Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining Clinical Symptoms and Patient Features for Malaria Diagnosis: Machine Learning Approach

ABSTRACT Presumptive treatment and self-medication for malaria have been used in limited-resource countries. However, these approaches have been considered unreliable due to the unnecessary use of malaria medication. This study aims to demonstrate supervised machine learning models in diagnosing malaria using patient symptoms and demographic features. Malaria diagnosis dataset extracted in two regions of Tanzania: Morogoro and Kilimanjaro. Important features were selected to improve model performance and reduce processing time. Machine learning classifiers with the k-fold cross-validation method were used to train and validate the model. The dataset developed a machine learning model for malaria diagnosis using patient symptoms and demographic features. A malaria diagnosis dataset of 2556 patients’ records with 36 features was used. It was observed that the ranking of features differs among regions and when combined dataset. Significant features were selected, residence area, fever, age, general body malaise, visit date, and headache. Random Forest was the best classifier with an accuracy of 95% in Kilimanjaro, 87% in Morogoro and 82% in the combined dataset. Based on clinical symptoms and demographic features, a regional-specific malaria predictive model was developed to demonstrate relevant machine learning classifiers. Important features are useful in making the disease prediction.
The Crosstalk between GPR81/IGFBP6 Promotes Breast Cancer Progression by Modulating Lactate Metabolism and Oxidative Stress

Breast cancer is the most frequent tumor and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women. In recent years, lactate metabolism and, in particular, its receptor GPR81 have been shown to play a vital role in cancer biology. GPR81 is upregulated in breast cancer and promotes tumor growth by tumor cell-derived lactate. Therefore, the search for possible crosstalk and the involvement of new molecules capable of generating this pathology is always in continuous development. In this study, the relationship between GPR81 and IGFBP6 protein in tumor growth and oxidative stress in the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 was studied. Cells were treated with lactate or the GPR81 receptor agonist and antagonist 3,5-DHBA and 3-OBA, respectively. In addition, oxidative stress and proliferation were also evaluated in cells challenged with the recombinant IGFBP6 protein. Our data showed that lactate induced cell proliferation and wound healing of the MDA-231 breast cancer cell through the overexpression of both the lactate receptor GPR81 and IGFBP6. The increase in IGFBP6 was able, in turn, to improve the mitochondrial fitness and redox state, as suggested by the reduced levels of mitochondrial ROS production after IGFBP6 treatment, presumably mediated by the increase in the ROS detoxifying genes HMOX1, GSTK1 and NQO1. In conclusion, our data highlight a novel axis between GPR81 and IGFBP6 in MDA-231 cells able to modulate lactate metabolism and oxidative stress. This complex signaling may represent a new therapeutic target for breast cancer.
Circularly polarised half E-shaped patch antenna: a compact and fabrication-friendly design

Supporting circular polarisation in single-layer, single-feed, compact patch antennas is a challenging task, especially when improved bandwidths are required. The difficulty lies in simultaneously obtaining good axial ratio (AR) and impedance matching performance over the required bandwidth. Several broadband,thick-substrate circularly polarised (CP) patch designs have appeared in the literature, but their complex fabrication might not be suitable for harsh environments requiring mechanical simplicity or for high-frequency applications at X-band or higher. In this study, the authors propose a novel solution to this problem: the CP half E-shaped patch antenna. This antenna is able to utilise thick substrates to meet the bandwidth requirements of many potential applications. Furthermore, the design can be fabricated on a single-layer and uses reasonably sized gaps and line widths, making for a fabrication-friendly design. Their design example shows 5.3% AR and impedance matching bandwidth at a thickness near a tenth of a wavelength. The S11 < − 10 dB bandwidth is 35%. Their particular design example has dimensions that fit within 45% × 39% of a free-space wavelength. Furthermore, they provide an important comparison discussing the differences in operation between the linearly polarised half E-shaped patch, CP E-shaped patch, and CP half E-shaped patch.
How carbon coating or continuous carbon pitch matrix influence the silicon electrode/electrolyte interfaces and the performance in Li‐ion batteries

The Si surface coating by carbon is an appealing strategy to improve both the electronic conductivity and to stabilize the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). In the present study, the electrochemical performance comparison of three nanocrystalline silicon‐based electrodes confirms the advantage brought by the carbon presence either as coating or in a composite, to improve their performance in Li‐ion batteries (LIBs). To rationalize this behavior, a full study of the electrode/electrolyte interface was achieved through the analysis of the cumulated relative irreversible capacity and the impedance and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopies measurements. The study highlighted that the carbon coating leads to more efficient and less resistive SEI than that formed on silicon or on the native oxide surface. The pitch carbon matrix offers the same advantages and avoids moreover the isolation of particles. The control of the Si/electrolyte interface has a crucial role in the performance of Si‐based electrodes as negative electrodes for LIB.
Assessment of Seroprevalence and Associated Risk Factors for Anaplasmosis in Camelus dromedarius

(1) Background: Anaplasmosis is an infectious disease in camels caused by an obligate intracellular bacterium that is transmitted by ticks. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during 2020 to study the seroprevalence of Anaplasma spp. among Camelus dromedarius in three governorates in Egypt and assess the associated risk factors. Serum samples from 365 camels were examined by a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) test. (3) Results: Overall, the seroprevalence of anaplasmosis among camels was 18.6%. Multivariable logistic regression was performed, and it was discovered that tick infestation, application of acaricides, grooming practice and body condition were potential risk factors for Anaplasma spp. infection (odds ratio > 1) in dromedary camels. In contrast, the locality in which the camels lived and their age were not significant effects with regard to the occurrence of anaplasmosis. (4) Conclusions: The current findings suggest that improvement of protective measures to limit the effects of the identified risk factors can help to reduce the spread of anaplasmosis among camels in Egypt.
Caregivers’ Supportive Needs when Caring for Chronically-Ill Patients: A Descriptive Qualitative Study

This study aimed to explore supportive needs of caregivers when caring for patients with chronic illness during hospitalization. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted at a tertiary hospital and purposive sampling was used to recruit 13 participants. Eligibility criteria included primary caregivers of patients with chronic illness. Data were collected via interviews. Results were analyzed using thematic analysis. Five themes were derived, portraying caregivers’ perceptions during the patients’ hospitalization. The caregivers generally appreciated patient care provided by healthcare professionals. However, they expressed the needs for complete and updated information regarding the patients’ conditions and training programs to enhance their knowledge and skills. Furthermore, they requested services to minimize their emotional and financial issues. Addressing caregivers’ supportive needs is important to augment the recovery of the patients and to reduce the rate of readmissions. Caregiver support programs can be offered to minimize emotional stress and to enhance their knowledge and skills.
Predictors of Mortality and Cardiovascular Outcome at 6 Months after Hospitalization for COVID-19

Clinical outcome data of patients discharged after Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are limited and no study has evaluated predictors of cardiovascular prognosis in this setting. Our aim was to assess short-term mortality and cardiovascular outcome after hospitalization for COVID-19. A prospective cohort of 296 consecutive patients discharged after COVID-19 from two Italian institutions during the first wave of the pandemic and followed up to 6 months was included. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. The co-primary endpoint was the incidence of the composite outcome of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE: cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, pulmonary embolism, acute heart failure, or hospitalization for cardiovascular causes). The mean follow-up duration was 6 ± 2 months. The incidence of all-cause death was 4.7%. At multivariate analysis, age was the only independent predictor of mortality (aHR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16). MACCE occurred in 7.2% of patients. After adjustment, female sex (aHR 2.6, 95% CI 1.05–6.52), in-hospital acute heart failure during index hospitalization (aHR 3.45, 95% CI 1.19–10), and prevalent atrial fibrillation (aHR 3.05, 95% CI 1.13–8.24) significantly predicted the incident risk of MACCE. These findings may help to identify patients for whom a closer and more accurate surveillance after discharge for COVID-19 should be considered.
Assessing the Needs of People with Disabilities for Physical Activities and Sports in South Korea

This study’s objective was to understand the physical activities and sports-related needs of people with disabilities in South Korea and how those needs should be reflected in policy and practice to improve these people’s quality of life. Accordingly, focus group interviews were conducted with 35 people with disabilities who had participated in physical activities. Interviews were conducted one-on-one or in small groups of three or four. The interview questions related to their participation experiences in physical activities and sports, their difficulties with such participation, and their thoughts on what was needed to improve their participation. For data analysis, the interviews were transcribed and the content analyzed, with content triangulation performed for validity. From this, a total of 307 meaningful references were derived, comprising four categories, eight theme clusters, and 40 themes. The current physical activities and sports programs for people with disabilities in South Korea are led by the government to provide an environment for them to participate; however, to improve the quality of life for these people, these must be transformed into consumer-centric programs. To provide an opportunity for people with disabilities to choose the exercise program of their choice, it is necessary to research in advance what kind of exercise program these people want, centering on the local community. To strengthen the professionalism of disabled sports instructors, it is necessary to provide a stable environment for them in sports facilities and continue training them to build capacity. In terms of facilities, the expansion of sports facilities that can be used by people with disabilities is an urgent priority, and the opinions of users with disabilities must be actively collected and addressed in the operation of these facilities. Additionally, at the national level, information should be continuously provided through mass media and the Internet so that people with disabilities can know the importance of physical activity and sports and manage their own health. To that end, it would be helpful to conduct an in-depth analysis of countries with effective participation policies for people with disabilities and consider how these could be adapted to the situation in Korea.
PARENTS’ VIEWS ON DISTANCE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This study was conducted to reveal how parents perceive the distance education process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study group consists of 15 participants in Lüleburgaz district of Kirklareli province. The case study design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study and data were collected online with a semi-structured interview form. Demographic characteristics, problems experienced by parents in distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic, positive and negative experiences, and opinions were interrogated via "Google Forms". The descriptive analysis and content analysis methods were preferred to analyse data. The results showed that parents attributed the inability to learn efficiently during the COVID-19 process to the inefficacy of online education, distraction, anxiety, environment, and noise. Trainings can be given to parents so that they can help their children efficiently in the distance education process. It is recommended that internet infrastructure be strengthened to deal with connection problems.
Radiomic Phenotypes for Improving Early Prediction of Survival in Stage III Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Adenocarcinoma after Chemoradiation

Simple Summary Personalized therapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) relies heavily on histopathological analyses that require invasive biopsies that have relatively high costs, provide limited assessment of tumor heterogeneity and are associated with potentially life-threatening complications. This retrospective study is aimed at evaluating the potential benefit of using predictive models that integrate radiomic features extracted from computed tomography (CT) images and commonly assessed clinical predictors to characterize the overall survival (OS) of stage III NSCLC adenocarcinoma patients receiving chemoradiation. Different than previous studies, our proposed approach explicitly accounts for CT parameter heterogeneity, such as presence or lack of intravenous contrast material and differences in CT scanner vendors through feature harmonization. Using a relatively homogeneous population of 110 patients, our results demonstrate that radiomic biomarkers derived using feature harmonization significantly improved the prediction of OS in our cohort when combined with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status and age at diagnosis, suggesting their potential in assisting clinical decision making. ) upon the baseline model (C-score = 0.65, CI = (0.57, 0.73)). Our results suggest that harmonized radiomic phenotypes can significantly improve OS prediction in stage III NSCLC after chemoradiation. Abstract We evaluate radiomic phenotypes derived from CT scans as early predictors of overall survival (OS) after chemoradiation in stage III primary lung adenocarcinoma. We retrospectively analyzed 110 thoracic CT scans acquired between April 2012−October 2018. Patients received a median radiation dose of 66.6 Gy at 1.8 Gy/fraction delivered with proton (55.5%) and photon (44.5%) beam treatment, as well as concurrent chemotherapy (89%) with carboplatin-based (55.5%) and cisplatin-based (36.4%) doublets. A total of 56 death events were recorded. Using manual tumor segmentations, 107 radiomic features were extracted. Feature harmonization using ComBat was performed to mitigate image heterogeneity due to the presence or lack of intravenous contrast material and variability in CT scanner vendors. A binary radiomic phenotype to predict OS was derived through the unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the first principal components explaining 85% of the variance of the radiomic features. C-scores and likelihood ratio tests (LRT) were used to compare the performance of a baseline Cox model based on ECOG status and age, with a model integrating the radiomic phenotype with such clinical predictors. The model integrating the radiomic phenotype (C-score = 0.69, 95% CI = (0.62, 0.77)) significantly improved (p<0.005) upon the baseline model (C-score = 0.65, CI = (0.57, 0.73)). Our results suggest that harmonized radiomic phenotypes can significantly improve OS prediction in stage III NSCLC after chemoradiation.
Robustness of Propofol and Sevoflurane on the Perioperative Immune Function of Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Radical Nephrectomy

Objective. This study aimed to evaluate the robustness of propofol combined with sevoflurane in patients undergoing laparoscopic radical nephrectomy and its influence on immune function during perioperative period. A total of 140 patients who underwent laparoscopic nephrectomy in the Department of Oncology of our hospital from January 2018 to January 2020 were divided into the control group and the study group by the random number table method, with 70 cases in each group, who were given sevoflurane anesthesia and sevoflurane combined with propofol anesthesia, respectively. The anesthesia effect and perioperative immune function of the two groups of patients were compared. No remarkable difference was observed in the extubation time, breathing recovery time, and awakening time between the two groups; the extubation coughing score and postextubation restlessness score of the study group were significantly lower than those of the control group; the postoperative renal function indexes of the two groups of patients were not considerably different; after treatment, the CD3+ (%), CD4+ (%), and CD4+/CD8+ of the two groups of patients decreased significantly, with a higher level in the study group. For patients undergoing laparoscopic radical nephrectomy, the combination of propofol and sevoflurane yields a promising outcome in enhancing the anesthesia results and improving the perioperative immune function.
Acute Bacterial Hemorrhagic Pyelonephritis in a COVID-19 Patient With a History of Hypothyroidism: A Case Report

Since its initial reporting in December 2019, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as a global health problem after its official declaration as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, with an estimated 346 million cases and over 5.9 million fatalities as of January 22, 2022. Studies on the prevalence of COVID-19 among severe cases have shown that comorbidities and risk factors such as obesity, increased aging, and chronic cardiovascular and respiratory diseases play a role in the severity of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The interactions between such factors and their involvement with the progression of infection and mortality remain unclear. While it is known that SARS-CoV-2 damages the lungs, various morbidities such as acute kidney disease and thyroid dysregulation have recently emerged in symptomatic COVID-19 patients. Conditions that alter thyroid hormones, which play a critical role in regulating metabolic pathways, have a role in the level of infectivity of the SARS-CoV-2. The capability of the SARS-CoV-2 to invade and affect any organ system is dependent on its access to the angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) commonly expressed among various host cells. This binding puts any system at high risk of direct viral injury, inevitably creating an excessively high concentration of anti-inflammatory mediators and cytokines to predispose COVID-19 patients to a state of severe immunosuppression. This case report describes a 62-year-old female who tested positive for COVID-19, with a medical history of hypothyroidism, who presented with a unique combination of acute bacterial hemorrhagic pyelonephritis and ureteral obstruction. She experienced intermittent dysuria, urinary urgency, and hematuria over the past five days. She developed chills, diaphoresis, nausea, and vomiting after administering acetaminophen for her headache. Ageusia and anosmia accompanied her respiratory illnesses despite receiving the Pfizer double dose vaccine six months before her arrival. A computerized tomography (CT) scan revealed severe to moderate inflammation surrounding the enlarged kidney with a 1 mm ureteral stone. Blood and urine cultures showed the growth of Escherichia coli gram-negative bacilli. Chest X-rays displayed a patchy appearance in the right infrahilar airspace, reflecting atelectasis in part for the diagnosis of COVID-19 with additional laboratory findings of profoundly elevated C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and d-dimer levels. Abdominal CT scans revealed a hemorrhagic ureteral obstruction and massive swelling of the renal parenchyma persistent to pyelonephritis and hydronephrosis.
Development of a Disease-Specific Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire (DTF-QoL) for Patients with Desmoid-Type Fibromatosis

Simple Summary Desmoid-type fibromatosis (DTF) is an uncommon soft-tissue tumour that is incapable of metastasising. Patients can experience a variety of physical and psychological symptoms, making assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) highly relevant. Measuring the impact of DTF on HRQoL can be challenging due to the rare character and variable clinical presentation of the disease. Therefore, a HRQoL instrument assessing DTF-specific issues is needed. Previously, a provisional DTF-specific HRQoL tool was developed (the DTF-QoL). The aim of the current study was to pre-test the DTF-QoL. Pre-testing of the questionnaire led to the selection of 96 questions, conceptualised into three symptom subscales, eleven disease-impact subscales and six single items, together forming the final DTF-QoL. This questionnaire can be used in both clinical and research settings to evaluate HRQoL of DTF patients, which could help to provide personalised care and improve overall patient experience. Abstract Sporadic desmoid-type fibromatosis (DTF) is a rare, non-metastasising soft-tissue tumour. Patients can experience a variety of disease-specific issues related to the unpredictable clinical course and aggressiveness of DTF, which negatively impacts health-related quality of life (HRQoL). These DTF-specific issues are not captured by generic HRQoL tools. A 102-item provisional DTF-specific HRQoL tool, the DTF-QoL, was previously developed. The aim of this study was to pre-test the psychometric properties of the DTF-QoL by administering it together with the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) to 236 DTF patients from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Construct validity and reliability were determined based on factor analysis, multi-trait scaling analysis, Cronbach’s alpha, and correlations with the EORTC QLQ-C30 scales. Ninety-six items were selected, conceptualised into three symptom scales, eleven disease-impact scales and six single items, together forming the final DTF-QoL. Scaling assumptions were fully or moderately met for ten out of fourteen scales. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.551–0.908. Most scales of the DTF-QoL were weakly or moderately correlated with the EORTC QLQ-C30. The DTF-QoL is a promising tool capturing the whole spectrum of DTF-specific issues. Implementation of the DTF-QoL in research and clinical practice will help to personalise HRQoL measurement and clinical care for DTF patients.