Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of bio-aging on corrosion behavior of different implant materials.

BACKGROUND Dental implants and abutments are exposed to challenging oral environment. Corrosion of these materials can affect the overall performance of titanium implants. PURPOSE To investigate the effects of biofilm-induced bio-aging on corrosion behavior of different implant materials surface. MATERIALS AND METHODS Commercial polished titanium (Polish), sand-blasted, large grit, acid-etched surface treated titanium (SLA), microarc oxidation (MAO), and hydroxyapatite (HA) coated titanium were bio-aged with saliva biofilm for 30 days. Titanium surfaces topography, chemical composition, roughness, and water contact angle changes were evaluated. In addition, human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) adhesion, Streptococcus sanguinis (S. sanguinis) biofilm formation were determined. RESULTS Surface topography, roughness, and chemical composition have no significant changes for all groups after bio-aging (P > .05). Water contact angle of bio-aged SLA was greatly increased (P < .05). While other groups showed no sign of change (P > .05). Adhesion and proliferation of HGFs on the bio-aged SLA titanium surfaces were decreased (P < .05), but increased on bio-aged Polish and HA titanium (P < .05). S. sanguinis biofilm viability was promoted with bio-aging in HA group (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Biological characteristics of Polish, SLA, and HA titanium surfaces were influenced by bio-aging. While MAO group was relatively resistant to saliva biofilm bio-aging.
Bone Morphogenic Protein 2-Loaded Porous Silicon Carriers for Osteoinductive Implants

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are probably the most important growth factors in bone formation and healing. However, the utilization of BMPs in clinical applications is mainly limited due to the protein poor solubility at physiological pH, rapid clearance and relatively short biological half-life. Herein, we develop degradable porous silicon (PSi)-based carriers for sustained delivery of BMP-2. Two different loading approaches are examined, physical adsorption and covalent conjugation, and their effect on the protein loading and release rate is thoroughly studied. The entrapment of the protein within the PSi nanostructures preserved its bioactivity for inducing osteogenic differentiation of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stems cells (BM-MSCs). BM-MSCs cultured with the BMP-2 loaded PSi carriers exhibit a relatively high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity. We also demonstrate that exposure of MSCs to empty PSi (no protein) carriers generates some extent of differentiation due to the ability of the carrier’s degradation products to induce osteoblast differentiation. Finally, we demonstrate the integration of these promising BMP-2 carriers within a 3D-printed patient-specific implant, constructed of poly(caprolactone) (PCL), as a potential bone graft for critical size bone defects.
Stackelberg Competition Between Merchant and Regulated Storage Investment under Locational Marginal Pricing

We investigate the interaction between the regulated and merchant storage investment made by a social planner and a merchant, respectively. We construct a bi-level Stackelberg competition model with a single leader (merchant storage owner) and one follower (the social planner). In the upper level, the merchant storage owner maximizes its profit through storage investment decisions. Given the merchant storage capacity, the social planner makes the regulated storage investment, storage operation, and economic dispatch decisions to minimize the overall system cost in the lower level problem. Both merchant and regulated energy storage is remunerated based on the inter-temporal difference in locational marginal prices (solved by the lower level problem). We show that the regulated storage profit (of the social planner) is always nonnegative if the storage investment cost is convex in the installed storage capacity with no fixed cost. In particular, the regulated storage profit must be zero (non-positive) if the storage investment cost is linear (affine, respectively) in the installed storage capacity. We present a counter-intuitive example to show that higher regulated capital cost may lead to lower merchant storage profit due to transmission line congestion. Numerical experiments are conducted on the IEEE 39-bus test system to validate established results.
YouTube as an information source for clubfoot: a quality analysis of video content

Idiopathic clubfoot is the most common congenital anomaly of the lower extremity. YouTube has emerged as an important source of health-related information for patients and families. Parents seek information about clubfoot on YouTube. However, the quality of these videos remains unknown. Therefore, we decided to evaluate the quality of YouTube videos about clubfoot. We searched YouTube for clubfoot videos using appropriate keywords. English language videos with more than 10 000 views were included. Three fellowship trained pediatric orthopedic surgeons independently assessed the videos and classified them into corporate, hospital, education and private. The quality of information was assessed using the Modified DISCERN and JAMA benchmark scores. The search yielded 12 060 videos of which 42 were analyzed. There were 9 (21%) videos from corporate organizations, 12 (29%) from hospitals, 3 (7%) from educational organizations and 18 (43%) by private individuals. The mean Modified DISCERN score was 2.1 ± 1.07 (range 0.3–4) and mean JAMA benchmark score was 0.9 ± 0.65 (range 0–2). Educational videos had highest mean Modified DISCERN score (3.1 ± 0.85) and private videos, the least (1.43 ± 1). This difference was statistically significant (P = 0.004). Hospital videos had highest mean JAMA benchmark score of 1.3 ± 0.6 as compared with private videos which had the least mean score of 0.5 ± 0.6. This difference was also statistically significant (P = 0.001). The results of our study indicate that the quality of information on idiopathic clubfoot on YouTube needs improvement. Videos from educational and hospital sources should be preferred over private sources.
Mechanochemical effect of ultrasound on sweet potato starch and its influence mechanism on the quality of octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch

The purpose of this study is to reveal the mechanism of preparing high quality modified starch by ultrasonic technology. In this paper, ultrasonic modified starch and octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch with low degree of substitution were prepared under ultrasonic conditions, using sweet potato starch as raw material. The effects of ultrasound on the structure and properties of native sweet potato starch were studied to see whether ultrasound could produce mechanochemical effect on starch. Then the mechanism of ultrasonic effect on quality of octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch was studied by mechanochemical effect. The results showed that after ultrasonic treatment for 1 min, the crystallinity decreased from 37.6 to 33.8% and reaction efficiency increased from 49.43 to 54.39%, while after ultrasonic treatments for 8 and 32–60 min had different changes. These changes showed that ultrasonic treatment produced significant mechanochemical effect on native sweet potato starch. Ultrasound significantly improved the quality of octenyl succinic anhydride modified starch, and its influence mechanism was revealed using the theory of mechanochemistry. This study provides a feasible method for the research of high quality modified starch and lays a theoretical foundation for expanding the application of ultrasound in various fields.
Postoperative Pain and Analgesic Requirements in the First Year after Intraoperative Methadone for Complex Spine and Cardiac Surgery.

WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THIS TOPIC The intraoperative administration of methadone is effective in reducing postoperative painPreventative analgesic interventions may provide protection against the development of persistent postoperative pain WHAT THIS ARTICLE TELLS US THAT IS NEW: Using data from two previously completed trials, it was observed that a single intraoperative dose of methadone was associated with fewer episodes of pain during the first month after cardiac surgery and the first 3 months after spinal surgeryFewer spine surgery patients who received methadone intraoperatively were receiving opioids 3 months after surgery, suggesting a possible reduction in chronic opioid use BACKGROUND:: Methadone is a long-acting opioid that has been reported to reduce postoperative pain scores and analgesic requirements and may attenuate development of chronic postsurgical pain. The aim of this secondary analysis of two previous trials was to follow up with patients who had received a single intraoperative dose of either methadone or traditional opioids for complex spine or cardiac surgical procedures. METHODS Preplanned analyses of long-term outcomes were conducted for spinal surgery patients randomized to receive 0.2 mg/kg methadone at the start of surgery or 2 mg hydromorphone at surgical closure, and for cardiac surgery patients randomized to receive 0.3 mg/kg methadone or 12 μg/kg fentanyl intraoperatively. A pain questionnaire assessing the weekly frequency (the primary outcome) and intensity of pain was mailed to subjects 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. Ordinal data were compared with the Mann-Whitney U test, and nominal data were compared using the chi-square test or Fisher exact probability test. The criterion for rejection of the null hypothesis was P < 0.01. RESULTS Three months after surgery, patients randomized to receive methadone for spine procedures reported the weekly frequency of chronic pain was less (median score 0 on a 0 to 4 scale [less than once a week] vs. 3 [daily] in the hydromorphone group, P = 0.004). Patients randomized to receive methadone for cardiac surgery reported the frequency of postsurgical pain was less at 1 month (median score 0) than it was in patients randomized to receive fentanyl (median score 2 [twice per week], P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS Analgesic benefits of a single dose of intraoperative methadone were observed during the first 3 months after spinal surgery (but not at 6 and 12 months), and during the first month after cardiac surgery, when the intensity and frequency of pain were the greatest.
COSMO-SkyMed for Unsupervised Urban Change Detection using Radar Backscattering and Interferometric Coherence

In this paper a new approach based on the use of Synthetic Aperture Radar COSMO-SkyMed products to verify urban change detection and to observe new constructions is presented. SLC products information has been exploited, since the proposed procedure combines backscattering coefficient and coherence information as extracted from two interferometric data, acquired in a short time interval. The algorithm exploits the information from backscatter intensity and interferometric coherence. Firstly, the interferometric SAR couple is processed by an unsupervised Neural-Networks, particularly PCNN (Pulse Coupled Neural Network) is applied to create a preliminary changes map based on the difference of backscatter intensity information. Then, accuracy is further improved by the fusion with the coherence information. The achieved results shown as the combination of backscattering and coherence information, extracted from Very High Resolution SAR data, allows to provide very accurate urban change detections with a fast and unsupervised procedure. The latter is particularly suitable to process quickly huge amount of SAR data since its lower computational requirements with respect to e.g. supervised algorithms.
An Experimental Investigation of Victim Blaming in Sexual Assault: The Roles of Victim Sexual Orientation, Coercion Type, and Stereotypes About Bisexual Women

Bisexual women are more likely to be sexually assaulted and to receive negative reactions to disclosures of sexual assault than heterosexual and lesbian women. However, few studies have examined the extent to which victim sexual orientation and related factors influence perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. To fill this gap, the current study used an experimental manipulation to examine the influence of victim sexual orientation and coercion type on perceptions of sexual assault victims and perpetrators. Participants (N = 826) were randomly assigned to read one of nine vignettes in which the sexual orientation of the female victim (bisexual, lesbian, heterosexual) and the type of coercion (verbal, physical, alcohol incapacitation) were varied. Then, participants were asked a series of questions about the victim and the perpetrator. Results indicated that bisexual and heterosexual female victims were both perceived as having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more and as having “led the perpetrator on” more than lesbian victims. In contrast, victim sexual orientation was not associated with explicit ratings of victim or perpetrator responsibility or victim suffering. Bisexual female victims were also perceived as more promiscuous than both lesbian and heterosexual female victims. In turn, perceiving the victim as more promiscuous was associated with perceiving the victim as more responsible, having wanted to have sex with the perpetrator more, having “led the perpetrator on” more, and suffering less, and with perceiving the perpetrator as less responsible. In sum, our findings suggest that efforts to reduce sexual violence toward bisexual women should attend to negative attitudes toward bisexual women, especially the perception of bisexual women as promiscuous.
Is the subcutaneous route an alternative for administering ertapenem to older patients? PHACINERTA study.

BACKGROUND Antibiotic administration by subcutaneous (SC) injection is common practice in French geriatric wards as an alternative to the intravenous (IV) route, but few pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic data are available. Ertapenem is useful for the treatment of infections with ESBL-producing enterobacteria. OBJECTIVES To report and compare ertapenem pharmacokinetic data between IV and SC routes in older persons. METHODS Patients >65 years of age receiving ertapenem (1 g once daily) for at least 48 h (IV or SC, steady-state) were prospectively enrolled. Total ertapenem concentrations [residual (C0), IV peak (C0.5) and SC peak (C2.5)] were determined by UV HPLC. Individual-predicted AUC0-24 values were calculated and population pharmacokinetic analyses were performed. Using the final model, a Monte Carlo simulation involving 10 000 patients evaluated the influence of SC or IV administration on the PTA. Tolerance to ertapenem and recovery were also monitored. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02505386. RESULTS Ten (mean ± SD age=87±7 years) and 16 (age=88±5 years) patients were included in the IV and SC groups, respectively. The mean C0 and C2.5 values were not significantly different between the IV and SC groups (C0=12±5.9 versus 12±7.4 mg/L, P=0.97; C2.5=97±42 versus 67±41 mg/L, P=0.99). The mean C0.5 was higher in the IV group compared with the SC group (C0.5=184±90 versus 51±66 mg/L, P=0.001). The mean individual AUCs (1126.92±334.99 mg·h/L for IV versus 1005.3±266.0 mg·h/L for SC, P=0.38) and PTAs were not significantly different between groups. No severe antibiotic-related adverse effects were noted. CONCLUSIONS SC administration of ertapenem is an alternative to IV administration in older patients.
Muscle pump-induced inhibition of sympathetic vasomotor outflow during low-intensity leg cycling is attenuated by muscle metaboreflex activation.

Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) decreases during leg cycling at low intensity due to muscle pump-induced increases in venous return and loading of the cardiopulmonary baroreceptors. However, MSNA increases during leg cycling when exercise is above moderate-intensity or for long-duration, suggesting that the sympatho-inhibitory effect of the cardiopulmonary baroreflex can be overridden by a powerful sympatho-excitatory drive, such as the skeletal muscle metaboreflex. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that high-intensity muscle metaboreflex activation attenuates muscle pump-induced inhibition of MSNA during leg cycling. MSNA (left radial nerve) was recorded during graded isolation of the muscle metaboreflex in the forearm using post-exercise ischemia (PEI) following low- (PEI-L) and high-intensity (PEI-H) isometric handgrip exercise (20% and 40% maximum voluntary contraction, respectively). Leg cycling (15-20 watts) was performed alone and during each PEI trial (PEI-L+Cycling, PEI-H+Cycling). Cycling alone induced a significant decrease in MSNA burst frequency (BF) and total activity (TA). MSNA BF and TA also decreased when cycling was performed during PEI-L. However, the magnitude of decrease in MSNA during PEI-L+Cycling (∆BF: -19±2%, P<0.001; ∆TA: -25±4%, P<0.001, mean ± SE) was less than that during Cycling alone (∆BF: -39±5%, P=0.003; ∆TA: -45±5%, P=0.002). More importantly, MSNA did not decrease during cycling with PEI-H (∆BF: -1±2%, P=0.845; ∆TA: +2±3%, P=0.959). These results suggest that muscle pump-induced inhibition of sympathetic vasomotor outflow during low-intensity leg cycling is attenuated by muscle metaboreflex activation in an intensity-dependent manner.
Zoom In, Zoom Out: Injecting Scale Invariance into Landuse Classification CNNs

We propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), which encodes local scale invariance and equivariance in a multiresolution, multi-sensor image classification task. We show that the locally scale invariant model achieves results that are in line with state-of-the-art. The scale invariant and equivariant models also prove to be more robust to reductions in training data and number of filters used in each convolutional layer. These results demonstrate the benefit of disentangling scale within the learned features of CNNs, in particular when processing multi-resolution imagery. This is beneficial in the two studied cases: when training data is limited, or when the number of model parameters must be kept to a minimum.
Nutritional Content According to the Presence of Front of Package Marketing Strategies: The Case of Ultra-Processed Snack Food Products Purchased in Costa Rica

The industry uses nutrition and health claims, premium offers, and promotional characters as marketing strategies (MS). The inclusion of these MS on ultra-processed products may influence child and adolescent purchase behavior. This study determined the proportion of foods carrying claims and marketing strategies, also the proportion of products with critical nutrients declaration, and nutritional profile differences between products that carry or not claims and MS on the front-of-package (FoP) of ultra-processed food products sold in Costa Rica. Data were obtained from 2423 photographs of seven food groups consumed as snacks that were sold in one of the most widespread and popular hypermarket chains in Costa Rica in 2015. Ten percent of products lacked a nutrition facts panel. Sodium was the least reported critical nutrient. Energy and critical nutrients were significantly highest in products that did not include any nutrition or health claim and in products that included at least one MS. Forty-four percent and 10% of all products displayed at least one nutrition or at least one health claim, respectively, and 23% displayed at least one MS. In conclusion, regulations are needed to restrict claims and marketing on ultra-processed food packages to generate healthier food environments and contribute to the prevention of childhood and adolescent obesity in Costa Rica.
Operation of cognitive memory inhibition in adults with Down syndrome: Effects of maintenance load and material

Background Cognitive inhibition is one of the executive functions; this process over memory plays a fundamental role in recalling relevant information. The aims of this study were to understand the effects of maintenance load and stimuli on the operation of cognitive inhibition over memory in working memory tasks in adults with Down syndrome. Method The study included 36 individuals with Down syndrome (mean age = 33.44 years, standard deviation = 7.54 years, 50% women) and 36 individuals with neurotypical development (mean age = 33.55 years, standard deviation = 7.52 years, 50% women). The participants performed a working memory task in which they had to solve an interference problem during the maintenance phase. Results The Down syndrome group performed worse on cognitive inhibition over memory than the neurotypical development group. Both groups had lower recall with interference and under high-load conditions. In the neurotypical development group, memory was similar with both materials. The Down syndrome group performed better with non-social stimuli than with social stimuli. Conclusions Understanding the variables that influence cognitive inhibition over memory will help in planning effective interventions for people with Down syndrome. Considering the results, special importance should be placed on work with social stimuli, at least in individuals with Down syndrome.
Adverse birth outcomes in Guangdong province, China, 2014–2017: a spatiotemporal analysis of 2.9 million births

Objectives Adverse birth outcomes pose a great threat to the public health and bring a heavy burden of disease in China. A comprehensive examination of the temporal and spatial trends of preterm birth (PTB), low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA) epidemics can provide some elementary information for subsequent aetiological and epidemiological studies. This study aimed to characterise the spatiotemporal features of PTB, LBW and SGA based on a large cohort of live births in China. Design Spatiotemporal descriptive analysis was performed in Guangdong province, China, from 2014 to 2017. Setting Data involving 2 917 098 live births in Guangdong province, China from 2014 to 2017 was collected from Guangdong Birth Certificate System. Information was collected, including the date of birth, gestational age in week, birth weight, sex of the infant, age of the mother and registered residence of the mother. Results The estimated rate of PTB, LBW and SGA was 4.16%, 4.14% and 12.86%, respectively. For temporal trends, the rates of PTB, LBW and SGA showed seasonal fluctuations, especially for LBW and SGA. In addition, there were regional differences in the rates of PTB, LBW and SGA between the Pearl River Delta and Non-Pearl River Delta regions. From 2014 to 2017, the high rates of PTB and LBW expanded from the Pearl River Delta region to the Non-Pearl River Delta regions. However, compared with the Pearl River Delta region, the rate of SGA was higher in the Non-Pearl River Delta regions on the whole. Conclusion The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the aetiology and epidemiology of PTB, LBW and SGA in south China.