Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of TB treatment initiation delay with clinical severity and risk of transmission among pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: Cross-sectional study

Background Delayed treatment initiation of tuberculosis (TB) increases disease progression and development of complications which may lead to a higher risk of transmission, clinical severity and increased mortality. But, published evidences that investigated the effect of delayed initiation of treatment on clinical severity and risk of transmission of pulmonary tuberculosis patients is scarce in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Objective To investigate the association of delayed treatment initiation of Pulmonary Tuberculosis with clinical severity and risk of transmission. Methods In this cross-sectional study design, a total of 875 newly diagnosed adult pulmonary tuberculosis patients were recruited from 21 health facilities from October 2018 to October 2019. Health facilities were selected by simple random sampling method and the study participants were enrolled consecutively. Data were collected using questionnaires through face-to-face interviews of patients within the first 2 weeks of treatment initiation. Clinical severity was assessed by Bandim tuberculosis score and risk of transmission was assessed by smear positivity or lung cavitations. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 software program. Logistic regression analysis was used to ascertain the association of delay with clinical severity and risk of transmission. P-value of less than 0.05 was reported as being statistically significant. Results Those who had initiating treatment without delay and those who were initiated treatment after a medium delay of 31 to 60 days were significantly associated with decreased clinical score compared to those who initiated treatment after a delay of more than two months. Compared with patients who were initiated treatment within one month, the risk of transmission was greater for delay of 30-60 days and above 60 days. Patients having more than 3 family members have higher risk to transmit TB as compared to those who have maximum of 3 family members. Whereas, patients having at least two rooms and being HIV negative have lower risk to transmit TB compared to their counter patients. Conclusion Narrowing the gap between initial occurrence of TB symptoms and treatment initiation is the way forward to improve clinical courses of TB patients and to reduce the risk of transmission of TB to other people from these patients.
A multilocus sequence analysis for the taxonomic update and identification of the genus Proteus

Background: The members of the genus Proteus are commonly opportunistic pathogens that cause a variety of infections in humans. The molecular evolutionary characteristics and genetic relationships among Proteus species are remain unelucidated. In this study, we developed a multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) approach based on five housekeeping genes (HKGs) to delineate phylogenetic relationships of species within genus of Proteus. Results: Of all 223 Proteus strains collected in current study, phylogenetic tree of concatenated five HKGs (dnaJ, mdh, pyrC, recA and rpoD) divided into eleven clusters, which representative of their counterpart species. Meanwhile, phylogenetic trees of the five individual HKGs were also corresponded to that of the concatenated tree, except for recA, which clustered four strains at an independent cluster. The evaluation of inter- and intra-species distance of HKGs concatenation, all inter-species indicated more significant different distances than those of intra-species, which revealed these HKGs concatenation can be used as gene marker to distinguish different Proteus species. Further web-based DNA-DNA hybridization estimated by genome of type strains confirmed the validity of the MLSA and each of eleven clusters were congruent with eleven different Proteus species. In addition, we used the established MLSA method to identify the randomly collected Proteus, and found that P. mirabilis is the most species of Proteus. However, the top second is P. terrae, but not P. vulgaris. Combined with the genetic, genomic and phenotypic characteristics, three species, P. terrae, P. cibarius and Proteus genospecies 5 should be regarded as the heterotypic synonyms.Conclusions: Our data suggested the MLSA was a powerful method for the discrimination and classification of the Proteus at species level. The MLSA scheme provides a rapid, economical and precise identification of Proteus strains. The identification of Proteus species determined by the MLSA approach plays an important role in clinical diagnosis and treatment of Proteus infection.
How does neighborhood psychosocial interventions affect the link between living alone and psychological disorders in later life?

Background: Social isolation is widespread and strongly associated with deleterious health-related outcomes across the life course in low- and middle-income settings. Despite this broad base of knowledge, there is little reported research on the pathways linking living alone to later life psychological state. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of living alone on psychological disorder in middle- aged and older people and to explore the protective role of potential psychosocial strategies such as social participation and physical activity. Methods: We used cross-sectional data from a 2016/2017 Aging, Health, Psychological Wellbeing and Health-seeking Behavior Survey involving nationally representative sample of 1200 adults aged 50+ years in Ghana. The study focused on a latent measure of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and on the General Practice Physical Activity Scale (GPPAS). Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models evaluated the effect of living alone interactively with neighborhood engagement measures on the indicator of mental disorder. Results: The results showed that living alone was independent predictor of psychological distress in the overall sample, among females, urban dwellers and all age groups. However, physical activity and social participation significantly buffered against these associations. In the stratified analysis, physical activity moderated the association for males, rural-dwellers and those 65+ years whilst social participation modified the association for females, urban-dwellers and those 50-64 years. Conclusions: Psychosocial mechanisms strongly attenuate the positive association of living alone with the risk of psychological distress in older age. These findings may inform intervention initiatives targeted at improving mental health of chronically detached and isolated older people.
Comprehensive Analysis of Cyclin Family Gene Expression in Colon Cancer

Colon cancer is a common malignancy of the digestive tract with high morbidity and mortality. There is an urgent need to identify effective biomarkers for the early diagnosis of colon cancer and to prolong patient survival. Cyclins are a family of proteins that directly participate in the cell cycle and are associated with many types of tumors, but the role and regulatory mechanism of most cyclin family members in colon cancer remain unclear. Here, we provide a systematic and comprehensive study of cyclin family gene expression and their potential roles in colon cancer. Pan-cancer analysis revealed that cyclin genes were most differentially expressed in colon adenocarcinoma. Among the four datasets of colon cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Gene Expression Omnibus, six cyclin genes (CCNA2, CCNB1, CCND1, CCNE1, CCNF, and CCNJL) were differentially expressed between normal and tumor tissues. Four of them (CCNA2, CCNB1, CCNE1, and CCNF) were notably elevated in the early TNM stages and significantly correlated with overall survival. Meanwhile, the expression of CCNA2 and CCNB1 was positively correlated with tumor-killing immune cells, such as CD8+ T cells.The copy numbers of CCNA2, CCNB1, CCND1, CCNE1, and CCNF was positively related to gene expression. The methylation levels of CCNB1 were lower in tumor tissues than in normal tissues and were negatively correlated with gene expression. The receiver operating characteristic curves indicated that the gene expression of 24 cyclins had higher predictive accuracy than the TNM stage. Pathway analysis showed that cyclin genes were tightly associated with apoptosis, the cell cycle, hormone ER, the RAS/MAPK pathway, mismatch repair, mTORC1 signaling, KRAS signaling, Akt, and TGFB in colon cancer. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis suggested that cyclin genes were closely linked to CDK1, BIRC5, PLK1, and BCL2L12. At the protein level, Cyclin A2 and Cyclin B1 were also expressed higher in colon adenocarcinoma tissues. In addition, cyclin genes were highly related to the drug sensitivity of some FDA-approved drugs, such as MEK and EGFR inhibitors, which might provide guidance for clinical treatment. In conclusion, cyclin genes are promising biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of colon cancer.
Contents of Tocopherols in Coffee Beans, Coffee Infusions and Instant Coffee

green coffee beans, total Toc of 12 kinds of them were more than 10mg/100g, the maximum was 15.7mg/100g and the average was 11.9mg/100g. The contents of α-Toc were 2.3~4.5 mg/100g and the average was 3.5mg/100g. The contents of β-Toc were 3.2~11.4mg/100g and the average was 8.4mg/100g. γ-Toc and δ-Toc were not found. Eighty-three to ninty-nine % (averge 94%) of total Toc, 79~100% (average 91%) of α-Toc and 84~100% (average 95%) of β-Toc were remained after roasting. The content of β-Toc in the coffee beans was higher than α-Toc whose ratio was 1:2~3 except one whose ratio was 1: 1.5. The content of total Toc in coffee infusion or instant coffee solution was O.007mg/100ml. From these fact it was concluded that only 0.4~1.8% of Toc was infused from the roasted coffee beans. (Received Jul. 22, 1988)
Political Partisanship and Antiscience Attitudes in Online Discussions About COVID-19: Twitter Content Analysis

Background The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage communities across the United States. Opinion surveys identified the importance of political ideology in shaping perceptions of the pandemic and compliance with preventive measures. Objective The aim of this study was to measure political partisanship and antiscience attitudes in the discussions about the pandemic on social media, as well as their geographic and temporal distributions. Methods We analyzed a large set of tweets from Twitter related to the pandemic, collected between January and May 2020, and developed methods to classify the ideological alignment of users along the moderacy (hardline vs moderate), political (liberal vs conservative), and science (antiscience vs proscience) dimensions. Results We found a significant correlation in polarized views along the science and political dimensions. Moreover, politically moderate users were more aligned with proscience views, while hardline users were more aligned with antiscience views. Contrary to expectations, we did not find that polarization grew over time; instead, we saw increasing activity by moderate proscience users. We also show that antiscience conservatives in the United States tended to tweet from the southern and northwestern states, while antiscience moderates tended to tweet from the western states. The proportion of antiscience conservatives was found to correlate with COVID-19 cases. Conclusions Our findings shed light on the multidimensional nature of polarization and the feasibility of tracking polarized opinions about the pandemic across time and space through social media data.
Diagnostic efficacy of serum miRNA as a non-invasive method for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

1. Background: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a key turning point in the progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). As a non-invasive method , serum miRNA levels may provide an effective reference for the diagnosis of NASH. This article systematically reviewed related diagnostic trials to compare the difference in the efficacy of serum miRNAs in the diagnosis of NAFLD and its subtype, NASH, and identify the influencing factors. 2. Methods: We pooled the sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), and area under receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) of each trail to determine the efficacy of serum miRNAs in the diagnosis of NAFLD and NASH; Clinical utility was evaluated by Fagan`s nomogram; Heterogeneity was evaluated by subgroup analysis and meta-regression. Publication bias was detected by Deek’s funnel plot. 3. Results: We included 9 articles consisting of 27 trials and 2361 cases, 1775 NAFLD patients (not distinguishing between simple steatosis and NASH) and 586 NASH patients were collected. All cases were confirmed by biopsy. For NAFLD and NASH, the pooled values were SEN (0.71 vs. 0.74), SPE (0.76 vs. 0.85) and AUROC (0.80 vs. 0.86). miRNA had a high accuracy in distinction NASH from simple steatosis with AUROC at 0.91. Among the well-studied serum miRNAs, miRNA-34a showed a moderate accuracy with the lowest heterogeneity in diagnosing NAFLD (SPE I 2 : 5.73%, SPE I 2 : 33.16%, AUROC: 0.85). According to subgroup analysis and meta-regression, lower BMI ( <30kg/m 2 ) may be a crucial source of heterogeneity and reduced the performance of serum miRNA in the diagnosis of NAFLD. 4. Conclusions: As a non-invasive method, serum miRNA should be considered a promising parameter in the diagnosis of NASH. Generally, NAFLD patients with higher BMI ( ≥ 30kg/m 2 ) are more likely to be diagnosed accurately by serum miRNA.
EFFICIENT DEEP FEATURES LEARNING FOR VULNERABILITY DETECTION USING CHARACTER N-GRAM EMBEDDING

Deep Learning (DL) techniques were successfully applied to solve challenging problems in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). Since source code and natural text share several similarities, it was possible to adopt text classification techniques, such as word embedding, to propose DL-based Automatic Vulnerabilities Prediction (AVP) approaches. Although the obtained results were interesting, they were not good enough compared to those obtained in NLP. In this paper, we propose an improved DL-based AVP approach based on the technique of character n-gram embedding. We evaluate the proposed approach for 4 types of vulnerabilities using a large c/c++ open-source codebase. The results show that our approach can yield a very excellent performance which outperforms the performances obtained by previous approaches.
Number needed to screen to prevent progression of liver fibrosis to cirrhosis at primary health centers: An experience from Delhi

Background: Early diagnosis has been a bottleneck in the care of chronic liver disease patients and can be addressed by Community-based screening for liver fibrosis using non-invasive diagnostic techniques. Objectives: The study aimed to determine the prevalence of liver fibrosis and the number needed to screen (NNS) to prevent the progression of fibrosis, among adults visiting urban Primary Health Centres (PHC). Methods: A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2018 to April 2019 in 72 randomly chosen PHCs using a mobile screening van. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect relevant history from adult patients and patient attenders. A venous blood sample was collected for biochemical markers and Transient Elastography was also done to measure Liver stiffness (LSM). LSM ≥6.0 kPa was taken as the cut-off for detecting liver fibrosis. Lifestyle modifications and alcohol cessations were considered as interventions for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) respectively, to calculate NNS. Results: 7624 participants were recruited in the study with a mean age of 46 ± 12 years. Around 35.5% of participants had liver fibrosis and 3% had cirrhosis. Nearly 4% had ALD and 30% had NAFLD. NNS for preventing progression of fibrosis for ALD and NAFLD was 12 and 29 respectively. NNS was least among obese, diabetes and hypertensive participants. Conclusion: One-third of adults visiting urban PHCs had significant liver fibrosis. Low NNS to prevent the progression of fibrosis to cirrhosis among alcohol users and other high-risk groups, substantiates the need for screening among these groups.
In Continuously Battling COVID-19 with Innovative Perspectives

In the commentary to a paper issued in J Chem Edu Res Prac 2020, 4(2), 1-4 by Laila Mahmoud Montaser2020 entitled “Could putting the mesenchymal stem cells technology into practice be an optimistic therapy for the critically ill COVID-19? ”, the author gifted a perfect experimenter way in equipping mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that may be an ideal chosen till recuperation the sorely ill new corona patients. The author presumed with a view to mesenchymal stem cells obtained from blood produced from the crucially sick corona case himself proposed accordingly a curative with regard to him.
Knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical and non-medical professionals of Peshawar towards the COVID-19 pandemic: an online survey

Introduction: The coronavirus later named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), caused an illness known as COVID-19. This study was carried out to determine the KAP of medical and non-medical professionals of Peshawar towards COVID19. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of selected medical and non-medical professionals about coping with the COVID-19 pandemic through an online survey. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional online survey took place from March 1 to April 30, 2020 using purposive sampling due to COVID-19 pandemic-related constraints against a community-based survey. A questionnaire for recording knowledge, attitude and practice about COVID-19 pandemic was generated with the help of literature search and uploaded through google forms. Responses were collected in excel spreadsheets which were later converted to SPSS version 23 for descriptive statistical analysis. Chi Square test was used for comparison between medical and non-medical professionals keeping p ≤0.05 significant. Results: A total of 366 participants responded to the online survey. The ratio of medical to non-medical professionals being 1.16:1. It was observed that majority of respondents had adequate knowledge regarding the current pandemic and no significant difference was seen between the two professionals (p<0.001). Both the professionals had a positive attitude with no difference (p<0.05). In practice, visiting marketplaces (p=0.754) showed significant difference in the practice however all the other practice measures did not show significance (p<0.05) and were being practiced by both the professionals. Conclusion: There is no significant difference in the knowledge, attitude or practice of medical and non-medical professionals towards the current pandemic of COVID-19. Keywords: COVID-19; Pandemic; Coronavirus; SARS virus.
A COMPARISON OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENT

The aim of this research was to compare the close relationships of two groups of parents, parents with a child of normative development and parents with a child with developmental disabilities. A total of 193 parents of 4to 5-year-old male children participated in the study, of which 116 were parents of children of normative development and 77 parents of children with disabilities. The following measuring instruments were used to answer the research questions: State Adult Attachment Measure, Quality of Family Functioning Scale, and Social Support Scale. Non-parametric statistical procedures were used for data analysis. The results of the study indicate that close relationships among parents of children with disabilities are characterised by greater security-seeking. The quality of family functioning is the same for the two groups of parents, while parents of children with disabilities receive less support from friends. Also, the results of this study support the conclusion that mothers with a child with a disability are more likely to seek closeness from close others than fathers from the same group of parents. The findings indicate the importance of considering families as a system, especially those families with a child with a disability, which may include different programs aimed at working on family dynamics and partnerships, especially in vulnerable families.
Can Board of Directors Diversity and Monitoring Intensity Improve Bank Profitability?

The purpose of this study to analyze the effect of board of directors diversity and monitoring intensity to profitability. Board of directors diversity measured by a composite index of gender, age, education, citizenship, and independence of the board of directors. Meanwhile, monitoring intensity measured by the composition of audit quality, number of meetings, and the number of committee. The objects are banks listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange period of 2015-2017 with a panel data regression. Selected samples was 40 banks and 120 observation. The results showed that board of directors diversity had a significant negative on profitability, this result provoke a gap to the previous research. While monitoring intensity is positive significant to profitability. Some practical and implications will be discussed in this study.
Karyomorphology of three succulent species: Gasteria Batesiana, Haworthia Limifolia Var Longiana and Aloe Jucunda (Family Asphodelaceae)

Gasteria batesiana Rowley, Haworthia limifolia var. longiana Marloth and Aloe jucunda Reynolds are succulent that belongs to the family Asphodelaceae. They are endemic to South Africa (Walkin and Suzanne 2019, Smith and Wyk 1991) but cultivated and found in India too. They are monocots (Russell 1987) with inflorescence in bunches (Gunjan and Roy 2010). These genera come under the category of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) which are capable to survive in dry climatic conditions (Anderson and Beardall 1991). Gasteria, Haworthia and Aloe had been used medicinally for the treatment of various diseases and disorders by traditional healers and practitioners in ancient times (Dold and Cocks, 2002) and till date they are used as therapeutically. They were used in the treatment of constipation, wound healing (Jia et al. 2008), mental health problems (Stafford et al. 2007), AIDS (Wilfred et al. 2012) etc. The present investigation deals with the karyomorphological details of the selected species to determine the chromosome number, to establish correlation and to trace out the evolutionary tendencies among them with the help of several other parameters related to the karyotypic studies.