Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Thyroid Signaling Biomarkers in Female Symptomatic Hypothyroid Patients on Liothyronine versus Levothyroxine Monotherapy: A Randomized Crossover Trial

Background Levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) are believed to reflect degree of disease in patients with hypothyroidism, and normalization of levels is the treatment goal. However, despite adequate levels of TSH after starting levothyroxine (LT4) therapy, 5–10% of hypothyroid patients complain of persisting symptoms with a significant negative impact on quality of life. This indicates that TSH is not an optimal indicator of intracellular thyroid hormone effects in all patients. Our aim was to investigate different effects of LT3 and LT4 monotherapy on other biomarkers of the thyroid signaling pathway, in addition to adverse effects, in patients with residual hypothyroid symptoms. Methods Fifty-nine female hypothyroid patients, with residual symptoms on LT4 monotherapy or LT4/liothyronine (LT3) combination therapy, were randomly assigned in a non-blinded crossover study and received LT4 or LT3 monotherapy for 12 weeks each. Measurements, including serum analysis of a number of biochemical and hormonal parameters, were obtained at the baseline visit and after both treatment periods. Results Free thyroxine (FT4) was higher in the LT4 group, while free triiodothyronine (FT3) was higher in the LT3 group. The levels of reverse triiodothyronine (rT3) decreased after LT3 treatment compared with LT4 treatment. Both low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol levels were reduced, while sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) increased after LT3 treatment compared with LT4 treatment. The median TSH levels for both treatment groups were within the reference range, however, lower in the LT4 group than in the LT3 group. We did not find any differences in pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT pro-BNP), handgrip strength, bone turnover markers, or adverse events between the two treatment groups. Conclusion We have demonstrated that FT4, FT3, rT3, cholesterol, and SHBG show significantly different values on LT4 treatment compared with LT3 treatment in women with hypothyroidism and residual symptoms despite normal TSH levels. No differences in general or bone-specific adverse effects were demonstrated. This trial is registered with NCT03627611 in May 2018.
Fibrinogen–Albumin Ratio Index Exhibits Predictive Value of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Osteosarcoma

Purpose Inflammatory response and nutritional status are associated with cancer development and progression. The present study aimed to evaluate the predictive ability of the fibrinogen–albumin ratio index (FARI) to the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for osteosarcoma. Patients and methods A retrospective analysis involving 752 consecutive osteosarcoma patients between 2012 and 2020 was performed. Data on serum fibrinogen, albumin levels, white blood cell count, platelet count, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) before and after NAC were collected. The predictive value of the NAC efficacy in osteosarcoma was assessed by constructing a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calculating the area under the curve (AUC). Prognosis and its predictive factors were analyzed by Kaplan–Meier method and COX regression analysis. Nomogram was established according to selected variables. The predictive performance of the nomogram model was assessed using C-statistics. Results A total of 203 patients were included. ROC analysis showed that both FARI before NAC (preFARI; AUC = 0.594, p = 0.032) and the change in FARI before and after NAC (dfFARI = preFARI-postFARI; AUC = 0.652, p = 0.001) exhibited more favorable predictive ability than ALP and other inflammation markers. The preFARI was divided into the high group (>6.1%) and the low group (≤6.1%) based on the optimal cut-off value of 6.1%. Patients with a high preFARI showed significantly decreased metastasis-free survival (MFS) and disease-free survival (DFS) (all p<0.01). In multivariable analysis, preFARI was an independent prognostic marker for patients with osteosarcoma. Predictive nomograms exhibited good ability to predict MFS (C-index = 0.748, se = 0.028) and DFS (C-index=0.727, se = 0.030). Conclusion Our findings indicated that FARI exhibits the favorable predictive ability for the efficacy of NAC for osteosarcoma, which could support clinicians and patients in clinical decision-making and treatment optimization.
Reconstruction Algorithm-Based CT Imaging for the Diagnosis of Hepatic Ascites

The study was aimed at exploring the diagnostic value of artificial intelligence reconstruction algorithm combined with CT image parameters on hepatic ascites, expected to provide a reference for the etiological evaluation of clinical abdominal effusion. Specifically, the adaptive iterative hard threshold (AIHT) algorithm for CT image reconstruction was proposed. Then, 100 patients with peritoneal effusion were selected as the research subjects. After 8 cases were excluded, the remaining was divided into 50 cases of the S1 group (hepatic ascites) and 42 cases of the D0 group (cancerous peritoneal effusion). Gemstone energy spectrum CT scanning was performed on all patients, and CT image parameters of the two groups were compared. It was found that CT value of mixed energy, CT value of 60-100 KeV single energy, concentration value of water (calcium), concentration value of water (iodine), and slope of energy spectrum curve in the S1 group were significantly lower than those in the D0 group (P < 0.05). The effective atomic number in the S1 group was significantly higher than that in the D0 group (P < 0.05). Of the 50 patients in the S1 group, 3 (6%) had an ascending and 47 (94%) had a descending spectral curve. Of the 42 patients in the D0 group, 37 (88.1%) had an ascending and 5 (11.9%) had a descending spectral curve. The sensitivity and specificity of water (iodine) were 0.927 and 0.836, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of water (calcium) were 0.863 and 0.887, respectively. For different scan ranges ([0,90]; [0,120]), root mean square error (RMSE) of AIHT reconstructed image was significantly smaller than that of traditional algorithm, while peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) was opposite. The differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). In conclusion, AIHT-based CT images can better display the distribution of hepatic ascites, and the parameters of CT value, effective atomic number, water (iodine), water (calcium), and spectral curve can all provide help for the identification of hepatic ascites. Especially, water (iodine) and water (calcium) demonstrated high diagnostic performance of hepatic ascites.
Information Systems Design and User Satisfaction: A Banking Case Study

With the growing, pervasive use of information systems (IS) by most organizations, particularly companies in technology-intensive businesses like banking, questions arise as to the effective success of those systems, how to measure it and, most of all, what influences it. User satisfaction, even if not an end goal of IS organizations, is frequently used as a measure of that success and it has been empirically shown to correlate with other more direct measures. The research reported here looked at what influences user satisfaction, particularly what characteristics of information systems and their development processes tend to result in higher user satisfaction, in the specific case study of a Portuguese bank, which conducts a comprehensive survey every year to measure the satisfaction of its thousands of IS users regarding its numerous information systems. Additional primary data was collected to characterize the information systems and their development processes, which, once structured and standardized alongside the user satisfaction survey results provided the basis for a quantitative analysis of the relationships between IS success, measured by user satisfaction, and its antecedents, using correlation and multiple linear regression techniques. The significant relationships are analyzed and the conceptual model’s results discussed in light of prior theory on the subject. Several implications for the practice and research communities are finally identified.
Association between Serum Total and Specific Immunoglobulin E Levels and Body Height: A Cross-Sectional Study of Children and Adolescents

Background: The atopy rate in children has increased significantly. Atopy and growth are connected in a multifactorial manner and are important health issues for children around the world. The principal research question in this cross-sectional investigation concerned the association between serum total, specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels, and body height (BH)/weight (BW)/body mass index (BMI). Methods: A total of 993 subjects were enrolled for analysis retrospectively with allergic diseases and aged from 6 months to 18 years during the years 2015–2016. A complete panel of 36 allergen-specific IgE was taken from each participant using the MAST allergen test as well as their BH, BW, BMI, and total IgE levels. Results: There was a statistically significant positive association between the total IgE levels with BH (N = 348) and BW (N = 623) in the preschool age group (<6 years old, p-values of 0.009 and 0.034, respectively). In the preschool group, the total IgE levels showed a positive association with house dust (p < 0.001), cockroach mix (p < 0.001), Dermatophagoides farina (p < 0.001), and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (p < 0.001). After performing a general linear model followed by a backward selection of variables with age, sex, specific IgE, and total IgE, egg white sensitization demonstrated a significant negative association with BH (p = 0.009), and Dermatophagoides farina sensitization showed a significant positive association with BH (p = 0.006). The analysis showed that, in this model, the level of total IgE was not associated with BH. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the level of total IgE was not associated with BH in the preschool age group. Future studies are needed to replicate the results in outcome with follow-up allergic cohorts.
Optimal repetitive reliability inspection of manufactured lots for lifetime models using prior information

Repetitive group inspection of production lots is considered to develop the failure censored plan with minimal expected sampling effort using prior information. Optimal reliability test plans are derived for the family of log-location-scale lifetime distributions, whereas a limited beta distribution is assumed to model the proportion nonconforming, p. A highly efficient and quick step-by-step algorithm is proposed to solve the underlying mixed nonlinear programming problem. Conventional repetitive group plans are often very effective in reducing the average sample number with respect to other inspection schemes, but sample sizes may increase under certain conditions such as high censoring. The inclusion of previous knowledge from past empirical results contributes to drastically reduce the amount of sampling required in life testing. Moreover, the use of expected sampling risks significantly improves the assessment of the actual producer and consumer sampling risks. Several tables and figures are presented to analyse the effect of the available prior evidence about p. The results show that the proposed lot inspection scheme clearly outperforms the standard repetitive group plans obtained under the traditional approach based on conventional risks. Finally, an application to the manufacture of integrated circuits is included for illustrative purposes.
Socio-cultural sustainability and small tourism businesses

Early assumptions pertaining to the sustainability of small tourism businesses (STBs) have been answered specifically as it relates to environmental sustainability. What is less well documented and still unclear is the extent to which STBs enhance the socio-cultural sustainability of the destination. This lacuna is surprising, given the development of indicators of sustainable tourism. This study therefore fills this gap by utilizing sustainability indicators to examine the extent to which small tourism businesses, across a number of sectors, contribute to destination sustainability. Using a conceptual approach premised upon principles of socio-cultural sustainability to construct the reference condition for indicator development, the study found that businesses performed better on indicators related to equity and cultural conservation but had mixed performance in the area of social cohesion, and were borderline on empowerment. The theoretical contribution of the study is that it provides operational validity to the assumptions governing small tourism businesses and socio-cultural sustainability by employing indicators developed through the scientific consensus approach. Using this approach, the study is able to measure socio-cultural sustainability contributions across myriad sectors.
SARS-CoV-2 Infection Dysregulates Cilia and Basal Cell Homeostasis in the Respiratory Epithelium of Hamsters

Similar to many other respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 targets the ciliated cells of the respiratory epithelium and compromises mucociliary clearance, thereby facilitating spread to the lungs and paving the way for secondary infections. A detailed understanding of mechanism involved in ciliary loss and subsequent regeneration is crucial to assess the possible long-term consequences of COVID-19. The aim of this study was to characterize the sequence of histological and ultrastructural changes observed in the ciliated epithelium during and after SARS-CoV-2 infection in the golden Syrian hamster model. We show that acute infection induces a severe, transient loss of cilia, which is, at least in part, caused by cilia internalization. Internalized cilia colocalize with membrane invaginations, facilitating virus entry into the cell. Infection also results in a progressive decline in cells expressing the regulator of ciliogenesis FOXJ1, which persists beyond virus clearance and the termination of inflammatory changes. Ciliary loss triggers the mobilization of p73+ and CK14+ basal cells, which ceases after regeneration of the cilia. Although ciliation is restored after two weeks despite the lack of FOXJ1, an increased frequency of cilia with ultrastructural alterations indicative of secondary ciliary dyskinesia is observed. In summary, the work provides new insights into SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and expands our understanding of virally induced damage to defense mechanisms in the conducting airways.
Physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory quality and storage stability of cookies: effect of clove powder

ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the effect of different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2%) of clove powder on the physicochemical, nutritional, and sensorial quality and storage stability of cookies. The results showed significantly (P ≤ .05) increases in the peak viscosity, breakdown, final viscosity, setback, hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, adhesiveness, chewiness, water holding capacity, and oil holding capacity, and reduction of pasting temperature of cookie flour containing clove powder compared to control. In cookies, the incorporation of clove powder significantly (p ≤ .05) increased diameter, thickness, hardness, factorability, redness (a*), and moisture. The significant increasing significantly (p ≤ .05) in cookies content was: macronutrients (Protein (10.65 ± 0.03 to 10.62 ± 0.07), Fat (14.52 ± 0.15 to 15.48 ± 0.07), Ash (1.08 ± 0.05 to 1.35 ± 0.00)%), minerals (K (12.04 ± 0.78 to 35.16 ± 0.76), Mg (12.62 ± 0.45 to 17.63 ± 0.04), Fe (8.14 ± 0.06 to 8.61 ± 0.02), P (10.51 ± 0.94 to 13.52 ± 0.12), Zn (0.31 ± 0.01 to 0.53 ± 0.00), Ca (56.89 ± 0.31 to 66.97 ± 0.43) (mg/kg)), also, TPC (12.93 ± 1.8 to 34.07 ± 1.9 (mg GAE/g)), and DPPH (% inhibition) was increased from (15.73 ± 1.4 to 28.51 ± 1.7) in control and 2% clove cookies respectively. However, it reduced the spread ratio, water activity, lightness (L*), and yellowness (b*) of cookies (p ≤ .05). Clove powder also improves the storage stability of cookies. Overall, incorporating clove powder into cookies enhanced the physicochemical, nutritional, bioactive properties, and storability without a major effect on the sensory acceptability of the developed product.
Iron Supplementation at the Crossroads of Nutrition and Gut Microbiota: The State of the Art

Gut microbiota has received significant attention owing to its decisive role in human health and disease. Diet exerts a significant influence on the variety and number of bacteria residing in the intestinal epithelium. On the other hand, as iron is a key micronutrient for blood formation and oxygen supply, its deficiency is highly prevalent worldwide. In fact, it is the most common cause of anemia and thus, iron supplementation is widespread. However, there is concern due to some potential risks linked to iron supplementation. Therefore, we have reviewed the available evidence of the effects that iron supplementation exerts on the gut microbiota as well as its potential benefits and risks. The compiled information suggests that iron supplementation is potentially harmful for gut microbiota. Therefore, it should be performed with caution, and by principle, recommended only to individuals with proven iron deficiency or iron-deficiency anemia to avoid potential adverse effects. In any case, large and long-term population studies are urgently needed to confirm or refute these results, mainly focused on vulnerable populations.
Modelling of transport in highly heterogeneous porous media, with application to the flushing of waste.

This thesis is concerned with predicting the fate of contaminants using tracer and contaminant flushing datasets in otherwise poorly characterised heterogeneous media. A deductive approach towards constraining prediction uncertainty is adopted, by narrowing a 'pool' of plausible process models and associated parameter sets. Mathematical comparison of simple transport models is used to allow enhanced diagnosis. Transport models are put into a framework. Then they are compared using commonly used measures of breakthrough curves (least squares fitting, method of moments and late-time concentration gradients). Experimental data and models for transport in waste are then reviewed using this framework. Two new tracer datasets, at laboratory and lysimeter scales, are analysed and modelled. Strong evidence is shown of 'dual-porosity' diffusive exchange effects being an important component in transport in municipal solid waste. However, it is not possible to discriminate between contributions to dispersion through advective and diffusive effects. Approaches to enhance the diagnostic capability of future waste experiments are developed. One possible 'entrant' to the 'pool' of models is examined: a stochastic channel network model. Histograms of nodes and average heads are evaluated at different distances from a range of boundary conditions for large ensembles revealing key insights into network flow behaviour near different types of boundary. Key properties of the network are related to typical continuum analyses, including dimensionality of flow and genesis of apparent 'skins' near boundaries. 'Classical' percolation networks (with zero spatial correlation) are also analysed, revealing new insights into their network properties within finite boundaries. In summary, progress towards predicting the fate of contaminants in highly heterogeneous systems is made through a thorough delineation of the behaviour of simple models in tandem with adoption of a fertile approach to adding new conceptual models. The increased rigorousness of using multiple diagnostic criteria in conjunction with adopting a philosophy of working with multiple working hypotheses is commended as a methodology that provides a sound basis from which to employ multiple-model uncertainty analysis for predictive purposes in the future.
A survey on organizational choices for microservice-based software architectures

: During the last decade, the demand for more flexible, responsive, and reliable software applications increased exponentially. The availability of internet infrastructure and new software technologies to respond to this demand led to a new generation of applications. As a result, cloud-based, distributed, independently deployable web applications working together in a microservice-based software architecture style have gained popularity. The style has been a common practice in the industry and successfully utilized by companies. Adopting this style demands software organizations to transform their culture. However, there is a lack of research studies that explores common practices for microservices. Thus, we performed a survey to explore the organizational choices on software analysis, design, size measurement, and effort estimation when working with microservices. The results provide a snapshot of the software industry that utilizes microservices. We provide insight for software organizations to transform their culture and suggest challenges researchers can focus on in the area.
Skeletonization methods for image and volume inpainting

Image and shape restoration techniques are increasingly important in computer graphics. Many types of restoration techniques have been proposed in the 2D image-processing and according to our knowledge only one to volumetric data. Well-known examples of such techniques include digital inpainting, denoising, and morphological gap filling. However efficient and effective, such methods have several limitations with respect to the shape, size, distribution, and nature of the defects they can find and eliminate. We start by studying the use of 2D skeletons for the restoration of two-dimensional images. To this end, we show that skeletons are useful and efficient for volumetric data reconstruction. To explore our hypothesis in the 3D case, we first overview the existing state-of-the-art in 3D skeletonization methods, and conclude that no such method provides us with the features required by efficient and effective practical usage. We next propose a novel method for 3D skeletonization, and show how it complies with our desired quality requirements, which makes it thereby suitable for volumetric data reconstruction context. The joint results of our study show that skeletons are indeed effective tools to design a variety of shape restoration methods. Separately, our results show that suitable algorithms and implementations can be conceived to yield high end-to-end performance and quality of skeleton-based restoration methods. Finally, our practical applications can generate competitive results when compared to application areas such as digital hair removal and wire artifact removal.
Endometriosis Associated-miRNome Analysis of Blood Samples: A Prospective Study

The aim of our study was to describe the bioinformatics approach to analyze miRNome with Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) of 200 plasma samples from patients with and without endometriosis. Patients were prospectively included in the ENDO-miRNA study that selected patients with pelvic pain suggestive of endometriosis. miRNA sequencing was performed using an Novaseq6000 sequencer (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA). Small RNA-seq of 200 plasma samples yielded ~4228 M raw sequencing reads. A total of 2633 miRNAs were found differentially expressed. Among them, 8.6% (n = 229) were up- or downregulated. For these 229 miRNAs, the F1-score, sensitivity, specificity, and AUC ranged from 0–88.2%, 0–99.4%, 4.3–100%, and 41.5–68%, respectively. Utilizing the combined bioinformatic and NGS approach, a specific and broad panel of miRNAs was detected as being potentially suitable for building a blood signature of endometriosis.