Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IMPACT OF ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE ON NET RETURNS IN SMALLHOLDER PIGEON PEA PRODUCTION SYSTEMS IN SEMI-ARID KENYA

Purpose: Improved pigeon pea varieties were promoted in semi-arid areas of Kenya to improve smallholder pigeon pea production systems resilience to climate change. However, the impact of adoption is unknown. This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of adoption on farming households’ net farm returns in semi-arid South Eastern Kenya in the context of adaptation to climate change. The objectives were to (i)describe farmer’s perceptions on production of improved varieties of pigeon peas as an adaptation strategy to climate change, (ii) evaluate the impact of the adoption on household’s net returns. Propensity score matching approach was used to assess the impact of the adoption. Methodology: The study used cross sectional data gathered through household survey to evaluate the impact of adoption on farming households’ net farm returns in semi-arid South Eastern Kenya in the context of adaptation to climate change. The study was conducted in semiarid zones of Machakos County in South Eastern Kenya (SEK) namely Masinga, Mavoko and Mwala Wards. The areas were purposively selected for semi-arid semi-arid climatic conditions and dominant pigeon pea production.The study adopts the counterfactual approach and propensity score matching method to evaluate the impact of adopting improved pigeon peas on household net farm income. Data was analyzed using STATA 13.0 statistical package. Findings: The results showed that 33 percent of the sampled households had adopted production of improved pigeon peas and they perceived adoption of the technology as an adaptation strategy to climate change viewed through tolerance to drought, pest and diseases, increased crop yield and shortened crop growth period. Improved pigeon peas significantly increased farmers’ net income, the adopter got a net farm income of KES 30,710 per acre per year that was KES 18, 631 more than non-adopting households. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommends that County Governments facilitate farmers to produce pigeon pea seeds through improved access to seed and linkage to reliable market for their farm produce to increase their farm income.
Will prior health insurance authorization for medications continue to hinder hepatitis C treatment delivery in the United States? Perspectives from hepatitis C treatment providers in a large urban healthcare system

Background The recent introduction of direct acting antivirals for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has dramatically improved treatment options for HCV infected patients. However, in the United States (US) treatment uptake has been low and time to initiation of therapy has been long. We sought to examine provider perspectives of facilitators and barriers to HCV treatment delivery. Methods From June to August 2019, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with medical staff providing HCV care as part of a university medical center in Los Angeles, CA. In order to understand the HCV treatment process, we interviewed key staff members providing care to the majority of HCV patients seeking care at the university medical center, including hepatologists and infectious disease specialists as well as key nursing and pharmacy staff. The interviews focused on workload and activities required for HCV treatment initiation for non-cirrhotic, treatment naïve patients. Results Providers noted that successful HCV treatment delivery was reliant on a care model involving close collaboration between a team of providers, in particular requiring a highly coordinated effort between dedicated nursing and pharmacy staff. The HCV care team overwhelmingly reported that the process of insurance authorization was the greatest obstacle delaying treatment initiation and noted that very few patient level factors served as a barrier to treatment uptake. Conclusions In the US, prior authorization for HCV treatment is a requirement for most public and private insurance plans. In an era with access to therapies that allow for a cure—and until revocation of prior authorization for HCV treatment is a reality—implementing strategies that can expedite authorization to accelerate treatment access are critical. Not only will this benefit patients, but it has the potential to help expand treatment to settings that are otherwise too resource strained to successfully deliver HCV care.
DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-Picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity of tomato genotypes against PEG simulated drought stress

Antioxidants are important substances of plants which are used to save their bodies from injuries by free reactive oxygen species. The experiment was performed to check the effect of polyethylene glycol on 26 tomato genotypes at ESMA (Extension Services and Management Academy) at Garri Dopatta, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The 2,2-Diphenyl-1Picrylhydrazyl was used as an oxidant to produce the free radicals. The antioxidant behavior was found to be increased by increasing the sample concentration ranging from 25 μl to 500 μl extract concentration and decreased by increasing the Polyethylene glycol concentration. The genotype G-21-006234 showed highest antioxidant activity 53.03% at 25 μl sample extract concentration and radical scavenging activity has enhanced up to 71.54% as sample concentration was increased up to 500 μl. The activity of antioxidants was declined with an increase in polyethylene glycol concentration. Genotype G-2100643 showed 21.189% antioxidant activity at 12.5% of polyethylene glycol. Which showed G3119289 genotypes had 52 % at 25ul sample amount at control and 39% at maximum of polyethylene glycol concentration. The results indicate that genotype G3119289 is good among the studied genotypes in antioxidant behaviour.
Transcriptomic profiles in Parkinson’s disease

Transcriptomics in Parkinson’s disease offers insights into the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease but obtaining brain tissue has limitations. In order to bypass this issue, we profile and compare differentially expressed genes and enriched pathways (KEGG) in two peripheral tissues (blood and skin) of 12 Parkinson’s disease patients and 12 healthy controls using RNA-sequencing technique and validation with RT-qPCR. Furthermore, we compare our results to previous Parkinson’s disease post mortem brain tissue and blood results using the robust rank aggregation method. The results show no overlapping differentially expressed genes or enriched pathways in blood vs. skin in our sample sets (25 vs. 1068 differentially expressed genes with an FDR ≤ 0.05; 1 vs. 9 pathways in blood and skin, respectively). A meta-analysis from previous transcriptomic sample sets using either microarrays or RNA-Seq yields a robust rank aggregation list of cortical gene expression changes with 43 differentially expressed genes; a list of substantia nigra changes with 2 differentially expressed genes and a list of blood changes with 1 differentially expressed gene being statistically significant at FDR ≤ 0.05. In cortex 1, KEGG pathway was enriched, four in substantia nigra and two in blood. None of the differentially expressed genes or pathways overlap between these tissues. When comparing our previously published skin transcription analysis, two differentially expressed genes between the cortex robust rank aggregation and skin overlap. In this study, for the first time a meta-analysis is applied on transcriptomic sample sets in Parkinson’s disease. Simultaneously, it explores the notion that Parkinson’s disease is not just a neuronal tissue disease by exploring peripheral tissues. The comparison of different Parkinson’s disease tissues yields surprisingly few significant differentially expressed genes and pathways, suggesting that divergent gene expression profiles in distinct cell lineages, metabolic and possibly iatrogenic effects create too much transcriptomic noise for detecting significant signal. On the other hand, there are signs that point towards Parkinson’s disease-specific changes in non-neuronal peripheral tissues in Parkinson’s disease, indicating that Parkinson’s disease might be a multisystem disorder.
Clustering cases of Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia in COVID-19 screening ward staff

Abstract Four medical staff cases of Chlamydia psittaci pneumonia in a COVID-19 screening ward, as well as the experience in dealing with such a nosocomial infection event, were described. It reminds that atypical pneumonia except for COVID-19 should also be considered when clustering cases occurred even during a COVID-19 pneumonia pandemic.
Utility Maximization under Solvency Constraints and Unhedgeable Liabilities

We consider the utility maximization problem for an investor who faces a solvency or risk constraint in addition to a budget constraint. 1 The investor wishes to maximize her expected utility from terminal wealth subject to a bound on her expected solvency at maturity. We measure solvency using a solvency function applied to the terminal wealth. The motivation for our analysis is an optimal investment problem where the investor faces a random and unhedgeable liability at maturity.
N2o and CH．fluxes from typical upland fields in northeast China

C]osed chamber measHrements of N20 and CH．fluxes from soybean and maize fields at Shenyang Ecological Experimental Station show that the emission of N20 has significant diurnal and seasona]varmtions，and mainly occurs in the growing period o{crops．N? O is also released from soil du ng thawing aM after harvest．In addition，the net emission of CH．from soybean and maize fields is very sinai1，and hence，upland field as the sink 0r source 0f atmospheric CH·is not significant．
EFFECT OF FEEDING VARYING LEVELS OF GROUNDNUT HAULMS ON BODY WEIGHT AND HAEMATO- BIOCHEMICAL PROFILE IN BROILER BIRDS

The present study was undertaken to evaluate ground nut haulms as alternate feed resource by its incorporation in the diets of broiler birds. A total 240 one-day-old Cobb-400 broiler chicks were randomly assigned into four dietary treatments each with three replicates (n = 60). Experimental Birds in group T1 were fed with conventional concentrate mixture while birds in T2, T3, T4 were fed with feed containing 2%, 4% and 6% of ground nut haulms (GNH) replacing maize and soya bean on iso-nitrogenous basis. Feed intake increases significantly (P > 0.05) with increasing level of GNH in the diets of experimental birds. Highest feed intake was recorded in T4 (6% GNH) followed by T3 (4% GNH) than T2 (2% GNH) and T1 (control). Birds fed groundnut haulms gained significantly (P < 0.05) higher body weight than birds fed the control diet. Birds in T4 (6% GNH) gained highest body weight followed by T3 (4% GNH) than T2 (2% GNH) and T1 (control). However, feed conversion ratio remained non-significant for all treatment groups. Regarding blood biochemical parameters, values of TEC and TLC showed non-significant difference. However values of Hb, PCV, AST and ALT were significant (P<0.05) among experimental groups but they were in normal range suggesting that groundnut haulms do not have any adverse effect on overall health and liver function in groundnut haulms fed birds. Based on results of the study it is concluded that supplementation of GNH can successfully replace costly ingredients like maize and soy bean meal in the diets of broiler birds up to the level of 6 % without any harmful effects on feed intake, growth and feed conversion ratio and Haemato biochemical profile.
Evidence from Uganda

Many low-income countries rely on age-based imports restrictions to curb local pollution from motor vehicles. Yet the impact of these policies, unlike that of emission regulations in richer economies, is not well understood. In this paper, we investigate one such import restriction an environmental tax levied on old vehicles in the context of Uganda. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we estimate the effect of a stark increase in the levy in 2015 on imports and first-time registrations. In order distinguish the direct impact of the levy from substitution between age groups, we structurally estimate the market for “newly” imported vehicles and decompose the overall effect using counterfactual simulation. We find that the levy increase resulted in a substantial reduction of targeted vehicle imports, but that first-time registrations remain unaffected as end-users increasingly purchase old inventory from traders. In addition, we find that the magnitude of the consumer response is decreasing in vehicle age and evidence of substitution towards older vehicles due to the levy. These findings point to highly progressive levies or outright bans, ideally complemented by domestic regulation, for effective policy aimed at curbing vehicle emissions. †We would like to thank Mirko Draca, Mike Waterson, Clément Imbert, Rocco Macchiavello, and Camilla Roncoroni for excellent research supervision and valuable advice. We would also like to thank participants at the University of Warwick CAGE-AMES seminar for helpful comments. We are grateful for generous financial support from the International Growth Centre (IGC) and the ESRC Midlands Doctoral Training Partnership. ‡Corresponding author; University of Warwick; e-mail: f.forster@warwick.ac. uk §Uganda Revenue Authority
Effects of Mode Tailoring on Information Processing Outcomes

Health information is increasingly conveyed to patients in digital formats, such as through health websites, patient portals and electronic health records. However, for people to be able to process information effectively, the information must be presented in a suitable format. This study examines the effectiveness of different strategies for tailoring the mode of information presentation (i.e., using textual, visual and/or audiovisual formats) on information processing outcomes among different at-risk audiences (i.e., low health literacy levels or older adults [≥65 years]). We conducted an online experiment where participants viewed either a customised, personalised or non-tailored (mismatched) health website based on individual preferences for presentation mode. We analysed a 3 (tailored condition) × 2 (health literacy level) × 2 (age group) between-subjects design, examining the effects on time spent online, attention, perceived relevance, website involvement, website satisfaction and information recall. The results Corresponding author: Minh Hao Nguyen: mh.nguyen@ikmz.uzh. ch Customisation versus Personalisation of Digital Health Information Nguyen et al. European Journal of Health Communication 1(2020) 30-54 CC BY 4.0 31 effective than a non-tailored online health information presentation. However, contingent on the specific outcome variable (i.e., attention, website satisfaction, information recall), level of health literacy and age group, particular tailoring strategies show different effects. Designers of digital health information should consider the strategic deployment of personalised information modes or having people to customise their own information materials.
Air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: Strengths and limitations of an ecological regression analysis

We describe the challenges and opportunities of analyzing links between exposure to air pollution and vulnerability to COVID-19. Assessing whether long-term exposure to air pollution increases the severity of COVID-19 health outcomes, including death, is an important public health objective. Limitations in COVID-19 data availability and quality remain obstacles to conducting conclusive studies on this topic. At present, publicly available COVID-19 outcome data for representative populations are available only as area-level counts. Therefore, studies of long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 outcomes using these data must use an ecological regression analysis, which precludes controlling for individual-level COVID-19 risk factors. We describe these challenges in the context of one of the first preliminary investigations of this question in the United States, where we found that higher historical PM2.5 exposures are positively associated with higher county-level COVID-19 mortality rates after accounting for many area-level confounders. Motivated by this study, we lay the groundwork for future research on this important topic, describe the challenges, and outline promising directions and opportunities.
Kallikrein gene family as biomarkers for recurrent prostate cancer

Aim To assess kallikrein (KLK) expression in recurrent and non-recurrent prostate tumors and adjacent healthy prostate tissues. Methods The expression levels of 15 KLK genes in 34 recurrent and 36 non-recurrent prostate cancer samples and 19 adjacent healthy prostate tissue samples was assessed with quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The samples were obtained from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA between 2013 and 2016 . Results Compared with controls, prostate cancer samples showed a strong decrease in KLK1, KLK4, KLK9, and KLK14. Recurrent samples were negative for KLK1, KLK2, and KLK14 but demonstrated higher levels of KLK3, KLK4, and KLK9 than controls. Other KLKs were not significantly expressed. Conclusion This study for the first time showed a difference in the expression levels of the KLK gene family in recurrent prostate cancer. KLKs could be used as recurrence markers for prostate cancer.
Mediators of change in cognitive behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders: A secondary analysis of a transdiagnostic randomized controlled trial

Abstract Objective Understanding the mechanisms of action of psychological treatments is a key first step in refining and developing more effective treatments. The present study examined hypothesized mediators of change of enhanced cognitive behavior therapy (CBT‐E) and interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders (IPT‐ED). Method A series of mediation studies were embedded in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing 20 weeks of CBT‐E and IPT‐ED in a transdiagnostic, non‐underweight sample of patients with eating disorders (N = 130) consecutively referred to the service. Three hypothesized mediators of change in CBT‐E (regular eating, weighing frequency, and shape checking) and the key hypothesized mediator of IPT‐ED (interpersonal problem severity) were studied. Results The data supported regular eating as being a mediator of the effect of CBT‐E on binge‐eating frequency. The findings were inconclusive regarding the role of the other putative mediators of the effects of CBT‐E; and were similarly inconclusive for interpersonal problem severity as a mediator of the effect of IPT‐ED. Discussion This research highlights the potential benefits of embedding mediation studies within RCTs to better understand how treatments work. The findings supported the role of regular eating in reducing patients' binge‐eating frequency. Other key hypothesized mediators of CBT‐E and IPT‐ED were not supported, although the data were not inconsistent with them. Key methodological issues to address in future work include the need to capture both behavioral and cognitive processes of change in CBT‐E, and identifying key time points for change in IPT‐ED.
Stomatal closure of tomato under drought is driven by an increase in soil-root hydraulic resistance.

The fundamental question as to what triggers stomatal closure during soil drying remains contentious. Thus, we urgently need to improve our understanding of stomatal response to water deficits in soil and atmosphere. Here, we investigated the role of soil-plant hydraulic conductance (Ksp ) on transpiration (E) and stomatal regulation. We used a root pressure chamber to measure the relation between E, leaf xylem water potential (ψleaf-x ) and soil water potential (ψsoil ) in tomato. Additional measurements of ψleaf-x were performed with unpressurized plants. A soil-plant hydraulic model was used to simulate E(ψleaf-x ) for decreasing ψsoil . In wet soils, E(ψleaf-x ) had a constant slope while in dry soils the slope decreased, with ψleaf-x rapidly and nonlinearly decreasing for moderate increases in E. The ψleaf-x measured in pressurized and unpressurized plants matched well, which indicates that the shoot hydraulic conductance did not decrease during soil drying and that the decrease in Ksp is caused by a decrease in soil-root conductance. The decrease of E matched well the onset of hydraulic nonlinearity. Our findings demonstrate that stomatal closure prevents the drop in ψleaf-x caused by a decrease in Ksp and elucidate a strong correlation between stomatal regulation and belowground hydraulic limitation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Immune checkpoint inhibitor use, multimorbidity and healthcare expenditures among older adults with late-stage melanoma.

Background: The objective of this study is to assess the impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and multimorbidity on healthcare expenditures among older patients with late-stage melanoma. Materials & methods: A retrospective longitudinal cohort study using Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results linked with Medicare claims was conducted. Generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze adjusted relationships of ICI, multimorbidity and ICI-multimorbidity interaction on average healthcare expenditures. Results: Patients who received ICI and those who had multimorbidity had significantly higher average total healthcare expenditures compared with ICI nonusers and no multimorbidity. In the fully adjusted model using ICI-multimorbidity interaction, no excess cost was added by multimorbidity. Conclusion: Use of ICIs, regardless of multimorbidity, is associated with increased healthcare expenditures.
Postoperative hemodynamic changes for predicting anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer using the FloTrac system.

Background : Anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy is significantly associated with more severe complications, such as sepsis and mortality. Early prediction for anastomotic leakage is usually difficult and needs to be treated rapidly. In the current study, we investigated the correlation between hemodynamic and several complications after esophagectomy in patients with esophageal cancer, using the FloTrac system. Materials and Methods : Between April 2013 and December 2014, 39 patients with a mean age of 66.6 ± 8.9 years underwent postoperative supervision using the FloTrac sensor / Vigileo monitoring system after curative surgery for esophageal cancer. We retrospectively evaluated the association between the number of aberrant cardiac index (CI) along with stroke volume variability (SVV) values and clinicopathological parameters of postoperative complications in this report. Results : There were significant positive correlations between the number of aberrant values of CI along with SVV and depth of invasion during pathological stage. Concerning major postoperative complications, there was a significant positive correlation between the number of aberrant values of CI and anastomotic leakage. Discussion: The hemodynamic change by employing the FloTrac system could predicts the complication of anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy. Adequate management of hemodynamic stability by utilizing it will reduce the complications of anastomotic leakage. J. Med. Invest. 67 : 240-245, August, 2020.