Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) in Seniors: a Retrospective Study Defining a Brand New Cohort

Background With improved surgical techniques and medical therapy, patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are now expected to achieve normal life expectancies. As a result, a new cohort of senior patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) is emerging which has not been well characterized. Methods This study is a retrospective chart review of patients with moderate to complex CHD over the age of 60 years in Southern Alberta. We examined the number, length, and reasons for hospitalizations, and identified common adult comorbidities. Results A total of 84 patients with CHD who were 60 years or older were identified. The average age was 67.9 ± 6.6 years, with the majority of patients having moderate CHD. The most common cardiac comorbidities were arrhythmia, hypertension, and heart failure, which were also the most common reasons for hospital admission. There were 1.85 admissions per 10 patient-years, with a median length of stay of 6.0 (3.8–10.5) days. Conclusions With advanced age, the ACHD population is at risk of developing significant medical burden from acquired cardiac comorbidities, resulting in hospitalization. This analysis provides insight into disease characteristics of seniors with CHD. Further studies are needed to better understand this population and the association with geriatric syndromes.
Patient-Reported Outcomes, Return-to-Sport Status, and Reinjury Rates After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Adolescent Athletes: Minimum 2-Year Follow-up

Background: Significant variation exists in the published rates of return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR). Functional outcomes and psychological response to injury have been implicated as factors that influence return to sport. Most studies focus on patients aged in the mid-20s, and less is known about this topic in adolescents. Purpose: To report midterm ACLR results for adolescent patients with regard to return to primary sport, patient-reported outcomes, and reinjury rate. Study Design: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Adolescent athletes were contacted at a minimum of 2 years after ACLR. Patients completed 2 patient-reported outcome measures, the ACL--Return to Sport After Injury (ACL-RSI) and the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective form, and responded to questions regarding preinjury primary sport and level of competition, post-ACLR return to primary sport status, and reinjury. Results: A total of 74 patients (mean ± SD surgical age, 15.9 ± 1.5 years; follow-up age, 19.9 ± 2.0 years; response rate, 24.5%) completed the surveys at a mean of 4.0 ± 2.0 years after primary ACLR. Outcome scores averaged 90.3 ± 12.3 for IKDC and 81.6 ± 20.4 for ACL-RSI. Questionnaire responses indicated that 27.0% of patients did not return to or sustain primary sport participation after ACLR; the principal reasons were poor knee function, team/training change, and fear of another injury. Both IKDC and ACL-RSI scores were statistically lower in patients who did not successfully return to their primary sport in contrast to patients who successfully resumed their primary sport (IKDC, P = .026; ACL-RSI, P < .001). IKDC and ACL-RSI scores were moderately positively correlated with one another (r Spearman = 0.60). There were 18 patients (reinjury rate, 24.3%) who suffered another ACL injury; 8 of these injuries included ipsilateral ACL graft tear (retear rate, 10.8%). Conclusion: In our cohort, 73% of adolescent patients successfully returned to their primary preinjury sport at a minimum of 2 years after ACLR. Both knee function and psychological responses to injury were important in determining an adolescent athlete’s return to sport. The findings support the use of the IKDC and ACL-RSI at midterm follow-up, with higher scores associated with a greater likelihood of adolescent patients returning to sport after ACLR.
A journey in ESN and LSTM visualisations on a language task

Echo States Networks (ESN) and Long-Short Term Memory networks (LSTM) are two popular architectures of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) to solve machine learning task involving sequential data. However, little have been done to compare their performances and their internal mechanisms on a common task. In this work, we trained ESNs and LSTMs on a Cross-Situationnal Learning (CSL) task. This task aims at modelling how infants learn language: they create associations between words and visual stimuli in order to extract meaning from words and sentences. The results are of three kinds: performance comparison, internal dynamics analyses and visualization of latent space. (1) We found that both models were able to successfully learn the task: the LSTM reached the lowest error for the basic corpus, but the ESN was quicker to train. Furthermore, the ESN was able to outperform LSTMs on datasets more challenging without any further tuning needed. (2) We also conducted an analysis of the internal units activations of LSTMs and ESNs. Despite the deep differences between both models (trained or fixed internal weights), we were able to uncover similar inner mechanisms: both put emphasis on the units encoding aspects of the sentence structure. (3) Moreover, we present \textit{Recurrent States Space Visualisations} (RSSviz), a method to visualize the structure of latent state space of RNNs, based on dimension reduction (using UMAP). This technique enables us to observe a fractal embedding of sequences in the LSTM. RSSviz is also useful for the analysis of ESNs (i) to spot difficult examples and (ii) to generate animated plots showing the evolution of activations across learning stages. Finally, we explore qualitatively how the RSSviz could provide an intuitive visualisation to understand the influence of hyperparameters on the reservoir dynamics prior to ESN training.
Digital PCR for BCR-ABL1 Quantification in CML: Current Applications in Clinical Practice

Abstract Molecular monitoring of the BCR-ABL1 transcript for patients with chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has become increasingly demanding. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the routinely used method, but has limitations in quantification accuracy due to its inherent technical variation. Treatment recommendations rely on specific BCR-ABL1 values set at timed response milestones, making precise measurement of BCR-ABL1 a requisite. Furthermore, the sensitivity of qPCR may be insufficient to reliably quantify low levels of residual BCR-ABL1 in patients in deep molecular response (DMR) who could qualify for an attempt to discontinue Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI) therapy. We reviewed the current use of digital PCR (dPCR) as a promising alternative for response monitoring in CML. dPCR offers an absolute BCR-ABL1 quantification at various disease levels with remarkable precision and a clinical sensitivity reaching down to at least MR5.0. Moreover, dPCR has been validated in multiple studies as prognostic marker for successful TKI treatment discontinuation, while this could not be achieved using classical qPCR. dPCR may thus prospectively be the preferred method to reliably identify patients achieving treatment milestones after initiation of TKI therapy as well as for the selection and timing for TKI discontinuation.
East Asian Cryphalus Erichson (Curculionidae, Scolytinae): new species, new synonymy and redescriptions of species

Abstract Cryphalus Erichson, 1836 is a taxonomically challenging genus. It is particularly speciose in Asia. Many species are minor pests of fruit tree crops and forest products. We review collections from East Asia, using external morphology, internal morphology and genetic markers with a focus on sub-tropical species from fruit trees. Four new species are described; Cryphalus gnetivorus Johnson, sp. nov., C. itinerans Johnson, sp. nov., C. morivorus Johnson, sp. nov., and C. paramangiferae Johnson, sp. nov. Ten species are redescribed to enable accurate identification: C. artocarpus (Schedl, 1939), C. dilutus Eichhoff, 1878, C. dorsalis (Motschulsky, 1866), C. exiguus Blandford, 1894, C. kyotoensis Nobuchi, 1966, C. lipingensis Tsai & Li, 1963 (= C. kesiyae Browne, 1975, syn. nov.), C. mangiferae Stebbing, 1914 (= C. artestriatus Browne, 1970, syn. nov.), C. meridionalis (Nobuchi, 1975), C. scopiger Berger, 1917, and C. viburni Stark, 1936. Additional records from new localities and new hosts are also presented.
Bioactive Sr2+/Fe3+ co-substituted hydroxyapatite in cryogenically 3D printed porous scaffolds for bone tissue engineering

Developing multi-doped bioceramics that possess biological multifunctionality is becoming increasingly attractive and promising for bone tissue engineering. In this view innovative Sr2+/Fe3+ co-substituted nano-hydroxyapatite with gradient doping concentrations fixed at 10 mol% has been deliberately designed previously. Herein, to evaluate their therapeutic potentials for bone healing, novel gradient SrFeHA/PCL scaffolds are fabricated by extrusion cryogenic 3D printing technology with subsequent lyophilization. The obtained scaffolds exhibit desired 3D interconnected porous structure and rough microsurface, along with appreciable release of bioactive Sr2+/Fe3+ from SrFeHA components. These favorable physicochemical properties render printed scaffolds realizing effective biological applications both in vitro and in vivo, particularly the moderate co-substituted Sr7.5Fe2. 5HA and Sr5Fe5HA groups exhibit remarkably enhanced bioactivity that not only promotes the functions of MC3T3 osteoblasts and HUVECs directly, but also energetically manipulates favorable macrophages activation to concurrently facilitate osteogenesis/angiogenesis. Moreover, in vivo subcutaneous implantation and cranial defects repair outcomes further confirm their superior capacity to dictate immune reaction, implants vascularization and in situ bone regeneration, mainly dependent on the synergetic effects of released Sr2+/Fe3+. Accordingly, for the first time, present study highlights the great potential of Sr7.5Fe2. 5HA and Sr5Fe5HA for ameliorating bone regeneration process by coupling of immunomodulation with enhanced angio- and osteogenesis and hence may provide a new promising alternative for future bone tissue engineering.
The Content and Accessibility of Orthopaedic Residency Program Websites

Background: Applicants to orthopaedic surgery residency programs face a competitive match. Internet resources such as program websites allow prospective applicants to gauge interest in particular programs. This study evaluated the content and accessibility of orthopaedic surgery residency program websites. Methods: Existing orthopaedic surgery residency programs for the 2020 application cycle were identified on the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) website. Individual program websites were accessed through links directly from the ERAS website, and a Google search for each program was performed to corroborate accessibility. Programs websites were then reviewed and evaluated on the presence of 20 criteria selected for their potential to influence resident recruitment (10) and education (10), respectively. The results were compared with the lone 2001 study and with orthopaedic fellowship website analyses. Results: One hundred eighty-nine orthopaedic surgery residency programs were accredited at the time of the study. Only 6 programs (3.2%) did not have a website identifiable through ERAS or Google searches, leaving a final sample size of 183 websites. Approximately 73.3% of all recruitment content and 44.9% of education content were present on the websites available. There was a significant increase in all available recruitment and education content (p < 0.05) when compared with the lone 2001 study. Orthopaedic residency program websites provide comparable recruitment content at a higher rate (71.1%) than orthopaedic fellowship websites (59.6%) but fall slightly below average in presentation of education content (44.9% vs 45.9%). Conclusion: This is the first study in nearly 20 years to assess the content and accessibility of orthopaedic residency program websites. There is noticeable variability in the presentation of website content, but approximately 73.3% of recruitment content and 44.9% of the educational content were easily accessible through internet search. Orthopaedic surgery residency programs and their applicants may benefit from standardization of program websites and an increase in recruitment and education content.
Pharmacokinetics and tolerability of LIQ861, a novel dry-powder formulation of treprostinil

A dry-powder inhaled formulation of treprostinil (LIQ861) produced using PRINT® technology offers a substantial advantage over current nebulized therapy. Treprostinil is a synthetic prostacyclin analogue that is currently approved for inhalation administration to patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension via nebulized Tyvaso® inhalation solution. LTI-101 was a phase 1, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, single-center study that evaluated the ascending single-dose pharmacokinetics of LIQ861 in healthy subjects. Six sequential, escalating doses (25, 50, 75, 100, 125, and 150 mcg) were studied to investigate treprostinil exposure from LIQ861 inhalation. Subjects (n = 57) were randomly assigned in a 3:1 ratio to receive a single dose of either LIQ861 (n = 43) or placebo (n = 14); 56 subjects completed all protocol-defined assessments. Following single-dose administration, treprostinil exposure from LIQ861 increased proportionally across the dose range studied, and the pharmacokinetics profile of treprostinil administered as LIQ861 was similar to prior reports of inhaled treprostinil. All doses of LIQ861 were generally well-tolerated with no deaths, serious adverse events, or dose-limiting toxicities. The most frequently reported treatment-emergent adverse events related to study drug administration were coughing and throat irritation, which are common to dry-powder formulations. Treatment-related treatment-emergent adverse events were reported more frequently at higher dose levels; however, all were assessed as mild in severity. We conclude that the pharmacokinetics profile of treprostinil using a dry-powder inhaled formulation increased in proportion to dose as anticipated and was similar to earlier reports of inhaled, nebulized treprostinil (Tyvaso®). Based on these results, a phase 3 study (INSPIRE; Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier NCT03399604) evaluating the long-term safety and tolerability of LIQ861 in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension was initiated.
Genetic liability in individuals at ultra-high risk of psychosis: A comparison study of 9 psychiatric traits

Individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) of psychosis are characterised by the emergence of attenuated psychotic symptoms and deterioration in functioning. In view of the high non-psychotic comorbidity and low rates of transition to psychosis, the specificity of the UHR status has been called into question. This study aims to (i) investigate if the UHR construct is associated with the genetic liability of schizophrenia or other psychiatric conditions; (ii) examine the ability of polygenic risk scores (PRS) to discriminate healthy controls from UHR, remission and conversion status. PRS was calculated for 210 youths (nUHR = 102, nControl = 108) recruited as part of the Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study (LYRIKS) using nine psychiatric traits derived from twelve large-scale psychiatric genome-wide association studies as discovery datasets. PRS was also examined to discriminate UHR-Healthy control status, and healthy controls from UHR remission and conversion status. Result indicated that schizophrenia PRS appears to best index the genetic liability of UHR, while trend level associations were observed for depression and cross-disorder PRS. Schizophrenia PRS discriminated healthy controls from UHR (R2 = 7.9%, p = 2.59 x 10−3, OR = 1.82), healthy controls from non-remitters (R2 = 8.1%, p = 4.90 x 10−4, OR = 1.90), and converters (R2 = 7.6%, p = 1.61 x 10−3, OR = 1.82), with modest predictive ability. A trend gradient increase in schizophrenia PRS was observed across categories. The association between schizophrenia PRS and UHR status supports the hypothesis that the schizophrenia polygenic liability indexes the risk for developing psychosis.
CUT: Controllable Unsupervised Text Simplification

In this paper, we focus on the challenge of learning controllable text simplifications in unsupervised settings. While this problem has been previously discussed for supervised learning algorithms, the literature on the analogies in unsupervised methods is scarse. We propose two unsupervised mechanisms for controlling the output complexity of the generated texts, namely, back translation with control tokens (a learning-based approach) and simplicity-aware beam search (decoding-based approach). We show that by nudging a back-translation algorithm to understand the relative simplicity of a text in comparison to its noisy translation, the algorithm self-supervises itself to produce the output of the desired complexity. This approach achieves competitive performance on well-established benchmarks: SARI score of 46.88% and FKGL of 3.65% on the Newsela dataset.
Surgical technologists’ knowledge and performance about radiation protection in Zahedan educational hospitals. A descriptive-analytical study

INTRODUCTION: The use of ionizing radiation in various sciences, especially in medical science, has played an important role in human health. As the use of radiology tests in medical centers, including the operating room ward, is increasing, increasing the level of awareness of the operating room staff can improve their performance in this area as well as reduce the risk of exposure to radiation. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and performance of surgical technologists about radiation protection in Zahedan educational hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study is a descriptive-analytical study that was performed on 80 surgical technologists of Zahedan teaching hospitals from January 2019 to December 2019. The Knowledge Questionnaire was used in this study, which was a researcher-made questionnaire. After filling out questionnaires and checklists, the data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics and analytical, statistical tests, including independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean age of participants was 31 ± 7.03 years . 27% were men, and 53% were women. The mean of work experience was 7 ± 7.56. The mean score of knowledge was 6 ± 3.02 and the performance score was 12 ± 7.38. There was a correlation between age, awareness and performance of the participants (P < 0.001), and there was a correlation between participants' radiation protection training and awareness and performance (P = 0.000). There is a direct relationship between staff knowledge and performance. No significant relationship was found between the other variables (P = 0.029). CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that there is a relationship between radiation protection training courses so that the personnel who passed these courses are more aware and functioning. Given that action is needed to raise awareness through workshops.
Spatiotemporal analysis of mycolactone distribution in vivo reveals partial diffusion in the central nervous system

Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcer (BU) disease, is unique amongst human pathogens in its capacity to produce a lipid toxin called mycolactone. While previous studies have demonstrated that bacterially-released mycolactone diffuses beyond infection foci, the spatiotemporal distribution of mycolactone remained largely unknown. Here, we used the zebrafish model to provide the first global kinetic analysis of mycolactone’s diffusion in vivo, and multicellular co-culture systems to address the critical question of the toxin’s access to the brain. Zebrafish larvae were injected with a fluorescent-derivative of mycolactone to visualize the in vivo diffusion of the toxin from the peripheral circulation. A rapid, body-wide distribution of mycolactone was observed, with selective accumulation in tissues near the injection site and brain, together with an important excretion through the gastro-intestinal tract. Our conclusion that mycolactone reached the central nervous system was reinforced by an in cellulo model of human blood brain barrier and a mouse model of M. ulcerans-infection. Here we show that mycolactone has a broad but heterogenous profile of distribution in vivo. Our investigations in vitro and in vivo support the view that a fraction of bacterially-produced mycolactone gains access to the central nervous system. The relative persistence of mycolactone in the bloodstream suggests that assays of circulating mycolactone are relevant for BU disease monitoring and treatment optimization.
Platelet-Rich Plasma Augmentation for Isolated Arthroscopic Meniscal Repairs Leads to Significantly Lower Failure Rates: A Systematic Review of Comparative Studies

Background: Studies have reported relatively high failure rates of isolated meniscal repairs. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been suggested as a way to increase growth factors that enhance healing. Purpose: To compare (1) meniscal repair failures and (2) patient-reported outcomes after isolated arthroscopic meniscal repair augmented with and without PRP. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: A systematic review was performed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Multiple databases were searched for studies that compared outcomes of isolated arthroscopic meniscal repair augmented with PRP versus without PRP in human patients. Failures and patient-reported outcome scores were reported for each study and compared between groups. Study heterogeneity was assessed using I 2 for each outcome measure before meta-analysis. Study methodological quality was analyzed. Continuous variable data were reported as mean and standard deviation from the mean. Categorical variable data were reported as frequency with percentage. All P values were reported with significance set at P < . 05. Results: Five articles were analyzed (274 patients [110 with PRP and 164 without PRP]; 65.8% male; mean age, 29.1 ± 4.6 years; mean follow-up, 29.2 ± 22.1 months). The risk of meniscal repair failure ranged from 4.4% to 26.7% for PRP-augmented repairs and 13.3% to 50.0% for repairs without PRP. Meniscal repairs augmented with PRP had significantly lower failure rates than repairs without PRP (odds ratio, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.12-0.90; P = .03). One of the 5 studies reported significantly higher outcomes in the PRP-augmented group versus the no-PRP group for the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) (P < .05 for all). The remaining 4 studies reported no significant difference between groups with regard to outcomes for the IKDC, Lysholm knee scale, visual analog scale for pain, or Tegner activity level. Conclusion: Although the studies were of mostly of low quality, isolated arthroscopic meniscal repairs augmented with PRP led to significantly lower failure rates (10.8% vs 27.0%; odds ratio, 0.32; P = .03) as compared with repairs without PRP. However, most studies reported no significant differences in patient-reported outcomes.