 diabetes is characterized by transition from successful to failed insulin secretory compensation to obesity-related insulin resistance and dysmetabolism. Energy-rich diets in rodents are commonly studied models of compensatory increases in both insulin secretion and β cell mass. However, the mechanisms of these adaptive responses are incompletely understood, and it is also unclear why these responses eventually fail. We measured the temporal trends of glucose homeostasis, insulin secretion, β cell morphometry, and islet gene expression in C57BL/6NTac mice fed a 60% high-fat diet (HFD) or control diet for up to 16 weeks. A 2-fold increased hyperinsulinemia was maintained for the first 4 weeks of HFD feeding and then further increased through 16 weeks. β cell mass increased progressively starting at 4 weeks, principally through nonproliferative growth. Insulin sensitivity was not significantly perturbed until 11 weeks of HFD feeding. Over the first 8 weeks, we observed two distinct waves of increased expression of β cell functional and prodifferentiation genes. This was followed by activation of the unfolded protein response at 8 weeks and overt β cell endoplasmic reticulum stress at 12–16 weeks. In summary, β cell adaptation to an HFD in C57BL/6NTac mice entails early insulin hypersecretion and a robust growth phase along with hyperexpression of related genes that begin well before the onset of observed insulin resistance. However, continued HFD exposure results in cessation of gene hyperexpression, β cell functional failure, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. These data point to a complex but not sustainable integration of β cell-adaptive responses to nutrient overabundance, obesity development, and insulin resistance.
Assimilation of NO(3) Taken Up by Plants in the Light and in the Dark.

An experiment was conducted to determine the extent that NO(3) (-) taken up in the dark was assimilated and utilized differently by plants than NO(3) (-) taken up in the light. Vegetative, nonnodulated soybean plants (Glycine max L. Merrill, ;Ransom') were exposed to (15)NO(3) (-) throughout light (9 hours) or dark (15 hours) phases of the photoperiod and then returned to solutions containing (14)NO(3) (-), with plants sampled subsequently at each light/dark transition over 3 days. The rates of (15)NO(3) (-) absorption were nearly equal in the light and dark (8.42 and 7.93 micromoles per hour, respectively); however, the whole-plant rate of (15)NO(3) (-) reduction during the dark uptake period (2.58 micromoles per hour) was 46% of that in the light (5.63 micromoles per hour). The lower rate of reduction in the dark was associated with both substantial retention of absorbed (15)NO(3) (-) in roots and decreased efficiency of reduction of (15)NO(3) (-) in the shoot. The rate of incorporation of (15)N into the insoluble reduced-N fraction of roots in darkness (1.10 micromoles per hour) was somewhat greater than that in the light (0.92 micromoles per hour), despite the lower rate of whole-plant (15)NO(3) (-) reduction in darkness.A large portion of the (15)NO(3) (-) retained in the root in darkness was translocated and incorporated into insoluble reduced-N in the shoot in the following light period, at a rate which was similar to the rate of whole-plant reduction of (15)NO(3) (-) acquired during the light period. Taking into account reduction of NO(3) (-) from all endogenous pools, it was apparent that plant reduction in a given light period ( approximately 13.21 micromoles per hour) exceeded considerably the rate of acquisition of exogenous NO(3) (-) (8.42 micromoles per hour) during that period. The primary source of substrate for NO(3) (-) reduction in the dark was exogenous NO(3) (-) being concurrently absorbed. In general, these data support the view that a relatively small portion (<20%) of the whole-plant reduction of NO(3) (-) in the light occurred in the root system.
Expression and activity of ovarian tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases during pseudopregnancy in the rat.

The present study examined the role of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) in tissue remodeling that occurs during luteal development and regression throughout pseudopregnancy in the rat. Pseudopregnancy was induced in immature female rats by eCG/hCG priming. Animals (n = 4 per time point) were killed on Days 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 14, and 16 of pseudopregnancy (post hCG administration), and ovaries were removed and analyzed for metalloproteinase inhibitor activity or TIMP-1, TIMP-2, and TIMP-3 mRNA expression. Inhibitory activity was highest in Day-1 samples (41.35 +/- 6.50 inhibitory units), and inhibitor activity significantly decreased (p < 0.05) thereafter to minimal values at Day 12 (8.14 +/- 2.71 inhibitory units). Methylamine hydrochloride treatment, which inactivates macroglobulin-type inhibitors, revealed that the majority of the inhibitor activity in the Day-1 samples (82.6%) and the Day-16 samples (77.3%) could be attributed to TIMPs. To further distinguish the contribution of each TIMP to this activity, Northern analysis for TIMP-1, -2, and -3 was performed. Analysis of TIMP mRNA expression revealed that TIMP-1 transcript expression was highest (p = 0.00009) at Day 1, decreased approximately 3- to 20-fold from Days 2 to 12, respectively, and again increased at Days 14-16. However, TIMP-2 expression did not change (p > 0.05) over any of the time points studied. In contrast to TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 expression, TIMP-3 mRNA expression was lowest during Days 1 and 2 of pseudopregnancy, increased approximately 4-fold at Day 4, peaked at Day 8, and remained elevated throughout the remainder of pseudopregnancy. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Satisfaction with medication is correlated with outcome but not persistence in patients treated with placebo, escitalopram, or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors: a post hoc analysis.

OBJECTIVE To test whether satisfaction with taking medication, assessed using item 15 of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q), is associated with clinical outcome and persistence with treatment. METHOD In this post hoc analysis, data were analyzed from 4 randomized placebo-controlled studies of patients with major depressive disorder treated with escitalopram (650 patients taking escitalopram and 534 taking placebo), together with data from 2 randomized trials of escitalopram versus venlafaxine or duloxetine (235 patients taking escitalopram and 233 taking a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor). The studies were published between 2002 and 2007. Instruments included the Q-LES-Q, which was assessed at baseline and week 8, and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), which was assessed at baseline and weeks 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. RESULTS At baseline, the mean ± SD MADRS total score was 30.0 ± 4.6, and the mean Q-LES-Q item 15 score was 2.9 ± 0.9. At week 8, the MADRS response rates of placebo-treated patients with a low, moderate, or high satisfaction with medication at baseline were 30%, 37%, and 46%, respectively (mixed model repeated measures [MMRM]). The corresponding MADRS response rates for escitalopram-treated patients with a low, moderate, or high satisfaction at baseline were 56%, 60%, and 67%, respectively (MMRM). Baseline satisfaction with medication was not significantly correlated with time to withdrawal (all reasons). The change in satisfaction with medication from baseline to endpoint was significantly correlated with symptomatic improvement on the MADRS (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS Baseline satisfaction with medication after 1 week of placebo run-in is a moderator of treatment outcome but not of persistence of treatment in the acute treatment phase of depressed outpatients. Patient attitude toward medication should be taken into account before treatment is initiated.
Denis Burkitt: A legacy of global health

When first described in 1958, Burkitt lymphoma was considered by many to be an African curiosity. However, over the next few decades, over 10,000 publications on Burkitt lymphoma would influence many facets of oncology research including immunology, molecular genetics, chemotherapy, and viral oncology. At the time of discovery, its distribution in equatorial Africa was unique; it was where a child was born and lived, and not what race they were, that conveyed the greatest incidence risk. Its association with Epstein-Barr virus brought attention to the possibility that oncogenesis may be influenced by viruses. The influence that Burkitt lymphoma had on furthering oncology is far-reaching, and it is fitting that the physician credited with bringing attention to this disease was himself broad in his influence. Denis Burkitt was a humanitarian surgeon whose work was not limited to Burkitt lymphoma: he instigated a plan to rid an entire Ugandan district of yaws, he designed and created affordable orthopaedic equipment that could be locally produced in Kampala, and he was an early advocate of a high fiber diet. The following article will examine the biography of Denis Burkitt, with a focus on how he was able to further oncology and global health.
Functional Connectivity Within the Default Mode Network Is Associated With Saccadic Accuracy in Parkinson's Disease: A Resting-State fMRI and Videooculographic Study

In addition to the skeleto-motor deficits, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) frequently present with oculomotor dysfunctions such as impaired smooth pursuit and saccadic abnormalities. There is increasing evidence for an impaired cortical function to be responsible for oculomotor deficits that are associated with lack of inhibitory control; however, these pathomechanisms still remain poorly understood. By means of "task-free" resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), functional connectivity changes in PD within the default mode network (DMN) have been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate whether altered functional connectivity within the DMN was correlated with oculomotor parameter changes in PD. Twelve PD patients and 13 matched healthy controls underwent rs-fMRI at 1.5 T and videooculography (VOG) using Eye-Link-System. Rs-fMRI seed-based region-to-region connectivity analysis was performed, including medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), medial temporal lobe (MTL), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and hippocampal formation (HF); while VOG examination comprised ocular reactive saccades, smooth pursuit, and executive tests. Rs-fMRI analysis demonstrated a decreased region-to-region functional connectivity between mPFC and PCC as well as increased connectivity between bilateral HF in PD compared with controls. In VOG, patients and controls differed in terms of executive tests outcome, smooth pursuit eye movement, and visually guided reactive saccades but not in peak eye velocity. A significant relationship was observed between saccadic accuracy and functional connectivity strengths between MTL and PCC. These results suggest that PD-associated changes of DMN connectivity are correlated with PD-associated saccadic hypometria, in particular in the vertical direction.
Processing efficiency and directed forgetting in bipolar disorder

We hypothesized that patients with bipolar disorder would demonstrate verbal recognition performance deficits consistent with processing efficiency theory, a theory about how emotional states modulate performance by interfering with working memory resources or increasing cognitive arousal/effort. We predicted that (1) a manic group (n = 26) would demonstrate slow reaction time (RT) and low accuracy, (2) a euthymic group (n = 23) would demonstrate slow RT to maintain high accuracy; and (3) a healthy comparison group (n = 25) would demonstrate fast RT and high accuracy. The groups were administered symptom-rating scales and compared on a computerized, trial-by-trial, directed forgetting in recognition task. This task requires participants to comply with an overt instruction to forget irrelevant studied words, and it places a relatively high demand on working memory. The manic group was impaired on directed-forgetting sensitivity; however, when RT was statistically controlled, the groups demonstrated similar directed-forgetting effects. These findings are consistent with processing efficiency theory. They suggest that bipolar patients perform directed forgetting in recognition by increasing effortful control at encoding at the expense of processing efficiency, although acute mania reduces the capacity for control, thereby impairing recognition performance. Problems with processing efficiency are viewed as trait characteristics of bipolar disorder that may be overlooked by traditional error-based assessments. (JINS, 2005, 11, 871–880.)
How does the World Trade Organization know? The mobilization and staging of scientific expertise in the GMO trade dispute

The World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement procedure is a key arena for establishing global legal norms for what counts as relevant knowledge. As a high-profile case, the WTO trade dispute on GMOs mobilized scientific expertise in somewhat novel ways. Early on, the Panel put the dispute under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement through a new legal ontology; it classified transgenes as potential pests and limited all environmental issues to the ‘plant and animal health’ category. The selection of scientific experts sought a multi-party consensus through a fast adversarial process, reflecting a specific legal epistemology. For the SPS framing, focusing on the defendant’s regulatory procedures, the Panel staged scientific expertise in specific ways that set up how experts were questioned, the answers they would give, their specific role in the legal arena, and the way their statements would complement the Panel’s findings. In these ways, the dispute settlement procedure co-produced legal and scientific expertise within the Panel’s SPS framework. Moreover, the Panel operated a procedural turn in WTO jurisprudence by representing its findings as a purely legal-administrative judgement on whether the EC’s regulatory procedures violated the SPS Agreement, while keeping implicit its own judgements on substantive risk issues. As this case illustrates, the WTO settlement procedure mobilizes scientific expertise for sophisticated, multiple aims: it recruits a source of credibility from the scientific arena, thus reinforcing the standard narrative of ‘science-based trade discipline’, while also constructing new scientific expertise for the main task – namely, challenging trade restrictions for being unduly cautious.
A Fusion Face Recognition Approach Based on 7-Layer Deep Learning Neural Network

This paper presents a method for recognizing human faces with facial expression. In the proposed approach, a motion history image MHI is employed to get the features in an expressive face. The face can be seen as a kind of physiological characteristic of a human and the expressions are behavioral characteristics. We fused the 2D images of a face and MHIs which were generated from the same face’s image sequences with expression. Then the fusion features were used to feed a 7-layer deep learning neural network. The previous 6 layers of the whole network can be seen as an autoencoder network which can reduce the dimension of the fusion features. The last layer of the network can be seen as a softmax regression; we used it to get the identification decision. Experimental results demonstrated that our proposed method performs favorably against several state-of-the-art methods.
Opportunities and obstacles using a clinical decision support system for maternal care in Burkina Faso

OBJECTIVE Maternal and neonatal mortality is high in sub-Saharan Africa. To support Healthcare Workers (HCWs), a computerized decision support system (CDSS) was piloted at six rural maternal care units in Burkina Faso. During the two years of the study period, it was apparent from reports that the CDSS was not used regularly in clinical practice. This study aimed to explore the reasons why HCWs failed to use the CDSS. METHODS A workshop, organized as group discussions and a plenary session, was performed with 13 participants to understand their experience with the CDSS and suggest improvements if pertinent. Workshop transcripts were analyzed thematically. Socio-demographic and usage patterns of the CDSS were examined by a questionnaire and analyzed descriptively. RESULTS The participants reported that the contextual basic conditions for using the CDSS were not fulfilled. These included unreliable power supply, none user-friendly partograph, the CDSS was not integrated with workflow and staff lacked motivational incentives. Despite these limitations, the HCWs reported learning benefits from guidance and alerts in the CDSS. Using the CDSS enabled them to discover problems earlier as they learned to focus on symptoms to prevent harmful situations. CONCLUSION The CDSS was not tailored to the needs and context of the users. The HCWs, defined their needs and suggested how the CDSS should be re-designed. This suggests that the successful and regular usage of any CDSS in rural settings requires the involvement of users throughout the construction and pilot-testing phases and not only during the early prototype design period.
Colonization of dodder, Cuscuta indecora, by 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' and 'Ca. L. americanus'.

Huanglongbing, or citrus greening, threatens the global citrus industry. The presumptive pathogens, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' and 'Ca. L. americanus' can be transferred from citrus to more easily studied experimental hosts by using holoparasitic dodder plants. However, the interaction between 'Candidatus Liberibacter' spp. and the dodder has not been studied. We combined quantitative polymerase chain reaction with electron microscopy to show that only 65% of tendrils of Cuscuta indecora grown on 'Ca. Liberibacter' spp. -infected host plants had detectable levels of the pathogen. Among tendrils that were colonized by Liberibacter in at least one 2 cm segment, most were not colonized in all segments. Furthermore, the estimated population levels of the pathogen present in serial 2 cm segments of dodder tendrils varied widely and without any consistent pattern. Thus, there was generally not a concentration gradient of the pathogen from the source plant towards the recipient and populations of the pathogen were sometimes found in the distal segments of the dodder plant but not in the proximal or middle segments. Populations of the pathogens ranged from 2 x 10(2) to 3.0 x 10(8) cells per 2 cm segment. On a fresh weight basis, populations as high as 1.4 x 10(10) cells per g of tissue were observed demonstrating that 'Ca. Liberibacter' spp. multiplies well in Cuscuta indecora. However, 55% of individual stem segments did not contain detectable levels of the pathogen, consistent with a pattern of nonuniform colonization similar to that observed in the much more anatomically complex citrus tree. Colonization of dodder by the pathogen is also nonuniform at the ultrastructural level, with adjacent phloem vessel elements being completely full of the pathogen or free of the pathogen. We also observed bacteria in the phloem vessels that belonged to two distinct size classes based on the diameters of cross sections of cells. In other sections from the same tendrils we observed single bacterial cells that were apparently in the process of differentiating between the large and round forms to the long and thin forms (or vice versa). The process controlling this morphological differentiation of the pathogen is not known. The highly reduced and simplified anatomy of the dodder plant as well as its rapid growth rate compared with citrus, and the ability of the plant to support multiplication of the pathogen to high levels, makes it an interesting host plant for further studies of host-pathogen interactions.