Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Food insecurity, morbidity, and susto: Factors associated with depression severity in Guatemala measured with the Personal Health Questionnaire 9

Background: Depression is the largest contributor to non-fatal health loss globally and the majority of this burden occurs in low- and middle-income countries. Yet, estimates of prevalence rates and severity in these contexts may be uncertain due to limited screening, lack of mental health providers, and stigma around mental disorders which may prevent individuals from seeking care. In Guatemala, estimates of depression vary, due in part to the range of screening and diagnostic instruments used and diversity of sample populations. Most studies emphasize personal experiences with violence as a predictor of depression in Guatemala, although high rates of inequality, discrimination, and resource scarcity in the country potentially play a role. Aims: In this study, we examine factors associated with depression severity categories measured with the Personal Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) among a random sample of women in a small urban community in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Methods: Participants were recruited through a randomized sample of households in a small urban community. Participants completed a questionnaire which included questions on demographics, illness history, food insecurity, and the PHQ-9. In total, 101 women were included in the analysis. Results: Food insecurity, 2-week symptom reporting, and experiencing susto are associated with higher depression severity categories. Conclusion: This research highlights need for more research on factors related to the prevalence and severity of mental disorders, and the relationship between mental disorders and cultural constructs of distress, particularly in areas like Guatemala with limited mental health services.
The modulation of PI3K/Akt pathway by 3β hydroxylup‐12‐en‐28‐oic acid isolated from Thymus linearis induces cell death in HCT‐116 cells

The presence of intricate carbon skeletons in natural compounds enhances their bioactivity spectrum with unique modes of action at several targets in various dreadful diseases like cancer. The present study was designed to purify the molecules from Thymus linearis and elucidate their antiproliferative activity. The compounds were isolated from the active methanolic extract of Thymus linearis through column chromatography and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. Antiproliferative activity of isolated compounds was evaluated using MTT assay on cancer and normal cell lines. Mechanism of cell death was elucidated using flow cytometric, microscopic, and Western blot analysis. Four compounds, Sitosterol, Chrysin, 3β‐hydroxylup‐12‐en‐28‐oic acid (3BH), and β‐Sitosterol glycoside, were isolated. Among these, 3BH was most potent antiproliferative agent across all cell lines under study, HCT‐116 being the most affected one. 3BH was demonstrated to downregulate PI3Ksubunits (p110α and p85α), downstream pAktSer473 and prompted G1 phase cell cycle arrest. The cell cycle CDK inhibitor p27 and p21 were upregulated with simultaneous downregulation of cyclin D1 and cyclin E in HCT‐116 cells. This was accompanied by apoptosis, as depicted by decrease in Bcl‐2/Bax ratio, with increase in active caspases‐3 and caspase‐9, cleavage of PARP‐1, the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential. The findings established that 3BH induced cell death in HCT‐116 cells by modulating PI3K/Akt signaling axis, impeding cell cycle, and instigating apoptosis.
Factors Influencing the Selection of Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants for Stroke Prevention in Patients With Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Major atrial fibrillation (AF) guidelines recommend non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) over warfarin, except in rare clinical circumstances based on 4 randomized controlled trials comparing each NOAC with warfarin. We aimed to investigate the current NOAC prescription behaviors in alignment with the recent clinical evidence available. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of NOAC-using patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) who were aged ≥65 years on the index date (July 1, 2018) based on nationwide claims data. The types of NOACs being taken were analyzed using chi-squared tests, and factors influencing NOAC selection were identified using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 6,061 patients were included. Among the 4 NOACs, rivaroxaban was the most used NOAC. Patients aged ≥75 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.270, confidence interval [CI] = 1.089-1.450) and women (OR = 1.148, CI = 1.011-1.284) were more likely to use apixaban relative to rivaroxaban. Patients with prior stroke/transient ischemic attack/thromboembolism had higher odds of using dabigatran (OR = 1.508, CI = 1.312-1.704) and apixaban (OR = 1.186, CI = 1.026-1.346). Patients with renal disease had higher odds of using apixaban (OR = 1.466, 95% CI = 1.238-1.693). These findings are consistent with the efficacy and safety profiles reported in pivotal trials and observational studies comparing individual NOACs. Conclusion: Among the 4 NOACs, rivaroxaban was the most commonly used NOAC. Apixaban was preferred for patients aged ≥75 years, females, and patients with renal disease.
Comparative Analyses of the Transport Proteins Encoded within the Genomes of nine Bifidobacterium Species

The human microbiome influences human health in both negative and positive ways. Studies on the transportomes of these organisms yield information that may be utilized for various purposes, including the identification of novel drug targets and the manufacture of improved probiotic strains. Moreover, these genomic analyses help to improve our understanding of the physiology and metabolic capabilities of these organisms. The present study is a continuation of our studies on the transport proteins of the major gut microbes. Bifidobacterium species are essential members of the human gut microbiome, and they initiate colonization of the gut at birth, providing health benefits that last a lifetime. In this study we analyze the transportomes of nine bifidobacterial species: B. adolescentis, B. animalis, B. bifidum, B. breve, B. catenulatum, B. dentium, B. longum subsp. infantis, B. longum subsp. longum, and B. pseudocatenulatum. All of these species have proven probiotic characteristics and exert beneficial effects on human health. Surprisingly, we found that all nine of these species have similar pore-forming toxins and drug exporters that may play roles in pathogenesis. These species have transporters for amino acids, carbohydrates, and proteins, essential for their organismal lifestyles and adaption to their respective ecological niches. The strictly probiotic species, B. bifidum, however, contains fewer such transporters, thus indicative of limited interactions with host cells and other gut microbial counterparts. The results of this study were compared with those of our previous studies on the transportomes of multiple species of Bacteroides, Escherichia coli/Salmonella, and Lactobacillus. Overall, bifidobacteria have larger transportomes (based on percentages of total proteins) than the previously examined groups of bacterial species, with a preference for primary active transport systems over secondary carriers. Taken together, these results provide useful information about the physiologies and pathogenic potentials of these probiotic organisms as reflected by their transportomes.
Iron and chromium co-doped cobalt phosphide porous nanosheets as robust bifunctional electrocatalyst for efficient water splitting

It is still a huge challenge to develop highly efficient and low-cost non-precious metal-based electrocatalysts for overall water splitting in alkaline electrolytes. Herein, Cr and Fe co-doped CoP porous mesh nanosheets (Mesh-CrFe-CoP NSs) were synthesized through hydrolysis reaction, ion exchange etching and subsequent low-temperature phosphating process. The Mesh-CrFe-CoP NSs provides overpotentials at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 under alkaline electrolyte of 103.7 mV and 256.4 mV for HER and OER, respectively. Furthermore, when using Mesh-CrFe-CoP NSs as anode and cathode, the water splitting system could afford a current density of 10 mA cm–2 at 1.55 V, which is better than an electrolytic cell composed of 20% Pt/C and RuO2. The excellent electrocatalytic performance of Mesh-CrFe-CoP NSs is attributed to the co-doping and porous nanostructure. Specifically, the Cr and Fe co-doped porous CoP nanosheets electrocatalyst not only provided abundant exposure active sites, accelerated the entry of liquid and the diffusion of gas, but also regulated the electronic environment of active sites, and thus enhanced the electrochemical performance. This work proposes a strategy for the rational design of highly efficient and stable non-precious metal co-doped phosphide electrocatalysts in the of electrochemical water splitting.
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Mortality in Elderly Patients With Early Breast Cancer

Patients with cancer and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may have worse outcomes than those without SLE, given their comorbidities. We examined survival in elderly women with breast cancer (BC) and SLE and hypothesized that survival would be decreased compared with women with BC but without SLE.
Efficacy of Intrawound Treatments to Prevent Surgical Site Infection after Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Intrawound treatments have been reported to have favorable efficacy for preventing surgical site infection (SSI); however, the best strategy remains unknown. OBJECTIVE The aim of this systematic review and network meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of intrawound treatments to prevent SSI after spine surgery. STUDY DESIGN A systematic review and network meta-analysis. METHODS We searched the Cochrane Library, EMbase, PubMed, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Data from the date of inception to March 2, 2020. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies were identified and extracted by 2 reviewers independently. We performed a traditional pairwise meta-analysis to evaluate overall efficacy of intrawound treatments. Meanwhile, a network meta-analysis was performed to compare and rank the treatment efficacy using frequentist approach. RESULTS Thirty-three publications (6 RCTs and 27 retrospective cohort studies) were included, involving 22,763 patients. For pairwise meta-analysis, the combined results showed that the intrawound treatment had a significantly lower SSI rate than the control group (CG) (odds ratio [OR] = 0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31-0.55). For network meta-analysis, the treatment of vancomycin (VA) (OR = 0.53; 95% CI, 0.39-0.71), povidone-iodine (PI) (OR = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.04 - 0.23), and vancomycin + povidone-iodine (VA+PI) (OR = 0.25; 95% CI, 0.11-0.58) were found to be significantly more efficacious than CG on reduction of SSI rate. PI ranked first on reducing SSI, followed by PI+HP, VA+PI, gentamicin (GM), VA, and hydrogen peroxide (HP); CG ranked last. LIMITATIONS Firstly, only 6 RCTs are included in this systematic review. Retrospective cohort studies tend to exaggerate the real results, although most of them are high-quality according to the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOQAS). More high-quality RCTs need to be included to obtain convincing conclusions. Secondly, the population of this study involves both adult and pediatric cohorts, patients with tumor, congenital disease, or degenerative disease. There is no subgroup analysis for ages and type of diseases, which might have influence on the overall pooled analysis. Thirdly, we define the application of saline solution and no intrawound treatment as the control group, which might ignore their heterogeneity. Fourthly, follow-up periods are variable and the sample size of HP is small. Finally, additional research is needed to compare the complications of different treatments and the benefits of various dosages. CONCLUSION We found that VA and PI show promising results on reducing SSI. PI is recommended as the most efficacious intrawound treatment to prevent SSI after spine surgery.
Rate of premalignant and malignant endometrial lesion in “low-risk” premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding undergoing endometrial biopsy

Objective To determine the incidence of endometrial hyperplasia and endometrial cancer (EH/EC) in low-risk premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) undergoing endometrial biopsy and to build a predictive model that includes clinical variables for predicting EH/EC in these women. Methods This retrospective study was conducted between January 2015 and March 2020. All premenopausal women aged <55 years with AUB who underwent endometrial sampling during a specified time period were included. Data regarding baseline characteristics, sonographic findings, and histological reports were collected from patient record sheets. Results During the specified time period, 1,089 premenopausal women underwent endometrial biopsy for AUB. Complete data analysis was done for 1,084 women. Of the endometrial samples, 95.3% revealed benign pathology, whereas 4.7% of the samples had major endometrial pathology EH/EC. On step-wise logistic regression analysis, intermenstrual bleeding (IMB) (OR, 3.15), body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 (odds ratio [OR], 4.4705), age >40 years (OR, 1.14), endometrial thickness (ET) >13 mm (OR, 2.59), and hypothyroidism (OR, 1.35) were significantly associated with EH/ EC. Considering the pretest probability for an EH/EC of 4.7%, this prediction model with a likelihood ratio of 14.2% demonstrated a post-test probability of 41% in the presence of the above-mentioned variables. Conclusion The risk of EH/EC was lower in low-risk premenopausal women with AUB. However, premenopausal women with IMB aged >40 years, hypothyroidism, BMI >25 kg/m2, and thickened endometrium (ET >13 mm) are at high risk of EH/EC; therefore, endometrial biopsy should be considered early in their management plan.
Mimicking human riboflavin responsive neuromuscular disorders by silencing flad‐1 gene in C. elegans : Alteration of vitamin transport and cholinergic transmission

Riboflavin (Rf), or vitamin B2, is the precursor of FMN and FAD, redox cofactors of several dehydrogenases involved in energy metabolism, redox balance and other cell regulatory processes. FAD synthase, coded by FLAD1 gene in humans, is the last enzyme in the pathway converting Rf into FAD. Mutations in FLAD1 gene are responsible for neuromuscular disorders, in some cases treatable with Rf. In order to mimic these disorders, the Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) gene orthologue of FLAD1 (flad‐1) was silenced in a model strain hypersensitive to RNA interference in nervous system. Silencing flad‐1 resulted in a significant decrease in total flavin content, paralleled by a decrease in the level of the FAD‐dependent ETFDH protein and by a secondary transcriptional down‐regulation of the Rf transporter 1 (rft‐1) possibly responsible for the total flavin content decrease. Conversely an increased ETFDH mRNA content was found. These biochemical changes were accompanied by significant phenotypical changes, including impairments of fertility and locomotion due to altered cholinergic transmission, as indicated by the increased sensitivity to aldicarb. A proposal is made that neuronal acetylcholine production/release is affected by alteration of Rf homeostasis. Rf supplementation restored flavin content, increased rft‐1 transcript levels and eliminated locomotion defects. In this aspect, C. elegans could provide a low‐cost animal model to elucidate the molecular rationale for Rf therapy in human Rf responsive neuromuscular disorders and to screen other molecules with therapeutic potential.
What we talk about when we talk about colors

Significance Do we talk about some colors more often than others? And do the colors we communicate about most frequently vary across cultures? A classic finding shows that languages around the world partition colors into words in remarkably similar, although not identical, ways. The biology of human color perception helps explain similar color vocabularies across languages, but less is known about how often speakers need to reference different colors. The inference method we develop reveals extensive variation in communicative needs across colors, and a diversity in needs across 130 languages, which helps explain variation in their color vocabularies. Our results open the door to studying cross-cultural variation in demands on different colors, and factors that drive color demands in linguistic communities. Names for colors vary widely across languages, but color categories are remarkably consistent. Shared mechanisms of color perception help explain consistent partitions of visible light into discrete color vocabularies. But the mappings from colors to words are not identical across languages, which may reflect communicative needs—how often speakers must refer to objects of different color. Here we quantify the communicative needs of colors in 130 different languages by developing an inference algorithm for this problem. We find that communicative needs are not uniform: Some regions of color space exhibit 30-fold greater demand for communication than other regions. The regions of greatest demand correlate with the colors of salient objects, including ripe fruits in primate diets. Our analysis also reveals a hidden diversity in the communicative needs of colors across different languages, which is partly explained by differences in geographic location and the local biogeography of linguistic communities. Accounting for language-specific, nonuniform communicative needs improves predictions for how a language maps colors to words, and how these mappings vary across languages. Our account closes an important gap in the compression theory of color naming, while opening directions to study cross-cultural variation in the need to communicate different colors and its impact on the cultural evolution of color categories.
Alternate dosage formulations of oral targeted anticancer agents

Objective Oral anticancer therapies have demonstrated superior outcomes compared to traditional cytotoxic chemotherapy in many disease states. However, certain patients may not be candidates for these agents due to odynphagia or dysphagia. The purpose of this review is to summarize the data for extemporaneous compounding of oral anticancer agents. Data sources Food and drug administration approvals of oncology agents were reviewed to identify oral anticancer therapies. In order to find alternative administration options: the package inserts of each of these agents were reviewed, each medication was searched in a tertiary drug information resource, the medical information teams of each drug manufacturer were contacted to inquire about proprietary data, sites with pediatric trials were contacted, a primary literature search was performed, and listservs for national pharmacy and oncology organizations were reviewed. Data summary Eighty-five food and drug administration-approved oral anticancer therapies were identified to be included. Of those agents, nine (11%), had information in the package insert related to alternative administration. After further research, 46 (54%) of the agents had some information related to alternate formulations for administration. The recipes and stability of each of these compounds is included. Conclusions The majority of agents do not have Phase I or II trials that assess safety or pharmacokinetics of alternative formulations. Clinicians should exercise caution when recommending or administering these agents outside of food and drug administration-approved indicated use and utilize clinical judgment in assessing the risks and benefits of altering anticancer compounds. However, the alternative administration considerations presented can increase access to oncology patients who have difficulty swallowing.
Comparison of PD-L1, EGFR, ALK, and ROS1 Status Between Surgical Samples and Cytological Samples in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma

Background: The expression levels of Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma tyrosine kinase gene (ALK), and proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase 1 ROS (ROS1) are important for targeted treatment selection in advanced lung cancer. Most patients with lung cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage and have no chance of surgery. For this reason, the accuracy and reliability of cytology samples for detecting those markers is important in patients whose histological sampling cannot be performed. Aims: To test the compatibility of histological and cytological sample analysis results of EGFR, ALK, ROS1 and PDL-1 in patients with NSCLC and to determine the adequacy of cytological analysis for PD-L1 expression. Study Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Methods: The results of 231 patients whose PD-L1 was studied in 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. We excluded 11 inappropriate samples. A total of 220 samples were distributed as follows; 66 (30.0%) cytology specimens, 64 (29.1%) small histology biopsies, and 90 (40.9%) surgical biopsies. EGFR, ALK, ROS1 and PD-L1 analysis were performed in 139, 134, 116, and 220 patients, respectively. Samples containing >400 cells were considered suitable for molecular cytological study. Results: A total of 154 (70.0%) histological (surgical biopsy) and 66 (30.0%) cytology samples were analyzed. There was no statistically significant difference between histological and cytological samples in terms of cellular adequacy for all molecular markers [EGFR: 93.7% and 90.9% (P = .556), ALK: 97.8% and 95.3% (P = .436) , ROS1: 89.9% vs. 91.9% (P = .729), PD-L1: 95.5% vs. 92.4% (P = .364)]. There was no statistically significant difference in the expression positivity rates of all biomarkers between histological and cytological samples [EGFR: 9.0% vs. 2.5% (P = .018), ALK: 7.9% vs. 9.8% (P = .719), ROS1 : 1.4% vs. 2.9% (P = .591), PD-L1: 54.4% vs. 41.0% (P = .078)]. Conclusion: The cellular adequacy of cytology specimens for molecular testing in patients with NSCLC is satisfactory. This study shows that EGFR, ALK, ROS-1 and PDL-1 expression rates in cytological samples are not statistically different from histological samples.