Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stigma and Lack of Social Support Contribute to Loss-To-Follow-Up in a Cervical Cancer Prevention Program in Western Kenya

Background While highly preventable, cervical cancer remains a leading contributor to the global burden of cancer among women globally, with disproportionate impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing is a cost-effective screening strategy with the potential to increase screening uptake; however, the two-visit requirement often leads to substantial loss-to-follow-up (LTFU) for treatment. Understanding modifiable factors that contribute to LTFU is essential to ensuring maximal program impact. Methods We carried out a mixed-methods study to understand factors related to LTFU following an HPV-based cervical cancer screening campaign in rural Western Kenya. We randomly selected participants among women testing HPV positive as part of an existing intervention study to complete quantitative surveys, seeking equal numbers of treated and LTFU women. A subset of women from both groups was selected for in-depth interviews (IDIs). Results Sixty-one treated and 39 LTFU women completed the quantitative survey, and 10 women from each group completed IDIs. Cost of transportation and distance to the hospital were barriers among all women, who often depended on their partners to facilitate this. Among treated women 67% (n = 41) reported that their peers knew their HPV test result, compared to 38% (n = 15) among LTFU women (p = .007). Stigma and lack of partner and peer support emerged as strong barriers among LTFU women. Women proposed peer encouragement, including men in educational sessions, bringing facilities closer, and providing transportation as facilitators to treatment access. Conclusion Lack of partner and social support emerged as key barriers to treatment uptake among LTFU women. Future interventions should explore stigma reduction, male involvement, peer support, and alternative transportation options as potential facilitators to treatment seeking.
Spatial training using game play in preschoolers improves computational skills

ABSTRACT Previous studies have found that block play results in better spatial ability which may lead to greater mathematical skills. The current study examined a specific type of block play, structured block play in which a copy of a block configuration is constructed. Structured block play is a difficult cognitive task that requires an understanding of spatial relations, hand-eye coordination, and spatial working memory among others. This preliminary study was designed to determine whether training using structured block play would lead to improvements in skills linked to mathematical thinking. Two groups of children participated in the study. One group played a competitive structured block building game once a week for 8 weeks. A control group was also tested. All participants completed a kindergarten readiness assessment before and after the 8-week period. Children in the block play group showed significant improvements in the computation module of the assessment, showing improvements in the makes a set of objects smaller or larger skills. No such effect was observed for the control group. The results presented demonstrate that young children can, with assistance, engage in structured block play and that they have cognitive benefits from such block building activities.
Modulation of steeping conditions influence the diastatic enzymes and protein profile in pearl millet malt

Malting is targeted at getting the optimum point of enzymatic induction without losing much energy during the embryo metabolism and growth. Successful production of malt includes production of various hydrolytic enzymes and controlled degradation of the grain endosperm structure. Attention is at the centre stage of using Pearl millet as a substitute for barley, wheat and sorghum due to the cost of importation of barley and wheat to tropical countries. This study seeks to understand the effect of different steeping conditions with respect to varying pH, temperature and time on key enzymes associated with malting processes. Activities of α-amylase, β-amylase, β-glucanase, β-glucan content, protein profiles were monitored with respect to the varying steeping conditons. There was a steady increase (from 0 to 96 h) in the α-amylase activity at 30ᵒC under all the pH stress conditions with the exception of acidic pH malted pearl millet where the enzyme activity decreased from 191.04 ± 1.5 U/g to 142.50 ± 2.20 U/g between the 72nd and 96th hour. Optimal activity (248.04 ± 0.20 U/g) was observed at 96 h for alkaline pH steeped pearl grains germinated at 30 ᵒC. However activity decreases as germination days prolong. Optimal activity was recorded at the 96th hour for malted pearl millet grains subjected to alkaline stress (2.73 ± 0.20 U/g) as compared with the control. β-glucanase activities of the malted pearl millet grains were high especially under the 30 ᵒC heat stress. Peak activity was observed at the 96th hour for the pearl millet grains subjected to alkaline pH stress (892.34 ± 0.20 U/kg). β-glucan content under the alkaline pH stress, acidic pH stress and control conditions at 30 ᵒC were within the same range of approximately 4-8 % w/w malt flour.
Diazo-Coupling Reactions for Spectrophotometric Estimation of Nitrite in Some Cured Meat Products

This work reported a rapid, simple and sensitive spectrophotometric procedure for determination of nitrite ion by diazo-coupling reactions. 2- Aminobenzoimidazole (dissolved in H 2 SO 4 ) was charged with nitrite ion, which leads to produce a water-soluble diazonium ion that subsequently reacted with orcinol as coupling agent to yield an azo compound, reaching maximum absorption at 305 nm. Many parameters of the reaction conditions have been studied and optimized to enhance the sensitivity of the proposed method. After plotting the calibration curve, it was found that Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 0.05 – 3.0 µg/mL of nitrite, with 0. 03µg/mL and 1.55×10 4 L/mol.cm of detection limit and molar absorptivity, respectively. The accuracy and precision of the method were tested and obtained values were acceptable. The influence of common cations, anions and interferences was studied, then nitrite ion in some cured meat samples determined with the proposed method. The results were compared with the standard method and favorable agreement between the obtained data was observed.
Morpho-physiological performance of seven short-day and day-neutral strawberry cultivars in the soilless culture

Strawberry cultivation requires the use of cultivars adapted to the field or greenhouse conditions of the production region. Seven commercial of short day (SD) and day neutral (DN) strawberry cultivars (Camarosa, Kurdistan, Mrak, Paros, Queen Elisa, Selva, Ventana) were compared as a completely randomized design for different morpho-physiological characters under greenhouse conditions. The cultivars showed variation for all of the studied traits. Days to flowering varied from 53.2 to 94.5 days among the cultivars and Paros followed by Camarosa required minimum days for flowering. The highest total chlorophyll content and fruit volume were obtained in Camarosa and Paros, while the highest fruit weight was found in Paros, Ventana, Camarosa and Kurdistan. The cultivar Camarosa produced the highest of flower number (42.0), fruit number (36.3), fruit firmness (4.8 N) and yield (424.7 g per plant). The TSS/TA ratio was observed maximum in Paros and minimum in Ventana and Mrak. The highest of fruit anthocyanin was recorded in Camarosa and Selva. Correlation analysis revealed that yield per plant had a positive correlation with total chlorophyll content of leaves, number of flower and fruit, weight and volume of fruit, while negatively correlated to leaf area and crown number. According to stepwise multiple regression analysis, yield had the highest relationship with the number of flowers and fruit weight, respectively. Generally, vegetative traits as well as days to flowering and fruiting were higher in DN cultivars (Mrak, Selva). However, SD cultivars produced higher flower number, fruit size and yield than DN cultivars. The cultivars Camarosa and Paros were most adapted to the greenhouse conditions among the experimental cultivars.
How does(n't) syntactic context guide auditory word recognition?

1 Better understanding of word recognition requires a detailed account of how top-down 2 and bottom-up information are integrated. In this paper, we use a combination of modeling and 3 experimental work to investigate the mechanism by which expectations from syntactic context 4 influence the processing of perceptual input during word recognition. The distinction between 5 facilitatory and inhibitory mechanisms for the syntactic category constraint is an important 6 aspect of this problem that has previously been underspecified, and syntactic category is a 7 relatively simple test case for the issue of context in other domains. We first report simulations in 8 jTRACE that point to an explanation for conflicts that have occurred between different methods 9 regarding the existence and timing of syntactic constraints on lexical cohort competition. We 10 show that the composition of the set of response candidates allowed by the task is predicted to 11 influence whether and when changes in lexical activation can be observed in dependent 12 measures, which is relevant for the design and interpretation of experiments involving cohort 13 competition more broadly. These insights informed a new design for the visual world paradigm 14 that distinguishes facilitatory and inhibitory mechanisms and ensures that activation of words 15 from the wrong syntactic category should be detectable if it is occurring. We demonstrate how 16 failure to ensure this could have obscured such activation in previous work, leading to the 17 appearance of an inhibitory constraint. We find that wrong-category competition does occur, a 18 result that is incompatible with an inhibitory syntactic category constraint. 19
Effect on Cs removal of solid-phase metal oxidation in metal ferrocyanides

Abstract Metal ferrocyanides (MFCs) have been studied for many years and are regarded as efficient adsorbents for the selective removal of radioactive cesium (Cs) from contaminated aqueous solutions. Although their efficiency has been demonstrated, various investigations on the physicochemical, thermal, and radiological stability of the solids of MFCs are required to enhance the applicability of MFCs in the treatment process. We observed that the Cs adsorption efficiencies of cobalt and nickel ferrocyanides decreased as their aging period increased, while the Cs adsorption efficiencies of copper and zinc ferrocyanides did not decrease. The tendencies of these ferrocyanides were accelerated by exposure of the solids at a higher temperature for a longer time. Our comprehensive analyses demonstrated that only the oxidizable metals in the MFCs can be oxidized by aging time and increasing temperature; also, this affects the Cs removal efficiency by decreasing the exchangeable sites in the solids. The chemical stability of MFCs is very important for the optimization of the synthesis and storage conditions.
Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 5A2 (EIF5A2) Contributes to Ovarian Tumor Growth and Metastasis

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among all gynecological malignancies due to lack of effective biomarkers for early diagnosis. The majority of ovarian cancer patients are already at an advanced stage when diagnosed. In addition, ovarian cancers often become chemoresistant and metastatic, and recur following initial chemotherapy. Document Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program Biomedical Sciences Research Advisor Junming Yue, PhD
The relationship between healthy eating index-2015 and dental caries in preschool children.

Objective: To determine the relationship between the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) and tooth decay in children aged 3-6 years in Karaj, 2020. Design: cross-sectional. Dietary information was estimated from a 24-hour food recall questionnaire and analyzed for nutrient composition. Dietary quality was determined using HEI- 2015, a standard according to the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines. The total number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) was assessed through clinical examination and according to WHO standard criteria for caries diagnosis. General information and other variables were collected during the interview. Setting: Karaj, Iran. Subjects: A random sample available from one hundred and eighty-two children (girls and boys, mean age 60.4 months) from a specialized pediatric dental clinic. Results: The Nutritional quality assessment showed that HEI-2015 had a negative correlation with tooth decay (r=-0.177, P=0.017). Overweight / obese children had more decayed teeth (r=0.32, P 0.05). Conclusions: There is a relationship between tooth decay and the quality of nutrition in children.
Thermal Ablation of Renal Tumors under Ultrasound Guidance and Conscious Sedation: A Retrospective Experience

Purpose: Computed tomography (CT) guidance and general anesthesia have recently been recommended as the approach of choice for percutaneous ablation of small renal cell carcinoma (RCC), whereas ultrasound (US) guidance and conscious sedation have been tagged as inadequate. Aim of the study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of percutaneous thermal ablation of small RCC under ultrasound (US)-guidance and conscious sedation. Methods: The records of 74 patients with small RCC (≤5 cm), who underwent US-guided thermal ablation under conscious sedation were retrospectively reviewed. Conscious sedation was usually induced by means of intravenous bolus of midazolam 50–100 μg/kg plus continuous infusion of a 25 μg/mL solution of remifentanil at a rate of 0.05 μg/kg/min. Technical success, technical efficacy, local tumor progression (LTP), primary and secondary efficacy rates, complication rate, and 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were analyzed. Results: No procedure needed to be converted to general anesthesia, and all tumors were treated according to the protocol, with a technical success of 100%. One patient died after surgical intervention for bowel perforation and other 2 patients experienced grade 3 complications. Mortality rate and major complication rate were 1.3% and 2.7%, respectively. One-month technical efficacy was 100%. LTP was observed in 4/74 patients, with a primary efficacy rate of 94.6%. Two of them underwent successful thermal ablation and secondary efficacy rate was, therefore, 97.3%. The median follow-up was 38 months (range 1–130 months). No patient died for tumor progression. 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 94%, 80.5%, and 60%, respectively. Conclusion: US guidance and conscious sedation remain valid alternatives to CT guidance and general anesthesia for the percutaneous ablation of small RCC.
Geographic frequency and ecological correlates of juvenile colour polymorphism in green pythons (Morelia azurea and Morelia viridis)

Colour polymorphisms are common in nature, but their evolutionary significance and the mechanisms maintaining them sometimes remain poorly understood. Polymorphic green pythons (Morelia azurea and Morelia viridis) are born either red or yellow. Several processes are proposed to maintain such polymorphisms, and the assumption that colour is adaptive predicts that it may be correlated with a series of life-history and/or ecological traits. We examined 1090 green pythons from northern Australia and New Guinea and reveal strong geographic variation in the frequency of juvenile polymorphism. Some variation is explained by known genetic structure among populations, while stochastic processes (e.g. bottlenecks, founder effects) likely explain remaining variation. The yellow juvenile morph occurs in all populations of M. azurea and M. viridis, whereas the red morph occurs only in some populations of M. azurea and at varying frequencies. Yellow and red juveniles did not differ in morph-specific survival, sex ratios, morphology (tail length, head shape and mass) or diet. We discuss our results in relation to several hypotheses relating to maintenance of colour polymorphisms in nature. Although inconclusive, we are reluctant to suggest that colour is non-adaptive, and encourage additional experimental field research on the significance of polymorphism in these taxa.
PCR in tuberculosis: An extremely useful tool?

Introduction: Tuberculosis is a global air borne infectious disease with significant increase in incidence and prevalence. Conventional methods take longer time for diagnosis and drug susceptibility with less sensitivity and specificity. So rapid diagnosis and detection of multi, extensive and total drug resistant bacilli are of up most importance for therapeutic purpose. Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective study in tertiary care. All clinical samples suspected for tuberculosis received by laboratory were included in the study. The samples were processed for microscopy by ZN stain, culture by LJ media and RT-PCR. Results: Total 566 sample were tested out of 177 (31%) were positive for tuberculosis. 62% samples were PCR positive, 51% were culture positive and 49% were smear positive. The most common sample received with maximum positivity rate was pleural fluid (34%). Male predominance was seen with young adults as the predominant group affected. Conclusion: The present study shows good specificity of PCR with sensitivity of 50%. It detects 50% times more cases in relation to conventional results where they fail to produce correct results. More such comparative studies are needed to establish importance of PCR in early diagnosis and treatment. Keywords: Mycobacteria, RT-PCR, Diagnosis, Detection, Infection.
Study of behaviours and emitted codas during sperm whales social interactions

Sperm whales live in the matrilineal population structure based on complex social interactions. Groups of 10-20 adult females stay together and raise their offspring. During social activities, they emit specific patterned time sequences of clicks, called codas. These codas are also the social unit acoustic signature. However, no associations were already done between these emitted sounds and behaviours. To answer this question, we used a dataset including simultaneous video and acoustic recordings during sperm whale activities close to the sea surface. In 2017 and 2018, 114 days of observations for 25h33min was done. A total of 1,810 behaviours and of 1,324 codas were extracted. We analyzed their internal structures, based of number of clicks and also the variation of inter-click intervals. Results showed firstly that the 8-clicks codas were the most frequent sequences for this social unit, and secondly that codas seems to be call and contact signals for this haptic species.
Parenting in a Pandemic: Parental Stress During the Physical Distancing Intervention Following the onset of the COVID-19 Outbreak

Objective: The main aim of the study was to examine levels of parental stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety in the general parental population (N = 2868) during the strict government-initiated physical distancing protocols following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We further investigated specific predictors of parental distress, including burnout, anger aimed at children, worry, lack of social support, lower perceived self-efficacy, and difficulty to work from home.Method: In this cross-sectional, epidemiological study, we disseminate an online survey that was administered two weeks after the government-initiated physical distancing protocols were established. Data were collected from March 31 to April 7. Results: Female parents compared to male parents and parents living with more than one child per parent or child(ren) with special needs compared to those living with one or fewer children per parent reported higher levels of parental stress. Burnout and social support were further associated with parental stress. Specifically, nearly one-fourth of the parents reported that they have felt burned out or in the proximity of feeling burned out more than half the days during the social distancing interventions. Also, 29% of the parents reported that they were angrier at their child(ren) than usual during the physical distancing period.Parents with a pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis had significantly higher parental stress compared to individuals with no psychiatric diagnosis. The reported prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms above standardized cutoff levels among the 2868 parents was 25.4% for depression and 24.1% for anxiety, with the highest prevalence score on both symptoms of anxiety (37.6%) and depression (38.5%) for the youngest parents (age group 21–30 years). Furthermore, the parents who were home with their children and predominantly followed distancing protocol by socially distancing from public activity and peers (i.e., at least 10 out of 14 days) had significantly higher symptoms of depression (29%) and anxiety (27%), compared to parents who did not isolate in the same manner (i.e., depression 13% and anxiety 15%). Conclusions: The present study reveals that home confinement during the restricted lockdown period is related to markedly high levels of parental stress, in addition to symptoms of depression and anxiety in parents. Given the detrimental effects of depression, anxiety, and parental stress on the quality of life, morbidity rates, as well as adverse child outcomes and the potential risk of child abuse and neglect, these results suggest that appropriate action should be taken to impede further development of these symptoms, as well as developing interventions aimed at vulnerable subgroups and other relevant factors associated with increased parental stress. Keywords: COVID-19 lockdown, parental stress, depression, anxiety
Pharyngeal metastasis following living-donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: case report and review of literature

Background: The most common sites of recurrence after liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been reported to be the liver, lung, bone, and adrenal glands, but there have also been many reports of cases of multiple recurrence. The prognosis after recurrence is poor, with reported median survival after recurrence of HCC ranging from 9 to 19 months. Here, we report a case of long-term survival after recurrence of pharyngeal metastasis following living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for HCC within the Milan criteria, by resection of the metastatic region and cervical lymph node dissection. Case presentation: A 47-year-old man with a Model End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score of 11 underwent LDLT for HCC within the Milan criteria for liver cirrhosis associated with hepatitis B virus infection, with his 48-year-old elder brother as the living donor. One year and 10 months after liver transplantation, he visited a nearby hospital with a chief complaint of discomfort on swallowing. A pedunculated polyp was found in the hypopharynx, and biopsy revealed HCC metastasis. We performed pharyngeal polypectomy. Two years later, cervical lymph nodes metastasis appeared, and neck lymph node dissection was performed. Although recurrence subsequently occurred three times in the grafted liver, the patient is still alive 12 years and 10 months after recurrence of pharyngeal metastasis. He is now a tumor-free outpatient taking sorafenib. Conclusion: It is necessary to recognize that the nasopharyngeal region is a potential site of HCC metastasis. Prognostic improvement can be expected with close follow-up, early detection, and multidisciplinary treatment, including radical resection.