Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors associated with adherence to ARV treatment in people living with HIV/AIDS in a rural area (Koula-Moutou) in East Gabon

The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of socio-clinical factors on adherence to antiretroviral treatment in people living with HIV/AIDS in Koula-Moutou (a rural area of Gabon). Two adherence assessment methods based on patient declaration and compliance with pharmacy visits were used to determine qualitative and quantitative aspects of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART). The quantitative (82.2%) and qualitative (79.5%) adherences to ART declared by patients were higher than those obtained through pharmacy visit assessment methods (15.8% and 45.2%, respectively). Moreover, the declarative and pharmacy visit compliance methods showed fair agreement (quantitative Kappa = 0.317; qualitative Kappa = 0.311). A better quantitative or qualitative declarative adherence was associated with a lower level of education (P = 0.05 and P = 0.025 respectively). This study reported for the first time the factors influencing adherence to ART in a rural area of East Gabon. We recommend further investigations in a large cohort to better assess the impact of socio-clinical factors on ART adherence in a vulnerable group of patients.
Osteogenic potential of mesenchymal stem cells from rat mandible to regenerate critical sized calvarial defect

Although bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively explored in bone tissue engineering, only few studies using mesenchymal stem cells from mandible (M-MSCs) have been reported. However, mesenchymal stem cells from mandible have the potential to be as effective as femur-derived mesenchymal stem cells (F-MSCs) in regenerating bone, especially in the orofacial regions, which share embryonic origin, proximity, and accessibility. M-MSCs were isolated and characterized using mesenchymal stem cell–specific markers, colony forming assay, and multi-potential differentiation. In vitro osteogenic potential, including proliferation, osteogenic gene expression, alkaline phosphatase activity, and mineralization, was examined and compared. Furthermore, in vivo bone formations of F-MSCs and M-MSCs in rat critical sized defect were evaluated using microCT and histology. M-MSCs from rat could be successfully isolated and expanded while preserving their MSC’s characteristics. M-MSCs demonstrated a comparable proliferation and mineralization potentials and in vivo bone formation as F-MSCs. M-MSCs is a promising cell source candidate for craniofacial bone tissue engineering.
Effect of Hyperoxygenation During Surgery on Surgical Site Infection in Colorectal Surgery

Purpose Despite the use of different surgical methods, surgical site infection is still an important cause of mortality and morbidity in patients and imposes a considerable cost on the healthcare system. Administration of supplemental oxygen during surgery has been reported to reduce surgical site infection (SSI); however, that result is still controversial. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of hyperoxygenation during colorectal surgery on the incidence of wound infection. Methods This study was a prospective double-blind case-control study. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of hyperoxygenation during colorectal surgery on the incidence of SSI. Also, secondary outcomes, such as atelectasis, pneumonia, respiratory failure, length of hospital stay, and required hospitalization in the intensive care unit were evaluated. Results SSI was recorded in 2 patients (2 of 40, 5%) in the hyperoxygenation group (FiO2 80%) and 6 patients (6 of 40, 15%) in the control group (FiO2 30%) (P < 0.05). Time of hospitalization was 6 ± 6.4 days in the hyperoxygenation group and 9.2 ± 2.4 days in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion This study showed a positive effect of hyperoxygenation in reducing SSI in colorectal surgery, especially surgery in an emergency setting. When the low risk, low cost, and effectiveness of this method in patients undergoing a laparotomy are considered, it is recommended for all patients undergoing colorectal surgery.
Low P4HA2 and high PRTN3 expression predicts poor survival in patients with pancreatic cancer

Abstract Background: The tumor microenvironment in pancreatic cancer has a multifaceted role in disease development and progression. Prolyl 4-hydroxylase subunit alpha 2 (P4HA2) and proteinase 3 (PRTN3) are involved in the synthesis and degradation of collagen in the tumor microenvironment and have been identified as prognostic biomarker candidates for pancreatic cancer in our previous mass spectrometric study. This study aimed at validating prognostic performance of P4HA2 and PRTN3 in a larger cohort of patients. Methods: The expression of P4HA2 and PRTN3 was evaluated with tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry in 140 patients with pancreatic cancer who underwent surgical resection. Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling were used to explore the association of P4HA2 and PRTN3, either separately or combined, with clinicopathological factors and survival. Results: Most tumors were positive for P4HA2 (133/140, 95%), whereas 77 tumors (55%) were positive for PRTN3. Expression levels of P4HA2 and PRTN3 did not separately correlate with disease-free or overall survival, in either uni- or multivariable analysis. However, a low P4HA2 and high PRTN3 expression correlated with shorter disease-free survival (median 7.0 vs. 13.4 months, adjusted HR 3.24, 95% CI: 1.13–9.25, p = .028) and overall survival (median 8.5 vs. 25.8 months, adjusted HR 8.14, 95% CI: 3.41–19.44, p < .001). Conclusion: Our data show that a low P4HA2 and high PRTN3 expression correlates with poor survival in patients with pancreatic cancer, indicating the involvement of collagen deposition in the restraint of the tumor. The tumoral expression of PRTN3 reinforces the therapeutic potential of PR1-targeting immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer.
Inadequate riparian zone use directly decreases water quality of a low-order urban stream in southern Brazil

Considering the current importance watercourses quality conservation, it is important to establish relationships between parameters that enable evaluation of the origins of changes in water quality, allowing actions to mitigate them. However, it is important to improve the association of different variables and to take sufficient samples. This study associates usual techniques and parameters to analyse the water quality of an urban river from Parana State, Brazil. For this, we used biological indicators (aquatic macroinvertebrates), physical-chemical (temperature, turbidity, true colour, pH, DO and BOD 5,20 ) indicators and microbiological (faecal and total coliforms) indicators. These indicators were related to land use and occupation classes obtained from high resolution QuickBird 2 images. For this association, the surroundings (450 meters buffer) of three distinct points of the river were considered: I. Near the spring; II. In the downtown city; and III. In a residential neighbourhood. Different values of physical, chemical and microbiological variables were detected along the river, showing evident relationships between them and with the use and occupation of the urban and peri-urban space in the characterization of surface waters. The association design was able to detect the landscape effect on water quality in a coherent way and that these connections were mainly related to suppression of the riparian forest present in the surroundings, further demonstrating the importance of this vegetation for the maintenance of watercourse quality.
Human Activity Recognition for Edge Devices

Video activity Recognition has recently gained a lot of momentum with the release of massive Kinetics (400 and 600) data. Architectures such as I3D and C3D networks have shown state-of-the-art performances for activity recognition. The one major pitfall with these state-of-the-art networks is that they require a lot of compute. In this paper we explore how we can achieve comparable results to these state-of-the-art networks for devices-on-edge. We primarily explore two architectures - I3D and Temporal Segment Network. We show that comparable results can be achieved using one tenth the memory usage by changing the testing procedure. We also report our results on Resnet architecture as our backbone apart from the original Inception architecture. Specifically, we achieve 84.54\% top-1 accuracy on UCF-101 dataset using only RGB frames.
Management of Fragility Hip Fractures: Our Institutional Experience

Introduction: Approximately 320 000 fragility hip fractures are sustained in the United States annually, resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality as well as significant economic burden on the health-care system. Nevertheless, a majority of these patients are not screened and do not receive treatment for osteoporosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate rates of osteoporosis screening and treatment in our institution and compare them to those reported in the literature. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 191 patients ages 50 and older who sustained osteoporotic hip fractures. Primary outcome measures were percentage of patients who (1) underwent bone health laboratory workup during admission, (2) were started on vitamin D, calcium, and/or a bisphosphonate, (3) received bone mineral density testing, and (4) followed up with a primary care doctor or endocrinologist. Secondary outcomes measures were (1) whether gender, race, or age influenced our primary outcomes and (2) whether obtaining in-hospital laboratory workup led to increased rates of further screening and treatment. Results: Fifty-six (29.3%) patients received full laboratory workup, 48 (25.1%) were prescribed vitamin D and calcium, 11 (5.7%) were prescribed a bisphosphonate, 13 (6.8%) underwent bone mineral density testing, and 41 (21.5%) followed up with primary care or endocrinology. Discussion: Women were more likely to be treated with vitamin D and calcium. Outcomes were similar regardless of race. Younger patients were more likely to undergo laboratory testing, bisphosphonate therapy, and bone mineral density testing. Initiating workup during admission did not lead to increased rates of outpatient treatment. Conclusion: Despite nationwide efforts to improve, rates of osteoporosis screening and treatment following hip fracture are suboptimal. Rates at our institution are similar to those reported in previous studies. There were disparities between gender and age groups. Future studies are needed to evaluate whether more recently implemented policies lead to better osteoporosis screening and management.
Predicting Facebook addiction and state anxiety without Facebook by gender, trait anxiety, Facebook intensity, and different Facebook activities

Background and aims Although social networking sites brought giant convenience, many negative effects on users’ psychological well-being need more investigation. This study used a survey to examine Facebook addiction and state anxiety without Facebook. As research shows gender is related to trait anxiety and may interact with trait anxiety to influence state anxiety, we also assess the interaction effect between gender and trait anxiety. Methods A total of 526 college students in the US participated in the survey. A systematic sampling method was used and an e-mail invitation with the link of the survey was sent to every third student on the students’ e-mail list. Study measures included demographics, trait anxiety, Facebook intensity, different Facebook activities, Facebook addiction, and state anxiety without Facebook. Hierarchical multiple regression was run to test how trait anxiety, gender, Facebook intensity, and different types of Facebook activities predict Facebook addiction and state anxiety. Results Facebook use intensity predicts Facebook addiction (β = 0.573, p < .001) and state anxiety (β = 0.567, p < .001). Facebook use for broadcasting positively predicts Facebook addiction (β = 0.200, p < .01) and state anxiety (β = 0.171, p < .01). Trait anxiety positively predicts Facebook addiction (β = 0.121, p < .05) and state anxiety (β = 0.119, p < .05). Gender interacts with trait anxiety and jointly predicts Facebook addiction (β = 0.201, p < .01). Discussion and conclusions Trait anxiety, Facebook intensity, and broadcasting behavior on Facebook positively predict Facebook addiction and state anxiety. Moreover, gender interacts with trait anxiety, so that the gender difference in Facebook addiction is significant only when trait anxiety is low.
Fertigation based on a nutrient balance model for cassava production in two different textured soils

ABSTRACT Appropriate rate and frequency of fertigation is important for the production of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). The present study investigated the effects of different fertigation rates and frequencies on cassava production under a drip irrigation system in sandy clay loam (SCL) and loamy sand (LS) soils. The study was undertaken in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 growing seasons and the treatments were designed to compare two fertilization methods and two fertilizer rates. The results show that while using the same amount of fertilizer, fertigation resulted in higher leaf nutrient content, storage root yield, and fertilizer nutrient use efficiency in comparison to soil fertilizer application. Fertigation based on nutrient balance model (F-NB) significantly increased the leaf N content, storage root yield, starch content, and harvest index compared to fertigation based on Department of Agriculture recommendations (F-DOA). Yield and starch content for the same treatments in SCL soil were higher than those in LS soil. In the 2016/17 growing season, the treatments were designed to compare two fertilization methods, two fertilizer rates, and two fertigation frequencies. F-NB with a high frequency (F-NBH) produced the highest storage root yield, while the lowest yield was produced by the soil fertilizer application based on DOA (S-DOA) in both soils. The nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) distribution in the plant parts were mostly concentrated in the stems and storage roots, while F-NBH increased the nutrient uptake and increased N, P, and K concentrations in the cassava storage root, and enhanced the yield and starch content. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Empagliflozin Contributes to Polyuria via Regulation of Sodium Transporters and Water Channels in Diabetic Rat Kidneys

Besides lowering glucose, empagliflozin, a selective sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, have been known to provide cardiovascular and renal protection due to effects on diuresis and natriuresis. However, the natriuretic effect of SGLT2 inhibitors has been reported to be transient, and long-term data related to diuretic change are sparse. This study was performed to assess the renal effects of a 12-week treatment with empagliflozin (3 mg/kg) in diabetic OLETF rats by comparing it with other antihyperglycemic agents including lixisenatide (10 μg/kg), a glucagon-like peptide receptor-1 agonist, and voglibose (0.6 mg/kg), an α-glucosidase inhibitor. At 12 weeks of treatment, empagliflozin-treated diabetic rats produced still high urine volume and glycosuria, and showed significantly higher electrolyte-free water clearance than lixisenatide or voglibose-treated diabetic rats without significant change of serum sodium level and fractional excretion of sodium. In empagliflozin-treated rats, renal expression of Na+-Cl- cotransporter was unaltered, and expressions of Na+/H+ exchanger isoform 3, Na+-K+-2Cl- cotransporter, and epithelial Na+ channel were decreased compared with control diabetic rats. Empagliflozin increased an expression of aquaporin (AQP)7 but did not affect AQP3 and AQP1 protein expressions in diabetic kidneys. Despite the increased expression in vasopressin V2 receptor, protein and mRNA levels of AQP2 in empagliflozin-treated diabetic kidneys were significantly decreased compared to control diabetic kidneys. In addition, empagliflozin resulted in the increased phosphorylation of AQP2 at S261 through the increased cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and 5 and protein phosphatase 2B. These results suggest that empagliflozin may contribute in part to polyuria via its regulation of sodium channels and AQP2 in diabetic kidneys.
Debates—Does Information Theory Provide a New Paradigm for Earth Science? Causality, Interaction, and Feedback

The concept of causal interactions between components is an integral part of hydrology and Earth system sciences. Modelers, decision makers, scientists, and other water resources stakeholders all utilize some notion of cause‐and‐effect to understand processes, make decisions, and infer how systems react to change. However, there are different perspectives on the meaning of causality in complex systems and, further, different frameworks and methodologies with which to detect causal interactions. We propose here that information theory (IT) provides a compelling framework for the detection of causality and discuss approaches for several levels of analyses that capture interactions that range from pairwise to multivariate in nature. We illustrate these types of analyses with an example based on weather station time series variables, in which variables may interact pairwise or jointly and on short to long time scales. In general, many unsolved or even unanticipated questions in the hydrologic sciences could benefit from this perspective.
Self-Calibrating Deep Photometric Stereo Networks

This paper proposes an uncalibrated photometric stereo method for non-Lambertian scenes based on deep learning. Unlike previous approaches that heavily rely on assumptions of specific reflectances and light source distributions, our method is able to determine both shape and light directions of a scene with unknown arbitrary reflectances observed under unknown varying light directions. To achieve this goal, we propose a two-stage deep learning architecture, called SDPS-Net, which can effectively take advantage of intermediate supervision, resulting in reduced learning difficulty compared to a single-stage model. Experiments on both synthetic and real datasets show that our proposed approach significantly outperforms previous uncalibrated photometric stereo methods.
Controversies in Hair Transplantation

Hair transplantation being a relatively new field, several aspects raise issues and controversies. The issues refer to both ethics and evidence and how practitioners and the community need to deal with them. This article deals with few of such diverse issues as follicular unit transplantation versus follicular unit excision, safe donor area, platelet-rich plasma, and minimum qualification for performing hair transplantation.
Enhancing Resilience of Deep Learning Networks By Means of Transferable Adversaries

Artificial neural networks in general and deep learning networks in particular established themselves as popular and powerful machine learning algorithms. While the often tremendous sizes of these networks are beneficial when solving complex tasks, the tremendous number of parameters also causes such networks to be vulnerable to malicious behavior such as adversarial perturbations. These perturbations can change a model’s classification decision. Moreover, while single-step adversaries can easily be transferred from network to network, the transfer of more powerful multi-step adversaries has – usually – been rather difficult.In this work, we introduce a method for generating strong adversaries that can easily (and frequently) be transferred between different models. This method is then used to generate a large set of adversaries, based on which the effects of selected defense methods are experimentally assessed. At last, we introduce a novel, simple, yet effective approach to enhance the resilience of neural networks against adversaries and benchmark it against established defense methods. In contrast to the already existing methods, our proposed defense approach is much more efficient as it only requires a single additional forward-pass to achieve comparable performance results.
Altered mast cell activity in response to rhinovirus infection provides novel insight into asthma

Abstract Objective: Human rhinoviruses (RVs) are a type of common respiratory virus capable of inducing an asthma attack. Although mast cells are important effector cells involved in allergic disease, little is known about the direct effects of an RV infection on mast cells. The aim of this study is to investigate mast cell behavior in response to RV infection and gain insight into the effects of RVs on mast cells. Methods: Viral replication, cell viability, apoptosis and cytokine release were quantified in Human mast cell-1 (HMC-1) cells following RV16 infection. Results: The results revealed that the viral RNA copy number increased substantially over time. Intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) transcripts were significantly upregulated from 1.79 to 6.37 times following RV16 infection compared to the controls (p ≤ 0.05). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was significantly increased, whereas the cell viability decreased following RV16 infection. Examination of the early cellular response to infection revealed that RV16 increased caspase 3 activity and aggravated apoptotic responses. Furthermore, detection of the innate immune response to RV infection revealed that the release of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and IFN-α by HMC-1 cells increased significantly compared to the control groups. Conclusions: RV infection influences mast cell functionality and promotes the innate immune response of mast cells following viral infection. These results provide a novel insight which mast cells have the potential to be involved in the pathogenesis of RV-induced exacerbations of asthma.
Longterm Exercise-Derived Exosomal miR-342-5p: A Novel Exerkine for Cardioprotection

Rationale: Exercise training, in addition to reducing cardiovascular risk factors, confers direct protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and has been associated with improved heart attack survival in humans. However, the underlying mechanisms of exercise-afforded cardioprotection are still unclear. Objective: To investigate the role of exercise-derived circulating exosomes in cardioprotection and the molecular mechanisms involved. Methods and Results: Circulating exosomes were isolated from the plasma of volunteers with or without exercise training and rats subjected to 4-week swim exercise or sedentary littermates 24 hours after the last training session. Although the total circulating exosome level did not change significantly in exercised subjects 24 hours post-exercise compared with the sedentary control, the isolated plasma exosomes from exercised rats afforded remarkable protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. miRNA sequencing combined with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction validation identified 12 differentially expressed miRNAs from the circulating exosomes of exercised rats, among which miR-342-5p stood out as the most potent cardioprotective molecule. Importantly, the cardioprotective effects and the elevation of exosomal miR-342-5p were also observed in exercise-trained human volunteers. Moreover, inhibition of miR-342-5p significantly blunted the protective effects of exercise-derived circulating exosomes in hypoxia/reoxygenation cardiomyocytes; in vivo cardiac-specific inhibition of miR-342-5p through serotype 9 adeno-associated virus–mediated gene delivery attenuated exercise-afforded cardioprotection in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion rats. Mechanistically, miR-342-5p inhibited hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis via targeting Caspase 9 and Jnk2; it also enhanced survival signaling (p-Akt) via targeting phosphatase gene Ppm1f. Of note, exercise training or laminar shear stress directly enhanced the synthesis of miR-342-5p in endothelial cells. Conclusions: Our findings reveal a novel endogenous cardioprotective mechanism that long-term exercise-derived circulating exosomes protect the heart against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury via exosomal miR-342-5p.